Email: Damn 'pubbicans [LK]

I just found out from Geico that last January, they (meaning the Repubbicans) pushed through "new laws" so that anyone can be sued not only for present assets but all future assets and income! I can't believe it!

Websites: Horoscope - The Onion

Your belief that humanity is growing too dependent on machines will finally be put to rest next week, when after three days of careful deliberation, your family members decide to take you off the respirator.

Press: FCC: All Programming To Be Broadcast In ADHDTV By 2007 - The Onion

FCC: All Programming To Be Broadcast In ADHDTV By 2007 | The Onion: "WASHINGTON, DC—The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-1 Monday to require electronics manufacturers to make all television sets ADHD-compatible within two years.

To adhere to the guidelines, every program, with the exception of The Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi Show, will have to be sped up to meet the new standard frame rate of 120 frames per second.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin characterized the move as 'a natural, forward-thinking response to the changing needs of the average American viewer.'

'In the media-saturated climate of the modern age, few have the time and energy to sit still for an entire episode of King Of Queens,' Martin said. 'Although the FCC will leave it up to the television networks to make the necessary programming changes, we are recommending, in accordance with the ADHDTV standard, that all shows be no more than six minutes in length, and that they contain jarring and unpredictable camera cuts to shiny props and detailed background sets.'" [more]

Technology: Security thy name is Captcha

You know those squiggly letters you're asked to type in to send email or post a reply on certain online forums (like here on Blogger)? It sounds like the opposite of Gangsta, but it's called Captcha:

Captcha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "A captcha (an acronym for 'completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart') is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to determine whether or not the user is human. The term was coined in 2000 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, and Nicholas J. Hopper of Carnegie Mellon University, and John Langford of IBM. A common type of captcha requires that the user type the letters of a distorted and/or obscured sequence of letters or digits that appears on the screen. Because the test is administered by a computer, in contrast to the standard Turing test that is administered by a human, a captcha is sometimes described as a reverse Turing test."

Here is the official Captcha website.

Musings: Condi and Dubya dubbed?

When Condoleezza Rice is giving a speech, why does she always looked dubbed? Her lips don't match her words. (This might be said of George W. too, except his lips don't move.)

Email: Getting a grip [DS]

Don't worry about weight. It's what's inside you that's important (to a real man anyway).

I'm on this site because it's had a checkered history: first [it was] a career networking site (Ringo), then a social networking and dating site (Tickle), and now it's LoveHappens and Tickle Marriage. Both sides are sloppily done (in my opinion); for instance, today they sent me two "matches" -- one a black woman who is looking for a black man, the other a high-school graduate (when I'm only looking for a college graduate). Idiots!

I think the key really is to get a grip on things [in life] and simplify, simplify, simplify.

Email: Yip-yiminy [DD]

Thanks for rejoicing with me (yip-yiminy, yip-yiminy, yip-yea, hurrah -- sung to the tune of Chim-Chiminy).

Languages: Japanese masho "let's"

(via J-List) "Another verb ending students of Japanese learn early is masho, which corresponds to "let's...," as in "let's eat" (tabemasho), "let's drink" (nomimasho), or "let's go" (ikimasho) [...]. This is more than just a handy suffix to allow you to say many things in Japanese -- it's actually a reflection of Japan's unique group-centric culture. In a non-smoking area in the U.S., you'd probably see signs saying something like "do not smoke," giving you no choice in the matter. In Japan, however, it's common for such notices to use the gentler masho ending, effectively saying "let's not smoke in non-smoking areas," (tobacco o yamemasho), "let's put our telephones into vibration mode" (manner mode ni shimasho) and so on. It seems to be part of the Japanese psyche that they respond better to an inclusive request rather than a specific command or rule. This "let's request" form has a very soft sound to it, and parents and care-givers use it to make even the most stubborn child do what's asked of them."