Wetwired an Austin Texas Blog

Arnold not govenor…

Schwarzenegger, 55, is said to have met Sunday with former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan (search). Riordan and Schwarzenegger are close, and Riordan said last week that he would consider a run if Schwarzenegger decided against a bid.

“I would support Arnold Schwarzenegger in a second if he ran,” Riordan said Friday. “I think he is sensational and if he doesn’t run then I will have to make up my mind.”

Earlier this month, speaking to journalists in Berlin ahead of the European premiere of his latest film, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the Austrian-born actor said his decision would depend on the political developments in his home state.

That was before a petition qualified to have a recall election on Democratic Gov. Gray Davis (search), who is facing approval ratings in the low 20s.

California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley said last week that counties had reported 1.3 million valid petition signatures, well more than the 897,158 required for the recall to make it on the ballot.

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante ordered the election to be held on Oct. 7. Candidates have until Aug. 10 to declare their candidacies.

Schwarzenegger, who has eyed a political career on and off for years, has until recently insisted he was not thinking about running for governor.

He has, however, said he is capable of leading and putting things in order

Taken from here:
http://www.askmen.com/dating/doclove_150/188_relationship_expert.html

I have to say this is true, on the whole in my dating experiences…

Hi Doc,

I subscribed to one of those Internet dating services and posted my photo, along with a fairly comprehensive personality profile of myself. After getting no real action for some time, I decided to run a test. Yes, Doc, I did the morally reprehensible thing and substituted a photo of a much better-looking man for my own.

The results were alarming. A number of women immediately responded with some of the real “lookers” proclaiming their love, even after the exchange of only a few lines of text. Never in my regular life as a decent, honest, and hardworking man had I ever received such attention. It shook me to the core of my being like nothing else.

Such love was freely offered to the better-looking man. Funny that he had the same personality as me. I guess that doesn’t matter though. Anyway, I’d be very interested in any thoughts you might have about all this, Doc.

Kenneth — who thinks it’s all pretty unfair

doc love’s answer

Howdy Kenneth,

Your experience reminds me of that of another one of my students. Let’s call him Bill. Bill is an average-looking guy. On a scale of one to 10, most women would probably give him a seven, at best. But as far as personality goes, Bill is a 10. He’s very intelligent, funny as hell and a genuinely good-hearted guy.

Every Sunday, Bill goes to a non-denominational Science of Mind type church in L.A. This particular church has a very charismatic minister and a kick-ass choir that is always accompanied by a rhythm section of world-class studio musicians. It’s a very hip, happening kind of scene with a certain edge of glamour to it. Most Sundays you will find two or three celebrities in attendance among a congregation of several hundred people.

babes abound to pray

As you might expect with such a scenario, the place is stocked with an abundance of babes. But even though these girls are spiritually oriented, they’ve still got a bit of that L.A. “attitude” thing going on.

They tend to be somewhat guarded and standoffish when guys try to connect with them. Many of the most attractive women there leave as soon as the service is over rather than stay for coffee, muffins and socializing, during which they might have to deal with grabby guys who want a “friendly” post-service hug from them.

Bill was cool, but then Lance came along…

Now Bill attends these services, primarily for the inspirational and spiritual benefits that he derives. But naturally, he’s not oblivious to the potential there for meeting women.

The thing is, however, that even though he’s been a member of the congregation for over a year and a half, he has never gone out on a date with one woman that he’s met at his church.

He’s had nice conversations with several women there that he’s gotten to know over time, but he’s never gotten any romantic buying signals from any of them.

then lance came along

One day, not too long ago, Bill brought his friend Lance to church with him. Lance, who had never been there before, is about 6′2″ with long, thick hair down to his shoulders. He looks like a Viking king who now earns his living doing Calvin Klein underwear advertisements.

After the service that day, Bill asked Lance if he enjoyed his experience there. Lance said to Bill, “Yeah, the minister is great and I loved the music. But what’s with the women here? They’re so aggressive! I’ve been hit on three times since I got here. One girl wouldn’t let me go until I wrote down her phone number!”

Yes, Lance was complaining. Moments later, one of the real beauties of the congregation who had never even smiled at Bill once since he’d been going there, walked right up to Lance and said, “Hi! Are you new here?” As you might imagine, Bill’s mouth dropped open in disbelief.

that’s how it feels

So, Kenneth, both you and Bill had similar experiences, and both of you had similar responses to it: utter shock. Why? Because the behavior of these women was completely contrary to the values that the sisterhood of womenfolk espouses.

When asked about what qualities are most important in a potential mate, most women will tell you that a sense of humor and intelligence are at the top of the list. And according to the majority of women, it’s men who care most about how a woman looks and least about her personality.

But as every good student of “The System” knows; in order to get to the truth, we look at people’s actions primarily, rather than their words. And in this case, here’s the obvious conclusion that we must arrive at: Women are motivated by looks just as much as men are, regardless of what they say.

They overlook personality in favor of physical appearance, exactly as men do. Women’s shaming of men for being looks-obsessed is a bunch of hypocritical hogwash.

Really cool, yet a bit scary privacy wise.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/07/09/beamed.barcodes.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) — Razor blades and medicines packaged with pinpoint-sized computer chips and tiny antennae to send retailers and manufacturers a wealth of information about the products — and those who buy them — will start appearing in grocery stores and pharmacies this year.

Within two decades, the minuscule transmitters are expected to replace the familiar product bar codes, and retailers are already envisioning the conveniences the new technology, called “radio frequency identification,” will bring — even as others are raising privacy concerns.

Expired milk reported
A grocery store clerk will know immediately when the milk on the shelf has expired, for example, and replace it before a customer can choose it. Stores could quickly pull from the shelves tainted and damaged products that are recalled or have expired, especially important in health care items.

“It would help you manage your inventory a lot better,” says Todd Andrews, spokesman for the Rhode Island-based CVS pharmacy chain that will soon test the chips and antennae on its prescription medicines.

CVS’s 4,000 stores fill millions of prescriptions each year but many customers forget to pick them up.

“If you could utilize RFID technology to tell you that a prescription is in the waiting bin, maybe the product could say: ‘I’ve been here 10 days and I haven’t been picked up yet.’ Then, you could call the patient,” Andrews says.

The technology builds upon the UPC (Uniform Product Code) symbol and bar codes that, when read by a scanner, enable manufacturers and retailers to keep up with their prices and inventories. A computer chip smaller than the head of an ant and a thin antenna attached to a bottle, box, can or package will alert retailers and suppliers when a product is taken off a store shelf or moved out of a warehouse. A radio signal is beamed to an electronic reader, which then delivers a message to a computer in the store or factory.

Retailers fund research
CVS, Procter & Gamble and The Gillette Co. are among the 100 retailers and manufacturers that have put up a total of $15 million for research on the new tags at the Auto-ID Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Other Auto-ID labs at the University of Cambridge in England, Adelaide University in Australia, Keio University in Japan and USG-ETH in Switzerland are also working on the technology.

Radio frequency identification technology is not new. The tiny chips and small antennae already are familiar to workers equipped with security cards that, when waived in front of a receiver, unlock the doors to their offices or relay information about the bearer to a guard.

The technology’s potential for sending retailers and others information about consumers is already raising privacy concerns, however.

Potential for spying
Marc Rotenberg, executive director of a watchdog organization, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said retailers should be required to disable the tags before a consumer leaves a store.

“Simply stated, I don’t think most people want their clothes spying on them,” Rotenberg said.

Researchers developing RFID tags for products so far have focused on the supply chain and limited the range at which a product could be detected. Once their use becomes universal the cost of the tags could be as little as a nickel each, they say.

Sanjay Sarma, the lead researcher at the Auto-ID Center in Massachusetts, says that by adding more functions to the chip, installing a battery and attaching a longer antenna, a receiver far away could read all the information on a chip, including its exact location.

Alerting consumers, marketers
Homes equipped with receiver-readers could alert consumers when they are running low on orange juice or their prescription for heart medicine is about to expire. Hooked up to a national network like the Internet, the at-home devices could also provide details to marketers about a family’s eating and hygienic habits.

Sarma acknowledges that gigantic privacy concerns the technology raises, saying one way to address them would be letting consumers disable the chips once they leave a checkout counter.

“Any technology can be abused and we’ve got to be prepared, be watchful for the abuse,” Sarma said.

Ron Margulis, a spokesman for the National Grocers Association, said the privacy concerns are far outweighed by the benefits of RFID. Retailers, he said, could respond much more quickly to product recalls and prevent people from becoming ill from tainted products.

“You do give up a bit of privacy but the benefit could be that you live,” said Margulis.

from:
http://www.ncbuy.com/news//wireless_news.html?qdate=2003-07-07&nav=VIEW&id=I8QV0M80459030707

Designer Toilet Water For Dogs

VALENCIA, Calif. (Wireless Flash) — No more drinking from the hose for your dog. Now there’s designer water for your pup appropriately called “Hose Water.”
The new vitamin-fortified bow-wow water is made by a Valencia, California, outfit called K9 Water Company.

The bottled water comes in Puddle Water, Hose Water, Gutter Water and Toilet Water — that’s doggie talk for liver, lamb, beef and chicken flavor.

Co-creator Don Magier says “when we walk our dogs we have water and dogs need their own.”

Magier says the foo-foo beverage is good for dogs who refuse to swallow vitamin pills or powder.

His own dog lapped it up and Magier says he personally sampled a sip.

What did he think? He says, “it tastes like chicken.”