Yeah! You Dirty Hippies!

hahah, I loooove whales. Alot.

Finally, a sane voice on ethanol

Well fancy that, our Energy Secretary actually has some intelligent thoughts on ethanol... I'll admit it, I was surprised. Pleased, but surprised.

And, as slashdot points out, Castro makes a good point about the possible uses of said corn...but then again, he *is* a commie. You know, when Castro sets up a more thought-out, realistic, and humanistic argument against the US, sometimes it's a little hard to know why we're so hard on him...

Solar Energy Rentals

I have to admit that I am fascinated by this idea…and I might even try it out on my rental property. Just for kicks…

Tallboy... not as in beer

Well, I guess there's somebody for everyone, right?

Hotmail = Idiot

Hahah, classic. I hope gmail doesn't make me an idiot...

Black Ice a.k.a. Ninjas of Glory

Ask A Ninja special delivery for New Blades of Glory

You peed on my iPod Shuffle.

...and you're such a stupid bitch.

Hey, I didn't make it up: watch the video.

Let's go after the buddhists!

Yeah... so I argue with my dad from time to time about whether the singer-songwriters of his bygone hey-day are truly no longer about. This guy really helps out my case; he does all sorts of intelligent, sarcastic songs with a panache that smacks decidedly of dork-engineer. I was pretty impressed, anyway



--------------

--------------

--------------

Gentiles, we've just been out-flanked.

I suppose I should lead off with a few disclaimers: I speak not a single word of yiddish. I know some jews, but not that many. I believe that draidles (no clue how to spell it) are the corollaries of bingo for catholics.
That said, this might be the funniest, albeit bizarre video I've seen all week. Just watch...

The Human Cost of Immigration

Onion! Again!
Oh mockery, how do adore thee...


Best quote: "Until you've had to live year-round in your summer home, you just don't understand..."

Enough with the Flex-Fuel. Get to 50mpg and *then* I'm excited

As usual, they make a big flap about ancillary ‘solutions’ that don’t address the underlying problem, merely the symptoms. As the article points out, the push needs to be for more fuel efficiency instead of just for changing around what kind of fuel we use. I mean, oil and biodiesel and ethanol are basically identical chemical makeups. The only real difference is the impact from producing it and the political/military implications of where we obtain it from. So I wish we could somehow just create a powerful enough market force to yield a real alternative in the form of an electric car, or a more significant hybrid (although the prius and its off-shoots are doing alright…)

Crocodile Girdle...Well, that's a new one

Ahhh yes, this story reminds me of my past career as a capybara smuggler in Nicaragua… Oh the memories…

 

Actually, a crocodile girdle…sounds like something Ralph Lauren could probably sell to Elton John.

 

Electronic Voting goes to Court

The court challenge of Diebold sounds a little ridiculous, from the initial cut of the story. Given that it’s really easy to turn this kind of story either direction with the inclusion or exclusion of a small amount of fact, but it barely touches the much larger fundamental issue of electronic voting: Can we really count on it?

It really comes down to the question of how much corruption we believe is present in the current, non-electronic system. At the moment, large-scale shifts in voting results require a whole chain of involvement at multiple levels of the voting tree. Electronic voting presents the potential for a much smaller intrusion to affect huge numbers of votes, although the security ostensibly in place is supposed to be that much more stringent. I tend to be more optimistic than pessimistic, so I think the old physical way, while less efficient, was actually more efficient at stemming corruption. A new paradigm in voting technology requires a companion shift in voting integrity oversight, with the emphasis perhaps more focused on process and electronic security, and less on the physical integrity of the voting boxes and locations.

Tales of Flying Croissants

So the real question is: do French UFO’s come equipped with white flags and a penchance for surrender?

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Freelance Bombardiering

Damnit, Onion! You make me laugh angrily through clenched teeth! Not because I'm angry, but because I am being watched continuously by Big Brother. These smiling chagrins will give me away, yet...

Philosophy is dead. Biology Rules.

Realistically, I don’t know how this debate is even going on. I mean seriously, how could you argue *against* morality being derived from evolutionary self-interest? Social structures and rules governing morality have a distinct bias towards the survival of the groups/entities that create them. Philosophy really just creates an excessive word structure to cover over the fact that we’re anxious about our place in the world. Interestingly, science and religion both explore the whole spectrum of human importance, miniscule to magnificent. But in all of these scenarios, morality is something either imposed on members of a group to align the actions of individuals to support the goals of the many. Ach. My head hurts trying to even consider a scenario where it wouldn’t apply… although I’m sure we’ll soon have some sort of intelligent-design morality argument springing up as soon as the mad Christians get their hands on this as a new fun topic to throw around the bored room. (yes. Bored.)

 

Can’t wait…

Vindication is MINE!

I always knew it. Every time my mom made me clean my room and I would end up losing track of all sorts of important things… I would argue on the behalf of entropy, the creative spirit, the yin and yang, whatever I could come up with. Turns out all I needed to do was conduct a study. By this rationale, I am reeeeediculously productive. Hell yeah.

On Second Thought, 'Tis a Silly Holiday...

So the day began innocently enough, albeit at 11am. From there we discovered a number of interesting scenarios... all of which would have been forgotten completely were it not for a photographic record.

For instance: we discovered the leprechaun had already lost his pot of gold... damn thieving elves...





Following this, we pit-stopped for pizza and apparently had to camouflage ourselves as obnoxious college students on spring break. I think we did quite well...



I guess in a more polite world we would have stayed as sober as can be, and never strayed far from this:


But then, we would never have discovered their true feelings for us.

Gears+Robotic Arm+Beer = Nerd Nirvana

Despite the fact that this chump attends Duke, he seems to have created a wonderful invention: the beer-launching mini-fridge. Brilliant! I'm not actually sure if I would make one myself, but if I did: I would add in memory settings so that you could press a single code for each of the couch spots and chairs in the living room. Oh man, would that be awesome.
Video below...

Beaver Cam. Yeah I said it.

Ummmmm, so yeah. Mr. Beaver Cam. I'm a little embarassed that I am so amused by the following video. But then again, if you are reading this blog you probably know me; and are in no way surprised to find it here. C'est la vie.

Seriously? This is news?

Ok. So I know that in even posting this article I am furthering the very thing I am decrying. But *honestly*, if this is what passes for news in the New York Times, there's really not very many places left beyond the reach of this ridiculous celebrity gossipy obsession. I mean, great: a supermodel had to work community service. It was for throwing a damn cell phone! Who doesn't throw shit when they're mad? I mean come on. I think the maid should just have thrown it back.
I weep for the news media.

BMW M3 Concept Car

I am literally salivating. Will someone slap me before I try and order one of these?

 

Compressed-Air Car

I still say this car is a great idea. It’s sad to say, but these kinds of innovations just will not be accepted by the general populace somewhere like America. However, in emerging industrial nations the possibilities are endless, especially where there is such high population density as china or India. I’m really excited to see the hotbed development that will occur over the next 10 years in those areas, and this is a great example of how it might start…

I'm a stalker!

oh hell yeah. Throwing celery at sports games reminds me a little bit of ole upenn and our toast-throwing hijincks back at franklin field. Of course, we lacked the amusing moniker of "stalkers". Good times...

End of the World... you know it!

Well, perhaps a little extreme, but a pretty funny take on nuclear buildups and eventual nuclear winter. Is that allowed to be funny? I say YES. Just look at Dr. Strangelove...


The End of the World

Swarm Reporting Techniques

Who knows, maybe this shit will work out alright. Mark Twain always said that while a crowd can be easily distracted, their attention is never held for long, and in the long run they will generally come to a concensus on the correct decision. He was speaking in terms of moral progress, as can be seen in general over the course of time; but perhaps it's true on a shorter time-scale here because of the speed of feedback and the fact that such disparate groups of people are connected together with voices that can be heard.
At the very least, the project seems worthwhile, and given the success of the wiki movements, this sort of wiki-journalism seems like an obvious outgrowth. I definitely do like the assignments that are given out, though. That's a cool touch...

Parental Blog Alert!

Yes. Rumors are true... my parents have started a blog to explain their random wanderings across the country on this, their second trek of epic proportions encompassing all tourism, brilliant and banal. Three cheers for the parentals!

Hollah!

Exercise increases brain power. Yup.

Hey, I've been saying it for years; now we have mice and men that prove it. Well, maybe not prove it, but some studies that seem to support it. Which is about as close as we get, these days...

Happy Pi-Day!

Yeah, you heard me. Pi Day. March 14 (3.14), specifically at 1:59pm (get it? Ahhhhh dorks…)

 

And if that wasn’t enough, here is the piem. (poem of pi, where each word is the length of the corresponding digit of pi)

Now this, at least, makes sense.

This is finally an example of a sensible application of alternative energy. It can’t possibly come close to fueling our massive industrial and commercial electrical generation needs, but it can release hundreds of niches from costly dependence on long-distance transmission lines to remote areas with meager power needs.

This is the kind of ecological common sense we need to espouse, instead of just throwing around words like “hybrid”, “ethanol”, “bio-diesel”, and “alternative fuels”, expecting the environment to give us a high-five, global warming disappears and unicorns pop out of verdant forests.

I magic.

Flip Cup. Now Nedda's Cup. Brilliant!

I am officially blown away. Having decided to build a large, over-sized version of a Beirut table, I went on to Wikipedia to find the dimensions. What should I find there, but the veritable lexicon of drinking games... I am, in a word, ecstatic.
Easily the best is the Flip Cup page, where there is a variation called "Nedda's Cup," ostensibly named for a "Hawaiian drinking innovator." You can't make this shit up...

I, Robot, will service you.

This is way too cool. An autonomous robotic service satellite... you know you love it, don't pretend.

Wii Weight-Loss?

Seriously; this kind of cracks me up. I mean, working out by playing video games? it brings back memories of the old power-pad Track and Field for the original Nintendo... hilarious. But I gotta say, I'm on board with it. Maybe there is something to all the hype for this Wii...

Microsoft: The Next Generation of High School?

Yup, apparently philadelphia has jumped on this particular bandwagon. As I see it, there are really two paths that this project could end up going down; withering defeat as a corporate succubus of funds, hopes, and dreams, or it could be a surprisingly successful and balanced venture.

Me? I hope it works. Not necessarily because I like corporate involvement in the everyday life (not that I think we can escape that, either), but more because I like what they're "trying" to do with it; which is to say, the school has more than just computers, but is actually designed to sort of walk-the-walk of green and tech design concepts. I'm all for that.
And at least Microsoft doesn't try to hide the fact that it is truly doing it for business' sake, rather than pretending to be altruistic. There's a certain, bald, integrity in admitting that you're an asshole, and really embracing it; because sometimes that asshole can do something very good while they're climbing all over people...

Does Libby Even Care?

Great, so they convicted him. Glad to hear it. Justice has been served... at least, for about a year and change. Does anybody really think this conviction will stick after the end of this administration? Bush is about ten times worse than clinton was for buddy-hookups, and clinton pardoned just about everyone he knew at the end of this term. I think W will probably just open up the doors to the country-club prison all his buddies are in and let them come and go as they please... maybe high five them on the way out.
Groovy, Smashing, Yay Capitalism!

The Next Cold-Staging Ground: Africa?

I feel *very* antsy about the establishment of an African Theater Command structure for the US military. It's not that I see us jumping into conflicts left and right with little or not thought to how it really fits into a coherent strategy... I mean we do that anyway. The proverbial shoot first, ask questions later. The thing that worries me is that with a dedicated command there, we're going to stretch ourselves even thinner across more arenas. The dwindling military resources of the US is not by any means dwarfed by any other country's assets, but the Roman Empire was twice the military might of any other collective entity at the time of its fall. It fell because of internal issues and the weight of being stretched to thin across so great an area. America is following dangerously close to this path. And the possibility of "conflict" with China, no matter what form, is worrisome, too. Add that to the three or four other pressure points that we have with the chinese (taiwan, hong kong, N. Korea, etc) and there's alot of unknowns that could really powder-keg quickly in a bad scenario.

I'm just saying... we need to keep our eyes peeled and tread carefully...

Are we really this bored?

Underwater Ice Hockey. The mind boggles. Although I suppose if I had to guess who would try it, the austrians would probably be it. Let's hear it for Vodka, I guess. I mean, I assume that's the inspiration behind this...

NYC Pillow Fight?

Did any of you fools partake in this? I'd be extremely impressed if so... I don't mind saying, I'm a little bit jealous.

Stand-Up Economics

I'm basically looking right at Vaibhav and the rest of you finance weenies. More money humor, although this is some pretty funny stuff...

The Economics of Racism

You know, I've often wondered about this stuff... I'm sure that I have prejudices, just as everyone does; but as I try to identify and quantify my internal prejudices, it's next-to impossible to determine what effect those have on my interactions with people. It brings doubt into all of my interactions, and means that I constantly re-evaluate my thoughts and feelings.
A recent article on Forbes talks about economic principles (herein basically meaning the application of statistical analysis typically applied to economics) used to pick apart the realities of racial gaps between american black and white.

Probably the most fascinating quote was concerning a test that divided workers arbitrarily into "green" and "purple" workers, and let employers hire based on knowledge of those colors. The result: "Once the downward spiral set in, a color-blind employer would actually lose money."

I mean, based upon that, we have to yet again call into question the balances we are willing to allow between pure capitalism and the moral imperatives that we must try and maintain to keep society's fabric together. Because capitalism is, by definition, amoral; how and when do we disrupt purely capitalistic practices in order to inject the prevailing or just (note: prevailing social practices are rarely just in retrospect) moral catalysts?

X-Prize competitions

I'm sure everybody knows about the X-Prize won by SpaceShipOne, for the first reusable commercial space vehicle that was conducted not that long ago. But what you may not know is that the X-Prize organization is doing lots of competitions, including one for high fuel-efficiency in autos. As is the case with most innovative solutions or initiatives, this cannot solve the whole problem, but it can certainly fuel the paradigm shift that enables real change and movement. I'll be the first to admit that I'm very susceptible to the marketing and idealism of this kind of program, but I think there are enough examples of palpable progress and commercial success to make these programs legitimate. I, for one, certainly hope so...

Good Looks Make You Smarter? I beg to differ...

THis article implies some interesting things and draws a few fascinating conclusions, but the title is horribly misleading; I've been to San Diego, where the beautiful people go. And trust me, those girls are *not* smarter...

Hmmm, sounds alot like the Navy

Yup. Done it, seen, now there's an article about it .

Ask a Ninja: Clubs

Hell yeah.

Ah, Geeks and their references.

I would like to pretend that I am not party to this sort of thing, but let's be honest: I am amongst the worst offenders. I mean, who else quotes Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein at happy hour in a dive bar?
Oh well. Obscurity be damned! Go nerds!