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January 2003 December November October September August July June May April March February Archives * * * * *
** -- previously read
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Wednesday, March 28, 2001
I got a call from Detective John Kimball last night. Well, Dann pretending to Arnold, anyways. After laughing all the way through it (Dann had been using one of those Java applets that plays the sound clips over an internet phone call) I commented that all of this technology at our hands, and all of things we could do with it -- and what do we do with it? Make crank phone calls, of course.
On a semi-related note, I'm currently reading Voodoo Science by Robert L. Park. This should be mandatory reading in high-school science classes. Park explains in clear, concise detail how scientists and believers fool themselves into thinking that such fallacies as cold fusion, free-energy machines, magnetic therapy, and homeopathic medicine are products of legitimate scientific explanation. Unfortunately, no matter how much evidence you may have, some people refuse to let go. Even more unfortunate is that it is usually these people who are legitimatizing crackpot pseudoscience by endorsing it, or even giving it government support. Tuesday, March 27, 2001
Friends,
Those of you who use Blogvoices should know that your pages are now taking an average of 59 seconds to load. Over ethernet. That is all. Thursday, March 22, 2001
Ash (from Evil Dead/Army of Darkness) Sound Board -- make your own prank phone calls ala the infamous Arnold sound clips!
(warning, potentially offensive banner ad at top of page -- don't go if you don't want to know) Wednesday, March 21, 2001
Ever do one of those things where you're aware there may be a slim chance of looking silly only to find that when it happens it unloads a new level of embarrassment on you? I've seen one gaining on me in the side-view mirror...
Tuesday, March 20, 2001
Salon -- Finance Reform part 2
It's not America if the wackos don't come out to personally attack someone because they don't like (or totally misinterpret) their political agenda. Monday, March 19, 2001
I watched a lot of basketball this weekend -- all last thursday, half the games on friday, all of saturday, and even at work on sunday. With little debate (other than Super Bowl Sunday) this is the greatest time in sports. To gather together to watch, betting or comparing brackets, watching the inevitable upset and rooting for a school that you may not even know the location of -- it brings it all together. And my brackets don't look half-bad.
The Playstation 2 finally showed up, with mixed results. Newer DVDs have problems playing correctly because the copy protection does not like the fact that the PS2 goes through the VCR before going to the TV -- indeed, the documentation says to hook the PS2 straight up to the TV. Unfortunately, my current TV does not have video inputs other the the cable plug. So no real DVD until a new TV is procured. I knew I wanted the new TV first. My PS2 came with SSX and The Bouncer. I'm not huge into snowboarding, but the graphics and music of the game is fabulous, and the game has great replayability. Now, The Bouncer, on the other hand, has great cut scenes and graphics, but seems to me nothing more than a glorified fighting game, ala a 3d Street Fighter. Alas. A temporary setback at most, that which a new TV and some more games will fix. Thursday, March 15, 2001
Tuesday, March 13, 2001
I looked up my retirement funds to find that yesterday's stock market woes had cost me about four hundred bucks. Not cool, of course, but I worry a bit too much -- Dann's right when he says that since the money can't be accessed for another thirty-odd years, it is not time to take drastic action.
I do think I'll diversify a bit, though. I had been riding blue chip and aggressive growth funds for the last two years as both the Dow and the NASDAQ boomed. After this month, though, will be three straight quarters of losses. I'm thinking may to cut back to 50% aggressive, 30% balanced, and 20% bonds. If you have a favorite Fidelity mutual fund that fits these catagories, send them along this way. Speaking of losing money, I finally was able to purchase a non-used Playstation 2 today. To be honest, right now we're coveting the DVD aspect of it the most, but the package comes with The Bouncer and SSX, so... Thursday, March 08, 2001
A coworker has graciously allowed me to borrow his GPS tracking device while he's in the hospital. I guess I used to consider them to be a toy of excess - why would you need to know what spot on the planet you're at in this day and age (unless you were at the Arctic Circle or whatnot) - but I'm ready to admit that my view was not very enlightened.
The device is really, for lack of better terms, "neat-o." Not only can you find your position anywhere in the continental US (and further should you update the maps), but you can also mark waypoints as well as actively track your passage anywhere on the basemap. While I could go on and on about these features, the aspect that really appeals to me involves sites such as geocaching.com -- where GPS enthusiasts have gone out into the wild, stored goodies in a container, left it in a location and then post the coordinates on the geocaching website for others to find. If you are able to find the cache, you can take a goody but you must leave one behind for the next person to come along. Kind of like finding pirate treasure - except "X" doesn't mark the spot; longitude and latitude do. The only drawback right now is the price -- basic GPS devices run about a hundred and fifty bucks -- but I expect I'll get *some* money back from my tax return...
I woke up this morning to feed the cats and discovered that my left big toe was throbbing as if I'd dropped a bowling ball on it. For the first half hour I was seriously entertaining the idea of driving down the emergency room; after taking aspirin, eating, and talking to Jules about it, the pain faded.
I know what's caused it -- when I was a kid, I used to peel my toenails incessantly. I did it so much that the big toe nails became fragile, and when I was in high school I developed ingrown nails on three of the four corners of the big toes. They would ooze blood and pus, and my socks would be stained with this mess every day when I got home from school. Should I accidentally stub that corner of the toe, or someone step on them, I'd go through the roof with pain. Eventually, the magic of Blue Cross was able to get those three taken care of with laser surgery; the other corner has thickened up to the point that I can cut out any possible offender if needed. However, one of the corners that was fixed now grows weaker than the other, and occasionally it will splinter if it gets too long. Wednesday, it splintered, and I cut it down with the clips. Must of cut a bit too far, though, because I think it may be infected now, which is why there was the 36 hour delay in the pain bomb going off. I think I can treat it with peroxide and Neosporin, but man, if my toes every got to the point of how they used to be, I'd elect to have them cut right off. Plus and also, M-CARE insurance does not cover ingrown nails. Wednesday, March 07, 2001
I've been using Blogger for what, five months now, and I hadn't even began to think of fiddling with the template information. To be honest, I like the layout and color scheme of this prepackaged setup. But I went dicking around in there for the last hour or so... and only made a mess of things, so I switched back.
My regular page has a simple monochrome setup with bright green links; however I seem to recall that Vincent Flanders' Web Pages That Suck once said that a black background was the most pretentious thing you could do to a web page. I dunno. As much as I like to think that I'm my own man, I still strive for public acceptance. Heaven forbid your web page go out of date, or someone give a "not helpful" vote on an Amazon review. Sometimes you just want to smile, nod, and go with the flow, and sometimes you just want to tell people to "Jump in your hotrod and hit the road, asshole!" Luckily I have Jules, who is, I think, the only person I can allow myself to be totally open and unguarded around without feeling strange, nervous, or exposed. I wonder if this is the state that others achieve? How would I truly know, anyways? Sunday, March 04, 2001
We went out to dinner on Friday night and ran into Zenith and Eric on the way there. I should have suggested that when her book comes out, she should sign a few copies and then sell them for profit on eBay. It's a very cool experience to be able to go into a bookstore, see a title and say "I know this person."
Afterwards, Jules, Dann, Mer and I were able to bust out 221b Baker Street for the first time. Well, for me actually, the second time. My brother owned this game back in like 1982 -- I can remember playing it one time in our old tent up north on vacation. I was eight years old. Mer won both games we played, thus earning the nickname "Merrie Haskell, Accidental Detective." It's a great game, but the best part is that there's about a hundred extra cases available once you use up the first twenty. Yesterday Jules and I had a billion things to accomplish. I picked up some things I need in order to convert an old Mac SE into a flowerpot, cookie jar, or even an MacQuarium. More on that as it develops. Friday, March 02, 2001
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