Sleepless in Midland

Facial recognition for the cell phone camera

This looks like an interesting and user friendly application of facial recognition software. Who says law enforcement should have all the fun?

Gizmodo tells us about it and has a Youtube embed to view it in action. Link.

In theory the application will allow the user to snap a cell phone photo of someone then see where that face shows up in social media sites. (Perhaps that's another reason not to post one's photo in a social media site, but that's an individual preference.)

I'm still holding out for an application like this in my eyeglasses so I would never again forget a face.

Fake news -- they try to fool reporters for fun, profit and politics

The other day we watched TV reports about the poor balloon boy whose daddy hid him away and released a flying saucer balloon to fool reporters into putting the family on TV. "It was for the show," the kid explained, shining a light on poppa's reality show ambition. But the dad had manipulated government services in this fraud, and cops weren't amused.

How hard is it to fool the reporters? It didn't take them too long to figure out the balloon boy hoax, but apparently it's not too hard to get reporters to go along with a hoax.

A Welsh View points us to Starsuckers celebrity hoax dupes tabloids about some documentary makers who searched through tabloids for stories they could prove were false. That grew tiresome, so they decided to create the fake stories themselves.

They called "Got a story?" phone lines that newspapers advertised and gave them false stories about celebrities, stories outlandish enough that the editors should have checked them out, the pranksters alleged. Exerpt:

A story about singer Amy Winehouse's hair catching fire from a faulty fuse spread across the world after it was printed in the Mirror on 21 March under the headline "Amy Winehouse in hair fire drama". The Starsuckers researcher gave the newspaper fictional details of the story, which she said she had "heard" from an unnamed friend who was at the singer's house. //snip//

Atkins defended his project, saying the onus was on the newspaper to corroborate what it publishes. "Had those fake stories been fact-checked by the newspapers before they were printed, they would have realised – I think within minutes – that they were about to publish complete and utter babble."

Sometimes a story is too juicy to check out. And when they relate to flagrant behavior of a boozing celeb, the stories are entirely believable.

But here's where it gets serious. Another victim of fake news was Sarah Palin. The perpetrator of the fake news is now out hawking his book, I Am Martin Eisenstad. Eisenstadt is the pseudonym of the guy who, after the '08 election, conned MSNBC and L.A. Times, among others, into believing he had been a McCain/Palin campaign staffer who had to expose how terrible a person that stupid Sarah Palin was. That it was all fake probably meant little to the people who would later spout lines from Tina Fey and believe they were quoting Sarah Palin.

The huckster's skill is in tricking people into believing something they want to believe. Anyway, for those wanting to read that particular huckster's book, here's a friendly review, and an excerpt:

What’s consistently funny about the book is that for all that Martin Eisenstadt is an obvious parody, there is a striking similarity between his character and demeanor and those of many of the people you routinely encounter in green rooms and cocktail parties around Washington. This time, like the last time, the joke goes both ways. That’s why I intend it as real praise when I say that I Am Martin Eisenstadt is the best fake memoir of the campaign season.

Be on guard, people. There are prevaricators out there.

How to increase newspaper circulation -- cut the price

Bloomberg reports that circulation has been declining in 21 out of 25 of the major newspapers the past six months. One newspaper increased circulation, and three got "N/A." Here's the lead paragraph:

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. newspaper circulation declines steepened in the six months through September after publishers raised subscription and newsstand prices to help counter an advertising slump.

They raised prices and customers walked. The one exception was the Wall Street Journal about which they said the print-only drop was offset by online subscribers. However, here's a dirty little secret. The WSJ offered pretty good deals to lapsed subscribers.

Confessions of a WSJ reader -- I've been subscribing off and on since college days when the WSJ gave students a free subscription. But the price kept climbing. When my subscription expired this Spring the renewal rate was $441 for a year. Ouch. However, just the other day I got an offer I couldn't refuse -- a renewal rate of just under $120 per year.

So I'm getting the paper again. And it's a good lesson in marketing 101 -- raise the price high enough and lose customers. Lower the price enough and get them back.

Better to hear you with, my dear -- Implanting a third ear

This example of body part augmentation is fascinating in a carnival freak-show way. And yet the potential is very intriguing.

He had a prosthetic ear constructed with polyethylene material and implanted in his forearm. In a second surgery they implanted a microphone and transmitter so that it could actually "hear." Unfortunately, it caused an infection -- after all, it is very experimental -- and they had to remove it a few weeks later. But they aren't giving up. Here's an excerpt from the guy's website:

The final procedure will re-implant a miniature microphone to enable a wireless connection to the Internet, making the ear a remote listening device for people in other places. For example, someone in Venice could listen to what my ear is hearing in Melbourne.

Read all about it, and see -- gasp -- photos here. More at Design Boom.

James Bond, call your office.

Via Flavorwire.

The Samurai home protection system

A burglary spree + one scared resident with Samurai sword = end of burglary spree.

The Samurai home protection plan is more of a deterrent than an alarm system, at least it was for this student in Baltimore . Here's a link to the article, and here's a quote:

The student "was backed up against a corner, and either out of fear or out of panic, he just struck the sword with force," said city police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

Pontolillo, who rents the off-campus home, nearly severed the man's left hand, inflicting what police called a "spear laceration."

Donald D. Rice of Baltimore, 49, a repeat offender who had been released from jail Saturday, died at the scene.

Guglielmi said the state's attorney's office will decide whether to charge Pontolillo, 20, of Wall, N.J.

John Belushi would have approved.

Via.

A few good men -- the Marine Corps fitness test

If this looks easy then you might be Marine Corps material.

It's the Marine Corps Fitness Test. To score 100% you only have to be able to do three things. First, 20 pullups -- no time limit but let go of the bar and you're done. Finished with that? Next do 100 crunches in two minutes. Finally, run three miles in 18 minutes or under. Congratulations, you are in first class shape.

As for me, just writing about it has left me exhausted. So I'm off to do my favorite exercise which is pressing downward with all my weight in the Lazy Boy while working out the thumb on the TV remote.

Via lifehacker.com.

Mommas don't let your daughters grow up to be waitresses -- the 1920's

This is an article purportedly from the Minnesota Daily Star of 1921 and which appears to be an expose about women working as waitresses. Link and excerpt:

“Do not raise your daughter to be a waitress,” warns Mrs. Donovan, who has come to her startling conclusions after an investigation of conditions that covers nine months. In order to inform herself accurately concerning this subject, Mrs. Donovan says she has worked in restaurants, both cheap and expensive, in hotels and grill rooms, in tea shops and in exclusive clubs. All of these eating places, she says, offer a menace to the girl who works in them.

/cut/

“‘ There’s 20 cents on your table, dearie,’ one of the waitresses told me. I hastened back to pick it up. I thought I had earned it. Under the dimes was the business card of my late customer, with his name, address and telephone number. I wondered why, but I soon learned the meaning of this card left for the waitress."

Well, the roaring '20s had to start somewhere. Next thing you know they'll be Flappers doing the Charleston at Speakeasies.

Red light at the top of a hill

Sounds like a horror movie title or maybe a line from a country song.

It's the new overpass at JBS Parkway and Business 20 (AKA Highway 80 or 2nd Street) in Odessa, TX. Could this be the "$24.6 million bridge to somewhere?"

The stop light is right at the top of an artificial hill and requires drivers to stop on a slope. Is this a common Texas highway phenomenon? Some locals were screaming bloody murder about this overpass when it was proposed, but they were helpless to stop it. It looks like motels make up the predominate industry in the vicinity, and one hopes the drivers will have access to them without driving a block or two out of the way to find an entrance.

Hopefully, the roadways will get shut down during ice storms, otherwise vehicles stopping at the light might just slide back down the hill.

Click the link to see a short OAOA.com video of the scene under construction. And here's a link to a pre-overpass Google Map overhead view.

Thanks to RP for the heads-up.

Fact checking fast speeding ticket braggarts

Page 1: Sometimes a story is so good the reader doesn't want to look to closely into the details for fear of finding out it isn't true. Take this photo, for example, found at Jalopnik.com. A fellow posted the photo on Flickr of a ticket he allegedly received for driving 210 mph in a Bugatti on a California toll road. The images you see here are screen captures of what the Flickr page and the ticket looked like, but the gentleman's Flickr page was amended this morning, and the ticket photo has mysteriously vanished. Hmmm. Maybe his lawyer told him to take it down. Or maybe the incident didn't really happen.

The whole thing looked suspicious from the start. Scroll through the gentleman's Flickr photos and one might presume that he very much likes to display images of himself. But there is precious little in the photos that suggests the kind of lifestyle that might result in a high speed run down the road in a Bugatti. And tellingly, there are no pictures of the car itself.

Maybe it really did happen. But it sure looks fishy.

Page 2: This story is presented with some skepticism at RideLust.com, to wit:

“During its review of the CCR’s successor, the CCX, BBC television program Top Gear reported that the Koenigsegg CCR holds the fastest speeding ticket in the United States allegedly occurred in May 2003 in Texas. It was supposedly 242mph (389 km/h) in a 75mph zone. The car was involved in the San Francisco to Miami Gumball 3000 Rally.”

Go to Genctuning.org to watch the "Top Gear" video in which the host tries to put the Koenigsegg through its paces, and in passing, mentions the story about the speeding ticket.

But did it really happen? For something this noteworthy, there is amazingly little information about it on the net. All that turns up is a vague reference to wikipedia and an occasional link to a wikipedia entry which bounces us back to the Top Gear show.

Call this one a great story, but also call it unprovable.

Page 3: The internet is such a wonderful thing, and there is so much information available to us with a mere key stroke. Some complain about the lack of editors and the easy ability to fabricate a story. But contrary to what some say, Google is making us smarter. Anyone can fact check anyone else, and braggarts need to be extra cautious or else the people they are trying to impress may come away with an impression not nearly as favorable as the one they hoped for.

In the classified ads

Free ammo for eight bucks! it's either the first sign of the much hyped hyperinflation or the result of a severe ammo supply shortage.

In any event, the whole world has turned upside down, I tell ya. By golly when I was your age "free" meant two-fifty, tops.

Wetsuits with style

Most wetsuits are plain black, but some actually have some style. Bydiddo designed a wetsuit with a difference. This prototype looks like a body with the skin peeled off. But, I don't know, might that one look too appealing to a shark?  "Mmmmm, human, and it's already skinned!"

Shark attacks are down worldwide. But why take chances? With shark season approaching, maybe a better design to deter sharks might be a wetsuit painted like a skeleton so a shark might think, "Where's the beef?" Better yet, a skinless "Terminator."

Check out some of the other interesting objects at Bydiddo.

End of month close out

We've reached the end of May, so in the next few entries I'll be posting a bunch of miscellaneous items that caught my attention throughout the month but never quite made it to these pages. Maybe they will catch your attention, too. Or maybe not.

National Running Day

Start by putting out one foot, shift weight to that foot, then do the opposite, repeat, then crank up the speed. Simple, huh? I'm not sure what it does to the joints long term, but it will definitely get the heart rate up, and hopefully, keep the arteries open.

So June 3 is National Running Day, and running organizations are promoting this inaugural event to get everyone up and running. See you on down the road.

Dogs gone wild

Most dogs owners have probably wondered how our canine companions would fare in the wild if they had to. An unintended experiment provided a glimpse at such a situation when numerous dogs were dumped into an environment with not enough to eat. It was "Lord of the Flies" for dogs.

Here's the story. Unwanted dogs were cast away on an uninhabited island off Malaysia on the theory that they could forage on their own and live in the wild. They estimated that over 300 dogs had been dumped, and after a few weeks the estimates were that around 200 had survived by feasting on the weaker dogs. It's a new definition of "dog food," and not a pretty picture to imagine.

Via Daily Rotten.

Pop quiz: Who is the Texas Bluebonnet Queen?

Answer: Ashley Carruth Beal of Midland, Texas. It's official! Here's the Resolution:

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Ashley Carruth Beal of Midland has been named the 2009-2010 Texas Bluebonnet Queen; and

WHEREAS, Founded in 1964, the Texas Bluebonnet Committee promotes the state flower and recognizes young Texans who excel in their talents and in their community service endeavors; the daughter of Barry Ashley Beal, Jr., and Cliffy Beal, Ashley Beal is being honored at the 45th Texas Bluebonnet Queen Coronation Ceremony; and

WHEREAS, Ms. Beal attended Trinity School of Midland and was involved in various extracurricular activities, including the Commemorative Air Force Cadet Program and varsity cheerleading; she also participated in the National Youth Leadership Conference and was listed in the United States Achievement Academy, and she has dedicated her time to such organizations as the Museum of the Southwest, Midland Children's Rehabilitation Center, and the Breaking Bread Soup Kitchen of First Presbyterian Church; in addition, Ms. Beal has been a nationally ranked diver for the past six years, competing with City of Midland Aquatics and at the international level with the U.S. Junior Olympic Diving Team; a 2007 National Diving Champion, she received a diving scholarship and now attends Purdue University in Indiana, where she has been chosen as the Diver of the Week; and

WHEREAS, Ashley Beal has demonstrated a strong commitment to excellence as an athlete, a student, and a volunteer, and she may indeed reflect with pride on her achievements and contributions as she looks toward a bright future; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas hereby congratulate Ashley Carruth Beal on her selection as the 2009-2010 Texas Bluebonnet Queen and extend to her sincere best wishes for continued success and happiness; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be prepared for Ms. Beal as an expression of high regard by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate.

Signed by the Governor on May 6, 2009.