American Idol

Yay. The Pickle got voted off. Paris as the bottom two? I didn't like it at all. Then again, I didn't like her choice of songs. A 17 year old singing Barbara Streisand's songs, ugh! Why does she always pick old people's songs!? I dunno if she'll make it if she keeps impersonating old artists. But, let's recap previous winners just to see some trends.

Season 1 winner: Kelly Clarkson, caucasian from Fort Worth, Texas.
Season 2 winner: Ruben Studdard, African-American from Birmingham, Alabama--with close runner-up Clay Aiken, gay from Raleigh, North Carolina.
Season 3 winner: Fantasia Barrino, African American from High Point, North Carolina.
Season 4 winner: Carrie Underwood, caucasian from Cheecotah, Oklahoma, with close runner-up Bo Bice, hippie from Huntsville, Alabama.
Season 5: I hope Paris will win, but Katherine McPhee, the eyecandy might take it home. Taylor! I thought tailoring fine suits is in your family name, seriously, get a designer in these few opportunities that you'll have. May I suggest EK?

The next five epidsodes should be fun to watch. Thank goodness for my old TeeVee and the homemade antennas. No matter what dear Tammy throws at me, I can handle it. I just hope there'll be no big t-storms during my TV hours.

In other crude oil awakening news, my friend CL "went into the gas station today and asked for five dollars worth of gas. The clerk farted and gave me a receipt." Priceless.

Science and Baseball

Drum roll, pleaze. Behold. Baseball and the human biology.

Any pro would tell you that the hardest ball to catch is a line drive smoked right at them. Sure, there's the fear that it might put a dent in your forehead, but it's the lack of visual information that makes the ball difficult to judge. [...]

When the ball is hit directly at a player, the most of the available visual information is in the form of angular velocity, the rate at which the ball appears to enlarge as it approaches. But a lack of linear velocity makes it difficult to determine the ball's path or how long it will take to get there.

So the next time you see a player taking a lazy, jogging approach to catch a fly ball, you should praise him for his math skills rather than blasting him for not hustling.

Assuming he catches it, of course.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform

My god-mum, GG, sent me a FWD e-mail on the Immigration issue in the Senate. Below is the press statement on the proposals provided by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center:

Help the Senate Get Comprehensive Immigration Reform Right!

San Francisco, California…While many know about the harmful provisions in H.R. 4437, the House-passed measure written by Representative Sensenbrenner, many fewer know about the harmful provisions in the Senate bill. Many provisions found in H.R. 4437 are hidden in the Senate bill. Please help us get out the word. The Senate immigration reform bill needs to be changed. Why?

The Senate proposals would make many people ineligible for the “legalization” programs simply because these people are working.

The Senate proposals would result in jailing immigrants for entering the country illegally. The Senate proposals would deport persons for minor crimes and misdemeanors, changing the rules in the middle of the game. If you are convicted of three Driving Under the Influence (DUI) violations, you will be deported. It does not matter if you were convicted twenty or thirty years ago.

The Senate proposals would detain people, including persons with green cards, without bond for failing to file a change of address card!

The Senate proposals would criminalize people simply for helping family members or friends – and they increase prison sentences and the property that can be forfeited.

The Senate proposals would turn police into immigration agents.

The Senate proposals would allow for faster deportation of people and close court doors by prohibiting people from ever seeing a judge, even if they have lived here for years.
[...]

Millions of immigrants, their families, friends, and supporters have poured into the streets to demand reform of our immigration laws that would provide hard-working families with the legalization they have earned. Many were spurred to action by the efforts of program hosts and DJs in the Latino media, such as yourselves, who publicized the radical and punitive measure, H.R. 4437, passed by the House of Representatives.


People need to know that the Senate proposals contain both good and bad provisions, including some of the worst in H.R. 4437. The good has gotten coverage, but the bad largely has not. Neither has the fact that any measure that passes the Senate must be reconciled with the very punitive H.R. 4437. [...]

What are some of the specific pitfalls in the Senate proposals that people need to fight to correct?

The Senate proposals would make many people ineligible for the “legalization” programs because these persons work.

Example: Esteban used his brother-in-law’s social security card so that he could work for the last five years. He hopes he will be eligible to legalize under a new law. However, under H.R. 4437 his past use of a false social security number would bar him. Even under the Senate proposals, if Esteban has to change jobs and use his false social security number before the government grants him work authorization, he would be barred from the program with no possible waiver or pardon.

Both H.R. 4437 and the current Senate bills would prevent people from getting a green card or any other lawful status if they admit using false information, such as a fake social security number to get a job or use false passports or make a mistake in their passports. Millions of undocumented people need to use borrowed or invented social security numbers because they have no documents. H.R. 4437 would make anyone who ever used a false social security number at any time in their life ineligible for earned legalization – thus destroying the whole program by making millions of workers ineligible.

The current Senate proposals would punish people who use false social security numbers to get jobs after the law passes – but this too could keep millions of people out of earned legalization. It will take many months from the day the new law passes until the program is implemented (as the government issues regulations, takes applications, and people are issued employment authorization). Workers who have to change jobs after the bill passes and before the new law is implemented cannot wait for months without working. As drafted, the Senate proposals also would severely affect people who in the future may be able to immigrate through a U.S. citizen family member. Because they will have to continue working with false social security numbers, they would be absolutely prevented from obtaining a green card – with no possible forgiveness.

The Senate proposals would result in jailing immigrants for entering the country illegally.

Example: Noel is caught entering the U.S. illegally. Under the proposals, the government can put him into jail for six months. If he is caught returning unlawfully a second time, Noel can be sent to jail for two years.

The Senate proposals would jail immigrants merely for entering the U.S. illegally – six months for the first offense, and two years for a second offense.

The Senate proposals would deport persons for minor crimes committed in the distant past.

Example: Juan has had a green card for over 20 years and all of his family is in the U.S. He has three DUI convictions – the last one ten years ago. He has now taken care of his drinking problem through counseling and is completely rehabilitated. Under the Senate proposals, the government would deport Juan without a right to a legal defense and without having to consider any of his rehabilitation or his family ties.

The Senate proposals would deport people, including legal residents, for minor crimes, such as having three DUI’s (Driving under the Influence) no matter how long ago the person was convicted. Similarly, if the government “has reason to believe” a young person is, has been a gang member or has ever been a gang member he/she will be deported even if he/she has a green card and has never committed a crime. Even participating in activities (like parties or neighborhood get-togethers) would make you deportable and inadmissible to the U.S. and ineligible for, for example, TPS (Temporary Protected Status.)


The Senate proposals would detain people, including persons with green cards, without bond for failing to file a change of address card.

Example: Maria is undocumented, living here with her husband and U.S. citizen children. She, like most undocumented persons, never filed a “change of address” card. Carlos has had a green card for 25 years. He moves twice without filing a “change of address.” The government can detain and deport both of them and not permit them to be released on bond.

The Senate bill keeps a misguided law that makes a green-card holder and any other immigrant deportable for failing to file a “change of address card” within ten days of moving. Moreover, it increases the penalties: any person who entered without papers and failed to file the card) or those legally present who failed to file the card twice, will be detained and “considered a flight risk” – meaning, they should not be released on bond! [...]

Under the Senate proposals, more violations would be defined as “criminal” conduct, making even longtime green card holders in the U.S. vulnerable to deportation. Although there is a limited exception for humanitarian groups who provide the undocumented with food or medical care, many ordinary people would still face harsh criminal penalties and deportation for helping friends, neighbors or employees. Even if you are a U.S. citizen, you could be convicted for housing your undocumented family members, or friends.

The Senate proposals would turn police into immigration agents.

Example: Your state police sign a contract with the DHS to enforce immigration laws. This destroys hard-earned trust built up over the years between the police and immigrant community. Maria fears contacting the police and cooperating as a witness to a crime because she no longer trusts the local police. This makes it harder for the police to make the entire community safer


These proposals confuse immigrants with criminals. They promote contracts between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and local police in every state so that local police would enforce immigration laws. They also allow immigration information to be entered into NCIC, the federal criminal database. Turning state and local police into immigration agents would be a public safety disaster. Immigrants would be afraid to turn to social service agencies, local police and even emergency services. Local cops could arrest people based on immigration information from a database they do not understand and that is very well known for errors. [...]

The Senate proposals have created many new ways for people to be deported WITHOUT a hearing. One provision would deport many persons without a hearing who cannot prove that they have been here for more than 14 days and have been caught 100 miles within the border.

Talk to your Senators, people.

Getting ready for Earth Day

There are many earthy activities one can do tomorrow to celebrate. Sustainablog has many ideas via links, so check it out. Here is EDN's top 10 actions you can help to combat climate change:

(1) Project Switch: Change your light bulbs!
(2) Drive your car differently – or drive a different car altogether!
(3) Your house – not too hot, not too cold!
(4) Tame the refrigerator monster!
(5) Twist the knobs on your other household appliances!
(6) Green plants with less water, more trees to provide shade.
(7) Buy Green Energy, and invest in green energy stocks.
(8) Go organic.
(9) Buy recycled.
(10) Be a minimalist.

Locally, AWS and other environmental organizations are doing a massive River Cleanup. It should be fun, rain or shine. (Watch out for hypodermic needles, kids.)

Alias primetime premier

Alias premier is on tonight. My supercool buddy, SG, has e-mailed me the previous synopsis for tonight's show. A very well written summary from an Alias fanatic. Love it. This should take a lot of stress off my shoulders. Thanx SG!

Trinh....the long awaited alias premier summary:

important connections:

1. sydney's mom killed vaughn's dad
2. she killed vaughn's dad because he stole sydney's half sister by arvin sloane
3. vaughn's dad stole sydney's half sister becaue she was the key to a mystery about a 1500s scientist prophet that fuond ways to rule the world.
4. sydney is the chosen one and her sister will bring abour rambaldi's greatest power. but it is prophesized one will kill the other.
5. sydney's mom had vaughn killed because of some sd-6 secret from season 1

Season 1:

Sydney around the beginning is seeing a nice british pediatrician. he proposes and she says yes but decides she can't lie to him anymore about who she is and what she does. so she tells him she is works for SD-6, a covert section of the CIA. he of course freaks. She goes on a mission and he leaves her a drunk answering machine message about how he can live with it because he loves her. SD-6 head, Arvin Sloane has him killed because he knows the truth. syndney comes home and finds him dead.

Obviously devastated, she flips out at sloane and takes some time off. eventually it becomes too long and he tries to have her killed. her dad, jack, comes to the rescue and tells her the truth. sd-6 is a terrorist cell and she has been working for the bad guys. in order to save her life, she acquires the object of sd-6's affection and says she's back. she then goes to the real CIA and gets assigned to vaughn.

things take an interesting turn when sydney is reading her mom's old novels and finds russian mafia messages in them. since she believes her mother was killed in a car accident when she was 6, she assumes her father was KGB (russian mafia). she turns the books into vaughn and they are analized and he breaks the news the codes in the books are orders to kill cia agents. he then urges her to make it official and turn dad in. blah blah blah, vaughn turns them in because one of the kill orders happens to be his murdered father. so the cia brings syndney and vaughn in and tells them that her mom was kgb and she killed vaughn's father. this complicates things.

will, syndney's best friend meanwhile is investigating her fiance's death and eventually comes upon sd-6 which also causes problems. someone is feeding him information and it turns out it is the enemy of sd-6. will gets kidnapped by them and syndney goes to save him with vaughn and her dad on an unauthorized mission. sydney finds a huge device with a big red balldesigned by a 1500s scientist/prophet. she blows it up, the red ball turns to water and the whole place gets flooded. her and vaughn run for the doorand she makes it through but he gets trapped and goes missing. sydney getsknocked out and taken prisoner. she is all tied up and she talks with somepeople then the head person comes out...and it is mom. and she shoots sydney
in the shoulder right off the bat. the end.

Season 2:

Sydney and will both escape but vaughn is missing. she finds vaughn on a mission and people are doing experiments on the people exposed to the water from the device. she saves vaughn and goes back to sd-6. soon after mom turns herself in after 20 years of being presumed dead without giving a reason and will only talk to sydney. it turns out the water from the red ball causes a disease like ebola, and sydney and vaugh have been exposed to it, are tested but found to be ok. unfortunate vaugh is infected, the only cure lies with evilly hot man sark. sydney goes on this wicked dangerous mission for a cure to save vaughn but is not successful. sark catches her
and will trade the cure for the life of arvin sloane whom she hates for killing her fiance and he is evil. she agrees to give sark sloane for the cure. vaugh nearly dies but makes it out ok. sark choses to let sloane live and lies and says he stopped the assassination so sloane will trust him and let him into sd-6. basically what happens is sark lets sloane know that sydney and her dad are double agents, they set a whole thing up to give them the opportunity to get info to take down sd-6. they take it, sydney is free. she joins the cia without secret and her and vaughn hook up a lot. the happiness is short lived unfortunately. sloane figures out a machine that actually doubles people appearance through dna mutation. they find one of the doubles but before the destroy the mutation machine, they discover
another double exists. it turns out the double is sydney's roomate and will's girlfriend francie. so now sydney has an evil person living with her. her and vaughn are super happy together, the love each other a lot. then will figures out that francie is the double, lets sydney know on a cell hpone message. francie stabs will and hides him. Sydeney gets home and listens to the message. francie then knows she knows, and this crazy 10 minuet kick ass fight starts. you could say sydney wins because she shoots the francie double 3 times and then she goes unconscious.

Season 3:

Sydney wakes up in hong kong in an alley and calls into cia headquarters. thry send vaughn to get her. she shows up with a wedding ring on. he then explains to her that 2 years has gone by, everyone thought she was dead and he moved on and left the cia but they thought someone familiar should bring her back. she thinks vaughn is a fake and kicks crap out of him and runs away. he ends up taking her in and she finds out he was telling the truth. dad is in solitary confinement for having contact with mom who is an escaoed fugitive at this point. again, like season 1 she gains cia trust by finding the thing they are looking for in exchange for her father's freedom. turns
out vaughn's wife is national security council and works with the cia. so it is vaughn, lauren (vaugnn's wife) and sydney and dad working together. there is definitely tension. there is a mole in the cia and turns out it is lauren. vaughn is dmaged by it. sark and lauren are sleeping together and deceiving vaughn all the time. jack helps vaughn to try and kill lauren. vaughn fails so sydney goes across the world to finish the job. her and lauren have it out in a kick ass fight. lauren gets the upper hand but vaughn shows up after escaping from the hospital with his stab wound and collapsed lung. vaughn kills lauren then vaughn and sydney make out. lauren as she is dying gives a safety deposit box number to sydney so she can see
who is really controlling her life.

Season 4:

Sydney gets a bad review at the cia and quits. vaughn spends 4 months in psych evaluation and burns his house down and quits. a new group is formed APO, in which arvin sloane is the leader. it is covert so it has no official affiliation with the cia. the usual suspects are there. season 4 is not nearly as cool. the safety deposit box contains documents showing that syndey's mom took out a hit on her and dad killed mom to stop it. turns out he killed a double looking like mom and she is still alive. sydney's mom's sister constructs a huge red ball device like from season 1 and it causes the pople of russia to become like zombie's. the apo team has to stop it and they do. vaughn and sydeny are on their way to santa barbara to get engaed again and that is when the car accident occurs.

Pachelbel's Canon moment

I was gonna play Canon in D for you at the wedding, T&T, but this kid is way better. Three words: Oh my gosh. The other intrumental notes are probably coming from his computer recordings.
I love YouTube!

Supermassive cosmic merger

Take a look at today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (photo on the left). These two black holes collision is extremely dangerous because it will create a super-supermassive black hole capable of swallowing material equal to "billions of stars". According to the report back in 2002, BBC predicted:

The black holes are orbiting each other and will collide and merge to create an even larger black hole - resulting in a catastrophic event that will unleash intense radiation and gravitational waves.[...]

Over the course of the next few hundred million years, the two black holes in NGC 6240, which are about 3,000 light-years apart, will drift towards one another and merge to form an even larger supermassive black hole.

Towards the end of this process, an enormous burst of gravitational waves.

We are doomed! We'll be eaten up by a super massive blackhole!

Self parking car

My mom would buy this new technology in less than a heartbeat.

(AP) Your hands don't even need to be touching the steering wheel for it to start spinning back and forth aggressively, all by itself - slowly guiding the car into the parking spot.
Parallel parking is designed to be a breeze with the Intelligent Parking Assist system, part of a new $2,200 option package for Toyota Motor Corp.'s Prius gas-electric hybrid in Japan. [...]
If you know Japan, it should come as no surprise that about 80 percent of its Prius buyers have opted for Intelligent Parking Assist. This is a country of famously narrow streets and cramped lots where squeezing into spaces can be a blood pressure-raising exercise. [...]
Hands-free driving doesn't mean you can read a book or doze off. The system has no artificial intelligence that actually recognizes objects - so it won't stop for a person or a cat or anything else you shouldn't be running over.
You still have to hit the brakes yourself. And the system is designed so that it will shut itself off if you lift your foot from the brake pedal, making the car go too fast.

The Intelligent Parking Assist isn't for sale in the United States yet, but they're coming. Do notice the drawbacks of this innovation. I can understand the use of the sensor if you live in London, NYC, Hong Kong or Japan, but DC parallel parking is not that bad. So, I'm gonna pass on this offer.

I kick *ss at parallel parking. It may take me a while, but I get into the space without bumps and scratches. This tech will not make my life easier. What if there are glitches in the computer program? What if my bf hacks into the system and send me flying off the bridge? What if the machine suddenly replies: “I’m sorry. Can.not.compute. Self-destruct in 3..2..1” Kaboomm! Now that would suck! By the way, why aren’t the police forces invest in gas-electric cruisers? It would significantly clear the air (well, it would help decrease global warming just a bit). If needed be, I can install nitrous oxide injections into the hybrids for those car chasing episodes. Haha. Silly cops.

Knuckleballs, Sliders, Change Ups, Fastballs

These were the pitches at today's game. The different velocity, trajectory, movement, and arm angle... Oh my. I'm just overloaded with fun facts. SG and I once again went to see the Bosox V. Orioles at Camden Yards.

Tim Wakefield got his knuckleball to flutter at just the right time against the overeager Baltimore Orioles, who flailed away with little success when it mattered most.[...] Wakefield gave the Orioles plenty, but not when it counted. Despite allowing five hits, two walks and hitting two batters, he lowered his ERA from 17.18 to 6.52 following a horrible season debut. [...] Boston went up 4-1 in the sixth, scoring two runs with two outs after Orioles starter Rodrigo Lopez walked the bases loaded. Stern got an RBI single on a grounder that handcuffed Millar at first, and Mark Loretta chased Lopez (1-1) with a single before John Halama retired David Ortiz on a grounder to first.

What a beautiful day for a baseball game. Best.seat.ever (Left Field Box, Section 76, Row EE, Seat 3). Definitely worth the extra $5. From the bleachers, we were like spectators for a "human zoo". I finally got my binoculars to good use, haha. It's definitely a destressor/therapeutic event. Half of my face is sun-burned. My arms are tanned. I am satisfied. I warned you baseball madness is next in the agenda. Let's go Red Sox. With feelings now. Let's go Red Sox!

Never say ILU

Xin đừng nói yêu em
Nếu lòng còn hờ hững

Khi tình còn lờ lững
Đừng thả lời yêu đương

Xin đừng nắm tay em
Rồi để em đau khổ

Đừng thề bồi núi lở
Nếu anh định ra đi

Đừng nhìn vào mắt em
Và nói lời dối trá

Đừng chào tha thiết quá
Nếu anh định chia tay

Đừng bảo chỉ mình em
Khi lòng còn ai khác

Đừng khóa trái tim em
Nếu để chìa thất lạc.

Translated. Excerpt from a song by Gafford John.

New features and updates.

I've got a masthead! All thanx go to my wicked smart bestest buddy in the whole.wide.world, LQK, for the CSS tutorial. I've also added a couple of new links (Grow to Live & ScienceBlogs) and linky-dink updates. Here are some blogs for you hackers and code-enthusiasts out there:

Ecmanaut: JavaScripts, xml, html, CSS, tons of topics
Bloggerhacks: free templates
BlogFresh: tips and tricks
TheLastWord: "Confusion is always the honest response."

I haven't gotten the time to fully check out the sites (because Spring is here!), so have fun with the webdesigning tips. Do not ask me about compooters because all the sources I know are from the above links. Very limited, enough to get the words across.

I apologize for not keeping up with the nifty blog reads and responses. I'm reserving myself one hour at the computer each day and the rest with my other tangible matters. I advise you to do the same. Thanks for the support, everyone.

Wishin', Hopin', Worryin' and Fussin' --

Yet another wicked burn. This is just not my day. I would rant and ramble on the details, but I'd rather not. I'm sure it'll bite me back in the buttocks as soon as I hit the "Publish Post" button. So, instead, I'd like to introduce you fine folks to some mindless enjoyable links:

(1) Dugong the manatee. He kinda reminds me of my bụng bia self!
(2) Strongbad's candy bar, haha.
(3) Crazy frog chase. (thanx Disha)
(4) Awww, too cute.

Which Extremity of the World Are You?
From the towering colossi at Rum and Monkey. Am I cold or what?

(5) Tee hee hee. Sperms and eggs production:

Professor Koopman and his team found that retinoic acid, a derivative of Vitamin A, causes germ cells in female embryos to begin meiosis, leading to the production of eggs.

They also discovered an enzyme present in male embryos that wipes out retinoic acid and so suppresses meiosis until after birth, resulting in sperm production. [...]

“Our research has suggested a possible cause for these common testicular cancers, opening up avenues of investigation which will hopefully one day lead to a cure,” Professor Koopman said.

Have a great day, everybody.

Barak Obama on global warming

Senator Obama from Illinois gave an energy speech saying that President Dubya is not backing up his announced "Nation is addicted to oil" initiatives. (Via Scienceblogs)

This [energy policy] is not a serious effort. Saying that America is addicted to oil without following a real plan for energy independence is like admitting alcoholism and then skipping out on the 12-step program. It’s not enough to identify the challenge – we have to meet it.[...]
The issue of climate change is one that we ignore at our own peril. There may still be disputes about exactly how much we’re contributing to the warming of the earth’s atmosphere and how much is naturally occurring, but what we can be scientifically certain of is that our continued use of fossil fuels is pushing us to a point of no return. And unless we free ourselves from a dependence on these fossil fuels and chart a new course on energy in this country, we are condemning future generations to global catastrophe.

It is quite a long speech on global warming. Lots of accusations and lots of points to ponder.

Meanwhile, the World Wildlife Fund had found that protecting endangered species and habitat in developing countries benefits the people of those regions. The incentives of wildlife conservation shows positives for all involved.

Conservation and sustainable management of species and their habitats means better protection of forest, freshwater and marine habitats. As a result, the rural poor who depend on these areas have more access to the goods and services they provide. Incomes increase and access to freshwater, health, education and women’s rights often also improve.

Duh! I mean that makes sense. (Report is on this site)