[via Boing Boing]
Monday, May 30, 2005
wow - what some people can do with sand
there are some really skilled sand sculptors out there... as these two links can attest to...
[via Boing Boing]
[via Boing Boing]
Saturday, May 28, 2005
do i want to be a mentor?
i got asked the question again - you know the one, what do you want to be when you grow up?...
well, there was motive behind it this time and that was to find out if i was interested in being a mentor to new employees...
well, gosh, uhhhh.... i don't know... i knew a mentor once, a really good one too (so good i thought of him as one without ever being told that's what was going on) but things were cut short and while i think i learned plenty about being a better programmer i don't think i really got to the point of learning how to be a mentor...
i guess intuitively i think of a mentor as being a little bit like a teacher, and this entry in wikipedia solidifies that notion (and also makes me feel kind of honoured/flattered about being asked)...
none of this helps me decide, though... a mentor isn't something i ever saw myself as (what i really want to be when i grow up is an inventor) and i don't know if i'd be any good at mentoring (if i've ever acted in such a capacity before it's been entirely coincidental and unintentional) but i see why it's important and why it's needed...
why can't this question be more like "do you want pizza for supper"? that one's easy...
well, there was motive behind it this time and that was to find out if i was interested in being a mentor to new employees...
well, gosh, uhhhh.... i don't know... i knew a mentor once, a really good one too (so good i thought of him as one without ever being told that's what was going on) but things were cut short and while i think i learned plenty about being a better programmer i don't think i really got to the point of learning how to be a mentor...
i guess intuitively i think of a mentor as being a little bit like a teacher, and this entry in wikipedia solidifies that notion (and also makes me feel kind of honoured/flattered about being asked)...
none of this helps me decide, though... a mentor isn't something i ever saw myself as (what i really want to be when i grow up is an inventor) and i don't know if i'd be any good at mentoring (if i've ever acted in such a capacity before it's been entirely coincidental and unintentional) but i see why it's important and why it's needed...
why can't this question be more like "do you want pizza for supper"? that one's easy...
well, here's a really good idea
so you might have heard somewhere that wind power could help us get over our dependency on fossil fuels but for some reason wind turbines are not catching on... and no wonder, you need land to erect the wind turbines, land that could be used for something else... local governments have to be really forward thinking to make the choice to really go full out with wind power...
so what could we do to change that equation? i think rooftop wind turbines could do quite a bit to upset the applecart... no land has to be set aside, and the decision is taken out of the local government's hands and put into the roof owner's... instead of the government deciding whether or not to try to supplement an entire city's or region's power supply with wind power, individual buildings or communities could simply become electrically self-sufficient - possibly even have enough spare power to sell back to the power companies...
gosh it sounds disruptive, no wonder i think it's a good idea...
[via Treehugger]
so what could we do to change that equation? i think rooftop wind turbines could do quite a bit to upset the applecart... no land has to be set aside, and the decision is taken out of the local government's hands and put into the roof owner's... instead of the government deciding whether or not to try to supplement an entire city's or region's power supply with wind power, individual buildings or communities could simply become electrically self-sufficient - possibly even have enough spare power to sell back to the power companies...
gosh it sounds disruptive, no wonder i think it's a good idea...
[via Treehugger]
Thursday, May 26, 2005
well what do you know, there's a new way to fly
maybe you've heard of paragliding? where you run with a wing shaped parachute behind you until it lifts you off the ground...
yeah, well take the gliding out of that by strapping a big fan to your back and you have the Parajet... it looks pretty neat, but gosh, running with a huge fan strapped to your back does not sound like fun to me....
[via Engadget]
yeah, well take the gliding out of that by strapping a big fan to your back and you have the Parajet... it looks pretty neat, but gosh, running with a huge fan strapped to your back does not sound like fun to me....
[via Engadget]
first and foremost let me state that i am not endorsing LinkedIn.com... i don't really get much out of it at the moment but i might someday (i wonder if holding on to stuff that i'm not really using just because i might use it someday makes me some kind of internet packrat)... obviously some people get something out of it though and my friend andrew seems to be one of those people...
so today i get an email that says he's given me an endorsement, which i guess must be a new feature, and it was a pretty good endorsement too so obviously i should reciprocate... problem: i don't think about the people i work with (or have worked with) in terms of how good they are at their jobs, i don't know what to say!
maybe i'm weird but i think of the people i work with in terms of varying degrees of friendship so it's easy for me to say andrew's a fun guy, but what kind of programmer is he? gosh that was hard... i did eventually come up with something, i hope he likes it, but it took a lot of thinking because it's such an alien perspective for me to work from...
y'know, now that i think of it i guess this settles it - i'm not management material (hurray!)...
so today i get an email that says he's given me an endorsement, which i guess must be a new feature, and it was a pretty good endorsement too so obviously i should reciprocate... problem: i don't think about the people i work with (or have worked with) in terms of how good they are at their jobs, i don't know what to say!
maybe i'm weird but i think of the people i work with in terms of varying degrees of friendship so it's easy for me to say andrew's a fun guy, but what kind of programmer is he? gosh that was hard... i did eventually come up with something, i hope he likes it, but it took a lot of thinking because it's such an alien perspective for me to work from...
y'know, now that i think of it i guess this settles it - i'm not management material (hurray!)...
uggh...
"hurry up and get to sleep already"... why can't that ever work? and why can't i get my solid 8 hours in the 7 or 6 that i have left?... i wish i had a time machine just so i could go back and sleep... now i'm going to be on the verge of sleeping all day - oh my, how productive i'll be...
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
you dunked your computer in what?
y'know, on the one you have people getting all upset when they see you smashing a (broken) computer on the sidewalk - basically telling you that people revere the computer... then one the other hand you have people who submerge their computer in oil which says exactly the opposite...
why can't folks make up their minds - or better yet, if you're going to do something crazy to a perfectly good computer, make sure that crazy thing is giving the computer to me...
[via Boing Boing]
why can't folks make up their minds - or better yet, if you're going to do something crazy to a perfectly good computer, make sure that crazy thing is giving the computer to me...
[via Boing Boing]
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
responsibility, what's that
"we don't need to think about it,
we'd be better off without it"
ok, so say you used to work for a development company with more developers than you could count on your fingers and toes and now you work for a development company where you could count the developers on the fingers of one hand with some to spare... what's that you're feeling? that sense of criticality? that notion like success or failure rests on your shoulders...
well here's a needle; go stick it in your head 'cause your ego has gotten too inflated... if you don't have the authority to make decisions about the directions things should go in then you do not bear the kind of responsibility hinted at above...
don't get me wrong, you still have responsibilities - responsibilities to write good code and meet your deadlines, but without authority to decide things you are just a cog in the machine (possibly a very large cog, but still just a cog) and you need to either emotionally divorse yourself from the qualitative outcome of the venture (because you are not responsible for whether or not the machine runs smoothly) or find some way to acquire the authority to make the decisions that are troubling you... i vote for the former - a person's got enough of their own dreams to worry about without incorporating someone else's into themselves... there's only so much of yourself you can go around investing in things...
as for those decisions (or should i say mistakes?) that you see happening that you wish you could do something about, well you still can do something about them... try to propose the correct solution... it may be frustrating trying to lead your PHB's down the golden path (especially when they don't see the light) but it's easier to let go in the end because at least you tried... if things don't work out where you are now, don't worry, be happy, life goes on...
we'd be better off without it"
ok, so say you used to work for a development company with more developers than you could count on your fingers and toes and now you work for a development company where you could count the developers on the fingers of one hand with some to spare... what's that you're feeling? that sense of criticality? that notion like success or failure rests on your shoulders...
well here's a needle; go stick it in your head 'cause your ego has gotten too inflated... if you don't have the authority to make decisions about the directions things should go in then you do not bear the kind of responsibility hinted at above...
don't get me wrong, you still have responsibilities - responsibilities to write good code and meet your deadlines, but without authority to decide things you are just a cog in the machine (possibly a very large cog, but still just a cog) and you need to either emotionally divorse yourself from the qualitative outcome of the venture (because you are not responsible for whether or not the machine runs smoothly) or find some way to acquire the authority to make the decisions that are troubling you... i vote for the former - a person's got enough of their own dreams to worry about without incorporating someone else's into themselves... there's only so much of yourself you can go around investing in things...
as for those decisions (or should i say mistakes?) that you see happening that you wish you could do something about, well you still can do something about them... try to propose the correct solution... it may be frustrating trying to lead your PHB's down the golden path (especially when they don't see the light) but it's easier to let go in the end because at least you tried... if things don't work out where you are now, don't worry, be happy, life goes on...
that bites
well, yes, i still find crazy stuff on the internet - i can't help it, i'm drawn to things like dogs in darth vader costumes...
of course, the really crazy thing here is that the sun pops up a copyright notice when i try to save the picture... let's be clear here, i prefer not to hotlink other folks images and eat up their bandwidth, so i drop a copy at imageshack and point to the supposed original local (a backup copy is especially important where the sun is concerned because their articles expire)... but get this, the sun isn't the original location - i'm not sure how they're managing to claim copyright on the image when it seems like these folks have a far better claim to owning the image... who are they (the sun) trying to kid?
[via Fark.com]
of course, the really crazy thing here is that the sun pops up a copyright notice when i try to save the picture... let's be clear here, i prefer not to hotlink other folks images and eat up their bandwidth, so i drop a copy at imageshack and point to the supposed original local (a backup copy is especially important where the sun is concerned because their articles expire)... but get this, the sun isn't the original location - i'm not sure how they're managing to claim copyright on the image when it seems like these folks have a far better claim to owning the image... who are they (the sun) trying to kid?
[via Fark.com]
Monday, May 23, 2005
i've been bad
well spank my bottom and call me naughty, i've been using my blog in a very detached and superficial sort of way... i'm sorry...
not that that apology is for all you people out there reading MY blog, rather, it's for me for failing to utilize this thing for what it's probably best at - a dumping ground for everything going on in my head... i spend far too much time trawling the web for crazy/cool crap (some of which i post about - occasionally) and i need to reclaim some of that time as well as some of my headspace and writing things down should help with the headspace part (isn't that what journals, online or otherwise, are all about?)...
i heard once (i don't know if this is true but let's say it is) that socrates said that the trouble with being able to read and write is that it gives us the luxury of forgetting - well socrates, i'm turning a weakness into a strength, a problem into a solution (sun tzu would be proud, i'm sure), i'm going to write stuff down specifically so that i can forget it... moving stuff out of my head should free up resources to think about new things...
not that that apology is for all you people out there reading MY blog, rather, it's for me for failing to utilize this thing for what it's probably best at - a dumping ground for everything going on in my head... i spend far too much time trawling the web for crazy/cool crap (some of which i post about - occasionally) and i need to reclaim some of that time as well as some of my headspace and writing things down should help with the headspace part (isn't that what journals, online or otherwise, are all about?)...
i heard once (i don't know if this is true but let's say it is) that socrates said that the trouble with being able to read and write is that it gives us the luxury of forgetting - well socrates, i'm turning a weakness into a strength, a problem into a solution (sun tzu would be proud, i'm sure), i'm going to write stuff down specifically so that i can forget it... moving stuff out of my head should free up resources to think about new things...
would you look at the jaw on that thing
holy shades of the violator (re: spawn the live action movie), get a load of the mouth on this tasmanian tiger... it's strangely comforting to think that this creature is extinct - i normally wouldn't say that but that gaping maw just gives me the willies... yikes...
[via http://www.boingboing.net/2005/05/11/extinct_tasmanian_ti.html]
[via http://www.boingboing.net/2005/05/11/extinct_tasmanian_ti.html]
Friday, May 20, 2005
the grey goo is almost here
so the folks at cornell are making self replicating robots... well isn't that just dandy... thats all we need, robots making copies of themselves... can you say 'goodbye'? good, now say 'goodbye population control'...
where does the grey goo come in? self-replicating nanobots would, if left unchecked, wind up resembling 'grey goo', gobbling up resources to make mor of themselves... if you've watched enough 'stargate sg1' you probably remember the replicators, or if you watched enough 'lexx' you probably remember what the lexx referred to as "a very large number of mantrid one arm things that fly around"... needless to say, this is not something we want to experience first hand in real life...
now, you tell me - when was the last time we managed to avoid the negative ramifications technological progress... did we avoid the atom bomb? nope... how about bio-weapons? nope... do you really think that someone somewhere isn't going to build a grey goo weapon?
to quote spaceballs - oh shit, there goes the planet...
[via http://www.boingboing.net/2005/05/11/selfreplicating_robo.html]
where does the grey goo come in? self-replicating nanobots would, if left unchecked, wind up resembling 'grey goo', gobbling up resources to make mor of themselves... if you've watched enough 'stargate sg1' you probably remember the replicators, or if you watched enough 'lexx' you probably remember what the lexx referred to as "a very large number of mantrid one arm things that fly around"... needless to say, this is not something we want to experience first hand in real life...
now, you tell me - when was the last time we managed to avoid the negative ramifications technological progress... did we avoid the atom bomb? nope... how about bio-weapons? nope... do you really think that someone somewhere isn't going to build a grey goo weapon?
to quote spaceballs - oh shit, there goes the planet...
[via http://www.boingboing.net/2005/05/11/selfreplicating_robo.html]
Thursday, May 19, 2005
browser in browser display
now this is cool... i'm not entirely sure what the best way for me to use this is yet, but i definitely want to play with it... you can decide what page it'll show, what size it will be, etc...
and if you want to be really silly, use the embedded browser below to select the browser on that page and use that embedded browser to browse to the same page and use that embedded browser it to browse to the same page recursively... you know what i'm talking about - it's like when you have 2 mirrors facing each other, or when you point a video camera at it's own monitor...
[via Boing Boing]
and if you want to be really silly, use the embedded browser below to select the browser on that page and use that embedded browser to browse to the same page and use that embedded browser it to browse to the same page recursively... you know what i'm talking about - it's like when you have 2 mirrors facing each other, or when you point a video camera at it's own monitor...
[via Boing Boing]
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
i think they should call it blogopoly
but instead they call it blogpoly... even more frustrating, though, is that it's not a real game i can go out and get (or download)... if you want to play blogpoly you have to create the board and cards and playing pieces yourself... hopefully someone builds on the idea and saves us all that work because i would definitely like to play a blogging version of monopoly...
[via Boing Boing]
[via Boing Boing]
Monday, May 16, 2005
may the farm be with you
here's a neat little flash movie featuring cuke skywalker, obi wan cannoli, ham solo, chewbroccoli, and of course darth tater...
Grocery Store Wars | Join the Organic Rebellion
[via Fark]
Grocery Store Wars | Join the Organic Rebellion
[via Fark]
Sunday, May 15, 2005
i am so tempted
when i saw this training rig to teach cats to use the toilet i thought to myself 'self, wouldn't it be great if you could have all kinds of fun with peeler and not have to clean up after him?'... not that cleaning his litter is actually all that much of a hassle, but it would be neat if i didn't have to do it at all...
[via Popgadget]
[via Popgadget]
Friday, May 13, 2005
and one ring to open them all
i'm guessing that there are still parts of the world that don't have twist off bottle caps since this Ring Thing combination ring/bottle opener was invented... personally, i carry a bottle opener on me everywhere in the form of a swiss army knife and i don't think i've ever had to actually use it to open bottles...
then again, most of the time when i have a bottle, it's been opened for me by the bartender without my even asking... maybe this would be a good gift for that bartender in your life...
[via MAKE: Blog]
then again, most of the time when i have a bottle, it's been opened for me by the bartender without my even asking... maybe this would be a good gift for that bartender in your life...
[via MAKE: Blog]
Thursday, May 12, 2005
who do i know who could use an herb grinder
you know who you are!
well, this thing
comes with an assortment of possible engravings, including a stoned looking smiley face called 'dopey'... i wonder what they had in mind for that engraving....
come to think of it, what were they thinking with the biohazard and skull-n-crossbones engravings? the first thing that comes to mind is grinding up bones to make bread with (jack and the beanstalk)...
[via Gizmodo]
well, this thing
comes with an assortment of possible engravings, including a stoned looking smiley face called 'dopey'... i wonder what they had in mind for that engraving....
come to think of it, what were they thinking with the biohazard and skull-n-crossbones engravings? the first thing that comes to mind is grinding up bones to make bread with (jack and the beanstalk)...
[via Gizmodo]
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
i'm not blowing that thing up
sometimes you hear of an idea and you just wonder to yourself, where the heck did that come from... an idea that, while useful, is so strange that you catch yourself slack-jawed when you first hear about it... like, for example, the inflatable home entertainment system...
i can blow up an inflatable frisbee, a beachball, an air matress, even an inflatable tigershark, but there's no way i'm going to attempt something that big...
[via The Raw Feed]
i can blow up an inflatable frisbee, a beachball, an air matress, even an inflatable tigershark, but there's no way i'm going to attempt something that big...
[via The Raw Feed]
Monday, May 09, 2005
starwars killed a man?
on the one hand you have a story about Star Wars Toys That Never Were... on the other hand you have a story of a man who basically gave everything to try and be a part of starwars...
and speaking of body parts, the whole thing was apparently pulled out of somebody's ass... yes, that's right, after researching it (oh wow, i'm really getting into that amateur journalism thing now) it turns out it's all fiction...
[via All Things Christie]
and speaking of body parts, the whole thing was apparently pulled out of somebody's ass... yes, that's right, after researching it (oh wow, i'm really getting into that amateur journalism thing now) it turns out it's all fiction...
[via All Things Christie]
Thursday, May 05, 2005
what do you mean my parts are showing?
y'know, i'm a big fan of DIY (do it yourself) stuff, but a DIY MMC/SD MP3 Player? that is just too cool... i want to be the first one of my friends who builds one...
which should be pretty easy since i very much doubt any of my friends have any interest in building their own mp3 player...
[via MAKE: Blog]
which should be pretty easy since i very much doubt any of my friends have any interest in building their own mp3 player...
[via MAKE: Blog]
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
have you ever felt 'not quite fresh'?
well then maybe you need to try Sphincterine...
it's hard to believe but it looks like it might actually be real... clearly, pucker (at) mintyass (dot) com has a sense of humour either way...
[via All Things Christie]
it's hard to believe but it looks like it might actually be real... clearly, pucker (at) mintyass (dot) com has a sense of humour either way...
[via All Things Christie]
holy crap, a taser cannon!
yes, you read that right... a taser cannon... with laser sighting and pneumatic pan and tilt and 35 foot range... not to mention having an output of 110,000 volts, 15,000 amps... no wonder they call it "lightning on demand"...
[via i don't know who 'cause i was too sick to keep track]
[via i don't know who 'cause i was too sick to keep track]
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