Category: Random Ramblings

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

Crocodile hunter killed by stingray

Steve Irwin was stung through the heart by a stingray today while filming a documentary off the great barrier reef.

Irwin, 44, had been filming a documentary off Port Douglas in northern Queensland when he was killed by a stingray barb through the heart. He was rushed to hospital by helicopter, but he died before they arrived.

Another write-up on the incident that I read this morning says the poison from the sting was not fatal, but that the barb can leave a wound up to 20 cm deep.  Since the barb went into his heart, the result is just like getting stabbed through the heart by a large knife.  My wife, children, and I used to watch his show quite often.  As crazy as he was, he always seemed fairly aware of what he was doing.  Apparently this time he wasn’t careful enough, as stingrays almost never sting except in self-defence or out of fear.

[tags]Steve Irwin obituary, Crocodile hunter[/tags]

Bomb or not?

(via boingboing)

I’m not sure who thought up this site, but I think it’s funny.  This is a Hot or Not style site designed for TSA screeners.  See if you can identify each item as a bomb or not on this great site. The only real problem is there are not enough pictures to go through yet – I found 2 repeats in the first 7 images I saw.

[tags]Bomb or not, Hot or not site for TSA screeners[/tags]

Time to travel

I’ll be heading out of town for a few days.  I doubt I’ll be able to get online while I’m travelling.  I was not able to get any posts set up to publish while I’m gone.  That means that unless I find a way to get online while on the road, I’ll not make any posts until Monday night when I return.  I apologize for not getting things set up ahead of time, but I’ve recently been blocked from my own site from one of the places I used to work on it, and have had limited time to work on it while at home.  Expect this to be cleared up next week, as I’ve come up with a way to work on the site elsewhere and publish when I’m at home.

It’s like rain on your wedding day

(via boingboing)

UK government officials post a public service video on YouTube.  Another office of the government has the video removed for copyright violation – YouTube is hosting a government created video without government approval, goes the claim.  Odd enough, since the government uploaded it, and presumably would be in a position to grant approval to host the video.  But the real free-ride-when-you’ve-already-paid moment comes when you find out that the video was on how the government could be more coordinated.

The UK cabinet Office has been forced to pull one of the public service videos it published on YouTube due to copyright violation.

A video called Transformational Government can no longer be viewed on the site, instead users get a box of red text stating: “This video has been removed at the request of copyright owner COI Television because its content was used without permission.”

COI Television is actually part of the Cabinet Office and the further irony of the video being about transformational government was not lost on one critic.

[tags]YouTube forced to pull government posted video by government for not having approval[/tags]

Lasers for saving the Navy some money

If there is a task which would be better suited for sharks with frikkin’ laser beams on their heads than this, I don’t know what it is. Using a grant from the National Science Foundation, Professor Daniel Bubb and his team have come up with a new method for coating polymers. With this new approach, the Navy should be able to reduce barnacle attachments, which will result in less drag on ships at sea, which will reduce fuel costs. It’s pretty much a win/win all around. Except, maybe for the barnacles. And keelhauling will be less effective, I suppose.

As gas prices continue to soar, the Navy will be eager to learn of research underway at Rutgers University–Camden. “Barnacles that attach to naval ships are a huge cost to the Navy. Imagine if you drove a car with a parachute attached; this extra drag force requires more gas,” says Daniel Bubb, an assistant professor of physics at Rutgers-Camden, who has developed a new method for coating polymers.

Just put those sharks beneath the water line and let them start coating all the ships we already have. And they can even use the lasers to zap the barnacles already attached to the ships.

[tags]Lasers, Frikkin’ sharks with frikkin’ lasers, New polymer coating process using lasers (sharks optional)[/tags]

SimCity DS coming

(via Joystiq)
Word from IGN is that SimCity will soon be available for the Nintendo DS.  At least, it will be available soon in Japan.  This news comes from the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu.

sc3k1b.jpgElectronic Arts may not be known for making major game announcements over in Japan, but here’s one for you: Sim City DS! That’s right! The original Sim is set for DS release through Electronic Arts, and the latest issue of Famitsu is home to first details.

There is no word on yet on a release date for Europe or the US.

I must admit, seeing this game and thinking about SimCity controlled via Stylus made me think about another game of yesteryear that I think might be good on the DS – Tempest 2000.  Maybe someday we’ll get that.  Also, the above screenshot is from the original PC version, and is not necessarily representative of what will be in SimCity DS.
[tags]Famitsu, SimCity DS, Nintendo DS, NDS[/tags]