Friday, January 28, 2005
Adaptive lights organize traffic TRN 012605
Cool type of AI solution. Using patterns found in nature.
Ananova - Man peed way out of avalanche
I guess pouring the beer directly on the snow would have been a waste?
EO Newsroom: New Images - Snow on the Summits of Hawaii
Very cool shot. For those of you who may have known her, probably only Tif and Jaime, Kellee and her husband work at the observatory on this island and live there.
I think it kind of looks like a wolf head
I think it kind of looks like a wolf head
EO Newsroom: New Images - Snow on the Summits of Hawaii
Very cool shot. For those of you who may have known her, probably only Tif and Jaime, Kellee and her husband work at the observatory on this island and live there.
I think it kind of looks like a wolf head
I think it kind of looks like a wolf head
Thursday, January 27, 2005
SignOnSanDiego.com > News > North County -- Beachgoers get wireless Web access
Cool... but it costs. It would be nice if it was free... There are getting to be too many providers for this, in different areas. $20 a month to get T*Mobile for Starbucks, $20 a month to SBC for Park access... then what.
Especially when you can go to Panera's and other spots for free. Be interesting to see if it catches on.
But it would be very cool to be sitting on the beach, in the shade, watching the surf, and checking on your email, blogging, etc. At least for geeks like me. The real cool thing isn't "why would you want to work on vacation?" - but "Hey... I'll be telecommuting from the beach, irc me if you need something." Yeah... the good life. :)
Especially when you can go to Panera's and other spots for free. Be interesting to see if it catches on.
But it would be very cool to be sitting on the beach, in the shade, watching the surf, and checking on your email, blogging, etc. At least for geeks like me. The real cool thing isn't "why would you want to work on vacation?" - but "Hey... I'll be telecommuting from the beach, irc me if you need something." Yeah... the good life. :)
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
CBS News | Violent Drawings Land Boys In Jail | January 26, 2005 08:30:06
I never had to deal with these kinds of issues, as a parent. And when I was in school we never had this kind of stuff going on, at least not at this age. I got terrorized a bit when we moved to ND, but I pretty much dealt with it, and by then I was in 8th grade.
A little different than 8 and 10 year olds.
Should they have been arrested... I don't know. Felony seems a bit overkill... but I know everyone is on edge because of Columbine. I would defaintely not be happy if I was one of the "victims" parents and was told later, "Yeah, there were drawings, but you know kids, we didn't take them seriously." The real issue, imo, isn't whether they should have been arrested or not, the real issue is how we got here, and how we instill in teens (and now pre-teens) that violence isn't the way, that this kind of thing isn't cool, acceptable, funny, etc.
But, getting on my 46 year old soap box for a minute, it isn't like this kind of thing happens over-night. Its a steady "decline". When I was a kid (yeah I know, here goes), you were held responsible for your actions. Not that we never did anything wrong, we did. Yeah, boys will be boys. But you have some "fear of God" in you, when you know that if you are caught you will get in big trouble by your parents, or hassleing old kids gets you beat up, etc. Any more, many adults and parents act like kids are bain dead. "Well you can't hold it against little Johnny that he is: destroying property, acting like and idiot, bring a gun to school", he doesn't know better. I think he does... he just knows he'll get a free ride.
I remember once when we were cursing the drag. We were probably 16 and 17. Some 13 year olds starting throwing rocks at our car. We chased them, and their parents were really ticked. "How dare you frighten my kids!" "They were throwing rocks at our '57 Chevy!" - "So, kids will be kids. Didn't you ever do anything like that?" - "Not really, 'cuz we know if we got caught we'd get beat up, or our parents would ground us." Not that we wanted to actually hurt the kids, but at least put some "fear of God" into them so they didn't do it again. But since their parents basically thought it was just cute, every time we drove by the park and they were around, their they would be, flipping us off and yelling and laughing, because their parents had protected them from any consequences.
No... I don't think a 9 and 10 year old kid should fry or anything, and I don't have answers... but sometime kids have to be taught what is acceptable. And I'm sorry, sometimes explaining it in philosopical and quite terms just doesn't get the point across.
Explain to Mo its wrong, maybe no reaction. Have his older brothers bomp him in the head, and he quites messing with their stuff. ;)
A little different than 8 and 10 year olds.
Should they have been arrested... I don't know. Felony seems a bit overkill... but I know everyone is on edge because of Columbine. I would defaintely not be happy if I was one of the "victims" parents and was told later, "Yeah, there were drawings, but you know kids, we didn't take them seriously." The real issue, imo, isn't whether they should have been arrested or not, the real issue is how we got here, and how we instill in teens (and now pre-teens) that violence isn't the way, that this kind of thing isn't cool, acceptable, funny, etc.
But, getting on my 46 year old soap box for a minute, it isn't like this kind of thing happens over-night. Its a steady "decline". When I was a kid (yeah I know, here goes), you were held responsible for your actions. Not that we never did anything wrong, we did. Yeah, boys will be boys. But you have some "fear of God" in you, when you know that if you are caught you will get in big trouble by your parents, or hassleing old kids gets you beat up, etc. Any more, many adults and parents act like kids are bain dead. "Well you can't hold it against little Johnny that he is: destroying property, acting like and idiot, bring a gun to school", he doesn't know better. I think he does... he just knows he'll get a free ride.
I remember once when we were cursing the drag. We were probably 16 and 17. Some 13 year olds starting throwing rocks at our car. We chased them, and their parents were really ticked. "How dare you frighten my kids!" "They were throwing rocks at our '57 Chevy!" - "So, kids will be kids. Didn't you ever do anything like that?" - "Not really, 'cuz we know if we got caught we'd get beat up, or our parents would ground us." Not that we wanted to actually hurt the kids, but at least put some "fear of God" into them so they didn't do it again. But since their parents basically thought it was just cute, every time we drove by the park and they were around, their they would be, flipping us off and yelling and laughing, because their parents had protected them from any consequences.
No... I don't think a 9 and 10 year old kid should fry or anything, and I don't have answers... but sometime kids have to be taught what is acceptable. And I'm sorry, sometimes explaining it in philosopical and quite terms just doesn't get the point across.
Explain to Mo its wrong, maybe no reaction. Have his older brothers bomp him in the head, and he quites messing with their stuff. ;)
Sun Announces Open Source License for Solaris(TM) Operating System
Interesting strategy. One we knew was coming. I haven't thought about it a lot, but I'm wondering if this will help them. Since so many people have moved over to linux, will open source developer's really start working on Solaris, or just stay with linux? Digital never tried this ploy, and it ended up "killing" VMS, for the most part. Will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few years.
Sigh... (fondly remembers VMS)
Sigh... (fondly remembers VMS)
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
About Google Video
"Our mission is to organize the world's information, and that includes the thousands of programs that play on our TVs every day. Google Video enables you to search a growing archive"
Wow, what will google think of next? Pretty cool, especially in light of me playing with TiVo lately.
It scans the closed caption text, so for instance you could enter Johnny Carson and see all the shows that have mentioned him the last few days, which might be doing tributes, etc.
Cool stuff.
Yahoo! News - 'Survivor' Winner Arraigned on Tax Evasion
"Richard Hatch, who rose to fame as the first winner of the 'Survivor' TV series, was arraigned on charges of tax evasion on Tuesday"
TiVo
The kids (Brian and Tif) got us a TiVo machine for Christmas. I finally went through all the setup stuff Saturday. Recorded some things tonight. Being the TV addict that I am, I think it is going to be very cool.
And I can get a WiFi adapter for it and unplug it from my phone and have it on my home network. Yeah, pretty cool.
And I can get a WiFi adapter for it and unplug it from my phone and have it on my home network. Yeah, pretty cool.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Kids
Wow... Its just incredible to watch your kids grown up. Not just get older, but mature and turn into you adults. Jaime just amazes me sometimes, especially her relationship with Michael. They are both awesome. Sometimes they say things, have discussions, etc. that just make me shake my head in wonder. I still think of her of my baby, and sometimes I'm just very amazed at what an adult she is.
I'm a very lucky dad. Love ya babe.
I'm a very lucky dad. Love ya babe.
Thanks Johnny
I hope that yesterday Jesus heard, "Here's Johnny!!"
I always really liked Johnny Carson. He had class. I remember watching him as I grew up. And I remember his last show. It was awesome. Still chokes me up even now when I've caught a clip of it a few times.
Leno did a tribute to him. It was pretty good.
Hope he's doing well...
I always really liked Johnny Carson. He had class. I remember watching him as I grew up. And I remember his last show. It was awesome. Still chokes me up even now when I've caught a clip of it a few times.
Leno did a tribute to him. It was pretty good.
Hope he's doing well...
Friday, January 21, 2005
Can Sony reinvent itself as cool? | Newsmakers | CNET News.com
"I think sometimes that if I retire, I'll become a blogger and finally say all the things I've always wanted to say."
Iteresting that I saw this today. The interesting things is, I don't think as a blogger you can "always say what you wanted to say." I mean I guess it depends on who you are, whether your blog identifies you, etc. and your social norms, etc. Another reason I haven't been blogging all that much lately, is my current state of mind. In general, I'm not looking for those funny/witty (at least in my mind) little outlooks on life. The kind of stuff I like to blog. The last year has been pretty hard at church (tons of just junk going on) and hard at work (way more work/responsibility/politics and not so fun stuff at times), and my brain is just always on or off. It doesn't seem to just hit that lazy, look at the world place. Unless I'm worshipping, and then I'm just gone.
Anyway... the thing is, lots of things I think about on a day-to-day basis is stuff I would never blog. Too personal, things that may hurt someone (yes, we all have thoughts about situations, people, etc. that we'd never "say outloud", i.e., never blog.). I just think it is interesting that I've been thinking lately how I'm not blogging some stuff, because it isn't really "fit to print", and then I read this quote.
Church - fun stuff I do
And speaking of "fun" things, if I'm not working or at home vegging, I'm doing church related stuff, which is very cool. The main two fun things I've been doing lately are:
Cooking: We have a cooking "I-Group", (cell group, home group, etc.) where I get to play Emeril. Very fun stuff. We did Cajun the other night and Leslie made a crab dip and bread pudding (yum!) and I made Jambalya. My first time. It was actually a little spicy for me, but not so bad that I couldn't eat it. It was very good. But if I was to make it for the family I would have used less spice and more tomatoe based. We only due this once a month (so not too much of a committment) and it is usually a really good time of cooking and just hanging out and talking. The perfect social occasion for me. 1) I'm doing something (cooking) so don't have to be the center of conversation, 2) If I am talking, its usually about food, which is something I'm very interested in. Anyway, its always a great time and very fun. Leslie buys all the food, preps most of it, and cleans up. I just get there, put on my chef's jacket, and play Emeril. And then we eat. Great time! :)
Worship: I've been drumming the last 2 weeks, and will for two more weeks. This has been awesome. I love percussion and don't want to be a permanent drummer, but being able to do it for the month has been really fun. And worship has been awesome. So its been a great time for me of just being really passionate in worship. Plus it always gives Tina a kick to see me drum. Reminds her of the "old days". :) Michael said it looks like I had a waterfall of cymbals (beacuse I had 6 of them up there), so Monday when I was over doing some accounting, I added two more. So last night I had 8. :) Greg said, "Yeah, I looked over and you weren't playing the drums, you were playing cymbals." But its all good!
As a percussion player, I'm very influenced by my drumming background. But now I think my drumming is also being influenced by my percussion playing. At any rate, I've been having a blast.
This year we are adopting the concept of "understudies" for some of the various positions, so for instance I will be the drummer understudy. Basically I'll still primairly be focused on percussion, but I'll be learning the songs as we go along, on drums as well. That way if Dominick is out for some reason, I'm not coming in cold. And to make sure it isn't "all practice with no play", I'll be drumming once in a while no matter what. So that will be very fun.
And then Teresa preached on Sunday, which totally rocked big time, and just confirmed what a natural speaker/teacher she is and how much she hears from God. It was so incredibly cool. But... enoough blogging for now, I REALLY should get to work.
Hopefully (but no promises), I'll post on a regular basis. I'm starting to catch a trend of posting links reguarly, and then every once in a great while some long post, or sets of posts. I liked it better when I posted something short every few days... but we'll see...
Cooking: We have a cooking "I-Group", (cell group, home group, etc.) where I get to play Emeril. Very fun stuff. We did Cajun the other night and Leslie made a crab dip and bread pudding (yum!) and I made Jambalya. My first time. It was actually a little spicy for me, but not so bad that I couldn't eat it. It was very good. But if I was to make it for the family I would have used less spice and more tomatoe based. We only due this once a month (so not too much of a committment) and it is usually a really good time of cooking and just hanging out and talking. The perfect social occasion for me. 1) I'm doing something (cooking) so don't have to be the center of conversation, 2) If I am talking, its usually about food, which is something I'm very interested in. Anyway, its always a great time and very fun. Leslie buys all the food, preps most of it, and cleans up. I just get there, put on my chef's jacket, and play Emeril. And then we eat. Great time! :)
Worship: I've been drumming the last 2 weeks, and will for two more weeks. This has been awesome. I love percussion and don't want to be a permanent drummer, but being able to do it for the month has been really fun. And worship has been awesome. So its been a great time for me of just being really passionate in worship. Plus it always gives Tina a kick to see me drum. Reminds her of the "old days". :) Michael said it looks like I had a waterfall of cymbals (beacuse I had 6 of them up there), so Monday when I was over doing some accounting, I added two more. So last night I had 8. :) Greg said, "Yeah, I looked over and you weren't playing the drums, you were playing cymbals." But its all good!
As a percussion player, I'm very influenced by my drumming background. But now I think my drumming is also being influenced by my percussion playing. At any rate, I've been having a blast.
This year we are adopting the concept of "understudies" for some of the various positions, so for instance I will be the drummer understudy. Basically I'll still primairly be focused on percussion, but I'll be learning the songs as we go along, on drums as well. That way if Dominick is out for some reason, I'm not coming in cold. And to make sure it isn't "all practice with no play", I'll be drumming once in a while no matter what. So that will be very fun.
And then Teresa preached on Sunday, which totally rocked big time, and just confirmed what a natural speaker/teacher she is and how much she hears from God. It was so incredibly cool. But... enoough blogging for now, I REALLY should get to work.
Hopefully (but no promises), I'll post on a regular basis. I'm starting to catch a trend of posting links reguarly, and then every once in a great while some long post, or sets of posts. I liked it better when I posted something short every few days... but we'll see...
Web/Blog design
One thing that keeps people coming back to web sites, is that they change. Or at least certain types of sites. If the site offers some service that you use, google, Wikipedia, etc., you'll go back because you need them. But other things that are just informational, etc., the theory goes if you change it, offer people something new to look at, they'll keep coming back, just to see what has changed.
So someone told me yesterday, "Man, you really need to update your blogs. Its getting boring." For blogs, this basically means, "You need to start posting stuff, cuz I'm getting tired of checking and nothing ever updates."
Yeah, I'm posting links to stuff, but not really posting any of my own content. Sigh... don't know what to say. Its been a very busy time right now. Tif wants me to get back on Pern, and I haven't event had time for that.
I guess I'm just in a place right now where I'm either working, ore pretty much vegging. There is so much going on at work, and never enough time to get it all done. Not that that is really bad. I mean, job security and all that. Its just someone is always having some problem, or needing something looked at, or whatever. Hopefully (and I've said THIS before here), things will eventually settle down. I'll either find ways of prioritizing, or people will need less or something.
And if I'm not busy at work, then I'm busy with church stuff. Althought that has been great. I do the taxes for the church, and usually getting the year end stuff out is very last minute (based on my time, time of others I need info from, etc.) This year the processes were more in place and I've already gotten all the stuff that needed to go out by the end of the month done, and most of the stuff that has to go out by the end of Feb. So I'm actually ahead and feeling really good about that. Luckily Monday was a holiday so I was off work and able to go in and get some things done.
Anyway... been very busy (some work, some fun) and just not much time for blogging. Like right now, I'd normally be doing work (which I'm sort of doing in the background), but I figured I'd at least post *something* to keep people happy. :)
So someone told me yesterday, "Man, you really need to update your blogs. Its getting boring." For blogs, this basically means, "You need to start posting stuff, cuz I'm getting tired of checking and nothing ever updates."
Yeah, I'm posting links to stuff, but not really posting any of my own content. Sigh... don't know what to say. Its been a very busy time right now. Tif wants me to get back on Pern, and I haven't event had time for that.
I guess I'm just in a place right now where I'm either working, ore pretty much vegging. There is so much going on at work, and never enough time to get it all done. Not that that is really bad. I mean, job security and all that. Its just someone is always having some problem, or needing something looked at, or whatever. Hopefully (and I've said THIS before here), things will eventually settle down. I'll either find ways of prioritizing, or people will need less or something.
And if I'm not busy at work, then I'm busy with church stuff. Althought that has been great. I do the taxes for the church, and usually getting the year end stuff out is very last minute (based on my time, time of others I need info from, etc.) This year the processes were more in place and I've already gotten all the stuff that needed to go out by the end of the month done, and most of the stuff that has to go out by the end of Feb. So I'm actually ahead and feeling really good about that. Luckily Monday was a holiday so I was off work and able to go in and get some things done.
Anyway... been very busy (some work, some fun) and just not much time for blogging. Like right now, I'd normally be doing work (which I'm sort of doing in the background), but I figured I'd at least post *something* to keep people happy. :)
So that isn't working
I've bought some concert tickets over the internet, now and again over the last few years. They send confirmation via email and then they'll send you monthly notifications of upcoming events. I believe this is supposed to be based on what you've purchased in the past.
So now today I get notified about some Country/Western signer that is coming and some upcoming extreme sports (or something like that) shows... Not sure what changed in my profile, but its not matching my tastes very well...
So now today I get notified about some Country/Western signer that is coming and some upcoming extreme sports (or something like that) shows... Not sure what changed in my profile, but its not matching my tastes very well...
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Congressional Oversight of the Dept of Homeland Security
In case you were wondering why its hard to get things done...
Friday, January 14, 2005
Yahoo! News - Speaker Touts Stripping to 8th Graders
Yahoo! News - Speaker Touts Stripping to 8th Graders: "The principal of a Palo Alto middle school may not invite a popular speaker back to an annual career day after he told girls they could earn a good living as strippers."
Thursday, January 13, 2005
FOXNews.com - Denver piple up
Note: Jumping out of your driver door into traffic is not "safer" than just bumping into someone... This lady is lucky she didn't get run into.
I think the "Flintstone" stop approach (dragging your feet) was a good idea... maybe. LOL
I think the "Flintstone" stop approach (dragging your feet) was a good idea... maybe. LOL
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Three largest stars identified
"Astronomers have identified the three biggest stars known to science."
NASA Details Earthquake Effects on the Earth
"They also found the earthquake decreased the length of day by 2.68 microseconds."
I knew there was a reason I couldn't get as much done as I used to!
Cost... savings?
So, in what I'm sure some bean counter thought would be a cost savings measure, the cafe now uses smaller plates for the grill. Smaller than they used to be (maybe an inch in diameter). So now there are two sizes. One at the grill and one at the "entree" area. The entree area has lids for their plates. These lids used to fit all the plates, but now that they are different sizes, they don't.
Since I want a lid (because I'm carrying my food a few blocks back to my desk) to keep my food warm, I just slide the new cost-efficient plate onto one of the other plates and then cover it with a lid. Works great.
But is it really a cost savings now that I'm using two plates every time???
Theory vs practice. Something I (as a software architect) need to keep in mind at all times!
Since I want a lid (because I'm carrying my food a few blocks back to my desk) to keep my food warm, I just slide the new cost-efficient plate onto one of the other plates and then cover it with a lid. Works great.
But is it really a cost savings now that I'm using two plates every time???
Theory vs practice. Something I (as a software architect) need to keep in mind at all times!
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
NASA - Get Ready for the Largest Demolition Derby on the Planet
NASA - Get Ready for the Largest Demolition Derby on the Planet
Scientists say Slow-Motion Collision Near Antarctic Research Station Imminent: "Get Ready for the Largest Demolition Derby on the PlanetScientists say Slow-Motion Collision Near Antarctic Research Station Imminent"
Scientists say Slow-Motion Collision Near Antarctic Research Station Imminent: "Get Ready for the Largest Demolition Derby on the PlanetScientists say Slow-Motion Collision Near Antarctic Research Station Imminent"
Saturday, January 08, 2005
The New Zealand Herald
The New Zealand Herald: "With ice retreating, wrangling has already started on the uncovering of wastes and riches of the far north."
Friday, January 07, 2005
Learn something new every day
And speaking of "how cool is that", I just realized that if I'm using BlogThis! and I highlight some text it copies that text into the blog buffer, not just the title and the link! Makes total sense, I just never thought of trying it before today. :)
World Lecture Hall
World Lecture Hall:
Well how cool is that?
"Welcome to World Lecture Hall, your entry point to free online course materials from around the world. Please browse, search, learn and enjoy."
Well how cool is that?
Yup, thats what its all about
I'm going to be drumming the next three weeks for the Sunday service. Dominick has some wrestling stuff, so I'm playing while he is off. I've been very psyched about it.
The drum heads on the church drums were totally trashed, so last week I went and got new heads, a double kick bass pedal (which I've been wanting for a long time, for those occasional times when I drum) and a new cymbal stand and cymbal. I got a boom stand and another boom to add to it. I've got a number of cymbals and I prefer few stands with booms. Lets you get things in closer and take less floor space.
Anyway...
So I went and set up the heads and messed with them on Wed and then got to church early last might and moved all my cymbals intot he cage, along with my blocks, chimes, and cow bell and got it all set. Fun stuff.
Then we had worship practice. IT WAS AWESOME. Probably the best worship I've had at ICC in YEARS. It was just incredible. We had an awesome time of free praise. Kind of like God just reach down, taking you in his arms, giving you a squeeze and telling you he loves you. Man.
The church has had a hard time last year, and as typical happens when there are hard times, the leadership gets very attacked. Personal attacks, persecution, and kinds of stuff. And it hasn't just been the senior leadership, but Teresa has come under attack as well. I think last night was just God's way of telling her, "None of that stuff matters. Remember, THIS is why you do this. To worship me."
Personally, all the pain, all the grief, all the problems... Doesn't matter. I'd go through just about anything to have a night like last night. It so rocked.
And it wasn't a one time thing. Its coming. More and more of it.
I'm happy. :)
The drum heads on the church drums were totally trashed, so last week I went and got new heads, a double kick bass pedal (which I've been wanting for a long time, for those occasional times when I drum) and a new cymbal stand and cymbal. I got a boom stand and another boom to add to it. I've got a number of cymbals and I prefer few stands with booms. Lets you get things in closer and take less floor space.
Anyway...
So I went and set up the heads and messed with them on Wed and then got to church early last might and moved all my cymbals intot he cage, along with my blocks, chimes, and cow bell and got it all set. Fun stuff.
Then we had worship practice. IT WAS AWESOME. Probably the best worship I've had at ICC in YEARS. It was just incredible. We had an awesome time of free praise. Kind of like God just reach down, taking you in his arms, giving you a squeeze and telling you he loves you. Man.
The church has had a hard time last year, and as typical happens when there are hard times, the leadership gets very attacked. Personal attacks, persecution, and kinds of stuff. And it hasn't just been the senior leadership, but Teresa has come under attack as well. I think last night was just God's way of telling her, "None of that stuff matters. Remember, THIS is why you do this. To worship me."
Personally, all the pain, all the grief, all the problems... Doesn't matter. I'd go through just about anything to have a night like last night. It so rocked.
And it wasn't a one time thing. Its coming. More and more of it.
I'm happy. :)
Gates taking a seat in your den | Newsmakers | CNET News.com
Gates talking about a number of things. Some discussion on Xenon (code name for the next Xbox), blogging - yeah, I think he is somewhat clueless, FireFox - yes Bill some people really do thing IE is junk and use other browsers, and then other stuff as well.
Monday, January 03, 2005
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