People continue to get screwed...

This just in... A lady has finally stopped sending money to scammers from Nigeria after losing over $400,000! It started with the oh so familiar scam email saying that a long lost relative wanted her to have his fortune. They just needed her to send some money to free up the funds and the transfer would begin. Two years later when the Department of Justice came across a $144,000 Western Union transfer they told her to stop sending them money or they would charge her with a crime. Being stupid isn't a crime, but I'm sure she was funding terrorism or something.

It just shocks me how freaking stupid some people can be!! Read all about it here if you are interested. This just goes back to what I said before about being a sucker and believing everything you read. If someone really has money to send to you then they probably aren't going to be emailing you. Something that important will go through the US Mail.

Where is Anthony?

Oh, I'm still around. I spent last week down in Las Vegas at the SEMA show. I'd go into more details, but there is that Las Vegas code regarding what happens there and where it stays... At any rate, I have returned to a ridiculous work schedule filled with training and receiving feedback from people who really shouldn't be giving feedback, as well as midterms in two criminal law classes and also dealing with all the wonderful changes in the economy. Just when you think it can't get any worse...

Upcoming posts (as a reminder to myself) include how credit scores are calculated, why people who live in glass houses should get dressed with the lights off, and other meaningless rants that will just feel better to get off my chest. In fact, let me just start by saying that if you are offended because I use the word "crap" in a conversation then you can kiss my ass. I don't care what offends you or what you don't think is professional. NOBODY tells me how to talk while ignoring the fact that their own language is dotted with similar unprofessional words. I got that feedback today that I was supposed to correct my class if one of them uses any negative language. I just wanted to tell him to stick it. Sometimes 'crap' is the right word for the situation. Would he rather I said 'shit'? No matter what word I chose it was going to mean the same thing, so I don't know why he is getting hung up on semantics. I could say 'garbage' but that is negative too, so I don't think I could win with him. Personally I think that maybe I should give him feedback to lighten the hell up. Nobody even hears it when I say the word 'crap' just like they wouldn't hear it if I said something else. They WOULD hear me correcting them when the correction isn't necessary, however. My dad taught me not to crap where I eat, so I don't think it is a good idea to walk around telling people how much better I am than they are just because I know how to pick better words in my conversations. Screw that noise...

There. I feel better now that I have that off my chest. See how useful blogs that nobody reads can be? Now I'm off to write a mid-term, brief two cases, and participate in an online course. I should be home in time to miss putting my kids to bed and getting hugs from them. CRAP! (and I mean that. I like the hugs.)

I am totally confused...

There is this lady who sets up on the side of the road outside my office selling Pine Nuts. I guess it is a Utah thing, because I've never had a Pine Nut in my entire life. I had a friend once from Utah who was nuts about them (no pun intended). His mom would send him bags of them during this time of year. So I went out on the web looking for some information on the elusive roasted pine nut. Now I'm even more confused. I don't even know what they are made out of. Can you explain this packaging?

I swear I did not make that up. That is an actual label off a package of toasted pine nuts. I'm so confused...

Kind of neat sites

Bored bored bored... That's what I am. I've got some projects that I'm working on at work that require others to input before I can move forward. So it is a 'hurry up and wait' sort of week for me. Actually, it has sort of been that kind of month for me. Not a whole lot going on... Anyway, I've spent some time hanging out on the web (obviously) Here are some neat sites I've found.

Graffiti Creator

This is a site that allows you to create graffiti style graphics. Just type in your word and away you go. Kinda neat.



Hidden Objects Online

I love Big Fish hidden objects games. Here is one that you can play online without having to buy anything or download anything. What could be better?!


Kinda fun board game

Ok, this one is really weird, but pretty fun. Play against the computer and then find someone else to play against. Some of the puzzles are really fun to sort through. I didn't make the top 100 or anything, but my first game ended with an IQ of 120. :) I can be happy with that. It was fun!


Fun puzzle game

This is one that is sort of interesting. You have to find your way out of this room to start with. There are clues around that you have to find and then figure out what they are for. I'll give you a hint... http://takagism.fasco-cs.com/yellow_chamber.html That is the URL that is found on the note. Other hints can be found by reading the comments on this page. That page also has a smaller version of the game, but I like the big one.

Will Hell ever freeze?

You know how there are certain things that will never ever ever happen no matter how hard people try? Those are the things that will happen when Hell freezes over. I was approached with a suggestion that fit into that "when Hell freezes over" situations. The suggestion had been raised before and I suspect it will probably be raised again, so I did a little research to find out what the likeliness is of it ever happening due to the freezing of Hell. I was delighted to find this very scientific explanation that reaffirmed my comfort in continuing to avoid certain situations.

The following is a real question given on a University of Washington engineering mid-term. The answer was so "profound" that the Professor shared out it with colleagues, and the sharing obviously hasn't ceased...

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or Endothermic (takes up heat)?

Most of the students wrote Proofs of their beliefs applying Boyle's Law, (gas cools off when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following :

"First, we want to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we want to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely accept that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.

As for how many souls are entering Hell, let us look at the different religions that live in the world today. Some of these religions express that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can anticipate the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law expresses that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the equal, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls insert Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will growth until all Hell breaks loose.

2. Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate quicker than the growth of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we assume the postulate given to me by Teresa Banyan during my Freshman year, "...that it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you.", and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then, #2 cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and will not freeze."

This student received the only A.

Awesome ideas for lamps!

Aren't lamps boring? I remember looking for some lamps for our house a few years ago and not finding anything that we wanted. Some of the designs are interesting enough, but far from practical. While others are practical, but they don't fit in anywhere. I found some lamps that are truely unique in their design and even in their function. I'm not saying that these necessarily fit in everywhere either, but at least they aren't boring. Click the image below to see the list.

One of my favorite lamp designs is the Alien Abduction Lamp. I'm not sure where I would put a lamp like this, but I can see it being used somewhere. That is probably one of the cooler ideas for a lamp that I've ever seen. Isn't that cool? What a concept! Click here to read all about where the idea came from and how it has gone from an idea to a reality.

The FlapFlap lamp is also a unique design. I can see making one of these lamps, actually. It wouldn't be too terribly difficult. All you would really have to do is get a stiff tube and make it look like a cord. Wind it up at the bottom like in that picture and attach it securely to a lamp. There are so many light weight lamps like that out there that I can see this one being a fun project to put together. I think I'll give it a shot. :) It would be a great gift for someone.

So I guess the moral of this story is to never underestimate the creativity that still exists out there. Just when you think that everything is boring and it all looks the same, someone will come out with a lamp that floats on its own cord. Brilliant!

150 best Flash games

I love Flash games. You can play them online and they are free. Not to mention that they are great time killers when you are either bored at work or bored of everything else about the internet in general. This is a list of 150 of the best Flash based games on the web. You know you want to play a game. Go ahead... Click the link. Nobody can tell you how to spend your time online. ;)