Marilyn in an intimate moment

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Jody Arias to release book, soon

Look for it at your newsstand.

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Jodi Arias murder trial

Today, in the Jodi Arias murder trial, prosecuting attorney, Juan Martinez, asked state's witness, psychologist Jill Hayes, the burning question regarding Arias' lies...

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The inimitable George Carlin

It's like he took the words right out of my mouth.

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Bush presidential library

Click to enlarge

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Oh, those powerful computers!

You often hear about how computers keep getting so much faster and bigger. Well, here's an interesting thing I just found. I stumbled upon a web page where a few users had mentioned how much memory was being dedicated by their browser (Chrome) for the tab they were currently viewing (the same one they were posting to). They described using the Chrome task manager to see this usage.

So, I invoked it (Shift-esc will do it), and sure enough, all my tabs were there indicating the amount of memory dedicated to each. The page I was viewing was using over 70 mb.

Being an old-school programmer for almost 25 years, it brought to mind that some of the early computers had as little as 2 kb total memory. That's not a typo. In 2 kb of memory sat (whatever was currently needed of) the operating system, control blocks to manage the computer, the user's program, and some amount of data. Back then, one of a programmer's biggest challenges was to find ingenious ways of minimizing storage requirements. If your program was too big, you had to slice it and dice it (called overlays) so that you could use the same storage area to load only the piece you needed to perform a specific function at that specific moment in time.

Then, I looked at the page in my tab and noticed that perhaps 80% of the page was blank space. We have come a very long way since those first computers which came shortly after the wheel was invented. Computers are so much faster and bigger, now. When you need 70 mb of silicon just to display perhaps 2 kb of data, it'd better be damn big and fast. Funny thing is, that despite the leaps and bounds of advancement in hardware technology, the software has gotten decidedly more stupid.

This is understandable since in the old days, the few hundred programmers that were employed in a large city were all that were needed and so represented la creme de la creme. Today, just about everyone needs to be a "programmer", no matter how poor their talent and aptitude. Armies of people "earn" their living in information processing. The ingenuity of the programmer has been replaced by the ingenuity of the hardware developer--making bigger and faster machines capable of supporting even the most unimaginative programmer. Of course, they are rarely called "programmers", anymore. They are "developers", mostly just shuffling things around on a screen.

The above does not apply to operating system developers, etc. I do realize there are still some bastions of low-level programmers around.

I can't imagine what the heck the other 69.9 mb is being used for. I guess I'm not quite as imaginative as I thought I was.


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The GOP

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The Jodi Arias saga continues

 Alyce LaViolette, expert witness for the defence on domestic violence in the Jody Arias murder trial conducting one of many of her acclaimed seminars entitled "Was Snow White a Battered Woman?".

Well, I found a copy of the story of Snow White and read it very carefully (twice) and even though I may not be an expert, it is my opinion that Snow White was not battered. I found not an iota of evidence to support that outlandish claim. I read nothing to suggest that she was battered, breaded or even lightly dusted with flour, let alone battered.

I apologize to true victims of abuse of either gender for making light of this subject. Many people seem to forget that the victim in this case was Travis Alexander and not Jodi Arias. There is not a shred of evidence that Mr. Alexander was ever physically violent toward Ms. Arias. However, it's been well established that not only was Jodi a vindictive, scheming, conniving, stalker, but also a compulsive liar.

And as for Ms. LaViolette, this woman sees abuse (and victims) everywhere she looks, especially of the male toward female variety. She is almost totally blind to the reverse situation, ignoring all evidence of such.


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Jodi Arias murder trial

Spousal abuse "expert", Alyce LaViolette has had about as much as she wants from Prosecutor Juan Martinez--gives him a lesson he won't soon forget.

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Cool tie

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If you've been tracking the Jodi Arias murder trial...

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Virtual machines

They're still (re-)discovering the superiority of big systems and virtualization that we had back in the 60's with CP67. Latest incarnation is running VMs on IBM's RISC technology. It's like watching each new generation make "ooh" and "aah" sounds over 60's vintage vehicles at every car show. One can only dream of how much further advanced the whole world might be now if it hadn't abandoned far-superior mainframes and chased after that cheap harlot known as Unix.

Story

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The war on freedom

It's just as good as lost. Our masters have lulled us into a groggy state and have clobbered us with the club of oppression. We've reached the end of the line in a long struggle for personal freedom, privacy, liberty, security and human rights. We are now headed in reverse. It's anyone's guess how far back our overlords will take us.

I just read an article in The National Post concerning whether police in Canada have the right to order communications companies to forward text messages sent between their customers to police without a warrant. The  Supreme Court is expected to rule on this question today (March 27, 2013). In this same article, I discovered that police in Ontario have already won the right to peruse a person's cell phone (without a warrant) if it is not password-protected or not locked against unauthorized use.

This has infuriated me. Of all the preposterous reasons one can come up with to usurp our privacy, this is one of the most inane. It's the equivalent of saying that if you forget to lock your back door, police are free to enter and snoop around at will. Just because one doesn't fortify his private property doesn't mean he relinquishes all rights to that property. If you inadvertently leave your car door unlocked, can police legally search it? The argument is ridiculous.

Post article


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Busty women get bigger tips

That may come as no surprise, but someone actually researched it. They did a scientific study as if  there were some other possibility.

There are a whole range of benefits that come with attractiveness, few of which are interesting, but I happened to stumble onto one. The observers of the following study published statistics on just how much attractiveness played a part in their observations. They found that when it came to hitchhiking females, female drivers were unfazed by breast size and offered a lift at a fairly steady rate. However, only 15% of men pulled over for a woman sporting an A-cup, while nearly 25% were enticed enough to give a ride to a woman with a C-cup. The numbers for a B-cup were only marginally higher than those for an A-cup. I guess the implication is that if breasts aren't large enough to cause a man to possibly do permanent damage to his neck from jerking his head to the side to gawk, they have no magic.

Don't complain to me about sexism--I'm only the messenger.

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Ripped from the headlines

Mom picking up son charged with drunk driving also charged with drunk driving

INNISFIL, Ont. — Police say a mother who came to pick up her son after he was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving found herself charged with the same offence.

Police say it started when an officer pulled over a speeding vehicle in Innisfil, Ont., just before 1 a.m. Sunday.

Investigators say the driver, a 27-year-old Newmarket, Ont., man, failed a roadside screening test and was taken to a police station north of Toronto, where he was charged with impaired driving.

Police say when his 53-year-old mother came to retrieve him a few hours later, the same officer smelled alcohol and made her take a breathalyzer test.

They say she failed the test and has been charged with impaired driving.

Both have had their vehicles impounded and licences suspended for 90 days. They are due in court next month.

LINK

Now, that's a candidate for mom-of-the-year honours. Even though she was drunk as a skunk, when the call came in that her little boy needed her, she set aside the real possibility of great personal injury to herself and others for the convenience of her idiot child.

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I got robbed!

About a week ago, I stuck a wrought iron shepherd's hook in the front yard and hung a bird feeder on it. Later, I poured some feed in it and saw that it became very popular with doves, finches, cardinals, sparrows, etc. Then, to our chagrin, the squirrels managed to climb the half-inch diameter post and shake the feeder so that seeds fall to the ground and they'd scrounge a free meal.

After a few days, the evil rodents actually learned to stand to the side of the feeder, open the lid and get right inside and eat to their hearts' content.

Well, I wasn't going to be robbed by a pea-brained rat, so this morning, I dabbed a paper towel with cooking oil, went outside and rubbed down about a two foot section of the pole up from about a foot off the ground.

We stood at the doorway and waited. Sure enough, Mr. Crook wanders over, sees us watching, but decides we're no threat. He jumps up on the pole to about the middle of the greased area, and for a split second is motionless then suddenly slides down about a foot, all the while staring at us with a look that I'm sure said "WTF???.

I got my camera hoping to catch a repeat performance on video, but alas, it was not to be. I'll keep a look-out just in case some other wise guy gets the same idea.



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This came to me out of the blue

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This is no bird brain

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Don't try my patience!

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Is Capitalism dead?

Interesting opinions from a political expert/philosopher on current and future economic conditions with a focus on Capitalism.

I especially found statements near the end of the video assuring. Basically, the point was made that Scandinavian countries, while maintaining a high degree of social programs and a far more level income equality ratio among their citizens, they remain among the top countries in global economic competitiveness. In other words, the old argument that conservatives like to use for attacking all forms of  income re-distribution is a crock.

There is no reason why the wealth of a country cannot be more evenly shared while the nation remains vital in a global, competitive economy. You don't run out of "other people's money" because not everyone gets "on the dole" just because they can. People are just as anxious to invent, discover, and create jobs even if they won't earn the obscene amounts that their American counterparts do. I use the word "obscene" not because I begrudge anyone the fruits of their labour, but only because that wealth comes at the expense of large numbers of hard-working or even non-working folks who struggle for food and shelter every day.


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Jodi Arias murder trial

Synopsis of first day of cross examination in Jodi Arias' murder trial:

Prosecutor: Was it black?
Arias: No.
Prosecutor: Then it was white?
Arias: I didn't say that.
Prosecutor: Well, which was it?
Arias: I can't remember when you yell at me.
Prosecutor: So, it's my fault when you can't remember something?
Arias: I didn't say that.
Arias: (Grins)


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You knew it was coming...

Ladies, want to know how, ahem, big your date is? Now, there's an app for that. Developed by a Toronto doctor, and also filled with fun and interesting facts, this app will take inputs such as height and shoe size and give you an instant estimate of penis size.

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Various Cruelties

I'm not sure when it was that I heard this song for the first time, but I do know where. It was probably around Christmas 2012 when Zales started using a 30-second sound clip from it in one of their TV ads. It started to haunt me--I loved the retro sound and I wondered if, in fact, it was a song from the late 50's or early 60's. Today, I finally decided to do some research.

As it turns out, the song was written by a Brit, Liam O'Donnell, as a tribute to his late mama. The tune is a recent one by the group Various Cruelties, and has apparently struck a chord with a lot of people like myself who heard it courtesy of Zales.

I was furthered tickled by what the band looks like. I expected a single performer--perhaps a clean-cut, Michael Buble type, but instead, I found this image of the lads:

Here is that wonderful tune in its entirety for your listening pleasure...





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Lance Armstrong is fast as ever

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Ultra ever dry

You haven't been this amazed since the time hubby remembered your birthday.

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Inspired by a true event

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Leave it to Bieber

In a post concert meet-and-greet, teen pop idol Justin Bieber was caught in a compromising position with a fan. He was accused of groping the young girl after she uploaded a photo. His publicist denied anything untoward occurred at all, dismissing accusations as "ridiculous" and insisting "That definitely did not happen". Apparently, the image is misleading according to his supporters. What do you think? Personally, I think the boy's on drugs.


Click to enlarge image.

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Can't we just get along?

Name any idea(s), no mater how outlandish/improbable to implement, that would address the reason(s) why all over the world people cheat, steal, defraud, rob, rape, maim or kill. Alternatively, explain why there is little we can do to stem the evil that men do.

Most interesting comment gets a nifty prize. Enter early and often.


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This round goes to cat...

Believe it or not, this is an ad from Moldova, promoting a testosterone-laced cat nip. I guess it's meant to beef up your feline if it's getting bullied by the pooch next door.


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My, what big drives you have, grandma

Recently, I found myself in need of a high-capacity USB drive. After assessing what was on the market, I settled on a 16 GB. HP model. It was the minimum I needed and although I paid a little bit more than similar capacity models, it had the advantage of actually being in stock. In the running was only one other model, the Sandisk offering which I had read often gets "locked" in read-only mode for which there is no "fix" to unlock it. But what really sold me on the HP device was its size.

This evening, while still marvelling at its minuscule dimensions, I decided to take a photo of it and offer up a comparison of it and older storage devices. I've been involved in the tech industry since the early 70's and I did a little research this evening to demonstrate how far we've come since then.

Pictured below is a string of six state-of-the-art IBM 3350 hard disk drives first released in 1975 made for large mainframes. They were far faster and much higher capacity than the previous generation of drives. Each drive had a capacity of about 318 MB. The entire string in the image had a capacity of just under 2 GB. As you can see, each single drive enclosure was about the size of an apartment-sized washer or dryer.

Here is a photo of my new thumb drive:

The dimensions are approximately 1 1/8 in. x 1/2 in. x 1/4 in. And half the device is nothing more than the connector. The actual storage area is about a half inch cube! As I said, the capacity is 16 GB. Compared to the old technology, this new device has a data capacity of more than 50 times a single 3350, and more than 8 times the capacity of the entire 6-device string.

Finally, I paid about $15 for my USB drive. Cost of a single IBM 3350 drive in 1975 was over $30,000. No, I did not misplace the decimal.

Note: 3350's came in pairs. The price above reflects half the cost of a 3350 pair.


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New Raptors logo

In light of the NBA Toronto Raptors' recent 10-3 record, I suggest a more appropriate logo...

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Lion on the loose!?

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You've probably never seen this!

Here's a real treat, folks! I've never seen anything like this before. Okay, I have seen something like this, but not nearly as impressive. Enjoy!





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First bubble man, now bubble woman

This ad appeared adjacent to an article by Ann Coulter.

Are they kidding? Why would anyone waste money on whatever they're selling. The ad itself probably works better to boost testosterone. Well, maybe it's not as effective when it's in close proximity to Coulter--the anti-testosterone.


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Bubble man

The following ad appeared in my hotmail window. Who is this ad directed at? Does anyone in the world actually want to look like this? Even the genitals appear to be "blown up". Okay, maybe that wouldn't be so bad.

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Misheard lyrics?

I was just looking at/ listening to a Youtube video of Styx's song Babe. I love this song but right near the beginning, I believed the lyrics posted on the video were incorrect. So, I checked the lyrics on about eight different lyrics sites and they all agreed with the vid I was watching and disagreed with me.       I then listened to (and watched) another video and sure enough, the lyrics on-screen seemed incorrect to me and were different from what my ears were telling me I was hearing. I must hear something different than what everyone else hears. What do you hear?

Do you hear "My train is going. I see it in your eyes--the love, the need, your tears."?

Or do you hear something else?

I'll post what I hear down below the two videos. The first one is the original recording; second is a live performance. The lyric starts at about :49 of the first vid and at about :44 in the second one.
















What I hear is "My train is going. I see it in your eyes--the love beneath your tears."

What do you think?



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Google is smarter than I thought

I was searching for a recent article by Ann Coulter, so I clicked on my "google" bookmark, clicked on "news", then started to type "coulter". As soon as I hit the "r" key, low and behold...

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What's the difference?

One is an unkempt character and the other is Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons.


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Shenanigans

I just realized that I used the word "shenanigans" twice in the last five postings in this blog. Got me to thinking...ever notice how shenanigans are always in groups? I mean, how often have you seen a single shenanigan? I mean besides here. They are almost always in a group. The same goes for "antics". You rarely read or hear about someone's antic. They are always chock full of antics. I guess a person with one antic isn't all that interesting. You need to have at least two antics to be noteworthy.


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We have a long way to go

If you've ever felt like the whole world is out to screw you over, relax. You're not paranoid--you're probably right (depending on where you live)! And now you have proof. The following image illustrates the level of government corruption measured as perceived by citizens of each respective country as well as other measures such as the amount of transparency, etc. The darker red colours denote extremely corrupt nations. The darker blue defines less corruption. This is the 2012 version.

(Click on image to enlarge.)

It does not paint (pun intended) an encouraging picture, does it? Most of the world is steeped in corruption. No wonder so many people still suffer in poverty and otherwise.

Here's a chart using the same data:

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New Lindsay Lohan movie

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Katy Perry was quite surprised

Yeah, I was about as surprised as Katy Perry looks by the photo below, but not for the reason you might think. I added the dog to the image...which seemed to me was missing from the original shot. Either a dog was missing or Perry's mind was. ;) The dog might explain her look of astonishment.

What the heck was going on in that moment the shutter snapped? Maybe she had a flashback to the evening before when she was high as a kite and dancing with a dog? French kissing a dog?

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Another amazing illusion

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Just a bit too obvious

Oprah Tweets how much she loves the Microsoft Surface tablet...from her Apple iPad. One wonders how much Microsoft paid her to say so...and how pissed Microsoft is at her...and how hysterical Apple is at the whole shenanigan.

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Ripped from the headlines

How tragic.

That a girl's family hated her so much that they thank her killer. Just awful.

Too soon? Sorry.


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Science as art

The goblet is filled with water. Can you guess what the liquid being poured is?

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Honey!

The effect is known as "liquid rope coiling".

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Windows 8 smart context menus

Click on image to enlarge.

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One of these things is not like the others

...or is it?

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Hotel America

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United or untied?

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