Category Archives: Uncategorized

Cool pictures of the Chilean volcano eruption.

I think I would excel at this, assuming I can have a book or two, maybe a computer. If I didn’t already have a job and life and stuff like that.

COBRA!

For your sensitive information and Star Trek fanfic you don’t want anyone to see. I’m cross using in Windows and Linux with a few files on a thumb drive and it works quite nicely.

How secure is it really? I have no idea, but it’ll keep your friends and relatives out of your stuff. Unless they work for the NSA or something possibly….

The depression that couldn’t.

Well, it’s early days, to be fair, but so far the Great Depression 2008 is shaping up to be a Great Disappointment. Not so much The Grapes of Wrath as Raisins of Mild Inconvenience. Last week the Commerce Department reported that the US economy – battered by the credit crunch, pummelled by a housing market collapse and generally devastated by the wild stampede of animal spirits – actually grew in the first three months of the year.

Actions affect thoughts. Who knew?

Normally, it’s thought that it’s a psychological state that leads to a body movement. The study suggests it goes both ways, that a body movement also can trigger a psychological state.

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It’s a heartwarming tale and all but when you’re a .153 hitter and hit your only homerun in 4 years and then you tear your knee, maybe you should consider another sport.

It’s a giant duh from National Review.

But with nobody looking at the big economic picture, we are running a real risk of drifting into a ’70s-style policy mix of high taxes, loose money, a weak dollar — and stagflation.

If you’re planning a remodel and want to put in a secret passage or hidden safe, there’s a company to help you.

I’m shocked, shocked to discover that natural climate variations will put global warming on hold for 10 years.

Global warming will be “put on hold” over the next decade because of natural climate variations, scientists claim.

A study of sea temperature changes predicts a lull as traditional climate cycles cancel out the heating effect of greenhouse gases from pollution.

It’s almost as if nature were a vast, complex system of counterbalancing phenomena.

Imagine how cold the next 10 years would be if all this global warming hadn’t happened. We’d have had to panic about the coming ice age. Thanks, global warming!

I had the 80s version of these as a kid, in much better color patterns. The pillows were great for whacking people, being long, easy to hold and stiff enough to cause serious impact.

You can help make the most audacious casting choice for Bilbo Baggins come true.

If you want cool iTouch effects on your Windows Mobile device, you’re in luck.

I don’t agree with everything Friedman says in his column, but he does make a couple good points. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to find them.

And Obama is dead on with his political ploy comments.

Also, and I realize how shocking this may be, Congress is part of the problem.

A horribly mangled list of the 50 funniest TV shows ever. They have the good stuff on the list, just in the wrong places. All in the Family is not funnier than, well, any of them.

Maybe Everybody Loves Raymond…no, not even funnier than that.

Sorry, I can’t find the print friendly version. Here you go: Continue reading →

At least we can kick them apart still.

Rove’s advice for Obama.

If the US seems crowded to you, get on the freeway nearest you and drive to the other side of the country. After hours of driving through empty expanses of any state west of the Mississippi, I think you’ll see my point.

Not that city planners shouldn’t plan for more traffic than they think necessary. Please, make the streets as robust as you like.

For…for the environment.

The result is that big government accomplished at a stroke what the free market could never have done: They turned the food supply into a subsidiary of the energy industry. When you divert 28 percent of U.S. grain into fuel production, and when you artificially make its value as fuel higher than its value as food, why be surprised that you’ve suddenly got less to eat? Or, to be more precise, it’s not “you” who’s got less to eat but those starving peasants in distant lands you claim to care so much about.

It’s like DDT again. We get a bee in our bonnet, poor people around the world die.

The Christian street rises up. It’s just the radical fringe.

The week in peeps.

A press guy for the Mexican consulate took off with a bunch of White House Blackberrys. Secret Service caught him at the airport. He claimed diplomatic immunity and left. That’s just funny.

Because waving your arms around isn’t enough exercise.

Mark Steyn on the best and worst case scenarios of the election for both parties.

LG plans to make up to 32″ OLED TVs by 2011.

Also, they’re pretty funny.

Do something nice for the earth. I’m going to leave my door open and heat the blasted thing since it obviously doesn’t know it’s APRIL and SPRINGTIME yet.

An analysis of the Red Shirt phenomenon.

National Geographic wallpapers.

Taking vitamins may or may not increase your life span.

Everyone agrees that Vitamin C is good though.

My point is that, as you do your taxes, you should remember where your tax dollars are going, and recognize that you, as a citizen, have a moral obligation to prepare your tax return with the same degree of conscientiousness that Congress exhibits in spending your money.

Yet more proof that lottery winners aren’t the cream of the lottery player crop, necessarily.

A clear, concise look at quantum nonlocality and FTL communication.

Fox okays a new Ronald Moore series that, if it shows any promise to be awesome whatsoever, they will promptly cancel.

For you poor suckers that owe money, you have all day to get your taxes done. If I owed money I wouldn’t even start doing them until about 8 tonight. Adds a frisson of fear to the hatred of the IRS and the Schedule D.

So, the lens grinders called and said that to make functional sunglasses in my prescription is laughable. I fell back to Plan B which is contacts. So I spent 30 minutes under trained supervision trying to stick my finger in my eyes. That was fun.

As much fun as a poke in the eye, both eyes, actually.

Then I took them out, which made me sad because all that hard work was just wasted. But a new prescription always makes me a bit off-balance and I didn’t want to drive home with them in.

Supposedly it gets easier with practice. I’m debating whether to wear contacts tomorrow or wait another day…for better weather…or something. I just don’t want to have to get up a half-hour early to poke myself in the eye really.

Okay, last year I learned that w****r was a word worth astricking in Britain. Now I have no idea what word they are astricking out this time.

Also, it shows that lottery winners are just as bad at math as lottery players. Perhaps I should say personal finance instead of math.

It also makes me want to go play the lottery because I just know I wouldn’t blow it if I won. Even $1 million would be enough. Heck, I’d be happy with $100,000. Now that I think about it, I’m pretty excited to be getting back $600 from the IRS next month.

I’m convinced.

An ode to Ken Lee.

No, it’s english.

And the improved version.

Unboxing a Babbage Difference Engine.

Idaho makes the news. Well, the magazine. For having one of the 10 most Pieces of Infrastructure We Must Fix Now. It’s Bonner County though. Who knows what those people up there are all on about.

Yay for Lileks and Mike, but the at least some of the charm was in the age of the movies.

A guy spent 2 years building a model of Minas Tirith from matches.

I’m not a huge apple (fruit, not computer) fan, but the horrible citrus here has forced me to be more adventurous. And in case you’re standing in the grocery store wondering if you should try them, the Pink Ladys that are on sale everywhere right now are good eating. Sweet with just a hint of tang, juicy and crispy. I haven’t run across a mealy, mushy one yet. Which is something I can’t say of just about every other apple, except the Fuji.

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure remake.

I’ll be over here shaking my head.

Greece says Macedonia can’t join NATO unless it changes it’s name because it totally already has a province named that.

The typography of Obama’s campaign. I really like the Whitney he mentions.

Also, Comic Sans sucks. Never, ever use it. This cannot be repeated enough.

I like Martin Wood and Amanda Tapping, and though Damien Kindler wrote the worst SG-1 episode ever, Space Race, I’ll check the show out, when it’s available on DVD.

Remind me about this next year.

5 lies you were told in history class (gratuitous F-bombs all over the place. Seriously, they’re not adding anything to the article).

That always annoyed me about science classes, too. “Yes, we taught you this last year, but that’s because we thought you were too dumb to learn it the right way the first time and it’s all not exactly true. This is true though.” Yeah, I’m going to believe you now, sucka. It happened in math a lot too. Why didn’t you just show me the fast, easy way everyone does it the first time! So annoying.

You know how a new study is always coming out that tells you what used to be definitely bad for you is now good and vice-versa? It’s water’s turn.

If you were thinking about getting Cinematic Titanic’s Oozing Skull, but were worried about committing to buying a disc, you can download it now.

Go buy it so they will make more.

For those that don’t want to listen to music but still want to use the Nike+ stuff.

I’ve found the Nike+ to be nifty, but not worth the effort. Despite repeated calibrations, it’s just not that accurate. It’s better than nothing I guess, and you can use it to judge relative improvements, but when it says I went 4 miles at a 8:35 pace, I know it’s lying. It was 3 miles at a 10:45 pace.

Enterprise has gone back in time and is orbiting Mars. NASA is trying to convince us it’s just a cloud. Which is more plausible, I ask you.

If nothing else this proves how similar all these songs are. Nice mashing though.

Also the New Kids on the Block are coming back. Ugh.

Virgle. It isn’t funny when they make fun your dreams. *sniff*

Gmail can save you though.

I am totally picking up one of these, however.

For you WoW weirdos.

Click on any featured video on YouTube.

Migrating Penguins.

Dextre the Magnificent.

The Battle of Amon Hen.

Ah, yes, the much vaunted youth vote that never actually ends up voting in elections.

Everyone was cool and froody in colonial times thanks to the fact that they drank like fish.

In 1790, United States government figures showed that annual per-capita alcohol consumption for everybody over fifteen amounted to thirty-four gallons of beer and cider, five gallons of distilled spirits, and one gallon of wine.

The 5 most ridiculous health scares in recent history (NSFW language).

And now I’m sitting here with my sunglasses on looking at my computer trying to get my eyes to focus.

My optometrist doesn’t take my new insurance. Which is bad. But not too bad because vision insurance only covers a ridiculously small amount of the price anyway. Oh, it’ll cover all the price if you get the absolute cheapest frames that don’t look good on anyone, and the lenses are thick glass that scratch easily, but who does that? So, not being covered is only 25-30% more expensive. A good optometrist is worth the price. And some quality advice on picking glasses is also worth the price. Not that there aren’t good optometrists that take my current insurance, but I found one I like and has not given me a bad prescription yet. I don’t want to go through all that again.

Anyway, I didn’t get my eyes dilated last time so I figured I better do it this time. I don’t want some horrible, yet easily preventable, eye disease on top of slowly going blind.

Did all the computer tests, peripheral vision, focusing, puff of air and went to go do the A or B, A or B part. And sat there staring at a big blurry E waiting for it to stop fading in and out. And waited. And waited. It was probably only 5 minutes but it felt like forever. My eyes eventually settled down some and we went on with the A or B part, but the doctor was not happy with the results.

Then came the fun drops in the eye. Nothing happens for a while and during that time I went out to discuss frames. Picking frames when you can’t see at all without your glasses on is fun. This is why I don’t mind paying more for good advice. I can’t see what I’m doing. Sure these look good on the rack, but are they too big for my face? How’s the color? I can’t tell when I have my nose less than an inch from the mirror and it’s still fuzzy.

I want sunglasses, well, I’d like sun and regular glasses but who has that kind of money? Anyway, because I have a narrow distance between my pupils AND have -6.5 in one eye and -5.something in the other my frame choices are limited. They have to call the lens people to see if they can pull the one I picked off. As we’re discussing this the room is slowly starting to get brighter and lights are starting to glow. I can no longer read the things in my file she is pointing to even with my glasses on.

A few minutes more of waiting and I go back for another focus test and then in for the A or B, A or B tests again. The numbing stuff did its work apparently and I was able to get to 20/20. Hurray. I have no idea what that was all about, except that I could indeed try to get the sunglasses, assuming they can wedge the lenses into the frames I like, of course.

If they can’t I think I’ll try contacts. I’ve had glasses for 27 years, maybe it’s time for a change.

Then the drive back to work. The sun behind clouds, good. The snow, bad. Cars with running lights, bad. Trying to read my computer, bad. Freaking out my coworkers with my fully dilated eyes, good.

The creator of the perfect blend of chewy, spicy, cheesy, deliciousy breakfast has died. There is a symmetry and poetry in the Sausage McMuffin with Egg that make it a thing of beauty. RIP.

I’m hungry.

If Axl Rose releases Chinese Democracy this year, Dr. Pepper (greatest. drink. evar.) will give everyone in America a free drink.

In an unprecedented show of solidarity with Axl, everyone in America, except estranged GNR guitarists Slash and Buckethead, will receive a free can of Dr Pepper if the album ships some time — anytime! — in 2008. Dr Pepper supports Axl, and fully understands that sometimes you have to make it through the jungle before you get it right.

UPDATE: now improved with actual link!

Sir Ian McKellen will play Gandalf in The Hobbit.

Economy slumps, illegals hardest hit.

Faced with a falling US dollar and a tougher climate for immigrants generally, Francisco Silva says many Brazilians are finding it harder to make a living in the US and are either returning home or going elsewhere.

“There is very little work and it is very difficult to get a driving licence.

“I think many are going to return this year and some will go to Canada because things in the States are much more difficult.”

The NY Times gets pwned over a video of a live Rickroll at an Eastern Washington basketball game.

Don’t know what Rickrolling is? Explaination here.

Also:

George Lucas is covering his…bases warning us not to get our hopes up for the Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull movie. I have a bad feeling about this. But the preview looked so good. I’m conflicted.

No backpedaling, no apology, just I meant what I said. Of course, he’s not an elected official dependent on the whims of the people which has to make it easier.

An uproar over warrantless searches for guns in homes? I bet if they tried they could to break all 10 of the bill of rights in one fell swoop.

21

Sony will let you buy a computer without all the crap on it that you have to uninstall, but it’ll cost you $50.

For the future, how to figure out when Easter will be:

((19*t+u-w-(u-(u+8)\25)+1)\3)+15)mod30)+(32+2*x+2*y-(19*t+u-w- (u-(u+8)\25)+1)\3)+15)mod30)-z)mod7)-7*(t+11*(19*t+u-w(u- (u+8)\25)+1)\3)+15)mod30)+22*(32+2*x+2*y-(19*t+u-w-(u- (u+8)\25)+1)\3)+15)mod30)-g)mod7)+114)\31

Unfortunately, the article doesn’t define any of the variables.

DARPA has managed to grow cyborg insects to adulthood.

It’s the birthday of the battery.

It’s the zooming through the holes that gets me.

You’ll want to turn the audio off.

In Japan if you’re a male size 34, you’re a fatty. And that’s going to cost your company money.

The New York Times through the ages on climate change.

This machine reminds me of a short story I read when I was a kid about a doughnut machine that went bonkers for some reason, a guy named Homer was involved I think, makes too many doughnuts and a lady lost her diamond bracelet in one of them.

Now I can recreate it at home.

I’m going to have to find a kid named Homer.

Arthur C Clarke died today. I was never a huge fan, but he was a massive influence on the science fiction genre that can’t be taken for granted. Actually he died tomorrow, which is cool.

Wonder when you’re going to get your stimulus money? Check your social security number. People that use direct deposit win this one.

If more judges wrote like this, I would be able to read law-type stuff.

With Big Chief tablet readied, thick black pencil in hand, and a devil-may-care laugh in the face of death, life on the razor’s edge sense of exhilaration, the Court begins.

Heaven help us if these things learn to replicate themselves.

Not even Democrats are willing to spend what is promised on the campaign trail.

The Gnome video. The end is the best part.

…what has Kristin been listening to as she works out?

You know, it has been a while and I’m glad you asked because I can’t find any interesting news today.

Can’t Believe a Single Word – VHS or BETA
The Story – Brandy Carlile
The Underdog – Spoon
Doot Doot Plot – The Hidden Cameras
Du Ska Inte Tro Att Det Ordan Sig – Dungen
Where’s Your Head At – Basement Jaxx
Panis Et Circenses – Os Mutantes
Under Pressure – Queen & David Bowie
Lookin’ Out My Back Door – Creedence Clearwater Revival
Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival
Sink to the Bottom – Fountains of Wayne
Someone to Love – Fountains of Wayne
You! Me! Dancing! – Los Campesinos!
Ladies and Gentlemen – Saliva
Girls In Their Summer Clothes – Bruce Springsteen
You Might Think – The Cars
Hollywood – Collective Soul
Down On the Corner – Creedence Clearwater Revival
Fiesta – Ween
Swans (Life After Death) – Islands
Baby Fratelli – The Fratellis
Continue reading →

The Burberry burkha.

Read the comments.

The classic Tuscan Milk comments.

Gene that causes longer life in mice and stuff found in humans.

So many people are walking into light poles in London while texting that they are going to try padding the poles. You would have thought this would be a self-correcting problem.

Well, I would have. Whack yourself once and I pay a lot more attention to that sort of thing.

CEO of HTFC cussed so much during his deposition that the judge fined him $29,000.

Later, Bodzin said: “We’re going to adjourn this deposition if this happens again because you are offending every single person.”

Wider responded: “‘Don’t speak for anybody in here except yourself [expletive] face.’”

Bodzin said he was speaking for himself and the court reporter.

Wider said: “‘If she had a problem with me she would say something. She knows it’s [not] directed toward her. It’s directed to you because you’re a [expletive] and a piece of garbage and I’m the only person in your life that is [expletive] up your world and I enjoy it.’”

What a charming person.

In Zimbabwe, I’d be a billionaire. Of course, a cup of coffee costs a million bucks. There’s pluses and minuses.

As with most things done by Congress, Daylight Savings time has the opposite effect of the one intended.

“There is surprisingly little evidence that DST actually saves energy,” they state in the abstract to their draft paper. “Our main finding is that — contrary to the policy’s intent — DST increases residential electricity demand.”

Personally, I can’t stand the spring forward and would willingly forgo the fall back to not have to spend the time adjusting.

If you’re going to buy placebos, get the expensive ones. They work better.

The mind is an amazing thing.

It’s a shame Oz Fitness took over for 24 Hour Fitness in Coeur d’Alene or they might have upgraded their treadmills. Which they have gotten their money out of because the same treadmills have been in there at least 10 years and 5 name changes. But my point was treadmills that sync to the Nano = cool. Nautilus could get in on this with weight machines that upload reps and load.

crossfit

On cliches.

It’s more that the prevailing drivel assumes that every adult in the country is a completely illiterate jerk who would rather feel than think and who must furthermore be assumed, for a special season every four years, to imagine that everyone else “in America” or in “this country” is unemployed or starving or sleeping under a bridge. The next assumption made by the drivel is that only a new president (or perhaps a sitting president who is somehow eager to run against Washington and everything else in his home town) can possibly cure all these ills. The non sequitur is breathtaking.

The Nebula Award finalists.

Earth and the Moon from Mars.

Also, avalanches on Mars.

See, they’re not free-loading backpackers because they’re trying to make a point.

The Get Smart trailer. I lol’d. Anne Hathaway makes me nervous though, didn’t seem very 99-ish.

Increasingly autonomous, gun-totting robots developed for warfare could easily fall into the hands of terrorists and may one day unleash a robot arms race, a top expert on artificial intelligence told AFP.

“They pose a threat to humanity,” said University of Sheffield professor Noel Sharkey ahead of a keynote address Wednesday before Britain’s Royal United Services Institute.

If only someone had thought about and dealt with the moral implications of using robots to kill, like I don’t know, every science fiction writer ever.

The virtual fence will remain virtual* for years, due to the surprising problems of costing too much, the contractors using ineligible equipment and the fact that it’s the government trying to do it.

*Virtual: Something which is a representation rather than the real thing. In advertising, the word “virtually” means “almost.”

Lileks has some old pictures of New York that are what the kids these days are calling “cool”.

Well, I have no idea what kids these days are saying, I don’t get the Disney Channel. Which would actually tell me what Disney writers think kids were saying last year, but that’s not important right now.

Mother Jones has a playlist of torture songs. It vacillates between angry and silly, but you might find something new you like.

Montana based its entrance into the Union in part on individual gun rights.

Latest science suggests that the earth will be swallowed by the sun in 7.6 billion years.

Sure it seems like a long time, but you’ll turn around in a couple billion years and wonder where the days have gone.

Mark Steyn on the decline of the Clinton star power.

Self-repairing rubber. Think of all the tire and toys that won’t require patching or throwing away anymore. The world would be a better place.

So, a couple weeks ago someone asked to look at my driver’s license and I realized it expired. 3 months ago. I thought I had better rectify the situation because though I haven’t gotten a ticket in years, no doubt now would be the time I did—Murphy’s Law and all that. Alas, you can only renew by mail once and I was forced to go to the DMV to get a new one. The old one was the classic laminated style that caused TSA officers (are they officers? workers?) to laugh anyway.

I walked in and there were people sitting everywhere, staring into space. A few kids were studying the driver’s manual. My heart sank. I grabbed a number. 86. Would you believe it? I sat down. Nothing happened for about a minute and I realized this would not be an in-and-out thing and I went out to get a book from my car. There was a guy at the counter and he seemed to be taking quite some time. This made me nervous. I read for a few minutes and they started calling numbers…78…79.. 80… Yes, they were blowing through these. Everyone was renewing. 81…he was taking the driver’s test. Speaking of kids these days, it seems that punk has come back, I saw two (sad) mohawks and a spikey blond Billy Idol look while I was there.

After about 10 minutes my number came up. I told the lady I needed to renew, handed her my license and sat back down and waited to get through the renew line. 10 more minutes of reading and my name was called. The lady in front of me in line seemed completely befuddled by the entire experience and needed all the directions twice. “Take this paper over there, fill out this part, sign at the bottom.” Blank stare. “Over there?” gesturing feebly with her purse. “Yes, take this paper over there…” Either she tests poorly or took too much prozac is all I can figure. The lady behind me was the chatty sort and was discussing lotion and things with the workers. I was somewhere in between. Took the eye test, gave my new address and info and got in line to pay.

They only take cash or checks! What?! Who doesn’t take debit cards in this day and age? Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department of Driver’s Licensing, that’s who.

Luckily I keep some emergency cash in my vehicle and went out to get it while I was waiting. Stood in that line a few minutes, paid my money, filled out my paper work, waited a few minutes, got my picture taken—and a fabulous picture it is too—I like how they ask if it’s okay. Uh, sure it’s for my license, I won’t ever look at it. With any luck no one will see it except the Del Taco people who ask for ID on a debit card. What is with that? Then I waited a few more minutes for my license to print out and was done.

The entire thing took 40 minutes, which isn’t too bad, all in all. As someone who hasn’t been there in 8 years and not since they moved into the new building it wasn’t a bad experience at all. The benches could be a bit more comfortable, but at least they were padded. The people working there were pleasant enough and competent and while there was some waiting around the lines were moving and that counts for a lot.

Video tape your life. Cool technology, freaky implications.

Turkey launches offensive into Iraq hunting Kurds.

My head is above water and I’m quite comfortable with my life, thank you. I sometimes worry that I’m too comfortable. The other shoe is going to drop sooner or later.

Dave Barry gets a colonoscopy.

Make sure you jump buddies aren’t mad at you before you jump.

Poor Obama.

Talk radio did this earlier with Barak supporters, but here it is in living color.

…apparently at some point Scotty has a “midget sidekick.”

I’m afraid the Star Trek movie is going to suck so much that black hole formation warnings may be needed.

The ice is back.

There’s one more fear we can stop panicking about. Don’t worry though. You still have the flu thing. And shark attacks should start in a couple months.

No, not really. But Steyn pulls together the news in an alarming way.

So I’ll post this insightful article instead.

If all the procrastinator had left to do was to sharpen some pencils, no force on earth could get him do it.

Scott Ott talks jibberish.

No one can believe this stuff?!