Category: Of Interest

Those miscellaneous things that just must be published.

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Lost Solved!

The island was acquired in 1956 by a consortium of American business men and subsequently used as a base for research into eugenics and life extension.

The ultimate aim of this endeavour was to develop technology which could potentially bring about world peace.

The plane crash never really occured and the survivors’ memories are false. The survivors of flight 815, along with the other inhabitants of the island, are the only surviving members of the human race and the so-called ‘monster’ is really a drug-induced hallucination.

The Others are a group of brainwashed cult members.

The ‘incident’ mentioned in the orientation film refers to the accidental release of the genetically modified virus which has caused the mysterious sickness and pressing the hatch button every 108 minutes prevents the outbreak of ‘the sickness’ on the island.

Claire’s father is on the island, working for the Hanso Foundation.

The numbers represent a physical constant which is central to the physics of time travel.

Link courtesy of Ray Camdem.

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Building collapses in NY

Swap blog reports "A three story building just blew up in New York." Any confirmation on this?

Update: MSNBC reports "A three-story building collapsed Monday in midtown Manhattan after an explosion and fire at the site, fire officials said. Smoke rose high above the building, located on 62nd Street between Park and Madison avenues. "

Other information I’m hearing

  • is that it was a doctor’s office.
  • Possible gas leak
  • NOT terrorism
  • Power surge
  • building 70 feet wide
  • witnesses say didn’t sound like an explosion but like something fell
  • 4 injuries, no deaths yet

So, what’s going on in Congress that needed a swing vote based on public sentiment?

Update: One person trapped alive in the rubble.

Not to make light of a horrible situation but does anyone get the feeling this will end with a fat man with bad flatuance ala Confederacy of Dunces?

UPDATE: I was just told that in an interview on MSNBC that the NYC fire chief confirmed the building collapse as a gas leak. CNN has the scoop and of course it is credible because, well, they quote Larry King who was in a hotel somewhere in the city when it happened.

Update: Word on the street is that suicide is being investigated as the leading cause of the building collapse…I guess even buildings gets depressed.

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Study shows higher speeds make safer highways

The reason Knoxville wants to (or has..I don’t know) lower speed limits along I-40 is not for safety but in an attempt to reduce emssions so they can acquire federal funding for that stupid Orange Route. The air is too polluted to qualify for federal funding to destroy Harden Valley..I mean, build the useless road.

June 2005 is the deadline for air quality issues. The Long-Range Plan (LRP) must be met in order to get Federal funding. The LRP is updated every three years. [Source]

Wonder if they made it. Hey! Knoxville was part of the 1914 Dixie Highway. It befuddles me why Knoxville is so shortsighted as to try to steer commerce away from this wonderful downtown everyone wants to create. Not really, I understand that the 5 interchanges planned along I475 will make some political good ol’ boys some big cash while destroying some beautiful scenic countryside and historic caves for a matter of 24 miles of road. Think about the fortune we are spending to reduce travel time by about 15 minutes.

Hmm. Having read over the Knoxville Parkway information I can see why some of the arguments for the Orange Route are compelling. Still, I think it probably will turn out to be one of those things that looks better on paper than in reality. Let’s hope I’m just not turning into a curmudgeon because I think I’m too young for that. Anyhow, back to my point! Higher speeds make safer highways!

In 2005, according to new data from the National Highway Safety Administration, the rate of injuries per mile traveled was lower than at any time since the Interstate Highway System was built 50 years ago. The fatality rate was the second lowest ever, just a tick higher than in 2004.

As a public policy matter, this steady decline is a vindication of the repeal of the 55 miles per hour federal speed limit law in 1995.
…
Of the 31 states that have raised their speed limits to more than 70 mph, 29 saw a decline in the death and injury rate and only two–the Dakotas–have seen fatalities increase.

Source provided by Tom Maszerowski.

Questions and Answers from Knoxville Regional Long Range Transportation Plan Meeting

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Dead for 19 months without investigation

It appears the TBI is willing to investigate a murder if the district attorney’s office will request the investigation. Attorney General Randy Nichols refuses so a walk has been planned in Knoxville on July 14 to publically ask Nichols to make the call to the TBI. Les Jones has posted the details at No Silence Here.

I have not followed this case and do not understand the politics behind the difficulty; however, if my child had been murdered, I would be ever vigilant in seeing a proper investigation executed. I would want the support of my community in my walk on July 14.

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Another win!

Blingo

Woohoo! One of my referrals won a movie ticket on Blingo so I win too! I received the choice of a movie ticket or a $10 iTunes gift certificate. This time I chose the movie ticket. Cathy has won 4 times and I’ve won 3 times. We use the iTunes certificate or movie ticket as a bribe for Sarah.

Today’s Blingo Blog notes that Blingo is becoming PCHBlingo. Yes, you read that correctly. Publisher’s Clearing House (promise to give away $10million while secretly stealing old people’s retirement under the guise of selling magazines) has purchased Blingo!

Over the last two years you’ve come to enjoy great search results and fun prizes at Blingo. We’ve given away over 22,000 gifts since we started, but in an effort to give away more, even bigger prizes, Blingo has partnered with the king of sweepstakes. Yes, you guessed it: Publishers Clearing House, the folks who give away things like $10 million at a time. The new PCHBlingo will be the same great site but with a bit more punch.

Watch the site for new features and exciting prizes, and thanks for searching and winning on Blingo!

I’ll hold my judgment. Maybe I’ll need to switch to Ask’s Searchchips.com. Ask has produced some better search engine results than Google here lately anyhow.

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I rode The Dragon

Julie posted a reference to The Dragon. Years ago I rode The Dragon on a 1981 Honda CM400C (the C apparently means "custom" and is bored out to have the displacements of a 600…basically means a 600 will take me from the line but at cruisiing speed we pull the same RPMs). Sometimes a comment deserves to be a post so I repost here:

I rode the Dragon once. It tightens your butt cheeks quite well.

Motorcyclists have a rating system called “pucker factor” which is the degree to which your gluteus clings to your seat. The Dragon has a high pucker factor.

Once thing about the Dragon is you come out of it knowing how to take a turn. I was loaded down on an underpowered bike really designed to stay in the city and heading to Atlanta and I recall this one turn that I went into with a lot of lean. It was graffitti defying antics nearly dragging peg (that means the piece of metal your foot rests on drags the ground). That turn kept on going and going and going. It felt like I made a full circle three times! I certainly surpassed my comfort zone on that one but really learned the capabilities of my bike.

I hope to high heaven that I-3 gets shot down and does not destroy the Dragon.

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Electro-graf from Graffiti Research Lab

This video is fascinating on many different levels. I am in wonder at the ingenuity of the circuitry. I’m impressed at the skill of the artist and the time put into his work. The video editing with the side notes and smaller video is well done. I caught myself rewatching parts just to consume all the juicy information such as the links to more information like http://stencilrevolution.com/.

Warning! The audio portion of this video contains adult language used by the US president, GW Bush, and may be offensive to some. The video itself contains nothing inappropriate and can be enjoyed by those with sensitive ears and virgin minds by simply turning down your speakers.

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Siblings are good

Busymom links to how siblings shape who we are.

[Our brothers and our sisters] are our scolds, protectors, goads, tormenters, playmates, counselors, sources of envy, objects of pride.

They teach us how to resolve conflicts, and how not to; how to conduct friendships and when to walk away from them. Sisters teach brothers about the mysteries of girls; brothers teach sisters about the puzzle of boys. [Source]

We have told our children many times that nothing is thicker than blood. Cathy and I have pondered if Sarah will run to the remote edges of the world to evade Tommy or if she will be near and check on him when we are gone.

Our spouses arrive comparatively late in our lives; our parents eventually leave us. Our siblings may be the only people we’ll ever know who truly qualify as partners for life. [Source – same as above]

Sibling rivalries can be good. Fighting teaches "how conflicts, once begun, can be settled" With siblings, you negotiate things from day to day. Unlike that best friend through middle school that disappears in high school, your siblings are always there.

Multi-child households can be nothing short of palace courts, with alliances, feuds, grudges and loyalties, all changing day to day. Perhaps the touchiest problem in most such families is favoritism. [Source – same as above]

As role models, siblings fail pretty badly.

On the whole, siblings pass on dangerous habits to one another in a depressingly predictable way.

A girl with an older, pregnant teenage sister is four to six times likelier to become a teen mom herself. [Source – same as above]

We have seen the influence both ways. Noah will take to school Tommy’s behaviors while Tommy will take to high school elementary humor that he missed which Noah is now enjoying. I love seeing my family stand together. There are so many times I observe them from afar and take pleasure is watching their interactions. They are really good to each other and for each other.

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Bloggers are terrorists

There you have it!

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research recently began funding a new research area that includes a study of blogs. Blog research may provide information analysts and warfighters with invaluable help in fighting the war on terrorism.

The cost of this study is $450,000! You know, I do good research For $450,000 I could give them some very pretty reports. Thanks to Newscoma for pointing this one out!

3-year project entitled "Automated Ontologically-Based Link Analysis of International Web Logs for the Timely Discovery of Relevant and Credible Information."

One of the problems analysts may have with blog monitoring, Ulicny noted, is there is too much actionable information for the analyst to properly analyze.

“We are developing an automated tool to tell analysts what bloggers are most interested in at a point in time,” Ulicny said.

Does this sound a lot like Technorati? Maybe they should just buy Technorati.