According to Wired Blogs, VW is working with the Hybrid Technologies company (see the press release on their site) to develop a concept car in North Carolina, using lithium ion batteries. The announced in September their plans to build a hybrid car to be sold in China.
The Wired blogger is rooting for a hybrid Golf, but if I had to guess my girlfriend would rather have a hybrid Jetta.
A nice cake is waiting for you.
I’m being stalked by a cake. That’s just scary.
Your winsome smile will be your sure protection.
Um, can I have a ball bat instead? I’d feel more secure.
You are never bitter, deceptive, or petty.
Oops, I got someone else’s fortune.
A modest man never talks to himself.
What about singing in the shower? Does he do that?
There will be a happy romance for you shortly.
This one really ticked off my girlfriend
You will step on the soil of many countries.
I’d better get started soon, because we’ve all seen my “Where I’ve been” map.
Express yourself, do something creative.
Gosh, I’ll get right on that after I finish designing this website.
You will always have good luck in personals affairs.
Oh, silly fortune cookie. You are so wrong.
You will always be surrounded by true friends.
Okay, you’re not always wrong, fortune cookie.
And upward movement intiated in time can counteract fate.
Damn, this is the second time I got this ominous cookie, and the first was right before I found out about my heart surgery. Leave me alone, cookie! You’re scaring me.
To be a success in business, be daring, be first, be different.
I think I’ll start with “Be awake” and see how that goes.
Many people who have power become a deaf mute.
And then there are the power people who never shut up.
Good fortune awaits you at the end of the day.
Is it a free monkey? I like monkeys.
From your garden of dreams, many things will blossom.
Hopefully not weeds.
The next full moon will bring an enchanting evening.
With a werewolf!!
You are kind-hearted, cheerful, and well-liked.
I wish I knew which day opposite day is in Fortune CookieLand.
It’s World Usability Day, people. Today we celebrate creating a better user experience in designing products. For those of us who design stuff every day, this is an important concept.
This is an interesting chart: a representation of the Golden Gate Bridge, and where people who have committed suicide (1,218 since the bridge was built) were standing when they jumped off.
So other than the purient, what’s the explanation for the most popular jumping spot being light pole number 69? I can’t imagine that the people leaping off here really chose that spot because the number is funny. It does make sense that people choose the east side of the bridge, where there is a pedestrian walkway, as opposed to the bicycle lane on the other side. But pole number 69 has over twice as many jumpers as number 67. I wonder if it would make more sense if I were standing on the bridge. Maybe it’s the furthest spot from police intereference, for example.
Am I really ghoulish for thinking of this at all?
I’m going to be on WISH-TV’s morning news on Friday morning for my “Big Things” photographs again. I did an updated interview with Dick Wolfsie a few weeks ago, and it will air then. So check me out being all famous and stuff.
On top of that… I won first place in the (original link, no longer active – http://nuvolab.com/88#comments:Nuvolab 2005 Journalism Awards).
(original link, no longer active – http://nuvolab.com/88#comments)
My friend Bil won second place for his local group political blog, Bilerico.
Check it out; it’s cool.
Via wikipedia:
Biomimicry or biomimetics is the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems. The term biomimicry and biomimetics come from the Greek words bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate. Similar terms include bionics.
Law of unintended consequences
In the social sciences, unintended consequences (sometimes unanticipated consequences or unforeseen consequences) are outcomes that are not the ones intended by a purposeful action. The concept has long existed but was named and popularised in the 20th century by American sociologist Robert K. Merton. Unintended consequences can be roughly grouped into three types:
- A positive, unexpected benefit (usually referred to as luck, serendipity or a windfall).
- A negative, unexpected detriment occurring in addition to the desired effect of the policy (e.g., while irrigation schemes provide people with water for agriculture, they can increase waterborne diseases that have devastating health effects, such as schistosomiasis).
- A perverse effect contrary to what was originally intended (when an intended solution makes a problem worse)
Chinese water torture is a process in which water is slowly dripped onto a person’s forehead, allegedly driving the restrained victim insane. This form of torture was first described under a different name by Hippolytus de Marsiliis in Italy in the 15th or 16th century.
The term “Chinese water torture” may have arisen from Chinese Water Torture Cell (a feat of escapology introduced in Berlin at Circus Busch September 13, 1910; the escape entailed Houdini being bound and suspended upside-down in a locked glass and steel cabinet full to overflowing with water, from which he escaped), together with the Fu Manchu stories of Sax Rohmer that were popular in the 1930s (in which Fu Manchu subjected his victims to various ingenious tortures, such as the wired jacket). Hippolytus de Marsiliis is credited with the invention of a form of water torture. Having observed how drops of water falling one by one on a stone gradually created a hollow, he applied the method to the human body. Other suggestions say that the term “Chinese water torture” was invented merely to grant the method a sense of ominous mystery.
My friend Jen, who is also our primary food reviewer on IndyScribe, now has a blog where she’s scanning in her grandmother’s recipes for public consumption. It’s fascinating, because the recipes are certainly from a different era than ours.
Check out the recipe for lime jello with chicken and curry.
I have some old cookbooks from my grandmother’s church group, and when I perused them once last summer, I discovered that many of them call for a key ingredient: Lard. Yum, yum!
So after seeing the musical, I’ve been listening to the new Wicked Soundtrack, and I seem to be stuck on one song that I keep playing over and over… Popular. Hee. I love this song. Possibly because it’s sung by Glinda, and I love Glinda, despite her character being a bubble-headed misguided person in this version of the story.
(spoken) Elphie – now that we’re friends, I’ve decided to
make you my new project.
ELPHABA
(spoken) You really don’t have to do that
GALINDA
(spoken) I know. That’s what makes me so nice!
(sung) Whenever I see someone
Less fortunate than I
(And let’s face it – who isn’t
Less fortunate than I?)
My tender heart
Tends to start to bleed
And when someone needs a makeover
I simply have to take over
I know I know exactly what they need
And even in your case
Tho’ it’s the toughest case I’ve yet to face
Don’t worry – I’m determined to succeed
Follow my lead
And yes, indeed
You will be:
Popular!
You’re gonna be popular!
I’ll teach you the proper ploys
When you talk to boys
Little ways to flirt and flounce
I’ll show you what shoes to wear
How to fix your hair
Everything that really counts
To be popular
I’ll help you be popular!
You’ll hang with the right cohorts
You’ll be good at sports
Know the slang you’ve got to know
So let’s start
‘Cause you’ve got an awfully long way to go:
Don’t be offended by my frank analysis
Think of it as personality dialysis
Now that I’ve chosen to be come a pal, a
Sister and adviser
There’s nobody wiser
Not when it comes to popular –
I know about popular
And with an assist from me
To be who you’ll be
Instead of dreary who-you-were: are:
There’s nothing that can stop you
From becoming popu-
Ler: lar:
La la la la
We’re gonna make
You popular
When I see depressing creatures
With unprepossessing features
I remind them on their own behalf
To think of
Celebrated heads of state or
Specially great communicators
Did they have brains or knowledge?
Don’t make me laugh!
They were popular! Please –
It’s all about popular!
It’s not about aptitude
It’s the way you’re viewed
So it’s very shrewd to be
Very very popular
Like me!
(spoken) Why, Miss Elphaba, look at you. You’re beautiful.
ELPHABA (spoken) I – I have to go:
GALINDA
(spoken) You’re welcome!
(sung) And though you protest
Your disinterest
I know clandestinely
You’re gonna grin and bear it
Your new found popularity
La la la la
You’ll be popular –
Just not as quite as popular
As me!