Category: x-personal
Random and intermittent postings about life, the universe, etc..
The internet is a strange and wonderful place
Every so often I stop by Amazon’s Mechanical Turk just to see what’s going on, how people are using the software, and maybe complete a task and earn a few cents. I just found this gem available, paying ten dollars if you can complete it in the next eight hours.
You will write an entry for my personal weblog, as me, about events between March 8 and March 15. The entry will be 750 – 1000 words long. In this entry I will wonder what it means to be “a real writer of the American west.” I will travel to Missoula, Montana and drink a lot with famous writers there. One of them will take me back to his house and be very loving and tender, even though he is heterosexual, and he will immerse me in a vat of sweet liquid, maybe honey. He will talk to me about drum circles and hunting and confess some terrible thing he once did to Louise Erdrich. While I am in Montana, I will sound really gruff and intellectual. I will drive drunk and reveal a secret relationship I had with a famous dead poet there. I will pledge to change the way I write and I’ll walk naked through the Missoula airport, for some really admirable idealistic reason, in support of oppressed people, for example. The entry will be 750 – 1000 words long.
Just a few links I thought were pretty interesting.
http://ericpoulton.blogspot.com/index.html
This guy has been drawing some steampunk Star Wars lately. Interesting stuff.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/06/commodore-set-to-introduce-high-end-gaming-pcs/
The company that currently owns the Commodore computer brand (of my beloved Commodore 64 fame) is entering the high-end gaming computer market.
http://www.rabittooth.com/calvinspiff.htm
This looks like every single “Spaceman Spiff” comic from Calvin and Hobbes.
Time… is on your side
From
1. What timezone are you in
Eastern Standard Time
2. Do like Daylight Savings Time, or should it be gotten rid of?
Like it, will have to adjust to the new timing.
3. Do you wear a wristwatch?
Yes.
4. What time is it right now (local time)
9:49 a.m.
5. Analog or Digital?
Analog.
Fish death
Just lost another platy. Another one of the green neon teenagers, only born last spring. She must have just died, because the other fish hadn’t gotten to her at all.
When I scooped her out of the tank I took a closer look. She wasn’t pregnant, like her smaller sister is currently, but she did have the bent spine I’ve seen on several of the newer platys. I assume this is a result of the massive inbreeding that takes place to produce the distinct varieties found in the fish store. Still, it’s not nearly as bad as what they do to dogs in Japan.
I can only hope that re-combining the different platy varieties will lead back to a stronger, more viable fish. Also, I’m going to get my water checked on Saturday. And possibly buy some more females (of a different variety); the male/female ratio in the tank has gotten far too skewed towards the male side and I think they’re starting to harass the poor females too much.
Protected: Blame ciaweth
The Voyage of the Mimi
Does anyone else remember the Voyage of the Mimi? I don’t even remember what Gill and I were talking about the other day, but I asked if she had seen this series when she was in school and I was surprised that she hadn’t.
For those in the same boat (sorry, no pun intended), this was a TV program that I watched in school back in… fifth grade, I think. Maybe sixth. The Mimi was a sailboat and the plot concerned a young kid spending the summer with his grandfather, the boat’s captain, who had been chartered to ferry a scientific expedition out studying whales. Along the way, they got shipwrecked on an island and had to live off the land. Each episode had a teaching segment, talking about some scientific principle or field.
Looking it up on the internet, I discovered that the young kid was actually Ben Affleck. Weird.
So, was I alone in this experience?
Fish mortality
So I have this journal, I may as well use it for journal-like things. Warning, fish death can get icky, so stop reading if you’re squeamish.
Protected: Bandwagon ++
Coolest thing ever
Doctor Who Tardis 4-Way USB Hub:
The Doctor Who Tardis USB Hub boasts four ports in which to plug your various gizmos. Simply plug in and you’re away. But here’s the good bit: every time you connect or disconnect a device, the blue light on the top of the Tardis flashes and that unmistakable de-materialisation ‘vworp, vworp’ sound starts sawing away at your lugholes. Thankfully it doesn’t actually vanish into the time vortex, so you can enjoy the classic grating din again and again by plugging in more devices or pressing the demo button.
If I ever need to have a laptop for work I am so getting one of these.