The farthest from a McDonald's you can possibly be within the contiguous 48 states is 107 miles. (In South Dakota)
http://blog.dagoosh.com/post/2009/09/22/furthest-point-from-mcdonalds.aspx
9/30/2009
You Cannot Escape McDonald's
The farthest from a McDonald's you can possibly be within the contiguous 48 states is 107 miles. (In South Dakota)
http://blog.dagoosh.com/post/2009/09/22/furthest-point-from-mcdonalds.aspx
Against All Odds
A slightly-perverted universal-truth is that great successes almost always occur against a backdrop of ridiculously-bad odds.
Why?
Because, if it wasn’t so unlikely or so hard, everyone would be doing it and it wouldn’t be considered such a great or unusual achievement. Life is one big risk. Seemingly daunting statistics and odds swarm all around us.
Consider the following:
* Ninety-five percent of new businesses fail within 5-years.
* Ninety-nine percent of all professional-speakers earn less than $1 million in their entire careers.
* Eighty percent of restaurants fail within two years.
* Ninety-nine percent of people trying out for a role in TV, theater or film will not get the job.
* Ninety percent of law-students don’t make Law Review.
read the entire article here:
http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/odds-are-for-suckers/
http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/odds-are-for-suckers/
Why?
Because, if it wasn’t so unlikely or so hard, everyone would be doing it and it wouldn’t be considered such a great or unusual achievement. Life is one big risk. Seemingly daunting statistics and odds swarm all around us.
Consider the following:
* Ninety-five percent of new businesses fail within 5-years.
* Ninety-nine percent of all professional-speakers earn less than $1 million in their entire careers.
* Eighty percent of restaurants fail within two years.
* Ninety-nine percent of people trying out for a role in TV, theater or film will not get the job.
* Ninety percent of law-students don’t make Law Review.
read the entire article here:
http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/odds-are-for-suckers/
http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/odds-are-for-suckers/
this will make hypnotize you into giving me money...
http://www.401.no/baldrikk/plasmatest.html
http://www.401.no/baldrikk/plasmatest.html
http://www.401.no/baldrikk/plasmatest.html
Blockbuster Video - Good Riddance To Bad Rubbish
http://consumerist.com/5360321/yeah-blockbuster-is-pretty-much-f
http://consumerist.com/5360321/yeah-blockbuster-is-pretty-much-f
Back in the day there used to be these things called VHS tapes. They used to cost a lot of money — so there were these places you could go to rent them. The last surviving relic of this bygone era, Blockbuster Video (also known as the company that was almost stupid enough to buy Circuit City), announced in a regulatory filing today that it plans to close over 800 stores by the end of next year. This is nearly twice the number they previously announced.
The LA Times says that 18% of the chains stores are unprofitable — and 47% are barely profitable. The company plans to get away from physical stores and concentrate on opening kiosks to compete with the surging popularity of Redbox.
In all, the Times says that as many of 1,560 of Blockbuster's 4,356 stores could close down or be converted into "outlets."
http://consumerist.com/5360321/yeah-blockbuster-is-pretty-much-f
Back in the day there used to be these things called VHS tapes. They used to cost a lot of money — so there were these places you could go to rent them. The last surviving relic of this bygone era, Blockbuster Video (also known as the company that was almost stupid enough to buy Circuit City), announced in a regulatory filing today that it plans to close over 800 stores by the end of next year. This is nearly twice the number they previously announced.
The LA Times says that 18% of the chains stores are unprofitable — and 47% are barely profitable. The company plans to get away from physical stores and concentrate on opening kiosks to compete with the surging popularity of Redbox.
In all, the Times says that as many of 1,560 of Blockbuster's 4,356 stores could close down or be converted into "outlets."
GOD (B)LESS AMERICA
I saw a neon sign a few days ago that read "God Bless America"...
except the "B" was sort of shorting out.
It made me realize that our whole war in the middle east, and culture clash in America hinges on that B.
except the "B" was sort of shorting out.
It made me realize that our whole war in the middle east, and culture clash in America hinges on that B.
Water Found On Moon - sort of
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/water-moon/
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/water-moon/
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/water-moon/
Wyoming Bank Forces Google To Close Gmail Account
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9138619/Google_and_bank_end_dispute_over_Gmail_account
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9138619/Google_and_bank_end_dispute_over_Gmail_account
As you may have already read, a bank in the state of Wyoming accidentally emailed confidential bank info to the wrong email address. They then asked Google to turn over the name of the account holder. Google said "no". A judge then ordered Google to close the user's gmail account.
This issue has now been resolved. We don't get many of the real details however.
The interesting thing is that the gmail user didn't do anything wrong. All they did was RECEIVE confidential bank info.
I guess if we've learned anything during the past 3 years, it's that when a bank screws up, it's everyone else's responsibility to fix it.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9138619/Google_and_bank_end_dispute_over_Gmail_account
As you may have already read, a bank in the state of Wyoming accidentally emailed confidential bank info to the wrong email address. They then asked Google to turn over the name of the account holder. Google said "no". A judge then ordered Google to close the user's gmail account.
This issue has now been resolved. We don't get many of the real details however.
The interesting thing is that the gmail user didn't do anything wrong. All they did was RECEIVE confidential bank info.
I guess if we've learned anything during the past 3 years, it's that when a bank screws up, it's everyone else's responsibility to fix it.
9/15/2009
How Dangerous Is Plastic?
Plastic is one of the most important inventions ever.
but how safe is it to store food in?
News of possible health threats associated with plastic bothered Jeanne Haegele of Chicago so much that she has quit using plastic. The 28-year-old marketing coordinator chronicles her efforts online at www.lifelessplastic.blogspot.com. “Plastic is absolutely everywhere–our food is packaged in it, our clothes are often made out of it, and even baby toys are made of plastic,” Haegele says. “It was scary that something that was such a big part of my life might be dangerous.”
Scientists are mostly worried about bisphenol-A or BPA. “It’s an endocrine disruptor and in numerous animal studies it’s been linked to cancer, infertility, obesity and early puberty,” says Anila Jacob, M.D., M.P.H., a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit research and advocacy organization in Washington, D.C. “The CDC has found this chemical in 93 percent of people they have tested,” she says.
BPA is a chemical used to make polycarbonate plastic or items marked with the number 7 on the bottom. Some plastic dishes, cups, reusable water bottles and baby bottles are made out of polycarbonate. Heating foods in polycarbonate plastic increases the amount of BPA that leaches into food, Jacob says. Frances Beinecke, president of the National Resources Defense Council, an environmental action group, worries about BPA’s possible role in breast cancer. Beinecke, a breast cancer survivor, says BPA is a synthetic form of estrogen, and doctors know estrogen feeds breast cancer. “It ramps up cell division in pre-cancerous cells and it can prompt tumors to metastasize,” she says. “In animal studies, BPA has been found to cause the early onset of puberty and stimulate mammary gland development in females. The estrogen-like properties in BPA are so strong that even when male rodents were exposed to it, they had an increased risk of mammary tumors.” The studies done to date have all been on animals, Jacob says, because it’s difficult to study in humans as we have already been exposed via multiple routes. “We think the animal data is convincing enough that it warrants concern,” Jacob says.
more:
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/what-plastics-do-to-your-body.html
http://lifelessplastic.blogspot.com/
but how safe is it to store food in?
News of possible health threats associated with plastic bothered Jeanne Haegele of Chicago so much that she has quit using plastic. The 28-year-old marketing coordinator chronicles her efforts online at www.lifelessplastic.blogspot.com. “Plastic is absolutely everywhere–our food is packaged in it, our clothes are often made out of it, and even baby toys are made of plastic,” Haegele says. “It was scary that something that was such a big part of my life might be dangerous.”
Scientists are mostly worried about bisphenol-A or BPA. “It’s an endocrine disruptor and in numerous animal studies it’s been linked to cancer, infertility, obesity and early puberty,” says Anila Jacob, M.D., M.P.H., a senior scientist at the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit research and advocacy organization in Washington, D.C. “The CDC has found this chemical in 93 percent of people they have tested,” she says.
BPA is a chemical used to make polycarbonate plastic or items marked with the number 7 on the bottom. Some plastic dishes, cups, reusable water bottles and baby bottles are made out of polycarbonate. Heating foods in polycarbonate plastic increases the amount of BPA that leaches into food, Jacob says. Frances Beinecke, president of the National Resources Defense Council, an environmental action group, worries about BPA’s possible role in breast cancer. Beinecke, a breast cancer survivor, says BPA is a synthetic form of estrogen, and doctors know estrogen feeds breast cancer. “It ramps up cell division in pre-cancerous cells and it can prompt tumors to metastasize,” she says. “In animal studies, BPA has been found to cause the early onset of puberty and stimulate mammary gland development in females. The estrogen-like properties in BPA are so strong that even when male rodents were exposed to it, they had an increased risk of mammary tumors.” The studies done to date have all been on animals, Jacob says, because it’s difficult to study in humans as we have already been exposed via multiple routes. “We think the animal data is convincing enough that it warrants concern,” Jacob says.
more:
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/what-plastics-do-to-your-body.html
http://lifelessplastic.blogspot.com/
copy music from your ipod to your computer
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/copying-music-from-ipod-to-computer
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/copying-music-from-ipod-to-computer
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/copying-music-from-ipod-to-computer
Wireless Battery-Charger
http://www.wired.com/video/gadgets/ces-2009/6310841001/wireless-power-energizes-any-device/6751413001
http://www.wired.com/video/gadgets/ces-2009/6310841001/wireless-power-energizes-any-device/6751413001
http://www.wired.com/video/gadgets/ces-2009/6310841001/wireless-power-energizes-any-device/6751413001
Do Human-like Machines Deserve Human Rights?
interesting article in WIRED
If a machine really SEEMS human, or close to human; at what point do we offer it protection from abuse?
http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/17-02/st_essay
http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/17-02/st_essay
If a machine really SEEMS human, or close to human; at what point do we offer it protection from abuse?
http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/17-02/st_essay
http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/17-02/st_essay
The Loneliest Place On Earth - Tristan Da Cunha
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/11/most-remote-place-on-earth.html
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/11/most-remote-place-on-earth.html
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/11/most-remote-place-on-earth.html
9/01/2009
Google Custom Search
You can customize your Google searches.
For example here is a Google .torrent file search box:
http://www.google.com/cse?cx=003849996876419856805:erhhdbygrma&ie=UTF-8&q=&sa=Search
For example here is a Google .torrent file search box:
http://www.google.com/cse?cx=003849996876419856805:erhhdbygrma&ie=UTF-8&q=&sa=Search
PNC Park - Home of the Pittsburgh Pirates
link to the full-size picture:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Pedro_goes_to_Pittsburgh.jpg
As the Internet turns 40 it faces unforeseen issues
"NEW YORK -
Goofy videos weren't on the minds of Len Kleinrock and his team at UCLA when they began tests 40 years ago on what would become the Internet. Neither was social networking, for that matter, nor were most of the other easy-to-use applications that have drawn more than a billion people online.
Instead the researchers sought to create an open network for freely exchanging information, an openness that ultimately spurred the innovation that would later spawn the likes of YouTube, Facebook and the World Wide Web.
There's still plenty of room for innovation today, yet the openness fostering it may be eroding. While the Internet is more widely available and faster than ever, artificial barriers threaten to constrict its growth.
Call it a mid-life crisis.
A variety of factors are to blame. Spam and hacking attacks force network operators to erect security firewalls. Authoritarian regimes block access to many sites and services within their borders. And commercial considerations spur policies that can thwart rivals, particularly on mobile devices like the iPhone."
read more here:
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090830/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_internet_at40
Goofy videos weren't on the minds of Len Kleinrock and his team at UCLA when they began tests 40 years ago on what would become the Internet. Neither was social networking, for that matter, nor were most of the other easy-to-use applications that have drawn more than a billion people online.
Instead the researchers sought to create an open network for freely exchanging information, an openness that ultimately spurred the innovation that would later spawn the likes of YouTube, Facebook and the World Wide Web.
There's still plenty of room for innovation today, yet the openness fostering it may be eroding. While the Internet is more widely available and faster than ever, artificial barriers threaten to constrict its growth.
Call it a mid-life crisis.
A variety of factors are to blame. Spam and hacking attacks force network operators to erect security firewalls. Authoritarian regimes block access to many sites and services within their borders. And commercial considerations spur policies that can thwart rivals, particularly on mobile devices like the iPhone."
read more here:
http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090830/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_internet_at40
Detroit is on the brink of ruin
"DETROIT, Mich -- Detroit has fallen so far into debt that the only way out is through bankruptcy or mass layoffs, according to a former city auditor who is familiar with the city's financial structure.
Mayor Dave Bing is trying to plug a $60-million to $80-million cash shortfall and deal with a ballooning $300-million deficit. He is being hampered, though, with falling revenue from property and income taxes and state revenue sharing.
"I don't see the city getting out of this financial mess short of a bankruptcy," said Joe Harris, a former auditor general who was chief financial officer in late 2008 and early 2009.
Bing took the first step last week in addressing the cash crunch by laying off 205 workers, but Harris calls the move a stopgap. The city is bleeding at least $5 million a month, Harris said."
read more here:
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_story.aspx?storyid=113101
Mayor Dave Bing is trying to plug a $60-million to $80-million cash shortfall and deal with a ballooning $300-million deficit. He is being hampered, though, with falling revenue from property and income taxes and state revenue sharing.
"I don't see the city getting out of this financial mess short of a bankruptcy," said Joe Harris, a former auditor general who was chief financial officer in late 2008 and early 2009.
Bing took the first step last week in addressing the cash crunch by laying off 205 workers, but Harris calls the move a stopgap. The city is bleeding at least $5 million a month, Harris said."
read more here:
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_story.aspx?storyid=113101
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