Accidental Scientist

Game Review: Tornado Outbreak (Konami / Loose Cannon Studios)

2009-10-03T17:01:00.001-07:00

This review is for the XBOX 360 version of the game. Where’s Judy Garland when you need her? Its been quite a while since I’ve written a review for a game – ah, the heady halcyon days of being a writer for Your Sinclair magazine seem so far away in the past. (And frankly they are; that was 16 years ago, so if you remember that mag, you’re getting old). But I really wanted to write a review

Nutrition & Pregnancy: Two Common Ailments, Two Things That Help

2009-09-20T12:37:00.001-07:00

NOTE: I am not a Doctor and do not claim to be one. I’m just really good at searching for information on the web. I cannot be held responsible for any bad things which happen to you if you follow my advice – you have been warned. Please consult your Doctor before following any of my advice, ever. If you don’t, you’re an idiot. There are two really annoying things about being pregnant that are

Getting Interested In Language Design… C++ 2.0 anyone?

2009-08-19T01:12:00.001-07:00

One of the things I’ve noticed while programming is the number of times when I’ve found really annoying edge cases in the C++ language that I wish I could fix. One example – its complete lack of support for tables. I’d love to be able to define a list of things, with columns of a given type. Under the hood, the compiler would generate arrays for me from the rows of each of the columns. Why?

Conduction, Convection and Radiation – and the most important of these is Conduction

2009-08-15T15:03:00.001-07:00

So I’m watching Mission to Mars right now, and like Sunshine, it gets the whole idea of being exposed to outer space somewhat… wrong. Heat’s a finicky thing. What you experience as “heat” is actually a relative measurement for the most part – it’s how hot you are compared to other things. Heat also only flows from hot things to cold things. To do that, it needs a way to spread the love, and

Simon Cooke’s Devil’s Dictionary – Whore D'oeuvres, Forkgasm

2009-07-11T01:11:00.001-07:00

Whore D’oeuvres - [n] Finger food for high-class ladies of negotiable affection. Forkgasm – [n] A sensual food experience which is equivalent to, or better than sex. (part two of an occasional series)

Niacin Adventures: Part 2 – Why Raw Food Diets Might Work For Some People

2009-07-08T02:04:00.001-07:00

Previous article in series: Niacin Adventures: Part 1 – Nature’s Prozac A growing number of people believe that raw food diets are good for their mental and physical health. Now, personally, I’m not a huge believer in this – our teeth, stomachs and brains have evolved to expect a mixture of protein and vegetable matter, and to unlock the vitamins and nutrients in them requires at least some

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

Next article in this series: Niacin Adventures Part 2: Why Raw Food Diets Might Work For Some People 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

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