from digg and msnbc:
Google has made an announcement that could help hundreds of homeless people in San Francisco get back on their feet. Every single homeless person in the city will be given a life-long phone number and voicemail.
Wow, that’s a really terrifying fact. We truly live in a military/police state.
from digg and the New York Times:
For the first time in the nation’s history, more than one in 100 American adults is behind bars, according to a new report. Nationwide, the prison population grew by 25,000 last year, bringing it to almost 1.6 million. Another 723,000 people are in local jails. One in every 99.1 adults is behind bars.
I really hate it when a myspace page is set to automatically play music. If you’re not a musician, it’s annoying and distracting. Put the link there, but properly configure it so I’m not assaulted with your favorite emo fling. It’s the animated gif for a new generation.
If you’re someone I know with this particular configuration, don’t take it personally, I’m offended in general…not specifically. <smirk> Also, I used animated gifs. It was bad design, but I’m not feeling repentant. I did it…the little animated torch and worse. Never used the dancing baby though.
Further proof that Wal-Mart should be boycotted. I really have a special disdain for this corporation. There’s no sense in even listing the atrocities they’ve unleashed upon western culture.
from digg and slate:
The nation’s largest retailer, which caters to working-class customers, seems to have something of a sweet spot. The stock closed Tuesday at $51.40—its highest close since March 2005. Given the economic headwinds, one would think that a retailer catering to lower-end consumers would be doubly slammed. Read more | digg story
This is my niece, Grace, starting to learn to crawl.
lifted from joystiq:
We heard the rumblings of this coming earlier this month, but now it seems like it’s official: MKR Group, which owns the rights to George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, has sued Capcom for similarities between the zombie flick and Capcom’s Dead Rising, both of which feature zombies in a shopping mall. In part, the suit states, “In both, the recreational activities of the zombies and absurdly grotesque ‘kill scenes’ provide unexpected comedic relief.”
Personally, we think this whole thing is a little silly. Zombies in a shopping mall are like polar bears on South Pacific islands or cheetahs in Ludwig’s den. It’s their natural habitat, what do you want them to do, make an unrealistic zombie game?
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I was surprised they didn’t get sued earlier, the game is clearly somewhat derivative of the movie and is aware of it. The box even says it’s not licensed by George Romero .But it seems like MKR waited until Capcom had built a successful game, then pounced. Hmm. This will probably hold up the proposed sequel to Dead Rising as well. I loved the game…sweet, sweet zombie massacre. And like the folks from joystiq say, aren’t malls just the natural habitat for zombies? Well, malls and Pittsburgh in general.
I need to vent
The house hunting has been going rather terrible -still. We really can’t find anything. Further fouling the works is that we’re trying to find something that is somewhat accessible or at least visitable.
Now it looks like even getting “visitable” is going to be next to impossible. We thought we would be eligible to make our house more accessible using a PHFA program for people with disabilities. But since my mother doesn’t live with us, and we don’t have mobility disabilities , we’re not going to be able to finance it…just confirmed this.
I’m starting to resolve myself to the fact that we might not be able to find something. There’s a very realistic possibility that we’re going to buy something inaccessible and have to modify things in the future. This is an ethical conundrum. It’s not a pleasant place to be, it’s the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night.
Unfortunately, I think we’re just going to have to accept the facts, proceed and do the best that we can…when we can do it.
At least, I think, we finally have a decent realtor.
ugh
from digg and mental floss:
During the Cold War the United States military misplaced at least eight nuclear weapons permanently. These are the stories of what the Department of Defense calls “broken arrows”.
from digg and discover:
Supercomputers are expensive, so researchers with lots of data and little budgets have turned to distributed computing: relying on free help from volunteers who download programs onto their home computers and run the software to analyze small chunks of data. The results are then sent back to researchers to crunch further. Just what has come from a decade of such homegrown efforts? We look at 14 programs to see if they’re worth your processor’s time.
We had a netflix account for awhile and canceled it because we just don’t have time to watch and return movies, even though netflix really is a great and easy to use service.
However, Anthony Park, designed a plugin for netflix that enables you to use their “Watch In Now” feature and instantly access over 7,000 feature movies and tv shows instantly in Media Center. It’s called MyNetFlix We just installed the plugin today and are testing it.
The user interface needs some tweaking to fully use the remote control. So, by signing up for the cheapest netflix plan, we get unlimited access to these movies through vista media center-instantly. If you use media center, I highly recommend it. I also recommend sending the developer a donation through paypal if you use it. If I use it more than a couple times, I’m going to.
Heck, I further hope that someone from Netflix will talk to the guy, give him some more code, some money and let him push the product further. Microsoft should get it on this too, it provides an incredible amount of content to Vista Media Center or to the 360 and would be a killer selling point.
“HAVANA — Nearly 50 years of rule by Fidel Castro ended in Cuba on Sunday as parliament chose his brother Raul to replace him — a transition that leaves the island’s communist system unshaken.”
This might be a little overkill. But is still sweet and hopefully will inspire more innovative mobility devices. Speaking of, check out the Speedster on their website.
from Crave:
There’s a new baddie wheelchair on the horizon, with rubberized tracks instead of standard wheels that makes it look more like a miniature Terminator 2 hunter killer tank than any of its conventional cousins. An improved model of the original TankChair, the MK II offers a lower center of gravity, more torque, and a stronger chassis–not to mention a full-height chair with abundant cushioning to smoothen a bumpy ride.
The initial TankChair was conceived two years ago for the designer’s disabled wife, who is an avid lover of the outdoors, according to Register Hardware. This prompted a design that’s capable of traversing difficult terrains such as streams, mud, snow, sand, and gravel. As a side note, the company’s is donating a TankChair to a rural U.S. fire station for every 10 sold.
Below are some links from Wikipedia concerning disability rights:
-List of Disability Rights Activists - this list shouldn’t be considered even near complete
-Disability Rights Organizations - also incomplete.
from digg:
Ever dream of sailing off into the sunset in your very own houseboat?
Some of these are dreamy but completely out of reach while others you may be able to afford but wouldn’t accept payment to live in. This collection spans the extremes of design and brute-force ingenuity from the obscenely luxurious to the absurdly simple.
I find this amusing, from digg:
An old but interesting article….If you find yourself in a fight, you’d better hope it’s not against a left-hander - scientists have found they often have the upper hand.
From a US Geological Survey and National Parks study:
Python habitat will grow dramatically as the U.S. warms up over the next century, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey and National Parks Service study.
“Burmese pythons — an invasive species in south Florida — could find comfortable climatic conditions in roughly a third of the United States according to new ‘climate maps’ developed by the USGS,” the agencies reported. “Although other factors such as type of food available and suitable shelter also play a role, Burmese pythons and other giant constrictor snakes have shown themselves to be highly adaptable to new environments.”
I, for one, am a fan of pythons and other large constrictors. So, I’m not exactly sure how I feel about this. It could be interesting to have big snakes in the backyard, actually, I’m sure it would be. Global warming wins again I guess.
Congrats are in order to my friend Brett, who is the proud father of a 7lb 9oz baby boy. We know you’ll be a wonderful dad.
More updates in the usual places:
-Enemies List
-Friends List
-Media List
-Xbox Live
-MySpace
-Facebook
-Digg
Since I have a newly discovered bee allergy, I wasn’t terribly upset that bee colonies were decreasing. But, now it’s potentially going to hit my ice cream supply. Save our bees! Save our bees! Save ice cream.
Nestle foods subsidiary Haagen-Dazs is warning that disappearing bee colonies in the United States could become a big problem for the premium ice cream maker. That’s because, according to Haagen-Dazs, one-third of the U.S. food supply — including a variety of fruits, vegetables and even nuts — depends on pollination from bees.
Steph and I have been house hunting for almost a year and I’m sick of it, completely. There are no pre-existing homes, land or construction companies that seem to be in our price range. Either everything needs a ton of work, or needs another 50 grand. I’m gonna live in an RV soon. Steph, the dogs and the motoring life…that’s my future.
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