Battle to dominate your living room

It seems that marriage of TV and the 'net is becoming more a reality as each day goes by. If executed well, this could be an exciting innovation. Or, it could be a dud - after all, hooking one's 'puter to a TV is somewhat passé already, even though it does require at least a smidgen of technical knowledge. But if it really, honestly, absolutely, becomes "plug 'n play" (to resurrect an old term), then I think we may be on to something revolutionary. I've always dreamed of the potential of truly interactive TV, but there's no question it has to be as seamless as possible - almost like what the iPhone/iPad/iWhatever did to get phones and 'puters to wed.

Needless to say, Google (surprise!) is one of two major contenders in this arena, the other being Apple. It will be interesting to see who prevails - if at all! Time, as always, will tell.

Wind power - and this time, I'm not farting!

Here's an exciting prospect - an offshore wind farm on the Atlantic seaboard that would generate ~6Gw of power. That's equivalent to about five large nuclear power plants, and the windmills would be located in the ocean, away from populated areas. Even better, Google is one of two major investors!

This all sounds very promising. While expensive to deploy, the benefits, of course, accrue over time. I think this is exciting, and could well be the harbinger of things to come.

And, just for grins, on the left we have a picture of an old windmill on a farm in South Africa - I like it for nostalgic reasons, so why the hell not? (These were typically used to pump water from underground wells.)

This space intentionally left blank! (But is it? Really?!)

TV tech terminology

I've always wondered why the TV industry insists on confusing us with their bafflegabby (!) terminology. Take, for example, the popular "1080p" resolution. This is typically described as a mode characterized by "1080 lines of vertical resolution." (Emphasis mine.) Now, I dunno about you, but this leads me to think that each line is 1080 pixels high - iow, from top to bottom. That's what "vertical" means, n'est-ce pas? Nope, 1080p is the number of horizontal lines, stacked on top of each other. (The width of each line is 1920 pixels.) And, yes, I know it means that each line is, in fact, 1080 pixels high - but it still confuses the crap outta me!

In checking this out, I came across a rather illuminating, easy-to-understand depiction of all the different video resolutions out there. It's interesting to see how far we've come from the early days, and where we may be headed. I say that with reservations, because I think we've pretty much hit the point of diminishing returns. After all, why pump all those extra pixels down the line, eating up precious bandwidth, when the human eye really cannot discern much more than the current standard? Here's the pic in question; you can find a larger, easier-to-see version here. (Realize that HD 1080 is 3,801,600 pixels 30 times a second, while the highest resolution, QSXGA would be 5,242,880 pixels, 1.38x more!)

Nice billboard

This ad is from the South African electricity utility, Eskom:

Admin note

In an attempt to speed up loading of this page (in response to, um, complaints!), I am now limiting the number of posts to 15. Of course, you can always click on the "older posts" link at the bottom of each page to continue trolling through my bafflegab!

The store not in motion

OK, yes, stationary/stationery misspellings are a common problem, but sometimes it's contextually funny. This, from a story at NDTV.com:

"The boy was returning home from a stationary store, when the man took him to a nearby isolated ground and tortured him for more than two hours."

(Before I get nasty comments: Yes, the story itself is not funny.)

Fun bathroom pictures

All the political nonsense going on right now is getting me down. So, back to bathroom humor... (Not to worry, most of it is clean!)

Gotta love the detail,
down to the direction of the drips -
as well as that of the baseball caps!

Talk about ropey!

That hair! Is she in a wind tunnel?
(Btw, is that really how women pee? Damn.)

Gotta go?
See below...

Gotta go! Gotta go!
Gotta go right now.

This is disturbing...

...but not as disturbing as this!
(And there are those baseball caps again.)

Umm ... OK.

But it is a non sequitur!

I'm sure there'll be more of these appearing soon, so stay tuned!

The tea party and its (unspoken) racism

Here's an article that I would regard as a must-read for anyone who is concerned about the future of this country. It's objective, well-researched, and most definitely speaks for itself - so I'm going to let it do just that!

Political silly season

With the mid-term elections coming up in a few weeks, the loonies are most definitely out there, making - as usual - complete idiots of themselves. Let's start the season with a "light" one:

House representative Larry Brown (R-NC) appears to not be too enamored with gay people. In an email string (for context see here), he said, and I quote: "I hope all the queers are thrilled to see him. I'm sure there will be a couple of legislative fruitloops there in the audience."

Queers. Fruitloops. Hmm.

Now, clearly, this doesn't rise to the level of anything extraordinary - after all, by now we all should be accustomed to seeing this sort of garbage. It just blows me away that there still are politicians up on the hill, supposedly representing us, "the people," who maintain this kind of outdated, ill-informed bigotry. And, sadly (and more importantly), this fool is running unopposed in November.

(Thanks, John, for alerting me to this one!)

Oh hell, I give up

Instead of constantly apologizing for my puerile fascination with naughty bits, why don't I just 'fess up now: Like most men, I am still in a state of arrested adolescence, and find stuff like the following pretty damn funny. Enjoy.

OK, I know...

I haven't exactly been prolific with my writing the past few days - I'm a little, erm, preoccupied at the moment...

But at least I'm updating the funny stuff above and on the left ... that's something! So quitcha bitchin'!

Feds want to snoop even more

So now our friendly U.S. Gov't wants to be able to view all encrypted communication over the 'net, as and when they want to. They even want companies doing business outside the U.S. to provide backdoors. It's gross, and it's scary. It's also useless, since there will always be ways to abuse the privilege - and, believe me, it will be abused, whether by the Feds or by other mischief-makers.

But I feel a soapbox rant coming on, so why don't I just let this article explain it all...

Google's browser, Chrome, shows its superiority - again

A couple of days ago, I told you about an evil new phenomenon - persistent cookies.

Well, I just read an item from PC Magazine that shows that Google's free browser, Chrome, pretty much decimates these things. If that's not a reason to use Chrome, I don't know what is. Get it here - you will love it, I promise.

I'm taking the liberty of quoting a significant chunk of the article from PC Magazine, mainly because I think this is so important:

"...But in Google Chrome you'll find a superior handling of the problem. Much to my surprise, and confirmed by Adobe, Chrome's cookie manager (Tools—Options—Under the Hood—Content Settings—Show cookies and other site data) integrates management of Flash cookies and almost all of the other items on Kamkar's list. Under the "samy.pl" domain the section "Local Storage" included both the HTML5 storage and Flash cookies. Deleting the domain deleted all of it.

"Better still, Chrome's "Incognito" (private) mode prevented any of them. The cookie manager can't stop the cached image Kamkar says he creates, but all the private modes should be flushing the cache anyway.

"Adobe says that they are working with other browser companies to integrate similar functionality for Flash local storage, but Google Chrome is the first."

FYI: To open an Incognito window in Chrome, press ctrl-shift-n. Oh, and if you're searching for the Tools menu item mentioned above, it's the cute little spanner at the top right, just under the close button!

Dr. Who? Why, it's Dr Ann de Wees Allen!

Dr. Who?

So there's this woman, goes by the name Dr Ann de Wees Allen, who seems to think that she (Dr Ann de Wees Allen) can trademark her name (Dr Ann de Wees Allen). Not only that, but Dr Ann de Wees Allen is sending "cease and desist" letters to anyone who uses the name Dr Ann de Wees Allen in any way, shape or form. Apparently. Maybe I should try the same trick - there'd be a boatload of people who'd be SOL if I did, since my name is pretty common (just like me!).

Hallelujah! It's a miracle! Dr Ann de Wees Allen's website, which touts a miracle cure for something or the other, makes the trademark threat explicit, down to publishing the names of websites that have dared (shock, horror!) to use her name (Dr Ann de Wees Allen). Dr Ann de Wees Allen also displays a copy of the C&D letter. The lineage of the name Dr Ann de Wees Allen, we're told, comes from a royal house in England - see here. And, Dr Ann de Wees Allen lays claim to some rather dubious patents, without showing any specifics such as patent numbers, just a long laundry list of ... oh, hell, I really don't care. She (Dr Ann de Wees Allen) also seems to specialize in spelling errors, as can be seen at this page, where Dr Oz apparently says that diet sodas are "fattenting." The error is repeated here. Notably, Dr Ann de Wees Allen seems to specialize in poorly-edited websites - almost every page on every site is riddled with typos, spelling errors, and bad grammar. Oh well, whaddya gonna do? One wonders if Dr Ann de Wees Allen has also been able to trademark artwork such as the elegant (!) representation of her name (Dr Ann de Wees Allen) depicted above. One also wonders if Dr. Ann de Wuss Allen would be OK.

Technical note. Dr Ann de Wees Allen's website has some rather elementary Javascript that attempts to prevent one from copying text ... an ancient trick, one that any script kiddie knows how to overcome (hint: don't use your mouse). Right-clicking has also been suppressed - a dialog pops up saying "Copyright Protect!". Whatever that means.

Drag thinkin'... Someone made an interesting comment elsewhere - I quote: "It is not illegal to use trademarks, it is completely legal to used [sic] them to designate the actual trademarked thing. It is illegal to use a trademark to misrepresent a non-trademarked item as the 'real' trademarked item. So it would be a violation of trademark to dress up as Dr. Ann de Wees Allen, wear a Dr. Ann de Wees Allen mask and a nametag that says Dr. Ann de Wees Allen unless you actually are Dr. Ann de Wees Allen. So don’t do that." I see that there are some good pictures of Dr Ann de Wees Allen at her (Dr Ann de Wees Allen's) website, trowel-thick makeup and all. She (Dr Ann de Wees Allen) would look real good in drag.  Wouldn't it be fun for a drag queen to use the name Dr Ann de Wees Allen as a nom de plume for those, well, special occasions? Just sayin'...

Eat your chips. Here's another one of her websites, equally, erm, interesting. Apparently, computer chips are edible. It's here we learn that brains, as well as computers, can be damaged. Brain. Damaged.

Source-y! This came to light compliments of Techdirt, my amazing, reliable source for all web-related stupidity. You can read about our friend, Dr Ann de Wees Allen, here. There's also a fun blog entry about her (Dr Ann de Wees Allen) here. Should I receive any communiqué from Dr Ann de Wees Allen, I will most certainly let you know.

Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen
Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen
Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen
Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen   Dr Ann de Wees Allen
Oh dear, what happened there? I had a little accident ... my ctrl-v key stuck!

And, on a completely different subject, can you say "charlatan"? How about "paranoid"?

Technology we take for granted

Scenario: For me, it was the middle of the day in California. For my friend, it was 3am in a Bangkok hotel room - I never know where he is from one day to the other. I emailed him, he saw my note on his phone. He responded, and mentioned that I should tune into CNN to watch a live feed of the Iranian idiot ranting at the United Nations - quite a scene. My friend and I discussed it.

Observation: It made me realize just how much we take instant (and almost free) connectivity for granted these days. California, Bangkok, New York. All in real time. 20 years ago, this was not something most of us envisioned.

Homework: Think about it - the social ramifications, the global "village," the technology, the convenience, and on and on. Drop a comment; share your thoughts.

Persistent cookies

Seems there's a new trick out there - cookies that regenerate themselves when you try to get rid of them. This is not good. I can see how it can be done - quite easily, in fact, and you gotta wonder why it hasn't happened before. Read about it here.

Anger in America

Alice's Tea Party is also crazy,
except hers makes sense!

Here's an interesting post from Arianna Huffington. I'm going to let it speak for itself - a preview below, and the full article here. Just remember - there are alternatives.

"The Tea Party is angry! Really, really angry. So we are told again and again by the media. What's missing from this narrative is the fact that everybody is angry - even people who love the president, and wouldn't dream of voting for anyone other than a Democrat. And it's not hard to understand why. How can you look at what's happening in America and not be angry? But if we keep associating anger exclusively with the Tea Party, our public debate becomes a false choice between the status quo and an agenda that would, quite simply, destroy America. There is more than one way to channel anger. Yes, you can demonize and divide and scapegoat. But anger can also be harnessed and redirected -- the energy behind it used to connect, to reach out, to take action, to make life better both for your family and for others who need help. And there are tens of thousands across America doing just that."

Lies, damn lies

I'm always interested in the many ways us humans can distort, bend, manipulate, misrepresent the truth - see my earlier rant about MarketingSpeak.

Today's edition of Techdirt has a couple of interesting items on this topic, not least of which is a discussion concerning Amazon's recent "claim" that ebooks are outselling printed books by a wide margin. The first problem is obvious, but not one that a casual reader would pick up on: Amazon says that for every 100 hardcover books sold, 180 ebooks are sold. The key word there is hardcover - most people will just see this as ebooks vs any (printed) book. Well, when some bloggers saw this blob of bafflegab, they decided to look a little deeper. Net net, it turns out that a more realistic viewpoint is that ebooks represent about 6% of the total market - nowhere near 180%!

In the same vein, but applying the misinformation notion to politics instead of marketing... Politifact.com is a non-partisan group that investigates the veracity of claims made by politicians. They take specific incidents, research them, and write an article about what they found - and they add a rating on their "Truth-O-Meter" as to whether it was completely true, mostly true, half-true, etc. down to "pants on fire," obviously the lowest rating! They recently noticed that Michelle Bachmann (R-Minnesota) was the worst liar of them all - six items rated "false" and five rated "pants on fire." Read about it here.

Of course, I can't resist reminding you of my earlier posts about Jan Brewer (R-Arizona Gov.) and her stupid comments about illegal immigrants - the infamous beheadings in the desert, not to mention the dessert! Here's Politifact's article on that, and here's her record.

Apologies...

...I've been a little outta sorts the past few days, but will resume my rants asap. Meantime, here's a truly gross picture - it's an ad touting another one of those iTunes apps that promise to analyze your turd.

More Monty Python: The Penis Song (not Noël Coward!)

Here's another little ditty from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life that I had forgotten about. I happenchanced upon it while browsing the intertubes today. Lyrics are below, so while Eric tickles the ivories, you can sing along around the 'puter with your family ... enjoy!



Eric Idle: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Here's a little number I tossed off recently in the Caribbean...
   Isn't it awfully nice to have a penis?
   Isn't it frightfully good to have a dong?
   It's swell to have a stiffy,
   It's divine to own a dick.
   From the tiniest little todger
   To the world's biggest prick!
   So three cheers for your willy or John Thomas.
   Hooray for your one-eyed trouser snake.
   Your piece of pork, your wife's best friend,
   Your Percy or your cock;
   You can wrap it up in ribbons,
   You can slip it in your sock.
   Just don't take it out in public,
   Or they will put you in the dock
   And you won't ... come ... back.

The inevitable Wikipedia entry is here.

Glenn Beck - is he really that dumb?

Given the, erm, caliber of the typical Glenn Beck audience, do you really think he believes that he's being sarcastic by using these quotes on his book's jacket, or is he just stupid and doesn't realize what he's done? Read about it here.

Masturbation party!!!

In keeping with today's, erm, topic, I give you:



It's in Spanish, but it speaks for itself...

The million masturbators march!

You gotta read this report from Andy Borowitz about the attempt to organize a "Million Masturbators March" on Washington DC. Seems the city is concerned about the cleanup costs after the event...! This is in response to senatorial hopeful Christine O'Donnell's stance against masturbation.

And since we're on the topic, take this poll!

Everything old is new again

We think we're so damn clever with all our new technology. Well, check this out. You know how, these days, we are able to associate metadata with photos? Examples include date, place, technical details of the pic, etc. Read about it here.

Did you know that Kodak thought of this a hundred years ago, and actually made it happen? No need for fancy hard/software, just a pen. Take a look at these ads:

Yep - just open the little door, write down the info, expose, badda bing, badda boom - you're done!

ALERT!!! --> --> --> --> Bill Maher returns! <-- <-- <-- <--

Yes, indeedy - it's that time of year when Real Time with Bill Maher returns to HBO. If you have HBO, make sure you're tuned in on Friday night - the 17th. And if you don't, find a friend who has HBO, check into a hotel with HBO, whatever - just make damn sure you're watching!

This has been a crazy summer - from Islamophobia to DC infighting to right-wing loonie pundits to babblin' Sarah Palin to Qur'an burning to you-name-it. I have no doubt that Bill is more than ready to preach his viewpoint: A voice of utter and extreme sanity in the midst of the bigotry, childishness and, well, thoroughly unnecessary behavior we are subjected to day after day. [Exit soapbox left.]

The Huffington Post, unfailing as always, alerts us to the good news about Bill. For a preview of the spot-on hilarity, watch this:

And, for some classic (and hysterical) Bill Maher, see this 2-minute clip.

(A quick aside: As I write this, I'm listening to an interview on CNN with the Republican Teabagger who won the New York primary for Governor yesterday, Carl Paladino. This man is uttering the most preposterous garbage I have ever heard. It's astounding. The topic is the Islamic center (not mosque) near Ground Zero. I am sure I will have more to say about this later...)