In The Noise - January 21, 2010

This is good news but kind of puzzling...

A government report released yesterday says that wind energy could generate 20 percent of the electricity needed by households and businesses in the eastern half of the United States by 2024..but it would require up to $90 billion in investment.

With all the blowhards in Washington, 20 percent seems kind of low, don't you think?

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An iPhone app to translate a baby's cries and tell parents instantly what they mean has been made available.

Researchers discovered infants had five distinct, universal yells - regardless of language - indicating whether the tot is hungry, annoyed, tired, stressed or bored. The makers claim 96 per cent accuracy. But parenting experts believe the app could make people rely on technology, rather than parental instinct and experience (which is kind of creepy).

Anywho, what we now need is a "grown-up" app - to explain the opposite sex to us.

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Only in New Jersey.

Police have charged three people in connection with the fire that destroyed Loyle Lanes bowling alley last week, including the owner of a rival bowling alley.

Yep, the owner of Pike Lanes, was charged Tuesday with aggravated arson, aggravated "arson for hire" and "conspiracy to commit aggravated arson".

Police said, “We are continuing to investigate the motivation of the three individuals, and we are not going to elaborate on what physical evidence was discovered at the scene.”

What? Like a smelly old pair of rental bowling shoes??? Please, spare me the details.

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NASA today said it would begin soliciting public photo shoot suggestions for the cutting edge camera onboard its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Wow. This could be far out. Literally.

I guess the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera (or HiRISE - really!), is the most powerful camera ever to orbit another planet.

We Earthlings can view Mars maps using a new online tool called "HiWish" to see images already taken, check which targets already have been suggested and make new suggestions.

Let me think. What would I like to see on Mars?

Life-sized cardboard cutout of Obama? Kermit the Frog hanging out with a little green Martian?

Maybe one of those Venice gondoliers trying to pole his way down a Martian canal?

I know! A photo of the Mars rover next to a can of Alpo...

In The Noise - January 20, 2010

Everybody's making jokes about having to travel in the Los Angeles monsoon in arks, kayaks, canoes, ocean liners, aircraft carriers...

...but it's now gotten even worse. I just saw a Disneyland "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" submarine float by!!!

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Viral video of the day: a member of the U.K.'s women's Olympic bobsled team had a "wardrobe" malfunction" as she bent over to launch her sled. Brings a whole new meaning to the expression, "Let her rip!"

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$200,000 worth of Red Bull energy drink was reported missing today from a West Tennessee facility of the U.S. Navy.

I'd first check with the U.K. women's Olympic bobsled team.

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For the first time since Jan. 19, 1949, a mysterious person who for more than half a century has been marking Edgar Allen Poe's birthday by laying roses and a bottle of cognac at his grave site...did not show up!!

Is the "Poe Toaster" now Post Toastie???

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The Los Angeles City Council has unanimously voted to expand a smoking ban to outdoor dining areas.

Which happily leaves smokers with only...telephone booths (and when was the last time you saw one of those????).

In The Noise - January 19, 2010

Thunder, lightning, tornadoes, waterspouts and hail.

I'll just bet Pat Robertson thinks this is what L.A. deserves for NBC's treatment of Conan.

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The City Council has given preliminary approval to a plan that would close most of the hundreds of pot dispensaries in Los Angeles. The ordinance would cap the number of dispensaries at 70 and require the shops to be at least 1,000 feet from schools, parks and other public gathering spots.

I can't believe this.

Will there be signs going up all over town saying, "Mary Jane doesn't live here anymore?"

And what about the poor dispensary owners - are they going to have to "eat" their excess stock? Mangia the ganja???

I'm hoping this whole idea goes up in smoke.

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Speculation is running wild in Geekdom (count me as part of that group)!

Everybody's wondering about Apple's new top-secret product, which will be announced on January 27th.

Right now, we geeks are abuzz about the abstract, paint-splatter design on the press conference invitations that Apple sent out today.

O-o-o-o-o...does the paint splatter MEAN something?!?!

Is it a clue as to what Apple is going to call the new whatever-it-is??

Maybe it's the Apple iPalette!! Or the iCanvas!! Perhaps the iPaintBall!!!!

Even for geeky me, all this guesswork about the splattery invitation is over the top.

Kinda makes me want to iVomit.

WAIT! Maybe that's the name of the new Apple!!!!!!

In The Noise - January 18, 2010

Whoa. Nearly 400 tons of ground beef produced by a California meat packer - some of it nearly two years ago - is being recalled for fear of potentially tainting with deadly E. coli bacterium.

"Some of it nearly TWO YEARS AGO???" I don't think even "Hamburger Helper" can save this situation...

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A couple of days ago, Italian border guards were amazed to discover a 15-year-old Afghan boy hiding inside luggage. During a routine automobile spot check - the boy was found hidden in a zipped suitcase as he tried to illegally enter the country. Officers immediately arrested the Greek driver of the car carrying the suitcase.

Meanwhile, American Tourister has signed the boy to a commercial contract. The gorilla is history.

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In England, a BBC weather forecaster has suggested that the government's weather-forecasting super-computer has a 'warm bias' which has stopped it predicting bitter cold spells like the one they just experienced.

When interrogated about the claim, the super-computer stubbornly put up a cold front. It's future is hazy, at best.

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Closer to home, a San Diego middle school was evacuated when a student's science project was mistaken for an explosive device. The 11-year-old boy was trying to build a motion detector from instructions he found on the internet and with parts he bought online.

Perhaps he should have shopped on a website other than "Amabomb.com"!

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And geeks are abuzz as Apple officially alerted the world today that it is ready to unveil its latest "creation" — on the morning of Jan. 27 (set your iPhones!).

It is expected that the company CEO, Steve Jobs, will show off the latest much-anticipated marvel - a robotic shoe-maker.

Right! The Apple Cobbler.

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Finally, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Whew! Thank goodness for government acronyms - DARPA) will soon hold its first workshop in support of a flying car program it will begin this year known as the Transformer TX. The goal is to build a flying vehicle that will let soldiers avoid water, difficult terrain, and road obstructions - as well as roadside bombs and ambush threats.

Sounds like a great idea. And I understand it will undergo the most extreme testing in the most harrowing conditions - the L.A. freeway system...in the rain.

In The Noise - January 15, 2010

So what are we supposed to take to recover from tainted Tylenol disease?

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Tiger Woods is reportedly in a Mississippi sex rehab clinic.

I certainly wish him well.

Let's hope that - once he's completed treatment - he will again associate terms like "front nine", "coming over the top" and "holed out" with something other than making whoopie.

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Florida was in the news a week ago when it was hit by very rare snowfalls. In today's headlines, there's "Florida snow" of a different sort.

A bag of cocaine has been found in a Space Shuttle hangar at Kennedy Space Center! To help find the culprit, NASA has brought in drug sniffing dogs (now, there's a nice job!).

And Paul McCartney has been booked to sing, "High High High".

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Elsewhere in Florida, people are freaking out over a new "super snake".

A three-day, state-coordinated hunt has turned up at least five African rock pythons - including a 14-foot-long female.

I guess that in Africa, the rock python eats creatures as large as goats and crocodiles.

Which means Mickey and Donald better watch their backs.

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You remember how Obama pledged that his administration would have complete transparency - you know, openness about things like who meets with the President; details about the health care bill negotiation, et cetera?

Well, on good ol' Vice President Joe Biden's schedule today is a meeting with the chief of transparency for economic recovery.

The meeting is closed to anyone else.

Transparency = clear as mud!

What do you call that...an "open secret"?

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A year after that planeload of people survived the water landing in the middle of the Hudson River, many of them got together today to celebrate the anniversary of their unlikely survival.

No question about it, once you get that feeling you can walk on water...

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It's cold and flu season, which means we Americans are turning to traditional and not-so traditional methods to ward off the beastie bugs. Non-traditional things like taking zinc! (Isn't zinc a metal?)

There are a lot of products out there that contain zinc and claim to boost immunity. And it might work, but researchers also warn there could be nasty side effects if you take too much. Side effects such as memory problems, nerve damage and urinary tract problems.

Not to mention the possibility of turning into a car battery.