News - March

On this page I will try to put a daily observation. This page usually contains some stuff the TV told me.

News I realized that maybe when you clicked on news, you expected some real news and not just my ramblings. So if you want some actual news to sink your teeth into, try this on for size. It is an up-to-date headline news thingy that updates all by itself! Technology and stuff is amazing.

NewsletterIf you want this stuff e-mailed to you weekly along with jokes and movie reviews, click here to get on my mailing list. E-mails should be sent to you on the weekend, or whenever I feel like it.

Anyway, tommorow I'll have a brand spanking new funky fresh ultra fly fact served up for ya with a side of slaw. No fries though.

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March 31, 2003

I done learnt stuff about Don Aronow. He was the godfather of the super racing boat. Like those cigarette boats and stuff. He created like 6 companies that made those big speedboats. And he got rich. In the 80's drug traffickers used the speedboats to smuggle coke. So Don got into that and he got richer. Then he started building speedboats for the government to help catch the smugglers. And he got even richer. But playing both sides might have been a bad call...

...because this was the next thing he got.

March 30, 2003

I watched Robot Wars and made an observation. I think that the toughest robots are built all round and stuff and can spin around and around and have circular saws as weapons. The weaker robots have exposed wheels, hammer or grabber-type weapons, and more of a boxy shape. And the best robot builders look berserk.

If I tried to build a robot, it would end up looking like this.

March 29, 2003

The Pentagon has had a "Ground Zero Cafe" in the middle of the courtyard since the Cold War. Apparently, back in the day, the Ruskies has two missles aimed at it because they thought it was a secret facility or something. But it's just a cafe. Serves hot dogs and stuff.

Here's an overhead view of the Pentagon.

March 28, 2003

Sorry, no fact today.

Facts are simple. Facts are straight. Facts are lazy. Facts are late...

March 27, 2003

On Discovery Chanel today, I was watching this show on artificial intelligence. The evil geek nerd was working on teaching a robot to think on it's own and work with other machines. WHAT'S WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE? WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS? DIDN"T THESE GUYS SEE TERMINATOR OR TERMINATOR 2?! We know where this is going! They start out making them cute! All helpful and stuff! Then BAM! Next thing you know you're enslaved by the robots working in a factory to make bigger robots! And to make things worse, you have a barcode stamped to the back of your neak.

March 26, 2003

I watched a show about Dung Beetles today. Dung Beetles love their dung. To Dung Beetles, dung is like treasure. So much so that if you are a Dung Beetle with some dung, another Dung Beetle might come along and try to steal your dung. And you'd have to fight to keep your dung.

This is probably the wierdest fact yet.

March 25, 2003

The TV taught me about how men and women shop differently. Like how women look at stuff and take their time and have fun. Guys get all stressed out and like flip out and reach a breaking point where they just gotta get the out of the frickin Gap. The reason for the flipout is a physical reaction due to an increase of a hormone called "cortisol" which increases blood pressure and makes dudes stress out and get mental or whatever...

I found a site to help with the shopping for guys.

March 24, 2003

At the end of the Oscars, I done learnt that people who vote for the documentaries and short subjects and stuff have to attend special screenings to be able to vote for them. I always figured it was a crap shoot based on the coolest title. Twas good to learn people actually have to watch them.

March 23, 2003

Surfers and water-type athletes do this thing called rock running. Basically you swim down to the ocean floor and grab a big rock and start running as far as you can. Helps build lung capacity and strength and all that. They recommend that you drop the rock and swim to the surface before you run out of air. Sounds like good advice to me.

Here's a picture of David Hasslehoff.

March 22, 2003

Today I saw an interview with some firefighter guy who puts out oil well fires. And the guy said...we use water...chemical foam...and sometimes we use explosives to put out the fire. But then the firefighter guy didn't get into what he meant by that. And I looked at the interviewer dude like, "Dude! Follow up question! What does that mean he puts out fires with explosives?!"...but no follow up. I don't even think the interviewer was paying attention.

Here's a hot oil treatment you can do in the comfort of you own home (when I say comfort, I am disregarding the burning hot oil scalding you).

March 21, 2003

Today I found out that the order in which the keys are arranged on you keyboard is called Qwerty. If you want to see why it's called the Qwerty Keyboard, just type "Q-W-E-R-T-Y". The letters on the keyboard are arranged that way to prevent the original typwriters from jamming up. The original way was alphabetical, but the mechanisms were too slow to accomodate fast typists, so the keyboards were redesigned to slow the user down. When computers came out, it was already set in stone.

But if you are sick of stupid old Qwerty, why not switch over to Dvorak

March 20, 2003

I learnt today that Peru has some issues going on. There are like indigenous people hanging out and they've been like pushed around due to people chopping down their forests and stuff so the government finally set aside land for them to live. The problem is they apparently also promised that land to the loggers who chop down the trees. The result: loggers being shot by bow and arrow.

This place is going after the mahogany there.

March 19, 2003

No fact today. I am swimming 5000 meters (200 lengths of a 25 meter pool) down at Kinsmen from 4-6 pm. This is all part of my swim club's "Swim-O-Thon" which is basically a money-grabbing fundraiser. Last year it took me 1 hour and 23 minutes to swim the 5 km. If you want to come down and see it, I will be in that divided pool off to the side. I don't know where exactly in it, but if you can see my mom (she has to count lengths for me), I will be in the lane she is by.

**UPDATE** - I am done my swimming, and this year it took me only 1 hour and 13 minutes to swim the 5 km. My goal for next year is 1 hour.

March 18, 2003

I found out today like back in the day when the earth was all new -there were giant bugs. Biggo huge-o supersized spiders and stuff. They got all big because the earth was super oxygen-rich and the insects like their oxygen. If you were alive back then you wouldn't be all giant sized cause we breathe different than bugs. And then one day you'd be out with your friends and some big spider would jump on your face and you'd be all, 'Ahhh! Get it off! Get it off!' Spinning around and stuff. But all your friends would be too scared to help and after you got eaten by the spider they'd feel all guilty for not helping. And it would be like this unspoken thing between your friends. But whatever! You should have ducked!

Then they'd still have a hard time living with the guilt and haveta go all 10 step.

March 17, 2003

Today Martha Stewart and some Irish guy told me about roof thatching. The guy who was doing the thatching said there is a tradition where the thatcher guy always leaves a bottle of whiskey hidden in the thatch for the next thatcher to work on the roof. Seemed like a pretty strange tradition (for the getting drunk and falling off the roof thing)...but I'm sure the policy is - they'll be time enough for drinkin...when the thatching's done.

Here's s'more info on thatching.

March 16, 2003

Today I got a little creeped out by a starfish garden. Everything moves in pretty much slow motion. Things creep along looking to kill and eat. And things that look like plants all of a sudden get very alive and spring out at you. Brainless creatures roam around. And this 24 armed sunflower starfish was especially scary. It's basically a giant walking stomach trolling around and absorbing creatures as it goes. Something about it was eerie and terrifying. Because it was all happening so slowly and quietly. Starfish gardens seem like a haunted alien world.

Here's a touching story starring starfish.

March 15, 2003

I seen on TechTV that there is a new technospy type device. While someone is away from their computer the spy unplugs the keyboard. Then plugs this spy thing into the end of the cord. Then plugs it back into the person's computer and it will record every keystroke that person makes. Then the spy-er goes and retrieve the thing after a while and plugs it into their own computer and downloads everything that was typed. I won't include a link to it because I think it's pointless. But if you're paranoid. Check your keyboard cord.

Here's a recipe for M&M Cookies! If you make some, send me a few!

March 14, 2003

Today is international Pi day. For those of you that failed Jr. High School (or bypassed school altogether), Pi is used to calculate the area of circles and stuff. They picked today because Pi is 3.141592638...etc. and the date is 3/14 and you celebrate at 1:59 PM. I know this because I have the recessive gene (scientifically named "N.E.R.D") that allows me to get excited about Pi and it's irrational friends.

Anyway, if you want to know more about Pi, you can find some facts here. Or if you have alot of time on your hands, check out pi to 10 million digits.

March 13, 2003

I saw on the TV today that there is this restaurant where they serve this fish dish that is prepared with real gold. It's like powdered or something and the people eat it. I thought that was dumb, and the people eating it seemed dumb too.

March 12, 2003

I watched a Korean show today. It was listed in the TV guide as "Drama" (I know this because I was wondering what on earth I was watching). In the show this old man with a beard was mad at this one younger guy without a beard. The beardless guy explained something to him all slow and serious. The older guy ended up accepting this explanation and bowed then left. Then the beardless dude started talking quietly to himself then started laughing. Something was up.

March 11, 2003

I watched "American Idol" today and they have about eight producers or exec-producers or co-producers or whatever. I'm not sure what producers actually do, but i'm pretty sure this show doesn't need eight of them clonking their heads together like coconuts.

March 10, 2003

The TV taught me how to make "Zesty Gazpacho". I don't want to make "Zesty Gazpacho" because "Gazpacho" is gross, zest or no zest. But if "Zesty Gazpacho" is something that sounds good to you, here's the recipe. Keep in mind that everyone will think you are a weirdo for being a "Gazpacho" liker.

March 9, 2003

I seen on the TV that fishing with nets or with fishing poles isn't the only way some people fish in various parts of the world. There are "fisherman" who fish by throwing dynamite over the side of the boat and blowing up stuff or by spraying cyanide in the water to make the fish easier to catch. Besides destroying reefs and being illegal and being terrible for the environment ...as far as I'm concerned that's like totally cheating.

Here's some info on cyanide fishing.... mmmmm... cyanide fish.... oh wait! No mmmm! Scratch the mmmm!

March 8, 2003

I watched Lethal Weapon 4 on TNN an noticed that in the credits, the "Foley Mixer" is this woman Mary Jo Lang. Not sure what a foley is or why it needs to be mixed, but that's what she did.

She does alot of Foley Mixing.

March 7, 2003

The TV told me that napping in the afternoon is very healthy. It refreshes and provides a boost of energy and greatly improves performance. So when I was working and I would sometimes fall asleep like holding a pencil in one hand and my other hand on my forehead to give the impression that I was thinking hard about something... it was actually a good thing? In a way that was kind of "working" as I was improving my performance?

Here's a site that takes the pro-nap stand.

March 6, 2003

I done watched a show about powertools on the History Channel. In the 1920's, this dude Edmund Michel was like checking out these dudes with machetes hacking away at sugarcane and he decided there had to be an easier way then with the whole machete thing so he thought up the idea of a circular saw. That eventually became the company called Skilsaw.

Whatever. Here's a picture of a goat.

March 5, 2003

So there's this "Stone of Destiny" that dates back to the bible. The Scots had it. Then like 700 years ago the Brits invaded and took the stone. It became the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey. The Scots were pissed and some Scottish dude in 1950 broke in to the Abbey and stole it back. Then the Brits got mad and the Scots gave it back. Then in 1996, the Brits wanted to make nice with the Scots and officially gave it to the Scots.

Here's the stone. Happy at home.

March 4, 2003

I found out today that it wasn't Hitler's marketing department that thought up the image of the swastika. It's actually been around for a long time usually representing good luck. Betcha didn't see that one coming!

(Incidentally, the nazi marketing dudes almost went with a yellow smiley face with a german helment on top as a logo but they found out there were copyright issues there so they went with the swastika.)

March 3, 2003

The first person to walk in space (more like float around in space but whatever) was this Russian dude named Alexei Leonov. The Ruskies bragged about how cool they were that they walked in space first. What they didn't tell the world was that Alexei's suit ballooned up and he freaked out cause he almost couldn't get back in the ship, and that tons of stuff failed on re-entry, and that the astronauts crashlanded 2000 miles off course and almost got eaten by wolves.

March 2, 2003

I saw a thing about The Oregon Vortex. It's this area of land in Oregon that defies the laws of physics. Everything is crooked. Balls will roll up hill and stuff. Horses won't step foot on the land. This scientist named Lister did 14,000 experiments on it but never shared his findings. He burned his notes because he didn't think people were ready to hear why the vortex area is so crazy. Or maybe he was just plain crazy...or maybe it made him crazy...

Anyway here's some info.

March 1, 2003

I heard today that if your dog eats dirt or this weird stuff called "pica" then there are a number of explanations. Your dog may have a nutritional defficiency, be in need of attention or perhaps just bored. It is also suggested that your dog might not be all that bright.

Here's some more information on pica.

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