SkepFish

Maher…right on something

2010-06-14T23:38:00.001-04:00

For those who don't know i have mixed feeling on Bill Maher. There are some things he stands for that i really support and like him for, and on others (mainly his stance on medicine) i want to say “How stupid can you be”.

In this instance though i have to say he gives a good supporting stance for climate change. My favorite bit is his quote

“It's scientist's vs. non-scientists, and since the topic is science, the non-scientists don't get to vote”

It is hard to listen to him say this and not want to use that very same argument against him on his stance against medication and medical science, but that is a rant for another post.

What do you think about his comment and the current state of climate change in general?

A Kick-Ass Review

2010-05-03T01:02:00.001-04:00

What is the recipe for a kick ass movie: a good amount of BGG (Blood, Guns, and Geeks). The latest in a trend of nerdy comic book related movies, Kick-Ass takes on a story line unique to anything seen recently. Imagine Iron Man’s Tony Stark without the good looks, money, and brains and you have Dave Lizewski. Dave sets out to become the super hero Kick-Ass. After some unfortunate situations of wrong place wrong time, he meets Hit Girl and Big Daddy to other super heroes running around the city attempting to carry out their own greater plan against the “evil villains” of this town.

Throughout this entire film you will be left saying two things 1) “Did they just do that O.o? and 2) “That kicked ass”. Kick-Ass was an interesting mix of crazy, fun, and impossibility. If you are looking for a fun movie filled with violence, teenage angst, super heroes, and comedy then this is defiantly one to check out. It has been a long time since I have walked out of a movie with my blood pumping and this has brought me back to that point.

iPad Hands On

2010-04-28T23:45:00.000-04:00

*Update* 4/28/10

Some of you may have seen this post and though O.o must be a glitch. I want to assure all of you there was no glitch this was my hands on post. And now for the explanation, i was at the apple store viewing the blog to see how it looked on the new iPad screen when the idea hit me to try doing a hands on review on the iPad. While this may seem like a great idea it turned in to the failure you have all seen for the past month. For some reason I was able to type in a title, but the iPad would not recognize the “Body” section on blogger to be a text field so I was not able to actually post a hand on review. For those of you who were hoping for an actually hands on review then look below.

iPad Hands On (much much later)

The iPad is a very sleek smooth device; I don’t think it would be going too far to say that it is a beautiful piece of technology. The device is very responsive just as one would expect from the makers of the iPhone and iPod Touch. That being said it does feel like a very big iPod Touch, and in some ways that is a downfall. When I was attempting to type on it I found that the on screen keyboard was either to wide or too small for my hands to type normally like one would on a touch screen computer. The apple sales person at the store suggested that I use the “two finger method” which I like to refer to as hunting and pecking for keys and is a very tedious process. I am confident that this like with most new products just requires some new conditioning to become comfortable with and that if I owned one it would become easier to type on. That being said I am still not running out to get one for the reasons I mentioned earlier in a previous post iPad, rock or flop?.

Recommended Listening/Reading

2010-04-28T23:22:00.001-04:00

I have recently realized that I never mentioned how I managed to get myself into the skeptical universe, and I feel it is time to pay tribute to some of my “influences”.

My biggest influence would be “The Skeptics Guide to the Universe” hosted by Dr. Steven Novella, “an academic neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine”, and his group of skeptical Rouges.

“The Skeptics Guide to the Universe is a weekly Science podcast produced by the New England Skeptical Society (NESS) in association with the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) : discussing the latest news and topics from the world of the paranormal, fringe science, and controversial claims from a scientific point of view.”

The Skeptics Guide is about an hour long show filled that discuss the latest in skeptical news laced with amusing, snarky, and often geeky quips. On many occasions I have found myself bursting out laughing on my drive to school. Even though this is a primarily science based show, the topics are discussed on a level that even a non-science background person could understand.

It is this show that provided the inspiration for not only the creation of this blog, but also my own podcast Derationalize This! and its own blog (this sites sibling blog).

For those of you who don’t like to listen to other people talk (feels too much like talk radio) or are not interested in the world of podcasts. There are also a number of blogs that are worth taking a look at, and have provided ample amounts of information in what is going on in the world around us.

Blogs to read

Pharyngula – A blog written Professor PZ Myers, biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris. He tends to put up multiple posts a day, and covers topics primarily relating to science and religion. He is one of the more radical fell known skeptics, but when you want to hear from someone who will show no mercy to lunacy PZ is the one you want to read.
Bad Astronomy – Phil Plait, astronomer, lecturer, and author, publishes multiple posts a day focusing on mainly the space end of science but will cover any and all science related topics; he also has been known to geek out over sci-fi (Doctor Who etc.). He has published two amazing books “Bad Astronomy” and “Death from the Skies”. Phil is also the ex-President of the JREF and currently working on an undisclosed secret project.
Richard Wiseman Blog – Prof. Richard Wiseman is a psychologist and the author of great books like Quirkology. His blog updates daily with interesting new experiments or online questions as well as every Friday posting a brain teaser question that he provides the answer to on Monday.
The Rogues Gallery – a group blog featuring the hosts of the SGU – Steven Novella, Bob Novella, Rebecca Watson, Jay Novella, and Evan Bernstein

I hope many of you check out these other great sites which have given me so much guidance and resources as a skeptic.

Alice In Wonderland Review

2010-03-23T23:03:00.001-04:00

Somehow i have managed to find a temporary social life within the pile of all my work and was able to escape for a weekend to go watch a movie. I recently watched the new Alice in Wonderland from Tim Burton and have decided to post a little review about it. This review does contain spoilers though so anyone does not want to read it should leave now, otherwise please check it out below the break.

*SPOILER WARNING*

Alice in Wonderland is a unique and brilliant tale of a girl in a strange place…again. In this story director Tim Burton is taking Alice, now 19 years old, back to Wonderland or as he calls it Underland (apparently Alice misheard the name the first time she was there). In this telling Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska) had vague dreams of her last trip to Underland, but she does not think of it as something the really happened until she fall once again down the rabbit hole and into the wondrous land of impossible things. She encounters many old friends including The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) who help her of her true destiny, to sleigh the Jabberwocky and end the Red Queens reign.

This story is not a sequel to the Lewis Carroll novels, nor is it a retelling of the original stories. It is in fact an extension onto the Carroll stories. Burton creates a world where you can feel the emotions of the characters and adds a little more depth to the inhabitants of this world. This movie was an interesting experience of subtle undertones found in the original, and awe inspiring animations. The production quality is superb using a unique blend of colors and the computer animations of both the animals and the Red Queen adds to the wonder of Alice in Wonderland.

Caught in a lie… by your brain

2010-03-04T02:39:00.000-05:00

Polygraphs move over, it’s been a good 100 years but its time for a new tool now. The future of lie detectors may very well be found in the brain, well the reading of the brain to be precise. Functional magnetic-resonance imaging (fMRI) is thought to be able to tell if a person is lying.

In short:

“fMRI scanners detect variations in the magnetic properties of blood as oxygen levels change in response to neural activity. The more a section of the brain works, the more oxygen it demands and the brighter it glows on the scan.” It is believed that when a person is lying certain parts of the brain are working (lighting up) in a particular pattern, termed as a “deceit pattern”.

Recently reported in Popular Science magazine, two companies are working on Lie Detecting MRIs. Thanks to the increasing admission of MRI evidence in court cases, there is now an opening for MRI lie detector evidence to be used in courts as well.

It should be noted that there is no such things as a true lie detector. The one that the majority of the public has come to know of is called a polygraph, which measures physical responses like blood pressure and pulse during questioning. There is much debate to this day about the credibility of the polygraph as a lie detector since the factors that cause it to produce results consistent to lying, can also be achieved from a person who is nervous or stressed during the interrogation.

I personally believe that fMRI lie detectors are no better or more accurate then the current 100-year-old polygraph. While fMRI machines are useful tools in the medical field, they are by no means perfect. In an article published by WIRED magazine. It was found that a dead salmon being used in testing an fMRI at Dartmouth apparently showed results of having brain activity.

Photo from WIRED magazine

This shows that MRI results used for the sake of mapping “deceit patterns” in a brain may not be as accurate as one would hope when possibly passing a life sentence or death penalty. Another problem found with using a fMRI result for lie detecting purposes is that no two brains are alike, and the variations in brains makes it difficult to establish a base line to compare the subjects brain scans too. While I am in no way saying that fMRI results are worthless and should not be used, I am just saying they are not fool proof enough to be used as lie detector evidence in a court of law.

iPad, rock or flop?

2010-01-27T22:14:00.001-05:00

Well for everyone who may not know because you live under a rock or are a hard core (and likely depressed) windows fanboy who will not listen to anything by Apple, today was the big press event unveiling the long awaited Apple Tablet named iPad.

Having watched today's events and seeing some breakdowns on the device from a couple of very good sources (gizmodo, engadget, and more) i have come to an opinion on the device. I will reveal my feelings at the end but for now i will just bore you with the technical stuff so that you can form your own opinion before hearing mine. I will try to make this review as unbiased as possible.

Hardware:

Height: 9.56 inches (242.8 mm)
Width: 7.47 inches (189.7 mm)
Depth:0.5 inch (13.4 mm)
Weight: 1.5 pounds (.68 kg) Wi-Fi model;

1.6 pounds (.73 kg) Wi-Fi + 3G model

Connection:

Wi-Fi 802.11n
Bluetooth 2.1
Optional 3G with a plan

Price:

Size:

16GB
32GB
64GB

Features:

The iPad has a built in Accelerometer, 3.5-m stereo headphone jack, microphone, compass, and SIM card tray for microSIM on the WI-Fi + 3G model only.

Okay now for some things that you should know before going out to buy one when they an available.

The Good:

10 hours of battery and over a month of standby
Huge Screen
Blazing Fast
Multi-touch display with very cool graphics
eBooks, and the possibility of school text books being available in eBook form
On Screen Keyboard
Physical Volume and Mute Buttons on the side of the device

The Bad:

No Flash, while this was manageable on the iPod Touch and iPhone, it is a major problem on the iPad since it limits watching videos online to YouTube, sorry Hulu :(
No Multitasking, this means only one app at a time can be running which seems like a waste with all this power and speed to not be able to run things like Pandora in the background while working on something else.
No Camera, i cannot get over this puzzling decision why would they not though in a front facing camera, but its missing which mean video conferencing will be too, this makes it more like a giant iPod Touch then a supercharged iPhone.

The Ugly:

No ability to connect other devices to it without the use of extra adapters. There is only one port on this device and it is the proprietary 30-pin port used by Apple, meaning only Apple products would work with it.
Only App Store apps will work on the iPad, meaning you will not be able to download programs from the internet like Google Chrome or other commonly used apps. Also anything not approved by the App Store cannot be used which includes the popular Google Voice App.
Rigid Apple limitations on individuality and customization of the actual operating system, it appears to follow the strict rules of the iPhone using the 4 column snap to grid and non-movable dock.
Naming the device iPad, thus beings the wave of Female Hygiene product jokes.

So here is my final opinion, i feel that while it is a very cool device and it is something that hardcore Apple fans will want, the iPad as it stands not may not do well. It is clear that they are trying to market this device towards business people and college students with the addition of the iBook Store and Brushes. The problem is that these are people who are going to want to be able to use their mobile devices for things other then what might be found in the app store. Also being unable to add a USB device to it, and lacking a camera, there is going to be some major drawbacks for people who use the internet to communicate with video. One of the most annoying things to plague the iPad though will be the large glossy blank boxes on web pages where a nice flash video would be, on a small screen it is easy to ignore, but if able want to make this device a standard in every house then they are going to need to add Flash.

I am not going to be getting one right now, but that is subject to change depending on later hardware upgrades.

For anyone interested in reading more about the iPad feel free to check out the hands on reviews and videos over at gizmodo, and engadget. Also the video of today’s conference is available online from Apple with Quicktime.

Cell Plans which is right?

2010-01-19T20:09:00.001-05:00

For those thinking of getting a new phone for the new year, or just wondering what the sudden drop in Verizon and at&t prices means for getting a new plan have a look at a very easy to understand break down from Bill Shrink.

*Note: This does not include Metro PCS

Find the best cell phone plans and more graphics at BillShrink.com

Nexus One…Its here but is it worth it

2010-01-05T23:18:00.001-05:00

Today Google has official announced the release of their own branded phone, known as the Nexus One. This is a wholly remarkable piece of technology with some rather interesting new options, though I do not feel like it is the fabled iPhone killer that some had hoped it to be.

Keep in mind when reading this that I have not yet gotten my hands on it to do a physical test so this is based only off of report from people who have used it and the technical information listed below, while I will be telling how I feel about it and whether I recommend getting one or not, but you should defiantly go out and research it your self before forming your own conclusion . As always in this blog you are and should form your own opinions I am just trying to provide a little bit more information to help you do so. Okay enough with that lets talk geek.

Now down to the tech specs:

Height - 119mm
Width - 59.8mm
Weight - 130 grams w/battery, 100g w/o battery
3.7-inch (diagonal) widescreen touchscreen
5 megapixels with: Autofocus from 6cm to infinity, 2X digital zoom, and LED flash
Removable 1400 mAH battery
Talk time
- Up to 10 hours on 2G
  Up to 7 hours on 3G
Standby time
- Up to 290 hours on 2G Up to 250 hours on 3G
Internet use
- Up to 5 hours on 3G
  Up to 6.5 hours on Wi-Fi
Video playback
- Up to 7 hours
Audio playback
- Up to 20 hours
Processor: Qualcomm QSD 8250 1 GHz
OS: Android Mobile Technology Platform 2.1 (Eclair)
Capacity
- 512MB Flash
- 512MB RAM
- 4GB Micro SD Card (Expandable to 32 GB)

Having seen all of that I have to say that this phone looks spectacular and the concept of talk-to-text in any field would be very impressive, if it works as well as stated and is able to compensate for someone like me with a lisp. The Nexus One has an incredibly fast 1 GHz “snapdragon” processor, and even though it is made by HTC it is the phone that Google wanted and designed so they would not have to compromise with another company.

For those interested in purchasing on you currently have 2 options. You can purchase the Nexus One as an unsubsidized and unlocked phone for $529.00 or you can sign up for a two year contract with T-Mobile and receive your new phone for only $179.00 with a 2-year contract. While those are the only two ways to purchase one now, there will be a Nexus One coming to Verizon, and Vodafone for people in Europe in spring 2010. For purchasing info and alerts on when the phone will be available for other carriers go to Google's new Phone Purchase Page.

So after learning all of this I have one thing to say to people interested in getting a Nexus One, “Walk Don't Run”. If you are already a T-Mobile subscriber or really dislike your phone company then sure switch over now, or if you happen to have no problem with buying an unsubsidized phone and have the cash to throw around then go right ahead. Now if you like I happen to be on a service that you like and am slated to be getting the Nexus One (like Verizon) then wait it out a few months till it comes and then get it. This is an amazing phone but I do not feel this is the fabled iPhone killer and nothing to run crazy after. Now don't get me wrong I still think this phone is one of the greatest on the market for those looking for a non-iPhone or Blackberry device and probably better than the Droid but not worth switching networks for.

Nexus Rumor

2009-12-28T22:36:00.001-05:00

Its Rumor Time!!!

For those of you who may not have heard of yet, Google is preparing to come out with their own phone. Now this is not to be confused with something like the MyTouch or the Droid which are powered by a Google based OS known as Android. This is going to be an entirely Google brand phone, they are controlling everything from the physical production to the operating system and release.

It is believed that Google is doing this because as a solution to the conflicts they have been having with Phone companies on their previous phones, by releasing it themselves Google will not be forced to compromise on content or product design, they can finally create the device they have always wanted too.

Gizmodo has recently gotten their hands on the phone which is currently being field tested by top executives at Google’s main office. They have an amazing write up about the phone and a comparison of its features to the iPhone 3GS and the Droid.

Engadget has also managed to release a technical break down of the specifications for the phone showing a 5 mega pixel camera.

The question still remains though, how will the phone be released and how will it work? Current rumors are trending towards it being a data based phone with VOIP, but if that is the case will it be on a network or will it be tied to some form of a Wi-Fi network. As it stands right now only time will tell.

Currently the phone is slated for an early 2010 lunch date. Move information will be posted as it is made available, so check back often.

-Fish

Mac Tablet? Jan 26 Maybe…now the 27th

2009-12-28T22:27:00.001-05:00

*UPDATE*

New rumors are point towards the date of the press conference to moved to the 27th not the 26th of January. There has also been news of March being the suspected shipping date of the new tablet which at this point people are almost sure will be called an iSlate.

With a recent rising trend in smaller mobile computers like netbooks, and the huge success of Apples touch screen technology in the iPhone and iPod Touch; it has been only a matter of time until Apple attempted to get their feet wet in the tablet computer field. For a while now people have been looking forwards towards an Apple brand Tablet, and for the past year or so the only way to get one was to purchase one of the few custom made ones that were being sold online.

In the last month or two a cornucopia of rumors have been popping up about the fabled Apple Tablet being put into production. Current speculation is centered around the idea of either a 10in or 7in (or both) screen. These rumors have been made slightly stronger by news of Apple scheduling a Press Conference for January 26th with reports of there being a product announcement on that day. Also Apple has recently purchased a company owning the name iSlate, which could possible turn into the name of the hoped for Tablet device.

For more news and rumors on this and other Apple related products check back here and head over the Macrumors.com.

Macrumors also has a wonderful buyers guide for those interested in purchasing a new Apple device.

Astronomers Puzzled Really?!?

2009-12-14T22:16:00.001-05:00

The notorious spiral lights in the sky image (above) has recently been making its way around the interwebs and blogosphere at a rather frightening pace. This photo at first glance appears to be a rather elaborate and interesting Photoshop job. This is actually and image taken in the sky above Norway on December 9th, and according to Popsci Magazine

“The Norwegian Meteorological Institute remains unsure of the phenomenon's origins, but astronomers have said that it does not appear connected to the Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights.”

It has now become known that this light show was caused by a failed Russian missile test, that was scheduled and announced ahead of time. Thankfully not all of the reports came out the same way, playing on the eye catching idea of scientists being baffled. The Daily Mail, a UK based paper is one of many to report the truth about this case. Even without confirmation they were able to dig deep enough and discover that the display was most likely from a failed Russian test launch of their Bulava missile.

Unfortunately the truth about this story was not researched enough and many popular news sources like The Huffington Post published stories with more emphases on the unknown lights and the idea of Aliens, and less on what (logically) might have caused them. This led to an otherwise harmless and rather interesting story being used by members of the UFO supporters community twisting it around as proof of the existence of extra-terrestrials.

Once again another fine example of how sloppy or lazy journalism, and a desire for quantity over quality has resulted in a harmless story being taken advantage of to propagate a rather laughable idea like UFOs.

Fish in Hong Kong Part. 4

2009-11-13T04:55:00.001-05:00

As the sun rose and my Facebook wall was once again flooded with requests for gifts and other stuff from Hong Kong so I decided to spend my day walking around the markets looking for stuff to waste my money on.

To start off my day I got directions from the wonderful concierge staff at the Conrad Hotel and headed down to the subway to take it into Kowloon. After riding the trains down a few stops and getting off at the Mongkok station I made my way over to Nathan street and decided to walk south till I reached the ferry. The subway trains in Hong Kong are wonderful, they are easy to figure out and use and are much cheaper then taking a taxi. The whole ride cost me HK$6 which is less then $1 US, while the taxi will start you off at HK$18 and build from there.

As I walked down the street passing shops and stalls selling all sorts of goods, everything from jade stones to Rolex watches. I stopped in a few to look at some goods, but mainly to avoid the troublesome street peddlers trying to get you to go with them to get a tailor made suit or designer watch. These people were so annoying they would continue to walk with you and pester you till another one would come up and try and sell you something. I did manage to pick up a nice gift for my girlfriend. Many of the smaller shops and stalls were hidden down a dark and dank ally which would open up to a catacomb of stalls selling mainly cell phones and food with a few clothing stores sprinkled here and there.

Eventually I made my way all the way down to the Star Ferry finishing my 2.2 mile long walk. After riding the ferry back I hailed a cab and headed back to the mall beneath the hotel to grab some lunch from the Metropolitan Cafe before heading out to the bus terminal to catch a ride over to Stanley Market and continue my shopping day.

After taking a lovely and inexpensive (HK$8) bus ride I walked around the large outside market and enjoyed the nice day out before heading back to the Bus and ending my day with dinner in the mall at an American restaurant. I fly half way around the world to eat...a blue cheese burger.

Fish in Hong Kong Part. 3

2009-11-13T03:56:00.001-05:00

Today was convention day. Keep in mind this trip was not all fun there was some business in it as well.

During the morning I attended the Cosmoprof expo at the Convention Center. The show featured thousands of booths from retail companies to cosmetics and natural health suppliers.

After a few hours of walking around I headed back to the hotel and headed up to the Executive Lounge for Tea Time. Armed with an amazing book ("Hunger Games") and a fresh pot of tea I sat enjoying my book and the wonderful view of the Hong Kong skyline overlooking the Bay from 59 floors up.

Today was slightly uneventful but it was nice to get some relaxation because my next two days are going to be filled with travel and gift shopping.

Unfortunately my camera crapped out on me today and I was unable to take any photos :(

Fish in Hong Kong Part. 2

2009-11-11T01:22:00.001-05:00

Full Day 1:

Wake in the amazing Hilton Conrad Hotel and go up to the Executive Business lounge for a warm breakfast or eggs, lox, fruit, and other interesting east/west foods. Oh yeah and lots of tea.

Met with representatives from OEC shipping firm for a short meeting in the morning and listen to proposals.

Headed off for Victoria Peak took a tram ride up at an almost 45 degree angle. The peak was amazing you could see right out to the bay and the mountains.

Went back to the hotel lounge for tea time, apparently during the British influence worked its was a lot farther into the culture then I realized. Almost all of the signs with English translations are written with the UK spelling/words (elevator=lifts and line=queue).

After enjoying a relaxing cup of tea and free Wi-Fi it was time for dinner at the Jumbo Floating Restaurant. *Warning* This place is a massive tourist scam. They have a $10/per person cover charge plus will put town a small plate of something you did not order on the table and charge you $27 for it. They try to rope you into the expensive fancy level by not telling you that the food and style is more casual on the next deck up. The food was okay but it is defiantly a place to avoid.

That is it for today I will be posting tomorrows events sometime later on and will try to get these coming out at a regular daily time. If you would like to see photos of the places I have been feel free to check out my Picasa account which will have updated photos throughout the trip (as of right now there are no photos from the plane, still trying to get those up).

Fish in Hong Kong Part. 1

2009-11-10T19:37:00.001-05:00

For those of you who don't know I am in Hong Kong for the rest of this week. Throughout my trip I will be taking a slight break from my usual topics to post whatever I feel like, hey its my blog and I can do that. One thing I have noticed while being here is that some of the sign translations are pretty funny. I will be posting up photos on my Picsa account.

First things first, getting here was long as hell but I have to give a lot of credit to the Delta/Northwest crew on the flight from Atlanta to Narita it was a lovely flight and they were very courteous. The plane was wonderful with the Egg Carton seats and a nice list of movies.

After arriving in Hong Kong and making it to the hotel it was nearly One in the morning and had been traveling for well over 24 hours, it was time to crash.

Riding the Wave

2009-10-29T21:04:00.001-04:00

The great Google Overlords have decided to smile down on me and bestow upon my inbox a wonderful invitation to Google Wave. So here is a quick run down on the new Wave. I Love It. This product has such a cool and unique concept to it that could only be brought to life by the creative geniuses at Google. Imagine taking all the amazing aspects of Email, Instant Messaging, online widgets, and file sharing, roll it into one and to quote Geico make it so easy to use a cave man could do it.

Earlier today I was having a conversation with a friend of mine on Google Wave and felt like going back and commenting on something asked earlier and thanks to the split feature of Wave I was able to make my comment without interrupting the flow of our talk. Later on I was in the middle of a posting something when all of a sudden my friend posted up a Suduko game right inside of our talk. I will continue to post little things about Wave as it travels through its Beta life and hopefully end up as an open product to revolutionize our way of communicating.

Bedstand Bible

2009-10-29T20:42:00.001-04:00

This is a post from Professor Richard Wiseman's Blog. I Found this idea very interesting and feel like reposing it here.

"I have been traveling lots recently, and keep coming across Bibles in my hotel room. I assume that they are there to help some people in times of need. The idea of offering help is obviously sound, but I do worry that perhaps there is a more effective and inclusive way of doing it…..so, what book would you like to see in every hotel room in the world? How do you react to the Bible in hotel rooms? Would you keep the Bible or replace it with something else?"

Personally I feel that its time we changed things up a bit. Take them out of the hotel bed stand and put them behind the room service desk, if people want them they can still get them but instead of putting them in every room let guests ask for them if they want one. By placing them in the rooms it is in a way imposing a religion many don't agree with on the patrons paying for a room for the night. I say take the black book out, but leave the yellow pages in, now that is something people could have a real use for.

Chrome Back in Beta & A New Voice

2009-08-09T21:19:00.001-04:00

Just downloaded the new Google Chrome update and sent my faithful browser back into the hands of beta. So far all is working well the only downside is ~~that rollover text presents with a block on either side of it, as well as the themes not being available for beta~~. For more information about the new Beta mode and to download the browser check out the Google Chrome Blog.

Also in Google news I recently joined the Google Voice crowed and am pleased to say it is a very interesting tool with some unique applications. I recommend applying for an invitation for anyone with a Google account, and those without should get a Google account. Google voice features include:

Accept a call
Send call to voice mail w/Listen in (allows you to listen in to the voice mail and jump in at any time)
Record Conversation (announces that the call is being recorded on both sides of the call)
Send SMS
Transcript of Voice mail and listen to voice mail from comp online

Update: The issue with blocks and themes has been fixed. 08/09

Importance of sex ed in school

2009-07-03T19:41:00.001-04:00

Why teaching sex ed in schools saves lives.

"A group of teenagers misunderstood a woman's screams during sex and, thinking they were stopping an assault, beat a 25-year-old man in her bedroom, police said."

And now everyone in school will know that these kids have never had sex before.

Homeopathy stole my sense of smell

2009-06-16T21:38:00.001-04:00

Many people have heard of and probably at one point used the well known cold remedy Zicam. Well aside from being all natural and homeopathic it is also apparently very dangerous to your health, who would have guessed. Aside from not curing your cold, according to the Associated Press reports that:

"Consumers should stop using Zicam Cold Remedy nasal gel and related products because they can permanently damage the sense of smell, federal health regulators said Tuesday."

Zicam contains large amounts of Zinc which can cause nerve damage, and has resulted in at least 130 cases of loss of smell. While many think that the FDA is supposed to prevent things like this from happening but what they don't realize is that Zicam falls in to a special group of remedies called homeopathic products, which are, according to the FDA not required to undergo review.

Say wait to buying a new iPhone

2009-05-30T18:02:00.002-04:00

Rumors have been cirtulating recently about the release of a next generation iPhone as well as a next generation iPod Touch and iPod nano. Apple is expected to release details at WWDC in June and a possible release of the new devices in July. According to HardMac the future iPhone will be similar in shape and size to the previous one and the new iPods may possible contain a camera. The addition of a camera would make the iPod much more like the iPhone and would be a really cool addition.

The war rages on

2009-05-30T17:45:00.003-04:00

This sounds like how most battles between logic and superstitious people play out, though i am not a fan of the ending. http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/oh_no_its_making_well_reasoned