Welcome to my new blog. I’m just setting it up now, and I will be migrating old posts from old blogs in the future, just so it’s all safe and sound in one place.
I’ll comment on anything and everything here that happens to strike my fancy; so it might seem a bit on the schizophrenic side at times, but what else do you want from a gemini?
This BBC article gives some sense of reassurance to someone like me who is constantly frustrated by people’s desire to see what they want instead of what is right in front of them.
Paraphrasing Aldous Huxley: “facts do not cease to exist because we ignore them”.
The environment is obviously a tremendously important topic for human beings, mostly because we are self-centered and wish to remain alive. So, we have decided that we all need to be keenly aware of maintaining the earth in whatever state is perfect for our life systems to function — oops, sorry, the proper PR line is — “we all need to save the planet”.
I was looking at news.bbc.co.uk yesterday, as I do pretty much every day at least once, and this headline caught my eye:
Gotta love those cheeky British headline writers…
I noticed this chart in an article on news.com:
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think it’s particularly helpful when “other” is basically 80-90% of the total information you are trying to illuminate…
This BBC story relates that archaeologists excvating China’s Lajia site have found the oldest noodles ever found, and they are touting this as proof that the Chinese invented noodles.
Now, listen, I’m not going to argue whether the Chinese invented noodles; they probably did. But there’s something about archaeology that I find utterly idiotic. And the funny part is that archaeologists are the ones always explaining this point to us. Here it is:
Most stuff from the past has disappeared!
Excuse me while I digress into a rant about this hurricane Katrina nonsense.
I am most definitely not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, but I think I have a reasonably understanding of something called “criminal negligence”. I think this basically means when your inaction was so negligent, that it is conceptually the same as actively doing something wrong.
In keeping with my desire to avoid listening to all the bullshit spewing out from people’s mouths, I will only comment on actions.
The linked story discusses Manlin Chee, a Chinese-American immigration attorney. In a nutshell, she was put in jail for a year because the FBI set her up and she filed some papers for them that she shouldn’t have. The more interesting bit of the timeline is that the FBI’s “sting” came after she had participated in a PATRIOT Act forum, in which she (rightly) decried the legislation as a violation of Americans’ constitutional rights.
This brings up an interesting point, as America inches closer to a kind of ‘corporatized Stalinism’. We Americans are going to have to learn how to keep our mouths shut.
In a nutshell, according to optics.org: Japanese researchers have figured out a way to etch data onto fingernails.
Thiis conjures all sorts of interesting ideas, which for me are revolving about Hollywood “action thriller” screenplays. You wake up in a dark room…you have no idea where you are….but all of a sudden, strange things start to happen…people are following you, trying to catch you. Your only choice is to run. But why? Who are these people? Sooner or later, you meet up with the sexy scientist girl, and she spots something on your fingernail…”That’s odd,” she says, “I wonder what it is.” Eventually you find out it’s the super secret code that everyone needs to execute their nefarious plans, be they governments, companies, or cartels. And that’s when the story turns, and you can lure them all…try to sell to the highest bidder? Threaten to make public the information etched into your fingernail? Or hold it for ransom, declaring that you will burn it off unless they give you exactly what you want. Then, of course, you can either burn it off anyway (but of yourse your geeky vixen love interest was smart enough to duplicate the data without them knowing), or you can give away faulty information,and still get your reward.
Either way, there’s room for a sequel.
Well, as long as you do all this before six months elapses, and you find that your fingernail has grown…
Imagination aside, you have to admit this is a cool hack.
According to the LA Times, the Supreme Court has ruled that Federal agents may in fact arrest and bring charges against people who violate Federal drug laws, even if they are complying with the medical marijuana laws which have been passed in nine states.
People who know me won’t be surprised to learn that I am (duh) in favor of legalizing marijuana, for medical use or otherwise. So, given our government’s ridiculous stance on drugs, I’m not particularly surprised when I see our government attempt to maintain control over people who want to get high.
But, even given my personal interest in drug legalization, that’s not the interesting part of this story. What makes this case interesting to me is that it’s really a test of state’s rights; namely, the right of the state to make a law which goes against the laws of the nation. And what makes it even more interesting is that it’s the LEFTIST (together with extreme rightist) fascists on the Supreme Court that ruled in favor of the Federal government.
More cool mind control stuff.
Not “mind control” like…The Man controlling your mind. No, this means you controlling things with your mind. (Just felt I had to clear that up.)
The BBC is reporting today about a guy in the USA who became paralyzed after a stabbing, and who underwent surgery to implant electrodes into his motor cortex. He can now change channels on TV, control a robotic arm, and do other things.
I don’t think he can masturbate yet, but hey…progress comes slow. I’m just happy they’re making progress. I want the electrode hat I can wear that will allow me to think all this gibberish instead of type it. I want to eliminate syntax errors from my programming code.
C’mon, science, gimme my brain implant or weird cyber-hat!