Asimov world

One of the things that struck me about the universe that Isaac Asimov created was the economics of the different worlds. Colonized planets often had a dozen robots for every human being and the humans all lived like millionaires. Earth, on the other hand, had only a few robots and the people had to bust their butts. But this was by design. Earth had too many people. They couldn't figure out how to switch to an economy where people didn't have to work. To keep the jobs they outlawed most robots.

More and more this seems like a problem that we'll have to address soon. A properly built car factory can be run with only three people. Some already do. Those three people only needing to shut things down if the robots screw up. This story is common as manufacturing starts coming back to the United States. Few jobs come back with them.

It's conceivable that even fast food joints could go mostly automated. The people taking the orders don't have to be literate. The screens show pictures instead of words. There's no reason we can't work those ourselves. And the kitchens can be largely automated. You just need someone to be there if the computers go wrong and to refill the machines. Wendy's could become a large vending machine. Heck, once cars become self driving fast food could become like ice cream trucks. Just cruising the neighborhoods by themselves looking for someone who wants a mass produced hamburger.

Henry Ford made sure that his workers got paid enough that they could afford the cars they made. If the factories are automated and the fast food joints are automated and the driving is automated and paper pushing is automated we're quickly running short on people who can afford these or many other services. We end up with a bunch of people who need assistance to afford food, shelter, and health care. I mean more than we do already.

This article talks about how a load of jobs people thought were safe may soon be automated. If you open the PDF you'll want to scroll to the end to see the list of at-risk careers. I've had a bunch of similar articles in the last year that have either been lost or went in Friday Links. I'd been wanting to put them in a post like this.

How do we move from an economy based on work and paying for services to one based on very little need for work? Essentially a Star Trek economy? How do we get there without large scale rioting? We have a hard enough time providing health insurance for everyone.

Return of Jack-Jack

You know about my neighborhood stray cats. Shortly before I moved in two of the cats vanished. Ink and Crackerjack vanished at the same time. Ink was a bully to the other cats, kept starting fights, and isn't really missed. Crackerjack (a.k.a. Jack-Jack), on the other hand, was one of the sweetest cats ever met. The first time Jack-Jack and Yummy met, the cat climbed up on her shoulders and lie down. Jack-Jack soon came to prefer me. He'd sleep in the chairs on my front porch when I wasn't around, would pass a dozen occupied front porches to climb up on my lap, and would sometimes climb in an open window and hang out. Then he vanished.

Last night I was working on my future bedroom and saw some eyes out on the porch roof. I opened the window and the cat didn't run off. With some encouragement it came over for head rubs. It was Jack-Jack with a new flea collar. I climbed out on the roof and Jack climbed up on my lap after a few minutes. That got rid of any doubts of who it was. 

He came inside for a bit and then left. Later he came back in, hurried down the stairs, through the kitchen, tried to go out the closed kitchen window, then stood by the door until I let him out. He stood on the back step rails and watched the other cats. Then slowly started rediscovering his old turf. 

Sorry for the selfies. But it's hard to take a picture of a cat on your shoulders without making them selfies.

Republicans stop Democrat override

If the Senate bill to fund the government were to come up for a vote in the House it would pass. No question. There's enough Republican defectors to end this mess immediately. But Boehner won't let it come up for a vote. Democrats had been working on a way to override him and force a vote. There was some bureaucratic muddle to get it done, but they finally got there. And this is what happened.

Friday Links: October 11

Obamacare rollout goes well in Kentucky. [link]

Halloween evilness.


Movies ruined by adding a word to the title. [link]

BREAKING BAD SPOILER: Albuquerque newspaper runs Walter White obit. [link]
Highlight black box to reveal subject.

Bird calls rendered with digital particle effects. [link]

"Ow, fuck!" - last words of Roald Dahl that screwed up his planned statement. [link]

A brief history of government shut downs. [link]
Geez, no wonder Carter was voted out of office. 6 shutdowns! Reagan had 8, but short ones.

Aw, we in the northern hemisphere don't get to see Comet ISON until December. [link]

A short comic based on an HP Lovecraft story. [link]

Zoos and water parks can be used to give MRI to those too obese for normal scanners. [link]

Tsundoku: the Japanese word for books bought but unread. [link]

Having destroyed their natural predators, jellyfish are spreading and becoming a serious problem. So we're having to build robot predators. [link]

Silk Road and how the FBI took it down. [link]

The biased media and it's role in the shutdown. [link]
Which is why you should use the BBC and NPR for honest reporting.

Prehistoric spork mouthed elephant. [link]

A brief history of drinking on the job. [link]

Dogs trained to go into MRI machines are more human than previously thought. [link]

The realities of lacking health insurance for the sick, the hospital, and those insured. [link]

Extinct tree brought back. [link]

Put a head on this thing so you know which way is the front!


Cultural tips from an amateur observer. [link]

Half marathon runner misses her exit and takes 10th in a full marathon. [link]

NEW HYPERBOLE AND A HALF! WOO! [link]

Digital dead drops. [link]

The starving process and how long you can go on your body fat. [link]

Free birth control cuts abortions and teen pregnancy by 75-80%. [link]

Living the dream. [link]

Disney's new touchy feely generator. [link]

Dinosaurs on Ebay

link - more at seller

link

link - more at seller

link - more at seller

White guys can't rap... or legislate

Barilla boycott

This is a couple of weeks old, but I'm posting it anyway.

The CEO of the Barilla pasta company, Guido Barilla, recently said in an interview

“I would never do an advert with a homosexual family…if the gays don’t like it they can go an eat another brand.
“For us the concept of the sacred family remains one of the fundamental values of the company.
“Everyone has the right to do what they want without disturbing those around them
“I have no respect for adoption by gay families because this concerns a person who is not able to choose,"

Yeah, it stirred up a shit storm and he apologized... sorta.

“I’m sorry if my comments on La Zanzara (radio show where he made the comments) have created misunderstanding or polemic, or if I’ve offended anyone. In the interview I only wanted to underline the central role of the woman in the family,"

No, Guido, try again.

"I apologize if my words have offended some people."

He also said the usual line of crap about respecting everybody and ended with

"Barilla in its advertising has always chosen to represent the family because this is the symbol of hospitality and love for everyone."

Which basically means, "I haven't changed my mind or learned anything but please forget what I said."

You've probably seen Barilla on shelves in the United States. I don't know if I've ever seen their ads. They also own Voiello (Italy), Filiz (Turkey), Misko (Greece?), Vesta (Mexico), Yemina (Mexico), Wasa (Sweden), Pavesi (Italy), Mulino Bianco (Italy), and Harrys (France) products. I've been looking for a list of restaurants that use Barilla, having read that it's a lot, but can't find anything other than Pastamania (Malaysia, India, Middle East, Singapore). I was hoping to write to them and suggest a change of pasta. In the United States it looks like we can just boycott the Barilla label.

Of course, if you take the other position, then this just tells you what your new favorite pasta company is. Much like how you flocked to Chick-Fil-A when they came out against gay marriage or how I bought extra cookies when I found out how much conservatives hate what the Girl Scouts teach.


Guido, if you really want to fix this you need a speech that features the phrase "I was wrong" prominently.

It's every department for themselves

For me, at least, the furlough is over. The government shutdown carries on, but for 90% of the DoD we're back in business.

Huzzah?

Friday Links: October 4

Once upon a time everyone in New York moved on the same day. [link]

A collection of short sci-fi films worth watching. [link] [more]

Absurd stock photography. [link]

Body control commercial.


1% of the world's wood is used by Ikea. [link]

Pictures of an eagle attacking a deer. [link]

The case for college. [link]
Just remember to get a degree worth something.

A woman trying to make 300 unique sandwiches. [link]

A crossbow inspired by Discworld novels. [link]

Technical analysis of the reaction to new freedom restrictions. [link]

Begging for Bitcoins. [link]

Strange object in orbit in 2002. [link]

The time the US almost nuked North Carolina. [link]

Sugar's big con job. [link]

ONLY 1 in 10 children are child laborers worldwide. [link]
I'm thinking part of the reason for Africa's numbers is because of their huge AIDS orphan issue.

Dear JJ Abrams, This is what Star Wars is.


Water drumming.


Fun with a spinning monitor. [link]

Earthquake created a new island. Recently. [link]

Emmy losers party. [link]

25 most powerful websites in internet history. [link]
You won't expect these answers.

An honest Obamacare explanation.


The IPCC climate report conclusions. [link]

A short history of Ctrl-Alt-Del. [link]

Hanging sheets of art. [link]

Nifty wall. [link]

Aaron Paul on The Price is Right.


A bionic leg with mental controls.


Drink chocolate milk shakes after a work out. [link]
OK, twist my arm.

The true cost of not vaccinating. [link]

Animal spies. [link]

Cthulhu sofa. Perfect for ... frat houses? [link]

Moses Supposes (his toes are roses) all Japanesed up. [link]

Real life Monopoly settings. [link]

Peter Hollens sings "Want You Gone" (Portal 2 theme).


Baby squirrel adopted by cat.

House ideas

My parents are looking to build a new house before too long. This post is directed at them. For the rest of you, the latest Solar Decathlon just started in California. So I won't be attending. And you won't be suffering from 2 weeks of pictures. 

Here's some stuff I've seen at various Solar Decathlons that you might want to think about. 

Not the green wall. The garden just off the patio. 

A garden rack made of old angle iron and using a rain barrel for water.

Same, but up close.

There's these great exterior blinds that let in winter sun but keep out summer sun. They also prevent hail damage and decrease tornado damage.

These are on tracks so they can be pushed aside. Just reuse what we pulled off Grandma's barn.

These don't slide, but can be pushed out. 

Like so.

Or you can have them on rails AND able to swing up.

Or WAY up.

A lattice on the south wall should help keep the house cool. But mosquitos may hide behind the plants.

A flexible drain rack ingredient stand behind the sink. 

See above.

A use for the wood from the barn.

If you want to use solar water heaters or energy collectors but don't want them seen, you can do the roof like this. 

Then the water can be easily collected and used in something like this. 

If you want to get away from the farm house look you can make something from old grain bins.
Dad's collection of interesting grasses could be put to good use, too.

Sliding shelves to open up the house for family gatherings. 

Shutdown memes

Rush hour in the DC subway during a government shutdown.

On the National Mall yesterday.

The Washington Post yesterday.

And this is the thinking of those responsible.

Maryland Renaissance Festival

After 12 years I finally made it to the Maryland Renaissance Festival. The two I'd been to in the past were a tiny one at Kansas Neuman college in Wichita and the one outside Kansas City. The Maryland one compares nicely to the one outside Kansas City.

In KC the performers have to ask for donations after each show.
In MD they're paid by the festival.

In KC the joust is off in a corner and is a whole tournament that lasts a good part of the day. A wall of people forms and you can't get in to see the show
In MD there's three jousts that each last less than an hour. People come, see the show, and leave.

There's a much greater selection of food in MD. The pizza and spaghetti was a bit of a puzzle until I realized that we think of Renaissance festivals celebrating medieval times and not much of the Renaissance. That still doesn't explain the cheesecake on a stick.

The archery booths were a joke. You had to shoot at your neighbor's target to have a hope of hitting yours. The midair gymnastics of the arrows were really rather impressive.

The mead was good. I tried some Vikingernes Mjod recently that tasted like spite. Not Sprite. Spite. Both the spite and the festival mead tasted like white wine with honey added, but the festival mead was pretty good.

There weren't as many people with tails as I had expected. Some people had slightly animatronic creatures on their shoulders, but not many. There was one guy in a quality Star Trek: The Next Generation costume. Two people had Star Trek: The Reboot Movies uniform t-shirts. One 10th Doctor outfit. A few vikings. A Lannister. A few Victorian era outfits edging into steampunk.

If you go, you'll want to check out the Battle School show. They start with a scene from The Princess Bride and then explain who all the names mentioned during the battle were and their contribution to fencing. Then they go through a variety of swords, how they got their names, how to use them, then do a battle in slow motion followed by the same battle at BATTLE SPEED (you have to yell it)!

Hopefully, it won't be another 12 years before I make it back.

Sod Off Congress

George Bush Jr shot this country in the foot, leg, ass, and anywhere else he could point at for 8 long years. The Tea Party is gangrene setting in. They actually made some sense and brought up some legitimate issues for all of 3 days when they first formed. Then they were taken over by extremists and corporate interests and now they're downright dangerous.

I mention this now, because if they have their way I don't have to work tomorrow or the day after or the day after. They'd rather see the government shut down than see people getting affordable health care. Much of the government already takes every Friday off because of their economic sabotage. Now they want to get rid of it all together. And even if they get their way and defund Obamacare 85% of it will still be in place.

Allowing people to stay on their parents' health insurance into their 20's lets more people got to grad school or take a risk and start a business.
Getting rid of pre-existing conditions allows people to change providers and change jobs without fear of losing what little health insurance they have.
If someone with insurance gets sick the insurance company can't drop them.
And only 20% of what you pay can go to administration costs like executive salaries and corporate jets.

These laws alone actually make health insurance worth having. But, this is the sort of thing that the Republicans and the Tea Party in particular are against. At least so long as Obama is pushing it. Funny how many of those opposed to this stuff included it in their own reform ideas years ago.

So great is their hatred for the President and so poor is their understanding of economics that they make the double mistake of trying to kill one of the most important bills of my life time while trying to cut spending when the economy needs more stimulus. I'm all for a balanced budget and reducing the national debt. But you do that when the economy is good and spend more when the economy is bad.

Luckily, most of the Republican party realizes that the government shut down is a bad idea and will vote against the shutdown.

What goes into effect tomorrow (Oct 1) is the groups that will help people pick their plans or help them afford their health plans. So what Republican politician and news organizations have been saying about job losses and closing businesses is nonsense. Because it hasn't taken effect yet. Oh, sure, there have been threats. You may recall the Republican leadership asking companies to make those threats before the last election. And there is a problem with companies cutting people to part time, but that has nothing to do with health insurance other than it being one of the many benefits they no longer want to pay for. No jobs have been lost to Obamacare, but an estimated 3/4 of a million jobs have been lost due to the sequester.

But watch, in a few years nobody is going to be calling it Obamacare. By calling it Obamacare they'll be giving credit to Obama for what will be a rather popular program.

If the government does shut down tomorrow you can blame me for not planning a trip to Seattle. The last few times we were promised a shut down I was packing to leave town when they announced that they wanted me in the office instead. This time it seems they don't have the votes to shut things down so I've got no plans. So naturally we're gonna get some time off.

If you have questions about the new marketplaces, national or state, you can go to https://www.healthcare.gov/ to get answers. Not just an FAQ, but actual people you can chat with who will give you answers and clear up misconceptions brought on by wild and reckless accusations.

Friday Links: September 27

A tiny house for two. [link]

Nuka Cola: Red Star - A Fallout fan film


Watson, the Jeopardy playing computer, learned to cuss. [link]

How chain link fence is made.


Dog playing is leaves.


The Laws of Stupidity. [link]

The next mass shooting. [link]

Work smart AND hard. [link]

Just creepy. [link]

Nifty microscope images. [link]

Ginger Cat vs Paper Army.


Where raccoons are legal pets. [link]

Live crab vending machine. [link]

Two proposed intros for Doctor 12



I wouldn't mind a 3:40 long version of this song.

Just in passing

I spent most of yesterday doing my work on the front porch while waiting for a package. Strange stuff kept going by.

First was a Navy zeppelin. I love those things.

Next a go-cart raced up the street.

Then a man walked by with his phone to his ear. Not making a call. Listening to music without headphones.

A game of dice broke out for 10 minutes, then went away.

Then my package came and I went looking for a more comfortable chair.

Solo ceiling fan

Have you ever installed a ceiling fan by yourself? It's a royal pain in the butt. They're good enough to give it extra long wiring so you can wire it up with the motor sitting on top of a ladder. But then you have to pull the wiring up, line up rods and holes and shove pins into place with one hand while holding up the rather heavy motor and case assembly with the other hand, all while standing on a ladder that you can't hold on to. It was not fun. Seriously, get another ladder and a friend if you have to install one. 

I also got some lath torn down and some dry wall installed. 

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a fusion bomb

Yeah, this is another post about super heroes.

So, Superman... he gets his powers from the yellow sun. His powers don't go away at night because he stores solar power. Just hanging out on Earth he can charge up enough to ... well, to be Superman. He can fly between star systems so long has he has a small tank of oxygen just on what he gets from hanging out on the third planet of a yellow sun. He defies gravity. He fires beams of energy from his eyes. He tosses around tanks. When he really needs a boost he flies into the heart of the sun. There was one storyline where that poisoned him, but typically it's either a place to get super charged or a place for him to hide from the noise of Earth. The point is that he stores a lot of solar power.

How does he store this power? How does he control it? What I'm worried about is that when Superman finally does die his containment system is going to break down. Last time he died he was really just in a really deep coma. When he really dies he may lose control completely. What happens then? I'm thinking the energy all gets released.

Worse case scenario: He releases all the energy in a flash that wipes out a city and possibly sets the atmosphere on fire.

Better case scenario: The energy gets released as his body breaks down. That still has him burning with an absurd intensity. If his cell structure is dense enough he may be a clean source of heat for some power plant for years. Or maybe he becomes a tourist attraction. A pyre that makes a city block uninhabitable. Come look at Superman's body and toast a marshmallow from two blocks away.

I'm beginning to think Lex Luthor is right. The alien is a menace.

Friday Links: September 20

A frog with dreams. [link]

History of the Soviet Union set to the theme of Tetris.


Cat trolling a snake. [link]

Wolverine goes to the nail salon.


Treatment for monkey AIDS. [link]

A 4 dimensional universe could have it's own black holes. And along the event horizon of these black holes could our 3 dimensional universe. [link]

5 newish nifty materials. [link]

A brief history of diving suits. [link]

An insect with gears. [link]

World's most popular lasagna recipe. [link]

Poor college students pay more than rich ones. [link]

The soldier with the sword. [link]

The ugliest, or at least saddest looking, creature. [link]
The picture is unfair. How does it look in the water?

What those words on the nutrition label actually mean. [link]

For those of you who missed the picture of the frog at the rocket launch. [link]

The man behind Dolby sound systems died the other day at age 80. [link]

Festival clean up. [link]

Crime scene photos placed over current New York pics. [link]
I thought this was old, but it's really good work.

Putting time in perspective. [link]

I'm proud to say that I had no idea that GQ and Hugo Boss had an awards ceremony or that Russell Brand make a Nazi joke about Hugo Boss while there. But here's Russell's side of things. [link]

Rocky and Natasha's voice actress wins an Emmy. [link]

Scary clown loose in Northampton. [link]

11,000 years of temperature data. [link]

Ron Paul confirms my views that he's a loon. He's now coming out against schools. [link]
Have you met... people, Ron? People are stupid. We send people to school so that people somewhat smarter can teach the kids. Under your plan only the kids of really smart people or people with money for tutors would get an education worth a damn. Mostly we'd get feral children.

True facts about the frog.

Why is this not a show on TLC? Or at least between shows on PBS?

Productivity secrets from great historical thinkers. [link]

All the financial advice you need on one index card. [link]

The Stay Out of New York tourist leaflet. [link]

Women in aviation. [link]

A private study of Black Widow Spiders. [link]

Man is his own brewery. [link]

Drone watches German Chancellor and freaks security out. [link]

Minecraft if made with the Crysis engine.


What Isaac Asimov got right about 2014. [link]

All 56 original Star Trek episodes at once.


Aw. Robots are taking our dogs, too. [link]

Cartoon characters doing Lord of the Rings.

Movie Review: The Wolverine

I went into The Wolverine knowing almost nothing about it other than it had Hugh Jackman playing his most famous role and we'd see the late Jean Grey in it. For all intents and purposes you should consider this X-Men 4. Sure, there's just Wolverine, but it picks up some years after X-Men 3 and continues the story.

Having killed Jean Grey, one of his great loves, he heads off into the wilds of Canada to live as a hermit and torment himself with her memory. He's drawn out when a bear that he knows gets killed by some hunters. While going after the hunters he meets a young woman who wants to take him to Tokyo where a man he saved from the Nagasaki nuke is dying. Things start going hinky almost immediately as a major corporation is preparing to change hands within the family, but not the way anyone expected. The story follows the standard Japanese lore about a lone samurai falling for a princess and fighting ninjas and whatnot to save her. Only this time there's mutant abilities involved and the big samurai who must be confronted at the end of the story is a robot.

While I enjoyed the movie and am glad that I saw it, I'm not feeling inclined to buy the DVD. What you really want to see the movie for is the short bit that comes during the credits. I'm not sure if it's leading into the new First Class movie or another sequel to the original X-Men movies, but it should get you excited.

So, which was it?

Nokia was recently sold to Microsoft. It fell a long way in recent years. The question is did Nokia fall far enough for Microsoft to buy them because there was a problem with Nokia or because they were using a Microsoft OS on their phones? I actively avoid Microsoft powered phones because I'm adverse to pieces of crap. I'm not sure how Nokia is going to do any better when owned by Microsoft.

Breakfast at Tiffany's bothers me

Is it just me, or is "Breakfast at Tiffany's" a song about a sad little man grasping at straws in order to keep a woman who wants nothing to do with him. I feel there should be a sequel.

And I said - what about - Breakfast at Tiffany's
She said - What are you - doing in my house
And as I recall - I got - a re-strain-ing order
And I said - well then - where are the cops

You'll say, that we've got nothing in common
So I set fire to your garden
And shaved my name in your dog
You'll say Keep five thousand feet between us
A mile at least between us
I'm starting to think you don't care.

Or something like that

Wall panel 1

This is my wall. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
It is made of lath pulled from my walls and nails found in the basement.
It shall close the walls of my bedroom and hide my wiring until such time as it is torn down to install duct work.
I still need to cut holes for the light switch and power outlet. The stain could stand being touched up.
But that's for tomorrow.
Today I've got it standing and call it good.

Friday the 13th Links: September

The NSA build a poor Enterprise bridge replica. [link]
Yeah, part of our budget was recently taken to pay for someone's office, too.

Modern Shrinky Dinks. [link]
Made from #6 plastic. Does this mean I can just take my #6 plastics, draw on them, and shove them in the oven instead of fighting with the recycling guys over whether they take them or not?

Shrinky Dink science. [link]
Dang. Looks like it needs to be stretched to make Shrinky Dink plastic.

How to get attention for your decal company. [link]

Engl-ish. [link]

Pimp my skeleton or Bones of Bling. [link] [link 2]

Weird Al Yankovic's "UHF" with footage from MST3K.

JOEL LIVES!

Gas cloud to hit black hole in the middle of the Milky Way this year. [link]

Why was the old Doctor Who cancelled?

Really? Have you seen mid-80's BBC shows? The whole network deserved to be dropped. 

How has "don't make concave, reflective walls on your building" not become standard architect doctrine? [link]

Oh, look, we've figured out how to break light speed again. And this one is actually rather old (to me). [link]

Name that tune.


It's time for you to run a 5K. And then send me pics of your medal. [link]

August 10 - the day that news of American independence was published in England. [link]

Why are chemical weapons worse than conventional weapons? [link]

How (this guy) Outgrew Libertarianism. [link]
Short version: matured past the age of 6.

Underground home and yard for sale. [link]

Why you shouldn't post pictures of your kids online. [link]

Time capsule city. [link]

Cheap decorative jars. [link]
I may need a few in my new library. Just so I don't have to dust. 

Why can't we go back in time to kill Hitler? [link]

Kindle book stealing robot. [link]

A short audio recording of a fire fight in Vietnam. [link]

A short history of Syria in the last century. [link]

How to make a proper caesar salad. [link]

You've seen these circles from airplanes. We farmers know what they are and are familiar with this problem. [link]

Gangs have business cards? [link]

Can't get yourself deserted on an island? Rent one! [link]

Are sports ruining schools? [link]

It costs poor people more to access their money than it does rich people. [link]

Submersible ships that aren't submarines. [link]

A Georgian Stonehenge/Rosetta Stone. [link]

Simple 3D modeling from a photo. Then photo manipulation.


Video games are good for the mental functions of the elderly. [link]

Deceptive practices in interface design. [link]
iPhone users should have a look.

Evil prank. [link]

26 year old victim of WWI. [link]

Dynamic lines on a gym floor. [link]

The old Aperture Science computer system. [link]

Moto X: UPDATED

update:
My phone broke yesterday. I'd had it about 45-46 hours and the screen broke. The phone fell 1 foot onto a table. The case is fine. The glass is intact. The screen below the glass cracked. My old Droid 2 survived almost 3 years of being dropped, kicked, being driven over once, and general rough treatment. My Moto X didn't survive simple butterfingers while sitting at a desk. Apparently it's made of cobwebs, old china teacups, and pleasant dreams.


original:
It was time to replace my phone. I liked my old one, but it was becoming defective. A strip of screen had become unresponsive to touch and then freaking out much later. Time to let it go.

I tried doing some research, but really, I have trouble telling them apart. The Moto X came highly recommended by some friends so I just went with it. And you're going to hear me complain about it.

I liked the physical keyboard. Some people don't like them, but I liked seeing the screen and being able to type at the same time. Moto X doesn't have that.

Google Talk has been replaced with Hangout. I tried the upgrade on my old phone and hated it. But there I could uninstall the update and go back to Talk. I can't do that now. So some other app is pretending to be Talk. Hangout just sucks. I've not heard from anyone who thinks it's an improvement over Talk. Talk takes the people who are available and clusters them at the top. Hangout just sort of mutes the colors on people who aren't available. So if you have more than a dozen contacts you have to go hunting to see if they're online and keep checking to see when they come online if you're waiting for them. I want them all clustered like in Talk. And so does everybody else who isn't Google.

It does make it easier to uninstall apps, once you figure out how.

I'm not sure if the GPS is on or off. Bluetooth and wi-fi I can at least still look up in the system preferences.

I'm told there's brightness control. I haven't seen it yet.

I had to reconfigure Gmail to make it useful instead of graphical.

It's only the first evening, but so far I'm struck more by what it can't do than what it can.

Stupid thought

Why is the word "small" bigger than the word "big"?

Lack of links

Sorry for the lack of links. Internet gets turned on later today.

Until then, just be happy.

Movie review: Despicable Me 2

Ok, so this movie has already left the major theaters and should be out on DVD in a month or two. I just saw it yesterday. And to think, five years ago I was telling you about movies before they hit the theater. Ah, well.

Despicable Me 2 is named after a similar movie that came before it called Despicable Me. And just like the preceding movie, it's really pretty funny. I had not just the theater, but the building to myself. Just me and the one staff member who was working tickets, concessions, janitorial, and the projector. And I laughed or snickered at some of the stupidest stuff. Some throw away lines were made funny just by the voice doing them. Some were genuinely unexpected. Some were just situational and almost background jokes. But the writers hadn't slacked off after the success of their first movie.

I was a bit worried at first. It really bothers me when they make a sequel just by taking characters from the first movie and making them spies. It's a common enough trope and it almost never works. Usually it means they were under pressure to make a sequel and had no good ideas. Kinda like when they want to make a TV show into a movie so the cast has to raise money in a hurry to save the lodge/orphanarium/school/etc. It worked for the Blues Brothers, but not for anyone else.

Maybe I didn't notice any gadget overload because Gru (our hero) is already a recovering mad scientist and wanna be world conqueror and is surrounded with gadgets. Or maybe it's just because it was actually funny and not a cruel distortion of liked characters.

Short version of the movie: Gru's lab has been turned into a jelly and jam factory now that he's gone straight. But his dad leaves because he loves being an evil genius. The neighbor lady keeps trying to set Gru, the single father, up with her single friends. An anti-bad guy organization wants to recruit Gru to go after a bad guy who stole a secret arctic research lab. Alas, they don't know who he is. Only that he spends time in this one mall. Presumably running a store. Gru and an energetic redhead spy are given a cupcake shop from which to scope things out.

OK, the figuring out who dunnit was a bit awkward. And the relationship between Gru and the redhead is a bit forced. But overall the movie was still pretty funny.

I'm thankful

I'm thankful that bread and mold are different colors. Consider the alternative.

Friday Links: August 30

"The Hungry Games"


Where to complain about Do Not Call violations. [link]

5 dumbest states in America. [link]
No surprises, really.

According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline Bella and Edward are in an abusive relationship. [link]

A horrible(ly funny) thing to do to someone in the bathroom.


 The NRA keeps the gun registration list they don't want the government to make. [link]

Rent a chicken coop to try it out. [link]

The elevated Amazon highway. [link]

You know what? Let's just turn Detroit into a nature park. [link]

Don't wash the chicken before cooking. [link]

You know what? Let's just turn Oklahoma into a nature park. [link]

Kristen Chenoweth singing a duet with an audience member.


Building a balloon Cthulhu.


An ... interesting, yeah, interesting printer idea. [link]

Highly detailed fictional maps. [link]

The 5 beers most responsible for hospital visits. [link]

To heck with this video about economic division. When in DC or Baltimore you want to hit Dangerously Delicious Pies and get a Baltimore Bomb. It's made of Burger Cookies, another Baltimore dessert. [link]

5 terrifying statement in the leaked climate report. [link]

If you could travel back in time to any decade of the 20th century, when would you pick? [link]

Nursing home gets regular llama visitor. [link]

Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield talk about the ear biting. [link]

A new type of Craigslist killer. [link]

History will pardon Manning even if Obama doesn't. [link]

How different cultures say "I disagree." [link]

Drunk behavior vs stoned behavior.


Loneliness kills! [link]
I have to argue with this article. Loneliness may be bad for you, but loneliness and social isolation aren't the same thing. I'm pretty isolated but I'm hardly lonely. Having to deal with people is WAY more stressful.

Oh, look! Jesus won't protect you from measles. Maybe try vaccines! [link]

How to read and understand scientific papers. [link]

Journalism vs the surveillance state. [link]

Just thinking about science triggers moral behavior. [link]

Teen builds fusion reactor. [link]

The forest that's a tree. [link]

Possibly the oldest globe showing the new world. [link]

Songs with the music removed. [link]

Pandas on slides.

Barn before and after

While in Kansas we had a little barn razing. While an army of Mongols would have helped, we just had some pry bars and hammers.
It was a good barn, but it had no use anymore and was rotting. The only thing it had been used for in my memory was to swing on a rope that hung from the highest point. That was awesome. But even the rope broke before we started pulling nails. It was time.

Before:

back (featuring Wattson and dog)

front left

front right

The first thing Wattson and I did was get up on the loft that the rope used to swing us to and start poking at the underside of the roof. We had to know how secure it was before someone did something stupid like walk on it. And much of it just came away.

End of day 1:
Not that dramatic, I'll admit. If you look closely you'll see doors missing. If you look really closely you'll see bits of metal missing. Hooks, knobs, rails for sliding doors. It was mostly salvage that first day. A few boards came off one side. And a bunch of trees were cut back for better access.

Mom

End of day 3:
On the second day I got up on the roof and started pulling nails out of the metal. Most of them were easy. But everything within about 9 inches of the peak of the roof refused to go. Each one was a war. And to be sure to hold on I'd clench. I was sore and probably bruised by the end of the day and sat weird the rest of the week. I didn't actually have anyone check for bruising.

I'm not sure what happened to my day 2 pictures so let's just skip to day 3.
Lots more board removed from the sides of the building. Most of those that remained are there to discourage the building from falling over without permission. And I got a lot of metal off the roof before our plans changed. Turns out we weren't just going to be able to burn what we didn't want.

Dad and Truck

I didn't get pictures from day 4 because not much happened.
If you look at the front of the barn you'll see a couple of doors. The one on the left was the "newer" milking barn. Newer because there was some level of technology other than just boards to catch cow heads in. It was still something used when Mom was a little girl. The other door led to a small workshop/storage area. Both were lined with asbestos paneling. Not fiberous stuff that flaked apart. Hard stuff. A bit like bathroom tile. Still, when it broke you have to expect something to get flung off. So on day 4 Wattson wore a high quality mask to work on gently pulling nails from it while I worked on taking the back wall off.
The back wall had been framed up and then the wall attached to the studs as a whole unit. I tried to undo that. But the studs were more interested in coming away from the baseboard than they were in coming away from the wall. It turned out later that the studs were never actually nailed to the baseboard. What the fuck!?!

On day 5 it rained.

This is the stray cat that kept hanging out and talking to us while we worked

This was what was growing from the ceiling.

This is Wattson and his girlfriend Jailbait as seen through the roof. 

Hopefully, when I get to see the video of the final collapse of the barn I'll get to share it with you.

That's, like, a lot of that stuff

This is what a ton of RoundUp looks like. Well, minus whatever was used before I got there. But it WAS a ton of RoundUp.