things i think

Google redraws world according to George Bush | The Register

kinda funny.

Dance Monkey, Dance

frickin hilarious, and all too true.

The Onion: TiVo Wishlist Roulette | PVRblog
i think i might have to try this.

1E Disco Dance Floor
I'm sure all the other /. readers out there have seen this/linked to it themselves... but just felt i needed to also. and i see it as just doing my part to increase their PageRank. or something.

Iowa State Daily | Online Edition

The intent of the Founding Fathers was clear: The judicial branch must be independent and free from coercion by the executive and legislative branches of government. The courts were vested with the power to interpret the laws and actions made by the other branches in order to ensure they conformed to the Constitution.

well written article dealing with the quite disgusting attempts by the far conservative right to "deal" (stop) with "activist judges" (anyone who doesn't rule in their favor about "moral issues").
and from the comments:

If Judicial interpretation is removed from the foundation of our Republic, we may as well be trying to keep a two legged stool from falling.

well said all around.

The Edge of I-Hacked » 100’s of Interesting Google Maps Locations
some, as it says, interesting locations with neat satellite pics. although the comment about "blurred gov't buildings" is wrong since the map version has it clearly labelled as the capitol.

update: Wired News: Surprises Lurk in Satellite Snaps has some more cool links and pics

Storage Technology
i must agree with the comment that /. used to link this, that it's just surreal. i can understand hitachi's excited and wants a way to explain it in a simple manner, but this is just... wow.

Meh. Maybe it's time.
sometimes the sarcasm is so strong it hurts. but, like strong alcoholic drinks, that burn on the way down is what makes it good. extra good. and the subject matter you discuss with such a tone is usually too true and blankly honest, as is the same when you've had a few well-mixed drinks.

basically what i'm saying is that i love sarcasm. and drinking. and this forum post is a great example of that wonderfully mocking tone being used to completely shutdown the utter folly of some clearly uninformed people.

How to never miss an episode with BitTorrent and RSS (pealco.net)
Interesting idea... if I didn't already have a TiVo, I might try it. or maybe i'll set it up at home for the parents, although it'd probably be too much for them to handle.

Bill: "If you're gonna pick all the raisins out, why buy Raisin Bran?
Mario: "For the bread."

while i see mario's side too, i'm with bill. never understood how religious people, especially those who quote from the bible right and left as reasons why we should/shouldn't do things, can't see the contradictory nature of their statements. either you take it all, or you don't, right? but not with the so-called cafeteria catholicism and its protestant, etc counterparts.

it just surprises me that people have such strong beliefs in certain parts of their "religion" but then completely disavow or ignore other aspects they don't feel represent them. ok, i can accept that there are going to be different opinions about issues, and that your view may not go in line with your religion's, but shouldn't that be a bigger problem than just something you ignore?

i don't feel i'm really getting my point across here, but i always have problems explaining myself on things like this. what it boils down to is that i have issues with religious people who do things because of their religion, but then don't pay attention to other aspects of it. religion to me seems more of an all or nothing. faith, on the other hand, is not like that. something many people don't seem to realize is that you can have faith without religion. and, quite importantly, faith is separate from religion. one does influence the other, in both ways really, but they are not the same thing.

so really, religion to me boils down to seeming like just another way to group yourself with others of similar views. which is fine, but don't go calling that some mandate from god to do things a certain way and spout off on how people who disagree are going to hell.

ABC 4 :: NEWS
reasons why i don't like religious extremists.... nutjobs like this guy who convinces other wackos the world is going to end...

I’ve always found religion to be fascinating. Ideas such as how people act on their beliefs. Pro-lifers murdering doctors. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Pro- lifers murdering people. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! You know, it’s irony on a base level, but I like it. It’s real basic irony, but still you can get a hoot. "We're pro-life and we'll kill your ass!" - Bill Hicks

Best Buy Has Customer Arrested For Using $2 Bills : Gizmodo
just absolutely unreal... have to agree with the anandtech forum poster who wisely proclaimed "IF YOU PAY BEST BUY WITH $2 BILLS, AL QUAEDA WINS! "

Reuters AlertNet - US lawmakers want daylight-saving time change
i know there's a valid reason for it out there somewhere, but i still don't understand why we even have DST. but if this goes through, at least when i work too long in march and november i'll no longer have to always leave work when it's dark out and never see the sun.

Wired News: Windmills in the Sky

At certain locations, the efficiency of a flying generator can be as high as 90 percent, three times higher than its grounded counterpart, according to Sky WindPower.

pretty cool potential if it actually works.

Wired News: Divide Undercuts Clone-Ban Effort

while i can understand people's fears about cloning and weird secret government projects to make super armies and whatnot, I don't understand why they're so afraid of therapeutic cloning.

and sure, probably most of the resistance isn't fear but misunderstanding and/or religious beliefs... but not understanding an issue is no reason to try to stop it. and religious beliefs, well i don't believe religion has a place in science. morals, most definitely. religion, no way.

hopefully this bill will not succeed, as some quoted in the article say.

bloglines is a wonderful tool to keep track of news, websites and anything else with a feed... but it also causes the problem of giving you too much to keep track of. get busy for a few days and all of a sudden there's a massive mound to sift through.

but i'm finally getting back to some of the feeds i've been ignoring for a while because they'd grown too large. so pay no attn to the fact that the dates on these stories are pretty old.

all of us now have a responsibility to clean up the president's mess... too much funny mixed with too much sad truth makes it hard to feel sometimes

MobileTracker - Ride along with a Verizon Wireless test man

favorite quotes from the test audio:
"the juice of lemons makes fine punch"
"serve the hot rum to the tired hero"
"the crooked maze failed to fool the mouse"
"the hogs were fed chopped corn and garbage"
"these days the chicken leg is a rare dish"

Save the world, buy green stuff online | The Register

i don't know about you, but i think i'll be a big fat monkey. swingin in the trees sounds fun and all, but i like my tech, house and car too much right now. go-go-greedy-american!

Homeland Security blows $16m prepping for apocalypse | The Register

This invites one to wonder if these drills, enacted at the expense of $16m, will amount to more than a confidence-building exercise designed to give everyone involved a sense of well-being and accomplishment, and to provide Washington TOPOFFs with plenty of fodder for cheery, can-do-spirited press conferences later this week.

Pretty much sums up the well written, detailed article.

foxtrot, so funny. so true.

Google Blog

pretty sweet little tie in with keyhole here. had some fun browsing the area around my house in plains even if it didn't seem like it was showing the right area for my current apt.

Open source databases - a sword that cuts both ways? | The Register

Interesting take on open source projects' use in the commercial world. working on a project that currently uses a wide variety of open source projects, i agree and disagree with some points. while you should wait until things become stable and more support is available before fully committing to using a project, i don't think it's entirely necessary to avoid new/unstable projects. if no one uses it, how will it ever improve?

while we are using the more mature versions of projects (such as jetspeed, hibernate, etc), we are also looking into their upcoming releases and other fairly volatile projects (i.e. derby and mule). sure, as the saying goes, when you're on the cutting edge somebody's fingers are gonna bleed... but that's what can often bring the greatest advances.