How to stop mouth-breathing

Sadly, this device to stop mouth breathing won’t stop mouth-breathers.

mm-lrg_stop_mouth_breathing.jpg

HOW TO STOP MOUTH BREATHING!
You can make sure that you breathe through your nose during the day, but one-third of your time you are asleep.
The Davis Chin Supporter scops mouth breathing and thereby prevents snoring, also the various throat and ear troubles directly due to mouth breathing. It’s fine mesh canvas or linen fits like a glove and washes like a handkerchief. It will add to your good health and spirits. Measure size around crown of head and point of chin. By mail, postpaid, Cotton— $2.00, Linen—$3.00, Mesh—$4.00.
CORA M. DAVIS
Dept. P. C. 507 Fifth Avenue
NEW YORK

Ad originally from the March 1922 issue of Physical Culture magazine. Information taken from the post at the Modern Mechanix blog.

[tags]How to stop mouth breathing, No longer mouth breathing != no longer mouth breather[/tags]

Fox reporter attacked while investigating crook

It’s nearly 8 minutes long, and the volume is screwed up in the second half, but this video is still worth watching.  A Fox news reporter was meeting with someone who had been defrauded.  During the meeting, the wife of the crook badgers the two men.  Then, the crook shows up and attacks like Sean Penn on a young camera-man.  The reporter takes a pretty significant beating.  But the cops show up and all ends right.
reporter-attacked.jpg

[tags]When crooks attack, Fox reporter attacked by crook[/tags]

Foxtrot FTW

I’m a week late on this, but as I’m still catching up on a lot of the news of the world from recent traveling and auto-repair (done by me, glorious handy-man that I am not), I feel self-forgiving. That out of the way, how accurate is this Foxtrot from last week? Sounds a lot like my wish for how to live.  Anyone else act/think this way?
foxtrot-20060904.jpg

[tags]Foxtrot, Labor day, The working man[/tags]

Stupid Security 2006 call for nominees

Privacy International has opened up their Stupid Security 2006 contest with a call for nominees. If you aren’t familiar with the contest, I recommend looking back at the 2003 winners (the last year the contest was held).

Here’s some background for this year’s contest.

We’ve all been there. Standing for ages in a security line at an inconsequential office building only to be given a security pass that a high school student could have faked. Or being forced to produce photo ID for even the most innocent activity.

(long article follows)

Continue reading “Stupid Security 2006 call for nominees”

Cool retro Nintendo clock

(via Destructoid)

nintendo_clock.jpgWhen I first saw this on Destructoid, I thought about picking it up. Then I noticed the same problem the Destructoid poster noticed – no power plug. This clock only runs off batteries. While I suppose that would make it good for travellers who want a cool clock to wake them in the morning, I’d like to have something like this that I could just leave on my nightstand and have it wake me every morning. But I’m just cool like that, you know. 🙂

If you are interested, you can pick one up at ThinkGeek for ~$25.  It even includes what is being called a mini-game, but I find it hard to give it full credit as a game, even mini:

Playing the Mini-Game:
Push “select” until you see a series of zeros (this is your previous high-score in the game). Push the “start” button and the game will begin with a sound from Super Mario Bros. The object is to push the “A” and “B” buttons as rapidly as possible within 10 seconds. The two small numbers on the right represent the number of seconds remaining, while the large numbers on the left indicate the number of button pushes (your score). If you score above 160 then a secret alarm sound will be unlocked. After you play the game once, the clock will remember your previous high-score.

I don’t think the quarter comes with the clock, either (nor do batteries, for that matter).

[tags]Retro Nintendo clock, Travel clock for retro-heads[/tags]

Extreme Origami

Discover has this great article about really fine-tuned origami work. Your typical origami design usually has single digit number of folds, rarely getting close to two dozen. Folks like Robert Lang use special software (written by Lang) to help them analyze the ways to fo ld a single square of origami paper to come up with amazingly detailed origami sculptures. There are also folks like Satoshi Kamiya who create these masterpieces without the aid of software.

Here are examples of Lang’s work (a seven inch walking insect) and Kamiya’s work (a dragon).

origamia-walkingsticksmall.jpg origami-dragon1000b.jpg

[tags]Extreme origami[/tags]

Responses to the “If you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide” comments

In the US, we are accustomed to certain levels of privacy.  Many politicians at all levels of government want to reduce our expectations of privacy.  From installing cameras everywhere (including inside private homes) in a certain town in Texas to illegal wiretaps on US citizens to the previous uses of Carnivore to gather online communications we have faced constant intrusions into our privacy.  So many governmental apologists would respond that if you are doing nothing wrong, then you have nothing to hide.  The natural corollary to this would be that you have nothing to worry about from being spied on illegally by the government.

For those of you that are not satisfied with that claim, perhaps you’d like to try some of these responses to people who tell you that?

The idea that “if you’ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about” assumes that the government is full of good people that would not abuse their power, ever. Even if this were true now, we cannot be sure it’ll be true in the future. The US Republic was founded on the idea that humans are corruptible and we need to have checks and balances against corruption built into our government. Because corrupt people will oppress those who have done nothing wrong.

. . .

So whenever I hear the nothing to worry about line, I usually respond with something along the lines of “yeah…, isn’t that what Stalin used to say?” It usually shuts them up, but won’t change anyone’s mind.

. . .

It honestly doesn’t matter what you think or “feel” about who should be carted off, and how. We have a Constitution in this country that guarantees every American citizen the right to face his or her accusers in a court of law. This is the law. It is not up for debate:

“No person shall be … deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

I know plenty of people who will disagree with my belief that I’m still entitled to privacy, even though I’m doing nothing wrong.  I don’t want the government watching me just because someone wants to.  If the government wants to watch me, there are legal means to do so.  And until those legal means are pursued, no one has a right to watch my every move just out of curiosity or just in case.

[tags]US citizens’ right to privacy[/tags]

OnRPG.com’s massive Massive list

Here’s a substantial listing of completely free, free to try, and free to play with pay to upgrade extras games.  The list is presented as a Massively Multiplayer Online games list, but I would classify it more as a MMO focused with some just online not-Massive games list.  Regardless of what you call it, there are scads of games, most with a small thumbnail view of at least something in game.  I haven’t checked how many games are listed, but it may well be 200+.  If you ahve any thoughts of online gaming and don’t want to pay to play, you must check out the list and find something you like.  There are so many games, I find it hard to imagine not finding something that appeals to you.

[tags]MMO list, Massive Massive list[/tags]

Crocodile Hunter funeral held over the week-end

(via Blue’s News)

After turning down the government’s offer for a state funeral, Steve Irwin’s family held a low-key funeral for the Crocodile Hunter over the week-end in Queensland, Australia.

Family and friends of the man known as the Crocodile Hunter reportedly joined the low-key ceremony in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast.

It is believed that afterwards Mr Irwin was to be buried at Australia Zoo, the Queensland zoo dedicated to Australian fauna owned by Mr Irwin’s family.

Details of the funeral service are expected to be made public on Monday.

[tags]Crocodile Hunter funeral, Steve Irwin buried at the zoo[/tags]