The Flash Mind Reader puzzle
I *will* figure out how this works. Okay, I didn't figure it out, because I found an explanation. But try it first, and see if you can figure it out.
Bug Catcher
Get rid of cumbersome creepy crawlies the humane way, without having to get your hands on them.
Quote of the Day
"What a wonderful world this is! I click a mouse somewhere, bits
fly through optics, go to some undisclosed place, money
electronically changes hands, and then atoms in useful
arrangement are flown in airplanes and hand-carried to my
doorstep. When you think about it, this is miraculous."
- Robert W. Lucky, in "Reflections", IEEE Spectrum Magazine,
November 2005. The writer had purchased a new laptop computer
online.
fly through optics, go to some undisclosed place, money
electronically changes hands, and then atoms in useful
arrangement are flown in airplanes and hand-carried to my
doorstep. When you think about it, this is miraculous."
- Robert W. Lucky, in "Reflections", IEEE Spectrum Magazine,
November 2005. The writer had purchased a new laptop computer
online.
Quote of the Day
"To question your government is not unpatriotic - to not question
your government is unpatriotic."
- Chuck Hagel, U.S. Senator, in a speech delivered at the Council
on Foreign Relations, Washington, D.C. on November 15th, 2005.
your government is unpatriotic."
- Chuck Hagel, U.S. Senator, in a speech delivered at the Council
on Foreign Relations, Washington, D.C. on November 15th, 2005.
10 Things They Won't Tell You
An archive of Smart Money's "10 things they won't tell you" series, featuring tidbits about eye doctors, butchers, plumbers, cruise lines, etc.
Sony BRAVIA - The Advert
What do a quarter-million superballs look like bouncing down the streets of San Francisco? Wonder no more.
The War on Brats
"Café's move to boot bad kids kicks up skirmish between the childless and the child-centered."
Quote of the Day
"Noncooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation
with good."
- Mahatma Gandhi
Trip shows slowing down boosts mileage but can make you unpopular on the road
"But hardly anyone is talking about -- or practicing -- a surefire way to save on gas: Slow down. Drive 55."
How to Buy Your Own Private Island
"Considering the amount of money that you have to spend to buy a private island, it's critical that you are aware of the following issues."
The Company Cookbook
I'm not ahsamed to admit that I've had, and liked, several of these dishes. And most of the rest of them don't sound so bad. This must be from one of them uppity California peeple.
LeakFrog Water Alarm
Now you can buy a $13 frog that will tell you if you have water in your basement.
Stroke Test: Is It a Stroke?
Three simple test anyone can do to determine if someone is having a stroke -- and every minute does count in these situations.
Shopcat.com
"On the following pages you will find stories and pictures of all kinds of cats who work in stores, libraries, hotels, and so on."
SIMON OF SPACE
A very excellent science fiction novel presented via blog; the ending isn't even avaialble yet.
My Favorite Word
"Zephyr? Gossamer? Love? Chocolate? Wisteria? Dividend? Freedom? Sleep? Everyone has a favorite word. What's yours?"
Exploratorium -- Science Of Gardening
A very well put-together site showcasing interesting facts about gardening, facts about vegetables, and alternative gardening methods such as hydroponics, Antarctic gardens, median gardening, etc.
IBM tells employees it will pay them to quit and become teachers
"International Business Machines Corp., worried the United States is losing its competitive edge, will financially back employees who want to leave the company to become math and science teachers."
IBM tells employees it will pay them to quit and become teachers
"International Business Machines Corp., worried the United States is losing its competitive edge, will financially back employees who want to leave the company to become math and science teachers."
Power-dressing man leaves trail of destruction
"An Australian man built up a 40,000-volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building. "
Handsfree Carpet Cleaner
I'd like to be the first to welcome our new robotic carpet-cleaning overlords.
Quote of the Day
"Unless you become more watchful in your States and check this spirit of monopoly and thirst for exclusive privileges, you will in the end find that the most important powers of Government have been given or bartered away, and the control of your dearest interests have been passed into the hands of these corporations."
- U.S. President Andrew Jackson, farewell address, 04 March 1837.
Quote of the Day
"America's security comes from our freedoms. For more than two centuries, we have maintained a delicate balance between freedom and the opportunity for crime. We deliberately put laws in place that hamper police investigations because we know we are more secure because of them. We know that laws regulating wiretapping, search and seizure, and interrogation make us all safer, even if they make it harder to convict criminals."
- Bruce Schneier, CTO of Counterpane Internet Security, "Fingerprinting Visitors Won't Offer Security", Newsday.com, 2004-01-14.
Free Speech: Going, Going ...
"Corporations' efforts to curb free speech through lawsuits are unfortunately succeeding. "
The Anti-Sit Archives
If you ever need to go to New York City, be sure to rest up first. They apparently don't want you resting while you're there.
Trying to Translate What My Girlfriend Is Saying in Swedish While She's on the Phone to Her Mother.
"Have you been swimming in dorky rivers, logger?"
Cats In Sinks
"What is Cats in Sinks? It's obvious. It's about cats. And kittens. Who like sinks. And basins. And that's it."
Quote of the Day
"I've lost count of the number of assurances politicians have
offered us that they will, truly they will, ensure the creation
of a reliable and nationally acceptable form of proportional
representation the moment we vote them into power.
"So we do and lo and behold, the magic dust of the Great
Parliamentary Fairy is thrown into the eyes of the winners, and
they forget all about their pre-election promises. They just
get more and more drunk bingeing on the headiest drug there is.
Power. And bugger what the voters really want."
- "Agony aunt" Claire Rayner, in "Liberal Democrat News", London,
20th May 2005.
The Great American Jobs Scam
"It’s the Great American Jobs Scam: an intentionally constructed system that enables corporations to exact huge taxpayer subsidies by promising quality jobs – and then lets them fail to deliver. The other benefit often promised – higher tax revenues – often proves false or exaggerated as well."
Men do have trouble hearing women, scientists find
"'The female voice is actually more complex than the male voice, due to differences in the size and shape of the vocal cords and larynx between men and women, and also due to women having greater natural 'melody' in their voices."
Bottled water is evil
"... read Tom Standage's excellent NYT piece on the total absence of any benefits to drinking bottled water over tap water -- it's not better for you, doesn't taste better, and is rotten for the environment..."
Come on Baby Light My Fire
"Want to make your AC more powerful without touching the knob? Stop heating your house with your light bulbs." A regular lightbulb converts only 10% of the electricity it uses into light. The rest goes toward heat.
Guess-the-google
This game preents you with 20 images found by Google in an image search -- your job is to figure out what single search term was used to find them.
Naomi -- Internet content filter
"Naomi is an Internet content filtering program, intended for families and parents in particular. It constantly monitors all Internet connections for inappropriate materials, and immediately closes down the browser if encountered. "
What to do if a nuclear disaster is imminent
A serious and comprehensive discussion of how to be safe.
Google Help : Search Features
No search engine is perfect, or knows about everything everywhere, but Google's pretty cool. This page shows some of the special searches Google can do. For example, if you enter as a search term define:habitue, Google will return definitions of the word. Much more found at the link.
Spray on mud
"Sprayonmud is a specially formulated spray-on product for anyone that wants to give friends, neighbours, colleagues or just anyone at all, the impression that they have been off-road or, at the very least, out in the country for the weekend."
Drive-In Theater
"Please remember to place the speaker on the post before you leave the theater." Is there a drive-in movie theater near you?
Real-World Warnings Keep You Safe Online
"Many of the warning phrases you probably heard from your parents and teachers are also applicable to using computers and the internet. "
PublicRadioFan.com
"PublicRadioFan.com features program listings for hundreds of public radio stations around the world. Follow the audio links to hear your favorite programs and discover new ones. "
Big toys for big boys at this theme park
"So I looked around my lot and saw all this equipment just standing there idle and thought to myself, gosh, a lot of guys would pay good money for the chance just to sit in one of these things. That's how the idea was born."
Today's Front Pages
"... Flash-based interface to let users see the front page of over 425 newspapers across 45 countries. "
One-minute vacations
"One-minute vacations are unedited recordings of somewhere, somewhen. Sixty seconds of something else. Sixty seconds to be someone else."
Experts Remove Bees, 450 Pounds Of Honey From Home
"The family said they first discovered the bees living in the walls of their home... when honey started dripping from the ceiling."
South Korea bans baseball players from wearing cabbage leaves
A stunning blow to the cabbage industry.
Consumer Vertigo
"A new wave of social critics claim that freedom’s just another word for way too much to choose. Here’s why they’re wrong."
Possible Link Between Diet Soda & Obesity
"People who think sipping diet soft drinks will help keep their waistlines svelte could be taking the wrong approach in controlling their weight. "
Livio De Marchi
"Can you imagine a house made out of books? A house in which even the table, the chairs and the bed seem to have been made of pages to turn and bound covers?"
Japan unveils "robot suit" that enhances human power
And when you're not wearing it, it looks for Sarah Connor.
Guess Which Movie
This site will present you with 4 still images from a movie; you guess which movie it's from.
VoteBook Citizenship Test
"The VoteBook Citizenship Test is based on an actual test administered by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service"
Change Is in the Air!
Who even knew birds had cars? They way they treat *my* car you wouldn't think they'd care so much about keeping them clean.
Genetic Savings and Clone - the leading provider of pet gene banking and pet cloning services.
If your pet is great, then 14 of him would be excellent!
Crying, while eating
Have you ever caught yourself crying while eating, then wanted to share your misery with the world by sending in a video clip of it to a web site that would share them? These people have.
The Darth Side: Memoirs of a Monster
Very excellent blog by Darth Vader. In the manner of all blogs, begin at the end (use the archive links at the right). Moving and funny.
New Tricycle Morphs into Bike on the Go
"A new trike-bike design lets kids learn to ride on their own by giving them three-wheel stability at low speeds, while letting them experience the balanced freedom of a two-wheeler at high speeds."
Claude the Cat
Interesting facts about cats, mostly made up, but oh so true. Use the little arrow thingies at the bottom to cycle through the set.
Target Corp. Redesigns the Pill Bottle, Hoping to Grab Customers - from TBO.com
"Target pharmacies this month rolled out a flattened bottle with easier-to-read labels and plastic rings that can be color-coded for each family member. "
Mailboxes that fight back
"He's invented three amazing mailboxes designed to deter, punish, or catch mailbox vandals and mail thieves."
Powers Of 10
Your journey starts with a "view the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth".
Granny has gnome security
"Battling gran Jean Collop nabbed a burglar — by laying him out with a garden gnome."
Driver Uses Car To Keep Trucker Off Freeway
"A New York man who says he lost a close friend to a drunken driver -- and didn't want to see it happen to anyone else -- used his car to block a tractor-trailer from pulling onto a highway because he thought the trucker was drunk."
World Jump Day
Wouldn't you like to stop global warming, extend daytime hours, and create a more homogenous climate?
Quote of the day
"My ultimate vocation in life is to be an irritant. Not
something actively destructive, but someone who irritates, who
disorientates. Someone who disrupts the daily drag of life just
enough to leave the victim thinking there's maybe more to it all
than the mere humdrum quality of existence."
- musician Elvis Costello.
something actively destructive, but someone who irritates, who
disorientates. Someone who disrupts the daily drag of life just
enough to leave the victim thinking there's maybe more to it all
than the mere humdrum quality of existence."
- musician Elvis Costello.
Do You Speak American?
"The Big Book Of Beastly Mispronunciations: The Complete Opinionated Guide For The Careful Speaker by Charles Harrington Elster offers suggestions on how to pronounce thousands of words and expressions. Here are 100 examples!"
Robotic garage gets OK
"Robotic parking -- like valet parking, but without the valet -- is coming to Fort Lauderdale."
The ghostly salt city beneath Detroit
"Like a Jules Verne fantasy, a ghostly city with its own network of four lane highways lies deep beneath the industrial heart of Detroit, its crystalline walls glittering and gleaming in the flickering light. It is a world of no night or day. It is a world of salt."
Colorado Cracks Down on Left-Lane Dawdling
"Colorado is serious about its no-dawdling law in left lanes. Drivers who insist on staying in the passing lane are risking tickets as the State Patrol has begun enforcing a law requiring motorists to use the left lane for passing only. "
Patient Receives Blood Pressure Implant
"A 36-year-old woman with severe hypertension has been fitted with a pacemaker-like implant that, in limited trials in Europe, has shown promise in controlling wayward blood pressure through electronic stimulation of neck-artery nerves. "
Report: Human Damage to Earth Worsening Fast
"Humans are damaging the planet at an unprecedented rate and raising risks of abrupt collapses in nature that could spur disease, deforestation or "dead zones" in the seas, an international report said on Wednesday. "
Quote of the day
"I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings
endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides.
Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence
encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."
- Elie Wiesel
endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides.
Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence
encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."
- Elie Wiesel
Unhappy Hour
"Like a lot of hardworking Americans, I often complain that there aren't enough hours in the day. That's why I dread what happens this weekend, when we're all supposed to "spring forward" between sundown on Saturday and sunup on Sunday."
Getting Rid of "Spam" and Other E-mail Pests
"The basics of spam, "phishing" and other e-mail pests, how they got your address in the first place -- and what to do now that you're inundated."
Penny stacking
"All stacks of pennies were done without any glue. Only the weight of the pennies provides the support."
Longmire does Romance Novels
New batch! "I think a lot of us can agree that a large number of romance novel covers are pretty silly and are just asking to be ridiculed. So that's exactly what I did. "
The Energy Crunch To Come
"This coming scarcity cannot be wished away, nor can it be erased through drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which contains far too little petroleum to make a significant difference even in U.S. oil supplies."
Don't Gross Out The World
"Should you eat fried chicken with your hands while in
England? Leave rice in the bowl while in China? Answer these, and
other pithy questions, in the "Don'tGrossOutTheWorld" Flash game.
"
England? Leave rice in the bowl while in China? Answer these, and
other pithy questions, in the "Don'tGrossOutTheWorld" Flash game.
"
Have trouble getting out of bed?
"After the snooze button is pressed, the clock, which is equipped with a set of wheels, rolls off the table to another part of the room. "
The Worst Jobs in History
"In this website, we take you on a journey through 2,000 years of British history and the worst jobs of each era."
Quote of the day
"The sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room."
- Blaise Pascal, Pensées (1670)
- Blaise Pascal, Pensées (1670)
MORE - the movie
An excellent 6-minute movie that will make you want to skip work tomorrow. Presented by one of my favorite companies (check out the links on the left side as well).
Bowling Balls Come in Different Scents
"One bowling ball manufacturer — Storm Products Inc. — is putting fruit and other popular scents into its mid- to high-end bowling balls, resulting in a steady increase in sales. "
Perfect Brown Rice Recipe
"It truly does make absolutely perfect brown rice every time! Never gummy."
How Much Is Inside?
"Throughout the ages, man has pondered the question, "How much is inside?" With a few extra bucks, and a decent spot on the internet, we at cockeyed.com expose these long-hidden truths."
Tower of ice
"'I don't really care for winter; I guess that's why I do stuff like this,' Reeves said. 'You've got to act crazy to keep from going crazy.'"
McAffee wants your WiFi secure
For those using wireless: "Security vendor McAfee, Inc. this week launched an on-line Wi-Fi security scanning service and said that it is developing a standalone WLAN security product that will be released later this year. "
Very Strange Things on the Web
"Proof positive there are too many people with WAY too much time on their hands. "
Resistance is futile
"So it was with genuine anticipation that I opened the book, curious to know what the people at Little Golden Books believed small children who stick Beeferoni up their noses could absorb about the Inscrutible One."
SSI Shredding Demonstrations
Check out this collection of movies: an industrial shredder shredding things that you never thought could be shredded (a couch; a 55-gallon drum filled with concrete; a washing machine; and most satisfyingly, a bunch of computers).
free - Annual Credit Report
"AnnualCreditReport.com processes requests for free credit file disclosures (commonly called credit reports). Under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) consumers can request and obtain a free credit report once every 12 months from each of the three nationwide consumer credit reporting companies. AnnualCreditReport.com provides consumers with the secure means to do so."
Anything Into Oil: Technological savvy could turn waste into crude
"If a 175-pound man fell into one end , he would come out the other end as 38 pounds of oil, 7 pounds of gas, and 7 pounds of minerals, as well as 123 pounds of sterilized water." [warning: gross picture, but good article]
Sifting Enclosed Cat Pan
"Throw out your scoop and save time with our Van Ness Sifting Enclosed Cat Pan. This smartly designed unit features two nesting pans and a sifting screen. Stack the pans with the sifting screen on top and fill with clumping litter. When you lift the sifting screen the litter sifts out into the pan, leaving clumps that you throw away. Replace the sifting screen in the empty pan, move the litter from the full to the empty pan, restack, and you're finished!"
Drop the dime on telemarketers
Did you sign up for the Federal Government's "Do Not Call" List, and yet still get telemarketing calls? If so, report 'em here.
5-star underwater hotel coming to Bahamas
"The suites will be equipped with spotlights and fish-feeders to keep the show going."
Subject: Families
Families with babies and families without babies are sorry for each other.
-- Edgar Watson Howe
There is not muhc less vexation in the government of a private family than in managing an entire state.
-- Montaigne
Happiness is having a large, loving, close-knit family in another city.
-- George Burns
In our family, happy usually invovles gunfire and at least two patrol cars showing up.
-- Randy Milholland
There is no such thing as fun for the entire family.
-- Jerry Sienfeld
Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.
-- Jane Howard
-- Edgar Watson Howe
There is not muhc less vexation in the government of a private family than in managing an entire state.
-- Montaigne
Happiness is having a large, loving, close-knit family in another city.
-- George Burns
In our family, happy usually invovles gunfire and at least two patrol cars showing up.
-- Randy Milholland
There is no such thing as fun for the entire family.
-- Jerry Sienfeld
Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.
-- Jane Howard
Something to do with someone called "Modest Mouse"
Cool and a bit freaky... be sure to move your mouse.
Car vs. Telephone Wires in Texas - (Firehouse.com Photo Stories)
At least there was a bus station handy.
How to play the French service game ... and win
"When it comes to France, it's not so much where you go that matters, but how you do it. Opening our special French issue, long-term Paris resident Stephen Clarke gives an insider's guide to getting good service."
Wind-driven lake water spray creates thick ice scupltures
Translation of the text at the top by Babelfish: "Wednesday January 26, 2005. The opinion of great cold announced by the weather is with go. Spectacle of ice guaranteed at the edge of the lake Léman where gusts of wind are announced with 110 km/h [68 mph].... I let to you guess the temperature. Attention, certain images can shock the people sensitive to the cold!"
Quotes
"You're not paying us for our time. You're paying us for the thousands of Saturday nights we stayed home to learn all this stuff."
- Robert Stephens, "Chief Inspector" of electronic retailer Best Buy's in-home service arm, "Geek Squad".
---------------------
"The really idle man goes nowhere. The perpetually busy man does not get much further."
- Heneage Ogilvie
---------------------
"Pure logic is the ruin of the spirit."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944)
- Robert Stephens, "Chief Inspector" of electronic retailer Best Buy's in-home service arm, "Geek Squad".
---------------------
"The really idle man goes nowhere. The perpetually busy man does not get much further."
- Heneage Ogilvie
---------------------
"Pure logic is the ruin of the spirit."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944)
Do SUVs Make You Stupid?
"Pointless, dangerous and vain as ever, land tanks still sell millions. Only one explanation possible."
Sam's Mailbox Pictures
"I have always been intrigued by the ability of a craftsman to take a boring mailbox and make it into a thing of interest, adventure or beauty"
Finding a Home for Old Computers
"If getting rid of clutter happens to be one of your New Year's resolutions, nothing will clear up a few cubic feet of space like getting an old computer, monitor or printer out the door. In most cases, selling that antique hardware to a friend, co-worker or eBay user won't be an option -- computers lose their value faster than almost any other manufactured product in history. Just tossing them in the trash isn't a good idea either: Most computing gear contains such toxic components as lead, mercury and cadmium."
Removable Hard Drive Enclosure w/Lock/Fan/LED - $7.95
Between this, a hard drive, and a copy of Symantec Ghost, you've got yourself a backup plan, bub!
Wired News: Wild Things Are on the Beach
"A self-styled god, Jansen is evolving an entirely new line of animals: immense multi-legged walking critters designed to roam the Dutch coastline, feeding on gusts of wind."
Supercharging the brain
Biotechnology: New drugs promise to improve memory and sharpen mental response. Who should be allowed to take them?
EPIC 2014
A look at how the news business might change in the coming decades, because of the internets.
What You'll Wish You'd Known
Great advice for high school seniors, and just about everyone else, really.
My car
I drive a mid-90's Dodge Intrepid that has some interesting design features, if by "interesting" you mean "stupid, and "design" you mean "poor design", and by "features" you mean "problems".
Issue 1: due to the angle of the windshield and the dash, there is a very strong reflection of the dash on the inside of the windshield. It is very pronounced. If the sun is shining on the dash it is very bad, a definite safety issue. Sunglasses become a must. I tried a dash cover, but besides looking like I was pimpin' my ride, it never laid down completely (offending my delicate aesthetic sensibilities), and made me afraid to drive, because it had a cutout to accommodate my passenger air bag, which is under a panel on the top of the dash, and I kept imagining that if I hit a bunny the airbag would deploy and give me and my passengers a 200 mph rug burn. So the
question: was this car designed and tested in Seattle, or completely inside a building, where there was no sun?
Issue 2: the trunk lid is designed such that whenever I open it when it is wet outside, all the water on the car, and apparently on neighboring vehicles and structures, and perhaps from adjacent counties, is funneled into the trunk in two streams, one from each side of the trunk lid,
conveniently about 1/3 and 2/3 of the way across the trunk, guaranteeing a good soaking to my merchandise. I guess this rules out the "Seattle" theory posited above. So the only conclusion left is that the car was designed and tested completely indoors. And apparently tested at low speeds:
Issue 3: my passenger-side windshield wiper is placed so that it catches the airflow over the hood just right (or wrong), and at freeway speeds it jumps and jiggles and generally has a party. When I first bough the car I switched over to Anco Winter Blades (sealed wipers, great for winter driving because they never get clogged with snow and ice and make you do the "reaching out the window grab and thwap". That only lasted until my first freeway ride, when the extra surface area of the wiper caused it to wave much more vigorously, to the point where I was making lots of friends in the next lane, but was worried about it's effect on mileage and low-flying birds. The driver's side wiper looks like it wants to join in, but can't get up enough steam, so it's one of those guys who dances without the feet ever moving.
I'm generally happy with the rest of the car. In fact, one of the reasons I bought it was that it's a non-transverse-mounted V6, meaning you can actually see all the spark plugs. That helps a lot with maintenance. It's comfortable and good-looking. I just can't drive it fast, or in rain, or in the sun. So it's holding its resale value, since I've only put 20 miles on it in the last 2 years.
Issue 1: due to the angle of the windshield and the dash, there is a very strong reflection of the dash on the inside of the windshield. It is very pronounced. If the sun is shining on the dash it is very bad, a definite safety issue. Sunglasses become a must. I tried a dash cover, but besides looking like I was pimpin' my ride, it never laid down completely (offending my delicate aesthetic sensibilities), and made me afraid to drive, because it had a cutout to accommodate my passenger air bag, which is under a panel on the top of the dash, and I kept imagining that if I hit a bunny the airbag would deploy and give me and my passengers a 200 mph rug burn. So the
question: was this car designed and tested in Seattle, or completely inside a building, where there was no sun?
Issue 2: the trunk lid is designed such that whenever I open it when it is wet outside, all the water on the car, and apparently on neighboring vehicles and structures, and perhaps from adjacent counties, is funneled into the trunk in two streams, one from each side of the trunk lid,
conveniently about 1/3 and 2/3 of the way across the trunk, guaranteeing a good soaking to my merchandise. I guess this rules out the "Seattle" theory posited above. So the only conclusion left is that the car was designed and tested completely indoors. And apparently tested at low speeds:
Issue 3: my passenger-side windshield wiper is placed so that it catches the airflow over the hood just right (or wrong), and at freeway speeds it jumps and jiggles and generally has a party. When I first bough the car I switched over to Anco Winter Blades (sealed wipers, great for winter driving because they never get clogged with snow and ice and make you do the "reaching out the window grab and thwap". That only lasted until my first freeway ride, when the extra surface area of the wiper caused it to wave much more vigorously, to the point where I was making lots of friends in the next lane, but was worried about it's effect on mileage and low-flying birds. The driver's side wiper looks like it wants to join in, but can't get up enough steam, so it's one of those guys who dances without the feet ever moving.
I'm generally happy with the rest of the car. In fact, one of the reasons I bought it was that it's a non-transverse-mounted V6, meaning you can actually see all the spark plugs. That helps a lot with maintenance. It's comfortable and good-looking. I just can't drive it fast, or in rain, or in the sun. So it's holding its resale value, since I've only put 20 miles on it in the last 2 years.
McDonald's new Diet Shakes
Every so often I forget myself and give McDonalds some of my hard-won sheckles for some salt and fat sculpted into the shape of real food (but never as real as it looks in the ads). So this time I decided we'd just get milkshakes. They'd have a hard time screwing those up, right? So even though I order Smalls for me and the boys, we get Mediums (which are probably called Mega-Larges, because there's no Small in the hierarchy of portions at McD's), but I pay for them anyway, because I've waited so long in line that I'm about to run out of gas.
But ho! What is this? The milkshakes, which are delivered in cups, with lids and straws, cannot be consumed through straws, because they are Triple Thick, as if that's a good thing for a straw-based beverage/caulk. My youngest tries valiantly for several minutes, and to keep him from crying I offer to "warm it up in my hands", but after 30 minutes of groping it is still not appreciably less viscous. My older son, who by now has been sucking on his shake so hard that all his teeth point toward his uvula, finally gives up, noting that his vanilla shake tasted like strawberry anyway. The microscopic success I had with my chocolate shake/fix-a-flat wasn't especially chocolately, either, but more of a "hey check it out, Lester, if we mix these 7 chemicals together it kind of has a mildly chocolate after-taste" kind of taste.
But hey, at least they only cost 1.5 hours of minimum wage. Grade: F
How To Reset Security Settings Back to the Defaults
Was working on a massively-infected computer the other day, and after cleaning off the evil (Ad-Aware alone found over 1800 things), I was upgrading to XP SP2 (service pack 2) when I got the finest error message I've ever recieved from Windows: "The requested section was not present in the activation context". In a way it was good, because it sounded like it *could* be actual information, as opposed to the usual Windows error: "You screwed up". But this was SP2, a completely scripted install that I had no part in apart from the double-click to start it. Anyway, I was getting lots of other errors as well, all having to do with security ("access denied") and the registry and file system, and I was in the administrator's account, so I ended up just freshening security in the registry and file system the old-fashioned way, when I could have probably saved a lot of hassle by finding the above link before I reset things by hand.
So the moral of the story is: keep your system clean, and it will save me and you lots of time and trouble (not to mention prevent the invasion of your privacy, the stealing of your personal information, and the driving of you to insanity with pop-ups and slow internet).
How to stay clean? Get a good anti-virus product and keep it updated; get a firewall, such as ZoneAlarm; and use Ad-Aware and Spybot weekly (and the first thing you should do when you open them is update them). Thanks.
So the moral of the story is: keep your system clean, and it will save me and you lots of time and trouble (not to mention prevent the invasion of your privacy, the stealing of your personal information, and the driving of you to insanity with pop-ups and slow internet).
How to stay clean? Get a good anti-virus product and keep it updated; get a firewall, such as ZoneAlarm; and use Ad-Aware and Spybot weekly (and the first thing you should do when you open them is update them). Thanks.
>>INFINITE WHEEL<<
Making music the old-fashioned way: loop some loops, and use an icon-based GUI to pop in some effects. Thanks, Ryan!
frontline: secret history of the credit card | PBS
Or, as I call it: "Why you should stop using credit cards".
TREASURE BOX
I "finished" this, and was left looking at the yelly guy's feet, with no red ball in sight. I need resolution!
5ives: Merlin's Lists of Five Things
5ives: Merlin's Lists of Five Things
Because Top 10 Lists are often too far of a stretch... this site narrows them down into 5 beautiful gems per list.
Because Top 10 Lists are often too far of a stretch... this site narrows them down into 5 beautiful gems per list.
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