College Football this week!

Before the season gets started, here's my predicted finish in the Pac-10:

1. USC (11-1)
2. Oregon (10-2)
3. Cal (10-2)
4. OSU (9-3)
5. Stanford (6-6)
6. UCLA (6-6)
7. ASU (5-7)
8. Washington (5-7)
9. Arizona (3-9)
10. WSU (2-10)

Oven turned on by cell phone.

Scary, yet funny story...who would have thought that a cell phone could mistakenly turn on an oven? Apparently the Maytag CGR1425ADW gas oven works with any cell phone model, and brings new meaning to baking with your cell phone.

via Engadget

Monorails at Heathrow's Airport

Pretty neat stuff...as in, Epcot Center cool, and it's about to open soon.

What were they thinking?

Two Honolulu Police officers were arrested on drug charges in Las Vegas. What makes this story notable, isn't that they were arrested, but that they sped off when approached, and a short chase ensued. When they were finally caught, one of them resisted arrest and was pepper sprayed, and an open alcohol container was found in the vehicle.

Just a complete disgrace. But this is somewhat common. Just earlier this year, another officer was sentenced for tipping off people involved in a cockfighting ring, and yet another related officers sentenced for involvement with a drug and gambling operation. And yet another officer was also sentenced earlier this year for tax evasion. Why, just last year, another officer was arrested for DUI (previously convicted of DUI in 2006). But you can see that internal corruption is a big problem with the HPD, such that the FBI got involved.

My suggestion to Republicans.

The GOP has been on a roll lately, spewing out rhetoric about the size of government and about government controlling the lives of Americans.

So in keeping with that rhetoric, I believe it's high time that those of you who oppose big government and the intrusion into your life, to follow your dogma to the grave, uncompromising in your efforts to cutting the direct costs of state and federal governments by eliminating your partaking of our local and federal tax dollars.

I strongly urge Republicans to sign the following pledge:

I, being of sound dogma and mind, affirm my support for said dogma, by pledging my soul to the Devil, should I partake in any of the following: Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, SCHIP, Pell Grants, or any other voluntary government program that I might benefit from, at the expense of a bigger government. In addition, I shall never accept a job offered by an employer who takes advantage of any stimulus dollars, and I affirm that I will quit my job if my employer accepts stimulus dollars.

Signed,

________________ (Your name)

Multnomah Falls (in Photoshop)

Stopped by Multnomah Falls a couple weeks ago, took a photo with my phone, and just now played with it in Photoshop to recreate a lensbaby/diorama effect.

i-D Magazine / G1

I thought I'd give a shout out to my phone, which snagged an honorable mention for the Consumer Products category of i-D's 2009 Annual Design Review. Came across it while thumbing through my first subscription issue that just came in the mail today.

Honorable Mentions

T-MOBILE G1 WITH GOOGLE

Design Mike and Maaike Inc.
(San Francisco): Mike Simonian,
Maaike Evers, principals
Client Google

Google's G1 gives touchscreen or spacious qwerty keyboard access to the web, while hoding up to 8GB of apps, images, or music. [Joe] Brown noted that the side hinge "gives you more room for your fingers at the top of the keyboard" while [Scott] Wilson kept happily experimenting with the intuitive clicks and photo panning. But the overall aesthetic, Wilson said, "is mass neutral - it lacks fine details." - i-D July/August 2009

Okay, well, it lacks "fine" details, but that's why it grabbed an honorable mention instead of a Best of Category or Design Distinction award. I'm still not convinced of the Peek device being given a Design Distinction award, but that's mostly because I don't get why anyone would want to carry around a device that only retrieves wireless email, and for $15 a month. After all, why would you pay $15/mo for email, when you can get completely unlimited internet access for another $10 more per month, with T-Mobile?

Mold and walking.

Funky mold in my pickle chips container.

No time to talk...must walk.

Gotta keep on walking...leading the way.

Moral / Ethical question swirling in my head today.

If it is legal for a mentally challenged person to vote, why is it illegal for people under 18 to vote?

And conversely: What does age confer, that intelligence doesn't?

I thought I'd remind people...

That racism has not gone underground, that racism still exists, and it is around us, even if people don't wear white hoods. And of course, there are the pundits that are blatant idiots.

So you see...racism IS still an issue in 2009.

Mitch McConnell...liar?

This morning (Sunday), Mitch McConnell voiced his opposition of the Cash 4 Clunkers program, saying that it's obvious that people will spend the money if you give it to them, and that it's a waste of federal money.

Now that's kinda funny. You see, Mitch McConnell voted for the $1.35 TRILLION tax cuts in 2001, which gave the top 20% an average tax cut of $11,000, and the top 1% an average tax cut of $97,000. 1

So I guess what Mitch is trying to say, is that if RICH people get money back from the Federal Government, it benefits all of us, but if the middle-income and poor people get money back, it will not benefit all of us. Curious, isn't it? $3 billion to boost the economy by upgrading older vehicles that don't conform to current air pollution standards, or $1.35 trillion to give the top 1% $97,000 back.

It takes my breath away, to think of the audacity of Mitch to argue both against and for giving money back to Americans to spend, and break it down to which economic class you belong to, as to whether or not you deserve a break.

1. Tax Policy Center (Urban Institute and Brookings Institution), "Distribution of the 2001–2006 Tax Cuts:

Updated Projections , July 2008"

Honda Insight...the big loser.

July 2009 sales figures are in, and the Honda Insight is losing the sales battle of hybrids to Toyota. During July, Honda sold 2,295 Insights, while Toyota sold 19,173 Prius. Toyota sold more Prius in one month, than Honda has sold so far this entire year (9,819). Insight sales are so bad, they even trail my vehicle - the xB - in both monthly and YTD sales.

For Honda, it might be a case of looking too much like the Prius, and being known as the lesser to the Prius in both power and efficiency. If you're going to look like the Prius but offer lower specs, your price would have to be substantially lower, and the 8% premium for the Prius apparently isn't big enough for people to switch to Insight.

Game over.

Next up: Honda's Fit Hybrid versus Toyota's Yaris Hybrid, coming to our shores in late 2010/early 2011.