Something good must be going on.
After years of languishing deep down in the archives of Google, now if you search “ruhsam” you get my blog as the top spot! Woo hoo for egos!
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Never Look at the Sun!
Never Look at the Sun! Especially with a telescope in between you and it. Don’t believe me? Try the link and see what happens to a conspicuously eyeball-sized grape that is placed in front of the eyepiece of a solar telescope.
This link seconded to me through the Bad Astronomy Blog.
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Mortality Statistics
As learned from Matt Rosenberg at About.com/geography, there is a website out there, nationmaster.com which has some fascinating information.
Specifically, for this post, mortality statistics by country. What are you most likely to die of? Use the drop down menus to parse the data!
I realize that mortality statistics are inherently serious, but I couldn’t help but wonder (such as with the linked graph) how one manages to die from flatulence?
The list of causes of death is extensive. A glance at it is worth a second or two.
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Breakfast with Kai Ryssdal
This morning, Jenn and I attended a WABE (Atlanta Public Radio 90.1 FM) function with special guest Kai Ryssdal from Marketplace, of American Public Media. This was free event sponsored by a whole host of companies, and it was quite nice to be at.Mr. Ryssdal was engaging, as one would expect if you’ve ever heard him on air (Marketplace, on at 6:30 PM Eastern 5 days a week, on your friendly neighborhood public radio station). He talked about the types of programs that the Marketplace staff did, how none of them were business people, and weren’t really interested in doing “business” stories. Again, if you’re familiar with the show, you know they take an off-beat angle on business and economics. A specific reference to this was brought up by the GM of WABE who mentioned the piece Marketplace did on the economics of exotic dancing.
The man has an exceptional voice. It was soothing to listen to him. If you ever have a chance to hear him speak, I would recommend it.
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LOST is Crap, Tripe, Shit
You will note from my earlier post about Lost of one week ago that I was not particularly happy with the second episode of this Lost season. J. J. Abrams has proved to me, like he did with Alias, that he can take a good thing and absolutely ruin it.
The first season of Lost was an intricate mesh of plot lines and personalities, with just enough mystery to keep us hooked. The personal angle was what made the show great, especially how they all ended up interacting in their past lives, unknowingly.
The first three episodes of the second season are merely shit, with no real dialogue or character inside. Mystery after conundrum after enigma has been presented without even the slightest bit of an attempt to resolve ANYTHING.
J.J. Abrams has driven me away from the show (I have vowed never to watch it again) and thus has cost ABC a devoted Wednesday night viewer. Thank you, Mr. Abrams for freeing me from another evening of my enslavement to television. I’m sure my yard and my house will appreciate it.
P.S. I gave up the end of a hockey game to watch that crap! The first NHL hockey game I’ve watched in 18 months! I will not forget.
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New GPS Satellite Launched
Geocaching will get easier soon, with the introduction of the next generation of Global Positioning System satellites. The latest satellite was launced Sunday from Cape Canaveral.
9/30/05 Update: Hahahahaha…whoops. “GPS” now replacing the old “GSP” which was in the title. Thanks, Jim, for pointing that out. WordPress needs a spellcheck.
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Cobb Rates Highly
Cobb County, Georgia, is once again regarded as a top ten place! The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that The Campaign to Defend the Constitution has rated Cobb County number two on it’s “Islands of Ignorance” list.
[Use Bug Me Not to see the story without registering]
You can see the whole top ten list at www.defconamerica.org. Suprisingly enough, Dover, PA is numero uno.
As a resident of Cobb County, but not a father of schoolchildren, I find it difficult to get really worked up about this. They went to court, they lost the sticker suit. The stickers have been removed. ‘Nuff said. I personally think that they were a bunch of bone-heads to put the stickers on in the first place. For my detailed opinion regarding the stickers, see my blog post concerning them.
Also see Intelligent Falling for a good spoof of the Intelligent Design movement.
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GIMPS
The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search continues. Mersenne 8,797,639 is not prime. So says my computer, the slowest computer in the world.
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LOST = Arrrrggh!
Raise your hand with me if last night’s episode of LOST pissed you off beyond all comprehension!
“Tune in tonigh to find out the fates of all the castaways,” was the byline (paraphrased) for last night’s episode. What we found out was “squat” to use the technical term. They didn’t even resolve the cliff hanger from the first episode, the damn bastards. What a crock!
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Engineering and Humanities
Dr. Domenico Grasso, Dean of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Vermont has placed an article concerning the future/present/morality of engineering into insidehighered.com
I commented on it, but we’ll see if it appears. General consensus from the comments is that the man is full of crap, but he does make some good points. I agree that more humanities should be taught to engineers. I think the “lesser”* engineering schools like state schools in Texas, Georgia, Pennsylvannia, have a good plan by concentrating less on engineering topics and injecting some humanities studies into the curriculum.
You can read and decide for yourself.
*Don’t get all hot and bothered if you went to A&M or Georgia Tech. I think those are excellent schools. I’m poking fun at the people who went (like me) to RPI or to MIT, Cornell, Cal Tech, etc., who feel that anyone who didn’t pay $27,000 a year for their education is dumber than dirt.
Update 9/26/05: I forgot to mention that I received notice of this from Fraudirector. I suppose by not citing correctly in the first place, I was guilty of plagiarism in the first degree, which is causing the sun to slowly cool off and eventually will lead to the heat death of the universe.
Update 9/28/05: Dr. Grasso has posted a response to the responses on the captioned website.
The Evil Eyebrow
There is no knowing the Evil Eyebrow
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