Me? Perceptive?

Those of you who know me might be aware of my general lack of awareness of other people; their feelings and general bidness. So when I tell you that during my conference in Palm Springs I had a lingering feeling that the town was frequented by, if not overrun with older gay gentlemen, you should keep in mind that this is me talking. There weren't any real factual details, you know the kind I base pretty much all my decisions and assumptions on, just little things. Like pairs of older men walking around together. Could have been anything, and who am I to cast stereotypes?

Anyway, it came to my last day and I was sitting a the bar waiting for my flight. This guy and I started talking a little, he was in town with his family visiting his brother. He's concocted a scheme to have the bartender card the brother and give him a hard time with the ID since he was coming from a botox appointment. Everyone had a good laugh at his disbelief that this bartender was about to refuse to serve him. So we sat and had a couple beer waiting for the wife and kids to show up for dinner. When they got up to leave, the brother said to me:

Good luck... And be careful... A handsome man like you in this town...

This town? Now I'm not one to shirk a compliment but the lingering pat/rub on the back was a little akward for someone of my particular persuasion. So turns out I may have been onto something that whole time. Mothers, lock up your GIS analysts. Who knew?

The US Census bureau and Wikipedia, aparently:

The current gay and lesbian population in Palm Springs is estimated to be about seven times the national average.

• Wikipedia - Palm Springs, CA

Kinda makes me think I should do more homework before traveling to new places.

Do They Fly Planes Outta Here?

Please, can you delay my flight another two hours? I enjoy getting up at four in the morning, taking a cab to the airport, and sitting upright for twelve hours for no reason whatsoever.

A New Low.

I just realized that I've never gone to the airport and FAILED before. I mean, not that I really have that much to do with whether or not my flights are cancled or not; but it seems like something to take off my "lucky" resume. So us air owes me for five hours and a reduced luck index. The only thing that makes this semi palateable is that i get paid for travel time, which i assume includes BS time dicking around at the airport.

Pardon My French.

But fuck US Air. It is now 5 and a half hours after my flight was SUPPOSED to depart and i have finally sat down... At the airport bar. Yes i waited in the longest slowest line I've ever seen just to be told that they can't get me out of here till tomorrow at six. Super. Luckily they gave me a meal voucher that will pay for nearly two beers, so score.

Like, Thanksgiving And Stuff?

Well shucks. It appears to be November and I still have post stubs going back all the way to September. Lets see what we can do about that; DP style.

<-- Maybe this is why I'm psyched to see wind turbines on the horizon. I think they're pretty.

• EcoGeek: energy plant

This little future-Civic looks pretty kickass. Slap a type R badge on the back and stick a diesel under the hood and its really something to get excited about. Honda is bringing the diesel; its gonna rock; just bide your time.

• Jalponik: Type R to burn oil

Nice little tip here: cotton balls soaked in petroleum, once lit, will burn through pretty much anything. I'm gonna start carrying cotton balls and steel wool in one pocket with Vaseline and 6 volt batteries in the other.

• Lifehacker: Start a fire in the rain

We're gonna need a term for faster than fast as balls. Remember the concord? Childs' play. Forget twice the speed of sound, when you're in a hurry you need mach 5. Maybe a little faster. That's what the EU is hoping to get out of the A2; fueled by hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Looks like we keep finding reasons to love hydrogen. Now if we could just figure out how to make an ass-load of it.

• Register: Hypersonic hydrogen airliner

Yeah, you can find good stuff in the trash. Especially if you know a little something about art, apparently. Although I gotta believe if you're lookin for large cash settlements, your chances are a little better playing the lottery or jumping in front of limos.

• Treehugger: Dumpster diver finds $1m

Maybe its just cause my windows transfer more heat than a Central American arms merchant, but I'm totally in love with these windows. They have three, count em, three highly insulating panes. The center of which has a heat reflective surface like a one way valve. So in the summer you can keep heat out, but flip the frame during winter to keep heat in.

• EcoGeek: Better Windows

I know that anesthesiologists are generally very good and people normally don't wake up in the middle of surgery; but if I opened my eyes and saw a couple of surgeons standing over me with a bottle of hot sauce I would FREAK OUT. Straight-up crazy. Like they'd have to knock me unconscious with a shoe.

• AP News: Doctors test Hot Sauce

This one was gonna to be a joke about Cheney. I'm sure you can fill in the details.

• National Geographic: King tut died in hunting accident

I just couldn't resist the title of this one. Now that's good journalism. I'm not exactly sure how you make bio-fuel from lamb, but I'm sure quality is directly related to the fluffiness.

• EnvironmentalGraffiti: Cute Fluffy Lambs Sentenced to Death

This is pretty cool. It's a memory card with wifi built right in. So whenever it can find the Internet it'll upload your newest pictures whereever you want. Those chumps who bought that kodak wifi camera are kickin themselves now. Too bad my cameras take CF. Where's the Sea-FI love?

• Engadget: Eye-Fi Wifi enabled SD

Dangerous = Cool. Its just a fact of life. The more dangerous the activity, the cooler you look while doing it. For example: skydiving. Pretty cool looking. Now strap on a jetpack and some wings. Evel Knievel never dreamed of looking so good. Reminds me of the switchblade from Die Another Day, but with jet engines.

• Register: Stealth strap-on jet plane

Double Check For Typos.

I know, I'm a deadbeat. I won't try to make any excuses, but this article is gold.

A German tourist was trying to visit his girlfriend in Sydney, Australia but accidentally got a ticket to Sidney, Montana. In the United States.

Gutt's airline ticket routed him via the U.S. city of Portland, Oregon, to Billings, Montana. Only as he was about to board a commuter flight to Sidney -- an oil town of about 5,000 people -- did he realize his mistake.

That's all. I'm not even going to say anything.

• Typo takes tourist 13,000 km out - CNN.com

In The Future We'll Fly Naked.

Its rough being on the bleeding edge. Especially when you enjoy buying and using electronic devices because they are unknown only to have people searching your person for unknown electronic devices. Imagine the hubub that arose when someone tried to board a plane with the new (and stupid) Nike+iPod implant in their shoe. Remember that some dude had shoes made of bomb, and now you have to run footwear thought the x-ray scanner. I find it funny only cause I don't ever think I'll be persuaded to get this thing. But it got me thinking. We're only going to have more and more wearable or implanted technology in the future. And if things keep progressing, we'll have more and more invasive searches in once public areas. How in the world are these two going to reconcile? Will TSA employees actually be versed in technology or weaponry? Or will they just keep raising alarms when they run across something they've never seen before? Honestly, my outlook is so bleak that I prefer not to even think about it.

• PSA: The TSA is not down with Nike+iPod - Engadget

Desert Pete.

Yeah, I'm back from my reprieve. And no, the airport security wasn't terribly out of control. Course I was there an ass-crack and a half early, so it may have turned into pandelerium after I was through. I would however just like to comment on how ridiculous this ban on fluids is. It is ridiculous. Very. You can't take any liquids through security (except for some). But you can buy them or use the water fountains in the terminal. But you can't take any on the plane. Unless the boarding agents don't see them. Yeah, this is a super policy that is increasing the safety of flights. Lookit, airport security is just about the illusion of security anyway, lets not delude ourselves. I was delighted when I got home to see a Daily Show on this very topic, which was exactly what I needed to turn my fuming into chuckling. Thank you Daily Show, you're probably the reason I haven't died from stroke or highblood pressure yet. And for a bonus clip, check out Colbert and Stewart sticking it to Geraldo and o'Reilly. That's good squishy. Now if you'll excuse my I'm going back to my Kingston Trio album.