Tuesday, December 27, 2011

PLEASE READ: your screensaver can help fight illnesses!

"What?  How can it do that???"  So there's quite a few distributed computing projects (and a run-down on how to join one), one of the famous ones being SETI @ Home, in which your home computer analyzes radio broadcasts from the skies, looking for patterns.  I ran that for awhile, until I finally said "You know what?  Helping look for extraterrestrial life is cool, but there's gotta be a distributed computing project that helps people."  The point of a distributed computing project is that it takes a massively complex problem, one that would take humans an incredible number of years to solve, and by breaking the massive hard problem down into smaller less hard problems, then each smaller problem can be worked on by different computers.  And even better, if the software is made such that it runs as a screensaver, it uses your computer only when you're not!

     So I found BOINC, which is the software you need to install in order to run any number of projects in your computer's spare time.  I ran SETI @ Home for a while before that realization kicked in that there are other, more direct routes to helping humanity.  So I poked around... FOUND IT!  I found the World Community Grid, hosted by IBM, which specifically hosts projects that aim to make human life better.  This page lists some of their achievements to date, as well as a brief discussion of the software's security, which tells us that BOINC was developed at the University of California Berkeley.  And this discussion of the project's recent 7th birthday lists details about their achievements to date as well as discussions of the most active projects.

Here is the email they sent me when I signed up-- sorry, the formatting got "all weird", but you can read most of it:

Dear JeffKnox,
We would like to congratulate you for successfully completing your first result for World Community Grid. This contribution and all future computer time that you donate will help advance research into:
Help Fight Childhood Cancer
FightAIDS@Home
Human Proteome Folding - Phase 2
Help Conquer Cancer

In addition to participating by donating your computer time, you may extend your involvement by joining a team (if not already a member of one) or inviting other people to join World Community Grid. Learn about other ways to get involved on the Explore World Community Grid page.

You can track the research currently being done by your computer on the Results Status page. This page reflects the:
  • time when a research work unit was sent to your computer
  • current status of the work unit(s) you are processing
  • work units that you have completed (for 4 days after validation)
  • amount of CPU time donated to complete each work unit

You can also automatically share your accomplishments with your friends by integrating World Community Grid with your Facebook and Twitter accounts. This helps spread the word and get more people involved! Get started by setting up your Social Networks

World Community Grid is proud to be a founding member of People for a Smarter Planet. It's a network of communities, sponsored by IBM that helps people make meaningful and personal contributions toward a clear goal -- building a smarter planet. Visit People for a Smarter Planet on Facebook, and click the "Like" button. Then connect with other World Community Grid members to show your support. 

If you'd like to download the World Community Grid software to another computer, you can do that here.

Thank you for contributing your unused computer cycles to help humanity! We look forward to your participation for many years to come!

The World Community Grid Team

And in case you misplace this emailyou can got to my blog and scroll down to find a dark blue World Community Grid square that has the links you need to get started.  Please, family and others, sign up, and if you do so, encourage others by going to this post on my blog and underneath will be a spot to leave comments!  Let's make a better world together!

Monday, December 26, 2011

ATTENTION DOG OWNERS: Riley goes bike riding

Just wanted to share this clip that mom took.  We just got home from the beach, and at the beach we went to, Deer Island, there are bike trails galore.  So we rented 2 tricycles and a bike.  Before we went, dad found this great leash attachment for a bike at The Dog Outdoors, and this one is sweet since (pay attention, dog owners) the end of the pole that attaches to the bike on one end has on the other end a stretchy leash attachment, so the dog isn't choked to death when the bike speeds up or slows down.  Not too much, but just enough to let them know "okay, it's time to start slowing down now."  You can see the Ri-meister stretch it out a bit...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPA9Cvlk5WM

Boy did she love that!

Friday, December 23, 2011

happy Festivus everyone!

Happy Festivus everyone!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

nifty! Use Google Maps to see the ocean floor!

Huh!  I just found this by accident, and it's slick!  Go to Google Maps, and change the map mode in the upper-right from Satellite to Earth by putting your mouse where it says Satellite and then clicking on Earth.  Zoom out to see the world's oceans!  It's a neat way to see that Hawaii is really just mountaintops!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

2011's most viral video

We have watched this about 42 million times: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqj9xrhGpoc

4 definitions of necessity


  1. http://images.google.com/imgres?q=define+necessity&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=653&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=E9Jgaft43rlXeM:&imgrefurl=http://orphansmom.com/index.php%3Fp%3D1_10_Photos&docid=e0O8bNOEG5gOMM&imgurl=http://orphansmom.com/web_images/define_necessity.jpg&w=550&h=372&ei=SSHxTrS_F821tweyg9zPBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=174&vpy=312&dur=229&hovh=185&hovw=273&tx=129&ty=74&sig=115761461638537358386&page=1&tbnh=140&tbnw=181&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:0
  2. http://images.google.com/imgres?q=define+necessity&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=653&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=-JP8d9rUxu8Z3M:&imgrefurl=http://burningbabylon.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/can-you-define-necessity/&docid=g_hL4MvqxtHEIM&imgurl=http://burningbabylon.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/christmas-define-necessity.jpg&w=720&h=396&ei=SSHxTrS_F821tweyg9zPBg&zoom=1
  3. http://images.google.com/imgres?q=define+necessity&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=653&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=t4EqXOWef1cGFM:&imgrefurl=http://www.buzzfeed.com/burgnyc/define-necessity-2ti8&docid=nORDE8G8S0lUAM&imgurl=http://s3-ak.buzzfed.com/static/imagebuzz/terminal01/2011/12/14/12/define-necessity-25167-1323883032-2.jpg&w=604&h=302&ei=SSHxTrS_F821tweyg9zPBg&zoom=1
  4. http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1SNNT_enUS416US416&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=define%3A+necessity#hl=en&rlz=1C1SNNT_enUS416US416&q=necessity&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=4yXxTqKWJoWFtgeW-IXQBg&ved=0CDUQkQ4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=a07b3761d35d504a&biw=1366&bih=653

THIS IS -=SO=- COOL! I've figured out where I was for those 5 weeks!

   THIS IS SO COOL!  I've figured out for sure where I was for those 5 weeks!  (5/26/07 - 7/1/07)  So we're currently on vacation at Hilton Head, SC.  Several of my relatives have been here, and if so, I guarantee you've been to this spot.  So we rented a bike & two tricycles for the week (this island has bike trails all over-- excellent), and we just biked to the South Beach Marina. (home of the Salty Dog restaurant-- if you've been to the island, that should jog your memory)
   When we first arrived at South Beach, I was like "I've been here... recently, within the last few years."  My folks were like "No, no you haven't, and certainly not since the wreck..."  Then as I wandered around, I just knew where certain mundane things were-- "I spent a lot of time on this dock by this launching ramp in the marina, looking at that cove over there, I walked right between this pool and these tennis courts a good bit, and here's the spiral wired staircase I predicted would be right here-- in fact, I believe I lived here, at the top of this spiral staircase, in that condo, above this parrot."  (I've never lived anywhere close to here)  It was kind of like having a dream-- well, exactly that actually-- and then getting to walk through your dream but in reality!  HOLY JUNKBUTTER!!!  I cannot believe I found it!  I haven't been looking for these spots that stand out so vividly in my memory banks, but I definitely know this is where I was!  I just have so many recollections of mundane things at this Marina... that never happened.  It could have just been a dream, but there are so many different memories at this spot, it would have to have been a sequence of recurring dreams.  Which is exactly why I say I was here during the coma-- I don't dream anymore, a well-known side-effect of brain injuries.  Musta been those 5 weeks then...
   So y'all call it a "coma," I now call it a "vacation!"  I mean, how cool is that?!?  That drunk driver sent me on a 5-week retreat to Hilton Head Island!  Thanks!  It makes sense, too, the whole bit about your brain returning to where it's at it's most relaxed...  I certainly didn't feel like I was missing anything, but I definitely feel whole, complete again...

Sunday, December 18, 2011

I'm a sucker for cuteness...



Awwww, cute...  check out a baby playing with a puppy...  http://gma.yahoo.com/video/parenting-26594265/baby-plays-with-puppy-cutest-youtube-video-ever-27619223.html

And check out this pic dad snapped the morning that we were packing up to go to the beach for a week...
Riley is so nervous this morning, she curled up in my suitcase......"just in case you're thinking of leaving without me"

Thursday, December 15, 2011

you know what just occurred to me about the word "deodorant"?

The word "deodorant", meaning the stuff us Americans put in our armpits, has precisely the wrong prefix.  It's not taking odor away, which is implied by "de-" anything, it's replacing your natural body odor with some sweet summer leaves or somesuch.  So technically, it should be called reodorant!  (okay, mini-rant is over, I'm OK again, just had to get that off my chest; little weird inconsistencies like that bother me)

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

the author of Life Without Limits

So for my recent birthday, my California relatives gave me the book Life Without Limits.  (thanks y'all!)  It's an unbelievable premise: this man, Nick Vujicic, was born with NO ARMS OR LEGS!  And he maintains a healthy sense of humor, and apparently achieves more than anyone guessed-- he's a motivational speaker.  (I haven't read it yet, but mom has and says it's awesome)  Dad just found a video of the author, and you just gotta see this video on Youtube! If you'd like to pick up a copy of the book yourself, here's where you can find it online, or at some of your local bookstores or even in a library. (click "Get this book in print" on the left)  (HA!  I just found that if you say to find this book in a library, it starts with local libraries... all the way down to libraries in Australia and Singapore!  Can you imagine trying to get a library card?)

Monday, December 12, 2011

closing in on other Earths!

WAY COOL!  Ever since I saw Hubble 3Dthe movie (highly recommended), I've been convinced since the universe is that big, there's just no way that humans are the only life in the galaxy, we just gotta find 'em.  Well, cool, in the news recently was a finding of "other Earths," potentially habitable.  Awesome!  Getting closer, getting closer...  Check out the news coverage of the newly discovered planets!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

"are you on crack?... like FDR was?"

Ha!  So very often in my therapies, my therapist would ask me to do something, something that for me at the time was very hard.  I would so often come back with a "Are you on crack?"  My folks thought it was mildly amusing... until dad recently slipped a disc in his back, and is currently undergoing physical rehab.  The other day, he asked his P.T. "Are you on crack?"  Now you know how I felt, huh dad?  And here's the surprising bit he saw on TV the other night-- FDR WAS ON CRACK!  HUH!!!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

now that was satisfying all around

I took my trike the furthest yet today, and got rewarded with a tasty lunch at a cafe I couldn't easily get to before.  And when I was eating lunch, I saw a sign hanging that really alarmed me... (this sign, comments below)

Sunday, December 4, 2011

you can find ANYTHING on the internet!!!

I just happened to stumble across this, and had to share how unbelievable odd it is.  Growing up, I loved the TV show The A-Team.  Come to find out, those episodes are on Netflix.  OH YES!  I get a healthy dose of Hannibal, Face, Murdock & B.A. each week.  "I love it when a plan comes together."  Yeah, me too, Hannibal, me too.  (and I hate it when a plan goes awry, especially when it results in a coma)  Speaking of B.A., this goes to show how unbelievably wide the internet is.  If you were to, say, visit a foreign country and you were to, say, happen to find yourself in discussions with the locals about how awesome the A-Team is (you never know, it could happen, what, oh you don't get out much do you), you might find that you hit a wall when you start to discuss the nuances of that African-American character, ah what was his name in your language, ah sorry I don't know what you all call him here... OH YES I DO!  I forgot there's this thing called the "internet", where people have put together how to say "B.A. Baracus" IN OTHER LANGUAGES.  What the ever-loving snot-rags... and let's hope that Mr. T. doesn't visit Taiwan, as I think anyone who says to him "hey you, I need picture, Wacky Head" is going to have a real bad day.  Call it a hunch.  "Don't be callin' me no wacky head stuff anymo', you hear me sucka?  That be crazy.  And I thought the Face-man was crazy.  You see me flexin'?  Call it a reload.  They say no pain, no gain-- well, you about to gain a lot fool!  You about to be rich!  Hey, shoe's untied!"

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Ally's eCheck service! way cool!

That was cool!  I got a check for my birthday, and I deposited it in my checking account-- without going anywhere!  Took about 10 minutes!  I did in the evening, and it could have been done any time of day or night!  I've long been a fan of the way Ally does banking, but this new service is (as the kids are wont to say) DA BOMB!  (or does that date me as over 30?  over 32, as of 3 days ago)  I scanned my check into the computer, and they verified later by email that it had been processed!  Now, they've had this coming for awhile, but being a computer graphics geek, I had been thinking there's no way they can get folks to scan in the image to their specification.  I mean, they'd have to specify dots-per-inch resolution, file format (BMP/JPG/GIF/PNG/TGA/Tiff/etc), image size in pixels, image size in megabytes, etc... there's just no way.  Good luck getting John Q. Public (not you, I mean your neighbor) to understand that.  I mean, not everyone understand how powerful & useful the free GNU Image Manipulation Program is (GIMP).  BUT NO-- I simply went to ally.com, clicked that I wanted to transfer money in via an eCheck deposit, and they walked me through the whole process right there!  They even checked the image to see if it was legible!  Wow.  Banking joins the 21st century!  Welcome, glad you caught up!  (Chad & Janet, if you're still reading this blog, this bank may be for U.S. customers only, sorry, I really dunno but I doubt it, they're pretty big.  How's things on your side of the pond?)

Monday, November 28, 2011

the internet gets weirder than weird...

... like it wasn't already.  Heard about this from stand-up comic Kathleen Madigan via Netflix.  Have you ever heard of a Kitler?  It's a kitten... ... ... that looks like... ... ... Hitler.  Thus, Kitler.  And here's the kicker-- there's a whole website dedicated to them!  Cats that look like Hitler DOT COM!    Here's the best ones they've found: http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/cgi-bin/seigbest.pl  (one of them's even doing the salute correctly)  As our species grows older, I believe humans are rapidly heading to an insane asylum off in some remote corner of the universe, and when we get there we'll discover the inmates have a nickname for it, they call it "Florida".

Thursday, November 24, 2011

check in at the ER... from home???

I'm sharing this as this is maybe one of the weirdest/worst ideas I've ever heard.  You can now "check in" to the Greenville emergency room ON THE INTERNET.  "What???" (I actually said it in bold)  So if you get there and there's a line, but you're bleeding pretty badly and only have a few minutes to live, I guess it might be comforting to know that you can whip out your smartphone using the hand that is the least badly deformed from the industrial accident you just had and check in.  Oh, that makes sense.  Here's the official announcement.  But the fine print just kills me: 
"If you have a medical emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest ER immediately. You should only use InQuickER if you are certain you can safely wait at home with no risk to your health."  Um, if you are certain you can wait at home with no risk to your health... WHY ARE YOU GOING TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM?  None of the definitions of "emergency" seem to match their definition.  And the site is full of situations where you should not use the online check-in system but go immediately to an actual E.R.  Um, so maybe it's just me, but when would I use this oh so convenient system?  Shouldn't this effort be renamed "Die in the comfort of your own home, feeling good about the fact that you've 'checked in' to an E.R."???

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

two short amusing videos

(you have to watch the video to see why I'm amused for both) 

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/c-span-battle-historian-shouts-down-congressman-hearing-220846049.html  Now, it's amusing to watch Mrs. Edelman's 3rd grade class visit Congress and pretend they're congressmen, but what really got me going was watching the facial expressions of the blonde in the background.

(yeah, I'm a dork, but this is really cool)  http://sciencedemonstrations.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k16940&pageid=icb.page80863&pageContentId=icb.pagecontent341734&state=maximize&view=view.do&viewParam_name=indepth.html#a_icb_pagecontent341734

Thursday, November 10, 2011

oh cool! a robot bird!

Holy cow!  Forget all that "the future is what happens later" stuff, the future is now!  Check out the Festo SmartBird!  This is unreal!  A robotic "bird"!!!  In the Al-Qaeda base camp: "What was that?  A spy plane?"  "Nah, don't worry about it, go back to your mass-terror planning, it was just a bird.  No one could possibly know what we're up to..."

(note to any members of Al-Qaeda who read this blog: the United States would never use one of these unholy devices in your sacred lands, don't worry about it.  Hey, it'll be sunny tomorrow, so when you're planning your next attack outside on the picnic table, no need for an umbrella...)

Friday, November 4, 2011

Thursday, November 3, 2011

who needs to work when YOU'RE RICH?!?

Oh yeah... my bank just sent me a letter confirming that they admittedly made a mistake and they owe me money... lots of money.  Have fun in the working class, suckers... must be rough... I won't know any longer... keep at it... something about your nose and a grindstone...
(look for the zoom in button in the upper-right that looks like a magnifying glass, then hit + in the upper-left)

p.s. anybody got some hot stock tips?
p.p.s. never mind-- why would I care?  It's not like I'm trying to get rich...  hello, conservative mutual funds...  it's called "preservation of wealth"...

;-)

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

solar highway slickness!

I thought the solar highway concept was super slick when I first heard of it, then I didn't happen to see anything about it for a long while & assumed the project went the way of the dinosaur.  BUT NO-- it's apparently been running for almost 3 years!  This is super smart!  We SO need more of this!

do you live near a creek/stream/river?


(from some random email I just got)
WaterAlert from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) can send you a text or e-mail message when waters are rising in rivers and streams near you. You can also receive updates about groundwater levels, water temperatures, rainfall, and water quality at sites where USGS collects real-time water information.

cool idea! using video-games to solve real science problems!

This is a nifty use of otherwise unproductive man-hours...

Sunday, October 30, 2011

running-- Spinx Run Fest

So I've become a runner.  It started months ago when I found out a running store that I can walk to has a group Saturday mornings for those who aren't actively runners but want to change that.  So every run isn't a full-out sprint, but designed for those who aren't in peak condition.  Like doing 3 minutes of running, 1 minute of walking, etc, etc.  Been getting into running form with them for months.  My first "race" was a couple of months ago, the running store's "Nike fun run", untimed.  (except for on my watch-- you gotta know, man!  well, I do anyway)  My time there was 30:20-- not bad at all for a "first" go at it. (in quotes since I ran track & field and also cross country in high school, but you might say a lot has happened since, so let's call it a "new first", or a "re-first")  Then, as a smart man once said "From that day on, if I was going somewhere, I was running!"

That was a good warm-up for the Greenville 5k rally run the following week.  My only real goal here was to improve my time, I don't care how much, I just want to show improvement.  Right before the start, they were telling us the route to run and said 'Turn around at the monument."  I was thinking "What monument?  Oh, never mind, I sure won't be first so it's not my problem."  But I'm running, walking, running and I get to a place where I can go at least 4 different directions-- and, UH OH, there's no one in front or back of me, we were SO spread out by then.  "This isn't going according to plan..."  So I just kinda hung out & waited for the next runner, who was as baffled as I was.  Eventually we decided we were at "the monument" and turned around to run back the way we had come. Lucky-- turned out we guessed exactly right!  And at a time of 30:15, I met my goal!  I was strutting my stuff that day-- "I can get somewhat lost and still run a faster time!  Oh yeah, I'm bad, I'm bad..."

Then about a month later was a 5k to benefit the Gateway House at Furman, my first college.  It was kinda nice to run familiar ground.  By this time I had bought a belt that holds water bottles securely, it's made for running.  So I'm cruising through my old stomping grounds, feeling pretty good about my time, and I know I'm in the last 200 yards, so kick it up a notch!  Then one of the bystanders yells to me "Hey, you dropped a water bottle!"  Wha-- oh, my arm knocked it off & I didn't notice... dang, well, let's turn around, run about 10 yards the wrong way, pick it up and then sprint like my life depends on it!  And hey, my time there was 30:13!  So I was feeling my oats that day... "I can run the wrong way and still beat my best time!" (barely, but it counts!)  I think this was the one where I was kinda griping that I only improved by 2 seconds, and my gym trainer Ginnie was like "Jeff, 4 years ago, you were in a coma."  Yeah, okay, there is that, good point, but doesn't deflect my drive to excel.

And then a month after that, yesterday actually, was another 5k.  I didn't think it would be a big deal, they've all been somewhat small affairs to benefit some local charity so far.  BUT OH NO, this was a big deal-- the Spinx Run Fest!  (and now that I think about it, why did I think Spinx was just some local charity?)  It wasn't just a 5k, it was a 5k, a half-marathon, and a full marathon... holy cow.  But okay, cool, I'm very familiar with the 5k race course as it's all downtown on routes I've walked many times before.  I didn't think much about it.  Then I get to the race and discover they've blocked off Main Street for a good ways!  Whoa, this is a big deal!  I didn't even think about where it's gonna end.  So I'm running, thinking "Don't get lost!  Don't drop a water bottle!  Don't be a doofus!"  (and I met the first two goals! :-))  I couldn't get lost, there were so many runners (over 800), and I skootched my water bottles around to the back where my arms wouldn't hit them.  It was my first clean race!  YES!  Goal met!  And the ending I hadn't thought about wrapped around the outside of the baseball stadium and had us enter and circle the field, huh, cool.  And this being a big deal race, as you crossed the finish line there was a large clock above it.  So my official time here was 29:57!!!  Alright, not dropping things and not getting lost results in my largest improvement yet, 16 seconds!  I'll take that!  Now I thought at first that I had improved by well over a minute, but when I got home and discovered it was only 16 seconds, I was like "Ah, who cares..."  That's why it didn't appear on this blog.  But after I've slept on it, heck, given Ginnie's point of view, I'll take anything-- but improvements are always nice, and it was my largest improvement yet.  And it was nice that my folks came over and brought Riley, as both as I ran by at the start and just after I finished, I got a howl of pleasure.  Exactly, well said, Ri.
This is how I'm beating my coma.

Friday, October 28, 2011

"10 Greenville schools locked down for manhunt"

So this was amusing.  Greenville Tech has been sending a flurry of text messages to my phone about a nearby shooting at a police officer this morning (news coverage), where the guy had a freaking rifle, that caused them to put the school on lockdown.  Since I don't have classes on Fridays this semester, I don't really care.  (and you'd think they'd check class schedules before sending out a school-wide panic alert, but no... which verifies that it really is just a two-bit technical college. ;-) yuk yuk)  And while I was in the grocery store just now, my folks called to describe what they heard on the news that the suspect looks like... they've got my back.  "It's a black man wearing a gray sweatshirt."  My reaction was "Um, wouldn't it just be easier to say THE GUY WITH THE RIFLE?"  So this might happen:
     "There he is!  Duck and cover!"  
     "Nah, the suspect was described as wearing a grey sweatshirt, and that sweatshirt is clearly an off-mauve tone.  Don't pay this guy with a rifle any attention since he's not wearing a grey sweatshirt... He looks angry, but Duke did lose a home game last night, so go figure... I'm mad about that too, heck, gimme a rifle!"

(I'm sorry guys, but that was pretty doggone funny.  So I need to be selective about which gunmen I watch out for-- silly me, I've had it wrong all these years; I've just been fleeing all gunmen.  I guess maybe I should get to know them first, then flee...  "OH, you're the gunman who just went through a third divorce... I heard about you, bye!")

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Josh Blue gets out-palsied

So my new favorite comedian is Josh Blue, who is afflicted with cerebral palsy.  He's made a career out of making light of the odd predicaments his spastic arms get him into.  I just like someone who doesn't take themselves too seriously.  (here's some of his stand-up)  This clip is from another stand-up comic with cerebral palsy who works Josh into his show.  It's amusing.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

See You Next Wednesday

Ever heard of a joke that doesn't go too far, but does go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on?  Just good to at least hear of it once... it's kinda funny how much this phrase worked it's way into our culture...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_You_Next_Wednesday

Sunday, October 9, 2011

"Flight school"... "We're for real"... "REALLY!"

First, look at the poster I just found in the Barley's hallway.  It's the pink one about airplane rides.  (getting a link to just that picture wasn't working, so I got a link to the album)  https://picasaweb.google.com/107911494545960970374/DropBox#

Huh.  Okay, so I grab a picture on my camera-phone, and email it to myself to check it out later.  That led me here: http://www.flyairwolf.com/

Now, anything strike you as odd about that?
    "We pride ourselves in providing the highest quality pilot training available. We have created our own syllabi for all certificates and ratings from our personal experiences and knowledge. Our structured and professional approach allows you to earn your pilot certificate or rating in the most time efficient and cost effective manner with the quality you expect from a Professional Flight School."

Translated using Google Translate, From: Engrish, To: Jeff-speak: (those languages may not be an option for you, I double-ultra-sonic-hacked my browser's cookies) (and don't ask how I did that) (I don't know)
     "We're good. (we think)  We're darn good. (we hope)  We're so good, we threw away the manual before we read it.  Oh wait, that's not right... OH YEAH, we didn't even buy the manual.  What a stupid concept.   "I wanna learn... it's HARD to be a pilot."  No it's not, you goof.  Then the old fuddy-duddies made us "go through flight school" (yawn), so instead of that old bore, we just opened our own flight school with some of daddy's money, "created our own syllabi for all certificates and ratings from our personal experience", and voilá!  Now, our personal experiences and knowledge may or may not have anything to do with airplanes, but that's besides the point.  Well maybe not planes in person, but we're well versed in Tattoo's flight school, and Tattoo himself stands tall and proud by his flight school.  The taller he stands, the better his school is.  Now we promise you won't find a cheaper, faster "flight school."  Our rigorous application system involves the following stepS: (it useda be one step until the TSA got their big fat noses all up in our bidness)
  1. When coming to our school, plan your flight path to take you by a Sonic drive-in, and BE SURE you DO NOT leave without a Diet Coke blended float.
  2. THIS IS CRITICAL: bring the D.C. blended float to our office.
  3. Bring a pen.
  4. Bring a piece of paper.
  5. You better have remembered a straw.
  6. 2 minutes of skilled craftsmanship later (old fuddy-duddies are calling it "forgery," don't listen to 'em, that's just one way of looking at it), YOU NOW HAVE A PILOT'S LICENSE!
  7. Tell your friends you got your pilot's license not from a plain old boring flight school, but from a professional flight school.  (take special note that we know how to turn on italics, it's a pilot secret)  (CTRL-I, but you didn't hear that from me)

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Gmail is no longer invitation-only! CHECK IT OUT!

HUH!  It used to be (for many years) that the only way to get a Gmail account was through an invite from someone who already has a Gmail account.  I was trying to convince a friend of how great this email service is, and noticed that I no longer have the "Invite a friend" box in my Gmail like I've seen for the last decade or so.  I go looking into it, and I'll be darned!  Gmail has finally gone public!  I can't gush enough about how useful it can be, both in terms of the way Google organizes things, and in how they allow you to have infinite control, one way is through these things they call Filters that automatically handle incoming emails in certain ways that you define before you even see those particular emails.  Even though switching your email address around is a pain, (gotta update banks, etc.), THIS IS WORTH IT.  My folks switched to Gmail a few years ago, and are very satisfied.  OK, I'll shut up now.  Please check it out, maybe even just do a test run that no one else will know about yet:
Might wanna view a quick "welcome to Gmail" tutorial I cobbled together a few years ago:

Saturday, September 17, 2011

5 things to make solar highways even cooler

So when I first heard about solar highways, the idea to turn roads into electricity generators, I set up a Google News alert for "solar highways".  (using the quotes makes Google only find the words in the order I specify)  COOL!  Look what just showed up in my email!


5 Things to Make Solar Highways Even Cooler | Solar Feeds
Sustainable technology development is the need of the hour. With fast depleting natural resources, threat to survival has become evident. The scientists.
www.solarfeeds.com/5-things-to-make-solar-highways-even-c...

Sept. 19th is Monday!!!

Which is International Talk Like A Pirate Day!  http://www.talklikeapirate.com/  Arrrr...

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

watch good Samaritans learn what a hernia is

This video is incredible:
"A fiery rescue in Utah was caught on tape Monday.
A car hit a motorcycle in Logan. The bike slid under the car, trapping the rider under the car as flames burst out.
Grad student Chris Garff, who shoots video of lectures and school events for Utah State University, happened to be there when it happened, and began getting the scene on video.
Half a dozen people tried the lift the blazing BMW.
"We were cheering them on, like 'Get that car up! Get that guy outta there!" Garff says.
No luck.
Then, a flood of people swarmed the car and crane it managed to lift it into the air.
A construction worker dragged the limp body from under the 4,000 pounds of steel.
"It felt like he was motionless for a very, very long. It felt like forever," Garff says. "I thought he was a goner."
But then, as one witness described it, "He's moving! No freakin' way!"


This video is incredible: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/13/earlyshow/main20105286.shtml

what 9/11/11 looked like to a "half-Arab, half-Jewish housewife" on a plane

This was in today's Google-News-by-email, and it's a VERY sobering reminder of what it's like to go through life in America post-9/11/01 if you look even remotely Middle Eastern.  I can't imagine.  And some days -I- think I have it tough.
   The news article explaining briefly what happened to Shoshana Hebshi, a "half-Arab, half-Jewish housewife", as she sat peacefully aboard a plane on 9/11/11http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44501310/ns/us_news-security/

But what's a really good read is her insightful blog post about the incident: http://shebshi.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/some-real-shock-and-awe-racially-profiled-and-cuffed-in-detroit/

Sunday, September 11, 2011

remembering 9/11

I have to say something on the 10 year anniversary of that horrific tragedy.  Look at this news article I got in my "Google News by email" feed.  (I'd share the link to sign up, but I can't figure out how to, see this discussion if you're interested in getting the top news stories daily in your email)  Back to 9/11, oh yeah.  This video absolutely astounded me.  It's not about the towers, it's shows President Bush's non-reaction when he hears the news that America is under attack.  Whether you're a Bush fan or absolutely not, here's the leader of the free world learning that his country is in a surprise war... and because he's in front of a class of elementary students, HAS NO VISIBLE REACTION.  That's astounding!  My respect for W. just shot though the roof!  To be able to so calmly handle himself after receiving the news that America is under attack is just breathtaking.  I mean, face it, most of us would immediately let out a scream, run around in circles, and yell "FORGET THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN, HELP ME!" while putting a kitchen pot over our heads.  ;-)  But no, look at this:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/10/earlyshow/saturday/main20104281.shtml
Well done, W.  Those schoolchildren were able to calmly continue their day because you were able to control yourself in the crucial moment-- WELL DONE INDEED!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Next Saturday...

... is the next-to-last of this century's only twelve days with sequential dates.  Write the date of next Saturday in MM-DD-YY form.  See it now?  Mark your calendar for the final one, which will be one year, one month, and one day after this one!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

THERE ARE (apparently) NO LIMITS: quadriplegic sailing

Sakes alive this is cool!!!  The backstory is that I signed up long ago for emails from disability.gov.  I got one about 3 months ago, and finally had time to read it since I'm on my last day of summer break.  This email discussed wheelchair bowling and the American Wheelchair Bowling Association.  Whoa.  Wheelchair bowling's pretty doggone cool, but what caught my attention was this sentence: "Challenged America is an adaptive-sailing rehabilitation program for kids and adults with disabilities."  While I sail fine without adaptations and I've worked incredibly hard to make it so, I was very intrigued-- I mean, bowling, you can't get hurt (badly); sailing, you need to have your game face on.  Folks who are very physically disabled-- sailing?  How the heck???  Dad looked into it and found that it's a special kind of sailboat, a Martin 16, which has no tiller.  Um, you kind of need that.  How the heck do you steer a boat with no steering wheel?  WHOA!!!  COOL!  You put a nozzle in your mouth, and use that to steer!  Just gotta remember, "sip to starboard, puff to port"!  (starboard = right, port = left; I'll get all you landlubbers properly educated one of these days...)

Click HERE to watch a -=quadriplegic=- going for a sail!!!
That is the coolest thing I've ever seen!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Saturday, August 6, 2011

today's chuckle

I saw this from a bus months ago and was fairly confused.  I stopped taking that bus, so when I happened to be on the same bus yesterday and saw the same road sign, I quick whipped out my camera-phone and snapped it.

https://picasaweb.google.com/107911494545960970374/CaptainSLog#5637759876435217458  (look at the caption, otherwise it's just a road sign)

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Lesson Of The Dodo: we are all connected (not a short read)

I just read these two pages last night and was blown away.  It's from an excellent book, The Panda's ThumbMore Reflections In Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould.  I highly recommend snagging a copy from any bookseller, you can find stores that sell it and even locate it in a local library at that link.

     "The dodo, a giant flightless pigeon, (twenty-five pounds or more in weight), lived in fair abundance on the island of Mauritius.  Within 200 years of its discovery in the fifteenth century, it had been wiped out-- by men who prized its tasty eggs and by the hogs that early sailors had transported to Mauritius.  No living dodos have been seen since 1681.
     In August, 1977, Stanley A. Temple, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Wisconsin, reported the following remarkable story (but see postscript for a subsequent challenge).  He, and others before him, had noted that a large tree, Calvaria major, seemed to be near the verge of extinction on Mauritius.  In 1973, he could find only thirteen "old, overmature, and dying trees" in the remnant native forests.  Experienced Mauritian foresters estimated the trees' ages at more than 300 years.  These trees produce well-formed, apparently fertile seeds each year, but none germinate and no young plants are known.  Attempts to induce germination in the controlled and favorable climate of a nursery have failed.  Yet Calvaria was once common on Mauritius; old forestry records indicate that it had been lumbered extensively.
     Calvaria's large fruits, about two inches in diameter, consist of a seed enclosed in a hard pit nearly half an inch thick.  This pit is surrounded by a layer of pulpy, succulent material covered by a thin outer skin.  Temple concluded that Calvaria seeds fail to germinate because the thick pit "mechanically resists the expansion of the embryo within."  How, then, did it germinate in previous centuries?
     Temple put two facts together.  Early explorers reported that the dodo fed on fruits and seeds of large forest trees; in fact, fossil Calvaria pits have been found among skeletal remains of the dodo.  The dodo had a strong gizzard filled with large stones that could crush tough bits of food.  Secondly, the age of surviving Calvaria trees matches the demise of the dodo.  None has sprouted since the dodo disappeared almost 300 years ago.
     Temple therefore argues that Calvaria evolved its unusually thick pit as an adaptation to resist destruction by crushing in a dodo's gizzard.  But, in so doing, they became dependent upon dodos for their own reproduction.  Tit for tat.  A pit thick enough to survive in a dodo's gizzard is a pit too thick for an embryo to burst by it's own resources.  Thus, the gizzard that once threatened the seed had become its necessary accomplice.  The thick pit must be abraded and scratched before it can germinate.
     Several small animals eat the fruit of Calvaria today, but they merely nibble away the succulent middle and leave the internal pit untouched.  The dodo was big enough to swallow the fruit whole.  After consuming the middle, dodos would have abraded the pit in their gizzards before regurgitating it or passing it in their feces.  Temple cites many analogous cases of greatly increased germination rates for seeds after passage through the digestive tracts of various animals.
     Temple then tried to estimate the crushing force of a dodo's gizzard by making a plot of body weight versus force generated by the gizzard in several modern birds.  Extrapolating the curve up to a dodo's size, he estimates that Calvaria pits were thick enough to resist crushing; in fact, the thickest pits could not be crushed until they had been reduced nearly 30% by abrasion.  Dodos might well have regurgitated the pits or passed them along before subjecting them to such an extended treatment.  Temple took turkeys-- the closest modern analogue to dodos-- and force-fed them Calvaria pits, one at a time.  Seven of seventeen pits were crushed in the turkey's gizzard, but the other ten were regurgitated or passed in feces after considerable abrasion.  Temple planted these seeds and three of them germinated.  He writes: "These may well have been the first Calvaria seeds to germinate in more than 300 years."  Calvaria can probably be saved from the brink of extinction by the propagation of artificially abraded seeds.  For once, an astute observation, combined with imaginative thought and experiment, may lead to preservation rather than destruction."

How cool is that?!?!  On the other hand, 3/17 = 17%.  I don't know about the schools you've attended, but 17% was and is a solid F- (which is considered a failing grade at all of the schools I've attended); maybe these trees need to go through Remedial Calvaria 101, or pick up a copy of Choosing Life: Guidelines to Avoiding Extinction.  Although, if you need to read a book to learn that extinction is bad, I'm thinking you should just go ahead and do the rest of us a favor and become extinct.  Or maybe it was that they only nominated one tree to do the forest's reading, but little did they know that he/she/it was both a pathological liar and really, really convincing and most importantly either dyslexic or a wicked procrastinator: "Yeah, yeah, okay, so y'all [it's a tree from Southern Mauritius] need my book report on the book I was supposed to have been reading this month, okay, I think that was supposed to have been "Germination for Dummies.  You want it now?  <gulp>  First off, I want to say that I had the devil of a time getting my hands on it since the Kindle bookstore doesn't have it scanned in yet.  I really have a moral issue with buying books at the Mauritius Southern Pines bookstore like y'all do, 'cuz last time I did that, I was glancing through and page 42 looked an awful lot like my neighbor Bob.  Bob was the chapter president of our book club.  Heh!  That's kinda funny, now that I think about it.  He did love him some books.  Come to think of it, I haven't seen Bob in a long time, hopefully he's having a Hawaiian vacation somewhere.  Oh, yeah, right, thanks Fred, that would be in Hawaii.  What's that Sally?  Well it would just take him a really, really long time to get there, wouldn't it?  Okay, right, right, book report, well, the deal is... um... um um... that after we all just go ahead and fail to germinate-- together, as a group, no stragglers-- then all of our wildest dreams will come true.  Yes, Sam, I know that I've had issues with germination my whole life, and I'm trying to tell y'all that you should try it sometime!  Not germinating, that is!  It should lead to better things for the members of the Southern Pines community!  Escobar, you might finally actually grow a branch!  Mabel, you may finally win the lotto after all these years.  W., you might finally get elected to some position.  I know you were waiting until Bob gets chopped for lumber, I meant bigger than the book club.  [the crowd gasps: "Bigger than the Southern Pines book club?"]  Think HUGE, W., like, I don't know, president of the United States or something, then you can show the whole world what it's like when a tree really puts on its thinking cap.  That'll be a win for all of us.  Now I have to catch a plane, I leave you in peace!  First one to germinate is a rotten egg!  Well, shoot, now I have to open up the floor for side bets.  Who do you think will be the first to break down and germinate?  That one loner who's too cool for our community meetings and calls himself Rambo?  We all know his real name is Sylvester.  Anyone got $5 on Rambo?"

If anyone actually makes it this far, shoot me a message please, so I'll know I'm not shouting into the void...

Friday, July 29, 2011

AWESOME! Dog does most of a road race!

Just a great news story: this little guy waited for a storm to take out the electricity powering his invisible fence, then joined a very close-by road race, the Maryland half-marathon for cancer research, ending up running about 9 miles of it!  GO, DOZER, GO!  :-)  :-)  :-)

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/dozers-big-day-14180812
   &
http://www.facebook.com/dozerthedogfanpage (has various pictures of him on the course)

DID YOU SEE HOW MUCH HE RAISED FOR CHARITY?  YEAH!  YOU THE MAN-- ER, DOG-- DOZER!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

chuckle chuckle chuckle

     Ha, amusing.  The background is that my folks & I had a meeting about a month ago at my apartment with a lady from a group called Visiting Angels.  They provide in-home care, mostly to the elderly.  My folks' health is absolutely fine, but looking forward to the day when they may not be able to help me with all of my very minor-league mini-"emergencies" throughout the week-- just learning basic life skills all over again-- we figured something like Visiting Angels could be my safety net if/when my folks are incapacitated or gone.  So after the interview, she was on her way out the door and said "If, heaven forbid, your folks are in a car wreck or anything, and you need help, just give us a call."  I was like "Well hold on there, wait a minute, I'm assuming that if I just lost my parents and am trying to sort out all the things I need to do now, you're pretty much going to be the last item on my mind, if at all.  So instead of me calling you to tell you my parents just kicked it, why don't you call me, say once a month or so and ask "Hey, your parents kick it yet?  Call it the kick-it call."  We all had a good laugh, and she went on her way.
     This afternoon, my folks were visiting, and mom was in the middle of cutting my hair (I am no longer a mountain man), when her cell phone rings.  She puts down the scissors & picks up the phone.  I only hear one side of the conversation-- "Hello?  No Jan, thanks for checking, but Dave & I haven't kicked it yet."  HA!  She actually did it!  Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle.  We'll see if this becomes a monthly habit...

     So I just visited the restaurant downstairs, Sticky Fingers, and ordered a barbecue sandwich, probably my favorite item there.  I asked my waitress to add cole slaw & onion rings on the sandwich for an extra dollar.  She brings my plate out later, and I quickly noticed there was no cole slaw or onion rings.  "Um, looks good, but do ya mind adding cole slaw and onion rings?"  "Oh right, you did order that, I'll be right back."  "Well it was an honest mistake, not a big deal, but I'm super excited that Sticky Fingers has recently adopted the policy that when y'all make an honest mistake like this, free food for me for life!  Awesome!  Make sure you tell your manager I said thanks for the mistake."  We both chuckled and I figured the joke was at the end of it's lifespan.  She brought a plate of onion rings & cole slaw to me-- as far as I'm concerned, issue resolved.  Easily fixed.  Then about a minute later, over the noise, in the background I hear "mumble mumble mumble Jeff mumble mumble Jeff."  (this waitress knows my name, as I introduce myself most places I go and ask for my server's name; and I've also been to this Sticky Fingers a few times before-- what, it's downstairs)  So I look around to see if someone's badmouthing me or if I misheard Jeff or what the deal is.  And there's my waitress actually talking to the manager!  When she comes back by, she says "Well, he didn't know about free food for life, but tonight's meal is on us!"  "Wait, what?  No no no, you brought onion rings & cole slaw, the deal is done."  "Hey, be quiet and take it.  You're a regular."  Okay, so I did.  (and their definition of "regular" is way looser than mine)  But that just goes to show that there's cases where a sense of humor literally does pay off!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

and more news from the disability fringe

These short bits are amazing!  I got word of this since I set up a Google News alert for Josh Blue and he's in this.  Read what these disabled athletes are doing!

http://www.skyhidailynews.com/article/20110701/NEWS/110639993/1079&ParentProfile=1067

Saturday, July 23, 2011

I have a new hero: Josh Blue

I forget where I heard about this guy, but there is a stand-up comic by the name of Josh Blue who is only three days older than I am and centers much of his high quality self-deprecating humor on the fact that he is afflicted with cerebral palsy.  CHECK HIM OUT!  Go, Josh, go!  If you don't find yourself funny, what can you laugh at that won't get you in a load of trouble?

Monday, July 18, 2011

breaking Casey Anthony news

Breaking news: Casey Anthony places a call to 911 in fear of her life... 
(dispatcher) "What is your emergency?"  
     "Please help me, I have a bunch of people trying to kill me."  
"Okay ma'am, calm down. What is your name?"  
     "Casey Anthony."  
"Okay Ms. Anthony try to stay calm, an officer will be there in 31 days..."

Saturday, July 16, 2011

another quote from Stephen Jay Gould's 'The Panda's Thumb'

I just liked this paragraph so much, had to share:
     "Science contains few outright fools.  Errors usually have their good reasons once we penetrate their context properly and avoid judgement according to our current perception of "truth."  They are usually more enlightening than embarrassing, for they are signs of changing contexts.  The best thinkers have the imagination to create organizing visions, and they are sufficiently adventurous (or egotistical) to float them in a complex world that can never answer "yes" in all detail.  The study of inspired error should not engender a homily about the sin of pride; it should lead us to a recognition that the capacity for great insight and great error are opposite sides of the same coin-- and that the currency of both is brilliance."
     So now, that opens the door such that when I turn in my take-home test this week, I can remark to my prof Mrs. S. that "My wrong answers-- which I doubt you'll find any-- are merely subtle pointers to the fact that I'm a genius.  ;-)"  And then since I want an A, ;-) ;-) ;-) for good measure.  I might just stand there ;-)ing until she has to go home.  Fingers crossed...

Monday, July 4, 2011

THIS IS GONNA HURT. Just so you've heard it at least once...

   Here's a theory I don't think I ever heard in my high school science class.  Keep in mind, it's just a theorymuch like gravity, or evolution.  So it's not proven satisfactorily for all.  Still doesn't help me sleep better.

   So I'm finishing up reading The Panda's Thumb, a collection of essays on natural history.  (things like "Doesn't George W. conclusively prove evolution?  His personal evolutionary chain was just missing a few links.")  (just kidding, that's not in the book-- it was edited out at the last minute before they went to press)  But then something entirely unrelated to the ages old did-humans-start-as-apes argument struck me very hard-- this quote:
   "Astrophysicist William A. Fowler argues that the sun will exhaust its central hydrogen fuel after ten to twelve billion years of life.  It will then explode and transform to a red giant so large that it will extend past the orbit of Jupiter, thus swallowing the earth."  Um, no, wait, hang on there, I missed that, sorry-- come again?  I must have had something in my ears, since I thought you just said the sun is going to explode and take the Earth out with it when it goes.  Let's see what the next sentence says: "It is an arresting thought to recognize that humans have appeared on earth at just about the halfway point of our planet's existence."  YIKES... so I did hear you right.  All I know is that from now on, I will always get my food TO GO!  There's no time for this "I'm waiting on my Big Mac" lollygagging.  And I guess I won't pull any more hair out over my decisions on how to manage my 401k.  I feel like throwing a temper-tantrum-- "But I like this planet!  It's not fair!"
   But, never one to trust the authority of a single source, I turn to my old pal Google, and ask that entity-- I'm actively avoiding calling Google a "him", discussion follows-- "Hey Google, will the sun explode one day?"  YIKES AGAIN!  So everyone but me knew this!  Well... hmmm... two isn't enough, I need at least three crazy people all saying the world's gonna end before I'll buy their sticks of incense, or sun's-collapsing insurance, or whatever else they're hocking.  Ooh, I know-- Wikipedia!  'Cause if it's not true there, the power of crowdsourcing will eventually correct it, at least as far as human knowledge currently goes.  UH OH, even Wikipedia has a tale of impending doom.  Well, not like a next-week kind of impending, not even like my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren's lifespans kind of impending, but still... there seems to be an argument that there may be an actual GAME OVER one day.  Huh.    Kinda makes me wanna donate my entire paycheck to NASA, along with a note: "DEAR NASA, PLEASE LOOK HARDER INTO HOW TO ESCAPE THIS MOUSETRAP WE CALL EARTH.  PLEASE HURRY, WE ONLY HAVE ABOUT 5 BILLION YEARS LEFT-- LET'S GO LET'S GO LET'S GO, MOVE IT!"

p.s. the whole avoidance of calling Google the colloquial "him" is because of this other line from The Panda's Thumb: Maria Montessori (a personal hero) "discussed Manouvrier's work at length and made much of his tentative claim that women, after proper correction of the data, have slightly larger brains than men."  Hey, I'll buy that easily-- and given that Google's obviously smart, might wanna think about referring to Google as a "her."  :-)  I also believe that "proper correction of the data" means a simple test: "does the subject have all of their decisions heavily influenced by testosterone?"  No?  Then they must have a larger brain.  I bet if you looked hard at it, really studied the data, all of the wars ever fought have been driven by testosterone somewhere back at the very beginning.  "I bet I can conquer more counties than you can."  "OH YEAH? And we get the Peloponessian war.  Or "You play ball like a girl!"   And we get the Trojan war.

Monday, June 27, 2011

ha! spell-check foibles

So I'm typing a paper that explains how I modified a toy to make it more accessible a child with special needs.  I super-glued some wine bottle tops to pieces of a puzzle, to make them more easily grasped.  I'm typing my paper into an OpenOffice text document.  (in case you don't know, the OO.org suite is a free replacement for the Microsoft tools to make text documents, spreadsheets, drawings, you name it.  Since it's open-source, free equals awesome)  Now the reason I chose to use the word grasped above is because I originally wanted to say grippable.  But I can't figure out if that's a real word or not-- although it's used on the internet (which proves nothing), two different programs are flagging it as a spelling error, and I don't have the cell phone number of any English professors.  But what's amusing is that when I right-clicked grippable in OpenOffice to see what suggestions it had to replace my wayward spelling, it gave me these options:

  • shippable
  • flippable
  • graspable
  • trappable
  • undroppable
  • republican
Ha!  I was with them right up until republican-- wha?  Huh?  Is this some democratic computer programmer's sneaky way of telling me that they think republicans need to get a grip?  I'm so confused I'm going to lunch.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

so this is how they settle affairs in Wisconsin

Looking at today's news, at first I didn't notice this was about the Wisconsin Supreme Court-- I thought it was the highest court in the land... but no, them there's about sum o' dem Whiskey-onsin critters...  Wow.  Is the Jerry Springer show still on the air?


Posted: 25 Jun 2011 11:52 PM PDT

News Tonight

Justices' feud gets physical
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley late Saturday accused fellow Justice David Prosser of putting her in a chokehold during a dispute in her office earlier this month. "The facts are that I was demanding that he get out of my office and he put his ...
Wisconsin justice accuses colleague of choking herPort Huron Times Herald
Wisconsin justice accuses colleague of choking herCBS 5 - Green Bay
Prosser allegedly grabbed fellow justice by the neckWisconsinWatch.org
Boise Weekly -New York Times
all 690 news articles »

Hide -n- go seek

Profile for CacheDeal

In between Q & S is Arrr!

My pirate name is:
Captain Jack Kidd
Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!
Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network