Not much going on, really...

My God it's been a lazy day...

And I'm really not sure why. When I say lazy, I mean for me. Everyone else around me seems interested in getting things done. I think perhaps I'm sick, or just tired, it's hard to say.

Today I brought Tristan in to get her arm casted. Of course, she opted for pink. So, for the next month or so, she'll be wearing a big pink cast. I did bust out the sharpies and started decorating it, so that's something.

In other news...

Autism Symptoms Reversed in Lab Mice.

It seems to be a big week for theoretical treatments of previously non-treatable problems. First I found this article that states that they've managed to reverse symptoms of Fragile X Syndrome in Lab Mice. Fragile X is a leading cause of mental retardation and autism in humans.

They've reversed the effects by inhibiting the action of an enzyme in the brain. It appears that this will work even in those people that have had symptoms for many years, in other words, adults who have severe autistic and mental retardation.

It's an amazing thing.


HIV Successfully Cut from Human DNA

More amazing that the above is the news that they may have found a way to 'cure' HIV by introducing an enzyme that cuts it directly from the human genome.

No, it's not a miracle cure that will be on the shelves within a few weeks, but it's another great start.


11 Broken Xbox 360's

1up.com has an article about one Jason Lowe, who has gone through not 1 or 2 Xbox 360's, but 11. He's on his twelfth unit, and hasn't had a machine for more than 2 months since his initial purchase.

It's an interesting read. Is there really that big of an issue out there? I know people that have machines that are still running since launch, even one friend that bought recently bought the Elite to replace his launch date 360 and has had more trouble with it than his original.


10 Strange Weapons

This article announces that it's the 10 strangest weapons through history, however, I don't really agree with that. I will admit that it is a list of really strange weapons, but I couldn't in good conscious agree that this is a list of the strangest. However, it has pictures and mildly amusing descriptions.


What the Buddha did not teach.

If you know me, you might be aware that I am not a Christian, per se. As a matter of fact, I have somewhat unique beliefs compared to the majority of humans on the planet. I believe that there is likely a higher power out there, but not necessarily that it is "God". I disagree with the concept of organized religion, especially those that would kill in their religion's name. The fact is that there is no way of knowing for certain what the truth is, at least not yet. I try to live my life the best way I know how and hope that when it's all over I've done my part.

The way that I came to my beliefs, however, was to study many other religions besides what I'd been taught growing up. I also looked at spiritual teachings as well, such as the Tao Te Ching. I studied Buddhism for about a year and a half, mostly looking at it from the outside. I was never quite comfortable enough to actually go into a temple, but I still feel I got what I needed from reading both religious texts and external studies. I did always feel, as I did with many religions I studied, that there was a lot of truth there. Of course, there's good reason for that, but I won't get into it now.

The point is that whenever I see an article about a religion, I will usually read it through just to see what it says, and whether it jives with what I've learned.

I found that this article was very interesting. It's a study of the often misinterpreted teachings of Buddha, and what he was really all about. I think it's great, because unlike what is often done in defense of the Christian Bible, the Pali Canon was meant to be taken at face value only, rather than deeply interpreted.

Wikipedia's article on Buddhism is surprisingly clean. Even if it's not what you believe, it's always good to learn about what others believe, and perhaps take something with you.


Thoof

No, that wasn't a sneeze. Thoof.com is a new user driven news site that has a slightly different take that others such as digg and slashdot.

Users submit news, and then, if they don't like the verbiage of the submitter's blurb, they are free to submit improvments, which are, of course, moderated.

It's very clean, and seems to be pretty interesting so far. If I wasn't already embroiled in 8,000 other feeds and sites, I would jump all over it. If you have the time, check it out. It's free.


Cursor Invisible

This piece of flash seems to be all about proving to me that I'm not only a gamer, but that I spend way too much time with my mouse in my hand. The goal of the game is to click on the targets, which sounds easy, except that - you guessed it - your cursor is invisible.

My high score is 427, which is only because I got tired of playing at that point. How long can you go?



The Air Blade

It amuses me that Dyson actually tries to pass off what is essentially 20 year old technology as new and brilliant, but either way, we're going to start seeing more efficient hand dryers here in the U.S. finally.

I can't help but laugh, though, because so often I hear people complain about hand dryers. I have never had a problem with them. They work fine, for me. The trick is to rub your hands together under them, but oh well.


Shadowrun

I was leery of this title, and for good reason. I like it, but it's already starting to get a bit boring for me. I mean, it looks fairly pretty, although even on my hardware, I have to turn the settings down a bit. I think if I'd been more of a Counterstrike fan, I'd get more out of it.

The idea is that it's a first person shooter with RPG-style magic spells wrapped up into a multi-player only game. There are 4 races which are Human, Dwarf, Elf, and Troll, and of course each has unique traits. The thing that irks me, besides the lack of interesting maps, is that there's not a great selection of weapons, either. This, I think, has to do with the fact that there's a pretty big selection of magic you can use, which is great, but it's hard to have enough of the right abilities in your (3) quick slots for any given map.

The biggest problem is that the game, while pretty, doesn't seem as polished as I'd like. The fact that it's Vista only (though that was fixed on day one so that it can be play on Windows XP) doesn't help much.

It's another somewhat disappointing title in the 'Games for Windows' series, but I'm still going to play for a little while longer.


I was going to post about the iPhone...

But, I'm actually sick to my stomach with the amount of press it's already received. You don't need my help on it. Instead, check out this watch (Pay close attention to the Pigeon English under 'Note')!


And that's it for now.

Back again, sometime.