Perfectly Petersen

Remember Rubik’s Cube?

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My wife and I watched [tag]The Pursuit of Happyness[/tag] with Will Smith a few weeks ago. In it, Will’s character solves a [tag]Rubik’s Cube[/tag] to impress a big-wig, and that took me back to my youth. I can proudly say that I was alive and cognizant of my existence when they hit the shelves in the early 80s, but I wasn’t really up to actually solving it. I just enjoyed playing with it.

I decided that I wanted to get a Rubik’s Cube and see how much fun it is as an adult. I’ve found all kinds of sites and videos and tools since then. I ordered one from Wal-Mart online for in-store delivery, which I should get tomorrow or sometime this weekend. Until then, I’ve got these links and stuff:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubik%27s_cube

http://www.ryanheise.com/cube/speed.html

http://thearufam.brinkster.net/cube/cubeapplet.asp?type=Generator&alg=F2U%27R%27LF2RL%27U%27F2

The Way it Is

I’m a tad late on the Friday Funny, or we can call this one Wacky for my Wednesday post. Nothing funny crossed my desk until this from a dear friend:

When our lawn mower broke and wouldn’t run, my wife kept hinting to me that I should get it fixed. But, somehow I always had something else to take care of first, the truck, the car, playing golf - always something more important to me.

Finally she thought of a clever way to make her point. When I arrived home one day, I found her seated in the tall grass, busily snipping away with a tiny pair of sewing scissors. I watched silently for a short time and then went into the house. I was gone only a minute, and when I came out again I handed her a toothbrush.

I said, “When you finish cutting the grass, you might as well sweep the driveway.”

The doctors say I will walk again, but I will always have a limp.

Moral to this story: Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right, and the other is the husband!

Under the Condition of Anonymity

What is going on with this trend of people in sensitive positions “leaking” to the press whatever they feel like for any number of reasons? Not a week, and sometimes a day, passes without a big to semi-huge news story about the administration, the war, the situation within a major corporation, or an industry being pushed by the media with all kinds of unsubstantiated “facts” that were passed on anonymously?

When did journalism start taking this new course? I can’t imagine anyone getting a degree in journalism by passing off dozens of articles written about what is in their best interests (getting a good grade) without digging up sources and citing verifiable facts. I could be a journalist if that was all readers required.

I was fed up with poll-driven news long ago, but this is taking lazy writing to the next level. Now you don’t even need to provide a name, organization, or data to pass off a story to the world under a major news label, thus giving the piece credibility. Stories need to have 2-3 separate, verifiable sources to be considered news… right?

I think that this new form of media is teaching people, and especially our teens and college students that they can turn off their brains when they read. It produces a “just give it to me” mindset for taking in information, and that can be dangerous. I can think of a time last century that something like that happened. It ended up involving most of the world because one person was able to convince enough people that it was being kind to end the suffering of a disabled child. It all went downhill from there.

That involved a different method of delivery, but was disseminated using the same passive reading/listening by the public. How many topics in the media today can you think of where one side is seen as being correct and the other side is intolerably closed-minded/stupid/ignorant/arrogant?

I’m asking so many questions to get you involved. I’m not going to be one to just spew out opinion without engaging you, and you shouldn’t take anything less from anyone else. 

Nanny Laws Are for Stupid People

I’m getting sick of the [tag]public service announcements[/tag] on my local radio stations about the “click it or ticket” law in Florida. Today I read that former Senator, now [tag]Governor Corzine[/tag] from New Jersey has an ad out about buckling up. Has common sense left us all?

Who has not seen the [tag]crash test dummies[/tag] going through windshields? Everyone over the age of 12 knows when a car set in motion suddenly stops, the contents of the car continue forward at the same speed prior to the sudden stop. I sure don’t want to hit the dashboard, steering wheel, or windshield at 60, let along 91mph!!

What he needs to say in his commercial is: “I’m Governor Corzine and I’m a flipping idiot for letting my driver drive 91mph and didn’t buckle up. In fact, I usually don’t buckle up, despite being educated and worth over $100 million.”

No amount of legislation is going to deter stupid people from doing stupid things. Florida got rid of the motorcycle helmet law a few years ago. Despite my mom’s and my concerns about riding a bike in Tampa, 2 years ago my dad bought a Kawasaki Concours. He’s ridden for years, so it wasn’t his driving we were concerned about. It is the other guy. Two months ago, he was involved in an accident on his bike while riding with others, and because he was wearing full body armor and a helmet, he got away with a broken wrist, torn thumb ligament, and a skin burn on his elbow from his jacket’s elbow pad. Had he not been wearing a helmet, he’d be dead. Had he not been wearing armor, he’d be a human raspberry.

Every day, I see joy riders around riding without shirts, helmets, wearing shorts, jeans, and windbreakers. The biggest idiots, though, are the ones with the helmet on the helmet lock on the back seat riding with the wind in their hair.

What laws or movements are going on where you live that are driving you bonkers?

Infect Your Computer for Free in Helsinki

Reuters is reporting that [tag]Didier Stevens[/tag] made an Internet ad pumping a [tag]computer virus[/tag]. Not [tag]anti-virus[/tag], the actual thing. He had over 400 people click the ad that explicitly read:

“Is your PC virus-free? Get it infected here!”

Being an experiment, Stevens can only conlude that people are stupid.

Reuters story on Yahoo! News

Isn’t This the Truth?

American Idol Finale Prediction

I have very mixed emotions about tonight’s show, but first I’d like to start off by saying we’re all stupid. If we are going to watch 2 hours of silly stuff and old singers and commercials and [tag]Simon Cowell[/tag] scratching his chest just because we want to see the last 5 minutes. I was one of those kids on the playground that would dance around because I had to go to the bathroom because I was afraid I’d miss something cool if I went inside for 5 minutes. That’s how I feel tonight. Maybe someone is going to suck or fall or say something incredibly stupid and I won’t know it if I just watch the end.

Back to last night, I totally agree with Simon’s final bit, not the one everyone is playing about Jordin wiping the floor with Blake. That was in reference to one song, dawg! I think the best song was Blake’s repeat of his smash performance of Bon Jovi week, but Jordin sang the fan song better. Arguably, I think the song was written to be better sung by a woman than a man, and I think the dawg made a bad move by going first, because then that left Jordin singing last. Last impressions count.

My Season Six prediction:

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