Clickege

Book Review: Graveland

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 06:16:00 +0000

By Alan Glynn

400 Pages

$9 Kindle Edition
$12 (approx.) Paperback

Brought to you by Barnes and Noble

Alan Glynn is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I first encountered his writing in Bloodland, still one of my favorite books of all time.

After some research I learned that Bloodland was actually a sort of sequel to another book, Winterland, which was also pretty amazing.

(Alan Glynn also wrote the book which was the basis for the movie Limitless, by the way.)

I had incredibly high expectations for Graveland, which I'm assuming will be the final book in the -land series.

(Minor Winterland and Bloodland spoilers follow)
Winterland and Bloodland follow the same basic story structure. There is a murder in the opening pages. Then you are quickly introduced to the rest of the characters, all loosely connected in some way. It becomes apparent very quickly who is behind the murder, but not why. The fun of both books is watching the "good guys" slowly find out who is behind the murder and why, while also seeing what the bad guys due next.

It's a great structure, but like Dan Brown did with his third Langdon book, Glynn changed things up a bit for the third book.

(Minor Graveland spoilers follow)
This time there is more than one murder, and the reader is in the dark about both the murderer and the motive. Plus the characters are much less connected, at least at first.

The first half of the book is incredible. The tension is high and there are several oh crap moments. Glynn's writing style in the first half is on par with Bloodland and Winterland. That is, incredible. His style is probably the best I've ever read, though that may just be because it's so similar to my style.

Halfway through, the story reaches its climax. The separate characters come crashing together and it's amazing, exciting, and wonderful. Then the second half kind of drags out and becomes amazingly, stupidly predictable (except for a nice, final twist at the end).

Throughout all three -land books, there has been a constant "bad guy" vaguely behind everything. This is supposed to be the book where he finally gets whats coming for him. But, if you had never read Bloodland or Winterland, you wouldn't even understand that he is a bad guy. He does absolutely nothing remotely evil in this book. He's just an old guy about to retire.
The second half also made me realize that the new characters introduced in this book (basically all of them) are much flatter than the characters in his previous novels, which were dynamic, round, and plenty of other adjectives as well. Even the big bad guy from the previous two books is made into more of a monochrome character with only one real goal.

The second half of the story, while pretty predictable, is still somewhat compelling and interesting, especially towards the very end, but it's dragged out way too long. At the absolute most it should have been a quarter of the book, but preferably much less than that.

Overall, Graveland is still an excellent book. The first half of the book easily gets 4.5 stars (out of 5, obviously), but the second half really drags it down. If you've read Winterland and Bloodland (and even Limitless, aka The Dark Fields, which gets a nice, sort of awkward, reference towards the end) then you absolutely need to read this novel.
If you haven't read the previous two, you'd likely be confused about who the bad guy is, since he's just a sort of rude old man in this book. I highly suggest you go back and read Winter and Blood first.

3.7/5

Also brought to you by Audible, basically the best place ever to get amazing audiobooks . I highly suggest both The Great Gatsby and A Game of Thrones.

Now There's a Picture of Mars with Over a Billion Pixels

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:19:00 +0000

Because science can't be stopped, NASA has compiled a picture of the surface of mars with over a billion pixels, 1.3 billion to be exact. The photo you see on the right is a much smaller crop of said photo.

This is the first photo from the surface with over one billion pixels, and its made from about 850 exposures from Curiosity stitched together.
The first NASA-produced view from the surface of Mars larger than one billion pixels stitches together nearly 900 exposures taken by cameras onboard Curiosity and shows details of the landscape along the rover's route.

The 1.3-billion-pixel image is available for perusal with pan and zoom tools here, and a scaled down, but still huge version (~159MB) is available for direct download here.

Watch Russell Brand Make Three Professional News People Incredibly Uncomfortable

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:10:00 +0000

A Humorous Case of Spam Comments

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:00:00 +0000

Comments on the Internet are notoriously sucky, and spam comments are even worse. I've seen all sorts of bad spam here on Clickege, usually with long paragraphs full of bad english and no punctuation followed by a "my blog:: {Insert crappy title here}" link.

Today I witnessed a particularly funny spam comment. It simply said "hmm you write good word your blog thanks." followed by a link to some crappy spam site. Thanks spambot, I do write good word my blog, dog.

I don't know why, but I just love this comment. It's just... so short and so bad and... it's great. It made me sad to crush it with my mighty spam smashing administrative powers.

Anyways, story time is over. Go back to pondering the future of US/Iran/Taliban relations under new President Hamid Karzai.

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 02:25:00 +0000

Watch This Russian Subway Without Doors

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 02:12:00 +0000

If you've been on a subway then you're familiar with the loud and repedative "doors are closing" warnings. Then you're told to not lean on the doors.

In Russia that last point was apparently a big problem, because they went to the extreme to prevent it: they eliminated the doors.

A Red Line metro train in St. Petersburg recently suffered a malfunction that prevented its doors from closing. Instead of delaying or doing anything to fix it, they just went on using the train.

Most of the passengers didn't seem to mind because, again, Russia.

Steve Jobs Talks About His Legacy in This Never Before Seen Footage

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:58:00 +0000

The Silicon Valley Historical Association is now selling an hour long documentary built around a 20 minute interview they did with Steve Jobs in 1994. None of the interview has previously been shown to the public, but now you can buy the full interview here, or the documentary here. Plus, they've released a pretty interesting 2 minute clip to the general public for free.

In the clip Jobs talks about his legacy and the work he's done. I'd explain it further, but you should just go watch it now since it's only two minutes long and it's right below.

John McAfee Verifies He is Insane, Awesome

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:59:00 +0000

The man who founded the company behind the McAfee Security software decided today to address how annoying his software has become. Even though he hasn't been involved with the company for 15 years, he still gets emails asking how to uninstall the now incredibly annoying software.
So today released this video explaining how to uninstall the software. Be warned, it is hilarious.

For an amazing look into the insane mind of McAfee read this great piece by Wired. This guy is just...

Late Night Jokes: Ralph Nader Found, Hoffa Still Missing, Man of Steel

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:04:00 +0000

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

In a new interview, Ralph Nader said there has never been a bigger con man in the White House than Barack Obama. Can you believe that? Ralph Nader is still alive!
Nestlé has launched a new premium water called "Resource." They say it is made specifically for a woman who is a little on the trendy side and the higher income side. "Resource" sounds so much better than tap water for women who are really rich and stupid.
Have you seen the ads for Endure, a cool towel? They show people sitting in the sun with the thing around their neck, rubbing their faces in it. In each ad they say the towel uses a proprietary fabric technology that activates when wet to cool a person off. So in other words, it's a towel! All towels do that.
"Man of Steel" is the No. 1 movie. I love how cool Superman's parents were. They knew he was different, but they downplayed it. They didn't want him to be treated special. Imagine if Superman was a kid today. His parents would drag him to school, saying "Our Clark has a kryptonite allergy. He'll need special meals."

Late Show with David Letterman

This story comes up about twice a year. They think they have located the body of Jimmy Hoffa, the former Teamsters union leader, after 40 years of being dead. Nothing on the NSA whistle-blower, but we think we know where Jimmy Hoffa is.
The cops in Michigan are digging up a field to find Jimmy Hoffa. We'll let you know just as soon as they find nothing.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the guy who made "Death to America" a popular slogan. Now his successor, a moderate guy named Rohani, doesn't believe in death to America. He believes in lingering illness to America.
This Rohani guy has promised that he will boldly lead Iran into the 14th century.

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Earlier tonight was the big season finale of "The Voice." It was so exciting. I'm glad that guy or girl won.
Congratulations, winner of "The Voice." That's right, whoever you are. I'm sure this year's winner will turn out to be just as big as last year's winner — Cassidy Pope.
That's who won last year, Cassidy Pope. I've never heard his or her music. Maybe it's good. But Cassidy Pope sounds like a TV show about a cowboy who rides into the Vatican, becomes Pope, and solves crimes.

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

The Senate’s new immigration bill is apparently more than a thousand pages long and weighs 24 pounds. Some critics say the bill is too long for the average American to read before it's approved, while some senators are saying that's the point.
The immigration bill is more than a thousand pages long. That doesn’t sound like an immigration bill. That sounds like a menu at The Cheesecake Factory.
A new study found that volunteering can actually reduce the risk of heart problems. Which would be awesome news if it didn't also reduce the risk of having a fun Saturday.
Dunkin' Donuts is redesigning its stores so that customers will want to sit down and relax — because if there's one thing that goes through my mind when I see Dunkin’ Donuts customers, it's, “These people need to move around LESS.”

Real Time with Bill Maher

Obama decided we're going to arm the rebels in Syria. Yes! This is why I voted for Obama in the first place, so he could carry out McCain's bad ideas.
The great news about getting into another war in the Middle East is that the next one's free.
Syrian President Assad crossed a red line. He used chemicals weapons. Using harmful chemicals to hurt your own people – who does he think he is, Monsanto?
Bill Clinton has been acting weird lately. I don't know why, but it started the day Michael Douglas said you can get cancer from cunnilingus.
The NSA whistleblower revealed himself – Edward Snowden, a 29-yer-old high school dropout computer nerd with a pole-dancing girlfriend, who says he can wiretap anyone in the world, including the president. I find this shocking. A computer nerd with a girlfriend?
This is the same surveillance that was happening under Bush, but under Obama it's somehow a huge outrage on the right. Republican didn't care about Big Brother until we elected a big brotha.
The politics on this are all scrambled up. You talk about strange bedfellows. Dianne Feinstein and John Boehner are together on this. They say (Snowden) is a traitor. Michael Moore and Glenn Beck are together on this. They say he's a hero. This is Republicans' worst nightmare. They don't know who to hate. They hate Obama but they love spying. It's like hearing an illegal immigrant had an abortion.

Comedian Argus Hamilton

Washington D.C. will host a event in August marking the fiftieth anniversary of Martin Luther King's speech on the Mall urging an end to discrimination. We've come a long way. Fifty years later, regardless of race, creed or color, every American is spied on equally.
Man of Steel was a huge box office hit Sunday starring Henry Cavill as Superman. The actors playing Superman, Batman and Spiderman are all from Britain. The Republican Party is just a constitutional amendment away from nominating Prince Harry for president.
President Obama agreed to arm Syrian rebels Friday. The U.S. backs the rebels, who include al-Qaeda, but Russia and Iran back Syria, including Hezbollah. Obama decided to take sides in the conflict after Chicago sued Syria for doing its act on the news every night.

Water Isolated for One Billion Years Tastes Bad

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 06:58:00 +0000

The water in question looked nothing like this.
It's just here to break up the text and make the page look better.

Imagine a bottle of water. Now imagine it sitting outside in the sun for several weeks. Then imagine drinking the water.

It probably wouldn't taste that great.

Now put that water in an underground cave and isolate it from the atmosphere for at least a billion years.

A paper published in Nature last month spoke of some water that had been trapped 1.5 miles below the Earth's surface in Canada for a long while. Based on the isotopes of natural gases in the water, it's been down there for between 1 and 2.64 billion years, just slightly younger than the rocks around it. For maybe half as long as the Earth's entire existence, this water has been sealed away, unexposed to the atmosphere.

So it should be all fresh and natural and great right!?

Not really. According to an interview in the Los Angeles Times, Barbara Sherwood Lollar, one of the paper's authors, has tasted it, and it was "terrible," she reports.

Here's her description of what it looks like:

What jumps out at you first is the saltiness. Because of the reactions between the water and the rock, it is extremely salty. It is more viscous than tap water. It has the consistency of a very light maple syrup. It doesn't have color when it comes out, but as soon as it comes into contact with oxygen it turns an orangy color because the minerals in it begin to form -- especially the iron.

While I wouldn't be clambering to taste something that tastes like that, Lollar did it anyway. For science.

Lollar is also looking for life in the billion-year-old water. "The water has the same kind of energy that supports the microbial life found near deep-sea vents and in the South African gold mine," she the LA Times's Deborah Netburn, "We have shown these waters are habitable. The next question is whether or not they are inhabited."

And if they are, the question will become what's living there and when did it arrive. (My guess? Aliens.)

We'll have to wait for the answer though. It's going to be a year before Lollar's team will be able to give an answer to that one.

Source

Obama and Putin Being Awkward and Slightly Ominous at G8

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 06:10:00 +0000

While at G8 Obama and Putin sat down for some quality friendship time, and it wasn't awkward at all, as demonstrated by this first picture.
Then things got slightly ominous as Putin whispered the secret to the universe in Obama's ear and then seductively motioned for him to keep it a secret. Or maybe they were just joking around about nuclear launch codes. Either way, the picture is pretty great.

So The Lego Movie is Happening

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 05:38:00 +0000

Because theaters are too full of movies about hangovers and Superman, Warner Brothers is planning on releasing The Lego Movie next year. For real, there's an official trailer out now and everything. The movie will be about Lego characters saving the world, because why not?
The movie is apparently all CGI, but edited in a way that makes it look like stop motion, which seems like its kind of over complicating things.

But anyways, here's the trailer, complete with Morgan Freeman and Batman jokes.

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:37:00 +0000

Late Night Jokes: Fun on Father's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:57:00 +0000

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

A 97-year-old man from New York who just received his high school diploma. Turns out there’s a problem. Apparently he’s only reading at a 95-year-old level.
Yesterday President Obama spoke at the LGBT pride month celebration at the White House. He promised that as long as he is president, all Americans, regardless of their sexual orientation, will be spied on equally.
Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old guy behind this NSA spy scandal, said in an interview that he is not in hiding. Which would have carried a lot more weight if he hadn’t made the announcement from an undisclosed secret location.
The Taliban is now recruiting women to become suicide bombers. And it's not easy to qualify. The women must be able to push a car loaded with explosives because, as you know, they're not allowed to drive over there.
Father’s Day congratulations to Kanye West, who is a new father. Kim Kardashian gave birth to a baby girl. Kim was in labor for six hours, thus marking the first time the words Kardashian and labor have ever been used together in the same sentence.
The doctor said when he slapped Kim's baby, he regretted that he couldn't slap the entire family.
Kim says she wants to keep the baby out of the public eye. In fact, the E! network is developing a new show called, "Keeping the Baby Out of the Public Eye With the Kardashians."
This day marks the 42nd anniversary of the war on drugs. Today our partners in Mexico observed it with a moment of silence followed by hours of laughter.

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

A big movie is opening today — "Man of Steel." People in Hollywood are saying it could make $100 million this weekend. To give you an idea how much that is, take the amount of money that the new Will Smith movie made and add $100 million.
Superman is played by Henry Cavil, who is British. I'm not sure why all our iconic American figures are being played by foreigners. We've got a Superman from Britain, a Batman from Britain, a Spider-Man from Britain, and a president from Kenya.
As far as I'm concerned, Christopher Reeve will always be the best Superman. Just like Sean Connery will always be the best James Bond. I'd love to see Superman played by Sean Connery. He could just shave an 'S' into his chest hair.
Over the weekend Kanye West and Kim Kardashian had a baby girl, or as they call it, a spin-off. The birth was witnessed by friends, family, and 150 cameramen.
Scientists say that by the year 2045 we can all be immortal. It involves putting your brain into a robot. But why do we need to figure out how we will live forever? Can't we just ask Larry King?
This immortality technology sounds like a contemporary search for the Fountain of Youth. Ponce de Léon, the Spanish explorer, searched for the Fountain of Youth in the 16th century. Nobody knows if he ever found it, but he died in 1521. So I'm guessing no.
Scientists say the key to preserving immortality is the brain. Just my luck. The one part of my body I need to preserve is the one I spent my youth actively destroying.

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

President Obama is traveling to Africa later this month, and it's got some people upset because the trip is expected to cost taxpayers more than 60 million dollars. It's mostly for security, hotel accommodations — plus Biden wants a giraffe.
Last night the Democrats beat Republicans 22-0 in the Congressional Baseball Game. Yeah, the Republicans were so bad at baseball, that today they're starting to rethink immigration.
Ever since the government’s spying scandal was exposed, sales of the novel “1984” have jumped 6,000 percent on Amazon. Yeah, “1984” shows how scary it would be if society tracked everything you do. And if you want to read it, just buy it on a website that tracks everything you do.
On Saturday, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West welcomed their new baby girl. Yeah, today I saw Kanye wearing a shirt that says “World’s Greatest Dad.” He didn't get it as a gift. He just bought it for himself.
Kim says that she's just glad the baby is healthy, happy, and was born before Kate Middleton's baby.
During an interview, a UFC fighter referred to LeBron James as a dork. When he heard that, LeBron said, “Would a dork wear a headband, a shirt tucked into his shorts, and knee-high socks?”

Late Show with David Letterman

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are parents of a baby girl. Does it have any chance at a normal life? Here's what they should do. They should put her in a rocket and launch her to another planet, and hope she's discovered by Ma and Pa Kent.
The new Superman movie, "Man of Steel," is a different look at Superman. It's about Superman's struggles as a guy. I guess we all knew this, but I didn't realize how tough it was — he's kryptonite intolerant.
Do you remember the evil dictator of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? They had elections and he's out. And you thought Ahmadinejad was in a bad mah-mood before. He's really in a bad mah-mood now.
Edward Snowden is the guy who leaked all of the NSA secrets. He had a 98-minute press conference today and yet they can't find the guy. This is the biggest manhunt since Martha Stewart started online dating.

Comedian Argus Hamilton

The Man of Steel's premiere Thursday was used by pro-immigrant groups to say that Superman is an illegal alien. It's true. His spaceship landed in a Kansas cornfield, and thank goodness there was a pushcart nearby where a guy was selling fake birth certificates.
Miami's Shuckers Bar and Grill collapsed into Biscayne Bay Thursday while wealthy South Beach patrons were partying and watching the playoff game. No one who fell in the Bay drowned but the damage was ten million dollars. Apparently, the cocaine got wet.
President Obama agreed to arm the Syrian rebels Friday. The U.S. will try to arm good rebels and not al-Qaeda rebels fighting Russia-backed Syria and Iran-backed Hezbollah. He's been looking three years for something more complicated and impossible than health care.
President Obama flew to Northern Ireland for the Group of Eight summit Sunday. He conferred with Allies on Syria's civil war, terrorism, the spread of nuclear weapons and Europe's currency crisis. It's the first peaceful Sunday he's had since the IRS scandal broke.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported the white population declined by twelve thousand people last year. Whites will be a minority sooner than expected. Republicans could just kick themselves for appointing all those judges who are opposed to affirmative action.

Snoozing Bank Worker Mistakenly Transfers $300M

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:14:00 +0000

A weary German bank worker was in the process of transferring 62.40 euros when he fell asleep for an "instant." In his unconscious state he pushed the number 2 key, leading him to instead transfer 222,222,222.22 euros, or about 296,622,221.93 USD

The goof occurred last April, but recently came to light in court. His error, which was eventually spotted, led to his supervisor, who didn't pick up on the error and okayed the transaction, getting sacked.

She took her case to labor court, and the judges yesterday ruled in her favor, saying there was no malice on her part and that a reprimand was the appropriate punishment.

Lesson: Move the keyboard before falling asleep at work.

Where Does Your Cat Go All Day?

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 07:15:00 +0000

Science is picking up the slack and answering the hard questions now. Questions like "Does this look infected?" and "Where does my cat go all day?"

Researchers at the Royal Veterinary College, which sounds like it could be full off all sorts of stuck up "royal" vets who think they're real doctors, loaded a group of cats in Shamley Green, Surrey, with cameras and GPS trackers to figure out how house cats spend their days.

A man named Doctor Professor Alan Wilson, who probably owns no less than 15 cats, led the project. Although GPS tracking has been used to track the movement of wild cats,Wilson explains in an article for the BBC that it hasn't been used on domestic cats. He even says that we know less about certain aspects of domestic cat behavior than we do about wild cats'.
So Wilson and his team outfitted the cats with lightweight GPS trackers that recorded data only when the cat was in motion, and itty bitty cameras.

One of the interesting things they learned about the cats of Shamley Green is that they appear to "time share" territory, ranging into overlapping territory at different times of the day to avoid territorial conflicts. This is similar to what men do with urinals in the restroom.
They also tended to stay within the confines of the village, rarely venturing into the surrounding countryside.

The BBC has more in-depth data on each cat and some video from the tiny cameras, and you should ttoatlly check it out unless you have something better to do, which I somehow doubt you do.

Watch a Dog Close a Door to Avoid a Bath

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 06:37:00 +0000

To distract you from the government spying on you, the clashes in Istanbul, the G20 spying, the pope blessing motorcyclists and the other terribly depressing events gracing the headlines, here's a nice little video of a dog being clever to avoid a bath. Plus, the titles in Russian, so that's good!*

*According to Google Translate the title translates to "Dog doors otkryvaka." I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that something is wrong there...

A Valid Point

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 06:06:00 +0000

What's on TV Tonight? Sunday June 16

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 17:42:00 +0000

Settle down and watch some TV with dad.

Brought to you by the great folks at Hulu.

The Killing on AMC at 9/8c New
The new hour of the fantastic show, The Killing.

Falling Skies on TNT at 9/8c New
A pretty great scifi show from TNT. Season two ended with a great, twist ending, and the premiere last week was very good.

Veep on HBO at 10/9c New
Veep is a very underrated comedy. It follows the vice president as she tries to get real things accomplished, but she's often hindered by the stupidity of congress, and even her own staff. I highly suggest it.

Friends Marathon on TVLand at 7/6c 11 Hour Marathon
It's 11 hours of friends, going until 5 in the morning. If you don't watch it all you are a disappointment to man kind.

Also on: Nurse Jackie, Inspector Lewis - Series Six, True Blood, Mad Men, The Borgias, Family Tree, The Venture Bros.

Sponsored: Ice Road Truckers on History at 10/9c
Battle for Winter Road Supremacy. Watch Full Episodes at HISTORY by clicking here.

Brought to you by Hulu Plus. Get network and some cable shows next day, streaming on your phone, tablet, gaming device or TV! Plus get back seasons of all your favorite shows and even some classic movies and originals (I highly suggest the Hulu Original, Battleground).

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 06:15:00 +0000

Now one of my two favorite quotes of all time, along with this one.

More Than Half of Senate Skips NSA Briefing

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 06:14:00 +0000

This ominous and scary building is actually just an NSA super spy HQ.

Because the government doing all sorts of sketchy, sort of illegal warrantless spying on their own people just isn't that big off a deal, 53 members of the Senate just didn't show up to a briefing on the matter.

Remember when Obama assured us last week that the government's surveillance programs are safeguarded and members of Congress " have been consistently informed on exactly what we’re doing"?

Only 47 senators attended a briefing on the government's classified security programs, led by NSA head Keith Alexander and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Thursday according to The Hill.

The other 53? Well, they wanted to fly back home for a long Father's Day weekend. Which is all nice and dandy, but still... it seems like the total lose of privacy may be a little bit more important than an early start to your Father's Day weekend.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein is not happy. "It’s hard to get this story out," she says. "Even now we have this big briefing, we’ve got Alexander, we’ve got the FBI, we’ve got the Justice Department, we have the FISA Court there, we have Clapper there, and people are leaving.”

Maybe if they gave out little gift bags to everyone who shows up...

Steve Wozniak Talks iOS 7 and the NSA

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 06:10:00 +0000

Woz is the kind of guy who'll talk to you about whatever, whenever and wherever. Some people recently talked to him in an airport about iOS 7 and the whole NSA thing. He has some really good points and is (as always) generally an awesome guy.

The Average Color of the Universe

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 06:01:00 +0000

This could be the most interesting thing you never knew you didn't know.
In 2001 a team at John Hopkins calculated that the average color in the universe was a greenish-blue. They then corrected themselves in 2002: the actual average color is the color on the right, deemed "cosmic latte."

u/nearlyNon on Reddit explained the process like he would to an eight year old: "Stars make light. Light gets messed up if it goes too far. Scientists fixed (the) light and then put all the light together to get the color the universe makes when you put all the light colors together like if you looked at two colors of paint next to each other from far away."

I'm going to go off and paint everything in my house this color now.

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 05:00:00 +0000

Search for Missing Mac and Cheese Ends With Stabbing

noreply@blogger.com (Logan) — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 04:58:00 +0000

It's a classic story. Brother's like mac and cheese. Mac and cheese goes missing. Brother stabs brother. In fact, the story was once portrayed by Marlon Brando and Al Pacino in the little known film The Godfather.

Hopefully it was the good macaroni that looks like this,
not the crappy cheap kind.

Obviously these events took place in Florida, where mac and cheese is as sacred as the cow is in India. Randy Zipperer*, 49, was looking for his missing macaroni and cheese when his 47-year old brother Edward joined in the search. Edward then made the mistake of spilling Randy's beer, which is never a good thing.

The combined stress of a spilled beer and missing macaroni just pushed Randy over the edge. The two got in a fight which ended with Randy stabbing Edward in the stomach.

But, as any guy talking to elementary schoolers about bullying can tell you, Randy said that he "didn't mean it, I was just kidding."

Actually, he said that he just "poked him a little with the knife." This quote reminds me of the original Llamas with Hats. If you don't know that reference you don't Internet enough.

Edward Zipperer had a "small" puncture wound, and deputies recovered a 6-inch knife with blood on the tip. Randy Zipperer remained in the Volusia County Jail early today. He faces an aggravated battery charge and an awkward reunion with his brother.

*Their last names sounds like a little kid who is proud he zipped his own jacket. "I'm the zipperer!"