Now This Is What You Want Kids Playing

Not the Wii Fit type? coming to the Wii May 12th, Major League Eating: The Game. Seriously.

Modular Snake Robots

CMU built Robot Snakes.

Also Funny

xkcd is Brilliant

xkcd's Ultimate Game is hilarious, referring to...

If Version Control Systems were Airlines

If Version Control Systems were Airlines is pretty amusing geek humor.

New iPhone SDK

ars technica describes the new iPhone SDK announced today. They also live blogged the event. Sounds like the next software update will be very nice too.

Apple has posted video of the event.

Did Cheney Leak Prisoner Video Against Court Orders?

The Globe and Mail reports Khadr lawyers allege Cheney linked to video release.

"Omar Khadr's defense lawyers will try to find out whether U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney's office secretly leaked a video of the detained Canadian to an American media outlet – an allegation that, if proven, would be a clear violation of court orders and further proof that the process by which Mr. Khadr is being tried is a political, not legal one, his military lawyer says.

In an interview with The Globe and Mail Monday night, Lieutenant Commander Bill Kuebler said he is trying to find out how a highly secret video showing Mr. Khadr in Afghanistan was leaked to the U.S. news program 60 Minutes. The video appears to show Mr. Khadr building a bomb."

Such video sounds relevant but a military judge deemed it not admissible. If Cheney's office was involved in leaking it, or whoever was, still did a bad thing. I've written about Colonel Morris Davis before. Davis was the top prosecutor and I think would have prosecuted Khadr if he hadn't resigned in October.

Will the President Veto Legislation to Limit Interrogation Techniques

Georgetown University has a summary of the limit to interrogation techniques in the The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 that was presented to the President. I think this is the same language that McCain voted against, that he didn't want the CIA limited to using the techniques of the Army Field Manual. The article is short, quotes the law, and is understandable. Make up your own mind.

Telecom Immunity is About Bush Immunity

Digby explains that the controversial telecom immunity in the FISA bill is really about Bush immunity. "It's beyond clear that the entire brouhaha over FISA comes down to this: Bush wants to keep his lawbreaking secret, and shutting down the ability for courts to get to the bottom of it, sanctioned by the Congress, would do so. They don't want to save the telecoms from financial ruin, they want to stop discovery. In fact, it's very likely that the telecoms have already been indemnified. That's why their main trade group opposes blanket amnesty."

it's an especially good post that summaries a number of things. It's well worth reading in full.

Artificial Sweeteners Linked To Weight Gain

Here's a fun one, Artificial Sweeteners Linked To Weight Gain. "'The data clearly indicate that consuming a food sweetened with no-calorie saccharin can lead to greater body-weight gain and adiposity than would consuming the same food sweetened with a higher-calorie sugar,' the authors wrote."

The guess is that the body is fooled by the sweetness and this throws off the regulating systems that know how to deal with hunger and processing the calories consumed. Therefore it's not just saccharin but the other artificial sweeteners that are also a problem.

Fortunately I never got into artificial sweeteners and always hated diet soda. Though about five years ago I gave up on cola. My soft drink of choice now is homemade unsweetened iced tea.

Castles and Zoning Laws

Google sightseeing points out a difference between Google Maps' and Microsoft Live's images of a site in England. One shows blue tarps over hay bales and the other a castle.

"It was actually built by local farmer Robert Fidler, who also hid it under the enormous haystack. He chose to reveal the building in August 2006 because as 4 years had passed with no objections to the structure, it would no longer require planning permission! His family had actually been living in the castle for the four year period - staring out the windows at the inside of hay bales. However Reigate and Banstead Council claim that as nobody had ever actually seen the castle, then the four-year period was void - meaning that Mr Fidler now faces having his little castle torn down."

Much more info here.

First Time Capsule Articles

MacWorld's Hands on with Time Capsule

Gizmodo's Time Capsule Initial Verdict.

Engadgets Everything you wanted to know about Time Capsule.

I'm Not So Old

I should have realized that just blogging my I feel old experience was an act of youth :) I appreciate all the similar stories people commented. Today I felt younger...

I needed two watch batteries, both CR2025. One for my car remote and one for a travel clock. I went to Radio Shack, because that's where you go for watch batteries. I arrived and there were four senior citizens in front of me and only one clerk in the store. I picked my battery from the display and got in line.

The first woman had some kind of problem buying a cordless phone. She was on the store phone with someone, the credit card company or a regional manager or someone, with some problem I don't know what. Fortunately it got resolved shortly after I arrived but I think she said she had been there for an hour.

Next was an old guy who asked to see one of the portable DVD players on the shelf behind the counter. Then he said it didn't matter cause he already owned it. He asked about there being an red LED that's on when charging and then another one being on when plugged in. After the clerk explained that there were two LEDs the guy said what he wanted was for it be louder. The clerk explained that was different and unrelated. The guy kept asking and conflating the two and the clerk eventually started to ignore him and help the next customer. The guy left, somewhat satisfied, amazingly. I hope he didn't get into a car to drive home.

The next guy bought two small batteries and couldn't decided if he wanted a Radio Shack credit card for the 15% off.
"It's a credit card?"
"It's a radio shack only credit card"
"I have to fill out forms and things?"
"No I do it on the computer, takes about 3 minutes."
"Ok"
"You'll need to give me your social security number"
"I prefer to write it down"

And after a little bit he decided against it and just paid cash. The last woman had picked out a watch battery and had brought the watch it was going into with her. The clerk was very accommodating asking if it was the right battery, that usually they took 377 batteries (or whatever). She said "it's a small one". He opened the watch, yup it was a 377. He then literally ran to the display, got the right one, took her money and installed it in the watch.

Then he got to me and my two batteries. He asked if I was sure they were right, I was. Did I want a radio shack credit card? No. Did I want something else? No just the batteries. Did I need a bag? No, this is fine. My purchase was quick and I wished him luck on my way out as he started helping the guy behind me. No way I could ever do that job.

Friday Symposium

I haven't been blogging quite as much as normal lately. Catching up from the flu, doing taxes, back into Super Mario Galaxy, etc. Tomorrow I'll be attending an all day symposium on The Origins of Life: The Earth, the Solar System, and Beyond. Hopefully some good posts come out of that. But don't expect anything tomorrow.

The Primary Process is Okay

Digby on the primary: "One of the most pernicious things the media did in 2000 was constantly evoke the hysterical notion that if the election wasn't decided immediately that the streets would run with blood and the nation would fall into chaos. It ended up creating the illusion that deadlines were more important than the principle of counting all the votes and influenced the legal cases that eventually decided the outcome. There is no reason to panic about elections.

Humans are still voting and the party as an institution hasn't made up its mind. There is no shortage of money, both candidates provide some fascination to the media and until the party decides, they will remain moving targets for the Republicans. After all, they can't settle on a narrative until one of the candidates is chosen. One of the upsides of the two candidates we have is that while they are very similar on policy, traditional GOP attacks will have to be tailored differently. If McCain is forced to campaign against them on the issues, which is what they have in common, he loses. On the issues, Democrats win."

I think it's interesting that Michigan and Florida lost their delegates because they were concerned that they were voting too late for their votes to matter and yet if they had waited their votes would have been significant. It used to be the case that the nominee wasn't decided until the convention, it's perfectly fine. It's not like half the party will rebel and vote for McCain. It would also be good if the election season was shorter. Finally, I like the point that the delay this year, forces the Republicans to develop two strategies and not just one.

I'm Old

Last Friday I realized I'm officially old. I left my credit card at Olive Garden. Now I was I taking a friend out for lunch for her birthday and she picked the restaurant; also the credit card process was a little odd with 4 printed receipts instead of the usual three; but those are all just excuses. I forgot my credit card at Olive Garden. I've never left my credit card anywhere before. I didn't realize it until the evening when I went out to a billiards bar near Fenway (lots of young people there, a friend had won two free hours at 2 tables and two platters of bar food). When I realized what happened, I called Olive Garden and they had the card. They did say that a lot of people had done the same thing that day, but that didn't make me feel any better.

Quick Movie Reivews

A few quick reviews of films I've seen recently.

Disturbia - This is an updated retelling, not really a remake of my favorite film, Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. At first I had no interest in seeing it but it got decent reviews when it came out. I caught it on cable. During the first two scenes I was making a list of all things that Hitchcock got right and this film got wrong, but after the set up it got better. The protagonists are now high school students so that changes things and they became mostly likable. It was better than I was expecting and it was perfectly fine to watch at home.

Elizabeth The Golden Age - I loved the first one and it was by the same team, but the reviews were not good. It got two oscar nominations (Costumes, and Cate Blanchett for Actress) so I saw it before the awards. It covers a really interesting time in British history and yet somehow manages to make it boring. Unlike the first film, this one seemed to dumb things down by short shifting the plot elements. At just under 2 hours, I might have liked it more if it was a half hour longer.

Crank - A dumb yet fun, mindless action flick staring Jason Statham. It's a cross between D.O.A. and Speed. A hitman is poisoned and to delay his death he has to keep his adrenaline level high. In order to find his killer, car chases (though malls a la The Blues Brothers), shootouts, hospital robberies and public sex ensue.

Sunshine - I had tickets to a free screening of this film but got there too late. I missed it in the theaters in spite of reviews that said it started off strong, 2001 strong, and changed to a different film in the last third. As for something trying to push the bounds of sci-fi I was really interested in seeing it. Turns out I wasn't interested in watching it. There are some interesting visual story telling aspects but I thought the plot was a bit weak. I didn't like the characters, as much of them as we get to know. The premise is a mission to the Sun to set off a huge nuclear bomb to reignite it. 8 astronauts on a long trip on an interesting ship. But we come in mid way and just before the mission takes an odd turn. The result is a story about the effects of long term space travel takes place over the course of just a few hours. Then there's the end where it turns into a monster movie; for a film that I think was trying to say something (2001 certainly was) I don't know what this is supposed to mean at all. The closest analogy I can think of is Altered States. I can respect an opinion that it was a good attempt, I just don't happen to agree.

Superbad - American Pie as a shaggy dog story. This follows 3 high school geeks who want to lose their virginity before college. They have realistic and hilarious conversations and end up in ridiculous situations. The movie works best when it follows them, it gets lost a little when it concentrates on two cops. Some really funny stuff.

iTunes Without Lyrics

Why is it when I download free singles from iTunes they don't have the lyrics in the file? Before you say "you get what you pay for", it's the same for music I've bought from iTunes. Seems wrong, and not difficult to fix.

Gary Gygax, Dead at 69

Crave writes Gary Gygax, 1938-2008: Rest in peace, Dungeon Master "Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and one of the fathers of tabletop role-playing games, died on Tuesday at the age of 69. He had suffered from heart problems."

Jim Kerstetter in c|net writes a short Homage to the Man Behind Dungeons & Dragons.

One of you, you know who you are, has to make a dagger joke in the comments.

Dynamic Periodic Table

Here's a pretty cool interactive Dynamic Periodic Table. Reading the About page I see it's all xhtml not flash (so it probably works differently in different browsers). Choosing properties and then selecting one will color all the boxes in proportion to that property. Nice way to quickly see which elements are say conductive. The orbital diagrams are pretty cool too.

More on Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

Apparenly they are a big theft item at hotels. Makes sense, they're not tied down, are small and expensive.

Thinking back on what to do if you crack one, what do you do if you break one at hotel? You can't open the window to air the place out. You can use the useless postcard to pick up the glass, but imagine calling the front desk saying "I broke a CFL, I wasn't trying to steal it and now there's a poison hazard in my room".

Lost: The Constant

If you're a Lost fan then you probably really enjoyed last week's episode. Here's a long review by Ben Lundy with lots of background info you may or may not have remembered.

The Wire Episode 9

The penultimate episode is wrapping up so many story lines from this season and previous ones. Salon's take is pretty good, but my favorite moment was when Dukie was watching Dexter and saying it was good. The only way that could have been better was if Michael changed the channel to Battlestar Galactica.

Waterboarding as a Management Tool?

The Salt Lake Tribune reports Employee's suit: Company used waterboarding to motivate workers.

Prosper, Inc. is a motivational coaching business in Provo, UT. Former salesman Chad Hudgens filed a lawsuit describing a team building exercise he participated in, run by his team leader, Joshua Christopherson.

"Christopherson led the sales team to the top of a hill near the office and told Hudgens to lie down with his head downhill, the suit claims. Christopherson then told the rest of the team to hold Hudgens by the arms and legs. Christopherson poured water from a gallon jug over Hudgens' mouth and nostrils - like the interrogation strategy known as "waterboarding" - and told the team members to hold Hudgens down as he struggled, the suit alleges. 'At the conclusion of his abusive demonstration, Christopherson told the team that he wanted them to work as hard on making sales as Chad had worked to breathe while he was being waterboarded,' the suit alleges."

Other people who were there have not corroborated the story.

New Radar Maps of the Moon

NASA has some new images of the moon's south pole. It looks like the rest of the moon, craters, but the images are cool and there's a simulated movie of the day/night transition showing shadows forming over the peaks and valleys.