“…these doors might not be that secure!”

“…these doors might not be that secure!”  Oh, I would so love to drive on this road!

Reading the tea leaves...

Reading the tea leaves...  These are some Darjeeling tea leaves, hydrated after steeping them for my morning tea.  The photo is 15x magnification...

“The most likely outcome is that regulators will freeze in place today’s business models, thereby slowing innovation and change.”

“The most likely outcome is that regulators will freeze in place today’s business models, thereby slowing innovation and change.”  Nick Gillespie with an excellent piece in Time on Obama's call for “net neutrality” and regulation of the Internet.  A bit more:

There are specific interests who are doing well by the current system and they want to maintain the status quo via government regulations. That’s understandable but the idea that the government will do a good job of regulating the Internet (whether by blanket decrees or on a case-by-case basis) is unconvincing, to say the least. The most likely outcome is that regulators will freeze in place today’s business models, thereby slowing innovation and change.

That’s never a good idea, especially in an area where new ways of bundling and delivering content are constantly being tried.

For a moment I found myself thinking that maybe our legislators were smart enough to see that regulating the Internet was a bad idea.  Then I woke up...

A clever application of physics...

A clever application of physics...  When I first read this headline – “Magnets in helmets might make football safer” – I groaned, and expected to read some pseudo-science claiming more miraculous magnetic effects like those sold by so many Dr. Oz-like charlatans.  Instead I found something totally realistic: using the repelling force of “like poles” on powerful magnets to reduce the deceleration force when two football helmets smack into each other.  Properly done, using magnets for this can be the equivalent of adding a thick layer of foam to the outside of a helmet.  Very clever!

Breathtakingly audacious lawsuit...

Breathtakingly audacious lawsuit...  There are two neighbors in Texas.  One of them owned four pit bull dogs; the other owned a beagle.  The four pit bulls got into the beagle's yard through a hole in the fence that the pit bulls made.  The pit bulls killed the 10 year old beagle.

So, naturally, a lawsuit was filed – but not the one you're most likely expecting.  The beagle's owner decided not to pursue a civil suit, because the police had already taken the actions he thought were needed.  The pit bulls' owner is suing the beagle's owner, asking for $1 million in damages, citing injuries and anxiety resulting from her attempts to retrieve her pit bulls from the neighbor's yard.

Clearly, the human species still has some evolving to do.  The good news?  The venue is in Texas, where the citizens have been known to help evolution along on occasion...

“Bubble-Ball”

“Bubble-Ball”  This looks like fun!