the bad guys are still out there

as if there wasn't enough reason to dislike banks, here's another one: many of them are not complying with the Truth in Savings Act. they aren't telling us ahead of time about the cost of doing business with them. good grief. let's just close down the ones who aren't complying. what's the problem??

another dimension

3-D without special glasses? iPad is working on it. it's kinda intriguing, but seems a little limited right now. but hey, that's always the way it is in the beginning. anyhow, check this out and see what you think. i usually watch stuff like this with the sound off, so maybe they said something important. i dunnoh.

be underground where the aliens can't get you

do you have an extra $900,000 that you want to spend on a condo which is underground for when the aliens get here? if so, then you need to read this article.

houston ... we've got a problem

did you see the cool logo that google has today because of the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight? it's pretty cool! pretty disgusting that we haven't done much else in the last 50 years though. i mean, come on, we go up in space, we walk on the moon, and we build a space station. that's it? something got derailed somewhere.

bored? depressed? read this...

i was curious about the article talking about the space station and space junk. so i started reading it and... whoa! totally cracked me up! if you want a really good laugh, check it out.

wheeee ... uh ...

back to the skiing thing -- this looks like fun!! and this is a quick-look of it.

it's one of those things that if i were younger and had learned how to ski, i would totally love going off and doing that stuff. the fact that i'm afraid of heights might not have stopped me. after all, there was one time when i went up to snoqualmie pass to cross-country ski (no, i wasn't good at that either) and i decided to take the chair lift up because it was a sunny day and the lift looked like fun.

until i got to the top. it was pretty clear to me that i wasn't going to ski down. so i waited an hour for the next lift and rode it down. hanging on for dear life all the way. it was funny *blush*.

what are they thinking....

speaking of the budget, here are a couple of quotes:

"House Republicans intend to pass a 2012 budget in the coming week that calls for sweeping changes in the federal health programs for the elderly and needy families, and even deeper cuts in domestic programs to gain control over soaring deficits."

and:

"Unless we act soon, government spending on health and retirement programs will crowd out spending on everything else, including national security. It will literally take every cent of every federal tax dollar just to pay for these programs."



does anyone in congress ever consider cutting back the military and bringing troops home, rather than cutting domestic programs? i'm a little tired of supporting programs overseas when there are so many problems here. to say nothing of the illegal immigrant stuff. to say nothing of the sweet perks the members of congress have voted themselves which are held apart from any cut-back.

let's take a look at those kinds of things to reduce our tax burden instead of taking the knife to health and retirement. honestly, the fox thinks everything will be fine if he just kills all the chickens.

things change

well, fu ... sh ... cr .... dangit! it seems the $$ issue is fixed for now and i need to go to work on monday as usual. but i was soooooooo looking forward to being a dirty bum!

duuuhn, duh-duh duh, daaaaaaaaahh

i'm on furlough. i think. if the big bad boys in congress haven't solved the $$ problem, i am off-work until whenever. do i mind that? you've got to be kidding. i have pants to hem, books to read, a patio to make comfy, couches to lay around on, late nights to keep. i'm all grins.

i do mind that we have idiots in congress, but that's a whole issue fraught with anger, frustration, and incivility.

how-to see tiny

i forgot to say that if you're curious about seeing a chip and trying to find a message, this article gives a little more info. click on the circuit board with the red square and you'll have a picture of a full chip with circuits -- the tiny message is highlighted.

hee, hee ... a whole new world we didn't even realize was there.

teeny tiny coolness

and speaking of tiny things, this article was very interesting. even if you aren't very computer savvy, you are probably aware that the chips inside a computer are pretty small. and they have very small circuits and semiconductors on the chips. but did you realize that if there's any blank space on a chip that mischievous computer geek chip-makers can lay out their sense of humor?

you probably won't search out any humor laying around on your own computer chips, so take a look at this article and click on 'view all' so you can see them and go back to them and wonder at them. it's pretty neat and i have to think that if i were doing this job, that i would come up with stuff to put on the chips, too. i mean, way cool!

little bitty movies

i've seen a number of stop-action shorts in my life, and mainly i'm left thinking about the hours involved in making tiny moves, taking the shot, making more tiny moves, taking the shot. it must be painstaking.

this 7-minute short, however, is so absorbing that i didn't give tiny moves a single thought. you really have to see it -- a ski-resort in jackson hole. it's just so well-done ... litte bitty trees, little bitty people, little bitty building and mountains and ski lifts. the whole thing is riveting.

spoiler alert: it's real people.