Beware of alternate histories of Fox News

Greetings.

Jewish date:  17 ’Av 5770 (Parashath ‘Eqev).

Today’s quasi-holidays:  Singing Telegram Day, National Drive-Thru Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “CARE : Defending Dignity - Fighting Poverty :  Let Congress know you want the Haiti assistance bill passed”, “Working Families » Take Action!:  Sign our letter to NY's State Senators”, and “We want the DISCLOSE Act”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Spread of Deadly Cryptococcal Disease in U.S. Northwest Linked to Global Warming”
• “Asteroid Could Threaten the Earth in 2182”
• “Plastiki finishes Pacific voyage”
• “Trekkers offered cave tours in Klingon”:  Worf will be pleased.  No word on whether gagh will be served.

Logo of the guys being made fun of via Wikipedia

Today’s weird thing, submitted by Nancy and Barry, is “If Fox News had existed throughout history…”.  Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

A trademarked sarcasm symbol: what a great idea¡

Greetings.

Jewish date:  16 ’Av 5770 (Parashath ‘Eqev).

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Take Your Houseplants for a Walk Day.

Worthy causes of the day:  “Save BioGems: Take Action: Protect the Redrock Wilderness” and “Shine Sunlight on Election Spending”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Urban Air Pollutants Can Damage IQs Before Baby's First Breath”
• “The assault on large families”
• “Our Neandertal Brethren”:  Long story made short:  modern humans have some Neanderthal ancestors.  All those of you who make jokes about “cave men” might want to rethink whether this is a good idea.
• “Should you worry about the tags on Wal-Mart underwear?”
• “Saturn's Moon Spawning Moonlets”
• “Californians give a whoop – or I hope they do.”:  If you ever wondered why it is necessary to vaccinate your children…

Public domain image of the dreaded SarcMark via Wikipedia

Today’s weird thing is a controversy brewing in the field of punctuation.  There is a company pushing a trademarked punctuation mark, the SarcMark, as a marker of sarcasm.  While a sarcasm mark is a great idea, seeing that printed text does not capture all the tones present in the spoken word, including sarcasm, the idea of a punctuation mark one has to pay to use has raised a few hackles, not to mention some sarcasm.  Thus a site has been created in protest of the SarcMark, Open Sarcasm Manifesto.  Open Sarcasm Manifesto promotes the use of the Ethiopic sarcasm mark, also known as Temherte Slaqî, which looks like this:  ¡  The Ethiopic sarcasm mark has the great advantage that it is looks identical to a standard Unicode character (U+00A1 INVERTED EXCLAMATION MARK) and thus can be used freely on almost any computer with no additional software whatsoever; you just type option-1 on your Macintosh.  So for the Open Sarcasm people, I applaud their idea of all of us taking after the Ethiopians and making use of the inverted exclamation mark for sarcasm.  As for the SarcMark people, I really feel the urge to shell out money just so I can make sarcastic comments on the Internet¡  Great job, and let me know when you want to charge me for a “raise eyebrow” character, too¡  As for the rest of you, enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of really big fishes

Greetings.

Jewish date:  14 ’Av 5770 (Parashath ‘Eqev).

Today’s quasi-holidays:  Parent’s Day, Merry-Go-Round Day, Sysadmin Day, Metric Mitochondria Day (established by yours truly 2010-01-24; be thankful for decimal measurements and obligate symbionts today).

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Hot weather shrinks size of German fries”
• “"Darth Vader" strikes NY bank”:  He may trying to raise capital for his next Death Star.
• “How Does a Heat Wave Affect the Human Body?”

Today’s weird thing, submitted by Barry, is “Really Big, Odd Roadside Attractions”  Number 7 is particularly awesome.  Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of typos

Greetings.

Jewish date:  12 ’Av 5770 (Parashath Wa’ethḥannan).

Today’s quasi-holidays:  Hot Enough For Ya Day, National Vanilla Ice Cream Day.

Worthy causes of the day:  “Help Save Africa's Lions from Extinction - Take Action Today @ The Animal Rescue Site”, “Stand Up for the 4.9 Million Displaced Sudanese - Take Action Today @ The Hunger Site”, “Urge Congress to Help End Violence Against Women - Take Action Today @ The Hunger Site”, “ONE | Ask the Senate to deliver their promise to Haiti”, and “Why is the Obama administration listening to right-wing smear merchants?”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Caterpillar's Innards Move Before It Does”
• “The Moon Hoax”

Today’s weird thing is this list of handy safety tips I found in a hotel room recently.  Note item 6.

I am chalking that one up to a typo.  Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

A new invention meant to make telephone calls more inconvenient

Greetings.

Jewish date:  11 ’Av 5770 (Parasthath Wa’ethḥannan).

Today’s quasi-holidays:  Pied Piper Day, Pi Approximation Day.

NOTE:  Now that the Nine Days break is over, today you are getting most of what accumulated during that time.

Worthy causes of the day:  “JCRC-NY Write to Rickys”, “ColorOfChange.org:  Put up or shut up:  It's time for prominent Tea Party leaders to step forward and deal with racism within the Tea Party”, “Protect the Future of Fish and Fishing in America - The Petition Site”, “MoveOn.org Political Action: We need Elizabeth Warren at the CFPB!”, and “Forget what Timothy Geithner thinks. We want Elizabeth Warren to police Wall Street.”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Concern for Those Who Screen the Web for Barbarity”:  Something new to worry about.
• “Sex in Bits and Bytes: What's the Problem?”:  No, it’s not harmless.
• “Comparative photos of Mount Everest 'confirm ice loss'”:  No, global warming is not a hoax or conspiracy.
• “Couple stunned as whale jumps into yacht”
• “Saturn's Moon Triggers Giant Snowballs in Planet's Ring”
• “How does Lutetia compare to the other asteroids and comets visited by spacecraft?”:  This article has a really nice composite picture of all the asteroids photographed by human spacecraft.
• “Are Everyday Consumer Products Making People Sick? A Q&A with Paul D. Blanc”
• “Passwords that are Simple--and Safe”
• “Heftiest Star Discovery Shatters Cosmic Record”

Image of something like what they would have to have inside this thing via Wikipedia

Today’s weird thing, courtesy of Nancy, is the Port-O-Rotary Phone.  This is an old-fashioned rotary telephone modified to work as a cell phone.  This should be useful for all of your who thought conventional cell phones were too easy to dial and were not bulky enough.  Enjoy (or be puzzled) and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of houses made of meat

Image which Zemanta thought was relevant for no good reason via Wikipedia

Greetings.

Jewish date:  29 Tammuz 5770 (Parashath Devarim).

Today’s quasi-holidays:  Day of the Five Billion/UN World Population Day, National Slurpee Day.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “The Creativity Crisis”:  This might explain the decline in quality of humor we have in this country.
• “Robins can literally see magnetic fields, but only if their vision is sharp”
• “'Hollywood Accounting' Losing In The Courts”
• “Alternative evolution: Why change your own genes when you can borrow someone else's?”

Today’s weird thing is “In Vitro Meat Habitat is a Shelter That You Grow”, which is something which comes from bad science-fiction where it is clear that the writer has not thought the idea through to figure out whether it makes sense.  Hint to anyone seriously interested in pursuing this line of invention:  live tissue needs nourishment to stay alive, and animal tissue for the most part does not make its own food.  Yes, a house made of flesh is almost certainly doable, but having to feed the house is not an idea I particularly relish.  And knowing my luck, I would get a house with allergies which would cause its respiratory system to make a lot of noise and keep everyone in the neighborhood up all night.  And such a house had better be plugged directly into the sewer system, because there is no way I am going to clean up after it.  Enjoy (or be weirded out) and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of crazy praying mantises

Greetings.

Jewish date:  27 Tammuz 5770 (Parashath Maṭṭoth-Mas‘e).

Worthy causes of the day:  “Tell Mott's Management: Don't Take Money out of Workers' Pockets!” and “Stop Risky Offshore Drilling Without Environmental Review - Take Action Today @ The Rainforest Site”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Willow Garage Robot Fetches Beer, Engineers Rejoice (Video)”
• “Invisible computer mouse cost only $20 to build”
• “Solar plane completes historic 24-hour flight”
• “Mongoose mentors teach traditions through imitation”

Today’s weird thing is this praying mantis:

Yesterday I discovered that not only is a praying mantis able to cling to the side mirror of a car traveling at 45 miles per hour, but this one was actually crazy enough to do so when I went to mail packages at the post office.  It even remained on its new perch while being photographed.  Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

Beware of robot owls

Greetings.

Jewish date:  26 Tammuz 5770 (Parashath Maṭṭoth-Mas‘e).

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Video Games Day.

Worthy causes of the day:  “End Childhood Hunger in America! - The Petition Site”, “ONE | Path to 2015”, “Protect Against New Drilling - The Petition Site”, and “BPMakesMeSick.com”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Tourists get ready for simulated kidnapping”:  I cannot make something like this up.
• “The proton shrinks in size”
• “Wut? There were Lolcats in teh 1800s?!”
• “Science, mathematics: Physics major has a name for a really big number”:  He thinks the official SI prefix for 10²⁷ should be “hella-”.  It is definitely no more silly than “googol” for 10¹⁰⁰ and “googolplex” for 10¹⁰¹⁰⁰.  Personally I would like to see “zilo-” (from “zillion”) for an arbitrarily large amount and “zicro-” for an arbitrarily small amount.
• “Square Pixel Inventor Tries to Smooth Things Out”

Image via Wikipedia

Today’s weird thing is the USB Robot Owl, which is something in the way of a robotic pet which can perch on top of your laptop.  Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of opinionated cats

Greetings.

Jewish date:  25 Tammuz 5770 (Parashath Maṭṭoth-Mas‘e).

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Father and Daughter Take a Walk Day.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Survey Says To UK — Repeal Laws of Thermodynamics”

Today’s weird thing is “this is my opinion”.

I am under the impression that many cats have opinions like this.  Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of hungry bookshelves

Greetings.

Jewish date:  24 Tammuz 5770 (Parashath Maṭṭoth-Mas‘e).

Today’s quasi-holidays:  National Fried Chicken Day, Take Your Webmaster to Lunch Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Tell the FCC to Protect the Open Internet - The Petition Site”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Special Report: Europe finds politics and biofuels don't mix”

Today’s weird thing, finishing off my Pac-Man material, is “Books Eat TV!”:

This may be the coolest bookshelf ever created.  Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of subliminal Pac-Men

Greetings.

Jewish date:  23 Tammuz 5770 (Parashath Maṭṭoth-Mas‘e).

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Independence Day (celebrated) (USA).

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Homeopathy”
• “Quitting smoking during pregnancy may not be enough to prevent harm to baby”

Today’s weird thing, still on the Pac-Man theme and definitely a form of trick-photography, is “More Subliminal Pac-Man”:

Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Pac-Man vs. Cobra Commander?

Greetings.

Jewish date:  22 Tammuz 5770 (Parashath Maṭṭoth-Mas‘e).

Today’s quasi-holidays:  Independence Day (USA), National Country Music Day.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Ostriches Offer Clues to Dinosaur Motion”

Image of a former ghost from Pac-Man (maybe) via Wikipedia

Today’s weird thing, still on the Pac-Man theme, is “LOL: Cobra Commander in Pac-Man”, which may be the only Pac-Man crossover with G.I. Joe ever.  Whether this suggests anything about the motivations of Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde is left unresolved.  Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Beware of crocheted Pac-Man and ghosts

Image via Wikipedia

Greetings.

Jewish date:  20 Tammuz 5770 (Parashath Pineḥas).

Today’s quasi-holiday:  I Forgot Day.

Worthy cause of the day:  “Stop Antibiotic Abuse on Factory Farms”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Buy your own Tron Lightcycle: US$35,000”
• “Newfound Fossils Suggest Multicellular Life Took Hold 2 Billion Years Ago”
• “Distressed Ravens Show That Empathy Is For The Birds, Too”
• “A whale of a fossil is named in honor of Herman Melville”
• “The coming shortage of helium”
• “First Direct Photo of Alien Planet Finally Confirmed”
• “Invasive Asian carp on verge of entering Great Lakes”

Today’s weird thing, still on the Pac-Man theme, is “pacman and his ghost softies - Now with free pattern! - CROCHET”.  Now you too can spend a lot of time crocheting your own Pac-Man and ghosts.  Note:  If you want to be really original, consider crocheting dots, power pellets, fruit, and a maze, too.  Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron