Saturday, April 30, 2011

63rd anniversary of Land Rover today (4/30/2011)

To quote the Jalopnik post:

63 years ago today, at an auto show in Amsterdam, the world first met the Land Rover. The rugged British made utility vehicle would go on to earn a reputation for its toughness during cross continental torture tests as well as day to day use. While they are often thought of as exotic exploration vehicles, Land Rovers were originally built with a more practical purpose in mind.

Source -> http://jalopnik.com/#!5797229/the-first-land-rover-is-introduced-to-the-world


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Rover
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_Company

In a related story, money can't buy taste #LovethatmydailydriverhasrollupwindowsandnoAirCon -> http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2011/04/28/740000-vodka-comes-suv/?test=faces

Friday, April 29, 2011

THE ROYAL WEDDING!!!!!

My favorite parts of the royal wedding were the quietly intimate moments that weren't meant to be seen by millions:
a. When William (love that name) entered the church, he took off his hat and gloves, at which point he tried to fix his hair. It was a moment that made the Prince seem human, when he was so concerned with how he looked, like before this he was so perfect until I saw this moment. Not to mention that he in a losing battle with the shower head, with each daily shower more strands are stripped from his royal scalp.
b. With each step down the aisle it looked like the Duchess of Cambridge was closer to tears, and when she said her vows each segment was said in a lower and lower voice until she was almost inaudible. Again it showed how it wasn't just a figure head that is larger than life, but she is an actual person. Love it!
c. http://katemiddletonforthewin.tumblr.com/ enough said. Follow them on twitter too, along with pippa_middleton@twitter. I have been cracking up from them all day.
d. I loved during the processional from West Minster Abbey to Buckingham Palace, everytime William saluted, Kate bowed. If you look closely, they are so well connected that when he drops his hands, she picks her head up. It was such a cute connection.
e. How could I forget the hats? To tell the truth my favorite hat ever is Camilla's hat fro her wedding to Prince Charles. I have a wedding to go to next month and I'm thinking about getting an ornate hat. Blue/green/teal flowy dress- Thinking white hat. Suggestions/objections welcome.

I have been so excited for this day since the announcement of the engagement. I made sure my 2 alarms were set for 5 AM and made chocolate chips scones the night before. I also set out my tea pot that is in the shape of a quintessential British Fish and Chips Shoppe!





























This is me in my Derby Hat!








































Being up since 5 AM is making me drowsy......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I'm drinking wine whilst posting this...

Don't you love irony?

This is your brain on cocktails




















From the wired article:

A synthetic drinking installation aims to broaden minds after just one sip of a cocktail, as the experience of taste is translated into individual artworks through the brain. Marcos Lutyens is a multimedia artist interested in the neurological condition of synesthesia, which causes subjects to experience mixed sensory reactions to situations that would normally just stimulate one sense — for example, being able to smell or hear color. He’s working alongside Absolut Vodka to bring cocktail drinkers a visual representation of how their brains are enjoying their drinks as part of next month’s FutureEverything festival in Manchester, England.
Source -> http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/04/flavourcollider-cocktails/

Every "Thats what she said" from the Office

I'm assuming they left out "thus far". There is no way that line is done, even if Steve Carrell is done with the show.
Also, there is no way this is even "thus far". Lets just say its a lot of them.



Source -> http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/86d4bdcd24/every-that-s-what-she-said

Groundbreaking research on "That's what she said"

New Steve McQueen bio movie

I'm not sure how I feel about this, Steve McQueen is still (despite being dead) the coolest guy on earth.
Given, I didn't see hurt locker and know little to nothing about Jeremy Renner other than he's starring as Hawkeye in the Avengers movie coming up.

The screenplay will be written based on 2 McQueen biographies by writer Marshall Terrill.

"If all your clothes aren't fire retardant you're not driving hard enough" -Fake Quote by McQueen I just made up


The car chase from Bullitt (for good measure)



Source ->http://driven.urbandaddy.com/2011/04/29/the-new-steve-mcqueen-movie/

Thursday, April 28, 2011

I LOVE TRANSFORMERS

New trailer for Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon was released today. I love this franchise. Yes Michael Bay is crazy, but for a movie about robots fighting a galactic millions of years long war is that a bad thing?


Click the link below for larger versions (HD, etc) of the trailer

Shockwave (2011)


Shockwave (1985)


Source: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/paramount/transformersdarkofthemoon/

"Come pick up your free gift"

Was what a postcard Wifey and I received from a local specialty grocery store the other day.
2 of our favorite Belgian biers, 2 glasses (the Hoegaarden one is enormous!), some cheese and chocolate... For free? Thanks!

Lost Mayan city found in Guatemala!

I love stuff like this.




















A lost Mayan city named "Holtun" has been found in the middle of the Guatemalan jungle. Not only has the location been found, but hundreds of largely in-tact buildings remain there as well.

From the NatGeo article:

Using GPS and electronic distance-measurement technology last year, the researchers plotted the locations and elevations of a seven-story-tall pyramid, an astronomical observatory, a ritual ball court, several stone residences, and other structures.

Source -> http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/04/110426-maya-lost-city-holtun-science-guatemala-ancient/

We have passed ridiculous

What is the point of these new security policies?

a) these machines are dangerous
b) they are easily defeated
c) Yes, the images are saved and some have been leaked, despite saying the opposite officially
d) TSA agents are NOT using the same set of rules per airport/per person/per situation
e) many citizens (we are still a democracy right?) do not want these intrusions pushed onto us
f) THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES THAT ARE FAR MORE EFFECTIVE

There are certain lines in the sand that I cannot be ok with. Having a 6 year old girl being molested by a public "official" in the concourse of an airport is never ok. Its called common sense. This has to stop and has to stop now. Using "public safety" and "times have changed" are ridiculous excuses when other parts of government public safety policies use outdated laws to ALSO infringe on the freedoms of law-abiding innocent U.S. citizens. I know stories of Baywatch babes, and beauty pageant queens grab the headlines but for every one of them, there is a normal person who had their boobs pulled out by a TSA agent, a person who had their uroscopy bag popped and or a little boy strip searched in the middle of an airport.

The fact is there are holes in their screening process, both in hiring and in scanning airline passengers but that refuses to be addressed. Why do a thorough background check when you can spend $10G's on another tax-funded body scanner? Lobbyists are NOT security experts, profilers are.


"Any society that would give up their liberty to obtain temporary security deserves neither and loses both" 
-Benjamin Franklin

How is this legal but profiling (generally) isn't? This is as much a local issue as it is a state and federal one. Each airport has the right to institute non-TSA security procedures.

-------------------------
*Update - 25 year old pregnant teacher, singled out, not given an option for a scan/search and groped by TSA agent at Knoxville airport

As Rep. David Simpson told The Raw Story, "If we don't nip this thing in the bud it's gonna come to our sidewalks, to our football games. The DHS was considering as recent as five years ago doing covert scanning of the public, but they've denied pursuing that any further. That they would consider it shows they have no regard for the Fourth Amendment."
-------------------------

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
-4th Amendment, United States Constitution

Write to congress about your thoughts on the issue -> https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
Senate -> http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
White House -> http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Dept of Homeland Security -> http://www.dhs.gov/xutil/contactus.shtm
Speaker of the House -> http://www.speaker.gov/Contact/
Senate Majority Leader -> http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
Your Governor -> http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Governors.shtml
Your Mayor -> http://www.usmayors.org/meetmayors/mayorsatglance.asp

Source -> http://bit.ly/eID76K
"Even if these rules once made sense, they are woefully outdated today,"

Earlier posts:
http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/01/former-governor-jesse-ventura-to-sue.html
http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/01/tsa-settles-with-passenger-whose-boobs.html
http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/02/stay-classy-tsa.html
http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/01/tsa-agents-are-really-bad-at-their-job.html
http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2010/11/tsa-is-terrible-update-2.html
http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2010/11/update-to-tsa-post.html

New South Park - They "might" not be the biggest fans of Apple

"I've had enough with me-clouds!" 

What I took from the episode, Always read your iTunes agreement.

Jobsie isn't going to like this one.

I can't post many screenshots from the episode itself due to the extremely graphic nature of what happens in the episode. I guess I'll call this a teaser post, you should really watch the episode, not at work though...



Source -> http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/episodes/s15e01-humancentipad

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

If this is true its sad

until then its funny!

















Source -> http://failbook.failblog.org/2011/04/25/funny-facebook-fails-its-a-nice-day-for-a-ffffff-wedding/

The Governator wants to do another Terminator movie...

Oh zip it, you know you want to see it.

I saw Terminator Salvation, and watched the Sarah Connor Chronicles. While they weren't bad (and did have Summer Glau... whoa) they were missing something. I almost want to see if he can get that jacked again. It is a bit upsetting that the director of Fast5 is being looked at to direct. I like explosions as much as the next guy, but please let there be an actual plotline? The F&F movies seem to be missing any hint of that.

Good luck Arnold!

Source -> http://www.deadline.com/2011/04/arnold-schwarzenegger-is-back-as-terminator-fast-fives-justin-lin-to-direct/

I take no responsibility for the accuracy of this "data"

Having said that, I really don't see a whole lot wrong with its accuracy.




































































Source -> http://www.collegehumor.com/article/6446286/what-your-pants-say-about-you

Click an ad?




















Worth a shot right?

You used to be fun...

Just a random re-post from a funny blog I follow. STFU parents deals with high-and-mighty parents whose fail to understand that not everybody else's worlds have stopped because YOU had a kid.
I'm much less angry about that topic than the blog's author, but that doesn't make it any less funny.



































Sorry about the pic quality

Source (warning some pics are probably NSFW and 99% of them are really really gross) -> http://stfuparents.tumblr.com/post/4904654684/click-to-enlarge-easter-11-mama-drama

Earlier post -> http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/01/bitch-please.html

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Gut Gott

The 2012 Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 has been revealed and it is absolutely glorious... (wish it was in Silver though, alas)

From the Jalopnik post:

Porsche is selling a street-legal RSR.
As we've detailed numerous times, the 911 GT3 RS 40's getting a 500-horsepower race-derived 4.0-liter dry-sump flat six for the ultimate way to die on the 'Ring. 


Source, click the link for more pics -> http://jalopnik.com/#!5795903/this-is-the-porsche-911-gt3-rs-40/gallery/4

Meatballs!













 Made some meatballs to use for grilled pizza later this week. Stay posted!

I'm going to need to see blood test results

source -> http://yhoo.it/htrlqo





















earlier Bieber fever posts! -> http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/02/biebers-fans-are-crazier-than-you-had_16.html & http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/02/biebers-fans-are-crazier-than-you-had.html

too many serious posts lately

this should fix that


source -> http://www.thehighdefinite.com/2011/04/sean-connery-the-musical/

or this

source -> http://news.yahoo.com/comics/pearls-before-swine#id=/comics/110426/cx_pearls_umedia/20112604












ok then surely this is lowbrow enough (must have high tolerance for a dog barking and losing its mind, if not mute might be a good idea)


Source -> http://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/duckling-terrifies-dog

last attempt

Source -> http://failblog.org/2011/04/26/epic-fail-photos-classic-controlling-your-kids-fail/

You're probably (definitely) not getting the data speeds you pay for

There are hundreds of reasons why that's the case, but physical limitations to transmission paths is definitely one of the major bottlenecks. Even if the signal is leaving its transmission site (they're not all towers!) at full strength, its rarely getting to your handy at that same level of clarity.

This is because (paraphrasing here):

 According to the Economist, Balakrishnan believes the main problem with current mobile broadband is how phones handle cellular tower switching while on the move. Basically, when phones are connected to one cellular tower, they will wait until the signal is considerably weakened before making the jump to a closer tower.

Yes, there are differences between how GSM, CDMA, LTE, etc handover between towers when moving, but the common ground is that none of them predict where you're going (in this way) in order to start that process before it starts losing packets.

Sources -> http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/04/network_fixes?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/everymoveyoumake 
http://nms.lcs.mit.edu/papers/index.php?detail=204 via http://gizmodo.com/#!5795321/your-smartphones-accelerometer-could-make-mobile-broadband-faster

There is totally a(n acient) phone in this pic, making it relevant to this post

And now the most honest defense ever

"We were bored"

Nobody was hurt, but this was why a 12 year old and 9 year old decided to do over $164,000 of damage to a southwestern Pennsylvania strip mine. Honestly, a 12 year old and 9 year old boy seeing an unattended bulldozer, presumably with the keys left in it... Can you blame them? Well, yes you can, but does that make it any less funny? (He says after first making it clear that nobody was hurt and it was wrong what they did.)

Its unfortunate that they caused actual damage. Because of that fact the 12 year old is being charged with felony criminal mischief, the 9 year old is legally too young to be charged. Saying a kid isn't mischievous by nature is saying that they aren't a kid... Why were they able to start the machinery? I know money doesn't grow on trees but cut this poor kid a break. His life might actually be ruined because he did something stupid at the age of 12. If I had been this harshly punished for all the stupid stuff I did when I was 12... Given, I didn't ever drive a bulldozer but also didn't have the opportunity.























Source -> http://gizmodo.com/#!5795830/kids-hijack-an-excavator-cause-massive-damage-at-mining-site via http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iQGA5tivdmfEA0Ahra2P-cVVlqTg?docId=163906334f094610834e96a3dabcb6cc

Wait, I thought Corn was going to save humanity





















This is a very cool article posted by wired about the potential of Algae as a source for syntheticly derived (traditional) fuels, eg BioDiesel, Ethanol, other alcohols, etc. Currently we use Soybeans and Corn (for the most part) to produce these synthetic traditional fuels from non-traditional sources (mining). But thats not necessarily a good thing... I've written in the past about my negative feelings about Corn as the source for vehicle fuel ethanol. Corn doesn't exist in nature, and soybeans in their current iteration aren't far behind. We could always use things like switchgrass, or even waste vegetation (food waste, etc) but that also requires an intensive process with a great deal of refining in order to create a standardized compatible fuel.

Algae is another option. It grows easily, its water requirements can be managed if grown in humid areas, it is very tolerant of different water conditions and can be coaxed to produce many specific types of raw materials for fuel production.

From the article:

Of course, one of the major concerns about algae is the volume of water needed to produce it. But the researchers note that water use can be significantly curtailed by raising algae in the humid climates of the Gulf Coast, Southeastern Seaboard and Great Lakes regions.
“Algae has been a hot topic of biofuel discussions recently, but no one has taken such a detailed look at how much America could make — and how much water and land it would require — until now,” said Mark Wigmosta, a hydrologist and lead author of the study, in a statement. “This research provides the groundwork and initial estimates needed to better inform renewable energy decisions.”
Algal fuels are made by extracting and refining the lipids within algae. Algae are attractive biofuel feedstock because it grows quickly and thrives in everything from seawater to irrigation runoff to sewage. Such fuels could go a long way toward meeting the Energy Independence and Security Act. That law requires that biofuels replace more than 10 percent of our current petroleum consumption by 2022. Half of that biofuel must come from something other than corn.

I'm as much of a supporter as Algae based biofuels as I am to stop using food as fuel. There is evidence that the increase in the price of corn has led to increased cleft palates in Latin America, caused by a switch from traditional calcified corn tortillas as a primary food to cheaper generic flour noodles. I do think that more research in field grasses and waste vegetation as a hydrocarbon source should be continued as well though.

Source -> http://blogs.princeton.edu/chm333/f2006/biomass/bioethanol/


















Earlier posts -> http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/01/please-stop-with-corn-as-fuel.html
http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/01/weird-something-else-is-wrong-with.html
http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/01/four-loko-being-turned-into-ethanol.html

Monday, April 25, 2011

and now Apple is being sued by iphone/ipad users

Turns out people don't take kindly to having their location tracked even if disabled.

From the wired.com article:

Two Apple customers have filed a lawsuit accusing the Cupertino, California, company of committing violations of computer-fraud laws by recording location data of iPhone and iPad customers.
Vikram Ajjampur, an iPhone customer in Florida, and William Devito, a New York iPad customer, filed the suit in federal court April 22 in Tampa, Florida.


I honestly don't know how this is going to turn out, and I'm not probably the best person to make a judgement based on how often I check-in using similar services. However the point here if everything is as the plaintiff's case says, Apple lied about collecting and/or using that data for their own benefit. If it can then be proven that Apple somehow profited from this data (collecting without the users' consent)... whoa.

Source -> http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/04/iphone-customers-lawsuit-data/























Earlier post(s) -> http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/04/its-one-thing-to-use-active-service.html
-----------------
Update: Apple-using Foreign Gov'ts want to know why they were being tracked too.
http://gizmodo.com/#!5795433/will-foreign-governments-get-an-answer-out-of-apple
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-25/apple-iphone-s-location-data-collection-to-be-investigated-in-south-korea.html

Charts! - Mac people vs. PC people - warning its big

Based on this chart I have a lot more in common with Mac people...
Bistro fries, a shawarma and a Limonata?! is it my birthday?

Source -> http://www.geekosystem.com/mac-people-vs-pc-people/

Actually on 2nd thought, don't say hi for me

source -> http://www.thehighdefinite.com/2011/04/say-hi-for-me/

Friday, April 22, 2011

I hate speed cameras

IF you're going to get an infraction for something as trivial as an arbitrarily assigned speed limit (really? 40mph on the GW Parkway?) a person should be the one assigning it.

Earlier today I saw a flash go off for a speed camera, which may or may not have been for me (who incidentally wasn't speeding at the time) and I got infuriated. This is at an intersection where there is ALWAYS traffic, yet the city decided to spend public money on a speed camera.
Why isn't more money put into fixing the CAUSES of traffic (selfish people blocking intersections on a light change, people hogging the left lane, poor driving etiquette, terribly timed lights, poor parking enforcement, etc etc) which make people want to speed when there isn't a texting driver stopped in front of them at a green light. My problem is they do NOT increase safety on the roads and are just a way to raise local money, which will inevitably be wasted on installing more cameras.

About the article in question that started this rant, turns out the cameras kind of suck at their job too. Will Foreman of MD has convinced some judges that the cameras are issuing inaccurate violations, he has 5 counts to probe is and working on 40 more. He has proven (in the 5 thrown out tickets) that tickets issued to his delivery company's trucks were issued without the vehicle exceeding the posted limit with math (!) and time-lapse photography (!).




















Check out the article here -> http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/apr/20/business-owner-casts-reasonable-doubt-on-accuracy-/?page=all

Jezza's advice, "blow it up" -> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1087064/Jeremy-Clarkson-gets-revenge-speed-camera--blowing-rocket.html & http://www.999automobile.com/speed-camera/top-gear-jeremy-clarkson-talks-speed-camera-politics-bbc



Free smartphone app to avoid speedtraps -> http://www.trapster.com/

I'm not convinced

Is it funny? Yeah, but is it as good as little Vader? Who are you kidding?

Thor does look like its going to be good though.



Source -> http://youtu.be/EPNjWWQqWCA via http://jalopnik.com/#!5794712/little-thor-is-much-cooler-than-little-vader

Earlier post -> http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/02/meet-max-page-aka-vader-from-vw-ad.html

Earlier than that -> http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/02/they-didnt-have-remote-start-in-1988.html

Official Thor trailer below


Source -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHBnrJowBZE

What Iron Man + Hulk(s) + Captain America + Thor is feeding into -> http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/03/i-love-comic-movies.html

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Make a toaster from scratch?

I mean scratch-scratch, not pre-configured components.

This guy tried. -> http://www.thetoasterproject.org/

Honestly, even if it turns out terrible (it does) I applaud his effort and love stuff like this.

Short version:

He was able to use a modified microwave to separate out iron from a piece of its ore, acidic water from a former copper mine in wales gave him some pure-enough copper for the wiring, mica (insulation) was hand chipped from a place in Scotland, and plastic was recycled/reconstituted from existing sources.


Step 2, Attempt 2: Smelting Iron Ore in a Microwave from Thomas Thwaites on Vimeo.

Last paragraph:
Amazingly, it worked. Kind of. He was able to boil down, he says, "the massive industrial activity devoted to making objects which enable us, the consumer, to toast bread more efficiently." In the end he put together a haggard-looking stripped-down version of something we can buy for the price of a sandwich. It only took him nine months, several trips across country lines, and a many moments of lateral thinking.
He did plug it in once, but because he wasn't able to make insulation for the wires, the toaster started melting itself about 5 seconds in. Thwaites considers it a partial success.


Source -> http://gizmodo.com/#!5794368/why-its-harder-than-you-think-to-make-a-simple-toaster

PIRATE CAVE

I want one of these.

In 1929 an issue of Modern Mechanics (assuming it was/is a magazine) had instructions on how to build a dug out pirate's cave fort. I do think its funny that they're giving kids cooking ability, you know that today's litigators might have an issues with that.

Lastly, why should this be limited to some snotnose kid? Mine will have internet too (take that  8 year olds from 1929!).

















Source -> http://www.boingboing.net/2011/04/20/howto-dig-a-kids-pir.html

"The most important thing, is keeping up appearances"

That hypothetical quote by Jobsy (that I just made up) seems more appropriate than ever now.

While one must take anything from Greenpeace, who sometimes has their own issues with skewing and honesty, with a grain of salt, they do have a point about the data centers behind the scenes (he says while he types this on a google-hosted, data center driven blogging format). More full disclosure, Greenpeace does have a history of attempting to publicly scorn Apple. Having said all that, nothing bothers me more than lip service. An example of putting on a clean face while just polluting exponentially more can easily be summed up in this fantastic article by (iPhone user) Sir Jeremy Clarkson* about the Honda Insight Hybrid. Yes I know Apple doesn't make cars, nor is the same company as Honda, but the point is the same. Its not cleaner if you just move pollution and waste from one pile to another (possibly worse) pile.

Greenpeace has named (in their own closed system polls) Apple the "least green" tech company. This is mostly due to Apple's use of Coal-powered (at the power plants) data centers, not the products themselves. The whole reason that I'm annoyed by this is the hypocrisy element of Apple's website, referring to exactly this subject, their Green credentials. Nowhere is the word coal (or North Carolina) even mentioned. If you're going to tell people about what goes on behind the scenes, how about being honest?

Energy use.
Apple reduces energy use in our facilities in a number of ways. Currently, our facilities in Austin, Texas, Sacramento, California, and Cork, Ireland, are 100 percent powered by renewable energy — eliminating 19,200 metric tons of CO2e emissions. In addition, Apple has been installing state-of-the-art digital controls, high-efficiency mechanical equipment, and monitoring technology for years, and we continue to investigate even better ways to run our facilities more efficiently. Of course, we use energy-efficient Apple computers in all our facilities.


Sources -> http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/21/apple-least-green-tech-company & http://www.apple.com/ & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ManBearPig
Source -> http://www.apple.com/pr/bios/bod.html

                   
                           





So I guess this isn't a surprise then ->



*No knighthood yet, but its coming**....
**I also have no evidence of that

Scalping postage

This is really funny, a guy sets up an "experiment" to scalp stamps on tax day. Lets see what people are willing to pay in order to avoid IRS late fees...

From the post:

If you live near Sacramento, California, and you wait until the very last moment to mail your taxes, you are in for a special trip to the main Post Office in West Sacramento.
This particular post office is open until midnight, so you can drop off your tax return at 11:59pm on April 15th and still get the necessary postmark.
On tax night, traffic is so heavy that the local police set up something like a tax-return drive-thru checkpoint, where post workers will snatch the envelopes right out of your window.
Unfortunately, they don't sell stamps. To get stamps, you have to drive past the envelope drive-thru snatchpoint and discover the secret post office entrance. Then you have to park and wait in line to buy some stamps from the human tellers, because they replaced all the vending machines with a single automatic postal machine (APM), and that machine was stolen last year.
The no-stamp oversight annoyed me so much that this year I decided to try selling stamps myself.
Early in the day, I bought one hundred first class (44¢) stamps.
Then I went home and made myself a sign. Note the hefty price markup.
That's right. I was scalping postage stamps. I was going to be rich.





















Well, not rich as he only sold 31 stamps, but still... pretty funny.
Of course they got rid of any way to buy stamps other than a stolen automated machine. I wonder if in history every single window at any USPS location has ever been open all at the same time?
(I hate the post office)

Source -> http://www.boingboing.net/2011/04/19/experiment-scalping.html & http://www.cockeyed.com/personal/stamps/stamps.php

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Glee, helping kids fail math since 2009


















Source -> http://www.thehighdefinite.com/2011/04/heres-what-you-missed-on-glee/
& anybody hoping to be a C student someday.

Its one thing to use an active service like latitude, foursquare, facebook places

where the USER decides how the info is shared/used.... this is quite another.

Turns out since last June, all iPhones have been tracking their location and saving that data locally on its internal memory. So if you're reading this, have an iPhone and say "well, its not tracking me, I've shut off location services, etc" you are wrong. What's concerning is Apple hasn't disclosed why this information is being logged at all, especially why its being done so passively, nor what it plans to do with this information. All iOS backups you create on your computer have this information embedded, as well so blanking out your phone, then restoring wouldn't clear this info.

 From the Gizmodo article:
For now, there is no fix. The only way to remove it from your computer is to wipe your back up files from your computer. But then you have no back ups to restore your phone in case you lose it. And every time you sync your computer, though, it'll create a new file. And if you do lose your phone, all your tracking data goes with it, right into the hands of whoever found it. And if you upgrade your phone to the next iPhone, the location tracking data goes with it.

From the Guardian article:
Only the iPhone records the user's location in this way, say Warden and Alasdair Allan, the data scientists who discovered the file and are presenting their findings at the Where 2.0 conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. "Alasdair has looked for similar tracking code in [Google's] Android phones and couldn't find any," said Warden. "We haven't come across any instances of other phone manufacturers doing this."

Click the links below for more info.


















Source -> http://gizmodo.com/#!5793925/your-iphone-is-secretly-tracking-everywhere-youve-been
& http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/apr/20/iphone-tracking-prompts-privacy-fears
& http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/20/researchers-find-ios-4-records-your-location-in-system-file-syn/
& http://www.boingboing.net/2011/04/20/ios-devices-secretly.html
& http://www.cnbc.com/id/42697611
& http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/04/iphone-tracks/ 

New App that erases that data (requires jailbreak) -> http://gizmodo.com/#!5794369/ispy-conspiracy-break-apples-secret-tracking-with-this-app 

Or post it publicly! -> http://gawker.com/#!5794404/hot-new-trend-posting-the-data-apple-secretly-collected-on-you 

Android to an extent too -> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703983704576277101723453610.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLETopStories 

Updates! (5/25)
http://www.boingboing.net/2011/04/25/did-steve-jobs-respo.html or http://news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20110425/tc_digitaltrends/stevejobsappledoesnttrackanyone_1
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/137432/20110423/apple-we-must-have-comprehensive-user-location-data-on-you.htm
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2011/tc20110421_195911.htm
http://www.geekosystem.com/iphone-still-tracking/

I like Jalopnik

I really do, but if this isn't a very clever "sure we'll take your money" I'm honestly disappointed.

The pic below appears to have its homepage sponsored by a company that Jalopnik (and more importantly its readers) has made a point to label as boring, beige, smug and sh*t quality (don't worry I'll provide links).

In addition Jalopnik has recently raked a auto industry news source/author over the coals for selling out (which I totally agree with)...

I'm not accusing them of anything and I think based on their attitude towards the auto-specific media industry as a whole (in the past) this is more of a "why not" moment, but here's to them making a statement confirming that....

Hey! Links!

http://jalopnik.com/#!toyotarecall/
http://jalopnik.com/#!5762479/why-were-mommy-bloggers-paid-for-positive-stories-on-toyota
http://jalopnik.com/#!5057602/ten-new-cars-for-people-who-hate-cars
http://jalopnik.com/#!5684355/the-toyota-highlander-is-breeding-assholes
http://jalopnik.com/#!5167362/what-car-do-you-love-to-hate
http://jalopnik.com/#!5782691/how-the-detroit-news-sold-its-soul

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Weird, for the sake of weird





















































































































Click the source link below for more weird for the sake of weird publicly posted flyers.

Source -> http://www.someecards.com/2011/02/23/the-7-most-brilliantly-pointless-street-fliers

Science!

Yes, I control-F'ed this article. No mention of the word "Jurassic" (not including comments).

20 million+ year old perfectly preserved insects have been discovered in Peru. Also in the amber is a drop of blood and some hair from a prehistoric rodent (I'm going to speculate it was a Sabre-toothed Bunny).

One of Wifey and myself's (grammar?) favorite movies is Jurassic Park (we also don't hate most of the 3rd one, lets not even talk about the Lost World, good synopsis HERE).


"I KNOW THIS! ITS A UNIX SYSTEM!" -Angus' crush

Source -> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1378341/Perfectly-preserved-insects-inside-amber-fossils-20-MILLION-years-old.html

Monday, April 18, 2011

Whoa, Wedding invitation that is also a record player?

Possibly in direct conflict with the technology-laden posts I normally tend to have... This wedding invitation also contains a paper record player!

Yes its wildly inefficient, yes its a DEAD technology, yes its probably 28 times the effort per invite than a wedding invite should be but- I love stuff like this.



Source -> http://www.tomsguide.com/us/record-player-wedding-invitation-handmade-music-player,news-10870.html#xtor=RSS-211?#xtor=998

Link to the creator's blog (which I know nothing about, just figured I'd share) -> http://kellianderson.com/blog/2011/04/a-paper-record-player/

Olive Garden, as authentic as a Leprechaun cooking Japanese food

*That doesn't mean I haven't destroyed my occasional never-ending-pasta-bowl after a swim meet, and enjoyed the living sh*t out of it....

Having said that, check this out.

It seems the Olive Garden doesn't even own the place. They just book all the rooms at some hotel in the off-season, close the place to the public, and take over the restaurant. Sporadic "classes" lasted "maybe an hour here or there" where they would "talk about spices or fresh produce for a minute" before taking the group site-seeing for the day. Lots of drinking ensued. 



 

I don't know what you're taking from this, but I see it as an opportunity to get a job at the local mall's OG and rig the contest.  I don't care how fake it is, I want to go to Tuscany on somebody else's dime. Who's in?

*I have no proof of my sign claim

Source -> http://www.slashfood.com/2011/04/14/the-truth-behind-the-olive-gardens-tuscan-cooking-school/ via Reddit


Earlier post -> http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/03/olive-garden-as-italian-as-leprechaun.html

The origin of CTRL-ALT-DEL

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away...

Back before computers were in every office/house/car/RV/Fridge/Washing Machine, no matter how bad an idea it is for most of the users to have this type of item... I digress. Before the Control Alt Delete keystroke, a frozen PC required an entire physical power cycle, something that took a VERY long time...

Actually, its probably easier if I just post it from Hack-a-day.com below:

You may not have ever thought about it, but the far-too-often-used keyboard combination of Control + Alt + Delete had to have been brought into existence by some random coder at some point in technological history. But wait, it wasn’t just a random coder. The keystroke combo is attributed to [David Bradley]. He was one of the original designers of the IBM Personal Computer. You can even hear his own recount of the story in the video after the break.

He came up with the idea after growing weary of waiting for the Power-On Self Test (POST) routine to finish during each reboot of his software testing regiment. We remember the old days of slow hardware and can understand his frustration at the lost time. He decided to throw in a shortcut that allowed the software to reboot without power cycling the hardware. The original implementation used CTRL-ALT-ESC, but was later changed so that one frustrated keyboard mash couldn’t accidentally reboot the system.

No, not that part

Jim Florentine, whose voice you may recognize from crank yankers loves to screw with telemarketers...

Just watch the video, haha.



direct video link -> http://youtu.be/QaRtrffvgUg

Source -> http://consumerist.com/2011/04/more-fun-with-telemarketers.html

and now the most surprising headling ever: Legionnaire's Disease found in Playboy Mansion hot tub

I feel like I need to take a shower and some wide-spectrum antibiotics just reading this article.

I guess I am legitimately surprised though. That Legionnaire's was the ONLY thing found there.  Zing!

"We're carrying disease!"*





















Source -> http://www.nbcdfw.com/entertainment/celebrity/Hot-Tub-Bacteria-Spreads-Illness-at-Playboy-Mansion-120050754.html & http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1377815/Playboy-Mansion-illness-Legionnaires-bacteria-hot-tub.html

*I have no idea whether or not you are currently carrying the Legionellosis bacteria, I'm just making a joke.

Meet Max Hardberger, 62 year old Pirate-fighter

His name means "Hard Mountainier"*, in case he didn't sounds enough like a badass already.

"Chuck Norris got his beard idea from me"

He leads a team of former SWAT and Special Forces members to repossess stolen ships. These ships, usually taken under force by scum-of-the-earth pirates can be anywhere in the world.
So far, Mr. Hardmountainier claims he hasn't killed a single degenerate in his "vessel extraction" business.

*Yes I've taken liberties with my German translation of his surname, get over it.

Source -> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1378051/Meet-vessel-extractors-Former-lawyer-leads-elite-team-steal-ships--PIRATES.html

Friday, April 15, 2011

don't give that kid a gun!














































Source -> http://www.thehighdefinite.com/2011/04/ch-private-investigations/calvin_hobbes_low/

Brazillian police to become part Robocop

Well thats not entirely accurate. But Brazillian police will start using technology that first appeared IN Robocop*.

Brazil, known for its beautiful beaches, unbelievable women and ...sadly violent crime will begin to outfit its Police force with sunglasses that have the ability to scan faces in view and compare to a criminal database (using a built-in camera). As soon as a degenerate is identified, a red flash pops up inside the lens with instructions for the officer on how to proceed.


















*I'm sure this idea was in something else before Robocop, I'm just quoting the article.


Source -> http://gizmodo.com/#!5792267/brazilian-police-to-wear-glasses-that-can-scan-faces-to-find-criminals via http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/brazil/8446088/Brazilian-police-to-use-Robocop-style-glasses-at-World-Cup.html

Vegan Magazine busted for cropping out meat from photos

Classy.













Source -> http://www.geekosystem.com/vegan-magazine-photoshop/



While I am nowhere near as militant about this issue as the following person, I did find this related quote pretty funny.

"Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans, are a persistent irritant to any chef worth a damn. To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living. Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, and an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food. The body, these waterheads imagine, is a temple that should not be polluted by animal protein. It's healthier, they insist, though every vegetarian waiter I've worked with is brought down by any rumor of a cold. Oh, I'll accommodate them, I'll rummage around for something to feed them, for a 'vegetarian plate', if called on to do so. Fourteen dollars for a few slices of grilled eggplant and zucchini suits my food cost fine." -Anthony Bourdain

Update to "Caption Contest"

More pics of animals in cars! (feel free to caption)

Hey B*tches! (see what I did there?)



Source -> http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/animals-in-cars-the-follow-up?imageNo=0

earlier post -> http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/04/caption-contest_13.html