Dews Happy Hump day

So, yea, maybe its been a while, but at least I have the excuse of a very demanding job full of plenty of high maintenance people working there (this thankfully is balanced by not having any high maintenance folks to deal with AFTER work though, I must admit).

Anyway, without further adieu, lets take a peak at the news shall we?

First off, in what is quite possibly the most useless scientific use of stem cells since throwing them away went out of style:

A team of British scientists claimed Wednesday to have created human sperm using embryonic stem cells, in a medical first that they say will lead to a better understanding of fertility.

Seriously? We can't just find sperm somewhere? We need to now create it?

The best part about this useless discovery (spare me the male infertility "need" with the thousands of children still very much available via adoption), is that the sperm created (if used for fertility) would develop abnormalities (and be very illegal to boot!) and is at best 10 years away from being a "viable" treatment for male infertility.

I can think of at least 5 diseases off the top of my head that are better suited for Stem cells to be devoted to and creating something that thousands of guys donate on a regular basis is DEFINITELY not one of the things that needs "solving".

More happy news about my daily commute...

Apparently even with the worst Washington DC Metro disaster ever still fresh in our minds, Metrorail operators are being caught on video texting while driving...

There's more bad publicity for Metro after a YouTube video surfaces of a Metro train operator apparently texting while on the job.

Just amazing to me that its probably so much a part of this persons day-to-day activities that human nature dictates he just continue doing it...

Finally, Google is making its final push for World Dominance with the announcement that it will soon compete with the hapless Microsoft Corporation in the Operating Systems market.

Google Inc., owner of the most- visited Internet search engine, is developing a computer operating system based on its Chrome Web browser, taking aim at Microsoft Corp. in its strongest market.

Now, I'm a fan of all things Google, so I'm obviously excited to see what kind of product they can put forward, but the expectations are going to be astronomically high on this one.

Not that Microsoft has had a decent offering in this field since Windows XP was the standard, but if they really want to deal the death blow to the powerful Microsoft empire, then they really need to release a solid product that will truly allow users the ability to do everything they are accustomed to doing (which includes gaming, which Steve Jobs has yet to hammer home on Macs yet).

I'm hopefully optimistic about it, as its release will probably coincide with my retiring from the IT world altogether to run away to a tropical island and bartend, so I could care less where Microsoft products go at that point!

That is all...

Look out Cell-Phones

Oh yes, the biggest bad-ass of them all, GOOGLE (Parent company of Blogger.com, and therefore us I suppose), is finally branching out to Cell-phones.

British chip designer ARM (ARM.L: Quote, Profile, Research) will show a
prototype mobile phone based on Google's (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research)
Android platform next Monday at the Mobile World Congress wireless show in
Barcelona, a source close to the company said on Thursday.

Abeit they are starting with their own software for the cell-phones to make web access "as smooth as accessing via PC", but this is an exciting jump in the right direction.

Having used Verizon for years, I must say I love the coverage it provides, but it is constantly a lesson in patience and tolerance to get a damn thing done over the phone when something is wrong (a lesson I learned not that long ago when my own phone magically stopped working... Oh what a long and beautiful story that is...).

That being said, I will welcome the day that the GOOGLE overlords finally take over the Cell-phone industry as well... Everything they touch turns to freakin gold...

Dews Wednesday wtf?

King of all media and everything that is good and pure about entertainment Carson Daly (pause for dramatic effect), has apparently decided to defy the current writer's strike and begin production on his wildly successful massively influencial TV show "Last Call with Carson Daly".

Obviously this move was far overdue given the warm enlightenment we've been missing out on from not seeing Carson's never-aging TRL face, so I can forego any worries about the poor writer's getting their needs met...

Sorry, he may be funny, but to me he's still that jackass on TRL...

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Venezuelan President and Dubya confidante Hugo Chavez is apparently convinced that CNN is out to instigate his muder:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Wednesday CNN may have been instigating his murder when the U.S. TV network showed a photograph of him with a label underneath that read "Who killed him?"
The caption appeared to be a production mistake -- confusing a Chavez news item with one on the death of a football star. The anchor said "take the image down" when he realized.

This is of course shocking, given that attempts have been made on President Chavez's life numerous times by our current administration, which, I do not believe follow CNN's advice or suggestions, but I could also be way off base here as well.

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In an interesting twist of political news, a new article by the McClatchy Newspaper (not exactly an unbiased source), compares current Democratic candidates proposals on Universal Healthcare to that of (you guessed it), Richard "Tricky Dick" Nixon.

Nixon was quite possibly the smartest president we've ever had regardless of his views on any particular topic. He combined the ruthless determination of an FDR with the political savvy of an LBJ (as well as the craziness of an Andrew Jackson perhaps...), so I have to at least respect the mans ability.

That being said, the comparisons they seem to draw in this article have not been historically vetted very well. Nixon may very well have "wanted" to provide some sort of universal healthcare when the evidence presented itself that such a system should be put into place, but he certainly DID intend on that system being primarily a for-profit industry for a sizable chunk of his political backers. The Nixon tapes speak to as much in several interviews he decided to "archive" in the oval office.

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Finally our savior in the form of a corporation (GOOGLE), is branching its operations into alternative energy!

As part of a project announced Tuesday, the Internet search leader and its
philanthropic arm will pour hundreds of millions of dollars into a quest to
lower the cost of producing electricity from renewable energy sources such
as wind and the sun.

Ok, seriously, I have a serious crush (man-crush?) on GOOGLE. Everything they do is the greatest thing in the world and they have yet to let me down. This branching off into alternative energy can only mean that they mean to save us from the error of our ways and show us "the way".

All Hail GOOGLE!
(Having serious formatting issues with Blogger from this machine, so bear with me... It likes putting "div layers" freakin everywhere....)

Crap...

Just going over the hit count from Google Analytics today and noticed that we've actually gotten a hit or two from Iran...

For the record, I have no idea where Salman Rushdie is, I have nothing by the utmost respect for President Ahmadinejad (maybe not so much the whole destruction of Israel and all though, hope you can understand our differences there), and certainly do know and respect what a fatwa is and really can't afford to have one of those right now.

So, in closing, I just want to say I hope our fan, or fans in Iran have a good sense of humor and have no idea where Vermont is. Thank you, salaam and please enjoy the last 2 weeks of Ramadan...

Update: The hits are coming from a city called Yazd. Never heard of it, but Welcome aboard Iran!