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July 31, 2005
Terry Pratchett Tears JK Rowling a New One
The Beeb is offering a story about the frustration that Terry Pratchett feels over how J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter is taking all the oxygen out of the room for other fantasy writers.
He also expressed surprise at Rowling's comments that she only realised Harry Potter was fantasy after the first book was published."I'm not the world's greatest expert," he wrote.
"But I would have thought that the wizards, witches, trolls, unicorns, hidden worlds, jumping chocolate frogs, owl mail, magic food, ghosts, broomsticks and spells would have given her a clue?"
I've met Terry, and he's not a hot-head nor a crank, so there must be something to this.
Posted by Steven at 08:20 PM | Comments (0)
July 29, 2005
Planet X
Astronomers (what, you think theologians can do this?) have found another Pluto-sized world 97 A.U. away from the Sun.
You got it ... Planet X, about 3000km across, three times as distant as Pluto.
The New York Times has a better story about a world some call Xena after (yeah) her.
Posted by Steven at 11:42 PM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2005
In Honor of David Miller
 | My friend and former co-worker from Matrix Instruments, Dave Miller, is a large LCD fanatic. I should send him one of these shirts for every 23" or 30" Apple Cinema display he's returned due to bad pels or color. Here's to you Dave, and your supernatural abilities! |
Posted by Steven at 05:06 PM | Comments (1)
Excerpt from John Irving's New Novel
The Globe and Mail is posting excerpts from novels this summer. Here is an excerpt from John Irving's latest novel Until I Find You.
Posted by Steven at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)
July 26, 2005
Math Nerd Dream Girl
Remember Winnie from The Wonder Years? She was the oh-so-cute girl that the main character pined over. It turns out ... she's brilliant, too.
Ms. McKellar, now a semiregular on "The West Wing" playing a White House speechwriter, Elsie Snuffin, is probably the only person on prime-time television who moonlights as a cyberspace math tutor.Her mathematics knowledge extends well beyond calculus. As a math major at the University of California, Los Angeles, she also took more esoteric classes, the ones with names like "complex analysis" and "real analysis," and she pondered making a career move to professional mathematician.
"I love that stuff," Ms. McKellar said last month during a visit to Manhattan after a play-reading in the Hamptons. Her conversation was peppered with terminology like "epsilons" and "limsups" (pronounced "lim soups").
"I love continuous functions and proving if functions are continuous or not," she said.
She may also be the only actress, now or ever, to prove a new mathematical theorem, one that bears her name. Certainly, she is the only theorem prover who appears wearing black lingerie in the July issue of Stuff magazine. Even in that interview, she mentioned math.
This woman could have any man she wants at RPI (I know, not exactly the Ferrari dealership of men). Jesus, the power she could wield! But I digress. Hat's off to a beautiful woman who also has a beautiful mind.
Posted by Steven at 04:29 PM | Comments (0)
Battlestar Galactica (2004) Out on DVD Today
 | Ron Moore's spectacular remake of the 70's warhorse Battlestar Galactica is on the shelves -- only at Best Buy -- starting today. The 13 episodes from the first season, in their original UK format (essentially, different opening titles, the same as the 2nd season's) in anamorphic format (1:1.77) in one $50 kit. Extras include cut scenes, but no commentary. |
Joe Bob sez, "Check it out!"
Posted by Steven at 04:07 PM | Comments (0)
July 23, 2005
Screen Cleaner
Click on this link to clean your computer's screen ... completely.
Posted by Steven at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)
July 20, 2005
World's First "Green" Wal-Mart ... here?
 | Wal-Mart (aka Megalo-Mart) opened it's experimental eco-Wal-Mart in McKinney today. Apparently it made the headlines in the WaPo and other major media outlets. The project had been announced long ago, but it wasn't until a yesterday that I noticed that a wind turbine was running north of US 380 at Central. Turns out, it's Wal-Mart's wind turbine. The fact that the first wind turbine in McKinney is erected by Wal-Mart really messes with my head. Update Went to see this Space Age&trade Wal-Mart and was not impressed. The number of video cameras in the parking lot made me feel like I was on the set of A Clockwork Orange: Bentonville. I don't see what the big to do is ... it's still Wal-Mart and its crappy "Not Made in America" merchandise. Even the 120 ft. turbine was not turning. Is it just a prop? |
Posted by Steven at 04:58 PM | Comments (0)
Google Moon
My Dad will love this. You can surf the Moon on Google Maps' lunar database. They list all the Apollo Landing sites, which all feature Ray Staton's lunar seismograph.
Hint: Try maximum zoom for an amusing annecdote.
Posted by Steven at 04:19 PM | Comments (0)
New Look at the Elements
Check out this new layout of the Periodic Table of the Elements:
Not your Daddy's Periodic Table
Among the cool things about this new chart is that it includes neutronium, which is a kind of non-element (zero protons makes it the zeroeth element). Another is how it shows a continuum of elements so the alkalais are alongside the nobels.
Joe Bob sez "click on the image" for a larger view.
Posted by Steven at 04:13 PM | Comments (0)
James Doohan, 1920-2005
 | With a heavy heart, but with plenty of warning, the Star Trek community mourns the death of James "Scotty" Doohan, the Canadian actor who played Lt. Scott, chief Engineer onboard the mythic starship Enterprise. Last year he announced his last Star Trek convention (in August), and with the onset of Alzheimer's disease, the end of his life. This news shocked me, but in retrospect, he was lucky that he was able to say goodbye to the fen and not to linger too long in the fog of Alzheimer's. Everyone break out the good Scotch tonite for the Enterprise's only Chief Engineer. |
A clever tribute to Doohan's character's influence is here.
Posted by Steven at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2005
Alanna's Party
Alanna had all her girlfriends over Friday night for a party . Anne prepared one of her spreads (brownies, cookies, chips and dip), bought a Twister game, gave them water balloons to use in the front yard, and we brought the DDR pad down to the living room and attached it to the wide screen TV.
The kids played video games, the girls giggled and giggled more (Haley was here, remember?), danced to The Time Warp and watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
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| Haley arrives at the party. | |
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| Waterballoon fight in the front yard. | Monse and Alicia sport propeller beanies. |
Posted by Steven at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)
July 15, 2005
E-Paper Almost Here
Some of you may recall my ranting about the "end of paper" a decade or so ago. Well, now e-paper is here.
Joe Bob sez check it out.
Posted by Steven at 04:05 PM | Comments (0)
July 13, 2005
No Water!
A water main break (fifteen miles from McKinney in Wylie) is shutting down all water to McKinney and Allen (and possibly Plano and Frisco). We have about eight hours of reserve, apparently. I ran to the local grocery store and bought 20 gallons of bottled water ... damn this feels weird. I'm going to really miss showers come tomorrow (let's not even go into the "no flush toilet" scenarios).
Posted by Steven at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)
July 08, 2005
Inexpensive iPod
Check out this ad for 20Gb click-wheel iPods. This is the same deal we got on Alanna's iPod.
Posted by Steven at 10:11 AM | Comments (1)
Fillings Bite
I had a wisdom tooth filling replaced this morning.
I forgot that wisdom teeth are 10^6 nerves packed in a not-so-insulated package. I forgot that I (apparently) require two shots of novocaine (or whatever they give you nowadays). I forgot that the needle stays in your gum for thirty @#$%#% seconds while the dentist shakes your head like a rag-a-muffin.
I wish I could forget the sensation of my wisdom teeth nerves being sprayed with cold water and air.
Anyway, it's done, and I have a new filling and (according to the dentist) "really nice teeth", which oddly enough, he'd love to extract.
Damn you, high fructose sugar sodas!
Posted by Steven at 10:07 AM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2005
Anne's New Hairstyle
Anne got a new cut this week:
She looks sassy!
Posted by Steven at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)
July 05, 2005
pinocchioPod
And you think I have a lot of time on my hands! Check out this wooden iPod case mod that some dude did.
Perhaps the strongest evidence, yet, of "not having a life" we've seen.
Posted by Steven at 03:04 PM | Comments (0)
July 04, 2005
So Glad I Didn't Move to Circle C Ranch
Back in 1995, I tried to move to "South" Austin. A property on Zyle Rd. was advertised on the Internet, but at the time, I just couldn't put the deal together.
The Red State cast of Welcome to the Neighborhood.
Ten years later, a "reality TV show" filmed in Circle C Ranch, which is where my kids would be in school, has been dumped by the ABC network but is being carried by CTV (Canada). Read the synopsis to find out just how evil Circle C is ... oh wait, that is my neighborhood in Stonebridge Ranch! Oh well.
Read the NY Times anti-review for an alternative perspective.
Update
Here is the original CTV blurb for the show, which has mysteriously been yanked:
When the neighbors living in a quiet, picturesque suburban community get to choose the family who'll move in next door to them, their belief systems gets rocked as they try to get past their own pre-conceived notions and prejudices, and the idea that a neighbor should look and think just like them. Their choice doesn't get any easier when they meet the seven very diverse families, including a family covered in tattoos, a homosexual couple with an adopted child and a family who practice Wiccan, a pagan religion. Will the resident neighbors be able to see past their own ideals and accept all of the families as people instead of stereotypes? Eventually some eyes and hearts open up, opinions change and a community is transformed, in the six original, unscripted one-hour episodes of "Welcome to the Neighborhood," premiering SUNDAY, JULY 10 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET), on the CTV Television Network.At the same time that the neighbors are trying to adjust, the competing families also begin an emotional journey that puts their physical and psychological limits to the test, as they all vie for a beautiful dream home on the perfect suburban cul-de-sac. But to determine who will win the luxuriously furnished and opulently appointed house, they first have to win over the very people who will be most affected by that ultimate decision -- the next-door neighbors.
In the premiere, "Episode 101," the seven families arrive at the dream home - a 3300-square-foot house with four bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms located on a prime piece of real estate in the recent development of Circle C Ranch, near Austin, Texas. The competing families, each in its own unique way, enthusiastically meet and greet the three opinionated resident families who have a vested interest in who'll move into the house.
Each week, the competing families participate in a challenge made up by the judging neighbors that will show just how well they might fit into the close-knit community. In the first challenge, the families must build their own Circle C Ranch booth -- complete with a theme, prizes and a lot of creativity -- for a carnival that will be attended by the whole neighborhood. The winning family will be determined by whose booth earns the most money. That family will receive an all-important "free pass," thereby escaping -- for that episode -- being sent packing. By episode's end, one of the remaining families will be eliminated by the ever-watchful neighbors.
The seven house-hungry families who will be trying to impress their potential neighbors are:
* The Crenshaws -- A religious, African American family
* The Eckharts - A Caucasian, pagan family that worships several gods
* The Gonzalezes - A loud, boisterous Hispanic family
* The Lees -- An Asian family that runs a sushi restaurant
* The Morgans -- A Caucasian family that looks picture-perfect, except Mrs. Morgan has a little secret
* The Sheets - Defying all stereotypes, this Caucasian family is covered in tattoos and are staunch Republicans
* The Wrights - A Caucasian homosexual couple who have adopted an African American boyThe three families who have the once-in-a-lifetime chance to choose their new neighbors are:
-- The Stewarts -- The super-opinionated Mr. Stewart, who is considered the "governor" of the cul-de-sac, is very protective of his community and will be looking at the competing families through a microscope
-- The Bellamys - Mr. Bellamy is a staunch Republican and would challenge any potential neighbors with politically different views. But the three Bellamy kids would welcome new neighbors who are different
-- The Daniels - A devoted Christian family, they would like their new neighbors to have a similar focus and direction in their lives
"Welcome to the Neighborhood" is from MGM, New Screen Concepts and the Jay and Tony Show Productions, with Rob Lee, Chuck Bangert, Lou Gorfai, Jay Blumenfield and Tony Marsh serving as executive producers.
Posted by Steven at 08:19 PM | Comments (0)
July 03, 2005
Interesting VoIP Info
Normally I try not to talk about work on this blog, but this topic, VoIP, is near and dear to me. Check out Bob Cringley's column for interesting notes about VoIP.
Posted by Steven at 07:34 PM | Comments (0)
Lost Newton Manuscript Found
The Royal Society has found a Sir Issac Newton manuscript thought lost for all time, and apparently on the subject of Alchemy. Since this is the theme of Neal Stephenson's latest trilogy I find this rather a convenient coincidence.
A collection of notes by Sir Isaac Newton, thought by experts to be lost forever, have recently been rediscovered during cataloguing at the Royal Society and go on display to the public for the first time next week at the Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition.The notes are written about alchemy, which some scientists in Newton's time believed to hold the secret for transforming base metals, such as lead, into the more precious metals of gold or silver. Much of the text consists of Newtons notes on the work of another alchemist of the seventeenth century, Frenchman Pierre Jean Fabre. But one page of the notes presents a more intriguing prospect it offers what may be Newton's own thoughts on alchemy, written almost entirely in English and in his own handwriting.
Although the notes were originally uncovered following Newton's death in 1727, they were never properly documented and were thought to be lost following their sale for £15 at an auction at Sotheby's in July 1936. During the cataloguing of the Royal Society's Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection the notes were discovered and, with the help of Imperial College's Newton Project, were identified as being the papers which had disappeared nearly 70 years before.
Posted by Steven at 05:54 PM | Comments (0)
July 02, 2005
I'm Forty-Three, I'm Now Old
How those six years since my thirty-seventh birthday flew by. Spent most of today going to Alanna's Band Camp Concert, and visiting around Austin before driving home. It was a full day and we're glad to be home, tired but content.
Posted by Steven at 09:04 PM | Comments (0)
Fiala's New Place
On our way out, we stopped in Leander to see Todd and Leigh Anne's new spread. They were on their way out to buy some furniture, so our visit was short. The place looked great and was a fantastic deal for them.
Posted by Steven at 02:01 PM | Comments (0)