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Planet Dave! Monday, October 23, 2006
Even Stevphen
If you've never seen Even Stevphen, you need to go watch the highlights. Notice the huge list of complete Even Stevphen debates in the "Related" section.
Low Rez Gaming
I mean really low rez. Got this from Ron, it's Dwarf Fortress. It's a game with ASCII graphics. Try it yourself if you don't believe me.
Stuff you should check out
Keith Olbermann on 5 years after 9/11
High-speed, portable menorah - Is this sacraligious? I'm honestly not sure.
U.S. Deaths in War on Terror Surpasses 9/11 Toll
Is "Clean" graffiti a crime? - Don't prosecuters have better crooks to go after than renegade cleaners?
What can you do with a pair of skates? - I can fall down. (A lot.)
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Award!
More on that Cameo Award I got from Ann Arbor Civic. They gave me a plaque! I notice my name isn't on it. I wonder if they mass produce these things ahead of time. I wonder if the Highwayman is too big a role to qualify for another one of these things...Oh, while we're on the subject, everyone come see Tom Jones! You can get tickets over the phone, the number's here. Seems a little pricy for a community theater show. I'd recommend the Thursday show.
Stuff you should check out
Top 25 stories ignored by media in past year
DIY Microdot Wristwatch - This is way over my head, but I may have to try it anyway.
Top 10 "No Sympathy" Lines - A college prof rebutts some common student complaints.
Reporter Charged with Journalism in the First Degree
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Grammar Puzzler
Here's a grammar question that occurred to me today. The phrase "Jack shit", as in "He doesn't know jack shit about that" or "I got Jack shit done today", is the 'J' supposed to be capitalized?
Is it a proper name? Or does the "jack" mean something else like, "This project is all jacked up." Devvan pointed out that while there's no Wikipedia post about it, the Urban Dictionary has it mostly uncapitalized. Hrm. In one place, it's defined as rabbit feces. So I guess that'd be along the same lines as "bullshit" or "horse shit", right? Ya learn something new every day.
Stuff you should check out
Making Rocket Jumping look easy - Nice music, too.
Nice Buff Job
Chemical Violence! - Why didn't they do stuff like this in high school chemistry?
Portscan your computer for security holes
Giant Girl Doll - I've had dreams that were less sureal. More from the same troupe here.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Award!
Check it out! Ann Arbor Civic gave me a John Rae Cameo Award for my role as the M.C. in Guys & Dolls! (Mine is down towards the bottom.) They told me about it at the last Tom Jones rehearsal. (I never go to those award things.)
Practical Application of Physics
Morgan sent me this. I want to see more dialog like this in my spy movies, and more useful stuff like this on school tests.
Stuff you should check out
U.S. Military wants to spend $20M on positive spin for Iraq
Homemade Street Legal Land Luge with Brakes - Brakes? That's cheating.
Villian Chair - A must for every Secret Lair!
Best cell phone headset EVER!
MMORPG Art! - Commission a portrait of your MMORPG character!
Wicked Lazers!
Saturday, October 14, 2006
iPod Creates Terrorism Scare
This story is just crazy. This guy drops his iPod in the toilet. He doesn't realize it's gone until he hears the flight attendent tell the captain that there's an unidentified device in the bathroom. He tells her it's probably his iPod. But by then the TSA had already been called. The wheels had started turning and no amount of common sense or logic could stop them. They landed, stopped away from the terminal, and waited almost an hour for a bus to pick them up. ... No emergency vehicles? Either they realized it was harmless and a big waste of time (and went through with it anyway) or it was a giant failure of the procedures intended to keep us safe. The whole cluster- mess took four hours to clear up. Four hours of grilling from TSA agents who've watched too many spy movies. Here's the story from another point of view.
I don't get it. Do these people actually think they're making us any safer? Or are they just junior high school bullies who've found the perfect job? Don't these people have terrorists to catch?
South Wales Postman Punished for Telling People How to Avoid Junk Mail
Royal Mail makes a decent amount of money delivering unaddressed advertising. It has an opt-out procedure, but the details of that aren't easy to come by. Roger Annies, a 10 year veteran postman of Royal Mail, after hearing complaints from many of the people on his route, did a little public service. He printed up a flyer explaining the opt-out, and he delivered it to everyone on his route. Royal Mail was a little curious about receiving 70+ opt-out forms within days of each other. They did some investigating, and after finding out about Mr. Annies' flyer, they suspended him pending an investigation of possible misconduct. They didn't end up firing him, but they did stick him in a desk job. There's a petition to reinstate him as a mail carrier. I don't imagine it'll accomplish anything, but go sign it anyway.
Stuff you should check out
Moving heavy things - This is totally going on my wish list.
Shopping Cart Sculpture
Keith Olbermann is my new hero. Go watch the video.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Dave the Home Owner!
I love the new place! I painted a closet yesterday! I'm currently undecided about what I'm going to do with the living room. I've had enough people ask why I don't just paint a screen rather than the whole wall, that the idea is growing on me. Reasons for painting the whole wall white: When the projector is off, there's no screen. It's just a wall. (And that projector screen paint is way to expensive to do the whole wall with.) Reasons for just the screen: 1. Probably a better picture. 2. Less painting. (Less for me to screw up.) 3. With the whole wall, there's still going to be the bare spot on the wall.
I'm going to miss living somewhere without street lamps. I'm going to miss the sandhill cranes. I'm going to miss the coyote songs at night. (I'm not going to miss the stupid dog that moved in down the street that barks at the coyotes, silencing them.) I'm going to miss encountering critters on the road home. (I'm not going to miss hitting them.) I'm going to miss living on a dirt road. I'm not sure why, I just know that I will. I'm going to miss living with Scot and Teresa. I know we're still going to hang out, but it's not the same as LIVING with someone. Same goes for Kate and Riley.
I've had an incredible number of offers to help me move. Thanks everyone, I really appreciate it. As soon as I'm moved in, I'll be inviting absolutely everyone I know for the official house-warming. 8^) (Watch this space for details.) And now, I think I'll go paint another closet!
Thursday, October 05, 2006
PlanetDave HowTo: Make a rose out of Maple Leaves
Saw this today, and I had to bump it to the front of the queue. (No sense posting that after all the leaves are gone.) Trip to the Stevensville dunes on the 13th. Who's in? (Hopefully there will still be color by then.)
NOAA in Second Life
I'm not really sure what Second Life is, I've never actually tried it. My impression is that it's kinda like World of Warcraft, but without the fighting. (So... what's the point?) Anyway, the cool thing about this is that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has gotten involved. From the BoingBoing article, "...if you visit you'll apparently find interactive educational demos about the oceans and weathers." Have any of my readers tried Second Life? Once I'm on my new cable modem I might check it out. 8^)
Stuff you should check out.
DIY Wooden Coaster Bike
Bathsheba Sculpture - Beautiful and mathematic!
How to detect bullshit
Astronaut's photo of an erupting volcano
Crazy Ridiculous Knife
"I am not a trrorist" shirt - Luckily I'm too lazy to actually aquire one of these for my next flight.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
PlanetDave How-To: DYI Stirling Engine
Pretty much everything in the universe that uses energy relies on an energy gradient. A difference in energy concentrations. Energy at high concentrations wants to spread out into low concentrations. (The law of entropy.) And as it moves from high to low concentrations, it can be put to work. A stirling engine is a pretty pure example of that. It will run on a heat differential. This Do-It-Yourself project is a great example. Boy, put a fan on that, put the cooling side upwind, some heat sinks, and put that on a wood burning stove. Ok, I didn't QUITE come up with that on my own, but my version is a LOT cheaper.
Stuff you should check out
Mobile rotary red "Batphone" - A bit expensive as cell phones go, but quite a conversation piece.
How to make a Hydrogen(/Oxygen) Bomb
The Levitating Screw - This would be a great party trick!
More drawing lessons!
Treadmill Bike - I hope this is a joke, but I'm honestly not sure.
Satan: A Biography - I didn't realize the Satan figure underwent so much evolution in the past several thousand years. Ok, that seems a lot stupider now that I've typed it out.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Geek-gasm!
One of the project teams here at my company picked up a Sony Libre to evaluate the E-Ink display. Oh man is it cool! Chris pointed out that the picture looks fake. It looks like one of those stickers they put on electronic screens at Best Buy. It's incredibly crisp. Wow I want one. The American version just became available, and amazingly I've resisted ordering one. One thing that's working in my favor is that there's such a high demand for these that it wouldn't ship until mid November. So either way, delayed gratification is being forced on me. I've already accumulated quite a few books, but I'm going to hold off on this until I've made a few months of payments on the new place. Let myself get used to the new financial situation before I get any more toys. ... All the same, if someone wanted to get this for my Christmas present *cough*, you'd better tell me about it first just to make sure I don't break down and order one.
A couple from Cool Tools
If you haven't checked out Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools page, you should. That's where I found out about these primitive tech books. I'll have to add those to my wish list. He also had a great post about alternative 12v power connectors. I'll have to go that route when I wire up my new place with 12v DC. Of course, that'll be after I've set up the power source for that. Well, maybe I'll start a little smaller than that. ... Or not.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Dave the Home Owner!
Looks like I'm going through with it! I'm closing Friday. Ok, party MY place, Friday night! Bring your own chair. There will probably be no tunes, and I need to paint a wall before I'll have a projector, so probably no TV or movies either. But there'll be fire! I'll have a fire in that fireplace even if I have to BUY firewood! (Which I might have to do if I keep forgetting to move some of our firewood into the barn where it can dry.) And I'll stock up on beer. Let me know ahead of time if you're coming so I know how much beer to get, and gimme a call before you come over just to make sure I'm actually there.
Movies in 30 seconds, by bunnies!
Wendy sent me this site, and you need to check it out. The headline says it all, and they're hilarious! Specifically, I'd like to draw your attention to Star Wars, Raiders, Superman, ... Oh heck with it. Just watch all of them. Hey, while we're on the subject of Superman, Ron sent me the way Superman should've ended.
Stuff you need to check out.
How to make a Time Fountain! Be sure to watch the video!
After Peak Oil, you'll want to replace your car with one of these.
Stop ants with baby power!
Thoughts from a hospital chaplin.
Think of the pillow fights with these!