But then I found THIS

And seriously, y'all, yuck!

I love bacon, and I love my Tiara sisters, but I refuse to combine the two and wear the "Pork Princess" Tiara....

h/t BoingBoing

Posted by: caltechgirl at 09:52 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I had to steal this one from Jane.  It's genius.

Meet Broc Obama:

Posted by: caltechgirl at 06:21 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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In Today's Onion:

EPA Shuts Down Local Ghost-Entrapment Business

NEW YORK --Citing unsafe practices and potential toxic contamination, the Environmental Protection Agency shut down a small ghost- entrapment operation in downtown Manhattan today, and had four of the business' spectral-containment specialists arrested in the process.

According to EPA agent Walter Peck, employees of the company ”located in an old fire station in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York” had repeatedly refused to grant him access to their storage facility, which posed a health hazard to the surrounding community.

"The facility in question unlawfully used public utilities for the purpose of non-sanctioned waste-handling, and was in direct violation of the Environmental Protection Act," Peck said. "Additionally, this company possessed several unlicensed portable nuclear accelerators that were frequently discharged within mere feet of civilians."

Some who witnessed the arrests felt that Peck had launched a personal crusade against the business, possibly due to a previous verbal altercation with one of the ghost-removal professionals, former parapsychology research professor Dr. Peter Venkman.

"It definitely seemed as though Agent Peck had an ax to grind," said Consolidated Edison technician Brian Holmes, who was ordered by Peck to turn off the containment system located in the basement of the company's headquarters. "I had never seen anything even resembling that type of equipment before. I was extremely hesitant to shut it down, but I didn't want to lose my job."

Though its incarcerated employees were unavailable for comment, the company released a statement denying any wrongdoing. The statement also repudiated claims that those associated with the spectral-entrapment operation were afraid of any individual ghost, and went on to say that the act of capturing said ghosts simply made them "feel good."

Posted by: caltechgirl at 04:56 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Because everyone I know has done it (or so it seems)

1. My uncle once: handed me his fishing pole and told me to watch it. And I caught the biggest fish of the day! (ok, not my uncle, cousin actually, but I always called him uncle.  Still do!)

2. Never in my life: would I have imagined all the things I have been able to do and all the people I have met

3. When I was five: I started Kindergarten for the second time

4. High school was: my intellectual playground

5. I will never forget: how I felt the moment I knew I was in love with my DH

6. Once I met: Stephen Hawking on the Olive walk at Caltech

7. There's this girl I know: who has a license plate frame on her car that says "My other car is a Zamboni"

8. Once, at a bar: my dog nearly had beer spilled all over her

9. By noon, I'm usually: pissed off at work

10. Last night: I went to bed early

11. If only I had: enough money to be secure and pay the bills, then I'd take time off

12. Next time I go to church: it will likely be because someone got married or died or had a kid

13. What worries me most: is being alone

14. When I turn my head left I see: my Princess (the older one) and the back yard through the window

15. When I turn my head right I see: the doorway, and through that the hallway and the bathroom door

16. You know I'm lying when: trust me, you won't.

17. What I miss most about the Eighties is: time to play with my Barbies

18. If I were a character in Shakespeare I'd be: Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing

19. By this time next year: I would like to be healthier

20. A better name for me would be: The F***ing Bitch.  Ask my husband.  I have also been known as "Miss Einstein"

21. I have a hard time understanding: Liberals.  Seriously.  Did most of you swallow your brains?

22. If I ever go back to school: it will be tomorrow.  For work.

23. You know I like you if: I keep talking to you, or more usually, if  I cook for you.

24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank would be: My husband, then my parents.

25. Take my advice: don't waste your time doing a job you hate

26. My ideal breakfast is: Two words: Ba. Con.

27. A song I love but do not have is: there MUST be something from the 80s

28. If you visit my hometown, I suggest you: visit the Fresno State Farm Market and buy some wine!

29. Why won't people: get a frigging clue

30. If you spend a night at my house: be prepared to have dogs sleep in your bed or stand guard at the door

31. I'd stop my wedding so: all the late people could be seated.  Armenian Standard time and all.

32. The world could do without: Idiots

33. I'd rather lick the belly of a cockroach than: be late

34. My favourite blonde(s) : my husband and my mother, both childhood blondes

35. Paper clips are more useful than: dirt

36. If I do anything well it's: listen to other people's problems

37. I can't help but: get pissed at idiots.  Especially DRIVING idiots

38. I usually cry: when I am really pissed off

39. My advice to my child/nephew/niece: learn from your mistakes and let others do the same

40. And by the way: You are born with millions more neurons than you will ever use, your brain is bigger at 40 weeks gestation than at any other point in your life!  I guess it really is all downhill from there.....

Feel free to jump in and try it as well!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 02:03 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 Loved the last one!

Posted by: oddybobo at September 12, 2008 08:09 AM (mZfwW)

2 I love it!!!

Posted by: vw bug at September 12, 2008 01:29 PM (FPOeI)

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Turns out the Earth is safe for another six weeks.  Particle collision won't begin until Oct. 21.

But the beam circulation was a massive success.

Yes, I did stay up and watch it. On Caltech's EVO system, logged in with the rest of the geeks.  At least all the way through beam 1.  I used to be a particle physicist before I decided to spend my life playing with brains.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 07:41 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Oh, I thought they accomplished everything last night and we were safe for another 30 years or so... barring a comet... LOL! Nice to know that 10-21 is the new date of destruction!

Posted by: pam at September 10, 2008 08:54 AM (l6NIn)

2 I won't panic 'till you do...

Posted by: Richmond at September 10, 2008 01:42 PM (XAq2Q)

3 Gawd you're hilarious. Remember, I love my nerdy friends the most.

Posted by: Stacy at September 11, 2008 08:48 AM (92p8H)

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It was a pleasure to have known you all.

You see, tonight, just before Midnight (PDT) the CERN laboratory in Switzerland is going to fire up its Large Hadron Collider (LHC) for the very first time.  Some physicists argue that beam collision could be the very end of our existence...DON'T CROSS THE STREAMS, VENKMAN!!!!

But I don't see any stewardesses crying Caltech professors running around jumping out of airplanes and spending millions they don't have on fast cars and flashy bling, so I guess we're all gonna be fine.

So what is the LHC?  According to CERN (which stands for: The European Center for Nuclear Research, just in French):

The LHC is the world's most powerful particle accelerator, producing beams seven times more energetic than any previous machine, and around 30 times more intense when it reaches design performance, probably by 2010. Housed in a 27-kilometre tunnel, it relies on technologies that would not have been possible 30 years ago. The LHC is, in a sense, its own prototype.

Extensive studies have been performed to determine whether it's even SAFE to do these experiments, and hundreds of physicists agree that we won't vaporize the universe out of existence at 9:30am CEST (that's Central Europe Summer time).  You can see for yourself here.More on safety considerations here. (sorry, they won't let me embed the video)

If you're so inclined, you can watch the proceedings here, beginning at 8:30am CEST (10:30 PM Pacific)

And if you want to what on Earth they'd make such a thing for, try watching this:
 

Posted by: caltechgirl at 03:31 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Hell, where is they triumph? Death, where is thy sting?

Possibly the funnest part of the Requiem to sing. I mean, who DOESN'T like to scream "HELL" at the top of their lungs?

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:35 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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1 One of the funniest I've seen! That and the CatAPult.

Posted by: pam at September 09, 2008 01:05 PM (l6NIn)

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As I said previously, although I LURVE my Samsung Instinct, one of the biggest minuses is that it doesn't yet have instant messaging capability, except via the web, and that Google Talk didn't work at all.

Well, I just discovered that I was wrong. Instinct users who use Google Talk should go here: http://m.heysan.com/ from your phone, click GTalk, and login. It auto-refreshes, displays a custom status, and even uses smilies! Yeah, it's web-based, but I could care less! It looks like GTalk and works like GTalk.

WooHooooooo! i can haz google talk!

h/t icemanj5 posting on this forum

Posted by: caltechgirl at 03:50 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Betanews has summarized (pretty fairly, I might add) the technology issues records of both sides' POTUS and VPOTUS candidates.

Interestingly, Betanews reporter Ed Oswald found that Sarah Palin has championed distance learning programs and tele-medicine development as Governor of Alaska, and has used the internet to make her administration more transparent.

Find the candidates' records here:

John McCain
Sarah Palin

Barack Obama
Joe Biden

h/t Slashdot via Twitter

Posted by: caltechgirl at 12:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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So it's been a week now, and I haven't yet posted about my new baby.

Among the things that took some getting used to was the "click and drag" feature, which is essentially how you receive and end calls. You essentially drag a large button across the screen to a destination which leads to action, rather than tapping. That was a paradigm shift for me.

And there are a few features I miss, such as having a separate ringtone for private or blocked id calls. I also am sad that there's no Google Talk support, although you CAN access Yahoo! Messenger, MSN, and AIM via the web.

I also miss the universal power plug that my old phones had. We had quite a supply of chargers using that interface, but alas, we had to ditch them for new chargers. Ugh. Oh well.

Among the pluses are a large, bright screen which so far is easy to use to select buttons, weblinks, etc., even without using the included stylus. Which reminds me. There was a shitload of swag in the box. Aside from the phone and documentation, there was a pair of headphones that could also be used as a hands-free headset, TWO batteries, a battery charging adapter for the extra battery, the charging cord, a USB cord to attach to a computer, a CD of phone related software, a leather case,a stylus, and a micro SD card with adapter.

The sound is also pretty good. The little stereo speaker can put out a ton of sound. Also, it's really easy to make and upload your own ringtones from your mp3 collection using any of a number of websites. My personal fave of these is mobilereelz.com, which allows you to upload the .mp3 of your choice, edit it to the piece you want for your ringer, and then converts it to the correct file type for your phone and carrier (use M4A for Instinct) with pretty good sound fidelity. For someone who sweated through converting mp3s to to WAV, editing the sound settings, and then converting to qcp and finding an uploader previously, this is SOOOOOOO easy and the ringers come out quite well. I use Audacity (YAY! FREEWARE!) to edit mp3s down to size before uploading them, and then just select all of the uploaded file to be converted.

Dr. Horrible ringtones? You bet.

Speaking of sound, both the regular ear speaker and the speakerphone are clear. I sound good to people who I talk to, and I can hear them clearly. This is also true when using my bluetooth, something that people I know have complained about with regard to the iPhone.

The web is also quite speedy. It hangs noticeably on graphics-heavy pages, and there are several anecdotal stories on the net of pages that REFUSE to load, but I haven't had any of those issues. My biggest net pet peeve is that doesn't seem to want to connect when I want to update my email, but it will receive new messages and vibrate at the MOST inconvenient moment. At least it doesn't ring for new messages while in sleep mode. It does, however, ring for calls in sleep mode.

I know Sprint is trying desperately to develop apps for the Instinct, but so far the pickings are slim. And in some cases, EXPENSIVE. I look forward to the Holidays, when I expect there will be a big push towards getting apps out for all the people who will be getting these new toys for Christmas.

Battery life is better than I expected. I usually charge my phone during one or both halves of my daily commute, and I haven't had any power problems, even with heavy web/text use. I was expecting something more like the iPhone, where keeping a spare battery would be a good idea, but so far so good. If you lay off the web, the battery life seems comparable to a more traditional cell phone.

This is my 6th mobile phone (I got my first celly in 1996), and the 4th Samsung handset in a row. Say what you will about technology companies, but Samsung phones have always been good to me, and I'm hopeful this will live up to the hype.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 11:53 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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