Go Meatheads!

I'm actually really excited that the meatheads can get some positive press every now and then... Beefcake!

Is Peace a Realistic Possibility?

FP takes a look at other common border/land disputes between nations, besides the popularly observed Israel vs neighbors and India vs Pakistan. The only thing that this serves to show is simply a reminder that these things go on forever and ever, as long as the wound is allowed to be remembered. Time does not heal all wounds, many of them get infected; nowhere is this more true than in international politics. As the saying goes: old habits die hard. The only realistic solutions to these disputes are not, in fact, very realistic at all, because they are complete solutions and therefore very extreme; and could not be embraced by any heterogeneous populace of a nation, region, or world. It kind of makes you want to just throw your hands up in the air and say "Fine, children. Go ahead and fight until you get tired. But you're not coming out of there until you work something out."

tough love, anybody?

Bribery for Birth Control

I have to admit this article took me a little bit by surprise. As with most reasonable people, I think it would be good for less children to be born to drug addicts. Of course the reality is that this is not a very easily approached subject. I'm impressed with the work done by this woman, although I admit to being a little bit iffy about the methods. Of course in the long run, not doing anything about it is just as strong a statement as doing something/anything. Without any more light being shed on the details of the project, it seems like a positive move...

Garden on the Roof

This might be the coolest thing I have ever seen. Nothing fancy, just a great balance between city living and a little bit of nature. So cool...

The Ultimate Weapon

this is a video of one of the sailors I had the dubious please of working with during my last deployment. He's the real deal, getting into role-playing games and 20-sided dice, online gaming, samurai swords, star wars, you name it. Uber-dork. The video is a sampling of something he liked to call The Ultimate Weapon. The clip doesn't really do it justice, but it serves to illustrate the idiocy found onboard ship. This is not unusual or atypical, and in fact is relatively tame, in the grand scheme of deployment acts. But man was it funny at 3 in the morning on the midwatch...

Pickpockets...

Just plain amusing... the incorrigible habits of the habitual pickpocket . Have to admit I'm impressed, though. Right out of the judge's possession... very impressive.

Arnold's Pizza Shop

Ah yes, all's oldies but goodies. This clip was one of my favorites that I heard while in college, I'm glad to see it's still wending its way around the interweb...

Laser Shield Bubble?

Ok, admittedly I was envisioning a nuclear shield out of Dune or maybe Foundation, but I guess it's more just a laser system that has an effective range in three dimensions that they choose to relate as a "bubble." Whatever. It's still an interesting idea, although it remains to be seen how accurate these are when based on the ground. If I remember correctly, the whole issue with these laser systems before was that as the laser intensity increased, the heat generated as it passed through the air causes the air particles to deflect the light beam and unfocus it. Perhaps the shorter distances of this system means it won't have the same magnitude of deflection/de-focus as when these systems were being tested as space-to-ground or ground-to-space. I mean if it works, great. Here's to hoping, right?

Ask a Ninja

I suppose there are plenty of people far more savvy in the vaunted interweb than myself who already know of this series of bizarre videos , but in case you have not seen them (as I had not until recently), you should really take a gander, because they are pretty outlandish, and really funny.
And if nothing else, check out the source website: http://askaninja.com

G8 topics?

I'm kind of fascinated by the G8 Summit, because it's a rare concatenation of separate statehood trials all at once. Not for the faint of heart, I'm sure. Here's FP's take on some of the major topics to be broached...

China's Power Appetite Wasteful?

I don't think anybody is under the illusion that China's power consumption isn't causing problems environmentally. They don't have alot of options at the moment, but the chinese government will show its true colors in the next 3-4 years, as its numerous alternative power generation projects start to come online in earnest. They really need to be pushing their nuclear/hydro/solar/wind development alongside the fossil fuels if they hope to maintain a marginally healthy populace. Already they are seeing the harmful health effects of their exponential industrial expansion, similar in many ways to the industrialization that the West went through a hundred and fifty years ago. Let's just hope they can keep their focus on the mistakes the West made and eventually corrected; then maybe they'll be able to balance their growth and avoid massive social upheaval as a result of disease and environmental contamination.

Inter-State Rail

Well, this is the first serious white-paper I've seen on the subject of serious passenger rail implementation, but it's really a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned. We will have to go down this road eventually, I think, and not even because of the energy concerns. Rather, the simple congestion of most regions near cities is too high already; so with further growth and rising density in any of these areas, we just won't have the capacity to pack more and more personal automobiles into the mix. The largest barrier has and probably always will be the standard American hard-headedness towards personal mobility, which is to say that they will not give it up at all, no matter what the consequences. It's unfortunate that we as a people are so stubborn about this subject, but it's a very real issue, so it's really up to all of us to start making the transition where we can, now. Hopefully it will catch on as improvements in rail service increase, and costs for personal transport rise.

Transition to OLEDs?

Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) seem to be gaining momentum in parallel to regular LEDs, but I'm not sure what part of this is simple hype and what is truly visionary (pardon the pun) progress for electronics manufacturing. I for one would love to have an entire wall that glows....

There is hope for us, yet.

I'm not one for sap and emotion, when I can avoid it, but this is a truly inspiring story. Nothing crazy or involved, just simple generosity of one human to another. As one of my favorite sayings goes: "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem."

cheers to Baker for his strong choice.

Chicago going green

I've never really spent any time in Chicago, but from what I've heard, this article seems pretty accurate.

Coal-to-Oil Plants?

Well call me green, left, or just pessimistic, but I think this is a step backwards .

Chimpanzee-based-messaging.

Oooooh, Microsoft. You are so crafty... I laughed alot when I first read this article, until I sat up straight with the realization that this is not a far cry from the idiocy that goes in in the patent world. Stupid capitalists...


although I would be all about a "chimpanzee-based message-transmission system."
awwww yeah.

America, F#%k yeah.

You read it. You love. You saw the movie. This is a bizarre edit of a video to the song. Pretty amusing, though. But I miss the puppets.

and yes, Cathy, I stole it off your profile. You are officially cooler than me. Either that, or you have way more time to surf the interweb. You be the judge...

Israel special-interest lobby in US

Interesting take on the lobby groups that help influence our middle-eastern foreign policy...

Self-Driving VW

Love it. Simply love it. And I can only hope that this sort of thing makes its way into popular industry everywhere and implementation somewhere in the US. Of course, the best part of the article is one of the comments at the end: "Isn't VW the one that says 'Driver's Wanted'?"

hah. Oh the punditry of the interweb...

I am SO moving to Finland

My favorite part about this story is not that the championship is based upon throwing a woman over your shoulder and running and obstacle course (although that is pretty great). No, my favorite is their prize. Gold medals? Not exactly. Monetary rewards based upon the difficulty of the feat? Getting warmer... Laptop computers for each and, yes, the wife's weight in BEER! (49 kg in this case). Ha! Gotta love those lapland bastards. First Nokia, and now wife-carrying beer winnings. What will they come up with next?

Buying Drinks to Watch the Strippers?

"The current system is like buying drinks so you can watch the strippers."

Well, this is actually an article about the new stages of internet infrastructure . Fascinating, although I don't really know enough about it to weigh in on one side or the other.

Venezuela Votes

I am continually struck by the fascinating trends in countries such as Venezuela, where former militants are gaining popular acceptance as political candidates. Although imperfect, the scenario has a distinct vitality that I can only wish for here in the lazy and uncaring political climate of the united states. I mean, can you think of more than one or two people in major public office who were rabid idealists of ANY sort during their youth, then transformed their beliefs into political movements? Not many. Some congressmen or senators, maybe. A few governors (and don't try and tell me Arnold is on that list...). I mean, say what you will about the stability of the Venezuelan state or the whimpering power of their minor economy; their voting percentages are good, with >60% voting in the recent elections, and very high participation and debate amongst both the candidates and the country as a whole.

All I'm saying is that we here in the US could definitely learn something from some of these transitional countries; at least they're actively trying to improve their country, instead of just engaging in partisan arguments about gay marriage, stem cells, or abortion.