The Straight Dope... hilarious website of random questions finally answered.

If this article alone doesn't convert you, I don't know what will.

Basically, it boils down to this singular guy (Cecil) who responds to some of the weirdest questions that most people WANT to ask but never do. He then answers them in a generally funny way but takes great lengths to actually explain it and give some of the sources he used. He isn't the only contributor, but he is the main one and the other contributors (from the few articles i have read) aren't quite as humorous but still do a good job (often better) of answering the questions.

Here is a snippet of the above article, as he gets called out and hilarity ensues:

Why do pigeons bob their heads?
April 13, 1979

Dear Cecil:

Can you in your infinite yet magnanimous wisdom explain something that's been troubling me for years? When pigeons bob their heads as they walk is it because their legs are connected to their necks or what?

— Dennis A., Highland Park, Illinois

Dear Dennis:

Of course not. As any fool can see, a pigeon's legs are connected to its body--and it's a good thing, because the pigeon would look mighty funny if it were assembled according to the offhand anatomy you describe.

Basically the pigeon's back-and-forth head motion--not exactly a bob--helps it keep its balance when walking. The pigeon's legs are located pretty far astern, and if it kept its head forward all the time it would probably tip over. This would expose the pigeon to the ridicule of the community. Instead, what it does is move its chest forward in time with one leg, and its head forward in time with the other leg. Thus some weight is always trailing a little abaft the port beam, as we say. Many fowl have similarly peculiar gaits, because they cannot afford orthopedic shoes.

I had a similar question for one of my professors in Biology. It went a little something like, "if bats can see somewhat, but STILL use sonar, what do they actually see in their heads?" The idea in my head was that sonar is used to detect their prey, and if they have poor vision, do they just close their eyes and rely on the sonar images to guide them? Does their vision combine with the sonar images? Unfortunately, I cant remember his answer. Maybe ill throw it at Cecil...

Long Island Wal-Mart Employee Death Follow Up

According to CNN, the family of Jdimytai Damour, the 34 year-old temporary worker who was trampled to death on Black Friday while working for Wal-Mart, is suing the large retail chain.

While it certainly is not surprising, I can only hope that they focus on changing the policies of these large retail chains instead of just on monetary gain. The amount the family is suing "Wal-Mart and the mall's owner, manager and security firm" for was not disclosed as of the articles posting.

Despite earlier reports that Damour had died of a heart attack, the New York Daily News revealed that autopsy reports confirmed Damour had died from asphyxiation.

"He was in fact trampled to death in the most unfortunate way," said Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey.

Damour, who is described as a "a 6-foot-5, 270-pound giant" in the New York Daily News article, was knocked over in a frenzy of shopping at 5 a.m. on one of the busiest shopping days of the year, typically known for heavy discounts of various items including computers and TVs.

Earlier this month, a proposed "Doorbuster Bill" was described as mandating security precautions and putting the responsibility for any injuries in the fracas that can occur on the retailers.

"This is a situation that can never happen again," said City Councilman James Gennaro (D-Queens). "It's time for retailers, many of whom already take common-sense precautions, to be mandated to do so."

Damour's cousin, Ernst Damour, said he welcomed the legislation

"They should have just let them in five to 10 minutes at a time," his cousin said. "But everybody wants to be first."

I certainly hope that sweeping changes can occur in the wake of this tragic event.

Small follow-up to Wal-Mart Employee trampling...

A CNN article had these little nuggets i thought were interesting. They are quoting Nassau County police Detective Lt. Michael Fleming:

Officers patrolling the shopping center overnight had had concerns about the size of the crowd, Fleming said, and had tried to get those in line better organized. Wal-Mart security officers were also present overnight, but he said he did not know how many.

"I don't know what it's worth to Wal-Mart or to any of these stores that run these sales events," Fleming said, "but it has become common knowledge that large crowds do gather on the Friday after Thanksgiving in response to these sales and in an effort to do their holiday shopping at the cheapest prices.
advertisement

"I think it is incumbent upon the commercial establishments to recognize that this has the potential to occur at any store. Today, it happened to be Wal-Mart. It could have been any other store where hundreds and hundreds of people gather."

Asked whether the security had been adequate, Fleming said, "In light of the outcome, in hindsight, the answer is obviously no. ... This crowd was out of control."

Id like to say that if anything, I hope retail outlets realize this particular Wal-Marts errors (and perhaps their own) and learn from them. Hand out tickets, keep things orderly. Otherwise, there is a very real chance this can happen.

Wal-Mart Employee Trampled By Black Friday Mob, Dies 1 Hour Later.

The New York Daily News reports a Wal-Mart employee, 34-year-old Jdimytai Damour, apparently hired as a temporary overnight stock clerk, was trampled by a surging mob of shoppers and was later pronounced dead a little over an hour later, apparently of a heart attack. I say apparently because it would be foolish to think that his untimely death wasn't partly caused by the fact that he was stepped on repeatedly after being pushed over.

You know, it makes you wonder what kind of creatures we have become. We pride ourselves in so many things here in America, but we often don't stop and consider what we should improve upon.

Consumerism might be one area. Greed and mob tendencies to save a buck might be another few areas that need improvement.

So here we go.

This Black Friday (November 28th, 2008), a Wal-Mart in Long Island, New York, was the location of a brutal mob of shoppers that trampled over a Wal-Mart employee in their efforts to get discounted items.

Apparently, there was no real sense of crowd control OUTSIDE of the actual store. As seen by photos taken by a shopper (photo credit is Augustine for News; more photos at the story link) before, during, and after the incident, a significant amount of people were gathered outside before the store opened.






Here is an excerpt of the story at the New York Daily News:

Roughly 2,000 people gathered outside the Wal-Mart's doors in the predawn darkness.

Chanting "push the doors in," the crowd pressed against the glass as the clock ticked down to the 5 a.m. opening.

Sensing catastrophe, nervous employees formed a human chain inside the entrance to slow down the mass of shoppers.

It didn't work.

The mob barreled in and overwhelmed workers.

"They were jumping over the barricades and breaking down the door," said Pat Alexander, 53, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. "Everyone was screaming. You just had to keep walking on your toes to keep from falling over."

After the throng toppled Damour, his fellow employees had to fight through the crowd to help him, police said.

Witness Kimberly Cribbs said shoppers acted like "savages."

"When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, 'I've been on line since Friday morning!'" Cribbs said. "They kept shopping."

It's maddening and to be blunt, just sad that this kind of incident could occur. I ran across this story not but 30 minutes ago, and I just can't describe how I feel knowing that there are people out there that would literally walk over a man to save money on an item.

Hank Mullany, president of Wal-Mart's northeast division, said the company took extraordinary safety precautions.

"We expected a large crowd this morning and added additional internal security, additional third-party security, additional store associates and we worked closely with the Nassau County police," he said in a statement.

"We also erected barricades. Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred."

The 28-year-old pregnant woman and three other shoppers were taken to area hospitals with minor injuries, police said.

In a news conference after the incident, Nassau County police spokesman Lt. Michael Fleming described the crowd as "out of control" and the scene as "utter chaos." He said Wal-Mart did not have enough security onhand.

I place 99% of the blame on the shoppers themselves, but I also place that minuscule remaining percent on Wal-Mart. Now, I know, the people who actually trampled this guy are to blame. But as a huge retail chain, this Wal-Mart should have known better than to allow the mob that formed outside its doors. I have been apart of a few big-time holiday sales (like last weekend, in front of a Micro Center on a Saturday morning) and even the launch of the Nintendo Wii 2 years ago, which had me waiting in line for over 6 hours on a November night in front of a Best Buy.

But what did both of those particular retailers do? They not only handed out tickets to the big sale items (or Wiis), usually limited to one item per household, they also limited the amount of people who entered the store at one time for the first few hours. Calm, orderly lines snaked around the stores' entrances.

There was no mad dash; no mob; no trampling of employees. I bet if you interviewed employees, they wouldn't have worried for their lives at any point. At this Valley Stream Wal-Mart, there seemed to be no tickets handed out, and instead the retailer almost seemed to encourage the mob that formed by not forcing a line and stating that they would hand out tickets.


Now, as I mentioned, 99% of the blame falls squarely on the mob of shoppers, who are going to be incredibly difficult to identify by security videos according to police. I just think that there are always two categories in a particular problem like this. An enabler and the enabled. That doesn't take into account how much of the blame falls on either category of course, and in this case I think nearly all of it is justly on the shoppers shoulders for their ridiculous mob antics.





I will follow up on this story when I have more news, as I feel this wont be the end. For now, I hope that this is a reminder to treat everyone, even employees at Wal-Mart, with the same courtesy and respect as any human being hopes to be treated with. People in customer service and retail breath the same air and aren't robots as one poster on a forum I frequent said. Stay safe out there yall.

Better battery life? YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

Haven't we all wished that our mobile devices, could be a bit more mobile?. I know I'd love to have twice the battery life on my iPod, smart phone, and netbook.

Well, according to fareastgizmos, Professor Cho Jae-phil of the Department of Applied Chemistry at Hanyang University in Korea has discovered a developmental technology that aims at adding eight times the battery life.

According to the site, silicon is the main improvement:

Graphite, which is used in cathodes, can store a limited amount of lithium ion, cutting usage time to around 2 hours. The eight-fold increase in storage capacity was achieved by using silicon instead of graphite.

So, when will we see this technology come to the shores? Well, unfortunately, according to a Symbian Freak article, Cho doesn't expect production to begin commercially for four or five years.

Obama administration to continue use of YouTube in weekly chats

Did you know that President-elect Barack Obama and his administration have already begun making YouTube speeches on the Change.gov website?

The first of the planned weekly addresses by Obama was made available early Saturday morning. Although it is nothing more than the video version of the weekly Democratic addresses that will continue to be aired on the radio, it certainly is a clear effort to reach out to the Web 2.0 community and especially the youth.

Many have even called this the new age fireside chats made famous by Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Great Depression.

Further pushing this agenda, a Washington Post article mentions that the Obama administration plans to have various members of his office also post interviews and Q&As on the website.

Added Ellen Miller of the Sunlight Foundation, a D.C.-based nonprofit that advocates for government transparency: "We're living, after all, in the Internet era. This is an individualized version of the 'fireside chats.' It's not delivered between 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. but whenever anyone wants to see it. I don't know if it necessarily creates transparency -- it's still a controlled, one-way message. But it creates the aura of a much more accessible presidency."

What does this mean, exactly? Well, it shows Obama's dedication to making this a very different presidency. This move also attempts to fuel interest in the government, even if these speeches are purely PR. Will it ultimately work though is the biggest question, and to that, I answer that only time will tell.

Quantum Of Solace

The new James Bond movie was released yesterday in the U.S. and there seems to be much confusion on the internet and with the average citizen about what the title could possibly mean.

The name was taken from an Ian Fleming short story, but the movie itself ends all similarities (save for the obvious, as it is a Bond film...) there.

Warning: If you haven't seen the amazing Casino Royale, stop reading!

This film is the first ever sequel in the Bond film franchise, which spans all the way back to 1962 with Dr. No. The film is a continuation of the story lines from Casino Royale which by all accounts was a resounding success critically and commercially. The film was a reboot of the character and the franchise, giving a backstory to the character before and immediately after he had received his double-0 status.

The Marc Forster directed Quantum Of Solace is the sequel and the name seems to be referring to the theme of the movie.

Initially it seemed that Daniel Craig, who stars as the gritty James Bond and even suggested the name, maintained that the film's name had very little relevance, and the Telegraph quotes his story from GQ magazine, saying:

"As soon as it came out, people were saying, 'Ooh, it sounds like Harry Potter.' No, it's Quantum of Solace. I was saying, 'It's a Bond title! The name of a Bond film is not about anything. Live And Let Die? Octopussy? What does it mean? It means very little. We've got nothing to worry about."

Quantum of Solace was included in Fleming's 1960 collection of short stories, For Your Eyes Only. The film's makers have dispensed with the author's original plot and retained only the name, which refers to "the smallest unit of compassion that two people can have".

Later, Craig seemed to find the relevance of the title to the actual movie.

Via the Guardian:

"It's grown on me," says the 39-year-old British actor, who will be taking on the role of 007 for a second time. "I was unsure at first. Bond is looking for his quantum of solace and that's what he wants, he wants his closure. Ian Fleming says that if you don't have a quantum of solace in your relationship then the relationship is over. It's that spark of niceness in a relationship that if you don't have you might as well give up."

Adding to this, BBC News further explains:

Craig said the cryptic title referenced how Bond's heart had been broken at the end of Casino Royale.

"Ian Fleming had written about relationships," he explained.

"When they go wrong, when there's nothing left, when the spark has gone, when the fire's gone out, there's no quantum of solace.

"And at the end of the last movie, Bond has the love of his life taken away from him and he never got that quantum of solace."

Craig said the new film would follow 007 as he goes out "to find the guy who's responsible".

"So he's looking for revenge, you know, to make himself happy with the world again.

"But the title also alludes to something else in the film," he added.

So what does it all mean!?

I'd like to break down the story and the title, in opposite order. First, let's start with definitions of the words in the title.

Quantum is defined as:

1 a: quantity , amount b: portion , part c: gross quantity : bulk.

Solace is defined as:

1: to give solace to : console2 a: to make cheerful b: amuse3: allay , soothe
— so·lace·ment Listen to the pronunciation of solacement \-mənt\ noun
— so·lac·er noun.

The theme of Casino Royale was the evolving of Bond through love and loss, and he blames an organization that had Vesper ultimately betray him. Now, in Quantum of Solace, he is hunting down that organization in an attempt to end them. And so this is where we see the title play in.

He is searching for the right amount of consolation for what he has went through. He is looking for his quantum of solace.

XP about to be the low-end model for Netbooks?

According to a press release by Windows, they will allow companies like Acer, Asus, HP, Dell, and MSI the ability to install Windows XP on ultra-low-cost PCs (ULPC for short) well into 2010. However, they have apparently given specifications to what a ULPC is and they were not very generous with the specs.

According to Computer World, XP will be allowed on the following:

PC makers must limit screen size to 14.1 in. and hard-drive capacity to 160GB. Ultralow-cost PCs with touch screens will also be eligible. The processors are still limited to a single-core chip running at no more than 1 GHz, with memory limited to 1GB of RAM.

The vast majority of ULPCs are the new netbook category of computers that have popped up and are all the craze lately. I even have one and I'm writing this blog entry on it now. MS also extended the deal to nettops, a super-small version of desktop PCs that have similar pricing and capabilities.

However, the funny thing about the specs is that my own computer, the Acer Aspire One A150 breaks one of those barriers already. Mind you, my netbook is not exactly new, being offered in the XP version since August of this year. Stock, this netbook comes with an Intel Atom N270 CPU (1.6GHz standard), which is absolutely the standard for most netbooks now.

So will Microsoft lighten up on their limitations? I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know this: MS isn't dumb and the craze for the netbooks and the increasing power of the tiny CPUs inside them threaten to push their offering of the ULCPC version of XP to the bottom of the features pile if they pigeon-hole themselves.

Linux, the other operating system commonly offered on netbooks is absolutely free of charge to both the user and the PC makers and don't have any restrictions. Commenting on this, an article in Ars Technica mentions:

Computer World reports that Microsoft is charging PC makers $32 to install Windows XP Home on a netbook and $47 to install the OS on systems with larger screens.This may push ODMs towards using Linux on their larger netbooks as one way to cut costs while offering the features customers want.

Intel already is shipping its dual-core Atom 330 CPU, and is aiming them at nettops and (my guess) is that the focus will then turn to netbooks. Which, as i said, would break the barriers for XP to be pre-installed by the OEM.

Microsoft, get on the ball!

Largest Paper In Alaska Endorses Obama

The Anchorage Daily News (circulation of over 70k daily) has thrown its hat in the political ring and is giving its support for Barrack Obama as president via an editorial.

In the editorial, it is mentioned that the election "is not about Sarah Palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, Sen. John McCain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation."

The editorial continues with the attack on McCain on various issues, especially the current financial crisis and his apparent inability to understand and quickly deal with the situation.

"[McCain] is both a longtime advocate of less market regulation and a supporter of the huge taxpayer-funded Wall Street bailout. His behavior in this crisis -- erratic is a kind description -- shows him to be ill-equipped" to deal with the economic criss and rally support behind his ideals.

They mention that Obama reminds them of the leadership in the last Democratic president that helped to give us a budget surplus.

"Sen. Obama better understands the mortgage meltdown's root causes and has the judgment and intelligence to shape a solution, as well as the leadership to rally the country behind it."

They also touch on Obama's inexperience, saying that the endorsement "by a seasoned, respected soldier and diplomat like Gen. Colin Powell, a Republican icon, should reassure all Americans that the Democratic candidate will pass muster as commander in chief."

In the end though, the editorial concludes with the condemnation of Palin's inexperience as a "72-year-old heartbeat" away from being thrust into the leadership of the United States (should McCain win), adding that it "is just too risky at this time."

Netbook!

I have been eyeing a new laptop for roughly a year and a half. My old Pentium 2 processor laptop just wasn't cutting it anymore. Yes, I was still in the dark ages as far as laptops are concerned in the current fast-paced technological world we live in, so I eyed a cheap upgrade. As I hope to be out and about as a print journalist after I graduate soon, I was immediately attracted to the new phenomenon that is the netbook.

Essentially, it is a laptop that is truly portable in the sense that it is small, light, and Wi-Fi enabled. They are often cheap as well, coming in at under $600 typically. Some run customized versions of various Linux distros while others even use Vista (blah!) and I eyed the XP variants. After researching online, and being initially attracted to the Asus Eee PC which happened to be one of the few popular netbooks at the time, I broadened my horizon thanks to Newegg and its reviews.

You see, I have small fingers to go along with my small stature (5'3" at best) but I did not want a cramped keyboard, which I heard the Eee PC had. So my search for hands-on time began. As time went on I began to realize the netbook market was popular online but hadn't quite caught on at major retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City at the time. So my search was delayed as time elapsed. Soon, my birthday was upon me (Oct. 16th for those concerned) and I decided enough was enough; I was going to get some hands on time with one of these portable machines and I was going to stop at nothing.

Updates

So, Texas beat OU last weekend and that game made me ecstatic. If you can't tell by now, I am a Longhorns fan, at least in football (I have loyalties to Kentucky in basketball). Additionally, adding to the awesome of the weekend is the fact that I got a new netbook that I had my eye on for quite some time for my early birthday present.

This weekend I will be celebrating my birthday with a alot of great friends and hopefully will be trying alot of new beers. Also, this weekend will have Texas playing Mizzou so that will be a very exciting game. Finally, the economy rebounded yesterday and hopefully will continue to bounce back throughout the week.

Until my next post, remember, UT is #1. :P

website

http://www.shsu.edu/~wfg001/

 

there, that is a link to the website for school. It's full of weaksauce, but that's not a problem. :)

More Awesome

So, I'm setting up the blog with Adobe Contribute for class.

 

I am ecstatic about the upcoming weekend of college football, and I hope that I will be able to watch all the gridiron glory this Saturday. Unfortunately, the Texas vs Arkansas game has been postponed. But, hopefully I will be able to catch the big game between OSU and USC.

First blog entry!

Yay. Okay, maybe this will fall through or maybe this will be a big success. It all depends on me, of course, but I'm officially on the blog bandwagon.


And... HERE.... WE... GO!