I'm interested in the Wii Fit, but the Wii module coming after it sounds great!

I do enjoy Partially Clips, but sadly, it looks like they don't allow direct linking any more.

RIP: Bo Diddley

He was quite the working man's musician, built his own guitar even. I never got to see him play, which I bet would have been a lot of fun. I did get to see B.B. King in a small blues venue in Phoenix, that was a great show.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080602/ap_en_mu/obit_diddley

Police State 2.0: currently in beta in China, coming soon to a country near you?

A VERY long article on how China is blending surveillance technologies, most of it from American countries, and is in the process of producing what could be the most heavily watched populace ever, far more pervasive than anything that Alan Moore and George Orwell could have come up with when they wrote V for Vendetta and 1984 respectively.

I don't see much of a way around it, between the lust for capitalism and the levels of paranoia.

Brave new world, indeed.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20797485/chinas_allseeing_eye/print

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/01/2316219


I do have to put one small positive spin on pervasive surveillance. A Manchester rock band, The Get Out Clause, performed in front of 80 different CCTV cameras throughout Manchester, then requested the footage through FOIA requests and edited them together to make their own videos on the cheap.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/1938076/The-Get-Out-Clause%2C-Manchester's-stars-of-CCTV-cameras.html

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/02/002248

Do you like bananas? Enjoy them now before they're gone

I freely admit that I don't like bananas. Never have, probably never will. Didn't like 'em as a little kid, don't like 'em as an adult.

But that's just me. Lots of people like 'em, and more power to them. (actually, fried plantains are pretty good, I have to admit that)

I did not know that the bananas enjoyed by our grandparents are not the current strain. The older strain, called Gros Michel, is totally extinct. It was wiped out by a blight known as Panama Disease. The current strain pumped into markets by Dole and Chiquita is called Cavendish, it was resistant to Panama Disease.

Notice the word "was".

Apparently Panama Disease is back, and it's attacking Cavendish. This has huge potential for devastation in parts of Africa where it is a major staple of their diet.

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/02/0033211

Indiana Jones and the Kingdumb of the Crystal Skull

A review with spoilers. A hint: I didn't like it. LOTS of spoilers under cut.
( Read more... )

I could rant about a number of things, but those were my hot buttons. I really could care less if they continue the franchise, Lucas & Spielberg have lost what little respect that I had remaining for them: Lucas blew it when he decided he could write intricate romance and changed The Force to bugs in the blood, Spielberg blew it with changing ET to be more PC and then drek like AI and his incessant wish for happy endings.

If it weren't for Spielberg's involvement in Pinky and the Brain, I just wouldn't see much use for him. As far as Lucas is concerned, I'm really tempted to get some DVD editing software, rip the first three movies, and rip out midiclorians and any scenes with Annakin and Padma.