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silveradeptHad an orange when I got home from work today. Om nom nom. $.29-plus-tax well-spent. Work itself was also productive - got to bang out some ideas with regard to the burgeoning gaming programs we’re going for, with exciting new possibilities. Tomorrow should hopefully be equally productive, although without the need for meetings. Although, weather-wise, the skies were pretty grey today. There was snow on the ground when I got up this morning, though.
A presidential primary in New Hampshire happened today, and according to the punditry, the projected winners of the primaries are Senator Clinton for the Democrats, and Senator McCain for the Republicans. Hrm. This means the Republicans may not have a front-runner, or even a pairing to fight it out, and the Democrats look to be shaping into a pair-race between Senator Clinton and Senator Obama, with Senator Edwards making it interesting by picking up enough good finishes to possibly be a threat to either of the two front-runners.
In Iraq, an Iraqi soldier who killed two United States soldiers to protect a pregnant woman is a national hero. At least, in the Iraqi press. The official line from the U.S. is that the soldier in question had links to insurgents and was spying for them. If soldiers were shaking down women and threatening them, they should have expected negative consequences. In this country, roughing up women often gets you into trouble. In Iraq, where customs are a bit more conservative, negative consequences should have been expected. It’s not necessarily excusing the behavior of the Iraqi soldier, but it is telling about how much real progress is being made. If the Iraqi accounts are true in all their particulars, then stupid, stupid American soldiers.
Of course, if you believe Douglas MacKinnon, this is just another example of the MSM's obsession with declaring Iraq a failure, rather than doing actual journalism and reporting on all the good things happening in Iraq. And if Howard Kurtz’s view of how even conservative media members are going to bat for Obama is on target, I’m sure MacKinnon would point to it as further evidence of the media’s leftward slant.
There was almost an international incident between the United States and Iran today, but right before the U.S. warships were going to fire on Iranian speedboats, the Iranians blinked and went away. Playing chicken with a high-strung gun nut is not a good idea at all.
Adding to the chaos, Pakistan is angrily denying that there are plans for covert United States operations to be launched into Pakistan to assist with fighting the war in Afghanistan. It’s hell in a handbasket, it appears, and it’s spreading to a lot of other places. A UK bishop has claimed that Islamic extremists have created a "no-go" area in the United Kingdom where it is dangerous for non-Muslims to enter. The Government is not buying it, but they are looking into how well or poorly peoples of different faiths are integrating into UK society.
Domestically, even Mr. Bush must admit that the economy is not going as swimmingly as before. He stops short of the word “recession”, but there are a lot of people thinking it in the country, excepting for those for whom the hammer has already fallen. They’re saying it openly. To counter the sort of populist mentality that would have the government assist in getting the economy going again, the United States Chamber of Commerce plans on running advertisements against candidates deemed "anti-business". The choice quote here: “It suggests to us that we have to demonstrate who it is in this society that creates jobs, wealth and benefits -- and who it is that eats them.” That sounds remarkably like a threat to me.
Because of the ongoing Writer's Guild strike and solidarity from the actors, the Golden Globes award show will be a press conference rather than a red-carpet affair. There is a distinct possibility that should the strike continue, the Academy Awards may suffer a similar fate.
Conservative pastor wants fellows to buy Microsoft stock and donate some to a church, so that the stockholders and the church can exert pressure on Microsoft's pro-equality political stance. It would take a lot of stock, first, and second, watch the pitch from our friend the pastor. He plays the race card as a reason why he shouldn’t be crossed, and tries to tell Microsoft not to “influence public policy”, while telling people to influence Microsoft’s policy. If it were a matter of believing corporations in general should not be influencing public policy, this might make sense, but no, it’s anti-homosexual rhetoric with a little dash of a racism threat. And apparently, as a pastor, he can and should be influencing public policy. I think the First Amendment has some restrictions on just how much pastors can influence public policy.
Electing a creationist president would doom the United States, according to a University of Michigan professor. Well, with as well as we’ve done with Mr. Bush, who wants to “teach the controversy”, I can see where doom would be the forecast if a hardcore evolution-doubter were elected to the Presidency. On the other side of the spectrum, I’m sure some people are worried that their child is becoming An Atheist, Damned to Hell.
The SCOTUS declined to hear the appeal of Jerry Fitch, a businessman ordered to pay $750,000 USD to the man that he cuckolded. Fitch was fined under Mississippi laws that permit the man cheated on to seek restitution for “loss of society, companionship, love and affection,” as well as “the loss of sexual relations.” I thought we were done with bride prices, myself, but it appears that in some pockets of the country, you can put a price on love.
IKEA does everything, including putting up a comedian for a week while his apartment is being fumigated. There’s the obligatory camera crew documenting things, of course, so there’s probably going to be quite a bit of material for the comedian when it’s all done.
Cranking Widgets offers up something to know before utilizing the services of a cashier's check - make sure you can replace the money if it gets lost, as it can take 90 days to put the funds back.
In technological news, Adobe has been spying on their users, using something that looks like a 192.168.* IP address, but is actually a server owned by Omniture. When you hide like that, people think you’re up to something. And they’re not happy about it. If you’re going to collect data, best to simply say so and be done with it.
Doing their part to help with creation of virtual-world objects, Stanford University programmers have created software that allows users to design and create three-dimensional trees, based on mathematics and the wealth of data that botanists have collected on real trees. By navigating among various elements, the program allows users to choose trees and nudges them toward more popular choices, which theoretically are the more real-looking ones. Yay for trees. Can we get some other things to create this easily?
Finally, TiVo will be able to do World Wide Web streams. Meaning that new YouTube video could come through right on the TiVo. Assuming that the recording was done off a PC with the right software, or the video stream is from select sources that can be recorded through the TV set.
The 10 worst foods of 2007, health-wise. How many have you had?
Bust of Lenin found in Anarctica, with the cabin and Soviet base underneath having been buried in snow. It’s made out of plastic, surprisingly, and the elements have not destroyed it. It’s also visible from several kilometers away, apparently. Nice going, comrade.
Tonight’s ending material is a list - the top 25 science fiction movies of the past 25 years, according to Entertainment Weekly. Starts with V. Ends... well, you’ll have to find that out yourself.
A presidential primary in New Hampshire happened today, and according to the punditry, the projected winners of the primaries are Senator Clinton for the Democrats, and Senator McCain for the Republicans. Hrm. This means the Republicans may not have a front-runner, or even a pairing to fight it out, and the Democrats look to be shaping into a pair-race between Senator Clinton and Senator Obama, with Senator Edwards making it interesting by picking up enough good finishes to possibly be a threat to either of the two front-runners.
In Iraq, an Iraqi soldier who killed two United States soldiers to protect a pregnant woman is a national hero. At least, in the Iraqi press. The official line from the U.S. is that the soldier in question had links to insurgents and was spying for them. If soldiers were shaking down women and threatening them, they should have expected negative consequences. In this country, roughing up women often gets you into trouble. In Iraq, where customs are a bit more conservative, negative consequences should have been expected. It’s not necessarily excusing the behavior of the Iraqi soldier, but it is telling about how much real progress is being made. If the Iraqi accounts are true in all their particulars, then stupid, stupid American soldiers.
Of course, if you believe Douglas MacKinnon, this is just another example of the MSM's obsession with declaring Iraq a failure, rather than doing actual journalism and reporting on all the good things happening in Iraq. And if Howard Kurtz’s view of how even conservative media members are going to bat for Obama is on target, I’m sure MacKinnon would point to it as further evidence of the media’s leftward slant.
There was almost an international incident between the United States and Iran today, but right before the U.S. warships were going to fire on Iranian speedboats, the Iranians blinked and went away. Playing chicken with a high-strung gun nut is not a good idea at all.
Adding to the chaos, Pakistan is angrily denying that there are plans for covert United States operations to be launched into Pakistan to assist with fighting the war in Afghanistan. It’s hell in a handbasket, it appears, and it’s spreading to a lot of other places. A UK bishop has claimed that Islamic extremists have created a "no-go" area in the United Kingdom where it is dangerous for non-Muslims to enter. The Government is not buying it, but they are looking into how well or poorly peoples of different faiths are integrating into UK society.
Domestically, even Mr. Bush must admit that the economy is not going as swimmingly as before. He stops short of the word “recession”, but there are a lot of people thinking it in the country, excepting for those for whom the hammer has already fallen. They’re saying it openly. To counter the sort of populist mentality that would have the government assist in getting the economy going again, the United States Chamber of Commerce plans on running advertisements against candidates deemed "anti-business". The choice quote here: “It suggests to us that we have to demonstrate who it is in this society that creates jobs, wealth and benefits -- and who it is that eats them.” That sounds remarkably like a threat to me.
Because of the ongoing Writer's Guild strike and solidarity from the actors, the Golden Globes award show will be a press conference rather than a red-carpet affair. There is a distinct possibility that should the strike continue, the Academy Awards may suffer a similar fate.
Conservative pastor wants fellows to buy Microsoft stock and donate some to a church, so that the stockholders and the church can exert pressure on Microsoft's pro-equality political stance. It would take a lot of stock, first, and second, watch the pitch from our friend the pastor. He plays the race card as a reason why he shouldn’t be crossed, and tries to tell Microsoft not to “influence public policy”, while telling people to influence Microsoft’s policy. If it were a matter of believing corporations in general should not be influencing public policy, this might make sense, but no, it’s anti-homosexual rhetoric with a little dash of a racism threat. And apparently, as a pastor, he can and should be influencing public policy. I think the First Amendment has some restrictions on just how much pastors can influence public policy.
Electing a creationist president would doom the United States, according to a University of Michigan professor. Well, with as well as we’ve done with Mr. Bush, who wants to “teach the controversy”, I can see where doom would be the forecast if a hardcore evolution-doubter were elected to the Presidency. On the other side of the spectrum, I’m sure some people are worried that their child is becoming An Atheist, Damned to Hell.
The SCOTUS declined to hear the appeal of Jerry Fitch, a businessman ordered to pay $750,000 USD to the man that he cuckolded. Fitch was fined under Mississippi laws that permit the man cheated on to seek restitution for “loss of society, companionship, love and affection,” as well as “the loss of sexual relations.” I thought we were done with bride prices, myself, but it appears that in some pockets of the country, you can put a price on love.
IKEA does everything, including putting up a comedian for a week while his apartment is being fumigated. There’s the obligatory camera crew documenting things, of course, so there’s probably going to be quite a bit of material for the comedian when it’s all done.
Cranking Widgets offers up something to know before utilizing the services of a cashier's check - make sure you can replace the money if it gets lost, as it can take 90 days to put the funds back.
In technological news, Adobe has been spying on their users, using something that looks like a 192.168.* IP address, but is actually a server owned by Omniture. When you hide like that, people think you’re up to something. And they’re not happy about it. If you’re going to collect data, best to simply say so and be done with it.
Doing their part to help with creation of virtual-world objects, Stanford University programmers have created software that allows users to design and create three-dimensional trees, based on mathematics and the wealth of data that botanists have collected on real trees. By navigating among various elements, the program allows users to choose trees and nudges them toward more popular choices, which theoretically are the more real-looking ones. Yay for trees. Can we get some other things to create this easily?
Finally, TiVo will be able to do World Wide Web streams. Meaning that new YouTube video could come through right on the TiVo. Assuming that the recording was done off a PC with the right software, or the video stream is from select sources that can be recorded through the TV set.
The 10 worst foods of 2007, health-wise. How many have you had?
Bust of Lenin found in Anarctica, with the cabin and Soviet base underneath having been buried in snow. It’s made out of plastic, surprisingly, and the elements have not destroyed it. It’s also visible from several kilometers away, apparently. Nice going, comrade.
Tonight’s ending material is a list - the top 25 science fiction movies of the past 25 years, according to Entertainment Weekly. Starts with V. Ends... well, you’ll have to find that out yourself.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 06:26 pm (UTC)The Western Bacon Six Dollar Burger will gun you down with 1,130 calories (600 from fat), 66g fat (100% of your Daily Reference Value), 28g saturated fat (140% DRV), 150mg cholesterol, 2,540mg sodium (110%DRV), 83g carbs, and 47g protein.
Just over 1,000 calories. But let's not forget to add in the large fries and soft drink that I'm sure people buying this burger will purchase as well. According to the Nutrition Page on the Carl's Junior website, an order of large French Fries clocks in at 620 calories (click here for the PDF). So we're up to 1750 calories already! I can't find soda listed on the site (how convenient, right?), so let's go over to the McDonald's Nutrition sheet, why not, for some numbers. After all, most fast food places offer pretty much the same basic beverage sizes. So let's assume our hypothetical muncher orders a large Classic Coca-Cola, which is a 32 fluid ounce cup. The sheet lists that as 310 calories.
So what are our final numbers?
2,060 calories.
What's a general recommended daily caloric intake -- about 2,000 calories, give or take a little depending on your level of general activity, right? You've just eaten that in ONE MEAL! Even if you add in a sensible, healthy breakfast and dinner that will still probably put you in at around 3,000 calories! And let's not forget the sugar -- in the hamburger buns, the soda and probably in the fries. It's not really sugar. It's high fructose corn syrup. HFCS is not really very good for you.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 07:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 07:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 08:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 08:34 pm (UTC)I'm actually quite excited to see you cook, so you better work on your vegetarian cooking ;)
no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 08:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 08:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 08:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 09:22 pm (UTC)With that thought, I'm going to go into the back and have pizza I baked for lunch.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 07:52 pm (UTC)The only food on that list I didn't like seeing there was the P'zone, since they mention it's actually a two-serving item. I haven't had the P'zone, but if it's the same size as a regular calzone, I've hardly ever seen someone eat a whole calzone in one sitting.
Also, I must say that I love SparkPeople.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 07:45 pm (UTC)also, I was quite pleased to see Doctor Who in there, even if it was #23,and even if I think the Matrix does not deserve to be #1.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-09 08:01 pm (UTC)