The Post-Rapture Society

It's after 6:00 PM, and I'm still here, and if you are reading this you are too, so apparently we have some room for improvement. Harold Camping and his followers are still here too, so the rapture didn't go as they planned. Some say it didn't happen. Could it be it happened, but NOBODY made the cut? If somebody doesn't make it to work on Monday, maybe, just maybe. . . .

By the way,I don't mean to mock you if you thought this was the real event. I've made some bad calls myself. The band Blondie made a wrong call when they decided that it was time to cut a rap song.

2012 Chevrolet Impala

Meet the 160 MPH Insurance Adjuster

Chevrolet's Impala still sells well even though the parent company has been stingy with the updates. With a redesign put off until the 2014 model year in 2013, Chevrolet has announced that all 2012 Chevrolet Impalas, from the base rental version on up, will receive a 302 horsepower V-6 engine and a 6-speed automatic transmission. That's just one horsepower short of what the recently-departed Impala SS delivered with a 5.3 liter V-8. If my mental calculations are anything close to being accurate, that would give the 2012 Impala a top speed of somewhere around 160 miles per hour (assuming the tires and the electronic governor allow), with a 0-60 of about 6 seconds. That's a seriously quick driver's ed mobile. The horsepower figures announced by Chevy suggest that the Impala's new engine will be a direct-injected version of the 3.6 liter V-6 used in the Chevrolet Camaro. Since the Impala will likely be slightly lighter than the Camaro and a tad more aerodynamic, despite its power influx, the new Impala has a chance at hitting 30 MPG highway. (The Camaro is rated at 28.) You'll know your insurance adjuster was driving an Impala if you ask her if she had any trouble getting to your house, and she replies: "well, it was pushing just a little bit in turn two. . . ." (This post dedicated to my sister, the insurance adjuster.)

For our marginally relevant video of the day, some Impala History.

For No Reason -

The Ultimate Dog Tease

Playstation Network Still Down
Will it be back tomorrow? - eh, maybe

If you've been seeing more of certain members of your family lately, don't get used to it. Sony's Playstation Network (aka PSN) has been down for a couple weeks due to inept design and an opportunistic hacker. Sony finally fessed up that the hacker may have stolen information from another 24.6 million accounts, this time from PC users. (Just round it up to 25, Sony, don't be a wuss.) Depending upon what you read, the hacker may or may not have had access to unscrambled credit card data. Open Letter to Sony - Have you started to consider yet that this might not be a teenaged hacker at all? It looks to me like it could be an inside job by somebody who knows all your secrets.

All or part of the North American network could be back on line tomorrow. I hope so, because, judging from the video below, the mental health consequences could far exceed the financial loss due to identity theft. (Boy these kids look familiar.)

2 Things I thought I'd Might Never See
Bin Laden Kaput and Chrysler Profitable


Today (yesterday actually) we found out that Navy Seals killed Osama Bin Laden. We also found out that Chrysler reported its first profitable quarter since the bankruptcy.

This might be the week to bet on a longshot, because these things tend to happen in threes.

Time for a very marginally relevant video.

Supreme Court Declares Open Season on Consumers
AT&T decision rated NC for "No Class"

Today in AT&T Mobility vs. Concepcion, the United States Supreme Court ruled that corporations can compel consumer arbitration and in the same boilerplate clause, ban class actions. This effectively removes any self enforcement remedy for any ripoffs and shoddy products that individually don't justify the cost of litigation (or even arbitration). Guess which five justices voted the pro-corporate line. Here's the write-up in the Washington Post.

Here's my incredibly marginally-related video.


Fat Albert Minisode - Christmas Special by Crackletelevision

Purdue Team Creates 2,200 MPG car

A team from my alma mater, Purdue University, won the Shell Eco-marathon competition. Their winning entry was a car they call the Celeritas, a solar-powered (almost) street-legal car that yielded the equivalent of 2,200 miles per gallon.

In separate news, after years of experimentation, Agriculture researchers at Purdue have come up with a new use for sheep. Wool.

Source: Engadget.com

The Royal Wedding Drinking Game

If you are forced to watch the royal wedding this Friday, you might as well be playing the Royal Wedding Drinking Game. The creators of the game missed an obvious one though, you should take a drink every time Kate Middleton plays with her hair.

Never Take a Robosigner's Red Stapler

A website called 4closurefraud.org has posted this picture of robosigner Bryan Bly separated at birth from Office Space's Milton Waddams.

Is Mark Zuckerberg Commander Data's Lovechild?

I saw a picture of Mark Zuckerberg (from Facebook) the other day, and I was trying to think of who he really looked like. Then it struck me - it's Data from Star Trek TNG. Do you agree?


(picture from totallylookslike.icanhascheeseburger.com)