Archive
10 Interesting Links From September 25th
- Phoenix Greyhound racetrack to shut down – The Phoenix park, near Washington and 40th streets, opened in 1954 and runs live races seven days a week. The business has faced a number of challenges in recent years, including increased competition from casinos, declining revenue and dwindling visitor numbers. On-track attendance at the track dropped 14 percent last year to about 106,000 annual visitors, and has declined 56 percent since 1998, according to its annual reports.
- Boulder-based Sunflower Farmers Market operating its own farm – The Denver Post – Boulder-based Sunflower is believed to be the nation's first grocery chain to own and operate a commercial-scale farm.
- Focus in terror probe seems to be shifting to NYC – The Denver Post – As the multistate terrorism investigation centered on Aurora shuttle driver Najibullah Zazi continued Tuesday, authorities appeared to turn their focus to people and businesses in his one-time home of New York.
- Lawsuits target chicken and its veggie substitutes | California Consumer | Los Angeles Times – Chicken, fake and real, looks to be a target of several consumer and nutrition groups. The Center for Science in the Public Interest is acting as co-counsel on a lawsuit filed today by an Arizona woman accusing Quorn Foods Inc. of not disclosing on labels the fact that some people have serious allergic reactions to the main ingredient in its Quorn line of meat substitutes.
- Gender-bending bass found in Yampa River – The Denver Post – Male bass in Colorado rivers and other basins around the nation widely exhibit feminine sex traits, a federal fish study released Monday shows. This gender-bending was most common in the southeastern U.S. as well as in western Colorado, in the Yampa River, where 70 percent of male bass had eggs developing alongside their testicular organs, the U.S. Geological Survey study found.
- Coding Horror: 9 Ways Marketing Weasels Will Try to Manipulate You – It's a fascinating examination of why human beings are wired and conditioned to react irrationally. We human beings are a selfish bunch, so it's all the more surprising to see how easily we can be manipulated to behave in ways that run counter to our own self-interest.
- Space heater controlled by digital thermostat – This project allows you to set the room temperature according to the time of day and day of the week, giving you much needed flexibility to save energy and avoid waking up to a freezing house! You can save energy by programming the thermostat to lower the room temperature at night, but still get out of bed to a toasty room in the mornings.
- Electronics ‘missing link’ united with rest of the family – tech – 14 September 2009 – New Scientist – In the 18 months since the "missing link of electronics" was discovered in Hewlett-Packard's laboratories in Silicon Valley, California, memristors have spawned a hot new area of physics and raised hope of electronics becoming more like brains.
- EFF Supports JUSTICE Bill to Reform the USA PATRIOT Act and Repeal Telecom Immunity | Electronic Frontier Foundation – Today, Senators Russ Feingold and Dick Durbin — along with eight other Senators — have taken the Administration up on its offer by introducing the JUSTICE Act, which would rein in the worst excesses of PATRIOT and last year’s FISA Amendments Act (FAA). The announcement of the bill’s introduction, along with a fact sheet outlining the bill's details, is here; the text of the JUSTICE Act is here (the “JUSTICE”, if you’re wondering, stands for Judiciously Using Surveillance Tools In Counterterrorism Efforts”).
- Cold War missile silos cleaned up | KBIM News 10 New Mexico – But three of them blew up during fuel loading exercises eventually causing the silos to be shut down. Decades later the Army Corps of Engineers celebrated the removal of chemicals like PCBs found at the sites.
10 Interesting Links From May 9th
- Captain America (1990 film) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – Captain America is the title of a low budget film based on the popular Marvel Comics superhero of the same name. While the film takes several liberties with the comic's storyline, it features Steve Rogers becoming Captain America during World War II to battle the Red Skull, being frozen in ice, and subsequently being revived to save the President of the United States. The film received a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America.
- Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine Workout – Jackman did weight training for 15 months before filming started
- Jalopnik – 1982 Datsun Voice Warning Box Used Tiny Phonograph Record, Just Like Moon Base Robots – Retro – But no! They created a miniaturized, shock-resistant phonograph, using a 3" white plastic record cut with six parallel grooves (one for each voice message, including "Left door is open," "Right door is open," "Parking brake is on," "Fuel level is low," "Keys in the ignition," and "Lights are on."), and a super-precise stylus that drops in just the right groove when triggered by the device's control circuitry. We're talking about the very pinnacle of analog automotive devices here, and I never knew it existed until a recent junkyard trip. That's when I found an intriguing box labeled "Audible Warning – Don't Drop" under the dash of a 1982 Datsun 810 Maxima.
- Sleepy Eye mom: Teen would defy court order – Hauser, whose son was diagnosed in January with Hodgkin's lymphoma, said conventional treatments such as chemotherapy conflict with the family's religious beliefs. She said they prefer natural remedies such as herbs and vitamins.
Asked where she learned about the alternative healing techniques, Hauser said, "on the Internet.''
- Boiling Frogs-Intel vs. the Village: A Scientist’s Response to Intel Re ATSDR Report – After a somewhat quick and dirty review of the first 14 pages of the Intel response letter, I offer the following talking points for you to consider.
The first and major comment is that most of the Intel letter is at odds with the factual evidence, including FTIR measurements made on their property by their own contractor during an especially low-production period.
- NASA set for dramatic shuttle rescue- msnbc.com – The rescue shuttle, Endeavour, would have to pull within about two dozen yards of the stranded shuttle Atlantis, and then help Atlantis' crew members make their way across a lifeline to refuge. Then Endeavour, full to capacity, would have to leave Hubble as well as Atlantis behind and return home — but not before Atlantis' controls are set for a self-destruct sequence.
- Urban chickens the latest healthful-living trend – They want to know where it came from. They want to be sure it is free of chemicals, pesticides or hormones involved in production. They want to decrease the amount of fossil fuel burned to get it to the table.
For the Wells family, and others like it, these concerns are eased by keeping chickens – even in suburban and urban neighborhoods that are miles from the nearest barnyard.
- Police target unbuckled RRHS students – Police are telling Rio Rancho High School students to buckle up or else, as part of "Teen Operation Buckle Down."
- In-N-Out: Can perfection survive? – Los Angeles Times – Perman observes that In-N-Out has prospered by hewing close to the stolid principles of controlled growth, limited menu, fresh food and regional focus — with the exception of one store in Utah, its 232 locations are all in California, Nevada or Arizona — set in stone by its founders, like commandments. (Harry died in 1976, his widow in 2006.) As a private company, In-N-Out doesn't release financial figures, though the trade press estimated sales in 2005 at $370 million — a healthy sum for a small chain.
- Dish Debuts Remote DVR Feature – 2009-05-08 16:46:41 | Multichannel News – Dish Network officially launched a service Friday that lets customers with Internet-connected DVRs remotely access recordings, catching up to rival DirecTV after more than a year.
The feature is free to Dish customers with a broadband-connected ViP Series DVR. Dish Remote Access provides the ability to search through a nine-day programming guide, and can use keywords and filters such as genre, channel, sports, content rating and language.
10 Interesting Links From May 7th
- Two hospital projects stalled as Rio Rancho’s growth projections slip – New Mexico Business Weekly: – The announcements in May 2008 seemed to promise an embarrassment of riches – Rio Rancho would go from no hospitals to two by the end of 2010.
Then the credit crisis froze the bond market, and by the end of the year, Presbyterian Healthcare Services’ plans were on hold. And today, although the joint hospital project of Legacy Hospital Partners Inc., of Plano, Texas, and the University of New Mexico Medical Group Inc. is not officially on hold, Legacy’s CEO is acknowledging a new reality.
- Lost in Space | Articles | Features | Fortean Times UK – What really happened to Russia's missing cosmonauts? An incredible tale of space hacking, espionage and death in the lonely reaches of space.
- Mooning leads to mistrial in Willcox murder case – A Cochise County judge has declared a mistrial in a murder case because the defendant's brother dropped his pants, gestured and made threatening comments in the presence of jurors.
- Fish may actually feel pain and react to it much like humans | Science Blog – Fish don't make noises or contort their faces to show that it hurts when hooks are pulled from their mouths, but a Purdue University researcher believes they feel that pain all the same.
- The 50 Worst Cars of All Time – The 50 Worst Cars of All Time – TIME – On the 50th anniversary of the Ford Edsel, TIME and Dan Neil, Pulitzer Prize-winning automotive critic and syndicated columnist for the Los Angeles Times, look at the greatest lemons of the automotive industry
- Sony’s GPS-CS3K: Your Geotagging Best Friend… Mini-Review : Akihabara News .com – The Sony GPS-CS3K GPS tracker has a tiny display that operates in three modes: displays current coordinates in big letters, exact coordinates (not rounded values) in small letters, and the current date/time. It might take a few minutes to complete the initial positioning during the first boot after not using the device for some time.
If the device loses a satellite it usually takes only a few seconds to re-calculate its position. The device can be placed in a pocket without any problems, it doesn't need a direct visual connection to a satellite. - Above And Beyond: T-Mobile Provides iPhone Support Despite Not Offering iPhone – When a system update caused service failures and bugs in T-Mobile customers' unlocked iPhones, the users emailed T-Mobile to alert them to the issue. Even though T-Mobile doesn't offer the iPhone, they fixed the bugs and gave the users a service credit for the inconvenience.
- Narrow Side Yard Makeover! — Eden Makers Blog – I nominate “side yards” as some of the most under-exploited areas in the landscape! What a shame, especially when every square foot of real estate is valuable, even in a down economy. Small, narrow yards can be perplexing to some homeowners who don’t know which plants and trees work in a constricted space.
- Garden Center at the Pueblo of Santa Ana – The Santa Ana Garden Center is your source for native and xeric perennials, shrubs and trees. Our plants are the natural choice for landscaping. They have evolved over centuries to survive in our unique and varied climate and are suited for low water, poor soil and high altitudes. They can be used for rock gardens, windbreaks, natural hedges, barriers or erosion control. Other uses include wildlife habitat, food and medicine, or simply to enjoy.
- The Official Site of Rio Rancho, NM – Water Watch Program – The City of Rio Rancho participates in the Albuquerque metropolitan area WaterWatch Program. This program is part of the daily weathercast on all local news stations from April 1st through September 30th. The Water Conservation Office promotes the daily watering guide by following the day’s recommended ColorDrop (see below) as well as its own seasonal watering guide.
10 Interesting Links From April 25th
- News : Master Gardeners win national honor – Rio Rancho Observer – The garden has received the International Master Gardener Search for Excellence Award, which is a cooperative effort of the Sandoval County Master Gardeners through New Mexico State University’s Cooperative Extension program and several City of Rio Rancho departments, partnering with the Rio Grande Basin Initiative, local businesses and community volunteers.
The award was presented on March 23 to Master Gardener Linda Poe, project coordinator, at the International Master Gardener Conference in Las Vegas, Nev.
- The Consumerist Hive Helps You Buy A Diamond [Jewelry] – What are the things you should know when going diamond shopping? Our reader Justin needs to buy one.
- Realtors: Existing-home sales in West up 19% in March from last year – New Mexico Business Weekly: – The West, including New Mexico, was the only part of the country to see sales of existing homes increase in March from the same month of 2008, according to data released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors.
- Electronista | EU steps toward fining Intel in antitrust case – The European Union has prepared a draft decision in an ongoing antitrust case against Intel that appears to be approaching completion, according to the Wall Street Journal. Unnamed sources familiar with the matter claim the EU will seek a fine against the company, although the draft can be modified as it continues through the process.
- Thirteen year-old revealed as winner of Apple’s billion app contest | Software | Macworld – Apple on Friday revealed the name of the winner of its billion app countdown contest. It’s Connor Mulcahey, a 13 year-old who hails from Weston, Conn.
- The Simple Dollar » Thoughts on Work, Personal Life, and Frugality – If you hate your job, today’s the day to start going frugal. Don’t go home tonight and follow the same old routine. Your future doesn’t have to be like this. Here are 100 ways to get started. Most important: when you’re tempted to spend on something unnecessary, think twice about it. Make the choice not to spend until it becomes familiar and comfortable – then use that money you’re saving to get out of debt and build yourself a future you can be happy with.
- The GOP: divorced from reality – Los Angeles Times – By Bill Maher
If conservatives don't want to be seen as bitter people who cling to their guns and religion and anti-immigrant sentiments, they should stop being bitter and clinging to their guns, religion and anti-immigrant sentiments.
- Advanced Composite Structures: Flying high – New Mexico Business Weekly: – The Rio Rancho company, which makes thermoplastic air cargo boxes, reorganized operations through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy over the past two years.
Now, it has emerged from the process with $16 million in new capital from a New York-based investment firm and a $6 million contract with Northwest Airlines.
- Spider "Resurrections" Take Scientists by Surprise – rs in a lab twitched back to life hours after "drowning"—and the scientists were as surprised as anyone.
The bugs, it seems, enter comas to survive for hours underwater, according to a new study.
- Chrysler unveils new electric minivan for U.S. Postal Service duty – Chrysler is celebrating Earth Day today by unveiling the first four of what will be a fleet of 250 battery powered minivans for the US Postal Service. The U.S.P.S. will be using the vans for variety of duties at locations around the country – including daily home delivery.
10 Interesting Links From April 24th
- Bogus Consumer Group To ‘Educate’ You On Metered Billing – The quest to ‘correct’ your flawed perception begins… – dslreports.com – That education process began over the weekend, when a group called the American Consumer Institute penned a missive declaring that metered billing is a great idea for consumers, while unabashedly throwing their support behind Time Warner Cable.
Except the American Consumer Institute isn't actually a consumer group. It's an amalgamation of think tank reps pushing for corporate deregulation under the guise of consumer advocacy. A quick WhoIS notes that the ACI website is registered to Stephen Pociask, a telecom consultant and former chief economist for Bell Atlantic, who via groups like the Competitive Enterprise Institute, works as a public relations apparatus for paying corporate clients.
- Hundreds line up for chance at fast-food job in Mesa – Hundreds of people stood in line early Tuesday hoping to be one of the 60 people hired to open In-N-Out Burger's third Mesa location this month at Fiesta Mall, near Alma School Road and U.S. 60.
- Report: average stolen laptop cost is $50K – A new report by the Ponemon Institute in conjunction with Intel claims that the average cost to the enterprise of a stolen or lost laptop is $49,246, once you factor in not just replacement but intellectual property loss, lost productivity, forensics, and other downsides.
- Boiling Frogs-Intel vs. the Village: Poison Gas Concerns – The deadly chemical warfare gas phosgene is not being released into the air as a byproduct of Intel’s microchip manufacturing, say federal investigators for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
Their finding is based on Intel’s assertion that the waste acid gases that could form phosgene are isolated in the factories’ exhaust streams.
- Jalopnik – Porsche Panamera Takes Elevator To 94th Floor – 2010 Porsche Panamera – Prior to the Shanghai Auto Show, Porsche wanted to showboat a little. Their idea? Lift a Porsche Panamera to the 94th floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center. In an elevator.
So how'd they get the Panamera and it's fat butt up there? Check out the images above and you'll see it was quite the squeeze, almost mimicking what you'd see if Santa Claus were real and he was shimmying up your chimney after eating all your cookies and making out with your Mom. Wait a minute…
- Hammer Films to shoot Swank picture in NM – New Mexico Business Weekly: – Legendary British horror film company Hammer Films will shoot a movie starring Hilary Swank in New Mexico.
“Invasion of Privacy” is a suspense thriller with a second working title of “The Resident.” Hammer is producing the film for its parent company, Exclusive Media Group. A distribution deal is in place with Exclusive Film Distribution.
- APOD: 2009 April 21 – Global Warming Predictions – How much will the Earth's surface warm up over the lives of our children? No one is sure. Compared to the past 100 million years, the Earth is currently enduring a relative cold spell, possibly about four degrees Celsius below average. Over the past 100 years, however, data indicate the average global temperature of the Earth has increased by nearly one degree Celsius.
- Toro Dingo 300 Series | Tool Snob – ToolSnob.com – If you've got about $14,000 sitting around, we suggest looking into getting a Toro Dingo. We recently saw one in action and have decided that from now on all of our bottle recycling money will be routed into the "Dingo Fund." The Dingo is an all in one personal hydraulic machine that, given which of the 35 attachments is on it, it can tackle a huge variety of tasks. Whether it's trenching, drilling a hole, tilling, or just moving a pile of dirt, the Dingo is going to be way better at it than you, your bad back, and your pathetic shovel.
- Conservationism is hogwash – It's been noted in the news recently that California is having an especially dry year. Our reservoirs are a bit low. We didn't get the snow pack that those that know would like to see.
So in Santa Clara County, they have enacted conservation…with the threat of raising rates.
And the people and businesses are doing it. They are conserving.
On the radio Tuesday, I heard a report that conservation has worked SO well that the water company hasn't been bringing in enough billing revenue to sustain their beleaguered business model.
So they are going to raise rates, anyway.
- Miss USA judge takes down blog post after death threats | The Movable Buffet | Los Angeles Times – After the judging the Miss USA Contest at Planet Hollywood, Alicia Jacobs, a local entertainment reporter and former Miss Nevada USA, took to her blog to discuss her vote. Her candid account included her thoughts on Miss California's answer to the question Perez Hilton put to her on whether all states should legalize same-sex marriage.
10 Interesting Links From April 17th
- Sleep May Prepare You for Tomorrow by Dissolving Today’s Neural Connections | 80beats | Discover Magazine – Sleep may be a way to sweep out the brain and get it ready for a new day of building connections between neurons, according to two new studies of fruit flies. The studies support the controversial theory that sleep weakens or entirely dissolves some synapses, the connections between brain cells. “We assume that if this is happening, it is a major function, if not the most important function, of sleep” [Science News], says Chiara Cirelli, a coauthor of the first study, published in Science.
- Hoping to Make iPhone Toys as a Full-Time Job – NYTimes.com – fter the project was finished, Mr. Nicholas sent it to Apple for approval, quickly granted, and iShoot was released into the online Apple store on Oct. 19.
When he checked his account with Apple to see how many copies the game had sold, Mr. Nicholas’s jaw dropped: On its first day, iShoot sold enough copies at $4.99 each to net him $1,000. He and Nicole were practically “dancing in the street,” he said.
The second day, his portion of the day’s sales was about $2,000.
On the third day, the figure slid down to $50, where it hovered for the next several weeks. “That’s nothing to sneeze at, but I wondered if we could do better,” Mr. Nicholas said.
- There’s Twitter the company, and twitter the medium | Technology | Los Angeles Times – Last year, Leo Laporte became a Twitter quitter.
The host of one of Silicon Valley’s most popular podcasts was none too excited that of all the names in the world, the burgeoning message service had picked one that hit piercingly close to home. The online broadcasting network that Laporte owns and runs a short walk from his house in Petaluma is called TWiT.tv, after his company’s flagship show, “This Week in Tech.”
- Brewing Compost Tea – Fine Gardening Article – Why go to the extra trouble of brewing, straining, and spraying a tea rather than just working compost into the soil? There are several reasons. First, compost tea makes the benefits of compost go farther. What's more, when sprayed on the leaves, compost tea helps suppress foliar diseases, increases the amount of nutrients available to the plant, and speeds the breakdown of toxins. Using compost tea has even been shown to increase the nutritional quality and improve the flavor of vegetables. If you've been applying compost to your soil only in the traditional way, you're missing out on a whole host of benefits
- TopatoCo: Time Traveler Essentials Shirt – This shirt has how-to information on all of the low-hanging fruit of our modern age. Go back in time wearing this and you'll invent heavier-than-air flight! YOU'LL discover penicillin. YOU'LL be the first to isolate aluminum. Did you know aluminum used to be more valuable than gold? YOU'RE GONNA BE RICH.
- New Mexico Independent » Roman Coliseum to be lit in honor of New Mexico – On Wednesday, the Roman Coliseum, one of the most recognizable buildings in the world, will be lit in honor of New Mexico repealing the death penalty.
- Cost Of Living Now Outweighs Benefits | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source – A report released Monday by the Federal Consumer Quality-Of-Life Control Board indicates that the cost of living now outstrips life's benefits for many Americans.
"This is sobering news," said study director Jack Farness. "For the first time, we have statistical evidence of what we've suspected for the past 40 years: Life really isn't worth living."
- 10 years later, the real story behind Columbine – USATODAY.com – A decade after Harris and Klebold made Columbine a synonym for rage, new information — including several books that analyze the tragedy through diaries, e-mails, appointment books, videotape, police affidavits and interviews with witnesses, friends and survivors — indicate that much of what the public has been told about the shootings is wrong.
- Driver logs 9th DWI arrest in 3rd state – The more Rio Rancho police dug the more DWI arrests in three states they found for a man stopped for a traffic violation Saturday and charged with drunken driving for the ninth time.
- Piñon pines in danger, Biosphere study shows – Piñon pine trees, a foundation of ecosystems in the Southwest, will die faster and in greater numbers as rising temperatures from global warming intensify the effects of even short droughts.
Working in the famed Biosphere 2 lab, University of Arizona researchers for the first time isolated heat as a factor in tree deaths. They found that an increase of only about 7-degrees Fahrenheit could trigger piñon die-offs five times more frequently than under existing conditions. Many climate studies say temperatures could rise that much by the end of the century.
10 Interesting Links From April 9th
- Federal Trade Commission’s plan to change rules on ad endorsements, testimonials worries marketers — chicagotribune.com – Updated guidelines on ad endorsements and testimonials under final review by the Federal Trade Commission—and widely expected to be adopted—would end marketers' ability to talk up the extreme benefits of products while carrying disclaimers like "results not typical" or "individual results may vary."
- News : Small store hanging in there with big boys – Rio Rancho Observer – Owner George Meyerson was asked the secret to staying in business for 20 years, especially in light of the large home-improvement stores moving into the area, not to mention a Kmart and several Wal-Marts?
Observer '�” Gary Herron photos The silver hammer sign at True Value Hardward, at 2108 Southern Blvd SE, has been a steadying presence in Rio Rancho. The business is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a 20 percent off sale today and tomorrow.
“The right products, reasonable prices and good service,” is his answer.
- An old engine learns new solar-power tricks – Mar. 24, 2009 – J.D. Sitton's mission was to find a new market for a 193-year-old engine that nobody wanted. His innovative answer: turn it into a solar power collector, then persuade top auto-parts suppliers – currently eager for work – to build it.
- Green By Design » Barefoot Dreams in the Dead of Winter – Perhaps the most appealing aspect of the radiant floor heating is that it creates not just a warm room, but an entire warm floor. The heat still rises, but it’s rising uniformly from ground zero instead of from a single fixture or a couple of vents. The result is often that rare anomaly, barefoot comfort in the dead of winter. Such systems are particularly good for homes with high ceilings, where forced-air heat often ends up where it is least needed unless the homeowner is endowed with the agility of a bat.
- Rear Engine Front Driver – Not all of Gregory’s front wheel drive experiments were racy. This particular 1947 Gregory sedan features front wheel drive and a rear mounted engine.
- Direct Stock Purchase Plans: A Better Way to Invest – Hundreds of companies that trade on the major stock exchanges allow you to buy shares directly from their transfer agents for very little or no money.
- Mexico’s health insurance success offers lessons for US reforms, Lancet study suggests | Science Blog – As America considers major healthcare reforms, it may have lessons to learn from Seguro Popular, Mexico's ambitious plan to improve healthcare for its estimated 50 million uninsured citizens, suggests Ryan Moore, co-author of a study published April 8 in The Lancet, a leading international medical journal.
- Why We Need the New York Times – When the Jayson Blair story erupted, I realized that if the Times couldn't even properly and effectively assess their own, how could they be relied upon to assess public officials and figures? It was then that I stopped buying the paper. A lot of people did. In Manhattan, copies of the New York Times often pile up everywhere.
But lately, the alternatives seem wanting. In the Times recently was good reporting about the poor documentation of the deaths of deportation detainees by various state and federal agencies. Another article recently captured the abyss of disputed workmen's compensation cases and the endless troubles that greet those who fall into it. I don't see that on MSNBC. Frankly, I don't see that on TV at all.
- Road Tested: Voltaic Systems Generator laptop bag – I had a chance to road test one of these incredibly cool bags for a month and was very impressed. What makes it so special? Well, it could be the big photovoltaic panel on one side of the Generator that provides 15 watts of power to feed your electronic devices. Voltaic points out that the Generator is the "first solar bag powerful enough to recharge a laptop." That panel charges an internal 58Wh Lithium Ion battery pack that can run most laptops.
- The Road to Area 51 – Los Angeles Times – As for the guys who picked him up, they were tracked down and told to sign national security nondisclosures. As part of Collins' own debriefing, the CIA asked the decorated pilot to take truth serum. "They wanted to see if there was anything I'd for-gotten about the events leading up to the crash." The Sodium Pento-thal experience went without a hitch—except for the reaction of his wife, Jane.
"Late Sunday, three CIA agents brought me home. One drove my car; the other two carried me inside and laid me down on the couch. I was loopy from the drugs. They handed Jane the car keys and left without saying a word." The only conclusion she could draw was that her husband had gone out and gotten drunk. "Boy, was she mad," says Collins with a chuckle.
10 Interesting Links From April 3rd
- OmniVision lands CIS orders for next-generation iPhone – OmniVision has received 3.2-megapixel CMOS image sensor (CIS) orders for Apple's next-generation iPhone, according to market sources. The company is also said to have secured 5-megapixel CIS orders for another Apple product expected to be launched later in the year
[I would like to point out that 3.2 megapixels is approximately HD video resolution]
- Former California Homeowners Lash Out at Builder – NYTimes.com – [KB Homes} A state lawmaker from Southern California, where home values have plummeted and foreclosures have skyrocketed, has introduced a bill that would prohibit builders from lending money to homebuyers.
“Builder-originated loans create an inherent conflict of interest,” the lawmaker, Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez, a Democrat, said in an e-mail message.
No state has such a law, said Sue Johnson, the executive director of the Real Estate Services Providers Council, a trade group.
“It would be disruptive to the home-building industry,” Ms. Johnson said, adding that most home builders had loan arrangements with financial institutions.
- Human Evolution and Frameshift Mutations | gmilburn.ca – How did humans evolve from early primates? How did “human like” traits such as a smaller jaw relative to apes and hairlessness pop up when they don’t appear in the wild in any real frequency? The typical explanation for why humans have smaller jaws than early primates is that our diets changed, and so we didn’t “need” bigger jaws. The only issue with this is that there is no real selection pressure for a smaller jaw – a large jaw works too! My appendix is unnecessary, and can even be a liability due to infection – but it’s still there. There are more factors in play. The old-school view of evolution as tiny little changes over a ridiculously long period of time is turning out to be not quite exactly true.
- How they make bi-metallic coins – Core77 – If you've ever wondered how they make bimetallic coins, here's the process. They start by punching a hole through a coin blank, or planchet. The core will be remelted for another batch, and the remaining part becomes the "ring," or outer, planchet.
- Time Warner rationale for bandwidth caps doesn’t add up – Ars Technica – Britt's rationale for the change—infrastructure is expensive—is tough to understand. Cable's physical plant has been in the ground for years; even hybrid fiber-coax systems have been widely deployed for some time. Internet access simply runs across the existing network, and one of cable's big advantages over DSL is that speeds can be upgraded cheaply by swapping in new DOCSIS headend gear, with DOCSIS 3.0 the current standard. Compared to what Verizon is doing with fiber and AT&T with its quasi-fiber U-Verse, cable Internet is a bargain (well, for the operators).
- Cats’ nervous systems able to repair themselves | Science Blog – Knowing that the central nervous system retains the ability to forge new myelin sheaths anywhere the nerves themselves are preserved provides strong support for the idea that if myelin can be restored in diseases such as multiple sclerosis, it may be possible for patients to regain lost or impaired functions: "The key thing is that it absolutely confirms the notion that remyelinating strategies are clinically important," Duncan says.
- Luxury resort bargain shopping | The Movable Buffet | Los Angeles Times – But consider the price difference in the basic Web rate for Mandalay Bay on a weeknight compared with a weekend. For $110 you can have a room on Thursday, April 23. But if you want the same room on Saturday, two days later, you will have to pay $350. And, that isn't the final twist. Saturday, April 25, is marked as a "No Arrival" day for Mandalay Bay. That means you would have to arrive at least a day before — that extra Friday night will cost you an additional $210.
- Geithner On Ousting CEOs, Reviving Economy | – CBS News – Days after GM's CEO Rick Wagoner was forced out by the Obama administration, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner left open the possibility that such moves could happen again.
In an interview with CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric, Geithner acknowledged the government has had to do "exceptional things" – citing AIG as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
- Joseph Stiglitz: "It’s going to be bad, very bad" | Salon News – In an interview, the Nobel Prize-winner and former chief economist at the World Bank talks about the Great Depression, Obama's stimulus package and today's financial crisis.
Many people are comparing the financial crisis to the Great Depression. Will it really be that bad?
It's going to be bad, very bad. We're experiencing the worst downturn since the Great Depression, and we haven't reached the bottom yet. I'm very pessimistic.
- Teen Commits Suicide Due to Bullying: Parents Sue School for Son’s Death – ABC News – Eric Mohat, 17, was harassed so mercilessly in high school that when one bully said publicly in class, "Why don't you go home and shoot yourself, no one will miss you," he did.
10 Interesting Links From March 18th
- Mega-laser to probe secrets of exoplanets – space – 28 February 2009 – New Scientist – For instance, Raymond Jeanloz, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, will use the device to recreate the conditions inside Jupiter and other larger planets, where pressures can be 1000 times as great as those at the centre of the Earth.
- insignificant thoughts » Blog Archive » Do Not Buy a Car From Curry Chevrolet in Scarsdale – My wife and I were stunned. After signing the paperwork under the pressure of “sign it now sign it now sign it now,” there was no car. How the hell did that happen? “I do have another one for you to look at, though.” She showed us a similar car in “gold mist.” Now, I’m not a pimp and I’m not 50. A gold car? Really? “It’s the same color as your car.” Oh really? My car is galaxy silver, and obviously so.
- Should You Buy Factory Reconditioned Power Tools? on One Project Closer – Even with the risks, we think reconditioned tools make a lot of sense for the average do-it-yourselfer. Most of us don’t put our tools under the major stresses they might see in a professional’s hands, meaning we’ll probably stress the tools less, anyway.
- ikea hacker: Bowling alley chair hack – Chris scores some seats from a bowling alley and pairs them nicely with Ikea swivel legs.
He explains, "Through my relentless searching of craigslist, I found these free seats from a bowling alley. Initially I was going to build a bench with them, but a stop at Ikea led me in a different direction.
- Pancho Villa, two towns, and a big wall… 93 years after the raid – In the early morning hours of March 9, 1916, I can picture legendary Mexican revolutionary Francisco “Pancho” Villa launching his brazen attack on the village of Columbus, New Mexico from an extremely dusty, windswept Palomas, Mexico.
If I’m right about that, the wind and dust haven’t aged a bit.
Braving those two particular elements, I visited both border towns this past weekend, motivated in large part by an anxious curiosity over the escalating drug violence in Mexico these days. Some of which has spilled over into the USA.
- DIY City Guide: Portland | Charles – Portland remains an outpost of great design, bleeding edge technology, and fervent do-it-yourselfers. It seems that the rest of the country has finally caught onto to the sustainable lifestyle and eco-friendly transportation that Portland has long been known for. With help from Paige at Reliable Remodeler, we've gathered some of the top resources in Portland for DIY enthusiasts.
- Resting Places and an Appeal to Repeal – Every time I drive to the airport, I see the San Jose Cemetery just west of I-25 and south of Gibson. I always tell myself that one of these days I must stop and check out the cemetery on foot.
- Does brain rot set in after 27? Depends how you measure – Ars Technica – To be clear, nobody is debating whether cognitive decline occurs with age; the evidence is pretty persuasive, and it comes from a variety of sources. The argument involves when that decline begins, and two different experimental approaches have produced very different results.
- Sara Jane Olson released to serve parole in Minnesota – Los Angeles Times – Olson was one of five SLA members — including Emily Montague-Harris, William Taylor Harris, Michael Alexander Bortin and James William Kilgore — who pleaded guilty in Sacramento County to second-degree murder in the death of Myrna Opsahl during the April 21, 1975, robbery of Crocker National Bank in suburban Carmichael.
By then, Olson had gone underground. She changed her name and eventually married a Midwestern emergency room physician and raised three daughters. She lived as a fugitive in Zimbabwe and St. Paul, Minn., where she was active in community theater and volunteer work for the blind.
But the refashioned soccer mom couldn't escape her past. In June 16, 1999, she was arrested after police received tips about her identity from old acquaintances and viewers of the TV show "America's Most Wanted," which publicized a $20,000 FBI reward for her arrest.
- Citi, Morgan Stanley look to sidestep bonus caps: report | Reuters – Anticipating restrictions on bonuses, officials at Citigroup Inc and Morgan Stanley are exploring ways to sidestep tough new federal caps on compensation, the Wall Street Journal said.
Recent Comments