Monday, December 29, 2008

Amusing thoughts on a financial tip...

So I was reading http://www.parenting.com/article/Mom/Work--Family/101-Ways-to-Bail-Out-Your-Family-Budget and came across this tip:

46. Bank what you resist spending.
Every time you talk yourself out of an impulse buy, like a pricey pair of shoes, transfer that amount into your savings account. You'll be amazed at how much you'll have in the bank by the end of the year.
All I could think was "I'd have to transfer my entire income to savings every month!" :)

Friday, August 22, 2008

The Columbus Dispatch : Ohio's voting machine glitch exposed

 

The maker of touch-screen voting machines used in half of Ohio's counties has admitted that its own programming error is to blame for votes being dropped in some counties.

The problem can't be fixed before the Nov. 4 election, so Premier Election Solutions and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner are issuing guidelines to counties for how to avoid the problem.

The Columbus Dispatch : Ohio's voting machine glitch exposed

 

 

This company cannot. be. trusted.  They have proved this over and over again.  First they blame anti-virus software for the loss of votes; then turn around and admit it's their own programming at issue. 

 

There are _open_ solutions out there.  A prime example is http://www.openvotingconsortium.org.  This is a fully open, verifiable, 3 way system which can be audited by millions of technically savvy individuals.  Donate to them, if you've got spare change.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

5 year old thinking...

While watching a commercial, Jayden announces...

"hey! Now we don't have to hang up our clothes, we can just get spacebags!

Monday, August 18, 2008

xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe

 

(Click image for full version)

Came across this comic today -- this about perfectly sums up the base idiocy of the "AV software caused lost votes" argument coming from Premier/Diebold.  (See Ohio Sues Diebold/Premiere Over Lost E-Voting Votes)

Thursday, March 27, 2008

The 5 Most Ridiculously Over-Hyped Health Scares of All Time | Cracked.com

This is the most insightful article I've read all week.  I'm not sure if that's good or bad.... but this article is spot on.

The 5 Most Ridiculously Over-Hyped Health Scares of All Time | Cracked.com

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Ice Chewers Bulletin Board - All about Chewing Ice

 

WTF?

Ice Chewers Bulletin Board - All about Chewing Ice
A place to share about ice chewing..

Ice Chewers Bulletin Board - All about Chewing Ice :: Index

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Fears of Internet predators unfounded, study finds

 

WASHINGTON — A lot of parental worries about Internet sex predators are unjustified, according to new research by a leading center that studies crimes against children.

Perhaps this should say "Media FUD" instead of "parental worries"?  I'm hopeful that this is the first step in the end of this particular phase of media fear-mongering; unfortunately this will like be ignored.

The study comes out with a set of information that have individually been reported/suspected for years, but as far as I'm aware, were never performed as a formal study.

In this case, their are 3 studies:

  1. 3,000 children aged 10 thru 17, interviewed first in 2000, then again in 2005
  2. 3,000 children aged 10 thru 17, interviewed first in 2000, then again in 2005 (2 of the same study!)
  3. 612 Interviews with a investigators from a "nationally representative" sample of agencies in the Unites States.

The conclusions, published in American Psychologist (the journal of the American Psychological Association), in a paper titled "Online 'Predators' and Their Victims", by Janis Wolak  & co-researchers, were as follows:

  • Sex assaults on teens fell 52 percent from 1993 to 2005, according to the Justice Department's National Crime Victimization Survey, the best measure of U.S. crime trends
  • Internet predators don't hit on the prepubescent children whom pedophiles target. They target adolescents, who have more access to computers, more privacy and more interest in sex and romance, Wolak's team determined from interviews with investigators.
  • Most Internet-linked offenses are essentially statutory rape: nonforcible sex crimes against minors too young to consent to sexual relationships with adults.
  • Most victims meet online offenders face-to-face and go to those meetings expecting to engage in sex. Nearly three-quarters have sex with partners they met on the Internet more than once.
  • Only 5 percent of predators posed online as other teens, according to the survey of investigators.
  • Usually their targets are adolescent girls or adolescent boys of uncertain sexual orientation, according to Wolak. Youths with histories of sexual abuse, sexual orientation concerns and patterns of off- and online risk-taking are especially at risk.

Here's hoping we can get more facts -- I'd settle for well-supported theories! -- in the near future, instead of more fear mongering from the media.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Quotes

Daddy, I want my cereal squishy, so it doesn't hurt the pink stuff that holds my teeth in.

-- Jayden

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The Roots of Fear | Newsweek Politics | Newsweek.com

This is an excellent article on the basis of fear, and it's use (and misuse) in politics.  This should be required reading before registering to vote!

The evolutionary primacy of the brain's fear circuitry makes it more powerful than the brain's reasoning faculties. The amygdala sprouts a profusion of connections to higher brain regions—neurons that carry one-way traffic from amygdala to neocortex. Few connections run from the cortex to the amygdala, however. That allows the amygdala to override the products of the logical, thoughtful cortex, but not vice versa. So although it is sometimes possible to think yourself out of fear ("I know that dark shape in the alley is just a trash can"), it takes great effort and persistence. Instead, fear tends to overrule reason, as the amygdala hobbles our logic and reasoning circuits. That makes fear "far, far more powerful than reason," says neurobiologist Michael Fanselow of the University of California, Los Angeles. "It evolved as a mechanism to protect us from life-threatening situations, and from an evolutionary standpoint there's nothing more important than that."

The Roots of Fear | Newsweek Politics | Newsweek.com

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Burglary #3

Got broken into again!  Sometime between 6pm on the 30th and the next morning.  Took most of my & (Uncle) Gary's battery power tools, Gary's miter saw, most of our hardwood floor, and broke the main garage door hinge and the interior 4' custom door.  Also went thru the china cabinet and the boxed stuff in the garage.. yay, what did they take we won't know about till we unpack?  At least they left his tile saw.

Gary has an idea it's someone who lives near us.  He bases this on the fact we have been taking our tools home with us every night - until the 30th, when both he and I left our battery power tools upstairs.  I don't see who could see the house well enough to know this, but hopefully it won't be an issue once we move back in.  Shayna will be in the house to bark, Putting up some cameras, inside and out, and adding more lighting to the front and back yard, motion activated.

 

Gotta get the neighbors to sing....

...

Every light in the house is on
The backyard's bright as the crack of dawn
The front walk looks like runway lights
It's kinda like noon in the dead of night

...