Month: March 2006

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

A bit late + the fact I forgot to wear green today. I remembered it a few days ago, but it just slipped my mine.

There was green beer at work though, but I think it was budweiser with green dye.

Random Crap:

Linux Sex Positions – The Open Source Kama Sutra (from Cari) – NOT WORK SAFE! When Tux the penguin was introduced as the Linux mascot, Linus Torvald said he didn’t want the OS to be associated with “a randy penguin.” We think it’s time to loosen up and let the little guy have some fun. Tux and his female friend Lux are here to show you how to fsck, open source style. These positions are designed for smoothness and stability. Whether you like twiddling your bits or dangling your dongle, there’s something here to add to your sexual skillset. There’s also the Lesbian and Gay versions.

pya!:
(vid) 飛後廻蹴 – Flying Kick – pretty amazing on how strong that kick was
(img) 高カロリー – High Calorie – looks like french fries Jenga
(img) 一本釣り – One Fish – fishing for Shamu

German hotel charges guests by the kilo – In the town of Norden, close to the Dutch border, guests now have to step onto the scales before moving into their rooms and fork out half a euro (35 pence) per kilogram (2.2 lbs). I wonder if a whole family is staying, then is it the combined weight of the entire family.

Got these 2 interesting quotes (from /.):

#14946814
Once upon a time, Frog was taking a look at Toad’s garden. Toad had separate plots out marked “carrots” “tomatoes” and “peppers”. He also had one plot marked “weeds”, which was unkempt and full of weeds. “Toad,” asked Frog, “why the hell do you have a separate plot for weeds?!” “Well, Frog, it’s so that they stay in that plot and don’t go in any of the others.”

#14946543
believe it or not. There’s a concept called a “deadweight loss” in economics. And basically, it’s any kind of harm (something someone dislikes for whatever reason) which has no corresponding *benefit* for anyone. If I take a dollar from you, that’s not a deadweight loss, because your loss was my gain. But if I burn your dollar, you lost, and no one gained. (That’s a simplification, but you get the general idea.) And obviously, deadweight losses are bad.

Now imagine a town that has a problem with thieves breaking windows so they can get into stores and houses to steal TV’s. Here is ranking of the TV owners’ preferences:

1) No TV’s be stolen or windows broken.
2) Windows broken, but no TV’s stolen.
3) TV’s stolen, but no windows broken.
4) TV’s stolen, and window’s broken.

Here is the typical thief’s order of preference:

1) Get TV’s, but not have to break windows.
2) Get TV’s and have to break windows.
3) Not get TV’s and not have to break windows.
4) Break windows for no reason.

Currently, option number 4) on the TV owners’ list, and option 2) on the theives’ list are prevailing — TV owners lose TV’s and windows. Thieves get TV’s but have to break windows.

Now here’s the kicker:

For some economists, an “efficient” move would be to give the thieves free TV’s! Why? Well, the thieves are better off — they get TV’s, but no longer have to break windows. The owners are better off because, while they still lose some TV’s, at least their windows aren’t broken! Everyone wins! Yay!

Except, as anyone with a functioning brain knows, all that would accomplish is that the thieves would get TV’s, and then some of them (or newcomers to the thievery profession) would still steal more TV’s. The problem, like with the “separate plot for weeds” that you bring up, is that you can’t corral thieves by giving them free stuff. Give weeds a place, they’ll demand more. Give thieves TV’s, and thieves will take more.

It amazes me how the average person sees this, but some economists don’t.

Elderly lovers stopped on dangerous Italy joy ride – The zig-zagging car gave them away. When Italian police pulled over the vehicle, they found a completely naked 70-year-old woman who had been trying to have sex with the driver — 11 years her junior.

Socialist glory a stitch away in new Chinese game – Doing good deeds, volunteering on building sites and obtaining Chairman Mao’s autograph are some of the objectives of “Learn from Lei Feng,” a new online game starring the Chinese Communist Party’s legendary hero. … “For beginners, sewing and mending socks is the only way to increase experience and upgrade,” said Jiao Jian, a young pupil and online game fan from the southern city of Guangzhou. … Enemies in the game are “secret agents,” Xinhua said. Players can replenish their strength after battling such evil forces by talking with the Party secretary, en route to a final meeting with Mao himself. Yet another brain washing tool?

German court rules it’s all work at office parties – The court ruled the company’s accident insurance would have to pay disability to the man because he was technically still at work, the court said in a statement on Thursday. “Up until the end of a work-related gathering accident insurance coverage continues until it is officially over. If this time is not fixed, participants can assume it continues as long as the senior employee is present,” the court said.

Which do you prefer? TV or sex? – The survey by pollsters Ipsos Reid, commissioned by Pfizer Inc., the maker of Viagra, found that Canadians between the ages of 40 and 64 spend an average of 15 minutes a day on sex and romance, but can spend as much as five hours a day watching TV or surfing the Internet. – How long do you think most men and women last at that age…

New virus holds your documents hostage – If we needed any more convincing that malware has gone commercial, a new virus making the rounds provides additional evidence. The Trojan horse encrypts a user’s documents and then directs the victim to pay US$300 into an e-gold account in return for the password that will unlock the files. It’s not clear yet how the virus is spreading, but once installed on the user’s PC, the program encrypts word processing documents, databases, and spreadsheets before deleting itself from the machine.

A few more quotes (from /.):

First some background, this was a /. article on Hot pepper kills prostate cancer cells in study.

#14938868
You can also masturbate for prostate health! Just make sure you do that before handling hot peppers. Trust me on that one.

#14938912
Dammit. Now my peppers taste funny.

Random Crap:

Man Sues Himself for Vehicle Damage – When a dump truck backed into Curtis Gokey’s car, he decided to sue the city for damages. Only thing is, he was the one driving the dump truck. … After the city denied that claim because Gokey was, in essence, suing himself, he and his wife, Rhonda, decided to file a new claim under her name.

Robo-carp could monitor fishy business – The 80-cm (32-inch) carp can also use sensors in its mouth to monitor the concentration of oxygen in water, a key to fish health, said project leader Tetsuo Ichikizaki of Ryomei Giken, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, in Hiroshima, western Japan. … The robotic fish, which cost 30 million yen ($250,000) to develop from a previous prototype, is unlikely to meet the fate of many of its living counterparts, which are sliced up and eaten raw as sashimi. I always though koi were fish you Japanese didn’t eat as it was unlucky to do so…

Mini pya! Flood: (I’ve finally caught up!!!)

Click image to start the animation or view it in the gallery.
ゴール・・・ – Goal

(vid) 立ちション – Standing Shaun – prank done to someone while he’s peeing on what appears to be on a frozen lake. doesn’t look like anything was “damaged” in the process
(vid) 240個のねずみ取り – 240 Mouse Traps – what happens when you have 1 ping pong table, 1 ping pong ball, and 240 set mouse traps?
(img) 盗難防止 – Theft Prevention – pretty neat trick!
(img) 街灯の娘 – Lamppost lady – interesting advertisements
(img) ハート – Heart – a human heart model made with valentines candy!
(img) フロッピー？ – Floppy? – floppy disk cookies
(img) 時計 – Clock – made with furniture. actually nice design
(img) ニンテンドーDS Lite – Nintendo – DS Lite – cardboard version even comes with a stylus toothpick
(img) アンビリーバブル！ – Big Words – low on self esteem? visit this encouraging bathroom
(img) 世界のレベル – World Level – what an amazing shot for this curling game
(img) 高速アクセス – Fast Access – bullet holes through your hdd
(vid) バブルリング – Bubble Ring – think puffing out smoke rings is hard, imaging puffing out bubble rings underneath water. this amazing dolphin can do it
(vid) ハプニング動画47選 – 47 Animated Events – yet another dumb and dumber video
(img) 擬人化 – Personification – toothbrush sex

lowfat – document viewing with a twist (from /.) – What he’s missing are some pretty screenshots, but if you have the patience to download a 30-40meg video, this software looks pretty neat. Reminds me of that other software where you use your hand to manipulate: Multi-Touch Interaction Research

Pentagon plans cyber-insect army (from /.) – The Pentagon’s defence scientists want to create an army of cyber-insects that can be remotely controlled to check out explosives and send transmissions. Yet another reason to fear insects.

Guy snorts wasabi… (from Rayalome) – I wonder how much he got paid to do that. After his wasabi snort, he snorts water and milk, trying to soothe the pain.

Now THERE’S a couple that knows how to fight! – A Mexican couple were recovering separately after a marital spat got out of control and saw them firing guns, throwing knives and hurling homemade bombs, Mexican daily Milenio said on Monday. … Espinosa told reporters he was glad his wife had suffered burns, while Contreras said she was only sorry she had not “hacked off his manhood” during the fight.

Fake $1B Bank Notes Found in Apartment – – Federal authorities investigating a man who smuggled money into the country have seized 250 counterfeit bank notes in billion-dollar denominations, they announced Tuesday. It’s like that WalMart lady that tried to pay using a million dollar bill and demanded change. Hahahaha!!!

CollegeHumor mega-mix! (from MS newsgroup) – Who put this together? He was nice enough to include his own darts clip. You’ll know when you see it. A compilation of funny videos of people being dumb and pranks being played.

Hot and cold running beer… – A woman thought she was in heaven when beer instead of water flowed from the taps in her apartment in west Norway. … Beer in Norway is among the most expensive in the world with a 0.4 liter (0.7 pint) costing about 50 crowns ($7.48) in a bar. … It turned out that a worker in a bar two floors below had mixed up the pipes on Saturday evening, wrongly connecting a new barrel to a water pipe leading to Gundersen’s flat. The bar got water in its beer taps.

Motorcyclist Clocked at 155 Mph Jailed – “He pulled over once he saw all of us, without incident,” Riley said. “He just said he didn’t think he was going that fast and he didn’t know we were behind him. He thought he was only doing 120 or 130.“

Woud you ever feel clean again after using Hoffman Hasselhoff “soap”?

I was watching Keeping Mum (review to come later), and Mr. Bean was searching onilne for religious jokes, which got me searching for the site “Giggle with God”. Turns out the site doesn’t exist and was probably created for the movie only, though the several jokes posted on that page when I paused are in fact real jokes. So while, I was searching for this site, I ended up searching for religious jokes too and found this really funny one:

A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to “honor thy father and thy mother,” she asked,”Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?”

Without missing a beat one little boy answered, “Thou shall not kill.”

Most of the other religious jokes gave a few chuckles, so they weren’t really worth posting.

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Random Crap:

Short pya! flood:

(img) 撃ち抜かれたハート – Bullet through the Heart – bullet going through the Ace of hearts in slow motion.
(img) 禁止事項 – Prohibited Items – No Durian! Doesn’t have a fine associated though…
(img) あったかメガネ – Hot Glasses – flame on!
(img) よろしくお願いしますnya – Forgive me please – cute praying cat
(img) キリスト – Christ – do you see Jesus?
(img) wan・・・・？ – puppy flower basket
(vid) 食事の邪魔をするnya！ – Don’t Disturb Me While I’m Eating – cat pushes dog away when dog tries to take his food
(vid) 棒術使い – Crazy Pinatas – I always thought a game where you give a kid a bat and blindfold them and let them swing crazily was a bit crazy
(img) パンチングマシーンならぬ… – Not a Punching Machine… – I wonder what you’re suppose to do in this game… spank?
(img) ウッシッシ – Totoro Bush
(img) それとなく似てる件について – The case isn’t that it’s similar – don’t really care about the airplane, but the bunny is cute.

Man Says Stripper Delivered a Rob-O-Gram – A retired salesman alleged a stripper and her friend beat and robbed him in his home. John Skinner, 54, said he was on his way to Bible study on Jan. 23 when exotic dancer Maureen Murphy, 25, knocked on his door and offered him a free strip-o-gram.

Canada’s lost, lonely whale feared killed by boat – The young male whale, which often played with boats in an apparent search for companionship, may have miscalculated the tug’s power and was pulled into the blades, a Department of Oceans and Fisheries biologist said. so sad…

Cat Comforts Grieving Orangutan at Zoo – these articles about different species mingling with each other are coming up WAY TOO OFTEN NOW.

Live action Pacman running around a library (from Deadlock) – I would’ve appreciated this during finals. Then again, I never went to study in the library.

Absence makes the glass glow fondly – When either person picks up a glass, red light-emitting diodes glow on their partner’s glass. When one puts a glass to their lips, the other glass glows brightly. Article wasn’t too interesting, but I did start wondering what technology is this based off of. Is there a wifi connection on the glass itself? Would the glass still glow in remote areas or in the middle of nowhere where technology and cell phone signals can’t reach?

A plant that glows when thirsty – Some people like to talk to their plants. Now, students at Singapore Polytechnic say they have created a plant that can communicate with people — by glowing when it needs water. – Maybe now they can make people glow when they’re being sarcastic, so I don’t have to guess.

Mayor Probed in ‘Speed Trap’ Check Case – Crosby told Morgan that he had to either write another check that didn’t have the words “for speed trap” written in bold letters or face the charges in traffic court. … “As mayor of this city, if I accept that check from that gentleman, I’m admitting we run a speed trap, and that’s a bald-faced lie,” Crosby said Tuesday. Coopertown lies about 20 miles northwest of Nashville on a state highway used by motorists to travel between interstates 24 and 65. The town generates nearly 30 percent of its revenue from traffic tickets.

Tree-climbing robot (from /.) – A remarkable, if slightly creepy, tree-climbing robot is being developed by robotics experts from Carnegie Mellon and several other US Universities. Check out the video.

Considering the aesthetic and psychological effects of your color choices (from MS newsgroup):

One thing I found interesting is what particular colors do for the eyes, how they are received by the parts of our eye and what happens when those messages are sent to the brain. Color plays a large roll in how we react to situations, how we relax, how we are stimulated, and even affects the way we eat and socialize with others.

RED: Did you know that red was one of the first colors a baby can discern, that male babies prefer yellow based reds such as tomato colors. And that female babies prefer blue based reds such as raspberry. The chemical reaction of red while eating will cause a person to eat more, and stay longer. Thus making this an ideal color for restaurant decor or in bars.

ORANGE: This color is associated with low quality or being very accessible. This color is used in both the restaurant and hotel industry to convey low cost to passers by. Wether its a lobby, a roof, or a bill board, it gets our attention and tells us its a bargain. Orange is not what one would use to bring about a feeling of elegance, but of something informal or very casual.

YELLOW: The color yellow is transmitted to the brain faster than any other color, in nature yellow represents caution (hornets, bees, and fire). In our world yellow represents caution in warning signs, construction signs, and fire trucks. Babies will cry more when surrounded by yellow, and studies have shown adults to lose tempers when around yellow. Its a very high anxiety color, but in turn is good for drawing attention, or for packaging products. Yellow flowers in the foyer are said to be great when selling a house, the people remember the house with the beautiful yellow flowers after a long day of home shopping.

BLUE: This is the number one favorite color of people by far, it represents respectability, responsibility, knowledge, caring, and trustworthiness. Country type blues are the number one color in homes, but blue is not a color that sells houses well. Blue is a color that encourages fantasy and at the same time is very tranquilizing. This color is ideal for calming, such as doctors offices and in the rooms of over-active children. Blue is not a color that goes well with eating, if you want to push away from the table sooner (or the in-laws are coming)…..dig out the blue dishes.

GREEN: These are living colors. Green is a great color around food and diminishes sweetness. Green represents wealth and money, makes people feel secure and tended. Some health disorders such as eczema, diarrhea, and stomach upset tend to lessen in a room painted in green.

BROWN: This is a very friendly color, its will represent someone as being believable. Browns work very well in interiors, and its known to be a warm and friendly color.

GREY: Its the only color without an after-image, known as a color representing creativity. Grey is best for a background color and will inspire people to do more for a longer period.

BLACK & WHITE: These are not colors, but are known as the power twins because of the bold statements they make. Black represents dignity, sophistication, refinement, and authority. White represents delicacy, purity, and cleanliness. White also encourages precision in the workplace.

Quadruped humans discovered – interesting news video on how some people walk on all 4 limbs.