Monday, June 20, 2005
Maintenance Update
It was broke. Now it's fixed. Several past blog entries which didn't get published are now available.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
The Dangers of Bread Use.
This article is quoted from an unknown source:
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Research on bread indicates that:
1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.
2. Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.
3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations.
4. More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.
5. Bread is made from a substance called "dough." It has been proven that as little as one pound of dough can be used to suffocate a mouse. The average American eats more bread than that in one month!
6. Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and osteoporosis.
7. Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.
8. Bread is often a "gateway" food item, leading the user to "harder" items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cold cuts.
9. Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.
10. Newborn babies can choke on bread.
11. Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 400 degrees Fahrenheit! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.
12. Most American bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.
In light of these frightening statistics, it has been proposed that the following bread restrictions be made:
1. No sale of bread to minors.
2. A nationwide "Just Say No To Toast" campaign, complete celebrity TV spots and bumper stickers.
3. A 300 percent federal tax on all bread to pay for all the societal ills we might associate with bread.
4. No animal or human images, nor any primary colors (which may appeal to children) may be used to promote bread usage.
5. The establishment of "Bread-free" zones around schools.
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It's been said that there are Lies, Big Lies, and Statistics. It's just hard to discern them if you're loafing around.
Labels: science/tech
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Can I get a "Heck, Yeah!"?
Massachusetts Couple Fends Off Red Sea Pirates.
No, really, they did. A Massachusetts couple were on their sailboat, Gandalf, sailing across the Red Sea with another family, when they were approached by two outboard wooden fishing boats, each with two Yemeni pirates on board, armed with AK-47s. The pirates begin shooting at them (to kill them - there were no "warning shots"), so the sailboats turned to flee. When they saw they couldn't outrun the pirates, the Gandalf turned about and rammed one of the pirate boats, smashing it. A sailor on the second sailboat then began firing at the second pirate boat with his shotgun, injuring them. The two sailboats safely escaped.
Good guys: 2
Bad guys: 0
Don't tell me we live in a civilized world where everybody can have a reasonable discussion about their differences.
Link to TheBostonChannel.com article.
Labels: society
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Whatever happened to...
George Lucas ties up a few loose ends that keep fanboys up at night:
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One bit of conjecture Lucas finally laid to rest was the question of how close the link between clone troopers and stormtroopers was. He told MTV in an interview that the Empire's stormtroopers in the original series were in fact more of the same clones that form the Republican army in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith – though by the time of A New Hope, stormtrooper ranks had swelled to include regular recruits as well.
"The idea is that over time, there were new clone strains introduced, and then they even conscripted guys to be Storm Troopers. So it's not just purely clones: It started out as clones, but then it got diluted over the years as they found out they could shanghai guys [more cheaply] than they could build clones."
When pressed for details about the fates of favorite and not-so-favorite characters, Lucas had this to say – first about Han Solo and Leia: "Han and Leia probably did get married. They settled down. She became a senator, and they got a nice little house with a white picket fence. Han Solo is out there cooking burgers on the grill."
And about Jar-Jar Binks: "He goes back to Naboo and he's a representative. He probably stays on the council, he's probably in the senate, because it becomes completely worthless. Senators are just for show, which they talk about in Episode IV. Actually, in Episode IV they get disbanded, so Jar Jar probably goes home to his wife and kids."
Source: http://filmforce.ign.com/starwars/articles/613/613366p1.html
Labels: film/tv/books/arts, geek stuff
