Want to carve a pumpkin for halloween, but don’t like fooling with knives or the dinky tools that come with those “other” pumpkin carving kits? Your electric kitchen knife not up to the task either? The folks at Dremel have the answer. And just in case you already are in possesion of a dremel tool (and what good red-blooded american isn’t) you can download the patterns for free from their site. For more information and the normal hilarious /. discussion follow the link. I didn’t plan on carving a pumpkin this year, but this is tempting.

There are few men known more for their words then Abraham Lincoln. He used simple words to get across profound meaning. His words often hold as much meaning today as they did 150 years ago. Quotes

One of my favorites:

“At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?– Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never!–All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” – Address to the Young Men’s Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois, January 27, 1838

Perhaps Kerry ought to use this as a response to Bush’s exaggerated acusations of changing positions:

“I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.” – Letter to Horace Greely, August 22, 1862

And a funny one to finish up:

“He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.”

Where do you find yourself on the Political Compass? Left, right, authoritarian, or anarchist? I come in in the lower left quadrant, in roughly the same area as libertarian canidate Ralph Nader. Do you wonder where your favorite politicion lands? While I’m not inclided to think people are that easily categorized i like the idea of a two-dimensional space rather than one, at least that’s a step in the right direction.

What i find interesting, though not surprising, is where Kerry and Bush are located. Everyone always jokes about picking the lessor or two evils, well i don’t know where they sit on the evil scale (though I think i have a pretty good idea where Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfield would sit) but they’re pretty close on this particular political scale. So if we’re left to choose between two evils it would be nice if they were at least different evils.

I think it’s starting to become Kerry’s race to lose. With a republican congress Bush has enjoyed an unquestioning media and for the most part nation since the Sept. 11th attacks. It has been said that he puts no stock in dissenting opinions or discussion and that he avoids both. I don’t like the idea of that. For the first time since the attacks Bush has come up against a public, media, and opponent who is asking tough questions. No man (or administration) should go unchecked, if nothing else perhaps Kerry has acomplished that.

In less than i month i suppose we’ll know…

A recent A Car With A Mind Of Its Own talks about a recent incident when a high-end, highly electronic car decided to ignore its driver and travel at a high rate of speed (~120 mph) thanks to an apparent defect in the cruise control system. Hitting the brakes didn’t help and he apparently couldn’t shut off the car b/c it uses a RF proximity card for entry and enabling of the ignition.

The post/article where kinda funny, but the main reason i’m posting this was this /. comment. One of the funniest comments i’ve seen in quite a while. If you follow the post link above you’ll find this comment (in context.)

Our eyes and mind play tricks on us, don’t belive me take a look at this site which showcases several excelent examples of how visual patterns can play tricks on our minds. If you’re looking for a few more have a look at this page about them at wikipedia.

These illusions make use of how the brain fills in the blanks in our visual system with what it thinks ‘should’ be there. Our eyes can actually only see well in a very small region, about the size of your fist at arm’s length. As you move further from the center of vision your eyes have less and less resolution, but once the mind kicks in that fact is in large part hidden. There are even spots of nearly total blindness that the brain once again fills in.

Want to learn more take a look at the wikipedia page about the human Visual System

“Awards for achievements that make people Laugh, then Think.” Fish who communicate by flatuence, evidence that the 5-second rule might have some value. This article has a quick overview of some of the winners. The Annals of Improbable Research has more information including a page with the current and past winners and a daily blog for interesting/funny improbable research.