Lucid Points

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In a shocking display of fiscal prudence, FEMA uses a Waffle House Index to determine the severity of a natural disaster.

Ummm, Waffle House.

Waffle House

RIM is going downhill – Android and iOS is kicking it to the ground, and so far, nothing new is promising. Ingrained attitudes could be the problem. Check out this BBC interview that is halted by co-CEO (really? “co-CEO”? There is a lesson in corporate structure) of RIM, Mike Lazaridis.

As much as it would be cool, there will be no Tatooine-like sunsets for us, in spite of articles on HuffPo and news.com.au. The incorrect articles have been festering for a few days.  They’re wrong.

To find the real truth, head over to Phil Plait’s  Bad Astronomy Blog. Simply, no one knows WHEN it will go supernova, it will be brighter than Venus, but not a second sun. Oh, and surprisingly, the Mayans have nothing to do with it.

The good news is that since it is so close Phil compares the scientific value as like being able to study a supernova under a microscope. Perhaps a real boon to astronomical discoveries, especially for amateur astronomers.

 

There is only a day left, but please support Pedigree’s Write a Post, Help a Dog program.  Write a blog post now

Here are the instructions:  http://mashable.com/2010/09/17/pedigree-blog-post-campaign/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Mashable+(Mashable)

 

Apparently, the turritopsis nutricula jellyfish is capable of immortality.  It can regenerate cells down to the polyp level, therefore making it able to start life over and over again.

No word on whether it has to fight Highlander Connor MacLeod to get the prize.

I recently upgraded from Outlook 2007 to Outlook 2010 (the entire Office suite, actually), and although the upgrade took quite awhile – probably related to a lack of hard drive space on the hard drive – email worked fine for a few hours.

Unfortunately, after about 4 or 5 hours, email did not connect.  Not to Exchange, Gmail, or any other email service.  I searched for awhile, and about the only thing I could find was to delete the accounts and add them back in.  It works.

Outlook seems to be flaky in this regard for several years.  Unexplained email connection problems have been fixed merely by deleting the account and re-entering the information.  At least since Outlook 2000.  Microsoft?

Car and Driver has a write up of a way to adjust your automobiles outside rearview mirrors to help eliminate blind spots.  The technique was presented in a 1995 paper by he Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).  Click through the graphic to see the Car and Driver article.

The American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan has a terrific planetarium, Hayden Planetarium.  Visit for Thanksgiving and see both the planetarium and catch the balloons being filled from the location where the Macys Parade starts.  Here is a video from AMNH to try to put a little perspective on our little rock.