Crush Pad - I can't stop loving you

I've stumbled upon one of the most accommodating wineries I've ever heard of, planted right in the heart of Portrero Hill in San Francisco. Crush Pad Wine is a do-it-yourself winery where you can learn to make wine. They have all the equipment and will help the wine-making newbie through the entire process - all the way down to designing the label for your bottle. 50 vineyards, 14 varietals, 25 cases of your own wine. 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky. Crush Pad Wine

Drinking Up Vagueness

A Singapore company, called Out of the Box, produces a line of beverages called "Anything" and "Whatever." It seems the drinks' developer started noticing repeated mild recklessness in his friends and colleagues when he would offer them a drink. They'd respond with "Whatever" or "Anything." (Some folks may call that being an accommodating guest but let's pretend otherwise :) Well, that enterprising host decided to capitalize on people's exact words - kinda like that old Brady Bunch episode - "Now Marcia - Were those your EXACT words?" So he started a beverage line and packages all the different drinks into generic cans - so you don't know what you're drinking 'til it hits your tongue. Your only choice is bubbly (Anything) or flat (Whatever). They're all non-alcoholic but things could get more interesting with a third beverage line named "I need a stiff one." Their website is here. Bottoms up!

Body Moving, Body Grooving - Long

I saw a "60 Minutes" story about the particle accelerator in Europe, and noticed the wide-eyed, twitchy excitement of one of the project's scientists - when he was asked if he thought the project's research could possibly lead to the development of teleporting technology. Since then, I've been thinking about human transportation ALOT as in "Beam me up, Scotty" and, for better or worse, I've really only come up with questions. *sigh*

Where would the first teleport stages be installed? In hospitals? For emergency service professionals to get to accident sites? In the seats of national governments for heads of state? At the UN?

And what about country boundaries anyway? Would you still have to go through immigration first if you're porting to another country? Would we even need country boundaries if teleporting becomes freely available? I don't recall countries in Star Trek - in the teeny bit of Star Trek episodes I've watched - they were interested in entire planets. (I'm not even gonna touch inter-planetary porting ....)

And would teleporting become the new "space-shuttle ride" - only for the super rich adventurer? And as it becomes slightly more common, will an anxious stud take his date teleporting to impress her?

And what if repeated teleporting over time is bad for you - like too much sun? Will one day snooty babes whisper behind each others' backs - saying "Oooo - I think she's TP'd too much - it's starting to show" - like too much plastic surgery or drug use? Will there be permanent irreversible damage to the body from teleporting - something like - oh I don't know - subtle decay each time you do it? Ick.

And what about the possibility of instantaneous teleporting? What about being able to just push a button to get somewhere else?

What does this mean for thrill-seekers or fans of the game "chicken"? Someone could jump off a building or out of a plane sans-parachute and then teleport just before they crash. I suppose that would be another form of natural selection. Quick reflexes = ability to get out of bad situations FAST. And certainly, one could say that even having the thought to play "chicken" could be a natural selection factor. ;-)

And when it's still a fairly new technology, would there be TP amusement park rides that promise to both scare-the-crap-out-of-you but ultimately save you as the rider? You could be teleported to safety right before the point of impact? Think a moment about the guy who's job it is to hit the "transport riders now" button. I hope he's always happy and benevolent.

And what about being able to teleport based upon where another person is? What if you could say - "I want to teleport to where my friend Joe, the plumber is?" (couldn't resist - hehe) And what if your friend Joe doesn't want you to find him or have you near him at that moment? What if a person doesn't want to be found or caught in a compromising position? Are there going to be restraining orders or privacy laws in the future saying you can't teleport within 500 feet of another person if they don't want you to?

And what if people are, in the future, routinely GPS/micro-chipped and you can't find you child? Could you say "I want to teleport to my child - chip number 123456-69696?"

And I suppose we'd all get better at latitude and longitude if you have to punch in exactly where you want to go. Just saying "Send me to Paris" might not cut it. I mean Paris is a big, beautiful city but I'm sure there are parts I wouldn't want to go to.

And what about being able to instantaneously flee the scene of a crime? That could be social chaos.

And what if you could say "I want to be transported to the single place on earth that looks most like the landscape that I'm visualizing in my mind at this moment." Then you could see a picture and teleport right to that location. Cool.

And what if you saw a picture of a living person you've never met before, but you wanted to meet them - so you said "Teleport me to where that person is right now." Big problems for anyone that has groupies or a stalker.

And when you do teleport - do your clothes and personal items teleport with you or conversely, do you end up naked in a foreign country with no ID? Ouch.

And I suppose a new industry of impenetrable materials would develop. At least some buildings would need to be built of materials that you can't teleport through.

And how does the possibility of virtual reality affect the necessity for human teleporting anyway? Maybe it's more important to think about resource teleporting instead of people-porting?

Damn - I sound like Andy Rooney. I'm going to bed.

Women in Film

Kudos goes to the person who can watch this vid without once hitting the pause button. Enjoy!

When a coma doubles your troubles

Well, I'm not so inclined to yammer on this morning about something as frivolous and trite as crisp white linen or a breezy ocean boat ride. Don't get me wrong. My week's been exceptional and I feel as vivacious as ever, but something dark has piqued my interest. It's an online offering blending technology and man's ego - as it crashes into his postponed declarations, fears, and regrets.

Dead man's switch is a free service that stores encrypted email messages to be sent after your final demise. Basically, you pen your final thoughts in emails and submit them for encryption and online storage. Then, you're expected to check in with the DMS service online, at pre-determined intervals, to confirm that you are, in fact, still alive. If, after a few reminder emails, you remain unresponsive - your emails get sent. WHOA. Beautifully poignant if you're part of the "I-both-live-and-love-via-email" tribe or just downright dangerous, if you choose to throw daggers from your grave. What's that old joke? "Don't carry grudges. They're heavy and don't have handles." Dead Man's Switch.

Am I registered to vote?

Am I registered to vote? You bet your sweet-candy liberty I am! But just to be doubly sure, you can surf over to voteforchange.com to verify your voter registration. At the site, you can register to vote, determine if you're already registered to vote, request an absentee ballot, and, as the election draws closer, find your polling place. You'll be asked for your first and last name, your email address and then "Are you registered to vote?" The options given are yes, no or not sure. If you chose "not sure," you'll be asked for your address. A click or two later, you know if you're registered. FANTASTIC!

Oh Sealand, I barely know thee

There's a tiny principality off the south eastern coast of England called Sealand and it's offering titles for sale ....... titles as in nobility ...... as in "Lord" or "Baroness." It turns out that Sealand, established in 1967, covers about an acre in area and claims dominion over a floating pontoon base, which is the entirety of this micronation. It has a prime minister, a flag, a national anthem, currency, issues stamps and passports (over 150,000 passports to date - WOW!), and has suffered from treasonous citizens and forcible takeovers. (*sigh* - Isn't that the way of the world?) It's legal status isn't generally internationally-recognized but don't let that stop you from gaining a title there. They're selling them on the net and you can snap one up for less than $36. You can buy a title here and read more about Sealand here and at their official website here.

Google releases new browser

This week, Google released it's open source browser in beta named Chrome. I haven't had a chance to check it out but here's a brief walk-through of it's features and a tip or two about installing it.



Cool goodies include malware alerts and incognito browsing - which, when activated, does not save your browsing history in the "sites visited" list. Chrome can be downloaded here. Enjoy!

Best Bouncers in the World

In 1999, the trampoline was added to the gymnastics competition in the Olympic games. I can't say that I've been following the Beijing Olympics closely or that I even turn my TV on very often, but I'm definitely enamoured with trampolines. :)

Here's a slo-mo video of the men's competition. (I couldn't find any footage of the 2008 Beijing women's competition - *sigh*)



And a compilation of various trampoline competitions. (Warning - this video has music.)


I know fun when I see it and this frankly ROCKS! Weeeeeeeeeee! :)

The dog-cloning dominatrix?

My first advert on the net was a breezy, whimsical story about cloning my dog. It received mostly positive interest with just 2 emails saying "I think dog-cloning is outrageous. You should be ashamed of yourself!" giggle (You can read the original story here.)

This week, another dog-cloner was ID'ed as possibly being the former captor to an imprisoned Mormon missionary she held for her dominatrix-esque desires. Her pix with her 5 cloned pit bull puppies drew the attention of the Utah filmmaker who had made a documentary about the 1970's case that has remained unsolved - perhaps until now. In reference to the suspected kidnapper's feelings for her sex slave she said: "I loved him so much," she told a judge, "that I would ski naked down Mount Everest in the nude with a carnation up my nose if he asked me to." You can read the entire article here.