Pleated-Jeans gives you the Arrested Development themed Clue board game, complete with box art, game board, suspect cards and weapon cards ...For example: Buster, aboard The Seaward, with a Cornballer.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Clue: Arrested Development Edition
Arrested Development Clue Board Game |:
SNOWVERDOSE! (Now that Snowmaggedon and Snowpocalypse are played out.)
SNOWVERDOSE! | yourpublicmedia.org:
Thursday's Colin McEnroe Show will attempt to collect the best and worst stories of the Snowverdose, a term we made up at our staff meeting today.Thoughts with my family in the Northeast as they brace for another storm under adverse condition -- my brother and my father crossed paths in the ER today. Not the easiest time to be dealing with injury and illness. Hang in there guys.
Labels:
snowmaggedon,
words
Remake Of John Woo’s ‘The Killer’ Reloading (Bad idea.)
Remake Of John Woo’s ‘The Killer’ Reloading – Deadline.com:
Chow Yun-Fat and Danny Lee: the irreplaceable killers. |
Now it looks like a remake will happen, in 3D no less (will the flying doves be enhanced with that technology?) At least Woo is involved for some quality control ...No amount of "quality control" makes this a good idea. I happened to watch The Good, The Bad, The Weird just last night and was completely underwhelmed by the performances. I'm not even bothering to check which of the leads from that is being cast to replace Chow Yun-Fat, it doesn't matter.
In Praise of Ham the Astrochimp - Photo Gallery - LIFE
In Praise of Ham the Astrochimp - Photo Gallery - LIFE:
On the morning of January 31, 1961, a 5-year-old chimpanzee named 'Ham' ate a breakfast of baby cereal, condensed milk, vitamins, and half an egg. Then the playful 37-pound primate went out into the Cape Canaveral light and made aeronautic history: Aboard a NASA space capsule -- and traveling almost 160 miles above the Earth -- he became the first chimp in space.I almost missed this! 50 years since the first chimp in space. I wonder if any astronauts ate that same breakfast today in tribute to Ham.
Ex-NCSU hoops player charged, second implicated in home invasion
Ex-NCSU hoops player charged, second implicated in home invasion :: WRAL.com:
Gavin Grant at the line. Via flickr. |
Gavin Troy Grant, 25, is charged with first-degree burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit armed robbery. He was apprehended without incident in a home in the 5400 block of Summit Manor Lane, police said.They don't all make it.
Japan’s Most Stylish & Strange Hotels (Including the Alien Abduction Suite)
13 of Japan’s Most Stylish & Strange Hotels | WebUrbanist:
Also, if you've brought your own, you're going to want to make sure you understand whether or not you need a voltage converter.
You know you've booked the wrong hotel when, instead of soap, shampoo, and coffee, your room comes with a complimentary anal probe.If your deepest fantasy is being abducted and experimented upon by extraterrestrials, you’re in luck. Osaka’s Hotel Loire (yep, another love hotel) has a very special room that is either outrageously fun and weird or totally terrifying depending on your point of view.
Also, if you've brought your own, you're going to want to make sure you understand whether or not you need a voltage converter.
Monkey Caught After Attacking Woman ("Attacking" might be overstating it a little.)
Monkey Caught After Attacking Woman - Winston-Salem News Story - WXII The Triad:
When Knight went to change the monkey's water bowl, the monkey jumped over her head to escape, deputies said.
Deputies said she dashed to block the monkey's exit when it bit her on the hand. She also suffered a scratch on her face, deputies said.The Army of the Twelve Monkeys need to get to work on liberating this little guy.
Whales Return to NYC
Whales Return to NYC - 'Menagerie of giants' calling New York's waters home:
The way it's snowing up there, it's a good thing they aren't orcas.
(Newser) – Whales have returned to the waters around the Big Apple in numbers not seen for at least a century, a comeback experts believe is the result of anti-hunting laws and cleaner waters. Dolphins and seals have also made triumphant returns, and one ferryboat captain estimates the numbers of marine mammals have risen tenfold in recent years. One pod of at least 30 fin whales lives in the waters just beyond the Verrazano Bridge.I haven't been on a whale watch since at least middle school, but it is simply an awesome experience.
The way it's snowing up there, it's a good thing they aren't orcas.
oneword.com
oneword.com: I got "print." The site flashes a word and gives you 60 seconds to write about the word, no other instruction.
Big Game Coming: Blue Devils try to make some history tonight at Connecticut
Blue Devils try to make some history tonight at Connecticut | Triangle Offense:
Update: Business = Taken Care Of
Connecticut, which walloped Duke 81-48 at Cameron Indoor Stadium in the middle of its record 90-game winning streak, leads the series 5-3. But oddly enough neither team has ever won a game in the series on its home court, and the higher-ranked team has won only four of the eight meetings.Should be a great game tonight. The result will go a long way towards helping me decide whether UConn will be my pick in the championship bracket come NCAA tourney time.
Update: Business = Taken Care Of
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Gallup: Four in 10 Americans Believe in Strict Creationism (only 16% in 'secular evolution'?!)
Four in 10 Americans Believe in Strict Creationism:
Via Gallup |
A small minority of Americans hold the 'secular evolution' view that humans evolved with no influence from God -- but the number has risen from 9% in 1982 to 16% today. At the same time, the 40% of Americans who hold the 'creationist' view that God created humans as is 10,000 years ago is the lowest in Gallup's history of asking this question, and down from a high point of 47% in 1993 and 1999. There has been little change over the years in the percentage holding the 'theistic evolution' view that humans evolved under God's guidance.
We are all Johnnies now: Duke Blue Devils vs. St. John's Red Storm - Box Score - January 30, 2011 - ESPN
Duke Blue Devils vs. St. John's Red Storm - Box Score - January 30, 2011 - ESPN
There's a lot of game left and I still fully expect Duke to win by 10, but a 20 point lead for St. John's sure looks nice.
Always fun to read the UConn Blog's twitstream during big games involving the Big East ...
Update: Well, St. John's held on and then some, finally winning 93-78. Big East FTW!
There's a lot of game left and I still fully expect Duke to win by 10, but a 20 point lead for St. John's sure looks nice.
Always fun to read the UConn Blog's twitstream during big games involving the Big East ...
Sweet, the refs are letting Duke back into the game. There's something you don't see every day. (Only because Duke doesn't play every day.)Sun Jan 30 19:36:50 via webtheuconnblog
theuconnblog
theuconnblog
Update: Well, St. John's held on and then some, finally winning 93-78. Big East FTW!
'Spirituel and irreligious' trumps 'spiritual but not religious' anyways ...
Are there dangers in being 'spiritual but not religious'? - CNN:
The 'I'm spiritual but not religious' community is growing so much that one pastor compared it to a movement. In a 2009 survey by the research firm LifeWay Christian Resources, 72 percent of millennials (18- to 29-year-olds) said they're 'more spiritual than religious.' The phrase is now so commonplace that it's spawned its own acronym ('I'm SBNR') and Facebook page: SBNR.org.I should know better than to go near the CNN Living section. I'm going to end up spraining my eyes from aggressive rolling if try to read this rot all the way through.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
The Toilet Online - Leave It To Bush! (In praise of archive.org.)
The Toilet Online - Leave It To Bush!
I do this thing occasionally, maybe you've noticed, where I dip back in the archives to rehash something I posted ten year ago; well, I happened to see from the referral logs that somebody had landed on an old post from 2005 and couldn't remember from the title what the post was about, so I went back to it and the link I'd blogged, of course, was dead -- but, thanks to the Wayback Machine, I was able to find the original page. So, long story long, after all that, and not wanting to wait four more years to mark the ten year anniversary of first linking it, I give you Gary Busey, some ferrets with crosses carved in their foreheads, and George W. Bush saying some crazy stuff.
I do this thing occasionally, maybe you've noticed, where I dip back in the archives to rehash something I posted ten year ago; well, I happened to see from the referral logs that somebody had landed on an old post from 2005 and couldn't remember from the title what the post was about, so I went back to it and the link I'd blogged, of course, was dead -- but, thanks to the Wayback Machine, I was able to find the original page. So, long story long, after all that, and not wanting to wait four more years to mark the ten year anniversary of first linking it, I give you Gary Busey, some ferrets with crosses carved in their foreheads, and George W. Bush saying some crazy stuff.
Labels:
Bush,
cartoon,
tenyearslater
Christi Ann Photography: The Cup Cake Bite #Fuquay
Christi Ann Photography: The Cup Cake Bite | Commercial | Fuquay Varina, NC
I was looking through Google image search yesterday for some pictures of the Cupcake Bite here in Fuquay and didn't really find much. Tried Blog search on a lark and got much better results. I wasn't able to get home from work in time to stop in as planned, but I've got a daddy-daughter night out planned this week -- that's when we'll be getting our cupcake on.
I was looking through Google image search yesterday for some pictures of the Cupcake Bite here in Fuquay and didn't really find much. Tried Blog search on a lark and got much better results. I wasn't able to get home from work in time to stop in as planned, but I've got a daddy-daughter night out planned this week -- that's when we'll be getting our cupcake on.
More tantalizing cupcakey goodness on Christi Ann's site. |
Jai-Alai Magazine @ Sweat (Probably not what I'm looking for.)
Jai-Alai Magazine @ Sweat
It's a literary magazine for Miami. I'm not in Miami and will never see one in person, but on the off-chance there's some actual jai-alai photography or jai-alai-related fiction published, I'm going to keep a little mental note to be on the lookout for mentions of this again when it's published. (Obsessive much?)
Labels:
art,
jai-alai,
literature,
sports
Disturbed Theater (More shameless promotion for my youngest brother.)
Home Page - Disturbed Theater:
You may remember my youngest brother from such classic commercials as The Rock Solid Toyota Warranty, but did you know he also performs with the sketch comedy troupe Disturbed Theater?
Some photos from recent performances have started finding there way onto Facebook, I chose this one because, while dark and a bit blurry, it features him in a kilt. It's from the 1/28/2011 Benefit for the Bing show.
If you're in the Springfield, MA area, keep an eye out for shows and check'em out some time.
You may remember my youngest brother from such classic commercials as The Rock Solid Toyota Warranty, but did you know he also performs with the sketch comedy troupe Disturbed Theater?
Some photos from recent performances have started finding there way onto Facebook, I chose this one because, while dark and a bit blurry, it features him in a kilt. It's from the 1/28/2011 Benefit for the Bing show.
If you're in the Springfield, MA area, keep an eye out for shows and check'em out some time.
I trust this Moffat defeating Waterloo Road show is better than it looks.
Doctor Who and Sherlock lose out - Wales News - News - WalesOnline:
The BBC Wales-commissioned shows both failed to land a viewer-voted National Television Award for Most Popular Drama in one of the most hotly-anticipated contests of this year’s show.
The Doctor and Arthur Conan-Doyle’s star detective were beaten by BBC One series Waterloo Road.
You Gotta Believe (They must still have turnip trucks in Connecticut after all.)
You Gotta Believe — Spirituality — Utne Reader:
A hardworking fellow and family man in a postindustrial factory town of a blue state, Steve does not come across as fanatical. Yet his adherence to raw belief—a position unassailable by factual counter-data—is more than an inherently dangerous American mind-set. It is a deadly challenge to the aim of humanism.I expect better of my people, the Nutmeggers. The stuff this Steve character is parroting is for the rubes. Birtherism, Islamophobia, racism, willingness to bandy about the Hitler comparisons, creationism, wingnut conspiracy theories ... it amazes me someone so willfully ignorant is able to function in society.
Labels:
Conservative Goons,
CT,
WTF
Friday, January 28, 2011
4chan's "Radical Opacity"
Julian Dibbell | Radical Opacity:
By no coincidence, 4chan stands out not only for the content its users generate but for the way they generate it: with a degree of anonymity almost unheard-of in the online world. Though Poole himself is known to the site’s users by the cryptic pseudonym “moot,” on 4chan even using a pseudonym is rare. The site has no log-in function, so each message can be posted under whatever name its author chooses, but users are strongly encouraged to post with no identifying name at all. Roughly 90 percent of all messages on 4chan are posted under the site’s default identity, “Anonymous.” And those messages are not only anonymous but ephemeral, because 4chan has no long-term archives: old message threads are automatically deleted when new ones need the room. This mechanism was originally meant to save storage costs, but as Poole notes, “it’s both practical and philosophical.” Among other things, it challenges the idea that digital identity should follow you across time, linking what you say when you’re a teenager to the middle-aged business owner you might become. In 4chan’s heavy traffic, a message can vanish within hours or even minutes of its posting.
Teachers afraid to teach science in science class? The bullies are winning.
Teachers Back Away From Evolution In Class - International Business Times:
Teachers who are unable or unwilling to teach the theory of evolution in biology might be one reason U.S. students are falling behind in science, according to new research.
The study, done at Penn State University, polled 926 high school biology teachers from around the country. It found that a large majority are reluctant to address the evolution in their classrooms.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. (A plea for honest jai-alai?)
An old friend who knows of, shares, or even betters (bettors?) my love of jai-alai sent me some links in email that I am, in turn, sharing with you.
Beautiful Minds at the Fronton
Bonus: at the other end of this link, the author has cued up a grainy Miami Vice episode to a fronton scene. Tubbs: "I never bet on anything that can talk."
The Spreading Scandal in Jai-Alai (from the Vault)
Headline: Jai-alai players charged with fixing games.
Using Control Charts to Corroborate Bribery in Jai-Alai
Even when it's seedy, I enjoy reading about jai-alai. Big thanks for sending along the links!
Beautiful Minds at the Fronton
My heart goes out to contemporary jai-alai players who must constantly answer a rather irritating question from casual observers: “Isn’t your sport fixed?” The stars of the circuit have gone to great lengths to assure the public of jai-alai’s credibility, but it’s still tough to overcome some of the extreme shadiness that dogged the sport in the ’70s and ’80s.
Bonus: at the other end of this link, the author has cued up a grainy Miami Vice episode to a fronton scene. Tubbs: "I never bet on anything that can talk."
The Spreading Scandal in Jai-Alai (from the Vault)
Having the betting printouts gave the Miami Syndicate a huge advantage. With access to them, the Miami Syndicate immediately knew what other bettors were doing. The printouts, which showed how many bets had been placed on each of the 336 trifecta combinations, allowed Syndicate members to stay away from the heavily played numbers and to bet on those that were less popular. Moreover, as it turned out, the printouts permitted the Miami Syndicate to spot other systems bettors and drive them out of the game by wagering so heavily on their numbers that the payoff on them was minimal. The Miami Syndicate had such total control and such an acute sense of how to "tune" the odds that members were even able to bet just enough on a trifecta so that a win would pay less than 300 to 1. By keeping the payoff to less than 300 to 1, Syndicate members could pocket all their winnings, instead of having the IRS withhold 20%, as it automatically does on all winning tickets on payoffs of 300 to 1 or more.
Headline: Jai-alai players charged with fixing games.
Say it ain't so. The superfecta was superfixedup. |
Using Control Charts to Corroborate Bribery in Jai-Alai
Even when it's seedy, I enjoy reading about jai-alai. Big thanks for sending along the links!
Science fiction teaches governments—and citizens—how to understand the future of technology.
Science fiction teaches governments—and citizens—how to understand the future of technology. - By Robert J. Sawyer - Slate Magazine:
Many science-fiction writers, such as Gregory Benford, are working scientists. Many others, such as Joe Haldeman, have advanced degrees in science. Others, like me, have backgrounds in science and technology journalism. Our recent works have tackled such issues as the management of global climate change (Kim Stanley Robinson's Forty Signs of Rain and its sequels), biological terrorism (Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl), and the privacy of online information and China's attempts to control its citizens' access to the World Wide Web (my own WWW:Wake and its sequels).
#Fuquay Cupcake shop featured at NewsObserver.com
Cupcake shop sells dessert - Stock - NewsObserver.com:
Pettaris has committed to making her products using all-natural ingredients with no preservatives, dairy products that are free of hormones and vegetable-based food colorings that don't use synthetic dyes.I've only had the one cupcake from here so far, but it was awesome; I'm hoping I'll be able to get out of work tonight in time to grab a couple more on the way home.
New GOP target: Community college students
New GOP target: Community college students | BlueNC:
Rep. Cleveland at the vanguard of the NC GOP's crusade to destroy education in NC. |
Republicans in the General Assembly aren't satisfied with merely undermining the public school system by getting rid of thousands of teachers, funneling money into new charter schools, and (coming soon) draining revenues to be used for private school vouchers. Now it's the students' turn to pay, by cutting off access to direct Federal student loans.Oh, and another thing at the top of the Republican agenda with regard to higher education here in NC: preventing the children of illegal immigrants from being able to contribute to society.
Labels:
Conservative Goons,
crime,
NC,
parenting
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann to disabled vets: "Screw you, assholes."
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. Proudly Serving the 6th District of Minnesota:
I can't spend the morning picking this apart, but I wonder why she felt the need to include "Repeal Obamacare" with no estimated numbers and a vague promise of "larger savings in later years." Oh boy, there's her education spending plan, too. Nice job, Minnesota. Thanks for unleashing this dangerous lunatic on the nation.
Highlight is mine. Snipped from the PDF Rep. Bachmann helpfully provided on her website. |
I’m against another increase of the government’s debt ceiling. Instead of making it easier for Washington to spend more of your tax dollars, I’m calling for Congress to do the hard work of making real and necessary cuts in federal spending. I have put the following list on the table for discussion and I’m calling on other members of Congress to do the same.I'm wondering why she feels it's necessary to cut spending on care of disabled veterans, aside from the fact she has no respect for their service or sacrifice.
I can't spend the morning picking this apart, but I wonder why she felt the need to include "Repeal Obamacare" with no estimated numbers and a vague promise of "larger savings in later years." Oh boy, there's her education spending plan, too. Nice job, Minnesota. Thanks for unleashing this dangerous lunatic on the nation.
Labels:
Conservative Goons,
economy,
MichelleBachmann
Astronaut's Brother Recalls A Man Who Dreamed Big (An oral history of Ron McNair's journey.)
Astronaut's Brother Recalls A Man Who Dreamed Big : NPR:
Ronald McNair was one of the astronauts killed 25 years ago on Jan. 28, when the space shuttle Challenger exploded. As his brother recalls, McNair's life was all about exploring boundaries — and exceeding them.Heard Ron McNair's brother tell the story of how, as 9-year-old, Ron McNair went off on his own to his local library to check out some books. This was in South Carolina. South Carolina in 1959. He goes on to talk about how a few years later Star Trek inspired young Ron and how the Challenger was his Enterprise. It's story worth hearing as well as reading; the audio will be available online later today but I imagine NPR will play it again this morning.
Labels:
history,
progressivism,
sci-fi
Thursday, January 27, 2011
YouTube Beating: Richmond, VA Beating Posted to YouTube (By the perpetrators.)
YouTube Beating: Richmond, VA Beating Posted to YouTube - wtvr:
A videotaped beating of two men in Richmond, VA has been posted on YouTube.Via reddit. One of the guys who was beaten posted about it over there too.
Richmond Police are looking for information about the people responsible for the assault and robbery.
Neighbor Noise : Savage Chickens
Neighbor Noise : Savage Chickens – Cartoons on Sticky Notes by Doug Savage
Matt, how are your new neighbors working out?
Full cartoon at Savage Chickens |
Matt, how are your new neighbors working out?
Doctor Who Ride-in Dalek Inflatable
Zappies Ltd | Dr Who Ride-in Dalek
At about $320 each, plus international shipping, I think my kids are going to have to do without. My wife, I'm sure, just heaved a sigh of relief.
At about $320 each, plus international shipping, I think my kids are going to have to do without. My wife, I'm sure, just heaved a sigh of relief.
Labels:
Doctor Who,
parenting
Star Trek First Look: Star Trek Mr. Potato Heads
Star Trek First Look: Star Trek Mr. Potato Heads:
These days the real Shatner looks more like a Potato Head than the Potato Head looks like a Shatner.
Talk about a hot potato. One of the most eagerly awaited Star Trek toys of all time is finally, finally, finally set for release. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, humans and aliens, Star Trek (TOS) Mr. Potato Heads are on the way, and they’ll be available at stores and via e-tailers by August, 2011. StarTrek.com has an exclusive First Look at the upcoming Trek product – check out the photo above – and some additional information to share as well.Meh. For one thing, how do you not do Kirk and Spock first? At least with Spock ears we'd have clue without being told which character the potato represents.
These days the real Shatner looks more like a Potato Head than the Potato Head looks like a Shatner.
Sad City Hartford: Where Are They Now? Hartford Athletic Heroes
Sad City Hartford: Where Are They Now? Hartford Athletic Heroes:
Sad City's Ron Francis 'Where Are They Now?' Entry |
Athletics has long been a a unifying force for citizens to rally around. When a local team does good, individuals from all walks of life find common ground in cheering for the team. When a local grows up to have success on a national stage, the hometown takes great pride in one of their own 'making it big.' While some may dismiss athletics as frivolous, it is unquestionable that communities value athletic teams and athletes. Here we take a look back at both athletes that grew up in Hartford, and those that excelled playing in the city.As a Connecticut native living in North Carolina, I picked the entry that best tied my current and former home to highlight the newest addition to my daily reads list.
Meme of the Moment: Thundersnow Ice Cream Cone Guy
Why Is This Dude Running Through A Snowstorm Holding An Ice Cream Cone?: Pics, Videos, Links, News
Digital archeologists of the distant future are going to have their hands full figuring out what the hell was going on.
Digital archeologists of the distant future are going to have their hands full figuring out what the hell was going on.
Walking Tall: Upright-Walking Gorilla Hints At Our Terrible Future
Upright-Walking Gorilla Hints At Our Terrible Future | The Awl:
Soon they will all be walking upright, and we will be forced to toil in their banana mines until Charlton Heston comes from the past to liberate us.I'm late on this one but can't resist anything related to gorillas.
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, January 28, 1986
Space Shuttle Challenger disaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Twenty-five years later and it's still a gut-wrenching surprise when the shuttle transforms into a plume of smoke. I was a sophomore in high school. I don't really remember the moment. Getting old. It feels like I was watching it live, that day and the next few after we all saw the footage so many times it's become ingrained. It's more likely though I heard the announcement over the loudspeaker in class.
If there's a song that helps me process my feelings about the event, and the current state of the space program, it's Billy Bragg's "The Space Race is Over."
Here I am though, with my space out in cyberspace, and all you need is the URL to know where I'm at. Still waiting for that tide of technology to take us to the moon.
I'll update this post below with links to other remembrances as I spot them:
WRAL.com discusses the NC connections of the crew.
NASA - Day of Remembrance
Oliver Willis remembers.
Boing Boing on myths about Challenger.
Ghost in the Machine remembers.
MeFi remembers.
Twenty-five years later and it's still a gut-wrenching surprise when the shuttle transforms into a plume of smoke. I was a sophomore in high school. I don't really remember the moment. Getting old. It feels like I was watching it live, that day and the next few after we all saw the footage so many times it's become ingrained. It's more likely though I heard the announcement over the loudspeaker in class.
If there's a song that helps me process my feelings about the event, and the current state of the space program, it's Billy Bragg's "The Space Race is Over."
Here I am though, with my space out in cyberspace, and all you need is the URL to know where I'm at. Still waiting for that tide of technology to take us to the moon.
I'll update this post below with links to other remembrances as I spot them:
WRAL.com discusses the NC connections of the crew.
NASA - Day of Remembrance
Oliver Willis remembers.
Boing Boing on myths about Challenger.
Ghost in the Machine remembers.
MeFi remembers.
Illness forces Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Rocco Baldelli to retire - St. Petersburg Times
Illness forces Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Rocco Baldelli to retire - St. Petersburg Times:
'I don't anticipate ever playing baseball again. I'm retired. The paperwork will be filed,' Baldelli said Tuesday night. 'And you know what. The only time I feel like it's good to retire is when you're happy to retire. And I'm happy.'I'm glad he (a native Rhode Islander) got to play in Fenway as a member of the Red Sox, if only for a little while. I wish Rocco all the success in the world in his new front-office career. (Except when it comes to the Rays playing against his aforementioned former team.)
Baldelli quickly became one of the most popular Rays after a blazing 2003 rookie season and a solid followup, but his career was repeatedly interrupted by a series of injuries and an unusual condition that sapped his energy and affected his muscles.
Magneto vs. The Borg
The Line It Is Drawn #25 – Comic Book Characters and Star Trek | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources:
Image via CBR, much more over there. |
Team-up or mash-up comic book characters with Star Trek characters.
Jane McGonigal: The Gaming Fix for the Real World
Jane McGonigal: The Gaming Fix for the Real World | Science Not Fiction | Discover Magazine:
As a parent, when my kids get to school I'm going to, obviously, want them to put their time in on their homework. Yet, I'm not sure how much I want that to infringe on their video game time.
Tangentially, I wonder how much time I've spent blogging over the last 10+ years and how many hours I need to put in to hit Gladwell's 10K Hours to Genius level. (I'm guessing I have something like 9,500 hours to go.)
If 10,000 hours of practice represents a sort of genius threshold, then gamers around the world are crossing that threshold. “This means that we are well on our way to creating an entire generation of virtuoso gamers,” writes game designer Jane McGonigal.Food for thought in the article. The slashdot I found this on highlighted the relative mental health of soldiers who play 3-4 hours a day of video games in their free time.
You might recognize McGonigal from her talk at TED, “Gaming Can Make a Better World.” But now that speech has become a full-on how-to guide: her new book Reality Is Broken, which came out yesterday. It details how games can fix what’s wrong with the real world (and not just escape from it).
As a parent, when my kids get to school I'm going to, obviously, want them to put their time in on their homework. Yet, I'm not sure how much I want that to infringe on their video game time.
Tangentially, I wonder how much time I've spent blogging over the last 10+ years and how many hours I need to put in to hit Gladwell's 10K Hours to Genius level. (I'm guessing I have something like 9,500 hours to go.)
Ayn Rand's reliance on Social Security.
Michael Ford: Ayn Rand and the VIP-DIPers:
Ayn Rand via Instaputz. |
A heavy smoker who refused to believe that smoking causes cancer brings to mind those today who are equally certain there is no such thing as global warming. Unfortunately, Miss Rand was a fatal victim of lung cancer.
However, it was revealed in the recent 'Oral History of Ayn Rand' by Scott McConnell (founder of the media department at the Ayn Rand Institute) that in the end Ayn was a vip-dipper as well. An interview with Evva Pryror, a social worker and consultant to Miss Rand's law firm of Ernst, Cane, Gitlin and Winick verified that on Miss Rand's behalf she secured Rand's Social Security and Medicare payments which Ayn received under the name of Ann O'Connor (husband Frank O'Connor).
As Pryor said, 'Doctors cost a lot more money than books earn and she could be totally wiped out' without the aid of these two government programs. Ayn took the bail out even though Ayn 'despised government interference and felt that people should and could live independently... She didn't feel that an individual should take help.'
Labels:
Conservative Goons,
philosophy,
politics
NC woman 'kept starving illegal immigrant, 17, as slave'
Lucinda Shackleford 'kept starving illegal immigrant, 17, as slave' | Mail Online:
Lucinda Shackleford. Not to be confused with fictional slaver Jabba the Hut. |
A woman faces 25 years in jail and a $500,000 fine if found guilty of treating a 17-year-old illegal immigrant as a slave - making him work and starving him.
Lucinda Shackleford allegedly forced Carlos Alberto Montes Salvador to clean her 60-yard trailer yard and is accused of withholding his birth certificate - a crime tantamount to slave trafficking.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Fmr NCSU student made 250K selling pot
Warrant: Fmr NCSU student made 250K selling pot | abc11.com:
He [Robert Bass] also told investigators he made $250,000 in the past year selling large amounts of pot around the NC State campus.I wonder if when his break is over he's going to be a Business major. Kid's got some entrepreneurial spirit.
A roomate told ABC11 Monday that Bass was 'taking a break' from college. A NCSU spokesperson said he is not currently enrolled.
Woman tortures/kills dog for chewing on the bible
onegoodmove: Woman tortures/kills dog for chewing on the bible:
Look, crazy people, Marines and snack cakes can be called Devil Dogs. In no case are you not a raving lunatic if you think that what you think is a "devil dog" is something that needs to be hung from a tree by its neck and burned.
And, to be fair, I doubt it was reading the bible that drove her mad; I'm sure she was mentally ill by no fault of her own or a book. Whether or not bible obsession is a clue that there are underlying mental problems, that's another story. A person exhibiting the behaviors her neighbors describe, that's a person I would watch closely and keep my animals, and children, far away from.
Look, crazy people, Marines and snack cakes can be called Devil Dogs. In no case are you not a raving lunatic if you think that what you think is a "devil dog" is something that needs to be hung from a tree by its neck and burned.
And, to be fair, I doubt it was reading the bible that drove her mad; I'm sure she was mentally ill by no fault of her own or a book. Whether or not bible obsession is a clue that there are underlying mental problems, that's another story. A person exhibiting the behaviors her neighbors describe, that's a person I would watch closely and keep my animals, and children, far away from.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Is Facebook's private placement a sign the stock market is malfunctioning?
‘The stock market is for suckers’ - Business - Macleans.ca:
Now there are signs some institutional investors, such as pension funds, are giving up on equities and buying alternative assets like bridges and toll roads instead. No wonder American companies like Facebook are avoiding the hoi polloi of traditional stock markets in favour of raising capital from private, rich investors. “The idea of the stock market was to help businesses raise capital, and to provide people, individuals, with a chance to invest their savings and participate in that growth and have enough money to retire,” says Peter Cohan, president of Peter S. Cohan and Associates, a venture capital and management consulting firm in Marlborough, Mass. “But in the last decade the whole thing seems to have fallen apart.” Where the market once helped investors and companies, now it’s failing both.
Flavor Flav Opens Chicken Joint (Everything you eat's got flava.)
Flavor Flav Opens Chicken Joint, Stereotypical Ad Sets Black America Back | VIBE:
“You're going to find me in here working,' Flavor Flav told the Clinton Herald newspaper. 'You're going to be catching me seasoning my chicken, flouring my chicken, frying up my chicken, and not only that, but serving my chicken to my people. The taste will blow up your taste buds. You'll have fireworks in there.”Sigh.
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