Rare Albino Crow

This crow has been seen the last few days around my neighborhood. It was in my backyard this evening along with three others. A gray crow it turns out is not that weird.

Some more photos at my flickr feed here.

Robot Twitter Movie

The latest random Twitter xtranormal movie. This time with robots. Also a gratuitous Jon and Kate Plus 8 reference.

Iran Claims Ability To Reverse Engineer Old U.S. Missile System

The Iranian Government claims that they have reversed engineered the old U.S. area surface-to-air missile system the HAWK. This is a Army and Marine Corps weapon that was rapidly replaced by the PATRIOT in the Eighties. Not that it wasn't an effective or state-of-the-art system in the day but it has been many decades since it was something the U.S. wanted to use.

Probably this is based on old equipment the Shah had bought many a year ago. As to whether it will provide an effective defense against modern U.S. attack aircraft remains to be seen. I would presume not.

Call of Duty Four Chernobyl Mission

If you have ever played Call of Duty Four here is the google map view of the hotel where you do the sniper mission near Chernobyl.



The portico to the right is instantly recognizable.

Technology and Music

One forgets how fast technology has changed over the last thirty years. I bought a computer in 1992 with a 100 Megabyte hard drive. Now I have four Gigabytes of RAM. (Memory is RAM!!).

If you look back at early attempts to work multimedia into music and concerts, kind of occurring with the rise of MTV, you see lasers and projectors and things like that.

If you watch this:



You realize why it was so cool at that time; and still is today.

Latest Thunderstorm Video

Dark night with some lightning.

Another Twitter Movie

My latest and greatest twitter movie.

AP Violates Family's Privacy In Story About Privacy Being Violated

In a charming story about how a family in St. Louis Christmas photo ended up as a display ad in the Czech Republic the Associate Press includes a photo of the picture. So now not just a few thousand Czech people were able to see it but also millions of people across the world.

I won't link the story as the AP is paranoid about it but it should be easy to find. Just google "Xmas pic mysteriously becomes storefront ad".

Also make sure you choose the right policy on Flickr for your photos.

Boston Globe To Pass Gently Into The Good Night

Well, sort of. I guess that one billion dollars the New York Times threw at the The Boston Globe a few years ago didn't get them much. Reportedly now the Times is looking to sell the Globe. Maybe the Union will buy it and we will see how long it lasts.

It is also reported that Pinch told the Union to take the twenty-three percent pay cut despite their begging that he be a "mensch". Hey, if that doesn't illustrate how out-of-touch those Union writers with the non-firing clause are then nothing really will.

So here is a song for the Globe.

Supreme Court Not Allowed To Rule On TARP?

I have studied a bit on the Constitution and Bill of Rights but I am no legal expert but I find it hard to believe that the Supreme Court does not have the right to review and judge the TARP legislation and its implementation by the Executive Branch. That is what the Obama Administration argued unsuccessfully today in trying to prevent the hold place on the sale of Chrysler to Fiat as part of its bankruptcy.

The argument was that not only did the Pension Funds who were creditors not have standing but the fact that the TARP was used to give money to car companies rather then banks couldn't be reviewed either. The argument made was that move was in the national interest to protect against "disrupting the stability of the Nation’s economy and financial markets.”

I guess Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg didn't buy it.

Whan All Blogging Is Vanity Blogging

This is my vanity blog. Hence the fact that maybe six people read it and most come through for my link to Bluegear.com's post on making a California legal AR-15. It seems to be a a hot topic -- making a California legal AR-15 that is.

There is an ongoing kerfuffle in the Blogosphere because the National Review Online's Ed Whelan outed an anonymous blogger who had criticized him. Personally I blog anonymous here just because -- I blog professionally under my real name elsewhere.

Now if you look at Memeorandum at around 1921 EDT this is what you will see:



So the topic of the outing has become one of those things where people discuss and link back and forth. Why the outing occurred probably is not so important as the fact. I would think, though, that if you were worried about your blogging affecting your employment you might not want to do it.

Failed US Mayor Quarantined In China

The soon to be unelected Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, has been quarantined in China due to Swine Flue suspicions. How his trip to China with his wife will help develop the economy of New Orleans I am not sure.

On top of this whenever he is allowed to leave China he will be heading to Australia to make a speech. Why is it politicians across the world treat each other like Royalty?

Sounds like a boondoggle trip to me and probably at the New Orleans' population expense as well.

Google Trends And Hits

If you don't know I write two blogs related to government contracting and spending. I wrote a post this morning about how Congress is looking at saving the F-22 Raptor advanced fighter recommended for cancellation by Obama through foriegn sales. The post, Congress Using The Defense Budget To Try To Save The F-22, can be found here.

According to Google Trends the F-22 is the 8th hottest topic right now. (See picture below). My article is number one for news articles and number three for blog posts. I guess Google is confused as to what BNET: Government is about. It will be interesting to see what kind of hits I get. Unfortunately I won't know that until tomorrow.

Twitter and Revenue

Personally I have a hard time seeing how Twitter will be monetized. Obviously the founders of the company do too. They were quoted at a recent conference as stating "We don't know." when asked when the company will make money.

That is cool as long as they are not going out and trying to get money invested in them. If I were investing in a company and their business plan, at least in public, was "I don't know" I think I would hesitate a few moments before writing the cheque.

Oh, you can follow me at Twitter here.