Another parody of this scene from a movie based on Hitler's last days, this time he is informed of the iPad, safe to say he isn't too happy either about the new device.

An Air Force research facility in Rome, NY has put in a request that has some puzzled. They have begun a project to try to recreate the way the human brain processes things, like images. They are doing so by using the combined power of about 1700 PS3 Game consoles so far, and reported over 2000 by the time the project is complete. Who knows why they are using PS3's to make this super computer, dubbed "500 TeraFLOPS Heterogeneous Cluster". Maybe they just want to show up the South Korean Air Force's Starcraft Team by making there own Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 team, who really knows?

Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, was just reconfirmed by the senate for another 4 years. This being after he stopped us from going into another depression, and being chosen as Time Magazines Person of the Year. The weird thing is that even though he did save our economy from another big depression, there was some doubt that he would get the needed majority, he got a vote of 70-30 for being able to keep his title. Let us hope that he can use some more of his "magic" to pull us all the way out of this pit we are in.




Edit: I had originally made this post on Friday, but for some reason it didn't publish this post, at least it saved it.

During his State of the Union address yesterday, President Obama made what some are calling a rude comment, geared towards the new supreme court ruling that states that since a corporation has human rights like speech and so on, that it can donate unlimited funds to political campaigns for public office. The quote, which was apparently added to the speech by the President on the spot and not originally part of the speech is:
With all due deference to the separation of powers,'' he began delicately, then reverted to his prepared remarks, ''the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests -- including foreign corporations -- to spend without limit in our elections.
After this was said, and everyone was cheering, the cameras panned over to Justice Alito, who then mouthed to the president "Simply not true", as show in the video below.

I am sorry that this is late, but my laptop with all of my boy scout eagle project papers on it, and it is much easier to just copy what I already did.

In this project I plan to build bird boxes, bat boxes, and owl boxes for the birds, bats, and owls at the Fernandez Ranch property recently acquired by the Muir Heritage Land Trust. I went out to see the site and meet with Beth Pardieck, my contact at MHLT.
MHLT is a nonprofit organization that buys/preserves land in the bay area. They do so with partnerships with companies like east bay regional parks, and donations from many private donors. Fernandez Ranch is there newest acquisition and is nearly 702 acres near the south of Hercules. The property is currently going under major renovation to make it more accessible to the public, and make it better for the wildlife there right now, and my project is going to help in that part.
I plan to do research on the land to find out what specific birds, bats, and owls live there and where on the property they reside. I will then scout out specific areas and mark on my map where each box will go, according to where research says the animals usually are. The bird boxes will be up next to trees, but not hurting the tree in any way. The bat boxes will be in open areas and painted according to the nightly temperatures to assure the survival of any young that might be in there.
Each of the boxes will be made prior to the installation day, and each box will depend on the species attracted to it. They will be made at my home with help from volunteers and later installed at the park. The owl boxes will also be made and placed depending on the type of owls found there. After the boxes are made, I, along with a group of select volunteers will make a trip out to the property and then install the boxes in the selected spots, while leaving no trace of course.

What a way to end 2009

Burj Dubai Arabic for Dubai Tower, has finally opened, making it the worlds tallest tower at a whooping 2717 feet tall. It is also reported to have the worlds highest mosque on the 158th floor and the worlds highest indoor pool, located on the 76th floor.

Its backers wanted the skyscraper to be a monument to the boundless, can-do spirit of Dubai — one of a federation of seven small sheikdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates — but the timing could not be worse. Property prices in parts of Dubai collapsed by nearly half in the past year, the result of easy credit and overbuilding during a real estate bubble that has since burst.

I know what are you thinking, the bigger they are, the harder they fall, and that might be literal in this case. Reports are that

"it has "refuge floors" at 25 to 30 story intervals that are more fire resistant and have separate air supplies in case of emergency. Its reinforced concrete structure, he said, makes it stronger than steel-frame skyscrapers. "A plane won't be able to slice through the Burj like it did through the steel columns of the World Trade Center,"

We will have to wait and see if this monumental tower can help boost the real-estate prices that have dropped by more than 50% in the last year. Below is a picture of the tower on it's opening night.

Reported Threats from Al-Qaida has led to the closure of the US Embassy in Yemen. Reports also state that these threats come from the same group that was responsible for the attempted bomb attack on Christmas Day. John Brennan, deputy National Security Advisor had this to say about the closure

There are indications that al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is targeting our embassy and targeting our personnel and we are not going to take any chances with the lives of our diplomats and others who are at that embassy,

Also stated in the article and in shown in the picture below,

The president's homeland security advisor told the FOX News Sunday television program the United States is working with the Yemeni government to deal with the terrorist threat.

The British, who also had to close there Embassy due to similar threats, has agreed to co-fund a Yemen led counter-terrorism police force, planned to stop closures like these from happening in the future in Yemen.

Since the terror plot that was executed on Christmas Day, people on the web have been speculating on "how worse airport security will get". Well, they could have always checked the TSA website. Well, it says,

TSA has a layered approach to security that allows us to surge resources as needed on a daily basis. We have the ability to quickly implement additional screening measures including explosive detection canine teams, law enforcement officers, gate screening, behavior detection and other measures both seen and unseen. Passengers should not expect to see the same thing at every airport.

Another commonly asked question is usually is "How long will this last?" The TSA says that "TSA will continuously review these measures to ensure the highest levels of security." Which means that they will slowly decrease the security, like they did, until the next attempt or even the next attack. For now though, they will be using more dogs and more full body scanners like the one below. Better get to the airport even earlier than usual.