Category: Random Ramblings

Anything that catches my fancy as a topic I want to cover. Truly random crap.

The great Boston molasses flood

Well, I missed posting about this on the anniversary, but let’s look back in time as if I posted it on the proper day and remember The Boston Molasses Disaster in all its glor0y (additional sources at CNN and Damn Interesting). On January 15th, 1919, a massive silo, filled with approximately 2.3 million gallons of molasses exploded, releasing a 15+ foot tall tidal wave of molasses which spread at over 30 miles per hour. Keep that in mind when you label something as slow as molasses in January.

boston-molasses-disaster.jpg The collapse unleashed an immense wave of molasses between 8 and 15 ft (2.5 to 4.5 m) high, moving at 35 mph (56 kph) and exerting a pressure of 2 ton/ft² (200 kPa).[3] The molasses wave was of sufficient force to break the girders of the adjacent Boston Elevated Railway’s Atlantic Avenue structure and lift a train off the tracks. Nearby, buildings were swept off their foundations and crushed. Several blocks were flooded to a depth of 2 to 3 feet.

. . .

The Boston Globe reported that people “were picked up by a rush of air and hurled many feet” Others had debris hurled at them from the rush of sweet smelling air and a truck was picked up and hurled into Boston Harbor. On that day more than 159 were injured and 21 people and several horses were killed as the molasses crushed and asphyxiated some. After the initial blast the molasses choking the wounded people, horses and dogs became one of the biggest problems.


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Tom Rhodes – comic genius

Looooong ago, I used to watch comedians on TV.  That was pretty much before I got married – my wife just doesn’t care to watch comics on TV.  One of the very funny guys I remember watching is Tom Rhodes.  Since I heard him on XM Radio yesterday and realized he’s still around, I figured I should point him out.  If you like comics, try to track this guy down – his stuff is great.

[tags]Tom Rhodes – great comedian[/tags]

Protect your right to record radio

One of the early tasks of the new congressional session is work to prevent consumers from recording radio broadcasts. Work with the EFF and help prevent this bad law.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein has re-introduced the PERFORM Act, a backdoor assault on your right to record off the radio. Satellite and digital radio stations as well as Internet webcasters would have to adopt digital rights management (DRM) restrictions or lose the statutory license for broadcasting music.

. . .

This bill aims to hobble TiVo-like devices for satellite and digital radio. Such devices would be able to include “reasonable recording” features, but that excludes choosing and playing back selections based on song title, artist, or genre. Want to freely move recordings around your home network or copy them to the portable player of your choice? You’ll be out of luck if PERFORM passes.

This would also mess up streaming radio, as well as breaking any tools for recording streamed mp3 broadcasts.

[tags]Congress working to screw up fair-use again[tags/]

On Spocko, KSFO, and a different look

If you’ve been keeping up with some of the geek/tech/random sites that I often link to (in particular, boingboing) you might have been reading some of the up roar caused by postings at Spocko’s Brain (also covered in much more detail at Daily Kos). Spocko has spent some time sending transcript information to conservative radio station KSFO sponsers concerning some potentially undesireable product and spokesperson assocations. For example, Spocko asks of one sponsor:

“Would your marketing people be happy to hear your commercial ran after Lee Rogers said this about a black man in Lincoln, Nebraska?”

“Now you start with the Sear’s Diehard the battery cables connected to his testi*les and you entertain him with that for awhile and then you blow his bleeping head off. “

Unforunately, I haven’t had time to listen to all the available audio for this, but I’m going to briefly point out some other sites discussing this event and speak only on the available information from the web. I do recommend you listen to the audio to understand just how information is presented or distorted by Spocko, his supporters, and his detractors. I will be listening to the clips as I have time.

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Why does the “Scooter” Libby trial matter?

Since I recently posted about the Libby trial and the difficulty for the defense finding a decent jury, I thought it might be worth going back and looking at why this case is even worth watching. One of the better write-ups I found on the ordeal, done by a British rag, is this Q&A article from The Guardian.

Who is Mr Libby?

He is the former chief of staff to the US vice-president, Dick Cheney.

How did Mr Libby land in court?

. . . Mr Libby – the only one on trial for the episode – was indicted in October 2005 on charges of lying to investigators and a grand jury inquiring into whether Bush administration officials intentionally revealed Ms Plame’s name to reporters. Mr Libby, who faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted, has pleaded not guilty. . .

There are enough questions to make clear the significance of this case. Also mentioned is the fact that even if found guilty, Libby would most likely get a Presidential pardon. And from what I’ve read of the case, I think that’s probably a reasonably likely (and likely reasonable) outcome.

[tags]Why the “Scooter Libby trial matters, A brief Q&A on the Libby trial[/tags]

Updated console sales numbers

Not too long ago, I posted some sales numbers for the new generation consoles. Since there was some concern as to the validity of those numbers, I’ve held off a few weeks commenting more while looking for other numbers. Recently, Gamasutra has posted their own numbers for December sales along with end of year totals. The VGCharts site I linked to last time shows higher numbers than Gamasutra, so I’m not sure who is correct. I just want to take a peek at the Gamasutra numbers, though, and read through them a bit as if those were the correct numbers.

According to the official hardware statistics released this afternoon, the PlayStation 2 continued to be a popular platform at retail, selling 1.4 million units for the month (37.1 million to date in the U.S.). The Xbox 360 also impressed, selling 1.1 million in December (with 4.5 million lifetime to date), while the Wii sold 604,200 units for the month, putting its total North American number sold at 1.1 million units.

Elsewhere, the severely supply-constricted PlayStation 3 was found to have sold through 490,700 units for the period, with 687,300 units sold since its launch in November – no doubt somewhat of a disappointment for console creator Sony.

I still want Sony to do well with the PlayStation 3. More competition means better value and better games and hardware for us gamers. I know based on my comments in the past, it might seem like I don’t want Sony to do well. The reality is, I don’t think Sony is doing well, but I keep hoping things will go better for the console and that the company will start performing better in handling this round of the console wars. That said, I want to think about those PS3 numbers. According to other reports, Sony was able to meet their projected end-of-year target of 1 million consoles available in North America. That means Sony failed to sell nearly one-third of their consoles available for sale in the launch period.

I haven’t spent a lot of time looking for “experts” to give their analysis, but I suspect that price might be a big factor there. I’d love to get a PS3. I’d be saving my pennies to grab one for $300. Even at $400, I’d see if I could save enough to get one maybe this summer. I just can’t see paying $600, even if I get a Blu-Ray player (which I, like many others, don’t even care about). I suspect I’m not the only consumer who feels this way.

My quest for end-of-year products shipped numbers for the Wii has been fruitless thus far, so I can’t comment on how many remain in the channel. I do know, however, that people are still reporting troubles finding the Nintendo console, and that the number sold is near the projected end-of-year numbers Nintendo had around launch. Still, it will be interesting to find and compare the numbers to what Sony is going through.

[tags]End of year North American console sales, How the new generation of consoles are selling[/tags]

Model and toy trains – Lionel starts it all

I’ve been catching up on my non-geek reading lately, and the particular focus of my magazine time has been American Heritage magazine and American History magazine. While there are a number of really cool articles in the latest American Heritage, the one that most made me want to write is something of a history of how Lionel trains came to be (and here’s a shorter link if that one is broken).


AmHeritage-Lionel_train.jpgAround 1900, when electrified toy trains were in their infancy, a battery-powered railroad car appeared in the show window of Robert Ingersoll’s novelty store on Cortlandt Street in downtown Manhattan. It wasn’t intended as a toy. Rather, the little car that tirelessly circled its loop of track was meant to draw attention to the other items on display.

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Contender: Mother of the year

This is one of those sweet stories you have to not pass along to friends.  After arranging a slumber party for her 15 year old daughter, Sherry Herzner told the guests to bring $5 for the party.  Seems she had special plans for the evening.

The Kentucky woman, 31, is facing criminal charges for allegedly arranging an alcohol-soaked slumber party for her 15-year-old daughter and six of the girl’s friends. According to police, underage attendees were told to bring $5 to the party, which occurred last Friday at Herzner’s Newport home. According to a police report, a copy of which you can find here, Herzner used the money to purchase vodka, which she served to her minor guests. Investigators learned of the boozing when one of the guests called her mother in tears and asked to be picked up from Herzner’s apartment. When the woman realized that her daughter, 14, had been drinking, she called cops.

Really, it was an honest mistake, right?  Could have happened to anyone.  Not really. (via Neatorama)

[tags]Contender for mother of the year, Host slumber party for teen girls – get them drunk.  Way to go mom[/tags]

Samurai saves the day, disappears

masioka.jpgPolice in the UK are trying to find the mystery samurai who protected the men responding to a call for help.

A samurai sword wielding vigilante has come to the rescue of two Police officers when they were attacked by an armed gang in South Shields, England.

A group of men had forced their way into a house and were ransacking the place when passing plain-clothes officers were alerted by a woman inside screaming.

The criminals outnumbered them and were armed with a hammer, knives and chains and attacked the Police officers.

As one of them stabbed at a Policeman with his knife, a mysterious do-gooder appeared from nowhere and attacked him with a samurai sword.

One of the burglars began running away but was stopped by the stranger who struck him on the arm with the sword.

Two of the criminals were arrested, but in true hero style the samurai disappeared before police could speak to him.

Now I don’t know who the mystery man is, but I have a suspicion who it isn’t.


[tags]Mystery samurai saves UK police, Heroes hero not hero – who is?[/tags]

The challenge of selecting a jury for the “Scooter” Libby trial

With the trial of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby a few days underway now, lawyers for the defense are having a problem I hadn’t even considered – finding a jury with which they have a chance of getting Libby a not-guilty verdict or a hung jury. What little I’ve even considered the trial, I was focusing on the stories in the press over the initial leak, how Libby is perceived by potential jurors, and how much potential jurors knew about the story. A real problem for the defense comes down to finding jurors who are likely to believe Vice President Cheney if he is called as a witness.

“I am completely without objectivity. There is nothing you can say that would make me feel positively about President Bush.”*

Thus spake the eighth of nine prospective jurors reviewed by Judge Reggie Walton, Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and defense attorneys Ted Wells and William Jeffress today. She had indicated on her juror form she had some strong opinions about the Bush administration, and, queried in her turn by Judge Walton, she cast her eye over all assembled in the courtroom and declared herself.

“So, you are saying you do not believe you could render a fair and impartial verdict in this case, based on the evidence and according to my instructions to the jury prior to deliberations?,” Judge Walton followed.

“That’s right,” she responded, whereupon she was immediately excused from jury duty.

I hadn’t even thought about how the Bush/Cheney approval numbers would play into that. I know that’s mighty naïve of me, but I hadn’t given it much thought.

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After lung cancer treatment, over 1/3 smokers go back to smoking

With a headline like that, there really isn’t much mystery to what the story is going to say, is there?

More than a third of smokers who had surgery to remove early stage lung cancer were smoking again within a year, a new study finds.

The study involved patients who were forced to quit smoking for surgery. Many were puffing away within two months of the surgery, and nearly half eventually resumed the habit.

[tags]Many smokers get lung cancer treatment – go back to smoking, Smoke/get treatment/start smoking again?[/tags]

Typos to make t3h funnies for the world

One of my wife’s friends sent her this list of actual typographical errors from church bulletins and newsletters. It seemed too good for me to pass up.

They’re Back! Thank God for churches with typewriters. These sentences actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services:

  • The Fasting &Prayer Conference includes meals.
  • Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
  • Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say “Hell” to someone who doesn’t care much about you.
  • This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
  • Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.

Continue reading “Typos to make t3h funnies for the world”