funny pictures and bizarre news

You’d have better luck finding Dick Cheney’s social security number. Even though the United States Postal Service routinely hires contractors to assess performance, it doesn’t release statistics on lost mail. The post office uses something called the “External First-Class Measurement System,” or EXFC, to determine the percentage of first-class mail that travels within USPS time standards from a collection box to the addressee. Relying on those results, the post office has determined it’s doing a pretty good job. For example, the USPS reported an EXFC score of 90% nationwide last year.

The Government Accountability Office, however, has found some post office assessment criteria “unsuitable as benchmarks.” Furthermore, the post office “does not measure and report its delivery performance for most types of mail. Therefore, transparency with regard to its overall performance in timely mail delivery is limited…(so) it is difficult to hold management accountable for results and conduct independent oversight.”

This 1991 manifesto against the post office from the CATO Institute, admittedly an organization that would rather see oxygen privatized than praise a government agency, claimed that one original intent of the EXFC was to “determine…the percentage of mail lost or misdelivered.” But when the initial test was completed, the USPS didn’t release those figures. The CATO report went on to accuse the post office of “losing or throwing out over a billion letters a year.” Of course, that was 16 years ago, but that’s not to say at least some shenanigans still don’t occur.

“I am a bomb technician.  If you see me running, try to keep up.”

by photomatt ‘Paris made me change my number’ – in front of the Hilton Austin

From Maine – “If a man speaks at sea where no woman can hear, is he still wrong?”

“Boys are stupid..run them over”

“Damn, my nose was never stuffed when I was a coke head!”

Which one’s smarter? Dubya or the monkey?

“That bulge on my back? That’s my control panel.”

Election Disaster – how can 59,054,087 people be so DUMB?

Bush: Better human intelligence needed – ummm….you think??????????

And just like that, we see an example of what he was talking about.  Way to help the kids!

At a laboratory in Germany, volunteers slide into a donut-shaped MRI machine and perform simple tasks, such as deciding whether to add or subtract two numbers, or choosing which of two buttons to press.

They have no inkling that scientists in the next room are trying to read their minds — using a brain scan to figure out their intention before it is turned into action.

In the past, scientists had been able to detect decisions about making physical movements before those movements appeared. But researchers at Berlin’s Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience claim they have now, for the first time, identified people’s decisions about how they would later do a high-level mental activity — in this case, adding versus subtracting.

While still in its initial stages, the techniques may eventually have wide-ranging implications for everything from criminal interrogations to airline security checks. And that alarms some ethicists who fear the technology could one day be abused by authorities, marketers, or employers.

Tanja Steinbach, a 21-year-old student in Leipzig who participated in the experiment, found it a bit spooky but wasn’t overly concerned about the civil liberties implications.

“It’s really weird,” she said. “But since I know they’re only able to do this if they have certain machines, I’m not worried that everybody else on the street can read my mind.”

Researchers have long used MRI machines to identify different types of brain activity, and scientists in the United States have recently developed brain scans designed for lie detection.

But outside experts say the work led by Dr. John-Dylan Haynes at the Bernstein Center is groundbreaking.

“The fact that we can determine what intention a person is holding in their mind pushes the level of our understanding of subjective thought to a whole new level,” said Dr. Paul Wolpe, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not connected to the study.

The research, which began in July 2005, has been of limited scope: only 21 people have been tested so far. And the 71 percent accuracy rate is only about 20 percent more successful than random selection.

Still, the research conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Berlin, has been generating strong interest in the scientific community.

“Haynes’ experiment strikes at the heart of how good we will get at predicting behaviors,” said Dr. Todd Braver, an associate professor in the department of psychology at Washington University, who was not connected with the research.

“The barriers that we assumed existed in reading our minds keep getting breached.”

In one study, participants were told to decide whether to add or subtract two numbers a few seconds before the numbers were flashed on a screen. In the interim, a computer captured images of their brain waves to predict the subject’s decision — with one pattern suggesting addition, and another subtraction.

Haynes’ team began its research by trying to identify which part of the mind was storing intentions. They discovered it was found in the prefrontal cortex region by scanning the brain to look for bursts of activity when subjects were given choices.

Then they went about studying which type of patterns were associated with different intentions.

“If you knew which thought signatures to look for, you could theoretically predict in more detail what people were going to do in the future,” said Haynes.

For the moment, reading minds is a cumbersome process and there is no chance scientists could spy on decision-making surreptitiously. Haynes’ studies focus on people who choose between just two alternatives, not the infinite number present in everyday life.

But scientists are making enough progress to make ethicists nervous, since the research has already progressed from identifying the regions of the brain where certain thoughts occur to identifying the very content of those thoughts.

“These technologies, for the first time, give us a real possibility of going straight to the source to see what somebody is thinking or feeling, without them having any ability to stop us,” said Dr. Hank Greely, director of Stanford University’s Center for Law and the Biosciences.

“The concept of keeping your thoughts private could be profoundly altered in the future,” he said.

Civil libertarians are concerned that mind-reading technology may fit into a trend of pre-emptive security measures in which authorities could take action against individuals before they commit a crime — a scenario explored in the 2002 science fiction film “Minority Report.”

Already, Britain is creating a national DNA database that would allow authorities to track people with violent predispositions. In addition, the government has also floated the idea of locking up people with personality disorders that could lead to criminal behavior.

“We need to start thinking about how far we are going to allow these technologies to be used,” said Wolpe.

Despite the fears, Haynes believes his research has more benign practical applications.

For example, he says it will contribute to the development of machines already in existence that respond to brain signals and allow the paralyzed to change TV channels, surf the Internet, and operate small robotic devices.

For now, the practical applications of Haynes’ research are years if not decades away.

“We are making the first steps in reading out what the specific contents of people’s thoughts are by trying to understand the language of the brain,” Haynes said. “But it’s not like we are going to have a machine tomorrow.”

An 80-year-old woman has crashed her car into a driving test centre in Florida, after being summoned to retake a road safety examination. Therese Smith smashed into the office’s waiting room, injuring 11 people.

It is thought she was moving out of her parking space but accelerated too hard, propelling her through an outside wall.

The accident was caught on surveillance camera and shows people rushing up to Ms Smith who was still buckled in her seat belt. No-one was seriously hurt.

Test centre video

The videotape also shows a man in a Superman costume walking around the car, but he did not stop to help the driver or any of the victims. His identity is unknown.

Small and densely populated, the Netherlands is one of the countries most at risk from climate change and rising sea levels.

But in one village in the south of the country, they are trying out a new way of living with an increased risk of floods.

A small ferry shuttles back and forth from one bank of the River Maas to the other. This is the only way of reaching Maasbommel, in Gelderland province, from the south.

The landscape is saturated with water, criss-crossed by rivers and the network of dykes which are supposed to protect the area from flooding.

Sustainable buildings which have no adverse impact on the environment Chris Zevenbergen of Dura Vermeer

But the dykes are not always enough. In 1993 and again in 1995, floods forced tens of thousands of people to leave their homes.

Rising sea levels

Now, with climate change, floods are likely to be more frequent and more severe.

Dutch scientists predict a rise in sea levels of up to 110cm (43 inches) by the year 2100.

At the same time, there is growing pressure on land. The Dutch government estimates 500,000 new homes will be needed in the next two decades.

Most of the land suitable for conventional building has already been snapped up. So Dutch housebuilders are experimenting with new solutions.

Floating alternative

A row of amphibious houses lines the waterfront at Maasbommel, panelled in blue, yellow and green. They have a hollow concrete cube at the base to give them buoyancy.

The houses’ new occupants say they barely notice the floods

A vertical pile keeps them anchored to the land. Electricity and water are pumped in through flexible pipes. In all, the houses can withstand a rise in the water table of up to four metres (13ft).

“We are trying to develop new types of more sustainable buildings which have no adverse impacts on the environment,” says Chris Zevenbergen of Dura Vermeer, the company which developed the floating houses.

At a starting price of 260,000 euros (£180,000 or $310,000), the houses are not a cheap option. But Mr Zevenbergen says demand is high.

“We have to make our first steps,” he says. “It’s a long process, but the transition to a more flood-resilient country is a prerequisite in the near future.”

Growing popularity

The houses have attracted international attention. Officials from New Orleans, which was devastated by flooding in August 2005, have visited Maasbommel to see how the floating houses work.

The new homes moored to the shore present a tranquil picture

Cees Westdijk and his wife bought one of the houses because they wanted to live near the water. They hardly notice it when the area floods, he says. “You can build it very big, you can build it small, but I think for a lot of countries with the same problems as here, it is a good solution,” he says.

He does caution that the floating houses are no replacement for conventional flood defences, including the dykes, a crucial failing in New Orleans.

But while the floating houses may be radical enough for some, others think the Netherlands should go much further.

Pressure on land

Frits Schoute runs a sustainable development project called Ecoboot. In collaboration with engineering and architecture students, mainly from Delft Technical University, he is working on pilot projects to build whole cities at sea.

He believes the coming shortages of land, energy and water will increase the pressure to find innovative solutions. “Our traditional way of just fighting the sea with dykes has to give way to alternatives, like going with the water,” Mr Schoute predicts.

The floating city is a long-term project, he admits. But the houses at Maasbommel are a good first step.

“(Change) should come from the bottom up, not just from the top down,” he says.

“If you also have the support of the government, realising how necessary it is to find alternatives for mankind, then sometime it will happen.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, Chris Zevenbergen believes the floating houses have a bright future.

The Dutch have found a new way to cope with excess water

“We have many deltas in the world which have problems with competing land claims for economic activity,” he explains.

“So when you can create a community which coexists with water, then you have a very sustainable solution.”