Today's Cool News

Your Car Radio Sounds Just Fine the Way it Is

By the time you factor in the sounds of the highway, you really don't need a super hi-fi stereo in your car.

Here's more proof:

Oakland's Pennant Flies Over AT&T Park

Oakland's Pennant Flies Over AT&T Park, originally uploaded by smi23le.

Let's Go Oakland

Is a Dominatrix with a Holistic Approach a Ho? Apparently in the New York Times...

The fallout of the Spitzer scandal continues to cause fits and starts at the New York Times... Maybe the Grey Lady should leave these stories to the tabloids.

From the New York Times (editor's note at bottom);

An article on March 16 profiling three sex workers in the wake of Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s resignation after revelations that he patronized prostitutes misconstrued how two of the women, identified by the pseudonyms Faith O’Donnell and Sally Anderson, said they earned a living. The resulting misrepresentation of the two women’s work included a headline that referred to them as “high-priced call girls” and a paragraph that said they practiced “the 21st-century version of the oldest profession.”

The reporter who interviewed them, one of two who worked on the article, never explicitly asked the women whether they traded sex for money or were prostitutes, call girls or escorts; he used the term “sex workers,” a term they used themselves that describes strippers and lap dancers as well as prostitutes. Though Ms. Anderson advertises herself as a “dominatrix with a holistic approach,” he did not ask her whether that meant she also performed sex acts for money, nor did he ask Ms. O’Donnell what her work actually was before characterizing it. He and the editors should have explored whether he had determined these things precisely.

After the article was published, both women contacted The Times and said they do not perform sex for money; Ms. O’Donnell refused to be specific about what she does.

These Are Pretty Swank Outrigger Canoes

San Francisco Bay Sculler, originally uploaded by smi23le.

Ever seen anything like these?

Alcatraz with Clouds

Alcatraz with Clouds, originally uploaded by smi23le.

I know I should be blogging but I've been too busy playing with my new camera.

Finally Barney Frank Proves Useful for Something

Now NORML is picking up on Barney Frank's appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher:

Direct Link

From the NORML Blog:

Yes indeed, for the first time in more than two decades, we will shortly have legislation in Congress that, if enacted, would end the federal prosecution of adult marijuana consumers!Based on the recommendations of the 1972 National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse (also known as the Shafer Commission), this proposal would eliminate all federal penalties prohibiting the personal use and possession of up to 100 grams (3 ½ ounces) of marijuana. Under our measure, adults who consume cannabis would no longer face arrest, prison, or even the threat of a civil fine. In addition, this bill eliminates all penalties prohibiting the not-for-profit transfers of up to one ounce of pot. In short, for the first time since 1937, the possession, use, and non-profit transfer of marijuana for personal use by adults would be legal under federal law!

Sure, I can make do with less than a QP.

From Brian's Lunch.com

Sunset Over USF2 - March 24, 2008, originally uploaded by smi23le.

I just got a new 12.1 mp digital camera today... so I will soon be reviving my photoblog, Brian's Lunch (dot com).

Here's a test from the first night... Sunset over USF from my apartment balcony.

Hi, This is Hillary!

It's always nice to know who you're interviewing, particularly if it's the potential President of the United States.

From The (Warren, Ohio) Tribune Chronicle:

It was incorrectly reported in Tuesday’s Tribune Chronicle that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton answered questions from voters in a local congressman’s office.

Reporter John Goodall, who was assigned to the story, spoke by telephone with Hillary Wicai Viers, who is a communications director in U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson’s staff. According to the reporter, when Viers answered the phone with ‘‘This is Hillary,’’ he believed he was speaking with the Democratic presidential candidate, who had made several previous visits to the Mahoning Valley.

The quotes from Viers were incorrectly attributed to Clinton.

Does Your Toilet Paper Have to Be More Reliable Than Windows Vista?

Those crazy Japanese, they sure know how to have a good time.

For instance, if you believe Windows Vista is a piece of crap, now you can wipe the memory away.

From Tom's Hardware:

If there is one place in the world that any gadget-electronic freak should go to, that is Akihabara district in Tokyo. Numerous stores bring on fascinating number of products, often first in the world. There are also products which are not so usual, nor you can find them in retail or e-tail in western world.

One of these unavailable products is Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 Toilet edition. Yes, you’ve read it correctly. If Vista is leaving a aftermouth taste like a crappy burger in *insert the name of franchise you hate the most*, you can always clean yourself with this appropriate piece of paper.

Service Pack 1 for Vista Ultimate Edition is an elite piece, three-layer toilet paper that will leave that comfortable feeling. In order to improve the experience, unnamed Japanese maker also printed the list of all new Vista features. Sadly for us westerners, the list of features is listed in Japanese kanji, and calling translators from AltaVista or Google will hardly help.

By the Whiskers of My Robotic Rat

Do you smell a rat?  Well, it just may be that the rats around this place were recently oiled.

Such a conversation could be in our futures now the scientists are trying to develop robotic rats for dangerous missions like rescue operations and deep space exploration.  Why does the world need robotic rats?  The answer is in the whiskers.

From TFOT (The Future of Things):

Scientists from Europe, Israel, and the USA are developing 'robotic rats' that will be able to aid in rescue operations and carry out planetary research missions. Nine research groups from seven countries are collaborating on this initiative, which was recently set up with the aim of imitating nature.

Active sensing is widely common in the animal kingdom. For example, rats’ whiskers function as active sensors. A multinational team was recently assembled in order to develop a series of innovative tactile technologies, including a 'whiskered' robotic rat, which will be capable of quickly locating, identifying and capturing moving objects. "The use of touch in the design of artificial intelligence systems has been largely overlooked, until now," says Professor Ehud Ahissar of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Neurobiology Department, who is taking part in the project.

(snip)

Why is the sense of touch in a rat’s whiskers so much more efficient than that of the average person’s finger tips? The consortium’s teams have managed to provide some answers to this question. One of the explanations relates to the way in which the sensory system works; whiskers actively sweep back and forth repetitively, accumulating information about their surroundings. The sensing begins in the neurons at the whiskers’ bases, which ‘fire’ signals to the brain. Further experiments have shown that the way in which a rat uses its whiskers is context-dependent. For example, the seemingly simple act of feeling out a 3-D object requires three different types of code, each encoding a different dimension and calculating the horizontal, the vertical, and the radial distance of the object from the whisker base. 

TFOT has some great links to the world of robotics... if I do say so by the hair of my chinny chin chin.  Oh, that's right I shaved it off.