Banana Splits: The Tra La La Song.

Was rewatching that Kick Ass sequence where Hit Girl enters Rasul's apartment and gives the bad guys hell.  Found the recording that was used for that sequence, by the Dickies.

Mitch McConnell...more interested in unseating Obama than helping the economy?

Mitch McConnell said in an interview with the National Journal, that the GOP should say, "Those of you who helped make this a good day, you need to go out and help us finish the job." When asked what 'job' he was referring to, he replied, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."

So, score cards out, people: Mitch McConnell just candidly told America that their number one job was not to help restore jobs and the economy, but to make President Obama a one-term president.

Political power is more important than the economy.

Will e-readers dominate the tablets?

B&N is about to introduce the Nook Color e-reader priced at $250, Velocity Micro already has a 7" color e-reader - the Cruz Reader - priced at $200.  The Cruz Reader appears to have a resistive, non-multi-touch screen, is operating on Android 2.0 and lacks access to the Android Market (custom Cruz Market) but at $200, it surely undercuts the netbook market more effectively than a $400 - contract subsidized - Samsung Galaxy Tab or the cheapest iPad.

I personally have a $300 imaginary price level for a device with tablet-like functionality, and my eyes nearly popped out of its sockets when I saw that the Galaxy Tab was in the neighborhood of $600.

Now, I don't think the Cruz Reader is the perfect solution, and in some respect that's because Android 2.0 is not meant to be used on tablet/readers.  But when e-readers running Android Gingerbread are available, I think they're going to severely undercut the high-end tablets from HP, Samsung and Apple.  Or even the current Android tablet from Archos (Archos 70) priced at $275 could sell well, if only it wasn't so ugly.

And with some irony, I think the color e-reader on Android will end up eating the tablet market, rather than the tablet eating up the notebook or netbook markets.

7" Cruz Reader

Archos 70 7" tablet

7" Samsung Galaxy Tab Tablet

Missouri's win over Oklahoma sets up Oregon at USC.

Missouri's win marked the third week in a row that the #1 team lost, setting up Oregon to become the undisputed #1 team across the board, from the AP, USAToday and the BCS polls.  This means that Saturday's game (Oct 30) in prime time on ABC, will be a monumental game.

The Ducks are trying to win in Los Angeles for the first time since 2000, and in the past 5 years (2005-2009), of Oregon's 15 losses, 10 of them have been on the road.  This is the first time ever that the Ducks have been ranked #1, while USC should end up climbing back into the AP 25 after losses by West Virginia, K-State and Texas.

Huge game.  Can the Ducks avoid setting history and becoming the 4th straight #1 team to lose?  Can they beat a resurging USC team whose defense appears to be on the rebound after a shutdown defense against Cal in the Coliseum?  Can the Ducks avoid crumbling like they did against Ohio State in the Rose Bowl last January, in the spot light and predicted to win?

I'm quietly confident and excited that USC will beat Oregon.  For USC, there is no downside to losing to Oregon, as they're expected to lose to them anyway, and USC's on sanctions this year preventing them from going to a bowl game.  On the other hand, Oregon's got a lot of pressure to meet or exceed expectations that come with being #1.  If it's a blowout win by USC, how will the poll voters reconcile the chaos?

Can't wait till Saturday, baby!

Obama rallies on the west coast.

In Portland, they held a rally indoors at the Convention Center and drew 10,000 people - limited by the size of the convention center main room.

But in Los Angeles, they drew nearly 40,000 on the USC campus, in front of Doheny.

Hmm.  Someone in Portland really should have planned it better...like, having the rally outside on the waterfront where, in 2008 about 75,000 people showed up.

This is remarkably cool: head airbag without the helmet.

Very cool post on Core77, about a neck-brace / shawl-like contraption that self-inflates upon impact, to provide head protection.  No need to wear bulky helmets?  Hope so.

France passes pension reform.

They voted to increase the retirement age; too bad those French Senators and members of the National Assembly didn't vote to cut their own pensions in half, though.  Reduce the size of government subsidies, right?  Or is this a case of do as I say, not as I do?

Conservatism is spreading the creed of greed.

T-Mobile MyTouch HD/4G with color options?

Expected to be released next month, the MyTouch HD/4G (or whatever it's called) appears to be - finally - the cool phone on T-Mobile, and apparently, it'll come in 4 colors.  Red of white - that's the question I'm stuck with.

Scott Bruun vs. Kurt Schrader in debate.

What a difference the two people are.

Mr. Bruun - the Republican running for Oregon's Congressional 5th District - talks while other people are talking, including his opponent and the questioners. I'm not impressed with his memorized data, particularly since a lot of it is faulty, having researched it myself - for instance, his repeating the national Republican tagline that suggests the top 3% creates the majority of jobs.

And hey, funny how he contradicts himself calling for less taxes, but talks about increasing spending for programs that he's concerned about; I thought he was supporting less taxes and shrinking the federal debt?

Not that it matters to me, because the spot they're running for, isn't my district, and even if it was, I've already turned my ballot in.

Yikes! Chinese force woman to have a 8-month fetus aborted?

Dunno if it's true, and I know it's a bit like reading a headline from some gossip rag, but apparently Chinese officials have beaten a woman who violated the one-child rule and forced her to have a late-term abortion.

Scary people those Chinese communists.

"I've been called the first Asian legislator in our Nevada State Assembly." -- Sharron - as White as plain bread - Angle.

Not sure what Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle was thinking, but apparently because one reporter a long time ago told her that she looked Asian, she's now parading her *looks* as some sort of proof of understanding of what it is to be a minority.



Did she take Steve Martin's "The Jerk" literally?



Thankfully, minorities have a sense of humor.

Parallel universes, unknown / dark matter...?

CERN is out to discover whether, "parallel universes, unknown forms of matter, extra dimensions" exist. Particle acceleration and collision to find the answers of life and our existence are moving forward. Can we jump to other universes if we're tired of the Conservatives in this one?

Hmm.

Psst...US is getting screwed by China.

China has halted shipping of rare earth minerals to the US, and has raised interest rates.  We're being royally screwed.

Did Maggie Simpson swear on TV with her letter blocks?

The answer is, no.

However, this is breaking news: Upon much closer examination of the screen capture of this past Sunday's episode, it appears that Maggie Simpson's got Jesus on her pacifier!

Spending NOT out of control.

via Paul Krugman's blog, BEA data:

John Canzano...did he lie or is he ignorant?

On KGW sports and in the Oregonian, Oregon sports big mouth John Canzano suggested that Pete Carroll didn't speak out for a playoff in the FBS.

WOW.  Sure sounds a lot like Lars Larson...talks loud but gets his info wrong.

• 2008 - Pete Carroll said he dreamed of having an NCAA playoff.
• 2007 - Same thing three years ago.
• 2006 - Pete Carroll said that even though he loves the Rose Bowl, he'd love to have a playoff.
• 2003 - Pete called out the BCS as imperfect, and always will be until there was a playoff.

Who thinks Big Mouth Canzano would apologize for misstating the facts?  Doubtful.

Wolves in Russia running across freeway?

The news media might start picking this video up, but it's a staged event. Go through the two videos (one from a traffic cam and the other from inside the stopped car) and I'll point out the differences between the two videos, such that the scene was staged for a re-shoot.

---

---

---

In the traffic cam video, the officer has his radio in his right hand, and puts it up to his mouth to speak into it. He then stands there, turning around when the officer on the opposite side yells and turns his siren on. When he goes to open the door, he uses his left hand.

From the in-car video, the officer has his hand down the entire time with the radio in his left hand. He then grabs the papers from the driver and examines them. When he opens the car door, he uses his right hand.

So you see, even though it's a cool video, it's a staged event.

The Simpsons intro scene - by Banksy

Too funny; had to post it...it'll be gone in two months from Hulu, but it's worth posting it here (I cut to the primary sequence that Banksy added.)

GPI, better than the CPI?

GPI, the Google Price Index, promises to leverage all that data Google collects on web purchases (presumably those utilizing their checkout services) to track real price levels.  According to Google, US has shown a clear deflationary trend since last December.

Why would you want a GPI?  Because real-time knowledge is faster than monthly reports, and it gives Wall Street the room to react sooner than later.  It's all about having the freshest knowledge.

Palin...the gift horse.

"Growing government—and reaching into our private sector by government—is not the solution. That has been proven throughout eternity."

source: BW Online

Apparently, a free market has been around for eternity...give or take a million years.

Do follow the link -- it's actually worth reading.  It's about how businesses - chambers of commerce no less - are turning away from the Tea Party, and the contradictions that - surprise - fill the Tea Party's ranks, opinions and positions.  I'm kinda amused by Rand Paul the most, however.

A few minutes earlier, hammering away in his stump speech, [Rand] Paul had trotted out Hitler to make a point about the dangers of economic uncertainty. "When you have chaos, bad things happen in your country," he began. "In 1923 there was chaos in Germany. Out of that chaos, they elected Hitler. And what did Hitler do? He vilified certain people and said, 'These people caused your problems.' He blamed it on these people and he said, 'Give me your liberty and I'll give you security.' There is still a danger to that."

The fascinating thing about what he's saying, is that he's failed to see that the Tea Party - with its radicalized reinterpretation of a fair society - could be the populist backlash that the Nazi Party was for Germany.  Paul is only superficially interpreting the socialist ideology behind Nazi Germany as similar to progressive policies of Obama that mean to equal the playing field; in fact, it is the populist message that is based solely on fear and anger, that we should be wary of taking over.

In the absence of compassion, understanding and hope, a future that is molded by fear and anger leads to distrust of anything and everything that isn't a mirror image of ourselves.

Nature or nurture?

I'll let people read through the links, but I'd like to make a basic point: Charles Murray is a good researcher in finding and sorting data, but is lousy at forming conclusions from the data.  I say this because, having been one of the few dozen people who actually read his co-authored book, The Bell Curve, I understood the difference between the data showing disparities in intelligence, and the conclusions reached, but the mainstream media saw it simply as a book that segregated races by intelligence.

Today, an article by Oliver James in the Guardian reflects on what role genes play in behavior (and mental diseases) and cites a 2000 quote from Charles Murray, who postulated that our genes were deterministic even to the point of wealth destiny (were we to be poor and stupid or wealthy and intelligent?).  Of course, it turns out, genes play a very small role in determining behavior and mental illness.

And there it is: A good society is one where we bring everyone along with us, rather than allow the chips to fall where they may, and call it fate.


via BoingBoing

Pudding, pudding, giga pudding.

It's not pudding, it's a bucket to make giga pudding...but let us not allow the details to get in the way of this amusing and oddly catchy advert from Japan.



via BoingBoing / Takara Tomy

Paddle boarders on the Willamette River.

Was sitting outside this afternoon, trying to read a book, and a guy walked down an impromptu path with some surf boards, but then I noticed they weren't your normal surf board, as it had tie downs and a black rubber surface...they were paddle boards for standing up and paddling.  I first saw this two years ago when I was in Honolulu, although I'm sure they were doing this several years before that.

Neat to see it here; I've seen outrigger canoes here, too.

Just a public service reminder: Burn your music in lossless format.

People have been popping music via videos onto Youtube, and the torrents are littered with meagerly bitrate MP3 rips of popular music, but if all you've ever heard was an MP3 of your favorite songs or whatever you hear straight from the radio (except HD radio), you're missing out on your music.

Choose a lossless format - one that does not use compression when ripping music - to save files that you want to retain fidelity of the music...say FLAC, Apple Lossless or WAV; I should say, you need to tweak your settings when using these formats, because they can still compress, but you don't want compressed music.

And don't worry; you can still make mixed CDs from FLAC and other file formats, particularly if you use a program that I love: CDBurnerXP, for use with Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, Win7.

WTF is up with China?

Grabbed this excerpt from a NYT article about US' concern about the Chinese military's young generation of leaders:

"Why do you sell arms to Taiwan? We don’t sell arms to Hawaii,” said Col. Liu Mingfu, a China National Defense University professor and author of “The China Dream,” a nationalistic call to succeed the United States as the world’s leading power.

 Like WTF?  Hawaii is not Taiwan; Hawaii's not even a Hong Kong.  What sort of non-parallel argument is this, being asserted by some so-called professor?  They must hand out diplomas like water in China.

Can't wait to see what happens when the Chinese try to assert their military power to defend their oil consumption.

Why would you want to hamstring the federal government?

I'm curious; I've seen many a Republican ad pushing for cutting back or eliminating the Federal Bank and creating a balanced budget law; I don't understand why anyone - Republican or otherwise - would want this.

Creating a balanced budget amendment means that, all those tax cuts that they would like to extend, would require more than a 22% cut in the federal budget -- after all, in 2008 the US was still spending more than it received in tax receipts.  Can you imagine what happens, when the government can no longer borrow to increase spending (either directly or indirectly through tax cuts), and a recession hits?  Can you imagine when the federal government is forced to cut back 30% instead of 22%?  I know some people think that private spending would increase...but you're not introducing new money into circulation by cutting back borrowing; you're in fact doing the opposite and matching cuts in the private economy with that in the public.

What happens if you cut out the Federal Bank?  Chaos.  The Feds have served as a means to flatten both growth and contraction of the economy.  Removing their ability to flatten the market between highs and lows, is to allow the market to build up to even larger boom and busts.

But I can see WHY people are led to believe in these ludicrous ideas: correlative conclusions that are inferred or stated as causation.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0" tablet...$650?!?

Leaked from Tmo News, the Tab's gonna be on T-Mobile network with 2-year contract and a $50 mail-in rebate for $400, or without contract for $650.

Wow...like wow.  I'm just dumbfounded...speechless...shocked.

This is just as bad as their UMPCs.

GOP Tea Party guy is a Nazi Cosplayer.

Tea Party has quitters, witches and now Nazi Cosplayers.  Git yo freak on.

Chris Dudley could be in trouble with the IRS.

Willamette Week reported yesterday that Republican candidate for Oregon Governor may have improperly claimed a $350,000 deduction on his 2004 taxes for donating the right to Lake Oswego Fire Department, to burn his house down for educational purposes.

The thing is, he was going to demolish the structure to build his own home, and as is pointed out in the story, the IRS recently won two cases that nearly mirror Dudley's tax deduction claim.

So how is it that the IRS red flags failed?  Don't you want to know why the IRS has increased audits of low and middle income taxpayers, but not that of high income taxpayers?

Well, seems like Dudley's a real dud.  He's dodging taxes while trying to suggest that Oregon deserves better.

The Milky Way...is that a cool picture or what?!?

via the European Southern Observatory's top 100 images

Think tank believes Boehner Republican pledge would mean a loss of one million jobs.

There is a caveat, that the Economic Policy Institute is considered a progressive think tank, but the EPI released a report last month that analytically breaks down Boehner's plan, and suggests 1M Americans will lose their jobs.

I think they're being - ahem - conservative on their number, and here's why:

Boehner's plan to cut back federal spending by 22% to 2008 levels, will actually create a similar cascading effect that the cut in credit to small businesses had in 2008.  Cutting out circulation of cash from the economy, especially when done so in a shock-style cutback, should end up with the same results every time.  You've permanently dislocated GDP, as opposed to gradually re-balance GDP between private and public.

But eh, maybe you have a huge cash reservoir and would love to see Depression 2.0 and long-term deflation?  I know rich people would LOVE deflation that would further create wealth by making their cash reserves and gold holdings more valuable.

HSPA+ MyTouch coming to T-Mobile for the holidays.

Engadget's got a hands on look at the new MyTouch running on the HSPA+ network. Some nice touches: optical trackpad (like a trackball but optical) and what looks to be contacts on the side for a landscape dock. This is perfect for me; I use my phone as an alarm clock at night in landscape position, while plugged into the wall.

Christine O'Donnell video remixed.

She said she dabbled in witchcraft, but she also said she isn't a witch...anymore. Ahem.



via BoingBoing

Republican who railed against illegal immigrants and work-visas, had been using them for years.

Not a shocker, just plain funny at this point.  Yet another sign of the bold hypocrisy of front line Republicans.  Lou Dobbs has been caught outed for being a big hypocrite!  Now don't you forget folks, IOKIYAR.

via The Nation

I didn't realize I read so much...

Checked out my Google Reader stats:

Since September 29, 2006 you have read a total of 107,432 items.

Really?

On a separate topic, did you know that you can buy Android stickers from the Google Store, among many other Android-related items?

Suicides.

Four years ago, a co-worker committed suicide. I didn't know him all that well, but I liked his sarcastic, biting humor. Apparently though, he suffered throughout life with depression and had once before tried to commit suicide.

Earlier this year, my bff's neighbor's youngest son committed suicide, with a gun, at home, posting on Facebook that he was going to kill himself. His friends notified the police and the sheriff ended up going to his home, too late. Seemed like, when someone goes through the effort to post online, it's most definitely a cry out for help and the last signs of depression.

Yesterday, I found out that a neighbor across of my building, had committed suicide last year by jumping off the second floor of her townhouse. I had no idea she had committed suicide, but she did it in the middle courtyard of her townhome, and her husband was away at a coin collector show. I had no idea what happened to her until I finally asked one of her neighbors. I never noticed, in the times that I had talked and walked with her and their two dogs, that she was depressed, or maybe it was more than that? It's just so weird to think that, all this year, she was in fact dead; I never thought for a minute, when I never saw her, that she had killed herself.

It's just weird that I now know about three completely unrelated suicides in four years. Does this happen to other people too? Weird.

I was sitting outside with my dog in the late afternoon and the temperature around 75 degrees, enjoying the sound of the river lapping along the banks, and the sounds of the busy little people going home, jogging, walking, jet skiing...and I could not imagine why one would want to die. Every pain is accompanied by small moments of calm joy. Suffering is par for the course, but so is enjoying the sun, the birds, flowers, and fuzzy dogs. If I were both blind and deaf, I would no doubt be depressed, but still, I'd have my sense of smell, taste and feel, and the memory of those sights and sounds that accompanied those scents, flavors and touch.

I could be homeless, but then again, that might be liberating, don't you think? If I were homeless, I'd take the opportunity to hobo it on the railways to visit different parts of the continent. I'd take the opportunity to sneak into National Parks and live off the land. I'd take the opportunity to write a book on paper with a pen, "The diary of a homeless person", and try to self-publish it.

But I wouldn't kill myself.

Life is too vast and wild to not want to experience and savor every last drop of living. Even what might be considered a mundane life, is filled with little moments of joy and beauty. Who wouldn't miss the taste of a microbrew beer, or the sweetness of dark chocolate truffles? Who would want to miss out on the joy of speaking to someone with interesting life stories? And OMG, what about Netflix?

Say no to suicides, and yes to drinking in every bit of life that you can!

When you catch a cold, take a antihistamine?

In recent years, I had read that, often the best medicine to take when you catch a cold, is an allergy med -- either an antihistamine or histamine blocker. I can attest to the fact that, ever since (years ago) I started the daily allergy pill (first loratadine then cetirizine) I have had much fewer colds and faster recoveries with weaker symptoms.

Just yesterday, I was actually scratching my head as to how it could be possible, that something that is meant to suppress your immune system's response (antihistamine/histamine blockers that fill in for allergens attacked by your immune system) should in fact make your colds worse, no? After all, if a cold is meant to damage your body and your body is responding appropriately, then by blocking your immune system's ability to fight off cold viruses, you're in effect causing damage to your body.

But such is not the case.

It turns out, cold viruses in fact do relatively limited harm to our bodies, but the effects of colds are directly caused by chemicals that result from our immune system responding to the virus.

So the answer is: If you have allergies like I do, there is no reason to boost your already active and robust immune system, but rather, to allow a cold to run its course and continue to take your daily antihistamine/histamine blocker, and all will be good.

Japan's practically giving money away for free!

The Bank of Japan lowered its target interest rate from 0.1% to a "range" of 0 to 0.1%, and announced they would buy Japanese debt (to help push rates down).

Now if you've been listening to American and European Conservatives, this is supposed to be a bad thing, allowing countries to grow debt and continue to borrow. But the thing is, stock markets around the world are loving this. DJI shot up 1.8%; the S&P up 2.09%; NASDAQ up 2.36%; FTSE up 1.44%; STOXX up 2.13%; DAX up 1.33%; CAC up 2.25%; NIKKEI up 1.47%.

And the US 10 year Treasury Bill sits at 2.50%, down from 3.24% one year ago.

So if this is a bad thing, why are traders betting on growth, and not on stagnation, as interpreted by Conservatives, from a growing federal debt?

[Things that make you go, "Hmm."]

Outrageous. Firefighters stood around and watched as fire burned down house.

What sort of excuse is it, that a house is on fire, but because the homeowner didn't pay the fee (but is now offering to pay it in full), that the fire chief and mayor adamantly refused to allow firefighters to put the fire out? They came out to put out the fire of their neighbor's property after it had jumped, but after they were done, they just stood around and watched this homeowner's house burn.

Don't these bureaucrats understand that their actions have greater implications than just a single homeowner whose house burned down?



via BoingBoing and WPSD
[edit: Tuesday, it comes out that, in fact, many Conservatives support the bureaucrats who made the decision not to fight the fire. Selfish is the new America.]

Chris Dudley...dud ideas.

Watched the rebroadcast of the only debate for Oregon's governor race.  Chris Dudley repeatedly talked about how the same old ideas contributed to Oregon's unemployment rate exceeding that of the US for the past 14 years.  So I thought it important to point out, that two solidly Republican states, Alaska and Mississippi have had long bouts of unemployment much higher than Oregon, during the past 20 years.

Why compare Republican-governed states?  Because Dudley's ideas sound awfully familiar: cut capital gains tax and cut spending.  If what he says works, then it should be, that all solidly Republican states would always outperform all Democratic states.

Of course, ahem, they don't.  And Chris Dudley's only telling half a truth.

Move over G2, here comes the MyTouch HD?

The G2 is on sale officially today (at Radio Shack) and at T-Mobile stores on the west coast, but on the heels of G2 comes the MyTouch (HD?) it appears!  Looking at the specs, I think the MyTouch (HD?) is just a tad better, even though I'd like to have a real keyboard.

From what I've gleaned from T-Mobile's info:

	Feature	G2	MyTouch HD
	OS	Android 2.2	Android 2.2?
	Front facing camera	no	yes
	LED flash	yes	yes
	Rear camera	5MP	5MP
	Camera zoom	?	yes
	MicroSD card incl	8GB	8GB
	Slide out keyboard	yes	no
	Screen size	3.7"	3.8"
	Processor speed	800 Mhz	1 Ghz
	HD video recording	yes – 720p	Yes – 720p?
	Weight	6.5 oz	5 oz
	Battery	1300 mAh	?
	Talk time	6.5 hours	6 hours
	WiFi	yes	yes
	Bluetooth	yes	yes
	HSPA+	yes	yes
	3.5mm stereo outlet	yes	yes
	Mini USB outlet	yes	yes
	Size	4.7" x 2.4" x 0.6"	4.8" x 2.4" x 0.4"

via Engadget

More playing around in SketchUp.

Haven't yet upgraded my main machine to SU8, but I am running it (free version) on my netbook.  Grabbed some more tips from the Google SketchUp Cookbook.  The video is, craptastic at best, coming from within SU, but eh, whatever.

Chrome 7.0.517.24 beta

Did some tests on it:

CSS3 selectors test: passed 574 of 574

ACID3 test: 99 of 100

HTML5 test: 231 of 300