And people wonder why the Catholic church is losing its relevance in America.

An unusual document from the Vatican’s office for migrants and itinerant people also warned that automobiles can be “an occasion of sin” — particularly when they are used for dangerous passing or for prostitution.

It warned about the effects of road rage, saying driving can bring out “primitive” behavior in motorists, including “impoliteness, rude gestures, cursing, blasphemy, loss of sense of responsibility or deliberate infringement of the highway code.”

It urged motorists to obey traffic regulations, drive with a moral sense, and to pray when behind the wheel.

AP Story

There is an interesting article over at computerworld that looks at Apple’s surprise announcement of offering Safari for Windows. Its a funny read, but also quite on point.

Instead of slugging it out with other hardware and software companies on a level playing field, Apple historically creates its own playing field from scratch, then dominates it utterly.

The insular Apple universe is a relatively gentle place, an Athenian utopia where Apple’s occasional missteps are forgiven, all partake of the many blessings of citizenship, and everyone feels like they’re part of an Apple-created golden age of lofty ideas and superior design.

But the Windows world isn’t like that. It’s a cold, unforgiving place where nothing is sacred, users turn like rabid wolves on any company that makes even the smallest error, and no prisoners are taken. Especially the Windows browser market.

This is no Athens. This is Sparta.

Apple sent its first emissary, the beta version of Safari for Windows, into the Windows world, and it was unceremoniously kicked into the well.

From a slashdot commenter :

Important: You Must Follow All These Steps in the Precise Order to Obtain Your iPhone. Failure to Do So Will mean Being Denied Entry To the Kingdom of Jobs

1. Take a number from the iphone number dispenser at the front of the store.

2. Proceed to the Coolness Evaluation Station. There you will be evaluated on your dress, apperance, and general coolness to determine whether you are worthy of having an iPhone. Among the criteria: A.) If you have a goatee, you may not have an iPhone. Those are so last year. B.) If you are a white man with Chinese or Japanese symbols tattooed on any part of your body, AND you can’t read the language it’s written in, you may not have an iPhone. Posuers are so lame. C.) If you are wearing a NASCAR shirt, a mullet, or carrying a can of Skoal, no iPhone for you, Cletus. D.) If you’ve ever owned, or even touched, a Zune, you may not have an iPhone. What’s wrong with you? Finally, E. Any woman carrying a small dog with her as a fashion accesory may not have an iPhone. Get a life, Princess.

3. If you have passed the Coolness Test, you may proceed to the Icon of Jobs in the center of the store. Kiss it thrice and ask for Jobs to bless your purchase.

4. After kissing the Jobs icon, proceed to iPod/iPhone Acclimation station, where your iPod and your iPhone will be introduced to each other to see if their peronalities are compatible. If you have forgotten to bring your iPod, you may, at the acolytes’ discression, buy a new one.

5. Finally, proceed to the Wallet Weighing Checkout station. Your wallet will be weighed, and must weigh more than a feather, but less than a duck. If it passes these tests, your wallet will be taken and you will be allowed to have your iPhone. No, you may not have your wallet back. Your bank will be able to issue you new credit cards.

Crow T. Trollbot

I actually have nothing to say about the obvious two class system we have in the United States, but I’ll repeat Jon Stewart. Shawskank Redemption. UPDATE * Apparently she is going to go back to jail for the full 45 days of her original sentence. Now, I have to go the other way. There is no way in hell the average person would ever spend that long in jail for something like this. Such is America, we love to see the mighty fall.

On a totally different note, I hope everyone saw that we now have wireless electricity. That’s right, you heard me. Wireless electricity. Seriously. Courtesy of those bright folks over at MIT (via Audioholics).

The concept works by using the principles of electromagnetic induction where you pass electricity from one coil to another. It’s a transmitter/receiver arrangement of sorts and is already being used in many applications today – except that typically the transmitting and receiving coils need to be very close together. In WiTricity, the system basically fills the room with a ‘non-radiative’ electromagnetic field. To objects that aren’t designed to resonate with the field (plants, desks, walls, your grandmother Lois) the field simply passes by harmlessly and is ignored.

But if you design an object to absorb the energy by resonating with the field then you get a result that is about as close to magic as we will experience in our lifetimes. Using 2 copper coils, the MIT team transferred power over 7 feet to light up a light bulb – which lit up instantly. Let me rehash this – using only a copper coil (of sorts) as the sending device, a group of scientists actually delivered wireless power (about 60 watts worth) over 7 feet away!

So far they claim to be able to accomplish the feat at up to 9 ft. Eventually they think they can go up to a few yards to devices connected to a receiving coil. The possibilities are endless. Since the transmitter and receiver need not be in view, you can mount the device in a ceiling, conceivably activating an entire room in an electromagnetic field that will power everything in it – all without harming anyone in the room… well, you may not be able to have any children – but your laptop will work without a battery!

This came out last week I think, but in case you haven’t seen any videos of Microsoft Surface here is one, and here are a bunch more. If it wasn’t backed my Microsoft I would say it was fake. Coming soon to a store near you.