About this site -- This site is a place to keep and share
the somewhat random musings, rants, and observations which otherwise clutter my brain. I hate clutter.
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Have you ever wondered if there was a situation where encountering a naked woman was a bad thing? I assure you that the answer is "yes". And the evidence is here. Key quote:
A woman trying to make "manure bombs" using stockings, slipped into a slurry tank and fled the scene naked, German police said on Friday. Two women entered a farm in the northern village of Eberholzen on Wednesday evening and started to fill the stockings with manure.
"One of them slipped into the manure tank, right into the cow muck," said a spokesman for local police. "The other one helped her out. We found their clothes in a field. One seems to have run off completely naked, the other in her underwear."
Alert reader Steve was cruising through the nicholsclan archives and ran across the essay titled Digital Cars. He dropped me a note which I thought had a really cool idea in it. He says...
A few years ago, I was talking to some friends about the "marshmallowing" cars; you know, the smoothing out of the lines, the sacrificing of individual style in the name of better aerodynamics, etc. We figured that by 2020, we would be driving whirring, homogenous-looking blobs that were completely devoid of any interesting features and would leave millions of tinkerers in a state of depression. I offered up an idea to keep things interesting in the new boring car; a digital windshield and soundsystem that was connected to the drive system that, even though you were driving the vehicular equivalent of a microwave oven you could look through your digital windshield over the hood of whatever car struck your fancy. Big, gas-guzzling Cadillac? Exotic sportscar? How about the nose cone of an F-17 fighter jet? Just download the view from a software package and change your operating environment. Maybe there could be a design package that allows you to create your own "machine" along with an engine/rumble pack. It wouldn't be the same as actually getting in there with the wrenches, but maybe it would somewhat satisfy the sensory input we are losing in these days of fuel efficiency. The same type of thing has been introduced to the world of the electric guitar (amp modeling), I think it may be in the cards for the automobile. Something to think about, or dismiss entirely...
This is incredible. You can purchase a Denon AKDL1 Dedicated Link Cable from Amazon for only $500.99!! They don't even try and dupe you with any $499.95 price. There it is, bold and baldfaced: $500 and change. But hey, at least the shipping is free.
What's amazing is that this is simply a 1.5 meter CAT 5 network cable. You can pick one up for about $5 at any computer store. I have a drawer full of them at home, which now that I think of it should probably be moved from the garage to a safe deposit box since I didn't realize I had a college fund worth of cabling just lying about.
If you're in the mood for a good giggle, read some of the customer reviews for this product. They are hilarious.
Are you pining for 1992 again? Do you miss those ginormous ears and that gangly gate? Do you not get your fill of charts and graphs sitting around conference tables at work? Well fear no more, Ross Perot is back. No, no, don't worry. He's not running for office. But he does have a new chart deck available.
Take a gander at the presentation at perotcharts.com. It's a little dry, but it's really very well done. It illustrates quite plainly the economic problems we face as a nation in the coming generation. The legacy we are leaving our children. The reality is that the big three entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare) are going to eat our lunch (and dinner, and breakfast, and our after school snacks as well). It also makes clear that while Bush Jr. certainly didn't help, he didn't really cause the problem either. This train has been chugging down these tracks for a very long time. But now that we can feel the rails rumbling, maybe it's time to think about moving off the tracks.
What the charts don't say is how brain dead it is that none of the Presidential candidates are proposing any substantive plans to address the gathering gloom. Perot has done a nice job of simply illustrating the problem. There is no partisan message, no solutions offered, just a light shone into the dark. He offers that there are no painless solutions, and he's absolutely right. Which is, of course, why neither Obama or McCain are going anywhere near the issue. It's political suicide to offer painful solutions. I'd like to think that once in office, either of them would take these issues on. But that seems unlikely as well. Despite how clear the problem is, it is not imminent. Until the issue threatens to cripple us within the window of the next political term, I don't think any substantive changes will be made. The other really thorny issue here is that almost any solution will require the Boomers to vote against their own self interest. This is not something the me generation has ever really excelled at.
This is an interesting editorial/book review about a topic I've blogged about before. As a people, we have come to an "interesting" time where we view intellectuals with disdain and distrust. Especially in politics, we seem to want leaders who would look right at home on a barstool at the local pub rather than ones who feel at home going toe-to-toe with their peers at the G-8 Summit. We want leaders who are physically tough (or tough by proxy when wielding our military), but shun those who have the intellectual capacity to maybe keep us out of the conflict in the first place. We even hurl the term "elitist" as an epithet. Yet curiously, we don't use the term to mean they have unwarranted pride in being a member of a select group. We use it to mean simply that they are a member of that group, and more importantly, we're not.
We worship people who can play football better than we might ever dream to do ourselves. Why can't we at least respect those who think at a different level than we do? Personally, I want a leader that's demonstrably smarter than me. I've been to the local pub. There's rarely anyone there I'd follow to the AM/PM Market for a late night burrito, much less someone I'd follow as the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth.
New research on The Bikini Effect explains, among other things, why Hooters is a successful way to market hot wings and beer. Key quote:
The researchers conclude that there is one common appetite system in the brain monitoring our desire for a host of pleasures from sweets to pretty faces, alcohol to lotto winnings. When it is stimulated by, say, a sexy picture or the smell of baked goods, we experience a general craving for anything pleasant.
While the article doesn't explicitly say so, it seems this also may validate the old adage that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. If girls can increase your interest in food because of a common "appetite" mechanism, then food should increase your interest in girls as well.
Of course the downside of this revelation of how easily men make substitutions is that women may now realize that they can divert our unwanted frisky advances by offering us a beer or a big slice of pie. (Mmmmm... pie!) Or they could use a sexy situation to get us to make other unrelated impulsive decisions we might not otherwise make. Then again, I think Cosmo runs articles on how to do this every month, so I suspect they already know.
Once again, scientists get closer to codifying what women have known since the dawn of time.
Occasionally, I'm curious what has previously been posted here about a given topic. On the really unlikely chance that you get curious too, I've enabled a search bar to search the entire site. You'll find it at the top of the column to the right. It's a Google search so all the syntax for Google will work there.
Knowledge is the antidote to fear. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
To add a little variety to your day, go to sensibleunits.com to convert common measurements into real conversation starters (or enders). For instance, did you know that I am 1.4 Alaskan Moose antler spans tall and weigh 5 microwave ovens? I'm thinking of using that data on my next medical form. I also learned that it's 39 Burj Dabai towers from my house to Beauty's. (Apparently that translates to 3.6 Mt Everests, but those fractional mountains are always such a pain to climb.)
Today's local paper had a teen written editorial (which I could not find a link to) espousing the view that activist judges are ruining the American model of government by wielding power that is not rightfully theirs. Namely, the power to make laws. The fear of so-called activist judges is certainly not new or unique to this writer. It spills into the political lime-light at every election cycle where we try to elect executives who will appoint judges likely to rule in favor of the legal interpretations we are most comfortable with.
The writer was correct that this is an abomination that was never intended by our founders. But I think he puts the blame in the wrong place. Unlike the writer, I do not believe the fault lies with the judges. I do not believe the Judiciary has any systemic desire to usurp power. Rather, this situation is thrust upon them by a Legislative branch of government which has abdicated its responsibility to make laws in the first place.
"Impossible to see, the future is" - Yoda
Master Yoda understood that it is not possible to plan in-specific for the future. Most of the laws on the books today pre-date developments that have resulted in fundamental changes in the game that couldn't have possibly been foreseen by the laws' writers. Writers of the second amendment clearly didn't understand the implication of high-powered assault rifles or other weaponry which has made the neighborhood militia all but irrelevant. The Internet's impact on privacy, wiretapping, and intellectual property laws was unplanned for. And social changes embracing diversity, equality, and minority rights have changed the legal landscape of abortion, same-sex marriage and other issues of that ilk.
Judges are repeatedly forced to try and discern meaning from antiquated laws when applied to modern situations that the laws were never intended to address. And this is the rub. The judges are the last line of defense here. If they decline to rule, the the matter is left in legal limbo, which is not really tolerable in most cases. They need to decide something. And they do. But it is my strong belief that the majority of judges would welcome clearer laws from which to rule. It would make their lives much simpler. To this end, they are filling a void, not usurping control.
And from whence comes the void? Why from the Legislature. If the country wants [insert issue here] outlawed/legalized, the simple solution is to pass a clear and unambiguous law codifying the decision. In some cases, this might involve replacing/rewriting more fundamental laws such as the constitution. But there are mechanisms for all of that. The federal legislature, in concert with at least 3/4 of the state legislatures has, in effect, unlimited power. They could completely rewrite the constitution to include the requirement that all citizens carry a red balloon and keep their cell phones on vibrate, lest they be shot on site. Neither the Executive branch or Judicial branch could do one single thing about it.
In effect, the Legislature, if it acted as one mind, would by far be the most powerful branch of government. Unlike the Judiciary and Executive branches whose checks and balances lie largely with other branches of government, the Legislative branch is almost exclusively kept in check by the improbability of its members agreeing quickly to any course of action. But in its current incarnation, the Legislature finds it impossible to agree on anything, pretty much ever.
In my opinion, the Legislative branch of government is fundamentally broken. In general, they are capable of passing laws only where there is no strong opposition or where the issue is solidly under the radar. Visual controversial issues are legislatively radioactive. No one will go near them. And so, in the absence of any other options, the duty falls to the Judiciary to make do with existing laws.
So the next time you see blame put on "activist judges", maybe give just a little thought to the in-activist legislators that created the situation in the first place.
"...one doctor says drinking bottled water could actually be like smoking three packs of cigarettes a day."
At least for the tiny wrinkles around your mouth. Apparently the constant pursing of your lips to sip from the nozzle or straw on the bottle causes the wrinkles. Your mother was right after all, your face will freeze that way. One could also assume that excessive kissing would have the same result, but curiously, that doesn't seem to be a common diagnosis. Pity.
This is yet further evidence that draft beer is the healthy beverage choice.
Steve Tobak writes that being your own IT person still sucks. This blog cannot be responsible for any reader who might find that any characters in this column resemble any actual persons, living or dead. YMMV.
