Sobering article on the Events in North Africa

This is a fairly long, dry, article on the events in Tunisia and the continuing protests in other countries in North Africa and elsewhere:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22963

the upshot is, there is an enormous generation of young (under 30), fairly educated youth who have a bleak economic future, and are increasingly taking to the street...

-Morgan

Moovie Review: Splice

Well I finally got around to watching this movie. I had high hopes for it after seeing some reviews when it initially came out, but I get to see so few movies it took a while to percolate up my queue.

I have to say it did not really meet my expectations. It was a solid concept: creepy genetic engineering mixed with corporate profit pressures and an undertone of good-old Freudian psycho-sex; but it just didn't have the room to breathe. The ending was a bit horror cliche.

But the real reason I am posting it on the blog is because the villainous CEO in the movie was a pitch perfect French Canadian version of Carly Fiorina. I can't help but believe the character was modeled after her. In fact the movie would have been better with more of her in it.

Anyway, even with it's flaws, it still may be work a Netflix.

My other post of the week ...

I put this on my Facebook, and didn't ahve to wait an hour to get an angry, fact-free reply from one of my Texas T-bagger friends.

HealthCare explainoned on 4 napkins (which somehow translates to a couple dozens slides ... but worth seeing)

http://www.slideshare.net/danroam/healthcare-napkins-all

I like this as much for the stick-figure aided technique as the actual contnet ... though both seem true and effective as best I can tell.

WebMD goes all Dan Brown on me ...

Check out this DaVinci Code-esque health advice they just sent me ...

Last Supper Paintings Point to Ungodly PortionsPaintings Reveal That Plate, Portion Sizes Gradually Grew in the Past Millennium

https://www.webmdhealth.com/nl/nlv.aspx?id=gbeEorIjhXc=&s=11886

What would Jesus eat, hmm?

According to the TIOBE Programming Community Index for April 2010 the C programming language is back on top.

After more than 4 years C is back at position number 1 in the TIOBE index. The scores for C have been pretty constant through the years, varying between the 15% and 20% market share for almost 10 years. So the main reason for C's number 1 position is not C's uprise, but the decline of its competitor Java. Java has a long-term downward trend. It is losing ground to other languages running on the JVM. An example of such a language is JavaFX script that is now approaching the top 20.

I don't know why this surprises me... I guess with all the advantages to OO programming I am just a little amazed that C is on top. I guess I should be happy since I spend 90% of my time writing in C. Also note that if you add C and C++ together then they totally squash everything else on the list.

VIruses, Evolution, and DNA/RNA

Sent in from Morgan, relevant to discussions had at the call:

Pertinent to our discussion at the call, Here is an article talking
about an virus that integrated into our DNA a long time ago:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/01/bornavirus-in-human-dna/

I don’t really understand it all, but it seems similar to what I was describing to
Paul (ie. Viruses as a vector for mutation/evolution…)

I know, I know, this should be on the blog… [ed: sent via email instead]

Movie: Primer

At the call today, while comparing and contrasting movie plots (the team activity's movie still fresh in our minds) I was stumped trying to remember a well-recommended movie about time travel that was supposed to be well-nigh impossible to completely understand the first time through. I promised I would post the title on the blog as soon as I remembered.

Well, it was Primer. A movie about two engineers who accidentally discover time travel in their garage. (HP really should have sponsored this at some point, since it's quickly becoming a cult classic.)

I had never even heard of the movie until I saw this comic.

And I still haven't watched it, even though it's free to watch on Google Video.