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Saturday, September 10, 2005
To answer my own question from three paragraphs below, "thankfully, no -- Christopher Walken is not running for president." Whew!
While I'm here posting this correction/update, I might as well note the couple of interesting things I ran across this week: a scientist is on his way to inventing bullet-proof fatigues, Sharpe creates a seriously old-school pocketwatch inspired by Stonehenge (which I suppose would be handy to have, post-apocalypse), a college student at Kent State gives Microsoft's lawyers a dose of their own medicine, and crocodile immune systems are so strong they can kill the HIV virus. Finally, have you ever used Google to search for the phrase "Rumsfeld Fighting Technique"?
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Since the clutter in the basement got seriously reorganized, cleaned up, and shelved, and our new pool table is put together and re-felted (and we painted the room) I feel like I can finally take a moment and put something up here. I've been running across some interesting things on the web for the last couple of weeks, which I've been saving up for a post. But it'll be a quickie -- I've got to get back to things down there — hanging a light fixture and a canvas curtain which will separate the front half/pool room from the back half/storage are my next projects. Then we just need to find one of those suspension rack/shelf thingies for Lisa's old TV, and we'll be all set!
First up, we have hearing aids for the unimpaired. Yes, that's right, the unimpaired. I would so love to have one of these — I always have trouble understanding speech in rooms where a lot is going on noise-wise, like the store where I work on weekends. I swear I depend partially on lip-reading cues to make out what people are trying to say to me. Next we have one of the best high-res wallpaper sites I've found in a while and people tinkering with their hybrid vehicles to get 250mpg fuel efficiency. Also, Seiko has demonstrated the world's first electronic paper watch and some company I've never heard of has developed a laser & infrared-based Virtual Keyboard for PDA and SmartPhone devices that looks pretty amazing. Of course, speaking of keyboards, I think every geek I know would like an Optimus LED keyboard (if the cost is reasonable, that is.) While we're hitting the new technologies, now all we need is some good AI for this remote control lawnmower so that I don't even have to be involved in my lawn maintenance. (But I guess I shouldn't really complain since the drought we had this summer meant I only had to mow once every 6 weeks.)
In the social arena, we also have the new concept of "podnography"; it could only be so long before sex had to penetrate podcasting. (Pun very much intended.) Also, in response to el Presidente "W" throwing his support behind the Intelligent Design theory (which seems most accurately and humorously described as "Creationism dressed up in a cheap tuxedo") the folks over at Effect Measure have written a very entertaining response letter to The Designer. Holy cow, Dorothy, I'm sure glad I don't live in Kansas. Speaking of unintelligable babble and the highest office in our land, when did Christopher Walken become a politician, much less a 2008 candidate for president? Is this for real?
Also, a couple of links have been added to the Timekillers page, in the weblogs/newsfeeds area; I've gotten into Digg recently. Check it out. Oh, and if you like/listen to podcasts, be sure to drop by This Week in Science if you haven't already given it a spin.
Monday, May 23, 2005
I just found out my pal Robert is being published in Digital Dish, a new book dedicated to sharing gastronomical blogger content with the non-webby world. Inspired, I set to exploring the foodie online journal world today, an enormous landscape of writing whose staggering size & variety I found difficult to wrap my head around, much less sort through in a single afternoon. I was surprised by how much of this kind of writing is out there, and how much of it is actually pretty well done, both publishing and aesthetics-wise. Certainly, the evolution of blog software and web publishing/design packages has made the task of putting together a decent website much easier in the past few years, and the foodies are using it to great advantage. Although I may not have time to read all of these sites regularly ("Hah! Quite impossible," I shout to myself) they're certainly there to enjoy when I can, and to steal recipes from shamelessly for my own trial & error adventures in the kitchen. Thus, I've collected a new passel of bookmarks, and will be adding a new section to my Timekillers page with all sorts of this goodness.
While we're on the cooking-and-eating topic, the Food Network (foodtv.com) despite swirling down the drain content-wise the last couple of years (see my friend Robert's rant on this subject, he's distilled into words the problem far better than I ever could) has a new show called "Good Deal" by a guy named Dave Lieberman. I've only seen two shows so far, but I like his casual & genuine approach and focus on realistic cooking (not to mention realistic budget for ingredients.) Check it out if you're inclined toward that sort of thing. And let's hope the Food Network execs don't manage to turn him into an overly-primped shouter like they did Rachael Ray.
I've been reading more, recently. It's something I absolutely loved as a child, even through my teenage years, when most of my peers seemed to be spending the bulk of their time watching MTV or hanging out in malls. Two of my early low-wage, still-putting-myself-through-school jobs involved working in bookstores. Books have always been some of my most treasured possessions, and although around packing-up-and-moving time I always curse the collection I've acquired over the years and wonder if there isn't a way to turn them all into PDF documents I could store on my Mac, I really do love them — even if they are dinosaurs, technologically. These days, it's frequently easier for me to do my reading in shorter bursts, or with more news-related material I find on the web. But books are making a comeback with me, if for no other reason than I'm beginning to hunger for more interesting and educational content than I find online (although on the educational front, I still strive to read at least two good-sized entries in Wikipedia every week.) On that quest, I recently picked up Freakonomics, a very different sort of book. (I can't quickly describe it any better than the blurb on Amazon, so go follow that last link and come back.) It's full of interesting insights and useful knowledge, and I highly recommend it. You can find a highly abridged section from one of the books chapters published on the USA Today website: whether parents matter.
Recently, I've also run across a few interesting tidbits on the web (as usual) and I'm always willing to share: Store Wars: this Lucas-spoofing organic foods propaganda info-mercial is nothing short of hilarious genius. On the scary side of things, potentially embedding RFID tech into DVD's seems like going way overboard on the anti-piracy merchant vessel. We also have researchers finding the sarcasm lobe of the brain, canine collars cultivating cliques, an alarm clock that will escape your half-comatose attempts at its snooze button, and the amusing results of Merriam-Webster's request for dictionary entries that aren't. Can I also mention that I sooo need a Red Dragon Torch Kit?
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Argh. Back & neck problems and intestinal irritation over the last couple of weeks have been making for a less-than-ideal me recently. Finally got a good referral, I think, for an internist (a doctor with a specialization in Internal Medicine, that is) from a radiologist I helped out at work last week. I've got an appointment for an initial (new patient) visit next week, and I would imagine I'll be going in for official double-scope-penetration shortly thereafter. Gee, won't that be fun. (Now, if only I could make what a blue film starlet does for that kind of action, instead of paying out of pocket for the "pleasure.") ::sigh::
On the less disgusting side of things, I've run across some wonderful, interesting, or weird items over the last couple of weeks, so as usual, here's a round-up: a photographer wielding a four gigapixel camera, an Indian tinkerer may be overhauling the internal combustion engine, celebrating the body beautiful, the troubles you can have with piloting a submarine these days, and the world's first (to be) orbital hotel.
Also, a technology columnist finally asks the question in the back of the minds of so many computer users: Why does Windows still suck? Heh. We also have the Mac Mini as trojan horse, a great review of headphones to use with your iPod, a cellphone-driven virtual girlfriend (how sad would that be?), a pretty decent introduction to the game of poker over at How Stuff Works, and some bacteria frozen for the last 32,000 years woke up in the lab when thawed. (How groggy would you be after a nap that long?)
In the grisly and unsettling category, we have cultured bone wedding rings and a voodoo knife block, (because after all, everyone's kitchen needs more emotionally-driven stabbing while you're making dinner.) For those just seeking amusement (and science fiction geeks everywhere) we have a piece on How To Destroy The Earth. And finally, for fellow webmasters, how to disable Google's new Autolink feature.
A quick note for posterity ...I put all that together just during the boring speeches in tonight's 77th annual Academy Awards. Heh.
Monday, January 10, 2005
Wow, almost ten months since the last entry here. Well, no time like the present to keep not doing what I haven't been, but I've run across a few dead links in my link pages, so I've updated those and expanded some sections. While I was at it, I ran across some cool stuff: the Top 10 Paranormal Events of 2004, NASA to blow up a comet on July 4th, "frequent flyer" currency pool now larger than the $, £, €, or ¥; and a stapler that doesn't ...uh, use staples. Oh, and if you're the kind of person who likes well-designed and rugged gear, you owe it to yourself to check out Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools website.
And for the folks who ask me about how to protect their computers from adware, spyware, virii, trojans, malware, and becoming a spam-zombie, see Bruce Schneier's advice on safe personal computing. It's a good start. I especially love his comment under the "Operating Systems" topic. Heh.
Monday, March 15, 2004
Home today feeling puny... something I ate just didn't work out with my intestines the way one might prefer -- that is, stomach-clutching cramps and nausea free. So I'm keeping it on the down-low today, browsing the web from the couch under a blanket with the laptop and trying to catch up on some reading. First off is this terrifying article from over at Rolling Stone about the horrors Bush and his clan of evil-doers have been visiting upon our environment over the last three years, diminishing our collective quality of life in this country in favor of increased profits for big industry. Gee, rolling back 30 years worth of policy intended to keep this country from becoming the poisoned and scorched earth we saw in the Matrix series of movies, that sounds like ...such a swell idea. Yet another reason to vote against Bush in the upcoming election. (A somewhat interesting concept, that -- voting against a candidate as opposed to voting for his opponent... but no worries, it looks like Kerry could be doing a much better job. I'll be happy to vote for him as well.)
For instance, all that nonsense Bush's gang of talking heads was spewing about Kerry simultaneously criticizing the intelligence community for its failures and then turning around and trying to "gut their budget" back after 9/11? Complete and total horse poop, as it turns out. A complete misrepresentation of the truth by the republicans ...which (sadly) seems to be the way things are done now in politics, but this seems like dirtier pool than usual, if you ask me. I like the shortened explanation: "it's like Kerry claiming his tax refund, and then Bush accusing him of raiding the treasury." And I thought Republicans were supposed to be the fiscally conservative party...
Lastly, there's an interesting article over at the Economist about the Copenhagen Consensus, an ambitious Danish think-tank exercise to analyze the many issues in the world clamoring for our attention and provide a cost-benefit framework for decision making about where to direct our limited resources. The recipe: take nine of the world's most distinguished economists, four of them Nobel laureates, the rest promising hopefuls, and lock them in a room discussing commissioned papers written on economic, social, and environmental factors. Deliberate for a few weeks, and see if a consensus can be reached. Whatever the results, they have to be more focused than the current subject-to-current-press-and-public-pressure ADHD-inspired method of distribution of aid resources our government currently utilizes.
Friday, March 12, 2004
Gee, even more proof that Bush and his collective of neoconservative hawks lied to the country in order to get the war on... I'm shocked.
Monday, March 8, 2004
Slate has one of the best articles on Bush I've seen in a while. Seems pretty fairly balanced, left to right, based on some of the economic principles behind tax cuts that were discussed, but takes Bush to task for his one overarching flaw: bullheadedness. In the less neutral, but way more amusing (and scary) department, we have the George Bush résumé.
On a non-political note: I've been reading/enjoying Cory Doctorow's newest book in bits and pieces (as I have time to read in front of the computer), and I also found this transcript of a speech he gave at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference highly interesting. There's no doubt that (e-)books are in the process of changing, and Cory has some very savvy analysis on the topic.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
This blog entry has got to be one of the more exhaustive lists of reasons I've seen not to re-elect Dubya. Color me impressed with this guy's research/persistence. Oh, and on the same W-flavored topic, this flash animation almost made me choke on a pretzel, I laughed so hard.
Thursday, February 12, 2004
There's a fabulous critical-review-of-the-fourth-estate piece over at the New York Review of Books entitled, "Now they tell us" about how the NY Times and other publications (under the national political climate at the time) rolled over and played dead for the Bush administration when they should have been giving more voice to dissenting opinions and doing more careful, independent research. It's long, but well worth the read.
In the This is Neat! category, can't decide what movie to rent? Answer 20 personality questions once, and then return anytime you want to rent a video and tell it what kind of mood you're in, and whattorent.com's computer cluster will find a film you'll (hopefully) enjoy.
Fellow Safari users (well, those of you on Panther/OS X 10.3) might like the review of Safari 1.2's improvements over at Dave Hyatt's blog.
While us Mac-ophiles probably pay more attention to what Pixar does because Uncle Steve is the CEO of both companies, a lot of folks watch Disney movies (especially if you have kids) and might be interested in the Disney/Pixar split, which was apparently personality conflict-driven.
In the slightly unnerving department, we have the Swipe Toolkit, a tool for finding out what kind of personal information about you is kept, bought, and sold.
Also slightly unsettling (at least to me, over the years) is the seeming public consensus that CD-R media (recordable CD's) are all the same, so whatever's cheapest is the best deal. For years, I've been saying otherwise, so it's nice to see my viewpoint and experience borne out, in quite a few places: a recent Macintouch report (also see parts 2 & 1), NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology), a couple of Information Week pieces, and other media- and technology-oriented websites, like CDFreaks, SilverAce, not to mention the better comments in the general discussion on Slashdot. In short, buy Mitsui products for anything you want to really last. If you have to buy locally for the convenience and lower prices, and your project is more temporary (i.e., not for long-term archival purposes) at least get Verbatim Data Life Plus CD-R's. Avoid at all costs cheapo generics and the not-much-better manufacturers like Maxell, Memorex, PNY, etc. (Kodak and Sony used to be good, but they've stopped manufacturing the gold-reflective discs that used to be their higher-quality lines.) Case closed.
Wednesday, December 3, 2003
GO READ THIS NOW: Wired magazine interviews Bill Joy, cofounder of Sun Microsystems on "greedy markets, reckless science, and runaway technology." An absolutely fascinating read; this guy is a flippin' genius, I must say.
A few interesting links I've run across recently: blogs written by fellow Apple employees, as well as some who are definitely not. An especially amusing and thoughtful bit was written by John Gruber in an interview over at waferbaby.com, a sort of collective blog. He uses a simile that some people are able to perceive the difference between the Mac and Windows interfaces just like some people are able to perceive a qualitative difference between a $15 and a $50 bottle of wine, and that if you're the sort of person who can't perceive that difference, you shouldn't make the de facto assumption that there then isn't any such difference.
Bonus links for fellow Apple geeks: a nice article on journaling in OS X 10.3, enhanced Fast User Switching, and a knowledgebase article on how to get the most out of your iPod battery.
Friday, October 31, 2003
What a strange ride it's been recently. A great many of you probably know that I accepted a position with a certain large computer maker, whose products I have been so enthusiastic about for years. And everything about it is great -- the people, the environment, the gear... I'm loving it all. However, due to corporate rules regarding online commentary about products, procedures, and any kind of information that a team of company lawyers could possibly conceive of as internal information, conflict of interest, or inappropriate communications and marketing, I'm going to be removing my journal from this site -- because I've certainly commented here and there on them at points. However, this wasn't really a decision based on their rules... it just made for a convenient reason to take offline that which I'd been worrying needed to be removed anyway. This little site has just become too easily found for my comfort... based on search engine referral web stats, it's just not enjoying the security via obscurity that it used to.
So this will be the last personal entry you'll see here ...from now on, I'll only be posting interesting tidbits I ran across on the web and other non-personal commentary. Good news however: this should start happening more regularly, because on Monday morning, I'm getting broadband again! Hip-hip-hooray!
more...
As always, previous blog entries can be found in the archive.