Car vs. Dog, round 2: FIGHT! (2011/02/23)
On the way up to an erranding in the cities, I noticed a dog standing by the side of the road at the mouth of a driveway. I slowed down. Good thing, because the dog did EXACTLY what you or I would do upon noticing that something >20 times our size was bearing down on a location about ten feet away from us – run in front of it. Stupid dog.
[read more...]RIFT beta: A more in-depth review (2011/02/07)
Since a lot of people I know play MMOs or other games, I figure there may be some general interest. RIFT is in beta right now. Well, that’s a marketing gimmick. It’s really essentially in a sort of showing-off/demo mode which is more like an initial release than like a traditional “beta”, but the point is it’s not officially for sale yet, but people can play it.
[read more...]I think the need for an Internet "kill switch" is now clear (2011/02/03)
Thanks to recent events in Egypt, I think it’s now clear why the American government desperately needs an Internet “kill switch” available.
[read more...]Initial impressions of RIFT (2011/01/29)
I play MMOs sometimes. I’ve been playing City of Heroes lately, and it’s lovely, but I sometimes want Internet Dragons. But, since Activision turned Blizzard evil, World of Warcraft hasn’t really been a viable option for me.
[read more...]According to the giant donut, I have a knee! (2011/01/26)
So my knee’s been hurting lately, and the doctor suggested an MRI. This is awesome fun. HUUUUGE donut full of machinery. Makes loud noises. They provide headphones, which have poor fidelity because they’re driven by a hose with air in it; they couldn’t have actual magnetic drivers near the MRI machine. Note for the curious: You know how they used to have something scary and dangerous called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, which was very scary, but now they have something harmless and safe called Magnetic Resonance Imaging? Same thing. The “nuclear” there just refers to the nucleus of an atom, which is boring and safe, and NMR/MRI is unrelated to fission and fusion.
[read more...]To be, or not to be... (2011/01/21)
I’ve sort of come to terms with the fact that my language is changing. And I’ve found a way of thinking about this that makes me a lot happier about it. Instead of viewing every deviation from the usage rules I learned as an “error”, I consider them as proposed updates in a new version of the language.
[read more...]This just in: "flaunt" is not fancy-talk for "have". (2011/01/18)
Someone recently reported that the iPhone 5 would be “flaunting” a Cortex A8 processor. As a guy who works on embedded toolchains, I actually know roughly what that means. I could even speculate as to its implications…
[read more...]Barclay/Juniper charges interest on fees, or do they? (2011/01/16)
My credit card statement on my Barclaycard (aka Juniper VISA) account showed up with an unexplained $2.00 charge. Why $2.00? Because that’s the minimum amount of interest they can charge. What were they charging interest on? $0.46. But my statement showed the whole balance as being paid. When I asked a rep about this, he said that they charge interest on foreign transaction fees starting immediately, like cash advances. Now, foreign transaction fees are already sorta sleazy, but that quickly migrates into “ridiculous”. I asked them to cancel the account, whereupon I was transferred to a specialist who looked into it and informed me that no, they don’t charge interest on these fees, it was purely a banking error.
[read more...]Stupidest liar ever (2011/01/12)
Okay, this is a thing of beauty. So, there’s this long ongoing thread on a forum I hang out on, on the topic of whether or not a wind-powered vehicle can move directly downwind faster than the wind. Answer: Yes, surprising though it may seem.
[read more...]"Eliminationist" -- what a lovely word (2011/01/11)
I was discussing the recent shootings with my mom, and pointed out that I can’t help but feel that the widespread use of crosshair graphics and “take to the streets” type language might be a contributor to such things. She pointed out that this rhetoric is not particularly exclusive to the right wing. That’s true, both “sides” in US politics have tended to it of late. She also gave me a word for it; “eliminationist rhetoric”.
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