Sebbylite

I wanted to write a quick post to let y’all know that I’m still around. Still alive and kickin’, still picking up what others are putting down, still smelling what I just stepped in, still here, just busy. Most of my blogging time has been taken up by the commute that I now have. Which is very unfortunate, since I still have quite a bit of stuff to write about, I just don’t write it.

And yes, I’ll try to get the comments fixed sometime soon. Tall mentioned that they aren’t accessible, which they shouldn’t be since I shut them off to keep from getting so much damn spam. Sadly enough, now that I’ve turned them off, no one can comment on my posts and yet I still get spam posts. How is that possible?

Finally, try to remember what the Holidays are about. No, not family and friends and good cheer, but consumerism. Wait, switch that last part around. The Holidays are about spending time with loved ones, friends, and even strangers in a forgiving and happy environment. So if that means you don’t flip off the guy at the mall that cut you off for that parking spot, so be it. If it means that you don’t mutter angrily under your breath as you are walking behind the 95 year old couple in the super market that they should be put in a home somewhere, so be it. And if it means that you skip that drink at the bar after work and go home to spend some time with the wife and kids, so be it.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Hanukkah, and enjoy every single other holiday that there is out there at this time of year.

Here’s a contest that sounds pretty cool. The X Prize Foundation is offering up a multi-million dollar prize amount to the company/group that can create a car that gets over 100 miles per gallon. I’m not sure how they are going to determine who gets the prize if more than one car hits that mark, as it already looks like quite a few have hit or exceeded that number, but it should be interesting to see what comes out of the contest.

Of course, the next contest will be the marketing contest, which offers a multi-million dollar prize to the company that can make people believe that they won’t be ridiculed for driving one of these cars. Technically I think that this second contest will be the tougher to complete. Read about the whole 100 mpg Car Contest here.

The penguins were amazing.

A flower that kills disease. Instead of spending millions/billions solving the symptoms, let’s just spend hundreds of thousands of dollars preventing the problem from occurring. Sounds like a bargain to me. It’s like spaying and neutering your pets instead of trying to find homes for all the puppies. Like using a condom instead of dropping out of school to get a job to pay for diapers. Like getting more sleep instead of relying on caffeine to get us through the day. Wait, not that last one…

The most common way of fighting diseases like malaria, dengue fever, and West Nile today is to try to wipe out the mosquitoes carrying them and treat those who have been infected. Now there’s an alternative on the horizon that promises to be safer and cheaper by zapping the germs while sparing the mosquitoes. The technology is hidden in an artificial flower designed to attract mosquitoes and treat them with pathogen-killing drugs that allow the insects to live and continue to perform important functions such as pollinating flowers and serving as food for animals and other insects.

Pretty interesting stuff, and exactly why I liked Biology in undergrad. Find the rest of the article here.

When “Dirty South” meets “Halloween Party”…