Is this thing on?

Ahh, nostalgia…I had no idea this blog was still running. Over two years since the last post and I still don’t have much to post about that’s of any interest to anyone else!

Peace out

irresponsible banks, gullible borrowers

 

 

All we hear these days is whining from reckless home borrowers and their banks.
But did you know that renters are 32 percent of American households? And that homes in foreclosure are less than 2 percent?
So why is Congress rushing to bailout high-flying borrowers and their lenders with our tax dollars?

I know that more than just myself are concerned with this government bailout of banks and borrowers. I’m no economist, but I found angryrenter.com had some very interesting information. It may be somewhat biased or extreme, but it makes its point clear and gets people talking and thinking.

sheboygan, the tourist destination?

So, now that the City of Sheboygan has gained two, count them, TWO Wal-Mart Supercenters the area known as the Taylor Heights district is quickly deteriorating. After Wal-Mart’s departure, most of the small retail stores in the strip mall, including a Blockbuster Video closed up shop.
At the heart of the Taylor Heights district is the Memorial Mall, with (i’m guessing) about 60% store-front occupancy, and the old empty Wal-Mart store. Now that the two new Supercenters are up and running on opposite extreme ends of the city, this central Taylor Heights area is slowly becoming vacant.
The city council has hired a development company to do some research and come up with a “master plan” for this dying part of town. Only two meetings have been held so far (open to the public) but I am anxiously waiting to see what may become of this area. I thought for a while on my own, but couldn’t come up with any real good ideas that would benefit the city and/or county. The empty Wal-Mart store is HUGE. Very few businesses or retail stores could make use of that large of a building (especially in an area where the average household income is around $60k). I suppose it could be divided up, but then that’s just more store fronts to fill.
I’ve heard people say it all should be leveled and returned to green space or a nature walk of some sort, but that would be huge tax income for the city to lose.
Who has got the right answer to this one? Right now our draw is on the lakefront with Blue Harbor Resort and the Marina on the riverfront. The shopping goes to the far south side at Deer Trace (which part of that is in the Village of Kohler, and part is in the city of Sheboygan).

Comment back with your thoughts…

gamblers and risk takers

…venture capitalists as well. Have you ever felt the urge to combine stock trading and odds wagering? Well this site might just be for you!
With so-called Prediction Markets ranging from Politics and Technologies to Climate or Weather, you’re sure to find something you’d be interested in investing in.

Make concrete rings

Neat project. I used to make sterling silver jewelry and some glass work in High school, but this is a whole new cool idea. I might give it a try if I find any time.

“disable” a passport’s rfid chip

Attention, wearers of the tinfoil hat! If you’ve got one of the newfangled US passports that has an RFID chip embedded in it, you could be giving up your personal info to anyone within a couple feet (assuming they have an RFID activator/scanner).

Here’s a simple fix that anyone can follow!

Leatherman Punchdown tool

What a great idea. Flat head screws are worthless anyways.

Leatherman Punchdown tool

All the water and air

Left: All the water in the world (1.4087 billion cubic kilometres of it) including sea water, ice, lakes, rivers, ground water, clouds, etc. Right: All the air in the atmosphere (5140 trillion tonnes of it) gathered into a ball at sea-level density. Shown on the same scale as the Earth.

per http://blog.phiffer.org/post/27344630 

Fred Rogers Tribute

This needs no explanation. Just do it.

As if you don’t know who he is or what he was about, here’s lots of interesting facts about the man.

World’s coolest swimming pools

A bunch of swimming pools have been doing the rounds on blogs lately. Here is the Oobject alternative list of cool pools. Including pools over fake pools, pools hanging off the edge of buildings, 1000 year old pools and spectacular underground pools. Vote for your faves.

PS3 Media Interface vid

I know a few of my fellow posters have all acquired PS3s lately, and we’re still learning quite a bit about the capabilities of this amazing piece of equipment. I keep hearing about more and more people who previously had been hardcore PS3 critics, to have found out after they have experienced the interface and/or features, that it far surpasses the XBOX 360.

This video (a year and a half old btw) really shows some neat examples.

Invisibility to CCTV cameras

This German exibition is showcasing bright infrared LED devices that overwhelm the CCDs in security cameras, allowing you to move through modern society in relative privacy. I used this as a gimmick in my story I, Robot — now I want to own one!

The URA / FILOART developed device promises to the citizens of a more reliable protection against security measures of the state (and other Überwachenden). In addition to monitoring purposes organised systems interaction between man and machine is still IR.ASC an additional interaction between machines dar. This absurd accumulation of technology is symptomatic, because although the entire expense of the protection measures for the alleged safety of citizens is made, the person slips on the importance scale of the current security plan ever deeper down.

via: boingboing.net

Mooo, Zap!!, Thud

Lieutenant Allegedly Uses Taser on Cow

ROGERS, Ark. (AP) — Police are conducting an internal investigation into an allegation that a lieutenant used his stun gun to shock a cow and shared a videotape of the incident with other department employees.

AP Reports…