Tuesday, March 30, 2010

How many calories for your fast-food dollar?

When New York City adopted a new rule last year requiring chain restaurants to prominently post calorie counts for every item on their menus, it was supposed to be the Day of Judgment for the fast-food industry. Knowledge is the key to winning all modern wars, and calorie information is the new weapon in the war on fat. Who could bear to utter the words "super size" while staring at the calorie counts?

Solar Calendar Music Box

I think I may use this as a screen saver when waiting for the audience to sit down for a presention.


International Realities

5 Ways Disney’s New Cruise Ship Will be Wired for Family Fun Read More http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/03/disney-dream/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_m


Virtual Portholes: It’s a fact of ship design that some staterooms will be “interior” staterooms, meaning they don’t share a wall with the outside hull of the ship, and therefore don’t have win- err, portholes. But the interior staterooms on the Dream will. Each stateroom will have a 30″ round HD screen mounted on one wall, feeding live video from a series of cameras mounted around the perimeter of the boat. No matter what direction the Dream is sailing, or what time of day, passengers will see what’s visible outside in the specific direction they are facing in the stateroom, as if they were looking at an actual porthole. And to add to the Disney magic, each screen will have random characters from Disney properties matted into the video feed doing appropriate things: the house from Up! floating by, or a starfish from Finding Nemo holding on to wave hello. Disney reps say that many people, when offered an upgrade to rooms with actual portholes, decline in favor of the virtual ones.

Dog attacks police car

balancing 15 books on my head, reciting pi to the 100th digit, and solving a rubik's cube.

video

Service monkeys and the TSA rules for them

  • When a service monkey is being transported in a carrier, the monkey must be removed from the carrier by the handler prior to screening,


  • The service monkey must be controlled by the handler throughout the screening process.


  • The service monkey handler should carry the monkey through the walk through metal detector while the monkey remains on a leash.


  • When the handler and service monkey go through the walk through metal detector and the detector alarms, both the handler and the monkey must undergo additional screening.


  • Since service monkeys may likely draw attention, the handler will be escorted to the physical inspection area where a table is available for the monkey to sit on. Only the handler will touch or interact with the service monkey.


  • Security Officers have been trained to not touch the service monkey during the screening process.


  • Security Officers will conduct a visual inspection on the service monkey and will coach the handler on how to hold the monkey during the visual inspection.


  • The inspection process may require that the handler to take off the monkey’s diaper as part of the visual inspection.

(Just for fun, re-read it, but replace all references to monkeys with the word, "penis." It's funny too. )

Great logo

Grab the Airplane and Go

How to repossess an airliner without getting shot, or thrown in jail, or beat up, or slammed into a wall, or...

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Childhood Photos

I recently had 500 slides my dad had taken converted to slides. Here are a few

I still have both of those toys, and most of the others in the pictures. Not in as good of shape, of course.
Probably Halloween 1972

Our house, probably in 1967.
It looks like I didn't want to leave my gift for church.
My Uncle Leonard and I

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The word is "pen." Please tell me it's "pen."

Kalispell Crime Blotter - I want to make the last four words of this a euphemism, I just don't know what it would refer to. Definitely nothing sexual.

4:07 p.m. A resident of North Ferndale Drive called to ask questions regarding a neighbor who was evidently burning a dead llama.

Spring is almost here!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

You have to want cigarettes bad to stand there and put in 28 quarters.

Great sign outside a school gym

Food and Wine names a beer guy as one of the Sommeliers of the Year

3. Greg Engert: Birch & Barley, Washington, DC

Why he won: Because he's bringing the same seriousness to beer that other sommeliers bring to wine, sourcing 555 artisanal brews (500 in bottles, 50 on tap, five cask-pumped).

Experience: The four-year beer pro works the floor at Birch & Barley and oversees all the beer lists for Neighborhood Restaurant Group.

Best pairing: WinterCoat Vildmoseol, a funky Danish peat-smoked ale, with chef Kyle Bailey's smoky charred octopus with capers.

(After reading the Best Pairing I am both thirsty and hungry. Anybody want to go to D.C.?)





Slam Dunk: The Financial Impact of March Madness

Monday, March 22, 2010

Want It!


I had one of those Tonka Truck cranes as a kid.

The Story of Bottled Water

Brilliant!

Row over 'torture' on French TV



A disturbing French TV documentary has tried to demonstrate how well-meaning people can be manipulated into becoming torturers or even executioners.

The hugely controversial Game of Death was broadcast in prime-time on a major terrestrial channel, France 2, on Wednesday.

It showed 80 people taking part in what they thought was a game show pilot.

As it was only a trial, they were told they wouldn't win anything, but they were given a nominal 40 euro fee.

Before the show, they signed contracts agreeing to inflict electric shocks on other contestants.

One by one, they were put in a studio resembling the sets of popular game shows.

They were then asked to zap a man they believed was another contestant whenever he failed to answer a question correctly - with increasingly powerful shocks of up to 460 volts.

Blind obedience

Egged on by a glamorous presenter, cries of "punishment" from a studio audience and dramatic music, the overwhelming majority of the participants obeyed orders to continue delivering the shocks - despite the man's screams of agony and pleas for them to stop.

Screen grab from The Game of Death
This programme denounces manipulation by authority but at the same time it manipulates people
Marie-France Hirigoyen
Psychiatrist

Eventually he fell silent, presumably because he had died or lost consciousness.



The Democratic Party needs to stop taking its pro-choice supporters for granted.

The Story of Adam & Eve's Pets

The Story of Adam & Eve's Pets

Adam and Eve said, 'Lord, when we were in the garden, you walked with us every day. Now we do not see you anymore. We are lonesome here, and it is difficult for us to remember how much you love us.'

And God said, I will create a companion for you that will be with you and who will be a reflection of my love for you, so that you will love me even when you cannot see me. Regardless of how selfish or childish or unlovable you may be, this new companion will accept you as you are and will love you as I do, in spite of yourselves.'

And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam and Eve.
And it was a good animal
And God was pleased.

And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam and Eve and he wagged his tail

And Adam said, 'Lord, I have already named all the animals in the Kingdom and I cannot think of a name for this new animal.'

And God said, 'I have created this new animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be a
reflection of my own name, and you will call him DOG.'

And Dog lived with Adam and Eve and was a companion to them and loved them.

And they were comforted

And God was pleased.

And Dog was content and wagged his tail.


After a while, it came to pass that an angel came to the Lord and said, 'Lord, Adam and Eve have become filled with pride. They strut and preen like peacocks and they believe they are worthy of adoration. Dog has indeed taught them that they are loved, but perhaps too well.'


And God said, I will create for them a companion who will be with them and who will see them as they are. The companion will remind them of their limitations, so they will know that they are not always worthy of adoration.'

And God created CAT to be a companion to Adam and Eve.


And Cat would not obey them. And when Adam and Eve gazed into Cat's eyes, they were reminded that they were not the supreme beings.


And Adam and Eve learned humility.

And they were greatly improved.


And God was pleased
. . . . . .

And Dog was happy. . . . .



And Cat didn't give a shit one way or the other....

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Hot tub with a view

Want It!


I just haven't figured out whose garden to sneak it in.

Everybody in the preschool is going to be jealous.

Putting a new floor in Trevon's new studio



It looks great! But after two days of constantly kneeling and crouching and standing and kneeling and crouching and standing and kneeling and . . . don't expect us to move too quickly.

Friday, March 19, 2010

War Memorials With Neatly Made Beds

Karina Lau’s bedroom has not changed. A stuffed teddy bear and floppy-eared rabbit sit on top of her floral bedspread. Angel figurines and framed family photos line her bookshelf and dresser.

The only thing missing is her. Private Lau was killed seven years ago when insurgents shot down her helicopter in Falluja, Iraq. She was 20 years old.

Her mother, Ruth, usually keeps the bedroom door closed and the window shades drawn, but when the photographer Ashley Gilbertson came to her home in Livingston, Calif., she opened them up.

Since 2007, Mr. Gilbertson has been recording the bedrooms to which young American service members will never return. “You walk into these rooms,” he said, “and you feel like these are the kids you used to hang out with.”

“I’ve been covering conflict and war for more than 10 years, but this is the first time that I’ve really felt like a war photographer,” said Mr. Gilbertson, who is based in New York.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Happy Thoughts




Best Halloween Costume Ever!

Seattle, in a vegan world

So long as one person gets the joke(s)

Where foreign aid goes

Why 70 Miles Per Hour Is the New 55



Left to their own devices, American drivers confronted with an open stretch of interstate highway tend to drive at about 70 miles per hour—whatever the legal speed limit happens to be.



Hacker Disables More Than 100 Cars Remotely

More than 100 drivers in Austin, Texas found their cars disabled or the horns honking out of control, after an intruder ran amok in a web-based vehicle-immobilization system normally used to get the attention of consumers delinquent in their auto payments.

Police with Austin’s High Tech Crime Unit on Wednesday arrested 20-year-old Omar Ramos-Lopez, a former Texas Auto Center employee who was laid off last month, and allegedly sought revenge by bricking the cars sold from the dealership’s four Austin-area lots.

“We initially dismissed it as mechanical failure,” says Texas Auto Center manager Martin Garcia. “We started having a rash of up to a hundred customers at one time complaining. Some customers complained of the horns going off in the middle of the night. The only option they had was to remove the battery.”

The dealership used a system called Webtech Plus as an alternative to repossessing vehicles that haven’t been paid for. Operated by Cleveland-based Pay Technologies, the system lets car dealers install a small black box under vehicle dashboards that responds to commands issued through a central website, and relayed over a wireless pager network. The dealer can disable a car’s ignition system, or trigger the horn to begin honking, as a reminder that a payment is due. The system will not stop a running vehicle.



Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/hacker-bricks-cars/#ixzz0iTz7y2pC

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

A joke

A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching his wife, who was
looking at herself in the mirror. Since her birthday was not
far off he asked what she'd like to

have for her birthday.

'I'd like to be six again', she replied, still looking
in the mirror .

On the morning of her Birthday, he arose early, made her a nice big bowl of Lucky Charms, and then took her to Six Flags theme park. What a day! He put her on every ride in the park; the Death Slide, the Wall
of Fear, the Screaming
Roller Coaster, everything there was.

Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park. Her head was
reeling and her stomach felt upside
down. He then took her to a McDonald's where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a
chocolate shake.


Then it was off to a movie, popcorn, a soda pop, and her favorite
candy,
M&M's. What a fabulous adventure!


Finally she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed
exhausted.



He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingly asked, 'Well Dear, what was it like being six
again?'


Her eyes slowly opened and her expression suddenly changed.


'I meant my dress size, you
IDIOT!!!!'

The moral of the story: Even when a man is listening, he is gonna
get it wrong.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

20 Free Songs

Friday, March 12, 2010

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Researchers: Men want sex until almost dead

The study states men are more likely to be interested in sex than women, and the disparity between genders grows with age. The difference is greatest among the 75- to 85-year-old group: 38.9 percent of men compared with 16.8 percent of women in that age group were sexually active, according to the study.

Monday, March 08, 2010

Fun Song

Want It!

Honk

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Worth Watching - Enlighten Up!

Filmmaker Kate Churchill is determined to prove that yoga can transform anyone. Nick Rosen is skeptical but agrees to be her guinea pig. Kate immerses Nick in yoga, and follows him around the world as he examines the good, the bad and the ugly of yoga. The two encounter celebrity yogis, true believers, kooks and world-renowned gurus. Tensions run high as Nick’s transformational progress lags and Kate’s plan crumbles. What unfolds and what they discover is not what they expected.

Worth Watching - Traitor

Samir Horn is a former soldier, a devout Moslem, and U.S. citizen in the Middle East selling bomb detonators to Islamic radicals. He joins their cause as both the FBI and a rogue CIA agent track him. Horn escapes a Yemeni prison, goes underground in France where he proves his abilities, and is sent to the United Starts to choreograph a simultaneous and multiple terror attack. Will the intelligence agencies talk to each other, and can Horn be stopped?

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