Star Wars: Expanded Universe | Checklist: Turning Star Wars Japanese -- Manga Scenes Done Better
Makes me wish I could read Japanese.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
Titan Has More Oil Than Earth
So apparently Saturn's moon Titan Has More Oil Than Earth. And if that doesn't spur the private space flight industry, then I don't know what will.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Are we all gerbils?
Okay, I just now saw a TV commercial for the Oral-B® Triumph™ with SmartGuide™ ProfessionalCare™ 9900. This is a toothbrush that communicates via radio frequency with the base station that sits on your counter while you're brushing. The base station has a display to tell you how long to brush in each quadrant of your mouth. It also displays a warning if you're brushing too hard, and at the end of brushing, it rewards you with a cute little digital smiley face to enjoy with your freshly brushed teeth.
Ummm... people? Have we really, seriously, actually gotten so uselessly stupid that we can't figure out how long we need to brush our teeth without an electronic nanny?
I'm waiting for the shoe tying assistant, the nose-blowing robotic arm, and a little electronic diagram that shows you how long to chew your food at each meal.
Ummm... people? Have we really, seriously, actually gotten so uselessly stupid that we can't figure out how long we need to brush our teeth without an electronic nanny?
I'm waiting for the shoe tying assistant, the nose-blowing robotic arm, and a little electronic diagram that shows you how long to chew your food at each meal.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
More RIAA antics
Radio stations want Congress to look into major label recording contracts
It appears the RIAA might have awakened a sleeping giant. Hopefully they get soundly pummeled, as they so richly deserve.
More coverage at Slashdot.
It appears the RIAA might have awakened a sleeping giant. Hopefully they get soundly pummeled, as they so richly deserve.
More coverage at Slashdot.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Scorched 3D
For anyone who remembers the old DOS game Scorched Earth, now there's Scorched 3D - A 3D Remake Of Scorched Earth. Brings back memories of Cirque. I don't even want to know how much of their time we wasted on that game. I'm trying very, very, very hard to resist the temptation to waste all my free time on the new version.
(No) Thanks to Matt for pointing it out. :-)
(No) Thanks to Matt for pointing it out. :-)
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Microsoft Giving Away Vista Ultimate, With a Catch
Slashdot | Microsoft Giving Away Vista Ultimate, With a Catch
Desperation, or just experimentation with a new and exciting method of spyware distribution? Possibly both.
No.
Thank.
You.
Desperation, or just experimentation with a new and exciting method of spyware distribution? Possibly both.
No.
Thank.
You.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Sunday, November 25, 2007
And here I am
Made it to Newfoundland without any drama. The plane was an Embrarer 190. I had never been on one of these before. Actually, I think they're fairly new. I think I saw one at one of the airports on our September trip, and couldn't figure out what it was. They're only slightly larger than a Canadair regional jet, but the engine configuration is more like a 737. The Embrarer is fine. It's two seats on each side like a CRJ, but it does have more space inside. Feels more like a 737, except there's no middle seat.
The approach to St. John's is interesting. Base leg was out over the Atlantic, and we got a nice view of the city at dusk. It's much nicer to look at from the air than Toronto is, although I still prefer being up in the mountains.
It's pretty well dark here already, the time is an hour and a half ahead of Toronto. I get a view of the harbor from my room, the hotel is almost right on the water. It's not the greatest view, as it's a working shipping port, but it could certainly be worse.
I don't know how much time we're going to have for sightseeing. Probably next to none. The cab driver gave us a virtual tour of the area, as much as he could in the 10 minute drive from the airport. It'll remain to be seen whether or not we'll have a chance to actually check out any of his recommendations or not.
More as I get a chance to post.
The approach to St. John's is interesting. Base leg was out over the Atlantic, and we got a nice view of the city at dusk. It's much nicer to look at from the air than Toronto is, although I still prefer being up in the mountains.
It's pretty well dark here already, the time is an hour and a half ahead of Toronto. I get a view of the harbor from my room, the hotel is almost right on the water. It's not the greatest view, as it's a working shipping port, but it could certainly be worse.
I don't know how much time we're going to have for sightseeing. Probably next to none. The cab driver gave us a virtual tour of the area, as much as he could in the 10 minute drive from the airport. It'll remain to be seen whether or not we'll have a chance to actually check out any of his recommendations or not.
More as I get a chance to post.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Don't like the forecast? Check again tomorrow
I'm headed out to St. John's, Newfoundland next week for business. I've never been east of Montreal, so it should be an interesting experience. In preparation, I've been watching the weather forecast. The Weather Network has a graph of the upcoming 14 Day Trend. Normally I'm used to the forecast being somewhat accurate for the next three days or so, then less so every day in the future. But if I watch the 14 day trend for Toronto, it looks somewhat similar as the dates march across the calendar.
I've been warned by others in the office that the weather out there is significantly less predictable than it is here. Honestly, I don't know why they even bother putting together a forecast for St. John's. This graph looks completely different every time I check it. I think their "computer model" is a simple random number generator.
The bottom line is to be prepared for anything and everything, whether it's sun, rain, snow, slush, freezing rain, wind, hurricane, or sea monster attack. From what I've been able to gather, these are all equally likely. Watch this space for sea monster pictures.
I've been warned by others in the office that the weather out there is significantly less predictable than it is here. Honestly, I don't know why they even bother putting together a forecast for St. John's. This graph looks completely different every time I check it. I think their "computer model" is a simple random number generator.
The bottom line is to be prepared for anything and everything, whether it's sun, rain, snow, slush, freezing rain, wind, hurricane, or sea monster attack. From what I've been able to gather, these are all equally likely. Watch this space for sea monster pictures.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Friday, November 02, 2007
As if I needed another way to waste time
I've seen several of the pictures, of course. However, I had no idea that LOLcats were such a prevalent phenomenon. It's way too easy to spend way too much time looking at pictures and more pictures. They even have a history.
I don't know why I like these so much. Yes, they're cute and yes, they're also stupid. Honestly, so are cats most of the time. Really. I have five. They're just as stupid as they are cute, which is why they're so entertaining.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Cell phones
Our current cell phone contract is ending next month, so I've been thinking about what we might want to do with them next. Of course, one option is to just leave things as they are, but where's the fun in that?
I've figured out that for the amount we use our phones (i.e. not very much) we'd be better off to go with a pre-paid plan. We're probably going to get unlocked GSM phones on eBay and go with Rogers for the plan. I like the idea of having an unlocked phone, that way we can just get a SIM card with a local Utah number for when we're there. Swap cards, and it becomes a local phone.
The next question is what kind of phone to get. There are advantages to both of us having the same model. We can use the same charger and other accessories, and we're familiar with how they work in case we need to borrow the other phone. However, Norah wants a PDA phone to replace her aging iPaq. It makes sense to combine two devices in to one. Personally, I don't want anything that large. I'm planning on getting rid of my Palm Pilot (circa 2000) as well, but I prefer to move to more of a web-based groupware solution. Google Calendar for now until I can figure out a groupware server to run on our own machine. I've figured out that virtually every phone currently on the market can actually sync up with Google Calendar. Even my current phone has a little calendar on it that's sufficient for mobile use. I do, however, want a quad band phone, so I'll be getting a new phone eventually. I just don't know what or when yet.
The ironic thing is that I spend a lot more time thinking about my cell phone than I do actually talking on the silly thing. I do love my gadgets.
I've figured out that for the amount we use our phones (i.e. not very much) we'd be better off to go with a pre-paid plan. We're probably going to get unlocked GSM phones on eBay and go with Rogers for the plan. I like the idea of having an unlocked phone, that way we can just get a SIM card with a local Utah number for when we're there. Swap cards, and it becomes a local phone.
The next question is what kind of phone to get. There are advantages to both of us having the same model. We can use the same charger and other accessories, and we're familiar with how they work in case we need to borrow the other phone. However, Norah wants a PDA phone to replace her aging iPaq. It makes sense to combine two devices in to one. Personally, I don't want anything that large. I'm planning on getting rid of my Palm Pilot (circa 2000) as well, but I prefer to move to more of a web-based groupware solution. Google Calendar for now until I can figure out a groupware server to run on our own machine. I've figured out that virtually every phone currently on the market can actually sync up with Google Calendar. Even my current phone has a little calendar on it that's sufficient for mobile use. I do, however, want a quad band phone, so I'll be getting a new phone eventually. I just don't know what or when yet.
The ironic thing is that I spend a lot more time thinking about my cell phone than I do actually talking on the silly thing. I do love my gadgets.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
My truck has a bug
I was driving along yesterday morning, and looked over my right shoulder to check the blind spot before changing lanes. This guy was sitting there on the passenger side head rest looking at me, about a foot or so from my face. Once I got over my Temple of Doom flashback, I realized that he was harmless, but he still got my attention.He sat through the whole ride up there. Once I got stopped, I grabbed this pic with the cell phone, then evicted him to the parking lot.
Monday, September 24, 2007
We're back
We actually got back on Saturday evening. Landed in Buffalo a bit late, around 4:30. By the time we fooled around with baggage claim (which took ages), grabbed a snack, filled up the truck with cheap New York gasoline ($3.15 / gallon is much cheaper than it is in Ontario) and drove back home, it was about 7:30.
I posted earlier about the number of children on flights in to and out of Utah. That's still true. From Salt Lake to Chicago we had a family of 8 (6 kids plus parents) behind us. The kids weren't too terrible. A few unwelcome kicks to the back of our seats, but not much in the way of noise.
There weren't as many kids from Chicago to Buffalo, but one boy on that flight made up for a small army of other children. His name was Anthony. Anthony is about two years old. Anthony didn't want to sit down, fasten his seat belt, sit in his seat, or do anything that his mother asked him to. Notice that the operative term is ask. As in "Anthony, pleeeeease sit down and be a good boy for Mommy, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease???" And of course, Anthony's reply was "I DON'T WANNA!!!!!!!!!" And then he would proceed to pound on the back of Norah's seat.
Not wanting to spend time in a jail in Buffalo, I controlled the urge to forcefully place Anthony back in his seat against his will. Granted that Norah and I have a very low tolerance threshold for bratty children. We don't have any kids, and we don't feel that we should have to put up with anyone else's. I knew that Anthony was particularly bad when other parents on the plane started complaining about him. His mother finally managed to get him to be quiet by holding him on her lap, which elicited a round of applause from the other passengers. The stewardess informed Anthony's mother that Anthony would need to be in his own seat for landing, according to federal law. Anthony was nowhere near his own seat at the time of landing. I think he had managed to crawl under our seats by that point, in the space reserved for carry-on bags.
Let it be known that I am now a strong advocate for adults-only flights. Or at least sections. Like what they used to do for smokers, once upon a time.
"Will you be sitting in bratty offspring, or no bratty offspring?"
I posted earlier about the number of children on flights in to and out of Utah. That's still true. From Salt Lake to Chicago we had a family of 8 (6 kids plus parents) behind us. The kids weren't too terrible. A few unwelcome kicks to the back of our seats, but not much in the way of noise.
There weren't as many kids from Chicago to Buffalo, but one boy on that flight made up for a small army of other children. His name was Anthony. Anthony is about two years old. Anthony didn't want to sit down, fasten his seat belt, sit in his seat, or do anything that his mother asked him to. Notice that the operative term is ask. As in "Anthony, pleeeeease sit down and be a good boy for Mommy, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease???" And of course, Anthony's reply was "I DON'T WANNA!!!!!!!!!" And then he would proceed to pound on the back of Norah's seat.
Not wanting to spend time in a jail in Buffalo, I controlled the urge to forcefully place Anthony back in his seat against his will. Granted that Norah and I have a very low tolerance threshold for bratty children. We don't have any kids, and we don't feel that we should have to put up with anyone else's. I knew that Anthony was particularly bad when other parents on the plane started complaining about him. His mother finally managed to get him to be quiet by holding him on her lap, which elicited a round of applause from the other passengers. The stewardess informed Anthony's mother that Anthony would need to be in his own seat for landing, according to federal law. Anthony was nowhere near his own seat at the time of landing. I think he had managed to crawl under our seats by that point, in the space reserved for carry-on bags.
Let it be known that I am now a strong advocate for adults-only flights. Or at least sections. Like what they used to do for smokers, once upon a time.
"Will you be sitting in bratty offspring, or no bratty offspring?"
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