Monday, February 28, 2005

science and yammering

Good morning folks.

wanna see something frightning?

Hillary Swank between treatments .... wow! what a face. thats the face that launched the contents of a thousand stomachs. plus when they posted the picture the first time it was a little squashed which made it even worse.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! tey changed the pic without changing the link so now this link points to unfrightning and rather boring pictures of other people in the news.... its too bad, that pic was soemthing to see.




And here is what happens when something frightening gets a life of its own. unwanted stardom which is no fun. I always wondered about the 'star wars kid' and if anybody ever took him under his wing and said "ok, you made an ass of yourself unintentionally. lets learn from this. Lesson one, never tape the early attempts. Lesson two, if you do something, do it right." and then teahc the kid how to dress, how to move and how to make a movie. I guess ia m just a softy, can't stand watching some one get smacked down for no good reason.



and now for something completely different.


This morning driving to work I saw a guy (here-to-for known as car1) make a right hand turn and come to a complete stop. The car behind him (here-to-fore known as car2) narrowly avoided smashing into him and hit his horn. I (here-to-fore known as all kinds of weird things) was behind car2 and also narrowly avoided an accident. Then car1 starts moving only to slam on his breaks again this time waving his middle finger out the window. Car2 did not respond except to stop. For the rest of the 300 feet between that corner and the next light car1 slammed on his breaks at random, swerved to cut off car2 when the lanes diverged, and screamed profanities out the window. I was stunned. What kind of idiot would rather start a fight and waste time then simply get to work and declare it a silly stupid incident. Seriously, I understand getting upset over someone honking at you when in your own head you did nothing wrong (to heck with reality). But to slow down, mess up your own commute and send your blood pressure through the roof over getting honked at..... not passed, not clipped, not cut off, just honked at? America is made up of idiots.


we now return you to our regularly scheduled yammering.


damn I miss the days when I had time and inclination to actually play a really good immersive game all the way through..... this looks like it might be such a game or at least a game concept. I have no time for such things. Lets see what my schedule (stripped of all personal info) looks like these days.


1) get up at 6 to be out of the house by 7 for work. Could be worse. I know lots of people who get up earlier and have less time to get out the door. Of course I have never been an AM kinda person. Even today given two days off my body defaults to late night and late mornings.

2) work from 7:30 to 5:30, maybe take lunch in-between. I really kinds dislike my job. I love the company I work for, most amazing people and organization I have ever come across. but my job is mind-numbingly dull.

3) go home, which somehow takes twice as long as getting to work.

4) eat dinner with my wife and son. Then I get to change him and start on everything else.

5) learn a new language. SOunds silly but I have made a promise to do it.

6) spend an hour working on my patent.

7) study for yet another certification.

8) try to do a half hour on the bike.

9) Read through my weekly/monthly publications, (newscientist, wired, Inc, fast company, etc...)to try and stay current on everything in the world.

10) sleep.

Does not sound like a lot and yet every day something falls by the wayside. I left out a whole bunch of stuff that happens on only some days. I can't blame it on TV, I only watch on wednesday nights.(LOST and West Wing). So what is happening to my time....



Never a dull moment in Israel. Israel is trying to put heat on Syria and the PA to curb militant activity. I wonder if it will work. Funny thing about the current peace plan... Its not much of a plan, and it has little in the way of peace so far but everyone is rooting for it. I wonder what happens when the first stage goes ok and then the two big questions come up for review, Jerusalem and the Palestinian Right of Return. Only time will tell.



Remember my rant on the Avian Flu and the US Preparedness Plan? (look down, its there, its that thing you stepped in). Well here is an editorial on the issue. and there is more (isn't there always?) U.S. tries to limit bird flu impact amid global threat(detroit news) and Spectre of Avian Flu looms (from the bangladesh ndependant) thats it for now. neither is an amazing piece but I figured I would throw them in to the mix and see what pops up. Oh yeah, nearly forgot ,we need more money to fight the flu but you know how politicians work. They can't give money to something that has not happened yet but they can't go on record denying the cash in case it does happen so lets just ignore the whole thing.


In other health news yet another benefit to green tea. I think the thing to do is bathe in the stuff. I remember some time ago they discovered that if you bathe penicillin resistant bacteria (type unknown to me) in green tea, they lost their resistance. Also some item in green tea works to reduce blood pressure and its chock full of anti oxidants and its a natural diarrhetic. Like I said, time to star bathing in the stuff.


This one is for sabrina. safe and friendly shark repellant. Does not hurt them and keeps them from hurting you. I will get you a copy of the full article as they have only a section online. In truth (cue sad music) sharks are misunderstood. they do not go out of their way to attack humans, but humans are removing them from the oceans at such speed that they are in danger of disappearing all together. That and I am told shark fin soup is vile.


Jack mentioned these a while back, I still think they are nasty and icky.


So does this mean that their actions affect their brain chemistry/physical make up or that they are pre-disposed towards feminine behavior and the gay lifestyle is simply one more manifestation of said predisposition..... I am NOT getting into it... just throwing it out there.


the worlds oceans are becoming more acidic. I actually went to that site looking for an article on iron and the worlds oceans. According to more than one thing I have read, Iron is ofte the limiting factor for algea and plankton growth in the open ocean. If you provide the iron, everything blooms and life abounds.... for a short while. Iron is one of my new favorite items to think about playing with. It cleans things up, it makes things grow, and it messes with people's sense of direction. Gatta love it. Oooohhh, I found it. an article on the goodness of iron in the ocean.


I don't get it. I know for a fact that human sexual activity is not disturbed at all by being monitored.... except that its usually disturbed to begin with. It seems that voles don't like being monitored during sex.... or something along those lines. oh well, their loss.


Add this remote control blimp to the toys I cannot afford but want to play with. oh well.


If you have read this far you are a true masochist. So how about something useful to read?


Every time some one asks my for ID I wonder what would happen if I refused. Or when they ask for my phone number/address. I have on more than one occasion refused and been told "well then you won't get the discount" to which I have answered "thats fine, my privacy is worth at least that 35cents" but what about the bigger issues? This fellow has been trying to figure out for a while now, what exactly are the rules regarding the need to show ID all the time. he has discovered some scary stuff, like the fact that you the average citizen is considered too much a security risk to be allowed to know why you must present ID when boarding a plane. I have said ti before, we live in 1984 and it has not made us safer, more successful or happier. here is the slashdot story on the same subject.


A side interestof mine is city design. I have a crazy idea of designing and building my own city for the purpose of scientific research and the betterment of all human kind.... and to see my name on the "WELCOME TO" sign out side the city in the position of designer. Any way, it seems that the inclusion of green-ways in an urban setting directly affects the health and activity of the urban settlers which is to say that more peope will walka nd bike to work if they can get there via a park. Neat.


In other health news, never let your spouse care for you... for that matter don't let your children do it either because as it turns out those who love you feel they have the right to hurt you. No real surprise in all this but somehow its nice to know that I am more likely to be well cared for by an underpaid immigrant orderly in a derelict old age home than I am in my children's house.... note to self, change the will.


A few more words (from the NYTimes, free reg blah blah blah) on the situation in israel. First the bombing is covered here along with Sharon's response and second is reactions to the pullout by the 'settlers'. I suggest reading both simply because i often suggest reading such things.


To rap things up, a move in the...right? direction in Kenyan School systems. It seems they are replacing books with computers (handheld and otherwise). I hope this works for them.

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