Your Moment of Cat Zen

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Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween, everyone. Go out there, have fun, and take lots of pics!

Quick Joke of the Day

From a passenger ship, one can see a bearded man on a small island who is shouting and desperately waving his hands. "Who is it?" a passenger asks the captain, who graduated from Tennessee A & I. "I've no idea. Every year when we pass, he just goes nuts." Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

Your Moment of Cat Zen

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Obama Supporters - Stay On Target

Stay on target - go vote on (or before) Nov 4. Don't let this happen to us!

Your Moment of Cat Zen

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Top 11 Ways to Scare a Geek

BBspot has a new Top 11 List - Top 11 Ways to Scare a Geek. My favorites are numbers 10 and 7:

10. Spray fried motherboard scented Air Freshener. 7. Make IE their default browser.

Quick Joke of the Day

A tom cat and a tabby cat were courting on a back fence at night. The tom leaned over to the tabby with pent up passion and purred... "I'll die for you" The tabby gazed at him from under lowered eye lids and asked, "How many times?" Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

Excellent Advice for Programmers

Always code as if the person who will maintain your code is a maniac serial killer that knows where you live.

Visual Studio 2010 Pre-Beta CTP is Now Live

The pre-beta, Visual Studio 2010 bits are now available for download. You can get them here:

• Main download page.
• The VS 2010 download files page.

The C# compiler team samples are also available for download here.

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 mark the next generation of developer tools from Microsoft. Designed to address the latest needs of developers, Visual Studio delivers key innovations in the following pillars: Democratizing Application Lifecycle Management, Enabling emerging trends, Inspiring developer delight and Riding the next generation platform wave. For more information, check out the Overview of Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0

Packs of robots to hunt down "uncooperative humans"

The latest request from the Pentagon seems like a precursor to Terminator. They are looking for contractors to provide a "Multi-Robot Pursuit System" that will let packs of robots "search for and detect a non-cooperative human". One thing that really bothers DoD is having their troops diverted from other duties to control robots. So having a pack of them controlled by one person makes logistical sense. But I'm concerned about where this technology will end up. Given that iRobot last year struck a deal with Taser International to mount stun weapons on its military robots, how long before we see packs of droids hunting down pesky demonstrators with paralysing weapons? Or could the packs even be lethally armed? Steve Wright of Leeds Metropolitan University is an expert on police and military technologies, and last year correctly predicted this pack-hunting mode of operation would happen. "The giveaway here is the phrase 'a non-cooperative human subject',":

"What we have here are the beginnings of something designed to enable robots to hunt down humans like a pack of dogs. Once the software is perfected we can reasonably anticipate that they will become autonomous and become armed. We can also expect such systems to be equipped with human detection and tracking devices including sensors which detect human breath and the radio waves associated with a human heart beat. These are technologies already developed."

Another commentator often in the news for his views on military robot autonomy is Noel Sharkey, an AI and robotics engineer at the University of Sheffield. He says he can understand why the military want such technology, but also worries it will be used irresponsibly.

"This is a clear step towards one of the main goals of the US Army's Future Combat Systems project, which aims to make a single soldier the nexus for a large scale robot attack. Independently, ground and aerial robots have been tested together and once the bits are joined, there will be a robot force under command of a single soldier with potentially dire consequences for innocents around the corner."

What do you make of this? Are we letting our militaries run technologically amok with our tax dollars? Or can robot soldiers be programmed to be even more ethical than human ones?

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Quick Joke of the Day

A psychiatrist was conducting a group therapy session with four young Mothers and their small children. "You all have obsessions," he observed. To the first mother, Mary, he said, "You are obsessed with eating. You have even named your daughter 'Candy'." He turned to the second Mom, Ann. "Your obsession is with money. Again, it manifests itself in your child's name, 'Penny'." He turned to the third Mom, Joyce. "Your obsession is with alcohol. This shows, too, in your child's name, 'Brandy'." At this point, the fourth Mother, Kathy, quietly got up, took her little boy by the hand and whispered, "Come on, Dick. This guy has no idea what he's talking about. Let's go pick up Peter and Willy from school and get dinner." Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

Your Moment of Cat Zen

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Atheists Advertise on UK Buses

A novel advertising campaign underway in the United Kingdom reads "There's probably no God. Now, stop worrying and enjoy your life." Residents will see it on the sides of buses, and perhaps, on posters, and elsewhere. In addition to the slogan, the adverts will feature the URLs of secular, humanist and atheist websites, so that readers can find out more about atheism as a positive and liberating alternative to religion. There is also an interactive campaign website and Facebook group, so that questions raised by the adverts can be publicly debated. The group British Humanist Association is sponsoring the campaign and is seeking donations. Apparently multimillionaire Richard Dawkins has been matching donations – but only up to a total of £5,500. £11,000 is needed to keep two sets of 30 buses carrying the slogan across Westminster for four weeks. By last night, individuals and organisations had pledged more than £47,900.

Writer Ariane Sherine, who suggested the idea in a Guardian Comment is Free blog last June, said she was surprised by the level of support but was pleased with the extra money, which would finance a more ambitious campaign. "We could go national, we could have tube posters, different slogans, more buses, advertising inside buses. The sky's the limit - except, of course, there's nothing up there."

To donate to the atheist bus campaign, please visit JustGiving.

Quick Joke of the Day

Typical macho man married typical good-looking lady and after the wedding, he laid down the following rules: "I'll be home when I want, if I want and at what time I want-and I don't expect any hassle from you. I expect a great dinner to be on the table unless I tell you that I won't be home for dinner. I'll go hunting, fishing, boozing and card-playing when I want with my old buddies and don't you give me a hard time about it. Those are my rules. Any comments?" His new bride said, "No, that's fine with me. Just understand that there will be sex here at seven o'clock every night.. whether you're here or not." Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

Your Moment of Cat Zen

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Scary SEO

I'll be at Scary SEO today and tomorrow, so posting will be light (or non-existant). See you back here on Sunday.

Eight Year Old Girl Tells It Like It Is

You know you have a good show going when an eight year old girl takes on Bill O'Reilly. I think she does a great job of explaining why people like Bill do more harm than rap music and video games. Would like to put in a personal request that everyone who views her video (below) go to YouTube and vote on the video (links at the bottom). Eight Year Old Girl Tells It Like It Is If anyone knows Bill O'Reilly, beat his stupid ass for me. I really can't stand this *explicative deleted* idiot. Bill O'Reilly Responds If you know this girl's parents and family, tell them they did a great job raising her. They should not be shamed - they should be congratulated for raising a well informed child who has valid (and valued) opinions. YouTube - The Coolest 8 Year Old In The World Talks About O'Reilly

Your Moment of Cat Zen

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Quick Joke of the Day

Paddy and his two friends are talking at a bar. His first friend says: "I think my wife is having an affair with the electrician. The other day I came home and found wire cutters under our bed and they weren't mine." His second friend says: "I think my wife is having an affair with the plumber. The other day I found a wrench under the bed and it wasn't mine." Paddy says: "I think my wife is having an affair with a horse." Both his friends look at him with utter disbelief. "No, I'm serious. The other day I came home and found a jockey under our bed." Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

Your Moment of Cat Zen

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Quick Joke of the Day

Three railroad workers, a Chinese man, an Italian, and a redneck, are all sitting down to lunch. The Chinese man says, "If I get another egg roll in my lunch, I'll kill myself." The Italian guy says, "If I get another slice of pizza, I'll kill myself." The redneck says, "Iffin I get another ham hock, I'll kill myself." The next day, all three men get the same lunches, so they throw themselves in front of an oncoming train. At the funeral the Chinese man's wife says, "If only I hadn't packed an egg roll that day." The Italian guy's wife says, "If only I hadn't packed a slice of pizza that day." "Don't look at me," says the redneck's wife. "He done packed his own vittles." Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

What Will Happen to Your Pets After the Rapture?

Have you ever thought about what will happen to your pets after Jesus comes back to claim the souls of the saved during the Rapture and deliver them to heaven to enjoy everlasting life? The Bible teaches that only those who have accepted Jesus as their savior will be risin', and we all know that pets do not have the cognitive ability to do this. So, what will happen to your beloved pets? Without you there, they'll be stuck in an empty house, starving to death.....no one to feed them.....no one to clean their litter tray.....or rub their tummy. This is not what you envision for your pets after you are gone. This is where I come in. As a non-Christian I'll still be here post-Rapture, and I would love to look after your pets for a small fee, and make sure they are still well taken care of after you and your family have been Raptured. You will be able to look down on them from heaven and see them being cared for by me and living happily. For a small fee of $350, you can be assured that your pets will be well-cared-for from the time that you are Raptured until the end of their natural life. Just think: Jesus might be a pet hater, and there might be a lot of pets who are abandoned. Hoo boy, you don't want that. My PayPal button is below, so you can assure your pets will be taken care of after Jesus comes with his Rapture deal.

Your Moment of Cat Zen

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Who Is American?

There’s quite a lot that Colin Powell said during his endorsement of Barack Obama that spoke to me, but in particular his mention of the current attempt on the Republican side of things to equate being Muslim with not being American got my attention. On the attempt to suggest Obama is a Muslim — or the tacit acceptance on the GOP side when such a suggestion occurs — Powell said that the right answer was that the suggestion is wrong, and that Obama is a Christian. But then he said: “The really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being Muslim in America? No, that’s not America.” And then he talked about Specialist Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, Muslim, born in New Jersey, who was killed serving in Iraq, and how he saw a photo of Khan’s mother at her son’s grave, feeling the grief mothers feel when their children are lost at war, and how the grave of Spec. Khan showed not a cross or a star of David but the crescent and star of Islam. Spec. Khan, who had received a bronze star, is buried with full honors at Arlington. “He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could go serve his country, and he gave his life,” Powell said. “Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourselves in this way.” Yes. Reprinted from John Scalzi's Whatever.

Quick Joke of the Day

Juan comes up to the Mexican border on his bicycle. He's got two large bags over his shoulders. The guard stops him and says, "What''s in the bags?" "Sand," answered Juan. The guard says, "We'll just see about that get off the bike." The guard takes the bags and rips them apart; he empties them out and finds nothing in them but sand. He detains Juan overnight and has the sand analyzed, only to discover that there is nothing but pure sand in the bags. The guard releases Juan, puts the sand into new bags, hefts them onto the man''s shoulders, and lets him cross the border. A week later, the same thing happens. The guard asks, "What have you got?" "Sand," says Juan. The guard does his thorough examination and discovers that the bags contain nothing but sand.He gives the sand back to Juan, and Juan crosses the border on his bicycle. This sequence of events if repeated every day for three years. Finally, Juan doesn't show up one day and the guard meets him in a Cantina in Mexico. "Hey, Buddy," says the guard, "I know you are smuggling something. It's driving me crazy. It's all I think about..... I can't sleep. Just between you and me, what are you smuggling?" Juan sips his beer and says, "Bicycles." Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

Your Moment of Cat Zen

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The Best of Late Night

Yesterday in New York City, a woman gave birth to a baby at JFK airport. People at JFK were shocked because it was the first time in years they have seen an on-time arrival. -Conan O'Brien In an article in The Washington Post, medical experts say Joe Biden may have had Botox. You know how they could tell? His expression didn’t change when they asked him about his hair plugs. -Jay Leno Josh Brolin, who plays President Bush in the new movie “W.,” says at first he wasn’t sure he should take the role, because it would be such an acting challenge. Brolin says he prepared for the role by getting up every day, running five miles, and then bashing himself in the head with a hammer. -Conan O'Brien Tonight was the very last presidential debate . . . which means prayer does work. -Jay Leno Two big wildfires are burning in California. Emergency teams are trying to contain the fire. They are trying to drive them to homes that have already been foreclosed on. -Jimmy Kimmel A group linked to Democrats is now being investigated because they’ve been accused of falsifying voter registration forms, including one for Mickey Mouse. President Bush was furious when he heard this, because he thought Mickey Mouse was a Republican. -Conan O'Brien Today is Columbus Day, which is why all the banks are closed. At least I think that’s why all the banks are closed . . . -Jay Leno In a new interview, Nicole Richie said she has no plans to get married, but it could happen eventually. Then Richie said the same thing about lunch. -Conan O'Brien Well, the market went down over 700 points today. Oh, that reminds me. You know, we turn our clocks back soon. We're turning it back to 1929, I believe. -Jay Leno This economy is crazy. Are you with me on that one? This is what I saw today. I saw a Lehman Brothers executive walking around town wearing a sign that read, 'Will work for a seven-figure bonus.' -David Letterman

Hologram Driving Assistant

The first hologram co-driver for your car gives you directions, wakes you if you fall asleep, helps you park and prevents theft. FAQ's: How much does it cost? The price of DAConnect will be announced at its official launch on Oct. 13, 2008 How many types of holograms can be projected? One female and two male figures are available (including the standard security hologram). Holograms reproduce themselves highly accurately. Actually, DAConnect uses "holofims", ie video recordings. Do the projected holograms also speak other languages? Currently the holograms communicate in English. In case of accidents with foreign drivers you can use a pre-recorded phrase in one of five languages (Italian, Spanish, French, German and English). Does DAConnect work even if there is a passenger sitting on the seat on which the hologram is projected? No. Any object between the light beams interrupting the projection of the holographic figure prevents the proper functioning of the system. Can it be used in a convertible? No. The projected hologram is visible only under certain lighting conditions inside a passenger compartment. [DAConnect]

Quick Joke of the Day

There once was a lady who was very concerned about her missing parrot. Not knowing what to do, she called 911. "You gotta help me find my parrot!" The operator patiently replied, "We can't help you with that, ma'am. This number only deals with emergencies." But the lady persisted, and then the operator told her not to be concerned, that the parrot should fly back in a few days. Then, out of desperation, the lady begged, "But you don't understand! The only thing he knows how to say is, "Here, kitty, kitty!!!" Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

Your Moment of Cat Zen

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October 22 - Another Joseph Arsenault Movie

A unique, one of a kind movie! Both Joseph Arsenault and Mark Boone Junior have earned overwhelmingly positive reviews and October 22 is considered by many to be one of the best films of the year (1999)! Maybe that’s what makes the movie so good. The great cast includes Joseph Arsenault, Mark Boone Junior, E.J. Callahan, Jack Carter (II), Tate Donovan. The movie moves on like a dream and leaves you wanting for more. WATCH October 22 ONLINE BY CLICKING HERE! If you love watching Joseph Arsenault or Mark Boone Junior, you are deffinetly going to want to watch October 22. Not just another day. A wounded man calls the police from a pay phone. He frantically explains that a gunman has gone berserk at a coffee shop and is firing indiscriminately at anyone who moves. Inside, the madman Gary (Michael Pare) is shooting away as the SWAT team rushes in with guns raised. Earlier that morning, Denise (Amanda Plummer), a waitress at the coffee shop, serves each of the unwitting victims as, booth by booth, they are each being drawn by the strings of fate. On October 22, their lives cross and they are faced with their own mortality and, as the situation brews a killer, it also creates a hero. WATCH October 22 ONLINE BY CLICKING HERE! Joseph Arsenault - IMDB

Quick Joke of the Day

Here's a truly heartwarming story about the bond formed between a little 5-year-old girl and some construction workers that will make you believe that we all can make a difference when we give a child the gift of our time. A young family moved into a house next to a vacant lot. One day, a construction crew turned up to start building a house on the empty lot. The young family's 5-year-old daughter naturally took an interest in all the activity going on next door and spent much of each day observing the workers. Eventually, the construction crew, all of them 'gems-in-the-rough', more or less, adopted her as a kind of project mascot. They chatted with her, let sit with them while they had coffee and lunch breaks, and gave her little jobs to do here and there to make her feel important. At the end of the first week, they even presented her with a pay envelope containing ten dollars. The little girl took this home to her mother who suggested that she take her 'pay' to the bank the next day to start a savings account. When the girl and her mom got to the bank, the teller was equally impressed and asked the little girl how she had come by her very own paycheck at such a young age. The little girl proudly replied, "I worked last week with a real construction crew building the new house next door to us." "Oh, goodness gracious," said the teller. "And will you be working on the house again this week too?" The little girl replied, "I will, if those assholes at Lowe's ever deliver the f**king sheet rock...." Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

YouTube and PBS Want You to Video Your Vote

Online-video site YouTube and PBS have teamed up to create Video Your Vote, an election day project that asks you to record and submit your experience at the polls on election day. Want to participate? Better make sure polling place photography is legal in your state.

Your Moment of Cat Zen

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Quick Joke of the Day

A new teacher was trying to make use of the psychology courses she’d taken in college. She started class by saying, “Everyone who thinks they’re stupid, stand up.” After a few seconds, one boy stood up. The teacher said, “Do you think you’re stupid?” “No, ma’am,” the boy replied, “but I hate to see you stand there all by yourself.” Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

Your Bottled Water is Contaminated

Tests on leading brands of bottled water turned up a variety of contaminants, including cancer-linked chemicals three times higher than California's health standard, according to a study released Wednesday by an environmental advocacy group. The findings challenge the popular impression — and marketing pitch — that bottled water is purer than tap water, the researchers say. However, all the brands met federal health standards for drinking water. And most of the detected contaminants are common in tap water, too. Lab tests detected 38 chemicals in 10 brands, with an average of eight contaminants found in each kind of bottled water. Tests showed coliform bacteria, caffeine, the pain reliever acetaminophen, fertilizer, solvents, plastic-making chemicals and the radioactive element strontium. The two-year study was done by the Washington-based Environmental Working Group, an organization founded by scientists that advocates stricter regulation. It bought bottled water in California, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. Researchers tested one batch for each of 10 brands. Eight of those did not have troubling levels of contaminants. But two brands did, so more tests were done and those revealed chlorine byproducts above California's standard. The researchers identified those two brands as Sam's Choice sold by Wal-Mart and Acadia of Giant Food supermarkets. n the Wal-Mart and Giant Food bottled water, the highest concentration of chlorine byproducts, known as trihalomethanes, was over 35 parts per billion. California requires 10 parts per billion or less, and the industry's International Bottled Water Association makes 10 its voluntary guideline. The federal limit is 80. Water researcher Dr. David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment of the University at Albany, who had no role in the study, singled out trihalomethanes as the biggest concern because of strong research links to cancer. "These are levels that should not be in bottled water," he said. The researchers also said the Wal-Mart brand exceeded California's limit by five times for a second chlorine byproduct, bromodichloromethane. The Environmental Working Group said it notified California's attorney general of its intent to sue Wal-Mart. The group wants the company to label its bottles in California with a warning of cancer-causing chemicals. Wal-Mart did not respond to a request for comment. The chlorine byproducts, which studies have also linked to birth defects, presumably come from chlorine used as a disinfectant, which ends up in public water systems. Tap water is often repackaged and sold as bottled water, and the researchers say that was true of these two brands. "In some cases, it appears bottled water is no less polluted than tap water and, at 1,900 times the cost, consumers should expect better," said Jane Houlihan, an environmental engineer who co-authored the study. The researchers recommend that people who are worried use a carbon filter for their tap water

Your Moment of Cat Zen

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Quick Joke of the Day

There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra today than on Alzheimer's research. This means that by 2040 there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them. Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

Your Moment of Cat Zen

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Pirating Gives You More Control

I don't think I could have said this any better: DRM - It Sucks!

Quick Joke of the Day

Words of wisdom Always wanted to be a procrastinator, but never got around to it. My friend has kleptomania, but when it gets bad, he takes something for it. Never be afraid to try something new, Remember amateurs built the ark - Professionals built the Titanic. Love is grand - divorce is a hundred grand. Politicians and diapers have one thing in common, they should both be changed regularly and for the same reason. One of life's mysteries - How can a two pound box of candy make a person gain five pounds. Time may be a great healer, but it's also a lousy beautician. Age doesn't always bring wisdom, sometimes age comes alone. Life not only begins at forty, it begins to show. Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

Don't Mess With Scientists

If there's one rule in election-year politics, it's this: Don't mess with the science crowd. OK, labor unions and the NRA matter too, but John McCain may want to brush up on his stars and planets after Tuesday night's debate.

In the debate, McCain portrayed Barack Obama as an excessive spender, and he punctuated his attack (twice) with this example:

"[Obama] voted for nearly a billion dollars in pork barrel earmark projects, including, by the way, $3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois. My friends, do we need to spend that kind of money?"

Turns out, a lot of people think we do. This is no ordinary overhead projector from your 5th grade classroom. The blog Cosmic Variance sums it up:

"If you've ever had the pleasure of visiting the Adler Planetarium, you'd probably guess that the 'overhead projector' he's talking about is the spectacular 'Sky Theater' -- one of the most engrossing, gorgeous venues for displaying visuals about space."

The science community is notoriously tight-knit, especially when rallying to a cause, and boy are they are rallying to this one. Alan Boyle's Cosmic Log has a great summary of the uproar:

-"For McCain to use this as a political zinger is insulting..." (Bad Astronomy)

-"Planetariums are Bridges to the Future, and America would be a much better place if all the congressional earmarks went to projects like them." (The Perfect Silence)

-"The logo for Senator John McCain's campaign has a star in the middle. I wonder what his guide star is? It can't be the same one that ten million children have seen at the Adler Planetarium.

Why should anyone want their star to dim?" (Discovery Space)

The Adler Planetarium even issued a statement, noting that the request, ironically, was not even funded:

"To clarify, the Adler Planetarium requested federal support -- which was not funded -- to replace the projector in its historic Sky Theater, the first planetarium theater in the Western Hemisphere.... To remain competitive and ensure national security, it is vital that we educate and inspire the next generation of explorers to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math."

Linking a planetarium to national security may be a bit of a stretch, but the point is clear: McCain probably shouldn't count on the "science vote" this year.

The Advantages of Absentee Voting

In a previous post, I discussed how absentee voting can save you time. I have now found a new benefit of absentee voting - the internet. I received my absentee ballot a few days ago. Over the weekend, I opened the packet, went through all the contents, and prepared to vote. There were several elections for judges which I had no information about. I had never heard of some of the judges on the ballot, so I decided to do some research. Googling each judge's name (for example - judge sandra day o'connor) took me to political and non-political pages on wikipedia, the elections board, and other websites with detailed information about the judges' voting histories, interests, and stances on issues that are important to me. For several elections, this made a huge difference in my decision of who to vote for. If I had been in a voting booth, I would not have been able to do this research. I would have been forced to either abstain from voting for that particular election, or potentially vote for a judge with whom I disagree. One more reason to vote absentee.

Your Moment of Cat Zen

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Sequoia's Optical Scan Vote Counting Machines Giving Different Results Every Time

Wired is running a long, and somewhat scary, report about the ongoing situation in Palm Beach, where every time the votes are counted, a different vote count comes out. A test was set up by the local newspaper to scan a sampling of ballots, and every time the results of those tests were different -- sometimes in extreme ways. Quite often, the machines seemed to count perfectly marked ballots as invalid, while at other times it accepted votes from invalid ballots. In other words, the machines basically don't work. And we're relying on them in many areas for the election coming up in a month. Isn't that comforting?

High Court Grants Marriage Rights For Same-Sex Couples

The Connecticut Supreme Court grants same-sex marriage rights. The state Supreme Court's 4-3 decision Friday that same-sex couples have the right to marry swept through the state with the force of a cultural tidal wave. While lead plaintiff Beth Kerrigan and her partner -- soon to be wife -- embraced and sobbed after learning of the ruling, opponents vowed to pursue a long and complicated route to change the constitution to ban gay marriage. The Supreme Court released its historic ruling at 11:30 a.m. Citing the equal protection clause of the state constitution, the justices ruled that civil unions were discriminatory and that the state's "understanding of marriage must yield to a more contemporary appreciation of the rights entitled to constitutional protection." "Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same sex partner of their choice," the majority wrote. "To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others." A relevant comment about that topic from the Connecticut Supreme Court ruling:

Although we acknowledge that many legislators and many of their constituents hold strong personal convictions with respect to preserving the traditional concept of marriage as a heterosexual institution, such beliefs, no matter how deeply held, do not constitute the exceedingly persuasive justification required to sustain a statute that discriminates on the basis of a quasi-suspect classification.

Barack Obama - The American Promise

Barack Obama's American Promise

Sarah Palin - Working With Her Daughter

MeetWay Lets You Meet in the Middle

MeetWays is a Google Maps mashup with one simple but useful goal in mind: to help you find the perfect meetup point. In use it's simple—just enter the your address and the address of the person you're meeting with, then specify what sort of meeting place you'd like to find (e.g., coffee, pizza, library). MeetWays finds and marks the halfway point, then drops pins in the nearest businesses matching your search.

Quick Joke of the Day

A man walked into a bar on a slow night and sat down. After a few minutes, the bartender asked him if he wanted a drink. He replied, "No thanks. I don't drink. I tried it once, but I didn't like it." So the bartender said, "Well, would you like a cigarette?" But the man said, "No thanks. I don't smoke. I tried it once, but I didn't like it." The bartender asked him if he'd like to play a game of pool, and again the man said, "No thanks. I don't like pool. I tried it once, but I didn't like it. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be here at all, but I'm waiting for my son." The bartender said, "Your only son, I'm guessing." Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

Your Moment of Cat Zen

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News from Saturn (and JPL)

A quick update on the Cassini mission and the flyby's of Saturn's moons Enceladus and Titan.

It's a Sad Day in Jumbledtown

As is my normal practice, I do a backup of my files and software once per week. I have a more time intensive backup that I do once a month (and store in an off-site location). Today, I turned on the external hard drive which holds my movie and TV show collection... and was greated with "whee whEE whee whEE" (never a good sound to hear from your hard drive). I tried everything I could - plug in the USB cable instead of firewire cable, try different cables, connect the drive to another computer, use a special USB tool for connecting internal drives to a USB port. Nothing worked. The drive is shot and and I can't get any Windows (XP nor Vista) to recognize it. *cry* I have two problems. First, the movie drive is my second largest hard drive, so when I do backups, I'm not able to back up all the movies and TV shows I've accumulated over the years. Second, I recently upgraded the hard drive in my TiVo, and in the process, repurposed the movie backup hard drive (because I didn't yet know the original movie drive was dead). Now I have no movie drive, and no movie backups! The movies I can get again, for the most part, as I have the original DVD's. But, I'm really mourning the loss of the TV shows I've collected, most of which don't play on TV, now. Shows such as Spy School (where brits learn to be MI6 spies), Taken, and more. This is the second time I've lost the movie drive. At least the first time, I had a 50% backup to restore from. Now I've got nothing. *cry*

Quick Joke of the Day

A wealthy family took their frail, elderly grandmother to a famous and expensive nursing home and left her, hoping she would be well cared for. The next morning, the nurses luxuriously bathed her- fed her a tasty breakfast cooked by a famous chef, and set her in a chair at a window overlooking a lovely flower garden. She seemed okay, but after a while she slowly started to tilt sideways in her chair. Two attentive nurses immediately rushed up to catch her and straighten her up. Again she seemed okay, but after a while she slowly started to tilt over to her other side. The nurses rushed back and once more brought her back upright. This went on all morning. Later, the family arrived to see how the old woman was adjusting to her new home. "So Grandma, how is it here? Are they treating you all right?" "It's pretty nice," she replied. "Except they won't let me fart." Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

Your Moment of Cat Zen

Here it is, your Moment of Cat Zen Cat Zen Images courtesy of: http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Can You Really Die of a Broken Heart?

Dying beside the love of your life and passing into eternity together is the stuff of legends, but it’s also a documented phenomenon among longtime couples. Studies around the world have shown that the rate of mortality spikes among bereaved spouses soon after their beloved has died. One study published last year by researchers at the University of Glasgow followed more than 4,000 couples and found that, on average, widows and widowers were at least 30 percent more likely to die of any cause in the first six months following a spouse’s death than those who hadn’t lost a partner. Another large study in Jerusalem found the bereaved spouse's risk of death during those first six months rose by up to 50 percent. “We see it all the time,” says Dr. Hope Wechkin, the medical director of Evergreen Hospice in Kirkland, Wash. “Often a patient will come on to [hospice] service and we find out their spouse has died six weeks earlier or so. … I think it’s about connection. For many people, their spouse represents their greatest sense of connection to this world.” Some theorize the toll of grief can be too much for those who are already aged and physically fragile. The more spiritually minded believe that the bond between some couples may be so strong that when one soul departs, the other chooses to follow. Others say there are medical causes at work. The No. 1 cause of death of a bereaved spouse is heart disease and sudden death, meaning the heart stops, says Dr. Lee Lipsenthal, an internist and expert in cardiac rehabilitation who founded Finding Balance in a Medical Life, a Marin County, Calif., organization that focuses on physician well-being. "Generally within 18 months is the risk period," says Lipsenthal, "It's relatively close to the death and it diminishes over time." Those who are elderly and physically fragile are more likely to die after the death of a spouse than a younger widow or widower, says Wechkin, whose own grandparents died less than two weeks apart. “The death of a spouse places you at risk … but context matters a lot,” she says. “If you’re perfectly healthy, your risk is very low.” Doctors have long known that stress hormones such as cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine that are raised by grief can take a damaging toll on the body. But there may be other forces at play as well. Research shows that in some cases, one person’s heartbeat can affect, even regulate, another’s, possibly acting as a type of life support. In one such study, Rollin McCraty, research director at the Institute of HeartMath in Boulder Creek, Calif., looked at what happened to six longtime couples' hearts while they slept. Heart-rate monitors revealed that during the night, as the couple slept beside each other, their heart rhythms fell into sync, rising and falling at the same time. When the printouts of their EKGs were placed on top of each other, they looked virtually the same. “When people are in a relationship for 20, 30, 40, 50 years, they create sort of a co-energetic resonance with each other,” says Lipsenthal, who is the past director of Dr. Dean Ornish’s Preventative Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, Calif. “A simple analogy is two tuning forks, put next to each other. They create a co-resonant pitch. What happens when two people sleep together for 50 years? What happens when one goes away?” In recent years, another condition has come to light: Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also known as “broken heart syndrome.” The condition nearly always follows a traumatic emotional loss, such as death of a spouse, parent or child and it primarily affects women. It causes chest pain and sudden heart failure, believed to be brought on by a surge of fight or flight hormones, says Dr. Barbara Messinger-Rapport, a geriatrician at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Patients with the condition tend to recover faster than most other heart patients, says Messinger-Rapport. And if they survive the initial bout, it almost never recurs. “Is it possible to die of a broken heart?” says Wechkin. “Absolutely.”

The Best of Late Night

During the debate, John McCain sparked a controversy when he referred to Barack Obama as "that one." Afterwards, McCain said, "What — like I’m supposed to remember everyone's name now?” -Conan O'Brien I don’t want to say the debate was boring, but I didn’t think a political event could be that dull without the help of Al Gore. -Jay Leno Because of all the international focus on the election, the debate was broadcast in foreign countries all across Europe, Asia, and South America. Or as Sarah Palin calls them — "Russia.” -Conan O'Brien I did take exception to McCain calling Obama “that one.” I can’t think of anytime it would be appropriate to call a United States senator “that one.” Well, maybe if you had to pick a senator out of a lineup. -Craig Ferguson "Possible controversy for the Obama campaign. Republicans are now accusing Barack Obama's campaign of voter fraud, because some of the people they've registered sound like they have fake names. Apparently, the fakest-sounding name is Barack Obama." -Conan O'Brien "Yeah, the economy is going to hell, but at least we're getting leadership from the White House. That's the important thing, ladies and gentlemen. Thank God for that." -David Letterman "Nation, what a debate last Thursday. Both candidates surpassed expectations. Sarah Palin proved she could speak, and Joe Biden proved he could stop speaking." -Stephen Colbert "John McCain has pulled out of Michigan. I guess the surge wasn't working. Yup, this is stunning to me. John McCain blew off Michigan. Well, I know how they feel. Maybe you noticed that all of John McCain's problems began when he bailed out on this show? Were you aware of that? The road to the White House runs right through here." -David Letterman "The second presidential debate is tonight. And beforehand, I don't know if you heard this, John McCain said, 'The gloves are coming off.' That's what he said, yeah. Yeah, then McCain said, 'but don't worry, the diaper is staying on.'" -Conan O'Brien

After nearly 45 years of marriage, a couple was lying in bed one evening, when the wife felt her husband, begin to massage her in ways he hadn't in quite some time. It almost tickled as his fingers started at her neck, and then began moving down past the small of her back. He then caressed her shoulders and neck, slowly worked his hand down, stopping just over her stomach. He then proceeded to place his hand on her left inner arm, working down her side, passing gently over her buttock and down her leg to her calf. Then, he proceeded up her thigh, stopping just at the uppermost portion of her leg. He continued in the same manner on her right side, then suddenly stopped, rolled over and became silent. As she had become quite aroused by this caressing, she asked in a loving voice, 'Honey, that was wonderful. Why did you stop?' To which he responded: "I found the remote." Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

Your Moment of Cat Zen

Here it is, your Moment of Cat Zen Cat Zen Images courtesy of: http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Government: Data mining doesn't work

The most extensive government report to date on whether terrorists can be identified through data mining has yielded an important conclusion: It doesn't really work.

A National Research Council report, years in the making and scheduled to be released Tuesday, concludes that automated identification of terrorists through data mining or any other mechanism "is neither feasible as an objective nor desirable as a goal of technology development efforts." Inevitable false positives will result in "ordinary, law-abiding citizens and businesses" being incorrectly flagged as suspects.

The whopping 352-page report, called "Protecting Individual Privacy in the Struggle Against Terrorists," amounts to at least a partial repudiation of the Defense Department's controversial data-mining program called Total Information Awareness, which was limited by Congress in 2003.

The report was written by a committee whose members include William Perry, a professor at Stanford University; Charles Vest, the former president of MIT; W. Earl Boebert, a retired senior scientist at Sandia National Laboratories; Cynthia Dwork of Microsoft Research; R. Gil Kerlikowske, Seattle's police chief; and Daryl Pregibon, a research scientist at Google.

But the authors conclude the type of data mining that government bureaucrats would like to do--perhaps inspired by watching too many episodes of the Fox series 24--can't work. "If it were possible to automatically find the digital tracks of terrorists and automatically monitor only the communications of terrorists, public policy choices in this domain would be much simpler. But it is not possible to do so."

By itself, of course, this is merely a report with non-binding recommendations that Congress and the executive branch could ignore. But NRC reports are not radical treatises written by an advocacy group; they tend to represent a working consensus of technologists and lawyers.

The great encryption debate of the 1990s was one example. The NRC's so-called CRISIS report on encryption in 1996 concluded export controls--that treated software like Web browsers and PGP as munitions--were a failure and should be relaxed. That eventually happened two years later.

Quick Joke of the Day

A woman announces to her friend that she is getting married for the fourth time. "How wonderful! But I hope you don't mind me asking what happened to your first husband?" "He ate poisonous mushrooms and died." "Oh, how tragic! What about your second husband?" "He ate poisonous mushrooms too and died." "Oh, how terrible! I'm almost afraid to ask you about your third husband." "He died of a broken neck." "A broken neck?" "He wouldn't eat the mushrooms." Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

How Many Cigarettes Do You Smoke?

I quit smoking about ten years ago, but it still amazes me how many cigarettes I smoked (or could have smoked if I didn't quit). SmokeCount shows you, in a fun and entertaining way, how many cigarettes you've smoked (or could have smoked). It also has tools to help you quit smoking (or, if you want to continue to smoke, they have tools to help you do that, too ;) SmokeCount And remember, smoking could be good for the economy, because we all need to buy, buy, buy (hint, that was sarcasm).

Your Moment of Cat Zen

Here it is, your Moment of Cat Zen Cat Zen Images courtesy of: http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Quick Joke of the Day

Two fraternity brothers decide to go sailing one afternoon and become lost. After twenty hours with nothing to eat or drink, one of them spots a lamp floating by. He picks it up and a genie pops out. The genie notices the poor condition of the brothers and grants them one wish between the two of them. After a lot of arguing over who gets the wish, one of them blurts out, "I wish the ocean was made of beer." Magically, the ocean turns to beer. Infuriated, the other guy yells, "You idiot! Now we have to piss in the boat!" Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

Your Moment of Cat Zen

Here it is, your Moment of Cat Zen Cat Zen Images courtesy of: http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Call Yourself to Politely Escape Social Situations

Fake Call is a quick and easy way to "call yourself" in order to politely escape social situations. While pretending to receive a phone call is possible without any special software, this usually takes too many awkward key presses and fumbling. Fake Call makes it as easy as pressing 1 button, and provides an extremely realistic incoming call experience. It also includes powerful scheduling and personalization features in a simple, unobtrusive user interface. Fake Call Features * Schedule a Fake Call in advance, or generate one on demand. * Simple, touch-friendly user interface to quickly schedule a call using predefined intervals (5 minutes to 1 hour). * Select a caller from your phone's Contacts. The selected contacts photo and phone number appear when the phone rings. * Totally realistic incoming call experience using your phone's default ringtone and profile settings. * Fast, small and optimized for Windows Mobile using native C++ code. Does its job and gets out of your way quickly. Fake Call For Windows Mobile Phones

A Plan to Save the Country

During the much-anticipated (and, I'm guessing, soon forgotten) debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin last week, there was a small kerfuffle after Palin accused Biden of saying that raising taxes is patriotic. Turned out that what Biden really said was that paying taxes is patriotic, a view so heavily endorsed by all parties that it's actually illegal not to pay them - unless you maintain a post-office box in the Cayman Islands or find write-offs that offset what you owe.

That's probably not you, though, so it would be a good idea for you to keep paying your taxes unless you want to pay lawyers later. I understand that's something of a bummer, but then so is an irregularly shaped mole on your neck.

But the thing is, see, if Biden had said what Palin said he said (which he didn't), he would have been right. Raising taxes is patriotic. Raising taxes is what we can do to make our country, our patria, stronger.

It is amazing to watch the political discourse. Here we are about $10 trillion in debt, not counting whatever this latest bailout is going to cost; social services are being cut all over the place; entitlements are rising with no plan about how to cap them or pay for them; veterans services, national parks, NASA, the EPA, pick your own favorite - underfunded, decaying, not doing whatever it is we want them to do.

Oh, and where are we going to get the money? Oh, we will cut wasteful spending, that's what we'll do. Even better, we'll give people a tax break, so that will stimulate spending and we will grow the economy and then finally people will owe taxes and the government will get more money. Like that worked.

There is a different way that doesn't depend on some elaborate and discredited triple flip off the high board of economic theory - raise taxes. The American people have a whole lot of wealth. Is it excess wealth? That depends. When the fire truck that is paid for by the government comes and puts out a fire in your house, were the higher municipal taxes you paid extra wealth? Or were they a sound investment?

Oh, but suppose it's your neighbor's house that is burning down. You don't get anything from a rapid response, do you? No, but see, we are social creatures and we live in a society, and that means we help each other. I help you for selfish reasons, because I believe you will help me when the tables are turned. That's why, say, we help out the indigent, because one day we (or, say, our mothers) might be indigent; we help sick people because one day we might be sick, and so forth. It's almost like a contract, a social contract.

I wish once, just once, a politician would say, "You know, given how messed up everything is, probably we should raise taxes." Of course, all the other politicians would make little o's with their mouths, because the unspeakable had been spoken, but maybe a few people who've actually been paying attention would say, yeah, OK, I could kick in an extra $5 a month if my brother is suffering, if my sister is jobless, if my water is dirty and my son is dying on a desert far from home - yes, I could do that.

Then that politician would get demagogued to death by the power-drunk plutocrats, but it would be a nice effort.

So here's my plan: Instead of cutting taxes for the rich or for the middle class, how about we raise them for everybody? Why? Because we need the money!

Source: Jon Carrol - A Modest Like Proposal

Quick Joke of the Day

Three young boys were fighting over whose dad was the best. "My dad is so good he can shoot an arrow, run after it, get in front of it, and catch it in his bare hands." "My dad is so good that he can shoot a gun, run after the bullet, get in front of it and catch it in his bare hands." "I've got you both beat. My dad's so good because he works for the city. He gets off work at 5:00 and is home by 4:30." Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

Creative, Artistic and Geeky Cake Designs

Over at Web Urbanist, they have a list of 20 Creative, Artistic and Geeky Cake Designs. I know what kind of cake I want for my next birthday :D

Loss of Control Can Make You Superstitious

Paranoia, superstitions, and conspiracy theories may result from our need to take control of chaotic moments in our lives. Psychologists Jennifer Whitson and Adam Galinsky proposed in the current issue of Science that "when individuals are unable to gain a sense of control objectively, they will try to gain it perceptually." For example, if your productivity and competence at work are unappreciated and unrewarded, you may feel powerless over the situation. As a result, you might associate random, unrelated events with positive or negative moments at work. You could start seeing nonexistent conspiracy theories against your success, feel paranoia toward your coworkers, and perform good luck rituals to have better days.

In a series of six experiments, Whitson and Galinsky attempted to directly correlate lack of control with illusory perceptions. In the first two, they were able to establish that participants will seek patterns to compensate for unmanageable conditions. To simulate lack-of-control circumstances, they gave volunteers random feedback that was unrelated to their responses. Participants lacking control saw more nonexistent images in pictures and scored higher on the Personal Need for Structure Scale than those who were not treated to random feedback.

Superstitions and good luck rituals may also result from the human need for control. Whitson and Galinsky presented participants three scenarios that each contained two unconnected events, like "knocking on wood before an important meeting and getting one's idea approved." Participants who were asked to remember uncontrolled situations from the past saw more connection between the unrelated events and thought that good luck actions were important in the future.

The relationship between control and false perceptions can be applied to a volatile stock market, as well. Whitson and Galinsky offered two companies to participants after giving them performance statements about each company. The percent of positive statements was the same for both companies, but the total quantity was different. Company A had eight negative and 16 positive statements, while company B had four negative and eight positive statements. Participants were asked to recall how many negative statements there were for each company after making a choice. In an unstable market, 75 percent of participants chose company A over B. They remembered more negativity toward company B because they "overestimated the infrequent type of information (negative) with the infrequently represented group (company B)."

Self-affirmation appears to combat the disorderly feeling from losing control. After lack-of-control conditioning, participants who self-affirmed saw just as few imaginary patterns in pictures as volunteers who were not treated to any type of conditioning.

The next time you feel control sliding away, it may help to remind yourself of all the positive qualities that you possess. Self-affirmation procedures can provide a sense of control that is healthier than illusory pattern seeking. Whitson and Galinsky write that psychological security "reduce the obsessive-compulsive tendencies or sinister attributions engendered by seeing too much meaning and intentions in others' innocuous behaviors."

Your Moment of Cat Zen

Here it is, your Moment of Cat Zen Cat Zen Images courtesy of: http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Quick Joke of the Day

A retired gentleman went to the social security office to apply for Social Security. The woman behind the counter asked him for his driver's license to verify his age. He looked in his pockets and realized he had left his wallet at home. He told the woman that he was very sorry but he seemed to have left his wallet at home. "I will have to go home and come back later." The woman says, "Unbutton your shirt." So he opens his shirt revealing curly silver hair. She says, "That silver hair on your chest is proof enough for me" and she processed his Social Security application. When he gets home, the man excitedly tells his wife about his experience at the social security office. She says, "You should have dropped your pants. You might have gotten disability too." Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

Your Moment of Cat Zen

Here it is, your Moment of Cat Zen Cat Zen Images courtesy of: http://icanhascheezburger.com/

World of Warcraft Bot Site For Sale

One of the leading World of Warcraft Bots, Rhabot, has placed itself up for sale on business/website auction site SitePoint. The bot appears to be making some good money, $1,300 per month according to the auction information. This could be a great invest for a gold farming company or power leveling company. I have used Rhabot for a long time, and find it to be one of the best commercial bots. It has support for auto equipping, training, questing, and the author recently finished an auto navigation module. World of Warcraft Bot Company For Sale on SitePoint.com.

The Best of Late Night

A new poll shows only 1 out of 4 people approve of the job President Bush is doing. That means when he’s having dinner with his wife and two daughters, he’s the only one at the table who thinks he’s doing a good job. -Jay Leno During the Sarah Plain interview with Katie Couric on CBS News, Sarah Palin could not remember the name of a newspaper or magazine that she reads. I was thinking, “Wow — possibly, a leader of the country who doesn’t read.” Then I thought, “Well hell, it’s worked pretty well for George Bush.” -David Letterman Economists are now claiming that our nation’s leaders didn’t properly explain the bailout plan to the public. After hearing this, President Bush said, "While you’re at it, someone should explain it to me.” -Conan O'Brien The vice presidential debate is tomorrow night. Joe Biden already gearing up: He went to the hair salon and told the guy to put a little more on top. -Jay Leno Last night during an interview on CBS, Sarah Palin said, "One of my best friends is a lesbian, and I love her dearly." After hearing this, Bill Clinton said, "Prove it.” -Conan O'Brien Congress voted against the bailout. They were told to vote their conscience. That totally confused them . . . they said, “What?!?” -Jay Leno New York’s Mayor Bloomberg, he’s been in office for two terms, wants to be mayor for three terms; and right now he’s trying to get around the term limits so he can run again. I bet he can — by God, he got around the height requirement. -David Letterman Yesterday, the Dow Jones dropped 777 points, which wiped out $1.2 trillion dollars in the stock market. Financial experts say the last time so much money disappeared in one day was when Oprah left her purse in a cab. -Conan O'Brien To give you an idea of how bad the economy is, over the weekend, I wrote a check and the bank bounced. -Jay Leno Yesterday at the White House, President Bush was visited by Jewish leaders, who wished him a happy Jewish New Year. The visit upset Bush, because now he thinks he missed Jewish Christmas. -Conan O'Brien The vice presidential debate is Thursday. Here’s what Sarah Palin should do: Let Joe Biden have the first question. He’ll take 90 minutes to answer . . . then say, “We’re out of time! Who could have seen that coming?” -Jay Leno Today, the House of Representatives voted against the Wall Street bailout plan, a plan which House Minority Leader John Boehner called "a crap sandwich." Congress hasn’t given up — they’re already working on a new plan they call "a crap sandwich with cheese.” -Conan O'Brien

Apple Finally Realizes That NDAs For Developers Are A Bad Idea

It was definitely surprising to see Apple trying to enforce an NDA to stop iPhone developers from talking about their applications, so it's nice to see Apple (for once!) respond to the backlash by dropping the NDA. However, the company's explanation for why it had the NDA in the first place doesn't make much sense:

We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don't steal our work. It has happened before. While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others.

It's good that Apple has recognized that such NDA's significantly limit its developers. It's tough to have much of a developer "community" when said developers are barred from communicating.

Quick Joke of the Day

Reaching the end of a job interview, the Human Resources Person asked a young Engineer fresh out of MIT, "And what starting salary were you looking for?" The Engineer said, "In the neighborhood of $125,000 a year, depending on the benefits package." The interviewer said, "Well, what would you say to a package of 5 weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, a company matching retirement fund for 50% of your salary, and a company car leased every 2 years -- say, a red Corvette?" The Engineer sat up straight and said, "Wow! Are you kidding?" And the interviewer replied, "Yeah, but you started it." Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

Warioland - Shake It Up

I love how the Wii changes the way games are played. The tilt controllers, nun-chucks, etc really make you interact with the game. I watched a promotional video for Wario Land: Shake It! which really made me want to play it right now! If ever a full-body Wii controller could be used, this is the game to use it on. Wario Land: Shake It Promotional Video on YouTube

Trapster Maps and Alerts You About Speed Traps

Trapster maps speed traps on roads near you, and offers mobile phone applications that will alert you when you're coming up on one as you drive. Trapster's trap maps are all user-generated—as one Trapster user drives down the freeway and spots a trap, she hits a button on her mobile phone's Trapster app to report it. When you approach the same area running Trapster on your phone, you get an alert, and then you can confirm that the trap is indeed in that area. Trapster offers cellphone apps for Windows Mobile, the BlackBerry, the Nokia N95 and other S60 smart phones, and an iPhone 3G app is forthcoming. www.trapster.com

How Much is Your Digg Worth?

Ever wondered how much your Digg is worth? Maximum PC wondered, too. In their article, Secrets of the Digg Economy Unveiled, they list out details of experiments they performed to understand how much value a click can bring to a site. According to the formula (see below), a Digg is worth about $15 if you Digg an upcoming story that hits the front page. Once a story is on the front page of Digg, further Diggs are worth about $2. Why? When most stories hit the front page, the result is a kind of pile-on effect, where thousands of people read the story and agree that it deserves recognition, which they affirm by Digging the story themselves. Because of this dynamic, the very first 100 to 200 Diggs that it takes to reach the front page are infinitely more valuable than the 1200 or 1800 that follow. Without the first 100 to 200 Diggs, the article would not have the additional 1000+ followup Diggs. The formula Maximum PC used for calculating the value of a Digg: D^y is the value of a single Digg. V^d is the page views referred by (that is, generated by ) Digg. R^v is the revenue generated per page view. And D is the total number of Diggs a story has received. Du is the value of every Digg that is applied before a story hits the front page, and is found by replacing D with 150, which seems to be the average number of Diggs necessary for a story to hit the front page these days.

Your Moment of Cat Zen

Here it is, your Moment of Cat Zen Cat Zen Images courtesy of: http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Who Said Zinc Is Boring?

Weird News

The Nebraska legislature's new "safe haven" law for unwanted babies, like other states' laws, allows them to be dropped off anonymously at hospitals to discourage abortions (and neglect by unfit parents). However, unlike other states' laws, Nebraska's applies not just to infants, but "minors," because, said Sen. Tom White, "All children deserve our protection." In September, the first two non-infants were abandoned, as exasperated parents gave up on rebellious sons aged 11 and 15, and critics say the law could apply to those up to age 19. [Lincoln Journal Star, 9-15-08] In July, Abbie Hawkins, 19, a hotel receptionist in Norwich, England, said she found a baby bat nestled inside the padded bra she had been wearing for several hours. "When I was driving to work, I felt a slight vibration but I thought it was just my mobile phone in my jacket pocket," she told the Daily Telegraph. Hawkins had fetched the bra off of a clothesline that morning, where it had been hanging overnight. First reaction: "I thought how mean I was for disturbing it." [Daily Telegraph, 7-8-08] Joey Bergamine, 19, who is preparing for a re-trial in Fayetteville, N.C., on a DUI charge stemming from a July 2007 incident, will argue that he should have been advised of his right to have a lawyer present when his father kicked open his bedroom door hours after the incident to help police officers who had come to question him. Joey's father is the police chief of Fayetteville, and Joey's lawyer said entering a locked room, as well as the subsequent interrogation, constituted "police" action and not "parental" action, and since his dad failed to "Mirandize" him, the charge should be dismissed. [Fayetteville Observer, 8-16-08] Michael Mahoney, 25, is the most recent rapist (according to police in Somerville, Mass.) to believe he is such hot stuff that he gave his phone number to the victim, certain that he had charmed her into wanting to keep seeing him. Police quickly arrested him in July at home, where he lives with his parents. [Boston Herald, 7-9-08]

In July, convicted sexual molester Donald Fox, 62, of Frederick, Md., became the most recent convict to challenge the unfairness of his sentence (40 years in prison) and then have the appeals court agree it was unfair, except because it was too short (he's now serving 80 years). [Frederick News-Post, 7-23-08]

Source: News of the Weird

Bailout Bill Stuffed With Pork Apparently More Palatable

TechDirt says it better than I can, so here you go:

In my post about the financial crisis earlier this week, I explained the rationales both for and against the so-called "bailout bill." With some of the important indicators getting seriously scary, it was becoming increasingly important that something be done to keep money flowing, but this bill isn't it. Who would have thought that after the House rejected the bill earlier this week, that they would come back and approve something much worse. Rather than address the fundamental problems of the bill (and, well, the economy), what Congress did was stuff the bill full of pork, adding in every little personal favor to local industries they could dig up. Basically, all of the politicians added in little "gifts" to local industries, as a way of calming public dissent against the bill. And, of course, apparently that was all it took to get the House to approve the bill. Now they can go back home and say that they fought to "protect" their local constituents in the bill, when all they really did was put some pork in to bribe them. While there's still a chance that this plan works out -- and, at this point, it's entirely based on who will control the fund -- the bill has done little, if anything to actually address the real issues that created this economic mess, and uses a sledge hammer where a scalpel would have made more sense. If it ends up succeeding, it will be in spite of the bill, rather than because of it.

Geek Horoscope

Geek Horoscopes, brought to you by an overworked tech support worker (BBspot). My favorite is: Scorpio Oct 24 - Nov 21 You will find the source of your problems exist between the keyboard and the chair.

Quick Joke of the Day

Three women, two younger and one senior citizen, were sitting naked in a sauna. Suddenly, there was a beeping sound. The youngest women pressed her forearm and the beep stopped. The others looked at her questioningly. 'That was my pager," she said. "I have a microchip under the skin of my arm." Moments later, a phone rang and the second young woman lifted her palm to her ear. When she finished, she explained, "That was my mobile phone. I have a microchip in my hand." The older women felt very low tech, but it seemed like she needed to do something equally impressive. So she stepped out of the sauna and into the restroom. She returned with a piece of toilet paper hanging from her rear end. The others raised their eyebrows and stared at her. Finally, the old woman said, "Well, will you look at that. I'm getting a Fax!" Find more jokes at Really Funny Quick Jokes

So How Will The Financial Crisis Impact The Wider Economy?

Once again, TechDirt has a very lengthy article discussing how the current financial crisis affects the wider economy. I encourage you to read the full article, as it is very well written and thought out. An abridged reprint is below: Getting beyond Wall Street I discussed some of that in the original post, but many people are still having trouble seeing how this crisis spreads beyond Wall Street financial firms (or, in some cases, their own stock portfolios). There are still plenty of people screaming out that these financial firms need to be punished or done away with completely, without any recognition of how that might flow through the rest of the economy. The New York Times has an excellent writeup, noting that people said the same thing as the Great Depression was happening, as well -- again, not realizing that destruction on Wall Street can flow through the rest of the economy. The basic problem is the fear that the credit markets will simply dry up. If no one will lend money (or it simply becomes ridiculously expensive to borrow money), then some very basic economic functions cease to work. This may start out at a high level with bank to bank loans and bank to business loans, but it can also filter down to things like your mortgage (if you thought things were bad before, wait until adjustable rate mortgages reset with even higher interest rates, contributing to this spiral), car loans and even credit card payments. At the top of the chain, banks are increasingly afraid to lend to each other fearing that whoever they lend to (even for very short term loans) may default before the money can be paid back. Already, some companies are seeing the direct impact. For example, Caterpillar, the maker of construction equipment is a company you would think would be separate from the financial mess on Wall Street. It has great credit and a long history of being good for paying up any debt. Yet, in a matter of days, the interest that Caterpillar has to pay to borrow has shot up. Debt isn't a bad thing Now, there are those who will say that any "borrowing" or "debt" is somehow bad (we had a few such comments on the first post), but that shows a fundamental (and, somewhat dangerous) misunderstanding of basic economics. Borrowing money and taking on debt is not, by itself, a bad thing. In fact, it's a very, very good thing. If you can borrow money at one rate, and invest it more profitably, you can contribute to economic growth and provide important goods and services. It's at the very core of a functioning economy. Money moves around so that it can be invested in more profitable endeavors, and that benefits all of society, by making sure that the money is more efficiently put to work. However, the fear of various banks defaulting at the top of the pyramid is increasing the risk down the entire chain, even to the point that relatively "safe" investments are suddenly being seen as risky. Part of that is due to uncertainty about how the crisis will impact others (sort of a self-fulfilling fear) and part of it is due to a still murky understanding of the risk involved in the assets at the heart of all of this mess: the various mortgage backed securities you keep hearing about. So what happens if things get worse? Well, it won't be pretty. Credit is such an important part of the entire economy that it's almost impossible to figure out all of the ramifications of a near total credit crunch. Plenty of companies rely on commercial paper and short-term, low risk loans to finance certain operations, while others use it to get a small, but safe, return themselves. If that were to completely collapse, money would have a lot of trouble moving from where it is to where it would be most efficiently put to work for the economy. Effectively, important projects would get starved of necessary cash and die. That may happen to some projects all the time -- and it's a natural part of the market -- but if it happens across the board, a lot of companies could go bankrupt. A lot of useful investments would go to waste, and (more importantly) the next set of important projects that require investment wouldn't be able to get the necessary money. It would shrink the economy and harm pretty much everyone. So, what does it all mean for a small business operator? Well, that really depends on what sort of business you're in. If you're a venture-backed startup, it's probably not as big a problem, immediately. As we originally noted, top tier VCs are pretty secure with the funds they have, and as we saw after the dot com bubble, the big institutional investors still can't resist allocating a segment of their cash to VC funds. That money is pretty safe. A good venture capitalist should help its portfolio weather the storm. By the way, that doesn't mean showering them with too much cash. Companies that have raised a ton of cash aren't necessarily better off, contrary to popular opinion. A lot depends on what business they're in, how focused they are on an actual business model and how much they're actually burning. As we saw after the last dot com bubble burst, it was some of the most heavily funded companies that went belly up first -- because they had focused too much on raising money and not on building a business. But, of course, venture backed high growth companies are a tiny, tiny segment of the small business arena. Most small businesses will face a different set of challenges. While they may not rely so heavily on regularly tapping into borrowed money, that doesn't mean they're not exposed in many ways. Any sort of expansion capital will be much harder and much more expensive to get. That will make it more difficult for some of those small businesses to make the investments necessary to become big businesses. More importantly, their own customers may be exposed as well. Many small businesses effectively provide "loans" to their customers, in giving terms of payment, such as net 30 or net 60 (allowing the customer to pay within 30 or 60 days, rather than upfront). Unlike constantly fluctuating interest rates, small businesses generally don't change those sorts of terms with any regularity. So, many small businesses actually become a lot more exposed: they're "lending" money at the same rates as before, while the rest of the money flowing around the economy has become more expensive. With that happening, more customers can be expected to default, putting more pressure on the cash flow of the business. And hiccups in the cash flow will be harder to overcome in the usual way: it will be more difficult and expensive to get a small business loan or a line of credit. Thus, it becomes more difficult to meet payroll and could result in layoffs. Companies may also try to tighten up their payment terms, but that effective "raising" of the interest rate can scare off customers, as well. Already, we're seeing small businesses being advised to push for early payment and change the terms of payment they offer customers. Most of this won't happen immediately for most businesses. It certainly will impact some in the very near future (and a few companies are already experiencing problems). The real worry is the cascade effect of this happening to more and more small businesses, putting even more pressure on the overall economy. More companies having cash flow problems means fewer customers for other companies, as well, accelerating the whole cycle. So what do you do? If you're a small business: focusing on cash becomes king (it should always be, but even more so at this point). Companies won't be able to rely on lines of credit as much as they have in the past, and should see what can be done to lock in any kind of line of credit or opportunity for a decent loan if they can get it. Basically, companies need to prepare themselves for the possibility of money not flowing, customers not paying and additional economic hardship.