Thy Glorious Car Spiro Agnew Drew

Saturday May 17, 2014  Frost warning last night.  Today I wore sandals.

I saw one college-age man who was shirtless.   (But no shirtless women

***Comments of Comment:

Keith Lynch 5/17/14:  "Charles ?@NONPROGRAMMABLE  10 Technologies You Will be Witnessing In The Near Future
http://zite.to/1nwB9ig"

10. Artificial Gills
Fish can only get by because they need much less oxygen than mammals.

Also, some water has very little oxygen.  Especially water that's comfortably warm.  Will this thing give some kind of low-oxygen warning?  Does it have an air tank as a backup?

Speaking of air, breathing pure oxygen is dangerous, especially underwater where the pressure is higher.  Does this thing also extract appropriate amounts of nitrogen from the water?

8. Sunscreen Pills
The idea of sunscreen is to stop the UV before it hits and damages your skin.  How can anything inside you possibly do that?

7. Paper-Thin, Flexible Computers and Phones
Pads, sure, but how would you hold a paper-thin phone?  If it's flexible, wouldn't it crumple up?  And if it isn't flexible, wouldn't it cut you?

6. Tooth Regeneration
Better than implants only if it's cheaper than implants.

4. Real-Time Google Earth
including real-time Google Street View? :-)

What's the resolution of the thing?  Unless it's impossibly high, how would you zoom in?  Wouldn't you need a separate camera for each simultaneous user?

If it's to be mounted on ISS, as is suggested, what happens when ISS is deorbited?  Last I heard, plans were to do so in about a decade. Possibly much sooner if the Russians take their marbles and go home, as they're threatening to.

3. Wireless Electricity
Tesla had that.  Too bad it has such low efficiency, and that it jams the whole radio spectrum and screws with pacemakers, etc.

2. Ultra-High Speed Tube Trains
Maglev, at 4000 miles per hour?  Pikers.  Make it 18,000 miles per hour and they won't need maglev.  You'd be in orbit at ground level.

If weightlessness tends to bother passengers, bring back the maglev and speed it up to 25,000 miles per hour.  They'd experience 1G again. And could watch the scenery going by upside down.

Just don't let terrorists anywhere near the thing.  If someone breaks the vacuum, the train will burn up like a meteor.

1. Sustainable Fusion Reactor
Thirty years away, just as it always has been.

"ProPublica   A haunting #longreads about a heroine addict struggling to get clean:"

I'm not addicted to heroines.  Nor to heroes.  I can give those novels up anytime I want.

"Top 10 Baby Names for 2013 Source: Social Security Administration Boys Noah ..."

That's disturbing.  Maybe I'd better get one of those artificial gills just in case.

Jette Goldie 5/17/14:  I dunno what you guys have against those poor wee birdies.  What did a Snipe ever do to you that you have to hunt it?  ;-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snipe

***From Twitter:

Dan Goodman ‏@dsgood:  Hello. My name is Harry Potter. You killed my parents. Prepare to die. #MASHUP

Dan Goodman ‏@dsgood: Harry, I am your parents.

Science fiction ‏@Scienfiction:  These Were The First Female Astronauts In Science Fiction - io9 http://dlvr.it/5hsmlY

Beware of Masochists Who Follow the Golden Rule

Wednesday May 14, 2014  Mayo Clinic trial: Massive blast of measles vaccine wipes out cancer 
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/259155541.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue

*** To Waite House for NAPS (Nutritional Assistance Program For Seniors) package and produce distribution.

***Comments of Comment:

Denny Lien, May 14 2014: "Retweeted by Molly Ball
Mike Memoli ‏@mikememoli: To Dem charge that select cmte is a 'witch hunt,' Rep. Pete Sessions says: 'That must mean that there's a witch somewhere.'"

What opinion has he re snipe hunts?  Or heffalumps?

Keith Lynch, May 14 2014: "MPR News \342\200\217@MPRnews:  News Cut:  Why your new TV may soon be worthless  http://mprne.ws/2GufN7"

  It has already been determined that ATSC 3.0 will not be backward-compatible with the current standard, so TV sets in existence today will not work with it.

 "TV Technology said the government is not likely to fund any sort of conversion box as it did when it mandated broadcasters begin transmitting with digital signals.  'Consumers then will have to  either buy a new TV or subscribe to some type of subscription pay-TV or OTT service,' it said."

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  Consumers will get the worst treatment they're willing to put up with.  And government is, of course, not on their side.

I'd like to see all ATSC 3.0 content providers go bankrupt, as nobody buys their incompatible content.  Further, I'd like to see everyone with a recent TV that stops working return it to the store and demand a full refund.  And to take the case to court if the store refuses.

Also see the comments at that URL.  (You may need to use wget to get past the "403 Forbidden" error.  ATSC is not the only incompatible thing around.)

***From Twitter:

Jennifer Ouellette ‏@JenLucPiquant:  Quantum twist could kill off the multiverse: a fresh way of looking at random motions known as quantum fluctuations.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22229692.600-quantum-twist-could-kill-off-the-multiverse.html …

David Brauer ‏@dbrauer:  Now called "City Council" #ikidbecauseilove RT @smckenzie21: Downtown Minneapolis once home to eccentric zoo http://www.journalmpls.com/voices-feed/downtown-minneapolis-once-home-to-eccentric-zoo … #mpls

Giant Freakin Robot ‏@GFRobot:  Yes, Pope Francis said he would baptize aliens. Find out the details here:
http://bit.ly/1lAVG4S  pic.twitter.com/IxhzUyEhJs

Sometimes the Dragon Deserves to Win

Saturday May 10, 2014:  From Twitter:

Charles ‏@THEANGRYGUMBALL 10 Technologies You Will be Witnessing In The Near Future http://zite.to/1nwB9ig

ProPublica ‏@ProPublica A haunting #longreads about a heroine addict struggling to get clean: http://propub.ca/1qnqcV3  v @nytimes

***From Full Text Reports:

 Just Arrived! Top 10 Baby Names for 2013

Posted: 09 May 2014 01:56 PM PDT
Top 10 Baby Names for 2013 Source: Social Security Administration Boys Noah Liam Jacob Mason William Ethan Michael Alexander Jayden Daniel Girls Sophia Emma Olivia Isabella Ava Mia Emily Abigail Madison Elizabeth Filed under: children and families, lists and rankings, Social Security Administration
[Original source http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/]

***Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
     Subject:      Re: Blood of the young mouse

JB:  <<we have the scientific explanation for the existence of vampires>>
WB:  Because they practice safe sucks. We should learn from this.

Black is the Color of My True Love's Waffle

Friday May 9, 2014   To Community Emergency Service for the Friday food giveaway.  

***Black Coffee and Waffles (formerly Muddsuckers Coffee) seems to have more customers than before.   A higher percentage are college age.   This may change when the current U of MN semester ends.

Note:  They have black coffee, but not black waffles.

***Subject: Notice to appear in court
From: AUSTRALIAN LOTTERY INC <doniyk2002@yahoo.com>
Date: 05/09/2014 09:20 AM
To: undisclosed recipients: ;

Notice to appear in court

Hereby you are notified that you have been scheduled to appear for your hearing that will take place in the court of Richmond in May 20, 2014 at 09:00 am.

Please bring all documents and witnesses relating to this case with you to court on your hearing date.
Please, download the copy of the court notice attached herewith to read the details.
Note: he case may be heard by the judge in your absence if you do not come.

Yours truly,
Marryna Gimenez
Clerk to the Court.

***From sciencedaily.com:

Journal Reference:   V.S. Ramachandran, Elizabeth Seckel. Synesthetic colors induced by graphemes that have not been consciously perceived. Neurocase, 2014; 1 DOI: 10.1080/13554794.2014.890728

Taylor & Francis. "Experiencing letters as colors: New insights into synesthesia." ScienceDaily, 9 May 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140509074122.htm>.

***From Twitter:

Dan Goodman ‏@dsgood:  What would you do if your IQ increased 50 points?

Dan Goodman ‏@dsgood:  What would you do if granted immunity from prosecution for any crimes?

Nancy Man ‏@nancycc:  A few more female #babyname debuts: Pistol, Epic, Prim, Rarity, Charlemagne, L'wren, Quora, Sierraleone, Zeppelin. http://www.nancy.cc/2014/05/09/girl-name-debuts-2013/ …

Nancy Man ‏@nancycc:  The boy name debuts! Kitai, Oaks, Prometheus, Power, Warrior, Jaxper, Machiavelli, Relic, Subaru... http://www.nancy.cc/2014/05/09/boys-name-debuts-2013/ … #babynames

Eric W. Dolan ‏@EWDolan:  KY Gov. Beshear ’s lawyers: Banning marriage equality would protect our economy http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/09/ky-gov-beshears-lawyers-banning-marriage-equality-would-protect-our-economy/ …

Thursday May 8, 2014  How vague can a news story get?   The Minnesota Daily had a piece on planned improvements to Southeast Library -- my local public library.   Solid information?   There are plans to plan.

***Adult Children Anonymous meeting.   Useful.

***Comment I made on Charlie Stross's blog:

Surely it's obvious that our universe is merely the debris from the destruction of a larger and more complex universe.

****From Twitter:

Dan Goodman ‏@dsgood:  .@UrsulaV I think everyone should read sf from five billion years ago.

Retweeted by Lillian Cohen-Moore
Sarah Cypher ‏@threepenny:  The emerging genre of Middle Eastern science fiction is starting to get noticed. So much possibility here. http://ow.ly/wCstR

MPR News ‏@MPRnews:  News Cut: Why your new TV may soon be worthless http://mprne.ws/2GufN7

Science fiction ‏@Scienfiction:  Free presentation reveals how to turn her on & get her out with just 3 simple texts -spon http://dlvr.it/5cQNS3
[Science fiction references:   Olaf Stapledon, Odd John.   George Turner, Brain Child.]

Retweeted by Molly Ball
Mike Memoli ‏@mikememoli: To Dem charge that select cmte is a "witch hunt," Rep. Pete Sessions says: "That must mean that there's a witch somewhere."