IvyMike

Video Friday: The Kinks, "Apeman"

2009-04-03T09:40:00.000-07:00

Falafel Drive-In

2009-03-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

Just writing to let you know that god damn I want a Falafel-Drive in falafel sandwich right now. (Also, Falafel is not in the default Firefox dictionary! For shame, firefox)

Falafel's Drive In Sign
Originally uploaded by IvyMike

Video Friday: Fever Ray, "'If I Had A Heart"

2009-03-27T22:49:00.000-07:00

If I Had A Heart from Fever Ray on Vimeo.

Do yourself a favor and watch it big.

Yet another test (Dr. Pepper Days)

2008-12-15T23:13:00.000-08:00

One more test. This time, a series of photos from my brother, taken when he was visiting Dr. Pepper Days in Texas a few years ago.

Giant Can
Originally uploaded by jgebis

Part of this test is to see how wrapping works, thus this extraneous repeated verbiage. Part of this test is to see how wrapping works, thus this extraneous repeated verbiage. Part of this test is to see how wrapping works, thus this extraneous repeated verbiage. Part of this test is to see how wrapping works, thus this extraneous repeated verbiage. Part of this test is to see how wrapping works, thus this extraneous repeated verbiage. Part of this test is to see how wrapping works, thus this extraneous repeated verbiage. Part of this test is to see how wrapping works, thus this extraneous repeated verbiage. Part of this test is to see how wrapping works, thus this extraneous repeated verbiage. Part of this test is to see how wrapping works, thus this extraneous repeated verbiage. Part of this test is to see how wrapping works, thus this extraneous repeated verbiage. Part of this test is to see how wrapping works, thus this extraneous repeated verbiage. Part of this test is to see how wrapping works, thus this extraneous repeated verbiage. Part of this test is to see how wrapping works, thus this extraneous repeated verbiage. Part of this test is to see how wrapping works, thus this extraneous repeated verbiage. Part of this test is to see how wrapping works, thus this extraneous repeated verbiage.

Old Doc's Soda Shop Sign
Originally uploaded by jgebis

Hey did you know there's actually a block of standard nonsense verbiage? "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum."

Cowboy Reaching
Originally uploaded by jgebis

There's even a widget that will generate new nonsense text for you: Epsum factorial non deposit quid pro quo hic escorol. Olypian quarrels et gorilla congolium sic ad nauseum. Souvlaki ignitus carborundum e pluribus unum. Defacto lingo est igpay atinlay. Marquee selectus non provisio incongruous feline nolo contendre. Gratuitous octopus niacin, sodium glutimate. Quote meon an estimate et non interruptus stadium.

Another test (George Molchan)

2008-12-15T23:10:00.000-08:00

George Molchan
Originally uploaded by IvyMike

Another test.

This time, enjoy the photo of George Molchan, a.k.a. "Little Oscar".

This is a test (De Young Museum Concert)

2008-12-15T23:01:00.000-08:00

de Young concert
Originally uploaded by IvyMike

This is a test. In the meanwhile, enjoy this photo of young musicians playing a concert at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.

Joe's Cable Car

2008-12-14T12:24:00.001-08:00

Joe's Cable Car
Originally uploaded by IvyMike

A few years ago, hamburger blog "A Hamburger Today" recommended Joe's Cable Car in San Francisco. I happened to be taking a trip out there to visit my sister, so one night I convinced her to drive across town so we could try the burger. It was awesome.

It's become my San Francisco trip tradition to eat there, so hopefully I'll get a chance when I go out there for Christmas.

One thing I find fascinating is the way the reviews on Yelp are so polarized. There are a ton of people who are outraged that it's so expensive, and I'll grant that it is quite pricey. But it's also perfection, and how can you put a price on that?

Tip: I also enjoy the root beer freeze, which is a vanilla milkshake with a hit of root beer!

My sister ran the San Diego Marathon

2008-06-02T23:57:00.000-07:00

Sunday, I went to San Diego to support my sister, who was running the "2008 Rock 'n' Roll Marathon". Don't let anyone fool you--it's hard work watching a marathon. By the end of the day, I was completely exhausted.

Click to view the Flickr slideshow. Comments within.

Bullit Telecopier Suspense

2008-03-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

Up until last week, I had never seen Bullit. I knew about the famous San Francisco chase scene (where one of the cars loses six, count 'em, six hubcaps!) but I think that people have failed to recognize the brilliance of the rest of the movie.

For example, this scene, where Steve McQueen, Robert Vaugnn, Norman Fell, and some other dudes stand around in rapt attention for a minute as the high-tech telecopier delivers a fax.

What a classic moment of cinematic suspense! It's the little touches--look at how eager the turtleneck-clad McQueen is-he almost jumps the gun and looks at the fax before it's done drying. I think Norman Fell's look at the end says it all: "What the?!"

Tick

2008-03-08T19:10:00.001-08:00

"The Sarah Connor Chronicles" Secrets: Skynet Written in Visual Basic

2008-03-05T00:32:00.000-08:00

"The Sarah Connor Chronicles" is far better than it deserves to be. Brilliantly, they used time travel to delete the events of T3. Sweet! The first 9-episode season just ended, so try to catch up.

In episode 8, it's revealed that the Los Angeles traffic system will become the "nervous system" of Skynet. As a programmer, I'm always interested in seeing the source, and there it is, in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Skynet is written in Visual Basic! I always knew it was an evil language.

Dangle States

2008-03-04T23:37:00.001-08:00

It looks like Clinton is winning in Texas, probably thanks to crossover republicans. Stupid dangle states. Please stop it! I know souring elections makes you feel important, but everybody knows that you're just the lampreys of America.

OMG OMG OMG

2008-03-03T22:42:00.001-08:00

Carl's Jr. has Cap'n Crunch milkshakes. YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT! I drink CAP'N CRUNCH MILKSHAKES!

Update, 3/4/2008: I feel slightly ill and filled with milk.

Compromise Tetris

2008-02-27T21:14:00.001-08:00

Genius: Compromise Tetris.

(Lots more niftiness at Retro Sabotage)

Crystal Meth: Friend or Foe

2008-02-19T23:27:00.000-08:00

I couldn't help but laught at this list of 41 brilliant science fair projects. My favorite? Crystal Meth: Friend or Foe. Too bad the poster is too small to read, I really think a lot of people need an answer on that one. A close second is Plants And Pop. I would have called it "Brawndo: Is it really what plants crave?"

Indiana Jones trailer, censored with CGI.

2008-02-18T10:46:00.000-08:00

Yet another victory for CGI in the Indiana Jones trailer. In the US version of the trailer, the Nazis don't have guns.

Ebert on "The Trouble with CGI"

2008-02-15T23:45:00.001-08:00

Roger Ebert's review of Jumper: When such miracles can can occur anytime, without reason or explanation, then life and plots are meaningless. "Jumper" may as well be subtitled "The Trouble with CGI." Anything can happen, and usually does, but so what?

Indiana Jones and the Green Screen Pixels

2008-02-14T23:19:00.000-08:00

The trailer for the new Indiana Jones movie is up, and it looks computer-graphic-riffic! Check out the pseudo-realism in the scene from ~~Warcraft III~~ the movie in the photo above. I can almost believe it's not completely fake.

The movie co-stars Shia LeBeouf, who's got tons of CGI-fighting street cred from his role in Transformers. Oh no, will the pixels get him? Will the computationally generated explosion hurt him? Will it even remind me of a real explosion? The tension is overwhelming.

I like it because it is bitter, and because it is my heart.

2008-02-14T00:08:00.000-08:00

From "The Black Riders and Other Lines" by Stephen Crane:

In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, "Is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter -- bitter," he answered;
"But I like it
Because it is bitter,
And because it is my heart."

I drink your MILKSHAKE!

2008-02-12T23:51:00.000-08:00

Photo: Daniel Day-Lewis as Master Shake in "There Will Be Blood"

I enjoyed this article about the infamous "There Will Be Blood" milkshake dialog: [...] director Paul Thomas Anderson derived the dialogue from “a transcript he found of the 1924 congressional hearings over the Teapot Dome scandal.”

Biohazard donuts

2008-01-27T19:24:00.000-08:00

Fascinating article on the development and testing of the biohazard warning symbol. When I was in high school, one of my friends had a mom who worked in a hospital. She would bring home leftover donuts after her shift was over. And of course, the most airtight and convenient bags she could find were biohazard waste disposal bags.

I always felt bad about blatantly ignoring the symbol. But I ate the donuts anyway.

You Cannot Eat A Purse

2008-01-17T21:39:00.000-08:00

From the brilliant Lasagna Cat project.

Blogging 2008

2008-01-01T18:50:00.000-08:00

I've written dozens and dozens of great blog posts in the past few months. In my mind. Usually while hiking or just before falling asleep. A lot of them were well-written, entertaining, and insightful. Unfortunately, none of them have made it onto the intertubes.

I can't count the number of blogs I've seen that haven't been updated for years. Almost always, they end with a post that says, "I haven't blogged in a while--I promise I'll be better from now on." Who know, perhaps this will be another one of those.

Free Rice: Build your vocabulary

2007-10-17T22:22:00.001-07:00

What's the perfect food when you're in the mood of a thousand of something? Rice!

What does "Free Rice" have to do with building your vocabulary? I have no idea, but that's the premise behind the "Free Rice" web site: you learn new words, and the site donates rice to kids recovering from the Atkins diet. Or something like that.

If you want a goal: I usually hover somewhere around 42, with jaunts up to 45 and down to 37.

On the down side, these guys are squatting on the domain name from which I hoped to sell ironic t-shirts once Condoleeza finally went to jail.

Into The Wild

2007-10-08T22:37:00.000-07:00

I never knew what to think about Christopher McCandless, hero of the book "Into The Wild". If you're not familiar with the story, Jon Krakauer's original account of the story, "Death of an Innocent", is great reading. To refresh your memory: a young suburbanite erases all traces of his former life, gives away his life savings, and spends two years on the road in a quest to challenge himself. He ends up in Alaska, makes a few mistakes which quickly and ultimately dies of starvation.

Now that I've seen the movie, I think maybe I'm starting to understand him. The problem I had in the original reading is that he's not a completely sympathetic hero. Dropping out of society and hitchhiking across the country is a little cool, in that "I wish I had done something like that when I was 23" kind of way, but this country was tamed a long time ago, and it's a conceit to think that such a thing was authentically wild. When you're on a quest to to "feel strong", that's an important distinction. He may have put himself into momentary danger a few times early in his trip, but excitement and challenge are not necessarily synonyms. I think he knew this, and that's why he never felt satisfaction with his adventures.

He's also somewhat self-absorbed during his quest, never contacting his parents or sister. He makes and abandons friends several times throughout his trip. Perhaps that's his nature, being his parent's son. His parents were apparently selfish suburbanite yuppies. The problem is that McCandless rebelled against the suburbaness of his parents, but forgot to rebel against the self-absorption.

When McCandless arrived in Alaska, he ended up holing up in an abandoned bus. Once again, that's "cool", but it's not exactly a genuine Lewis and Clarke experience.

But maybe, right at the end he started to really feel in danger. With his food supplies gone, poisoned from a misidentified plant, and facing slow starvation, he knew it wasn't going to be an adrenaline-fueled death. His universe was ending in a whimper. But based on the tone of his last few journal entries, I get the feeling maybe he finally knew his own mortality. And I think that's what he was really looking for.

The FISA wiretapping bill sucks, part 2.

2007-08-06T23:10:00.000-07:00

Kendrak raised a good point in the comment the other day: Senator Feinstein has a history of bad votes, and it should be no surprise that she supported the ridiculous unconstitutional wiretapping bill. But I've still voted for Feinstein in the past! I guess I'm an enabler. Realistically, though, what else was I going to do? The race hasn't been close in this state for a long time, so it doesn't matter much.

However, a few elections ago I realized that I can give money to candidates in states where the vote *is* close. Coincidentally, one of the candidates I did give money to in the last election was Darcy Burner, and she just released this video on the wiretapping vote:

Rock on, Burner! She just guaranteed I'll give her money this cycle, too.

Wiretapped

2007-08-05T17:04:00.000-07:00

Dear Senator Feinstein,

I was going to write you to complain about your recent vote for the unconstitutional wiretapping bill. But I realize that I had already had this discussion with a friend on the phone earlier today. Please, next time you're at the NSA, ask them to print you a copy of my call. Thanks!

Michael Gebis

Q: How can you tell I saved a ton of money at Costco?

2007-08-05T16:54:00.000-07:00

A: Because I went in intending to buy one or two things and left with $180 of other stuff.

On the up side, I have enough toilet paper to last until the apocalypse.

This poses the question: Is it possible to look cool carrying all that toilet paper past the babes at my apartment complex's pool? Answer: I sure hope so.

PS3 Little Big Planet video

2007-07-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

The first must-have PS3 game.

I'm embedding the youtube video, but do yourself a favor and watch the high-res quicktime version instead.

Mike On Food: Coffee-Mate & Vodka

2007-07-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

Everyone should invent their own mixed drink. This one is mine:

1 part Coffee-Mate liquid (Try "French Vanilla")
1 part Vodka

Enjoy in a tumbler over ice.

The death of Converse All-Stars

2007-06-21T00:02:00.001-07:00

MSNBC: "Are we raising a nation of little egomaniacs?"

2007-06-17T23:44:00.000-07:00

From MSNBC: "Are we raising a nation of little egomaniacs?"

Twenge primarily attributes the increase in narcissism to the obsession of parents and educators, beginning in the early 1990s, with self-esteem, praise and making sure children feel good. [...] “In the American Academy of Pediatrics guide to caring for your young child, self-esteem is mentioned seven times in 10 pages,” says Twenge. “From the beginning, there is so much focus on children feeling good about themselves now that other things appear to be falling by the wayside.”

This brings me to an article published in the July 2006 issue of Scientific American, "The Expert Mind". The authors touch upon a lot of subject, but the one I found most profound was that a large part of achieving expertise in something is, if I may summarize, just giving a shit:

Ericsson argues that what matters is not experience per se but "effortful study," which entails continually tackling challenges that lie just beyond one's competence.[...] Even the novice engages in effortful study at first, which is why beginners so often improve rapidly in playing golf, say, or in driving a car. But having reached an acceptable performance--for instance, keeping up with one's golf buddies or passing a driver's exam--most people relax. Their performance then becomes automatic and therefore impervious to further improvement. In contrast, experts-in-training keep the lid of their mind's box open all the time, so that they can inspect, criticize and augment its contents and thereby approach the standard set by leaders in their fields.

While I'm not a behavior scientist, it feels to me that self-esteem based education ends up putting kids into the comfort zone as fast as possible, essentially taking them out of the realm of "effortful study", and into the realm of permanent mediocrity.

Video Friday: Flight of the Conchods, "The Humans Are Dead"

2007-06-16T00:18:00.001-07:00

BINARY SOLO!

Also, Frodo Don't Wear the Ring.

In my dreams

2007-06-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

Screaming and crying, George W. Bush was escorted out of a courtroom and back to jail Friday after a judge ruled that he must serve out his entire 45-day sentence behind bars rather than on his Texas ranch.

"It's not right!" shouted the weeping Bush, who violated his parole in a corruption case. "Mom!" he called out to his mother, Barbara Bush, in the audience.

Bush, who was brought to court in handcuffs in a sheriff's car, came into the courtroom disheveled and weeping, hair askew, wearing a gray fuzzy sweatshirt over slacks.

He cried throughout the hearing, his body shook constantly and he dabbed at his eyes. Several times he turned to his parents, seated behind him in the courtroom, and mouthed, "I love you."

Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer was calm but apparently irked by the morning's developments. He said he had left the courthouse Thursday night having signed an order for Bush to appear for the hearing.

When he got in his car early Friday, he said, he heard a radio report that he had approved Bush's participation in the hearing by telephone, but he had not.

"I at no time condoned the actions of the sheriff and at no time told him I approved the actions," he said of the decision to release Bush from jail after three days.

"At no time did I approve the defendant being released from custody to his home in Crawford," Sauer said.

Video Friday: Tainted Love, a chronology

2007-06-07T23:59:00.000-07:00

Gloria Jones, no video:

Soft Cell:

Coil:

Shades Apart:

My Ruin (amateur fan video):

La Union (Spanish version, Falso Amor):

Marilyn Manson (NSFW because of bewbies):

Pussycat Dolls (NSFW because your coworkers will think you're an idiot. That type of mildly entertaining performance is what this competition is all about):

Oh, some might say we should have stopped with the Pussycat Dolls. But there's more. Much, much more:

Milk, Inc.:

Richard Grey:

Killwhitneydead (amateur fan video):

Google van self-portraits.

2007-06-03T22:43:00.000-07:00

The new street-level view feature on Google maps has everyone in the covered areas looking for photos of their car, their house, or even their cat. Boingboing's been talking about it all week ("The Great Google Street View Freakout of 2007: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7." ). I was most fascinated the high-resolution photos of the van.

That got me thinking: the van must have have taken photos of itself! "Google van" self-portraits, if you will. Here's the best one I could find so far, but it's a little obscured by a logo. There must be better Google van self-portraits out there: please post your finds in the comments!

Video Friday:UNKLE,Burn My Shadow

2007-05-31T23:10:00.000-07:00

The top 10 reasons I voted your comment down on Reddit

2007-05-30T23:46:00.001-07:00

Like everyone else on the internet, I'm always complaining that it used to be better back before they let the riff-raff in. But this might be extra true on Reddit, which used to be all about Haskell, Damn Interesting, the latest essay and/or breakfast choice from Paul Graham. Lately, the number of "hey here's a picture of a funny crazy car" posts has gone way up. Please, people, let's all pull together and help keep Reddit smart.

In the spirit of helpfulness, I present: The top 10 reasons I voted your comment down

10. You said "dupe". This ain't slashdot. Just vote it down. That's what the arrows are there for.

9. You said "dupe"...and you weren't the first. Please read up on irony.

8. You complained about a story having too many up votes, and called the people who upvoted stupid. The audience for your complaint? Those same people.

7. You posted an otherwise content-free comment saying "this link is awesome". That's what the arrows are there for.

6. You "new commented" when you wanted to reply. God, that annoys me. I did this last week and almost had to kill myself.

5. You blamed it all on the Jews, blacks, or Mexicans.

4. You complained about reddit being overrun by liberals, or athiests, or conservatives, or socialists, or freepers, or Ron Paul supporters, or Mike Gravel supporters, or nerds, or non-nerds, or Jewish black Mexicans. You know what? Maybe there really is a cabal. And now they think you suck.

3. You posted an otherwise content-free comment saying "this link is lame". That's what the arrows are there for.

2. You asked a question which Google could have answered in less time than it took to actually type your question.

1. Your comment was just really, really stupid. That's what Digg is there for.

Defeating willful ignorance on global warming

2007-05-29T00:34:00.000-07:00

I'll admit it: I'm a blog/message board addict. One of the most frustrating rhetorical devices people use in these forums is "Willful ignorance". It's actually easier to appear to "win" a debate on some subjects the less you know about that subject. So many people deliberately avoid learning anything about the subject at hand, and ignore any information that comes their way.

The anti-global-warming crowd seems to be expert at this--they'll ask the same questions over and over again, never pausing to listen for an answer. They don't want an answer, they want to distract the debate, wear down the opponent, and confuse bystanders into thinking they've raised a good point. I swear if I see the misinformation "volcanoes CO2 dwarfs the CO2 that humans do every year" again (wrong!) I'll scream.

Fortunately, New Scientist has produced a round-up of the 26 most common climate myths and misconceptions that addresses most of these common untruths. I'm not sure that this will do anything to combat the willful ignorance, but at least it provides a handy and quick way to respond.

Play time: Onslaught

2007-05-25T22:58:00.000-07:00

Here, have another hit of flash game crack: Onslaught.

Hint: Build few towers, but buff them up completely.

Video Friday: Golden Shower, "Video Computer System"

2007-05-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

The best seven minutes of CSI Miami in one clip

2007-05-24T22:59:00.001-07:00

Drink more Jarritos!

2007-05-23T21:49:00.000-07:00

Over 50 years ago, Don Francisco “El Güero” Hill had the vision to create a line of soft drinks made from natural fruit extracts that would reflect the flavors and popular taste of the Mexican people. Made using sugar, not corn syrup! With awesome flavors like Tamarind and Pineapple, what are you waiting for? I'm drinking it right now.

Here in the U.S.A, most companies use corn syrup, which is cheaper thanks to a combination of subsidies and tariffs. And you can thank ADM for these crazy laws, because they have an army of lobbyists making sure things stay that way. Each $1 of profits earned by ADM's corn sweetener operation costs consumers $10!

Jones Soda is bucking the trend, although if you read carefully they say "all of your favorite Jones products will be available with real sugar"...which makes me worry: will there be two versions, a corn syrup and non-corn syrup version?

In any case, foreign-born sodas almost always use sugar (because it's cheaper for them), so... drink more Jarritos! Perhaps I can get this blog sponsored by them.

Finish her!

2007-05-20T15:29:00.001-07:00

Video Friday: Duran Duran, "Hungry Like The Wolf" + Bonus!

2007-05-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

Conan visits Intel

2007-05-13T20:10:00.000-07:00

Conan rails against the Intel cubicle farm.

Stupid non-embeddable video...

Torque Wrench

2007-05-12T14:47:00.000-07:00

I finally bit the bullet and bought a torque wrench for a project I'm working on. Actually, I bought two torque wrenches, since no single wrench covered the range of torques I need. The combined range of the two wrenches covers from 2 to 150 ft-pounds.

Edit, for Joe: The wrenches are:

Craftsman Model 944595, 20 to 150 ft-lbs, 1/2 inch drive.
Craftsman Model 944593, 20 to 250 inch-lbs, 3/8 inch drive.

Why am I blogging this? Because if you know me, I'd be glad to let you borrow one of the wrenches, so you don't have to buy them yourself!

Video Friday: Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, "Thou Shalt always Kill"

2007-05-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

Another great sci-fi short: Ray Bradbury, "All Summer in a Day"

2007-05-08T23:08:00.000-07:00

There's a short list of science fiction stories that are not just good, they're actually perfect. One of those is by Ray Bradbury: All Summer in a Day.

Instaputz

2007-05-07T23:39:00.000-07:00

I used to read Instapundit as a way to take the pulse of the right-hand side of the political spectrum. While I usually didn't agree with author Glenn Reynolds, I at least felt he was presenting an honest defense of his conservative viewpoint. But over the past few years, he's slowly become a predictable megaphone for the right-wing talking point of the day, punctuated by the occasional smarmy "heh" or "indeed" comment.

Fortunately, I'm not the only one who's noticed. One of my new favorite guilty pleasures is Instaputz, "Systematically documenting the putziness of Glenn Reynolds, Pajamas Media, and various other Putzen." Heh, indeed.

Video Friday: George Michael, "Freedom '90"

2007-05-04T00:51:00.000-07:00

The definitive David Fincher video.

Poetry for the really lost

2007-05-03T19:57:00.000-07:00

Seven roads septverged in a yellow woods.
What now, smart guy?

Rim of the world highlight video

2007-05-02T23:15:00.000-07:00

I made this!

Poetry for the lost

2007-05-02T21:28:00.000-07:00

Two roads converged in a yellow wood.
This can't be the right way.

Poetry for quantum physicists

2007-05-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
Unobserved, I took them both.

Herbert F. Kornfeld, dead at 34

2007-05-01T09:06:00.000-07:00

Foul play is suspected in the death of an accounts receivable supervisor for a regional office-supply company, sheriff's deputies reported Tuesday. More here.

Rim of the World Rally, 2007

2007-04-30T23:17:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, I spent the day watching Rim of the World Rally. Just like always, Lancaster was a festering hellhole of heat, sweat, and dust. The crowd at ROTW is an interesting mix of Lancaster natives, the Faster-n-Furiouser crowd, Anime/Japanophiles, general motorsport fans, and the curious Subaru nerd or two. If you can stand the heat, it's a lot of fun to watch the events, the cars, and the crowd.

There was a car show/competition for heavily modded cars:

There was a cone course where you could drive your own car! I've got to figure out how to enter this next year, because it looked like a blast:

Surprisingly, during the time I was watching, two of the fastest cars on the course were generic looking Subaru Foresters--one of those even had a roof rack still attached. And as a Ford hater, I also took satisfaction when "the loudest Mustang in the world" turned out to be one of slower cars.

There were part vendors and car dealerships with displays in the (mercifully air conditioned) pavilion:

One of the best things about Rim of the World Rally: You can walk and interact with the pit crews between the stages:

I'll admit, I wasn't hardcore, and wimped out after Saturday. On Sunday, I missed history being made when 22 year old Lisa Klassen became the first woman to win an national rally overall.

AAA: Evil?

2007-04-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

AAA has a sketchy agenda that I wasn't completely aware of. Weird. So consider this an open letter to AAA: I like your "come fix my car when its broke" policies, but your anti-environment policy, not so much.

And now, another great moment in American Television

2007-04-28T00:14:00.000-07:00

I come home from work and flip on the television. "Entertainment Tonight" is on:

Next Monday, an E.T. exclusive jailhouse interview: We talk with Joey Buttafuoco about why he's back behind bars. And find out just how much weight he's lost.

That's right: they're teasing Monday's show with Joey Buttafuoco's weight loss.

To quote David Cross: I vowed that I’m going to retain that image every time I hear George Bush go ‘the terrorists hate our freedom.’ You know what? I hate our freedom. Me, little ‘ol me, I’m an American, I fucking hate it. That’s all we’ve done with it? We’re fucking assholes man.

Video Friday: "Come To Daddy", Aphex Twin

2007-04-26T23:29:00.000-07:00

Try to watch this full screen: if you're creeped the fuck out, you're doing it right. (Aphex Twin is the dude who hid his face in a song).

Random links

2007-04-26T21:55:00.000-07:00

Link grab bag!

Ridiculously cool looking Grand Theft Auto IV trailer. Gee, I wonder if there will be dynamic lighting?
Barry Bonds/Mark McGwire: Who Roided It Up Better?
Video: Soulfly, live metal version of Umbabarauma. (Also: The Teletubbies love Brazilian Metal.)
Death and Taxes: The U.S. budget, diagrammed.

Video, um, Tuesday: "Sweep The Leg, Johnny" by No More Kings

2007-04-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

Directed by, and starring, William Zabka.

(Watch the whole thing, dammit!) Hat tip to H-Nat.

I could tell that one was a doozy

2007-04-12T23:48:00.000-07:00

Kurt Vonnegut is dead. Much of his writing is great, but some of it is transcendent. Like his allegorical short story Harrison Bergeron--how could another human being write something so perfect? Go read it now.

Lenovo battery recall: sweet

2007-03-16T00:03:00.000-07:00

Laptop battery recalls are be pretty common these days, and my year-old laptop is no exception. Lenovo just recalled the battery. If the battery is subjected to a "strong external impact", it could go up in flames. I've got nothing to add except: Sweet! Free new battery.

Project Euler: I am 10% genius

2007-03-11T23:58:00.000-07:00

Project Euler is "a series of challenging mathematical/computer programming problems that will require more than just mathematical insights to solve. Although mathematics will help you arrive at elegant and efficient methods, the use of a computer and programming skills will be required to solve most problems."

I've solved 15 out of the (currently) 144 available problems, so I'm "10% genius". I've been using C++, with the help of my homebrew bignum class. It's a little ugly. I may redo my solutions in Python. Or maybe Ruby. Heck, maybe even Haskell.

Working through the puzzles seems like a good way to learn a new language. Additionally, I've been asked to solve variants of several of these problems on job interviews in the past, so this definitely keeps your mind sharp for that, too.

If you decide to participate, good luck, and have fun!

Keyboard bling.

2007-03-07T21:43:00.000-08:00

My current keyboard is getting a little old, so I've been thinking about upgrading. Here are some of the cooler keyboards I've found:

Matias Tactile Pro 2.0. "Premium mechanical keyswitches", USB 2.0 Dock, "Optimizer" key. Looks a lot like my current Apple keyboard. $149, ships in April.
Deck Legend Ice. Every key individually backlit. "Deck™ uses a sublimated negative printing process which drives the ink into the plastic keycaps at 525°f." Way cool. $169!
Saitek Eclipse II Keyboard. Backlit, media keys. At $55, it's a steal.
IBM USB Keyboard with UltraNav. Almost the same keyboard as in my Thinkpad, down to the integrated trackpad and trackpoint. $100.
Kinesis Advantage USB contoured keyboard. Looks crazy... crazy awesome, that is. $299!
Das Keyboard. When you're just too cool for key labels. It's supposed to have unparalleled tactile response, too. $80.
Endurapro. No bling, just a solid keyboard. $99.

I'm still looking, so hit me up with your favorite.

Contest results (from November): 0xDECAFC0FFEEBAD

2007-03-04T22:55:00.000-08:00

Back in November, I had a contest: what's special about the number 62710628778699693?

Both Joe and Craig answered correctly: Converted to hex, it's "0xDECAFC0FFEEBAD". The Google calculator, my default choice, only lets you convert numbers as high as 0x40000000000. (Interestingly enough, the limit really is 0x40000000000, not 0x3ffffffffff). Many downlodable or javascript base converters choke on anything bigger than 32 bits. I was curious what tools people might try.

One tool I did not test was the Windows XP calculator, which does the conversion quite easily. That's what Joe used.

Craig wrote a custom C# application to do the conversion.

I guess the moral of the story is...Microsoft tools save the day???

Congrats to both! Craig, I still have your prize--remind me next time we go for lunch.

There's a bullet in the heart tonight in the heart of Texas

2007-02-28T22:40:00.000-08:00

Kendra reminded me that today is the anniversary of the Waco Siege. I've been looking for an excuse to post "Lone Star Song" by Grant Lee Buffalo. (It doesn't qualify for "Video Friday", because while it's an great song, the video is nothing special.)

Video Friday: "Coffee & TV", Blur

2007-02-22T23:38:00.000-08:00

If this video doesn't make you cry, you're one cold-hearted sonofabitch.

Lowercase L

2007-02-19T22:56:00.000-08:00

William Levin has a blog about one of his pet peeves: people who write in all-caps, with the exception of the letter L, which they inexplicably put in lowercase. Once I heard about the phenomenon, I stared to notice it all over the place.

And in fact, this Anna Nicole related entry was suggested by me. That's right, in my own small way, I've officially contributed to the Anna Nicole media circus.

Nixie Tube Clock

2007-02-19T22:35:00.000-08:00

This President's Day, I spent the day doing my taxes and building a Nixie Tube clock kit. It's totally sweet. The clock kit, not my taxes--those kind of suck.

I ordered the clock kit a few months ago from Peter L. Jensen's website. The kit itself is fairly easy to put together, assuming you can solder. I made one giant mistake: I misoriented one of the surface mount drivers. Desoldering that was a pain, and resulted in bent pins. Even after correcting that mistake, the first time I powered on the clock, many of the digits went bonkers:
But with a little debugging, some rebending of pins, and a few more solder/desolder cycles, I ended up with a working kit. Plugging the clock in and watching the tubes cycle through all the digits was an amazing feeling. It worked, it actually worked!

It's also kind of a miracle that I didn't electrocute myself, which makes it that much sweeter. Thanks, Peter!

The worst thing in the world

2007-02-16T23:46:00.000-08:00

Plates: "1PINKH2". There was a high school parking pass in the window. Ugh.

Video Friday: "Do You Realize", The Flaming Lips

2007-02-15T22:18:00.000-08:00

What would you do if you won a million bucks: Donate it to charity? Buy a fancy car? Take a trip around the world? Crikey, that's boring! On the other hand, hiring an entourage of dancing models and bunnymen to follow you down the street--now you're on to something.

P.S. For a song that has the lyrics "Everyone you know some day will die", this song is surprisingly uplifting.

"Valentimes" day

2007-02-15T00:09:00.000-08:00

Hooray! Another mangled holiday name to join "Crimmace" and "Happy Birfday".

Personal Netflix Annual Report, 2006

2007-02-03T18:00:00.000-08:00

Once again, it's time to summarize my Netflix viewing habits for the year. I watched 144 movies, which makes the math easy: 12 movies a month, almost three a week. That sure sounds like a lot of movies! Each movie cost me about $1.50 to watch. Compare to 2005, where I watched 114 DVDs, at $1.90 each.

I managed to catch up on HBO series like The Sopranos, Deadwood, and Rome. I learned I didn't much care for Farscape after the initial novelty wore off. I watched terrible movies like The Brothers Grimm and Fantastic Four. I enjoyed fascinating documentaries like A State of Mind and Long Way Round. Thanks, Netflix!

I'm getting closer to finishing off the IMDB Top 250 list: I'm up to 185. I am getting a little burnt out, so I'm going to take it easy with the Netflix for a while, content that I got my money's worth last year.

Video Friday: The Eels, "Last Stop This Town"

2007-02-01T23:21:00.000-08:00

I stopped eating carrots for a while after seeing this video.

Video Friday: KMFDM, "A Drug Against War"

2007-01-26T00:49:00.000-08:00

Grindhouse wishes it was this cool.

Fire in the hills

2007-01-22T23:45:00.001-08:00

Fire in the hills
Originally uploaded by IvyMike.

At around five o'clock, my cell phone rang. A friend was calling to let me know that the hills behind my apartment were burning.

Even though the occasional helicopter passes overhead, it seems like the fire is mostly under control, thanks to favorable wind conditions.

Flickr

2007-01-22T23:29:00.001-08:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Silica Gel Packets

2007-01-12T00:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a handy tip for saving money on food: You know those silica gel packets that are tucked into packaging for electronic devices--the ones that say "DO NOT EAT"? That implies that everything else in the box not labeled as "DO NOT EAT" is safe to eat. BON APPÉTIT!

Video Friday #whatever: Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, "Talk About The Blues"

2007-01-04T23:27:00.000-08:00

I do not play no blues.

Starring Winona Ryder, Phoebe's brother, and the cop from Magnolia.

WWII and the Wii

2007-01-02T21:27:00.000-08:00

I've heard that the Godzilla movies show that Japan is obsessed with World War II. But it just occurred to me that the weird name for Nintendo's latest game system, the WII, might show the same preoccupation.

Being a good blogger

2006-12-30T22:22:00.000-08:00

In the past few months, I've come to realize that 90% of doing something well comes from just giving a shit. I could elaborate, but really this is one of those common sense things that everybody will nod their head at, but doesn't sink in until maybe one day you just learn it for yourself.

At this point, I'm pretty sure I'm not a good blogger. I've got to figure out whether or not I actually care about this, or if I'm just wasting my time on something that feels like a chore rather than a passion.

The wisdom of HBO's Deadwood

2006-12-16T21:18:00.000-08:00

Pain and damage don't end the world, or despair, or fuckin' beatin's. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you've got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man, and give some back. - Al Swearengen

Video Friday #20: "From Your Mouth", God Lives Underwater

2006-12-14T23:00:00.000-08:00

Starring the first Japanese hot dog eating champ, Hirofumi Nakajima.

Tower Defense

2006-12-13T00:34:00.000-08:00

The bar has been set: level 80!

Bush: bad president, or worst president?

2006-12-07T23:14:00.000-08:00

When Bush won in 2004, I told a few close friends that there was a single small, silver lining: Had he lost, Bush would have been canonized by the right. But having won, Bush's mistakes would catch up to him, and he would go down in history as the worst president ever.

The Washington Post recently published five op-eds asking this very question. I love the fact that in a sort of reverse Stephen Colbert moment, the consensus is somewhere between "Yes, worst ever" and "No, just fifth worst".

Video Friday #19: The Connells, "'74-'75"

2006-12-07T22:59:00.000-08:00

I was the one who let you know, I was your sorry-ever-after.

2006 should have been my 15th high-school reunion, although it didn't happen. (Or, at least, I wasn't invited...) To the random person who knew me in high school, and found this blog after googling everybody in the yearbook, let me just say: I have no idea what the hell happened to me, either.

Kdice: Multiplayer dicewars

2006-12-03T19:39:00.000-08:00

Goodbye freetime!

Amazing performance of "Carol of the Bells"

2006-12-03T13:28:00.000-08:00

It's Crimmace time, y'all. My favorite Christmas song is "Carol of the Bells". (Least favorite: Little Drummer Boy. Blah.)

I'm not sure why I like it so much--it's definitely the most pugilistic sounding Christmas song, though. Probably the closest non-Christmas analogue is Clint Mansell's "Lux Aeterna" from Requiem For A Dream, which was also used in some of the Lord Of The Rings trailers. The melody for Carol of the Bells comes from a Ukrainian folk song, and was translated (stolen) into English relatively recently, in 1936. Thanks, wikipedia. You make me look smart!

In any case, check out this amazing arrangement of Carol of the Bells by Joseph Dang. It's seven minutes, but it will probably be the best video you watch today.

How to create a sexy pop star

2006-12-03T13:19:00.000-08:00

A fascinating clip from the soon-to-be-released-to-dvd documentary "Before The Music Dies": Take a hot but untalented girl, some software, and a hell of a lot of post production, and voila: pop drivel of the week.

Don't Go Breaking My Heart

2006-12-01T09:51:00.000-08:00

Late for work. Comment later. For now, enjoy this '70s interlude.

Contest: what's special about 62710628778699693?

2006-11-30T21:33:00.000-08:00

What's special about the number 62710628778699693?

Be the first to figure it out, and I'll buy you a $25 gift card at Starbucks or Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. Really!

This contest is open to everyone. That means the three people who read my blog on a regular basis, but J. Random Blog Reader who found my blog looking for "helium shortage", that means you, too! Send your answer to :

Contest expires the very last instant of 2006, anywhere on the planet!

UPDATE: Craig asks, "This isn't something like the VINs of the last two cars you own added together, is it?" HE WINS! No, just kidding--I'm not that lame. When you figure out why this number is special, you'll recognize it immediately.

UPDATE 2: The prize has been claimed, and the contest is over! Both Joe and Craig sent me the correct answer, and what the hell, they can both have a prize! I'll wait until the end of the month to reveal the answer, but feel free to speculate in the comments.

Tinseltown firefox theme

2006-11-27T23:23:00.000-08:00

If you're like me, you have fond memories of Xsnow, but you're stuck on a non-X platform, for now. Thank goodness I can still bring the holiday magic to Firefox with the Tinseltown theme. HO HO HO!

Saturnight plans fell thru

2006-11-25T18:40:00.000-08:00

My plans for tonight fell through. I have two alternate choices: be productive, do a little cleaning, and maybe catch a late movie. Or, get drunk and catch up on season 3 of Battlestar Galactica.

I'll let you guess which way I'm chosing to go.

Blending golf balls

2006-11-24T22:54:00.000-08:00

I don't need a blender, and it's still "Buy Nothing Day", but if I had $400 burining a hole in my pocket, I would be sorely tempted to get a blender that can turn golf balls into powder.

Today is Buy Nothing Day

2006-11-24T17:15:00.000-08:00

Video Friday #17: Embrace, "All You Good Good People"

2006-11-24T16:10:00.000-08:00

Mike on Software: My favorite software activity

2006-11-21T21:03:00.000-08:00

My favorite software activity is deleting code. Nothing makes me happier than removing complexity and cutting a function's length in half, all the while making it easier to understand.

Maybe that activity is more precisely stated as making code simpler--boiling things down to their bare essentials. It's Newton coming up with "F=ma", it's Einstein deriving "E=mc^2". It's the best feeling I can have as an engineer.

Someday, I hope to write a very concise but very clear regular expression that runs the universe.

Exposing Glenn Beck's Extremism

2006-11-21T20:58:00.000-08:00

I keep seeing ads for "A Glenn Beck Special, Exposed: The Extreme Agenda" all over the blogosphere. I think it's about Islamic extremism. Here's what I just submitted to CNN.com's feedback form:

I was very disappointed to learn that this show was not actually an expose of Glenn Beck's extremist right-wing agenda. Too bad.

Now that's a show I would watch.