Monday, January 22, 2007

Screw eating right and exercise, you can still live for 1,000 years


The BBC is reporting that with all our modern day pharmaceutical knowledge and advancements in medicine, life expectancy could dramatically increase to 1,000 years of age. The crazy part, this could happen within the next 20 years. So all those people that exercise and "eat right" you can now make fun of, since they aren't doing a damn thing that will allow them to live longer then you.

There has been a project called the SENS (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence) that has been aimed at preventing aging.

From BBC:
It is not just an idea: it's a very detailed plan to repair all the types of molecular and cellular damage that happen to us over time.

And each method to do this is either already working in a preliminary form (in clinical trials) or is based on technologies that already exist and just need to be combined.

This means that all parts of the project should be fully working in mice within just 10 years and we might take only another 10 years to get them all working in humans.


The funny thing is that since this will stop us from dying naturally, we will all meet the grim reaper in a much worse way. Like falling off a cliff, being shot, cancer, hit by a car, basically all the ways people fear dying. At least causes of death will become more entertaining. Also, since there are more people alive today then have ever been alive in all of history, this could cause some population problems.

And since the BBC likes to irresponsibly throw around false hope, I leave you with this line they chose to write:

I think the first person to live to 1,000 might be 60 already.




Of course condsidering there are more people alive today then have ever been alive in all of history, this could cause some population problems.

Read the whole thing at BBC

I'm Back

Sorry about not posting for the last couple of days. I was getting my ass kicked by the common cold. So posting will start to resume at a normal pace. But probably over the next few days as I have to play catch up at work.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Simpsons and Futurama Manga



The above artwork is from someone named Spacecoyote. Whats interesting is that these two drawings got her a job with 20th century Fox, supposedly working on the new Futurama episodes. You can read about that by clicking this link.

Thanks to Deviant Art for having such badass works of art.

This is the new poster Eli Roth is trying to get approved to go in theatres. The MPAA probably will require a few changes before you see it in your local cineplex. (click the image to make it larger.




Thanks to Film Ick for pointing this out.

Monday, January 15, 2007

This is not Photoshopped


To get the full effect, click the image, and apparently the way to get a photo like this is to focus on the image, not the water drops. (I'm sure it also helps to have a $10,000 camera)

Via REDDIT.com

Some Al Bundy Goodness

Good compilation of some of Al's best one liners. For being such a trashy show, it sure had some great writing.

A bunch on new Mclarens

I really wish I knew someone who spoke French. Apparently these are new designs from Mclaren. Some look pretty good, others really futuristic. Whatever the case is, I suspect only one of these will end up being made and they will probably overhaul the design before it would be available to purchase. Below are some of the ones I prefer, and the rest can be seen here.










Via DIGG

Friday, January 12, 2007

Horrible title for a new story

Check it out

Thanks to Geekologie for pointing it out.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Quick update on Illegal Situation

Original Story

"A judge today blocked the controversial Farmers Branch anti-illegal immigrant ordinance from taking effect tomorrow."

At the moment, they just have a fourteen day hold on this law, so the issue is still very much on the table. Truthfully, it got so down to the wire that I thought they would actually enforce this law. I am happy that they at least put this on hold because it is a really stupid and ridiculous idea. Not to mention selfish, since Farmers Branch is just trying to kick there problem into another city.


News story referenced

Think your day sucks?

The city I live in (Carrollton) just broke there main water lines. So for an hour we have not had running water (Toilets being the big thing). My bosses just confirmed that the entire city is being affected by this and it will not be fixed today. So tonight when I go home I will not have a working toilet, hot water, or shower. Same goes for tomorrow morning. So be happy in the fact that you don't have to worry about this.

Banned T.V. Commercials

This one is my favorite, but be sure to check out the others



Thirsty Baby

Shark Attack

Printer Commercial

Bikini commercial


Also, check out the Fake Mastercard Video(Language NSFW)



Via YouTube

Weird & Interesting Facts

Humans were first infected with the HIV virus in the 1930s.

Thinking about your muscles can make you stronger.

Women blink twice as many times as men do.

We are about 1 cm taller in the morning than in the evening. Layers of cartilage in the joints gets compressed during the day.

The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.

Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.

Babies are born without kneecaps. They appear when the child is 2-6 years of age.

Your body is creating and killing 15 million red blood cells per second!

The colder the room you sleep in, the better the chances are that you'll have a bad dream.

After eating too much, your hearing is less sharp.

There are more people alive today than have ever died.

Earth is the only planet not named after a pagan God.

Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise.

As of 2006, 200 million blogs were left without updates

As of 2006, more than one in eight people in the United States show signs of addiction to the internet.

Men can breastfeed babies.

The Population of the world can live within the state boundaries of Texas.

Because of Animal Crackers, many kids until they reach the age of ten, believe a bear is as tall as a giraffe.

When the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers play football at home to a sellout crowd, the stadium becomes the state's third largest city.

By law, employees do not have to wash hands after sneezing.

The average person will spend two weeks over their lifetime waiting for the traffic light to change

More than 2500 left handed people are killed every year from using right handed products

Via Berro.com

Link

Urban Legends


As an initiation into a street gang, potential members hide under peoples cars at night, and when the unsuspecting owners start to get in, they slash their ankles and when they fall they steal a shoe.

A not particularly bright man takes a high speed train to get home from a business meeting on the other side of the state. While riding, he looks out the train window to admire the beautiful country side. A woman from behind yells "Look out!" so the man leans farther out the window to see. A loud "whack" sounded as the man's head was chopped off be a passing tree.

Gang-members are swabbing the buttons and receivers of pay telephones with a deadly combination of LSD and strychnine.

A state trooper was driving through a rural area one day and as he passed by a farm, the farmer yelled "PIG! PIG!" at him while shaking a pitchfork. The trooper wasn't the sensitive type and began yelling out the window "Redneck! Redneck!" as he ran into the large pig crossing the road.

A philosophy professor gives a final exam consisting entirely of a single word: "Why?" One student answers "Why not?" and receives an A.

A couple had just moved into a small castle they'd recently purchased and were excitedly searching all the nooks and crannies. In a large underground room they found many empty barrels that had been tapped years ago, and one that appeared to be full. They immediately tapped it to find that it contained a delicious brandy. They drank and served it at parties enjoying not only it's flavor, but that it could have been hundreds of years old. Months later when the barrel ran dry, they noticed it was still too heavy to be empty, they cut it open and found a shriveled corpse curled up in the barrel.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves represent the seven levels of cocaine dependancy.

In the 50's a town in Japan was renamed Usa so that products could be shipped to the US with the stamp MADE IN USA.

An extremely stressed student realized he couldn't take anymore during a particularly difficult exam. He put the ends of each of his #2 pencils up his nostrils and slams his face into the desk.

A woman came home to find her husband in the kitchen, shaking frantically with what looked like a wire running from his waist towards the electric kettle. Intending to jolt him away from the deadly current she whacked him with a handy plank of wood by the back door, breaking his arm in two places. Until that moment he had been happily listening to his walkman.

Brazil legend - Homeless children are often "adopted" by a US or European agency where they are put into comas and they're organs are harvested as needed by the wealthy.

United Kingdom -
Numerous Rolls Royce production plants around the country are actually secret nuclear weapons facilities.


A man runs off with a little cutie and sends his wife a Dear Jane letter telling him he's not coming back and he wants a divorce. He tells his wife to sell his Porsche and send him half the proceeds. She runs an ad "Porsche for Sale, $20" and sends him his check for $10.



Via Urban Legends and Modern Myths

50 dirtiest cities

Based on a whole lot of boring data, Readers Digest rated the 50 large cities from cleanest to dirtiest. Dallas came in at # 30.



NAME Air Water Toxics Hazardous
Waste
Sanitation Total
Portland (OR) 49 50 35 32 43 44.00
San Jose 41 50 50 21 32 40.71
Buffalo 34 50 27 26 47 38.29
Columbus 24 50 31 45 NA 37.33
San Francisco 47 50 34 16 12 36.57
Denver 27 50 44 19 NA 36.17
Rochester (NY) 46 32 32 43 19 35.71
Austin 44 9 48 50 NA 34.00
Orlando 48 23 9 38 48 33.86
San Diego 13 50 46 42 14 32.57
Hartford 32 29 47 9 44 31.71
Sacramento 4 50 49 40 24 31.57
Las Vegas 12 50 40 49 7 31.43
San Antonio 42 18 42 47 8 31.00
Oklahoma City 43 1 45 41 40 30.57
Minneapolis 33 30 21 35 31 30.43
Indianapolis 23 31 33 44 27 30.29
Salt Lake City 26 50 2 14 42 30.00
Jacksonville 45 24 19 20 NA 29.50
Charlotte 28 34 22 27 28 28.71
Virginia Beach 35 17 29 33 30 28.00
Cincinnati 19 35 11 38 34 27.29
Nashville 30 14 18 46 38 27.14
Riverside (CA) 1 50 43 25 15 26.43
New Orleans 39 13 10 48 21 26.14
Milwaukee 37 10 38 38 10 25.71
Seattle 36 21 37 15 13 25.57
Baltimore 16 33 14 24 41 25.29
Miami 50 11 36 8 9 25.00
Dallas 20 28 30 31 16 24.71
Tampa 40 3 17 17 50 24.29
Memphis 22 12 24 29 46 23.86
Providence 39 8 41 7 22 23.43
Louisville 21 15 15 39 35 23.00
Washington (DC) 25 19 12 13 45 22.57
Phoenix 17 37 1 22 23 22.00
Detroit 10 27 20 10 49 21.86
Richmond 31 4 13 34 36 21.86
Cleveland 9 25 26 31 26 21.57
Atlanta 15 26 4 11 39 19.43
Houston 7 39 3 19 20 19.14
Los Angeles 2 38 28 3 17 18.29
Boston 29 7 39 5 11 18.14
Philadelphia 14 22 16 2 37 18.14
Kansas City 19 16 25 13 NA 18.00
Birmingham 8 20 8 28 33 17.86
St. Louis 5 36 6 6 25 17.00
Pittsburgh 6 5 5 23 29 11.29
New York 11 2 23 1 NA 8.33
Chicago 3 6 7 4 18 6.71


To figure out what data they used to score the cities, go here, but the main point is the lower the number, the cleaner it is.

And I was looking for a list of the Worlds worst cities, but could not find it. Instead I found a bunch of stuff bashing Mumbai, India and Shanghai China, So I guess consider those dirty as hell.

10 Good Ask Metafilter Questions

People go to Metafilter to get any question answered. There is really no limit to what you can ask and you usually get comical stories with your answers. So join me as I take a look at some of the more unique Metafilter items. Click on the questions to go to the answers.

My dog has developed a romanitic interest in his doggy bed. What to do?

Is it possible to annoy an animal/person to death?

What should I name my hockey team?

I compulsively eat bits of myself when I shed them. How bad is this for me?

Long johns: Are you supposed to wear them accompanying underwear, or as underwear?

How can I stop caring so much about the appearance and status of my house and neighborhood?

My girlfriend is not fun. What do I do about this?

I was attacked by a house mouse.


Why does different sorts of alcohol affect you differently?


How do I tell my wife she's fat?

What should I ask metafilter? Leave your answers in the comments.

Via Ask Metafilter

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Sitescore - website ratings

Sitescore allows you to input a web address and it will perform a list of tests on the site and rate your site. Its a great tool for people like me so I can figure out what my site needs changed or added. It gives a detailed summary of what needs to be done and also ranks your website. My rating was:
Excellent point This website is exceptionally popular (approx #15 in the world)

As much as I want to believe that, I have the data to prove that statement wrong, but it at least means my readers are enjoying what they see.

I also found out that there is some British Disability Discrimination Act that I am not complying to. More on that here. And if you actually click that link and read that stuff, please let me know what it means. I got a headache after five minutes. Also I don't want to deny the handicapped there blogger goodness.

So go to Sitescore and enter a web site you go to and see how it ranks and how easy it is to navigate.

My results

B.B.Q. Grill for apartments


The site that sells this product is German so info on the product is sketchy.
From there site:
Bruce ist der Grill für den Balkon. Er hängt am Geländer in handels-üblichen Blumenkastenhalterungen. So nimmt er kaum Platz in An-spruch. Bruce wurde im Jahr 2006 als Teil meiner Diplomarbeit mit freundlicher Unterstützung der Firma Edelstahl Jaenchen Berlin realisiert.

My girlfriend is from Germany so I will update this in a little bit with the translation.

And you have to watch this video advertising the product. (must have quicktime)

Via this place

Graffiti Machine


Via YouTube

A version of Wickerman that doesn't suck

Judging by the box office for Wickerman, you haven't scene it and thats a good thing. It steers far away from the original and is just not worth seeing. But thanks to one man you can now enjoy a 2 minutes of out of context scenes. Enjoy!

Via YouTube

Chalkboard animation


Cool little sequence showing what someone can do using simple stop animation techniques.

Via YouTube

Another good one

Python swallows electric blanket


Official caption: Karl Beznoska's 12-foot Burmese python, Houdini, is attended to on an operating table, Tuesday, July 18, 2006, in Ketchum, Idaho. It took surgery to save the python after it swallowed an entire queen-size electric blanket _ with the electrical cord and control box. 'The prognosis is great,' veterinarian Karsten Fostvedt said after Tuesday's two-hour operation.



The blanket was in the cage for warmth and most likely got caught up in its actual food. The blanket was also plugged in at the time the snake started to eat it.

Via Cellar Image of the day

One pissed off dog



Via cute overload

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

Some local Dallas news


Many of you who read this blog do not live in the Dallas area so I thought it would be fine for me to detail one of the main issues we have been dealing with down here (or up here depending on local).

Basically the Dallas area is broken up into many small cities and suburbs, one of those being Farmers Branch. Farmers Branch has a reputation around the metroplex as being the place where illegal mexicans can live with little hassle. Well that all changed a few months ago when city officials proposed a law that would require all landlords to prove that there tenants are legal residents. So on Jan. 12, Friday, landlords are supposed to go door to door and check for citizenship. If it is not provided the landlord has to serve you with an eviction notice or the landlord will get in trouble for "harboring illegal aliens." Of course the landlords don't want to take this lying down so many have sued claiming this law turns them into immigration officers and because it violates the Supremacy Clause. Also the ACLU & MALDEF have also sued.

I of course have my own opinions on the matter which I will keep quiet about. Although I will say that a person must follow the proper procedure when trying to move to another country. Mexicans are so vocal about how bad it is in Mexico without any thought that many other countries have it much worse. Lets also look at how Mexico treats Americans and other immigrants:

  • Immigrants and foreign visitors are banned from public political discourse.
We have many hispanic individuals in government and if we had this law they would have never had that opportunity.
  • Immigrants and foreigners are denied certain basic property rights.
So even if you buy a home in Mexico you don't really even own it.
  • Immigrants are denied equal employment rights.
So you can't even get a job there.
  • Immigrants and naturalized citizens may never become members of the clergy.
How wrong is it to ban immigrants from church duties.
  • Immigrants may be expelled from Mexico for any reason and without due process.
So they can kick us out of there country even if we are legal citizens but if they are in our country illegally we can't even kick them out.

There are some others but they aren't as dramatic and it goes without saying that America does not inforce any rules like this towards its immigrants (you can't be president here unless born in America). So looking at it like that it seems that hispanic citizens want us to treat them better then they treat us.

Another point in this argument is that illegals will just move to another city. Common sense dictates that if they are kicked out of Farmers Branch they are not going back to Mexico, they will instead just move into the closest city around (Carrollton, Plano, Dallas, Coppell) and so other cities have started to voice there opinion on the matter. Carrollton specifically has an election today to pick a new city council member and the voting choice has come down to one thing, for or against what Farmers Branch is doing. I think it is an important issue and am voting for the candidate who wants to do the same to Carrollton. I am not racist and actually do think what they are doing is kind of wrong, but I also do not want the city I live in to deal with the crippling effects of such a change (Dallas is still trying to cope with all the Katrina evacuees).

So after all that, how do you think I should vote? And do you think the city of Farmers Branch is doing the right thing? Whatever you feel I know it will be a very interesting Friday and something I will remain very interested in since this is the first time any city has tried something like this and if it is successful other cities might follow suit.

P.S. - America got itself into this problem and is now trying to blame the Hispanic community when the US immigration laws are really at fault.

Dracula's castle for sale




This castle is actually called Bran castle and was home to Vlad the Impaler. Vlad would go on to be so horrible to the Romanians that the legend of Dracula is based upon him. Impaling his victims was his favorite way to torture his victims. He also would dine with the impaled, meaning he would have victims put on the spikes and then sit down by them and enjoy a nice relaxing meal as his victims weakly moaned out in pain.

So if you would like to own this guys former home, you can buy it for the price of just $77 Million. Of course the castle is now a tourist destination and you wouldn't really be able to live in it (there are stipulations set by the Government when dealing with historic landmarks), but it does make about 12 million a year at a production cost of 7 million. So you would have made back your investment in 55 years and then it would be all profit.

Via Slashdot

Daily commute


large version

Via Flickr

Rent Idiocracy



This is the movie that Fox doesn't want you to see. Why? Because Fox hates Mike Judge for making such an anti corporate movie (that no corporation would sponsor). I promise that it is good Mike Judge humor and its not being buried because it isn't funny. Definately worth renting, especially over the other Luke Wilson movie out right now (super ex girlfriend).

Worst amusement park ever



This amusement park is in Alexandria, Egypt. When I first came upon this park the site I was at stated it was abandoned, so I wanted to do some more research and figure out why it was abandoned with all the rides being left behind. I was thinking radiation, massive genocide on the roller coaster, something to actually warrant just getting up and leaving. Well it didn't take long before I discovered that this park is actually still open, and they are actually charging to get in. It is supposed to cost 7 egyptian pounds ($1.50 US) but apparently they try to charge you more.


The view after entering the park


The king of the mountain ride?


the monorail was out of comission


Yes a rollercoaster! No, its closed.


One of the only rides that was open


The main cafe (where they expect you to eat)


This is why the middle east hates us, our bumper cars work


Nothing says classy like a lake


You know it was closed

I just couldn't imagine going to six flags(or whatever amusement park) and it look anything like this. Hell, I get pissed when one ride is closed, even if its the carousel. Its just principle.

And if you can't get enought of the amusement park that makes kids cry, check out here

Thanks to It's Knuttz for thinking the park was abandoned, and Theme Park Review for setting the record straight.

And as a bonus, check out this:

Aquarium where fish can swim through the house