Del's Beautiful New Wooden Machine

An intricate hand-cranked machine made entirely of wood and glue (no metal or other materials). It was designed and built by my friend Del, using many different woods and incorporating a variety of mechanical motions. He has made several other wooden machines, but calls this latest one his crowning achievement. Del is 71 years old. His youtube channel is: http://www.youtube.com/woodificood A high quality file of this video (141 MB) can be downloaded here:
http://tinyurl.com/5tokso

10 National Parks to See Before You Die

NaThe 10 most visited national parks offer stunning beauty -- no wonder they're so well-traveled. Put them on your to-do list for 2009 and beyond.

read more | digg story

As Jobs Vanish, Motel Rooms Become Home

By ERIK ECKHOLM

COSTA MESA, Calif. — Greg Hayworth, 44, graduated from Syracuse University and made a good living in his home state, California, from real estate and mortgage finance. Then that business crashed, and early last year the bank foreclosed on the house his family was renting, forcing their eviction.

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Monica Almeida/The New York Times

The Garza family has been living since October in the Costa Mesa Inn, where 9-year-old Celine shares a bed with two younger brothers, toys and schoolbooks piled on the floor.

Multimedia

Audio Slide Show

Instead of a Home, a Motel Room

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Monica Almeida/The New York Times

Local officials estimate that 1,000 families who live in motels in Orange County, Calif., go uncounted in federal homeless data.

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Monica Almeida/The New York Times

Paris Andre Navarro, 47, and her daughter, Crystal, 11, have been living at the El Dorado Inn in Anaheim, Calif., for three years. Ms. Navarro said the $241 weekly rent makes it hard to save.

Now the Hayworths and their three children represent a new face of homelessness in Orange County: formerly middle income, living week to week in a cramped motel room.

“I owe it to my kids to get out of here,” Mr. Hayworth said, recalling the night they saw a motel neighbor drag a half-naked woman out the door while he beat her.

As the recession has deepened, longtime workers who lost their jobs are facing the terror and stigma of homelessness for the first time, including those who have owned or rented for years. Some show up in shelters and on the streets, but others, like the Hayworths, are the hidden homeless — living doubled up in apartments, in garages or in motels, uncounted in federal homeless data and often receiving little public aid.

The Hayworths tried staying with relatives but ended up last September at the Costa Mesa Motor Inn, one of more than 1,000 families estimated to be living in motels in Orange County alone. They are among a lucky few: a charity pays part of the $800-a-month charge while Mr. Hayworth tries to recreate a career.

The family, which includes a 15-year-old daughter, shares a single room and sleeps on two beds. With most possessions in storage, they eat in two shifts, on three borrowed plates — all that one jammed cabinet can hold. His wife, Terri, has health problems and, like many other families, they cannot muster the security deposit and other upfront costs of renting a new place.

Motel families exist by the hundreds in Denver, along freeway-bypassed Route 1 on the Eastern Seaboard, and in other cities from Chattanooga, Tenn., to Portland, Ore. But they are especially prevalent in Orange County, which has high rents, a shortage of public housing and a surplus of older motels that once housed Disneyland visitors.

“The motels have become the de facto low-income housing of Orange County,” said Wally Gonzales, director of Project Dignity, one of dozens of small charities and church groups that have emerged to assist families, usually helping a few dozen each and relying on donations of food, clothing and toys.

In the past, motel families here were mainly drawn from the chronically struggling. In 1998, an exposé of neglected motel children by The Orange County Register prompted creation of city task forces and promises of help. But in recent months, schools, churches and charities report a different sort of family showing up.

“People asking for help are from a wider demographic range than we’ve seen in the past, middle-income families,” said Terry Lowe, director of community services in Anaheim, Calif. The motels range from those with tattered rugs and residents who abuse alcohol and drugs to newer places with playgrounds and kitchenettes. With names like the Covered Wagon Motel and the El Dorado Inn, they look like any other modestly priced stopover inland from the ritzy beach towns. But walk inside and the perception immediately changes.

In the evening, the smell of pasta sauce cooked on hot plates drifts through half-open doors; in the morning, children leave to catch school buses. Families of three, six or more are squeezed into a room, one child doing homework on a bed, jostled by another watching television. Children rotate at bedtime, taking their turns on the floor. Some families, like the Malpicas, in a motel in Anaheim, commandeer a closet for baby cribs.

The Garza family moved to the Costa Mesa Inn in August, after the husband, Johnny, lost his job at Target, his wife, Tamara, lost her job at Petco, and they were evicted from their two-bedroom rental. Their 9-year-old daughter now shares a bed with two younger brothers, their toys and schoolbooks piled on the floor. The couple’s baby boy, born in April, sleeps in a small crib. Rental aid from federal and county programs reaches only a small fraction of needy families, said Bob Cerince, coordinator for homeless and motel residents services in Anaheim, who estimated the families at more than 1,000.

President Obama’s stimulus package may give hope to more people and blunt the projected rise of families who could end up in motels and shelters, said Nan Roman, president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness in Washington. The package allows $1.5 billion for homeless prevention, including help with rent and security deposits. Schools have made special efforts to help children in displaced families stay in class, and some send social workers to connect families with counseling services and food aid.

Wendy Dallin, the liaison for the homeless in one of Anaheim’s seven school districts, said that in the last three months she had learned of 38 newly homeless families, bringing the total she knew of in her district to 376. About 48 of those families are living in motels, Ms. Dallin said, with the rest in shelters, renting a room or garage, staying with relatives or living in cars. At the same time, in California’s budget crisis, some school social workers are being laid off.

By necessity, most cities here have been lax in enforcing occupancy codes. Still, a source of turmoil for motel families is a California rule that after 28 days, residents are considered tenants, gaining legal rights of occupancy. Some motels force families to move every month, while others make families stay in a different room for a day or two.

Many motel residents have at least one working parent and pay $800 to $1,200 a month for a room. Yet even those with jobs can become mired in motel life for years because of bad credit ratings and the difficulty of saving the extra months’ rent and security deposits to secure an apartment.

Paris Andre Navarro, 47, knows how hard it can be to climb back. She and her husband used to have good jobs and an apartment in Garden Grove, near Anaheim. But they have spent the last three years with their 11-year-old daughter in the El Dorado Inn.

The bottom fell out when her husband’s medical problems forced him to leave his job as a computer technician and her home-care job ended. They were evicted and moved into the motel, and she started working the night shift at Target.

Last year, when Ms. Navarro’s husband started a telemarketing job, they thought they might escape. That hope evaporated when her hours at Target were cut in half. What with the $241 weekly rent, the cost of essentials and a $380 car payment, they cannot save.

“Now we’re just living paycheck to paycheck,” Ms. Navarro said.

Their daughter, Crystal, tries to sound stoical. “What I miss most is having a pet,” she said. The motel does not allow pets, so she gave away her cat and kittens.

Greg Hayworth, whose family has spent six dispiriting months in the Costa Mesa Inn, tried working in sales but has had trouble finding a lasting job. Paul Leon, a former nurse who formed the Illumination Foundation to aid motel families, has promised to help with a security deposit when the Hayworths are able to move out.

Mr. Hayworth’s teenage daughter has had the roughest time because of the lack of privacy. She is too embarrassed to take friends home, and is uncomfortable dressing in front of her brothers, who are 10 and 11. Not long ago, she was attacked at school by classmates who mocked her for living in a motel.

“I’d promised my daughter that we’d be out of here by her birthday,” Mr. Hayworth said. “But that came last week, and we’re still here.”

“It really hurt me the other day,” he added. “My son came home and asked, ‘Are we homeless’? I didn’t know what to say.”

An earlier version of this story contained an erroneous hyperlink for the Project Dignity’s Web site. The correct Web address is projectdignity.org.

MetroPCS Introduces BlackBerry w/$50 Unlimited Plan

Talk about declaring a price war: MetroPCS has launched their first BlackBerry Curve 8330 smartphone with an unlimited rate plan. The $50 personal rate plan includes unlimited talk, text, web browsing, MMS and BlackBerry email access through BlackBerry Internet Service, while an extra $10 gets you the BlackBerry Enterprise Server version.

That means it's the first smart phone from the Cricket, Metro, and Boost Mobile unlimited, no-contract group, and the price is fully half of what Sprint is charging for the same thing via their Simply Everything plan—which was a good deal until about 13 seconds ago.

There's always a catch, although this one is geography-related: the MetroPCS Curve is only available in the older 1900 Mhz MetroPCS markets, not the many newer 1700 Mhz markets. That means NYC, Boston, and Philadelphia are out for now. And to be fair, Sprint is throwing in its optional services, like GPS navigation and mobile TV, although you have no choice but to take them.

Regardless, the MetroPCS BlackBerry Curve 8330 will be available at Best Buy stores beginning today in the following areas: Greater Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento. By the end of the month, the phone will also be in MetroPCS stores. Go get 'em. (Release)

Unlocking the Secrets of Gray Hair

Stuart Bradford

By TARA PARKER-POPE

When we start getting gray hair, we tend to blame stress — a high-pressure job, an illness, even our unruly children.

But the link between gray hair and psychological stress is little more than folk wisdom, unsupported by numerous scientific studies. That didn’t stop widespread speculation last week, in The New York Times and elsewhere, that the newly noticed salt and pepper above President Obama’s temples were the first physical manifestations of some of the highest job pressures on the planet.

A more likely explanation is that Mr. Obama is starting to turn gray for the same reasons other people do. He’s getting older. The age of graying seems to be determined by heredity, The Journal of Investigative Dermatology reported in 2005. Whites tend to gray first, often as early as their mid-30s, followed by Asians and then Africans. About half of 50-year-olds are at least 50 percent gray. So it would seem that Mr. Obama, at 47, is a little late to the graying game.

But while the arrival of gray hair is relatively predictable, how and why hair ages this way is not well understood. Unlocking those secrets could have potential well beyond vanity, leading to a better understanding of the aging process at the cellular level. Scientists even hope that by identifying the mechanism that kills hardy hair-pigment cells and leaves us awash in gray, they can develop new treatments for shutting down more troublesome cells — like those that cause skin cancer.

Last month, a team of European researchers achieved something of a eureka moment. They had been studying a genetic defect called vitiligo, which results in patches of skin that have no pigment. People with vitiligo (vit-uh-LYE-go) have low activity of catalase, an enzyme that breaks down hydrogen peroxide, resulting in elevated levels of hydrogen peroxide in the skin.

Given that graying hair results from an absence of pigment, it occurred to the scientists that hydrogen peroxide and catalase might play a critical role in the process. Every hair cell makes a little hydrogen peroxide, but over time the amount builds up. The European team discovered that this buildup ended up blocking the normal synthesis of melanin, the natural pigment in hair.

Our hair, it turns out, bleaches itself from the inside out. And by identifying the chemicals involved, researchers may be closer to understanding if the graying is influenced by stress.

“Now it becomes possible to understand whether stress is involved in the process; before this, we didn’t know what to look for,” said Dr. Gerald Weissmann, research professor at the N.Y.U. School of Medicine and editor in chief of The FASEB Journal, which published the study last month. (The initials stand for Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.)

But even if scientists find a link between psychological stress and graying, it’s quite likely that genetic factors ultimately determine who is susceptible.

“Clearly our genetic makeup comes into the game,” said the European study’s lead author, Dr. Karin U. Schallreuter, professor of clinical and experimental dermatology at the University of Bradford in England. “Some are more susceptible and some are not. There are people around who still have black hair in the late periods of life.”

The role of hydrogen peroxide is likely to be only a piece of the gray-hair puzzle. What’s intriguing about skin and hair cells is that while most of the body’s cells are programmed to turn themselves off when exposed to harmful stresses, certain skin and hair cells are much tougher. A few years ago, Harvard researchers reported that graying occurred when the stem cells that govern hair coloring lost their hardiness and shut down. The hope is that research into those cells may ultimately lead to treatments for melanoma, a skin cancer that can be fatal.

One of the many mysteries of gray-hair research is why some people have salt-and-pepper hair. “If it was purely based on one’s antioxidant system or the ability to handle oxidative stress, then you still have to explain why some follicles can produce perfectly pigmented hairs in a sea of white hairs,” said Desmond J. Tobin, associate dean of research and knowledge transfer at the University of Bradford.

Dr. Tobin notes that the skin is the only major organ that is directly exposed to environmental stress outside the body and the changing environment inside the body.

“Skin and hair follicles are very important as an accessible test tube to look at for aging,” he said.

Notably, scientists haven’t found a link between signs of aging in hair and real aging in the body. A major study of 20,000 men and women in Copenhagen looked for any links between heart-disease mortality and physical signs of aging like gray hair, baldness and facial wrinkles. They found none.

“People with premature graying of the hair don’t die any sooner than anybody else,” said Dr. Leo M. Cooney, professor and chief of geriatrics at Yale University School of Medicine. “I think the study shows that gray hair has something to with your genetics and very little to do with premature aging.”

well@nytimes.comG

Mickey Rourke (Finally) Signs for 'Iron Man 2'

The little dance between Marvel and Mickey Rourke has reached a happy ending. Rourke will appear in Iron Man 2 at a rate of pay significantly higher than the $250,000 he was reportedly offered at the beginning of negotiations.

We don't know Rourke's new number, but Variety says the deal is done, even though Marvel has yet to confirm it. For those keeping score, the cast of Iron Man 2 will probably look like this: Robert Downey, Jr., Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackson, and possibly Gwyneth Paltrow on the side of good and Rourke, Sam Rockwell, and Scarlett Johansson on the side of evil. The only cast members officially confirmed by the studio are Downey, Jackson, and Cheadle. Paltrow says she hasn't seen a script, while Rockwell recently backpedaled from saying his deal was done. Johansson is the odds-on favorite to replace Emily Blunt in the role of Black Widow. The film will go into production in the next couple of months, and at that point we should be able to get a concrete picture. But it looks as though Rourke is in, making his first big post-Wrestler splash.

First Look: Burger King’s New ‘Whopper Bar’

Next time you have a rough day at the office, Burger King hopes you’ll cozy up to one of its new Whopper Bars set to open around America. Just don’t stay for too many rounds, or you might regret it the next day.

The Whopper Bar: All Beef

To be clear, the Whopper Bar won’t actually be serving alcohol — but it will be serving plenty of beef. The Burger King venture will offer Whoppers, Double Whoppers, and Steakhouse XT burgers, along with new Bourbon Whoppers, Three-Cheese Steakhouse XT burgers, and Pepper Bacon Steakhouse XT burgers. Each will come with options for 22 different toppings. Among the choices: guacamole, smoked bacon, or steak sauce.

A “Contemporary” Edge

The first Whopper Bar opens today at the Universal CityWalk in Orlando. Its look is totally different from the typical BK, as seen in the photo above: The bar boasts an open kitchen, a bar-like countertop, and a whole new color scheme. Employees will also wear different uniforms, matching the red, black, and gray restaurant design. Burger King hopes the updated take will give its brand a new “contemporary” edge, representatives say.

Whopper Bar Plans

Burger King is planning six more Whopper Bars around the globe by the end of 2009, with the next set to open in Munich over the summer. Los Angeles, New York and Singapore will soon see locations as well. Eventually, the company says it could open as many as 500 of the units around the world in everywhere from stadiums to casinos and cruise ships.

Everything to Know About the 591 Songs Featured in the Rock Band Catalog

by NickSmith

Tuesday March 10, 2009

After getting word that the long rumored The Beatles: Rock Band game would be officially coming later this year we turned our attention to the existing Rock Band music. There have been two versions of the game released in Rock Band and Rock Band 2 as well as track packs full of music and hundreds of songs via DLC.

As of our research, the official tally of playable music in the Rock Band catalog is 591 songs. We wanted to take a look at this list and see what we can tell about the songs they have chosen to include so far. We took time to make graphs to show some of the data compared by genre, decade, source, and more. Some of what we found is a little surprising.

Where is the Music From?

One of the best features of Rock Band has been the compatibility of the purchased music. Both standalone games came packed with music and there have been three volumes of track packs, including one devoted entirely to AC/DC. The bulk of the music however has clearly been made available via download as either singles or full albums.

Both Xbox Live and Playstation Network are releasing new music at the same frequency and within days of each other. The Wii has been playing catch up after getting a late start on downloadable content. The developers vow to get the Wii caught up and has been delivering weekly DLC updates of back material as well as some of the new music the other platforms are getting.

Right now, the Wii has 27% of the DLC music as the other two systems. That is 118 songs that have been made available so far.

What Kind of Music is in this Catalog?

There are 17 genres represented in the catalog so far. It is worth pointing out that none of those include any hip-hop music, live band or otherwise. RB has dabbled in other music types like blues and country, along with the several different types of rock and metal music genres. This looks to be changing with at least some music coming from Snoop Dogg at some point down the road.

Most of the music in the catalog are the master recordings from the original artists as they recorded them in the studio. We count 28 songs listed as "cover versions", or by artists other than the original but in their style. We also counted 22 songs that were recorded live by the original artists at performances rather than in the studio.

The graph shows that the music is heavily dominated by rock, not surprising considering the title of the game. There are nearly as many alternative tracks and a decent amount of metal and classic rock.

What Decades Feature the Most Music?

RB has music dating back to the 1960's and from each decade since. There is an obvious pattern shown in this graph. Most of the music is from this decade and the least is from the 1960's. The pattern is that each decade has more music than the decade before it.

Almost 40% of the music that is playable is from the last 9 years, which is about the same amount as the music from the 80's and 90's combined.

Are There More Easy or Difficult Songs?

When we put together our list of the "22 Hottest Celebrity Women that Play Video Games" we got many comments around the internet that discounted the women that played Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Many claimed that these games do not count as real games, some cited the fact that they are too easy to play.

While we are not willing to remove Kim Kardashian or Megan Fox from the list, we are willing to accept that in the case of Rock Band, the game is very easy on a whole.

How Difficult are the Songs?

The graph above* shows the "easy" songs versus the "hard" songs. We took the difficulty of the tracks and divided them into those two general distinctions. All of the songs that had 0 to 3 stars of difficulty were lumped together as "easy" while all songs with 4 or 5 stars plus the ones labeled "devilish" were classified as "hard".

30 songs of mixed difficulty are being used in the Rock Band competition being held at Harrah's casinos for the opportunity to win $10,000 and the chance to open up for the B-52's. It was unlikely they would be using the "devilish" songs after glancing at the graph below.

When looking at each of the levels of difficulty another pattern emerges. The amount of songs decreases as the difficulty increases. There are several songs that do not even rank one star on the difficulty meter. The songs labeled as 6X on the graph are the ones considered "devilish" and only make up around 3% of the total songs. There is no surprise that the contest features some of the easier songs, otherwise a large bulk of the players would likely be unable to enter.



The official RockBand.com website has a list of all of the songs and more information about the game.

*Thanks for those writing in to tell me I switched the graph data on the easy vs hard, it was late and I missed it.

Report: Clemens evidence tests positive for performance-enhancers

A federal grand jury in Washington is investigating whether Roger Clemens (right) lied to congress.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Federal authorities have found performance-enhancing substances on the materials Brian McNamee said he used to inject Roger Clemens, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

McNamee turned over the syringes, vials and gauze pads to federal investigators last year, after he told baseball investigator George Mitchell he injected the pitcher with steroids and human growth hormone. The Washington Post reported Feb. 6 that tests linked Clemens' DNA to blood in the syringes given to investigators by McNamee.

Clemens has said repeatedly that McNamee, his former personal trainer, injected him with B-12 and the painkiller lidocaine.

"I assumed, and I am not surprised, that the tests were positive for both DNA and for performance-enhancing drugs, because that's what Brian said all along, and there's not much doubt that Brian's been telling the truth," McNamee's lawyer, Richard Emery, told The Associated Press. "The confirmation of that fact, once again, just seems to me to be another significant step towards jail for Clemens."

A federal grand jury in Washington is investigating whether Clemens lied when he told a congressional committee last year that he didn't use illegal performance-enhancing substances. McNamee, testifying before the same committee, said he repeatedly injected Clemens with steroids and HGH.

Rusty Hardin, Clemens' lawyer, did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

A Green Pimp My Ride: Ree-V Converts Cars to Electric

BY Ariel Schwartz

If you want your car converted to run on biodiesel or vegetable oil, there are plenty of places to turn--conversion kits are available for the DIY crowd, and the less mechanically-inclined can have professionals give their car biodiesel capability. But what if you want an electric car?

A Colorado company called Ree-V has stepped in to fill that niche by providing full-service electric car conversions. And while companies like Toyota, GM, and Ford have announced intentions to release PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) models, a conversion could cost significantly less.

Conversions to a lead-acid battery cost a pretty penny--between $17,500 and $200,000. And most converted cars are only suitable for quick trips around town. Ree-V's 1995 Geo Metro conversion, for example, has a top speed of 70 MPH and a range of 25-35 miles.

But Ree-V CEO Luc Nadeau notes that his Colorado-based customers can receive the Colorado Alternative Vehicle Fuel Credit, that reimburses the majority--and in some cases all--of the conversion. A car older than 10 years is eligible for a 100 percent credit, while newer cars receive an 85 percent credit. And in case that isn't attractive enough, electric vehicle drivers can slash gas completely from their budgets.

PHEV conversions probably won't catch on until electric vehicles become mainstream--and everyone except early adopters might want to wait until batteries become smaller and more effective--but there's nothing stopping budding entrepreneurs from setting up shop in states that offer alternative vehicle credits.

[Via CBS4 Denver]

Billy Corgan wants broadcast radio to pay performers

by Greg Sandoval

Billy Corgan, founder of the band Smashing Pumpkins, speaks before Congress.

(Credit: Smashingpumpkins.com)

Update 3:29 p.m. PDT: Added quotes from the National Association of Broadcasters.

Internet radio has to pay performance rights but broadcast stations get a free pass.

Billy Corgan, founder of the rock band Smashing Pumpkins, told Congress on Tuesday that must change.

"This issue is one of fundamental fairness," Corgan told lawmakers. "If the performance of a song has value to a particular terrestrial radio station in its airing, I believe it is only right to compensate those performers who have created this work.

"Simply put, if a station plays a song, both the author and the performer should be paid," he continued. "These particular performances must have value to the stations or they wouldn't be playing them."

Corgan was testifying on behalf of the Performance Rights Act, which "would close a loophole in copyright law that allows music radio stations to earn billions every year without compensating the artists and musicians," according to a statement from the legislation's backers.

The National Association of Broadcasters does compensate songwriters and music publishers and has for decades. It does not, however, pay record labels or the artists. The thinking has always been that free airplay promotes the sale of music which benefits those groups.

"We think this performance tax would decimate the radio business," said Dennis Wharton, an NAB spokesman. "The reality is record labels have used artists as a shield in this debate. We welcome a discussion on who has been more fair to artists: The foreign-owned record labels (Universal Music, Sony and EMI) or America's hometown radio broadcasters."

Web radio stations have complained for a long time that they are made to pay performance fees, when traditional broadcasters pay nothing. It should be noted that online services have said they believe in compensating music performers.

Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. He is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg.

Police seize 1,200 pounds of pot in spinach cans

This undated photo provided by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety shows a seized spinach can filled with marijuana. Police with the New Mexico Motor Transportation Division found 1,200 pounds of pot packed in cans labeled as spinach during a stop at the Gallup, N.M. port of entry on March 6, 2009. An inspector noticed that only a few of the cans were labeled and that the weight printed on the side of the can didn't match the actual weight. A closer look during the bust revealed the canned drugs, which were worth an estimated $1.5 million. (AP Photo/New Mexico Department of Public Safety)

GALLUP, N.M.—Police with the New Mexico Motor Transportation Division found 1,200 pounds of pot packed in cans labeled as spinach during a stop at the Gallup port of entry. An inspector noticed that only a few of the cans were labeled and that the weight printed on the side of the can didn't match the actual weight. A closer look during last Friday's bust revealed the canned drugs, which were worth an estimated $1.5 million.

The four pallets of cans were being transported along with fresh produce.

The 50-year-old truck driver said he was on his way from California to the East Coast. The driver and the pot were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

© Copyright 2009 Associated Press.

31 fart apps in 90 seconds

by Victor Agreda, Jr. on Feb 10th 2009

Looks like the years I spent in Spencer's finally paid off, as I was given the dubious honor of sniffing out a few dozen of the 60+ fart apps on the store. But I promise, no squeaking out a lame joke just because this is a video about farts. No silently doling out the goods while looking the other way, either -- I'll just squeeze my mind cheeks together and hold it all in. I even avoided using the "1812 Overture" as theme music. For maximum effect I highly recommend blasting this video loudly at work.

I'll own up to it: I had a hard time not laughing while taping this. Many thanks to the developers who provided promo codes and laxative audio (seriously, don't drink coffee while watching this). Not every app I tried made it to the video, but they are all included in the link list (next page).

Something you'll notice is that many fart apps are simple -- sometimes almost too primitive. Also: they are mostly just soundboard apps, with some by the same developer as derivative works designed to promote their work on the App Store. Why Apple had to make this into a circus I'll never understand (keeping them out of the store temporarily only drew more attention to them). But, like any mall with various departments, the market will eventually sort this mess out. Read on for the full list or check out the gallery of featured fart apps. You have been warned.

Gallery: Lots of fart apps

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Only a handful of developers ignored my request for a promo code to feature their app, and I have to say, everyone who did respond was astoundingly pleasant. It's something Mac shareware users have known for years: there's a real community when developing for Apple platforms. While iPhone devs can be a different breed (many are coming to the platform with zero Mac experience), I was blown away with the conversations and great people involved. No joke there, each one of these folks deserves a buck for their fart hard work.

NOTE: All links go to the App Store in iTunes.

Animal Farts
Atomic Fart
Cheese Cutter Whoopee Cushion
Easy Fart
Excuse Me: Farts for Free
Fart+Burp = Fun Calculator
Fart and Flashlight
Fart Box
Fart Button
Fart Cushion
Fart for Free
Fart Lighter - Pull My Finger, Pro Edition
Fart Machine - the original
Fart or Die (features a full song and is listed under Health -- go figure)
Fart Studio
Fartamongus
FartCall (not shown, but a clever prank that farts when someone "answers" your phone)
Fartin' Furious
Fartmaster Deluxe
Grossinator
I LUV 2 FART!
iFart - Ultimate fart machine
iFart Alert!
iFart Mobile - #1 Fart Machine for all ages
iPhart
iToot
iWhoopi
iWhoopi Cushion: Advanced Fart Machine (a rare miss for SOPODS, whose apps I usually like)
MEGA FART
Mr. Poot!
myFart - fart machine
Pass the Gas: The Fart Sharing Network
Touch My Finger
uFart - Fart Machine
WhoFarted? (The Ultimate Fart Simulator)
WhoopieCushion
101 Farts

Yes, I realize there are over 30 more apps that include farts, belches and more. I'm sure in a year there will be twice as many.

My favorite apps in this, er, genre:
- Touch My Finger: its dynamic audio generation is ingenious and hilarious.
- Pull My Finger: for style points, although the interface was confusing. A fart app should be simple.
- Ultimate Fart Machine: best sounds, I think. Not that I'm a connoisseur of farts.
- Atomic Fart: everything you need except recording your own. If you want that, the venerable iFart is really awesome. Atomic is also the most expensive of the bunch at $1.99 (every other app was either free or $.99).

Least favorite:
- iWhoopi: I understand that if you have location calls in your app you will get a warning message -- nothing you can do about that. But once I hit the button and created a fart noise, I couldn't easily repeat the effect. I never could figure out how to reset the darn whoopee cushion! In a world of flatulent apps, this one stunk.

One Letter Off (53 movie posters)

She'll blow you away! Original if you're not sure is You Don't Mess with the Zohan.
Source

LiLo by JonJonLeprechaun

No Country For Old Men meets Colonel Sanders!

NoCountryForOldHen by rmarvindesign

Click here for the list of 53 Movie Posters.... | digg story

14 Rare Color Photos From the FSA-OWI

Even today, many documentary photographers will tell you they are influenced by the works of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and 40s. Under the direction of Roy Emerson Stryker, the FSA sent photographers to document the plight of the rural farmer during the Great Depression and the progress of New Deal programs.

click here to see these amazing PICS!! | digg story

Sixth Sense Projection Technology [TED]

ted.com — This demo -- from Pattie Maes' lab at MIT -- was the buzz of TED. It's a wearable device with a projection screen that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Imagine "Minority Report" and then some.

About Pattie Maes

At the MIT Media Lab's new Fluid Interfaces Group, Pattie Maes researches the tools we use to work with information and connect with one another. Full bio and more links

About Pranav Mistry

Pranav Mistry is the genius behind Sixth Sense, a wearable device that enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data. Full bio and more links

Stem cell issues: State could restrict research on embryos

By MARY LOU PICKEL

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A bill that would limit stem cell research in Georgia and define a living human embryo as a person, has a good chance of coming before the state Senate for a vote Thursday.

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Zbigniew Bzdak/hicago Tribune/MCT

President Barack Obama signs an Executive Order on stem cell research on Monday, March 9, 2009, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC.

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Brant Sanderlin/bsanderlin@ajc.com

Lobbyist Rusty Kidd speaks during a meeting of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee Monday March 9, 2009. Kidd, who, is bound to a wheelchair from a spinal cord injury spoke against the bill that could restrict stem cell research in Georgia.

The “Ethical Treatment of Human Embryos Act” was approved in a Georgia legislative committee Monday, the same day that President Obama lifted Bush administration restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

Senate Bill 169 has an 85 percent chance of coming to the Senate floor for a vote Thursday, Senate Rules Committee Chairman Sen. Don Balfour (R-Snellville) said Tuesday.

Balfour’s committee decides which bills see the light of day in the Senate chamber. The embryo bill will go before the Senate Rules Committee Wednesday afternoon and senators will decide if it will make it onto the Senate calendar for Thursday, Balfour said.

Thursday is the deadline for a bill to pass a chamber and remain alive during this year’s session.

Senate Bill 169 defines a living human embryo as a person and prohibits the destruction of an embryo for any reason, such as scientific research. Supporters say the bill does not limit study of stem cell lines already in existence or new lines that come from out of state.

The bill would also prevent a couple who decided they no longer wanted to try to become pregnant from being able to dispose of their frozen embryos kept at a fertility clinic.

Opponents say the bill criminalizes stem cell research in Georgia and would have a chilling effect on the practice of in-vitro fertilization.

Supporters say it’s an attempt to respect life — even that of a 6-day-old human embryo that might have a chance to live if placed inside a woman.

Proponents of stem cell research say embryonic cells hold the potential to find cures to many serious diseases, such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and therapy for spinal cord injuries. The cells have the ability to morph into any kind of cell in the human body.

Obama on Monday lifted an eight-year ban on federally funded research using embryonic stem cells that was in effect under President George W. Bush. Obama said his purpose was to restore scientific integrity to government decision-making.

E. Culver “Rusty” Kidd, a lobbyist for the medical industry, told the committee he opposes the bill.

“If you shuck the corn and get down to what this bill really does, you’re defining when life starts,” Kidd said.

Critics say that places the bill squarely in the debate on abortion and when human life begins.

Right to life supporters of the bill who testified at the meeting include the Georgia Baptist Convention and the Georgia Catholic Conference. The Catholic church also opposes in-vitro fertilization.

Dan Becker, president of Georgia Right to Life, argued that the bill would protect life from its earliest moment. “No one’s right for a cure supercedes another’s right to life,” he said.

Nancy Stith, executive director of Georgia Right to Life, said the fact the bill came out of committee on the same day the president lifted restrictions on stem cell research was a coincidence.

Charles Craig, president of Georgia Bio, a private nonprofit that promotes Georgia’s life sciences industry, said the legislation would hurt Georgia’s ability to recruit biotech firms.

“It would embarrass the state,” Craig said. Georgia is trying to use an international biotech convention in Atlanta in May to showcase the state as a good place to do biotechnology business.

Kenneth Stewart, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, listened to the committee debate but did not offer an opinion. All he would say was that during the upcoming biotech convention, “The eyes of the world are going to be on Georgia.”

Tom Daniel, senior vice chancellor for the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, said the university system opposes the bill. “We’re concerned it would have a damaging effect on research being done now and our ability to successfully do that in the future,” he said.

Sen. David Adelman (D-Decatur) spoke against the bill, saying it addresses an area that is too complicated and controversial for a vote after only a few days of deliberation. “I’m concerned that Georgia is putting politics ahead of science,” he said. “We’ll send an unmistakable message that Georgia is an anti-science state,” he said.

Senate Bill 169 was first introduced as a bill that would prohibit another “octuplet mom” like the recent case of a California woman who gave birth to eight babies through in-vitro fertilization.

While many of the controversial provisions restricting in-vitro fertilization techniques were removed from the bill, the legislation would radically change the way clinics operate, said Dr. Andrew Toledo, a reproductive endocrinologist.

The bill would prohibit couples from donating their embryos to science or discarding them. It would place patients in an uncertain situation, paying about $500 per year to preserve embryos they no longer need, Toledo said.

50 Most Memorable Movie Cars Ever (pics)

The Dude's Gran Torino, Fozzie Bear's 951 Studebaker Commander, the Shaggin' Wagon! Priceless...

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Thor will be mighty, says Marvel's Joe Quesada

Owen Vaughan speaks to comic book supremo on Marvel's next superhero blockbuster

"There's so much cool stuff in the mythology of Thor that it's just going to be a huge blockbuster," Joe Quesada told Blockbuster Buzz in a recent interview. "Kenneth Branagh gets the Marvel history of the character, he gets the overall flavour and tone of the Marvel universe. He gets that it's not just about action and adventure and costumes, it's about what's at the heart of the character. It's more about what motivates Thor and Loki and Odin than just Thor swinging a hammer and smashing things."

The Mighty Thor has been a mainstay of the Marvel universe for almost 50 years - he first appeared in August 1962 in issue 83 of Journey into Mystery - but he has never had the same following or exposure as Spider-man or the Fantastic Four. Stan Lee came up with the idea of a superhero version of the Norse god of thunder while wrestling with problem of how to create a character that was stronger than the Hulk. He decided the only solution was to make his new hero a god, so went delving into Norse mythology for a suitable candidate. He then commissioned the artist Jack Kirby, with whom he had created much of the Marvel universe, to bring the hero and his hammer to life.

Kirby gave Thor a winged helmet, flowing blonde locks, a red cape and a blue tunic attached to which were six white discs and that distinctive look has pretty much survived over the decades. In addition to his pop art garb Thor was given a human alter ego. In the comic, Thor's father, Odin, teaches Thor a lesson in humility by wiping Thor's memory and spiriting him into the body of a partially disabled medical student, Donald Blake. Thor eventually discovers who he really is, learns to change back and forth into his superpowered self and embarks on a career of hero. It is this version of Thor that Branagh is attempting, although there is no word yet on who he has cast as Thor/Donald Blake.

Quesada is hoping that Branagh will transform and reinvigorate Thor much the same way Jon Favreau did with another much neglected Marvel hero: "Before the Iron Man movie Iron Man was an also ran character. In the mass market it was all about Spider-man, Hulk, Batman and Superman but now you count Iron Man as major mainstream character." He already has Babylon Five writer J. Michael Straczynski, who was recently nominated for a Bafta for his screenplay for Clint Eastwood's film Changeling, laying the groundwork in the comic. Check out issue 600 in the comic stores - it will knock your socks off.

If the film is successful, Thor is expected to appear alongside his buddies Iron Man, the Hulk and Captain America in an Avengers movie.
Quesada also mentioned Branagh's Shakesperean background as being a big bonus, although I suspect he doesn't want Thor to utter: "To clobber or not to clobber" anywhere in the film.

Thor is scheduled for release in summer 2010. The full interview with Joe Quesada will appear in Blockbuster Buzz next week

Bet (4$) * Luck = 5,000,000 $ . WTF!

FLORENCE, Ore. -- A Hillsboro woman playing a slot machine at a casino in Florence won $5 million Friday night.

The woman, who chose to remain anonymous, had been playing the Penny Wheel of Fortune machine at Three Rivers Casino and Hotel.

According to the casino, the woman initially thought she won $60 or possibly $600 when three Wheel of Fortune symbols lined up. The machine indicated she should call an attendant.

A casino spokesman said the woman had been in the casino for less than an hour and won the $5 million using a $4 bet.


The progressive slot machine is part of a network of machines linked throughout the West Coast and accumulates a percentage of the play on all machines, allowing for large payoffs.

The spokesman said the previous high slot machine payoffs at the casino have been $1.3 million in 2005 and $855,769 in 2008. The $5,284,316 win is a record for the casino.