Year End Wrap-Up

At this time of the year, who isn't doing a retrospective of the past year of their lives? A lot of events (hurricanes, presidential elections, coups, bank failures, etc) have happened this year, and for better or for worse, the world has changed.

The New York Times has a really interesting collection of Buzzwords of 2008 [nytimes.com]. The list includes such words as:

• Fail
• Gas-sipper
• Recessionista
• Naked short selling

It's an amusing list that perhaps conjures up a lot of memories from this year that most would like to forget.

2008 has also made me completely sick of hearing certain phrases, such as:

• Drink the Cool-aid
• Credit crunch
• Subprime
• Mortgage backed-securities

In other news, 2008 has taught me other techniques for minimizing losses in the stock market, such as Tax-Loss Harvesting [getrichslowly.org].

linkdump

• CBS2 Los Angeles: LAX Tops Nation In Stolen, Missing Luggage Items
  
  As if flying through US airports wasn't annoying enough with the ridiculous and ineffective security precautions and checked-bag fees... It is now clear that TSA workers are assisting in the theft of items from checked luggage. From the article:

  "[Two LAX employees] both say there are organized rings of thieves, who identify valuables in your checked luggage by looking at the TSA x-ray screens, then communicate with baggage handlers by text or cell phone, telling them exactly what to look for."

  
  
• New York Times:
  Going Off to College for Less (Passport Required)
  
  An increasing number of American students are heading to Canada and the UK for their entire college degree programs, where the tuition is cheaper than at US private universities. Universities in the UK are heavily marketing themselves to American students because Americans will pay more in tuition than students from the European Union.
  
  Hopefully, the increasing numbers of Americans studying abroad will not increase the numbers of international incidents [timesonline.co.uk] caused.
  
  Overall, I think that this is a great opportunity for students, in general, who will will acquire a more well-rounded education (particularly in areas outside the classroom) -- especially since most have probably not been out of the country before.
  
  The main issue I would be worried about is the difficulty of finding a job in the US afterward. University placement offices are often invaluable for students trying to find jobs after they graduate, and these students would probably be left to fend for themselves.

Linkdump

My latest interesting:

• Telegraph: Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan to get life saving anti-sniper device
  
  A new device, developed in the UK, almost instantly pinpoints the location of an enemy sniper, allowing effective return fire to occur more quickly. From the article:

  "The device... works by isolating the crack of the sniper rifle thanks to four microphones, a GPS system and a powerful microprocessor."
  
  "It takes less than a tenth of a second and provides the results in audio and visual formats. It can even send a grid reference via radio to supporting artillery and aircraft."



• Here's a video showing how to use a "controlled" explosion to mount a tire on a rim:
  
  
  
  If the embedded video doesn't work, use this link [youtube.com].
  
  


• Snopes: McDonald's Coffee Stirrer Coke Spoon
  
  From the article:

  "In the late 1970s, it became apparent the small pastic coffee spoons at McDonald's restaurants were being used... to measure and snort powdered cocaine as well as PCP, an animal tranquilizer with hallucinogenic properties..."
  
  "The company reacted to the problem by redesigning the stirrer, replacing the spoon with a flat paddle."

Linkdump

Here are some interesting articles I have seen recently:

• National Geographic: Great Pyramid Mystery to Be Solved by Hidden Room?
  
  There is still a great debate about how the pyramids in Egypt and other countries were constructed thousands of years ago. Mainstream researchers generally are convinced that some sort of external ramp was used to haul the enormous stone blocks up to the top of the pyramids during construction. However, there is another theory that is gaining traction: that the blocks were brought up in an inclined interior tunnel (which was blocked off after construction was finished). From the article:

  "After the foundation had been finished, workers began building an inclined, internal, corkscrew tunnel, which would continue its path up and around as the pyramid rose, Houdin said...
  
  "New evidence uncovered about two-thirds of the way up the Great Pyramid supports the inside-out theory, said Houdin, the architect..."
  
  "For the interior tunnel to work, it would have required open areas at the Great Pyramid's four corners, Houdin says. Otherwise the blocks wouldn't have been able to clear the 90-degree turns."
  
  "The notch and room are remnants of one such opening, Houdin claims."



• New Scientist: Dumb eco-questions you were afraid to ask
  
  There are a bunch of interesting questions in there, such as:
  
  
  • How environmentally damaging is barbecuing?
  • Does it really take more energy to recycle an aluminium can than to make a new one?
  • Is it worth recycling when stuff gets shipped to China and back in the process?
  
  But partly, the article is interesting because it describes things that most of us already know, albeit in a much more succinct manner. For instance:

  What's worse, the CO2 put out by a gas-fuelled car or the environmental effects of hybrid-car batteries?
  
  According to the UK-based Environmental Transport Association (ETA), the most efficient conventionally powered cars are slightly less detrimental to the environment than hybrid models. However, it points out that the current crop of hybrids won't evolve without customers willing to invest in what is still frontier technology [emphasis added].

Linkdump

Latest linkdump:

• Motor Authority: Chevrolet Volt prototypes reach 40 miles in electric-only mode
  
  The Chevrolet Volt [wikipedia.org] is a next generation series-hybrid car that will supposedly allow someone to drive for 40 miles on battery power alone -- before a conventional gas or diesel engine has to be started to provide extended range. The advantages of having such a vehicle (both as a manufacturer or a consumer) are obvious.
  
  The technological advances that must be made before this vehicle can be put into production are staggering (considering that current hybrids can only drive a mile or so at highway speeds with the engine off), leading many to be skeptical [caranddriver.com] of the feasibility of this car. Nevertheless, it appears that a test mule has achieved a key milestone -- driving 40 miles on battery power alone. Outstanding!



• Edmunds.com: The King Kong of Corvettes Versus the Godzilla of Japan
  
  The Nissan GT-R [edmunds.com] (pictured below) has been making a lot of headlines in the car world as the newcomer to the Supercar club, and the successor of the venerable Nissan Skyline [wikipedia.org].
  
  
  Now Edmunds has produced a thorough comparison to the new Corvette ZR1 (aka "Blue Devil") [motortrend.com]. Both have over 400 horsepower and a ton of torque, and neither will be affordable to me in my lifetime. But I can still dream. And the observation that the new monster Corvette has the same steering wheel as a Cobalt is hilarious.

Image of Nissan GT-R from Crouchy69's Flickr photostream [flickr.com].

Linkdump

Latest linkdump:

• Top 10 Everyday Things People Do To Ruin Their Cars [ridelust.com]. Lots of interesting tidbits in there. [edit: link fixed.]


• The Next Meltdown: Credit-Card Debt [businessweek.com]. From the article:

  "Credit-card losses are already taking a bite out of lenders' balance sheets. Bank of America, the nation's second-largest issuer behind JPMorgan, revealed on Oct. 6 that roughly $3 billion of its $184 billion credit-card portfolio has soured, a 50% increase from a year ago..."
  
  "Likewise, American Express (AXP), which caters to wealthier borrowers, upped its provisions for credit-card losses from $810 million to $1.5 billion in the latest quarter, a sign that even upscale consumers are having trouble."

  About a year ago, when the stock market really started going down, I pulled almost all of my money out of the market and started buying CDs (thinking this would be the ultimate safe investment). I never imagined that we'd be looking at bank failures a year later. These days, we're looking at silent bank runs [charlotteobserver.com] that can very quickly sink banks. It makes me wonder if a healthy bank could be sunk these days by a media story hinting that it may be in trouble.


• Here's a video of a F-35B Joint Strike Fighter perform a vertical take-off, maneuver while hovering, and then vertically land [youtube.com].
  
  
  
  That is incredible.

Linkdump #597

Here are a few interesting links:

• Here's a video of NBA star LeBron James getting beaten in a game of horse. Some of the shots are incredible!
  
  
  
  If the embedded video doesn't work, use this link [youtube.com]. link via kottke.org.
  
  


• The Freakonomics Blog has some interesting graphics [nytimes.com], which simplify the explanations of McCain's and Obama's tax plans.
  
  Apparently, under either plan, you will get a tax cut -- unless you are in the top 1%, in which case Obama will make you pay more.
  
  


• There have been a ton of comments on the new Microsoft ad (the one post-Seinfeld):
  
  
  
  As stated by tons of other people, there is no shortage of problems with these ads. But I think that the bottom line is that as long as the product is terrible, having a good marketing campaign for it is, well... like putting lipstick on a pig. *rimshot*

Another Linkdump

• 10 Most Amazing Ghost Towns [oddee.com] with some incredible pictures.


• Scientists have managed to take a picture of something using quantum entanglement (as opposed to pointing a camera directly at the subject). From the article:

  "The premise of this process, based on quantum mechanics theory, is that one image can be built by using a digital camera to collect light — photons — from a light source, using a light meter to collect photons bouncing off an object and then pairing them to develop a black and white silhouette of the object."
  
  "...The technique could allow [US Air Force satellites] to penetrate clouds or the smoke that follows airstrikes."



• What the hell is a reverse mortgage? I have heard two people in the last month use that term like its meaning was common knowledge. I found this HUD page which explains it:

  "A reverse mortgage is a special type of home loan that lets a homeowner [, typically a senior,] convert a portion of the equity in his or her home into cash... But unlike a traditional home equity loan or second mortgage, no repayment is required until the borrower(s) no longer use the home as their principal residence."
  
  "The reverse mortgage is different [from a home equity loan] in that it pays you, and is available regardless of your current income. The amount you can borrow depends on your age, the current interest rate, and the appraised value of your home or FHA's mortgage limits for your area, whichever is less."

  Initially, the idea of a reverse mortgage sounded like a terrible idea. But when explained in this manner, it actually makes sense for many retired people.

Remaindered

Latest linkdump:

• I think that we all know that portion sizes at restaurants have dramatically increased over the past few decades, but until now, I haven't seen anything except for anecdotal evidence. Portion Size, Then and Now [divinecaroline.com] is an article that show a few examples, with pictures and calorie counts. The pictures are what make the story, and it is pretty astounding at the differences between now and then. (via rebecca's pocket [rebeccablood.net])


• Apparently, we're starting to see the beginning of the next crime wave: thieves are drilling holes into vehicle gas tanks [yahoo.com], and catching the gas that leaks out. Quote from the article:

  "Given their height... pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles are more vulnerable to the thieves who puncture the tanks and use a container to catch the fuel."
  
  "Plastic tanks are typically the target, he said, since there is less chance of a catastrophic spark, and they are easier to drill into."
  
  "The cost of replacing a metal tank on passenger vehicles is between $300 and $400, and the plastic tank common on newer vehicles would be at least $500."

• I stumbled upon a collection of really beautiful pictures of shipwrecks [darkroastedblend.com]. Amazing.

Remaindered

Latest linkdump:

• Here's a link to a video of a Honda Civic with a Corvette engine [streetfire.net] dropped into it. It looks like it would be incredible to drive, albeit really scary. And at the same time, I can't help but think how much work that would that have been, for something so pointless...


• PostSecret [blogspot.com] has a bunch of postcards on display from people who have sent in their Mother's Day secrets. After reading them all, it is clear that there are a lot of disfunctional family relationships out there, some of which are caused by issues that seem so simple to solve. It is yet another reminder of how easy it is to take loved ones for granted.


• On kottke.org [kottke.org], I saw a link to an interesting article about Niagara Falls [newsweek.com]. Did you know that they adjust the flow of water over the falls to make them more dramatic during the tourist season? Here's a quote:

  "...of all the world's natural wonders, Niagara Falls may be the most artificial. Upriver, technicians turn up the falls for the tourist season, by diverting less water for hydropower. From April through mid-September, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., they let 100,000 cubic feet per second go over the falls—double the usual 50,000, but still only half the natural volume. Starting as early as the 1830s, the topography has been tweaked, even rebuilt... The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has blasted and excavated, filled and graded; it has added eight acres to Goat Island, between the Bridal Veil and Horseshoe Falls, implanted sensors to detect rocks coming loose and reshaped the Horseshoe's American edge; the Canadian falls is now 400 feet narrower than it used to be.

Random Thoughts

Two random thoughts for the day:

• Why is it easier to hold your bladder while doing the potty dance?
  
  Or is it? Someone has probably done a study by now: 100 volunteers drank 2 liters of water, and were not allowed to go to the bathroom for an hour. Half had to sit or stand still (the control), while the other half were allowed to do "the potty dance." Then the number of people who lost bladder control were compared between the two groups...


• Am I becoming too cynical? A couple of people have hinted as much, lately.
  
  For instance, someone was telling me that they always check the weather on The Weather Channel (as in the TV station, not the website). They argued that it was convenient, because the forecast is always shown on the 8's. And I asked (having not watched The Weather Channel in at least a decade), "Do they really do that? Or do they actually put the forecast on the 9's to trick you into watching a commercial?

Remaindered

Latest linkdump:

• The New York Times Magazine recently ran a piece called Stylish Blight [nytimes.com], with pictures of an architecture firm being run out of a run-down former auto mechanic's garage. The pictures are like porn for interior decorators.



• The iconic F-117 Stealth Fighter is being quietly retired [cnn.com].
  
  


• Matt Haughey recently wrote a weblog entry [wholelottanothing.org], describing an experience where 2 guys came to look at a car he had posted for sale on Craigslist, who then tried to con him into selling a car for a much lower price than he intended. It is an interesting piece on the marketplace that we operate in.

Picture of F-117 via James Gordon's Flickr photostream [flickr.com].

Remaindered

• Ohio's the earthquake capital of the Big Ten [cleveland.com]

  "Tuesday's earthquake beneath Lake Erie -- a mild 3.1 magnitude shimmy felt in some lakeshore communities -- was the 55th recorded quake over 2.0 magnitude in the Buckeye State in the last decade."

• Wikipedia: List of Airliner Shootdown Incidents

  "BOAC Flight 777, a scheduled British Overseas Airways Corporation civilian airline flight on 1 June 1943... was attacked by eight German Junkers Ju 88s and crashed into the Bay of Biscay, killing several notable passengers, including actor Leslie Howard." One theory for the reason it was shotdown was that it was suspected of having Winston Churchill aboard along with several suspected British spies.

Remaindered

• A manners expert on the Slate answers what to do when your religious child thinks that you're going to hell [slate.com]:

  "I get a disturbing number of letters from nonreligious relatives of religiously raised children saying that the kids have been warning them of eternal damnation, and even threatening to stop seeing them, unless the relatives repent their Godless ways."



• On rodcorp [typepad.com], I saw an update on the De Menezes shooting [guardian.co.uk] (who was mistakenly shot by British police for being a suspected terrorist), which is in court:

  "The public had been put at risk by the fact that police had allowed a suspected suicide bomber to board a packed bus and then a busy underground train, she told the court. 'If Jean Charles had been a bomber, any bomb he was carrying would have been detonated well before the firearms officers entered his carriage.' The failure to stop him in a 'controlled and considered manner' above ground had also made it far more likely he would be shot when confronted. It was a 'matter of luck' that others were not killed or injured, the court heard."

  I think that these sorts of things are inevitable as the burden of justice is shifted from the courts onto the police -- which is why the burden should not be on the police.

Remaindered

• I really need to get out more. The last band that I saw play live before this week was a Queen tribute band a few months ago.
  
  A few days ago, I had the pleasure of seeing Sarah Fullen and The Gregory Brothers rock out in concert. They have a great sound - they kind of have a funk/folk thing going on. It was a very entertaining show, and I hope that I will get to hear them again. Apparently, they were all playing separately until recently, and their sound has really come together on this tour. I would love to buy a CD from them if they put one together with their current band members.
  
  They were playing in a venue (Bela Dubby) that is probably about a mile away from my house (even though I hadn't heard of it before this week). I am no longer surprised when people mention a place that is within a mile of my house and I have never heard of it before. There are too many great neighborhood hangouts, and I clearly have no life.
  
  I need to resolve to go out and hear all of the great bands that are playing in venues in my town. I have so many opportunities to hear live music, and I rarely take advantage of them. And I need to do that before I become that creepy old guy hanging out at the bars.



• Bidding ends today for the chance to spend a day in Howard Stern's studio, and other celebrity auctions for charity on charitybuzz.com. The last time I checked, the bidding for spending a day in Howard's studio was up to $91,000!



• This weekend are the championship bouts of the Burning River Roller Girls 2007 season.

Prescription Drugs

• Experts suggest a link between the rise in suicide rates among pre-teen and teenagers with the reduction of prescriptions of anti-depressants [chicagotribune.com]. Here's a quote:

  The FDA's warning, publicly debated in 2003 and enacted in 2004, highlighted a link between anti-depressant use by young people and suicidal thoughts and behavior. But now some experts are asking whether the message backfired.
  
  In 2004, the number of 10- to 24-year-olds taking their own lives rose by 8 percent, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Over the previous 14 years, suicide rates had fallen 28.5 percent in that age group



• In other drug related news, I have just started taking Singulair [singulair.com], for my seasonal allergies. I was initially hesitant to get a prescription for anything, because my experience with anti-histamines such as Claritin haven't been that great (primarily because you eventually build up a tolerance to the drug, so it stops working after a few years). However, I have been informed by multiple doctors that Singulair uses a totally different mechanism to combat seasonal allergies, and therefore won't stop working. Furthermore, I have exercise-induced asthma, which is also something that is supposedly relieved by this drug.
  
  I have only just started taking it. It took 2-3 days to start working. But after it started working, it worked so well that I thought that maybe allergy season was over. So, I stopped taking it, at which point, my allergies started plaguing me again. Which leads me to the question: How do I know when to stop taking it?
  
  So far, it has not seemed to relieve any of my exercise-induced asthma symptoms, but I probably don't have enough data points to say for sure.

Remaindered

• I just saw this Time article [time.com] about the decade-long drought that has been seen in Australia. Interestingly, one of the solutions they are apparently going to pursue is cloud seeding. Apparently, there are a few people left who don't believe that it is snake oil, and they will be bring 21st Century tools to bear in order to prove it:

  "A project staff of about 30 will use a recently installed CP2 Doppler radar to analyze what's happening in Queensland's clouds before, during and after materials like silver iodide and salt are sprayed into them from planes. Working in tandem with other ground radars and forecasting equipment, the technology will be able to do a three-dimensional reading of the atmosphere — similar to a body scan. Not only will this mean better information about when conditions are right to send the seeding planes, but it will enable scientists to 'watch' how the water and ice particles in the cloud are affected by the chemical."



• This weekend is the Burning River Rollergirls Roller Derby League semi-finals, which will be held at the North Olmsted Soccer Sportsplex.

Politically Incorrect Truths, Part 2

Yesterday, I linked to an article [psychologytoday.com] listing several politically incorrect truths. Then I proceeded to go off on a tangent about one of those truths.

Here is another one of the truths that they list:

7. What Bill Gates and Paul McCartney have in common with criminals

For nearly a quarter of a century, criminologists have known about the "age-crime curve." In every society at all historical times, the tendency to commit crimes and other risk-taking behavior rapidly increases in early adolescence, peaks in late adolescence and early adulthood, rapidly decreases throughout the 20s and 30s, and levels off in middle age...

The relationship between age and productivity among male jazz musicians, male painters, male writers, and male scientists—which might be called the "age-genius curve"—is essentially the same as the age-crime curve. Their productivity—the expressions of their genius—quickly peaks in early adulthood, and then equally quickly declines throughout adulthood.

Their claim is that this curve is related to men's attempts to attract women -- their productivity and creativity peak, and then rapidly decrease after marriage and having children. And I can certainly see validity to their claim. I have long noticed that many of my sports heroes' careers (John McEnroe, Pete Sampras) have gone straight into the toilet after they have gotten married.

At the same time, I can't help but wonder whether I had wasted my most productive and creative years tinkering with computers and playing Dungeons and Dragons...

Politically Incorrect Truths

On rodcorp [typepad.com], I saw a link to Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature [psychologytoday.com]. It is an interesting read, although I certainly find fault with at least some of the claims in the article.

One section deals with the role of polygyny in the creation of suicide bombers:

What distinguishes Islam from other major religions is that it tolerates polygyny. By allowing some men to monopolize all women and altogether excluding many men from reproductive opportunities, polygyny creates shortages of available women...

The other key ingredient is the promise of 72 virgins waiting in heaven for any martyr in Islam. The prospect of exclusive access to virgins may not be so appealing to anyone who has even one mate on earth, which strict monogamy virtually guarantees. However, the prospect is quite appealing to anyone who faces the bleak reality on earth of being a complete reproductive loser.

The access to virgins in heaven is something that I have always wondered about. That idea has never sounded particularly appealing to me, but I always wondered if that was because I'm not a "real man" or something.

And to just completely go off on a tangent, I wonder what defines a "complete reproductive loser". I mean, does the fact that I have chosen not to have any children make me the reproductive loser, or my parents?

There are a lot of other thought-provoking ideas in that article besides reproductive loserdom, by the way.

More Remaindered

• On Kottke [kottke.org], I saw a link to a pretty amusing interview [time.com] of the cast of Ocean's Thirteen. Keep in mind that I never saw Ocean's Twelve because I heard it was horrible, and have no intention of seeing Ocean's Thirteen because I don't think it'll be much better. Here's an excerpt:

  DAMON: Yeah, I did. I had to go deep to find Linus.
  BARKIN: Was that your character's name?
  DAMON: Yeah.
  BARKIN: I'm sorry, I only read my lines.
  CLOONEY: We like that Matt's done three different Linuses in three different movies.
  DAMON: I have done him kind of different each time.
  BARKIN: It's important for him to change it up, while Brad and George have no range, so they just have to keep playing the same parts.

• On Derek Powazek's weblog [powezek.com], I saw a link to Sanctuary [sanctuaryforall.com], which is a new sci-fi series produced by, and starring, Stargate SG-1's Amanda Tapping. It is being distributed only over the internet, and episodes so far have been $1.99. The first half of the trailer looks really inspiring, which is why I have been debating about trying out an episode. Unfortunately, the second half of the trailer is kind of lame, and really makes me wonder...


• A friend (gmn) recently emailed me a link to this movie [glumbert.com], which shows a bunch of wind-powered kinetic sculptures that are really mesmerizing to watch. Some of the sculptures have legs and actually walk -- using wind power. Amazing bit of engineering.

Linkage

• This weekend, I will be going to the Burning River Roller Girls roller derby [burningriverrollergirls.com]. I missed the last one, but the ones I have been able to see have been pretty entertaining. The reason that I missed the last one was because it sold out(!), so I will have to make sure to buy my ticket on-line before I go this time.


• Now that Heimlich and I have trips to New York in the near future, I am starting to remember all of the things I love about visiting The City. Of course, my trips are all about food. For me, it's all about what I ate, not what I saw, or where I have been. And when people ask me where my favorite places to visit are, the list has a high correlation to which places had the best food to offer. At this moment (and this changes a lot), I think that my favorite restaurant in NYC is Pongal [pongalnyc.com], which serves food from a region of India that is vegetarian. Their website kind of sucks, but just reading the on-line menu makes my mouth water.
  
  I would really like to try out Pure Food and Wine [purefoodandwine.com]. All of the food served there is organic, and is served raw. Their menu is surprisingly varied, and even have dishes like lasagna (although, obviously, all of the components are raw). Here's the review [nymag.com] of the restaurant in New York magazine that made me so interested.


• New York Sues Dell for Fraud [pcworld.com] - that pretty much says it all. Here's a quote:

  "Under that plan, DFS signs customers up for no-interest loans, then switches most of them to accounts with interest rates exceeding 20 percent without notifying them of the change... In many cases, DFS has harmed these consumers' credit ratings by incorrectly reporting their account as delinquent to the credit reporting agencies after they refuse to make payment on a nonexistent debt..."

  But wait, there's more:

  "...customers [were left] with inoperable computer equipment for a span of weeks or months, since their calls to Dell tech-support lines resulted in being left on hold, shuttled between departments, disconnected after spending hours on the phone, and finally rebuffed when they request a promised 'on site' repair, the lawsuit said."



• The Great Lakes Science Center [greatscience.com] is showing the movie Superman Returns in their Omnimax theater on weekends. Since I haven't gotten a chance to rent that movie yet, I might go there to check it out. I love the science center.