Your own lightsaber, secrets, junior hire, font effect, solar storm

What's the deal? We had a couple days in the 50s at the end of last week, now a big blizzard today. I almost had forgotten the joys of scooping my driveway. So what's the rule if March comes in kind of like a lamb, but then turns to a lion part way through?
A few links:

• Build your own lightsaber for cheap. You know you want to.
• States steadily restricting info since 9/11. Well, that is a complete shame because... well, I can't tell you.
• Google hires a 15-year old student. And not for sweeping the halls or bussing the corporate cafeteria.
• The Secret Life of Fonts. Does the font you use influence the professor grading your paper?
• Maybe this blizzard won't be so bad. Worst solar storm in 50 years is on the way.
  

What? Iranian nuclear program? butterfly ballots, flexible seating, n to dvd, Mario returns

Sorry for days without posting. It's been another hectic work week, with long hours working on an issue. But, here are some items:

• Iranian negotiator boasts of fooling Europeans on Iran's secret nuclear program. Later, is shocked to find that Europeans read Internet news.
• Not this again. Did "Crash" win best picture due to confusing butterfly ballots? (How many in news media won't realize this is a joke?)
• The Feel seating system from Animi Causa is an interesting design. Supposedly modeled after molecules.
• "Captain N" might be coming to DVD. If you don't remember it, it was a Saturday morning cartoon (when I was a kid) filled with Nintendo based characters. Back then I remember watching to see if my favorite characters would show up, but being disappointed by the cheesiness and poor execution.
• Speaking of Nintendo, looks like there will be a return to classic Super Mario Bros. action in the updated New Super Mario Bros.. Looks old school cool.
  

Loch nessiephant, taxi cop, origami, moving money

Good stuff on the net today:

• Oh good, the mystery is solved. Loch Ness Nessie was actually a circus elephant. Thank you, Science, for ruining everything fun.
• Cop and suspect hail the same cab. Unfortunately, "COPS" wasn't there to catch it on video.
• I am amazed by the winning entries from MIT's origami contest, and that people went to that much effort folding paper.
• And speaking of Origami, are new pics and info on Microsoft's Origami project surfacing?
• Sweden's new banknotes have moving images for fraud prevention. But hey, we got quarters for each State.
  

Live action Simpsons, some worthwhile podcasts

Check out this awesome live action recreation of 'The Simpsons' show opening. It was much better than I was expecting when I first saw the link.

Thought for something different I would post links to some of the podcasts I listen to or watch. I'm lazy and just get them all from iTunes (it's so easy). Anyway, here's a few:

• Ask A Ninja - people ask a ninja questions, and he responds. I guess I didn't really need to explain that. Funny vidcast.
• Diggnation - Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht (formerly of G4-TechTV) discuss some of the top ranked stories posted to social news site Digg.com. Always interesting and often humorous. (Occasional adult language.)
  
• Channel Frederator - a collection of cartoon shorts by different artists and studios. Many are mediocre (or lame), but there are quite a few really good ones. Traditional, CGI, and sometimes music videos that have animation. (Occasional adult language or themes.)
• Geek News Central - tech stories and discussion. Appropriate for all ages.
• The Official Lost Podcast - "Lost" executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse discuss the previous episode, give some hints about the upcoming episode, and answer fan questions. Occasionally, there are interviews with stars of the show.
• CIO Podcast - Information Technology and business stories.
• The Onion Radio News - news farce from the humorist site "The Onion". Often very funny. (Occasional adult language.)
  

Review: "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire

I just finished reading "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" by Gregory Maquire. This book was excellent; one of the best I've read in a long time, and I highly recommend it to those that are familiar with the "Wizard of Oz" but have a satirical streak.

The book tells the story of Elphaba (otherwise known as the Wicked Witch of the West), from birth through the events of "Wizard of Oz". We find that she perhaps isn't the evil to the core person we are introduced to in glimpses in "Wizard". The story covers a few periods in her life from birth, then to her college experience (which I think is one of the most interesting periods in the book), and others including adulthood in the timeframe of "Wizard". The book is sort of using a gimmick (the backstory behind a famous movie villainess) but is not at all gimmicky; it is very well thought out, and makes you think. There are challenging themes of what is good and evil, what is choice, as well as fairly rich political, social, and religious debates. It is a good exercise in taking preconceived ideas (the "Wizard" movie or book) and challenging that with more information that was previously hidden. I'll let you read the book and form your own opinions about the Witch, the Wizard, and Oz.

The one minor disappointment I had was really my own misunderstanding of the book. I thought it was strictly following the "Wizard of Oz" and would just fill in the gaps. However, it actually tells a different version of some of the scenes (basically playing on the fact that the movie might be a revisionist telling of the "true" events). I was a little confused where scenes passed that happened differently in the movie, but that is a minor complaint.

So, in summary, I highly recommend this book. It was fun, well written, and surprisingly deep, plus it adds to an already great story.

Review: "Black" by Ted Dekker

Thought I would give another review; this time for "Black" by Ted Dekker. This is the first book in a trilogy, of which I have not read the last two. If you want to read this, plan to read all three since it ends with a cliffhanger.

Overall, I thought this was a decent book with a good basic premise. The main character, Thomas, is living in two worlds. When he falls asleep in one, he wakes up in the other; the big question of the book being which is real (or are they both real). One world (the "normal" one) is essentially our world in the near future, with most events taking place in the US or Bangkok.
The other world is a vastly different world of magic and strange beasts, and a child-like population. Thomas has tremendous problems trying to convince anyone in either world that the other world exists.

To make matters worse, in the second world, he gets information about the first world. He hears that in the "past" of the world a deadly virus was released that devastated the population. So, now he has to try and prevent that from happening in the first world (on the assumption that our "normal" world is the ancient past of the magical world; even that assumption comes into doubt at some point, though it is obvious there is a connection).

There is a whole lot of stuff going on in this book, and I think that is what saves it. Any of the stories on their own would be kind of flimsy, but the sheer complexity of it and the fast pace keeps it entertaining. I tended to get really caught up in what was happening and then slightly disappointed when Thomas wakes in the other world; but that is part of what keeps you reading. The magical world does seem a bit simplistic, and that made it a little harder for me to buy in that it might be the real one, but since there are effects that carry through to the other world, it is still somewhat plausible.

So, if you are a fan of alternate reality stories, or fast paced fantasy, you'll probably find this book to be OK. I was certainly intrigued enough that I'll be looking for the other two books in the trilogy.

Unlucky lottery, iPod boombox, pong battle, Chinese internet

• Oh no! lottery winners luck can go bad! Well, now I'm totally glad I haven't won millions of dollars.
  
• Apple announced their iPod Hi-Fi today. I am not interested in it.
• Atari threatens the makers of the Pong clock, and then, well, relents. It's a back and forth like... uh... I don't know. Something that goes back and forth.
• China making their own Internet domain name system. Ooh, is this the beginning of a cheaper, overseas knockoff of the Internet?
  

da Vinci lawsuit, governor appointments, e-ink reader, big computer display

• "The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown being sued for stealing plot points from a history book called "The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail". Also, authors of that book are being sued by God for stealing points from the Bible.
• Kentucky governor appoints justices to his own case. If I understand this, this governor is investigated over his hiring practices, so naturally he appoints two campaign contributors to be special justices in that case only.
• Some new info on Sony's Portable Reader System (e-ink reader). Looks cool, but I hope it is affordable and has better content support than past e-book devices.
• If you've got $12,000 to spend, you can have this computer display made from 6 24" LCD screens.

Swiss army music, da Vinci sketches, MS Origami, tax problems

• A Swiss Army knife with a built in mp3 player, for when you need to play music and cut things at the same time. Is there anything they haven't put an mp3 player in yet?
  
• If you are waiting for the Da Vinci code movie, here's a gallery of da Vinci drawings.
• What is Microsoft's Origami project? I don't know, but it looks cool so far.
• H&R Block goofs on its own taxes. Yeah, probably not a good sign.
  

President names, shrine attack, port sale, lego games, luxury bath

I just got my bill from the carpet cleaners today: ouch. A lot more than I was expecting. Oh well, had to be done, I guess. What also has to be done: sharing some links:

• Family names their seven children after past Presidents. And not obvious ones like Taft, Roosevelt, or Nixon.
• Askariya shrine attack pushes Iraq toward civil war. Maybe we should wait on reconstruction efforts. Carried out by Sunni insurgents, and already the US is taking some blame. It is a shame this beatiful Golden Mosque was destroyed, and I hope the majority realized that it was attacked by a very small minority that is trying to enflame further violence.
• Bush, while strongly defending the port sale, was unaware of it until after it was approved. Apparently the same for Donald Rumsfeld. If all the necessary investigation and checks are in place, I think this deal should go through; I don't think we should halt this just because it's being sold to an Arab state. I think the same security rules should apply to any purchaser. However, this story does point to more communication problems within our government.
• This guy creates video game scenes out of Legos. Cool, but why would you think of that?
• You want the La Scala home theater whirlpool bathtub.

Review: "Corpse Bride"

I just got Tim Burton's Corpse Bride on DVD, so I thought I'd throw out a quick review of it. I'll start by stating I'm a big fan of almost all of Tim Burton's work (except for "Mars Attacks!" which I really didn't care for, for some reason), so it was no surprise that I liked this movie a lot.

The story deals with shy groom Victor Van Dort who accidentally marries a dead woman while practicing his wedding vows. It gets into a love triangle of sorts, where he tries to make it back to the living and lovely Victoria, but at the same time is sucked into the lively land of the dead and his corpse bride. The story remains pretty simple; there is a murder 'mystery' (if you can call it that) that is pretty obvious from the start, and works well enough as is. There is also some plot around Victor and Victoria's parents and their social ambitions.

The stop motion animation and visuals are stunning. The obvious comparison in style is to The Nightmare Before Christmas, with a nice balance of morbidity and vibrancy. I really like the way Burton plays with light and dark (not just visually) to show that what we traditionally think of as creepy and gruesome is maybe not that bad after all. The wonderful contrast in this movie is that the land of the living is bleak and dreary, with muted color palette and muted behaviors, while the land of the dead is colorful and lively, with much more cheer and freedom.

The music is also wonderful, perhaps not as memorable as "Nightmare", but it is still excellent work by Danny Elfman. The instrumentals are well done, and the land of the dead has a very jazzy feel.

I really enjoyed the movie; if you are a Tim Burton fan, you'll love it. If you like sweet, simple romance comedies, you'll like this movie. Or if you want a movie that is different than the mainstream, give "Corpse Bride" a try.

Veto, Holocaust jailing, deadly elephants, Vista versions, and more

Hello! Here are some links for you:

• Bush seeks line item veto but Congress hesitant to give it. Instead of letting the President (Executive) legislate, shouldn't we just clean up Congress (Legislative) so they don't sneak unrelated junk into bills?
• British author that diminished the Holocaust in his books gets 3 years in jail in Austria. Now, I'm no supporter of Holocaust denial, but isn't imprisoning someone for speaking their belief a characteristic of the historical governments you are trying to atone for?
• Warning: elephants may seek revenge. Great. One more thing to worry about in my day.
• If you are ambitious enough, you could build your own roller coster, like this guy.
• If you use del.icio.us, you might want to try Thumblicio.us, a handy site that displays thumbnails of your bookmarks.
• In order to make things more complicated, Microsoft will have 8 different versions of Windows Vista.
• Need a cool licensed logo or character iPod case? Check out Iconz.
• Fans of "Strange Brew" be on the lookout for the upcoming animated 'Bob and Doug' show.
  

More water, mechanics, mortgages, and money

The Curse of the Water Spirit continues. This morning, when I looked outside, I saw construction workers. Water was streaming out in the street due to a water main break in front of my neighbor's house (maybe my bad luck is spreading). They had to tear up the street to fix it, so it will be a little messy until they can pave it in the summer. Oh well, no major to effect to me (that I know of yet).
Items:

• London survey finds some mechanics are more costly per hour than lawyers and doctors. Well, with all that schooling and malpractice insurance, and ... wait, what?
• Bond sales may promote longer mortgages, like 50 year loans. Yeah, a 50 year mortgage. That's a good idea. You could pay the interest if you won...
• ...the record $365 million Powerball jackpot.

RIAA rips on ripping, declassification, cablebone, water light show

• RIAA now says ripping your CDs to transfer to an iPod is not Fair Use. Oh well, that's fine. Let me just buy another copy of all those songs from iTunes. Sheesh.
  
• VP Cheney has the authority to declassify classified info. No wait! He wasn't supposed to tell you that!
• The cablebone looks like a simple, smart idea for organizing your bird's nest of cables and wires.
• A showerhead that lights up the water based on temperature. Very handy if you can't feel the different temperatures with your skin.

Easy evidence, ironic shooting, DS web, minature food people

Brrr. it's cold here! I suppose the recent cold wave is to help with the ambiance of the Winter Olympics. Here's some stuff:

• If you're going to steal stuff, please be considerate and leave a note in your house indicating 'stolen stuff visable' to help the police in their investigation.
• Man laughing about Cheney accidental shooting incident gets accidentally shot a few hours later. You probably want to avoid laughing about this story.
• Nintendo DS owners, you are getting a web browser (from Opera).
• Here's a neat little gallery of little model people on food landscapes.
  

Happy Valentine's, TomKat split?, eagle power, Cheney coverage

Happy Valentine's Day to you! I hope you've received some cheer today.
It's not all love and flowers though, as Tom and Katie are splitting. Who would have thought! I thought they would have the longevity of Brad and Jennifer, uh, Nick and Jessica, uh, Bennifer, uh... nevermind.

More of an Independence Day type article, but the American bald eagle takes a step closer to coming off the endangered list.

And in case you've missed it, the "Daily Show" had some good coverage of the Cheney shooting incident, including a top-notch re-enactment.

Wiretapped?, holy terror!, is there gravity in your house?, heart eggs

Ah, I came home and it was silent in my house... no industrial fans or dehumidifiers cranking away. Carpet is dry, and now just needs to be reinstalled. Also, I've got a new water heater installed today; hopefully this one lasts longer.
Some links:

• Bush forgets the mics are on again.
• Our newest weapon against terror? Batman.
• Just what you need: your own gravitational measurement devices.
• Valentine's Day tomorrow. Here's an idea for Valentine's breakfast: heart shaped eggs.
  

Hot water, Cheney on the hunt, a review of "Legends of Dune"

Looks like my water heater problems are not over, as it is smoking a little. I suppose I do have to get it replaced now. Could be worse; I could be part of Vice President Cheney's hunt for the most dangerous game.

Anyway, thought I'd start something different by occasionally posting reviews of books that I've recently read (or movies seen, etc.). To start, I'll give this very high level review of the "Legends of Dune" trilogy (The Butlerian Jihad, The Machine Crusade, and The Battle of Corrin).

Firstly, these books, which take place centuries before the classic "Dune" series, are now where near as good as the classic series. The trilogy covers a period called the Butlerian Jihad, in which humanity is in a brutal war with the thinking machines (basically robots), their mastermind Omnius, and a handful of "cymeks" (big robots with human brains) called the Titans. It centers on some key members of the families so familiar in other "Dune" series, namely the Atreides and Harkonnens, but it touches on the Corrinos as well. It also deals with the origins of some of the integral organizations in the classic "Dune" series.
On the plus side, I think the books gave a fairly good epic feel, by covering several generations and really showing some change in the characters and situations over time. (Again, not nearly as epic as the original series.) Also, there are some interesting characters, including Vorian Atreides and te complex thinking machine, Erasmus. However, there are also a lot of characters that seemed like they were supposed to be important, but never really went anywhere, like the authors set up too much and then abandoned it as they went.
It wouldn't be "Dune" without politics, and they are here too, but frankly feel simplified and stereotypical. I would have liked more depth and realism.

My biggest disappointments are that the authors try to create the origin of every major element from the classic series (Suk doctors, Fremen, Bene Gesserit, Spacing Guild, Atreides/Harkonnen feud, etc.) into a relatively short period of time (all within basically a hundred years), which I thought was very unlikely (the "Dune" saga spans tens of thousands of years at least) and completely unnecessary. Also, the sub-plot about Arrakis (Dune) is easily one of the most flat and dry (pun intended) stories in the series, which is ironic given the series' namesake. Lastly, when I read the original "Dune" books, I never would have pictured that the history was a giant war between humans and robots. Kind of cheesy, in my opinion.

Verdict? I really felt the authors (one of which is Frank Herbert's son) were really just riding on the coat-tails of the original books, and didn't do that great a job at it. There are some interesting things, and if you are familiar with classic "Dune" you'll either appreciate the tie-ins or find them not in spirit with the original books (some of this could just be my interpretation of the classic series too). If you haven't read the original "Dune" series, read those instead; they are much better books. If you are a die-hard fan of "Dune", you'll probably want to read the "Legends of Dune" trilogy (if you haven't already) for the details and history. If you are a fan of human versus machine stories ("Matrix" or "Terminator"), you might enjoy these as well. Otherwise, the only way I can recommend is if you are looking for an epic series that will keep you busy for a while (but again, read the classic "Dune" story first so as not to spoil your experience of that).

Burns and leaks, channel shopping, Hogfather, real cash for virtual jobs, laser swords

What a week! As you'll recall from the last post, I have a horrible sunburn on my head and face, I came home from vacation to a flooded basement, and now this morning my water heater started on fire. (Oh, and we're in the middle of a blizzard too!) I'm buzzing with anticipation to see if the next thing will be localized earthquake or possibly a Godzilla attack. (I exaggerate the water heater a bit. The electrical box did shoot flames and smoke, but didn't sustain a fire. But hey, it's funnier to think of a flaming tank of water.)
Some things to see:

• Did Cheney authorize the classified info leaks?
• FCC considering a la carte pay TV now, even though against it in the past. I have to admit, I thought this sounded like a good idea, but with deeper thought, I'm not so sure.
• Hooray for fans of Discworld! "Hogfather" being adapted as a TV special. And hopefully, it will make its way here to the US eventually.
• Tired of that boring "real" job? Maybe you can make more money with a career in a virtual world.
  
• A note from my vacation: we ate at a place on Sanibel called Lazy Flamingo. If you're in the area looking for a bite to eat, they've got pretty good grouper sandwiches and salads.
• We are finally getting closer to achieving a true lightsaber!

Deleted emails, clocks, doorknobs, leaks, Google, and Zelda

Hello! I'm off for vacation tomorrow, so don't expect updates for several days. Before I go, here are a few items:

• Dick Cheney's emails deleted from around the time of the Plame incident, contrary to White House Policy. Well, that's convenient.
• Build your own projection clock if you are too cheap to buy one and have lots of time.
• Finally! A doorknob that knows who I am!
• Well, that's an interesting new approach to accidentally leaking confidential credit card info: sending it out with the newspapers.
• What's the future of Google? Scientists and visionaries give some thoughts.
• The 20th anniversary of "The Legend of Zelda" brings some neat new collectibles.