Life in Idle

I'm not dead, just busy!

2008-12-18T09:35:00.007-05:00

Oh my goodness, it's been a while hasn't it? Apologies to anyone who's been checking back to see if I posted anything new (might I suggest signing up for the RSS or e-mail updates? That way, new posts find you). The last month or so has been crazy, with school and holidays and all of that. I'm sure it's the same for most of you. The biggest time sink, lately, has been my classes. In the last three weeks I've written two papers (one was actually a story that clocks in at over 3000 words), and...

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Show me Your "O" Face!

2008-11-06T14:35:00.005-05:00

Unless you've been living in a cave, or you're from another country (and probably not even then), you know that on Tuesday Barack Obama was elected as the next President of the United States. Now that I've had a few days to take things in, I have a few thoughts. This is the first election that I've participated in that went the way I wanted it to. The first presidential election I got to vote in was in 2000, when George W. Bush began the first of his two terms. At the time, and even more so...

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I don't care who you are, that's funny right there!

2008-10-23T12:40:00.004-05:00

This is one of the greatest web videos I've seen recently, and I just had to share it. EDIT: The original video disappeared, so here's a link to the same video on YouTube (in case it goes away again, it's a video of Obama and McCain having a dance off. It was done by digitally overlaying the candidates' faces over those of dancers. It was really well done): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMpcv2t6Er8That's some pretty slick work, pasting the candidates heads onto the dancers bodies like that....

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1st Photo Composite: Zombies!

2008-10-21T00:41:00.000-05:00

I haven't mentioned it on this page yet, but I've recently gone back to school. I've had an Associate's Degree for almost eight years now, and in that time I've learned two things: I need a Bachelor's Degree to get where I want to be, and I don't like the field I'm in. Don't get me wrong, drafting is fine (and I'm good at it), but the career path ahead of me has me becoming an engineer, or a project manager, and I simply don't want either of those for myself. So I decided to go back to school,...

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Let's see how long it takes the PC makers to copy this one...

2008-10-14T12:38:00.004-05:00

Whoa. The new Macbooks and especially the new Macbook Pros are insane. Here's what excites me about these: The track pad is huge, supports multi touch gestures, and the whole thing is a physical button (kind of like the "click wheel" on the iPods). It's also made of glass, which is odd, but I suppose that would make them durable (glass is actually very tough in the right application), and judging by my iPod Touch it'll feel nice when doing the gestures. I've actually been saying, for years,...

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Shouldn't a "Moderator" be a Moderate?

2008-10-01T17:29:00.003-05:00

I've been looking forward to tomorrow's Vice Presidential Debate for some time now. Personally, I'm hoping that Biden shows Palin for the know-nothing she is (I'm pretty sure that I could beat her in a debate). Unfortunately, there's a new wrinkle that might spoil all my fun. Gwen Ifill is going to be moderating. Gwen Ifill is also openly pro-Obama. Rats. In this case it doesn't matter that I agree with her, what matters is that she has an obvious bias at all. Even if she performs perfectly,...

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This aggression will not stand!

2008-09-21T14:49:00.000-05:00

I was going to write a post about my take on the politics of the moment. I was planning to point out all of the falsehoods and outrageous allegations, and the fact that a man I once admired, John McCain, has lost all integrity he once had in the name of winning (he has turned his back on every "maverick" ideal he once championed, that's not opinion, it's fact, look it up), including nominating the most frightening VP choice since, well, Dick Cheney (she has done nothing but lie about her...

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Why do we need [new tech]? [old tech] is good enough!

2008-08-03T10:37:00.004-05:00

Earlier today. this story popped up on Slashdot: "Toyota Announces the Winglet, Wannabe Segway Killer" Reading through the comments, I came across this inevitable (and very, very tired) refrain: Or you could just oh I don't know buy a bicycle. As much range as you have energy for, fits almost the same places a segway does, doesn't use gas, cheaper, and get this, is actual exercise. Something most people in the places that can afford one of these things can use more of. While I don't totally...

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What a Summer for Movies, and it's Not Over Yet

2008-07-22T21:26:00.003-05:00

A quick look at some of my favorite big summer movies: The Dark Knight: Holy awesome movie, Batman! A crime drama of the highest order, and a fantastic comic book action movie to boot. I can't say enough good things about the story, the spot on direction, the relentless pacing, and especially the Joker. I know that some people are all about Heath Ledger since his death, but in this case it's totally deserved. He gave himself over to the character so completely that I still can't believe it was...

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A Moment for the Late Great George Carlin

2008-06-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

I distinctly remember a night, probably fifteen years ago, when a friend was over for the night. We found a Carlin stand up show, and spent an hour or two literally laughing ourselves silly. I don't remember laughing that hard before that night, and only rarely since then. In addition, Carlin's comedy had a way of making you think and questions your preconceived notions while entertaining you. That's a rare gift. There was no one quite like him. He will be missed. George Carlin's Two...

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Indiana Jones and Speed Racer, together again for the first time!

2008-06-01T19:26:00.000-05:00

A few quick movie reviews while I try to get settled in here in Georgia: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull It's finally here, the Indy movie we've waited almost two decades for, and it's... well... it's not terrible. To be fair, I did enjoy myself when I saw this. It's got some fun set pieces, Harrison Ford is charming as always playing Indy, and Shia LaBeouf was actually quite good (once we got past his annoying intro scene). However, it's just not quite an Indy film. If it...

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Another Example of Why Less is Often More

2008-04-22T13:53:00.000-05:00

Whoa, the last three weeks have just flown by. Packing, organizing, painting and repairing, it’s been crazy. I’ll get back to my list eventually, but here’s something completely different to pass the time. I’m looking in to buying a new digital camera in the near future. I’ve been slowly working my up from super cheap cameras into better and better ones as time goes on. My current camera is a Canon Powershot A630. It’s an 8 megapixel camera with just about...

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It's Official

2008-04-01T19:24:00.000-05:00

It’s official, we’re moving to Georgia the second week in May. This is both exciting and terrifying, and boy do we have to move quickly to make that deadline. Anyone want to buy a house in rural Maine? PS: To the Realtor who commented earlier, or anyone else who knows the Roswell GA area, I’ve been told by a few people that it’s great, but the rampant racism is a real turn off. I’ve also been told by others that racism isn’t an issue there, so much as in...

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A Quick Update

2008-03-31T13:14:00.003-05:00

Well, the leaky pipe got fixed ($99 later, not too bad all things considered), and the furnace is going to be serviced some time this week. Of course once that was all over I noticed that the gaskets are going on our water pump, so it's leaking a bit. The thing is old and loud and probably not very efficient, so I've already purchased a new one that just has to be installed (oh, what fun). As for the other thing, Laura got to her interview fine and no one seemed upset at all. It was a fairly...

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What a Day...

2008-03-28T11:53:00.000-05:00

I have the next few items in my list all ready to go, but I’m taking a break today because, well, there’s way too much going on. Blogging helps me to organize my thoughts and process things, and I could use some of that today. Big Doin’s Down South The biggest news is that my wife, Laura, is in Georgia today (I’m in Maine, where we live). Specifically, she’s in Roswell Georgia, and she’s there for a job interview. She works for a company that sells medical...

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A Short List of Stupid Things People Believe In, #2: The Secret and Other Modern Mythologies

2008-03-27T12:09:00.000-05:00

Important Subtitle: “Stupid” Given current evidence (a good skeptic is always ready and willing to change their mind if reliable evidence is brought to light) 2: “The Secret” and Other Modern Mythologies If you haven’t heard of this, count yourself lucky. Basically, the claim made in The Secret, and other such works, is that the world can be shaped and manipulated to your whim if you just think happy thoughts and will it to be so. In other words, it’s...

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A Quick Interlude

2008-03-26T08:48:00.001-05:00

While researching some of the items on this list, I came across this page, it’s on a near death Web site and claims to be about debunking what they call “pseudo-skeptics”. They take the tired old point of view that a “real” skeptic can’t possibly take a position on any issue for which there is no absolute evidence. They even hint at the laughable notion that the first thing a skeptic should question is their own skepticism. It’s an old saw, an attempt...

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A Short List of Stupid Things People Believe In, #1: Psychics and Other Imaginary Creatures

2008-03-25T23:12:00.001-05:00

Important Subtitle: “Stupid” Given current evidence (a good skeptic is always ready and willing to change their mind if reliable evidence is brought to light) I’m going to be posting a number of these over the next week or two. It may get a bit controversial, but whatever, it’s not like anyone really cares what i think. I mean, who am I right? I’m posting these as much so I’ll have a reason to put these thoughts down in an organized fashion as anything...

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Sound and fury, signifying nothing

2008-03-13T22:36:00.000-05:00

To AutoDesk, the makers of AutoCAD, the program which supplies my livelyhood: The autosave feature is a great idea, I just wish it worked. Not only does it interrupt me while working - by taking control of the program and unceremoniously canceling any other command or operation I have in progress to do it's thing, something that a program should never, ever, ever do - half the time it doesn't even do what it's supposed to do. I just lost several hours worth of work because your program locked...

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My grammar is stronger than your grammar!

2008-03-07T19:05:00.000-05:00

Apparently March 4 was Grammar Awareness Day. Who knew? In honor of that day, Grammar Girl posted her Top Ten Grammar Myths. Being a mild grammar nazi myself, I always find these things to be interesting, usually because they remind me how little I actually know about truly proper grammar. However, in this case I was gratified to see that her number one grammar myth was "You shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition". I've been trying to convince people of this for years. Really, I have. In...

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When I Think About You, iTouch Myself...

2008-03-06T16:18:00.000-05:00

I finally got my hands on an iPod Touch. *Glee* Answering a Burning Desire When the iPhone came out I wanted one so badly it hurt, but my contract with Verizon wasn't up for a few months, and $600 was too much. A few months later my contract was up and the iPhone had dropped to $400, but AT&T's coverage around here is even worse than Verizon's (which is, itself, terrible), and the extra $20 per month for the iPhone data plan brought the eventual cost to $880 (with a two year contract), so I...

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Garfield minus Garfield

2008-02-28T10:17:00.000-05:00

I know this has been everywhere recently, but I love it so much that I have to mention it here. Garfield minus Garfield is best described as it is on the site: Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman...

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A few Oscar predictions

2008-02-24T20:33:00.003-05:00

Just thought I'd pop in before things get too underway to make a few quick predictions. I'm not actually watching the proceedings, and I've only seen about half of the nominated movies, so I'm probably just as qualified as most to comment on this. Best Picture, Directing, Supporting Actor, Cinematography, Sound Editing, Adapted Screenplay: No Country for Old Men It would take one heck of a movie to best this one. It's big and epic and nearly perfect in execution, just the kind of thing the...

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Tough Guy

2008-02-22T14:06:00.001-05:00

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Tough Guy, originally uploaded by wireguy.CAPTION: It's hard to act like a tough guy when you are riding the Merry-Go-Round, but some guys gotta try. This makes me laugh every time I see it. I've had a long week and really appreciated the lift. I figured I'd spread some of that joviality, just in case.

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One Dollar Challenge Presents: CAPTCHAed!

2008-02-20T00:22:00.000-05:00

Time for another One Dollar Challenge! This time the dollar goes to the first person who can explain to me why in the hell what I've entered into this CAPTCHA field is invalid: To head it off, the "p" is not supposed to be capitalized, and the "T" is not supposed to be lowercased. I tried all four combinations of those to no avail. While we're at it, let's take a moment to ponder the utility of security schemes that keep the good people out. On another site recently (can't remember which...

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