Being Gay Sucks

That's pretty much what we've learned this week from the editors at Newsweek who said we can't act, the usual yahoos on the Right who freaked out because Elena Kagan played softball (it could have been worse, she could have been a golfer), the top Pentagon brass who believe that letting gays serve openly in the military will undermine its institutions (you know, the way desegregating blacks did) and the Christian fundamentalist minister responsible for establishing a lobbying group specifically aimed at denying gays and lesbians equal protection under the law who thinks that being gay is so awful he had to hire a male escort to find out how bad being gay really is.

Yes, folks, it was one of those weeks ...

That's just creepy

While the digirati and the MSM fret over Facebook's privacy issues, it's come to light that Amazon, one of the other behemoths on the the digital block, has uploaded a Kindle software upgrade that basically snoops on your reading habits and shares the information, anonymously, across the Kindleverse.

From MSNBC's Red Tape blog: " ... Kindle users who highlight passages will now have a record of those highlights sent back to Amazon servers, where they will be compiled and sorted to help produce a new feature called 'Popular Highlights.'"

Now, when privacy rights activists and Libertarians bemoan government intrusion on your life, I often marvel at how difficult it is to find Libertarians bitching and moaning when a giant, faceless corporation starts digging into your business. But then, that's just capitalism, I suppose ...

參考來源： Is Amazon peeking over Kindle users' shoulders? - The Red Tape Chronicles - msnbc.com (在「Google 網頁註解」中檢視)

A lesson in good bureaucracy

From Foreign Policy: "Unlike in the American political system, Her Majesty's civil service is entrusted with substantial responsibilities for implementing the agenda of the party in power. And because the new British prime minister appoints only a very small group of people in the upper echelons of government, the transition can be accomplished speedily."

This is truly impressive and you can see why such former colonies like India kept much of the British governmental systems in place after the empire collapsed.

參考來源： How Did the Brits Kick Gordon Brown Out So Fast? - By David Kenner | Foreign Policy (在「Google 網頁註解」中檢視)

Pixels take Manhattan

Seems Adam Sandler wants to take this awesome YouTube short and make it into a big screen movie.

My Favorite Tweets

Outside of empty-headed Libertarians and needy fame whores, I haven't found a lot of people (besides colleagues and friends) that I truly want to follow (or have follow me) on Twitter.

Then I found Japan's Cubesat XI-V, the first-ever satellite with its own Twitter account. Unlike the astronauts in the International Space Station who send down the usual awe-inspiring pictures of Earth, Cubesat sends down data like the current temperature, its orbital position and every now and then, really grainy pics of the planet that look like they were taken by a mobile phone circa 2001.

Mind you, it's all in Japanese, so I haven't the slightest idea what Cubesat XI-V is actually tweeting, but really, is that any different than 99 percent of the Tweets out there?

【現在地:太平洋】 / 打ち上げから1659日 / [カメラ] スタンバイ中, [内部時計] 15012169 秒, [バッテリー] 4.09V, [太陽電池電流] 114mA, [平均温度] 14.0℃, [運用モード] 画像取得less than a minute ago via Low Earth OrbitCubeSat XI-V
XI_V

Pretty. Disturbing.

From Wired: "Scientific illustrator Cornelia Hesse-Honegger details ... minute mutations in the so-called true bugs she collects near nuclear facilities and areas of chemical contamination."

She found mutations in 30 percent of the bugs she gathered, 10 times the overall rate of mutation for 3 percent of the insects found in the wild.

參考來源： Arts: Swiss Artist Catalogs Mutant Insects Around Nuke Plants | Magazine (在「Google 網頁註解」中檢視)

Android gets the upper hand

No thanks to Apple's deal with ATT, perhaps. Still, it's interesting to see that people won't wait for the iPhone to appear on other networks as long as there is a viable alternative (mobiles running the Android OS) from a brand name many people already trust (Google).

參考來源： Why U.S. Android Handset Sales Are Outpacing the iPhone (在「Google 網頁註解」中檢視)

Elena Kagan's Privates

ProPublica digs up the Supreme Court nominee's financials and points out that {{{sigh}}} she got paid a $10,000 stipend to be on an advisory council for Goldman Sachs. Wow, these guys are EVERYWHERE.

參考來源： See Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan’s Financials for Yourself - ProPublica (在「Google 網頁註解」中檢視)

Ireland's Idiocy

It's pathetic really. Ireland has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world, 12.5%, but now in the wake of its economic meltdown again chooses to increase the personal taxes of its citizens but not of the companies. WTF?
 

Granted, many of Eire's upwardly mobile were paying little to no tax there for awhile, it does seem bizarre to me that once again, big business profits off the backs of the people who make up the work force and who in corporate eyes are easily expendable.

參考來源： Debt Crisis Casts Spotlight On Ireland's Low Taxes : NPR (在「Google 網頁註解」中檢視)

Steamed prawns in garlic sauce

With sauteed kale and garlic. Awesome.

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Grilled lobster in butter sauce

Wow. That's amazing. Totally makes up for the dodgy firewater.

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Cheapest, nastiest rice wine ever?

Possibly. Dinner at the Rainbow Seafood Restaurant on Lamma Island began with a bang.

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Memory of the Forest

Part of the Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation's three year project, Point to Point, Site Specific Art Project. This was at the Central Star Ferry Pier. It's part of a collection of wood structures, some of them burned, that are meant to evoke the denudation of the forests ... Or something touchy-feely like that.

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Victoria Harbor, Mother's Day, 2010

Warm day, a little humid, but a nice cool breeze blowing in from the East.

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