zen.org Communal Weblog

Random thoughts after reading about a security test of the Toyota Prius…

I don’t know if I’m getting conservative in my old age, or if people are going overboard with the propagation of technology. Would I really want bluetooth in my car? The thought of a teenage Zoe, sitting in the backseat, surfing the future internet and texting with her friends that she’d rather be with than being on a family road trip runs through my mind. Useless, and potentially malicious, hello kitty software being sent to her by her friends. All
through a bluetooth connection link to a GPRS global network that’s integrated with the control system of the car speeding down the interstate. Yes, Zoe will think that’s the saving grace of the whole trip.

I met this nice lady the other day. My guess, she must have been around 75 years old. The first thing that I noticed about her was that she had braces on…and I thought, she must have some tough, crooked, dentures. Braces! Who gets braces at 75 anyway! Teeth bondage is not exactly the way I’d like to enjoy my last food. Not that I’m saying she’s going anywhere soon, but hey, it can happen. Perhaps she has plans to be mummified and she wants to look her best…speaking of being mummified, some code that I wrote at work was used to produce the volume rendering of the CT scan of King Tut a while ago by our favorite Egyptian pyramid expert on TV, who else, Dr. Hawass

Sven and I were comparing notes on how people describe the way dog barks in the English and Chinese language. Off the top of my head, I only know of one Chinese bark – “wo, wo”. In English there are many – “bark”, “ruff”, “arf”. We couldn’t figure out what’s up with “bow wow”.

Today they examined the brain of the cow that they thought had mad cow disease. It turns out it didn’t have it. Sven wondered if they returned the brain to the cow. I told him that probably not. Sven was sad. I think the cow was a dumbass for acting crazy when someone was looking.