Throne 2.0 - a toilet seat for the internet age

I saw a new device today at Costco.

It was a toilet seat with a remote control! So, I thought... finally, someone has determined we're so lazy or germophobic, we need to have the seat raised and lowered automatically.

I was wrong... the remote is used to control two functions - a stream of warm water intended to wash away any vestiges of unseen waste from your behind, and a dryer which is meant to get you back to the state where you can comfortably don your undergarments without getting them wet.

The toilet seat comes with its own plumbing fixture (presumably to connect a water source), and a power cord (presumably to heat the water and drive the dryer).

What will they think of next?

The pattern continues

My last blog post was about how criminals in this city have it easy. That crime does pay. Well, following the well established pattern, today's post suggests the opposite.



Note to thieves: When attempting a getaway after a robbery, make sure to use a car that's not easily identifiable. Read the story here.

Want a life of crime without punishment? Move to my fair city!

Over the past few weeks, there has been a lot of ink spilled about a crooked used car business (yes, crooked used car businesses exist outside of the movies). This business (or businesses, actually) would sell cars to anyone - regardless of credit - and had a pretty good thing going.

So, how did they make a profit? For one thing, the interest rates they charged were outrageous. For another, after they made deals with clients (for example, a deal which involved selling a car for $nnn and arranging for the purchaser to pay $x per month for 3 years), they would turn around after the customer left, and forge the documentation so that they collected far more than the originally agreed $nnn from the finance company, and doctored the paperwork so the buyer would get stuck with $x per month for 6 or 7 years, instead of 3.

Many of the customers couldn't really complain, since they had lied on their original credit applications and were therefore complicit in the scheme.

In addition to cheating customers with forged documents, they would also sell "extended warranties" to the customers, but didn't register them. So, if a client ever tried to get service, they were denied because there was no such warranty in place!

During the lengthy investigation of the first business, police found the connection to the second business and made arrangements to raid that dealership (owned by the same person). Quite coincidentally, that second dealership experienced a suspicious fire only hours before the raid was scheduled to take place! Too bad their excellent fire suppression system actually worked - preventing the evidence from getting burned up!

The mastermind and his business partners were arrested and placed in jail. He approached the court sometime later with a request to have a few days off to visit his ailing mother overseas. Over the objections of local police, he was allowed a week to see his mother. He hasn't been seen since.

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure why he even bothered to run.

In a completely unrelated case, a local man accused of running an international theft and chop shop ring was charged with over 200 counts. His family members and other related parties were similarly charged. The local police, provincial police, federal police and police from the United States all had been watching his operation for over a year. They had a strong case. For some reason, rather than endure a long pretrial and trial, the prosecutor agreed to accept a guilty plea on a single charge - possession of stolen goods over $5000.

All other charges were dropped. And because this was a "first offense", our mastermind criminal escaped with probation and a laughable restitution order. He won't spend a day in jail.

Let that be a lesson to would-be criminal masterminds. If you move here, get charged with a serious crime (or crimes), don't bother leaving the country and giving up the life of luxury to which you've become accustomed. Show up for court, and take your tap on the wrist like a man!

On the lighter side...

I went to see the new movie "Hugo" on Thursday night. I really enjoyed the film and its use of 3D. I won't talk about the film at all, except to say the theatrical trailer doesn't reveal anything about the movie's plot. I think that's the first time in a long while that I've seen a movie that wasn't spoiled by the TV commercials.

If this post was an English paper, my teacher would scold me on the excessive use of the word "I".

And then, there are times when the law doesn't go far enough!

This isn't the first time that I've posted an opinion, only to have to weigh in on the opposite side of the argument just a day or two later.

From France comes the story of a teenage boy, 17, who has been charged with the rape of a 15-year old schoolmate. While awaiting trial for this alleged offense, the boy underwent psychiatric assessment, and drug counseling.

Figuring the boy would not be a danger to anyone else, he was eventually released from custody and allowed to enrol in a different school.

That turned out to be a very bad move! (viewer discretion advised)

I'm all for law and order, but this goes too far!

Let me start by saying I'm straight as an arrow when it comes to crime. I've never tried to smoke (cigarettes or marijuana). Except for Passover wine that was foisted on me by my parents when I was very young, I've never tried alcohol. I've never tried any illegal drugs of any kind. I'm not perfect (I do like to go a bit over the speed limit), but I believe that laws were meant to be followed.

The Conservative government in Canada is considering a law called the "Safe Streets and Communities Act" which will make it a felony for a young adult to share a joint with or give a pill to a friend.

Most sane people realize that for the vast majority of teens, smoking marijuana is a phase they'll outgrow. There are some people who won't outgrow it, or will graduate to something stronger. Some of those people will even turn to crime to support their habit or sell drugs to others. But, the vast majority of young teens won't go that route.

If this law passes, judges will have no discretion to reduce sentences or take the person's character into consideration. A mandatory minimum 2-year penitentiary sentence will be required.

This is a stupid law, and people need to talk to their MP's to let them know that this is going to ruin the lives of many otherwise decent young people.

Here's where I heard about the story.

A beautiful neighborhood, indeed!

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

To "B" or not to "B"?

That is the question. After a damning report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which concludes that Iran has been pursuing aspirations of a military nuclear bomb since 2003, the question remains...

Will the US and Israel have to resort to bombing to unravel the process, or will diplomacy work to diffuse the situation? I'm betting Iran doesn't back down when faced with diplomatic pressure. That won't leave many options.

The Devil is in the details!

For 800 years, the 13th century painter Giotto must have been laughing in his grave at the joke he played on the pope.

Giotto was commissioned to paint a series of frescoes depicting the life and death of Saint Francis. Now, Chiara Frugone, an Italian art historian, has discovered a surprise in one of those pieces.

Yup! It's the DEVIL!!! Hooked nose, sinister eyes, and even horns!

Don't you just love it? Click the images for a larger view.

Nicely done!

A Polish airlines flight coming in for a landing with 231 passengers on board had a minor issue... it's landing gear wouldn't deploy!

So, after circling the airport a few times and dropping all unnecessary fuel, the pilot attempted to gently land the plane on its belly, and his efforts were caught on film.

Ancient stone carving?

When I first saw this photo, I thought I was looking at an ancient stone carving.



I was almost right, in that it does have to do with "stones". It's actually an ultrasound photo of someone's testicles. Believe it or not!

I'm sorry, could you repeat that?

This road sign in Manitoba showed an effective message after a low-tech hacker got his hands on it.

Imagine that!

On tonight's news, I heard about a 73 year old that just won a $50M jackpot in Ontario. That's the largest single-ticket win in Ontario history. This man had purchased his ticket two weeks after retiring. He's been playing the same set of numbers for decades.

It's comforting to see that some elderly folks will be able to live comfortably, without putting too much strain on the government or their families.

Perhaps retirement income supplementation was the reason that drove an 87-year old man to allegedly smuggle $2.9M worth of cocaine across the border. Here's the story.

I couldn't resist

I got this cartoon today via email and had to share it. It was drawn by Bruce MacKinnon and originally published in the Chronicle Herald (Halifax) on October 7, 2011.

Older people need not apply

The internet is a real life-saver for elderly shut-ins who may not have any contact with the outside world, save for the emails they receive and the visits from kids/grandkids who flock to the computer to keep up with their own social media updates.

I've noticed, however, that the diminished eyesight and impaired hand-eye coordination which is common in elderly users requires that desktop resolutions are set much lower than the computer and monitor are capable.

I know many people who prefer to use 800x600 resolutions on their screen; and some that even continue to use 640x480. Much of today's software cannot work properly on that lowest resolution, but most software still functions adequately at 800x600.

Today, Microsoft announced that their next version of Windows will not function properly on computers using less than 1024x768 resolution. This will make it difficult for seniors who purchase a new computer to get the most out of it. We'll just have to wait to see how Microsoft implements their impaired vision feature before I make any other comments.

Here's the article.

One less prayer

Orthodox Jewish prayer services are ritualistic. That's not a bad thing, in my opinion. There's a protocol to be followed. Certain prayers are said during certain times of the day. Certain prayers are said during certain periods of the year.

There is also a category of prayer that focuses on "future events". We say those prayers now, with the hope that some day, we won't have to say them.

Today, one such prayer was removed from our ritual. The prayer for the safe return of Gilad Shalit. I personally don't agree with the policy that allowed for Israel to release 1000+ convicted criminals (some being terrorists) in exchange for this one Israeli citizen/soldier. In my mind, there's no question that the harm which will be visited on Israel by these 1000+ criminals will outweigh the sorrow for losing one man.

But this article isn't about my personal opinion. It is about the prayer for the safe return of Gilad Shalit. A prayer we've been reciting for 5 years. A prayer we will never recite again!

You know you're having a bad day when...

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. The turkey's been eaten, the Tigers were beaten, and the Lions are playing the Bears...

But that's not what I'm here to write about. It became known today that the U.S. Airforce's UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) are being controlled from a computer that has a serious virus. The technical term is a "keylogger", which enables some bad guy to monitor what the operators of the computer are typing!

That's not a good thing, when it comes to ANY computer, much less one used to shoot missiles at people. Here's the story.

You go, girl!

The Homecoming Queen at Pinckney Community highschool is also into sports. That's not too unusual, since many popular girls are either "jocks" or "cheerleaders".

What makes this girl special is the sport she plays - BOY'S football.

A short while after the homecoming parade, Brianna Amat was the difference, as she kicked the winning field goal in a game against rival Grand Blanc. Here's the story.

No, THAT'S amazing

So, I'm at Costco doing my weekly grocery shopping when I walk by the TV section. Playing on the tube is the Detroit Lions/Dallas Cowboys game. I glance at the score (27-3 Dallas, in the 3rd quarter) and make a mental note: I guess Detroit will be 3-and-1 after today. I had that thought DESPITE the Lions having overcome a 20-0 deficit last week to beat the Minnesota Vikings. After all, last weekend, the Lions were healthy. This weekend, they were missing one of their best starters.

I didn't think about the game again until a few minutes ago, when I saw the caption "Lions stun Cowboys" at the top of my local newspaper's online edition. And then, I went to the NFL website to look at the highlights.

Sure, the Lions are ONLY 4-0, with no guarantee of even a winning season yet. However, when you add to that the perfect record in their pre-season, and the perfect last month of the last season (where the finished the season with a 4-and-0 effort), that makes TWELVE games in a row where the Lions have been victorious. This must surely be a source of inspiration, and I'm looking forward to the rest of this promising season.

That's amazing

A few days ago, I was discussing with a friend which of the senses would be the hardest to live without. Despite my entire career being devoted to computers (where, I believe, programming would be difficult without sight), I still indicated that it would be hardest for me to live without sound.

That's why I found this video so touching...