the klog

Another backlog of links for you. Scroll down for a couple of separate posts I made earlier, btw, if you're not in a link-following mood. :P

• Obligatory cybernetics link: This one guy burned his arms by electrocution. Luckily for him, the doctor saved his nerves and put them inside his chest. Now he's got a prosthetic arm that stimulates the right parts of his chest to let him feel what he's touching! Be sure to click on the little graphic on the left, which opens up a bigger graphic. (It's easy to miss.)

• Dallas-Ft. Worth airport screeners confiscated a guy's car key because it was a "switchblade-style". It cost $300 to replace. WTF?!?!?!

• You may have heard that the flag-burning amendment is making its way to the Senate once again, where it has the best chance so far of passing. Well, if that does happen, here's how you might get around it: by burning something that's ALMOST a US flag, but not quite!. :P

• Something somber: Mugabe in Zimbabwe bulldozed the homes of 200,000 people. Now here's finally an instance where "won't somebody please think of the children" is appropriate, as bulldozers killed at least a few children while knocking down a shantytown.

• Paul sent me this great article about how states report misleading graduation rates. They usually report 80%+, but the reality is probably closer to 70%. North Carolina had the best excuse:

  North Carolina, for example, gets its rate by measuring the percentage of graduates who finish in four years. Under that method, the state reported a whopping 97 percent graduation rate. But because only graduates are reviewed, the state doesn't count a single dropout.

• Here's something not at all surprising: a UK study shows that the "18" rating on some video games don't really prevent parents from buying them for their kids. Instead, it actually improves sales. It's just the same idea behind those movie trailers on TV that have the cool-sounding "RATED ARRRRRR!!!" and those "PARENTAL ADVISORY: EXPLICIT LYRICS" stickers.

• Before Tom Cruise nabbed Katie Holmes, he tried but failed to brainwash Scarlett Johansson. According to a celebrity rag, he pushed Scientology on her for a couple of hours, then opened a door to a room full of upper-level Scientologists who were waiting to have dinner with them. She then "excused herself". You go girl! :P But man, is that creepy, though perhaps not as creepy as Galactic Overlord Xenu blowing up billions of people with hydrogen bombs and causing their souls to stick to us... :P

• Google is building the Matrix. :P Here's an unrelated but similar project at Berkeley.

• Here's what a 7 year old kid who had only seen the prequels had to say about the original trilogy.

• Actors in Hollywood apparently use their IM buddy lists to find jobs now!

Okay that's all for now. *whew*