Just another political flash cartoon, again.

Funny Clips of Morons

Cat Fan:
http://www.moronland.com/media/videos/catfan2.wmv

Heliboat:
http://www.moronland.com/media/videos/TowJob.wmv

Counter-Strike at McDonalds
http://www.moronland.com/media/videos/csmac.wmv

Mastercard Commercial
http://www.moronland.com/media/videos/mastercard.asf

A typical day back in Utica, NY is like after a snow storm:
http://www.moronland.com/media/videos/snow_car2.wmv
It is one of the few things I'm happy about being here in warmer weather.

Here are links to some of my pictures from back east.

Pictures of my niece: Catlin Marie Andrus
catlin1.jpg
catlin2.jpg
catlin3.jpg
catlin4.jpg
catlin5.jpg
catlin6.jpg
catlin7.jpg
catlin8.jpg
catlin9.jpg
catlin10.jpg
catlin11.jpg
catlin12.jpg
catlin13.jpg

Short AVI Video of my niece:
http://www.cs.sunyit.edu/~andrusw/private/NYTrip%20020.avi

Pics of my brother's dog:
Tdog1
Tdog2

Pic of Southside Pudgies the best Pizza anywhere:
http://www.cs.sunyit.edu/~andrusw/private/pudgies.jpg
Order a sheet pizza with peperoni and meat sauce or try the pudgie's special selection.

Geeks abuse computers more then non-geeks.

"Rage Against the Machines"
Technology Review (12/24/04); Delio, Michelle

"Kent Norman, cognitive psychologist and director of the University of Maryland's Laboratory for Automation Psychology and Decision Processes, studies how technology users vent their frustration at the systems they work with, often by hurling verbal abuse at the machinery, and sometimes by physically attacking it in creative ways. A three-year online survey conducted by Norman reveals that most respondents are fairly competent technically, leading the psychologist to conclude that "Geeks have real problems with technology designed by other geeks." Previous survey statistics have influenced Norman's assessment that approximately 10 percent of all new computers and tech equipment given as gifts over the winter holidays will suffer serious damage over the next few weeks as a result of user rage, with most of the damage inflicted by non-technical owners. Norman believes geeks will demonstrate even more venom in their technological torture. He observes that "Geeks have as many or more frustrations than the rest of the population because we attempt to push the technology harder and have higher expectations than most," and cites one report of an owner who poured two gallons of gasoline over his PC and set it ablaze. Other unique forms of tech torture survey respondents have admitted to include crashing cars into equipment, tossing keyboards into swimming pools, and shooting computers. Norman sees psychological value in destroying machinery creatively, a hobby he practices in earnest at his lab, which is stocked with over 20 years' worth of surplus and obsolete gear. Norman documents the equipment's destruction on video and distributes the films online in the hopes that frustrated computer owners will get a vicarious thrill rather than actually damaging their own equipment--or at least be inspired by the videos to practice safe and effective tech torture."

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/12/wo_delio122404.asp?p=1

Illegal coping of books made easier now, score another one for college students.

"Scientists Hope to End Book-Breaking Work"
NewsFactor Network (12/17/04); Martin, Mike

"One of the frustrations of copying material in books is the risk of damaging their spines by flattening the books against the copier's scanning surface so as to avoid warped and poorly illuminated text that may inhibit clear reading. To counter this problem, Xerox researchers Beilei Xu and Robert Loce have inexpensively refined the software of common scanners by embedding a mathematical formula that compensates for disparities in distance from the platen along a bound book page. This removes the distortion of words running along the page's center as well as eliminates darker copy sections where the page is bound to the book. Xu says the updated copier software calculates the distance of the book from the scanning surface for every page pixel by employing the same light the scanners beam and analyze. Xu and Loce detailed their new scanning technology at last month's 5th International Conference on Imaging Science and Hard Copy. City College of New York computer science professor George Wolberg notes that Google intends to make major library collections available over the Internet, an effort that will involve the digitization of scores of books. 'Any book-scanning technology must address digital correction of warped pages of text,' he says".

http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=Scientists-Hope-To-End-Book-Breaking-Work&story_id=29147

Here are some interesting video clips:

Japanesse Soccer Tornado:
http://www.askmen.com/video/2004_dec/dec22_japan_tornado.html

Spelling Bee Kid Faints:
http://www.askmen.com/video/2004_dec/dec20_spelling_bee.html

850,000 firecrackers at once
http://www.askmen.com/video/2004_dec/dec26_fire_crackers.html

Coming Back tomorrow

I should be on a plane coming back to Cali tomorrow.

Vacation Update

I'm here in Elmira, NY visting family. The trip here took longer then expected with long lines at LAX and snow storm delays at Clevland, OH. I've seen my niece (Caylie Marie Andrus) she is officially 1 week old today. Visited family and my moms computer was broken, I'm assuming the video card. My brother also got a free computer which has been updated a little from old parts that I had. It just now needs a better video card and graphics card.

I have pictures and will upload them once I'm back in CALI or I if I visit my friends house with road runner speed.

Going to NY for a week..

so there might not be any blog posting, at least not as often. Like anyone really reads all this shit I post and my constant babbling. So here is a link of Elmira, NY where I grew up after moving there from Long Beach, CA back in 1988.

http://www.ci.elmira.ny.us/index/index.html

Its going to be weird flying from 80 degree weather to 32 degrees, but I will enjoy the cold and the snow. I'm weird like that. :)

Interesting: LEGO Monty Python Scene

It's a slow news and technology day (in my opinion) so here is a scene acted out with lego men from Monty Python

http://www.askmen.com/video/current/index.html

Parents Television Council's Worst TV Clip of the Week

Ok so I was looking at another Long Beach blogger and he showed a clip of South's Park episode from last week in which the PTC was showing as the worst clip of the week. I thought it would be nice for me to check up on the website from now on and link the worst clip of the week. So here it is...

http://www.parentstv.org/PTC/clips/Ryan%20Murphy%205-28-04%20Bravo%20(Sex%20in%20the%20Box).wmv

"Nip/Tuck Creator Ryan Murphy talks about his future goals 'Hopefully I have made it possible for somebody on broadcast television to do a rear-entry scene in three years. Maybe that will be my legacy.' on the Bravo documentary Sex in the Box (warning: graphic content)"

The Matrix using our bodies not to far in the future?

"Ecobot Eats Dead Flies for Fuel"
Wired News (12/15/04); Sandhana, Lakshmi

"The Ecobot II robot developed by University of the West of England professors Chris Melhuish and John Greenman uses microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to convert organic matter--specifically, dead flies and rotten apples--into electricity. Machines such as Ecobot II are an early step toward the ultimate goal of a self-sustaining, self-powering robot that can function for years without human assistance. The MFCs comprising the Ecobot's "guts" contain microbes normally found in sewage that break down raw food into sugars, and the cells take in oxygen from the air to generate useful biochemical energy that is turned into electricity. Ecobot II manages a peak speed of roughly two to four centimeters every 15 minutes, an act requiring the consumption of eight flies; it currently takes about one to two weeks for the machine to extract approximately 90 percent of the energy contained in three to four flies, although the research team is working to shrink that interval down to a few days. MFC-driven robots are idle most of the time while they power up, and fuel cell performance and longevity are still easily outmatched by standard alkaline batteries. "Until today, the maximum open circuit voltage of a microbial fuel cell is not more than 0.75 volts and that goes down in current production, which is not enough to power most of the electronics, including many handheld devices," notes University of Massachusetts professor Swades K. Chaudhuri. "However, with further discovery of a novel bug that can quickly oxidize organic material or by modifying existing bugs genetically there may be a way to enhance power output." As more powerful fuel cells emerge, the Ecobot could be equipped with sensors that allow the device to detect the presence of food, or use pheromones to attract flies."

Full Article: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,66036,00.html

I know people are scared of matrix like concepts, well don't be afraid the Matrix is not real. ;) Now go back to your daily routine. Muhahahahaha

I'm a uncle now..

well my brother, Mike, and his girlfriend -- Whitney had a daughter on December 15, 2004. The babies name is Caitlyn. Well I guess my job of being the uncle is to spoil the little girl as often as possible. I'm thinking once I get a nice job I will set up some college fund for her, that way she would be able to go to a good college that is over priced around $30,000 a year. About time she is grown up to go to college it would probably cost about $50,000.

University Jaume I researchers working on project to improve video game realism

"A group of researchers from the Department of Computer Languages and Systems at the Universitat Jaume I is taking part in a project to improve realism in video games. The goal is to design software that makes the task of game programmers easier so that they can create more credible environments without having to carry out complex operations. The research, which has received financial help of 1,649,000 euros from the European Commission and is to last for 33 months, involves 11 other members from Spanish and European universities, and from companies from this sector.

So far, game design has not presented any special difficulties for companies because the techniques used have been somewhat rudimentary. Nowadays, however, the need to improve video game realism requires more complex applications. The UJI and the other universities involved will work on turning the complex formulas already existing in the laboratory into usable programs that will improve the degree of realism in three basic aspects: geometry, lighting and visibility.

Our idea is to develop the technology that was used in very complex workstations so that it is immediately accessible on PCs or on low cost platforms, explains Miguel Chover, responsible for the project at the UJI. Our objective is to create software so that video game programmers can simplify their tasks and work with more complex models and more realistic lighting techniques without having to develop their own algorithms. That is, what we do is a sort of algorithms bookstore, added Chover."

Full Article: http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/information_technology/report-37666.html

This reminds me of the movie revolution to allow producers to develop cheap independent films on their computer (mainly Apple) with special effects. Imagine in about 10 years we will have a ton of independent video games with today's quality being sold widely. Of course video gaming should have changed a lot by then.

Need some ideas for gift for the Holidays?

Well I figure I would give some links to some weird or interesting places to buy gifts from.

http://www.bustedtees.com/
http://www.jinx.com/scripts/products.asp?catID=1&affID=-1
http://www.thinkgeek.com/
http://www.wonderfullywacky.com/index.htm

"Intelligence Platform at AI Conference"

"Intelligence Platform at AI Conference"
Scoop (NZ) (12/10/04)

"Next week will mark the launch of the NeuroComputing Environment for Evolving Intelligence (NeuCom2004) software platform for commercial and educational use at the Neurocomputing and Evolving Intelligence conference. NeuCom is the brainchild of the Auckland University of Technology's Knowledge Engineering and Discovery Research Institute (KEDRI), and KEDRI director Nik Kasabov classifies the platform as an evolving intelligence (EI) system based on his team's hypotheses and techniques of evolving connectionist systems (ECOS). Kasabov explains that EI systems "learn and improve incrementally starting with little knowledge and develop over time." NeuCom incorporates over 60 data analysis, data visualization, data mining, classification, forecasting, optimization, modeling and rule discovery, decision support, image processing, and information integration methods; the system runs on all Windows- or Linux-based computer platforms, and its application has been mapped out for education and for constructing intelligent systems in bioinformatics, business data analysis, adaptive control, medical decision support, and agriculture, among other areas. NeuCom is comprised of ECOS modules, some of which are being used for projects such as SIFTWARE, a gene expression data analysis system currently being employed experimentally by Pacific Edge Biotechnology. Another project that uses ECOS is a renal function evaluation system designed to provide an explanation for impaired kidney function. Kasabov says the system "is always adaptable, trainable on new data and extracts rules that help medical professionals give an accurate, personalized prognosis."


This concept is basically putting a whole lot of concepts together into one use.
It is basically bringing together the visual learning, and rule learning concepts with Reinforcement Learning to develop what sounds to be a fast learning machine. I just wonder how much storage would be needed, but with storage getting cheaper and larger --this isn't a big concern in the future.

Flashback: My swimming experience

Ok so I have been going to the gym lately and started swimming every other day. It is harder then I remember. So I figure for this blog post I will discuss the high and low of swimming from my past.

Well I was never the best swimmer or the worst; I was usually in the middle. Our team at Elmira Southside in New York was always losers, even though we had some excellent star swimmers. We had on average about 10 swimmers a year. If you ever seen a swim team, you'll know this is barely enough. When facing a star school like Horseheads High school we would get slaughtered by their second half of their team made up of freshman and sophomores. We would be sitting there on our benches when they come in and they would fill up all of our visitor benches and the area where we stored the kickboards. I would say about 40 swimmers. I remind you that’s half of their team!!


--So let the swimming begin--

When I said we had some excellent star swimmers, I wasn't lying. We had a fast sprinter, great butter flyers, and a great breast stroker, two great divers, and I wasn't to bad at being a back stroker myself.

The first race I believe was the 200 relays. (That’s 4 people doing 50m crawl). We would usually get 1st place. Being a small team sometimes that's all we could put in is one relay, so we would get 6 points for first. The other team would get 4 points for 2nd, 3 points for 3rd, 2 points for 4th = 9 points. Even though we got first we are now losing after the first race by 3 points. This happens every race, we slowly lose points and next thing we know we have a score like 40 SHS vs. 116 other team. (I don’t actually remember any actual score)

We would usually get first in the 200 relays, 200-medley relay, diving, 100-breast stroke, 100 fly, and 100 free.

I personally would usually get 2nd in 100 back.

--My swimming woes—

Any day that we had a swimming meet, I would get these terrible knots in my stomach from being nervous. The nervousness was not because of the swimming meet itself, but the idea that I might be swimming the 500m that day.

The 500 meters is a 20 lap race, which would get you so tire of almost drowning and your body would turn red with the heat generated from your body. The pool was usually around 75 degrees, very cold water, after swimming the 500 it would almost feel like a sauna.

I dreaded the 500-meter race not just this alone; usually afterward I would have to swim the next event. So I would have no energy left to swim the next race, which was a sprint. I just don’t remember what the event was.

--My event, the 100-meter backstroke—

I would either get 1st or 2nd in this event. This stroke just comes naturally for me. I would unfortunately be slow. My time was about 1 minute 14 seconds, which is slow compared to swimmers at state. State back strokers would usually get 59 seconds to 1 minute.

I always wonder if I lost 50 pounds if I would lose 14 seconds off my time.

Usually after the race I would feel like throwing up, never did though. I just believe we were never meant to swim on our backs.

--After the meets—

This was usually the best part; I would borrow $5 from either my mom or grandmother for the after meet feast. After an away meets that were far out of town usually 1-hour drives or more we would go to a place after the meet to eat. This was usually Wendy’s because they have the all you can eat salad bar.

-- Our mischief --

We sometimes did some weird and stupid things on these trips. One time we acted out our 200 freestyle relays on the Wendy’s carpet. We would fall to the floor and act like we were swimming do our flip turn, act like we were swimming and then the next person would jump on the floor acting like he dived in.

We also got in trouble when we broke a bus window and sprayed shaving cream all over the bus.

I once squeezed shampoo into another swimmer’s locker; I got into some real trouble on that one.

-- Swimming practice --

I and most of the other poor swimmers would never actually do the practice. We would be given something like 500 for our warm up in the beginning. Some others and I would just swim down and on our flip turn swim straight down to the bottom of the pool just to wait it out for a minute or two. Then swim back up and finish the 50 just to repeat this over again. I slacked often at practice until we get to the specialty swim practice.

We would be divided up into our special strokes and given our practice. This was the only time I didn’t mind doing the practice.

After swimming for 3 hours we would go home at 6pm. It would be pitched dark outside. Go home do my homework, eat and go to bed to get ready for school the next day. This was the usual for about 3 months.

The unusual practices were the worst. We would have to arrive at school 6am in the morning to swim, go to school, and then swim again afterward. I hated early morning swims.

Well thats most of my experience which lasted for about 6 years.

Christmas is coming... Time to drink :)

Just found this link somehow, don't remember what I was doing.
Here is a website where you can find the recipes for drinks, buy materials, etc...

Click on the icon..



It's a cool site, well not in design but in concept. Here is a list of some stuff they offer:

Browse Drink Recipes
List the drink recipes and ingredients by name or type. Makes it easy to find the cocktails or mixed drinks you are looking for.

Search for Drinks
Search for drink recipes or ingredients in various ways.

"In My Bar"
Tell The Webtender what you have in your bar, and get a list of all the drinks you can make.

Random Drink
The Webtender picks a random recipe from the database for you.

Statistics
A list of the most popular drinks, voting chart and other useless information.

Bartender's Handbook
Anything you ever wanted to know about bartending and becoming a bartender.

Bar Tools & Supplies
Blenders, shakers, flair bottles, and more. Buy your bar tools and bar supplies online through BarStore™!

and more...

North Carolina Christian Schools teaching the good side of slavery!?!?!

One of North Carolina's largest Christian schools is teaching history with a booklet, "Southern Slavery, As It Was," which "attempts to provide a biblical justification for slavery (http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1913619p-8258411c.html) and asserts that slaves...lived 'a life of plenty, of simple pleasures.'"

Arnold Schwarzenegger caught lying, so what is new?

"Special interests don't like me in Sacramento because I'm always kicking their butts."-- Arnold Schwarzenegger, 12/9/04
(http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/203041_arnold09.html)

--VERSUS--

"Schwarzenegger rakes in funds from special interests; California governor has collected $12 million in contributions."-- Oakland Tribune Headline, 6/21/04 (http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/corporate/nw/nw004404.php3)

NYblogs

http://homepage.mac.com/hirshberg/iMovieTheater3.html

Interesting, but not surprising.. No one really knows what is blogging--well except for us bloogers.

Sierpinski Triangles and crystal growth...

"Caltech Computer Scientists Embed Computation in a DNA Crystal to Create Microscopic Patterns"
Caltech (12/06/04)

"California Institute of Technology professor Erik Winfree has for the first time experimentally demonstrated his theory that any algorithm can be embedded in the growth of a crystal with the creation of a DNA crystal that computes as it grows, building a microscopic pattern of fractal Sierpinski triangles as the computation unfolds. Winfree, an assistant professor of computation and neural systems and computer science, and colleagues write in the December issue of Public Library of Science Biology that DNA "tiles" consisting of just 150 base pairs each can be programmed to spontaneously configure themselves into Sierpinski triangle-bearing crystals. The crystal computes using a well-established algorithm that starts with a sequence of 0s and 1s and redraws the sequence repeatedly, filling up consecutive rows on a piece of paper, performing binary addition on adjacent digits each time until a Sierpinski triangle composed of 1s and 0s emerges. The Caltech researchers represented written rows of binary 1s and 0s as rows of DNA tiles in the crystal, and addition was mimicked by designing each tile's loose or "sticky" ends to guarantee that whenever a free tile stuck to tiles already in the crystal, it represented the sum of the tiles it was glued to. Paul W.K. Rothemund, a Caltech senior research fellow in computer science and computation and neural systems, notes that scientists in the field of algorithmic self-assembly have "proposed a series of ever more complicated computations and patterns for these crystals, but until now it was unclear that even the most basic of computations and patterns could be achieved experimentally." The crystals' application to nanotechnology may hinge on whether the patterns can be converted into electronic devices and circuits."

For full article see website: http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12624.html

This is so cool, this basically brings all my favorite concepts together. For the people whom do not know, my favorite research areas -- going through school were of course computer science and theory, dynamical systems especially Sierpinski's Triangle (I was once a math major), and neural systems (my thesis dealt with some of this).

Funny: The Rainbow

"For those of you who don't know, "Rainbow" was a credible childrens TV show from the 70's and 80's. This clip was actually broadcast and watched by millions."

http://rainbow.arch.scriptmania.com/rainbow_tv_episode.html

NY to raise minimum wage by Jan. 2007

MINIMUM WAGE -- BROAD SUPPORT IN NEW YORK STATE:

"Overriding the veto of Gov. George Pataki, Republicans in the New York State Senate "forced through a measure on Monday that will gradually raise the minimum wage in New York State by $2 to $7.15 an hour by January 2007 (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/07/nyregion/07wage.html?
pagewanted=1&ei=5094&en=fc95d423c530b99c&hp&ex
=1102482000&partner=homepage) ." Because the Democrat-led State Assembly voted on Aug. 11, 126 to 20, to override the governor's veto, "the measure will become law in January, when the pay raises will begin." The vote, which was "a stinging rebuke to the governor from members of his own party," validated the efforts of a broad coalition in favor of the bill, including Labor, the Working Families Party, state Democrats and the American Progress Action Fund. It will raise the salaries of more than 700,000 workers. Under the existing minimum wage, favored by Gov. Pataki, full-time workers can earn $10,712 a year, which is below the federal poverty line."

Someday we'll all have black holes in our computers..

"Black Hole Computers"
Scientific American (11/04) Vol. 291, No. 5, P. 52; Lloyd, Seth; Ng, Y. Jack
"Physicists posit that all physical systems store information merely by existing, and can process that information through dynamic evolution over time; by that reasoning, the universe is capable of computation. Physicists are extending that theory to black holes, based on their suspicion that information can escape from these stellar phenomena. A black hole's computational ability stems from information's quantum-mechanical nature, and a black hole's total memory capacity is proportional to the square of its computation rate. This notion dovetails with the holographic principle, which states that the maximum data storage capacity of any region of space appears to be proportional to its surface area rather than its volume. The practical operation of a black hole computer entails the encoding of data as matter or energy, sending it down the black hole--which performs the computation programmed into the data--and then capturing and deciphering the hole's Hawking radiation output with a particle detector. The exactitude with which the geometry of spacetime can be measured is limited by the same physical laws that govern the power of computers. This precision turns out to be lower than physicists used to think, which implies that the size of discrete "atoms" of space and time is bigger than anticipated. With these principles, it can be postulated that the universe is performing a kind of self-computation, computing all matter--from the smallest quantum fields to the most expansive galaxies--and thus mapping out its own spacetime geometry to the highest precision permitted by physical laws. "

Blooger now has a wishlist option in the profile.

So with the holidays coming up it time to make a wishlist that I know nobody else would probably will be looking at. So I made a wish list at foogle of some of the things that I want. http://froogle.google.com/shoppinglist?a=SWL&id=2285fa54ed320ef51f864b2af5212f6775b31f3&SortBy=5

Bush to raise taxes by removing state deductions

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&e=3&u=/latimests/20041205/ts_latimes/proposalwouldhitbluestatetaxpayers

"Some conservative activists are urging the Bush administration to scrap the federal deduction for state and local taxes as part of a broader plan to revamp the nation's tax system.

Although the proposal would hurt some taxpayers in nearly every state, it would hit hardest in states with higher-than-average income levels and bigger-than-average state and local tax burdens. High on the list are a number of blue states — those that were carried by Democrat Sen. John F. Kerry in last month's presidential election.

Taxpayers in California and New York, for example, which have top state income tax rates of 9.3% and 6.5% respectively, would be highly affected; residents of Florida and Texas, which have no state income taxes, much less so. "

So you will be paying more income taxes if you live in a state that has state income taxes.

"Bush has hinted strongly that his proposal would preserve two popular tax breaks: the deductions for mortgage interest and charitable contributions. That he has not mentioned preserving the state and local tax deduction has been interpreted by some as a signal that it is fair game as the administration looks for ways to finance other tax changes"

So we are getting tax break by removing federal deductions which is basically a tax increase. That might sound right, but here is what is actually happening: We blue states are giving tax relief to the red states.

Bush also said he wanted to do this tax break to increase growth of business.
So bush wants to take the businesses of the best two states (New York and California) and give it to the rest of the red states.

Talked to Keith Johnson this morning...

Lots of things are changing at SUNYIT over the past few months. Tracy Boyrarsky-Smith left, and now Joyce Nenonee has taken her position. Tracy went to Hamilton college as a counselor. Keith Johnson is now the new Student Assocication president and is not making the sentors happy. Ryan and Joe Grillo have left CAB, and the cab website is still basically down. The game room is finally open after 3 years!!!

What hasn't changed?:
The ATM is of course still not there, and of course the price for staying over winter break has again had a major increase. I remember when it was like $20/week, and in the past 4 years it has increased to $190/week with no funding help from tuition. Of course I can take a guess that Scott Nonemaker is saying: "I'm trying the best I can to lower the price, and fight for you guys(students)" -- but anyone who knows Scott, knows he is a lying bastard. The Resident Advisors are getting worst and lazy. Hmmmm, I bet I know who is going to be fired next.

Possible WMDs on Mars? So thats where Saddam hid them.

News Arcticle: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1385572,00.html

"EARTH must take precautions to avoid contamination from lifeforms that must now be presumed to exist on Mars, leading scientists gave warning yesterday.

Potentially deadly microorganisms could be returned to Earth on a probe which is being planned to collect samples from the Martian surface.

The warning comes after a detailed scientific analysis of data sent back by the roving vehicle Opportunity which landed on Mars on January 25
"

Hmmmm, the idea that science is going to kill all humans on earth never ends. How many stupid movies will come from this concept? I'm betting on 4 within the next 10 years. Do I have any takers?

The homophobs in the south ready to burn books...

State Rep. Gerald Allen (R-AL) has filed a bill (http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1101896768316400.xml) intended to ban library books with "gay protagonists and college textbooks that suggest homosexuality is natural." What would happen to those books if the bill passes? "I guess we dig a big hole and dump them in and bury them," Allen said.

Job Interview

Well I went to Robert Half Technology today to do some testing and apply for jobs, they are a consultant firm. http://www.RHT.com. I did three test: HTML, C# and C++. I did good on the HTML but poor on the C# and C++. The test were questions not how to, which bothers me because I always have trouble remembering the difference between inheritence and polymorphism. I guess I should touch up on my HTML alittle if I do get a job doing that stuff. It is better then nothing, and I can always learn the ASP.Net and PHP stuff to go along with it.