What people refer to as a challenge

That doesn't deter IBM, though. Apparently, its long-term goal is to essentially build an actual silicon version of the brain. As they put it, that means they need a chip system with ten billion neurons and hundred trillion synapses, which consumes one kilowatt of power and occupies less than two liters of volume. That's what people refer to as a challenge.

Here's the Gizmodo article: http://gizmodo.com/ibm-is-creating-an-entire-computing-architecture-based-1063836530

15,000 news locusts

I've always wondered what would have happened if 15,000 journalists focused their attention on a real story of import; how history might have been changed. 

From Morning Media Newsfeed:

"At the 2012 Conventions, 15,000 Journalists Search for a Story (HuffPost / The Backstory) Scoops and valuable, legitimate nuggets of insight and information are hard to come by in Conventionland, yet reporters who swarmed the halls en masse in Tampa are all at it again in Charlotte, where the Democrats kicked off their election kabuki Tuesday [...] "

Bootie Call > OMG !!

You can't make this stuff up

Check out clerk @ local Stop 'n Shop to Carol who was next in line:

"Please be patient w me. I have A.D.D. & I just had a hysterectomy. "

Graphic > A short history of U.S. monopolies

Research by Scores.org

A remarkable photo........well, not really.

This is an oil painting. Click here for more of Gregory Thielker's work. Click here for Max Read's interesting article on photorealistic-style artists. 

One Hundred Million Porcelain Sunflower Seeds Are Like Twitter

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei carpeted the Turbine Hall in Britain's prestigious Tate Gallery with a sunflower seeds [...] one hundred million painted porcelain replica sunflower seeds. It's like Twitter, Ai says. [...] The seeds were individually made and hand-painted by artisans in the city of Jingdezhen (some 1,600 people were involved) who were paid a living wage. Here are all 100,000,000 seeds.

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself & I can't decide whether to laugh or not.

Here's an example of some right wing logic that scares the crap out of me. Am I paranoid or just plain crazy?

From the Associated Press:

LAS VEGAS — U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle told a crowd of supporters that the country needs to address a "militant terrorist situation" that has allowed Islamic religious law to take hold in some American cities. [...]

In a recording of the rally provided to The Associated Press by the Mesquite Local News, a man is heard asking Angle : "I keep hearing about Muslims wanting to take over the United States ... on a TV program just last night, I saw that they are taking over a city in Michigan and the residents of the city, they want them out. They want them out. So, I want to hear your thoughts about that."

Angle responds that "we're talking about a militant terrorist situation, which I believe it isn't a widespread thing, but it is enough that we need to address, and we have been addressing it." [...]

Angle, a Southern Baptist, has called herself a faith-based politician. Among her positions, she opposes abortion in all circumstances, including rape and incest and doesn't believe the Constitution requires the separation of church and state.

Read the entire article here.

My question: What's the difference between Sharia law & Sharron Angle's position on the separation of church & state?

Is this what our world is coming to? Sheeesh.

Anti-Theft lunch bags make thieves think your sandwich Is moldy. Here's the website if you want to order some..... but as of 2010/09/29 they are temporarily out of stock but you can reserve some.

Discovery News > Resort attracts men with virtual girlfriends

Sad, sick, weird, funny or what? I dunno.

A resort in Japan is offering young men a tourism destination to frolic with their virtual girlfriends. The resort is based on a game called "Love Plus," which encourages players to develop long-term relationships with virtual women. Read the rest of this story here.

Save the Word > move your cursor over the center box

Hungry? This is a Scanwich. Click on photo > there are plenty more to drool over

Sign of the times > small, medium, large

What !! > a Japanese flying pig twenty-seven feet in the air.

A dream..... is it time for a(nother) therapist?

A train stops within a hair of where I was standing with a brown friend & a young black woman. I pushed them out of the way just as the train started to roll again. As the open door to the engineer went by me, I yelled at him: 'slow down you idiot'.

Next thing I knew: a tall muscular college student (appears to be a black man) starts accusing my friend of fleeing with his girlfriend or something when in fact he was just commenting on train or asking her for directions. I get between them & when it continued, I suggest we all get a cup of coffee together.

Next I see us approaching a coffee stand like in a subway station. But my friend finds an open briefcase w some papers. To the left of us was a person behind a counter who told him to leave briefcase alone -- he ignores this advice. 

There seems to be a trail of paper which the others start to follow. Then the rest of  us follow suit. We run into a street bum in the dark passageway with his cart & ask him if he has seen a dead body, an idea gathered before for some unknown reason. 

The others go ahead of me as I continue to question the bum. Finally I continue walking down the dark corridor. There are two other women walking in the same direction. They are going to work.

We are stopped @ a steel door which is extremely heavy to open -- which I just manage to do -- and one of the ladies helps too. 

On the other side of the door, the corridor continues but around a corner we run into a wall of smoke (tear gas??). There are 3 or 4 people who have hit the floor to avoid the smoke / gas. Truman is hunched down too & I snuggle up to him & ty throw my arm over him. 

Ahead there are a bunch of cops (heavy duty) w a dead body. And I woke up

Guess who > post a comment.

If no one gets it, I'll post the answer here in a few days.

Oksana Grigorieva grew up in Soviet-era Ukraine, where her father sold potatoes and her mother conducted an orchestra at the local chicken factory (she was paid in eggs). From a young age, she saw a future for herself on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

Conspiracy Theorists > Here is your chance to shine

Reported in the Huffington Post:

[...] less attention has been given to another blog blackout -- this time in the US: As CNET reports, some 73,000 blogs hosted by WordPress blogging platform Blogetery.com, were shut down last week by BurstNet , Blogetery's web hosting company. [...] According to CNET "nobody seems willing to say why or who is responsible." What is known is that BurstNet informed Blogetery's operator, via email, that the its service had been terminated "by request of law enforcement officials, due to material hosted on the server."

Read the entire story here

2010/07/20 Updated & Clarified? I wonder but it's scary nonetheless.

In a press release, BurstNet has provided new information that sheds light on why over 70,000 blogs were shut down by the hosting service. 

"It was revealed that a link to terrorist material, including bomb-making instructions and an al-Qaeda “hit list", had been posted to the site," BurstNet explained.

In a previous email exchange, a BurstNet representative had said that "law enforcement officials" had requested the removal of the 73,000 Blogetery sites  However, it has since become clear that BurstNet shut down the blogs of its own accord after finding that they violated its policies.

"Upon review, BurstNet determined that the posted material, in addition to potentially inciting dangerous activities, specifically violated the BurstNet Acceptable Use Policy," the company wrote in a statement. "This policy strictly prohibits the posting of 'terrorist propaganda, racist material, or bomb/weapon instructions'. Due to this violation and the fact that the site had a history of previous abuse, BurstNet elected to immediately disable the system." 

Canned Unicorn Meat > an excellent source of sparkles

Death and Taxes > Wallstats by Jess Bachman

Anyone interested in information, typography or graphics should look in on this effort. At the bottom of the graphic, click to take it full screen. Mouse over to the left & click on any area of interest. It's a fascinating piece of work.  Tell me what you think.