Electric Feet

More and more I'm seeing technologies that are becoming reality or close to becoming reality that were in Sci-fi stories a couple of decades ago. HERE is another one. Basically, engineers want to capture the energy from 'footfalls' or from your feet hitting the ground when you walk. By placing tiny piezoelectric motors in floors any vibration say from footfalls or passing cars or trains can cause the tiny motors to vibrate and generate electricity. The technology is advanced enough that it has actually been used in real products already. Apple and Nike recently released a plugin for the iPod to help in your jogging workouts that uses the technology. According to the engineers this technology can produce enough electricity to power facility and street lights in the busiest parts of large cities. And they are making claims that it can power entire buildings. Cool.

Microsoft with an attit00d!

This is funny! I guess we can tell that Apple's new ad campaign is getting attention. All these rip-off videos and graphics are fun.

Zeon Attack!!!

I thought we had a problem with video games here in the US. I just read THIS article that speaks to the much much worse problem in Japan. As video arcades are being boarded up by the hundreds here in the US, Japan's video arcades are thriving. In a country that is growing older quickly and will be increasingly relying on their diminishing youth to take over the workforce, video game arcades present a special and real threat to the future of the country. Instead of going out and working, Japanese youth are spending hours and hours, days and days in the video arcades playing games developed specifically for the Japanese or Asian markets. We barely even know about them here in the US. They require not only a few dollars a game pocket money to play each round but also require collecting playing cards that are used on special magnetic screens attached to the arcade machines. Assuring a secondary market beyond the video arcade itself. Almost requiring addiction to play them. One of the games, 'Mobile Space 0079' based on a comic book and animated TV show seems to be the game of addicts choice at the moment.

I'm afraid to even think what would happen if this type of thing caught on here. It's bad enough that our kids sit in front of the video game console for hours and hours each week. Taking things to the next level like the Japanese would really be bad for our next generation. You know, the kids that will be our leaders and teachers and heros when they grow up. If they ever do that is.

All about garbage

Here is something cool. Practical and energy efficient. Someone was really thinking when they thought this up.
It's a self powered compacting trash can for public areas. It can hold 150 gallons of trash. It is solar powered. Sweet.
Boston City just installed 43 of them to try them out. According to the mayor of Boston their public trash cans needed to be emptied up to 15 times a day. With this 'Big Belly' technology. that can be reduced to once a day. Oh, and did I mention it's self powered? Cool. Check it out HERE.

Ben Stein

Ben Stein of Ferris Bueller fame has been writing a column called, "Monday Night at Morton's" for many many years now. He is retiring from that column and has written a very profound last column. Read it HERE .
Ben's column was about the famous Hollywood 'A-list' type people he would see/meet eating at the various Morton's restaurants around the world. He uses his last column to bring a dose of reality to those people. Basically telling them they are not that important and letting us know who he thinks really is important. Read the article to find out, I'm not doing it justice talking about it here.
Would that it were that more 'Hollywood types' felt more like Ben instead of using their 'fame' to 'defame' and destroy our democracy.

Equal Shares

You know those annoying ads that are all over Google pages?

Like this:



I saw this one today and actually clicked on it.
If you can't make it out it says, "How much money would I get if we divided up all the wealth in the world into equal amounts?'
The theory and numbers they use to answer the question are pretty weak, but it is a very interesting question and it really caught my attention and my imagination. I was disappointed to see their answer to be only a paltry $6,685.92. I imagined it would be more and that we could all be millionaires.
Oh well, back on your heads.

Big Brother

BIG BROTHER is alive and well. I just ran across this article and probably for the first time it kinda creeped me out. I've seen Big Brother'esque things talked about before but none of them really seemed to scare me or worry me. This one does.
What it is is a technology that has been developed to read license plates on moving cars. The talk is that cameras could be placed all over the place and could 'track' you by the license plate on the front and back of your vehicle. I don't like it. It makes me nervous that someone, anyone could follow me in this way.
I do like the idea that police can use this technology to look for stolen cars and even track sexual offenders. But I don't steal cars and don't sexually offend so I'm not comfortable with this level of surveillance.

3rd Article of Faith

3. We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

2nd Article of Faith

2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.

Swarm

I am really enjoying seeing the different ways people are coming up with to view the web. This one is somewhat addicting. I'm not sure how they are determining their data but basically the most popular sites will 'swarm' to the center. You can hover over the thumbnails and see better what page it is and even click it to be taken there. Neat. I found some cool places I had never been in just a few minutes. You do have to be careful however so be forewarned!!!
See SWARM HERE.

Articles of Faith

We've been helping Shelby memorize the last of our churches 13 Articles of Faith the last couple of weeks. When a girl turns 12 in our church they can earn an award called the Faith in God award and memorizing the Articles of Faith is part of the requirement. It's been fun to be reminded of what they say. I remember a good part of most of them and really should have them on the tip of my tongue. Whenever anyone asks what I believe they are a good resource to quickly and eloquently tell them.
I thought since we're helping Shelby with them I would post each of them over the next couple of weeks in case any of you have never read them or need a refresher.
First a little history. In the mid 1800's Joseph Smith was asked what the basic beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints were. He wrote the 13 Articles of Faith as an answer.

ARTICLE OF FAITH 1

We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

Cool mouse

I ran across this cool mouse from the Art Lebedev Studio. Not sure how comfortable it is to use but it sure is cool.

Clogged Tubes

This is hilarious! I really should watch Jon Stewart more. I love this bit where he makes fun of Senator Ted Stevens speech on the internet being a series of 'tubes'.

Give me a break!

Another one from the 'dumb internet ideas' file.

I can't believe this one. Artificial wishbones. Yeah, that's right those bones from Turkeys that you try to break in half on Thanksgiving. Now you too can do this any day of the year! And, they are turkey free. Safe for all my vegetarian friends out there.

Dumb internet ideas

This is from the file of 'dumb internet ideas that actually made millions'.

Goggles for dogs. Who would've thunk it?

A little help

HERE is a new offering from the Motion Picture Association of America, the MPAA. They have a new service called, wait for it, 'Red Carpet Ratings'. If you sign up by clicking on the link above you will receive an email each week that lists the MPAA ratings for the films released that week.
Even though I usually already know the ratings of the films being released each week, I do like that they are making an effort to help parents and others to know the content of the films they are thinking about seeing.
Personally, I hope that this effort will morph into something richer and deeper than a static email with ratings in a list. I hope they can give some in depth information like you might find at SCREENIT.COM. Maybe someday they can alter the ratings to more correctly reflect the content in the films. Like how some PG13 films are much more offensive and objectionable than some R rated films. There is a problem there I think. Maybe they can take some clues from what the ESRB is 'trying' to do with video game ratings. They still have quite a ways to go but at least they are making an effort. The MPAA should be moving in that direction as well.

CornerShot

I wonder how long it will take for all the military simulation games like CounterStrike etc. to add this new weapon to their games? Back when I was playing CS daily I sure could have used this baby. My deaths would have gone Waaaaay down.

Pee like you mean it

I didn't know this about space travel. Astronauts have been turning their urine into oxygen for decades now. The Russians had it on MIR and now there is a newer technology, developed by NASA that will be installed on the Intl Space Station. This technology is crucial if a planned mission to Mars is to be undertaken. Carting along enough oxygen tanks for the ride to Mars is logistically impossible.
The technology takes the astronauts urine and removes the dissolved solids and then takes the resulting purified water and splits it into oxygen and hydrogen. Neat. Sounds gross but it makes perfect sense that recycling 'everything' they can is an efficient way to remain in space. Read more HERE.

High costs of gaming

I had a conversation with a relative over the 4th of July weekend about the costs of gaming consoles. I knew some basics like that M$, Sony and Nintendo all lose money initially on their game consoles due to the high mfg costs. But, what I didn't have were details. Well, I just found this article that lays it all out in a great amount of detail. So, if you want to know all the actual costs that go into making the Xbox 360 and Sony's upcoming PS3 check out this article .

Nightmares & Dreamscapes

**SPOILERS**
Let me first say I am NOT a fan of horror stories. Films, books, TV shows, whatever. I avoid them religiously.
However, last night my curiosity (and the dearth of good summer TV) got the better of me. So, I tuned into the first episode of Nightmares & Dreamscapes. Yes, it's Stephen King. No, I've never read more than one short story from his work. I have only seen maybe one or two of his stories turned into films. The scary ones anyway. A couple of my favorite films are based on his work but they are not creepy or scary. I'm talking about "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile".
Last nights episode entitled, "Battleground" was interesting. It's the type of thing I find daydreaming about at times. The old 'what if?' scenarios. What if my little green army men all came to life and tried to kill me. That was what William Hurt had to deal with in this episode. First of all there was absolutely no dialog. Not one word spoken. The entire 1 hour no commercial block had no dialog. Just a sound track. That is hard to pull off, but they did a pretty good job. The effects were stellar and they had to be for this effort to work. It would take far too long for me to explain the whole story but I'll leave you with my favorite part. The ending. William Hurt has killed off the last 'commando' only to discover he was carrying a 'toy size' thermonuclear device. Oops. The mushroom cloud exiting the elevator shaft of his apartment building was especially fun.
Anyway, if you missed it you really missed out. It was different and well done and fun.
Oh oh, one more favorite part. When William Hurt throws his plugged in hair dryer into the toilet to finish off the helicopter crew that he had thrown in. Yeah, that was sweet. Especially his face when the electric circuit in his apartment blew.

What's in a name?

This is cool.
Be forewarned, you could end up spending an hour putting in the names of everyone you know.
It's a neat little perspective on names and their popularity through the decades.
I, however, was sad to see my name's popularity is waning big time.
Check it out HERE.

Who am I?

Who are you really?
Who am I really?
Does anyone really know who anyone is anymore?
I just read THIS article about the Top 10 cities for identity theft and my city (nearby) is on the list.
Interesting that almost all of the top 10 are Western U.S. cities. The article doesn't do a good enough job of explaining why this is in my opinion. And, the safest cities are mostly Eastern cities. Hmm. Interesting.

Mac Ads Spoof

I've been waiting for this to happen for awhile now. VH1 has come up with some spoofs on the recent hilariously fun Apple Mac ads. Check it out HERE.
Warning: some mild language.

So long, Farewell...

Auf Viedersehn goodbye...

The Guads have left the building.
A week of 4th of July fun has left us all exhausted but pleased. We'll miss you of course and have fond memories of our,
Parade viewing
Timpanogos Cave Hike
Water park visit
Great food
and multiple great movies watched.



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mmmm n mmmmm

M&M's candies have some NEW flavors. There are a couple I really wanna try. They are only available online however. Check em out. What is your favorite? I think I would have to go with the 'Eat Drink and be Cherry'


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Playing Pollock

Jackson Pollock that is.
HERE is a fun little web site where you can unleash your inner Jackson Pollock.
Click to change colors and hover over an area to put down more paint. I actually had fun with this for a few minutes.

Do it yourself Coke

Finally, if you dare, you can make Coca-cola yourself. In your own kitchen. HERE is the recipe. Two scary things, the amount of caffeine and the 30lbs of sugar. Yikes! If you try it let me know. I'll come over for a taste test. Leave out the caffeine please ;)

Almost Here!!!

Ok, I had to post this. This is a cool thing. Maybe all the other airlines are doing this and I just haven't stumbled across it yet, but Jet Blue has this uber-kewl online flight tracker. As you can see from the pic it is graphical and shows the progress of your flight. The pic below is the GuadSquad's flight to Utah to come visit for the 4th of July.

One cool thing is that you can see that the pilots avoided some thunderheads on their way into SLC. You can tell by the track they took and the doppler radar info superimposed on the map.
Well, I thought it was cool anyway.

Rant of the Week

Ok, I just can't take it anymore. I'm gonna bust. I have to RANT!
I try oh so hard to keep it in. To squash it. So, in order to avoid actually bursting into a ball of fire in real life maybe I can blow off some steam by writing it down. With a nice side affect that the entire world could know how pissed off I am. Aint the internet great!

Anyway, I digress. I am pisssssssed. Yes that is with six S's.



I went to the grocery store today to pick up just a few thing for the weekend. It took me forever because I was stopped and stuck at every turn because everyone is using these freaking grocery carts! AND, people don't drive friendly in the grocery store. I say people should have a license to drive one of these and take a test just like for a real license. These freaking ladies and their 18 freaking kids hanging all over the cart pulling crap off the shelves and throwing it in the aisles. Aaaaaahhhhhh, did anyone ever hear of DISCIPLINE? Has it been completely thrown out the window? I don't know about you but I beat my kids regularly just to keep em in line. (i'm joking by the way. Put the phone down).
I got into one particularly nasty traffic jam today where 4 of these carts were converged at one intersection and I literally could not get through without going back 2 aisles and clear to the back of the store and down and back yada yada. I didn't want to backtrack! My pink lemonade was defrosting at an already alarming rate. I looked for a responsible adult that could move one of the carts so I could get through and they had all left the immediate vicinity. I just about snapped. If my darling daughter wasn't with me I might actually have started acting like Chester Cheeto. I loved what Shelby said, it kind of defused my boiling temper. "Well, this is a fine mess!" Shelby says.
Now, you might say, "why didn't you just step forward and move one of the carts out of the way?" And I would say, "Are you smacked out of your head? Do you know what would happen if I actually did that?" I guarantee you 4 mothers would appear out of nowhere and have that worried, you're gonna kidnap my children, look on their faces. At which I would have to explain they were in my way, but there would be absolutely no recognition on their parts that they had actually done anything wrong.
When did Common Sense die? I miss it. I can't believe I missed the funeral, I would have loved to have given a eulogy.
So, my words to all you rude selfish devoid of common sense people at the Maceys in Pleasant Grove today,
BITE ME!!!!

Patriotic Trivia

Here is a little patriotic trivia for y'all. Interesting that a city right next to mine is mentioned in this list!

1
Number of U.S. places named “Patriot”—Patriot, Indiana, population 199.

5
Number of U.S. places with “America” in their names, with the most populous being American Fork, Utah, population 22,501.

5
Number of U.S. places that adopted the name “Freedom.” Freedom, California, with 6,000 residents, has the largest population among these.

11
Number of U.S. places with “Independence” in their names. The most populous of these is Independence, Missouri, with 113,027 residents.

30
Number of places nationwide with “Liberty” in their names. The most populous of these is Liberty, Missouri with 27,532 residents. Iowa, with four places with “Liberty” in their names, has more than any other state: Libertyville, New Liberty, North Liberty and West Liberty.