Good news!

Good news!  Looks like I'm going to live to a ripe old age, as I have a sense of purpose.  Now if only I could remember what it was...

I love bananas...

I love bananas ... but it looks like one of my favorite foods is threatened – mainly because of a worldwide monoculture (single variety) in commercial banana production.  A fungus that attacks the variety grown looks unstoppable at the moment...

Non-celiac gluten sensitivity?

Non-celiac gluten sensitivity?  Looks like it doesn't actually exist, says the scientist who started the whole thing in the first place.  Lest you be critical of the scientist, let me point out that this is exactly how science is supposed to work – unlike, say, the “science is settled” anthropogenic global warming pseudoscience...

Oh, so this is what Apple products are for!

Oh, so this is what Apple products are for!  That's a comment from this video of a perfectly good Apple iMac being utterly destroyed by a WWII-era Finnish 20mm anti-tank gun.  Why, you ask?  If you have to ask that question, you are clearly not in this video's target demographic :)

Historical infographics...

Historical infographics...  A nice collection from the Smithsonian.  The example at right shows the barometric pressure and weather reports for Tottenham, England, in 1815...

Best used car ad evah!

Best used car ad evah!

I bawled like a baby...

I bawled like a baby...  Beagle Freedom Project.  There's a happy ending, but if you're a dog lover, you'll be crying too.

I've been up here for six weeks now, sans dogs, and I miss them badly...

I want to go there!

I want to go there!  But I don't know where “there” is.  It looks like somewhere in Asia, but that's about all I can tell.  What a gorgeously composed photo!  Click to embiggen, as usual...

If this doesn't raise your fear of flying...

If this doesn't raise your fear of flying ... then I'm not sure what could!  I cringed my way through the entire thing...

Russia fights back against sanctions...

Russia fights back against sanctions...  And our short-sighted, politically-motivated space policy comes back to bite us in the butt.  Hard.

Wow. Just wow...

Wow.  Just wow...  The Obama administration has decided to reverse course on home mortgage policy – to make easier credit available to consumers through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The stated reason?  They're afraid that tight mortgage policies (i.e., those that require mortgagees to be creditworthy) are going to stifle the nascent housing recovery.  Translation: unless we let people buy homes that they can't actually afford, there won't be as many homes purchased.

The real reason?  Buying votes, of course.  With taxpayer dollars, of course.

Somehow the geniuses that run the country have managed to forget the housing crisis that came to a head just 8 years ago, provoking the financial crisis that we're still trying to recover from.

I'm giving them too much credit, though.  It's really much simpler than that.  If you're a national level politician in the U.S., you're just trying to figure out how to get people to vote for you.  Making it easy for them to “buy” houses they can't afford, backed by taxpayer dollars from the “rich” minority is a great way to do that...

Sheesh...  If we as a people keep electing these idiots, we deserve to get it good and hard.  And we are...

Those cheap Apple knockoffs are just as good, right?

Those cheap Apple knockoffs are just as good, right?  Wrong!  Ken Shirriff does a stellar side-by-side comparison between two products: a genuine Apple iPad charger ($19), and a cheap knockoff ($3). 

I once bought one of the cheap ones myself, and did a much less rigorous test: I connected the output to a 2.5 ohm load (to get 2 amps/10 watts of output) and looked at the output with a 'scope. 

First problem: the output was just over 3 volts, not the desired 5 volts.  That's 40% under voltage; the USB spec says 5% at most.

Second problem: there was almost 1 volt of 25 KHz noise on the output.  Apparently the switcher operated at that frequency.  One would expect to find no more than 100 millivolts of noise, and ideally less than 10 millivolts.  This thing was producing 10 to 100 times that!

Third problem: after about 2 minutes of under-load testing, a wisp of smoke started curling up from the charger block.  A few seconds later there was a loud pop, the case cracked, and clouds of black smoke shot out.  Simultaneously the house's circuit breaker blew.  I opened the windows and let the stupid thing cool down, then threw it away.

I ran the same tests on the Apple charger, and it passed with flying colors.  The block got slightly warm, otherwise I couldn't see any change at all.  I've happily paid my “Apple tax” ever since.  I prefer my electronics to work, and without noxious smoke, please...

What kids really do in college...

What kids really do in college...  Parents, behold where your hard-earned tuition dollars are going!

Best kitty hug evah!

Best kitty hug evah!

Some day I will be proud of our elected leaders...

Some day I will be proud of our elected leaders ... but today is not that day.  Behold Joe Garcia, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.  Watch the video and you'll see him carefully examine something adhering to his finger – and then eating it.  That something on his finger?  That's something he just extracted from his ear.  With the cameras rolling, during a hearing.

Overall I think I prefer the fisticuffs that periodically break out in the South Korean and Taiwanese legislatures.

What party does Joe Garcia belong to?  The Democrats.  What state does he hail from?  Florida. 

Last night I received four emails from friends who live in other countries.  This little video clip just confirmed all their suspicions about the barbarian nature of Americans.  We're just not ready for membership in the civilized world, and we need adult supervision.  Badly.