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Great question about light bulbs on MAKE. I’m not very well versed in most of the physics behind lighting electronics, and typically just ignore that little print on my bulbs and lamps. I assume, well, it’s ok because 1) someone sold it to me, it must be pretty OK and 2) I haven’t had a fire yet. The comments are the most helpful part of the post.

I don’t know who this bing guy is on cnn money, but this article was pretty funny. Find out what your dream bu77$1T job is.

I’ve never read freakonomics, but somehow I get their blog feed, presumably some sort of marketing scheme. At any rate, I came across this article today about an interesting poverty solution (I’m not convinced about the effectiveness of it) and a lamed reference to an abortion “victory.” I particularly like the comment about paying people to act middle class.

Nice write up on the new LOTR MMORPG from yahoo. Screen shots included. I am planning on getting into this game late summer. I can’t wait.

Interesting reddit post about a photo and caption from Katrina. Race plays a big role, but some of the agenda-ists are crying foul illegitimately. There is a snopes write up that seems to dispel the race card.

Interesting article and awesome pictures of plastered ant colonies.

The first actual news story I’ve read on the mass deaths of bees around the world. Particularly significant for farmers who rely heavily on bees to pollinate crops at crucial points in their development.

Useful firefox add-on: FishEyeTabs. This add-on makes your tab bar kind of like the task bar for osx. I think it inadvertently removes my tab close buttons though. I’ll have to look into it. Otherwise, I highly recommend this. Via Lifehacker.

New cartoon from Penny Arcade. I love these guys.

Really intense article from Alternet (via Reddit) on the 9th amendment. I’m no expert on the 9th, but I’ve mentioned my simplified position on the abortion and homosexuality issues before. The list at the end of the article does a nice job bringing it all together I think.

In what I think is a bold and brilliant move, the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, has banned almost all forms of outdoor advertising. I’m in the camp that says “ads destroy and clutter the external environment and confuse the mental environment.” The business camp of things will have to wait and see about how devastating this move is for their economy. Will they be creative enough to work around it? I doubt it, but I’m hopeful.

My last post on MS was way off, so hopefully I’ll get this one right. Dell has started offering computers that have XP on them (as well as models with Vista). They did this based on the response of people at their IdeaStorm site. MS is again fumbling through the PR saying

Microsoft countered that Dell’s move was in response to a ’small minority of customers’ with a ’specific request.’

Insane google maps find of what seems to be Tibetan carved into an iced over lake. I found this on reddit. Some of the comments on this are interesting, some are funny, some are senselessly stupid. I guess that’s par for course.

Comic depicting the “reality” of war in terms of the close-to-home deaths at VT. Guess what? WE’RE AT WAR. THAT’S WHAT YOU DO IN WAR, YOU KILL PEOPLE. YOU DON’T KILL PEOPLE IN AN [INSERT COURSE HERE] CLASS. Brazen yes, but I think it’s an observation I’ve made that I think might be worth mentioning.

And we’re back after a grueling weekend.

Interesting, common sense blog article on Free and Open Sourced Software (FOSS). While this article is probably a little oversimplified, I’m always interested in the benefits/drawback of free software that you can reprogram yourself (if you’ve got the programming resources).

A new virus was discovered in Australia after three patients received transplants and subsequently died. Their organs were from the same donor. Somewhat gruesome, but the doctors seem upbeat simply on the fact that they were able to detect and will be able to test it further.

Mac’s are hack-proof… sort of. I didn’t see any specifics on the rules that were laxed to make this possible. I find it interesting that he spent 9 hours programming the site to exploit the security hole. Intense.

I’m not totally versed in N. Korean culture. But this UK Times article about a man not selling them anymore giant rabbits for consumption is just cool. (That they are using rabbits as food, not that he’s not selling to N. Korea anymore). Because rabbits reproduce so quickly, this seems like a great way to relieve some food shortage issues.

The Twinky vs. the Carrot? A great article on obesity, caloric pricing, the Farm Bill and politics. Via Megnut.

Some phenomenal hand-made electronica instruments. I really need to try my hand at some of this. Sigh. Via Made.

A free and open sourced bass synth modeled after the Roland TB-303. (NOT A CLONE, mind you). Another musical project endeavor. Sigh, sigh.

Article from BBC on sleep and how much you should be getting. 8 hours isn’t really standard, the article says about 7.25 is OK. I think I need like 9, because I’m always tired at work. There’s just not enough time in the day for sleep.

The leader, Boris Yeltsin, is dead. His career seems to be marked with varying highs and lows. He seemingly ushered both democracy and economic decline into Russia.

Japanese like the wii so much they’re making cell phones with motion-based games. I just wish that instead of having their own games, they could connect to the wii and be used to some capacity. A NINE+ BUTTON CONTROLLER WITH MOTION! overkill? nahhh

And I fall prey to laziness. I’ve always said “Laziness is an Expensive Habit”. Thanks coder journal. Nothing like a swift kick in the rear

Microsoft wins the stupid award of the day. They forgot the save as… button (from fumbled.org, don’t know if there’s a better source). I guess I’ll just have to save over all my old files or something. I’m just glad I don’t pay for their crap.

I know that I never speed ;-). So, for those of you that do, Yahoo put together some tips for fighting speeding tickets. Stick it to the man!

I guess if we can’t get them to get along together, might as well keep them apart. Treating Iraqis like bad children sounds like a great idea. From the guardian.

I like the fact that there is a quiz is on a voting site that coyly admits that voting is really just a high school popularity contest. (WELL IT IS). So I was interested to find a popularity contest between God and Science. You’ve got to put your faith in something.

More 4/20 madness. Of course don’t we all know the best smoking is in Amsterdam.

Yahoo News is reporting yet another win for the Wii. Well, duhhh… Now if they would just make some more/decent games for the thing.

Contactify! Now, instead of you drooling masses of faceless internet zombie emailers bombarding me all the time because you stole my email address (or I gave it to you in good faith that I wouldn’t receive emails soliciting viagra or cialis), I can keep you fools at bay. I think. I haven’t tested it yet.

Well, I always like to start my day of with a little Penny Arcade. Watch out, horny witches on the loose. Brought to you by wii.

I’m always a big fan of technology improving life. BBC has an article describing how Nigerians will be using cell phone text messages to help ensure a fair election. The move seems encouraging to me and I’m eager to see the results.

I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a cheap illegal substance reference today. Check out 4/20 throughout history via wikipedia.

WELL, I GUESS PORN IS BORING NOW THAT THE INTERNET IS SO COOL. Interesting article from the economist showing that hit trends are beginning to lean away from pornography to search engines and social sites. YAY INTERNET, BOO-BIES. j/k.

The scientific american has a neat myth busters type article on the 0-grav pen’s origination. Now you can write UPSIDE DOWN!

In other news, there’s actually a site that gives advice on how to get rid of things. Very refreshing when we live in an age that is obsessed with collecting and hoarding. But I digress. They put forward an interesting write up on fat from historical (evolutionary) body mechanics to tips and tricks.

Going a little heavier, a little deeper, I submit to you the supreme court syllabus from the recent decision that effectively enforces the ban on partial birth abortions. This is a difficult read and takes a lot of time and energy to digest. So admittedly, the following viewpoints are based on having only read the first three paragraphs of the syllabus without being trained in the law. But, with words like

“The fetus is usually ripped apart”

and

“In order to allow the head to pass through the cervix, the doctor typically pierces or crushes the skull.”

Having read this short introduction I only hold two basic views on the subject

1. What is the moral standard of our culture that we find it acceptable to treat any life like this? We have been given over to our desires.
2. What kind of failure is the Church that we as a people must now revert to the senseless stripping of rights because we, for generations, have utterly failed at following the second most important mission of our lives as “Christians”: To LOVE our neighbor. We should be ashamed. I am.

Apologies for the diatribe.

And without leaving you, the faithful reader to a grossly disappointing end, I submit to you a thoughtful write up on web design from smashing magazine.

Slow day at the office? I’ll say. Among other things, my SO’s company’s stock showed up in my financial feeds, so I thought I might throw that out there.

Trying to clarify the lines between funny and tasteless, the language log has a comic reversing the roles of sexuality in comedy. Unfortunately for them I don’t like it when people define life in terms of sexuality. Straight or gay, life is too broad, big and important to be characterized and subsequently (IMHO) pigeon holed by defining one’s life simply by sexual orientation, race, or creed. But rather defining it by comics and video games, that’s OK by me.

Finally, I hate taxes and so should you. A simple flash interactive of a gorgeous information visualization poster shows you why.