Evil Villain Holds World Hostage

I never thought it would actually be possible. Nor did I think that anyone actually thought this way. But should someone, Dr. Evil perhaps, decide that they wanted to hold the world hostage for one hundred billion dollars, there's actually a way to do it.

After the doomsday machine, the Large Hadron Collider, was successfully "tested", and by tested I mean they sent a couple protons zooming through the chamber without actually accomplishing anything, they, of course, celebrated. Whilst celebrating, hackers actually hacked into the LHC system, and WERE ONE STEP AWAY FROM OBTAINING CONTROL OF THE DEVICE!!! Did you hear me? Someone can hack into the LHC to control it. Had they activated the LHC, they could have created that black hole I've been talking about, killing us all.

I wonder how W would have handled that one, eh?

The hackers, of course, defended their actions by saying that they were attempting to point out the security flaws in the LHC's system, and not, as I believe, doing it to just see if they could.

This made me want to cry

A while back I watched a documentary about a polar bear. It couldn't get to any huntable food, so it was attacked walrus'. Of course it couldn't kill a walrus, 'cause those fuckers are huge. So, when it ran out of energy, it laid down at the edge of where the walrus herd (pod?) was gathered, roared, then died of starvation. It was the most depressing thing I'd ever seen.

Until this. It's a Portuguese PSA about global warming, and it made me want to cry. And hug a bear, monkey and a kangaroo...not necessarily all at once or in that particular order.

Yes, I am aware that some people don't believe global warming is actually happening. Believe what you want. But you can't argue that carbon emissions are good for the atmosphere, so those people can go suck it.

link via Neatorama

Wednesday Afternoon Pet Peeves

Grown-ass people (or grown ass-people, hehe) who say words like "likeded", "aks", "lookeded" and "akses" instead of "liked", "ask", "looked" and "asks".

Who are you voting for?

I know who I'm voting for, and I know most people already know who they're voting for, but are they voting for that person for the right reasons? Or simply because they're towing party lines?

ABC News has a quiz to help you decide who's a better candidate for you. I was surprised that I completely agreed with McCain about the economy, although Obama won me overall.

Are you voting correctly? Take the QUIZ.

that thing that you do, you know, the thing...

Dude: I need an appointment to see the doctor.

Me: For what problem do you need to be seen?

Dude: The regular one…that…you do…

Me: Well, we see patients for infertility, semen analysis, vasectomy, and vasectomy reversal.

...pause...

Me: Sir, which do you need to be seen for: infertility, semen analysis, vasectomy or vasectomy reversal?

Dude: Yes.

Another way I hope I don't die

Discover Magazine recently came out with an online article of extreme things your body can endure (i.e. getting hit by lightning, free-falling out of a plane with no parachute, etc), what happens to your body during said extreme activities, and ways these activities can kill you: How to Fall out of a Plane and Live

To date, my most feared way of dying is by drowning. Now, after reading this article, death by exposure to vacuum comes in at a close second.

Exposed to a Vacuum

Engineer James C. LeBlanc climbed into a vacuum chamber at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in 1965 for a routine test of a spacesuit. His suit leaked, and for 14 harrowing seconds he was exposed to a near vacuum. LeBlanc later said that he could feel water boiling off his tongue. He then passed out, but technicians and engineers quickly repressurized the chamber; LeBlanc survived with no permanent damage.
Medical researchers at NASA estimate it is possible to revive someone exposed to a vacuum for as long as 30 seconds. Air will be sucked out of your lungs immediately, and trying to hold your breath will be futile against the pressure. In a vacuum the gases and liquids in the body expand rapidly, animal studies show, but your skin and blood vessels maintain enough pressure on your body and its fluids that you will not instantly explode—no matter what you’ve seen in Hollywood films. According to NASA’s analysis, your tissues will swell slowly as water boils away and gases like nitrogen come out of solution, pushing against the membranes of your cells, stretching them and damaging your organs.
If you are fully exposed in outer space, the intense ultraviolet radiation from the unfiltered sun will give you a nasty sunburn on one side. In a vacuum, heat is not lost easily, however, so even though the temperature in deep space is –454 degrees F, you will not freeze immediately. Much sooner—after about 15 seconds—your oxygen-deprived brain will shut down. At that point you will black out, and you will probably die in another minute or two.

I'm not really sure how I feel yet

True Blood is the new series on HBO about a telepathic girl named Sookie Stackhouse who lives in a small Louisiana town called Bon Temps. The twist is that vampires have recently come out of the closet, and insinuated themselves into every day life.

Honestly, writing it out like that, it's a pretty weak concept. I have had to watch, though, out of sheer loyalty, because I've been a fan of the book series for years now.

The show True Blood is actually based on Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series, and I was excited to watch the show because I figured it would be loosely based on the book. It's been a while since a Sookie book has come out, and I'd be interested in seeing some new slant or twist to the series.

Unfortunately, however, it wasn't loosely based on the series. It's exactly based on the series. To a tee. And honestly, it's really frustrating me. I'm watching this show, knowing EXACTLY what's about to happen. They haven't spiced it up, and the changes they've made to the original aren't even that interesting. The Tara character, in the show, has known Sookie since kindergarten, is in love with Sookie's brother, and works at the bar as a bartender, whereas in the book, they've only known each other for a few years, and she owns her own, successful, clothing store called Tara's Togs.


See, the differences aren't that important.

I just keep watching in the hopes that something new and surprising will happen. I know there have only been two episodes thus far, and we haven't even made it half way through the first novel, and there are currently seven novels, so it'll be a long while before anything new happens, but I can't help but hold out hope that they'll stray from the original story line to give Sookie readers something new and juicy to latch on to.

Furthermore, taking an outside perspective, the episodes are so slow-going that I can't imagine anyone NOT a loyal Sookie reader being able to keep up enough interest to tune in week after week.

Maybe I'm being too harsh. It reminds me of a teenager who has to write a book summary, and instead of writing it in their own words, they just copy the back of the book word-for-word. It's like the script writers couldn't come up with anything good, so they just went page by page and copied down everything there. There's absolutely no originality whatsoever.

What ever. I know I'll keep watching, and I know I'll keep being annoyed. What else is new?