Dick Tracy wrist phone FINALLY here

Maybe I should finally replace my lost mobile phone …

wristphone1

Korea-based LG has introduced its latest mobile device, the LG-GD910 wrist-phone featuring support for both 3G and HSDPA technology. The user interface is presented through a 1.43-inch color LCD touchscreen, while a video camera has been integrated into the watch face for video recording or conferencing. The device also offers text-to-speech (TTS) capabilities, Bluetooth, MP3 playback and voice dialing with speech recognition. The company claims download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps when using HSDPA.

The LG-GD910 is scheduled for an official debut at CES in January. European and Korean customers will have the first opportunity to purchase the new wrist phones, although pricing has not yet been announced.

electronista

(via Boing Boing)

John Lennon is back

Thanks to digital technology.

OLPC is an non-profit education project: http://laptop.org/

Thanks to support from Yoko Ono, this is our latest PSA: a message created from footage of John Lennon about the power each one of us has to change the world.

You can get involved at http://laptop.org/g1g1

Speed Riding the Eiger and Aconcagua

The Adventure Blog linked to an amazing video.

… What’s “speed riding” you ask? That’s the insand activity of climbing up a mountain, then jumping off the summit with a pair of skis on your feet and a parachute on your back. The result is an adrenline fueled ride down the side of the mountain that is half-skiing, and half-flying …

Speed Riding Video From NG Adventure Blog

end the war … in Sri Lanka

On Remembrance Day I reflect on the waste and stupidity of war.

And the worst war right now, per capita, is in Sri Lanka. When I was there about 10yrs ago I met no one who had not lost a family member.

Recently I watched a short excerpt on PBS FRONTLINE of a full-length documentary called “My Daughter the Terrorist”.

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The film introduces Dharshika and Puhalchudar, two 24-year-old women who have been living, training and fighting side-by-side for the past seven years. They are part of the Black Tigers, and are prepared to strap Claymore mines to their chests and blow up themselves and anyone within 100 feet of them to benefit their cause.

“When we have no bullets left and can’t do anything, we have our cyanide capsules,” Dharshika said, revealing the small glass cylinder filled with cyanide that both she and Puhalchudar wear around their necks.

Gradually, the film shares some of Dharshika’s past, and her personal reasons for fighting with the Tamil Tigers. She left home and joined the group before she became a teenager. …

In the West we simplify these civil wars as religious conflicts. Tamil Hindu vs ruling Sinhalese Buddhist, in this case.

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But Dharshika is Christian. A girl who wanted to become a nun.

A year after her father was killed (working in a post office) by a Sri Lankan government bomb dropped from the sky on her town, she was recruited by the Tigers.

Make no mistake, the Tigers are as ruthless as anyone, anywhere. Canada was a principle source of funds for them, at least until 2006 when they were named a “terrorist group”. (I don’t know if Canadian dollars supplied to them has decreased since then.)

Considered the most professional guerilla organization in the world and one of the first to employ suicide bombing, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have engaged the Sri Lankan government in a brutal civil war for the past 25 years. It’s one of the longest-running wars in Southeast Asia in which an estimated 70,000 people have lost their lives.

In an effort to create an independent Tamil state in northeastern Sri Lanka, the Tamil Tigers, as they are also known, have conducted at least 170 suicide-bombing operations since fighting began — by far the most attacks carried out by any guerilla group until the Iraq war in 2003. In recent weeks, government forces have pushed deep into Tamil territory toward the Tigers’ administrative capital of Kilinochchi in an all-out offensive to destroy the organization for good.

30 percent of these suicide missions were carried out by women.

You should be able to watch the PBS edit on FRONTLINE.

But here’s a short snippet if that does not work:

I notice that George Bush didn’t send troops to Sri Lanka. Nations like this need mediators, not profiteering war mongers.

two more vandalized Calgary bus shelters

My 2 most recent finds. Some day Calgary Transit is going to have to answer for these easy targets for kids. Someone must have a full-time job fixing them.


larger version

and yet another smashed shelter
and yet another smashed shelter

larger size

I ghost-wrote letters for the McCain campaign

“I ghost-wrote letters to the editor for the McCain campaign”

I spent a morning in John McCain’s Virginia campaign headquarters ghost-writing letters to the editor for McCain supporters to sign. I even pretended to have a son in Iraq.

By Margriet Oostveen

read the article – I ghost-wrote letters to the editor for the McCain campaign – Salon

Thanks Kate.

VLC plays all video files

Everyone is frustrated once-in-a-while with videos that will not play on their computer.

When nothing else works, try VLC Media Player, the open-source cross-platform media player that will play just about any file type. It works on Mac, Windoze and Linux.

There’s even a version for the iPhone.

download the VLC media player – FREE

all the bullets we had

Some dirtbag in Polk County Florida who got pulled over in a routine traffic stop ended up executing the deputy who stopped him. The deputy was shot eight times, including once behind his right ear at close range.

Another deputy was wounded and a police dog killed.

A statewide manhunt ensued.

The low-life was found hiding in a wooded area with his gun. SWAT team officers fired and hit the guy 68 times.

Now here’s the kicker:

Naturally, the media asked why they shot him 68 times. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, told the Orlando Sentinel:

“That’s all the bullets we had!”

larger version – flickr – seantyler

confirmed on Snopes

Thanks Garth.