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There was a bumper crop of postings going on today. Some work on my projects, but really, it’s being very time-consuming to do all these things that I have to do. And then I’ll add on some sort of job search eventually. Wheeeeeeeeeee!
Anyway, here’s the big list - lots to do today.
Palcido Domingo is changing over to baritone. So no longer the Three Tenors, but to test his newfound range, Placido is going straight to the top of the difficulty list.
As if there was some sort of domino effect going on, another Washington school district stopped a showing of "An Inconvenient Truth" at an after-school club activity, claiming that it looked like the school endorses the movie. The matter is currently under review, so we’ll see whether the film goes through or not.
Something significantly weirder involving schools - a 29-year-old apparently managed to pass off as a 12-year old, possibly looking for sexual partners. That’s some good makeup.
John Kerry will not be running for President in 2008. Likely a smart decision, considering there would be almost no chance he would obtain another nomination. The Democrats would want to go with someone else, since Kerry is probably perceived as already being a loser - being a two-time loser would be worse.
China confirms that it did test an anti-satellite weapon, but disclaims they're trying to provoke a space race. What the test was for, with China disclaiming any want to militarize space, eludes me, then.
Recall that Diebold electronics is responsible for many of the voting machines that Americans use to vote for their elected officials. These machines are vulnerable to being opened by standard hotel-minibar type keys, and up until recently, Diebold had a detailed picture of their keys available on their website - so someone downloaded the picture and milled working keys from them. And these are the people we trust to record the vote accurately. A stolen election or three would definitely not be amiss - were that a systematic policy, though, one would think that the last legislative elections would have turned out differently. And we might be incising someone else’s State of the Union, rather than shredding Bush's rah-rah speech, as Juan Cole does. As a populace, there are quite a few cynics among us, but perhaps in that alternate universe, it’s a whole different thing we’re going on. Maybe we’re talking about the United States armed police departments wreaking havoc on American citizens because of dubious information.
Although only in the conceptual stage, Mass Tram America, Inc. aims to create monorail cars from de-comissioned Boeing jet bodies. And from there, construct a solar-powered monorail system. Recycling jets into monorails... how much would this cost? Would it be a viable option for providing mass transit to many? Detroit automakers seem to think that low oil prices will kill their fuel-efficient vehicles, so I wonder what they would think about monorails. That Detroit would threaten to kill off energy-efficient vehicles because of low oil prices is stupid, though. If available at appropriate prices with good battery capacity, I think Americans would actually buy them. But they have to be available at appropriate prices with good battery capacity. The potential sales could easily dwarf the costs incurred in research and development.
A Procrastinator's Clock - randomly set to not be slow, but fast in some time amount up to 15 minutes. Of course, how fast is up to the computer. For those who are perpetually behind (or can get lost in concentration), this clock might be helpful in getting you out the door with enough time to get where you’re going.
Parthenogenetic births of Komodo dragons yields five. This raises scientific hopes that the species will be able to be bred, possibly of a mother with her sons - I admit, I thought that parthenogenesis would only produce daughters, but that might be only in a human condition. Others may be able to make sons and daughters without needing to get near males. Huzzah, sez I. Bring back the dragons.
Coffee may be good for you - in moderation, as always. 3-5 cups of coffee may result in reduced risk for some cancers and Alzheimer’s. So the tea-drinkers get some things, the coffee-drinkers get some other things...
In something that requires knowledge beyond my ken, Perl poetry. Making good code is an art, so I’m finding out, but being able to turn it into poetry is impressive.
Fart-smell-neutralizing underclothing. For those gents or ladies that enjoy passing gas, or those that just pass gas frequently.
The official New York condom, With the right kind of packaging, maybe gents and ladies will carry one with them all the time (I like the idea of having a public transport map on them - can help you get home after using the condom somewhere else).
But regarding diseases that are scary, H5N1 bird flu virus is in cats in Indonesia, possibly mutating into a form that could infect people more easily. Hopefully, there’s a way to get a vaccine or treatment available if it does become more widespread. We’d rather not have to do things like quarantining people infected with a mutated virulent form of tuberculosis that can kill in weeks to try and make sure that a pandemic doesn’t happen. There’s definite human-rights concerns, but if the pandemic could kill us all, I suspect most would rather quarantine the unlucky few than risk another Black Plague.
A memory chip as small as a white blood cell has been built. The capacity for storage is modest, but at that size, if information density improves, nanorobots with instructions could be the wave of the future.
President Cheney was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN, and said that the Senate's resolutions won't stop the escalation, says that the war's opponents haven't suggested anything, and dismissed Hillary as a loser "because she's a Democrat". For some parts of the interview he was not too happy about the line of questioning - when questioned about his lesbian daughter's decision to have a baby, he told Wolf off. Hrm - with his daughter, why isn’t Cheney trying hard to get good rights for her? He’s obviously annoyed that other conservative groups are questioning his daughter’s ability to parent. And having the VP working for you would definitely be a boost for any legislation or rights for homosexuals.
Insert the coded, obvious, subtle, or other transition of your choice here - we’re going down the rabbit hole of weird associations. Christian activists plan to appeal the dismissal of their claim that their freedom-of-speech was blocked when they were prohibited from protesting at a gay festival in Philadelphia. The objection to their presence was more about the protesters’ lack of permits than their message, from what I gather. If they had only filed the proper forms, they’d have probably been fine. From the same group that had gay bands and artists to be avoided, they remind us that nobody should ever be homosexual! There’s a great life waiting for everyone in heterosexuality, apparently. Of course, if the tendency to recommend chastity is taking hold, as this Guardian commenter laments, then perhaps there’s no happy sexual life for anybody. Which would suit some people just fine - our culture is what's getting us grief in conservative countries, after all. So what we should do is clean it up and show the world our sparklingly clean conservative side! It’s so easy, all we have to do is make ourselves into the Christian nation so many people think we are (or should be). Argh... with things like this, a piece that suggests religions are delusional activities brought about by people who can’t make decisions on their own starts sounding pretty accurate.
Anyway, if I haven’t bowled you over with the usual mix of banter, bullshit, and the occasional piece of real content, you’ll have to wait for the next installment. I’m going to bed.
Anyway, here’s the big list - lots to do today.
Palcido Domingo is changing over to baritone. So no longer the Three Tenors, but to test his newfound range, Placido is going straight to the top of the difficulty list.
As if there was some sort of domino effect going on, another Washington school district stopped a showing of "An Inconvenient Truth" at an after-school club activity, claiming that it looked like the school endorses the movie. The matter is currently under review, so we’ll see whether the film goes through or not.
Something significantly weirder involving schools - a 29-year-old apparently managed to pass off as a 12-year old, possibly looking for sexual partners. That’s some good makeup.
John Kerry will not be running for President in 2008. Likely a smart decision, considering there would be almost no chance he would obtain another nomination. The Democrats would want to go with someone else, since Kerry is probably perceived as already being a loser - being a two-time loser would be worse.
China confirms that it did test an anti-satellite weapon, but disclaims they're trying to provoke a space race. What the test was for, with China disclaiming any want to militarize space, eludes me, then.
Recall that Diebold electronics is responsible for many of the voting machines that Americans use to vote for their elected officials. These machines are vulnerable to being opened by standard hotel-minibar type keys, and up until recently, Diebold had a detailed picture of their keys available on their website - so someone downloaded the picture and milled working keys from them. And these are the people we trust to record the vote accurately. A stolen election or three would definitely not be amiss - were that a systematic policy, though, one would think that the last legislative elections would have turned out differently. And we might be incising someone else’s State of the Union, rather than shredding Bush's rah-rah speech, as Juan Cole does. As a populace, there are quite a few cynics among us, but perhaps in that alternate universe, it’s a whole different thing we’re going on. Maybe we’re talking about the United States armed police departments wreaking havoc on American citizens because of dubious information.
Although only in the conceptual stage, Mass Tram America, Inc. aims to create monorail cars from de-comissioned Boeing jet bodies. And from there, construct a solar-powered monorail system. Recycling jets into monorails... how much would this cost? Would it be a viable option for providing mass transit to many? Detroit automakers seem to think that low oil prices will kill their fuel-efficient vehicles, so I wonder what they would think about monorails. That Detroit would threaten to kill off energy-efficient vehicles because of low oil prices is stupid, though. If available at appropriate prices with good battery capacity, I think Americans would actually buy them. But they have to be available at appropriate prices with good battery capacity. The potential sales could easily dwarf the costs incurred in research and development.
A Procrastinator's Clock - randomly set to not be slow, but fast in some time amount up to 15 minutes. Of course, how fast is up to the computer. For those who are perpetually behind (or can get lost in concentration), this clock might be helpful in getting you out the door with enough time to get where you’re going.
Parthenogenetic births of Komodo dragons yields five. This raises scientific hopes that the species will be able to be bred, possibly of a mother with her sons - I admit, I thought that parthenogenesis would only produce daughters, but that might be only in a human condition. Others may be able to make sons and daughters without needing to get near males. Huzzah, sez I. Bring back the dragons.
Coffee may be good for you - in moderation, as always. 3-5 cups of coffee may result in reduced risk for some cancers and Alzheimer’s. So the tea-drinkers get some things, the coffee-drinkers get some other things...
In something that requires knowledge beyond my ken, Perl poetry. Making good code is an art, so I’m finding out, but being able to turn it into poetry is impressive.
Fart-smell-neutralizing underclothing. For those gents or ladies that enjoy passing gas, or those that just pass gas frequently.
The official New York condom, With the right kind of packaging, maybe gents and ladies will carry one with them all the time (I like the idea of having a public transport map on them - can help you get home after using the condom somewhere else).
But regarding diseases that are scary, H5N1 bird flu virus is in cats in Indonesia, possibly mutating into a form that could infect people more easily. Hopefully, there’s a way to get a vaccine or treatment available if it does become more widespread. We’d rather not have to do things like quarantining people infected with a mutated virulent form of tuberculosis that can kill in weeks to try and make sure that a pandemic doesn’t happen. There’s definite human-rights concerns, but if the pandemic could kill us all, I suspect most would rather quarantine the unlucky few than risk another Black Plague.
A memory chip as small as a white blood cell has been built. The capacity for storage is modest, but at that size, if information density improves, nanorobots with instructions could be the wave of the future.
President Cheney was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN, and said that the Senate's resolutions won't stop the escalation, says that the war's opponents haven't suggested anything, and dismissed Hillary as a loser "because she's a Democrat". For some parts of the interview he was not too happy about the line of questioning - when questioned about his lesbian daughter's decision to have a baby, he told Wolf off. Hrm - with his daughter, why isn’t Cheney trying hard to get good rights for her? He’s obviously annoyed that other conservative groups are questioning his daughter’s ability to parent. And having the VP working for you would definitely be a boost for any legislation or rights for homosexuals.
Insert the coded, obvious, subtle, or other transition of your choice here - we’re going down the rabbit hole of weird associations. Christian activists plan to appeal the dismissal of their claim that their freedom-of-speech was blocked when they were prohibited from protesting at a gay festival in Philadelphia. The objection to their presence was more about the protesters’ lack of permits than their message, from what I gather. If they had only filed the proper forms, they’d have probably been fine. From the same group that had gay bands and artists to be avoided, they remind us that nobody should ever be homosexual! There’s a great life waiting for everyone in heterosexuality, apparently. Of course, if the tendency to recommend chastity is taking hold, as this Guardian commenter laments, then perhaps there’s no happy sexual life for anybody. Which would suit some people just fine - our culture is what's getting us grief in conservative countries, after all. So what we should do is clean it up and show the world our sparklingly clean conservative side! It’s so easy, all we have to do is make ourselves into the Christian nation so many people think we are (or should be). Argh... with things like this, a piece that suggests religions are delusional activities brought about by people who can’t make decisions on their own starts sounding pretty accurate.
Anyway, if I haven’t bowled you over with the usual mix of banter, bullshit, and the occasional piece of real content, you’ll have to wait for the next installment. I’m going to bed.
