Hog Brain

Dyson DC 14... Many Prototypes Later...

2007-12-14T10:52:00.000-05:00

Over 2000 prototypes later... oh err is that 3000 prototypes ... oh bugger!! I thought to myself: Self: "Poppycock." Anyways, I then said to myself: Self: "I finally have it!, EUREKA and a lot of wish wash like that." I probably could have finished a long time ago if I wasn't so EXCEEDINGLY smug about by prototype count, but oh well. Here it is, deeply discounted, THE most interesting, bag free, dust-free, suction free (in fact) vacuum free vacuum to hit the market. That's right folks, ready and available to do your dirty work all the while maintaining that stylish, Apple computer approach to the Vacuum. Dyson truly is the Apple computer of the Vacuum industry...

or something...

iPhone Overvalued?

2007-12-13T10:04:00.000-05:00

In a brilliant move by Apple today they have announced a $100 rebate for early iPhone owners! Woo Hoo and a w00tty toot toot. What the hell happened you ask?

Perhaps Apple was worried their now super popular phone wouldn't sell so well, then when it did they simply back peddled (see http://www.apple.com/iphone/storecredit/) to account for that whole supply & demand thing. You know, since many many people wanted the iPhone but Apple was asking for an ASTRONOMICAL price for the damned gadget, their truly brilliant business analysts determined they could make MORE money if they dropped the price and opened the door for more reasonable buyers. Don't you love economics? Anyway, if you were one of those "Early Adopters" enjoy your rebate! You earned it!

Ike Turner

2007-12-13T00:20:00.000-05:00

Ike Turner died Wednesday 12/11/2007 at the age of 76. May he rest in peace.

http://www.iketurner.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ike_Turner
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/arts/music/13turner.html
http://musicstore.connect.com/artist/524/Ike-Turner/30033214.html
http://www.amazon.com/Takin-Back-My-Name-Confessions/dp/1852278501

w00t Becomes Stuff of Legend

2007-12-12T08:35:00.000-05:00

I was walking to work (New York City) this morning and I saw "w00t" roll by on a building news scroller. This strange hybrid word seemingly related to an owl is officially going into the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary. So the word is to be used as an expression of accomplishment and started within the online gaming community. For example: Your Halo 3 character just crept up on your best friend and shot him in the back... "w00t" would be the appropriate response. Clearly the English language will continue mutating into a very bizarre conglomeration of hybrid (i.e. fugly see http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fugly) words which will be used to reduce the time needed to communicate. I think the biggest driver behind the acceptance of these condensed terms are children. You see them in person, on commercials & television texting thier friends, gaming and using thier code language. Once enough people do something (I'd venture to say anything!) its only a matter of time before it becomes mainstream. Fine arts, rock and roll, hip hop, philosophy, theater, punk rock and the list goes on; they all started out with a small community and were eventually indoctrinated into the entire community and accepted to a certain degree. Now we see this pattern being followed with the online community crafted words. We also see these new words popping up from street lingo like "Bling-Bling" which actually is in the dictionary. Nonetheless, chalk one up for the online community here because today they are recognized!!! Woot!

Black-Eyed Susans

2007-12-11T15:55:00.000-05:00

Its a strange thing to combine the livelihood of an animal with the opportunity for quick and dirty money. The horse never had a chance and few who attend care. Its truly a play on humanity's amazing ability for selective empathy. We build vast network's of animal shelters to provide homes for the forgotten or rejected pets and capitalize on the athleticism of the poor horse. I think there is a direct relationship between letting the conscience slide (or sliding down with it) and making money. In fact, its so true its a cliche'. Its sad to me that the "American Dream" is wrapped up in this and the closer we come to achieving that dream the more we contribute to the negligence of others. The question being: How do we make money watching the horses just run around aimlessly in a field? We must control them if we want that cash. Perhaps the kitty cat stadiums will open soon and we can bet on the prowess of the feline while sipping a glass of pinot and talking about how terrible global warming has become.

Linked

2007-12-11T13:37:00.000-05:00

I like all of these mini networked environments that have popped up over the years. It seems the depths of the Internet grow without bounds. Think of all the tiny sub nets that must exist. I think that linked in may someday assimilate the human population. Like a big bubble gum wrapper around all the little hog heads out there that were trusting enough to give their information to all of these conglomerates to do as they see fit. You really (yeah you) must wonder what their data is going to be used for in the future. Think of the data mining possibilities. Wicked scary gargantuan (at least rather large) brother stuff. Yeah.

Science Gone Bonkers With Studies???

2007-12-11T12:51:00.000-05:00

These days it appears that science and the media have teamed up to spoon you your next helping of theoretical goodness. After reading this article (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071211-human-evolution.html) I now believe that human evolution is actually speeding up! Don’t you? Well? Hmm? Well, I wonder how solid the old data on human evolution really is?

We look for parts of chromosomes that are common in the population but are new, and if they are common but recent, they must have gotten to high frequency by selection

Just a few questions about accuracy in this whole hair-brained (not hog brained) idea:

Population’s pool, thin, condense, expand and cover the range of geographic possibilities. How do you know your sample means anything?
Recent on what scale?
High frequency is quite subjective.. how do you know?

This is the problem folks. We have a long way to go to determine the most basic aspects of humanity, let alone how we actually got to where we are. Hey at least humankind’s science lets us fail infinitely and hold our successes up like a well polished lucky penny.