So True it Hurts

From Speed Bump

Disney Buys Marvel Comics

I do not know if people without a comic book background understand how big a deal this is. Disney has just completed a deal to purchase Marvel comics - including both comic and movie properties. This means that Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Captain America all metaphorically wear mouse ears from here on out.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/disney-to-acquire-marvel-entertainment-2009-08-31-9050

This has the potential to transform the industry as Disney brings its marketing muscle behind one of the two big names in comic books. It also leaves one wondering if Disney will allow rival movie studios like Sony to continue making films of characters owned by Disney. I suspect not.

Was the Lockerbie Bomber freed for oil?

It is said that Lord Palmerston once said, "Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests." His words seem trenchant in light of new allegations out of the United Kingdom that the Lockerbie Bomber was freed, not for compassionate reasons, but in order to advance Britain's oil interests.

Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards...Two letters dated five months apart show that Straw initially intended to exclude Megrahi from a prisoner transfer agreement with Colonel Muammar Gadaffi, under which British and Libyan prisoners could serve out their sentences in their home country...Straw then switched his position as Libya used its deal with BP as a bargaining chip to insist the Lockerbie bomber was included.

The exploration deal for oil and gas, potentially worth up to £15 billion, was announced in May 2007. Six months later the agreement was still waiting to be ratified.

It is this kind of intermarriage between ethics and business that makes so many distrust government. How can we trust faceless bureaucrats with our health, education, and wealth when we can't even trust them to punish the guilty when justice become inconvenient to business interests?

LostMyDoggie.Com

When a pet runs away, it can be an emotional tornado for the family. Is the beloved dog or cat safe? Are they simply with another family? Are they lost? Have they been hit by a car? It is easy to feel powerless, and to wonder exactly what can be done. A new service has been created to assist with the search for lost pets. Provide your address, record a message, and they will call all neighbors within a specified radius of your home, asking for help. Seems much more effective than hanging flyers up around the neighborhood

Of course, I can't help wondering if this might conflict with the ban on robocallers set to go into effect this week. Although, I supposed this notice might be considered to be a "public service" notice.

Time to update the scorecard

Biking Update - August 28, 2009

Not a bad week for weight loss, and a good week for the return to biking. I pretty much stayed in the same range as the last few weeks - 208 to 206 lbs. But I got back onto the stationary bike most days this week and rode up to Captains for GNO. The new stationary bike is a different animal from the older ones, which were pretty simple belt-resistance or magnetic resistance models. This one has a variety of variable resistance programs - simulating a side in the park, strength intervals, riding up a mountain, etc. It is tough at the moment to find a setting which is both (1) hard enough in the easy parts and (2) easy enough in the hard parts. But I am sure that will come with time and experimentation. Tropical Storm Danny is spoiling the weekend rides, but hopefully I have many more weekends of riding on road and trails ahead of me before the winter hits.

Welcome to the Oligopoly

Many years ago, Federal regulators looked at AT&T and realized that a single company running all phones in America was bad for customers. It limited choice, and gave a single CEO too much power over national communications. So, they broke up the behemoth and brought about our modern world where multiple landline, cellular, and VOIP providers are competing for your business. This has brought down prices and increased choice.

But when the economy tumbled, regulators decided that some banks were "too big to fail" and moved to prop them up with taxpayer dollars. The idea was that these banks should be given support for a short time, to allow the economy to heal, at which point they could be safely returned to the wild. Instead, as it turns out, all of the banks declared "too big to fail" have gotten substantially bigger and more powerful, while smaller banks are failing in record numbers. And what happens when a smaller bank fails? Inevitably, it is sold to one of the "too big to fail" banks.

How much do you want to bet that the NEXT economic crisis is precipitated by bad behavior by one of the "too big to fail" banks with too much power and no incentive to act cautiously, in light of a guaranteed bailout?

Flickr Friday: If you can't afford a body shop...

To be clear, this photo is NOT mine. Just a random find on Flickr.

Flickr Friday: Ever feel like the world is against you?

To be clear, this photo is NOT mine. Just a random find on the web.

I know I'm ready for some

GSM (i.e. Your Cell Phone) has been cracked!

There are days when it pays to be telephobic. I am one of those people who will tend to reply to a phone call with an e-mail, a text message, a tweet, a face-to-face drop-by - anything to avoid having to actually use a telephone. But at the same time, I rely heavily on my iPhone to stay connected, and use it for both casual web browsing AND for doing eCommerce transactions.

It turns out that a group of hackers has hacked the most common cell phone system in the world - GSM and has released the results of the hack into the wild. This means anyone with a radio card, a laptop, and a little know-how can listen in on the cell phone calls of anyone on T-Mobile, AT&T Wireless, and many other providers (Sprint and Verizon use a competing standard called CDMA and are unaffected).

This is potentially a business-killer for GSM cellular companies, especially those who sell to businesses and government users. It is likely well be seeing firmware updates shortly to address the security hole. Or else the cell companies will try to use it as an excuse to make you pay for a new phone and re-up your contract.

Google Books goes live with EPUB

I love my Kindle and the Kindle App on my iPhone even more. They allow me to have a whole library with me no matter where I am. If I know I'll have time to kill, the Kindle comes along. If it is a surprise, I can just pull out my iPhone. But while Amazon has a great selection of books, sometimes I don't want to shell out another $10.

Google has announced that Google Books - a service which provides millions of public domain books for free - is now offering the books in EPUB format. This open eBook format is supported by many readers out there. And with a little tinkering, your Kindle can access EPUB books directly without having to do any conversion on your PC or Mac. While I have not tried this myself (yet!) it will add incredible value to eBook readers and may be the final straw to move the masses away from paper.

Update (6:30 AM EST): Or if you'd rather convert it on your Mac/PC, Calibre is a free app that runs on Mac, Windows, or Linux to convert EPUB format to Kindle-readable formats.

Wildwood voted "Top NJ Heritage Destination"

CRChair and I have made no secret of our unabashed love for all things Wildwood. So it was with considerable excitement that I saw the non-profit group "Heritage New Jersey" held a contest and the Wildwoods were voted Top NJ Heritage Destination. It certainly has been important to my personal heritage.

"The Wildwoods by-the-Sea are the best heritage tourism destination in New Jersey because visiting takes you back to a time when America was at its optimistic best,'' he said. "When the Garden State Parkway was completed in the 1950's hundreds of motels were built. They are fanciful motels designed to appeal to the passing motorist. They have exotic names like Shalimar, Royal Hawaiian, Pink Champagne, and Caribbean. Each one was designed to appeal to any type of visitor, to forget where he or she came from and transport them to a tropical location within a short drive from home.

"When I'm in Wildwood, I am taken back to my own childhood,'' Hirsch said. "I ride my bike on the three-mile boardwalk – only in the morning – I sit on the largest, safest, free beach in New Jersey, I eat locally made ice cream, and play miniature golf. Who gets to go back to their own childhood for the weekend? I do. When I was child the water tower read, ‘Wildwood Welcomes the World.' It's still true.''

This is great news for the tourism trade of the Jersey Shore. Here is hoping many new people discover the joys of the Wildwoods. If you are interested in learning more yourself, this is a good place to start (warning, music plays when you open the site).

Death Panel?

From here

Apple drops iSync support for Palm

While I own an iPhone 3GS, I have been watching the drama surrounding the Palm Pre with considerable interest. I owned several Palm phones over the years - before Apple changed the game - and it was always a battle to sync those phones with the Mac. Recently, Palm designed the Pre to trick iTunes into allowing it to seamlessly sync with any Mac until Apple disabled the feature twice. Palm still seems to be insistent upon restoring the sync, despite Apple's insistence that only iPhones sync with iTunes.

Now, the next shot may have been fired in the sync war as Apple is abandoning iSync support for classic PalmOS phones in MacOS X 10.6 (snow leopard). This means users of Palm Centros, Treos, and their PDAs will either have to forgo the upgrade, or abandon their PalmOS devices.

White House admits Recession worse than previously reported

While I admit there is never a "good" time to admit you're broke, it seems suspicious that the day after the president leaves on vacation and essentially ends press conferences is the day the White House releases a report showing MUCH larger deficits and a FAR worse economy than previously admitted.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090825/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_economy_5

There are two possibilities:
1. The economy was worse than we knew, or
2. The actions taken since the last estimate have made it worse by eroding consumer and lender confidence.

I tend to think the latter is true, but I am certainly open to arguments for #1.

This was our experience driving in New Jersey

Would "Universal Circumcision" fight the spread of AIDS?

I honestly do not get the anti-circumcision crowd who fights to end the practice altogether. It is an ancient part of the Jewish and Muslim religions, and a practice that most doctors believe is essentially harmless to babies. But I also have to wonder when doctors begin proposing to make circumcision universal. Their reason? To combat the spread of AIDS.

The move comes after officials analyzed the results of several studies that show in African countries hit hard by HIV, men who were circumcised reduced their infection risk by half, the New York Times reported. However, those studies focused on heterosexual men who are at risk of getting HIV from infected female partners. The main issue in the U.S. is men who have sex with men.

Of course, the best preventative measure for HIV is to have intercourse only in marriage, and to marry someone who has been previously tested and found to be HIV-free. But I guess that recommendation would be too radical for medical professionals and politicians.

Apple to Release Snow Leopard Early

Apple announced today that they will release Snow Leopard (the newest operating system) on Friday. Previously, Apple had announced a September release date. The upgrade is $29.

Banking Evolution

When I began working for a bank, I did some research into the history of banking and money. It surprised me to learn that banking goes back to the Roman empire, where blacksmiths would store gold in their vaults and offer documents to their depositors attesting to how much value they had available. Eventually, this evolved to the point where people simply carried the documents, which other blacksmiths would accept in lieu of real gold, and the "checking account" was born.

Many would argue that banking has not changed significantly since the Middle Ages, but I find it interesting to see that some banks are still trying to transform the experience for customers. It is proof that even ancient professions have a lot to learn and a long ways to go to be the best that they can be.

The ultimate escape artist

I believe the comic originated here, but am not 100% sure.

Outrage is too mild a term

Biking Update - August 22, 2009

Another uneventful and bike-free week, due to horrible air quality in the area and the remnants of last week's flu. So, I'll keep this one short and sweet. No biking, but also no major weight gain. I seem to be holding steady between 206 and 208 lbs. I still hope to reach 205 lbs some day - sustainably - but have not arrived there yet. I am hoping to return to two wheels this weekend.

Why was Death Counselling a bad idea in Health Reform?

Sarah Palin struck a nerve by claiming that the Democratic Health Reform bills contained provision for (or would inevitably lead to) "Death Panels" deciding who would live and who would die? After much back and forth, it was revealed that it was the "death counseling" portion of the bill that triggered this accusation. Many advocates claim such end-of-life planning is critical, while others claim it is merely an excuse to end the lives of the helpless.

Charles Krauthammer has posted one of the more reasoned and thoughtful pieces on the subject. It reminds us that health care decisions are NOT private things, but rather collective decisions made by both us and those who love us.

My own living will, which I have always considered more a literary than legal document, basically says: "I've had some good innings, thank you. If I have anything so much as a hangnail, pull the plug." I've never taken it terribly seriously because unless I'm comatose or demented, they're going to ask me at the time whether or not I want to be resuscitated if I go into cardiac arrest. The paper I signed years ago will mean nothing.

And if I'm totally out of it, my family will decide, with little or no reference to my living will. Why? I'll give you an example. When my father was dying, my mother and brother and I had to decide how much treatment to pursue. What was a better way to ascertain my father's wishes: What he checked off on a form one fine summer's day years before being stricken; or what we, who had known him intimately for decades, thought he would want? The answer is obvious.

Except for the demented orphan, the living will is quite beside the point.

Dilbert on "Financial Services"

Some days, you can't win

These days, a bank can't afford to have a bad day. The Mortgage Meltdown was the fault of bad banking policies and poor oversight, and it has lead to an economic downturn that is now being called "The Great Recession" by many. Many of the largest U.S. banks of 2008 don't even exist anymore in 2009.

So, one can't help being amazed by stories like this one, where a bank sold a house out from under a woman whose mortgage was in excellent standing. It took a Miami judge to set things right, after police officers forcibly evicted her family and locked them out of their own house for 3 days.

The eviction came after Ramirez’s home was mistakenly auctioned off to the highest bidder by her bank, Washington Mutual (yes, we know WaMu is now Chase, but we're in denial). Usually, you get a warning before you get the boot. A foreclosure letter. Maybe a sign saying your house is up for sale. Not Ramirez, who found her belongings bashed and battered in the street...The man who bought the house told Ramirez he paid $87,000 for it, which shocked Ramirez, who bought the house for $260,000.

This is a good reminder to keep a close eye on your creditors in these dark economic days. Just because you are playing by the rules, that does not mean some lazy bureaucrat can't harm you.

Gas prices

Gas prices
Originally uploaded by nomad7674.

From my iPhone 3GS

Rest In Peace, Bob Novak

This is a significant loss to reporting and political discourse in this country.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33189

Example of Impact of Tax Increases on the Rich

Neal Boortz has up a good fictional story that explains how tax increases on the rich inevitably hurt mall businesses and more specifically, those working for small businesses. It is a little long, but is a quick read.

Happy Birthday, Ron!

All of us here at Mod-blog with semi-frequent commenter and all-around great friend "Ron" a VERY happy birthday! May today be a day of joy and peace, and may this upcoming year be one of accomplishment and deepening wisdom.

Gas Prices

Gas Prices
Originally uploaded by nomad7674.

from my iPhone 3GS

Programmer Jokes

I am technically a Systems Analyst, but I work with programmers and consider myself to be somewhat of one (if only as a hobby at home). So I found this thread of programmer jokes to be hilarious. Warning, there are some off-color jokes at the link, so the faint-of-heart may wish to abstain.

A physicist, an engineer and a programmer were in a car driving over a steep alpine pass when the brakes failed. The car was getting faster and faster, they were struggling to get round the corners and once or twice only the feeble crash barrier saved them from crashing down the side of the mountain. They were sure they were all going to die, when suddenly they spotted an escape lane. They pulled into the escape lane, and came safely to a halt.

The physicist said "We need to model the friction in the brake pads and the resultant temperature rise, see if we can work out why they failed".

The engineer said "I think I've got a few spanners in the back. I'll take a look and see if I can work out what's wrong".

The programmer said "Why don't we get going again and see if it's reproducible?"

There are days I'd really support a law like this

Biking Update - August 15, 2009

Not much to report this week in terms of weight-loss, as I caught a nasty flu and was in bed pretty much from Monday night until Friday morning. No real exercise, other than a bike ride last Saturday. Rather than belabor the point, I'll just post my weight-graph for this week. Hopefully, next week will be much better.

Jail time for a prayer?

I never thought I'd read an article about an American being threatened with Jail Time for praying. This is the kind of stuff that can spawn whole movements.

In January, the Santa Rosa County School District settled out of court with the ACLU, agreeing to several things, including a provision to bar all school employees from promoting or sponsoring prayers during school-sponsored events; holding school events at church venues when a secular alternative was available; or promoting their religious beliefs or attempting to convert students in class or during school-sponsored events...The criminal charges, which carry up to a $5,000 fine and a six-month jail term, originated with a Jan. 28 incident in which Mr. Lay, a deacon at a local Baptist church, asked Mr. Freeman to offer mealtime prayers at a lunch for school employees and booster-club members who had helped with a school field-house project.

Mr. Staver said no students were present at the event, which was held on school property but after school hours.

Jail time?! Are you serious?! I can see why the ACLU is upset, but this kind of thing at most should result in dismissal of the guilty party. The fact that this incident has been allowed to escalate to this point shows a system out of control, without any sense of proportion or common sense.

Happy Birthday, Shadowmom!

Happy birthday, Shadowmom! May today be a day of joy and contentment, and may this upcoming year be one of comfort and achievement. I am so thankful I have you for a mother.

Recession Ends... in France and Germany

It won't really affect the day-to-day lives of people yet, but it may begin the important psychological changes needed to lift the world economy. Germany and France have reported their first quarter of growth which technically ends the Recession in those countries. Of course, there is no telling if this is a false start - the bump is credited to policies where the governments propped up auto makers and paid company to keep workers on at reduced hours which are due to expire. But so much of the economy is mass psychology, that this may provide many positive changes going forward.

Muppet Diplomacy

CNN has up a good story on how Muppets are being used to teach children around the world about peace and understanding. The article focuses on Seasame Street that is produced for Palastineans. The Muppets don't teach politics, but do teach basic moral principles.

Palm Pre Phone Home?

There has been a lot of scrutiny of Apple's iPhone because of its so-called "monopoly status", but it is important to keep your eyes on the smaller guys as well. A hacker, going thru the Palm Pre SDK has determined that the Palm Pre regularly calls home and sends your current location to Palm, Inc. They claim that the privacy policy protects customers, but such a setup could easily allow the company to insert location-targeted ads into their apps to generate extra profit.

Do as I SAY not as I do!

A major disconnect between the Right and Left on the issue of Health Care Reform is our relative trust of government. The Left tends to see government as made up of well-intentioned activists, looking to do what is right without regard to personal profit. The Right tends to see government as a necessary evil, run by people who ultimately do what we all do - look for ways to make their own jobs easier, even at the expense of others. This is, in my opinion, the source of the "Death Panel" quote that has been attributed to Sarah Palin. She is not talking about what has been proposed, but the logical extension of many of the proposals, once bureaucracy has gotten ahold of them.

For those on the Left who do not understand this attitude, consider this story about the State of California. The State, in the middle of a financial crisis of historical proportions, had put off its debt holders with IOUs which promise payment at a future date. This allows the state government to spread out payments to manage its cash flow. Seems reasonable, right? The problem is, they have one set of rules for themselves and another for the People. If you have been paid with an IOU, you are expected to pay Income Tax on the IOU. But the State won't take their own IOUs as payment!

Consider if you are a company whose only customer is the State of California. You may now be shut down for non-payment of taxes because the government won't pay you!

These are the kinds of "Hypocrisy Overload" scenarios that create nightmares in the minds of Health Care Reform opponents.

Microsoft banned from selling Word!

The great Empire of Microsoft stands on two pillars: Windows Operating System and Microsoft Office. These are the two products which enable them to produce everything else - often at a loss. Some might argue that the XBox has become a third pillar, but most consoles are still sold at a loss.

Now, the Empire is threatened as a Texas judge has ordered Microsoft to stop selling Microsoft Word - an essential part of Microsoft Office - within 60 days over an alleged patent infringement in the handling of XML-based files. This is akin to Ford being banned from selling trucks or Sony from selling CDs and DVDs.

Most commentators believe Microsoft will be able to appeal and overturn the order before it becomes effective. But this may be the most direct threat to the software giant since the European anti-trust cases.

Make Your Own Muppet

Miss the Muppets? Now you can put on your own Muppet Show by making your own Muppet style puppet.

Chevy Volt Gets Impressive MPG Rating

GM announced today that they hope to get a government mileage rating of 230 miles per gallon for the new Chevy Volt. If this comes to be, it will be a public relations bonanza for GM. That rating would blow away the competition and give GM the first triple digit MPG car in mass production.

2010 Census counting non-citizens for Representation?

The Wall Street Journal has up a provocative article that claims the 2010 census has been set up to explicitly omit any questions of citizenship, and thus inflate census totals for those States with large populations of illegal immigrants. In one example given, California would gain around 10 new Representatives just at the time that citizens are fleeing the State because of economics.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204908604574332950796281832.html

If this is true, quick action is needed to correct the plans for the census. The Constitution is fairly clear that citizenship is a critical factor in calculating representation in Congress, and even small changes in how we count citizens could have significant effect on both the laws we pass and how we select the President.

"Un-American" is a Phrase that Should be Used Sparingly

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Stan Hoyer have penned an Op-Ed piece for USA Today that explains their feelings on the current debate on Health Care Reform. Actually, it could more accurately be described as their frustrations. The phrase that is sure to make the most noise is.

"These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views — but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades."

While I agree that shouting down a person who is not involved in hate speech is wrong, these comments go too far and show that Pelosi and Hoyer just don't get it. The people doing the shouting for the most part are just as frustrated as Pelosi and Hoyer. They are just on the opposite side of the issue. Pelosi and Hoyer give the impression that anyone who is not for their legislation is not just misinformed or wrong, but has evil intentions. This attitude will not help them to sway many hearts or minds.

Biking Update - August 8, 2009

This post is a bit late, because I was out of the habit of the weekly biking updates. Last week was vacation, and I chose to include the weekly update in my "things to skip while away". But the accountability of this is very important to my weight-loss and fitness plan. It is easy to lie to yourself. It is hard to lie to a blog audience to whom you have to show your weight-loss graph every week.

It was a great week for biking, while down in New Jersey. I biked every day that we were not traveling (traveling days generally were impractical for biking, because of early wake-ups and early check-outs or late check-ins). I racked up 107.55 miles on the bicycle while we were away! (Plus, 43 miles on the boardwalk walked in Wildwood.) That was between 10 and 18 miles a day, every day. And it was worth it on multiple levels. First, the exploration was great - I saw a lot of wildlife (rabbits, terns, geese, herons, etc.), learned new things about places we had been visiting for years (Wildwood Crest has a wildlife preserve!), and felt the freedom of the road every day (stress melted away). Second, because I was burning so many extra calories while away, I saw very little jump in my weight, despite having pretty much whatever I wanted to eat. I started the vacation at 208 lbs, and ended it at 209.8 lbs. After french fries, motz sticks, and cheese steaks all week! I never did indulge in sugar, though, as it appears my body doesn't crave it the way it used to. I was going to have ice cream while on the boardwalk, but was never in the mood.

Of course, there were costs of going from 20 miles biked per week to 150 miles biked and walked. My knee has been very sore since I got back, and I have small blisters in a number of places on my feet. So, I have been taking it fairly easy on the exercise this week to let the body heal and my diet return to "normal." Because of that, I saw a slight bump up in weight over the course of this week, but it all came back down to lighter than when I left on Friday (207.2 lbs). I am still chasing the elusive 205 lbs, and we'll see how that works out in the coming months.

This next week should be interesting as I get back into the swing of exercising every day. Hoping to have a bike ride today with CRChair, and then ride to church tomorrow on my own. And who knows what the upcoming evenings will offer in terms of weather and conditions. But it was a wonderful vacation, and I feel truly ready to return to "normality", refreshed and raring to go. (Actually, went back to work last week to an incredibly tense week, but still feel refreshed even today.)

Depositing a check via the iPhone's camera

It is not widely known amongst consumers, but a law called "Check 21" went into effect October 28, 2004. This law essentially eliminates the use of paper checks between banking institutions - all checks are now scanned and turned into images which allow faster processing and exchange of checking info. It also means that consumers can now scan their own checks and upload them for processing, assuming your bank supports the feature.

Hat tip to @RobFay for discovering an article about a bank taking Check 21 to its next logical step. They are allowing customers to upload checks by taking a picture with their iPhone camera! This was impractical with the camera on the original iPhone, but the iPhone 3GS's 3.2 megapixel camera is more than up for the task! And supposedly a Blackberry app is on the way, as well.

Keep an eye out. Mobile technology like this will be transforming the way you bank before you know it!

The Waitress Index

I struggled with whether this fit the "family-friendly" nature of Mod-Blog, but finally decided it was permissible and too funny not to post. One reporter has a theory about a way to track the health of the economy - the beauty of waitresses.

The indicator I prefer is the Hot Waitress Index: The hotter the waitresses, the weaker the economy. In flush times, there is a robust market for hotness. Selling everything from condos to premium vodka is enhanced by proximity to pretty young people (of both sexes) who get paid for providing this service. That leaves more-punishing work, like waiting tables, to those with less striking genetic gifts. But not anymore.

A waitress at one Lower East Side club described to me what happened there: “They slowly let the boys go, then the less attractive girls, and then these hot girls appeared out of nowhere. All in the hope of bringing in more business. The managers even admitted it.

We had an alternate "index" while down in Wildwood - the "local employment indicator". Normally, shore towns can not get enough locals to fill open positions, so they recruit from overseas - Russians, Irish, Australians, etc. looking for a fun summer in America. But this year, there were very few accents to be heard on the boardwalk, indicating Americans were looking for even the long, hot hours of hawking water gun races on the boardwalk.

Gas Prices

Gas Prices
Originally uploaded by nomad7674.

Relativity, Here We Come!

Happy Birthday Mr. President

Happy birthday President Obama. I may not always agree with your policies, but I do hope you have a happy and healthy year.

Google CEO Steps Down from Apple Board of Directors

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has stepped down from the board of directors at Apple. The basic reason being given is that as Google begins to compete more and more with Apple, Schmidt will be forced to recuse himself from more and more meetings of the board at Apple. So it is now practical to have him on the board anymore. It never seemed to make sense to have him on the board, so this is probably a good choice for everyone.

Resetting your Sleep Clock

While our vacation this year stayed exclusively in Eastern Standard Time, I know that a number of Mod-Bloggers have to switch between time zones as they visit friends and family. So, they may be interested to learn about a new study which claims it is possible to reset your sleep clock in a single night. What is the secret? Fasting!

Simply stop eating during the 12-16 hour period before you want to be awake. Once you start eating again, your internal clock will be reset as though it is the start of a new day. Your body will consider the time you break your fast as your new "morning."

For example, if you want to start waking up at 2:00 am, you should start fasting between 10:00 am or 2:00 pm the previous day, and don't break your fast until you wake up at 2:00 am. Make sure you eat a nice healthy meal to jumpstart your system.

This could be invaluable to frequent travelers, and infrequent travelers with a desperate need to stay awake at a wedding. :-)

Irony vs Critics of Universal Health Care

While I tend to lean Right, we here at Mod-Blog try to show both sides of the argument. So, I was glad to find this comic which I think does a pretty good job of using humor (irony) to show the fallacies of some of the knee-jerk arguments from the right wing. That is not say I agree with it, of course. :-)

The Nomad's Wanderings

The Nomad has been wandering in southern New Jersey for the last week, but returns to his home tent today. If you'd like to browse some of the photos from his travels, click on the image below.

The Electron has been Split!

If you ask a modern quantum physicist, he or she will tell you that there are two indivisible kinds of particles - quarks and electrons. Get anywhere smaller than these two particles and you're into a energy soup defined by E=mC^2 that Einstein talked about. An electron, we were always taught, is a "fundamental" particle.

Turns out, it is not so fundamental.

A team from the Universities of Cambridge and Birmingham have successfully split the electron into two separate particles - one which holds the electron's charge and one which holds its magnetic spin. They have been named holons and spinons. The split only occurs when electrons are forced into tight proximity that overcomes their natural electromagnetic repulsion.

This has the potential to transform how we see the world around us, and could have huge implications for quantum computing and nanoscale technologies.