SunFyre...words from a seated position

Last night my daughter's ballet class had a Halloween party. The whole family was invited to watch. She's been trick-or-treating for three years now. The first year she was a princess. Last year she was a fairy. And this year... a fairy princess! I knew princesses were popular, but I had no idea how popular. There are 17 girls in her ballet class. We had a Minnie Mouse, a pirate, a witch, and no kidding, 14 variations of the princess. Each of the Disney princesses were represented at least once. We had a mermaid princess, a Snow Princess, and at least six fairy princesses. They went around the circle, each describing their costume. A few seconds later the pirate explained that she was a pirate princess. Not to be outdone, the witch called herself an evil Princess. Poor Minnie Mouse looked like an outcast!

"Toyota Motor's concept car "i-REAL" during a pre-event for the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show in Tokyo, 11 October 2007. The one-seat electric vehicle runs at a maximum speed of 30 kph in high-speed mode and moves slowly among pedestrians at similar eyesight in low-speed mode. " Source: AFP My Two Cents: I think Toyota's new concept car isn't a car at all. Take a look, it's a futuristic wheelchair . Granted, it's a wicked cool wheelchair, but it's still a wheelchair. It goes only 20 miles an hour, so it won't be hitting the freeways anytime soon. Why can't wheelchair companies create this thing? Wheelchairs are built by people who can walk... and they're afraid of getting sued. So because of that, they don't build cool wheelchairs. Here are the things that would make this a terrific wheelchair! First, this woman is seated at nearly standing height... something wheelchair users would want. The wheelchair looks cool,

A hobbyist flew a weather balloon to near-space, using off-the-shelf parts, with a payload of a GPS, digital camera, 900MHz radio, and SMS module. There are some amazing photos & videos on the site, near the peak of the flight you can actually see the blackness of space. Also, check out the .kmz file for loading into Google Earth. read more | digg story

A woman approaches the pharmacy counter and says "I'd like to buy some cyanide, please." "Cyanide!" The pharmacist says, "why do you need cyanide, ma'am?" "I'm going to poison my husband." she said matter-of-factly. "I'm sorry ma'am, but I can't do that." The pharmacist explained, "poisoning your husband is illegal. I'd lose my license, and you would go to jail. I cannot give you cyanide." He continued, "But may I ask, why is it that you want to kill your husband?" She calmly showed the pharmacist to photograph of her husband in bed with the pharmacist's wife. "Oh, I see. You didn't tell me you had a prescription."

Toyota, Honda, and Nissan unveiled new concepts in environmentally friendly technology. The hybrid isn't the only game out there, and it may not even be our best option for the future. read more | digg story

A disabled Arkansas teenager is setting his sights on bagging an elk in Saskatchewan. Joe Parsons will be aiming for an elk from his wheelchair because the 16-year-old has a severe form of Muscular Dystrophy. "I just thought it'd be really incredible to go hunting in Canada and shoot a big bull elk," he said from his home in Searcy, Ark., on Wednesday. Joe's dream trip became a reality after his mother applied to Hunt of a Lifetime , a non-profit organization that grants hunting and fishing wishes for children under the age of 21 who have life-threatening illnesses. "Joe has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and also has cardiac and respiratory failure that he takes medications for," his mother, Christy, said. "It's a disease that there's no cure for and it affects all of the muscles in the entire body. He's been in a wheelchair since he was 10." Joe's three-day hunt, which begins today, will be at a game preserve, increasing his o

Here's my weekly YouTube video blog. This week's topic is "Why you should give your kids lots of opportunities to create art." If you watch you'll also get to learn why I'm wearing that ridiculous hat.

If you're interested, you can check out my Technorati profile. I'm trying to attract a little more interest to SunFyre. Since switching from a manual blog to Blogger, I've seen my traffic go down consistently. The time savings and the features are so beneficial , however, it's going to be difficult for me to leave Blogger completely. SunFyre's Technorati Profile

I ran across this videowhen reading about Stephen Colbert running for President . I like John McCain a lot, and if he still involved when the Pennsylvania primary rolls around I'll probably vote for him. Unfortunately, he's probably too much of a straight talker, and is definitely too intelligent to get elected by the Republicans. Our party tends to vote for the charismatic leaders, rather than the deep thinkers. He's the kind of guy who I think can beat Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head debate, but first he has to get past the primaries. Anyhow, here's a video of him when he stopped by The Daily Show to visit Jon Stewart.

Researchers at the University of Washington have created a vocal joystick for surfing the web. It uses vowel sounds to navigate the mouse. It uses the "K" sound and the "CH" sound to click and to click and drag. Here's a video to the vocal joystick with a demonstration. I'm having increasing difficulty navigating using my mouse. Because of this I'm intrigued, but not sold. I've been reading a little bit about brain-interface computers that literally use your thought processes to navigate a computer environment. This seems to be a much more effective way, especially with the increased likelihood that we will be in a three-dimensional computerized environment in the future. Until that happens, however this could be a good intermediate step. My biggest concern is that, aside from disabled users, there are many applications. My experience is that whenever a technology is only applicable to the disabled, the price tag is extremely high and the

I like breasts. They are functional, fun, and aesthetically pleasing. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. One of the most terrifying questions a woman will ask herself is "Is that a lump?" If you're a man... and you like breasts... there are three things you should do. First, donate. There are several reputable charities that do research, treatment, recovery, support and prevention. Men, if you enjoy breasts as much as SunFyre, please donate. I'm aware of three national charities that are very reputable. They are the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation , National Breast Cancer Foundation , and the American Cancer Society . Additionally, many communities have breast cancer treatment foundations and endowments. Contact your local hospital or United Way and ask them what charities would benefit from your donations locally. Second... buy something pink. If you're not secure enough in your sexuality to wear it, give it to a woman that you love

...for groundbreaking studies in surface chemistry. This science can help us to understand such varied processes as why iron rusts, how fuel cells function, how the catalysts in our cars work, production of artificial fertilizers, and can even explain the destruction of the ozone layer. read more | digg story

The following is an excerpt from the July 1943 issue of Transportation Magazine. This was quite serious at its time and written for male supervisors of women in the work force during World War II. #1 on the list sets the tone: "Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters."As someone who works as the sole male in an office I found the entire article incredibly useful. I'm thinking about printing and posting it. What do you think? read more | digg story