Chicken Or Egg?

Which headlines were more compelling? “Cruise ship left passengers stranded in foreign port of call,” “Passengers missed ship departure, because of failure to keep track of time.”

I cringe every time I see the first headline.  Because the implication is, “Once again, the big, mean, cruise lines stomped on the rights of passengers.” What about the rights of the rest of the passengers that were on time?  Not that departure times weren’t publicized well in advance.

Received my sleep apnea home study kit today. The next two nights, I will retire with monitors to check breathing, heart rate, oxygen concentration. After two previous unsuccessful attempts, a home improvement project was completed today.  I’m tired.  Probably a good thing.

Chasing My Tail

It’s been a busy day. I feel like I’ve been chasing my tail all day. Which is ironic, considering one of the tasks was taking the dog to the groomers.

The groomer is at the veterinary’s office. So Max wasn’t pleased when his car ride ended at the vets. All was well, after he arrived home. A treat worked wonders.

Panic ensued among the staff at the clinic, as a cat patient escaped, and was hiding somewhere on the property. At least Max, didn’t make a run for it. He doesn’t, at present, smell as much like a dog.  As much as I’ve tried to raise him right, Max doesn’t especially like cats, anyway.

Lefties Unite

It’s National Left-Handers Day. Not a big deal to most folks.

To those in that ten percent, it has been a matter of coping in a right-handed world.

In case you haven’t already guessed, I’m left-handed. My hands had ink stains when writing on paper; chalk dust from writing on blackboards; notebook’s steel coils were on the “wrong side.”

Scissors: I learned to cut right-handed. School desks with arms on the right side–I sat sideways.

I found it amusing, when non-lefties commented, “I don’t understand how you can write, upside down, and backwards.”

It’s always been a challenge to cope in a right-handed world.  Fellow lefties, stand and be proud!

Pits and Pendulums

Packing peanuts
Pits and pendulums
Sweat rivulets flowed
Droplets from nose to chin
Fifteen-minute fame increments
Expired somewhere, sometime in 1987
Nobody cared much, to remember when
Hat, raked just right, topped his balding head
Cotton twill shirts with sharp, starched creases
Five-point star, company logo, on each upper sleeve
Pointless, to pump up fading careers
John, preferred to stay in the background
Let others think he was hopelessly mired in the past
What he really wanted to convey
More had been done with less
And still could be

 

 

 

 

 

 

Penny For Your Thoughts

You didn’t have to say it. You were thinking it.

Scientists at MIT developed a wearable electronic device purported to “hear” inner speech. It’s officially called the “Alter Ego” headset.  Billed as an “intelligence enhancement” device.

Electrodes pick up neuro-muscular signals in the jaw, triggered by internal verbalizations–saying words in ‘your head’–but were undetectable to the human eye.

…The signals were sent to a computer that used neural networks to distinguish words…

So far, the system has been used to do fun things like navigating a Roku, asking for the time and reporting your opponent’s moves in chess to get optional countermoves via the computer in utter silence.

…Motivation was to build an IA device–intelligence augmentation device, said MIT grad student and lead author, Arnav Kapur in a statement.

Pardon me for being skeptical.  The “what if” part–what if this were to get in the wrong hands, for the wrong reasons?  It didn’t seem like much of a stretch.  Detected non-verbalized communications are called “subvocalizations.” I would prefer to keep my subvocalizations to myself.

I don’t know about any of you, but I could use more intelligence.  I suppose that if both parties in a conversation were equipped equally, there wouldn’t be much need to communicate out loud.  Your significant other wouldn’t ask, “A penny for your thoughts?” Because they would already know.

Should we watch what we say and think at this point?  Only clean words and thoughts?  Not that we shouldn’t strive for that, anyway.

 

http://www.engadget.com/

Flat Earth Day

In fairness, why not celebrate Flat Earth Day? It would be a day for science deniers everywhere.  Science denying is becoming increasingly popular.  Colorful deflated balloons hung upside down, the perfect decoration.

“Mad” Mike Hughes, has every right to believe as he so chooses.  He recently launched himself in a steam-powered, home-made rocket, to support his belief that the earth is flat. He survived the ordeal. Results of his semi-scientific endeavor have yet to be determined.

What determined which parts of scientific discovery would be denied?  What was the scientific basis behind science deniers?  Would science deniers believe any of it–if there were?

What else remained to be denied?  The field was wide-open.  Newton’s Laws–gravity,  inertia, objects in motion.  There were many unscientific case studies that involved humans, on old AFV and Jackass videos.

“Mad” Mike Hughes may be a flat-earther, but he’s far from crazy.  There haven’t been any anti-gravity enthusiasts so far.  And what would they do?  Walk around with attached weights?

Why haven’t flat-earthers discovered the edges of our planet?  Humans have been on this planet long enough to find out–in my opinion.

 

—image, http://www. golfdigest.com/– 

Leftovers

Who would still be around
To pick up the pieces?
Scrounge through junk
Things, once important
Now, deemed useless
Control, a mere delusion
When that day came
Would there be cussing
And fussing about
Being inconvenienced?
Value judgements faded
About choices made
Sublimated in confusion
Seasoned by musty odors
From paper, books and furniture