Wustlog

Forever Young?

2006-11-27T20:03:00.000-06:00

Humans will never die by 2020.

Reading the article I got a song by Alphaville (pictured here) stuck in my head, and if I have it in mine, you'll have it in yours!

Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever, forever and ever

A recent Nature Article discussing Nanotech Risks.

An Apple nut

2006-11-18T15:33:00.000-06:00

Here's a funny read. About that Apple...

Sony subsidizing PS3

2006-11-16T20:36:00.000-06:00

At losses of up to $307 per machine, Sony is losing more than twice as much money per console as Microsoft did when it subsidized the Xbox 360. Link

So has anyone seen the new PS3 yet? Or the Wii?

Donkey Kong!

2006-11-06T19:37:00.000-06:00

France is proud of its contribution to culture in such forms as existentialism, Impressionism and auteur films. Now the French culture minister wants to add Donkey Kong to his country’s pantheon of high art.

The EULA for Vista

2006-10-30T19:08:00.000-06:00

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/29/microsoft_vista_eula_analysis/
I'd hate to perpetuate the "Anti-Windows" sentiment here, but I read this and thought it was interesting.

NOW WITH WORKING LINKS!

Transition complete

2006-10-28T17:03:00.000-05:00

Hey, we're now using the new system. I sent invites to the addresses that you used to register for Blogger (those were the ones listed under the blog settings...and most easily copy/pasted!). Post a comment if you're having any problems.

Wustlog moving to blogger beta

2006-10-28T15:57:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone,

It's time to switch Wustlog over to the new Blogger beta. Here are some reasons why.

But! In order to do so, I need to remove all of you as contributors, switch to the new version, then re-add everyone. So if you're wondering why you can't post, you will need to use your Google account login from now on. I will try to re-add everyone who posted in the last 6 months, but if I forgot you and you'd like to be on, just let me know.

Scary stories

2006-10-26T20:07:00.000-05:00

Puhlease

2006-10-25T18:00:00.000-05:00

Cardinals pitcher Jeff Suppan is apparently against embryonic stem cell research in Missouri, which is a shame, considering one of the top academic research centers in the country is in St. Louis.

People posing as moralists, like Suppan, are only promoting ignorance and condemning thousands of others to further suffering. It's reprehensible, at best.

Turbine on a Chip

2006-10-24T22:27:00.000-05:00

Engine on a chip

Scientists at MIT are close to putting together the pieces of a miniature gas-turbine engine with hopes that it could replace today's battery technology and be used to power laptops and cell phones in the future.

IE 7 released (updated)

2006-10-24T15:44:00.000-05:00

IE 7 was released last week. At long last they added tabs, though I think their implementation is a bit lackluster (i.e., why can't the tab bar disappear when there's only one tab open?!). Any other first impressions?

Here is the download site.

UPDATE 10.25.06

Here's an interesting discussion of IE7, Microsoft's first significant upgrade to IE since 2001, and Firefox 2.0, which was released today. My favorite quote:

And I'm still fascinated by one question: If Firefox had never cut sharply into IE’s market share, would Microsoft ever have gotten around to bringing its browser into the modern age?

Duke Scientists Lay Claim to ‘Invisibility Cloak’

2006-10-23T19:07:00.000-05:00

It's all working according to plan....
On the down side, I guess Johnny's vision of seeing "Rain penis" like he did in Hollow Man 1 will never come to fruition.

Finite Simple Group (of Order Two)

2006-10-19T14:27:00.000-05:00

For those who have had enough math to appreciate it...

Why micropumps are cool!

2006-10-17T19:20:00.000-05:00

Portable 'lab on a chip' could speed blood tests.

Why I Want to Join the Secret Service

2006-10-15T12:43:00.000-05:00

By DON THOMPSON

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Upset by the war in Iraq, Julia Wilson (pictured to the right) vented her frustrations with President Bush last spring on her Web page on MySpace.com. She posted a picture of the president, scrawled "Kill Bush" across the top and drew a dagger stabbing his outstretched hand.

She later replaced her page on the social-networking site after learning in her eighth-grade history class that such threats are a federal offense. It was too late. Federal authorities had found the page and placed Wilson on their checklist. They finally reached her this week in her molecular biology class. The 14-year-old freshman was taken out of class Wednesday and questioned for about 15 minutes by two Secret Service agents. The incident has upset her parents, who said the agents should have included them when they questioned their daughter.

On Friday, the teenager said the agents' questioning led her to tears.
"I wasn't dangerous. I mean, look at what's (stenciled) on my backpack - it's a heart. I'm a very peace-loving person," said Wilson, an honor student who describes herself as politically passionate. "I'm against the war in Iraq. I'm not going to kill the president." Her mother, Kirstie Wilson, said two agents showed up at the family's home Wednesday afternoon, questioned her and promised to return once her daughter was home from school. After they left, Kirstie Wilson sent a text message to her daughter's cell phone, telling her to come straight home: "There are two men from the secret service that want to talk with you. Apparently you made some death threats against president bush." "Are you serious!?!? omg. Am I in a lot of trouble?" her daughter responded.

Moments later, Kirstie Wilson received another text message from her daughter saying agents had pulled her out of class. Julia Wilson said the agents threatened her by saying she could be sent to juvenile hall for making the threat. "They yelled at me a lot," she said. "They were unnecessarily mean." Spokesmen for the Secret Service in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., said they could not comment on the case. Wilson and her parents said the agents were justified in questioning her over her MySpace.com posting. But they said they believe agents went too far by not waiting until she was out of school.

They also said the agents should have more quickly figured out they weren't dealing with a real danger. Ultimately, the agents told the teen they would delete her investigation file. Assistant Principal Paul Belluomini said the agents gave him the impression the girl's mother knew they were planning to question her daughter at school. There is no legal requirement that parents be notified. "This has been an ongoing problem," said Ann Brick, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in San Francisco. Former Govs. Pete Wilson and Gray Davis vetoed bills that would have required that parents give consent or be present when their children are questioned at school by law enforcement officers. A similar bill this year cleared the state Senate but died in the Assembly. Julia Wilson plans to post a new MySpace.com page, this one devoted to organizing other students to protest the Iraq war. "I decided today I think I will because it (the questioning) went too far," she said.

Straight up gangsta!

2006-10-15T01:39:00.000-05:00

Ok, I had to post this picture

North Korea and how to learn English in a vacuum

2006-10-10T14:43:00.000-05:00

Take a look at North Korea's announcement, via the Korean Central News Agency, of yesterday's test explosion:

The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and technology 100%. It marks a historic event, as it greatly encouraged and pleased the Korean People's Army and people that had wished to have powerful self-reliant defense capability.

And how about this snippet, issued last week, criticizing Japan for:

...extra-large crimes of human rights abuses

And other somewhat amusing quotes...

The US imperialist robbers have stretched their crooked tentacle of crime-woven aggression with wild ambition.

the above quote went on to say American's will

meet the fate of forlorn wandering spirits

Apparently, enemies of the state are described as "human scum", with one North Korean defector described as a

dirty and silly guy

Fighting words if I've ever seen them.

Here's the original story from NPR.

Times is changing

2006-10-09T23:54:00.000-05:00

Kim Jong-Il, everyone's beloved maniacal dictator, tested a nuclear bomb this morning, and this lady would have us all believe the world's a warmer happier place for it!

Don't know what you've got, til it's gone.....

2006-10-02T23:14:00.000-05:00

Youtube Doomed?

Better enjoy it while it lasts, because it might be gone soon.....

Ramadan: Time of Reflection and Blowing Shit Up

2006-10-01T23:22:00.000-05:00

Ah, the fall...a beautiful time of year, really. Unfortunately chased by the harsh and often long winter months, fall is a time of enjoying crisp breezes and long strolls through leaf covered streets. Hot chocolate becomes drinkable again, and so on. Fall also brings the holy month of Ramadan, an occasion SO sacred, nobody would dare blow up another man's car and shoot at his home. 'Cept that guy up there. But is that color-coordinated felon really acting alone? No. As it happens, Smith & Wesson weren't the only ones helping to destroy the sanctity of this holy month...burning cars, grenades, and mobs of riotous people ran amok. For all the details, try this on for size: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20061002/D8KG73SG0.html

Interesting Article

2006-09-28T22:28:00.001-05:00

Sweet Article

“There are tools where they build a world in a bottle. They put down every single mosque, river, camel, and school in, say, Saudi Arabia. Then they have millions of software agents who each have desires, grievances, all these different variables. They go about their little lives and then you ask a question: What if we build a McDonald’s in Mecca? Does this lead to more people joining terrorist groups or not?”

—Gary Ackerman, Director of the Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies

It's 5 pages long, but it's worth reading

Moment of Zen

2006-09-27T00:28:00.000-05:00

Here we see an intrepid Word user who, having achieved a kind of Nirvana, having delicately balanced yin and yang to allow perfect resonance of elegance and functionality, was likely overcome by the beauty of his interface and unable to mar it by writing even a single word. Instead we see only the cursor, alone, blinking to the sound of the universe: aum...

Bite-sized stats trivia

2006-09-19T02:09:00.000-05:00

Wustlog has existed for 287 days. During that time we've averaged slightly more than 0.75 posts per day, or roughly 5.4 posts per week.

Um, if I think of anything else to add it'll come later.

Universal knows how to win fans

2006-09-15T21:18:00.000-05:00

Universal trying to kill Youtube?

Why the picture of the Hot Dogs? I dunno, you got something better?

Gotta love revisionist history!

2006-09-01T12:21:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting article about the Chinese cutting out some of the nastier aspects of their history. Funny how that works, eh?

When high school students in Shanghai crack their history textbooks this fall they may be in for a surprise. The new standard world history text drops wars, dynasties and Communist revolutions in favor of colorful tutorials on economics, technology, social customs and globalization.

Socialism has been reduced to a single, short chapter in the senior high school history course. Chinese Communism before the economic reform that began in 1979 is covered in a sentence. The text mentions Mao only once — in a chapter on etiquette.

The new text mentions Mao only once? But he was such a loveable figure!

PS3 to Cure Cancer?

2006-08-29T22:39:00.000-05:00

PS3 to help cure cancer?

Web culture rocks

2006-08-29T18:32:00.000-05:00

Here is the article.

Here is the video.

EIGHT months ago a mysterious image showed up on YouTube, the video-sharing site that now shows more than 100 million videos a day. A sinewy figure in a swimming-pool-blue T-shirt, his eyes obscured by a beige baseball cap, was playing electric guitar. Sun poured through the window behind him; he played in a yellow haze. The video was called simply “guitar.” A black-and-white title card gave the performer’s name as funtwo.

Welcome to the Dark Ages

2006-08-27T23:37:00.000-05:00

Silly popes and bishops, open your eyes! Open your minds! Stop brainwashing your carefully herded masses to follow your perverse edicts. Stop impeding progress and get a life! You're not helping people, you're hindering humanity, and there is nothing but shame and backwardness in that.

iPod Killer?

2006-08-25T18:42:00.000-05:00

Read about Zune.
Stupid name? Probably
Does it look as cool as the iPod? Probably not
The features do look promising though.

All your snakes are belong to us. Wait what?

2006-08-19T21:32:00.000-05:00

Snakes on a plane, despite the mighty gaffaw by movie critics, seems to be kicking a bit of ass. Perhaps that's because everyone went into the movie expecting B-movie glory. Another possibility is the significant internet cult following, which has hit such a high as to bring us a most splendid union...behold...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihAoSwQqo44

An adventurer is you!

2006-08-15T21:00:00.000-05:00

Check out Kingdom of Loathing, a satirical and irreverent but nonetheless rather involved online browser-based RPG. You get approximately 40 turns per day, the number of which can be augmented by drinking booze (with eventual detrimental effects), eating food etc.

Currently I'm playing as a Disco Bandit, but there are 6 character classes, including Seal Clubbers, Turtle Tamers, and Pastamancers... More info here

Let me know if anyone creates a character

Dell laptop explosions

2006-08-14T18:17:00.000-05:00

This is a bit concerning.

From the NYT:

Dell is recalling 4.1 million notebook computer batteries because they could erupt in flames, the company said yesterday. It will be the largest safety recall in the history of the consumer electronics industry, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said.

The recalled batteries were used in 2.7 million Dell computers sold in the United States and 1.4 million sold overseas. The total is about 18 percent of Dell’s notebook production during the period in question.

Depending on how many of the batteries are still in use, the cost of the recall could exceed $300 million. Dell refused to estimate the cost, but said the recall would not materially affect its profits. Sony, which affirmed yesterday that its batteries were responsible, said it was “financially supporting” Dell in the recall.

Yay Kansas

2006-08-10T15:53:00.000-05:00

It's really disgusting to see the continual abuse and demonization of science and rational thought in America, courtesy of Bush, his administration, and his fundamentalist "base". But kudos to Kansas, whose board of education inspired Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, for actually snapping out of it and coming back to their senses!!!

From New Scientist:

Rueful creationists in the Midwest last week could have echoed Dorothy's "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore". Not the Kansas they had made, anyway.

In a state primary election on 1 August, voters ousted two school board members who opposed teaching evolution. One of them, Connie Morris, a former teacher, has described evolution as "a nice bedtime story".

Funny, I would have thought Connie's story of a miraculous 7-day creation would be the bedtime story.

Morris lost to Sally Cauble, a teacher favouring the teaching of evolution.

...and my faith in humanity was slightly restored.

The result guarantees that the state school board will swing in January 2007 from one that opposes the teaching of evolution to one on which it has majority support. "The people of Kansas are tired of being the laughing stock of not just the nation, but the world," says Janet Waugh, a pro-evolution school board member who won her primary.

Great news!

Better than a Brat

2006-08-06T22:17:00.000-05:00

Raw is the only way to go.

POLL!

2006-08-05T22:56:00.000-05:00

Kobayashi Eats 58 Brats

This brings up the question, who is the greatest athlete of our generation?

Pic of the week

2006-08-01T22:30:00.000-05:00

Horray for comcast! At last I can once again post worthless blog shit in a non-work setting!

As usual, I think my pic speaks for itself...

You have 1 new pneumail

2006-07-29T15:37:00.000-05:00

In case you haven't seen this yet...

Praying Made Easy

2006-07-25T00:21:00.000-05:00

If you're like me, praying can be a real bitch. My prayer success rate is surely less than 100%, and because of this it's tough to decide when I should count on my prayers being answered, or when I should just get off the couch and make sure the cat has food myself. Luckily, there's a new product out that guarantees results.

Total confusion

2006-07-20T20:38:00.000-05:00

They're heroes in a half-shell, and they're green

I'm so confused I don't know what to think. I'm most likely terrified, but then I remember Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, and take solace that nothing could possibly be worse than that.

Addendum:

Stem cell bill vetoed by Bush

2006-07-19T02:07:00.000-05:00

When, Mr. Bush, will you stop using your personal beliefs to veto science? How much longer must we suffer the imposition of your "morality" which stagnates, even reverses progress? How much more ignorance must we tolerate at the hands of George W. Bush?!

You do all future generations a great disservice. And to what end?!?!

Expletives could never convey my anger.

Woe are we

2006-07-15T03:42:00.000-05:00

Previously classified videos of the most awesomely destructive device humans have yet devised are now being made available to the public. Yes I am talking about tests of the atomic bomb. [This post is a pointer to this other post.]

Delicious squarewave goodness

2006-07-11T21:20:00.000-05:00

For the mac users out there, a free plugin is available allowing creation of 8-bit, original Nintendo-style songs in Garageband or Logic. This post is dedicated to Leeeebs, who has been known to custom program his cellphone ringer to play classic video game tunes.

Some thoughts for both sides...

2006-07-11T19:58:00.000-05:00

Here's an article from the latest issue of New Scientist. Whether you agree or not it's interesting stuff.

Don't pit science against religion

THE popular debate about intelligent design has, I am happy to say, discredited fundamentalists who want to censor science for religious reasons. It has also exposed pseudo-scientific organisations such as the Discovery Institute for what they are. Nevertheless, in pitching misguided evangelicals against the scientific community, it has had one negative effect: it has encouraged scientists to counter-attack by criticising religious faith in general.

Such attacks are nothing new. One of the more outspoken scientific opponents of religion, physicist Steven Weinberg of the University of Texas at Austin, has said: "There are good people, and bad people. Good people do good things, and bad people do bad things. When good people do bad things, it is religion." It was a brilliant sound bite, but one of Weinberg's less vituperative statements is more instructive: "Science does not make it impossible to believe in God. It just makes it possible to not believe in God." His point is that before the advent of modern science, all natural phenomena were viewed as miraculous, for want of any better explanation.

I agree with Weinberg that science has made it possible to dismiss God, and this, I believe, lies at the heart of efforts by religious fundamentalists to censor science in schools. However, the first sentence of his quote is equally significant. Questions and assertions about design and purpose lie outside the realm of science so long as these things cannot be empirically tested. Thus, science may never make it impossible to believe in God, even if we ultimately develop a scientific understanding of all phenomena right back to the beginning of time.

This point was well made by the Belgian priest and physicist Georges Lemaître, who was the first to demonstrate that Einstein's theory of general relativity predicted a big bang. When Pope Pius XII interpreted his result as a validation of Genesis, Lemaître countered that this was inappropriate. The big bang, he said, was a scientific theory that could be tested. Anyone choosing to use it to validate their belief in God, or as evidence that God is irrelevant, is doing so from their own religious convictions, and not from science.

There is a lesson for all scientists here. I know from experience that the great successes of our scientific exploration of the universe can tempt us to dismiss anything other than scientific understanding as of secondary importance. But spirituality, and with it religious faith, is deeply ingrained in human culture, and many people rely on their religious convictions to make sense of life. Whatever one's personal views about religion, it is undeniable that scientific understanding alone does not encompass the range of the human intellectual experience.

Scientists who fail to appreciate this, and who attack religious beliefs for being unscientific, do their discipline a disservice, not least because such attacks are themselves unscientific. This is why, while I am sympathetic with many of the points he raises, I disagree with Richard Dawkins's unfettered attack on God. Not only is it inappropriate to try to convince people of the validity of scientific theories by first arguing that their deeply held beliefs are silly, it is also clear that the existence of God is a metaphysical question which is, for the most part, outside the domain of science. Now more than ever it is important to understand the limits of science. The phrase often used to defend aspects of evolution has particular significance here: the absence of evidence is not evidence for absence.

This is not to say that all theological interpretations are beyond scientific criticism. A fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible is in clear violation of physical evidence. The Earth is not 10,000 years old; the presently observable universe was not created in seven days; the sun did not stand still in the ancient sky. Scientists can help explain why these literal interpretations of the Bible are not consistent pillars on which to build a faith - at least for anyone who rides in cars, flies in planes or uses any other technologies that rely on the same laws of nature that tell us why these things are incompatible with the universe in which we live.

Yet scientists go too far when they attack more generally any belief in divine purpose. From a strategic point of view it's a waste of energy. It plays into the hands of those who claim that the scientific method itself is akin to atheism, and it weakens any efforts to speak out against those groups who regularly distort scientific education in the name of religion, preferring to promote ignorance rather than risk any threat to the faith of their flock. To counter these threats we need to argue compellingly that people of faith are ill served by ignorance, rather than argue that faith and ignorance are synonymous.

Hawking: How to survive the next 100 years?

2006-07-09T16:13:00.000-05:00

Stephen Hawking recently posed a question on Yahoo Answers: "How can the human race survive the next 100 years?"

It's an interesting question, but the goofball answers being posted in response are the best part.

Here are a few gems (which have NOT been edited for spelling or grammar):

So? who is Stephan Hawking? I say the human race WILL survive, will you take my word for that?

well he's a very smart person of are time but I don't think he can tell tell fortunes but maybe he's right global warming is a hot topic right now

people change therfore so will the future

Don't worry! When things get really bad the rapture will happen. Then the apocalypse. Then moving into space and stuff won't really matter, because all the sinners will be dead.

Vote V in '08

2006-07-07T21:36:00.000-05:00

Pic of the week

2006-07-06T12:55:00.000-05:00

props to Sam for finding it...

Very punny, Mr. Jackson

2006-07-05T13:07:00.000-05:00

only one more month

North Korea fires 6 missiles

2006-07-04T23:20:00.000-05:00

As related by an earlier post, the North had taken essentially irreversible steps toward test launching their new Taepodong 2 missiles. Today they finally launched them.

Team Evil black T-shirt (omg!!1!)

2006-07-03T08:26:00.000-05:00

Johnny's had team evil t-shirts on cafepress for awhile, but I recently formatted/cleaned up the file so it could be on a black shirt.

That's right, Team Evil t-shirts are now available in BLACK at cafepress!

www.cafepress.com/evilfrisbee

Happy Friday!

2006-06-23T09:29:00.000-05:00

Pic o' the week

GREAT SCOTT!

2006-06-20T20:13:00.000-05:00

Want to build your own Flux Capacitor??? Now you can! Just by going here you can access schematics and instructions for use which I have included below....

Instructions for Use of Temporal Flux Generator:

With batteries installed,
Depress switch for 3 to 4 seconds,
Release for 3 to 4 seconds;
Repeat as necessary.

IMPORTANT!

Point transducer output toward the person or thing you want changed.

That thing, such as a clock or piece of shelving, Will begin oscillating
between past and future.

Depending on which side of time you catch it on, depending also on the periods
of switch on/off, and direction pointed, _CREATES_ action, derived from
oscillating time.

DANGER! _Do_ _Not_ point at yourself For any appreciable amount of cycles.
DAMAGE to your time detection circuits may occur, Damaging your overall
sanity.

You may in the course of activation, meet yourself. Do not panic; Be
reassured that if you know yourself, Only one of you will survive.

The generator is more powerful during Nighttime.

If directed toward yourself at night, do not be surprised if you cannot
sleep.

However, try to sleep. The process of sleep reintegrates yourself. If at all
possible, "SLEEP!"

Daytime may bring observations of being darker than day usually is.

Direct Sunlight Radiation is good for burning off disintegration, But
communication of time travel existence Is an affect that others may not
believe or can comprehend.

Being with others has a balancing effect; So does poetry.

< several philosophical pages omitted >

Ahh summertime... love is missiles are in the air

2006-06-18T19:13:00.000-05:00

It will be interesting to see whether Kim Jong-Il does in fact test launch the North's new Taepodong 2 missile.

North Korea appears to have completed fueling of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States, American officials said today, a move that greatly increases the probability that Pyongyang will actually go ahead with a launch.

... Fueling a missile is generally considered close to an irreversible step, since it is very hard to siphon fuel back out.

...experts say there are two main reasons why the North Korean regime might launch a missile right now.

For one thing, the country's military may well want to verify their missile capability. It has almost eight years since the last missile launch, which occurred in August 1998, and "it may well be that Kim Jong Il is getting a lot of pressure from his generals to verify the design" of the Taepodong 2 missile, said Robert Einhorn, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former assistant secretary of state for nonproliferation under President Bill Clinton.

But, he added, "whenever the North Koreans act up, one has to assume in part at least that they are trying to get the world's attention."

...North Korea has boycotted the talks in recent months after the United States cracked down on financial institutions, including a bank in Macau, that dealt with the government in Pyongyang and with North Korean companies suspected of counterfeiting American dollars and laundering money. If North Korea goes ahead with a missile launching, the already floundering talks would likely go into a deep freeze.

Relive the glory days, part II

2006-06-15T10:12:00.000-05:00

Tony alerted me to these. Too bad he's a lazy mug who won't post anything, even when other people may benefit, where "benefit" is defined as being entertained, being informed, or otherwise being distracted from what they were supposed to be doing.

Paperboy

Tetris

Relive the Glory Days

2006-06-15T00:20:00.000-05:00

Goldeneye Live-Action

w00t.

Heeeeere's Reality........

2006-06-11T23:44:00.000-05:00

What an excellent example of the kind of thing the cartoons below (June 10th) are based on. (Thanks to Tony for the link.)

It's probably worthwhile to read the entire article, but if you're into brevity just watch the video and peruse the selected quotes below...

In 2002, Dr. Hager got a call from the Bush White House asking him to serve on the FDA advisory committee charged with reviewing Plan B’s over-the-counter application along with two other anti-abortion-rights physicians. But when Hager argued against Plan B at committee meetings, he didn’t talk about abortion.

He raised moral questions ... speculated about an increase in sexually-transmitted diseases "I’m saying that it is possible that with the use of Plan B the individual may put herself at greater risk," he says.

But the advisory panel reviewed 40 studies that refuted his objections and showed that Plan B does not lead to more cases of sexually transmitted disease, or more risky sexual behavior.

Even Dr. Hager admits Plan B is totally safe. The FDA says there have been no deaths, no heart attacks, no strokes and no evidence of misuse or abuse.

...

So, with Plan B mired in the abortion debate, the FDA advisory committee took its vote on recommending whether it should be sold over the counter.

Dr. Hager voted “no.” But his colleagues on the committee rejected his arguments, voting 23 to four in favor of offering the drug over the counter.

Such a lop-sided vote should have meant the application would sail through. But then the saga of Plan B took a strange turn.

Dr. Hager says someone at the FDA — he won’t say who — asked him to write a “minority report” in which he asked for more studies and more data on the use of Plan B by young girls.

A few months later something totally unexpected happened: The FDA ignored the committee’s overwhelming vote and rejected the proposal to sell Plan B over the counter, citing the very concerns in Hager’s report.

Some people believe Hager raised these objections because of his religious beliefs, but that’s something he denies. “The religious aspect did not enter into that decision for me,” he says.

Is he kidding?!

But in to a speech he gave to a Christian college, he seemed to admit his role was all about religion. "God has used me to stand in the breach for the cause of the kingdom," Hager said at the time.

He was talking about Plan B.

"But I argued it from a scientific perspective. And God took that information and He used it through this minority report to influence a decision. You don't have to wave your bible to have an effect as a Christian in the public arena," Hager told the audience.

Hager says he did not mean to suggest that God wanted Plan B to fail, and that he was His instrument. "I thought that God used me, He'd used my individual gifts of, whatever, in an individual way to be able to express my opinion."

Science Idol contest to mock Bush's ignorance and manipulation of science

2006-06-10T17:11:00.000-05:00

Here is the contest.

And here are a few professional examples: (click to enlarge)

Johnny, you should enter!!

"Rodeohead"

2006-06-06T00:35:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what to make of this... Brace yourselves.

Snake On A Plane

2006-06-05T12:01:00.000-05:00

Fo' Realz.

The next step was to radio for emergency landing clearance.

"They came back and asked me what my problem was. I told them I had one hand full of snake and the other hand full of plane. They cleared me in."

WWFSMD?

2006-06-03T22:32:00.000-05:00

What carbohydrate-based religion is complete without its own holy book?
May you be touched by His noodly appendage. Ramen.

From the site:

I have decided that all proceeds from the upcoming FSM book will go towards the pirate ship fund. By purchasing the book, you are not only fighting religious discrimination, but you are directly contributing to the purchase of the FSM missionary pirate ship, and thereby helping the environment.

I suspect they will find it harder to ignore us when we have the pirate ship, with cannons, etc.

Google Analytics p0wnz Wustlog

2006-06-01T22:46:00.000-05:00

At long, lonnnng last: my request for access to Google Analytics has been processed, marking an entirely new era of Google service whoredom.

Look for more interesting and complete site statistics coming soon, if you even care.

Binge a bit?

2006-06-01T18:18:00.000-05:00

I got a kick out of this, especially the parenthetical definition of 'plastered', as if we didn't know.....

Oozinator

2006-05-31T21:02:00.000-05:00

Excuse me???

7/6c tonight

2006-05-29T13:42:00.000-05:00

What will I be doing at 7/6c tonight? I'll be watching ABC Family.

Karate Dog

I saw the trailer and cried a little...

Sippin' on some hydrogen

2006-05-27T12:53:00.000-05:00

Oh the Places You'll Go....

2006-05-22T23:51:00.000-05:00

The Funky Fab Door Curtain has been to Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas. Where will it go next? Perhaps Oklahoma then Oregon? My goal is to have the Door Curtain rotate among our group, and hit most of the states before eventually being returned to Jeremiah. Thoughts? Foolish goal? Has it been anywhere else?

Announcement

2006-05-16T19:44:00.000-05:00

For those of you interested in an eclectic review of current science, or if you're looking for the latest (and sometimes strangest) patents, I'd highly recommend the two newest blogs added at right.

In particular, I'd like to point out this post.

Toothdriver, please

2006-05-15T23:22:00.000-05:00

I always knew Britons were stereotyped as having poor dental health/hygiene. But... wow.

More than 60 percent of Britons use items such as screwdrivers, scissors and earrings to remove food from between their teeth, according to a survey published on Friday.

Welcome to The World As We Know It

2006-05-11T17:46:00.000-05:00

Since time immemorial the Nukak-Makú have lived a Stone Age life, roaming across hundreds of miles of isolated and pristine [Colombian] Amazon jungle, killing monkeys with blowguns and scouring the forest floor for berries.

But recently, and rather mysteriously, a group of nearly 80 wandered out of the wilderness, half-naked, a gaggle of children and pet monkeys in tow, and declared themselves ready to join the modern world.

The Nukak have no concept of money, of property, of the role of government, or even of the existence of a country called Colombia. They ask whether the planes that fly overhead are moving on some sort of invisible road.

Wow.

This one's for you, J

2006-05-09T10:58:00.000-05:00

Sword cane + Wal-mart parking lot + old lady = awesome

THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE

Slap away your stress

2006-05-08T20:47:00.000-05:00

The Economist writes:

Two Shanghainese entrepreneurs are offering themselves as verbal and physical punch-bags to frustrated office workers. Fed up with your boss? Underpaid? The founders of Wantong Ltd certainly hope so. Chen Jun and Zhang Li are offering Shanghainese a novel service: for 100 yuan they will lend a listening ear; for another 20 yuan you can give them a slap (although this service is only available to women). Wantong Ltd is not doing any official marketing, but relying on word-of-mouth exposure to attract new customers. In the first few weeks of operations, they welcomed five clients: two merely wanted to talk; two were happy with insults; one opted to slap.

Yay

2006-05-05T18:19:00.000-05:00

Saw this on Penny Arcade, thought you guys might enjoy this.

FINALLY!

2006-05-04T01:15:00.000-05:00

The razor that fits MY needs

The Oozinator

2006-05-03T21:55:00.000-05:00

Ah, the sweet summer days, they seemed to mean so much more back when we were children. Today, America's increasingly obese youth lies complacent even on the most beautiful of summer days. But there is hope! A new toy is in town, and kids are pouring back into the streets and the sunlight, eager to blind both friend and enemy with a highly-pressurized jet stream from the latest creation of the super soaker... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXC7qZ_iWgM&feature=Views&amp;page=1&t=t&f=b

An Oldie, But Goodie

2006-05-02T00:44:00.001-05:00

Soy Sauce

thanks to ben for the reminder

He's Not Bitter

2006-05-01T10:46:00.000-05:00

Every Breath Bernanke Takes

In case you don't know who the man singing is here is a synopsis of the video from the New York Times Dealbook...

After Alan Greenspan announced he would retire, the chattering classes floated a select few names as his possible replacements. Though the job went to Ben S. Bernanke, one of the top contenders was Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia Business School and former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. Based on a recent comedy sketch by Columbia Business School students, however, it appears Mr. Hubbard hasn’t gotten over his snub. Weird Al Yankovic may have some new competition.

In-between or outside?

2006-04-27T22:59:00.000-05:00

Wii wha?

2006-04-27T13:37:00.000-05:00

This post is mine! I call it! Right, I'll put up a fancy graphic later, but for those whose only source of news and culture is Wustlog, Nintendo has just (about an hour ago) announced the name of its new console: the Wii.

I'll let that sink in.

Wii.

Thank you nintendo.

I added this picture of Nintendo's CEO so you know what he looks like when you meet him on the street and beat some sense into him with your Wii controller.

A long-expected party

2006-04-26T22:07:00.000-05:00

Who wants a car that gets 150 MPG?

2006-04-25T00:41:00.000-05:00

1300 km per tank

Only $13,000, it doesn't look too bad.

Comment if you love the Earth and think this car is the best thing ever.
Comment if you own a large oil company and want more SUV's on the road.

Dogs are stupid

2006-04-20T13:02:00.000-05:00

Add this to the list of things that I feel terrible for laughing about but do anyway.

stupid dog video

Ironic Deaths

2006-04-18T20:34:00.000-05:00

Just for fun, if each of our friends died an ironic death, how would that individual die? Dictionary.com defines irony to be: A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect.

So, have fun, and leave a comment.

Pirate ninjas!! (More correctly: pirate kung-fu masters)

2006-04-16T00:36:00.000-05:00

More about China and the West and intellectual property and Google and censorship and kungfu and pirates-versus-ninjas and really, realllly cheap DVDs.

The one phrase you hear very little of whenever China's economic potential is discussed is 'intellectual property'. This is because China is world champion in every branch of piracy known to man. I don't think there's a CD, DVD, computer game or software package that is not illicitly available for a dollar or two in virtually every town in China.

The reasoning is simple: even if the Chinese wished to respect intellectual property (a big 'if'), they simply could not do it. This is because IP requires a culture of laws and adherence to them, plus an infrastructure of courts, legal services and all the other paraphernalia of litigation and enforcement. Neither the culture nor the legal infrastructure exists in China, and it will take decades to build. Even if China's rulers wanted to transform their territory into a society which respected intellectual property, they simply could not do it on any realistic timescale.

Yet another evolution-related post

2006-04-14T20:54:00.000-05:00

From a list of myths about evolution...

We owe a great deal — indeed, literally everything — to evolution, and yet never have so many said and written so much about something they understood so poorly. Not that evolution is all that difficult to understand. Rather, so many people have such strong feelings about it, often connected to so many regrettable stock phrases, that clear thought has often been obscured. This is especially unfortunate in today's intellectual — or, more to the point, anti-intellectual — climate, with the Bush administration persistently seeking to trump science with ideology.

...

Unlike theology, with which creationists are more familiar, science is founded on ideas, discovery, testing, and refinement rather than on presumably inerrant doctrines of faith. Disputes about the details of evolutionary fine-tuning, far from undermining the validity of evolution, are testimony to the vitality of the whole enterprise, since any worthwhile science raises more questions than it answers. Accordingly there is uncertainty as to whether evolution always proceeds gradually or is punctuated by occasional bursts of change, but no question that it proceeds, and that it does so by the accumulation of genetic modifications.

Are there really so many bigoted ideologues in America that we want, as our president, a bigoted ideologue?!?! (Apparently yes.) Argh.

Apple's Boot Camp is so last week

2006-04-14T18:24:00.000-05:00

Why? Because it's been obsoleted by Parallels Workstation. Unlike Boot Camp, you have to pay for this software. But it allows you to run any OS that will work on Intel processors.

Yes, that's XP you see.

If you choose Windows, then by golly, you're in Windows. You can install and run your favorite Windows programs — speech recognition, business software, even games — and, incredibly, they run as fast and well as they ever did.

Correction: they run faster than they ever did. Most people comment that an Intel Mac runs Windows faster than any PC they've ever owned. And if the Windows side ever gets bogged down with viruses and spyware, you can flip into Mac OS X and keep right on being productive.

Parallels, like Boot Camp, requires that you supply your own copy of Windows. But here's the cool part: with Parallels, unlike Boot Camp, it doesn't have to be XP. It can be any version, all the way back to Windows 3.1 — or even Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, OS/2 or MS-DOS. All of this is made possible by a feature of Intel's Core Duo chips (called virtualization) that's expressly designed for running multiple operating systems simultaneously.

In the finished version, the company says, you'll be able to work in several operating systems at once. What the heck — install Windows XP three times. If one becomes virus-ridden, you can just delete it and smile.

Goooooogle Calendar

2006-04-13T11:09:00.000-05:00

Here

But I'm still waiting for Google Spreadsheet, then I can avoid buying Office for the rest of my life! Or, at least put it off for another month..

I'm also waiting for something from Google to leave the Beta Stage......

Interesting Study...

2006-04-13T00:54:00.000-05:00

I don't know about the rest of you, but when I want to read the results of a scientific study, I first check out the Wustlog. Here's one that could be relevant to our, and our children's generation.

Link

A MIG in every garage

2006-04-12T11:51:00.000-05:00

From the Economist:

Strange things can turn up at Hong Kong's container port, one of the busiest in the world. On April 3rd local customs officials announced they had confiscated a military aircraft on its way through the port. Following an investigation, customs officials reported that the aircraft—the guns and engine of which had been dismantled prior to shipment—had arrived from Ukraine and was bound for America. There was no evidence of smuggling or other criminal activity, but the plane lacked a proper import licence. RTHK, a government-owned broadcaster, reported that the plane was a Russian-built MIG-29, a formidable cold war-era fighter jet flown by many countries.

The discovery has raised questions about Hong Kong’s port security, even though the port is fully compliant with stringent procedures enforced by America after September 11th 2001. This was not the first time officials have come upon military hardware at the city's Kwai Chung port. In the early hours of March 30th 2000, customs officers literally stumbled across five Soviet-built armoured personnel carriers unloaded on the docks, which may have been en route to North Korea via mainland China. These vehicles then became playground equipment at some of the city's drug rehabilitation and training centres. But what the city will do with the fighter jet is anyone's guess.

It's sugar fizz-water to you, bub

2006-04-10T15:33:00.000-05:00

I'm sure everyone has had coke-vs-soda-vs-pop argument before - it seems to be the de-facto discussion any group of people from far-flung (enough hyphens yet? I think so too) portions of the country have when they get together and start talking. Well, someone has gone and catalogued it state-by-state, county-by-county (more hyphens!). "Soda" seems to be prevalent on the coasts and, oddly, in St. Louis and Chicago. Must be a Democrat thing.

For San Francisco, free citywide Wi-Fi from Google & EarthLink

2006-04-08T20:05:00.000-05:00

This would be so sweet.

Pandora and the Music Genome Project

2006-04-08T13:07:00.000-05:00

Lately I've really been enjoying Pandora. (By "lately" I mean since this morning when I first tried it.)

Here's an excerpt from the FAQ:

Q: How do you decide what to play?

We take your input (artists, songs) and feedback ("I like this", "I don't like this") and use the Music Genome Project to create stations that play songs that are musically similar to what you've told us. That's it; only the music counts. We don't care how popular the artist is, who's backing them, and we don't care which genre bin they usually belong in. Only the music matters.

Q: How many stations can I maintain?

You can have up to 100 stations at any one time. Once you reach the maximum number of stations, you have to delete a station before you can add another one.

Q: When I give song feedback ("I really like this", "I don't like this") what happens?

The playlist that drives your station is immediately changed to take into account your preferences. The songs that play from that point on will change to reflect what you've told us about your musical tastes. This feedback will only affect your current station.

Special thanks to Shannon for telling me about this site.

Obese sex machines

2006-04-08T12:37:00.001-05:00

You're fat, lazy, and only the prospect of mating can propel you into action. But that's just fine - as long as you're an African mole rat. Your fellow colony members will even toil to support you.

They found that the industrious mole rats performed more than 95 per cent of the total work of the colony. The lazy mole rats built up their fat stores, placing a double burden on the colony - doing virtually no work, but requiring more food (Nature, vol 440, p 795).

Just one thing gets the lazy mole rats going. In the wet season, when the soil is moist and soft, they go into overdrive, digging burrows to help them strike out and reproduce, possibly mating with other colonies or even founding colonies of their own.

On life support....

2006-04-06T01:21:00.000-05:00

South Park wins Peabody Award

Primitive animation is part of the charm of TV's boldest, most politically incorrect satirical series. Its simple style also makes possible the show's unmatched topicality.

POLL!!!!!

2006-04-04T11:25:00.000-05:00

April fool's jokes

2006-04-01T20:36:00.000-06:00

An overwhelmingly long list of April fool's jokes/hoaxes on internet.

For the Mad Scientist in All of Us...

2006-04-01T16:25:00.000-06:00

Just in case you're wondering..

More movie talk

2006-03-31T13:06:00.000-06:00

A lot of what goes on here seems to be movie talk (and I'm not innocent of instigating such discussions) but while our attentions were directed at Snakes On a Plane, another movie with serious cult potential, Slither, has just been released in theaters. You've probably seen the ads: alien slugs gross people out and then kill them. You probably wrote it off as another gross-out horror-comedy; I know I did. However, it has garnered a NINETY PERCENT on Rotten Tomatoes so far. I think that makes it the best reviewed movie the whole year. Y'all can make of that what you want, but I, frankly, am astounded.

OMG!!1 SNAKES IN A CAR LOLZ!

2006-03-31T12:52:00.000-06:00

SO HAEV U GUYS H3ARD OF THIS AEWSOM3 NU MOVEI SNAEKS ON A PLAEN?!!!!?!!1!!?!!?!!1!!!!1 OMG WTF ITS SOO RIDICULOUS HOW DO THEY THINK OF THIS STUF????!?!!???!!! OMG ANYWAY HERAS A REAL LIEF VARSION ONLY THEIR IN A CAR SNAEKS IN A CAR??!???!11111!!!?!??1!!11

ROFLCOPTER!1

What's New Pussycat?

2006-03-31T10:46:00.001-06:00

Meow?

Excerpts from Violent Cat Story

Connecticut house cat is in the dog house, accused of terrorizing a Fairfield neighborhood. Officials are now taking drastic measures to prevent the ferocious feline from striking again.

Let's read on, shall we...

Lewis was quarantined at least three times by Animal Control officers, but officials said the most recent attack was the final straw. The victim's bite wounds and scratches so severe, she had to be treated at a local hospital.

I could see Mike's cat losing it one day and attacking the people around him....

Cisero is now fighting reckless endangerment charges. Even the local Avon lady, attacked last year, has filed a lawsuit against the family in Superior Court.

I didn't know attacking Avon Women was a crime.....

Congratulations to Mr. Ballmer on his well-behaved children!

2006-03-28T14:57:00.000-06:00

Excerpt from a Fortune interview with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer...

FORTUNE: Do you have an iPod?

Ballmer: No, I do not. Nor do my children. My children--in many dimensions they're as poorly behaved as many other children, but at least on this dimension I've got my kids brainwashed: You don't use Google, and you don't use an iPod.

If Johnny Made a Movie

2006-03-28T02:37:00.000-06:00

IT would look a little like this, "The Greatest Fight Scene of All Time. Period."

What are your thoughts on living forever?
	I love it, I must never die!
	I've seen the Matrix, I've read Prey, those damn computers don't fool me......
	I don't believe it.
	I haven't thought about it.
	I don't care.
	Leave me alone.
	Other!

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