Heh. Nice lyrics.
February 2007 Archives
Granted, we will all be dead in 200 years ...
BBC NEWS | Health | Blondes 'to die out in 200 years'
The last natural blondes will die out within 200 years, scientists believe.
A study by experts in Germany suggests people with blonde hair are an endangered species and will become extinct by 2202.
Researchers predict the last truly natural blonde will be born in Finland - the country with the highest proportion of blondes.
But they say too few people now carry the gene for blondes to last beyond the next two centuries.
Yesterday I made a post about the teenagers that murdered the homeless guy and then blamed it on violent games. These kids have given the media their angle and just like all the other cases where games are mentioned no one will ever look any further. No one will ask what their family life was like, what their parents were like, what the kid was like before all this happened. Games did it and that’s the end of the story.
In my post I took the absolute extreme opposite approach. I laid blame completely on the parents and that was intentional. Penny Arcade is a satire site and people come here to laugh or get angry and that’s what we try to provide. I will admit that deep down as the father of a two year old I also want to believe that I as a parent can shape my kid into a decent human being. If I don’t believe that then…well I just have to believe that right now.
With that said I’m perfectly aware that the reality of the situation was somewhere between the two extremes. I know full well that violent games did not create this killer and I also know that his parents did not make him a murderer. Nothing outside of a comic strip and a goofy blog is ever that simple.
Nintendo has been on an Apple-like hit parade since the disappointing market performance of the GameCube. The DS and DS Lite handily staved off highly touted competition from Sony. The PSP may have appealed to a different, if for now narrower, demographic, but units are units, and there's no escaping them when you're marketing a platform.
The launch of the Wii has been nothing but magic mushrooms from the hype around the controller to the E3 reception to late-night Wii Tennis face-offs between Conan and Serena Williams. Check out this apologetic fan comment on Amazon's product page: "Graphics might not be high definition, but it looks very close to the Xbox 360 and PS3 when not running in HD mode. And definitively better than the original Xbox and PS2." Better than the Xbox and PS2, eh? That's setting the sensor bar pretty low for a system that shipped six years after the PS2.
Yum.
Cool Hunting: Marmite Guinness
You'll probably know about Guinness, but for those of you who aren't familiar with Marmite, it's a nutritious, vegan-friendly, British foodstuff originally made from the yeast left over by the beer-brewing process. Usually, it's spread thinly on toast, and for those who like it, it has a salty, almost meaty flavor. For those who don't, the flavor is more akin to that of earwax.
In time for St. Patrick's Day, Guinness yeast extract will be used to make a special spread, limited to 300,000 jars. It's available today 19 February 2007 for around £2.49 from supermarkets in the UK.
AlterNet: 737 U.S. Military Bases = Global Empire
Once upon a time, you could trace the spread of imperialism by counting up colonies. America's version of the colony is the military base; and by following the changing politics of global basing, one can learn much about our ever more all-encompassing imperial "footprint" and the militarism that grows with it.
The total of America's military bases in other people's countries in 2005, according to official sources, was 737. Reflecting massive deployments to Iraq and the pursuit of President Bush's strategy of preemptive war, the trend line for numbers of overseas bases continues to go up.
Interestingly enough, the thirty-eight large and medium-sized American facilities spread around the globe in 2005 -- mostly air and naval bases for our bombers and fleets -- almost exactly equals Britain's thirty-six naval bases and army garrisons at its imperial zenith in 1898. The Roman Empire at its height in 117 AD required thirty-seven major bases to police its realm from Britannia to Egypt, from Hispania to Armenia. Perhaps the optimum number of major citadels and fortresses for an imperialist aspiring to dominate the world is somewhere between thirty-five and forty.
Looks a little like they managed to cram every single episode into one film...
This is pretty cool, and weird....
Australia has announced it will ban incandescent light bulbs in three years in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, becoming the first country to do away with this technology, which has been in use for more than a century.
Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull made the announcement Tuesday, saying replacing incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs would cut 800,000 tonnes from Australia's current emissions levels by 2012.
"It'll be illegal to sell a product that doesn't meet [an energy efficiency] standard, so that will happen by 2009 [or] 2010," Turnbull told ABC radio in Australia. "So by that stage, you simply won't be able to buy incandescent light bulbs because they won't meet the energy standard."
A Texas judge has dismissed a lawsuit against MySpace that had blamed the popular Web site for not establishing enough safeguards to protect underage users.
The family of an underage girl -- referred to as "Julie Doe" in the lawsuit -- had sued MySpace last year after she lied about her age and was sexually assaulted by a man she met on MySpace.
But U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks ruled Wednesday that MySpace, like other online forums, should not be held responsible for what happened. "If anyone had a duty to protect Julie Doe, it was her parents, not MySpace," he wrote.
MySpace suit dismissed by judge in Texas / Family said site didn't protect underage users
To the Batmobile!
News from The Associated Press
To an Arizona middle school, Batman! Three schools in the north Phoenix suburb of Cave Creek were on lockdown for about 45 minutes Wednesday morning after a student at Desert Arroyo Middle School reported seeing a person dressed as Batman run across campus, jump a fence and disappear into the desert, Scottsdale police Sgt. Mark Clark said.
The student described the person as 6 feet 3 inches tall and possibly male.
"We're assuming it was male, although they did have a mask on," Clark said.
The bill, dubbed the Safety Act by sponsor Lamar Smith, a republican congressman from Texas, would impose fines and a prison term of one year on ISPs which failed to keep full records. (emphasis mine)
This is a terrifying development and it must be stopped before it gains any significant momentum. Background, Action items and contact information below the fold.
Under the guise of reducing child pornography, the SAFETY (Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today's Youth Act) Act is currently the gravest threat to digital privacy rights on the Internet. Given the increasing tendency of people, especially young people, to use the Internet as a primary means of communications, this measure would effect nearly all Americans in ways we are only beginning to understand. Also, given the fact that the Act requires all Internet Service Providers to record the web surfing activity of all Internet users, this amounts to the warrantless wiretapping of the entire Internet.
Amazingly, although the bill was introduced and referred to the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday Feb. 6, it has been virtually ignored by both the corporate media and major blogs alike. By combining such draconian legislation with several child pornography measures, Smith is trying to pull a fast one on the Judiciary Committee and on the democratically controlled Congress as a whole.
Action: Congress wants to monitor all Emails, IMs, Etc. | The Agonist
From: http://atheism.about.com
Karen Hunter doesn't seem to realize that no one "imposes" on her right to want to have prayer in schools, to want to say the Pledge of Allegiance, to want to honor her god. Furthermore, no one "imposes" on her right to pray in school, to say the Pledge of Allegiance, or to honor her god. All that has changed is that the state cannot endorse, promote, or encourage her in doing any of this. Does Karen Hunter, professor of journalism, really think that her religious liberty depends on the government actively helping, encouraging, and endorsing her religious rituals? That's nonsense.
...
Debbie Schlussel agrees with Karen Hunter's bigoted statements 100%, then proceeds to add even more bigotry on top of it: atheists are the ones who are "intolerant" against and "discriminating" against Christians. How so few atheists could be the source of so much intolerance and discrimination against so many Christians is completely inexplicable — but then again, Christians used to make the similar allegations against small communities of Jews. How ironic that Debbie Schlussel, herself a Jew, is so willing to repeat accusations against atheists that were once made against her ancestors.
...
Stephen Smith demonstrates that a Christian who disagrees with atheists is more than capable of recognizing that atheists shouldn't be treated as if they inferior and unequal. On a panel with two Christians and one Jew, only one Christian was willing to say that atheists should have the same rights and privileges as religious theists. Only Stephen Smith was willing to say that atheists should not have to shut up — that even if he disagrees with what they are saying, he's not going to go along with telling them to just keep quiet and stop bothering others.
Paula Zahn Now: Karen Hunter, Debbie Schlussel, Stephen A. Smith on Atheism
Ha hah. Awesome.
From Pharyngula:
Really, I don't read Debbie Schlussel's blog—a reader sent me a link, so I put on the waders and gas mask and climbed down into the sewer. I'm now completely baffled; why is this insane and deeply stupid person ever put on television? Her response to the CNN complaints is illustrative, and even if you sympathize with her, you've got to recognized the big picture here: she's not very bright.
We can start with her research skills. That video is all over the web. I linked to it, it's on youtube, Richard Dawkins put it up, it's darned easy to find. Her excuse is that she searched for "Debbie Schlussel", and nobody had tagged it with her name. Vanity is no excuse, Ms Schlussel. You can't simultaneously claim that everyone's criticisms were about attacking you, yet nobody bothered to tag their complaints about CNN's bias with your name.
Pharyngula: Debbie Schlussel might become a Muslim terrorist any day now
More "Whaaa?" from the U.S. In this case, it's CNN's "discrimination against atheists" segment -- without any atheists present. Biggest bullshit segment I've ever seen.
Update: Put Debbie Schlussel's name this post somewhere so she can find the YouTube video of her on CNN.
Stipulate that Jim Moore holds all rights in his video, and Viacom none. And stipulate further that Jim Moore is far from alone. One presumes that Viacom’s argument is that they did not issue these misrepresentative notices “knowingly.” I wonder how many home videos have to have been caught up — and taken down — in this sweep before one could say that it was “knowing” on the part of Viacom? Combine that with the mash-ups that may include some of Viacom’s material, but where a fair use analysis will vindicate the alleged infringer. Could a human being have looked at each of these 100,000 videos? Might a court say: “You ought to have known that if you crank these notices out automatically and not checking each one, you must know there’s some non-infringing material in there”?
Dude, this is whack!
Experts say they have never seen anything like Weasel the border terrier cross - and hope he can find a new home where his disability won't be an issue.
And, despite appearances, it seems the 10-month-old puppy can actually hear, for he is believed to have working inner ears covered by skin.
Vets hope they will be able to let the tiny dog hear properly for the first time by making tiny openings where his outer ears should be.
Weasel was born with skin covering the whole of his head - with no outer ears or earholes. Instead of the floppy ears which his breed normally has, he has tiny earflaps sticking out.
Life's looking merrier for an earless terrier | the Daily Mail
I imagine he said because he couldn't bring himself to say, "It's the *words* that are *on* the containers that are dangerous"—even after I had opened them all and demonstrated the utter harmlessness/emptiness of the containers themselves.
I sympathize with people who aren't making very much and are probably forced to comply with arcane corporate rules and who have to deal with weirdoes coming in with cans labeled "Rocket Fuel." I really do. But... c'mon. How much effort is involved in *not* being part of the common-sense-negating, spirit-crushing, Bush-era fear-slash-stupidity machine? The terrorists win again.
Hopefully, actual terrorists won't learn to wrap their packages at home first. Long story short, I packed them up there at the FedEx counter, with their scissors and tape and some extra bubble wrap I bought, and then I walked down the street to the U.S. Post Office and mailed them from there, all sealed up. We'll see how they fare. I hope they don't have snark-sniffing dogs.
putative.com: FedEx refuses shipment of made-up stuff, empty cans
Chocolate truffles are traditionally made with ganache shaped into rough spheres by hand and covered in cocoa powder. The powdery coating and imperfect shaping of the confections make them appear similar to dirt covered truffles - the famed culinary fungi. Chocolate truffles are easy to prepare at home and make irresistible desserts that will make you a welcome guest at any holiday party.
Even though the center of a truffle is traditionally ganache, truffles can be made with a variety of fillings ranging from nuts to caramel to nougat. When not made with ganache, these truffles are generally coated in a thin shell of hard chocolate. The truffles in this recipe will be made with a ganache center.
“There were two conventional pipe bombs that were found at the same time that this started to unfold,” said Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis.
The pipe bomb-like devices were reported at both locations just after 1 p.m. and are unrelated to the advertising scheme for Cartoon Network’s “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” police officials said.
In the hospital incident, investigators believe a former hospital employee planted the phony bomb in an office at 185 Harrison Ave. He has been identified but has not been charged, the sources said.
Boston Police bomb squad cops detonated the pipe bomb, which was a very realistic-looking fake, the sources said.
Two fake pipe bombs found not part of marketing stunt - Local & Regional - BostonHerald.com
Let's get a few facts straight on the Aqua Teen Hunger Force sign fiasco:
1. Attorney General Martha Coakley needs to shut up and stop using the word "hoax." There was no hoax. Hoax implies Turner Networks and the ATHF people were trying to defraud or confuse people as to what they were doing. Hoax implies they were trying to make their signs look like bombs. They weren't. They made Lite-Brite signs of a cartoon character giving the finger.
2. It bears repeating again that Turner, and especially Berdovsky, did absolutely nothing illegal. The devices were not bombs. They did not look like bombs. They were all placed in public spaces and caused no obstruction to traffic or commerce. At most, Berdovsky is guilty of littering or illegal flyering.
3. The "devices" were placed in ten cities, and have been there for over two weeks. No other city managed to freak out and commit an entire platoon of police officers to scaring their own city claiming they might be bombs. No other mayor agreed to talk to Fox News with any statement beyond "no comment" when spending the day asking if this was a "terrorist dry run."
4. There is nothing, not a single thing, remotely suggesting that Turner or the guerilla marketing firm they hired intended to cause a public disturbance. Many have claimed the signs were "like saying 'fire' in a crowded theater." Wrong. This was like taping a picture of a fire to the wall of a theater and someone freaked out and called the fire department.
In the Seattle area, the first device was found Tuesday by a Woodinville Public Works Department crew working on a railroad trestle over Highway 202, said Woodinville Police Chief John McSwain.
"Public Works found it and took it down and didn't even bother to call us" because the device didn't appear to be threatening, he said.
The appearance of the devices indicated they weren't too sinister, with one officer describing them as a battery, a light and a cartoon character making an obscene gesture, McSwain said.
Three devices also were found in Bothell, police reported. Officers acting on information from the Seattle Police Department removed the devices and knew the devices were not a threat.
Norman McLaren's classic NFB film, "Neighbours" from way back in 1952.
Whaaa?
USATODAY.com - Teen girl charged with posting nude photos on Internet
A 15-year-old girl has been arrested for taking nude photographs of her self and posting them on the Internet, police said.
The girl, whose identity was withheld, was accused of sending out photographs of herself in various states of undress and performing a variety of sexual acts. She sent them to people she met in chat rooms on the Internet, police said.
Police seized her computer and found dozens of photographs stored on the hard drive. Authorities did not say how police learned about the girl.
She has been charged with sexual abuse of children, possession of child pornography and dissemination of child pornography.
I was trying to pick my fav costume. There are some pretty interesting. So far Maximo has the most revealing... he's wearing the pick one.
The world mapped out in new ways - total population, insect infestation.
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