The Whopper Virgins and Foreign Food

Burger King recently did an experiment where they had people try a Big Mac and a Whopper who had never had or seen a hamburger before. After the experiment they sent crews to extreme regions and gave them the opportunity to try a hamburger for the first time.

You can watch their propaganda-documentary here.

My favorite part is when a girl bites into a hamburger and acts surprised when she tastes a pickle. It's sponsored by Burger King but the experiment was real and the responses to a hamburger are interesting.

I remember the first time I tried a pickled and fermented egg... it was revolting but it was a taste I didn't know I could taste. I love trying new foods and I'm a little envious that in the distant future my distant grandchildren may be feasting on totally alien foods.

How could you describe the taste of an unearthly plant that is neither fruit nor vegetable? What if the plant itself is an herbivorous plant that feasts on other plants that grow around it? What about eating the meat of an animal that doesn't have flesh or muscles as we know of? What about unknown spices?

Spoiled grandchildren...

Palm Pistol

The FDA turned down a request to make a Palm Pistol into a medical device. The device apparently is intended to make it easy for elderly or the sick to fire a gun in self defense. The device is actually easier to aim than a normal handgun, more comfortable, and appears easier to fire. You just push down on a button.
I'm not sure, but there also appears to be two buttons on the front that can be pushed. Maybe a safety or a dead man's switch? It'd sure suck to drop the thing and have it go off.


A big scandal is erupting with people saying how dare they turn this down. The elderly should not be deprived of their rights. This is a tool they can use, etc.
The thing that gets me is, why would they try to get that approved in the first place? It's a freakin' gun, not a hypodermic needle. I honestly think they decided to use the opportunity to get some publicity.

I can think of more than one use besides just buying it for my Grandparents. It's compact, not even gun shaped, easier to aim... sounds like a great new weapon! If a policeman had never seen it before, a street thug definitely has an advantage. Someone who's never aimed a gun before can have better aim. And if it really was designed for the elderly, it probably doesn't have as much of a kickback as a Derringer, which can potentially break your wrist.

If they really want to market it to the elderly, maybe they should give them a senior discount, or make it available through the VA. Marketing it as a medical device is a bit disgusting.

Disaster in Astoria

A building burned down Thanksgiving evening in Astoria, Oregon; where I live. There were two restaurants, a bank, and a few other stores operating from the building.
A guy died in the building too, they're guessing he lived in the building when it was closed. Doesn't surprise me. There are a lot of poor people in Astoria, and I'm sure that a few people live in their stores they manage to operate.

One of the restaurants that burned down was Tokyo Teriyaki. It's too bad, they had some really good Japanese food, and one of the few places I felt comfortable ordering food with "extra spicey" on it.

An art studio was also located in the building. Hopefully it wasn't really expensive art. That could ruin an artist's career.

And Thus We Become Gods...

There's a new video circulating Digg, and websites showing a process in Africa where they turn literal bull shit into pure drinkable water. Here it is.



Here the lines begin to blur between what is magic and what is technology? Well, I guess it's still technology but do the tribes in Africa know that? For some of them they may just know that some white men showed up, and transformed shit into water.

I always thought, man alone will never 'transcend' and become gods. But like a hive of bees, or a hill of ants, we will together develop the means to have godlike powers.

Pretty awesome stuff. I wonder how it tastes.

NaNoWriMo is Over

I kinda panicked this morning when I found out the busses were going to be closed the next few days because apparently everyone will be too fat and happy to do anything?
I don't know, but they're not running. I realized I wasn't going to be able to update my nanowrimo count, and I still had over 8000 words to go.

Luckily I had another book-related document running. So my novel at the moment is not 50,000 words, but I merged the document with "A Brief Look at the Solar System" which had some history stuff and info on planets and things going on in my world which I planned to tack on at the end anyway.

That left me with only a few thousand more to write which I crammed out this morning while the mountain dew was still coursing through my veins.


My rough first draft of "TIDES OF HUMANITY" is mostly finished. I need to tie up the story though, because right now they're still drifting in space. Wandering_Nomad gave me some ideas yesterday that I can implement and expand it.


Here's to Fix-Up-and-Edit-Everything-December :D

poem[?]

peanut butter flavored soda
there are four lines on my orange
evenly spaced across it
they bulge out a little like keloids

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Four Philosophical Questions to Make your Brain Hurt

A great way to start the day. Start questioning reality.
This was posted on BBC this morning, check it out and expand your mind. But then again... is it even your mind to begin with?

Four Philosophical Questions to Make Your Brain Hurt.

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