Live by the GPS, Die by the GPS
Posted: Saturday, October 27, 2007 1:47 PM by Will Femia
Accused speeder to cops: My GPS proves your radar gun is wrong - As you might guess from the headline, the GPS recorded his speed. Now the question for the courts is whether GPS data is acceptable proof. What makes this especially fascinating is that I vividly remember the controversy several years ago when a rental car agency used GPS to determine that a renter had been speeding and fined him for it. Back then the issue was privacy. (This story is often on my mind because the only time I drive a car is when it's a rental and I'm always paranoid that I'm being spied on when I drive them.)
Speaking of cars and technology, "How many electric car and plug-in start-ups are there in the world today?" Answer: more than 16. It seems like there should be a green economy just waiting to explode. I wonder what the tipping point is. Is it purely a matter of energy costs?
Speaking of green cars, this one gives "limousine liberal" a new meaning.
I don't have a problem with Dumbledore being gay and I don't even have much of a problem with Rowling bringing it up after all of the books have come and gone - though I don't plan to go back and re-read them with the new context in mind. I also disagree that Dumbledore should have said something about it in the books. It would be an important part of The Dumbledore Chronicles when they're written but there were a lot of things Dumbledore didn't share with Harry and his readers. I did spend some time reading through the comments on the coverage at The Leaky Cauldron. Also, Dumbledore's outing covered by People magazine (parody) and Dumbledore pride shirts.
Speaking of the headline on this entry, Google Earth used to target Israel. Not to be too picky but even though we see the guy using Google Earth to find targets, when we actually see them firing the rocket in the video it doesn't look like there's a whole lot of aiming and calculation to the set up. Maybe someone reading this can explain how that type of rocket works but on the video it looks like they said, "Israel is that way" and just lit the fuse.
Some cool graphs of rich states and poor states - It happens to show up as some bloggers are talking about graphs of wealth vs. religiosity.
Speaking of cool infographics, the World Freedom Atlas is a world map that compares things like civil rights, rule of law and personal freedoms.
Bill Richardson adds his voice to the collection arguing that we need the National Guard home to... well... guard the nation. Has anyone seen an actual breakdown of how National Guard resources are used? I empathize with the sentiment and the flat logic but I've never seen a breakdown of the number of available National Guard members versus the number of things we need them to do.
Star gazers are excited about a visible-to-the-naked-eye comet in the Perseus constellation.
Urban moss graffiti - I wonder if it can grow. The moss is native to this latitude, so it should be able to deal with the weather conditions. How many "seeds" would it take for nature to retake urban areas with moss and vines? You'd probably have to spread some dirt around. I don't imagine truck soot is sufficient growing medium.
Human race will 'split into two different species' - Ridiculous for a million reasons but fun to imagine -especially with those photos. I imagine that as we're able to do more without getting up from our computers the race would split between people who sit and people who move. People Who Sit will use computers to socialize and meet (leading to procreation) to hone the evolutionary line.
Speaking of doing it through the computer, Domino's will actually deliver a few lumps of meat on a round piece of bread if that's how you order it online.
Bent objects - It's amazing how much personality an ordinary object can take on with the addition of arms and legs.
'Digg me' t-shirt - The shirt has a button and an LED display of how many times it's been Dug. I'm not even going to say it.
The new Stephen Colbert Facebook group is apparently the fastest growing ever.
New video game vest lets you feel like you're actually being shot. No way. I believe you'll feel something but not the degree of authenticity described here. Video here but not very enlightening.
Media myths about the Jena 6 - "A local journalist tells the story you haven't heard." Definitely not the story I heard about the Jena 6.
I am the condom friend ever useful to you. I watched the whole damn thing just make sure and wouldn't you know, there's one NSFW image at around 5:45 just for a few seconds (during a line about condoms being important in gay sex).
Come to order, Clicked Court is now in session: Local Miami TV news is dealing with a bit of drama over their reporter being arrested for standing on the sidewalk in front of a school. The story is complicated a little by the fact that the reporter had a gun (legally), but that's really just a distraction from the main question. Is the sidewalk in front of a school public property or does it have some special school zone status? My feeling is to side with the reporter but there are a lot of laws about things you can't do within a certain range of a school, so I wouldn't be too surprised if it goes the other way. Here's the raw video.
Speaking of getting arrested on your own camera, it's a little hard to tell but it sounds like this guy was on his own property or that of his friend. Luckily, police had a taser handy. "He had refused to drop the camera which could be used as a weapon."
Universal TV remotes mixed with important soccer games at sports bars equals classic nerd prank. I remember seeing ads for a device meant for this purpose, marketed by an anti-TV group that didn't like that people sit at bars and watch TV instead of socialize. I can't find the page but this is what the device was like.
We didn't start the viral - How many do you recognize? P.S. I don't recommend any of those gross "Jigsaw recommends" videos.
Missing cat
Not-at-all-missing dog
Pneumatic Anatomica - Anatomy of a balloon animal
