Bingo Losers Want Their Money Back

In Alabama: Bingo losers sue to get their money back based on 158-year-old state law.

Ozetta Hardy and Shirley Wallace want to get back the money they lost playing electronic machines at a bingo hall in Lowndes County. The women filed a lawsuit last month against Whitehall Gaming Center LLC contending they and others who lost money at the center should be repaid.

Basis for claim? A law that's been on the books for 158 years.

The law -- 8-1-150 -- says contracts founded upon gambling are void. "Any person who has paid any money or delivered any thing of value lost upon any game or wager may recover such money, thing, or its value by an action commenced within six months from the time of such payment or delivery," according to the law.

Shown here is just a random electronic bingo enthusiast.

(via Overlawyered)

Baby Dreams

A mother takes photos while her baby sleeps: Mila's Daydreams.

This is my maternity leave hobby. While my baby is taking her nap, I try to imagine her dream and capture it.

Here's one called Elephant Rider:

Short Word Short Story

By Rob Cockerham: A Short Story Using All the Valid Two-Letter Words in Words With Friends.

The story starts out like this:

Em, my Scottish ex was very loving. She said I was her jo, the ae she was going to marry.

We grew apart when she began searching her qi, studying world religions et baking. She was learning about ba and ka from Egypt, Ki and Akkadian from Sumeria, blood and os from Haiti.

Myself, I'd rather visit wikipedia and read about Leonard da Vinci, or visit the zoo with an ipod, watching ai climb bo while I listened to Ryan Seacrest struggle to pronounce band names ("ar ef el em ay oh") Ha! But I thought we were getting along well enough. I loved when Em would meditate while baking, chanting "om" while a za or pi was in the oven. Mm!

She ended it abruptly. "I am leaving".

Saddened by the end of us, I examined my shortcomings.

Did I need drivers ed? er, ab work?

Apparently, Words With Friends is an iPhone game that's like Scrabble.

Birds Drive Kings Away

Concert news: Birds force Kings of Leon from St. Louis stage.

Pooping pigeons forced the Kings of Leon to abandon their St. Louis, Missouri, concert after just three songs Friday night, the rock band's management said Saturday.

An infestation of the birds in the rafters of the Verizon Amphitheatre bombarded the musicians as soon as they took the stage, according to Andy Mendelsohn of Vector Management. "Jared (Followill) was hit several times during the first two songs," Mendelsohn said of the band's bassist.

Concertgoers were apparently spared the aerial bombardment. "No fans got pooped on as far as we know," the band's publicist said.

The photo shows the actual Kings of Leon -- not just some random royalty.

Jailbreaking iPhones Now OK

In an amazing decision, the U.S. government says that you can now do whatever you want with a product you paid for. 'Jailbreak' your iPhone? Go ahead, the government says.

The U.S. government has given owners of smartphones such as Apple's iPhone the go-ahead to "jailbreak" the devices to run any apps they want - or even to use the phones on compatible wireless networks.

Librarian of Congress James Billington - who oversees the U.S. Copyright Office - said in a statement today that he has issued six exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, including the two involving Apple's iPhone and other mobile devices.

According to a document posted on Wired magazine's website, Apple had fought the change, arguing that "iPhone users are licensees, not owners, of the copies of iPhone operating software."

From a letter from Apple:

"The value of the iPhone, and hence the software embedded in it, is substantially diminished when the integrity and functionality of that software is compromised by jailbreaking (hacking), when Apple is left to deal with the problems that ensue, and when the positive feedback loops enabled by the App Store and the iPhone Developer Program are compromised.

Note: The photo shown here does not depict jailbreaking.

Baptism Kills Baby

In Moldova: Baby drowns after baptism.

Police are investigating Father Valentin for accidential homicide after witnesses at the ceremony said the priest did not cover the baby's mouth during the ritual, The Sun newspaper reports.

Father Valentin had denied being responsible for the baby's death during the baptism in Moldova.

The six-week-old baby died on the way to hospital and an autopsy found he had drowned, the baby's dad Dumitru Gaidau told Romania's Publica TV.

"He couldn't inhale, his face turned blue and he was foaming at the mouth. He [the priest] said we should not interrupt this their ritual," he said.

The big question, is: Did the baptism actually "take?" Unless you're a Mormon, baptisms only count if the person being baptized is alive.

Things I Always Need To Look Up

I'm going to start a list of things that I just can't remember.

First on the list: How to specify a comment in HTML.  Here's how to do it:

<!-- comment goes here -->

I wonder who came up with that absurd group of characters? The opening and closing characters should be mirror images, as in CSS, Javascript, and PHP:

/* comment goes here */

Javascript makes it even easier for a single-line comment: //

And in PHP: #

Now that I've written this, I will never forget it.

Handshake Research

Because shaking hands is critical to selling cards cars, Chevrolet UK compiled some information about this topic: Scientists Create Formula for the Perfect Handshake!

Here's the formula for the Perfect Handshake:

The mathematical formula has been developed for car brand Chevrolet as part of a handshake training guide for its staff to prepare them ahead of the launch of the new 5 Year Promise offer, which aims to offer peace of mind and reassurance to its customers.

The press release also lists the top ten handshake turn offs:

Sweaty palms
Loose grip / limp wrist
Gripping too hard
Not making eye contact
Shaking too vigorously
Shaking for too long
Standing too close
Shaking with the left hand
Not shaking for long enough
Hot hands

And some trivia:

On 21 November 2009, Americans Matthew Rosen and Joe Ackerman broke the Guinness World Record for the world's longest handshake, shaking hands for 15 hours, 30 minutes and 45 seconds.

Apple Religion

Proof that Apple is just a religion: How Apple Stays Divine.

Consumer behavior specialists Russell Belk of York University and Gulnur Tumbat of San Francisco State, even put together a framework for assessing Apple's mystical mythology. The company was built on four key myths, they argued.

1. A creation myth highlighting the counter-cultural origin and emergence of the Apple Mac as a transformative moment;
2. A hero myth presenting the Mac and its founder Jobs as saving its users from the corporate domination of the PC world;
3. A satanic myth that presents Bill Gates as the enemy of Mac loyalists;
4. And, finally, a resurrection myth of Jobs returning to save the failing company...

They need some commandments.

Suitcase Stickers

Here's a way to have a little fun at the airport, and put a smile on the face of the TSA workers: Suitcase Stickers.

(via Foolish Gadgets)

Text While Driving

Brilliant.

I have a harmonica holder. I'm going to try this as soon as I learn how to text.

(via Bits & Pieces)

God Acts

Southwest Airlines news: Breakdown is now an act of God.

If there's a God who controls floods and earthquakes, does the deity also have a hand in an airline's mechanical problems?

Apparently so, according to Tucson's most popular airline, which recently added "mechanical difficulties" to the list of acts of God and other events for which the carrier will not be liable if travel is delayed.

Southwest Airlines quietly made the change a few weeks ago, to the puzzlement of some industry analysts. It appears on page 11 of 32 pages of fine print called a "contract of carriage," which many passengers don't read, but which spells out their recourse in mishaps such as flight interruptions or baggage loss.

Mechanical difficulties - what type is not defined - now appears on a list of events such as wars, riots, storms, earthquakes and other acts of God that are "outside of (Southwest's) control."

I understand that "act of god" is just a legal term. Maybe it's time that we change the verbiage. I propose: Act of Nature.

Bisbo?

Making Up Numbers

Interesting article from Mr. Curtington's favorite site: BSA Tries To Use Totally Made Up Stats In South Africa To Change Copyright Laws.

Every year, in May, we report on the latest release of the BSA's [Business Software Alliance] totally bogus stats about "worldwide software piracy." The stats are so laughable that even the firm that put them together for the BSA, IDC has claimed that the BSA is being misleading with the stats.

In years past, we've done a detailed analysis of how the BSA's stats are misleading, but one bit of news that came out last year that was even more interesting is that in the majority of countries listed in the report, IDC does no actual surveys. Instead, it just makes up the numbers.

As it turns out, BSA released some stats for South Africa -- even though they didn't even survey a single company in that country.

Why? Politics, of course. Some in South Africa wants to make their copyright laws more restrictive. I suspect that some money changed hands under the assumption that someone can convince someone else that the BSA's numbers are actually valid.

HTA Files

OK, so why have I never heard of HTA files until today?

My next music player app will be big. Really big.

Late Sunday Caption Contest

Better late than never.