Money and politics

I was going to post these two items separately, but then I thought... Money and Politics - they go hand in hand.
Money>
I found this post the other day on NPR (national public radio). I've heard Dave Barry's name mentioned several times in the past, and I know he has a book or two out there, but I am unfamiliar with his work. After reading this excerpt by him regarding money, I will have to keep an eye out for this book. I learned a bit about this whole "dollar bill" thing a while ago, and after hearing the logic behind our monetary system, I admit I'm still a bit shell shocked. His one line about those of us who have a stash of Beef Jerky and Guns are the only one's who are truly wealthy rings a bell, as I still have a stash of fresh water under my sink, and a bag of Beef Jerky (though I'll probably eat that soon - and I don't own any guns - unless toy guns count).
It's a bit long to read on a webpage, but check it out... Both funny and scary.

I'd love to go into the conspiracy theories regarding the "eye in the pyramid" on the back of the dollar, but that's another post in itself.

Politics>
I came upon this link via my good old standard boingboing. Maybe I'm dating myself here, but this bit about a "text adventure" was pretty funny. I remember getting some books that were "text adventures" then on my glorious commodore 64 I had a text adventure of the "hitch hikers guide to the galaxy." Anyway, check out this link if you are familiar with text adventures... http://www.defectiveyeti.com/archives/001561.html
(note: one curse word - not appropriate for children).
Oh... The topic... It starts off with:

Iraqi Invasion: A Text Misadventure
Revision 88 / Serial number 54892

Oval Office
You are standing inside a White House, having just been elected to the presidency of the United States. You knew Scalia would pull through for you.

There is a large desk here, along with a few chairs and couches. The presidential seal is in the middle of the room and there is a full-length mirror upon the wall.

What do you want to do now?

creepy crawlies

I found this info today on the web, talking about 27 NEW species discovered in some caves in California. It's incredible to think about new species of animals (insects) being discovered in our modern times, and in a populated area like California of all places. If you told me there was a new bug discovered in the jungles of the Amazon, that wouldn't shock me as much. Here's a link talking about the new species and the study that took about 3 years...
http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/ap_060118_cave_critters.html

On a semi related note, this idea of finding new species reminded me of a post I saw a few weeks back on boingboing. It was a technique used to "stabilize" the famous "Zapruder" film of the assassination of JFK. It is a pretty cool technique and really does make a difference to the shaky footage. Well, someone used this same technique to un-shake-ify the famous footage of bigfoot walking away.

I was really interested in bigfoot and Nessie back when I was a kid... it was probably my first introduction to "alternative viewpoints" regarding the scientific community. At one point, I thought that's what I wanted to be when I grew up... someone who would travel the world looking for undiscovered (or "imaginary" animals)... a "cryptozoologist" if you will. :)
Anway, check out the link on the insects in the cave for some 'edumacation' then click on over to this link to see the bigfoot footage (it's a strange gif file that takes some time to load in your browser be patient). By the way... All these years I thought bigfoot was a "He" check out this footage and tell me if you think it's a "She"!
If you are interested, here's the link to the stabilized Zapruder film - Warning it's not edited and is not for the squeamish. (you'll need quicktime to view it)

Trunk Monkey

A friend just showed me these videos on google video... short and kinda funny :)
Trunk Monkey

Baseball stats

I remember reading about this issue several years ago (2?)... I had watched a DVD where a woman (a bluegrass singer who loved baseball) had on this neat little pager like device that would instantly update the score (and I think when someone was on base). I thought this would make a good present for my Bro-in-law who is a big baseball fan. When I went on the internet to try to find one for sale, I soon discovered that the devices were "outlawed". Apparently the MLB league sued the company that produced these pager devices under a copyright violation. They claimed that the scores (as they were being played) were considered copyrightable material. In general, numbers or statistics are NOT copyrightable. But because of the deep pockets and better lawyers, the MLB won the case, and shut down these pager companies. Today, I found this small article on the web that talks about the MLB possibly shooting itself in the foot with their claims. Read the article here on Techdirt. I don't know how I feel about this, but I really think the MLB has overstepped it's bounds. On the one hand I understand their argument, that it's a form of broadcasting copyrighted material, but on the other hand, I don't think they would loose any money from this venture if a third-party broadcast live score updates. Just another example of Corporatocracy.

Martin Luther King Jr

I am sitting here at work (did not have the day off) and was listening to NPR radio, and they did a spot on MLK day... They mentioned something that I had never heard of before... Today is supposed to be a "Day of Service". I just googled it, and sure enough, there is an official MLK website and they have a tag line "Make it a day on, Not a day off" (needs work in my opinion).
So, since I'm stuck here at work, I thought I would blog this message as my way of doing a service, to educate others about this.

I was Tagged - now you have been too

I checked my sister's blog the other day and saw that I was one of the lucky four to be tagged... So I'm keeping the ball rolling:
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Four jobs I've Had in My Life:
> Bakery helper
> Carpenter
> Land Surveyor
> Graphic Arts

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over, and Have
I don't like watching movies more than once... but...
> Weird Science
> Real Genius
> Lord of the Rings (all three)
> Any Abbott and Costello


Four Places I have Lived
> House
> Apartment
> Tent
> Hospital

Four TV Shows I Love to Watch
> The Daily Show
> MythBusters
> Survivor - a guilty pleasure
> America's Test Kitchen

Four Places I have been on Vacation
> Cancun, Mexico
> Bay Area, California
> Upstate NY
> Myrtle Beach, SC

Four Websites I Visit Daily
> Blanket in the Grove
> BoingBoing
> Makezine
> Google

Four Favorite Foods
> Sautéed Scallops in a balsamic Vinegar reduction with spinach
> Spaghetti with white clam sauce
> Mushroom Cheesesteaks with Fried Onions
> Hoagies

Four Places I would Rather Be Right Now
> Sleeping in bed
> In a tree
> On a mountain
> By a lake

People I tag (to do this next)
> Lady Arden
> HimThatWas
> DRD (if he had a blog ;) Perhaps a guest spot?
> Any one else that reads this
(let me know if you do - and no tag backs)

Ugliest Shoes ever...

[update: 7/26/08: Sadly the link I've listed below has been pulled. If you are interested, here's an updated instructable (with a slightly nice result).]

I've stumbled upon this idea on the web a few times in the past and it always strikes me as a good idea, but after seeing a photo of them, these have got to be the ugliest things ever - though they are almost crossing over that line of ugly to cool. Even so, it's a good idea and I like the fact that they are homemade and recycled old tires. The how-to article is funny to read also... http://www.instructables.com/
I wonder if there are other materials that these could be used for... Cardboard? Disposable cardboard "shoes" that could be used once then recycled... Leather? Sort of a crude moccasin? A sheet of silicon? squishy but might be really comfortable? Other?

By the way, the instructables.com is a cool website, you never know quite what you'll find.