Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Shoot 'n' Scoot !


For years, military live fire exercises have relied on either stationary or pop-out targets but they don't really simulate enemy movements—they just sit there, waiting to be shot. These targets, newly developed for the U.S. Marine Corps don't; they move, behave, and react just like real combatants.

Well, combatants who ride Segway scooters.

Software to Rate How Drastically Photos Are Retouched


A proposed software tool is intended to address concerns about the prevalence of highly idealized and digitally edited images in advertising and fashion magazines.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Well, kids, this is a fine mess you've gotten us into.

from The Register
(excerpt)


Exoplanet ranking suggests INTERSTELLAR WAR imminent
Too late to recall idiotic message beamed at alien star

An international team of boffins has ranked the various extra-terrestrial planets and moons known to humanity in order of ability to sustain life. It's bad news for the human race, as the planets of the Gliese 581 star system are near the top of the list: and if an intelligent race is present there, we have already mortally offended it.

Should there be intelligent aliens at Gliese 581 they will soon have an intense and well-justified grievance against us.

This is because back in 2008 the management of the doomed teenybopper social-networking portal Bebo, for reasons which seemed good to them at the time, collected a huge and infamous compilation of web-2.0 content from their site's users, addressed at possible aliens resident at Gliese 581. They then hired the unscrupulous Russian astronomer Alexander Zaitsev to beam this horrendous guff-blast at the red star from a powerful Ukraininan radar telescope.

Sample comments offered as humanity's possible first messages to a powerful and sophisticated alien culture:

Our bodies are made of bones ... We have senses. Smell, Taste, Sight and Touch. Without any of these things, we wouldn't live.


I love Television. We watch animated cartoons and real-life drama on it. I could sit and watch Television all day.


Hi im nicole ... someday i would love to appear on the west end stage, in a hit show.i also wouldnt mind doing a few television programs whether it is as a extra or a main part i dont mind i would love to appear on doctor who as i love it. anyway laters.Nicole x

All these, and many other foulnesses such as pictures of cats, boy crooners, amusing vegetables etc, are on their way unstoppably towards Gliese 581 and will arrive at that star system in March 2029. Even if the aliens have not yet developed star travel, planet- or sun-smasher missiles, world-volatilizing krenon rays etc, this will surely be a powerful spur to the development and instant employment of such weapons against the civilisation which could, unprovoked, commit such an interstellar solecism.


Peter Wentz Farmstead Candlelight Tour : Saturday, December 3, 2011

Peter Wentz Farmstead Candlelight Tour

Saturday, December 3, 2011 
Candlelight Tours 2:00 - 8:00pm (Last tour begins at 7:30pm)


The soft glow of candlelight will guide you throughout the decorated Farmstead for tours showcasing period music, seasonal decorations, holiday foodways, and a visit from Belsnickel, a Pennsylvania German St. Nicholas in furs.

The 6th Pennsylvania Regiment will be in attendance to insure the safety of His Excellency General George Washington, who will be visiting the site.

The Farmstead is located on Shearer Road in Worcester, PA, near the intersection of Routes 73 and 363 in Montgomery County.

All ages ; $2 per person suggested donation.
(the attached picture shows a scene from a couple years ago, when a dusting of snow added some magic to the glow of the lanterns).


http://www.peterwentzfarmsteadsociety.org/


Invitation to connect on LinkedIn

 
LinkedIn
 
 
 
 
From Robert Bendesky
 
Research Associate at Cephalon
Greater Philadelphia Area
 
 
 

Bob,

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

- Robert

 
 
 
 
 
 
You are receiving Invitation to Connect emails. Unsubscribe
© 2011, LinkedIn Corporation. 2029 Stierlin Ct. Mountain View, CA 94043, USA
 

Monday, November 21, 2011

Want a Traditional Thanksgiving Feast ?

from Wired.com

This Thanksgiving, millions of Americans will sit down to a traditional meal in celebration of all that the New World has given us.

In memory of our ancestors — or the ancestors of the people who bought our ancestors, or the ancestors of the people who decided our ancestors didn't really deserve land if they weren't going to properly exploit it, or the ancestors of the people who resented our ancestors for coming over here and taking all the jobs they didn't want — we'll sit down to a table loaded with the same traditional foods they had at the first Thanksgiving.


First, Mother will bring out the eels and cod. Who doesn't have fond memories of seeing a huge plate of
grilled eels and cod set down on the dinner table? Make sure Grandpa gets the eyes! Of course, nobody would expect to eat just one type of seafood on Thanksgiving. Mussels and clams are in abundance, although some poor families make do with lobster.

Naturally, the centerpiece of any Thanksgiving meal is the birds. Turkey is a popular choice, but to many people Thanksgiving just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without at least a couple roasted ducks and a swan or two.


The kids would just as soon eat nothing but birds and shellfish, and maybe a few wild berries, but the grown-ups are there to make sure they eat their vegetables. No dessert until you eat your dried corn,
beetroot and beans.

Yeah, OK, swan and eel are pretty much off the Thanksgiving menu these days. Instead we eat various traditional foods that weren't at what's widely considered the ur-Thanksgiving, at least in the United States.

Candied yams — actually sweet potatoes, but "yam" is a fun word — wouldn't be invented for almost 200 years. If anyone thought to mash potatoes with butter and milk before the 1700s, they kept it to themselves. And as for green beans with fried onions and condensed cream of mushroom soup … I'll let you
ponder that one.


from Wikipedia:

The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days, providing enough food for 13 Pilgrims and 90 Native Americans. The feast consisted of fish (cod, eels, and bass) and shellfish (clams, lobster, and mussels), wild fowl (ducks, geese, swans, and turkey), venison, berries and fruit, vegetables  (peas, pumpkin, beetroot  and possibly, wild or cultivated onion), harvest grains (barley and wheat), and the Three Sisters: beans, dried Indian maize  or corn, and squash.

Want a Traditional Thanksgiving Feast ?

from Wired.com


This Thanksgiving, millions of Americans will sit down to a traditional meal in celebration of all that the New World has given us.


In memory of our ancestors — or the ancestors of the people who bought our ancestors, or the ancestors of the people who decided our ancestors didn't really deserve land if they weren't going to properly exploit it, or the ancestors of the people who resented our ancestors for coming over here and taking all the jobs they didn't want — we'll sit down to a table loaded with the same traditional foods they had at the first Thanksgiving.


First, Mother will bring out the eels and cod. Who doesn't have fond memories of seeing a huge plate of grilled eels and cod set down on the dinner table? Make sure Grandpa gets the eyes! Of course, nobody would expect to eat just one type of seafood on Thanksgiving. Mussels and clams are in abundance, although some poor families make do with lobster.


Naturally, the centerpiece of any Thanksgiving meal is the birds. Turkey is a popular choice, but to many people Thanksgiving just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without at least a couple roasted ducks and a swan or two.


The kids would just as soon eat nothing but birds and shellfish, and maybe a few wild berries, but the grown-ups are there to make sure they eat their vegetables. No dessert until you eat your dried corn, beetroot and beans.



Yeah, OK, swan and eel are pretty much off the Thanksgiving menu these days. Instead we eat various traditional foods that weren't at what's widely considered the ur-Thanksgiving, at least in the United States.


Candied yams — actually sweet potatoes, but "yam" is a fun word — wouldn't be invented for almost 200 years. If anyone thought to mash potatoes with butter and milk before the 1700s, they kept it to themselves. And as for green beans with fried onions and condensed cream of mushroom soup … I'll let you ponder that one.




from Wikipedia:

The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days, providing enough food for 13 Pilgrims and 90 Native Americans.[3]  The feast consisted of fish (cod, eels, and bass) and shellfish (clams, lobster, and mussels), wild fowl (ducks, geese, swans, and turkey), venison, berries and fruit, vegetables  (peas, pumpkin, beetroot  and possibly, wild or cultivated onion), harvest grains (barley and wheat), and the Three Sisters: beans, dried Indian maize  or corn, and squash.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

PETA slams Mario video game over use of a fur suit

 The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals might be barking up the wrong mushroom. On Monday, the controversial organization issued a press release attacking iconic Nintendo mascot Mario for wearing a 'Tanooki' suit in his latest adventure, the Nintendo 3DS game Super Mario 3D Land, which hit shelves on Sunday.

"Tanooki may be just a "suit" in Mario games, but by wearing the skin of an animal, Mario is sending the message that it's OK to wear fur," PETA says.

The raccoon-like suit, which grants Mario the ability to glide across the screen, has been a part of the franchise since first appearing as a power-up in 1988's Super Mario Bros. 3.  In the new game, Mario acquires the suit not by doing something lousy to a Tanooki, but by snagging a Super Leaf.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Herman Cain ... for President of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan

 
"Okay, Libya," said Cain, glancing up. "President Obama supported the uprising, correct? President Obama called for the removal of Gaddafi. Just wanted to make sure we're talking about the same thing before I say, 'Yes, I agreed. No, I didn't agree,'" said Cain.

"I do not agree with the way he handled it for the following reason," Cain started, before cutting himself off. "Nope, that's a different one." Cain shifted in his chair, adjusted his jacket and looked up again.

"I got all this stuff twirling around in my head," he added.


"Who Wrote Shakespeare's plays?"

Eric Idle on "Who Wrote Shakespeare's plays?"
excerpt:


While it is perfectly obvious to everyone that Ben Jonson wrote all of Shakespeare's plays, it is less known that Ben Jonson's plays were written by a teen-age girl in Sunderland, who mysteriously disappeared, leaving no trace of her existence, which is clear proof that she wrote them. The plays of Marlowe were actually written by a chambermaid named Marlene, who faked her own orgasm, and then her own death in a Deptford tavern brawl. Queen Elizabeth, who was obviously a man, conspired to have Shakespeare named as the author of his plays, because how could a man who had only a grammar-school education and spoke Latin and a little Greek possibly have written something as bad as "All's Well That Ends Well"? It makes no sense. It was obviously an upper-class twit who wished to disguise his identity so that Vanessa Redgrave could get a job in her old age.
 
Mere lack of evidence, of course, is no reason to denounce a theory. Look at intelligent design. The fact that it is bollocks hasn't stopped a good many people from believing in it. Darwinism itself is only supported by tons of evidence, which is a clear indication that Darwin didn't write his books himself. They were most likely written by Jack the Ripper, who was probably King Edward VII, since all evidence concerning this has been destroyed.

Paranoia? Of course not. It's alternative scholarship. What's wrong with teaching alternative theories in our schools? What are liberals so afraid of? Can't children make up their own minds about things like killing and carrying automatic weapons on the playground? Bush was right: no child left unarmed. Why this dictatorial approach to learning, anyway? What gives teachers the right to say what things are? Who's to say that flat-earthers are wrong? Or that the Church wasn't right to silence Galileo, with his absurd theory (actually written by his proctologist) that the earth moves around the sun. Citing "evidence" is so snobbish and élitist. I think we all know what lawyers can do with evidence. Look at Shakespeare. Poor bloke. Wrote thirty-seven plays, none of them his. 

Great Description !

NY Times article on Persian Gulf country Qatar contained this evocative description:


The skyline of Qatar's capital, Doha, suggests medieval Baghdad crossed with "Blade Runner."
(picture attached)

Friday, November 11, 2011

One of the best known poems of WW1

In Flanders Fields  by John McCrae


In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
 

Brilliantly Crummy Pop Songs

Ishtar, the notorious 1987 flop starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as bumbling songwriters, had one undeniably redeeming feature. The tunes sprinkled throughout the picture—"Portable Picnic," "Wardrobe of Love," "That a Lawnmower Can Do All That"—are a daffy delight.

Consummate pop craftsman Paul Williams wrote most of them, and he made sure they sounded competent for the first couple of bars. Then they hit a brick wall. For instance:

"Telling the truth can be dangerous business. / Honest and popular don't go hand in hand.
 If you admit you can play the accordion / No one will hire you in a rock-and-roll band."

A soundtrack album was promised in the closing credits, but release was canceled after the movie did a face-plant. "If I live to be 100, maybe the world will embrace it," Williams says.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/08/ff_lost_basementtapes/2/


The Kitten Covers: 20 Albums re-imagined with cats!

 

Thursday, November 10, 2011

The Kitten Covers: 20 Albums re-imagined with cats!

 

Monday, November 07, 2011

The Borowitz Report : Wedding news




Borowitz Report Email

Borowitz Report
   
November 7, 2011

In Money-making Scheme, Greece to Wed Kim Kardashian for 72 Days

EU Nations Serve as Bridesmaids

ATHENS (The Borowitz Report) – The Greek debt crisis that has roiled world markets for weeks was resolved today when Greece agreed to marry TV reality star Kim Kardashian for 72 days.

The marriage, believed to be the first ever between a sovereign nation and a television personality, is expected to net billions of dollars for Greece's debt-strapped economy.

The wedding between Ms. Kardashian and Greece will generate cash via a People magazine pictorial, an E! Entertainment reality series, and a bond offering backed by the International Monetary Fund.

Ms. Kardashian, attired in a Vera Wang wedding gown with a full tulle skirt, Basque waist and Chantilly lace appliqué, wed Greece in a formal ceremony that included all the EU nations as bridesmaids.

But even as the nuptials concluded, there were rumors that there was already "trouble in paradise," a friend of Ms. Kardashian said.

"Kim was annoyed that Greece didn't pay for the rehearsal dinner and left her with the bill," she said.  "Europe's used to that kind of thing, but Kim was pissed."

The friend said that she had her "fingers crossed" that the marriage between Ms. Kardashian and Greece would last 72 days.

"I don't want to spread rumors about Kim," she said, "but I've heard she's seeing Italy."  











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Friday, November 04, 2011

UK bomb plot mask becomes Occupy symbol

Demonstrators wearing V for Vendetta masks

Look at a photo or news clip from around the world of Occupy protesters and you'll likely spot a handful of people wearing masks of a cartoon-like man with a pointy beard, closed-mouth smile and mysterious eyes.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45162958/ns/today-today_news/t/uk-bomb-plot-mask-becomes-occupy-symbol/



Well, tomorrow *is* the 5th of November.

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should e'er be forgot...


FW: Origin of WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get)

from A Phrase A Week
A Phrase A Week - What you see is what you get

What you see is what you get (WYSIWYG)

Meaning

A computer screen display which appears on screen as it will be seen when printed on paper.

Origin

'Wysiwyg', pronounced 'whizzywig', is one of the best-known of all acronyms. It is generally supposed that the phrase 'what you see is what you get', the acronym 'wysiwyg' and the computer interface that they referred to emerged in close succession. This isn't the case; each of those elements has its own independent genesis.


Firstly, the phrase. 'What you see is what you get' is widely reported as being coined by Flip Wilson in performances as his drag character Geraldine in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In in the late 1960s and then later on The Flip Wilson Show. Wilson certainly popularized the expression but it was already in general use before he adopted it as a catchphrase. A form of the phrase had been used by advertisers in the USA since at least the 1940s to indicate a straightforward, no-fuss form of trading. An advert for a Filmo Sportster camera in The Charleston Gazette came close to 'what you see is what you get' in November 1949:

You just sight, press a button and what you see, you get!


The precise phrase came into print some years later. For instance, this text from an advert for a house sale, in The Oakland Tribune, May 1966:

"So with the exception of landscaping and decorator furnishings, what you see is what you get."


Next comes the acronym 'wysiwyg'. This is generally thought to have been coined from the phrase and in reference to the graphical computer user interfaces that were emerging from Xerox PARC in the 1970s, but it isn't known who first used the acronym in that context. The first such reference that I can find comes surprisingly late, in Byte magazine, April 1982:

'What you see is what you get' (or WYSIWYG) refers to the situation in which the display screen portrays an accurate rendition of the printed page.


However, he first citation I have found of the acronym in print comes several years earlier in a non-computer related context. In January 1972, a student business competition was organised in Victoria, Texas and an account of it published in the local newspaper the Victoria Advocate on the 23rd January. Each team of students chose a name for the dummy businesses that they were going to manage. They were clearly encouraged to use acronyms, as the names they chose were:

SPOT - Selling Products of Tomorrow
LIFE - Lets Insure Future Existence
WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get


So, unless earlier computer related citations are found - which would that seem unlikely as the first wysiwyg software didn't emerge until after 1972 - the prize for coining 'wysiwyg' goes to a bunch of Texan high school kids, not to the boffins of Palo Alto.


'What you see is what you get' later came to be used in a general context, often by individuals - like Flip Wilson's Geraldine - to describe themselves. It is shorthand for 'I may be a plain-speaking rough diamond, but I have no hidden agenda - let my reputation precede me', in the same way that people used to say 'take me as you find me'. The British entrepreneur Sir Alan Sugar is known for such an attitude and used 'What You See Is What You Get' as the title of his autobiography.





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Tuesday, November 01, 2011

6th Pennsylvania Regiment of Revolutionary War Re-enactors

6th Pennsylvania Regiment of Revolutionary War Re-enactors

General Information:
The 6th Pennsylvania Regiment ... Membership in the 6th PA is open to men and women from all walks of life

With over 30 years of experience in "Living History" the 6th Pennsylvania is the standard in today's reenacting community.  We are at the forefront of the latest research and discoveries made available today.  With this and our love for history, we are able to bring to you an informative, as well as, entertaining program that can be tailored to fit your needs and budget.

6th Pennsylvania Regiment
PO BOX 781.
Montgomeryville, PA, 18936.
United States

Won't get fooled again

Private equity firms are investing in chains of used-car lots, and auto loans are being packaged into securities much like subprime mortgages.

http://www.latimes.com/business/buy-here-pay-here/la-fi-buyhere-payhere-day-two-20111101%2c0%2c3779131.story



Oh no, not again.
Or as George W. Bush so eloquently put it:

"There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."