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The Great Quake of '08 (Updated)

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:26:41 -0700

At 4:37 AM local time last night, a 5.2 earthquake struck near West Salem, Illinois, which is approximately 150 miles away from Springfield.

According to local news reports (and my coworkers), the quake rattled houses and knocked items off shelves and bookcases, but there were no local damage or injuries.

Of course, I slept through it all.

So far, I've survived the Godless Tornadoes of '06 and the Great Quake of '08...

I think Springfield is due for a hurricane in 2010. Or maybe locusts.

More quake coverage...

5.2 earthquake one of the strongest to hit Illinois (State Journal Register)
Earthquake measuring 5.2 rattles St. Louis region (St. Louis Post Dispatch)
Earthquake rattles Chicago area, Midwest (Chicago Tribune)
Earthquake rattles Indiana this morning (Indianapolis Star)
Little damage in Louisville from quake (Louisville Courier-Journal)
April 18, 2008 Midwest Earthquake (Wikipedia)

UPDATE 10:20 AM... We just felt a strong aftershock, which has been reported as magnitude 4.6. I work on the sixth floor of a building that was constructed sometime in the 1930s (I think), and our building shook noticeably for five or six seconds.

Hmm, why is it that I have the sudden urge to take the rest of the day off?

I hope they're able to redeem those feline flyer miles...

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:43:27 -0700

AOL and others have a story about a missing cat. What's the big deal, you may ask? Read on...

The last time Levy's wife, Kelly, saw Gracie was before she took her husband to the airport. The 24-year-old went back to her house in Palm Beach Gardens late Friday to find the bottom step, where Gracie would usually be waiting, empty.

She tore the house apart looking for the cat, who had been spayed just days before. She and her dad took out bathroom tiles and part of a cabinet to check a crawl space and papered the neighborhood with "lost cat" signs.

Then she got a phone call.

"Hi, you're not going to believe this, but I am calling from Fort Worth, Texas, and I accidentally picked up your husband's luggage. And when I opened the luggage, a cat jumped out," Kelly Levy quoted the caller saying.

The cat had stowed away in dad's luggage, and flew along with the rest of the baggage (after a trip through the x-ray machine) from Florida to Texas, where the bag was mistakenly claimed by someone else.

I figure that somewhere there's an x-ray technician who going to read this story and think, "Oh, that's what that was!" He or she should probably consider avoiding their supervisor for a few days.

(Thanks for the tip, Jenn.)

Failure of Leadership

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 03:40:53 -0700

I've stayed away from political issues in this blog because, frankly, politics don't hold much interest for me. And politicians even less. I've worked my entire professional career (13+ years of computer consulting) in the bowels of state government, so I can say with some authority that government works as well as it does not because of our elected officials, but in spite of them.

It's the "little people" that make the day-to-day business of government run. They work in less-than-spacious cubicles, answer their own phones, and hold meetings in conference rooms where fewer than half the chairs match each other. And they have to deal with the disruption that inevitably comes with an entirely new set of bosses every few years.

A successful political administration doesn't let egos or agenda get in the way of the business of government. Which brings us to the point of this little rant...

Right now, the State of Illinois is one week into Fiscal Year 2008 without an official budget. That might be marginally acceptable if Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) and the state legislature were working together to reach a compromise that will allow the business of government to continue without interruption. Instead the Governor, Speaker of the House Mike Madigan (D), and Senate President Emil Jones (D) are all feuding about issues having less and less to do with the budget, and more to do with ego and agenda.

That is failure of leadership. And it is unacceptable.

The following items illustrate just how ridiculous this situation has become...

Governor: Rep. Madigan a Republican
Both the Governor and Madigan are democrats, BTW.

Budget stalemate descends into bickering over meeting time
The Governor accused Madigan of "unlawful" action by changing the meeting time of a purely symbolic legislative session.

Blagojevich: Madigan action "unlawful"
More details and discussion about the brewing constitutional controversy.

Capitol Fax Blog
I highly recommend listening to the audio of Rep. Lou Langs (R) House floor speech, included in the 5:27 pm update. Volatile stuff.

Constitutional controversy in Ill. House of Representatives
Some Republicans used the word "impeachment" for the first time openly on the House floor.

ImpeachBlago.com
Given everything above, this one pretty much speaks for itself.

And one more, because the State of Illinois does not hold a monopoly right now on bad politics...

A President Besieged and Isolated, Yet at Ease
President George W. Bush, grasping for answers to his abysmal popularity, remains resolute and fixated on Iraq.

Our political "leaders" need to remember that they were hired to fill a temporary public service position. They need to worry less about keeping their jobs, and concentrate more on doing their jobs.

THE SMALL PRINT: For the record, these opinions are mine and mine alone. I don't speak in any capacity, official or otherwise, for anyone but myself.

Oh! My! Gawd!

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:36:18 -0700

According to a widely published AP article, an 11-year-old Alabama boy used a pistol to kill a wild hog his father says weighed a staggering 1,051 pounds and measured 9-feet-4 from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail.

I'm really not sure whether to be impressed or disgusted. Both, I guess.

S.O.S. - Save Our Streams!

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:36:29 -0700

Pandora is a very interesting service... It is an online music site that asks about your favorite artists and dynamically constructs a custom radio station just for you. In addition to songs from the artists you selected, the site will analyze your choices and deliver tunes from different artists that (hopefully) also fit your taste. You can further guide the playlist by clicking thumbs up or thumbs down for songs you feel strongly about. If you're an impulse shopper, links are available to iTunes and Amazon to buy the current song or album then and there. Nice.

Unfortunately, Pandora and other online radio stations like it might not be available for our listening (and shopping) pleasure very much longer. The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has recently released a revised fee schedule for internet radio. For most Webcasters, this new royalty rate represents more than 100% of their total revenues. Left unchanged, these rates will force most independent internet radio sites to shut down. The RIAA has effectively convinced this federal committee to establish rates that make online radio a non-viable business.

A site called SaveTheStreams.org has been created to provide information on this issue and what we might be able to do to reverse this decision. An online petition is available, as well as links to snail and e-mail addresses for your local representatives in Congress.

Maybe together we can prevent big business from limiting our soundscape.

Pillow Talk

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 21:24:22 -0700

A site called Newmindspace organized Pillow Fight NYC this past Saturday, February 24th. Hundreds of people met at Union Square in New York City for the express purpose of participating in a giant pillow fight.

Pillow Fight Springfield anyone?

Hail to the Chief

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 21:04:54 -0700

Well, it was inevitable. And now it's official...

Chief Illiniwek will perform for the final time at the last men's home basketball game of the season on February 21st against Michigan. (If anyone cares to donate tickets, lemme know. )

I have mixed feelings about this issue... As a U of I alum, it was always a thrill to watch Chief perform at half-time, and then join thousands of other fans in singing the Illinois Alma Mater "Hail to the Orange". On the other hand, the tide has been turning against Chief for the past few years, culminating in the recent demand from the Oglala Sioux Tribal Nation to return Chief Illiniwek's regalia originally provided to the University 23 years ago.

Opponents of the Chief are celebrating this announcement as a victory over racism on campus. I don't know if those people are just spinning the issue as much as possible for their own political gain, or if they're actually naive enough (bordering on stupid) to believe that the absence of the Chief will make each and every racist asshole at U of I change the way he thinks.

Racism has been at the heart of this controversy for the past twenty years. However I believe the decision made by the U of I Board of Trustees had absolutely nothing to do with race or intolerance. The Trustees caved on this issue for one primary reason... Money.

The NCAA ban on schools using what they call "hostile and abusive American Indian nicknames" is preventing Illinois from hosting post-season tournament games. So far, this ban has only affected non-revenue sports like tennis and soccer. However, a disappointing basketball season will almost certainly result in Illinois being passed over for March Madness and instead accept an NIT bid instead. In the NIT, schools host their own home games, so the University would stand to lose a huge amount of money if those games were forced to be played elsewhere. It's a simple issue of economics, not a leap forward in race relations. That's unfortunate (pardon the pun), because the chance was there to do so much better.

I don't understand why compromise never seemed to be a viable option. If the portrayal of Chief's dance was inaccurate, let's change it and make it right. If the costume or headdress is not what Illinois-area tribes would've worn, let's do our best to make it authentic. This could've been an opportunity to work together to resolve a volatile situation. Instead, it just shows that political correctness is a function of who controls the money.

And eventually, when all this controversy is a footnote in the history books, no one will have cause to remember the Illiniwek indians at all.

Now that's shameful.

Got Milk?

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 13:40:52 -0700

According to this article on Ars Technica, recent measurements by an X-ray observatory from the European Space Agency has revealed that the universe contains nearly one and a half times more calcium than predicted.

To my old college roommates who might be read this and think to blame me, I proclaim my innocence... I don't drink nearly as much milk as I used to way back when.

The Sky is Falling! (Part 2)

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 13:41:02 -0700

Unfortunately, I don't have any juicy updates to yesterday's meteorites story. (No tri-pods yet.) However, a New York Times Web article titled "Orbiting Junk, Once a Nuisance, Is Now a Threat" caught my eye. The article explains and illustrates what a huge problem the man-made space junk littering space around our planet has become.

During an eight year period ending in 2002, the solar panels on the Hubble Telescope were struck by space debris at least 725,000 times. Five thousand of these left craters and holes large enough to be seen by the naked eye.

In addition, experts believe that a piece of orbital debris might one day create a large enough collision capable of starting a chain reaction, "a slow cascade of collisions that would expand for centuries, spreading chaos through the heavens." Apparently, China recently tested an antisatellite rocket that shattered an old satellite into hundreds of large individual fragments that could trigger this chain reaction sooner than later.

If nothing is done, a kind of orbital crisis might ensue that is known as the Kessler Syndrome, after Mr. Kessler. A staple of science fiction, it holds that the space around Earth becomes so riddled with junk that launchings are almost impossible. Vehicles that entered space would quickly be destroyed.

On the bright side, if the Kessler Syndrome does come to pass, we won't have to worry about those pesky Martians and their tri-pods coming down to attack us any longer. Right?

The Sky is Falling!

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 13:12:21 -0700

Last night at approximately 8:30 central time, streaks of flaming objects were seen illuminating the skies throughout the Midwest. (No, this is not about the Bears' Super Bowl flame-out. )

The State Journal-Register, my local newspaper, reports the official word from NORAD...

A preliminary report from the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which watches for airborne threats to the U.S. and Canada, also indicated the lights Sunday evening were from a meteor, spokeswoman Maj. April Cunningham said.

Of course, this is exactly how "War of the Worlds", "The Blob", and every other space-based monster movie ever started out, right?

In addition to this astral activity, a seismic event was reported yesterday afternoon in Menard County, northwest of Springfield. Supposedly, the ground shook for just a second or two as if there was a large explosion in the area. Yikes!

Clearly the Tri-Pods are on their way... I'll let you know when I see the first one wreaking havoc and destruction throughout downtown Springfield.

And in case you still believe the "official" news sources for this story, here are a couple...

Parental Discretion Advised

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 18:46:14 -0700

In other words, Mom don't read this one!

A couple of unusual stories caught my eye over the past couple of days... The first involves an incident last week at O'Hare airport. A Chicago Sun-Times article reports that a man named Mardin Azad Amin was stopped by airport security after a suspicious object was found in his baggage.

So, Amin, 29, handled the delicate situation this way: He told security the object was a bomb, Cook County prosecutors say.

The security guard then asked Amin to repeat what he'd said to a supervisor. This time, Amin was chuckling as he spoke, prosecutors say.

In fact, Amin was trying to disguise the fact that the black object -- resembling a grenade -- was a component for a penis pump.

Amin eventually told investigators he'd lied about the object because his mother was standing nearby when it was discovered and he didn't want her to know about it. Unfortunately, he might get up to three years in jail for lying to officials (and his mom, of course).

The second story comes, appropriately enough, from the world of Second Life (also mentioned in a previous post). This Wired News report covers a Second Life convention held in the real world (San Fransisco) last weekend. Specifically, the article discusses a panel dedicated to sex in Second Life. I would call it cyber-sex, but it turns out that it's not so cyber any more... A robotics engineer, who's avatar name is qDot Bunnyhug, presented "the first open-source interface for controlling sex toys from within the virtual world."

"I created the first Second Life sex-toy interface in July of last year and had it running within three days of creating my account," qDot says. "Actually, it's why I started my Second Life account."

He describes that first attempt as "really bad," and says it limited you to changing the vibrator's speed just once per second, which resulted in a stuttering effect in the vibrations on the other end. "You could update the values once per second, and there were ways to smooth the transition between the power levels, but it still didn't feel quite right," he says.

But he couldn't quite stay away from the vibrator interface. He built a new version entirely with open-source code (from libsecondlife.org). It enables you to send 10 to 20 updates per second to the vibrator, resulting in much smoother speed transitions than the first release. It also offers anyone with time and coding ability the chance to customize their own teledildonics system.

Teledildonics?!? There's a word I never imagined I would read.

OK mom, you can start reading again...

Duran Duran Gets a Life Life

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 23:08:38 -0700

Not sure how I missed this piece of earth-shattering news when it initially came out last week...

The 80's pop music group Duran Duran announced that they are planning to get a life; a second life in fact... The members of the band will appear and perform as custom designed characters, called avatars, in the Second Life 3-D online virtual world.

Second Life is a virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by more than 400,000 people worldwide. Users can build virtual homes, have fantasy jobs, experiment with alternative lifestyles, and apparently enjoy online music concerts.

I'm pretty sure that a Second Life appearance won't be enough to trigger a full-blown Duran Duran comeback, but it's a decent way to get some cheap press coverage. Rock on!

Don't Be Evil (Most of the Time)

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 15:47:31 -0700

This article on the UK news site called The Independent states that Google, known for its mantra "don't be evil", has fired off a series of legal letters to media organizations, warning them against using its name as a verb.

Google has become known for their anti-corporate image of youthful non-conformity, from the jeans and T-shirts often worn by its billionaire founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, to the scooter lanes and volleyball courts at its Palo Alto headquarters.

In the letter(s), Google gives an example of what's appropriate and what's not...

Appropriate: I ran a Google search to check out that guy from the party. Inappropriate: I googled that hottie.

Given the rep that they've cultivated to this point, it's a little surprising that Google is acting like such a suit now. Especially after all of the negative press that AOL received recently for releasing potentially sensitive search data.

OK, if you'll excuse me, I have to go ~~google that hottie~~, uh, perform a Google^TM search regarding the attractive young lady in my office...

This sounds like a job for the Mythbusters!

dave@deckmonster.com (Deck) — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 12:26:37 -0700

According to the following Wired News story, people should not use mobile phones outdoors during thunderstorms because of the risk of being struck by lightning.

I don't doubt that this story is true, but I find it surprising that this is the first we've heard of it. I predict that we will see this tested on Mythbusters soon.