Bunny Suicides

Aw, they're so cute when they try to kill themselves (link via Dean). If you want more, you sadistic creeps, there's even a couple of books.

In the Year 2105....

You'll be able to back up your brain to harddisk, but you'll still need tips about drywall. Will Smith and Dakota Fanning will follow in Ronald Reagan's footsteps to become President. Bill Gates, III will be convicted of some crime. Face transplants will be popular and you'll be able to do DNA sequencing at home in your spare time. Of course, some things will never change: Israel and Palestine will still have their "disagreements", we'll still be in Iraq and black will (of course) still be fashionable. All this and much more according to Magazine Covers from the Future!

If You Die, I'll Kill You

Apparently, all the cemeteries in a town in Brazil are full, so they've deciding to prohibit anyone from dying.

"The bill states that "offenders will be held responsible for their acts". However, it does not say what the punishment will be."

I think they should be killed again, perhaps in a manner befitting the undead like a steak through the heart. A prison sentence is probably unwise, since it might cause health problems in the prison which may lead to more deaths.

If the law proves difficult to enforce, they may have to have the entire town blessed and then bar non-Immortals from living there. Turning people into zombies and vampires may cause more problems than it solves, so I'd recommend against that.

What a Very Strange Night

So, I go to basketball. By nine o'clock, it was just me and three guys. They were discussing whether to play 21 or HORSE. But I wanted to play two on two to make my 40 minute drive worth the trip. I'm here to burn calories, man! Come on! Of course, there was the sense that this was a little unbalance - a guy and a girl vs two guys. And indeed it was. I had scored 6 of 8 points by the time the other team scored anything. I lost count of my own shots around eleven or twelve. En fuego! Where have these shots been? And where did they go? Because when we got tired, we switched to HORSE and I couldn't even make the frickin' easy shots. Maybe some day, the fire and I will meet again.

I was pumped on my way home and there didn't appear to be any traffic snarling construction at College Park, so I stopped by the 24-hour grocery store. 'Cept, they were closing at 11. And it was 10:56. And I forgot my list. Super-shop! Let's see... bananas are a definite yes... what else? Hmmm, I guess I don't need anything down those aisles that are roped off with duct tape. Oh! Water! And Coke! And a third hand, dang it! Store closing! Must run!

Well, that was some nice exercise. I hope I didn't forget anything.

I drove home and parked my car in the parking garage. As I walked toward the building, there were two guys also walking toward the building who were having a rather interesting conversation. One was complaining about how the world wasn't fair. Ugly guys like Guy #2 get all the girls, while Guy #3 (not present), who has everything going for him, doesn't get any. Guy #2 took exception to being called ugly and they proceeded to insult each other's appearance in rather bizarre ways. Something about deer playing volleyball with someone's face. I don't know. Thankfully, I was walking in front of them, so they didn't see me struggling hard not to laugh. But then we ended up in the elevator together. Back to how Guy #1 doesn't understand how Guy #3 doesn't have a girl. The adrenaline was making me just a bit giddy, so I had to bite my tongue to keep from asking who this guy was. So not going there. A few more exchanged insults and I'm at my floor, then at my door, trying not to disturb my neighbors with my laughter. What the heck was that?

What a very strange night indeed.

The Cash-Free Life

One of the many things I miss about college, and specifically Virginia Tech, is the Hokie Passport. It was a little plastic card with my picture on the front and a magnetic strip on the back that was my key to a cash-free lifestyle (I still have my original, by the way, very much intact). All the dining halls took it. The on-campus coffee and ice-cream shop took it. The bookstore took it. The laundry machines took it. Even the soda machines took it. And many of the businesses in the surrounding town took it as well. There was no signature required. Just swipe and go. Re-entering the real world where using plastic meant signing a piece of paper or a screen felt incredibly primitive.

Now, it seems that Japan is catching on the advantages of a cashless society. In the U.S., we have SmartTag for toll roads and SmartCard for the Metro. Japan has just taken it a step further to include places that Americans would usually use debit or credit cards. I consider Japan an early-adopter society, so it may be several years before you start to see this in the U.S. To address security concerns, the account should not be tied to any other accounts (much like a SmartCard or my laundry card) so that losing a cash card would be no more risky than losing a wad of cash. This may make the contents unrecoverable if the card is lost, but it's better than having your credit cards maxed out or you checking account drained. Just limit the amount of money you have on the card at any given time.

As for whether debt-addicted Americans can handle putting money into a card before spending the money - we have debit cards already. This would just be a mini-debit card account with no signature required. Surely we can handle that.

Quote of the Day - December 11, 2005

For a fleeting instant, Harry thought he saw of gleam of something like triumph in Dumbledore's eyes.

- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire