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Planet Dave! Wednesday, July 21, 2004
The hysterical skies
Wil sent me this. It reinforces doubts I've had about the American people ever since 9/11. I realize that these people are probably just a vocal minority, but it bothers me that they choose to live in fear. Eventually, we'll have to change the National Anthem lyrics to something more accurate, like "land of the regulated and the home of the paranoid."
Voyager 1: Prepare for Action
My cousin Tom told me about this. Last October and November, there were some crazy solar storms. And in April, the resulting shock wave hit Voyager 2. The shock wave that left the sun late last year between 1500 and 2000 km/s, traveled 7 billion miles and hit Voyager 2 at 600 km/s. Voyager 1, at 9 billion miles from the Sun, is nearing the Heliopause. (The edge of the Sun's influence. Where space is dominated not so much by the solar wind as... well, frankly, I'm not sure what.) Scienists are anxiously awaiting what Voyager 1 discovers about the interaction between this solar burst and the heliopause.
Honest to God Lawn Chair
As in, an easy chair that is quite literally one with your lawn. It looks way cool, but $130 is a little steep. And how would you mow that?
Dubbya Wants to Reschedule the Election
Wow. This is truly something that can only be adequately covered by the Daily Show. If you missed the July 13th episode, download the clips.
Speakers From Altoids Tins
Ready Made magazine's MacGyver Challenge Winner is really cool. A pair of old headphones, a couple playing cards, and some Altoid tins, and you've got yourself a set of speakers.
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
More Conservatives Flip Out
Now, I hate to make judgements on the types of people to have certain beliefs. And I don't want to encourage stereotyping. But it seems like when liberals encounter ideas they disagree with, they talk, maybe joke about it. When a group of conservatives heard Linda Ronstadt voice a favorable opinion about Fahrenheit 9/11, they almost had a riot.
Apollo 11's 35th Anniversary
I missed the 35th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch. But the 35th anniversary of the landing is today! /. has a nice write-up on the story, including some cool links about the landing approach that was almost aborted. Check it out.
PlanetDave HowTo - 3D Mouse
From /., "Turn an ordinary wheel mouse into a 3D pointing device. All one needs is some string, some hot melt glue, and a lot of math. 3D mice have been floating around for a while, what will it take to get people to use them?" What will it take? How about applications that could utilize a 3D mouse? (Like Homeworld!)
Monday, July 19, 2004
University Implicated In Checks-For-Degrees Scheme
Marty sent me this troubling article about U of M. (Our alma mater.) Man. And I'm still paying off student loans.
The Crime of Trying to Live Free
Got this from Wil. It's about a Seattle photography student who's been repeatedly harrassed for taking pictures of the local Ballard Locks. He can't help but wonder if it's because he isn't white. We live in a country that should know better, but he might be right. Anyway, he put up a web site about it. When I read it, I was expecting that to be the last of it. (Sometimes we can just pretent something unfair didn't actually happen, and maybe even forget about it.) But BoingBoing had a thing about it with some follow-up links to the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. (Which is a screwed up name for a newspaper, if you ask me.) There's even a photo workshop at the locks scheduled for Sunday August 1st, from PM to 4PM. If I was closer to Seattle, I'd be there.
Latest From Jamie
Two things from Jamie for today. First of all, Poo Power. I guess it was only a matter of time. Second, a little article about how some email scammers are moving up to death threats. If you're one of the few who don't want the death penalty for spammers, maybe that'll change your mind.
Buzz Aldrin Socks a Lunatic
Ok, I realize this is old news. But I just stumbled across a video clip of the incident with Buzz Aldrin and a Moon landing conspiracy freak. The jerk got as far as "You're a coward, and a liar, and a-" before Buzz (72 at the time) clobbered him in the jaw.
Have Office Depot Recycle Your Old Computer
From /., "CNN reports that Office Depot will happily recycle one old electronics item per customer, per day, from July 18th through September 6th. Qualifying electronics include computers, monitors, printers, scanners, fax machines, digital cameras, cell phones, and TVs 27" or smaller. Office Depot and Hewlett Packard will be splitting the bill. What's coming out of your basement?"
Justice Department Can't Seem to Work a Server
Found this SFGate.com story over at J-Walk. Turns out that the Justice Department has been turning down Freedom of Information Act requests for an interesting reason. They're scared that granting such a request would crash their database and erase important data. Ok, everyone ask at once, how do THEY access the database? What does everybody think? Are they covering up something incriminating, or are they just incompetent?
Not Your Average 404 Error
I think I've posted this before, but J-Walk just reposted it. So I guess I will too.
Excessively Paranoid Product of the Day
Now, I'm all about not sharing germs at the work place. But this is getting a little ridiculous.
Fahrenheit 911 Facts
I still haven't seen Fehrenheit 911 yet. Frankly, I'm not sure I want too. I'm already pissed off at the current administration. (If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.) So it's not like it's going to change my vote in the next election. But just in case you were curious about the truth behind the movie, take a look at Michael Moore's fact checking notes.
Extreme Medicine
This is a really cool interview with Kevin Fong, a doctor specializing in extreme environments. I love this quote about emergency care, "When you get down to the nuts and bolts, critical care is chiefly about one thing - getting oxygen molecules and putting them into the cellular machinery so that they can be used to make energy. At high altitudes, for example, you have healthy people who have extremely low levels of oxygen in their bloodstream by virtue of their physical environment. And somehow they manage not just to be alive but to climb mountains. If you show measurements of the blood oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in a mountaineer on top of Everest to a critical care physician, they will say: "When did this patient die?" The numbers don't look compatible with life. How someone can go to the edge of human survival and come back to live a healthy and productive life is what critical care is all about. I've begun to regard intensive care as another extreme environment."
Artist of the Day: Craig Mullins
You should check out The Art of Craig Mullins for your daily dose of cool artwork. Man, I wish I could draw.
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Latest From Jamie
In the mailbag from Jamie, Bad Trip. I hope they don't go too hard on him, he did come clean. Also, proof that our brains don't work, and a very cool Spiderman, Lego Style.
Presidential Aggression
I got this from both Jamie and Wil. It's about a guy who... no, you just gotta read it for yourself.
PlanetDave HowTo: Disabling AutoRun
I'm always a little annoyed when my computer does something without me telling it to. I just think that's a bad habit for a computer to have. (Spyware gets installed that way.) One example of this kind of behavior that I've just resigned myself to is Autorun for CDs. Well, it turns out that I don't actually have to put up with it! Of course, disabling it does require that you edit your registry. If you don't know what the possible repercussions are, you probably shouldn't do it. And be sure to backup (export) your registry first.
The Mounting Costs of the Iraq War
Even if you already think the war in Iraq wasn't such a good idea, you might not know exactly what it's costing us.
Firefly Movie: April 22, 2005
It's going to be called Serenity. I'm more exited about this than a lot of the other movie ideas that are floating around.
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Latest From Jamie
Ok, I'm almost ashamed to admit that I laughed at Rock, Paper, Saddam. Next up, how to extort playboy for $100. Then there's also Nice Crash, David Bowie Says Ow, and the Fighting Styles of Rumsfeld. (I think I've posted that one before, but it's worth revisiting.)
PlanetDave How-To: Flamethrower
Ok, I would feel a little weird about carrying this amount of potential energy on my back, but it's still really cool! Now, this design would work pretty well as a water gun, so you don't actually need to court death to play with this design. Speaking of which, it seems like the tank wouldn't be able to ignite (explode) as long as there's no oxygen mixed in with the fuel. But the propellant is compressed air, with a theoretical content of 21% oxygen. It seems like as long as there's enough liquid fuel in the system to keep the gun o2 free it should be safe. But what happens when he starts running low? (Thanks for the link, Gene.)
The Bestest Lab Report, Ever
Got this from Gene, too. It's (apparently) an honest to God lab report that's just dripping with academic frustration.
Thursday, July 01, 2004
Dave's Latest Sabbatical
Those of you who know me personally probably already know why there haven't been updates to PlanetDave.net lately. The busiest two weeks of my job in the last few years overlapped exactly with the last few years' busiest two weeks for Ring of Steel. All that ended Sunday, and I've been decompressing. Now that I'm about rested up, I'm going to leave on a week's vacation. Updates during that time will be sporadic, if they happen at all. But if you find yourself in Stevensville while I'm there, stop by my parents' place and we can hang out on the beach!