Monthly Archives: June 2010

You Don’t Know Jack – online game

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I re-discovered this online single-player quiz game a few days ago. The game goes by pretty fast and it’s fun in a ADD-lite kind of way.

This is game episode #1. After this game is done, it will bounce you to their website where there are 99 other You Don’t Know Jack game episodes to play. It’s sad that it hasn’t been updated since 2008, but the 100 games are still a lot of fun.

Trivia: I was a beta tester for the You Don’t Know Jack games when they were originally being released on CD. Somewhere I have every single You Don’t Know Jack Game and every beta release variant…. probably buried in the Project 14 pile.

News stories the mainstream media missed : 06/05/10

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Here are some news stories from this week that I think the mainstream media completely missed out on. All links are from legitimate news sources and not the fringe / wacko sites.

* You know in the horror movies when the scary “chee-chee-chee-cha-cha-chaaaaa” music comes up you know the dingbat on screen is about to get it? Well something like “chee-chee-chee-cha-cha-chaaaaa” music just appeared for the stock markets. According to Bloomberg, “circuit breakers” are getting installed “to slow trading in Standard & Poor’s 500 Index stocks during periods of volatility.” Wait… why are they installing this again? Are they expecting something we don’t know about? Isn’t this kind of like people in a horror movie saying “don’t worry! Everything is going to be fine!” Riiiiight. [BLOOMBERG]

* Speaking of financial things that fall down and go boom, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal predicts gold is about to need get a big nasty owie. As in lose a lot of its’ value. He also quotes Warren Buffett’s POV on gold, who says it’s really only valuable because we all agree that it is. “Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace… Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.” Next thing you know, they’ll say the same thing about diamonds! Ah ha ha ha ha! Wait…. [WSJ]

* Have you ever been out and about somewhere and you hear a ringtone that means your dear old Aunt Petunia is calling, only to realize it’s some other poozer who has the same ringtone you do and your phone was never ringing at all? Scientists have found out that “our brains store “templates” for our own ringtones, allowing it to distinguish quickly between familiar and unfamiliar tones.” So recognizing sounds is important? This took a buncha’ scientists to figure out? [NEW SCIENTIST]

* Another new study shows that parents who “helicopter” over their kids, nitpicking them to death, butting into every moment of their lives, and making sure they never ever ever ever do anything fun dangerous on their own, will somehow “produce children who are neurotic, dependent and more closed” than other kids?!? Noooooooo way! Seriously. This needed scientific proof? What’s next? [LIVE SCIENCE]

* A new super drink “can multiply brain cells and stop skin ageing.” The catch? It’s from North Korea. Place your bets! Place your bets! [BBC.CO.UK]

* Santa Clara County in California just made happy meals illegal. Glad to see these brilliant government bozos have their priorities straight! Next up, deposing the Burger “King”! [MCALL (MORNING CALL)]

* In fairly serious news, there’s a growing backlash against immigrants. Arizona was just the first state. Massachusetts just “passed a sweeping measure that would toughen or expand rules that bar illegal immigrants from obtaining public health care, housing, and higher education benefits. It would set up hot lines for anonymous tips about illegal immigrants holding jobs and encourage the state attorney general to consult with the US Justice Department to enlist more state resources to halt illegal immigration.” All this was set up in a very late-night meeting with three other senators “over strawberry cream pie, cranberry-lime seltzer, and M&Ms”. This kind of stuff can get ugly pretty fast. And I’m not just talking about the cranberry-lime seltzer. Ptooey!  [BOSTON.COM]

* The ‘Thundercats’ cartoon writer was found murdered a short time ago, and police “found his arm inside of his abandoned van on the grounds of a Tampa Bay hotel”. The poor guy fell on some seriously hard times and was running with the wrong crowd. So of course, the asshats in LA mention “There have been rumors, by the way, that Thundercats would be turned into a Hollywood feature” in the article about his death. Stay classy, Hollywood! [LA WEEKLY]

* The Iraq wind-down progress in the words of a soldier. A seriously great read. [NY TIMES]

* And finally, did you hear the one about the rabbit and the rhino who walked into a zoo? Super best friends ensued! [DAILYMAIL.CO.UK]

Bunny & Rhino

Bunny & Rhino

That’s it for this week! Hopeya’ have a great weekend!

Shrek glasses from McDonalds are being recalled

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If you recently bought a Shrek glass from McDonalds, you need to throw it away ASAP.

An article on CNN says that “McDonald’s is recalling 12 million drinking glasses featuring characters from the “Shrek” movie series because the paint used contains cadmium, which can pose health risks… The 16-ounce glasses were sold for $2 each at McDonald’s locations across the country in May and June to promote the new movie “Shrek Forever After 3D.”””

“While no injuries were reported and the cadmium level in the glasses is low, long-term exposure to the metal can cause adverse health effects. Cadmium, which at high levels is a carcinogen, can cause kidney and bone damage.”

Perfect for using in cups that children will be drinking from!

McDonalds has offered to give a full refund for the purchase if any of the recalled glasses are returned to the store.

Here’s the link to the CNN article.

James Cameron, who wants to help with the oil spill, was denied by BP

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Just saw this on Yahoo news… James Cameron, who “is considered an expert in undersea filming” and who “helped develop deep-sea submersible equipment and other underwater ocean technology for the making of documentaries exploring the wrecks of the ocean liner Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck some two miles below the surface” had offered to help BP film what’s really going on down in the 1 mile deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico with robot submersibles.

BP said no. “Graciously”, according to Cameron, but they still said no.

So let me get this straight… a multi-millionaire (if not billionaire by now) with some serious experience in 2+ mile “crush your best tech like a sheet of aluminum foil” deep water diving, offers to help solve the worst environmental disaster for free, and the company that started this whole mess says… no, thanks, we got it.

Right.

Can Cameron do anything to seal the gusher? No, probably not.

Is having another pair of eyes down there, independent from BP, a good idea? Definitely, yes.

Here’s the story from Yahoo.

The Verifier – a mobile wireless fingerprint scanner [AMERICAN COP]

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I saw a great little gadget in a recent issue of American Cop (March-April 2010 issue on page 20).

Called the VERIFIER, it’s a baton-shaped “Mobile Wireless Fingerprint Scanner” that takes a suspect’s fingerprint in the field and runs it through the local PD database through the squad car or a field station’s wifi connection. Depending on how nationally connected the local PD’s network is, it can also route the scan through any other national database to confirm the individual’s ID. According to the article, in about 10 minutes, any results on the suspect will be returned to the field officer.

My first reaction? Cool gadget!

My second reaction? Hmmm.

On the one hand, there’s a ton of “pros” for this device.

  • Instant on-site body identification (Hey CBS- put this on CSI already!)
  • Instant verification of someone who says they do not have their ID. (No ID on you? No problem! Just put your finger right here if you please…)
  • Validation of every presented form of identification (IE: no more fake driver’s licenses from out of state or out of country!)
  • Reliable identity confirmation (IE: no mis-reading license numbers over the radio or dealing with old and busted ID swipe-pads in a patrol car).
  • Reasonably cheap at $2,000 per unit.
  • And probably best of all, a much faster initiation of booking and processing of a suspect in the legal system.

On the other hand, there’s the big ugly potential this can create a “fingerprint national database” just based on traffic stops.

I know a national database exists based on driver’s licenses alone, but I strongly oppose a national database based on fingerprint/DNA information of individuals not accused of any crime.

Plus, I have a bad feeling this is going to wind up in the courts pretty quick. Here’s my hypothetical… a very smart, thorough and well-intentioned police officer somewhere is going to use the VERIFIER on a suspect he has a valid “gut feeling” about, even though the suspect will have an ID they have already presented to the police officer. If the suspect gets busted based on the VERIFIER’S scan, the big question will be if they were technically arrested at the time of fingerprinting and was the fingerprinting process valid? Is fingerprinting at a traffic stop (or border checkpoint) a violation of the 5th? Should the VERIFIER be used before a miranda warning? Does a miranda warning even apply for the VERIFIER?

Welcome to 2010.

You can check out the VERIFIER at the crossmatch.com website. Below is also the scan from the American Cop magazine where this article originally appeared. (March / April 2010 page 20) (click to enlarge).

American Cop Magazine March/April 2010 page 20

American Cop Magazine March/April 2010 page 20

You can also read this whole issue of americancop.com in their digital archives area on their website.

FDA seeks front of package label input [FOOD BUSINESS NEWS]

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In some more magazine-reading-based news, I saw in Food Business News in their May 11 2010 issue on page 15 that the FDA “…has requested that any parties interested in the issues of front-of-package nutrition labels and retail shelf tags submit comments as well as data regarding the topics.”

Wow. The FDA wants input from everyone on what to put on the front of foodstuff packaging? That’s fairly progressive!

The Food Business News article says that… “specifically, the agency would like to learn more about the extent to which consumers notice, use and understand nutrition symbols on front-of-pack labeling of food packages or on shelf tags in retail stores; research that assesses and compares the effectiveness of particular approaches to front-of-pack labeling; graphic design, marketing and advertising data and information that can help develop better point-of-purchase nutrition information; and how point-of-purchase information may affect decisions by food manufacturers to reformulate products.”

So what would you like to see on the front of food packaging? What nutritional information would you require at a glance? How should it look graphically?

Personally, I want to see a foodstuff’s calories, fat content, carb content, number of servings per container, and whether or not it is organic in a big font in the front and left corner with no graphics from the foodstuff to obstruct the information. Everything else can stay on the nutrition label on the side.

The article goes on to say… “the F.D.A. is accepting comments until July 28, 2010. Comments may be sent to http://www.regulations.gov, by entering Docket No. FDA-2010-N-0210. Written comments also may be sent to the Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305) Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061, Rockville Md., 20852.”

Cool!

Here’s the link to the article on Food Business News (it has a annoying register-to-read requirement, but the link I posted might get around that). If that first link didn’t work, try this one. Just in case both of those do not work, below is a scan of the original magazine article.

FDA seeks front of package nutrition labeling info

FDA seeks front of package nutrition labeling info

BTW, Food Business News is one of my favorite magazines because of the info I get on the retail food industry. Their website could be better if it wasn’t a “register-to-read” site, but the articles online and in print are always top notch. I re-subscribe to these guys all the time.

See the size of the gulf oil spill superimposed on major cities (update 06/02/10)

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Not too long ago, I posted a link to a website that shows you how big the oil spill is if it were superimposed on major cities.

I was curious to see how things looked today, so I went back and put in some new locations.

This is the oil spill (as of today) if it were centered on Scranton, PA.

Oil Spill 06/02/10 - PA & NY

Oil Spill 06/02/10 - PA & NY

All of Manhattan. A good chunk of the Atlantic. Connecticut. Pennsylvania. New Jersey. A giant swath of New York State.

Imagine all of this land covered in oil.

So how about putting this monster over Texas?

Oil Spill 06/02/10 - TX

Oil Spill 06/02/10 - TX

Using Temple, TX (slightly south of Waco) as the “center”, the spill goes into Taylor/Runnels county to the West, Fort Worth and Dallas to the North, the Louisiana border to the East and Houston to the south.

As a point of reference, driving from Ballinger (a town in Scranton in the spill area) direct to Houston is over a 6 hour drive at 70-75 mph.

Damn.

According to the original oil spill size blog (alexanderhiggins.com), “60,000 barrels of oil are leaking into the Gulf of Mexico every day. That is equal to one Exxon-Valdez oil spill leaking into the Gulf of Mexico every 4 days.”

Why, exactly, is BP not getting reamed for this?

Why, exactly, isn’t the president doing a “fist of an angry God” impression on BP’s corporate entity?

Here’s the link to the original blog with the map if you want to see how the oil spill would look over your state.

Food for thought: Prisoners should earn money to buy their own food

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I was catching up on my magazine subscriptions this weekend and saw an letter written to American Cop in the May/June 2010 issue that really got me thinking.

A letter from Robert Phair in Ketchikan, Alaska had a really straightforward premise that I’m surprised no one has picked up on yet.

I’m going to post his letter in its’ entirety between the dash-lines and hope nobody minds too much…

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“WORK FOR FOOD

I’d like to add my input to the current debate on the right to own an exercise machine, etc, (Return Fire Mar/Apr 2010). Anything a free man desires to buy or have as a result of his wealth or labor is okay as long as he, by doing so, doesn’t take away the similar rights of his fellow citizens.

Those who are rightfully incarcerated have, by definition, forfeited the right to freedom and the pursuit of happiness. Our jail inmates are even provided meals, at no cost, by the state. In Mexico, as I’m sure you know, one has to earn the money to buy his own food. I like that idea personally, as it teaches a citizen it’s his responsibility to earn his own living – a lesson apparently missed by most of those who wake up and find themselves in jail.

-Robert Phair, Ketchikan, Alaska”

—————————–

Wow.

This is brilliant.

I completely agree with Robert’s sentiments. Having prisoners work for their own food is no more “cruel and unusual” as any of us having to go to work every day so we can have something to eat when we get hungry.

Aside from the brilliant object lesson for each inmate, this idea would save each state thousands of dollars for each prisoner. If each meal costs $4, each prisoner every year costs $4,380 just to feed ($4 * 3 meals a day = $12. $12 * 365 = $4,380).

With 2,424,279 inmates in 2008, $4,380 * 2,424,279 comes out to $10,618,342,020!! $10.6 billion!!

I can think of a lot of things to spend $10.6 billion on.

Time to write the local state reps.

You can read back issues of American Cop by visiting their website and looking in the digital archive. The issue with Robert Phair’s letter is the May/June 2010 edition, page 11.

BTW, I think it’s very impressive that American Cop has their back issues online for everyone to read for free. You can also email, print, or PDF them all! I’ll be renewing my subscription just for that feature!