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".

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."???

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

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...)

oh cool! "OmniTouch"!!!

Maybe a glimpse of the future of the way we interact with computers: the OmniTouch

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...

The letter!

(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"...

;-)

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!

http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/OIPP/inn_solarhighway.shtml

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.

Learn more about WaterAlert.

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

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

Why video games are key to modern science