PEBCAC

We’ll See, We will see….
Yesterday Apple released OSX 10.4.7, today it’s possible to install it on your Windows computer. The guide let’s you create a dual boot menu in which you can choose from OSX and Windows. You’ll also create a nice rescue disk in case something goes wrong.

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Phonebooths are making a comeback and it’s about freakin’ time. Companies like C.P Booth and Salem Industries are designing cell phone booths in an effort to make it more apparent to social cretins, that talking on a cell phone in a public place (resturaunt, museum, church) is akin to taking the proverbial crap in the punch bowl.

Of course, the companies are claiming it’s to make a cell phone more usable in a loud enviornment (bar, club, concert, worksite, etc..). While this would be useful as folks wouldn’t have to yell at ear splitting levels, I don’t think it’s the real purpose/goal. Hopefully, the presence of a large unnecessary ‘box’ will force people to remember basic manners. That or a fork in the eye. 

I recently sat through a meal where some suburban soccer mom ordered her next meal from a take out place, while eating with her other hand. Over the course of thirty minutes she called the entire family to confirm the order…speaking with a volume I reserve for correcting my dog or yelling at cops. When the conversation turned to ‘the gross things that cats do’, I was pretty sure someone was going to get a fork in the eye in order to end things.

With a Cellzone, I could have at least pointed the pleasant woman somewhere while she was admiring the fountain of blood and eye juice spurting from my jellied orbit.

Phonebooths making a comeback, can Superman/Clark Kent be far behind

‘Allo. Some of you are reading this via an .rss feed. Who are you folks? Most of you appear to be people looking for specific tech information…or the aforementioned beastialists.

We’ve turned up on blogging pet, qj.net and outdoor wedding??

So, if you’re reading…leave a comment please, no registration required.

 

Thanks to my inlaws at gary’s pet supplies in Greensburg, all of my dogs are loving the Triple Crown Everlasting Treat Ball. My Rottweiler almost got smacked with a chair as he became so posessive he refused to move and relinquish his treat ball.

They are durable, pliant and well made. True, our pointy nosed bullterrier has been able to push the treat out… but he hasn’t been able to sufficiently puncture the ball. Riot, the rottie, can fully compress the ball, but does not damage or dislodge the treat in doing so. Hours of fun are guaranteed, both physical and mental….just don’t let them get too entralled, you might have trouble getting the toy back with your hand intact.

I’m writing this from a bootstrapped connection at our new Uniontown office in Fayette County. It’s nice new space, open like our office in Washington and has large inviting windows. Hopefully things will go smoothly in getting everything ‘online’ and getting new staff in. Opening the offices in Charleroi and Waynesburg has been a great primer for getting these things open within a reasonable time. Of course, it helps that our Uniontown office is Moving and expanding, rather than opening from ’scratch’ like the offices in Charleroi and Waynesburg. Nonetheless…here we go…

 

The Internet knows no bounds and has no class. Like a trailer park hooker you can’t take home to mother…the Internet is useful for a lot of things (fun too), but some seem to be over the line. Maybe I’m just being quaint…or backward, but somethings seem to require discretion….

And on that solemn tone, I offer you the crypt where my brother was buried…on ebay. If I can wash the dirty film off, I hope to sell my sense of decency next week.

It’s an Andypalooza Sale and everything about me, must go!!!

 

I’ve been waiting for this. It’s the single item keeping me from buying as DS Lite right now.

The DS will now have internet browsing on July 24th. I wonder how easy this will be to import?

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 Microsoft is entering into the Robots Arena. In a cooperative effort with CMU and it’s own Research Division. Interestingly enough they’re also using an existing relationship with seemingly failed third-party physics add-on Ageia. Apparently the physics simulation techology is similiar to the API’s from Direct X games. I suppose this makes sense as the preferred platform for the robots will no doubt be a version of windows.More info via google.

from digg:

“Microsoft is getting into the business of software for robots — coming out with a system that robotics developers can use to create the programs that make robots work. Dubbed the Microsoft Robotics Studio, the system aims to create common technological underpinnings for what is now a relatively fragmented industry.”

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from engadget

attn: more lame posting from another blog. too tired for original content.

Researchers at Chuo University in Japan haved developed a robot with the unique ability to move with almost no lateral motion. Application in construction, medicine and exploration are endless. Check out the posting.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/20/new-robot-does-the-worm-for-real/

Okay, here’s the deal…32.1% of keyphrases and 12.4% of the current searches for my site…NOT overall traffic…but still Searches…are either ‘Beastiality’ or ‘Beastiality Blog’. I wrote the word ‘beastiality’ in a posting about some arcane piece of legislation and BOOM–TRAFFIC!!

That is the only mention of the word on my site. Nonetheless, searching msn and other search engines for the aforementioned phrases will return my site in the first 10-15.

So, welcome to my site animal lovers, I hope you find something more prurient here than you were looking for in the first place.

from digg and defense review

Imagine a gun with no recoil, no sound, no heat, no gunpowder, no visible firing signature (muzzle flash), and no stoppages or jams of any kind. With Video

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In what some may take to be offensive…a performance artist calling himself the Rev. Brendan Powell Smith has recreated numerous books of the bible, in LEGO!!. It’s really quite fun, but will probably upset some folks. However, I firmly belief this is much better outreach than threatening fire and brimstone. Nonetheless, you can view the
“Rev’s” work at at: The Brick Testament.

 

 

From Digg

Bill Gates will move to the Gates Foundation full time in 2 years.

from me:

Bill Gates has notified the world that his transition out of his leadership role at Microsoft is complete (finishing the transfer of duties to Steve Ballmer). Among visionaries, like Steve Jobs, Ray Kurzweil, Steve Wozniak, Gates has been particularly successful in making the technology vision come to fruition for the masses. Sometimes Gates has been able to develop the technology and often they know the company to purchase the technology the need. But no matter how it’s happened, Gates has changed the face of technology and how we live our lives.

Now Gates is taking on the most difficult challenge he has probably faced. Attaining great wealth, while difficult, at some point becomes self-perpetuating…i.e. wealth begets more wealth. However, intelligently dispersing billions of dollars in an intelligent way that will effect real social change is going to be amazingly difficult.
Microsoft is not the evil empire and Bill is not the anti-christ. Microsoft plays hardball…and all popular accounts indicate that Gates does personally. The fact is, Microsoft has built a superior product, enabled computer technology for the masses and made more millionaires, directly and indirectly, that any business in history.

Good luck Bill. We really don’t envy you.

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The RIAA strikes again.

From the EFF:

The entertainment industry has sneaked language into an obscure copyright bill that could smash Internet fair use. The law implies that licenses from copyright holders are needed for every digital copy made in the transmission of digital media — including cached copies on servers or on your hard drive, and even temporary copies in RAM. The wording is being debated in a House Judiciary subcommittee on Wednesday. Don’t let the music industry turn your cache into their cash. Check below to see if your representative is on the right committee, and call them now!

EFF Petition, 115 Reform Act of 2006

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The Subject says it all. Now do it!

(this is the kind of fun that has gotten me entrance into some of the world’s finest trauma centers and ER’s)

 digg story

I guess Mom and Dad aren’t the only ones reading…

http://apple.qj.net/Have-A-Scratch-Free-5G-iPod-with-Brasso/pg/49/aid/51301

thanks folks….

I just tried Brasso Plus with a White 5g/video iPod…all I can say is THANKS Todd Dailey.

My iPod has some light scratches from its Belkin case with kickstand. (the inside of the case has industrial stiching which will scratch the shiny ipod surface). I was apprehensive about the Brasso as not many sites are documenting the effect(s). Nonetheless, my intrepid wife picked up some today at the grocery store. When I told her what I was doing, she quietly muttered and left the room.

Well, first thing first, follow the instructions at Todd Dailey’s site, or read my process below. Second and finally, don’t blame me if you mess up your precious iPod.

1. Okay, first I got a microfiber cloth from Ritz camera.

2. Second, I cleaned off the iPod with Fellowes screen wipes. There’s probably something better, but it’s what I had.

3. Took a picture of the iPod in ‘before’ condition. The scratches on the screen are much worse than the picture looks.

warning, my pics suck. cheap camera and bad lighting.

(with and w/o flash) - click for full size

4. I applied a small amount of Brasso to the MicroFiber cloth, in a corner of the cloth.

5. Using swirling, diagonal, horizontal and vertical strokes and ONLY the pressure of my hand, I worked the Brasso into the iPod. As it dried up (I only used a little each time), I applied more to the cloth.

6. Twice I allowed the Brasso to dry and buffed it off in the same manner in which it was applied.

7. Along the way I could see it was working, and making new scratches in areas I hadn’t taken my time with. On the third LIGHT pass I took my time. When I was done, the iPod looked considerably better!! Much!

8. Does it look new? No, but it is improved and all the nasty hazing from the scratches are gone! I’m sure if I took my time, I could get it damn near perfect. However, I’m going to get a new case with no discrerable edges and save perfection for the future…at least there’s still acrylic left for future Brasso magic. Thanks Mr. Dailey.

 

As part of my plan to just swipe blog material from other sites, here’s another posting from digg. The robot in question is a ‘telepresence’ device from Telbotics. Pebbles is designed as a remote video, audio and document center enabling folks isolated by location/illness/etc… to communicate with others via networked Pebbles. The main application seems to be for school age children who, because of hospitalization, are unable to attend class. The robot allows for a physical presesnce in the classroom. As a frequent user of teleconference technology during the past 10 years, I’d love to see a boardroom full of these devices. I’m going to have to send this to PIAT.

Lying in his hospital room, on a mattress designed to protect his fragile skin, 13-year-old Achim Nurse poked his bandaged fingers at an orange button on what looked like a souped-up video game console.
Half a second later, in a social studies class discussing the Erie Canal, a 5-foot-tall steel-blue robot raised its hand…

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Here’s a great interactive periodic table of elements. You can click the button for html and pdf files that provide background information and further data on the Periodic Table of Elements. Very Cool!

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Here goes several hours of your life, sorry. Here is the index of 500! Cartoons on YouTube, as well.

There’s no garbage clips to weed through, just 300 full length episodes organized alphabetically: Doctor Who, Get Smart, Lost, Quantum Leap, Seinfeld, The Screen Savers, The Wonder Years, and more

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