January 2006

I got a kick out of THIS post by Brian.

Basically a Kiwi doctor who was trained in Canada converted his medical practice into a high-end brothel because of dwindling demand for his medical services.

So now he can certify his girls as ‘clean’ and then pick up business making sure his clients are std free.

C’mon. It’s funny!

THIS is cool.

Flywheel Energy Storage (FES) works by accelerating a rotor to a very high speed and maintaining the energy in the system as inertial energy. Commercially available FES systems are used for small uninterruptible power systems. The rotors normally operate at 4000 RPM or less and are made of metal. Advanced flywheels are made of high strength carbon-composite filaments that spin at speeds from 20,000-100,000 RPM in a vacuum enclosure. Magnetic bearings are necessary as speeds increase to reduce friction found in conventional mechanical bearings. Quick charging is done in less than 15 minutes. Long lifetimes of most flywheels, plus high energy (~ 130 Wh/kg) and high power are positive attributes. The round trip energy efficiency of flywheels can be as high as 80%. Since FES can store and release power quickly, they have found a niche providing pulsed power.

So last night I went to bed at 7 pm and woke up at 11 am today. It has something to do with the fact that I was a designated driver till 3:30 am on friday and had to be at work by 6:30 on saturday am, where I worked a 10 hour shift.

But anyway, have you ever noticed that a little wave seems to flow through your body right before you wake up? It’s like a sonar flowing through your body that feels good and wakes you up.

I wonder if it’s a chemical or electrical system in your body. I guess biology and human physiology aren’t my forte.

But it’s just weird, that’s all.

Man, the Yanks will love this. A page about Canada’s Ice Roads.

This is an accurate depiction of what travellers to Alberta will face as soon as they cross the Montana border. In Canada, all our roads are made of ice, and sometimes the richer Canadians travel to work in automobiles instead of the more popular dogsled.

I was just wondering - what would happen if you ironed a t-shirt with an iron full of beer?

The results wouldn’t be nearly as interesting as putting a warm can of beer in a paint shaker.

The beer would probably have to be suds-free in order for you to iron a t-shirt with it.

And I’ll bet the shirt would stink.

Man, you could throw the Five-O for a spin by acting all out of control in your beer-ironed shirt and then having them waste their time giving you breathalyzers and making you walk the line.

Yes, that is pretty much my idea of funny.

Finally, I wonder which type of beer smells best when ironed into a t-shirt.

Again, yes, I have an afternoon off and I’m taking full advantage of it by letting my mind take me where it wants to.

I’ve read these before, but it’s time to read them again.

Confounding Questions

1.) Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, “I think I’ll squeeze these dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?”

2.) Who was the first person to say “See that chicken there….I’m gonna eat the next thing that comes outta it’s bum”

3.) Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

4.) Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

5.) If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him?

6.) Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane?

7.) If the professor on Gilligan’s Island can make a radio out of coconut, why can’t he fix a hole in a boat?

8.) Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but don’t point to their crotch when they ask where the bathroom is?

9.) Why does your OB-GYN leave the room when you get undressed if they are going to look up there anyway?

10.) Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They\’re both dogs!

11.) What do you call male ballerinas?

12.) Can blind people see their dreams? Do they dream??

13.) If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that Acme crap,why didn’t he just buy dinner?

14.) If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

15.) If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?

16.) If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

17.) Isn’t Disney World just a people trap operated by a mouse?

18.) Why do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

19.) Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

20.) Why do they call it an asteroid when it’s outside the hemisphere, but call it a hemorrhoid when it’s in your ass?

21.) Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog’s face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he can’t wait to stick his head out the window into the wind?

22.) Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?

Judging from my traffic referrers, plenty of people have taken a sudden interest in sexy Rona Ambrose pics.

Come on now people, she’s a pretty lady, but do you seriously think a federal politician who has a shot at a cabinet position and potentially the party leadership would somehow have racy pics of herself on the internet?

Think.

Respect her for her other talents.

Counterpunch has an article by about how the “Bush War Economy” is impacting the US economy.

I have some common ground, but it’s articles like these that just leave me wondering where some people’s economic thinking comes from.

I’m going to deconstruct the article here.

The Bush War Economy:
Exporting Jobs and Security

By BRUCE K. GAGNON

Ford Motor Company announced On January 23 that it will be cutting as many as 30,000 jobs and will shut down 14 factories as a result of continuing losses.

Ford, now hires about 123,000 workers in North America and lost $5.5 billion in those operations in 2005.

General Motors Corporation last year decided to close all or part of 12 plants and 30,000 jobs in the U.S. by 2008.

With China’s recent introduction of a car selling for $10,000 in the U.S., Ford and GM have hit the wall. They have been building big SUV’s in recent years and now that gas prices are rising dramatically their sales are dropping significantly. The workers on the China car are making $3.50 an hour compared to the good wages and benefits at the unionized auto plants in the U.S.

Ok, so why did these companies downsize? Maybe it has to do with the fact that Fords and Chevys suck. (Chevys less so, and Dodge - don’t get me started on those crapheaps). GM has had losses because they have lost market share. These losses, apparently, came to the SUV market. Geez, could that have anything to do with the high price of oil? Could it have anything to do with the fact that Toyota and Honda have responded by building better, more efficient vehicles?

Man, Asian companies build a better vehicle and suddenly the “Bush Oil Machine” is to blame because consumers demand cars that are better on gas.

So what if Chinese auto workers make $3.50 an hour? The CIA world Fact Book claims the Per Capita Purchase-Power Parity level of GDP in China is around $6,200 US. Now, at $3.50 an hour, 40 hours a week, 50 weeks of the year, a Chinese worker is making $7,000 US per year. But since it’s China, they probably don’t get two weeks worth of vacation and likely put in 80 hour work weeks, which would put a Chinese auto worker at just above $14,000 per year. Man, that probably beats rice farming by a long shot.

Nevetheless, here’s an interesting nugget of insight:

What does this mean for social spending back home? As the job base dries up in the U.S. so will the tax base at the local-state-federal levels. There will increasingly be cuts in social programs. Education will be cut and privatized so that only the children of the rich can afford, without incurring massive debt, a college education. Thus the only real job prospects for many young people will be in the military - endless warriors. Thus the Pentagon’s statement that there will be no need for a draft. When the military is the only job around legions of poor and working class kids will have few other options.

Hmm. Sounds somewhat right.

But this article closes with a classic clincher:

We must fight to have a fair tax system in the U.S. that does not let the rich, powerful, and corporate elite get away with not paying taxes. We must fight for public education and affordable college options for our kids. We must fight to create new jobs in manufacturing sustainable technologies like solar, wind power and public mass transit systems. We must fight for health care for all. And we must escalate our educational work and action now, before it becomes too late.

Man I hate those closings. We must make reality conform to our ideals rather than adapting to it. Reality is whatever we say it is, and if things appear out of line, we must fight. Before it’s too late. You know, before we get sent to the Conservative reeducation camps to manufacture RFID chips for infared surveillance sattelites. Or whatever.

I wish my vomit was worth this much.

News.com.au