Peanut butter? Really?

Wow! The people in this video have so little understanding of science that it’s truly frightening. And, their ability to mash together analogies out of utterly unrelated things is stunning. A true masterpiece! Easily on par with the banana proof.

Two questions, though… First, does this proof hold up no matter if you use smooth OR chunky? And second, what happens when you create Elvis’ fav sandwich, fried peanut butter and banana? If yes, does that make it a holy sandwich? Oops, that’s three questions. See what a can of worms one opens thinking about such things? Wait a minute… worms… in peanut butter… Where’s my video camera…

dvorak.org/blog
 

What’s up with twitter?

I don’t get it. It might be that I’m a bit slow, but I just don’t get it. But first things first: what is twitter?

twitter is yet another social networking site, stripped down to its bare requirements. It’s a site that revolves around one question only: What are you doing? That is it. Answer the question “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less. Then you add your friends, and you get updates of what they are doing. Followers are the people that follow you, but which you in turn do not get updated on. That’s it.

I just don’t get it.

twitter first came to my attention through a podcast (not that I can remember which), and has been occurring in several podcasts since then. And every time hosts try to explain ‘for those of our listeners that do not know what twitter is’ there is always a few seconds of dead air and then a more or less coherent explanation. But one thing they all agree on is that twitter is very addictive - in batches of 140 characters or less.

And it’s growing. Fast. Expect to hear more, much more, about twitter in the future. I might even get it some day…



Traffic data from alexa.com. Read more at SFGate.com

Edit: Some interresting thoughts on twitter. And why it won't last

I wonder how this will turn out

http://bumrushthecharts.com/
It will be interresting to see if it acctually works

The game has changed

You have probably seen the Vote Different video, with Hillary Clinton cut into the Apple 1984 commercial. It’s been kind of hard to miss. The big question has been who created the mashup. The Clinton campaign certainly had nothing to do with it. The Obama campaign claimed to have no knowledge or other ties to the video. Who made it?

Over at The Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington decided to use he network to try and solve the mystery: and solve it she did. The man behind the nick ParkRidge47 appeared to be Phil de Vellis (until recently) of Blue State Digital. He explains to have made the video on a Sunday afternoon using his Apple and some software. But here is the real kicker: Blue State Digital is the company that created the Obama campaign website and have ties to several previous campaigns.

Obviously Blue State Digital claims no knowledge or involvement in the creation of the ad piece: the same claim echoed by Phil de Vellis. But no matter how much they deny it, the questions will still linger and cast a dark shadow over Barak Obamas election campaign. Did they really not know? What would have happened had it not gotten as big as it got?Is Phil de Vellis a scapegoat?

In his explanation de Vellis writes:

The company had no idea that I'd created the ad, and neither did any of our clients. But I've decided to resign anyway so as not to harm them, even by implication.

This ad was not the first citizen ad, and it will not be the last. The game has changed.

Even by implication. It’s a bit late for that now: the questions will still be out there. But one thing is certain: this will not be the last citizen ad. Phil de Vellis just set the bar
 

On the subject of blogs

I don’t read a lot of blogs. Not regularly at least. My bookmark-folder for blogs counts the grand total of 15 entries. And I guess read about half of those on a more or less regular basis. But I’m expanding: like today for instance, I added two. Both of them winners of a Weblog Award (yes I’m horribly late with discovering the winners: I had to get them through a mainstream newspaper). Now for a short list:

Gizmodo
“Gizmodo, the gadget guide. So much in love with shiny new toys, it's unnatural.” This is a very good blog about gadgets. New shiny stuff that I’ll never get and some things that I wouldn’t want if I got it for free: All very well written with a lot of (somewhat geeky) humour by the staff at the Giz.

Engadget
Engadget could be called Gizmodo’s big brother and is the top ranking blog at Tecnorati (Gizmodo ranking in at number 4). It covers much of the same subjects as Giz, and combined they give tell you all you need to know about the what’s in the world of gadgets.

StopBuyingCrap.com
This is what the ‘About’ section has to say about StopBuyingCrap.com: “Quick story. One day I woke up and found out that I’m $10,000 in debt — and I wasn’t even of legal drinking age yet. Uh oh?” It’s a well written personal finance blog – go take a look.

Violent Acres
Some people might have a hard time admitting to reading Violent Acres, and I don’t blame them. The blog is written by an angry, bitchy, I-take-on-the-world woman in her early thirties who is very much for abortion and has a strong disliking of so-called ‘mommybloggers’. She usually writes about a vide variety of subjects and most of them make for a good read (even if some of the posts are a bit … much)

Waiter rant
This is one of the blogs that made it into my bookmarks folder today. A waiter in New York writes about life and bad tippers. Winning the Weblog Award for Best Writing in a Weblog (I see a pattern emerging) this blog is one that I’ll no doubt follow more closely from now.

English Russia
This is a photoblog with images from all over Russia often with a small commentary following a set of images. Every day something happens in the worlds largest country (too bad it has significantly more downtime than most other blogs).

BibliOdyssey
Books~ ~Illustrations~ ~Science~ ~History~ ~Visual Materia Obscura~ ~Eclectic Bookart. Another photoblog featuring artwork from a vide variety of literary sources. It’s pretty, go have a look.

PostSecret
Weblog of the Year. “PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.” A worthy winner indeed.


Suggestions for additions to my bookmarks folder greatly appreciated…
 

An arm and a leg...

Err... Make that both legs instead. Anyways!

A little while ago I came over a video of a Linux desktop displaying physical characteristics in regards to files and folders: something that is usually lost on a computer screen. (My Windows desktop is significantly less cluttered than my other one)

I have to admit that for all the nice features it displayed I could not see the real advantage over a standard desktop and filing system that most people use – that is, until today.

Perceptive Pixel has taken it a giant leap forward with their new am-I-really-seeing-what-my-eyes-tells-me-I’m-seeing-cause-last-time-
I-saw-anything-remotely-similar-was-in-Minority-Report screen. Say hello to multi-touch technology the way it’s meant to be:


(Zatz Not Funny via Dingz) 

Suzanne sez

iGeek is the new word in the tubes

(alternative spelling includes IGeek, Igeek and igeek)
 

I'm hooked

3D Pong Game

Found via BT's Teknoblogg

The List

The BBC reports:

The alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, has admitted his role in them, and 30 other terror plots around the world, in a hearing at Guantanamo Bay, the Pentagon has said

That is a list of thirty-one counts of planned, attempted and/or accomplished acts of terrorism in all parts of the world. These include the bombing of the World Trade Center both in 1993 and 2001, the night club bombing in Bali, and a suicide bomber who struck a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya. Plans that he has admitted to participate in include attacks on several buildings in the US: landmarks and financial centres such as the Empire State Building (NY), Sears Tower (Chicago), Plaza Bank (Washington State) and the New York Sock Exchange. Outside of the US targets included Heathrow Airport, NATO headquarters and the Panama Canal.

All these targets, and many, many more, were included in a list read by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s ‘Personal Representative’ (read: us military officer assigned to the case). And in no uncertain terms Mohammed admits to having written the text read at the hearing:

PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE: [Reading]”Also hereby admit and affirm without duress that I was a responsible participant, principle planner, trainer, financer.”
DETAINEE: For this is not necessary as I responsible, responsible. But with in these things in responsible participant in finances.
PRESIDENT: I understand. I want to be clear, though, is you that were the author of that document.
DETAINEE: That’s right.
PRESIDENT: That it is true?
DETAINEE: That’s true.
PRESIDENT: Alright. You may continue with your statement.

That is to say – this is the unclassified version: and with only minor omissions as well. I wonder what kind of ‘persuasion’ was needed to get Mohammad to type out the list. I hear Guantanamo prisoners are ‘persuaded’ on a more or less regular basis.

And now that they have The List, I wonder how long it takes before Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is found dangling from the ceiling of his cell in Guantanamo Bay…
 

Some ideas just takes longer to develop

1943:


2005:


I like the concept better...

Images from here and here

The white helpers

"Don’t bite the hand that feeds you" or "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"?

The year is 2002, and in the southern parts of Africa 12 million people were at the risk of dying from hunger according to the Red Cross. Trying to fathom the scale of such a disaster is next to impossible: twelve million people is a number so large that most people have no basis of comparison. But at the same time such a large number sparks the will to help. And so Norway starts a big operation to send two hundred white trucks to Africa to help with distribution of food.

White paint was donated to paint the trucks chosen for the mission, as were fuel and spare parts. And transport aboard a large carrier ship was given to the operation as well. All were set for a humanitarian success-story. And the media followed up with reports of success as the white trucks delivered food to areas previously unreached. All the while the bulk of the trucks were still stuck at the port where they had arrived: the papers for the trucks were not in fact ready, and they sat there waiting. And drivers had to be trained to operate trucks with the wheel on the wrong side. Probably an honest mistake…

So why the big commotion? It’s all about the trucks that were sent. They were old. Up to forty years old. Decommissioned by the Norwegian military during the nineties and awaiting disassembly. Veteran trucks. Those were the trucks the Norwegian Red Cross decided to send to Africa - with a fresh coat of white paint.

As mentioned the trucks got hold up at arrival. One of the reasons for that was in fact that they were not allowed to drive through South Africa, as they were deemed a safety risk as well an unwelcomed pollution source. They ended up being shipped by train out of South Africa. And during the nine first months (deemed the most critical) the trucks had transported well under 20% of their initial target.

Evaluations of the project concluded that under no circumstances were the costs of running the veteran trucks under twice that of locally available commercial transport. Not that any such messages were conveyed by the Norwegian Red Cross to the foreign ministry who continued to pour money into the ‘successful’ project. The latest trucks to be shipped left Norway the Easter of 2006.

Today the majority of the trucks sent to various parts of Africa sit idle in parking lots or automotive graveyards waiting for disassembly. The few that are still in use have numerous breakdowns and are in constant need of repairs. A mechanic working on the trucks said it like this: send ten trucks out on a given mission and expect four not to make the trip. Not to mention they use more fuel and carry less load than comparable means of transport.

It’s time the myth “Humanitarianism works, by definition” was laid to rest. 



Source: the TV2 documentary “De hvite hjelperne” and this article (norwegian) 

King for a day?

Cheap! A young monarchy, 102 yrs old, for sale. At the moment the monarchy is settled in Norway, but can be brought to an other country any time. People, king and queen, is not included, but I'm sure they and their family will follow.

And just look at that bargain shipping cost!
 

I did not see that coming

So I just watched the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica, and I have to say: I did not see that one coming. At all

And according to this blogger, who reportedly have seen the remaining episodes of this season, the shakeup have only just stared. (Major or minor spoiler warning, depending on whether or not you've seen the latest episode)

I can barely wait for the next episode