Scientists race to create bionic arm

The State | 05/29/2006 | Scientists race to create bionic arm:

WASHINGTON — At the Pentagon’s urgent request, scientists and engineers are rushing to create an artificial arm that works like a flesh-and-blood one for the growing number of soldiers losing their limbs in the Iraq war.

And that's nice. Another entire industry is profiting from this Belligerent InvasionWar. And here we thought the Oil & Gas and the Arms and Equipment industries were going to be the only ones, but we completely overlooked the number of soldiers who gave their limbs for their country.

Sexy.

This is your World Trade Center

This is your World Trade Center on drugs. Any questions?

Apparently, freedom comes with bare scaffolding and girders near the top.

Apparently, this is 'better' than the previous design, which was some kind of 'gawdawful' rectangle like all the other efficiently-provided buildings in the city. Like a city where space is at a premium could better use one stupid, ugly-ass half-done conehead from hell instead of two, nice, big, voluminous buildings whose only fault was getting shape-charged by the feds in some blatant cover-up.

I wonder how well this thing will hold up when the feds need another war catalyst, eh? I bet it goes down just like it was meant to then, too.


Rebuild the goddamned towers the way they were. Or would you rather let Terrorists, from some organization whose existence I haven't seen proof to even substantiate as other than a federal fiction, dictate the course of your actions? By agreeing to anything other than a direct and true restoration of the original towers as they stood on 9/10/01 - and before the feds had their charges in place - we've really let these make-believe terrorists win.

Good job. Apparently freedom is whatever our bogeymen tell us to do. I guess the upper 12 stories of this eyesore are like the emperor's new clothes.

Virginity or Death!

Virginity or Death!:

Imagine a vaccine that would protect women from a serious gynecological cancer. Wouldn't that be great? Well, both Merck and GlaxoSmithKline recently announced that they have conducted successful trials of vaccines ...

Not so fast: We're living in God's country now. The Christian right doesn't like the sound of this vaccine at all.

Raise your hand if you think that what is keeping girls virgins now is the threat of getting cervical cancer ...

"Katha Pollitt writes an excellent piece here. A little edgy, but all too necessary in this ever-important debate. People are dying, here, and it's only ideology which prevents a near cure. This is the same ideology whose tenets suggested the earth was flat, the sun orbited the earth (as did everything else), and that we should go forth and multiply until we caused the environment to collapse.

This is just one more stupid notion conceived by old, stupid, stuffy men 1700 years ago, a notion which needs to be struck down like all the other stupid notions before it. Notions like these kill the nations we love.

Refuting All I Thought about the American Economy

I beat on the US a lot, because, well, they're an easy target and I'm lazy. One of my favourite concerns about them is the cost of their invasion addiction, especially to the people in their country who cannot emigrate to a country with more opportunities for the middle and lower class.

I've read an article which suggests that there's a few people over there with some intelligence about these things. They're doing good by doing, well, nothing.

BBC NEWS | Business | Dollar declines as US keeps quiet:

The US dollar has continued to slide against the yen and euro amid speculation that the White House wants a weaker currency to boost exports.

What? What's the point of that? Read here:

While a weaker US dollar may be good news for US exports, it is having a knock-on effect in other markets.

Share prices in the US, Europe and Asia have been hit over the past couple of sessions as investors worry about lower earnings at exporters like Sony and Toyota, whose goods could become more expensive in the US.

So, Trebeck, you rogue, you show your hand at last.

But it's not all fun and games: they're playing it very risky:

And a lower dollar could increase US inflation and make it more likely that the US Fed continues to raise interest rates, which are already at 5%, reducing growth prospects in the US.

If they're gonna make this work, they need to start tossing some loss-leader money at the manufacturing biz they sorely need to grow. With tape players at an all-time high, the cost of entry for a new enterprise can get offset by better sales. It's a massive gamble, really, as to whether they can continue the play and end up leveraging their own economy mini-disaster to their own advantage.

While I'd feel a bit vindicated if they failed, I'm really thinking about the millions without education, medical care or, really, hope. For their sake, I hope this hokey plan succeeds before it drives them all into bankruptcy with the higher costs of .. everything.

The I Don't Know How to Run A Server Wall of Shame

Apparently, some people suck.

I know! I didn't believe it myself!

I guess recording people at RFC-Ignorant.org isn't enough for some people, so go take a look at the I Don't Know How to Run A Server Wall of Shame. Watch it grow!

Hee hee. Flame on, Fire Marshall.

Dear Mr President

Incredibly biased, but, then again, so am I.

I got my copy here.

You can take the Family out of the Trashy Slum ...

NBC11.com - Consumer - Hurricane Victims Accused Of Trashing Donated House:

BOWDOINHAM, Maine -- A Maine family is in shock after the Bowdoinham house they donated to a family who lost everything to Hurricane Katrina was trashed and abandoned, reported WMTW-TV in Portland.

... but it appears you can't take the trashy slum out of the family. Families like this one are an embarrassment to everyone. How the hell did they become so self-absorbed that they cannot even clean the free house in which they're staying? What kind of animals did we save from drowning?

It DOESN'T beg the question, you ignorant boob

Web Design:

Which begs the question: how do call centers stay in business.

No it doesn't. Begging the question means something else entirely. It does not mean 'prompting the question.'

Read a fucking book, with the brains god gave a gnat, and learn about this very simple idea before you post. You look like a damned fool, and we are all laughing at your white-trash ass. Mike fucking Tyson had a better command of language, and it's the unwashed masses like you who cheapen our language.

You're probably American, what with your already cheapened language as it is.

Bush calls terror fight WWIII - North America - Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au

Bush calls terror fight WWIII - NEWS.com.au:

In an interview with the financial news network CNBC, Mr Bush said he had yet to see the recently released film of the uprising, a dramatic portrayal of events on the United Airlines plane before it crashed in a Pennsylvania field.

But he said he agreed with the description of David Beamer, whose son Todd died in the crash, who in a Wall Street Journal commentary last month called it 'our first successful counter-attack in our homeland in this new global war, World War III'.

Can I be arrested for suggesting that a certain man is an arrogant prick? If I believed so because he equated his belligerent and unprovoked attack on Iraq to be part of a war? That his invasion was anything more than his ego manifesting itself?

Would the goons come to my house if I suggested that a certain monkey should sit down, shut up and consider some plan which could possibly avert the economic disaster facing him? If I suggested that the third world war will be over food and water and medical care, and his side already lost in 2 out of three skirmishes?

Maybe when he's done, he can rename Iraq as New Austria, and Iran as New Poland.

Black bear has a very sweet tooth

Wildlife Safety Tip #1006:

it's dangerous to approach a bear, with or without a camera phone for protection

Um, yeah.

Survey: eight 20 LCD 20'' 5, 6, 8, 16 ms - BeHardware

Surfing the net, I found an excellent - and detailed - article comparing recent 20" LCD flatpanel display units. I found the depth of testing very impressive and simple conclusions easy to take with me.

Survey: eight 20 LCD 20'' 5, 6, 8, 16 ms - BeHardware

The eternal question is which monitor should we buy today, which one really is the best. This is followed by what size we should choose. Up until 2005, all technical improvements were first introduced on 19 inches and then on the other sizes in the following months. Manufacturers have now changed their strategy and their new favourite is the 20 inch. There is also the one small difference of progressively leaving the 5/4 format for the 16/10. Officially, there are claims that this is best for everything, but it’s actually mainly to optimise panel cutting and reduce production costs. We aren´t going to complain about this, because after all it does have a direct influence on the monitor’s final price.

Anyway, it's a decent read, takes only ten minutes, and if you're in the market for a big-ass display this may be for you.

And buy me the VP2030, please.

Eye-Fi Wifi SD Cards - Geekologie

Eye-Fi Wifi SD Cards - Geekologie:

Eye-Fi is a new product that will add wifi connectivity to most digital cameras. Eye-Fi is a specially designed SD-card that contains both storage and a wifi module built in.

Scobleizer - More on Eye-Fi:

No buttons to push. Just turn your camera on when you're within your WiFi network at home (or possibly at WiFi hotspots that are open around the world) and everything happens — automatically. When he took my picture my picture appeared on his computer without him touching the camera further. Obviously there's a bit of setup, but that's easy. Anyone who can use a Web browser could setup the system.

Oh My God. That's an awesome idea! I've been dreading the coming of decent wifi cams, because I know I'll have to run out and get one, but lo and behold I can drop one of these into my existing cam. That's just amazing.

Now, how they got the openwifi negotiation code in there, I'll never understand.

Crippled Vista

A.P Lawrence, who is almost awesome, has an awesome article describing one of the problems with the next version of Windows, in his article Crippled Vista:

Seriously. We all know that most users don't even begin to understand what is happening and why. Heck, there's plenty of Windows stuff that most tech folk don't grok: open up a random tree in the registry and tell me what each entry really does. Most of us wouldn't have a great advantage over Joe User.

But does that mean Joe is a hopeless air-head who can't understand anything? Sometimes, sure. But really stupid people are just as rare as really bright folks. Maybe the problem isn't Joe User but Joe Programmer?

I think that Tony makes an excellent point, and, more importantly, then goes on to back up his opinion with hard examples of what should be done. Which makes Tony that much more awesome.

Give the article a read - it's short, children, don't be scared - and tell me if you don't think that Tony's addition of an example completely makes the point.