For the love of pete. This one gets the "how give out kids diabetes more efficiently" award. It is a straw, made out of FruitLoops cereal, and the inside it coated with that sickly-sweet fake powdered milk crap that the cereal bar makers have been trying to pawn off as a milk replacement. That alone would be enough for the award, but oh no, they had to go and clinch victory with this thing. I am not sure about the nutrition facts on this, but I am guessing high sugar content. If it gets kids to drink their milk, you would think that would be good, but how much extra sugar is going along for the ride? Though fruitloop milk does taste good... Via Boing Boing

Now I find out even more retardation of that gadget which is known as iPhone... It has a major drawback which is that it only works with AT&Tingular which i have already mentioned, but in addition it won’t come in models that use Verizon or Sprint and apparently does NOT have a SIM card slot which would allow it to run on T-Mobile’s network. So, the phone is basically ONLY an AT&T phone. I am assuming there will be a way around this, such as the phone itself gets programmed with your information for use on T-mobile regardless of a SIM, and different versions will come out for different networks, once AT&Tingular's exclusivity agreement runs out. SIM cards really are just a way to quickly move from 1 phone to another, but are not really needed anymore I think since there are many other ways to get your data out of your phone now. But man its funny how you go full circle, I was a phone programmer in college, meaning, I called a customer and walked them through reprogramming their phone in order to switch them over to a new provider. Guess we are back to that again.

This one blows my mind. Its an MP3 player, yet... You can't use any song as a ringtone, at least the way the Iphone ships. That is quite possibly the stupidest thing I have heard about the Iphone. It actually makes my brain hurt. Although I mentioned this in a previous post, I just realized why this is the case. There is no IM package for the Iphone. The reason, dunno, but I have a guess. MONEY. The base iPhone plan has a pissant little 200 SMS messages. Get it? Why do you need IM when you have SMS? So... you have to spend more to send more messages, and as such, ATT can actually make some money on this whole deal. IM would use the data network, so it wouldn't burn SMS messages, and as such, noone would really need SMS except for occasionally. Safari lacks support for the following web stuff: Java, Flash, stored passwords, RSS, streaming audio or video (except for some QuickTime videos of course). No RSS?!?!?! Its not like RSS is tough to handle for god sake. That just really seems like someone was being difficult over in the development department. Flash I understand not being included since its not Apple's plugin, and it should be up to Adobe to create a small enough flash plugin for the iPhone. Oh but wait... NO 3rd PARTY DEVELOPMENT. So, guess flash games are out... ding! money maker again. God forbid you be able to play any game you want via flash which they cannot control. Guess they would have to make good phone games you would actually want if that was the case. Java, i get just because its a beast. And only supporting quicktime streams, makes sense, since after all, why would they wanna give a hand to redmond? Todo items that are on your computer don't show up on the iPhone. And in the other direction, notes you make on your iPhone don't show up on your computer. GoGoGadget Hackers! Let the games begin. Make that phone actually do all the things it should when it comes out of the box.

So far the downsides to the Iphone are: Battery is not user serviceable, meaning that if it starts lasting 5 seconds on a charge, you have to send it in to apple to get it replaced. How many weeks without my cellphone you say? No memory slot of any kind. Normally a "who cares", but its an easy way to transfer photos and music, without having to use a USB cable which might not be around, or specialized software. cingulAT&T, and without UMTS-HSDPA 3G support. Not a big deal if you have lots of patience. no 3rd party apps... Thats a big one. You only get to use what "The Might Jobs" blesses you with. Like youtube... In case you couldn't stand to be away from bad singers and jackass impersonators while getting your haircut. No keyboard, though I will say that I have used soft-boards before and they are not that bad. Looks like they have a decent implementation, plus the few who have been blessed with early review versions, have said it takes a few days to get used to. Also to make it thinner, I guess is worth the loss of a keyboard. No business connectivity. Though there have been apparent statements that it will have exchange connectivity, there is no true confirmation of this. Also won't that mean they have to license Active Sync from MS? Ah bedfellows indeed. No IM software?!?! Real Web... or not. no plugins, and no java. Touch Screen. This is both a plus and a minus. Someone needs to figure out how to make touchscreens that don't look like a dog slobbered all over it after 1 minute of use. Everytime you put this phone up to your head you're gonna get your greasy ass face imprinted all over the phone. The price of cool... $600 PLUS a 2 year commitment to a company that can't commit for more than 2 years on a name... wow, thats rough. I think im gonna start getting into the house foreclosure market because I know most of you fanboys are gonna buy it on credit making that phone cost you $2k by the time you pay it off. But regardless of the negatives, im sure the Iphone will do great. Im sure it will have a boatload of technical problems like every other phone does. It does have a very nice interface, and everyone seems to agree, but aside from that, it does seem to be very "usable" as well, not just pretty. When the price comes down, and its on Tmobile, i might go look at it...

This is the coolest wine thermometer ever. Not much of a wine drinker myself, though when I do I really appreciate the qualities of the wine. Yes, i'm a wine snob that doesn't drink wine that often, go figure... Anywhooo. Its pretty cool. You slip the metal ring over the wine bottle in question, and the temperature gauge (which is like those plastic temperature strips you put on your forehead) will read out the temp of the bottle. There are whole bunch of zones on the gauge for different wine types, and the temperature appears under those zones. If the temperature appears in the correct zone for that bottle, yeay!!! Otherwise, you should immediately drink the wine to prevent anymore damage from being done. Gizmodo

Great parody of the Microsoft Surface Computer. I still want one... Via Gizmodo

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahah. Thats great. click the picture to play. Dramatic Chipmunk

Alli, which is a new over-the-counter diet pill, that is actually a low-dose version of Xenical, was approved recently by the FDA. In the past few weeks there has been alot of increasing chatter about it, and how "great" it is supposed to be. Initially my thought was great, an OTC weightloss pill that doesn't work systemically on your hormones or brain or neurology, but actually just works in your digestive tract. Initially when xenical came out, i thought that same thing. But now, I started thinking about the bigger picture and what this could mean for the health of the nation in general. Alli interferes with the activity of lipase, a digestive enzyme that breaks down fat obtained from food sources. By doing so, it prevents about 25% of the fat that you eat from being absorbed. At first glance this sounds great, but there are some immediate downsides to that, loose stools (diarrhea), gas with oily spotting (really wet farts), and more frequent stools that may be hard to control (explosive uncontrollable diarrhea). But again, thats up to you, and I can understand if weightloss is such a battle that those possible side-effects might be ok with you. The concern is not the direct and immediate side effects. Thats up to you, and its not like oily discharge is gonna kill you. But my concern is that the pill just prevents absorption of those calories, which means that if you make no change in your diet, you will just gain the weight back once you stop taking Alli. How could you not gain it back? If you eat 2500 calories a day now, and lets say just for argument sake that taking Alli would reduce your calories absorbed by 500 calories, you would lose 1 pound a week (3500 calories to a pound). If you then continue eating the same way you did, you would lose weight. Great! However... The minute you stop taking Alli you would gain that weight right back, because you now again are eating that 2500 calories you were eating before when you were overweight. That now means you will gain until you get back up to your original weight. Another concern of a side effect of Alli would be the fact that it block all fats, indiscriminately from what I can tell. Good and bad alike. All those Omega fatty acids you are supposed to be getting, well, now you only get 25% of what you ate. I wonder if it reduces cholesterol intake? If so, that would be a positive thing about it i guess. But then you have a lot of secondary problems that come from not absorbing fat. There are many fat soluble vitamins that your body needs, that are now going to be absorbed in a quantity of 25% lower than what you were getting before taking Alli. To me that seems a bit dicey. The fact is that Americans are already undernourished as it is, even though we are ironically overfed. Remember calories are not necessarily nutritious. We are suffering a tremendous Vitamin D deficiency problem in the US, which is contributing to a whole host of diseases including osteoporosis, certain cancers, and possibly depression, as well as a whole long list of possibles as well. Vitamin E, A and D are 3 fat soluble vitamins that we obtain through diet, which we are now going to probably now start seeing deficiencies in. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) is outdated, and from what I understand it was based on what the average person ate at the time it was created. As a result, alot of the nutrients are out of whack, in particular vitamin D. Lay out in the sun naked for 2 hours, and you will get more vitamin D than what is considered overdose levels (75,000IU) since most of us make about 20,000 units of vitamin D after about 20 minutes of summer sun which is about 100 times more vitamin D than the government says you need every day, and you can do it for many times that with a day at the beach... Now of course you don't do that every day, and shouldn't. Vitamin D can be dangerous when misused, like water as well, or sugar, or oxygen. The fact is, everything needs to be moderated, but we just have bad information of how much is too much or too little. If the overweight population starts taking Alli en-mass, then I would be will to bet big money on the increase in demand for the assorted disease fighting drugs that will help (but not cure of course) the diseases associated with Vitamin A,D and E deficiencies. Hmm, wonder what those are? I gotta go make some stock purchases... note: I ain't no doctor. Talk with you doctor and do your own research to become as informed as you can. Don't ever put your faith in any one single thing without confirming it, sometimes many times over. Every I said could turn out to be complete bullshit, or gospel, you decide. And if anyone knows whether or not Orlistat is "selective" about which fats get blocked, I would love to know. I tried to research it, but all the marketing BS annoyed me into giving up. Also, someone needs to start a "cool adult diaper" company. I have a feeling you could make a fortune. "Yes, I'm skinny and cool, because I take Alli and wear Adult Shit Shields to keep me 'secure'".

Ah the internets are an interesting beast. I just sold a domain I own, that I had been planning on doing something with, but never got around to it. Made a grand after escrow fees and such. Was a cool domain name, but alas, I wasn't going to ever get around to doing anything, so why not sell it. It was an offer out of blue to, since I dont actually list any of my domains for sale anywhere, but someone initiated it through afternic. cool.

My wife is pregnant, and as she is getting closer to the due date she is reading more and more about what to expect. Perfectly fine obviously, knowledge is power and all that. But... She just read me something that now tells me why nurses are paid as if they are waitresses or car washers. Apparently you will get better care from your nurses if you bring them gifts/food. That is fucking ridiculous. There is no other way to put it. Now, to be clear, what she read was a few threads from babycenter, with people arguing back and forth, but the general consensus seems to be that if you are in the hospital, your after-care is better if you buy the staff food. Thats absurd, and i have a really hard time believing that, but if thats true, any nurse that changes his or her tune towards a patient after being bribed with food, should be fired. You are not a waiter. You are not a maid. You are a nurse, performing a professional job you had to go to school for and should be getting paid at least a decent salary. Do you work hard? If yes, then hopefully your hospital will allow you to advance to better positions (if they don't find a new hospital). A good solid "thank you" should be enough, but regardless, the care you give should not change. If you are shitty nurse to begin with, and have a giant chip on your shoulder, you should not suddenly become Mother Teressa just because I buy you a pizza (pizza btw is the prefered reward it seems, homemade cookies are last). If you're a good nurse, pizza would possibly be an insult i would think? What's the tip on a C-section, $10 per person in the room? Not sure what i am going to do about this. I am conflicted. Although my principles say that this is rediculous, I also have to accept the fact that it may be reality. And although usually I would buck the status quo, the fact is also that I want the best and most friendly care possible for my wife. So, i'm sure, if we notice the care seems to be low, we will resort to bribery as well. Though i doubt this will be the case since the hospital we are going to is probably the best in the region. Realize that i do not think nurses are "waiters or maids", and I do think they are underpaid for the work they do. Its hard, especially in certain departments where you get to deal with the worst humanity has to offer, like trauma. I was an EMT for 4 years and can relate at some level. And if someone does "bribe" you, accept it, say thank you, tell them they really didnt have to do that, and then share the bribe with as many people as you can. Then do your job exactly the same as before.