Shades of 1984

For those who have not read George Orwell's book, "1984" it might be a good time to do so, or at least read an online summary of it.

Tiburon, a town of 8,000 in Marin County, CA, officials want to photograph every car and use the license plate information to solve crimes in the town of 9,000.

Many see the plan as an intrusion into the rights of citizens, but officials say it is a sensible precaution that absolutely will not cross privacy lines. The town manager says, "The proposal has been misunderstood." Yeh, right! We have been misunderstanding a lot lately, like, 'Trust me, if we spend another trillion dollars today it will save more tomorrow. . .'

Hula Hoops

Many of you will remember the hula hoop craze from days gone by. They are still around and still fun. Do you know where they came from?

There was a famous radio and TV personality that was responsible for financing, manufacture, and promotion.The person was very concerned that folks did not find out who was responsible and be swayed by his stardom, but now I'll tell you his name. It was Art Linkletter, star of House Party, and 'Kids say the Darndest Things', and more. Many Terrible Tommy and Dirty Johnny jokes were inspired by his book.

Captain Morgan

The Captain wasn’t always just for mixing spiced rum with Diet Coke. In the 17th century he was a feared privateer.

Not only did the Welsh pirate marry his own cousin (like Jerry Lee Lewis and Einstein), but he ran risky missions for the governor of Jamaica, like capturing some Spanish prisoners in Cuba and sacking Port-au-Prince in Haiti. He also plundered the Cuban coast before holding for ransom the entire city of Portobelo, Panama.

He later looted and burned Panama City, but his pillaging career came to an end when Spain and England signed a peace treaty in 1671. Instead of getting in trouble for his high-seas hi-jinks, Morgan received knighthood and became the lieutenant governor of Jamaica. Now I know why I like the guy. . . and the rum.

Touchable Holograms

Researchers from the University of Tokyo have developed 3D holograms that can be touched with bare hands. It is called the Airborne Ultrasound Tactile Display and uses acoustic radiation pressure to create a pressure sensation on a user's hands.

A retroreflective marker is attached on the tip of user's middle finger, IR LEDs illuminate the marker, and two Wiimotes sense the 3D position of the finger. This lets the users handle the floating virtual image with their hands.

In the video link below, researchers demonstrate how a user can dribble a virtual bouncing ball, feel virtual raindrops bouncing off their hand, and feel a small virtual creature crawling on their palm. First practical uses will likely be games, but real applications should follow. This is at the top of my whizzbang technology list. Now we really can reach out and touch someone, almost.

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Speaking of Touching

Here is a song by Placido Domingo and John Denver, "Perhaps Love." Enjoy!

Cornucopia

Now that fall is approaching, I thought it is time for a definition. In Greek mythology, Amalthea was a goat who raised Zeus on her breast milk. When her horn was accidentally broken off by Zeus while playing together, this changed Amalthea into a unicorn.

The god Zeus, in remorse, gave her back her horn. The horn then had supernatural powers which would give the person in possession of it whatever he or she wished for. This gave rise to the legend of the cornucopia, or horn of plenty.

The original depictions were of the goat's horn filled with fruits and flowers: deities, especially Fortuna, were depicted with the horn of plenty. The cornucopia was also a symbol for a woman's fertility. Current pictures show it as a woven basket, I guess because goat's horns are not so easy to find these days.

Speaking of Horn of Plenty

Another stupid study - August 10th, 2009, The US Food Stamp Program may make users fat, according to a new nationwide study that followed participants for 14 years. Researchers found that the average female user of food stamps had an increase in weight of 5.8 pounds.

In 2008 about 28 million people, or almost 1 in 11 residents, received benefits from the food stamp program in a given month.

This study compared nearly 4,000 survey participants who used food stamps with almost 6,000 survey participants who did not. They looked at Body Mass Index (BMI) and food stamp use among the participants from 1989 to 2002.

The study also found that people's weight increased faster when they were on food stamps than when they were not, and increased more, the longer they were in the program.

The researchers took into account income and a variety of other factors, including race and education, that may have also affected the weight of survey participants, outside of the use of food stamps. Even after the various controls, the link between food stamp use and higher weight remained clear, especially for women.

Male food stamp users, both white and black, did not have significantly higher BMIs than those not in the program.

Results showed BMI changed before, during and after they were on food stamps, but increased the most when participants were on food stamps. In addition, the study found the longer participants received food stamps, the fatter they became.

"Every way we looked at the data, it was clear that the use of food stamps was associated with weight gain," a researcher said. The study appears in the current issue of the journal Economics and Human Biology. Our government at work again, tax dollars to study a tax dollars program with ludicrous results. Do ya think it might be the food they buy with the stamps and not the stamps? Why not study how some people can remain on food stamps for 14 years? Hey, let's eliminate obesity, stop the free food stamp program!

Quotable

An expert is a person who persuades the government to spend money it doesn’t have, to learn something nobody wants to know.

Steampunk

Many probably have not heard of steampunk. These gadgets are modern equivalents of old-looking objects, many with practical uses. It is a sub-genre of fantasy and speculative fiction that denotes works set in an era or world where steam power was still widely used, usually the 19th century, but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, like Jules Verne. Here is a modern working steampunk USB drive.

It is amazing to see how much time some folks dedicate to create these odd contraptions. To see more steampunk pictures, try this site.

Quotable

A pipe gives a wise man time to think and a fool something to stick in his mouth.

National ID Cards

You have probably read that the new healthcare bill includes a provision for a national ID in the US. Here is a disturbing fact about that kind of technology from the UK. Its National ID Card was hacked In 12 Minutes. I personally don't think anyone can make an unhackable ID card.

UK National ID cards are currently being used by foreign nationals who are working in the UK. The card features a built in microchip which, according to the Government, makes the ID cards ‘unforgeable’, the problem is that a hacker was able to hack the chip in under twelve minutes using just an ordinary laptop and a mobile phone.

He was able to create a cloned card, change the information on the cloned card, and add a message to the card which could be read by police officers when they scan the card, the message read, ‘I am a te**orist – shoot on site’. (my asterisks) I seem to remember that national ID cards started in Germany in the 1930s to identify all good German citizens. I don't remember if cards created a furor, or they were created by a fuhrer or both. . .

Quotable

About the only consolation the average taxpayer has is that you don’t have to pay taxes on the amount you think you’re worth.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver

The Special Olympics founder, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of JFK, died on August 11, 2009. She was born in July, 1921.

As founder and honorary chairperson of Special Olympics, Eunice Kennedy Shriver led the worldwide struggle to improve and enhance the lives of individuals with intellectual disabilities worldwide for more than three decades.

Her vision and unwavering dedication have touched the lives of special athletes across globe. Their lives, and those of future athletes, are forever impacted. Her legacy lives on through the acts of courage demonstrated by every athlete. I belong to a group that is honored to give out medals at local and regional Special Olympics each quarter and it is a great thrill to see the joy on their faces. It's one of those wonderful volunteer things that you get way more out of it than you put in.

Quotable

Today’s opportunity: -
To care enough to dry a tear,
To dare enough to volunteer,
To live that others may be blessed,
To give our talents and our best.