This week’s “flyby” comes via Dave… 

Forty six year old Swiss born Yves Rossy is a professional pilot and “polysportsman.” A former Swiss Army pilot, he flew the Mirage III and, later as a corporate pilot, Airbuses. Over the past seven years he’s not only created and developed wings which allow him to fly, but also built and personally tested them. Since last Autumn, with the aid of four model-engines attached under his wing, he’s been able to fly at over 200km/hr.

During flight, Yves’s body works much like that of a bird and, other than employing a fuel control, he does not ride his wings but truly flies them, controlling the wing using various light body movements. Though the most important part of this project has been achieved, there still remains some necessary fine-tuning to allow Yves to take-off, perform aerobatics, vertical climbs and participate at air shows…

This has to be the ultimate adreneline rush. Watch more of his amazing performances here.

John Hodgman (The “I’m a PC” guy) explains on The Daily Show what Net Neutrality means and elaborates on Sen. Ted Stevens’ insightful lecture on the internet being “a series of tubes…”

Find more (serious) information on Net Neutrality here and here and more Daily Show (heh) on the subject here.

A Mexican drug smuggler sneaks across the U.S. border carrying 743 pounds of marijuana in his van. He’s confronted by two U.S. Border Patrol agents who order him to stop. After a scuffle with one of the agents, the drug smuggler abandons the van and takes off. The agents give chase and shots are fired. The smuggler runs for the border but is wounded in the buttocks before escaping to the safety of Mexico. Sounds like a typical day along the U.S.-Mexico border, right? Give the agents a commendation, maybe a pay raise.

But that’s not what happened to the agents. In what makes me think we’ve slipped into some parallel universe where everything is backwards, the agents are arrested and charged with felonies including violating the drug smuggler’s civil rights. It seems a Homeland Security agent heard about the episode, went to Mexico and offered the drug smuggler immunity if he testified against the agents. The drug smuggler was treated at taxpayer’s expense in a U.S. hospital and told he can sue the U.S. government.

You see, our Border Patrol policy prohibits chasing terrorists, drug smugglers or anyone crossing illegally into this country and who are fleeing. And our courts have ruled that it’s illegal to shoot a suspect who is running away if he is unarmed. To do so violates the suspect’s civil rights. Never mind that the agents believed him to be armed and that, when interviewed shortly after the incident, his family said that, yes, he’s a drug smuggler and, yes, he always carries a gun. He now knows to claim he was unarmed in order to sue the U.S. Border Patrol for $5 million for violating his civil rights!

The agents? They’ve been sentenced to 11 and 12 years in federal prison under a rule of law that requires a mandatory minimum 10 years if a firearm was used while committing a violent crime. The crime? Assault with a dangerous weapon, discharge of a firearm during a violent crime, obstructing justice, lying about the incident (The agents failed to file a report stating that they had fired their weapons, and one of them picked up his spent shell casings) and willfully violating the drug smuggler’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from illegal seizure.

Sounds preposterous, I know, but that’s what happened. Congress won’t intervene and President Bush has refused thus far to grant a pardon for the agents. I can’t fathom U.S. policy concerning border security. Agents are apparently there to “patrol” but can’t “chase” bad guys (without first getting permission from a supervisor.) Oh, and don’t use their guns. They can yell, “Shoo! Shoo!” and can apparently send bad guys back across the border if they voluntarily surrender, but it sounds like that’s about it.

I’ve provided links to two articles you should read. The first is an article by Debra Saunders for the SF Chronicle. The second is an October 20 article in WorldNetDaily. What’s been done to these two agents is a serious miscarriage of justice and we need to let our elected officials know we won’t stand for it.

What’s going on along our border is wrong on every level and our government has shown absolutely no interest in fixing the problem. Want something done? Write or email ALL your elected officials including the President. Keep writing. Demand justice for the two agents and that the border be protected. Pay attention to which officials turn a deaf ear and vote them out of office!

The Ohio State marching band is famous for its script “Ohio” formation. This obviously manipulated photo sent to me by my brother Larry portrays what the marching band might have spelled out after the recent BCS game…

This Flash drawing comes from Dave who says, “I could not help but be mesmerized by this ‘show’.” Makes me wish I’d continued those art classes…

I’ve been corresponding recently with Adam Richardson, Strategy Director at Palo Alto based   frog design. Turns out he worked for a startup company called Infogear in the late 90s and was part of the team that designed its first product, a desktop phone/email/web affair with a VGA black and white touch screen, a speedy 56k modem and a slide-out keyboard.

Like quite a few PC/phone/appliance gadgets (Webphones) at the time, it seemed a good idea but ultimately collapsed under the weight of high cost relative to rapidly falling prices of full-blown PC’s that did a lot more. Infogear struggled and was ultimately acquired by Cisco Systems in 2000. With it, Cisco inherited the trademark on the devise’s name: iPhone. 

So now you know how Cisco ended up with the iPhone trademark or, as the saying goes, “the rest of the story.” 

Have you watched this? It’s okay, you can tell me. Confession is good for the soul. “Armed & Famous” debuted last Wednesday night with a viewership of 8.2 million, generating a 2.9 rating. Its second episode was seen by 7.8 million viewers and generated a rating of 2.7. A downward trend? Let’s hope so. If not, I fear our society is doomed.

The show, which clearly exists mainly to be ridiculed, features five B-list celebrities (Erik Estrada of “CHiPs,” singer La Toya Jackson, wrestler Trish Stratus, Jason “Wee Man” Acuna of “Jackass” and Ozzy Osbourne’s son, Jack) pretending to learn how to pretend to be policemen on the Muncie, Indiana force. In the words of the ABC website, “They will [be] arresting bad guys including drug dealers, hookers and johns, wife-beaters, burglars, the drunk-and-disorderly and more.”

All in a night’s work in Hollywood, California, one might think. But, no, it turns out our celebs are serving as reserve cops in Muncie, Indiana. And a good thing, too; having has-been celebrities arrest current ones like Hugh Grant and Mel Gibson would have been unseemly and unfair.

The website continues, “Funny? Often. Emotional? Yes, and in surprising ways. Serious? Always. To these five celebrities, serving the people of Muncie is an honor that equals or surpasses anything they’ve experienced previously.” Come on! The show has “they can’t be serious” written all over it!

It’s hard to believe that anyone would deliberately create programming like this. And even more incredible that anyone would watch it. But, of course, many will. Why? I think because it’s grotesquely fascinating even when it isn’t even remotely funny, emotional or serious. Programs like this are like third-generation parodies; in a reversal of show-business tradition, they’re bad on purpose. Not only does no one expect them to be good, no one wants them to be.

The producers hope instead that viewers will get a certain satisfaction from hooting and howling at the awfulness of it all. But “Armed & Famous” (even the name is bad) rushes by “awful” and heads straight for “abominable” — it’s not even that much fun to laugh at.

Admittedly, most TV shows are little more than time-killers. But there’s killing time and there’s beating it to death with a stick. Or a billy club. Or shooting it in the head — because, yes, the “celebrity” cops in “Armed & Famous” are truly armed if not actually famous.

“Muncie is quite different from L.A.,” observes “recording artist and author” (huh?) La Toya Jackson, who insists on a tablecloth and a finger bowl (honest!) when her partner takes her out for peanuts at the Texas Roadhouse. “Midnight!” says the narrator. “On the streets of Muncie, crime doesn’t sleep, and neither do our celebrity cops!” Oozes suspense, doesn’t it?

When “international television icon” (really?) Eric Estrada finds himself inside Muncie’s version of a crack house, he’s surprised to discover the dealer is a toothless granny in her 80s. “This is the wrong way to meet you, Ponch,” she says, laughing all the way to the police station in the back seat of the cop car. Oh, puleez!

These details may inadvertently make the show sound mildly amusing. It isn’t. As Tom Shales points out in the Washington Post, “in addition to epitomizing the trend toward cheaper and cheaper prime-time programming, “Armed & Famous” represents another unhappy trend: The insane business of trying to pass off game-playing as entertainment on a massive, inescapable scale. Games are a vicarious experience in the first place. Watching people play games — whether the game is poker or make-believe cop — is vicarious vicariousness. It’s a form of “reality” that only makes television less real — and, inevitably, less worth having around.”

The midseason now belongs to Fox and “American Idol.” That gives rise to a “what-have-we-got-to-lose” mentality that in turn makes shows like “Armed and Famous” possible. What can we do? Read a book. And pray that the already cast second season is mercifully put to sleep even before they pull the plug on the current one.

I suppose you could say this is number 16, but it’s really no surprise. Cisco Systems is suing Apple Inc. in federal court for trademark infringement over the naming of Apple’s new “iPhone”, Cisco announced in a press release Wednesday. Cisco has held the trademark on the name “iPhone” since 2000. According to this CNN report, the company is seeking an injunction preventing Apple from using the “iPhone” name.

Some are speculating that Cisco obtained the trademark amid the flurry of rumors of a forthcoming Apple iPhone in order to muscle some money out of Apple. After all, most folks have been discussing a possible “iPhone” from Apple for years and most, including the media, had already dubbed it the “iPhone” knowing that Apple likes to use the “i” designation on many of its products. And indeed, Steve Jobs has been trying to “buy” it from Cisco for some time.

Anyway, amid speculation that Apple would announce an iPhone during Tuesday’s keynote address at Macworld, Cisco announced another VoIP telephone devise three weeks ago and dubbed it “iPhone.” And since Apple didn’t accept Cisco’s offer to sell the name before Tuesday’s announcement, Cisco is seeking an injunction barring Apple from using it.

Apple believes Cisco’s trademark is “tenuous at best”, that Cisco’s product and Apple’s are sufficiently different (VoIP v. cell phone) to negate trademark protection against Apple’s use. Cisco argues they might decide down the line to produce a cell phone. (Not likely, but they clearly want to show similarity.) Without knowing how the “product” was described in Cisco’s trademark application, I can’t say either way. However, it’s likely that the trademark application would have been denied had it been overly broad, i.e. “any phone-like thingy or service.” So we’ll just have to see how it all works out.

Cisco, of course, has a bundle of cash on hand so they can certainly afford to pursue the matter although I can’t imagine why they would care to. Jobs, I suspect, would pay a reasonable amount in order to avoid protracted litigation so, if Cisco is reasonable, they still might strike a deal. Meanwhile, I guess the game is afoot. 

Those of you that watched “America’s Got Talent” last season are already familiar with 11-year-old singing sensation Bianca Ryan who went on to win the $1 million show finale. Her audition performance of Jennifer Holiday’s “And I’m Telling You (I’m Not Going)” from the 1982 Broadway production of “Dreamgirls” brought everyone to their feet as you’ll see in this video:

Incidentally, if you haven’t seen the now-showing movie version of “Dreamgirls,” Jennifer Hudson’s performance of this song is alone worth the price of admission.

From Dave with the caption, “Wow, this looks like fun!” 

…in case you’re keeping score.

Here’s a tip from Ami at Cool Hunting: Capitalizing on the loophole that lets most mobile users out of unwanted or unneeded contracts by transferring them to someone else, a new online service called Cellswapper allows cell users who want to abandon their current cellular plan to offer it on the new site it to others looking to pick up a short-term plan. To provide the win-win exchange (neither party has to pay a fee for starting or canceling service) Cellswapper uses a Transfer Tracking system to keep users informed about the exchange and helps facilitate the legal transfer. For users hoping to ditch non-Cingular contracts in order to sign up for a multi-year exclusive deal with Cingular for the recently announced Apple iPhone , Cellswapper may be a viable solution.

Here’s an unusual site promoting (I think) Demetri’s Comedy Central special airing January 14 and 29. It’s apparently also intended to plug Windows Vista which must have had a hand in creating the site. It’s curiously, well, curious. Takes some exploring…  See what you think.  

              Click to enlargeMacworld kicked off this morning at Mosconi Center with Steve Jobs’ much anticipated keynote address focusing almost entirely on iPhone and, to a lesser degree, iTV. The next several months will likely provide additional product announcements… But iPhone? That’s pretty big news. Here’s the link to watch either (1) the entire keynote address, or (2) just the segment introducing the iPhone.  Comments Cisco? 

More about the new Apple iPhone: There are no click wheel or navigation buttons;  it’s all touchpad controlled and is filled with everything from your music, photos, movies, podcasts, the internet, email, contacts, calendar… and a 2mp camera. It runs on an abbrebviated version of Mac OSX so it functions much like a desktop Mac including Safari HTML browser (with tabbed browsing and full html views of websites including images), Google Maps and Widgets. A 3.5” widescreen monitor features Apple’s highest resolution yet, 161 ppi.

The new Apple TV devise is a set top unit that wirelessly syncs with your Mac or PC, then streams movies, photos, music, podcasts, slideshows etc from your computer(s) to your wide-screen TV in HD.

Definitely “outside the box.” Engadget has more details and photos from the keynote.

This recut of the Disney classic “Mary Poppins” was made by Chris Rule with assistance from Nick Eckert. Chris apparently took clips from the movie, rearranged them, applied some spooky music and…