Accidental Scientist

Galaxy Quest 2

2009-06-27T01:17:00.001-07:00

I want to make this. No, seriously. I have a killer idea for the story for the 2nd one. It’ll work really well. And should be as much fun as the first. (I’m following the “mostly same + enough different = Great Sequel” formula that great sequels follow). As far as I’m concerned, Galaxy Quest was one of the best films ever made. I’m serious about that. It runs an amazing gamut of comedy and

Ten Grand is Buried Here… More clues

2009-06-24T17:11:00.001-07:00

Looking at the fine print, you have to be an Australian resident to win. Sooo… bang goes my shot at it. Meanwhile, here’s the clues I’ve figured out. A quick web search seems to indicate that no-one else has got these yet, so without further ado… Use a crowbar to open the tun Use a crowbar = Pry. A tun? Vat. Pry Vat = Private. Jobiska made a drink for Ian. Or Arthur. This is from an Edward

Niacin Adventures: Part 1 – Nature’s Prozac

2009-06-24T02:10:00.001-07:00

Back in January, I promised a series of articles based on some experimentation I was doing with Niacin, or Vitamin B3 (the Nicotinic acid form). So here’s the first post I’m going to make as a result of that research. (I like nutritional experimentation – I can do it at home, and don’t need a lab or a license). A Little Background Niacin has been added to food since the 1930s to combat the

New Site for my disease theory…

2009-06-22T14:30:00.001-07:00

I’m taking the plunge, and as I have hosting already, I’m setting up a new website for my theory about herpesviridae being the main cause of most late-stage life diseases. It’s going to take a while until it’s ready, but you can find it here: http://diseasetheory.com. Why put it up before it’s baked? There’s an ethical issue here. If I’m right, quite simply, then I’m being unethical by not

Earthlink Followup

2009-06-18T14:26:00.001-07:00

So apparently they finally got around to calling me back. The conversation went something like this: “So you need to cancel… can we ask why?” “I have hosting elsewhere that I’m barely using and money is tight.” “How about 2 months free service?” “No thanks… I already have hosting elsewhere.” “OK, so we’ll cancel that for you. You’ll switch over to Domain Parking, and your email will still

Popcorn Films – Going Down

2009-06-15T19:54:00.001-07:00

I’m transferring the Popcornfilms.com domain from Register.com to GoDaddy.com (it’s much cheaper), and my hosting from Earthlink to GoDaddy as well. (Well, what can I say? I already have hosting – eg. for this blog – from GoDaddy, so I may as well use more of the 20Gb of space that I’m only using 5% of right now). Hiccups: Register.com is going to take 5 days to transfer the domain. Grrr.

State of the Nation

2009-06-15T18:11:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately, due to the economy!!!!1! (scary, isn’t it?), I now have to start hedging my bets. I really don’t want to, but it has come to this. We have a few irons in the fire right now, but they’re not done deals. So… in the eventuality that they don’t come to pass, I need a backup plan. It’s time for me to unburrow, get my head back out of the sand, and start looking. What I’m looking for:

New Achievements I Unlocked (In Real Life – The Xbox 360 Game)

2009-05-31T21:26:00.001-07:00

Fortunately, I didn’t get this one: … although there were a couple of close calls… (Oh, and Darci wants me to clarify – I didn’t REALLY drive through the night – Darci did most of the night driving on Saturday night, although we did it in shifts. She handles lack of sleep so much better than I do. Although of course, if she had a blog she could clarify it there :))

Naive Questions vs. Stupid Questions

2009-05-21T13:38:00.001-07:00

This one’s a quickie. There are stupid questions – you know, things that with a tiny bit of work, you could get the answer to yourself. (The origin, no doubt, of the site Let Me Google That For You). Or questions such as… if I stick a fork in this light socket, will I get electrocuted? (Answer: yes). No-one wants to look stupid. In fact, people will take great pains to avoid looking stupid.

The Fastest Repair in the West...

2009-05-16T16:44:00.001-07:00

Recently, my fiancee accidentally dropped her phone in the toilet, so it was time to get a new one. I picked up an AT&T Tilt. (Note: I'm not an ass; she preferred it to the iPhone - this was a conscious choice). Roll forward a month, and we're at the Puyallup Fair, and the screen cracked. Well, it didn't actually crack per se, but the transistors certainly did, causing it to leak a puddle of

Cytomegalovirus and Hypertension – Another Piece of the Herpesviridae Puzzle

2009-05-15T11:05:00.001-07:00

Article Navigation: Previous article in this series So I heard about this on the BBC World Service today: “Based on a series of studies in mice, they said cytomegalovirus or CMV -- a herpes virus that affects some 60 to 99 percent of adults globally -- appears to increase inflammation in blood vessels, causing high blood pressure. And when combined with a fatty diet, CMV may also cause

Note to the Internet: Videos aren’t THAT cool

2009-05-06T21:49:00.001-07:00

A quick note to the Internet, especially those out there who run tech information sites. (Channel 9? Asp.net? I’m looking at YOU guys). Videos are compelling. They get your face out there. You get a modicum of celebrity. People hear your voice. Heck, you can even show your family. Please, keep it to YouTube. I’ll watch videos on the internet when I want to waste a few minutes looking at a

Lesson Learned – The art of the Random Road Trip

2009-04-19T15:37:00.001-07:00

Might I make a recommendation, dear reader? Don’t decide on a whim to go to another country at 9pm at night. Darci and I were out at one of her coworkers’ birthday parties yesterday, and in the middle of it, we decided to just say screw it and go to Vancouver BC for the night. That’s Canada, folks. (For the record, it’s about a 2 hour drive to the border from Seattle). Now, apparently, this

Fashion Prophecy: Complete! Welcome to the Depression

2009-03-27T22:28:00.001-07:00

Back in March of 2008, I wrote this article: http://www.accidentalscientist.com/2008/03/beards-and-skirts-and-sht-hitting-fan.html Why did I write it? Well, believe it or not, it’s because I was pretty sure there was a huge storm coming. I noticed people around my office going for the bearded look – even people without beards. Heck, even I’d grown one again. For the record, I’m so totally not

How to fix the US News Media Circus

2009-03-22T03:49:00.001-07:00

I'm sick of the media - such as Rush Limbaugh - hiding under 1st Amendment protections by claiming that their political punditry is "for entertainment only". The news media is not an entertainment force. That is not the "press". While parody and satire serve an essential function (the Court Jester principle), and could be considered entertainment, it's only a side-function. The purpose of it is

One of the BEST Magic Books Of All Time – Now Online

2009-03-18T14:01:00.001-07:00

I’m happy to say that the Library of Congress is doing wonderful amazing things by putting their books online. About 16 years ago, I came across a book in Altrincham Public Library called “MAGIC: Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions, Including Trick Photography”. It’s one of the best magic books I’ve ever read. Sure, there’s no much card manipulation in it, but it covers lots of grand

Writing Strong Female Characters – the trick

2009-03-14T00:26:00.001-07:00

Hey you. Yes you, over there! The guy with the pen. I see you there, sitting, poring over your script. Trying to figure out how to write a strong female character. And all you’re ending up with is … well… a weak female character. Want to know the trick? The secret…? How to get into a woman’s head, and turn her into Sarah Connor in Terminator 2? Or Ripley in Aliens? Or Uma Thurman’s character

Friday the 13th!

2009-03-13T12:10:00.001-07:00

Today is the 2nd Friday 13th of 2009. There’s actually three. (Spooky eh? Well… spooky if you’re paraskevadecatriaphobic maybe). Just so you don’t need to worry any more, here’s a C# program, so you can figure out when it’s going to happen again. using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text; namespace Friday13th { class

Comcast: Some of Our Channels Are Missing!

2009-03-08T23:26:00.001-07:00

Darci and I were really looking forward to seeing Breaking Bad on AMCHD tonight (channel 697). Breaking Bad,as we expected to see it Unfortunately, for some reason, all we were getting is a blank screen. A huge block of channels from 679-695 and 697 and higher are all gone. Missing. No idea what has happened. Artist's rendition of Breaking Bad,as we actually saw it We rebooted the Tivo. The

Why Evolution Just Makes Sense: Part 2 – The Pyramids, Skyscrapers and Evolution

2009-03-03T22:46:00.000-08:00

One common argument of the Intelligent Design crowd is that things like the eye, the brain, even the cell are too complex to have arisen by chance. They say there’s too many moving parts. Too many things to go wrong. Too much infrastructure. And you know, they’re absolutely right! There is absolutely no way a cell could arise randomly out of nowhere. (Well, ok, there is a finite probability

Why Evolution Just Makes Sense

2009-03-02T22:24:00.000-08:00

A lot of Intelligent Design proponents believe that cells are too complex to have arisen randomly. They point to the micro-machines of the organelles and say that there is no way this could happen randomly. This is a total fallacy. Here’s the trick: You only need to create ONE reproducing structure for it to multiply. At that point, things are self-sustainable. Once you have one thing that

Grossly Annoyed by the new Sonic Ultimate Genesis Collection’s version of Space Harrier

2009-03-01T17:53:00.001-08:00

So, I bought this for ONE thing. Namely, the unlockable Space Harrier – one of my favorite arcade games of all time. And guess what? The music & audio are all OFF. Something’s wrong with the pitch. Someone massively screwed up. It’s all off key. And it sounds like the bass-line may even be out of sync. Oh, and the sampled speech? Too high. Bah humbug. And this is even after I had to complete

Quick rules for Cache-Friendly Algorithms

2009-02-14T14:23:00.000-08:00

Games programming on current architectures require that a certain amount of attention be paid to your algorithms to make sure that they’re cache friendly. It takes a long time for a memory access to be brought back from a page that isn’t in the cache. And cache lines are getting longer and longer. Interestingly, software engineers solved this problem a long time ago, with algorithms meant for

Playing with your food: More fun with Onomatopoeia

2009-02-13T09:42:00.000-08:00

(This article is part 2 of a series) Back to “Argh!” or “Arrggghhhh!!!!!”: You can make an Arrggghhhh!!!! sound much more frustrated by mixing it up a bit. Try this: Arrghghhhgghgggggghhhh!!!! Although now we’re descending into the realm of sillyness, but it does kind of convey a blood-curdling (or at least, blood in the throat) scream filled with rage much more than even Arrggghhhh!!!!! does

Playing with your food: Alliteration and Onomatopoeia for Pirates

2009-02-12T00:33:00.000-08:00

What’s the best way to write “Argh”? I guess it depends on how you’re using it. To me, “Argh” sounds like a groan, in response to a bad joke. “Argh!” is a little better, but it’s kind of a suprised yelp more than anything else. A little like someone jumped up in front of you and smacked you over the head with a shovel – and then you drop. It’s curt. I much prefer – if I’m going for some kind