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Monday, May 19, 2008

ODDS & ENDS

If you have a spare $29.3 million (£15 million, €18.8 million) than why not buy the leasehold on the island of Herm. It is 1.5 miles long by ½ mile wide, has a population of about 50 and is part of the British Channel Islands located off the northern coast of France.

If you are receiving disability payments because you are too ill to walk, it is probably a bad idea to referee soccer games. I guess running wasn't a problem. Which goes to show that insurance fraud isn't just an American custom.

This story would have been better if a milk truck would have been involved. ;-)

Pilots say that any landing you can walk away from is considered good. I guess that applies to takeoffs also.

"I am drunk and I had a wreck". In my life, that wasn't something uncommon for me to hear. But from a 12-year old boy? I can almost hear his mother now, "Jimmy Ray Billy Bob, youse got some mighty big 'splaining to do."

I offer this one without any editorial comment (cause I can't stop laughing).

Okay, HEFTY makes some mighty strong trash bags. Thats a given. But is the demographic their latest ads seem to target really that large? God, I hope not. Then again, there IS New Jersey.

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive


"Let's all be careful out there!"

COMPUTER...

RUN HOLODECK PROGRAM AJ-72-Z9C

Its just a baby-step, but its still progress. Researchers in the field of AI (artificial intelligence) have created an autonomous avatar at the virtual reality site "Second Life". Its abilities are still rather limited but it can interact with other, human controlled, avatars. And has some limited reasoning ability. As AI research continues, someday in the future you'll be able to interact with three dimensional characters in created scenarios. The science is starting to catchup with Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future.

Israeli prisons are going hi-tech by using dogs and computers. Researchers have studied the different stress levels in a dog's bark and created a system that now alerts guards when a canine's yappings indicate an intruder rather than a stray cat. Could this be the first step in inter-species communication?

38 people have been charged by Federal authorities with running phishing scams. I received one today that told me my gmail account was going to be closed unless I provided them with the necessary information.

Back in 1962, a General Electric researcher created the very first light emitting diode or LED. We first began to notice them while watching our VCRs flash 12:00 at us 24/7. They only came in the color red and were neat little trinkets that ended up on keychains and kids toys. In the 90's science was able to create LEDs that emitted blue and green light. Which those of us who play around with our PCs know, that meant that, by combining different intensities of those three basic colors, a pallete of 16 million colors became available. In the 3rd millennium, organic LEDs (oLED) were developed. oLEDs are flexible and can be woven into fabric. In the next few years plans are to create oLED sheets that can be used like wallpaper or moldable strips. LEDs use very little power and give off almost no heat. If you think Times Square is bright today, come back in a few years and see whats cookin'.

Davey Jones' locker continues to yield more facts about our planet than we even contemplated. We know so little about that 75% of the planet below the ocean surface.

Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive


"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE












Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive


"Let's all be careful out there!"

LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT...

THE MEDIA IS RACIST FOR REPORTING WHAT REV. WRIGHT SAID, WAS WRONG?
"The ugliness we watched on television as media manipulators tried to scare us from voting for an African American candidate by presenting a deliberately frightening caricature of his African American pastor reminded us of how ugly the conversation on race can be."
Those words are part of a sermon, given yesterday by the head shaman of the 1.2 million strong United Church of Christ, John Thomas, before the 320 members of the Danville (CA) Congregational Church.

Look, I understand that his intentions are good, racism is the 800# gorilla in the room, but it wasn't the media who created the furor. It was Wright himself whose vitrolic foaming alienated people. Obama has a better than even chance of winning the Presidency this year. But only if his "friends" don't fuck it up for him.

Wright started it, Clinton fanned the flames in a counter-reaction and Obama is stuck between a rock and a hard spot. I said it before, this race is going to come down to just that one issue, RACE. Not in the issues debated by the candidates but in the sub-human perceptions of the electorate. If you thought the last decade's "in your face" fight between liberals and conservatives was dirty, then your might want to go fetch your hip-boots. You ain't seen nothing yet.

***
Osama bin Laden sure has become pontific. Two audio messages in 3 days! Or maybe this is just his way of telling Dubya that he is still out there. And reminding the rest of us just how inefficient "fearless leader" is in his supposed efforts to capture him. Or, possibly, this is an evil plot by Cheney to destroy Bush, for all the problems he caused the neo-con side of the (soon to be "late") GOP.

***
Global warming is the cause of the increase in the number and intensity of hurricanes/typhoons/cyclones, right? Or, is it just part a multi-decade cycle that happens naturally? A new study says the later choice might just be the correct answer. It also says that global warming might actually reduce the number/intensity of these storms. I just say that I wonder how much it cost big business to buy this guy off.

***
In the US we have three periods of the year where TV viewership is measured. November, February and May. The result of these sweeps are how the networks base the ad rates for the following few months. In February people stayed away from major television networks in droves. Seeking entertainmaent from the higher numbered cable channels. This was considered a reaction to the "reality" programming the majors purveyed during the WGA strike. Well, the May sweeps are now over and guess what. The networks still saw a major loss in share. Cable channels, the net, game consoles and internet-tv have all made healthy gains. Except for the occassional PBS show, I usually spend my TV time on the History Channel, NatGeo, Discovery and SciFi. All niche market programming. Judy likes the channel that deals with cooking and my landlord downloads movies from NetFlix. Another friend loves watching the films on American Movie Classics and Turner Classic Movies. And then there are the premium and pay-per-view channels, which have demonstrated that people will watch quality programming if it is presented. The day of major network domination may be coming to its end.

***
This is just (NOT!) the type of story I need as I prepare to leave the island.

***
Thats it for the moment. I'll be back later with more. Have a great day and thanks much for dropping in.

Mahalo

Aloha


THE PICTURE GALLERY




Over The Limit?
UNDER ARREST!
Please don't drink and drive


"Let's all be careful out there!"