Danny vs. the internet

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Who wants to go halfsies with me?

Ever think, 'renting out an entire hotel is sooo neuvo-riche'?
Then you thought "I'm sick of being upstaged by Oprah giving away Volkswagens".

How about if you rented an entire country?

You can now rent the tiny Alpine nation of Liechtenstein at a rate of $70,000/night for a minimum of 2 nights...really not kidding. Don't worry about speaking German here, Liechtensteinians (?) are one of the most affluent and highly educated people worldwide, whatever you speak, they probably do too.

Here's the listing -> http://www.airbnb.com/rooms/59883
and here's where I saw it -> http://www.geekosystem.com/rent-liechtenstein-airbnb/

Really? I guess there isn't a category for inner beauty

or outer beauty for that matter, only publicists and marketing remain...

I can think of probably a dozen people off the top of my head more beautiful than JLo.
Oh wait, I will, in no particular order.

1 - Mila Kunis
2 - Alison Brie
3 - Cheryl Cole
4 - Natalie Imbruglia
5 - Kelly Brook
6 - Brooklyn Decker
7 - Anne Hathaway
8 - Evangeline Lilly
9 - Emma Watson
10 - Olivia Munn
11 - Bar Refaeli
12 - Diane Kruger

I couldn't agree more with wwtdd.com's headline -> "oh f**k you, People magazine"

Don't screw with roses

Source -> Highdefinite.com

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Here's an idea, maybe not destroy irreplaceable* things? - Smallpox

*means I'm aware that as long as its sequenced its not a total loss... by TODAY'S science standards.

To paraphrase the popsci article, stays of execution have happened for this idea a few times since the 70's. With the last KNOWN living samples of Smallpox being in 2 very far away from each other labs, developing nations (who would be most effected by a new outbreak) have been calling for its destruction for some time now.

I think this is a horrible idea, and popsci commenter All4it has a very good point. In addition, they're asking for the destruction of something that 1) possibly cannot be replicated 100%, 2) possibly could help save all of humanity in the future (after vaccinations for a seemingly dead threat have dwindled) and 3) we have no idea the implications.

Besides decades-old rumors of secret additional samples in less-than-friendly (to USA) nations, there is also the reasearch idea. We're STILL discovering things about other plagues that a living sample would be a fantastic resource for cute lab researchers (like wifey) to work with.

Sources -> http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-04/smallpox-destruction-debate-resurfaces-health-officials-prepare-annual-convention

http://www.livescience.com/13667-smallpox-virus-destruction-variola-vaccination.html

additional, related link -> http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-03/first-we-eradicated-smallpox-rinderpest-next

Libyan cell service restored by circumventing Tripoli's severed cables

Here's the short version:

Quadaffhi's goons severed the main hub that was the backbone connection for all of Libya's cellular network infrastructure. It was designed in such a way that all voice/data traffic was routed through the capital for snooping and management reasons. When Khadafi's regime started being overthrown by rebels, he cut the cables effectively reducing his enemy to a system of flags and smoke flares for communication.

So what happened? With the majority of the network infrastructure in place (just not a way of connecting to the rest of the internet) hackers gave it a new uplink (via U.A.E. and Qatari-funded satellites). They even went as far as extracting the old number/subscriber ID information from the Tripoli based servers in order to import them into this new database. Suddenly, those "can you hear me now" ads seem stupid.