More Monkey Experiments

Here's a little something I found while I was searching for information for my last post. Still a monkey experimentation, but with a less grim ending to this one!!!

MONKEY EXPERIMENT BADLY EMBARRASSES DUKE

DURHAM (Oct. 13)--Duke University neurobiologists succeeded Saturday in engineering the first ever mind-to-matter technology, using brain implants in monkeys. The implants sent brain signals to a robotic arm, which responded directly to the monkey's thoughts by reaching and grasping.

Unfortunately, a female monkey then wandered into the area, causing the robotic arm to grasp a twelve-foot-high light pole and begin stroking it up and down with loud metallic scraping noises.

"It was very embarrassing," said Duke University neurobiology professor Dr. Miguel A. L. Nicolelis. "We're trying to build in one of those seven-second delay things they use on talk radio."

Shock the Monkey

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS A DESCRIPTION THAT YOU MAY FIND DISTURBING, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE FOND OF MONKEYS!!!


The post that Granny had on her blog the other day about monkey spanking reminded me of this story. I didn't catch all the details, so this is completely from my leaky memory. I searched all over for some reference to the story to verify or confirm details, but I found nothing, so I have no way of determining the truth.

We're all probably familiar with Peter Gabriel's song "Shock the Monkey". One day several years ago while I was listening to the radio, before they played the song, the DJ told this story about the origin of this song.

There was an experiment done on a lab monkey. An electrode was attached to its brain on the area that is activated when he has an orgasm. By pushing a button, the monkey would have the sensation of having an orgasm. The experiment: they gave the button to the monkey to see what he would do. The monkey died 17 minutes later, never once taking his finger off the button.

Guess if you gotta go out, that's the way to go, huh???

Rolling the Sphere

This is in Tomorrow land at Disneyland. They installed this giant stone sphere back in 1998 (I think) when they re-opened Tomorrow land. That was the first time I took my oldest son to Disneyland, I had won passes for the grand re-opening by calling up KLOS and having our pet parrot answer the phone for them. Every time the phone would ring, the bird would say "Hello... Hello, what's up???" Anyway, I've always been fascinated by this sphere. I can't go by it without going over and playing with it for a while. It sits on a stand with pressurized water underneath it, so it is semi-suspended and always moist. You can come up to it and push it in various directions and eventually get it spinning that way. There used to be water jet fountains all around it that would do dancing water patterns, but I guess they probably got tired of people complaining about getting wet and having park visitors trying to spend soggy money or something.

Smoke Screen

I was helping Sammy out at work today by cutting out a die plate for him on my CNC. The main part that needs cut is an 1/8" aluminum plate, and it is backed up by a piece of 5/8" die board (which is basically plywood with very thin layers of wood, about double the amount of typical plywood) The only minor complication with doing this is that I can't run the flood coolant while I'm cutting it or the die board gets soaked and ruined. I was using a can of aerosol cutting fluid instead. Only thing about doing it this way is that it makes a lot of smoke!!! I was cutting it in three passes, and after each one adding more cutting fluid. About halfway through it looked quite a bit like when you open up an industrial sized smoker barbecue in there!!! The owner came over with a very concerned look on his face. I said to him, "looks bad, doesn't it???" He asked what was happening and I explained to him. He was thinking that next time I should cut an extra board and cut it out before, then cut the aluminum with the flood coolant going, and throw that board away afterwards!!! He just doesn't get it, I don't think.

Busy Weekend

I have had a busy weekend. Of course there was Disneyland all day Friday. Saturday we had to go shopping (after doing quite a bit of sleeping, I had to take nyquil the night before) since that didn't get done Friday, then Sammy called up and wanted to go bowling. Took the boys, my oldest shamed us all by bowling 106!!! I was impressed!!! Today we visited my wife's grandmother, her birthday was last week. We took a cake and present, then went to my parent's house where my dad and I wet-sanded the primer he has sprayed on my Falcon last Wensday. Its close to ready for paint!!!

I missed out on chatting this weekend. I hear Pank got herself a mic and webcam, so she needs her picture taken. And while I was at Disneland on Friday, I saw something that, for some reason, reminded me of Lilly and Granny....

Got Gumbo???

Disneyland was a lot of fun!!! Expensive, but that is to be expected when you go there. A family of four is already out $228 by the time you park and get in the front gates. I ended up spending almost $350 altogether. Oh well, that's the nice thing about money, no matter how much you spend, you can always get more!!! That, and it doesn't do you a bit of good unless you spend it on something.

We did get our money's worth, though. Ended up staying until midnight. The boys were real troopers, even though you could tell the younger was
tired at the end, getting upset at just about anything. Space mountain has been re-done, and I approve of the changes!!! Its darker than it was before, and a lot of the aesthetics from the 70's or whenever it was originally built have be re-done. The headrests are now fitted with stereo speakers, and they play some techno music. Very cool. Another new arrival is the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. Its an interactive ride, where you have a laser pistol and get to take shots at the evil emperor Zurg for points. A ride that I had only been on once before that I revisited was The Indiana Jones Adventure. Usually it has a ridiculously long line for a ride that isn't that fast or anything, so I usually don't go. They have a thing they do now, though, where you can scan your ticket and it gives you a pass to come back later and avoid most of the line. We did that for space mountain, and since the younger is too small to ride my wife and my oldest went while the younger and I played in Toon Town, then I went back and took him again. On our way back, we stopped in Adventure land and scanned the tickets for the Indiana Jones ride, then to Frontier land for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. If it wasn't for that program, I probably wouldn't have gone on the Indiana Jones ride, but since I did I gained a new appreciation for the ride. It really is quite epic in scope.

In New Orleans Square (which seems to not have been much effected by Katrina) there is a little restaurant that I remembered from the last time we were there. They serve gumbo in a bowl made of sourdough bread, and its GOOD!!! We dined there for dinner, and that's what the picture at the top is of. Yummy, yummy gumbo!!! Mmmmmmm!!! The Pirates of the Caribbean ride was closed down, and we heard from a park employee that they're re-doing it, with Johnny Depp as Capitan Jack Sparrow!!! How cool is that???

Going to Disneyland

I just ran away from home
Now I'm going to dizz knee land
I just crashed my car again
Now I'm going to dizz knee land
I just robbed a grocery store
I'm going to dizz knee land
I just flipped off President George
I'm going to dizz knee land
I'm going to dizz knee land

I just tossed a fifth of gin
Now I'm going to dizz knee land
I just got cuffed again
I'm going to dizz knee land yeah
Shot my gun into the night
I'm going to dizz knee land
I just saw a good man die
I'm going to dizz knee land
Come on...I'm going to dizz knee land

Kicked my ass out of school
Rolled me out into the streets
Hitched a ride on a monkey's back
Headed west into the black
I'm going to dizz knee land

Those are the lyrics to a song by a group called Dada. I've always loved that song, I highly recommend it. Its from probably 15 or more years ago, back when they were doing all those "I'm going to Disneyland!!!" commercials. Back then who would have thought the line "I just flipped off President George" would once again become applicable???

Anyway, that's what I'm doing tomorrow!!! I'm looking forward to it. They are doing a promo right now for SoCal residents where when you go one time to either Disneyland or Disney's California Adventure, you get free passes to go to the other within the next month. I should have some good pictures to share on returning.

For some entertaining reading on Disney urban legends, check out the section of Snopes devoted to such things. One of my favorites is the basketball court inside of the Matterhorn. The whole Snopes site is great entertainment.

The Murder on My Street

To Park or Not To Park

That is the difference between my transmission going into park and not. The left one is the one that was in the tailshaft when I opened it up, and the one on the right is what the one I replaced it with looked like. It probably only costs something like twenty-nine cents if you could buy just one, but I had to buy a $3.99 assortment of 18 of them. I'm very pleased with the results, and also very thankful to Sam, a guy who is another student in my dad's auto body class. He works at a transmission shop and knew exactly what needed to be done, and was good enough to come over on his day off and help me take care of it. I told him I owe him one, if he ever needs anything custom fabricated or CNC'd, just let me know!!!

Different

While I appreciate your concern and advice and life experience lessons that you share

Your situation and mine, while similar in some respects, are not the same

We all have our own path to walk in our lives; I can see yours has served you well

I wish you the best, and thank you for your encouragement

I hope that my path leads to a similarly happy place

Headlights in the Mirror

I peered at my darkening instruments through the gloom. The voltage was lower than ever, near to the bottom peg. Not good. I was pushing her faster than I should, faster than is really safe on the narrow, slightly winding two lane blacktop. I gave her a little bit more. The road was deserted at 4:30 AM and this was a dire situation. I could tell something was amiss in the electrical, but I wasn't going to stop to figure out what, because I knew I would be stranded. Only a little more than a mile from home, I hoped the battery would hold out until I made it.

70+ in a 30 zone. Here comes the stop sign by the school. I braked hard. I wanted to make it back, but I wasn't going to go blowing a stop sign. Just as I started braking I saw lights coming up from behind me, and fast. A million things ran through my head. One major theme: whatever this was, it wasn't good.

The past couple of days had more than their share of "not good" moments, in my opinion. Being thrown in jail was currently at the top of the list, but being thrown in jail a second time would surely trump that. Fifty thousand dollars bail. An even tie for the highest bail amount of all the other common criminals, drunks and addicts in the overcrowded cell. The other guy who got the same bail amount was a gang member, arrested for suspicion of murder. We were processed at the same time, so we had a double bond of sorts.

Being released on my own recognisance after twenty three hours was the high point. I missed a day of work and was headed in early because I had already been behind before the long weekend. Now this, my car running only on its rapidly draining battery and impending doom closing fast from behind. I did not think I would make it in a whole lot earlier than the normal time, if at all.

I stopped at the sign, looked both ways, and proceeded like I had some sense. Headlights had stopped behind me, and as I pulled away the whole light show that I had suspected was lurking in the blackness above came on. I pulled over to the side of the road and killed the power-sapping, rapidly dimming headlights. I knew I was expected to turn off the engine, too, but I could not bring myself to do so. There was insufficient juice to roll down the window, so I opened the door and got my hands out where they could be seen. An amplified voice commanded me to turn off the car, and I bellowed a reply offering my reasons why I wasn't doing so. The officer stepped forth warily and tenatively gave heed to my explanation. He quickly verified that there was no one else the car.

I was queried, something to the effect of "WTF is going on here???"

"My car is wounded, officer. I don't know exactly what, but I'm trying to get her home before I have to find out what towing companies are open at this hour."

"May I see your license and registration??? Am I going to find anything.... interesting when I run them???"

*Nervous, uneasy laughter from me* "Ummm, yea, well, actually.... You see, I was released on my own recognisance not even ten hours ago... trumped up charges, I don't think the judge will give me a minute more of jail time when the facts of the case come out..."

"What happened???"

"Long story, but in a nutshell...."

"You were really flying coming down the street here"

"Yes I know. I was trying to get it home before it dies completely."

"Wait right here for a minute."

He retreated to the shelter of his cruiser. After a rather short period of time he returned with my papers in his hand. He sighed heavily.

"What should I do???"

"I would REALLY appreciate it if you let me get my car home before it dies completely and let me switch cars and get myself into work."

He considers for a moment, looks down at my papers, then hands them back to me.

"OK, that's what I'm going to do. Watch your speed and be careful."

"OH THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH THIS MEANS TO ME!!!"

EXACTLY!!!

I've never much cared for the new breed of so-called "minis". They look a little bit like the originals, but they are anything but mini. They have a lot more in common with civics, size-wise, than with the originals, in my opinion. I think a tape measure would back me up on this. Hence, whenever I would see one of these poseurs and make mention, I often refer to them as 'pretenders to the throne', referring to the originals' dominance from 64 to 67 in the Monte Carlo races, as well as in Pan-Am and rally racing.

Today I was greatly amused as I was driving down the freeway by a billboard that echoed my feelings exactly, and was good enough to have a picture so you would know it when you saw it!!! The billboard read:

"There's nothing cool about a fake mini"

Reboot

I got to work today, wrote a little program for my Fadal CNC, and tried to send it on over.... It wasn't such a big program, only around 1800 lines, but it filled up the memory and choked it. In order to delete it and clear out the memory I had to erase some lines so I could even put a proper title line on it!!! Having done that and then deleted the part that did make it over, I attempted a defrag to see how much room I had. It only showed 47% available after the defrag. WTF??? It should have something like 98%!!! I messed with it some more, but it wasn't getting any more. Having a program exploded in pieces and my machine's memory half full of ghosts, as well as a couple other things, put me in a bit of a foul mood early on today. I walked around to the back of the Fadal and threw the big knife switch, then rebooted it, then took a break and ate and skimmed the newspaper. When I came back, I had recovered all my memory and everything worked right. In fact, it worked out well because I split the program into two stages instead, and that was good because just the half of it ran for a few hours!!!

Would it not be nice if we could do that to ourselves when things aren't going quite right??? Just throw a switch and reboot for a clean start...

LVDDMCF: Word Verification Tuesday

A couple of days ago I posted a comment, and did the word verification game that we all know and love. I did as I usually do, in my impetuous manner, and typed the first words that came into my mind. Well, in doing so I maligned my good friend Lilly's pristine maidenly nether regions, and was subsequently and deservedly thwaped about blogsville by her. I even knew as I typed it that it was, in my own penitent words bad bad BAD!!!

Well, today as I went about my menial tasks, I thought of several other things I could have put instead for the letters I had been dealt. I tried to keep it as fresh and varied as possible by trying to use the main words only once or twice. Maybe these will get me back in Lilly's good graces. Here is a short sampling:

LVDDMCF = Las Vegas double downs might cost fifty

LVDDMCF = Lovely virgins dirty dancing might come forth

LVDDMCF = Light variances differ, detailing more cloudy functions

LVDDMCF = Lead vests deflect dangerous mutant cricket fungus (sorry Panky)

LVDDMCF = Lusty Vera drinks dirty mundungus colored fluid

LVDDMCF = Latent viruses double dip, making Carmen fart

LVDDMCF = Liquid vehicles dampen Debbie, making cum flow

LVDDMCF = Lippy vulvas demand dick more completely filling

LVDDMCF = Loud violins deftly destroy musical concertos fully

LVDDMCF = Leave very delighted during midnight cum fest

LVDDMCF = Live video done digitally, mostly compact flash

LVDDMCF = Liquid veal diligently digests my corn feed

LVDDMCF = Loud voices do diminish my comfort factor

LVDDMCF = Lord, Vera!!! Don’t drop my chrome football!!!

LVDDMCF = Let’s vent!!! Damned DMV moron clerks forget

LVDDMCF = Little Venasiuns destroy dirty miniature condom factories

LVDDMCF = Lucky Vera’s donkey dicked master came fast

LVDDMCF = Lurid velociraptors did dent my car’s fender

LVDDMCF = Lurching violently, drunken debutantes madly careen forward

LVDDMCF = Liquid Vinyl’s demo disc might chart fast

LVDDMCF = Lousy Vespas don’t drive much come February

LVDDMCF = Luscious Vera double dildo masturbates, cum faced

LVDDMCF = Listing Valdez did damage many coastal features

LVDDMCF = Lookit Vera’s double D’s!!! My comfy funbags!!!

LVDDMCF = Lumpy vomit discharge: digested maggots, crunchy frogs

LVDDMCF = Life versus death does make cheating fun

LVDDMCF = Large voluptuous diesel dykes make crazy fucks

LVDDMCF = Location verified!!! Drop down many colorful flowers

LVDDMCF = Leering vampires drink defiled meat’s crimson fluids

LVDDMCF = Loser vegans dimly denounce meat, choosing fruit

LVDDMCF = Lucid visions, dreams, dementia… My choice freely

LVDDMCF = Live voodoo dolls die much colder fates

LVDDMCF = Leonard Vulcan’s dancing dromedary munches cold food

LVDDMCF = Live vit dummy does make Confucius fart

LVDDMCF = Levi’s velcro drawers defeat my crotch-fly

LVDDMCF = Leonardo daVinci did describe many contraptions fancifully

LVDDMCF = Lazy vapid disco dancers mind classic facts

LVDDMCF = Lousy Virginians!!! Dipshit, dimwit muthafuckin’ chipmonk fuckers!!!

Feel free to add any others you happen to come up with!!!

D1 Grand Prix Kicks Ass!!!

My firstborn and I went to the D1 Grand Prix event at Irwindale Speedway this afternoon-evening. I knew very little of this sport, which I believe must have been invented by tire manufacturers!!! Most of the competitors were directly from Japan, in right-hand drive cars. A lot of them were models not even sold in the states. The only three representing for us were a Dodge Viper, a newer Mustang (the ugly body style before the current one) and a first generation 60's Camaro. You could sure hear the difference in the engines!!! In this kind of competition, the idea is to slide through all the corners and keep the wheels spinning most of the time, while remaining in control. When they do the elimination "dogfights", they do two runs, one with each car taking the lead and the other putting the pressure on the guy in front.

There were a few nice crashes, and a lot of guys hitting the wall or taking out cones. In one of the elimination rounds one of the guys took out a cone, and it ended up through his oil cooler. They give them 5 minutes to get cars fixed, or they're automatically disqualified. He didn't make it. On the final race there was a Nissan S15 (I thought S15 was a GMC truck!!!) vs. Subaru Imprezia, which had been converted from all wheel drive to rear drive. It was dark and had cooled off quite a bit, which naturally changes the track dynamics, when they are trying to keep the tires sticky. They both changed tires, and on the warm-up lap the Subaru oversteered in the second turn and ended up spun out. He rolled by the judges banging his helmet against his window. On the first run he was following, and he did the same thing in the same spot, only this time under wide-open conditions, generating one of the biggest tire smoke clouds of the day!!! Needless to say, he did not fare so well!!!

It makes for a good spectator sport. I'm thinking of going to the next one down in Long Beach, the weekend before the Toyota Grand Prix on the streets of downtown Long Beach. I asked my boy what part he liked, and he responded "the whole thing, but especially the tire smoke on the last race!!!" I think he likes seeing live sport functions for the concessions!!! The only part that was a slight irritation to me was that as we were going into the parking lot they have a sign telling all the items not allowed, and one of them was digital cameras!!! We were parked all the way at the back of the lot, so I wasn't going to make the walk three times in a row. They had the same sign at the gate, but when we got in, just about everyone had their digital cameras!!! Oh well, I had my phone cam, and you see the results here. Better than nothing....

Welcome In Pank!!!

Yesterday started out a bit rough for me. I woke up with whatever my boys had had earlier in the week.... puking, not being able keep anything in or down, sore and a bit headachey. Good news is that it seems to pass in a day. I do feel alot better today. Spent most of the first part of the day in bed, then got up and got my oldest from school. We went to the hair cutters place (apparently Serenity thought I needed a haircut, hope she approves :Þ) I was feeling better and got on here to see if anyone was there. No one was for a while... I saw Lilly had turned in her excuse for absence in advance, so that was understood. Ironically, she was the first one to show up!!! She pulled in Gonk from back in the day, who was greatly amused by our antics (second picture down) Pank just got her yahoo installed and was able to join us. She was greatly confused, but also quite amused!!! My favorite line from her, when I asked if she wanted to view my cam again: "No your equipment scares me". Granny had her pimptress hat and rastafarian hat and teeth and big nose glasses going. Lilly was up on her chair for some reason at one point, don't know why. Maybe it was her spider monkey impersonation??? Poor thing left rather abruptly, and I found out this morning that there was a bag of puke involved... Sorry girl, didn't mean to infect you like that!!! Bob was MIA or AWOL, don't know what his story was. Maybe tonight....

I'm thinking of going out to the race track this afternoon. They are having a drift race out there. I think there could be some good photo opportunities there!!!

Random Funny Stuff

I read an article in the paper today about a phychiatrist at UC Irvine who fell - hook, line and sinker - for the Nigerian E-mail scam. That wasn't the part that was newsworthy, though. It was that his son was trying to get him removed from being the administrator of a family partnership. Over the past 10 years, he has sent at least $1.3 million, possibly as much as $3 million!!! He's still waiting for the big payoff, I guess!!!

At work today I was going by the soda machine as Sammy was putting in his money. He selected a squirt, but nothing came out. He tried all the other buttons, and nothing happened, nor did the coin return do anything. I walked away, and about 10 minutes later, Don Miño and Sammy came walking over to where I was working. Sammy is saying, "Look at this!!! Don Miño bought a soda and two cans came out!!! Don Miño asked me if I wanted one, and I said sure. he walked away and came back with the squirt, and Sammy is following after him telling him that its his, he paid for it.... After he gave it to me, I asked Sammy if he wanted a soda, it was pretty funny!!!

Driving home tonight I heard a news report of a girl who had jacked a police sport utility. She led police on a chase for two hours, driving on the rims after they spike-stripped the tires. She was screaming into the radio as she was driving around. Originally they had been questioning her before she took of in their truck about, get this, suspicion of a stolen car!!!

I was on the phone at work, and Sammy walks up with a can of spray paint, an aluminum bar about 18 inches long, and a stick of gum, still wrapped in its foil. ??? He laid the spray paint down on the ground, and put the bar over it sideways like a teeter-totter. Then he placed the gum on the opposite end, and proceeds to stomp on the close end, launching the gum into the air, then catches it in his mouth!!! I think he was bored today!!!

How Did I Get a Sunburn THERE???

Welding.

Have to remember to button that top button.