Anna Nicole! Britney! Idiots! Copernicus!

Hello,
A little warmer here, but with some more snow now. This weekend is giving a little warmth that is starting to hint at spring. (Maybe that groundhog was right after all!)

Anna Nicole, Anna Nicole, Anna Nicole. Argh! I ran across this article about how television is failing the public because of the obsession on non-news disguised as important news. I could not agree with this more. It is unbelievable how her death has taken more air time than President Ford's death, or even the North Korean six party talks, the "Scooter" Lewis Libby trial, Iranian nuclear news, bombs in Thailand, or anything else that is, well, news.

I just saw the movie Idiocracy this weekend. It deals with a man frozen until the year 2505 where he wakes to find society is so dumbed down due to celebrity worship, commercialization, mass media/entertainment, and larger number of children from lower intelligence families. While it was mainly a dumb comedy (and a pretty funny one at that), there was a hint of horror there because you can really see things moving that way. I recommend the movie, but be aware there is a high amount of very bad language and sexual and bathroom humor. But it fits in with the analysis of...

...oh wait! There's new Britney news! Hooray! Let's see what top celebrity psychiatrists say about her bald headed, rehabbin', tattooin', partying like she's crazy lifestyle! We need a replacement when this Anna Nicole stuff dies down anyway!

Other bits:

• A different kind of crazy: Texas Republican Chairman Warren Chisum believes the earth stands still and the sun rotates around it. And he's distributing memos to legislators pitching this knowledge.
• A bit of fun: the Line Rider is a fun little online diversion. Give it a try and check out some of the saved movies.

Apple phone, singing, sodium, virtual reality

Hello on this cold January weekend. A small potpourri of links for you today:

• One of the big tech stories recently has been the (currently named) Apple iPhone. Check out Gizmodo's Macworld 2007 iPhone coverage for details and pictures. Pricey, but I got to admit I checked out Cingular's website to find that, alas, they have no service in my area. That's probably for the best; I'd like to see this thing in the real world for a while to see if it lives up to the hype.
• Speaking of the hype, Conan O'Brien's show has captured it in this iPhone parody commercial.
• While we're linking videos, here's a couple more.
• An older one, but still good. Amazing splicing creates George W. Bush singing 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'.
• Here's an even older one; old newsreel footage of the government disposing of sodium by dumping it in a lake. What, didn't they pay attention in chemistry class?

• Lastly, here's an article about businesses embracing virtual reality. It has a mention of the Iowa State University facility. I saw a predecessor of it years ago, but I'm sure the new one is more impressive. (But not as impressive as the iPhone.)
  

Food safety, nullity, scary mary, scrubs Christmas

Hi, here's some things to look at:

• Nine people get food poisoning at a buffet at a food handling training conference. I suppose that's one way to train. Kind of like letting your kid touch the hot pot on the stove. They won't do it again (and may need medical attention).
• A computer scientist has solved the age old "divide by zero" problem by inventing a new "number" called "nullity". So dividing anything by 0 results in nullity. Wait, how does this solve anything? I agree with one comment poster that divide by zero isn't a computer "problem", it is an exception and the problem is if the programmer didn't handle it correctly. Also, I need more things "in quotes".
  
• I don't browse a lot of YouTube (usually finding things from external links instead), but occasionally there's some good things out there. Like this clever recut of Mary Poppins footage to make it looks like a horror movie "Scary Mary".
• Or, this clip of the Charlie Brown Christmas redubbed by the cast of Scrubs. Ha!