The IRS doesn't play fair

I rarely get into work on this blog, but in case the average person was to ask me how often the IRS was fair in their audits or the adjustments that they propose, I'd like to point this out as an example:


"The Tax Court held that the IRS's determinations are arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable. The court further held that T's comparable uncontrolled transaction method, with appropriate adjustments, is the best method to determine the requisite buy-in payment."

So in a nutshell, the IRS made a determination in this case, which goes beyond "we think" and actually means "pay up" and the taxpayer had to go to tax court, where tax court determined the IRS was "arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable" and the taxpayer's method was "the best method."

This is the mentality that I bring in every time I see an audit or proposed adjustment on a tax return because the IRS really does have a history of getting it completely wrong.

Winged Migration

I don't usually blog about movies I've seen but the movie Winged Migration had a unique back-story that puts the entire movie in a different perspective.

Winged Migration very much bills itself as an artful documentary, following the migratory paths of many species of birds.  It has amazing shots that were taken of the birds in flight that make it seem like the camera wasn't more than inches away from the birds, even as they were flying right along the water or high in the sky.  As the credits rolled I noticed a section that I thought was interesting: Animal Trainers.  So we were very curious to see how they got these shots and started watching the special feature on the making of the movie.  That's where it all got very interesting.

We were fast-forwarding past people talking when we saw someone hand-rearing baby birds.  We hit play and they were talking about how baby birds "imprint" their parental figure at a young age.  As it continued, we learned that many of the bird groups in the film had been hand-raised from a young age and imprinted with the idea that their human trainers were their parents and taught to be comfortable with the various cameras and equipment being used.  As the making of continued we saw the loading and unloading of animals in beautiful settings, saw how so many of the shots we marveled at were arranged for that purpose, and realized that this was not at all the documentary we had thought before seeing this feature.

It doesn't take away from the beauty of the film but it does mar the natural wonder that I initially had from watching it.  The movie also tries to make a few ecological points, which I of course agree with but within the context of them being willing to stage shots you also have to question the authenticity of the scenes meant to make you upset at how humans interact with nature.

Can we review the reviewer?

This is a one-star review for a laser cat toy on Amazon.  I'm thinking maybe it's the reviewer that deserves one star (emphasis added by me).

"Any LASER beam TOY may initiate a seizure in your pet. Even though most pets love this type of toy, one of our cats has a history of mild seizures. I'd forgotten this fact when I purchased the laser mouse. The cat loved it, but it brought on a seizure."


Hopefully this person doesn't have any kids, but if they do hopefully the kids don't have any allergies.  

Broken Record

"The U.S. economy grew at a 3.5 percent pace in the third quarter, the best showing in two years, fueled by government-supported spending on cars and homes."


I know I sound like a broken record to most when I post misleading quotes and headlines and then complain about them, and maybe nobody who reads my blog cares, but I have to vent sometimes.  The headline: "Economy grows at best pace in 2 years" but nobody should be patting themselves on the back that the recession has ended just because the government is paying people to buy things and that resulted in a modest growth!  Why not hand everybody $10k and announce that we as a country all got magically richer?  The new home credit is over and the CARS program ended a month ago so will the recession still be over once all these programs stop paying?  Is everyone getting hired over Christmas to their new permanent lifetime job that will also provide a fully funded magical pension?  Yes, all that, and world peace coming right up!

Technology FAIL... turns into government FAIL!

I knew everyone was anxiously awaiting an update on the advancement of trashcans, so I was going to offer the picture below as an update of my earlier post.  It tells a lot.

I didn't feel the need to state that I walked by the solar trash can every day for months and had one recurring observation, that it was always full, with a blinking red light, and wouldn't take any more garbage.  I thought the trash can dropped off next to it last week was a sign that someone had come to their senses.  That was it, until I read this:

PASADENA - (10/6/09) The city will soon be installing 40 solar-powered trash compactors on city streets.The compactors use power smash down garbage making city staff able to come empty them less frequently.
Staff estimates that garbage men will now only have to empty those trash cans once a week instead of five times a week.
That will save the city an estimated $61,400 in fuel and maintenance costs, and should reduce the city's greenhouse gas emissions since garbage trucks will go out less frequently.
The city has already installed the solar trash cans in six spots as part of a pilot project.

Now how exactly did the city not see in this pilot program that was so painfully obvious to me?  Oh yeah, it's the government.  Sorry, forget I said anything.

The Copyright proves it's Legit!

This is an e-mail I received.  I have not modified the formatting at all.  I'll never have to work again!


"Good Day, This letter is from GoodFunds Inc. invented by the World Financial Service Authority United States Of America/United Kingdom. This body was set up to discover an outstanding unpaid fund being owned to Governments or Individuals all over the world through Contract Payment, Accumulated pension funds, Inheritance and Lottery Winning Prize Awards. It will interest you to know that we have discovered an outstanding unpaid/unclaimed sum worth the sum of Five hundred thousand Euros in favor of your name and a mandate has been given to this body to ensure that this fund gets to you through diplomatic check delivery without any delay. NB.. you shall be liable for the delivery fees of the courier company. Send your name,delivery address and phone immediately for your cheque delivery. Send your reply only to goodfunds.inc@live.com Regards, Dr. Malone fray Head of Operations GOODFUNDS ECB/02354 Email: goodfunds.inc@live.com ----- © 2009 Goodfunds Inc. All rights reserved."

Crows are Smart

There's a lot of evidence that crows are smart, and I'm not shedding light on anything nearly as cool as some of the things they do, but I still thought I'd share.

I have managed to open my 6th story office window.  Right next door is a fire escape, and crows like to hang out on it.  So I tossed some bread that was going to get thrown out on the fire escape.  A little later I poked my head through the window and scared off a crow that just had the courage to go for the food, and I watched as it flew off to a nearby parking structure.

It waited about 15 minutes, sitting with another crow at the parking structure.  Then it took off, but I couldn't follow exactly where to.  Then I heard crow sounds, so I slowly looked out my window.  There was a crow on the 5th floor fire escape landing, and another one hopping up the stairs to exactly where the bread was located.  It grabbed the bread and flew off.  Freaking genius bird!

A Picture says... Wha?

This online "calculator" from CNN Money wasn't very helpful...  Are you kidding me?  Median net worth for 25-34 is $8,525?  Tell me how that's possible.

Consumer Reports on Fuel Economy

A Consumer Reports Article took a look at fuel efficiency of several cars at 55, 65, and 75 miles per hour.  The first thing I was impressed with was the reality that going 55 was clearly a more efficient speed to drive at.  It makes you wonder if they should roll back all the speed limit signs in California back from 65.

Beyond that, the results were all relatively predictable, but even so it's nice to see Consumer Reports back them up.  Driving a hybrid at freeway speeds does effectively eliminate the advantage of having a hybrid.  Cars are more efficient than SUV's (even if the engine is the same size, unless you're driving in a vacuum I suppose).

After busy season I'll have to put together a spreadsheet to really analyze the time vs. money question they bring up, because I wonder if I'd be willing to make the trade-off of driving somewhere slower knowing that it was saving me cold hard cash (and CO2 emissions).

Sweating Like a Pig

The phrase "Sweating Like a Pig" popped into my head this morning as I was walking to work (no, I hadn't broken a sweat since it was still cool in the morning).  So like all people in this information age, I went to the internet once my computer booted up.  It turns out there was no clear answer on the origin of this phrase.  Most people are well aware of the fact that pigs don't really sweat, but many of the possible answers didn't satisfy me either.  Until this one:


"Maybe it came from the fact that pigs 'sweat' when they are roasted over a fire. It's not really sweat of course; I think it's just the fat dripping off."  


Now, I couldn't take them for their word and haven't seen a pig roast so I had to verify that, but there does appear to be a fair amount of dripping according to a Wikipedia article on pig roasting, so I'm satisfied.


So next time you see someone sweating, and the phrase "Sweating like a pig" pops into your head, just remember that's fat dripping from their slowly cooking meat.  Yummy!

Angeles National Forest Fire

Here's the impressive scene from outside my window:

I guess in reality you can't see too much but I guess that's the point.  There's a lot of smoke.  Yesterday I could actually see the mountains and the flames coming over the ridge.  Now that the mountains are obscured it's hard to tell just how far the fire got.

Gamers are fat and have more poor mental health days (in Seattle)

"Investigators from the CDC, Emory University and Andrews University analyzed survey data from 552 adults in the Seattle-Tacoma area, according to the study, published in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The hypothesis was that male video-game players have a higher body mass index — the measure of a person’s weight in relation to their height — and women have “a greater number of poor mental health days” versus nonplayers, said Dr. James B. Weaver III of the CDC’s National Center for Health Marketing. The hypothesis was correct, he said."

Whew, I'm glad Dr. Weaver III settled that.  Everyone loves a good conclusive study.  

Why do you think they hypothesized about the men's BMI and the women's mental health?  Only Dr. Weaver knows for sure (actually, it just turned out that the data didn't support a BMI difference for women or a mental health difference for men).  Another interesting thing Dr. Weaver stated was that women use video games as a "digital self-medication" but if that's the case, then the egg must come before the chicken and the only conclusion is that women are finding video games as a way to cope with depression.  Would he prefer actual medication to self-medication?

Reading beyond the mainstream articles for more details turned out additional caveats.  The survey to gather data was performed only online, where 18% of the population requested voluntarily responded, of which an impressive 44.3% classified themselves as video game players.  I don't believe that's representative of the population in general, especially considering the number of consoles sold by the major manufacturers.

Pushup Challenge Conclusion: 612

I certainly had a pushup filled Sunday.  I've included some graphs that document my suffering but the grand total for the experiment was 612.  The second graph shows my quick degradation around 9:30 after many easy sets of 25.  I knew then that the rest of the day would be a challenge.  I took some rest periods in between and the recovery helped, but not by much or for very long before I was back to coasting at 9-12 pushup sets.  And yes, today I am sore.

Pushup Endurance Challenge

Over the course of a day, how many pushups can I do?  The day will be Sunday, 8/23.  The guesses:

Kristin: 700
Gabby: 500
Brandon: 457
Loddie: 365
Erik: 150 (he's betting I hurt myself and Loddie has to put me down)

A quick BING search turned up that people in the military have easily worked up to 1,000-2,000/day because they make you do X pushups every time you enter/leave a room and it can add up.  We shall see!

Squirrel Fight!

MSNBC teased me with this picture.  When I clicked it to see a larger version I had to go through 68 pictures in their "10 years of Pictures" slideshow, many of which were graphic and depressing, so I'm just going to post this one by itself for everyone to enjoy...  Squirrel Fight!

Nature is about Life and Death

Unfortunately my rat passed away last night.  Since she lived for three days I know she was trying her best and I'm sad that she passed but these things happen.  Death is a part of life.  Here are some pictures of the rat and the hawk.

Conflicted Feelings

A life is at stake.  I didn't mean to get involved but in accidentally saving a life I put myself in a terrible personal dilemma.

I was walking home Wednesday and saw a hawk in someone's front yard.  I stopped to look at it and after a few minutes it got nervous and flew up into a tree.  What I then noticed was a rat, which was the source of the hawk's attention before I came along.

If you started from the top you've probably already guessed that the rat was alive, but it wasn't doing well.  All it was really doing was gasping for air.  I left immediately because the hawk was still in the tree and I was crossing my fingers that it would go finish what it started.  I visited half an hour later... none of the players had moved, until the hawk flew away.  Three hours later... the rat had moved but it was clearly still badly hurt.  I brought it some bread and moved her to a more sheltered location for the night.

The next morning the rat was still hanging on.  It was a little more active but hadn't moved very much.  The bread didn't show any signs of being eaten.  I'm horribly conflicted about what's in the best interest for the rat. Does it have the will to live, to survive?  Is it in pain?  If it starved, would that be a preferable way to go or should I go against my feelings and do something about it?  In my life there have been a lot of rescues, but all were much more clear cut in 12 hours.

If it's still alive I'd like to take it in and do as much as possible to help feed it even if it doesn't have much longer to live.  I'm not sure that's really a reasonable option but I can't think of many other choices.

UPS Delivery Problem

Train Derailment?  I'd say that's a pretty valid reason for my package being late but really?

Additional Questions:
Will my 360 be ok?
Shouldn't there be !!!'s after TRAIN DERAILMENT?
When are they going to deliver my box of broken plastic and metal if not today... tomorrow?

Dead 360

What is technically the fourth Xbox 360 to be in my possession was sent to Texas to be "repaired" last Monday, and was received on Thursday.  I'm very curious how long the "Repair in Progress" period will take because my experience will all prior consoles is that I got someone's refurbished console and not my repaired original.  If this were the general policy then I would assume that they'd simply plug it in, see that it was dead, and grab a box from their mountain of previously repaired units.  I remember a long time ago hoping that I could somehow get an upgrade and receive one of the newer units with HDMI, and while I don't find that likely, I'll still cross my fingers.  Microsoft, you do kinda owe me because the 1 free month of live I get with every xbox repair has hardly compensated the near 4 months of total downtime you've forced due to the horribly overheating hardware.

Black Widow

Even with an out-of-focus cameraphone picture the red hourglass is obvious.  I spied this black beauty out in the open next to the sidewalk on my walk home.  Stay safe (the black widow, not the pedestrians).

One way to deal with unemployment

Unemployed former student sues college for $70k tuition after not being able to find a job after graduating.  Claims the career services center at the school hasn't helped her find a job.  Let's all cross our fingers that this goes class-action so that all colleges will be held accountable for the failures of students who have graduated in the past.

Maybe if our society gets litigious enough then colleges will worry about who they hand diplomas to.  I also have to wonder if somehow the companies who haven't been hiring this lady have also wronged her in some way by not being profitable enough to hire extra workers in this recession or by not having low enough standards to employ her.  It's something to think about.

What to do about Wall Street Salaries

While the suggestion I liked the most was the one threatened a while back, which was to tax bonuses at 90% so that after state taxes the executive got very little of their ill-gotten bonus, I think what congress should really be doing is getting to the root of the problem to come up with a solution.

It's not the executives getting the bonus that's the problem, it's the availability of ridiculous amounts of cash available to pay bonuses with a straight face.  These are publicly owned companies that manage to make shareholders happy with impressive gains while at the same time paying huge amounts to employees.  Clearly something else is amiss because whenever any company is making outlandish profits they have some unfair advantage.  That's why the government regulates monopolies and other unfair practices.

So here the government needs to step in and identify what's allowing the banks to be so profitable.  The answer, of course, is that they were leveraging their investments.  If they could use a dollar, borrow another $29 with that and invest $30 total, even a 1% return on the $30 was a 300% profit on the $1.  Of course, when the investments went down they now owed $29 for something that may have been worth only $10-15, but they got bailed out.  Eliminate the ability to leverage and you don't have the risky investing.  Without the risky investing the money has to be retained inside the corporation for the shareholders and can't go to paying thousands of $1M bonuses.  And then we're all in a much safer financial environment to boot!

Cash for Clunkers

Everyday we seem to get some reminder of how our government can't plan for anything.  What better term can you use besides "having your head up your ass" when a program expected to take 4 months to run its course happens in 2 weeks?  The true beauty is that since the cash for clunkers legislation is beholden to the dealers to handle the transaction, many started accepting cars early and most likely the reason they have 40k submissions yet another 200k anticipated is that the dealers realized they needed to pound through all the applications fast or else they would have accepted cars and not gotten reimbursed.


I would have gladly taken advantage of this program myself if my messed up Taurus didn't get an EPA 19 mpg instead of the mandated 18.  I probably would have even traded up for a Prius and gotten 50 mpg, but alas, that isn't going to happen.  It's pretty obvious that this legislation is doing very little to combat inefficient cars or help the auto industry.  250,000 cars later the program is over, some people traded in worthless cars for a taxpayer subsidy on a new hyundai, and the world moves on.  

Party Game Ideas

I'm tired of games unwilling to rip off an idea or put any additional effort into games.  I refuse to believe that in all the genre of "mini-games" that the wii has, no designer can come up with a simple tournament system to really put the mini-games to good use.  It's simple, pick from the games, allow people to work independently or in teams, keep some score, and declare a winner at the end.  Every game that is designed to be played in short bursts should have this function without fail.

Parenting 101

If anyone is taking notes, this is how to be a good parent:

"We picked (Wii Sports Resort) up yesterday, and we had a hard time putting it down. We had a blast playing against one another as a family. So much fun, that we didn't bother to cook dinner, so we just ordered some pizza to avoid getting off the wii sports resort."

Unemployment

It's pretty obvious that the system is going to hell in a hand basket but some of the reports going around really make you wonder just how broken our system really is.

The linked article among other things says that 16 states have used up all of their unemployment funds already, and another 16 could run out by year's end.  These states are now borrowing funds that will have to be repaid in the future by higher taxes...  higher taxes on those employed since roughly 10% of people in the country are unemployed and getting benefits.  And maybe when some of these people who were unemployed finally get a job, they'll step into an environment where they take home less of what they've earned.

But how can these systems get like this?  How can so many promises of funding be assured and guaranteed with no actual knowledge of where the money will come from?  Let's consider unemployment in California.  At the most, each employed person will pay about $700 into the unemployment fund each year.  We obviously are in a tough economic time but assuming 10% unemployment means 9 employed for every 1 unemployed then that's $6,300/yr.  Even if you assume half the unemployment you'd have 9.5 employed for every .5 employed, you have about $13,300/yr.  Whatever the benefits actually are, someone should be able to arrive at a formula for a safe cushion of cash or not promise anything at all and encourage good planning.

Same goes for retirement, where the 401k has taken over because private company pensions lacked certainty.  But government still happily offers pensions 1) because government employees wouldn't give them up and 2) because the government has to pay for the pension guarantees no matter what, which means more taxes at some point to make up the difference.  State governments don't even have the flexibility of the social security system to say you may only get 75% of your promised benefits.  Taxing is their only recourse, but they happily continue to make promises that may be difficult to impossible to honor.

All around us, from every economic angle, it appears that all decisions are being made to break even and to have an immediate satisfaction without looking towards a long term consequence.  And even in big business, our banks were frivolous with their money, leveraging their investments 30:1 and paying big bonuses with the great payout and sticking their hand out when the bet didn't pay off.  One year later, things are looking better and banks are paying higher salaries than they were two years ago.  There's no sense of retaining money to capitalize the bank and avoid overleveraging... why should there be?  There's no consequence!

Miracle Fruit Update 7-21-09

No picture at the moment since nothing really stands out but recently the plant must have liked the climate because it has sent off numerous shoots like the two I circled earlier.  By current count I see 5 young shoots and 6 main stalks with new vertical growth, including the main stalk which hadn't had any growth since I started raising it.  All in all it's a bushy plant with lots of new growth but probably a long ways away from any fruit, but hopefully one day that will change.

It was a swell run (RIP Shrimp #4)

After not quite 2 years my last shrimp passed on to the big aquarium in the sky (sea?).  I could actually see the signs over the last few days so I wasn't too surprised.  I'm also fairly confident no shrimp are hiding anywhere, so now it will just be time to see how wild the ecosystem can get when there is no longer a natural balance.

Stupidity only comes in one flavor

From MSNBC: "Uhazi is drowning in a sea of debt ($60k). And, like millions of other Americans, it is a debt load that she built up slowly over more than two decades of easy credit that made it all too simple to spend. Now she worries she won’t be able to pay it off because of the recession, which has led to a reduction in her salary and an increase in her credit card bills... Still, Uhazi said she didn’t often worry about her credit card debt, reasoning that she paid at least the minimum balance on all her cards....Perhaps the worst part was trying to figure out how her debt had reached that point."


I don't know how many thousands or even millions of stories there are just like this one, and I can only guess that the answer ultimately is stupidity.  How can someone not realize after two decades of their credit card debts going up that it wasn't a problem?  Her minimum payment according to the article was around twice her housing costs!  What basic level of fiscal training does someone need to realize that a balance will only go away with regular payments IF you are not also increasing that balance on a regular basis?  This lady didn't have a single life altering event that got her where she was.  She had steady employment and simply spent stupidly and consistently over her means for a 20 year period accumulating a debt that ended up being nearly twice her annual salary and at interest rates upwards of 20%.  

Innovation in the Financial Sector

"Our framework for financial regulation is riddled with gaps, weaknesses and jurisdictional overlaps, and suffers from an outdated conception of financial risk. In recent years, the pace of innovation in the financial sector has outstripped the pace of regulatory modernization, leaving entire markets and market participants largely unregulated." - Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury


If the above quote doesn't scare people into questioning what was going on in an industry most of us know little about then crawl back under your rock.  The idea that there has been ANY innovation in the financial sector should have been a warning sign to some regulator or body somewhere.  If there was "innovation" in the tax sector then the IRS damn well better be getting on it, tracking down and understanding what's going on in order to fix whatever hole broke open.  But here somehow the "financial regulation" is admittedly broken and has been so for years yet no action was taken until it all crumbled simultaneously.  At first I didn't think it was really the governments fault.  I chalked most of the current situation up to greed, both of homeowners overstretching, consumers overpurchasing, lenders being overly risky, and corporations overly compensating.  Now I'm starting to think that maybe the fault should rest squarely on the head of a government who is the only entity sizable enough to detect and monitor this situation yet let the people it should be designed to protect be let down.

Game Designers, Heed my Words

This was prompted by playing Prototype, but I also recall it coming up in Star Wars: Force Unleashed and I have felt it playing through demos before...  Don't start a game with a fully powered-up superhero character and then take those powers away or go back in time to square one when you don't have those powers.  It's a tease, and it makes the beginning of the game not as fun because you wish you had all the things you did at the very start.  It's a mistake, plain and simple.  If you want to show me all the things I might be able to do later, that's fine.  It would give me something to look forward to.  But to start by doing cool things and then to go back so far that you're only slightly above average is lame.

Besides that, Prototype has interesting elements to drive the story along.  It certainly qualifies in the genre of open-world superhero games ala crackdown.  I feel pretty super doing the things they designed for the character, and once you have your legs you can definitely pull off some exhilarating moves.  I've heard the main criticisms heaped on the game is that it lacks variety.  It actually seems like that's a common theme for open-world games and I think that all reflects the gamer instinct to hone in on a strength and master it.  The reality is that Prototype can let you do whatever it is that you're interested in, whether it's finding hidden orbs, attacking military bases, attacking infected hives, or progressing in the story.  If you just want to cause chaos you can do that too.  If it feels repetitive that's because you're doing it the same each time, and maybe that's the games fault and maybe that's yours.  Who am I to say?

Sugar Pills

From MSNBC: "Ten years ago the government set out to test herbal and other alternative health remedies to find the ones that work. After spending $2.5 billion, the disappointing answer seems to be that almost none of them do.  Echinacea for colds. Ginkgo biloba for memory. Glucosamine and chondroitin for arthritis. Black cohosh for menopausal hot flashes. Saw palmetto for prostate problems. Shark cartilage for cancer. All proved no better than dummy pills in big studies funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine."

My first question is: Where is this taxpayer funded information available? Turns out it's http://nccam.nih.gov/ !  Pretty catchy, right?  I would like it, although I'd never expect it, if the government created some sort of portal web-site to locate any and all information that they produce.  A while back my complaint was that even in locating the information as to where the stimulus bill funds would go, I was linked to an outside web-site and had to do more searching to find the full text.  This really shouldn't be the case.

The other problem the article raises, and is clear even from the echinacea research prominently posted on the front page is that this government body lacks the backbone to stand up for its research.  If the researcher was bad then they shouldn't have gotten the money, but the research had a person test 3 different delivery vehicles for a type of echinacea at a specific dose.  When the results showed no improvement they were published, and because of backlash the "Research Challenges" section was added, which is almost as long as the article itself, suggesting that there are different varieties and doses of echinacea that they can't speak for that may work!  Useless.

Miracle Fruit 3 month Comparison

There's my change in 3 months. Not much growth in the height department but plenty of foliage. In the very top right is the strange long sprout I've recently blogged about with a small leaf at the end.

Seeing the future of entertainment

I'm not sure when exactly "augmented reality" went mainstream, but I remember when I first saw it in practice.  Mini ran a print advertisement that, when viewed on a web-cam through their web-site would show a 3D car that could be rotated when you turned the magazine.  Since that point Sony has toyed with the idea by combining their eye-toy with cards to create 3D creatures with the future promise of them coming to life.

Sony's Eyepet has not yet been released, but seems destined to come out eventually and be the first program to put this into practice.  A 3D creature that you interact with by looking at your television and observing the augmented reality of your own world with a pet wandering around that you can interact with.  While the demos all suggest that you will either need to play this on the floor (as most pictures show) or have a table in front of you, the idea of looking into what is effectively a mirror, but seeing an altered reality is clearly a glimpse into the future.  This isn't far from the star trek holodeck!

Since the Sony camera is limited to a 2D understanding of the world, the interactions with this pet will be limited.  You may not fully get the sense that you're in this world because you could grab your pet from various angles and the system would not know the difference.  That's why the 3D camera from the xbox makes the technology all the more promising.  From all accounts the 3D camera has no problem identifying one or more people and converting them into a virtual stick-figure and moving them in a 3D space.  Clearly the "augmented reality" portion of the exercise is nothing incredibly complex since it has been run in web-browsers and even on the PSP.  So now that we have the technology for the holodeck remind me, what did they do on that?  I never actually watched star trek... Sorry!

Microsoft Free Idea Day

Since I'm already giving out free ideas to Microsoft, here's another one for their camera:

Minority Report style menus.  Forget the slow scrolling through pages on the dashboard.  With a 3D camera and recognition of hands you can easily allow for full navigation of menus, etc. with no controller.  Gamers would dig that shit.  It's like Surface without the Surface (I know it might be hard to drown that baby already but it's worth considering).  Here's the hint: open hand = nothing, closed hand = click/grab functionality.  Your camera should be able to pick up the five distinct dots for fingers vs. a closed hand.  Alright, ponder that for the weekend.

State of the Motion Controllers Address

Engadget put together a very nice summary to all 3 console makers ideas regarding motion controllers so I'm simply linking to that in the title.  Now, here's my take on the potential for actual implementation.

The wii is the easiest.  The only controller they have is a motion controller.  Adding additional information to make it more accurate can only help developers program for it, and if they choose to they can ignore it, but they'll still use some form of motion control.  The other big point is that it gets the job done and gives people a tangible enough feel for what they are doing that they feel satisfied with the result.

The Playstation camera approach is novel, but as the tech demo showed, while you can achieve a similar 1:1 movement that other motion control approaches have, it's still missing elements.  Nowhere in the demo did the character move.  The person shot arrows, threw ninja stars, and fought with a sword and shield, but they didn't move.  This is clearly a problem because they can't easily tack on a thumbstick to the controllers like the wii's nunchuck to give that free movement, when it's also supposed to be your shield arm (or they could, but it would feel odd.  I think the Playstation solution serves only as a tech demo that could sell with a minigame collection just as the original eyetoy did, but it can't and won't get widespread appeal, especially considering the number of controllers one would theoretically have to buy in order to get a group of people playing.

And then there was the Xbox solution of a 3D camera with no controllers.  Playstation was right in my opinion when they said sometimes you just need buttons.  That's the fatal flaw in regards to project Natal gaining widespread adoption on the level of the wiimote for playing games.  Sure, some minigames might be created like the breakout game they demonstrated, but the most practical applications will be those like EA is already pondering, which have a workout focus.  I think the reason Peter Molyneux demoed a boy that could react and respond to you was that he realized that this was the most elegant and useful implementation of the technology.  It shouldn't be an extension of the controller, it should be an extension of the experience.  If Microsoft handed out simple instructions for even the most straightforward thing, headtracking where every character would tilt or turn their head towards the direction of the person playing, even that little element could make a game more immersive.  Letting you actually speak to characters in role playing games would also add to this.  These are things that could be implemented without a lot of effort on the 3rd party programmers, but might lead to gamers picking it up, just so they can experience it.  Maybe I'm just the one lacking imagination for this technology.  I wouldn't mind an elebits style tech demo just for fun, but in the end I just want the game to be a little more aware of the player.

Miracle Fruit 6-1-09 Alien Growth

I've added colors to draw attention to what I observed this Monday morning.  Over the weekend these long growths developed (circled in red) and to the best of my knowledge there was nothing there before the weekend.  This is in addition to the new leaves I've had sprout recently (circled in blue) due to my hardcore misting every few hours.  The plant is certainly liking the treatment, but I'm very curious about its intentions given that there isn't much vertical growth going on but plenty of foliage developing.  And what will come of the new spindly growth?  While it appears similar to the branches that come from the main stalk, this would be a first coming from an offshoot (for reference, the top red circle is coming off the main stalk and therefor just resembles a new branch, the bottom one is coming off an already well established branch).

GM Restructuring

Since the goverment is going around "rescuing" whomever it wants with taxpayer money and now the government owns 60% of GM on our behalf, how about all taxpayers get a 60% discount on GM vehicles?  Then maybe they'll actually sell better than foreign cars.  I feel like that's about the only fair way for this whole thing to shake out because there's no other way that money is going to get back to the government.  So yeah, that $50B in taxpayer money?  Split the difference with voucher subsidies and GM could get rid of all the cars they've made and we'd have something to show for this whole debacle.

I'll get me one of them new Cameros that look kinda like the old Cameros.  Thanks.

Spelling Bee

Give me one round with all the kids participating in the national spelling bee.  I'll make them spell everything from funny words "boondoggle" to inappropriate words.

Just image the first kids face when I say: "Spell fuck...  want me to use it in a sentence?"

Incentives

At some point in my life incentives became the main driving force for me to do anything.  I can't really say if it was my parents training me or me training my parents, but there was certainly a lot of quid pro quo going on in my childhood... and it worked!

The problem with the modern world, at least from my vantage point is the disconnect between what we do and how we get rewarded.  I don't see the money that I get for working.  Twice a month it appears in my bank account.  How much different would it be if someone came by every day, peeled off a few greenbacks, and said thanks for working today, you can go home now?

While I always thought that my parents had instilled a good work-ethic in me by which I realized the value of a dollar and the idea that hard work meant I got paid, maybe the allowance system is more in line with modern society and how it rewards workers.

My last point is that the other day I was talking with a friend about how if someone incentivized me running 10 miles by saying they'd give me a pizza at the end, I'd probably do it.  If they told me I was doing it for my health, doing it for a certificate, or even doing it for enough money to buy said pizza I'd probably say forget you.  What exactly does that say about my mindset towards incentives?

Give me a break!

How does this kid have such good PR that a story is written of their perfect attendance through High School?  The article called 20 schools and came up with another person that same year that did it, so why the eff does this person warrant an article?  While it's not something that consumes my soul, I am pissed from that day when they were giving out senior awards and my name didn't get called for perfect attendance even though I never missed a day.  It sucks when some teacher can make an error that can screw up something I didn't even care to be recognized for in the first place.  But to see a full article get written up on this girl just makes me want to punch something.  This is probably all going in some stupid college essay and it's obviously complete BS, but I guess some newspaper wanted a feel-good story that would also really piss me off.

In other news...

Continuing along with my life and death theme, I just want to record that this morning when I was brushing my teeth I noticed a gnat swirling in the sink water. As I turned the water off I decided that if it didn't go down the drain then I would try to recover the gnat. Luckily it did not go down, I took a q-tip and gently picked it up from the sink, blew on it until it had dried enough and that's when I saw one little leg start wiggling. I nursed it a little more, gently moving it from the cotton, which would surely tie it up and onto a flat dry surface where it slowly started walking along. I have no idea if the wings will function, and I know that gnats don't live for very long, but this one just got an extended lease on life.

RIP Shrimp #3

After all the hoopla about actually discovering a 3rd shrimp alive and well I unfortunately have to confirm with absolute certainty that shrimp #3 has passed away. In addition, I have not seen Shrimp #2 today, but now I know that they can hide inside the seashell so I'm not giving up hope that it is alive, but I certainly do not have 3 shrimp any more.

Miracle Fruit new growth

It may not look like much, but after seeing my new miracle fruit plant get off to a good start with all the new growth turning into mature leaves it almost appeared like it was settling down for the winter.  There wasn't a single new leaf budding and though it looked healthy, I thought it could do better.  So I bought a small desk lamp and recruited a misting water bottle and since spraying it with a fine mist whenever I think about it and keeping the lamp on the black pot to keep the whole thing warm leaves have started to bud.  The pictures above are the progress of the newest growth from 5-12 to 5-18, and while those pictures may not appear to show much, it's easily doubled in length and now has the full features and reddish appearance of the new growth that it came with, plus there are several more buds all over.  So we're looking at success with miracle fruit plant growth, we just need to see some progress with the fruit some day.

Social Security or Government Ponzi Scheme

From CNN:

"On the one hand, assets in 401(k) accounts -- which are predominantly in stocks -- have declined in value by about a third, employers are suspending matching contributions, and millions of unemployed workers have seen their retirement savings efforts disrupted.

On the other hand, the Social Security Administration continues to send out monthly checks to 35 million retirees and their spouses, 9 million disabled workers and their families, and 6 million families whose breadwinner has died. In other words, the government system has proved to be much less fragile than the private system of retirement savings."

Less Fragile?  Just because they're still cutting checks?  Later on in the article, perhaps beyond where most people would bother reading they point out that the financial crisis reduced the year that Social Security was expected to run out of money by 4 years (i.e. 2037).  Considering the horizon, 4 years is 12.5% decrease in their estimates.  

And the scary thing is that their decrease didn't come from the stock market dropping like it did for 401k's, it came from payroll payments decreasing due to massive unemployment.  The people working today are paying the social security tomorrow, literally, not figuratively.  In 2037 the payroll today will pay for the social security today, and that's when events like the depression will be all the more depressing.  Right now based on government estimates the payroll in the future will cover 75% of the benefits in the future, so since they don't have any more money, people get 75% of what actuaries said they should have gotten.  If there's massive unemployment like there is now, that means that they can't just cut the future estimate back 4 years, they have to cut the current payments.  How much harder is it going to be when people relying on social security already have a diminished amount and then have to face an immediate cutback because economic times are tough.  Talk about bread lines!

So CNN writer, no, Social Security is not faring better than 401k's.  At least I know what I have in my 401k, know where it is, and if I want to invest it all in cash I'll know what it's worth.  Social Security is a total craps shoot past 2037 (or sooner.)

Bees

It's too bad humans are so damn possessive about their space.  Rather than just figure out the problem with the building and make some repairs and let a bee hive remain, exterminators have to come along and remove the hive.  Do people not realize that bees aren't doing that well and are vital to our current ecosystem?  It's unfortunate that people have such a feeling of entitlement that it comes at the expense of so many other creatures.  Only kill if something is going to hurt you or you're going to eat it.  That's my motto.

Retirement Planning

An article on MSNBC kicked around an idea that some people are generally dissatisfied with the 401k system, which makes sense in a tough economic time.  You tell people they have to invest for their own retirement, you only let them invest in the options their employer gives them, you don't adequately disclose or control fees to participants.  Ultimately, the real problem is that you don't make people feel all that secure in their retirement prospects.

While the article kicked around an alternative that was little more than expanding social security, I think the problem should be approached from a whole new angle.

What makes people feel secure?  I think most people would actual answer that tangible assets make them feel most secure, and the American dream has never hinged on having a large 401k, it has been about owning a house.  And I'm sure a lot of people would feel more secure in their later years and in retirement if they knew they owned their house.  You don't really care if your house loses value as long as you can live under your roof.  And the best one of all, this could be the very first perk that the rich wouldn't be all that excited about.

So why don't we start a movement and push for pre-tax mortgage payments?  It's fine if you want to take away my mortgage interest deduction because I'll be getting a mortgage and principal interest deduction.  It encourages everything good and solid about saving and investing over the long term and if your paycheck can't cover your mortgage payment then maybe some of the people who got approved for loans never would have gotten approved.

Shrimp #3... why is this so confusing?

So my shrimp are doing their darnedest to make me believe that I have gone insane.  First I went a long period of time thinking that one had died and I only had 2 left.  Then I saw 3 swimming around a month later and was elated/shocked.  Yesterday I saw only 2 and thought that maybe I was insane about ever seeing the 3.  So I looked and I looked and eventually I saw some red.  I shook the container some more so I could see the red more clearly and got some photographic evidence.  Shrimp #3 is in the mouth of a snail shell.  I have never known the snails to be alive, and I thought the shell was just decorative, so I can't say for certain whether the shrimp is alive and hiding in the shell or dead and being eaten by a snail I was not aware I had.  But I can now firmly state that I did have 3 shrimp in my ecosphere.  Even if I might be a little crazy, I am indeed still capable of counting shrimp in a small glass egg.

Pasadena... a vision of the future!

I tried to highlight the awesomeness in this picture but in case it's not obvious:
1) Solar
2) Chute
3) Compactor
4) BigBelly

That my friends, is the future.

I have been curious...

Yup, that's Doostang (pretty similar to LinkedIn) trying to inform me where my industry pees.  Next time they should check their grammar though.

Miracle Fruit 4-7-09

Notice how all the new growth has turned a healthy green. There's still a few new leaves but it seemed to be going through a rapid growth when it first arrived. I'm keeping my eyes on it to make sure everything looks healthy and that new buds keep appearing. I think the growth is pretty noticeable.

R.I.P. Dinner

I laid Dinner to rest this morning.  I hadn't noticed anything wrong and was just going to fill up her food bowl but when I didn't see the usual shifting of the bedding as Dinner would run through her self-made tunnels to see what the disturbance was I suspected something was wrong.  I had been wrong about this once before so a part of me was hopeful until I saw her body.

Dinner lived much longer than her sister Lunch, who for some unknown reason died within a week of us getting them from Petsmart.  That was shocking and it made us fear for Dinner's health, but as time passed we knew she was going to be fine.  I believe we had Dinner for around 2 years and since that's less than the estimated lifespan of 3.5 years I have this general unease that I was at fault for this shortened life.  When animals don't communicate, can't verbalize in any way, sometimes we don't know when something is wrong.  I hope very much that Dinner passed without suffering and was not unhappy.  I cared very much about that little ball of fur, and so did the cats.

Army of Two Review

I'm going to suppose that this is how the game "Army of Two" came to fruition:

First, someone heard a commercial for the Army, back when the slogan was "An Army of One"

Second, they thought that would be a cool game but realized that the Army had already trademarked that slogan, so they thought, "Why not make a game called Army of Two that focuses on co-op?"

Third, since the whole co-op thing hadn't really been fleshed out by the time this idea came about they decided to put the gameplay on the back-burner and focus all of their programmers on diverse environments: Iraq/Afghanistan, Jungles of China, Aircraft Carrier, Office Buildings...

Fourth, they had 6 levels created and thought they should probably get going on that whole co-op thing. They started brainstorming about what 2 guys in battle might do together... a few people snickered, a few people wondered why they snickered but blew it off. Then the ideas started flowing: they could fight back-to-back as enemies came from all angles, they could have one create a distraction while the other moved up and killed someone... then they were basically done. But someone said they needed more so they added a riot shield that one guy could hold and the other guy could fire over, a helping up move to get over walls, and finally, one of those programmers that snickered suggested a tandem parachute where the guy in front could shoot and the guy in back could steer and when one of the execs said that sounded a little gay the programmer said "Really? I don't think so ::snicker::"

Fifth, EA came over and said "Are you guys done with that game yet?" and everyone said "Oh Shit, we need to hurry!" and six months later the game was on shelves.

And that all explains why later on they added 2 levels, one of which completely re-writes the ending so that at least it makes a little sense and some guy didn't just survive a plane crash into the ocean with no injuries... that would be crazy!

Daddy Longlegs Spiders are Cool

First, if you think you can just take a daddy longslegs to work, place it on a plant and expect it to start building a web and catching little gnats you're wrong.  Yeah, in hind sight I know it sounds a little stupid.  (note: next time get a garden spider that doesn't mind being in the open/light)

Within minutes of being placed on said plant I could see him/her pushing out the fishing line, hoping it would catch a breeze and whisk it off to some darker corner.  Of course I'm in an office and the only breeze is coming straight down from the ventilation.  Yet within a minute it was traversing a 3 foot length from my plant to my monitor and 20 seconds later he was 5 feet away and setting up shop comfortably in the dark behind one of my "guest" chairs!  How the hell did it manage that so damn fast?  They are truly amazing creatures.

Screw you HSBC!

HSBC has pulled off what is my opinion is one of the biggest asshole moves a company can make.  First, they are diluting the company value and asking current investors to chip in more to keep their ownership constant.  They are offering everyone 5 shares for every 12 shares they hold, but you have to buy the 5 shares at a price of 254 pence.  Current market price is 400 pence so by my math after the dilution the market is valuing HSBC at 282 pence (400 x 12/17) so it's a discount of 30 pence, which isn't much of a bargain.

On top of all of that most everyone I know got a notice in the mail Monday evening (3/23).  The notice said that if you wanted to pay up then they needed to receive your check (in pounds sterling no less!) by 4/3 at 3pm.  If you wanted any of their other options then they had to receive the letter by 3/27 at 3pm!  And of course they're in London so we're talking a long journey in the mail.  I pretty much feel extorted by the whole situation and opted for a middle option where they sell half my shares to cover the price for the other half my shares (I guess there's some inherent value in the warrants but they never disclose that, maybe it's just the 30 pence discount!) and they'll send me however many shares come out of that.  Of course there's no way in hell they are getting my letter, mailed 3/26, so maybe I'll just get a check (cheque) out of this and have 30% of the company I rightfully owned through stock yanked out from under me.  This just doesn't seem right.

Beneficial Nematodes

The Home Depot product description: (bold = my emphasis added)

Beneficial Nematodes are microscopic warriors that kill soil borne pests such as flea larvae, spidermites, fungus gnat, weevils, grubs, rootworms, cutworms, and many more. These Nematodes search, find, and kill pests living in the soil. They are extremely effective, and will reproduce and spread to provide you with long lasting organic pest control.

• Economical
• Effective! (<- their !, not mine)
• Fun for the garden
• Natural
• MFG Model # : 361
• MFG Part # : 361
• ADA Compliant : Yes (American Dental, Diabetes, Dietetic Association or Americans with Disabilities Act?)
• Assembled Depth (In Inches) : 6 In.
• Assembled Height (In Inches) : 4 In.
• Assembled Weight (In LBS) : 1
• Assembled Width (In Inches) : 4 In.
• Indoor or Outdoor : Outdoor
• Longevity : 12 months
• Stains : No

Fungus... Gnats!

"Ever notice those irritating little insects that fly out of the soil when you water your potted indoor plants? You are probably seeing fungus gnats."


Indeed, it appears that I am!


"An adult fungus gnat lays up to 200 eggs during the one week it spends as an adult winged gnat. The adult then dies. Legless larvae hatch out in about four days. After two weeks of feeding, larvae spend about three to four days as pupae before emerging as the next generation of adults."


Oh shit!


"Apply beneficial nematodes (Steinernematids or Neoaplectanids) to control larvae."


Spiders? OK!

In Harmony with Nature

As usual, plants that I tend to introduce into an environment seem to gather their own wildlife, as I mentioned earlier.  Gnats have gone from "a few" to "several" in very little time.  I'm not exactly sure how they are thriving, but they are.  I set out to find a spider to control my problem passively.

Instead I found a lady bug nymph!  It may not have any effect on my gnats, but I'm excited to see if it cruises for scales.  I have long suspected that I only see the mature and established scales, which I have been removing from my plant, but that there was some dense subculture of immature scales.  I think that my young lady bug friend will be able to infiltrate the source and thrive.  Now if only it could move a little faster maybe it could catch some gnats as well!

A Troubling Thought...

While keeping myself fairly informed on the situation given my general curiosity towards economics, I have generally not been concerned with the economic turmoil facing the country.  That has mostly been because of the single selfish viewpoint that as long as I am still employed and earning money I can wait out everything occurring to my investments and retirement accounts.

Something just troubled me, and it won't trouble me for long but it's still unsettling enough to document.  Even though I have a bank account that shows a balance, that money has been spent by someone.  Every bank right now is for the most part insolvent (the loans it made with my money are not expected to be repaid meaning the money is gone).  The government has promised that it would print more money but that's not very satisfying.  The government is trying to hide the fact that it's printing money by instead concocting a crazy program where hedge funds will buy these loans at inflated prices from banks.  The hedge funds get most of their money from the government (printing money) and the hedge funds are profiting more through transaction fees than the hope of these assets ever making a profit.  It's all a way to follow the accounting rules that at this point seem irrelevant.  The reason I'd prefer nationalization is because then everything would be transparent.  Instead of closed door meeting the government could just fess up that it's holding a bunch of crappy mortgages and would print money that I earned at some point and may have been lost in the shuffle.  The best answer in my opinion is still the tough answer, and that's the one that no president has the balls to deliver.  Instead we are spoon-fed the answer that the situation is difficult but manageable and everything will be fine.  Thanks, but maybe I'm fine with things being crappy for people so they can get a dose of something that's actually good for them, not just something that tastes good.  Eat your damn vegetables!

Miracle Fruit Progress

We're getting up close to track the progress of the new growth of the Miracle Fruit plant.  It's been two weeks and I've had to defend it from various bugs, tried adding a guardian spider who after attempting suicide I decided to free in the wild, and I'm fertilizing it with used coffee grounds.  This plant is in for an experience!

Miracle Fruit Project

Expect pictures to be posted as I see progress or lack of progress in my growing of a Miracle Fruit bush.  One site said it could produce fruit when it was as little as 12'' tall.  It's 9'' right now but apparently grows very very slowly.

Annualization is not a word...

Suggestions:
animalization
naturalization
cannibalization
tantalization

It's so hard to choose!

Stop Annualizing Already!!!

"Consumer borrowing fell at an annual rate of $7.48 billion in December, which followed an $9.13 billion drop in November."


Annualizing one month is fine for these purposes but you can't keep compounding it!  I'm going to start a news outlet that will sensationalize current events by millenializing all data.  


That's right, there was a $9,130,000,000,000 ($9.13 Trillion) millenialized drop in consumer borrowing in November and then a $7,480,000,000,000 ($7.48 Trillion) millenialized drop in consumer borrowing in December! DO THE MATH then FREAK OUT!.  This news report brought to you by Kelloggs. 

A Little Too Strict

Here's what you'll see if you're on the LA Times website and want to post a comment about a news article:

"If you are under 13 years of age you may read this message board, but you may not participate."


I found this odd.

Finite, Then and Now

These cuts, while regrettable, were necessary, Kim says. “In a world where we find finite resources becoming a little more finite, we had to make decisions about (the) best place to utilize those resources.” 

Are we being honest about the Homeowner Stability Initiative?

MSNBC: The plan I’m announcing focuses on rescuing families who have played by the rules and acted responsibly,” Obama said. “It will not rescue the unscrupulous or irresponsible by throwing good taxpayer money after bad loans.”


He said the plan will not help those dishonest lenders who distorted facts for naive buyers, or buyers who signed on for loans they knew they could not afford.



But...


There are incentives for lenders to modify loans for borrowers who can't afford their loan and the government to make up "part of" the difference between the old monthly payment and the new payment.  I don't see how one can argue that this doesn't in some way either benefit "dishonest" lenders or stupid buyers who could not afford their loan.  I don't actually believe in the dishonest lender so I'd categorize everyone facing foreclosure as a poor buyer that should have known they could not afforded their loan or at least taken responsibility for the risk of that loan.


In the end, the incentive is perfect for the lenders who will be getting above market rates on the loans that they made to buyers rather than face the losses they would have sustained from foreclosure.  The risk of foreclosure was the very thing that should have kept these lenders scared of making the loan in the first place but now the government had reduced their risk so everyone who acted foolishly truly does win.

The Times are Changing

"A DNA test will be performed to determine if a 13-year-old boy fathered a baby with his 15-year-old girlfriend, his spokesman said Monday.

The test comes after a Sunday tabloid newspaper reported that two other teenage boys have come forward claiming to be the father of the newborn baby girl."

Am I really to believe that two teenage boys are coming forward to claim paternity of a baby?  To take that honor (or should I say honour) away from this 13 year old British boy is a travesty against irresponsibility.  The whole focus of this story should shift from the fact that one young boy fathered a child with a young girl to the fact that all of these young individuals are responsible enough to claim paternity in the case of the lowly pregnant 15 year old who recently gave birth.  How inspiring this must be for Britain and all of humanity.

Remote Office

I wish that I had the balls to take a picture but I'll just have to paint the scene with words instead.

I walk into a Starbucks on a rainy Monday morning.  Out of the corner of my eye I see an Indian man in his 50's holding what appears to be an old fashioned telephone handset to his ear.  The rain must keep foot traffic way way down because there was no line so I proceeded to place my order.  The baristas were discussing a Craigslist add for a coffee shop down the street that would give preference to any laid-off Starbucks employees.  The mood still seemed rather light despite the conversation.

After having placed my order I walked over to where I pick up my drink, but while waiting I had a better opportunity to inspect Old Fashioned Phone Guy.  In fact, Old Fashioned Phone Guy was sporting a full fledged video phone (with streaming video that I could see updating), presumably running off the Starbucks wifi and also had a laptop set up.  There was nobody in the seats behind him but this was a light day as I mentioned before.  I wonder if people would have felt the need for privacy enough to vacate the area had it been a busier day.  The man continued on with what I can only presume was business as usual, not feeling the least bit odd holing the large handset to his ear, looking at someone on the video phone while typing away at his computer.  A true multitasker for the generations!

Is China trying to kill Indians?

"In fact, a CNN-IBN special investigation one year ago, tested a random sample of toys for lead.

The results revealed that Chinese toys contained higher levels lead than their Indian counterparts.

The study also showed that the highest content of this heavy metal was in products like teethers for newborn and toddlers."

Coincidence or international conspiracy?  One country has a "one-baby" policy and the other (I'm assuming from watching the Simpsons) has a "lotta babies" policy.  I think we all know the answer to this one.