Reality Me

Month: September 2006

  • More 9/11 cover up?

    9/11 hero raided by SWAT.

    Major Mike McCormack is a hospital technician and civil air patrol pilot who worked the ground zero site for eight days after the collapse of the twin towers. He is one of the real heroes of 9/11 and was the man who found the American flag that was later displayed as a token of unity atop the rubble.
    [Source]

    "Numerous firemen were telling me that they heard numerous secondary explosions all over the building – these guys are seasoned firefighting professionals – a lot of them have military backgrounds and they’re not stupid." [Source]

  • Excited Over High Gas Prices!

    Yesterday I paid $2.199 per gallon of gas! I never thought I’d see the day that I got excited over $2.199. When I first started pumping gas into cars and using my own money to buy it, I think gas was either $0.58 or $0.68 per gallon. The guy sharing my pump last night said he remembered gas being 20 cents a gallon but also that his wage was $1.60 per hour.

    I am still confused as to why we never saw $4 or $5 per gallon like “the they” claimed would happen with the pipeline shutdown.

  • I have lost my wife to steve jobs

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  • Virgin airlines says no to laptops

    Saw this one coming! Think of the money the airlines will save by not having to install wireless access in the planes now.

    Dell and Apple notebooks, according to a posted statement on Virgin Atlantic’s site, may only be carried on Virgin Atlantic flights if the battery has been removed and stored in carry-on luggage. Users lucky enough to sit in seats with power supplies may use the laptops via that external source, and Virgin will even provide plug adapters for them. Otherwise, the use of Dell and Apple laptops is prohibited. [Source]

  • YouTube – good amateur film

    This reminds me of Sesame Street. I’d forgotten about the clunky toggle switches on the Atari 2600.

  • YouTube – sued for videos

    Does this mean that the 80s videos on YouTube are doomed?

    YouTube representatives have said that they are in talks with record labels about distributing official music videos online. But it’s the long-running trend of unofficial distribution that’s got Universal Music Group chief Doug Morris upset. Morris said at a conference this week that sites like YouTube and MySpace “are copyright infringers and owe us tens of millions of dollars,” according to an Associated Press report. [Source]

    I do think Morris is missing the big picture here. Let the videos be freely distributed on YouTube and watch the DVD and record sales. Maybe they simply require an ad at the end of the video promoting a Universal distributor. If they force the removal of the videos, I know I’d have no reason to seek them out but because someone linked to the video, I have a reason to watch it. To watch the video is a reminder that I liked the song. To be reminded that I like the song is an opportunity for me to consider purchasing the song.

  • Schedule does not permit self-flagellations

    I would really like to take some time to beat myself up today but I am having difficulty working it into the schedule.

  • What Features Would You Want in a Job Site

    If you were going to see another job site, like Monster.com, what features would attract you to the new site? What features would you expect for free and what features would you pay for? How much? Think about the questions from the employer as well as the employee point of view. Thank you for your input!

  • Of Grasshoppers

    Student: Could I have botched things beyond repair?
    Master: Try using the correct tools.

  • Flickr Free Limitations

    Doug circa 1973

    So, what happens when you are using flickr free instead of flickr pro?

    Hey djuggler! About your photos…

    You’ve run into one of the limits of a free account. Your free account will only display the most recent 200 photos you’ve uploaded. All of your photos beyond 200 will remain hidden from view until you either delete newer photos, or upgrade to a Pro account.

    None of your photos have been deleted, and if you upgrade, they’ll all come back unharmed.

    Flickr free limits.

    Cool! You can buy Pro accounts for friends.

  • Hard to recover from a slip

    I have walked a tightrope for 10 years. As I ponder getting off the tight rope I look down and see no net. I have to walk much further to get to a jumping off point but I’ve slipped. My balance is shaken. I know what I have to do but I am suddenly aware of the audience, hyperfixated on the missing net, distracted by the shows in the 3 rings below, and frozen.

    I look up and my wife stands upon my shoulders. A menorah shaped device sits upon her shoulders and holds our five children. If I fall, they fall. I have already placed them at unnecessary risk. Where’s that net?

    I try simply to move consistently toward the end of the rope but the ringer master cajoles me for dramatics. Ok. Already I have exceeded my energy reserves. I am tired. Perhaps if I concentrate for a moment and give 120% I can satisfy the ring master, silence the heckler, satiate the audience, fulfill my obligations, and get to the end of the rope.

  • For what odds will you give up freedom?

    The current administration likes to scare the public. We enact The Patriot Act and other such measures that damage our Constitution and deprive the people of freedoms previously assumed guaranteed. Are our fears displaced?

    For those of you who wonder just how safe you will be once you’ve given up all of your Constitutional freedoms and rights, it may be a valuable exercise to see what the odds are that you, personally, will die in one of these terrorist attacks… [Source]

    Now, I have searched the CDC’s website but been unsuccessful in finding the source that anotherperspective.org cites and their figures are slightly differen than the National Geographic Ways to Go chart (used as the background of this post) as linked to by the National Safety Council. I think the numbers are close enough to make their point. I have also searched Snopes and did not find anything discrediting anotherperspective.org. Odds of dying (100% if course!):

    • 1 in 88,000 of a terrorist attack
    • 1 in 1,500,000 of a terrorist-caused shopping mall disaster assuming one such incident a week and you shop two hours a week
    • 1 in 55,000,000 in a terrorist-caused plane disaster assuming one such incident a month and you fly once a month
    • 1 in 55,928 of death by lightening
    • 1 in 20,605 in your clothes igniting
    • 1 in 10,455 of dying in your bathtub
    • 1 in 10,010 by falling from a ladder or scaffolding
    • 1 in 9,396 due to excessive heat
    • 1 in 8,389 due to excessive cold
    • 1 in 7,972 in a drowning accident
    • 1 in 6,842 in a railway accident
    • 1 in 197 of dying in a homicide
    • 1 in 299 of dying in an assault from a firearm
    • 1 in 5,330 of dying in an assault by hanging or strangulation
    • 1 in 207,261 in operations of war

    Now, the question that every American must ask themselves is this; am I willing to give up my Constitutional freedoms in hopes of avoiding death by lightening, which is 983 times more likely than dying because a terrorists crashes an airplane? Are you willing to live in a Republican/Nazi police state in hopes that you don’t die from your clothes catching fire (2669 times more likely) or falling in your bathtub (5261 times more likely)? Are you seriously asking this regime to protect you from being strangled or hanged when the odds of that happening is 10318 times more probable than dying in a terrorist-caused attack? Are you, at your very core, comfortable with the idea of leaving to your children a world in which Republicans/Nazis/fascists control all American’s everyday life? [Source]

    Let me restate one thing from above "death by lightening … is 983 times more likely than dying because a terrorists crashes an airplane"

    As an aside, the CDC has podcasts! The Center for Disease Control has an impressive amount of useful content. If you are a parent, you should definitely look in on the CDC from time to time.

  • Impeach Bush

    So, is the new trend going to be to try to impeach the president every four years?

    9% of US Congress now supports the impeachment review, including 18% of Democrats, 100% of Independents (1 out of 1), and 0% of Republicans.

    The best represented states on H. Res 635 are California (9), New York (6), Illinois (3), Massachusetts (3), Minnesota (3), Georgia (2), New Jersey (2), and Wisconsin (2).
    [Source]

  • What’s up with Cannibas?

    Like every other blogger, I knew that in no time at all I would be pulling in thousands of dollars from Adsense thus you see a couple of ads on the Reality Me. Apparently I talk about pot more than I thought because Adsense, being context sensitive, has consistently shown a banner ad for Cannibas and Medical Marijuana since I posted Top 10 Pot Studies Government Regrets Funding. Of course, this post contributes to Adsense wanting to put marijuana ads on Reality Me. I find the ads distracting and non-profitable so eventually I will get around to removing them. In the meantime, if the arrest of the Wests has put a damper on your supply, I suppose you can click the banner for a new source.

  • Pictures after the Oak Ridge incident

    If we messed up in Oak Ridge, these pictures show what Knoxville would look like 20 years later.

    On the 26th of April 1986 shortly after midnight, to be precise, at 1:23 GMT, there occurred near the Ukrainian town of Chornobyl a tremendous explosion at a huge nuclear power plant, followed by a gradual meltdown of the reactor No. 4.
    …
    Nowadays there guided tours are being conducted to this area. These photos are made by George Borman (Pikul) while participating in such a trip.
    [Source]

    In America, you can tour the Nevada Test Sites.

    See also.