Monthly Archives: November 2006

Go to Google Images, type in “DSC0” followed by any 4 digits. I like birthday-type digits—day/month or year. Look for the fun images. There’s tons of that are just random people, but then there’s the interesting ones (that is correct, people aren’t interesting to me. I just don’t get them). Like yaks grazing in a field.

Or a little engine that could.

Or confused drummers drumming.

Or Australians.

I wanna know who’s the guy that saw the problem and thought, “I bet Silly String would work!” And then, who had a can of the stuff to test it with?

*what would Macgyver do?

Repetitive prayer leads to physiological disorder in this one guy.

It would be nice if the planners of Ground Zero’s reconstruction adopted an attitude that has become more common among architects in recent years: humbly pick the style that’s “right for the job,” then adhere to it with some deference to that style’s internal, traditional rules. As the Chicago architect Stanley Tigerman says, we want buildings to please their users, not help architects make a philosophical point—a self-indulgent tendency in 20th-century architecture that reached its reductio ad absurdum with the “deconstructionist” architects, who deliberately designed buildings that no one would want to live in.

It’ll never work.

If you buy your dip—of any sort—in a tub or jar you get what you deserve. Don’t be suing about it, dumb-person.

Not that I don’t enjoy the occasional cheese-like food product once in a while. Mmm, nachos.

Watching National Review lately has been fun. A few weeks ago they were all, the war is going poorly, whose idea was this, we need to do something. Now Baker is in town threatening to pull out and they’re all, hey now, let’s not get carried away. Except it’s all nuanced and quite defensible, of course. “What I actually said was..” Yeah. Still amusing.

Russia may have to get tough with Allofmp3.com.

Maybe Russia can just irradiate someone instead.

More dead terrorists. It’s sorta sad that they have to explicitly say they don’t purposely hurt civilians, but terrorists will. You’d think that would go without saying.

via Inoperable Terran

My November energy bill rivals that of January or February of last year. That’s a bad sign. It wasn’t even particularly cold this last month.

Avista, don’t spend all the money in one place.

I guess I could get a part time job to pay the bills. Then I would be home even less and save that much more. Hmmm. It’s so crazy it just might work.

So, I just installed Ubuntu on an old laptop someone gave me (PIII, 1Ghz, 256 ram). Old. And I don’t have a copy of Windows for it, so I went the free and hopefully easy route. I went with the stable 6.06 (Dapper Drake) version. It was an easy install. It’s a live CD, so you boot to the CD, and can test drive it if you want, but I don’t care about that so I clicked on the install icon, and answered 6 questions. It could have been more questions had I wanted more than one partition. Possibly 7 or 8 questions. So it chugged along for about 20? minutes. I rebooted, and presto! It is similar enough to Windows that I have no problem finding things. I even right-clicked on the desktop out of habit to change it and it gave me just what I was expecting. By far, the nicest Linux installation I’ve ever done.

It’s reasonably fast, especially for such an old computer.

I plugged in my ethernet connection. And waited for something to happen. I was wasting time. It was connected and waiting for me to hop on the internets.

I plugged in my external USB hard drive. It recognized the drives and popped them on my desktop for my browsing pleasure.

I downloaded and installed Firefox 2.0. The install was so fast thought I messed up something and it didn’t work, but no.

My only complaint so far: I understand the purity of nothing but open source, freely available stuff and you don’t want to mess that up, but you’re never going to take over the world with an installation that doesn’t play mp3s out of the box. Add another question to the installation outlining your position if you want, pop up a notice when I click on add programs, something.

Right now I’m updating my software, since it’s the older version it’s not surprising that there are 60 updates. It took about 10 minutes.

Friday I’ll try out a wifi card and see if it can handle that seamlessly.

To sum up, I like it. So far. I’d even recommend it if you want to switch over and are lazy like me, not particularly wanting to get all gritty learning new-fangled ways.

The most artistic class photo I’ve ever seen.

For the three people that know me personally in Idaho that read this, Steve has a few India photos up if you want to take a look.

The decline of Western Civilization.

What would a beleaguered Socrates, a Galileo, a Descartes, or Locke believe, for example, of the moral paralysis in Europe? Was all their bold and courageous thinking–won at such a great personal cost–to allow their successors a cheap surrender to religious fanaticism and the megaphones of state-sponsored fascism?

The making of millions and millions of tiny, colorful blocks. I love this country Denmark.

Seems like I’ve been working all morning. The news was boring anyway.

I didn’t even notice, but Google has an online word processor.

Google: they make dreams come true. Actually my dream will come true when it automatically and seamlessly updates with whatever computer I log in with, but at least they’re trying.

A burglar was so outraged by the child pornography he found on a computer he stole, he turned the guy in. That takes some guts.

Grow your own loofah sponge.

Turns out money does buy happiness. It also buys really nifty gadgets.

Orson Scott Card on the Glenn and Helen show talking about his new book.

Glenn and Helen need to work on sounding natural during their announcing. They’re fine when they get to the interview.

So, if you’re like me you and you make your Italian dressing from the little packets, but then are annoyed when the oil solidifies in the frigerator forcing you to “plan ahead” and take the stupid stuff out and let it come to room temperature before you can have your salad, I have a solution.

Buys some Cavender’s Greek Seasoning. Sprinkle liberally on your lettuce, sprinkle balsamic vinegar, and if you want —I skip this part because that’s just the way I am— olive oil. Presto, instant Italian dressing, no defrosting, no muss, no fuss.

Lazy? Or just plain clever? It’s hard to tell.

Also this avoids the uni-tasker problem of a bottle of salad dressing. And don’t tell me I can use it as a marinade, it’s too darn sweet for marinade. Maybe I should start a little bumpersticker saying, Buy Ingredients, Not Crap. Hmm, needs some work.

You will not explode if exposed to hard vacuum.

At this point the victim would be floating in a blue, bloated, unresponsive stupor, but their brain would remain undamaged and their heart would continue to beat….

Without intervention in those first ninety seconds, the blood pressure would fall sufficiently that the blood itself would begin to boil, and the heart would stop beating. There are no recorded instances of successful resuscitation beyond that threshold.

Exposure to the Dyson vacuum has similar effects.

But we still aren’t really sure why people get the flu more in winter. If the sun hadn’t been shining today I’d be depressed about this.

Wiimote could qualify as a deadly weapon.

Also, no need for an expensive sensor bar, just use candles.

Americans fear the wrong things. I blame Bush. And possibly the media. And the nervous nelly that wrote this article trying to substitute in what he wants us to panic about.

“People call these crises wake-up calls,” says Dr. Irwin Redlener, associate dean of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness.

“But they’re more like snooze alarms. We get agitated for a while, and then we don’t follow through.”

Props to Pakistan for passing the Woman’s Rights bill over objections from the hardline Islamic parties.

Winning the poorest designed series of articles ever award, New Scientist has a bunch of predictions from top scientifical minds.

I’m guessing most of it will show up with our flying cars, rocketpacks and nuclear kitchens.

The holiday flavored Jones sodas are out. And nothing says “holidays” like peas and antacid. Mmm-mmmmm.

A Very Cheat Commando Thanksgiving.

In America we the people can directly influence government policy over the internet. Go vote for the Thanksgiving turkey’s names now.

/Flyer and Fryer in ’06!
//I approve this message

Oh, the wonder of it all.

In other words, for 68 minutes of working in the U.S., a minimum-wage worker can take home some of the beautiful fruits of the efforts of strangers in Ecuador who plant, tend, and pick flowers – of other strangers (where?) who make the protective packing material used for shipping the flowers – of yet other strangers who pilot the planes and drive the trucks that transport these flowers fresh from Ecuador to U.S. supermarkets – and of the countless other strangers who build the planes and trucks, who fuel the planes and trucks, who pave the runways and roads used by the planes and trucks, who feed the pilots and drivers, who insure airlines, trucking companies, and supermarkets against casualty losses, who wake up at pre-dawn hours to put the flowers into an attractive display in the supermarket.

The sheer volume of suff we produce and consume in America amazes me.

From Ace.

*Storebought pies are of the debbil. Don’t do that. Pies are ridiculously easy to make, and the house smells so good when they’re baking.

*If you have a full house and need to set up a separate table for the kiddies, try to orient it so that you can reach the back of the worst kid’s head with a spatula. That way you won’t have to get up during the meal.

*Put a long-handled spatula next to your plate.

A couple quibbles:

Pie is easy to make. Pie crust is possibly the hardest thing on the planet to make properly. I think I’ve had three really good pie crusts in my life. And store bought pie crusts, while nasty, are generally better than those people make at home, sad to say. Know your limits.

And be nice to your red-headed cousins. We know you just hate us because we’re beautiful, but really, you’re going to have to get over it.

Peter Jackson and New Line have a falling out over money, so he won’t be directing The Hobbit. Whoever they get better not suck.

Milton Freidman, Republicans, and freedom.

Actually, I like I-15 better, but either way, thank you, Mr. Eisenhower. We need you back to update it now.

I’m sure all your gifts and cash are in the mail.

One of my fondest memories of high school was as a TA for my biology/oceanography teacher. He had us cleaning out a frosted freezer in the back storage room. The freezer a solid block of ice, and as we chipped away at it we came across all sorts of dead animals: fish, squirrels, various other rodents. It was fun. We never found any radioactive material though. Now I’m disappointed.

“Why have something laying around that could become a prank? We don’t want to be the headline of the national news.”

Words to live by.

/Hi, Mr. Vexler.

A Very Alaskan Thanskgiving.

So I was driving down the street on my way to the bank, listening to the radio. Some catchy music came on that I half recognized. It was a commercial for the production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” that’s coming to town. I sang along with the clips. Then I was sad. “I would love to go see that,” I thought. But tickets are expensive and I’m too cheap most of the time to spend money on that kind of thing. But, lo, I remembered. Someone has given me a ticket! Yes! And thus my day was made.

L33t ancient sword makers secrets recently rediscovered. Nanotubes and wootz were involved.

There’s nothing new under the sun.

Do we really want to be creating robots that use the Scientific Method to learn? First they learn to toddle, then they learn to run, then they learn to subjugate humans.

McCaaaaaain. He’s so annoying. Especially when he’s right.

I’m not annoyed that he’s right, I just find blatantly triangulating politicians annoying.

New Hotness: Curing. For your Thanksgiving, yet another way to attempt to cook the perfect turkey.

I love Thanksgiving.

Milton Friedman has died.

I’m sure it had nothing to do with time travel. Probably.

Every time you start messing with time travel, it’s bad for grandfathers.

Quantum physics makes me dizzy and fall over.

Fight global warming climate change with pollution!

The first plausible explanation for Bush’s behavior lately that I’ve heard.

NASA thinking about a manned asteroid exploration to keep our interest between the moon exploration and the manned Mars mission. Um, you have to get my attention before you need to worry about losing it.

Those annoying extened warranties, not worth it.

Nevertheless, it’s estimated that non-savvy consumers will drop a combined $1.6 billion on fruitless warranties this year

Snapped some pictures of the bizzaro incoming storm clouds. (Click to see the larger sizes)

I feel rich.

What nationalized health care in America will have to do, according to some.

a particularly ludicrous and risible fantasy because we already have nationalised health care for end-of-life care RIGHT NOW and we’re spending like eighty shrillion dollars on it

I believe the correct term is “brazillion”.

Sweeping Democratic change not so changing. I’m shocked. And stunned.

Teehee. Unidicted co-conspirator.

I won’t vote for Rudy Guiliani either. The republicans are going to have to do better than this if they want my vote.

Wil Wheaton has another review of Star Trek: TNG for TV Squad up.

Posting to resume…this afternoon? perhaps…. Nothing much is happening anyway. Wii comes out next week, Congress is flexing its muscles, and what? not much else. A search for classic Sesame Street clips on YouTube is hours of entertainment

After almost 100 years of promises of rocket packs and flying cars, I’m dubious we’re going to make such great strides in the next 40 years.

• The flying car era will really begin around 2015 with flying drones. Flying drones will be used by FedEx and UPS to deliver packages, Pizza Hut to deliver pizzas, and Kroger and Safeway to deliver groceries. But beyond that, drones will enable homes to be taken off the grid with delivery of water and electricity (changing out batteries for the home), trash and sewage pickup, and much more. These too will begin as air-powered vehicles and later convert to frictionless drones.

There will never be flying cars. And no, you can’t have a pony.

10 shopping days till my birthday.

You’ll want to get something this weekend so that you can mail it to me in time.

Mr. Political Spine that Bends with the Breeze begins run for president.

A McCain vs. Hillary election would definitely get me voting 3rd party. Wasted vote or not, I couldn’t bring myself to vote for either of them.

He’s like that principal with the bat, except he uses toast. And it’s Montana, not an inner city school.

Britian unprepared for alien invasion says one of their own guys.

Frankly, we are wide open – if something does not behave like a conventional aircraft now, it will be ignored.”

But if movies have taught me anything, it’s that a virus, computer or actual, will kill them off so I’m not too worried.

A burrito is not a sandwich. It’s good to see some common sense coming down from the bench.

Mmm, burritos.

We’re not a bunch of gay hippie commies, says San Fransisco.

Clothing maketh the woman.

One of the best commercials ever. I almost ROFLed. Definitely LOLed.

The power of cheese commercial about the moon is the best commercial evar.

It’s completely useless and completely awesome. I need a bumpersticker that I can change the display on.

Possibly the bravest man alive. Surgery, in a third world hospital. I shudder to think of it. Visit one sometime, you’ll see what I mean.

Also, just like your parents, he warns against getting what you wanted.

How to make a carboard tshirt folder.

Hamas tells Muslims to direct their fury toward America. Somehow this is a radical new direction for terrorists. And yes, we all blame Bush you might as well too.

Mythbusters bloopers.

The downside: weeks and months of gloating. The upside: maybe this will stuff up the whole process and nothing will get done for two years.

Mark Steyn stayed up late so you didn’t have to.

Hilarious Christopher Hitchens interview.

Scrappleface has George Bush’s top ten positive results of the election.

10. New York Times and CNN will carry much less negative news about Congress.
9. Rhode Island Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee lost and Connecticut Democrat Sen. Joe Lieberman won, a net gain of two for the GOP.
8. We may finally get to see the Democrat plan for victory in Iraq.
7. Taxpayers will be relieved of the burden of making so many investment decisions.

We’ll let anyone vote, won’t we?

that is when this smarmy, poll worker came over and said sir your have to leave to voting area, she took me by my arm. I started screaming, disenfranchisement, disenfranchisement, help I am being disenfranchised.

#139 at my polling place. Fairly crowded being the noon hour, mostly 20-30 year olds. I love the postive spin on the stickers. No more “I voted”, now it’s “My voted counted”. Heh.

Apparently it’s news when a Christian politician actually believes one of the basic tenets of the faith.

Global warming has arrived. It’s November, the temperature is 60 and the winds are blowing at 20-40mph. I don’t see a downside.

It’s ironic that I can’t stand listening to or watching local politics, but I love reading about it. Assuming it’s Lileks doing the writing, of course.

Good to see the family reaching the heights.

I’m just posting this for the obvious jokes.

The researchers have found seven stones in all, which they believe date from the 10th century. Jellinge stones tell of the founding of Denmark and of Christianity’s arrival in the country.

Also, stealing pic-a-nic baskets, smarter than average bears, escaping from the Ranger.

Best inventions of 2006, according to Time Magazine. I know I’ve seen the wheelie snow shovel thing before. It was mocked because where do you fling the snow? Right back onto your path. Genius.

So, Saddam is guilty. Who knew?

BofA has their little Keep the Change thing where they round up your purchases to the dollar and put the difference in the savings account. After two weeks, $5.00. Not bad, and it’s painless. I won’t be retiring on it or anything, but as some great thinkers once said, everything counts in large amounts.

Here’s a tip: If you’re a pastor, don’t buy meth from gay prostitutes. I would have thought that went without saying, but apparently not.

World ends, sushi lovers hardest hit.

Weren’t we supposed to run out of fish 20 years ago?

Seems that those Iraqi documents that the Bush Administration put out on the web contain dangerous levels of information. Not dangerous in the hands of Saddam Hussein, of course, just dangerous in the hands of internet denizens.

Among the dozens of documents in English were Iraqi reports written in the 1990s and in 2002 for United Nations inspectors in charge of making sure Iraq had abandoned its unconventional arms programs after the Persian Gulf war. Experts say that at the time, Mr. Hussein’s scientists were on the verge of building an atom bomb, as little as a year away.

Because DDR isn’t torturous enough.

John Hawkins reads America Alone so you don’t have to.

A nice little video from Scrappleface.

GIs mock Kerry.

For the record, I recognized immediately that he was trying to slam Bush and flubbed it. It is the most obvious explanation, which we all know is usually the correct one, but man, he sure just kept on digging, didn’t he. He should have just apologized to the troops and not tried to blame Bush. Kinda dumb the way he handled it.

Here you go, Jay explains it.

Good news about Iraq, if you can stand it.

Papua New Guinea threatening to cut off Australian aid over something or other.

It’s NaNoWriMo, in case you were planning to write the Great American Novel.

A brief fisking of Maureen Dowd column.

Need I say more?

Oh, okay then. He’s reviewing not funny comedies for snobs.

Seems that 24% of Protestants and 36% of Catholics are confused as to what a Christian is.

Not everyone who described themselves as Christian or Jewish said that they believed in God. Only 76 percent of Protestants, 64 percent of Catholics, and 30 percent of Jews said they are “absolutely certain” there is a God.

It’s World Vegan Day. Vegetable haters rejoice