I was on the US Patent and Trademark database website (don't ask...), and decided to look to see if "Voldemort" (i.e. the bad guy from the Harry Potter series) was trademarked. Indeed it is, for the following uses ( Read more... )

Some of you may be aware that, way back in 2009, Microsoft reached a deal with the European Commissioner for Competition Policy. In essence, Microsoft agreed that for the next 5 years (i.e. until 2014), whenever anyone in Europe installs a fresh copy of Windows, they'll get a choice of browsers, rather than just getting good (?) old Internet ( Read more... )

News today that, as a result of the ongoing power outages in the US from last weekend's storms, there's now a food and water shortage in West Virginia.

Might be a good time to make sure that you've got at least 3 days' supply of food and water on hand, as recommended by the Canadian government.

Interesting news from the world of physics today, where scientists working at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (which straddles the border between Switzerland and France) have announced the discovery of a particle "consistent with" the theoretical properties of the Higgs Boson. It's believed that this little sucker is what gives mass to other ( Read more... )

It's official, according to the United States government (or at least the NOAA) - mermaids do not exist. Or rather, "No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found."

Conspiracy theorists, start your engines!

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Ranger (6th Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-13

Dexterity-14

Constitution-14

Intelligence-18

Wisdom-16

Charisma-14

Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is ( Read more... )

Scott Adams (perhaps best known for being the guy who draws Dilbert) has a blog. Today's blog post is kind of interesting - he's proposing a four-step plan that would (if pulled off successfully) make Iran look like kind of a big deal to the rest of the world. Here's his idea, in his own words:

Let's say the leaders in Iran make the following ( Read more... )

This article, published in October of last year in the journal "Food and Chemical Toxicology", sums it up: "Phytoestrogens, especially from soy, are the major dietary source of estrogenicity," with estradiol equivalency (EEQ) of up to 1500ng/kg (1.5mcg/kg or 0.0015mg/kg). (The other interesting take-away from the article is that soy lecithin - ( Read more... )

Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, recently spoke to Harvard University's graduating class of business students. In her speech, she urged them to work for fast-growing companies, communicate honestly and address inequality in the workplace. At the end of the speech, she said, "We're public now, so could you please click on an ( Read more... )

An interesting article over on the Business Week website tells something that some of us already know - of the ten "strongest" banks in the world, Canadian banks are almost half of that list. This includes CIBC at 3rd plance, TD Bank Group in 4th, National Bank of Canada in 6th place, and RBC in 7th. Not bad for a country that only has eight ( Read more... )