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November 27, 2002

Face transplants

I can't help the King of Pop with his dislike of pop music (the revelation of which makes me wonder if he's slightly less insane than I think - which would still make him almost completely insane), but I did run across something that might help with his face:

New Scientist quotes a leading British plastic surgeon as saying face transplants will be technically possible in six to nine months. A face transplant would involve removing the face, facial muscles and subcutaneous fat from the recipient. The donor face from a recently dead person, complete with lips, chin, ears, nose, eight major blood vessels and even some bone, would then be grafted into place. (No, the recipient would not look like the donor.)

27 Nov 18:49 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits, Science

November 20, 2002

Test your knowledge of geography

According to the National Geographic Society, 87 percent of Americans between the age of 18 and 24 cannot find Iraq on a map. 70 percent can't find New Jersey. Only half can find New York. One of ten can't find the United States. I have a hard time believing this is true, but if it is, it's utterly depressing.

Test your knowledge of geography. And those of you who can't find Iraq, please learn where it is.

(I am so incredibly tempted to insert a snide George W. Bush joke here, but you all know I'm above that, right?)

20 Nov 11:59 | Link | Category: Interactive

November 17, 2002

John Poindexter

John Poindexter, an "outstanding American," is back, in charge of DARPA's Information Awareness Office. (It happened quietly enough that I didn't even hear about it until now...)

This is the Reagan national security advisor who oversaw the Iran-Contra operation. Oliver North's boss. In 1990, a jury convicted him on five felony counts of conspiracy, making false statements to Congress, and obstructing congressional inquiries.

This is the kinds of person we want involved in counterterrorism efforts and 'information awareness'? Sadly, I can't say I am in any way surprised by this piece of news.

17 Nov 2:05 | Link | Category: Current Events, Politics

Can we please replace the space shuttle?

The space shuttle is one vehicle in which you really don't want to find yourself asking "hmmm... what's causing those rattles and groans?" And if you do, one of the last answers you want to hear is, "oh, it's just metal fatigue... don't worry about it." Let's hope this works before something goes seriously wrong.

17 Nov 1:59 | Link | Category: Science

November 13, 2002

Ad slogan generator, Googlism

New from thesurrealist.co.uk: the Advertising Slogan Generator.

Also check out Googlism if you haven't already done so. A search on my name reveals that I am an unlikely guitar hero, a professional speaker, and a legend in the world of gold mining and metal detecting.

Googlefight is always fun, too.

13 Nov 15:25 | Link | Category: Cool Links

Where does it stop?

The latest issue of Wired has a handy chart of bio/chem weapons. When it comes to these matters, I have some burning questions, foremost among them "Who else has this stuff, and how much of it?" and "Who the hell sat around dreaming this stuff up and creating it in the first place?" I guess I can answer the last question: the Soviets and the USA / NATO. So now we have to face our own deadly weapons. I'll skip the paragraph on irony and move straight to the idea that we will now come up with new defenses (against the weapons we created), then new, "better" weapons ("just in case!"). And on and on.

There's nothing unique about this particular situation... it's just the cycle of warfare & technology that has been around as long as we have. Longer, really. But where does it end? You start with apes killing each other with sticks and bones and move up from there... but where does it stop?

I suppose the two conclusions to the process are 1) when you annihilate each other so you're not around to keep improving your killing techniques or 2) when you get over the 'killing each other' thing. It seems to me that we're still set to follow the first path... we were on the brink of mutual annihilation for forty or fifty years... and despite what we all hoped when the Cold War ended, we're still generally in the same position. And we have a long way to go before we can "get over the 'killing each other' thing." So maybe the question is, "how long can you stay on the brink?"

13 Nov 12:00 | Link | Category: Current Events, Opinion & Thoughts

November 8, 2002

Fun Internet pastime

Fun Internet pastime: Count the number of old white guys are on the Fox News home page. Right now there are only four, but Jeff Adkins claims to have seen as many as eight.

08 Nov 17:30 | Link | Category: Humor

The Rosetta Disk

Check this out: The Rosetta Disk. (You can have your own for only $25,000.)

It's an interesting approach to linguistic preservation, but I agree with Gary Simons that sound and video are necessary in order to fully document a language... particularly those languages that have no written alphabet (duh).

08 Nov 17:27 | Link | Category: Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Technology & Computing