Archive for the ‘Fun Stuff’ Category
I wouldn’t have thought they’d be good eating
Thursday, July 25th, 2013Valentine’s Day
Thursday, February 14th, 2013Marion and I will be going out for a nice dinner tomorrow night, so tonight I cooked. We had seared spice-rubbed ahi tuna with wild mushroom couscous.
Other people celebrate differently. I have cats, but this would never occur to me (although I did give them some catnip this evening).
As an engineer, I find this dating advice for engineers to be both apt and amusing.
The path of love does not always run smoothly.
And, sometimes, it’s not about love.
If I’d remembered at lunchtime …
Wednesday, December 12th, 2012I’d have noted that it was 12/12/12 12:12:12.
Then again, my lunch was more important than that coincidence.
Happy Halloween
Wednesday, October 31st, 2012And, to start off happy, we’ll begin with music. I was hoping to cover all of the classic monsters with songs I’m familiar with, but I couldn’t find “Mummy Shuffle” or “Truck-Driving Vampire” on YouTube. I don’t intend this to be a comprehensive playlist; it’s only a few songs for the theme.
We’ll start with werewolves, with the song “Silver Bullet Blues,” by Michael Longcor:
Next, we’ll play “Frankenstein,” by the Edgar Winter Group (one of my favorite highway songs):
No vampire or mummy songs, so we’ll move into zombies with the Kingston Trio’s “Zombie Jamboree:”
We’ll follow that with a ghost song – Red Sovine singing about “Big Joe and Phantom 309”:
And, staying with the dead for a moment, we’ll finish with “Dead Man’s Party,” by Oingo Boingo:
Moving on, Eleanor Barkhorn has a problem with the idea of “sexy Halloween costumes,” particularly with respect to younger women and girls. Given my glandular bias, I have little problem with them, although I might make an exception for this one.
This, on the other hand, is one impressive costume.
Metafilter had a number of links to appropriate reading material yesterday. I’m giving the Metafilter links in all cases rather than directly linking to the stories, because at least one of the target websites is trashing the link and going to a generic backup site because of the aftermath of Sandy. Also, the commenters often have interesting additions to the topics.
First, a scientific paper on the feasibility of the events in The Call of Cthulhu.
Next, a pointer to an io9 article on spooky webcomics.
There was apparently a horror and fantasy radio series in the early 1980s.
Another link to io9, this one to the 55 scariest scenes from fantasy, SF, and horror films. I don’t know about “the” as the modifier, because these lists are always subjective, but they’re usually interesting, anyway. Besides, I’m not much of an aficionado of being scared, so I’m not one to make such a list myself.
Here’s one to scary stories selected by writers at The Guardian. When it comes to Crawford, who wrote the first story listed, I’m more inclined to select “The Upper Berth.” Another story from that era that I like is, “Oh, Whistle and I’ll Come To You, My Lad,” by M. R. James.
Don’t forget to make all appropriate preparations for the evening.
Finally, I haven’t carved a pumpkin for this year, but I did run across these instructions that I like. The last one I did came out quite well – not only did my daughter like it, she took it to a party and it was stolen. These earlier ones also came out pretty well.
UPDATE: Some interesting anatomical concept art here.
Miscellany 23
Sunday, September 2nd, 2012My posting has been sporadic for some time, so it’s time to dump the accumulated links.
The Younger Generation
Not all is lost, as shown by this Google science fair winner.
Fun/Funny Stuff
Personally, I don’t think synchronized swimming should be part of the Olympics, but I recognize that some people enjoy watching it. With that in mind, I’d like to present the Russian synchronized swimming team.
I had no idea that lab techs had such fun on the job.
I have a lot of problems with President Obama, but I’m amazed and horrified to learn that he’s covering up jump-gate technology to Mars.
British boy’s comics are not doing well. I used to read a number of them when I was a young boy in England, and for years I kept my copy of the 1962 Eagle Annual, but I think I lost it years ago.
So, this guy in the Netherlands had his FaceBook page hacked by his younger brother. He got revenge.
There’s a song to teach you how to pronounce Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
Want to be a financial backer for a horror film? Here’s your chance. There’s even a pun in the title.
Here’s another Kickstarter project (music this time), but I must say that this one seems a little “off” to me.
Some people have interesting jobs.
Sometimes, a product will garner all sorts of interesting reviews. The “Bic Crystal for Her” pen is one such.
These pens, however, need no amusing review comments. Probably safe from borrowing, too.
Max thinks our society is doomed. I don’t disagree, but I do see the need.
I may have to spend some time at the Museum of Unnatural History.
This is a cruel joke.
Learning Japanese? Mangajin was a good resource.
I’m not into baseball, but this is a fascinating story.
Cats don’t seem reliable enough for the CIA to use them in surveillance. That appears to have been borne out.
There are no dangerous weapons, only dangerous people.
There are, however, ludicrous weapons.
Some logo designers need to be supervised.
Science and Technology
A dynamic periodic table of elements is a fun toy.
How to make an abacus in an Altoids tin.
A Chinese noodle-slicing robot. Fun, useful, and fascinating to watch.
A hoverbike? I’d love one, but I’d have loved it more when I was younger.
How the Navy taught people about computers in 1962.
Graphene is a fascinating material. It appears that molybdenum disulfide is similarly attractive, and is more useful in certain areas.
Wind energy is not a good deal.
Renewable energy in general is not a good deal.
Printing images at 100000 dpi.
MPEG-H is the new compression standard for video.
Two mammoth skeletons have been found on an Iowa farm.
It appears that fathers (or, more specifically, older fathers) contribute significantly to autism and schizophrenia.
Science toys you can make with your kids.
Celebrities often get science wrong. Someone has decided to do something about it.
This is a fascinating graph on technology adoption rates.
I’ve backed a few projects on Kickstarter so far. Not any of the most successful ones, though, although I did consider backing the Pebble watch.
Harvard scientists have encoded a 53000-word book in DNA. Evolutionary literature?
Underwater living is becoming possible.
The fraternal organization of chimpanzees. No evidence of funny hats, though.
I’m a touch typist. I also have (and occasionally use) Dragon Naturally Speaking, which is a speech recognition input method. Soon, we may be able to dispense with that, also.
I’ve long been interested in 3d displays. I still have a pair of Haitex X-Specs tucked away in my garage. I’m concerned about the durability of this one, however.
Could this have been the source of the stories of Atlantis or Noah’s ark?
I’d be interested in seeing this lecture on safes and safecracking.
I’m absolutely amazed by the size of fairy wasps.
I gave serious consideration to placing this discussion of women’s breasts and a general theory of ogling in the “Fun Stuff” section.
I was aware that we shared most of our DNA with chimpanzees. I was not aware that most of the differences are on the Y chromosome.
I used to have a t-shirt that said, “Montserrat: Land of Beautiful Women and Mountain Chicken. I had not known that Mountain Chicken is a breed of frog, though … I thought it was a nickname.
I’m going to have to watch this film.
This is a neat (and heart-warming) use of 3D printing technology.
Something tells me that this guy isn’t impressed with Windows 8.
Matt Ridley isn’t too fearful of a looming apocalypse.
A lost species has been brought back to life.
And, wood pulp is finding new use as a high-tech material.
Politics and Society
Don’t expect much in this section. This is already a long post, and this section could make it much longer. I don’t see the need to do that, particularly since anyone following politics on the internet has probably seen much of this already.
So, about those nonexistent Iraqi WMD …
Do you know how much you’re paying in taxes? Some myths and misconceptions about tax rates are addressed here. Meanwhile, taxes are about to go up. The Democrats have no plan, and the White House says that the only plan out there doesn’t balance the budget fast enough for them?
Larger cuts than are currently proposed can’t balance the budget. The necessary cuts would be incredibly massive, such that nobody would propose them, and nobody else would accept them.
Then again, the Senate hasn’t passed a budget since April 29, 2009. The federal budget hasn’t been balanced at all since 1969.
Taxs aren’t the only thing going up; energy prices are, also.
Media bias is evidenced in many ways. In many ways. Many. Ways. Many. Many. (I feel like I should add “Tekel, Upharsin” here, which is probably more apropos than I originally thought.)
I guess this shows who Obama considers important.
What might we expect if Obama is reelected?
What could possibly go wrong with government control of your personal networking equipment?
What could possibly go wrong with the DOJ preferentially hiring dwarves, schizophrenics, and the intellectually disabled? That’s not the only problem with federal hiring/appointments. Not by a long shot.
Interesting discussion on the gender orientation of television shows.
Those “lice-infested, dirty murderers” … like me?
Another failure of zero-tolerance. The kid gets some geek cred for the claim, “my name is a weapon,” though.
What happened after guns were banned in Australia?
Missed anniversary
Thursday, April 19th, 2012I didn’t realize this until today, but Monday was the 35th anniversary of the Apple ][ computer. I bought one in 1978; it was the first electronic computer I owned (I owned a Digi-Comp I when I was younger).
My Apple was serial number A2S1-2174. I bought it used for $1000, and it came with 16k of RAM and only the cassette interface for mass storage. I eventually got it upgraded to dual floppies and 48k of RAM, but it took a couple of years. Most of that time, I was in the West Indies, and computer parts and peripherals weren’t available. I felt good about it because I managed to get two floppies while they were still in short supply, and I only paid $150 for each 16k RAM expansion when Apple was charging $300 each.
I had a lot of fun with that machine. I had one program distributed by the 6502 Group, and I had another program published by the Apple Puget Sound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E. – I guess the “S” in “Sound” was silent). I also had an article published in Dr. Dobb’s Journal of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia (the October 1979 issue), but they weren’t able to print the source code listings I submitted, which was very disappointing to me. At the time, though, I was in the West Indies, and the printouts I sent were from a huge, heavy, line printer, and I had no floppies, so I sent them hardcopy on green-and-white fanfold paper, as well as a cassette with the code. I believe that they’d have been able to handle a floppy, but they couldn’t deal with the cassette, and retyping from my listings was, I’m sure, quite unappealing.
I’d ordered a computer before the Apple, though. There was a company in the Boston area called ECD, which was started by some MIT people, if I’m remembering correctly. They were offering a computer called the MicroMind, which sounded incredibly advanced for the time. Unfortunately, they produced very few of them. I think it’s because they decided to go head-to-head against DEC in the business market. I consider myself lucky to have gotten my money back from them before they went under.
I’ve never been big on games, but there were a few I enjoyed, and would like to still have available. One was called Ricochet (no relation to the PC game). It had paddles that would flip, and launchers in the corners of the screen. When it was your turn, you could move one or more paddles (all in the same direction), or you could launch a ball from either of your launchers. When a ball hit a paddle, it would be reflected at a 90 degree angle, and the paddle would flip from vertical to horizontal, or vice-versa. You’d also get a point for each paddle the ball hit. If the ball hit a launcher, it was disabled for a few turns. It was a lot of fun. I don’t have the game anymore, but I think I may still have the documentation that came with it.
There was also a space shoot-’em-up game called Alien Ambush (I think – it’s been a long time). It had a basic similarity with Space Invaders, in that you controlled a ship at the bottom of the screen, and would shoot at alien ships that entered from the top. However, instead of marching ranks of aliens these ships would swoop and swirl and launch bombs toward you. The advertising catchphrase for the game was, “You haven’t lived until you’ve died in space.”
I remember staying up one Friday night until about 3am with a friend, working together until we beat the chess program Sargon II. There’s no way I’d have beaten it by myself; I’m not that good a chess player.
I kept that Apple until around 1990, then gave it, and almost all of my magazines and software, away. I did keep a few things, such as my copy of the “big red book” that’s signed by Steve Wozniak and Randy Wigginton. Sometimes, I wish I’d kept the rest.
Everyone Knows It’s Windy
Monday, March 26th, 2012It’s been a windy day in the area, today. The forecast called for gusts up to 55mph, and I have no doubt that that speed was reached. I’m still hearing occasional gusty winds now, around 9pm. There’s a building being constructed in the lot next to the building I work in, and tremendous amounts of dust were being picked up this afternoon; it was actually limiting visibility.
I went out at lunch to see if I could fly my kite – I’ve got a Skynasaur F-36 sport kite that I haven’t flown in more than a decade. The winds were so strong that the string almost cut my fingers, and one of the two lines snapped before the kite was up 30 feet. I decided that I’d been given a sign that kite flying was not in the cards for today.
I’ll have to try again on a day when the wind isn’t quite so strong. I’ll also have to learn how to adjust the harness on the kite; I’m not sure that it’s set up properly, because it tried to head upwind past my head the moment it got into the air.
Miscellany 22
Thursday, February 16th, 2012I see by the clock on the clubhouse wall that I haven’t posted in a month. Sorry.
Then again, nobody’s been complaining … about that, anyway.
Be that as it may, I’m going to clean out some tabs and saved links.
Back around 1985, my boss brought in a summer intern and told me to get some use out of him. Four days later, we sent him back to his professor – I’d spent about 10 hours over those four days explaining to him in detail how to write a program that would have taken me somewhere around an hour to write. The problem was that he had only written Pascal programs on VAX hardware, and had no conception of how a program could actually deal with the underlying hardware itself. I was reminded of that when I ran across Real Programmers Don’t Use Pascal. I remember that from when it first appeared – I didn’t get Datamation, but I had coworkers who did. Don’t skip the linked “Story of Mel,” which also is pretty good.
I have a hand-cranked radio, but this is something else: a wind-up AA battery.
This article on medical school acceptance rates by race is pretty horrifying. It reminds me of an article I read some time ago that made the case that affirmative action was reducing the number of minority (specifically, black) attorneys. The mechanism proposed was that blacks would be admitted to law schools that their scores wouldn’t get them into if they were white, which made it harder to keep up with the rest of the student body, so they’d drop out. It is likely they’d have been able to graduate from a less-prestigious (and less difficult) school, so affirmative action had the exact opposite of the purported effect.
This is cool – do-it-yourself eye exams on a smartphone.
This is also cool – electric currents passing through the brain can induce a state more conducive to learning. Be careful if you do it yourself, though. More here.
I wish this had been available when I broke my ankle last year.
Some kids are smart. Ten-year-old Clara Lazen is going to have plenty of geek cred for coming up with a previously-unknown molecule that’s likely to be explosive.
A one-stroke penalty if a bomb goes off during your swing? That seems harsh.
This is one of those articles that’s worth it just for the headline. So is this one.
I’m amazed that someone could call the first score of the Super Bowl correctly.
To solve a problem, you need to define it correctly. Even without committing a category error, it could be that you are solving the wrong problem.
This is another of those computer toys that let you get an idea of the scale of the universe. I wish things like this had been available when I was a child. We had to make do with the movie “Powers of Ten.” Of course, I was in high school when that came out, so it’s still not a childhood memory, per se.
Speaking of films, I’ve seen two of these. I suspect my daughter has seen more of them than I have. If not, she probably will after checking out the list.
Several years ago, my doctor told me to start taking a daily aspirin. I had to give it up a few months later, because I was getting frequent nosebleeds. If only I had known the healing power of bacon! I fear my cats may have caused problems, though.
Slightly related to that, there’s good news about eating fried foods. It doesn’t match up with Satchel Paige’s advice not to eat fried food because “it angrifies the blood,” but I suspect the food he was familiar with was fried in different oils.
Attractions, flotation devices, or airbags. I’m glad her breasts helped, but I consider her misshapen. I remember the news stories when she acquired the infection that caused her to get reduction surgery – she’d had to go to Brazil because doctors in the US wouldn’t expand her breasts any more.
Speaking of breasts, I’ve seen a few protests here and there, but I’ve yet to witness one like this. (NSFW, unless topless women are allowed by your office dress code.)
How to distract your enemy. I particularly enjoy the third panel.
Lots of older periodicals available here.
Speaking of reading, I’m going to be waiting for this e-book app to become available. I just hope that it doesn’t require a new proprietary DRM’d format.
Some nice music here. I listened to several of the young lady’s other videos, and they were nice. A bit too similar for listening to in a block, but they’d be very nice in a shuffle.
If your taste runs to psychedelic music, try this. I have the Nuggets LP in a box in my garage. If I’m remembering correctly, I’ve got the 1976 release, not the earlier one.
Here’s an interesting music game.
Besides seeming a bit tacky, is a Titanic Memorial Cruise a good idea? Some people don’t think so. Having been on one cruise myself (which I quite enjoyed, actually), I’ll admit to some misgivings. It makes me wonder how I ever managed when I was in the Navy.
I do fairly well with English grammar. Many of the things I read would irk me less if their authors took this advice to heart.
I could add more to this post, but I think I’ll finish with this tweet that expresses an awe that I’ve experienced when reading code.
Happy Birthday to …
Saturday, January 7th, 2012… Charles Addams, who would have been 100 years old today.
He’s one of my favorite cartoonists. I have most of the books that collect the Addams Family cartoons (Black Maria, Nightcrawlers, Favorite Haunts, Drawn and Quartered, Creature Comforts, Monster Rally, The Groaning Board, Addams and Evil), as well as a book that provides a lot of information about the Addams Family TV show (Addams Family Revealed). I’ve used a couple of the cartoons on housewarming invitations in the past. Perhaps that’s why very few people showed up?
Flames of the Chladni
Monday, January 2nd, 2012I realize my post title sounds like the title of a low-concept fantasy novel, but it’s cooler than that. I presume physics imposes some maximum resolution and minimum spacing on the concept, but I can’t help wonder how far it could be taken.
Via.