Steelers Win!

No, I'm not referring to the football team from Pittsburgh. Their big contest is Sunday, remember?

Instead, I refer to the supporters of former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who succeded in ousting the sitting Republican National Committee chairman and replacing him with their guy.

Let's face it. The GOP needs to tend so some serious wounds after the drubbing we've taken in the last two election cycles.

Hopefully, Steele will realize we need to purge the party of McCainism--the appeasement of Democrats and their constituents instead of appealing to and rallying the Republican base. Maverick, schmaverick. We need to get back to the principles that made the party great: lower taxes, smaller government, more personal responsibility, and dogged defense of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Let the ObamaNation stand for hand-outs, bail-outs, and cop-outs. We need to be a strong and clear voice of opposition, not their lapdogs and handmaidens.

Killer aps, Dr. Cai!

Dr. Yang Cai, director of the Ambient Intelligence Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, has not only developed some really cool 3D scan technology but also come up with some great ideas for applying it to real-world use.

One day, it will be used to scan human tongues to check for signs of illness. One day, it will be used to scan ocean surfaces to look for possible tsunami threats. But, today, it is already being used in a field that is of great interest to yours truly: genealogy.

How many times have you been wandering thru an old cemetery hunting your ancestors' final resting place only to run across a tombstone that has been rendered completely illegible after the ravages of time?

Not often? Well, then you're not a dedicated root-digger.

Anyway, thanks to Dr. Cai's 3D technology, old stones can now be scanned and their inscriptions deciphered. He's already applied it with great success to some real world stones found in the 200 year old St. Luke's Episcopal Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Check out the complete story at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7024672.stm