To the clueless newbies out there bitching about $3.00+/gal gasoline.
Check out the supply line...the following link is just the start in the chain of multiple events:
"How many companies do you know that can afford to gamble 15 billion dollars over a 10 year span on technologies that have never been tested, and in fact didn't even exist when the money was put on the table, drilling in water deeper than ever drilled in, exploring in a rock formation that until a few years ago, geologists didn't even think there could be oil there."
Link
Wednesday, May 30
Blond Joke O' the Day
The plane is on its way to Houston when a blonde in economy class gets up and moves to the first class section and sits down. The flight attendant watches her do this and asks to see her ticket. She then tells the blonde that she paid for economy class and that she will have to sit in the back. The blonde replies, "I'm blond, I'm beautiful, I'm going to Houston and I'm staying right here."The flight attendant goes into the cockpit and tells the pilot and the co-pilot that there is a blonde sitting in first class that belongs in economy and won't move back to her seat. The co-pilot goes back to the blonde and tries to explain that because she only paid for economy she will have to leave and return to her seat. The blonde replies, "I'm blonde, I'm beautiful, I'm going to Houston and I'm staying right here."
The co-pilot tells the pilot that he probably should have the Police waiting when they land to arrest this blonde woman who won't listen to reason. The pilot says, "you say she is a blonde? I'll handle this. I'm Married to a blonde. I speak blonde." He goes back to the blonde and whispers in her ear, and she says, "oh, I'm sorry." and she gets up and goes back to her seat in economy
The flight attendant and co-pilot are amazed and asked him what he Said to make her move without any fuss. I told her, "First class isn't going to Houston."
Tuesday, May 29
No hurricanes for Houston this year
The University of Central Florida has released their 2007 hurricane forecast (PDF file). According to their research, the Houston area has a "Much Below Normal" chance of experiencing hurricane-force winds this year. Ditto for the extreme southern tip of Florida.
Actually, I think these long-range forecasts are worse than useless, they are dangerous. These forecasts cause complacency by giving people a false sense of security. ("Hey look Marge, we're in the Green Zone according to these scientists! Let's cancel that flood insurance. We don't need it this year.")
How they made their guesses.
One of NOAA's many animated models. Click the Animate Frames arrow to start. This model looks ahead two weeks, and is anything but fine-grained - it covers the entire northern hemisphere. So we're to believe that hurricane landfall percentages can now be accurately predicted on a county-by-county basis 3-4 months in advance?
Source: Lou Minatti
Friday, May 25
Pros and Cons of the Top 20 Democratic Party Presidential Candidates
John Moe provides the fun.
My favorite:
5. JOE BIDEN
Pro: Technically still running for president.
Con: Dude. Come on.
Eurotrashed
Read this fascinating editorial on how Eastern Europe and Western Europe really, really don’t get along. The setting: an American Idol-like songwriting and performance contest called "Eurovison." It’s nice to hear about international disputes that don’t involve my country.
Scenario speculation
What would happen if we withdrew our military from Iraq? We can only surmise, says economist Dr. Mark Hendrickson, but he attempts to answer the question by presenting four possible (albeit, simplistic) scenarios. Which do you think is most likely?
O, happy day.
"Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing."
Oscar Wilde
Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet (1854 - 1900)
Oscar Wilde
Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet (1854 - 1900)
Thursday, May 24
Oriental Eye Exam
If you can not decipher anything, try pulling the corner of your eyes as if you were Chinese. It Works!
Wednesday, May 23
No Harvard for you!
The New York Post has published this list of successful people who were rejected by Harvard. Among the headliners: Warren Buffett, Ted Turner, John Kerry, Tom Brokaw and Sun Microsystem co-founder Scott McNealy. When you look at some of the names on the list, though, what's more surprising than who Harvard rejected is who it let in.
Tuesday, May 22
Monday, May 21
HEADLINE O' THE WEEK: 'Man killed by flying cow'
...I don't make this stuff up...
If you want to read the whole story in the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, click here.
If you want to read the whole story in the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, click here.
The coolest: Five-second rule validated!
Admit it, you know the five-second rule. It comes into play when you've dropped food on the floor, but aren't quite ready to part with the possibility of still consuming it. My wife believes in the zero-second rule, but I'm a firm-believer in the old wives' tale.
Now, it would seem, there's some science to back up the five-second rule. A pair of biology majors at Connecticut College have gone and tested the rule, and there's good news. It should now be called the thirty-second rule:
My advice? If you keep your home reasonably clean the five-second rule is reasonably valid.
Now, it would seem, there's some science to back up the five-second rule. A pair of biology majors at Connecticut College have gone and tested the rule, and there's good news. It should now be called the thirty-second rule:
Goettsche and Moin took their food samples -- apple slices (wet) and Skittles candies (dry) -- to the main Connecticut College dining hall, Harris Refectory, and to the snack bar in the student center.Previous research claimed to have debunked the five-second rule. But their methods were questionable. The researchers dropped food on tiles that were purposefully contaminated with E. coli bacteria. Let me tell you, if you have E. coli bacteria on your kitchen floor you've got bigger problems than the five-second rule.
They dropped the foods onto the floors in both locations for five, 10, 30 and 60 second intervals, and also tested them after allowing five minutes to elapse. They then swabbed the foods and placed them onto agar plates designed to cultivate any bacteria that might have attached to the foods.
What Goettsche and Moin discovered may forever change the way people think of the five-second rule. "It should probably be renamed," Goettsche said. "You actually have a little more time."
The women found no bacteria were present on the foods that had remained on the floor for five, 10 or 30 seconds. The apple slices did pick up bacteria after one minute, however, and the Skittles showed a bacterial presence after remaining on the floor for five minutes.
The results prove, Goettsche and Moin said, that you can wait at least 30 seconds to pick up wet foods and more than a minute to pick up dry foods before they become contaminated with bacteria.
My advice? If you keep your home reasonably clean the five-second rule is reasonably valid.
Wednesday, May 16
Enjoy HELL, Jerry
Not to speak ill of the dead (much), but I am enjoying the thought of Falwell and his reward of 72 virgins.
....and I'd like to share what Susan Jacoby said:
....and I'd like to share what Susan Jacoby said:
Predictably, obituary writers are already portraying the Reverend Jerry Falwell as a more respectable figure than he was. Ah, what a beautiful tradition it is to speak no ill of the dead!No doubt.In the online edition of The New York Times, writer Peter Applebome observes that Falwell was "demonized on the left in much the same way Senator Edward M. Kennedy or Jane Fonda were on the right." The word "demonized" suggests that the well-meaning Falwell was treated unfairly by the left and that there ought to be a more balanced view of his so-called achievements.
How do you demonize a man who declared that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were evidence of God's judgment on a nation corrupted by civil libertarians and advocates of abortion and gay rights? Falwell demonized himself and followed up his sincere vitriol with the usual insincere public relations apology.
Jerry Falwell, by mobilizing the religious Right as a force for reactionary politics, played a vital long-term role in every retrograde social trend of the past thirty years. He and his Christian soldiers put George W. Bush in the White House.
This man's legacy is one of bigotry, xenophobia, anti-modernism, and utter stupidity. No doubt his funeral will be well-attended.
It could all be yours for $100 and an essay
If you've ever dreamed of owning your own farm, now's your chance: An Ohio couple is giving their 43.5-acre farm away to the person who wins an essay contest they are sponsoring. What's the catch? Each submission must include a $100 entry fee and the couple won't select a winner until they've received 3,000 submissions, thereby raising $300,000, a payoff greater than what they'd receive by selling the farm in the area's sagging market. Now that's creative. Anyone intrigued enough to give it a shot?
Tuesday, May 15
Tuesday Blond Joke
Two blondes are walking down the road when one says, “Look at that dog with one eye!”
The other blonde covers one of her eyes and says, “Where?”
The other blonde covers one of her eyes and says, “Where?”
Higher speeds coming to local cable-modem users
Attention, Houston Time Warner cable customers! Don't throw away that booklet that may have come in the U.S. Mail today that says "How to cope with more awesomeness" on the cover. It's not junk mail, but rather a glimpse into your future.
Comcast, which took control of the Houston Time Warner cable franchise in January, is starting to initiate changes. And according to this booklet, which I received today, cable-modem speeds are going up a notch.
Time Warner's Road Runner service maxes out at 5 megabits a second (unless you pay more for the premium 8 Mbps option). But apparently that's going up to 6 Mbps soon:
The Road Runner home page now at www.houston.rr.com will become Comcast.net. There are no details on just how the e-mail account switch will happen, except for this:
Some other key tidbits from the booklet:
• Time Warner Cable will officially change its name to Comcast on June 19.
• Bill payments will be made to "Comcast Houston", and the look of your bill will change somewhat.
• While the booklet doesn't have any detail about what channels will be dropped or added, there's a slew of name changes coming for the various cable TV tiers. Standard Cable becomes "Expanded Basic Service"; Digital Value becomes "Digital Preferred", and so on. One package -- the $5-per-month Movies Plus for Digital Cable -- is going away completely. That package will be folded into Digital Preferred at no charge. The Digital Basic tier will go down by $1 a month; the price to rent the DVR for a month goes down by a nickel.
• Time Warner Digital Phone becomes Comcast Digital Voice. A separate piece of snail-mail will come to phone users to tell them how to switch to Comcast's voice mail.
The booklet also warns that there may be brief outages as some of these services are switched over.
Originally posted on TechBlog
Comcast, which took control of the Houston Time Warner cable franchise in January, is starting to initiate changes. And according to this booklet, which I received today, cable-modem speeds are going up a notch.
Time Warner's Road Runner service maxes out at 5 megabits a second (unless you pay more for the premium 8 Mbps option). But apparently that's going up to 6 Mbps soon:
In July, get ready for the blazing-fast speed of Comcast High-Speed Internet: up to 6 Mbps download speed, which is up to four times faster than DSL and more than 100 times faster than dialup. Now you'll be able to do battle faster. Surf faster. Blog faster. If you want even MORE speed, check out Comcast High-Speed Internet Performance Plus! It is comparable to Road Runner Premium, and it offers blazing-fast 8 Mbps download speed.
The Road Runner home page now at www.houston.rr.com will become Comcast.net. There are no details on just how the e-mail account switch will happen, except for this:
Be sure to watch your Road Runner e-mail account for more information on transitioning your e-mail account from Road Runner to Comcast.net.
Some other key tidbits from the booklet:
• Time Warner Cable will officially change its name to Comcast on June 19.
• Bill payments will be made to "Comcast Houston", and the look of your bill will change somewhat.
• While the booklet doesn't have any detail about what channels will be dropped or added, there's a slew of name changes coming for the various cable TV tiers. Standard Cable becomes "Expanded Basic Service"; Digital Value becomes "Digital Preferred", and so on. One package -- the $5-per-month Movies Plus for Digital Cable -- is going away completely. That package will be folded into Digital Preferred at no charge. The Digital Basic tier will go down by $1 a month; the price to rent the DVR for a month goes down by a nickel.
• Time Warner Digital Phone becomes Comcast Digital Voice. A separate piece of snail-mail will come to phone users to tell them how to switch to Comcast's voice mail.
The booklet also warns that there may be brief outages as some of these services are switched over.
Originally posted on TechBlog
Monday, May 14
Yea! A fire ant virus
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has recently identified a virus that kills red fire ants, and the agency has begun the process of finding a commercial partner to develop the virus into a pesticide.
In the laboratory, the virus, SINV-1, has proven to be self-sustaining and transmissible. Once introduced, it can eliminate a colony within three months.
That's why researchers believe the virus has potential as a viable biopesticide to control fire ants, known to scientists as Solenopsis invicta.
Although it occurs naturally in fire ants, the virus needs a stressor before it becomes deadly and begins replicating within a colony, Valles said.
Integrating the virus into ant baits could offer a tool to the pest-control industry, agricultural producers and harvesters, consumers and others for whom fire ants are a persistent problem.
Red fire ants, which originated in South America, began arriving in the United States in the 1930s. They've now been detected in 13 states, covering 320 million acres, and are spreading northward. They reached Texas in the 1950s and cause about $1.2 billion annually in damage.
Widespread efforts in the 1960s and 1970s failed to eradicate them. They are now 10 times more common here than South American because they have no natural predators.
I'd say it's about time we gave them synthetic predator!
Originally posted on SCIGUY
In the laboratory, the virus, SINV-1, has proven to be self-sustaining and transmissible. Once introduced, it can eliminate a colony within three months.
That's why researchers believe the virus has potential as a viable biopesticide to control fire ants, known to scientists as Solenopsis invicta.
Although it occurs naturally in fire ants, the virus needs a stressor before it becomes deadly and begins replicating within a colony, Valles said.
Integrating the virus into ant baits could offer a tool to the pest-control industry, agricultural producers and harvesters, consumers and others for whom fire ants are a persistent problem.
Red fire ants, which originated in South America, began arriving in the United States in the 1930s. They've now been detected in 13 states, covering 320 million acres, and are spreading northward. They reached Texas in the 1950s and cause about $1.2 billion annually in damage.
Widespread efforts in the 1960s and 1970s failed to eradicate them. They are now 10 times more common here than South American because they have no natural predators.
I'd say it's about time we gave them synthetic predator!
Originally posted on SCIGUY
The First IT Helpdesk
This video is too funny. Since I paid my dues by supporting new users during my career, I can relate all too well.
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