tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48805698197239838692014-06-23T20:24:46.503-06:00Peruse the esoteric nuggets of information floating within the brain of a generic American male. Topics of health, exercise, biking, gaming, and geek-wisdom await discovery.Billnoreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-12183244536050272082014-06-23T20:23:00.000-06:002014-06-23T20:24:46.519-06:00

It is a genuinely entertaining and well made game, but Microsoft apparently does not feel it makes enough profit.   Therefore,  on July 1st Age of Empires Online is being terminated. It is a sad end to this editon of the Age of Empires franchise.  While previous editions from over a decage ago are still getting upgrades and modernized (i.e Age of Empires 2 and 3),  Age of Empires Online

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-78535990221788579592014-03-29T19:41:00.000-06:002014-03-29T19:41:06.370-06:00

I needed an adapter for my laptop. Normally I just get such things from Amazon but I was feeling impatient and wanted it NOW. I look up the thing on Walmart's site and it happens to be in stock at my local store for $20.  I head on over, find it, and check out when I notice the receipt says $30.  I go to the service desk and tell them to check the price because online it was $20.  The clerk tells

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-42451020478758383412013-09-15T10:48:00.001-06:002014-04-25T14:20:01.785-06:00

How to prepare a cat for boxed storage, demonstrated on a cat named Mocha...

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-14845374575436480012013-08-28T09:23:00.002-06:002013-08-28T11:14:50.245-06:00

A fascinating and freaky experiment took place earlier this month at the University of  Washington.  It is being called the first human-to-human brain interface, whereby one researcher was able to control the hand motions of another researcher only by thinking about it.  The two researchers' brains were connected through the internet as each sat in a different lab. ..... Rao looked at a

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-2775902001888421252013-08-01T09:18:00.001-06:002013-09-13T17:45:08.602-06:00

Time for a cute laughing baby...

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-48213252588440725892012-09-26T11:17:00.001-06:002012-09-28T09:49:23.078-06:00

I spent several hours yesterday with the new World of Warcraft expansion, Mists of Pandaria.   Since I am no longer a compulsive min-maxing power gamer, I took my time to read the quests and appreciate the artwork.   Overall, the expansion is slick, polished, and well-made. I did not experience any technical issues.   Is it worth the $40 price? It is too early to tell for sure, but my instincts

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-88421760179912946192012-09-10T14:25:00.000-06:002012-09-28T09:48:40.835-06:00

Just about any avid road-bicyclist has dealt with the nuances of sit-pain.  It is that unpleasant feeling you can get after spending several hours planted on a hard narrow seat.  The pain might come from chaffing, or it might be structural pain from the constant pressure on the sit bones, or it might be a wonderful combination of both.  In my travels I have tried the more obvious techniques

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-33875521368518449612012-08-30T19:22:00.000-06:002013-12-23T13:43:24.673-07:00

If you have an interest in tiny figurines, models, or miniatures, then tilt-shift photography might also catch your eye.  The technique involves taking a photograph of life-size objects, and using just the correct amount of blurring to create an illusion of miniaturizing the objects.  I have enjoyed experimenting with some of my own photographs and have found a number of high quality tilt shift

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-55818698143869079822012-08-28T16:50:00.002-06:002012-08-28T17:02:50.310-06:00

Tropico 3 and 4 are excellent simulation games for anyone who has ever wanted to run their own little tropical island dictatorship.  While I find Tropico 4 to offer some mild improvements over its predecessor,  I preferred the music from Tropico 3.  So after a little bit of digging, I found the way to switch the music packs between the two versions.   I did this on the Steam distribution; I don't

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-28028901255643690382012-08-23T18:49:00.001-06:002012-09-28T09:50:26.172-06:00

It all began with two black mollies.  I liked the way they looked in the pet store and decided to add bring them home to my aquarium.   Mollies are good fish for a beginning aquarium-keeper.  Their diet is simple, they tolerate a range of water conditions, and they are inexpensive. Alas, there is a good reason why they are inexpensive.  In a well-maintained tank they are easy to breed.....a bit

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-75036038368407683862010-08-12T10:26:00.001-06:002012-09-28T09:50:00.756-06:00

A study out of McMaster University in Ontario indicates that weightlifting with high-weight and low repetitions is no more effective at increasing muscle mass than using lower-weights with more repetitions. In fact, a lower-weight, high repetition routine proved to be slightly superior where hypertrophy is the main goal. Wherever males congregate to lift weights (high school weight rooms,

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-30316026823541858572010-05-12T11:56:00.000-06:002012-09-06T08:27:43.109-06:00

I previously wrote about our struggling stray cat Ripley.  He had a rough 2009-2010 winter season, but he enjoyed coming into the warm house and snuggling up against me on the couch. We kept his shelter in the garage heated, stocked with food, and gave him his daily dose of thyroid medication. We kept the back yard closed and supposedly secure to keep him from wandering.  Lacking the ability

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-17376387058039417812009-10-30T23:18:00.006-06:002012-08-31T11:57:23.304-06:00

On a September afternoon in 2004, a visitor arrived on our back porch. He was a black, long-haired cat we would name Ripley. His mangled left ear hinted at a violent past typical of a stray male wandering city streets. Skinny and starving, he begged for food and attention and we would not turn him away. He ravenously devoured all the food we gave him. Ripley knew a good thing when he saw it,

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-27892906010827437552009-07-07T16:05:00.007-06:002012-09-05T17:00:41.523-06:00

It was a safe bet things like this would happen. Given free economic stimulus money from the federal government, the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) took the opportunity to buy six shiny new Segway scooters at nearly $8000 each. The rationale given was that they will help transit officers see over crowds and respond to incidents more quickly (much the same way a bicycle would at 95% less cost).

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-28689778344196062842009-05-15T15:47:00.001-06:002009-05-19T21:18:24.340-06:00

As of May 14th, 2009 the swine flu has infected 4714 people in the United States. Of these, 4 people have died from it. While I cannot speak for the whole planet, this 0.0085% death rate in the U.S. is not something to become panicked about. We all stand a better chance of dying in a car wreck driving home from work than in catching and dying from the swine flu.There is always the chance the

Billnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-62332444569806092442008-11-07T12:07:00.000-07:002008-11-07T12:10:58.382-07:00

The election is over and there really were not any big surprises. The state and national polls were quite accurate as Obama won easily everywhere he was predicted to. McCain fulfilled his expectations by winning the core red states and losing the key swing states. Closer to home, the predictable Salt Lake County citizens once again voted to raise their own taxes. People love to pay taxes around

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-27483277597420980482008-10-02T13:39:00.002-06:002012-09-11T08:17:15.044-06:00

Salt Lake Valley residents send millions of dollars annually to Wendover, Nevada for the pleasure of slot machines and gambling. Thousands of Utahans leap over into Idaho every year to play the lottery, while Evanston Wyoming is the destination of choice for high-end fireworks. Whenever visiting these surrounding states, Utahans like to stock up on “good” beer before heading back to the watered

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-78408750990605370332008-09-23T11:34:00.002-06:002008-09-23T11:37:59.650-06:00

In February 2009, NASA will be launching the Kepler Mission which will place a spacecraft in orbit around the sun. It will be the first instrument able to detect terrestrial Earth-size planets around other stars, and I’m looking foreword to hearing about what it finds. We currently have the opportunity to submit our names in the “Names In Space” program, which will place all collected names on

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-71635133359460021882008-09-17T04:27:00.000-06:002012-09-11T08:19:11.714-06:00

GM has officially unveiled the Volt, its upcoming Extended-Range Electric Vehicle (EREV). It is not a bad looking car, although it is less visually inspiring than its initial prototype. I like the approach GM is taking with the Volt. It offers a practically all-electric power source for routine city driving, while maintaining the ability to travel hundreds of miles using a backup gas engine to

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-57996091069525433962008-09-16T13:08:00.002-06:002008-09-16T13:14:55.959-06:00

As I relayed in a previous review, Spore is a mass-market game. As such, it tries very hard to not scare away its user base by requiring them to think too much. That is fine; sometimes dumbed-down games are a nice diversion when you want a quick dose of mindless entertainment. Aside from the pretty graphics and the pleasure of making funny looking-creatures, does Spore actually have any

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-11745927199723459542008-09-16T10:46:00.001-06:002008-09-16T10:48:33.437-06:00

Tis’ the season for my employer’s annual health fair. As a health institution that understands the benefits of preventative screening, the company provides a free annual blood test of risk factors for diabetes and heart disease.If my cholesterol was a stock price, now is a great time to sell. Contrary to common medical wisdom, my diet this summer (rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains)

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-15494694398203879972008-09-10T11:48:00.001-06:002008-09-10T11:51:17.479-06:00

A study appearing in Archives of Internal Medicine has found that people with a genetic predisposition to accumulate fat can still be lean and healthy…provided they exercise moderately 3-4 hours daily. This does not strike me as particularly encouraging news for our obesity epidemic. Of all the seriously overweight people in modern society, how many can we realistically expect to devote that

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-29802798176154745352008-09-09T16:34:00.002-06:002008-09-13T10:45:06.668-06:00

I spent much of my day off playing Spore, and I have some initial impressions. I ultimately judge a game by its cost-per-entertainment hour to decide how good it is; this helps me put aside expectations from hype and anticipation. Based on yesterday alone I am roughly at $5 per hour so far ($50 purchase / roughly 10 hours of playtime). I had expected that cost-per-hour would fall much further

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-88485374596906683292008-09-07T12:32:00.002-06:002008-09-07T12:36:50.149-06:00

The earth is not flat, and neither is the universe. So, if I were to start walking in one direction on Earth I would not ultimately reach and edge and fall off, I would only return to my originally starting point. Is it likewise with the universe? If I begin traveling in one direction I don't expect to someday hit a wall or barrier of any sort. Should I rather expect to keep going until I get

Billnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4880569819723983869.post-88213179740306939092008-09-04T11:28:00.003-06:002008-09-07T12:26:05.641-06:00

A team of researchers publishing in Psychosomatic Medicine has discovered that heavy thinking causes people to become more hungry and consume more calories than if they remain mentally inactive. The brain sucks up a lot of glucose when it is active, and this causes the activation of a hunger pangs...even if the body as a whole has been sedentary.This clears up something; now we know why so many

Billnoreply@blogger.com0