Over at Engadget, I saw a new supersonic plane concept from Nasa.  It's not every day you see something this cool coming out of Nasa. 

 On July 27, 1990, HBO aired an episode of Ray Bradbury Theater that revolved around somebody trying to escape from all the noise of omnipresent electronic devices.  The episode was called "The Murderer".  It comes in 3 ten minute parts so it's a bit long but there are some pretty hilarious and prophetic scenes.  This topic came up over at Brighthand in a discussion about how the cell almost always rings when you're in the bathroom.  Thanks DTM for posting the link to this series of videos.  Enjoy (if you can)...

I received a link to this YouTube video in an email today. (Thanks, Muriel!)  As we continue to debate whether Robert Bobb should have total control over the Detroit Public schools, or whether Mayor Bing should have it, or whether school board members' resignations should be rescinded after inappropriate conduct, an interesting commentary on education came across on HBO Def Poetry Jam.   It's called "Can't Read" ...

As I was watching Obama's speech about firing McChrystal about half an hour ago, I noticed my computer monitor oscillating around in a circle on its stand as if somebody was driving a heavy truck in the aisle past my desk.  I overheard some coworkers talking about an earthquake and sure enough, we were feeling tremors in Detroit from a 5.5 quake up in Ottawa, Canada. 

More info at: earthquake.usgs.gov

At the office, we got into a discussion about the color orange.  Orange barrels...  Orange jumpsuits...  Orange signs...  I did a quick google on the topic and came up with this video from 2006 where Bruce Willis demonstrates the proper use of the color Safety Orange

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After the blown call heard round the world, I realized that the "perfection" we witnessed the other night had nothing to do with 27 outs.  It had everything to do with perfect sportsmanship. There was no tantrum from Armando Galarraga.  There were no boos from the crowd.  No need for a police escort for this official who made a mistake and owned up to it minutes later.  Sometimes professional athletes are just... well... professional.  It makes me proud to be a baseball fan.  Proud to be a Tigers fan.  And proud to be from Detroit.  A free press article summed up Jim Joyce's story very well here...

The first post Space Shuttle US space launch took place today.  I learned a new term "max q" where the resistance to flight reaches its maximum and the rocket picks up speed past that point...

The FCC is looking for a few good testers.  They want to measure the actual connection speeds people are getting on their home broadband.  Sign up at testmyisp.com.  I signed up right away.  We have been with Comcast since they gobbled up MediaOne some years ago.   The service is up close to 100% of the time but the unfortunate thing is Comcast cable absolutely reeks and is very expensive.  We would love to switch providers but can't in our area. I signed up right away because I'm hoping the FCC does something to eliminate these CATV and ISP monopolies so we can have some real choices and lower rates.

By now, you may have seen those Google Chrome commercials featureing time-lapse photography to emphasize the speed of the Chrome browser.  I'm a firefox user for the most part, but I'm always open to try something better.  I downloaded Chrome and it is indeed faster.  Not to be outdone, Opera has released a parody of the Google Chrome speed ads.  Pretty funny stuff...

If you haven't seen the original Google Chrome ad being parodied, here it is...

I took my daughter to a ball game last year.  It's something we don't get to do very often.  At that game, they gave a tribute to Ernie Harwell.  It was the last time we would hear his voice at the ball park.  He let everyone know he had incurable cancer.  A world war II bomber flew overhead in his honor.  He had begun his broadcasting career that long ago.  He passed away yesterday evening and we will miss him.  Mitch Albom wrote a fitting tribute here...

Senator Carl Levin offered a tribue to Ernie as well...