Whitmarshall Celebration Day

Hey, it's my birthday!
I had a pretty good day. Co-workers took me out for lunch, team members gave me balloons and candy, a friend baked me a cake; all good birthday things. I went to a semi-nearby casino this evening to try out their birthday money booth (you stand in it for 20 seconds and try to catch bills and slip them through a small slot). I got $15, which I proceeded to lose on their lousy slot machines. I don't think I'll do this again. I was carefully examining the booth and it was probably 90% ones, a smattering of fives, and I saw only one ten. In the past, I went and caught a twenty and generally saw better bills. Plus, now they require that you have a casino membership card and you gamble there at least 6 times over the year, or they won't let you do the birthday booth again.

Here's my link of the day:

Baby Toupee - Just what it sounds like. What a wonderfully unusual idea!

Terror intelligence, sci-fi cliches, toast art, not time travel, hand shake, not your photos

Hello, here's a handful of links for you to browse:

• Global terror intelligence report declassified and released. Does not give a rosy picture of the Iraq war effects. But then, it was a war after all.
• Sci-fi themes that should be retired. Anonymous crewmen killed by monster not on the list. Maybe for part 2.
• Toast art. Underrated?
• Grandmother gives birth to own grandson. Be prepared for disappointment. Turns out she was a surrogate. When I saw the headline, I thought maybe time travel was involved.
• The Time Curtain. Again, big time travel let-down. But it is a cool clock thing.
• Exchange info with a shake of the hand. Know what would be neat? A little paper card with your business info on it to exchange with others.
• The Blind Camera is a neat idea for taking other people's photos. Especially if you take really boring photos.
  

Changing the design (again)

Sorry for the mess. I decided that I never really liked the previous look of my site, so I'm working on something new again.
Not quite there yet, and it is a bit frustrating when the preview looks different than the published site, and I can hit Refresh several times in a row and get several different alignments, font sizes, and layouts....

Contractor deaths, csi props?, ijeans, super fish

Cold today here. A bit rainy. What happened to summer?
Links:

• Contractors sue over deaths in Iraq. Think about that when you think your job is bad.
• Body washes up on set of CSI. Second dead body found near a CSI show set. Now I question how they do their research for the show.
• Levi's iPod Jeans. Now that just seems excessive.
• Fish used to detect terror attacks. And they're also delicious.
  

Gas prices, soda pop, wii, zune, outrage, nay ney, spinach

Links:

• Complaining about gas prices? You are actually paying lower in real terms than gas in 1980. So there.
• I call it "pop", but "soda" is fine with me. I don't understand why anyone would call it all "coke" when it is not Coke, but here is a generic names for soft drinks by county map so at least I know what to call it to fit in.
• Nintendo Wii available November 20 for $250. Still no word on availability of the Nintendo They.
• I am liking this new iTunes 7, but more news is breaking this week about the Microsoft Zune. I don't think I'll replace my iPod anytime soon, but here are a couple stories on the Zune for you:
• Microsoft releases new details on Zune.
• Zune details and thoughts wrap-up.
• Muslims furious with the Pope. Aw, and they had been getting along so well.
• Rep. Bob Ney pleads guilty in Abramoff probe. But he had been saying he was not guilty all this time? Does this mean he was lying?
• E coli outbreak in bagged spinach. Children cheer and say "told you so".
  

Blogger bugs, free furniture, swim teacher, speeches, apple news

I used the wrong font in last time's post, but can't correct it. I've been having trouble with Blogger recently where it doesn't let me edit past posts (just get a blank editor screen). Don't know if anyone else is having that issue.

Today's news:

• Furniture store offered deal of free furniture if the Bears shut out the Packers, and guess what? It happened. They are honoring the promotion. The article says that insurance will cover the $300,000 loss (not sure how that works).
• Want to learn to swim without getting wet? Try this old mechanical swimming teacher.
• Bush accused of using 9/11 speech for political reasons. He is a politician, so how is this different from any other speech?
• Apple unveiled several new products/services today including movie sales on iTunes, game sales on iTunes, new incremental iPod releases, and a smaller iPod Shuffle (careful to not lose it!). Also some mention of their new iTV product coming later. I got the new version of iTunes today and it has some cool new features. I'll have to play with it some more to see if it is more than eye candy (or iCandy, as it were) additions.
  

Fall, footboall, lost, ilium and olympos

Wow, it is chilly here. And rainy. And very un-summer-like. Fall has fallen. I actually spent part of the day watching pro football (didn't really plan it, but got kind of sucked into the season starting games). I'm sure there will very soon be a post over at Kahn's Korner about the Bears destruction of the Packers.
Otherwise, fellow Losties need to be sure to pick up Season 2 on DVD (available last week) if you haven't already.

I'm starting my rewatching of the season now.

As far as books go, I'm not quite done reading the second one yet, but I recommend "Ilium" and "Olympos" if you're in the mood for something very different. This set includes almost everything from the Trojan War and Greek gods, Shakespearean characters, cyborgs from Jupiter, little green men, human cloning, and quantum mechanics. It seems like a ton of stuff (that's not even related) to pack into a couple books, but it all comes together nicely and seems to make sense.

Labor day, cfl bulbs, star wars comparison

Happy Labor Day weekend, everyone!
In the last post, I linked to a story about Wal-Mart pushing compact fluorescent bulbs to their customers. Shortly after that, I ran across this story about ten reasons why CFLs will change the world. I've been using a few (older ones) for a couple years now, so I decided to start switching out my other incandescent bulbs for CFLs.
Sure enough, our Wal-Mart had bulb displays in other areas (like the grocery side of the store), but they had regular incandescents right along with the CFLs; how does that sway customers to the CFL?
As an aside, our Wal-Mart has 20 some checkout lanes, but I never see more than 5 manned, so I always have to wait in line. That is, unless I use the self-checkout. But the thing I don't understand is that usually half or more of the self-checkouts are also turned off. What's the deal? Did the self-checker call in sick? Is this the case at all Wal-Marts? (I've never seen the checkout lanes more than half staffed at our Shopko or K-Mart either.)

Anyway, here's a time waster for you this weekend: This month, the 2004 Special Edition of Star Wars: A New Hope (Episode IV) is being released on DVD with the original 1977 version as a bonus disc. Here is a scene by scene comparison showing the differences. Many are obvious, but there are a lot that are subtle.

Hot gas, geotag, vista, bulbs, blu, open mic, music

Here's some new stuff for you!

• Hot gas costs us money. Basically, gas expands when it is hot, so you may be getting slightly (very slightly) less than you pay for if you pump in the heat of the day.
• I haven't checked it out yet, but the new Flickr geotagging feature looks kinda cool.
• Hey, you can already preorder Windows Vista on Amazon. Yikes, the Ultimate version will cost you 400 bucks!
• Wal-Mart to start major push on compact fluorescent bulbs. Actually, that sounds like a good idea.
• Still more troubles for Blu-Ray.
• CNN anchor Kyra Phillips leaves her mic on in the bathroom during live President Bush speech. Boy, there is going to be one uncomfortable family get together after this one. Funny though:

I've been listening to the new The Panic Channel - (ONe) CD lately, and it is very good. I actually checked it out after watching "Rockstar: Supernova", and while I probably won't listen much to Supernova, I'm glad it directed me to The Panic Channel.
Main CDs currently on the rotation for me:








(OK, I don't really have the St. Elsewhere CD, but "Crazy" is one of my most listened to songs at the moment.)

Wrong thoughts, cat wheel, big photo, k-fed strikes

Getting a quick post in before the "Treasure Hunters" finale tonight. Some stuff to look at:

• Ten most commonly thought things that are wrong. And from the comments to this post, the list may be wrong itself. (And I am not the Brian W that posted a comment.)
• It works for hamsters, but a running wheel for cats?
• The Legacy Project creates the world's largest photograph. Darn, so I need to get a new camera?
• Kevin Federline, why did we ever doubt thee? *Statement is dripping with sarcasm. (Caution: strong language in the comments.)
  

No call, new planets, nuclear beings, software, nyc lego

Ever since my hassles with PeoplePC's telemarketers, it seems like I'm getting a ton of telemarketer calls every day (like 4 or more); did it increase after I got after PeoplePC? Maybe I've just hit a point of frustration and am noticing them more. So, I finally broke down and registered myself on the National Do Not Call Registry.
But, in other news:

• As a follow up to last post's Pluto/planet story, looks like the new planet definition will open things up to more planets. Ceres, Charon, and Xena: welcome to the neighborhood.
• We've always known nuclear war would be bad. But now I am terrified to learn that it could create evil super human mutant overlords.
• I'd seen this a while ago, but it is still funny for software developers: a cartoon depicting how software development really works.
• This is cool: a New York City made of Legos.
  

Pluto status, gel ant farm, volcano tunes, game kit

Today's stories:

• Throw out your old textbooks, looks like Pluto may be reclassified as not a planet, or several other solar bodies will be classified as planets. I hope none of them contain hostile alien invaders.
• Even ants are getting more high tech, with this gel filled ant farm.
• Volcano music made by feeding seismographs into a MIDI interpreter. Of course! I would have thought of that!
• Microsoft to release cheap version of XBox 360 game development tools. You could make the next Tetris!
  

Rain, Talladega, 3d murals, human control, next gen dvd

Rain, rain, and rain. Thunderstorms last night, then rain this morning, and now it is raining as I write this. It's much better than the drought-like conditions we had earlier this summer, but now it is going a bit overboard with the water.
I saw Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby this weekend. It was one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time. The dialogue and interactions are hilarious. If you go to the Ricky Bobby website (from the link earlier), you can generate a NASCAR nickname and banner for your site. Here's mine:


In other stuff:

• Here are some amazing pictures of the 3D illusion murals of artist Eric Grohe. Even more can be found on his site.
• Scientists have figured out how to artificially control human walking and balance. Finally! I'm tired of doing all my own walking.
• HD-DVD or Blu-ray... is it possible that both are losers?
  

Foiled plot, security patches

Links:

• Well, the obvious big news item is the foiled airline terrorist plot today. Again, I hope you are not getting your main news from my site. Good job to those that caught this horrible plot before it could happen.
• I spent a late night at work Tuesday as we applied the latest round of Microsoft security patches. There are some very critical ones in there, so make sure you run your Windows Update. (Even the Homeland Security Department wants you to.)
  

Wired home network

Hello,
I just wired some network cable through my home yesterday, replacing my wireless network. I'd been having a hard time get a good signal (something was causing interference; possibly my furnace was in the way). Also, I think one of my neighbors is starting up their own wireless network as I had a laptop and a PC try to connect into mine, and my downstairs PC could find their network, but not my own. I figured it was time to wire in for it, as it would also give me better speed. I use my XBox 360 as a Media Center Extender, so the faster speed is better for video.
It was a more challenging task that I thought, the most frustrating of which was trying to figure out how to thread the cable from my upstairs office down through my utility room. Then I wanted especially to state that if you are in the need of wire staples (little brackets to nail wires and cables up in place), I highly, highly recommend staying far away from Leviton staples, which I bought for cheap at Wal-Mart. More than half of them broke as I was nailing them in.

New touch interface, mistaken mpg, Beruit devastation

Links for today:

• Please watch this fantastic presentation by Jeff Han at the TED conference. He demonstrates a new 'interface free' touch based system that is incredible.
• Cars on average 8% more fuel than they claim. But, hey, fuel's cheap, right?
• Amazing and sad satellite photo Before and After of Beruit.
  

Branson vacation photos

16 Kansas City Zoo - Tiger
Originally uploaded by Brian Whitmarsh.

I've made some of my KC/Branson vacation photos available on my Flickr account. Feel free to browse.

The tiger pictured here was basking in the heat at the Kansas City Zoo.

Dark Place, alien coverup, light art, questionable sources, rubber artillery, website dna

Taking a moment to post as I was all set to watch Garth Merenghi's Dark Place on Sci Fi (which was listed in the guide), but they had that lame "Ghost Hunters" show on instead. I saw "Dark Place" for the first time last week, and thought it was hilarious.
But instead, I post:

• Allegations of a SETI coverup. Did they indeed receive signals from aliens?
• Some cool light animations done with webcams and light pens.
• Where did that web video spoofing Al Gore come from? Wait, the Internet was used for devious purposes?!?
• I had a rubber band gun when I was a kid, but today, you can get plans for a rubber band machine gun. When will the escalation end?
• Would you like to see your website represented as human DNA? Not sure why you would, but there's a site that will do it for you.
• And I thought about posting an endless list of links about Mel Gibson's recent issue, but decided the mainstream media is covering that very much well enough.
  

Annoying PeoplePC, science, projects, furnishings, centaur, tmnt

I just recently finished an angry email to PeoplePC because their Contact Center has telemarketted me 3 times in the last two weeks. It is obviously an offshore Indian call center (which generally I don't have issues with; just when they are really bad like this one), though they all gave "American" names. I don't like it when they do this. It is belittling to them by having to use a fake name (especially when sometimes they have trouble pronouncing it) and everyone knows that they are lying. The first agent kept up even though I said "no" seven or eight times. I try to be respectful, so I took the time to explain why my 5MB cable model is better than the dial-up he was offering. He was not understanding me and trying to stick to the script, so he responded with "So is your main concern about tying up your phone line?".
The next call was after 8PM on a Sunday (not against the law to my knowledge, but I thought general courtesy of telemarketers is to avoid this time). I told the agent I already had a call and was not interested. She proceeded to tell me I was hasty in declining and was argumentative.
The third call was relatively straightforward; the agent said OK and goodbye after I said this was the third call.
I don't see how any company expects to do business like this, but it is getting more and more common.
Anyway, here are some unrelated links for me to browse while waiting for the inevitable fourth call:

• Could you pass 8th Grade Science? online quiz. I was a bit disappointed in how easy it was.
• Tired of paying Coca-Cola for their drink? Make your own Coca-Cola.
• Bleach Spritz Clothing looks to be an easy craft project for decorating old shirts. I may give this a try.
• I think of parabolic dishes for signal reception, but not as a parabolic lamp. This is an interesting idea.
• Redoing that living room? You might want the sensor embedded carpet that can guess shoe size, age, gender, and other characteristics of the person walking on it.
• Think the two wheeled Segway is not for you? You may like the 4 wheeled Segway Centaur concept.
• What you've been waiting for: trailer for the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles move. Wait... they're making a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles move?
  

Back from vacation in Branson

Well, I'm back! I visited fabulous Branson, MO, with a stop in Kansas City on the way. Today's links will be for some of the spectacular vacation fare that I experienced:

• Kansas City Zoo - Nice zoo, but not as fun when it is 105 degrees out.
• Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art - Very good museum. Got kicked out because they were closing.
• Silver Dollar City - Fun theme park. Not huge, but good variety. (On most of the rides: you will get wet!)
• Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Museum - full of great oddities.
• Titanic Museum - I thought it was a bit out of place in Branson, but it was very well done.
• Grand Country Square - Didn't stay at the hotel, but ate at the buffet and played the mini golf course.
• 57 Heaven (in Dick Clark's American Bandstand complex) - awesome collection of 1957 cars.
• Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede - horse show and singing, and a four course meal with no silverware.
• Hollywood Wax Museum - just creepy enough.
• The Track - go-karts and other rides.