A collection of digital wonders and some other stuff
The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.
– Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless
If you possess even the slightest sense of humour, then this page of quotations by Douglas Adams will have you in stitches.
Since it doesn’t look like the flying cars are on their way, what about personal helicopters? $31,000 will buy you the GEN H-4, a modern marvel that can go nearly 100 kph (aprox. 60 mph). See the GEN H-4 demonstration video. (2.6MB wmv)
(via Cooltools)
I can’t put my finger on why, but for some reason I’m mesmorized by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ music video Maps (45mb mov).
One of the things I like about my iPod Photo is that I have the ability to link album artwork with my music files. One of the things I don’t like about it is that for someone like me that has a rather large music collection, it takes an awful lot of effort to add artwork to each song.
Luckily someone wrote a new application that automatically goes out and downloads artwork for each of your songs. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’ve read about it from a few different sources and it sounds to be a great program.
Check out the iTunes Art Importer.
Update: I’ve tried it and I love it!
I came up with an idea this morning to help make my blog entries easier to sort. Of course, this may end up being a bad idea that gets dropped, but I’m going to try it out for awhile and decide if I like it or not.
The idea is keywords placed at the bottom of each entry, with each keywords linked to a search query for my domain. In theory anyway it should make it easy to find all related entries on a specific topic.
Search keywords: meta
Update: This lasted for a few months but I’ve gone back and removed the search query’s from all other posts except this one.
I just got hired on at the University of Lethbridge working for the International Centre. After a two and a half month hiatus from the workforce, I’m really happy to finally be bringing in some cashola. Having money will make buying groceries that much easier.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved the break. I think it was important for me to take some time to really nurse the wounds from my break-up. Thinking about it, it’s kind of funny how the break-up got way more coverage on my blog then the actual engagement. I suppose I should have taken it as a pretty major sign that she didn’t really want to get married when she refused to tell her dad the big news. I just wanted to marry her so badly that I ignored the signs.
I guess I’ve come to the conclusion that she’s got more problems than she’s worth. There’s the good old fashioned emotional problems and not to mention her huge commitment issues—she doesn’t even want kids. We just weren’t on the same page. I predict that she will continue to surf from guy to guy until she finds she’s alienated everyone so much that nobody wants anything to do with her. I still think she’s missing out big-time on me, but hey you reap what you sow I guess.
It’s still hard not to like her, and I think I’d like to be friends with her in the future, but it looks like she is going to need a lot of time before she’s ready for that.
The Presidents of the United States of America (the band) have put together a music video comprised of footage shot exclusively with cell phones.
From the Presidents’ site:
The director of the video, Grant Marshall from Film Headquarters, said he was very excited when Presidents of the USA agreed to this idea. He came up with the idea after the company’s creative team lamented how budgets for Australian music videos were far lower than those for international clips. Producer Nick Wolff said “We joked that budgets were getting so small that the next thing we’d be doing is shooting on a mobile phone.” (emphasis mine)
And that is exactly what they did. (Link has various video format choices)
When I heard that BitTorrent was collecting money from investors, it left me confused because BitTorrent is an open source protocol. It’s like hearing that HTTP or FTP was rounding up funds. Fortune.com recently published an article outlining exactly what the BitTorrent deal is all about. It sounds like Bram Cohen, the designer of the BitTorrent protocol, intends to sell media on a commission basis – kind of like what Google Video does.
I got into a conversation about evolution last night with an active member of the Mormon Church. I presented the concept that though other religions seem to think evolution is the tool of the devil, LDS folks shouldn’t think so. This afternoon I discovered a great article by Michael R. Ash, The Mormon Myth of Evil Evolution, which shows that the official Church position on evolution is neutral.
Even if you’re not from a Mormon background, you may find it interesting how a major world religion has avoided committing itself one way or the other to such an obviously important topic. Also I don’t think one has to be a Mormon in order to try and reconsile one’s beliefs with science; perhaps there is something every religious person could learn from the article.
If you liked Michael R. Ash’s article, you may also find of interest Duane E. Jeffery’s well-known and often cited Seers, Savants and Evolution: The Uncomfortable Interface.
The Aquaskipper only $595 (US). Even though it looks very fun, I think I’d get tired pretty fast.
Be sure to watch the Aquaskipper video (2mb wmv).