I’ve probably watched 2.37 hours of TV in the past 6 months, however that might change soon (… survey says). In addition to Nintendo and Godzilla, the innovative Japanese are proud to present their latest creation: TV Brick. Anders thoughts on the device:
Primarily targetted towards Japanese families living in France (seeing that popular Japanese channels like Yomiuri TV and NHK Sogo are unavailable outside Japan), the idea is that is you plug one of these boxes to a TV antenna and a broadband connection in Japan, and the other to a broadband plug and a TV in France; instant “magic” happens and all the goodness of Japanese TV is in your livingroom.
Based on open source technologies (and the OpenBrick platform); obviously the crowds are going to go berserk creating open source TiVo like / file sharing applications etc….
Last week I discussed PVRs, but in a different light (in terms of skipping ads). This new device sounds great and if their colorful illustration is any indication as to how exciting users will be, then go ahead and put my neighbor down on the waiting list — I know he wants one. Also, I’d like to know how much bandwidth is required to stream shows from one client to another along with the ability to fight Mothra and Shredder in real-time. Oh and yes, based on the OpenBrick Wiki, some discussion on WiFi seems to be synergizing, that means they will undoubtedly succeed.
P2P meets Mr. Roboto?
I’ve found a legitimate way to link to iluminent, a fella by the name of ‘john’ posted “How you know you’re from Texas” — a compilation of mannerisms, sayings and just good ole fashioned tomfoolery. Having been born, raised and schooled on this fertile plain colloquially referred to as “not Yankeeland,” “not Mexico” and “bigger than Alaska,” I am certifiably able to endorse the following:
- Onced and Twiced are good words.
- Fire ants consider your flesh as a picnic.
- “Coldbeer” actually is one word.
- People really grow and eat okra.
- Green grass DOES burn.
- “Fixinto” is one word.
- Backards and forards means I know everything about you.
- “Je’eet”? is actually a phrase meaning “Did you eat?”
- You work until you’re done or it’s too dark to see.
- You measure distance in minutes.
- You’ve had to switch from “heat” to “A/C” in the same day.
- Stores don’t have bags; they have sacks.
- You know what “cow tipping” and “snipe hunting” is.
- You know all four seasons: Almost summer, summer, Still summer, and Christmas.
- Going to Walmart is a favorite past-time known as “goin wal-martin” or off to “Wally World.”
- You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good chili weather.
- A carbonated soft drink isn’t a soda, cola, or pop .. it’s a Coke, regardless of brand or flavor.
There are several more, but these words hit home more than the rest. A couple of notes: I’ll be glad to take any of you city slickers snipe hunting sometime… Coke is more ubiquitous than distilled water, but not as much as our fermented friends… dozens of time each year you literally have to switch from the heater to the A/C and vice-versa during the day — and above all else, it takes about 20 minutes to reach my house from point A.
Lastly, when I was about five years-old, I went on a field trip to Samuel’s Farm (any real resident of North Texas knows that place). I managed to set my rump down on one of the most feisty ant hills on this side of the Red River and had to literally unclothe myself in front of, among others, very attractive Belles. I was scarred for life.
Just say no to Fire Ants.
You may have heard friends and relatives comment on various events with “it’s become so hard to see a difference between parodies and reality.” Well, I ran across a site that just about fits that bill: OBJECTIVE - Creation Education.
You may have seen Landover Baptist and gotten a kick out of various shenanigans there, well this OBJECTIVE site wins first prize and a year’s subscription to the Scantily-Clad Furniture and Centerfold Drapery magazine.
My favorite section by far was the Creation Science Fair, with the following entries:
1st Place: “My Uncle Is A Man Named Steve (Not A Monkey)”
Cassidy Turnbull (grade 5) presented her uncle, Steve. She also showed photographs of monkeys and invited fairgoers to note the differences between her uncle and the monkeys. She tried to feed her uncle bananas, but he declined to eat them. Cassidy has conclusively shown that her uncle is no monkey.
[snip]
2nd Place: “Women Were Designed For Homemaking”
Jonathan Goode (grade 7) applied findings from many fields of science to support his conclusion that God designed women for homemaking: physics shows that women have a lower center of gravity than men, making them more suited to carrying groceries and laundry baskets; biology shows that women were designed to carry un-born babies in their wombs and to feed born babies milk, making them the natural choice for child rearing; social sciences shows that the wages for women workers are lower than for normal workers, meaning that they are unable to work as well and thus earn equal pay; and exegetics shows that God created Eve as a companion for Adam, not as a co-worker.
[snip]
1st Place: “Using Prayer To Microevolve Latent Antibiotic Resistance In Bacteria”
Eileen Hyde and Lynda Morgan (grades 10 & 11) did a project showing how the power of prayer can unlock the latent genes in bacteria, allowing them to microevolve antibiotic resistance. Escherichia coli bacteria cultured in agar filled petri dishes were subjected to the antibiotics tetracycline and chlorotetracycline. The bacteria cultures were divided into two groups, one group (A) received prayer while the other (B) didn’t. The prayer was as follows: “Dear Lord, please allow the bacteria in Group A to unlock the antibiotic-resistant genes that You saw fit to give them at the time of Creation. Amen.” The process was repeated for five generations, with the prayer being given at the start of each generation. In the end, Group A was significantly more resistant than Group B to both antibiotics.
The whole site is actually pretty subtle about being a lampoon and has the added advantage of looking as if muchos horas were spent on layout and design. If you want some extra kicks, be sure to visit their condemnation of ‘malls’, look for telling quotes like:
“Darth Maul”: Commercialized symbol of evil whose name sounds like “mall”. Coincidence?
Oh, and yea, there are others who thought this could be real.
