April 22, 2004
The Annoying Thing
This advertisement for TurboForce 3d (turboforce3d.com) shows you how to increase the annoying sounds your motorcycle makes. Download MPEG Video (8.5 MB)
Thanks Scott!
Please Forgive Me....
Links via MeFi:
Why does poop stink?The Facts on Farts
Poop stinks as a result of the products of bacterial action. Bacteria produce smelly, sulfur- or nitrogen-rich organic compounds such as indole, skatole, and mercaptans, and the inorganic gas hydrogen sulfide. These are the same compounds that give farts their odor.[...]
[...]Where do farts go when you hold them in?
How often have you held in a fart, intending to release it at the first appropriate opportunity, only to find that the fart has disappeared when you are ready for it?
I asked several doctors where the fart goes. Does it leak out slowly without the person knowing it? Is it absorbed into the bloodstream? What happens to it?
The doctors agree that the fart is neither released nor absorbed. It simply migrates back upward into the intestine and comes out later.
It is reassuring to know that such farts aren't really lost, just delayed.[...]
Health Workers in Michigan Could Be Safe From Discrimination Law Suits
Thanks madlife.net!
365gay.com has a story about the Michigan House passing legislation that would protect health care workers from discipline or law suits if they refuse to treat gay patients.
(Lansing, Michigan) Doctors or other health care providers could not be disciplined or sued if they refuse to treat gay patients under legislation passed Wednesday by the Michigan House.The bill allows health care workers to refuse service to anyone on moral, ethical or religious grounds.
The Republican dominated House passed the measure as dozens of Catholics looked on from the gallery. The Michigan Catholic Conference, which pushed for the bills, hosted a legislative day for Catholics on Wednesday at the state Capitol.
The bills now go the Senate, which also is controlled by Republicans.
The Conscientious Objector Policy Act would allow health care providers to assert their objection within 24 hours of when they receive notice of a patient or procedure with which they don't agree. However, it would prohibit emergency treatment to be refused.
Three other three bills that could affect LGBT health care were also passed by the House Wednesday which would exempt a health insurer or health facility from providing or covering a health care procedure that violated ethical, moral or religious principles reflected in their bylaws or mission statement.
Opponents of the bills said they're worried they would allow providers to refuse service for any reason. For example, they said an emergency medical technicians could refuse to answer a call from the residence of gay couple because they don't approve of homosexuality.
[...]
Can email be saved?
InfoWorld has an interesting article about what could be done to do away with Spam entitled Can e-mail be saved?
Six experts plus one unrepentant spammer were asked how they would change the system to remove mass-marketers' incentives to flood your mailbox with ads...not surprisingly, they got six different answers.
What Is SpyWare?
From Ask Yahoo!:
Generally speaking, spyware refers to any computer program that gathers information about a person without his or her knowledge. Spyware programs can track your Internet page views, allow someone else to read your email, and even record your keyboard strokes. They are obviously cause for alarm.The Yahoo! Spyware and Adware Category features several resources, such as 2-Spyware.Com and SpyChecker.Com, which offer information about the most common spyware programs, as well as anti-spyware downloads. Spyware Watch offers a general tutorial on detecting and removing spyware programs.
With new spyware legislation pending in Congress, the issue has become a hot topic in the press. A word to the wise: Check your cookies, avoid suspicious downloads, and in a work environment treat your emails like postcards.
Personally, I use LavaSoft's Ad-Aware. Earthlink also offers a free scanner called Spy Audit that you can use to scan your Windows box. Note that Spy Audit doesn't include removal tools.
Bloggin's been light lately
Things have been kinda crazy at work and at home lately, so I apologize for not blogging very much lately. Work doesn't show many signs of slowing down, though.
On the upside, I did my first successful test of the new MythTV machine last night. It'll be running on a 2.7GHz P4 with 512 MB of RAM and 80GB of hard drive space. Capture/playback card is a Hauppauge PVR-350. The distribution I used is something called KnoppMyth which is an all-in-one distribution based on Knoppix including all drivers and software needed to get MythTV up and running.
I'm primarily a SuSE Linux man, but all the documentation I read about MythTV basically said SuSE and MythTV are not for the faint of heart. Knoppix is a Debian based distribution, so, some things are different, but nothing too difficult.