I've just learned that the bluetooth phone <-> car hookup in my new car means I can now get telemarketer spam in my car!

Yay!

Mmm...?

A Japanese firm with the unfortunate name Fukushima Industries found itself the target of mockery on social media after unveiling a new mascot with an even more unfortunate name: Fukuppy. The company—an Osaka-based maker of industrial cooling equipment with no connection to the nuclear plant of the same name—described the egg-shaped mascot as curious and kind with "a strong sense of justice," reports the South China Morning Post.

In a post about a book about The Beatles, Marklow writes:

When you ask a kid to imagine a world before television, what they will actually imagine is a world in which they can no longer watch television (how awful!), not a world in which nobody cares whether or not they can. But, of course, the latter was far closer to the case. We grant the past its dignity by not imagining that people lived in a world without this invention or that idea. They lived, like everyone, in the present, and the fact that their present has become our past is hardly their problem.

Indeed.

And tangentially, that reminded me of the way biological evolution is often discussed. In popular science books about evolution, there are interesting species and then there are "transitional" species. An interesting species is one that captures our imagination in some way: a T-Rex, a sabre-toothed tiger, a human. A transitional species is one that sits between two interesting species, it's one that starts to exhibit the characteristics that a subsequent interesting species will have as its hallmark. One of the most famous "transitional" species, archeopteryx, had wings and feathers, but it wasn't quite a bird yet. It was still mostly a dinosaur. Or, that's how it's always discussed.

Wiki:

These features make Archaeopteryx a clear candidate for a transitional fossil between dinosaurs and birds.[6][7] Thus, Archaeopteryx plays an important role, not only in the study of the origin of birds, but in the study of dinosaurs.

But, (granting them conscious self-reflection for the sake of argument) no archeopteryx ever thought of itself as being a transitional species in any way. Every archeopteryx that ever lived spent his life trying to be the best archeopteryx he could be, and not a one sat around aspiring to become a bird. It's only humans' need to turn evolution into a story, with certain species selected as plot points, that makes archeopteryx any more transitional that any other species. When you get right down to it, every species is transitional, in the long run.

Multiple governors, including those in Utah, South Dakota, Arizona and Colorado have written to the Obama administration asking permission to reopen parks, citing economic needs.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) said that the tourism industry in his state is hurting as a result of national park closures, according to the AP.

"The current federally mandated closure is decimating the bottom line of bed-and-breakfast business owners and operators in Torrey (Utah), outfitters at Bryce Canyon City and restaurant owners in Moab," Herbert wrote in a letter to President Barack Obama.

I thought I'd share this, in case anyone wants to duplicate it.

Programming stuff follows...

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Two New Hampshire men were killed in an explosion after allegedly trying to steal fireworks. According to police, the victims, both 21, were using a blow torch to break into a metal container that had fireworks inside.

Umm?

Or whatever.

(wouldn't it be awesome if, at 1:40, he looked into the camera and his eyes turned to fire?)

Looks like Mr. DNS has sown his wild seed and the new home of ok-cleek.com (sharing electrons with Balloon Juice on Hosting Matters) is open for non-business.

Not many changes. I had to lose the Web's Golden Bounty thing due to WordPress incompatibility. And that's sad because I really liked those mini-posts. And, the theme is a little different because not all of my settings copied over correctly. But, it looks like it's at least functional.

Let's see how it goes...

Former Navy Chaplain "Dr. Chaps" Gordon Klingenschmitt recently praised Republican lawmakers for fighting Senate Bill 815, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013.

According to BusinessWeek.com, ENDA would make it illegal for employers to discriminate against job applicants on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The U.S. already bans job discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, or sex.

During his Internet TV program, "Pray In Jesus Name," Klingenschmitt claimed that gay activists are using the U.S. government to legally force Christians "to participate in their sodomy" or face lawsuits and imprisonment, notes RightWingWatch.org .

"Sodomy will always be a sin in the eyes of God, even if its legal in Massachusetts, but now they want to force Christians to participate in this and they are forcing us at the point of the government sword to participate in their sin. If we Christians don't participate in their sodomy, then we can be sued, bankrupted and jailed," claimed Klingenschmitt.

Times like these make me glad I'm not a Christian.

Today's the day I start moving this mess to a new host. I'm sick of the load delays.

The baby brother of a much larger, industrial machine that can be found in a number of establishments in Atlanta (where the company hails from), the Monsieur can mix thousands of drinks and features a touchscreen menu of everything it has to offer. It also comes complete with themes such as Cinco de Mayo and serves the appropriate drinks to go along with such as margaritas or mojitos. Users can increase or reduce the strength of any desired drink or even ask for a non-alcoholic version. Or, for the more adventurous, there’s always the “surprise me” button. The more the machine is used, the better it becomes at understanding its owners’ tastes and preferences.

However, this wouldn’t be a truly ‘smart’ gadget if it didn’t come complete with an app, and the Monsieur is no exception. The app can be used to remotely order and mix a drink while you’re not at home and the machine can use the app to know when you’re coming home and what sort of drink it should have ready for your return. Even cooler, or creepier (whichever way you choose to look at it), the Monsieur connects to your Wi-Fi network and can recognize when you come home based on your mobile joining the network. He can also ascertain if you’ve got company based on how many people join the network when you arrive home and make enough drinks to satisfy your guests.

It can also send you a text message to your local liquor store to schedule deliveries, when the booze runs low.

$1500 for the 'Mini', $2700 for the full-sized. Right now, though, it's on a Kickstarter.