Green Roofs

Another great article talking about the green roofing trend.

The Bathroom Game

Just another classic use of uncomfortable scenarios with hidden cameras...

Ninja-Dad vs. Children

A-Capella! Just Like College!

This is pretty much exactly what I remember from the hundreds of cheesy a capella groups in college. Except they're not singing trendy songs badly. More's the pity.

It's the Numbers...They Just. Keep. Going.

I mean...I'm a dork. But Wow. Somebody has a little too much time on their hands...

WWII Airplane Factory --> Suburban complex

Pretty interesting photo archive story of an airplane plant camouflaged to look like a suburban sub-development.

Ask a Ninja : Jessica Lee Rose

New Ask a Ninja! Yessssss

Better than New!

I just cannot believe that they gave him such a crappy settlement. I mean, in America we award millions of dollars because some dumbass drops hot coffee in his lap. In germany, surgeons f**k up and have to replace a dude’s skull (the top part) with a piece of plastic. PLASTIC. Like he’s wearing a damn circus hat. (or maybe like Joe Dirt). I can’t decide which place is better to live in: the ridiculous litigious Valhalla that is the American court system, or the bizarre monkey courts in Germany where you can get screwed over by inept doctors that apparently just aren’t that worried about what they’re doing or the equipment they use.

Ridiculous.

What have I told you about reincarnating before you finish your dinner?

Yeah, way to go China. I’m sure this will totally destroy the whole structure of Buddhism. I am amused by the law in one sense, but then again, it’s sad that these kinds of things can happen and are an issue at all.

Very bizarre. Stupid fake communists.

Look out! The preppies are molting!

Yes. It appears to be a web-borne insurrection of yuppie proportions. Most amusing for me, as a CT-region preppie that is technically new money while growing up entrenched in old money. Having seen both sides of the high hedges, I find interest on both sides, but mostly amusement at both sides for the rhetorical spears they lob at each other from behind their entrenched customs, traditions, and comfortable stereotypes. Perhaps my favorite thing is to infiltrate these groups and then insert a little bit of discomfort by mixing the two worlds. Glorious!
But in any case, apparently the website is all about exclusive bar lists and hooking up with young ladies on the up and up. So to speak. Now. Where are my khakis and boat shoes?

iPhone unlocked; more drama

Speaking as someone who really doesn’t give a shit about the iPhone, it’s still very interesting to see the rigamarole that is going on with this whole legal issue of unlocking and then selling iphones. The business week article does a pretty good roll-up, though.

Solar Cell Phone Charger

Practical? Perhaps. Awesome? Definitely. Geek Factor: High.

Totally purchasing one, as soon as I can find my credit card…

Jersey Nerd gets new iPhones and a sports car?

Yeah...I thought this was ridiculous until someone pointed out that it was really just a question of trying to recruit the dude for further work and engineering insight...

Crazy Roommate Blog

Luckily, this blog is not mine, nor is it about my current roommate. But it is beginning to sound very familiar....

Kung Fu Remixer

Once again, my simple mind is totally fascinated by a simplistic but *totally awsome* remix of kung fu movies. Am I alone in this? Come on people!

The Best of South Carolina

Hmmmm. I am Jack's complete lack of surprise. Way to go, South Carolina.

Chinese Rail Issues

These guys are *so* screwed...

Women Sets Ex-Husband's Penis on Fire

Truthfully, I don't even care about the story. I just wanted to write that title.

Mars Habitat Simulation

I'm all about these kinds of tests, and almost every reason why is listed within this article. I don't know for sure that we should be "colonizing" the outer reaches of space any time soon, but i really do think that we could benefit from some minimal manned presence to run mining operations taking from asteroids and such. Robotic management will probably run the majority of the ships and machinery, but the human touch is still necessary for the unknown issues that always seem to come up...Murphy's Law being what it is...

Video Game Violence Laws as Pure BS

That’s pretty much what I take away from it. Great article about the consistency with which these laws are being found unconstitutional.

Two really great quotes:

 

“Violence has always been and remains a central interest of humankind and a recurrent, even obsessive theme of culture both high and low,” he wrote. “It engages the interest of children from an early age, as anyone familiar with the classic fairy tales collected by Grimm, Andersen, and Perrault are aware. To shield children right up to the age of 18 from exposure to violent descriptions and images would not only be quixotic, but deforming; it would leave them unequipped to cope with the world as we know it.”

 

And

 

“Video games are a new medium, and while people are used to scary stuff in the movies, they aren’t as used to having scary stuff in interactive media, so there is political value in passing these laws even if they are ultimately rejected by the courts…I think it’s fair to say that a lot of people who passed these laws knew they were unconstitutional, and they did it anyway.”

 

Shout it, brother.

 

Although the outcomes of these cases are the right ones, I think, there are other subtexts to be considered here. Especially the first quote, which touches on the question of whether this approach is applicable to sexual suggestion and content. Does it make sense to shelter someone in their formative years from sexual topics? They’re going to learn from their friends anyway, right? I’m not advocating legalizing porno sales to 10 year olds (not that they can’t get a hold of it anyway, but whatever), but simply that they’re exposed to plenty of suggestive imaging through commercials, TV shows, and music; allowing them to see the bubbly and pop-culture smiley version of sexual concourse while ignoring the darker and more dramatic aspects of the sexual interactions seems to be exactly the opposite scenario from what these advocates are saying. I would think you would want to provide a more balanced view, or no view at all. Since we do live in the real world (where you simply cannot shut of that faucet), your only hope is to balance the various images with a spectrum of experiences such that our children are adequately prepared to deal with the real world as they get thrust out in it.

WebTV to destroy Bandwidth?

It’s an interesting question, actually. Especially since the companies using the most bandwidth are not building infrastructure, but simply paying for it. So will the infrastructure providers be able to support the massive upgrade projects that might be necessary to support these much larger data loads? Or is the whole thing simply much ado about nothing, seeing as how we’re years behind Europe and much of Asia in terms of average bandwidth and connectivity?

I’m guessing that we’re going to need to see large-scale fiber roll-outs before we’ll be able to see a legitimate return to consistent data transfer. It might even be in industry’s best interest to form some sort of infrastructure consortium to kick-start the whole thing. Who knows. But with so much more of today’s businesses interacting over the web, if webTV takes off without an infrastructure boost, we could see a crippled internet capability for lots of businesses…

Fake Denstistry

I’ll be honest, I’ve met plenty of health-care officials that were pretty scary. I mean, sure they may have gotten through medical schools or training, but that does not mean that I trust them to work on my teeth or body. I mean, I have a friend from college who is a doctor now. Brilliant. Literally one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. And a very good research doctor. However; give him syringe or cutting tool, and you will observe me running for the hills. Just don’t trust him as a practical doctor; I’ll just wait for him to solve all the worlds medical problems using his mind. Probably we should put him in handcuffs or on a leash or something just to make sure he doesn’t get any wild ideas…

Aquanaut? Aqualung? Aquaman?

I guess this is different from the time when Ian Anderson (of Jethro Tull) lived for an entire week under the surface of a primordial pond, using only his flute to breathe.

And how is aquaman a superhero? Reminds me of The State, and a skit where he gets made fun of by Flash, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Classic.

Quicker Space Living?

Is it so wrong that this makes me giddy?

Tony vs Paul

This video is a great example of why YouTube is so awesome. Just two dudes who are bored (enter digital cameras and the internet) and come up with some really innovative fun. Nothing ground-breaking, just really interesting.

3 ton meteorite stolen?

Am I the only on that finds these claims a little bit dubious? I mean first of all: why? And of course, who? I mean, it would take some serious equipment to steal a 3 ton rock. I dunno…sounds pretty questionable to me.

Voltron is the Devil!

What can you say to this, except "wow". But then again, you see the same BS getting smeared across airwaves these days, it's just a little bit more clever. It makes me a little bit more ashamed for humanity every time I see something like this... it's like Calvin and Hobbes once said:
"The surest sign that there's intelligent life out there is that it hasn't tried to contact us."

In Fox News do We Trust

It would be difficult for me to overemphasize how much I detest Fox News Channel. This does seem to capture a little piece of my vehement derision, though...

Fear Him! Bogeyman!

Sci-Fi condensed stories

This mock condensed book site pokes fun at some of the biggest names in scifi and fantasy writing by condensing their plots to a few lines...pretty funny, although it cuts me deep a few times...

Problem Solving: Visualized.

This is surprisingly accurate, and I'm sure it applies to a much broader ranger than my experience. Suffice it to say, I utilized this basic throughout my naval career...

Hippity Hop Violin

All the Grooviest Online Video in One Place, GroovyGrooves.com

Jesus Records

Hah, classic. Gotta love the mockery videos...I'll forgive it the transgression of being produced by that pop-crazed miasma of teeny-bopper trash, because it's pretty damn funny. You know what? I'll even put two of them down. Because they amuse me.

Dirtiest US Power Plants

List of the Dirtiest US Power Plants, in order. Pretty sobering, when you take into account how much propaganda is being thrown around about the progress made in renewable energy; seems like every megawatt produced by renewable is dwarfed by another 10 MW added by coal plants…

Lego-Men Invade Netherlands

Those crazy bastards are letting the enemy right into their midst! I think I would be a little bit more mistrustful of a giant plastic monster coming up onto my shores…

Is dat yo Baby? Fo Real?

Well, it’s not like we’ve never seen this kind of stuff before, but it never ceases to amaze…

It’s like that guy in the National Guard that had his name legally changed to Optimus Prime; much respect for choosing the good guys, anyway…

A Farewell to Alms

Fascinating ideas about the birth of the Industrial Revolution in England, circa 1800. Most of my argument will really have to wait until I read the whole book, but I have to wonder about the concept of breeding out the unproductive portions of our society… are we simply living up to the cyclical nature of life with modern healthcare and welfare programs? I mean, for those that saw Idiocracy (a little simple-minded in execution, but the idea behind it is really interesting, and more than a little scary), you may see my point; the declining birth rates in 1^st world nations and the ballooning populations all over the 2^nd and 3^rd world (although those delineations are fast becoming outdated) would seem to belie the Malthusian implications of this work as applied to fertility in modern times; or at least, the utilization of that fertility (smart people are having fewer kids, regardless of whether they’re fertile or not). So perhaps by spending so much effort and resources on caring for those that would have died off otherwise, we are simply hastening another “Middle Ages” scenario where we would be faced with the other half of the Malthusian construct, where “agriculture production is outstripped by growth in population”

 

In any case, it will no doubt be a very healthy source of debate, and therefore I will enjoy it immensely.

The 5ives of St. Ives

Another compendium of amusing anecdotes in the style of those interminable lists on myspace that people seem to enjoy passing around incessantly, and without any real desire to read by anybody else.
And yet, here I go passing one along that I didn't even write myself...<sigh>

Minesweeper: The Movie

ahhhh, it kills me. Minesweeper used up so much crap time on computers, and now it's back for more. Those dirty sons of bitches...

Should I be Worried?

Yeah...should I be worried that a girl sent me this? (click on the picture)

More Aquabats. I'm on a Mission.

You see, the Aquabats are playing at the Trocadero here in a few weeks, and I'm already getting pumped up. Hence: happy video fun time with the Aquabats. Fo real.

Aquabats! Pudding Dispenser Belt!

These guys are one of my favorite ska/punk bands, due in large part to their masterful execution of completely tongue-in-cheek tomfoolery through everything they do. There is a certain integrity in the ability to shamelessly embrace childish amusement in what you do. Great stuff...and you should definitely check out the band's site and some of their music. (shameless plug)

Frictionless Nano Machines

There is a *huge* difference between determining that something is possible and actually making it work. The idea behind this is promising, even fascinating. But to achieve “frictionless” machines would require some seriously advanced engineering work. I’ll admit to not knowing all the ins and outs of this technology, but working at the nano level is difficult at best, and scaling machines to those sizes almost never works except on the very elemental levels. Ironically, it’s the simplistic Newtonian physics-based “machines” that work best in a world where quantum mechanics is king. Realistically I’m sure that’s just because we have yet to really perfected our understanding of quantum interactions at that level, but all the more reason why this project won’t be finished any time soon, I’m guessing…

Internet Radio Bleeding to Death

I love shoutcast. I love my indie broadcast sources. Most of all, I like the *idea* of the sort of rogue internet broadcaster, injecting his rebel yell into the ether of “penis enhancement” email and vast capitalist and propagandistic morass.

 

But it seems that with the appeal denied, and the IREA looking doomed, that these stations will soon be on their way out. Wired is running the story, but hopefully you and I can create enough noise to nudge our elected idiots into action…

 

The thing that worries me even more is what happens when the greed takes another step, and then things like myspace music and private podcasts are attacked? It seems ridiculous and unlikely, but I wouldn’t have thought that simple, niche-market broadcasters on the internet would have such hefty fees levied against them, either…

Beer Science: Only the Canadians...

Well to be fair, this is actually a legitimate field of study, with numerous applications. I just think it’s funny that of all the people to jokingly use beer as a test medium for multiply scattered acoustic waves, it just had to be a Canadian. I hope he’s using Molson…

Solar Decathlon

Sounds like fun…wish I had a house with which I could then experiment…

Arms to Arabs...

Yeah, ok. So everybody say it together: “We’re SO surprised our government is selling arms to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and others.” Sure. Now get over it. The thing that surprises me is that people think this is news. Why don’t we move on and find the important things to focus on: Like how we can extricate ourselves from the massive drain in Iraq. Or how we can counter the rise in radical extremism in swing countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan. Maybe how we can figure out our extensive domestic issues.

If we were trying to really stabilize the Middle East, we would figure out some way to promote Islam. Regular, everyday, Islam. That’s the best way to marginalize this radical periphery that is spreading quickly towards the center from the edge.
I mean honestly: blowing everything up just doesn’t work, that’s been proven time and time again. War works best when fought against opponents that play by the same basic rules as you do.

Guess what? Terrorism is way off. Same with most places we would invade. It’s an adaptive mechanism. We’re so overwhelming in power, they don’t even try to run direct battles, they simply shift the paradigm. Hope we can catch up…

 

Tonight at The Pit: Everybody Gets Laid.

Hah, great movie. But even better lead-in to this article. Which, while disturbing, actually brought up a number of very good points. I’m a little uncomfortable about it, but hey whatever. Get over it, right? This is another one of those things you’re all for until you find your parents’ “special” drawer…eeek!

Mass Extinctions Now From Cosmic Rays?

So apparently the idea now is that it wasn't necessarily an asteroid, but rather a tilt in the Sun's axis relative to the Milky Way, leading to heavy cosmic ray incidence on Earth. Well ain't that something...

I'll be honest, I'd always sort of pulled for Gary Larson's version of the extinction...

Are My Imported Goods up to snuff?

Another classic from the folks at TopFive...

How to tell if your imported goods are not up to snuff...

Made in China book

I’m kind of impressed this lady just went ahead and just did it. More interesting is outcome: that she basically couldn’t go for an entire year without using goods from China. Twisted, frightening, and a little ridiculous. But probably about right, for the average American that isn’t buying all-local, all-organic foods, and making all their children’s toys from local wood they cut themselves.

Such is globalization, neh?

 

Illegal Dung Depots

Who knew? Only in Florida…

Free $ and food at 60? Sign me up...

I can’t believe this stuff actually happens. Single dude living with his mom until AGE 60. I mean holy crap. At least in 40-year old virgin he moves into an old-folks apt complex. I mean seriously…

Sounds like a real winner, to me.

Movie Matinee Jail Sentence

You know, as much as I would like to hate on the MPAA on this one, I think I’m actually on their side, overall. I think their general stance is bullshit, but their application of their established stance and the law is, I think, correct. As the saying goes, ignorance is no excuse for breaking the law. Police officers are given latitude to introduce leniency in the interpretation of what to do once they witness a crime, but if charges are brought, they are duty-bound to bring the accused in and allow the issue to be settled in a court. After all, it’s a law, not a suggestion. And honestly, does anybody really not know that it’s against the law to tape a movie in a theatre? They might think they can get away with it, or that it’s not that big a deal so they won’t be bothered, but it’s a willful act to flaunt what is an established law.

And the quote that actually made me realize the balance was,

“We cannot educate theater managers to be judges and juries in what is acceptable," he said. "Theater managers cannot distinguish between good and bad stealing."

An excellent point, and I would have to agree.

The issue, of course, is what the company wishes to be doing as far as their theatre crowd PR is concerned. With a massive shift towards home theatre systems and away from public theatres, do they really want to be chasing *anybody* away from the theatre? I would say no.

 

So yeah. MPAA is lame, but everybody acted in accordance with the laws that were passed by our elected politicians. So if we think this is bullshit, we need not look any further than ourselves.

Solar Shields? Honestly?

This is a little bit ridiculous; making “solar shields” to lower earth’s temperature and thus counteract global warming. Let’s think literally: CO2 is the biggest greenhouse gas, right (well besides water vapor) ? And plants/trees/etc are the only really significant users of CO2 (translating it into O2). With less sunlight, these flora would be deprived of a small percentage of their only energy source, removing roughly that percentage of CO2 removal. Not to mention the flora that would die and thus create a huge differential. So we would then be screwing ourselves by destroying the only thing that was sort of keeping the balance in the war against CO2 levels. I can’t believe people actually advocate these idiocies.
Intent is good, application is bad.

And don’t get me started on ethanol, especially in many foreign countries like Brazil, where they’re cutting down rainforest in order to plant ethanol crops. These are drastically less efficient in terms of both CO2 consumption and also absorption of the sun’s energy; so while they’re barely making a dent in oil consumption with the ethanol production, they’re destroying more and more of the naturally occurring global warming check.

<sigh>

Ethanol has to be the biggest scam of all. It’s such a non-starter for big-picture economics, because it effectively doubles or triples food prices for everything while barely making a dent in gasoline usage nation-wide.

 

I am getting too fired up; I need to relax. Talk amongst yourselves…

Filipinos *can* Dance.

You just gotta crack a smile here...I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a method of fitness, or mob humility. Either way, it's quite amusing...

Oh Come ON, are you Serious?

Yeah. Like we needed a scientific study to tell you that nerds and complete idiots don’t get laid as much. Not like that hasn’t been a sore subject in years past for some of us…

 

Why they always gotta bring up old shit?

Demotivational Poster Children

Ah yes, the classic motivational posters of corporate America. Almost as ubiquitous as lame-ass, cutesy little, kitten-on-a-tree-branch or puppy-in-the-rain posters. Well luckily, this company has come up with something a little more appropriate for the corporate mind-meld.

Beatings will continue until morale improves.