|
Joey’s Blog Thoughts on Life, Work, Technology, and Society
|
 Subscribe RSS Feed
Comments Feed
|
It isn’t very often that I see a new technology that I get really really excited about. There are LOTS of things that are cool! Like the iPhone, iPad, etc…
But THIS, is the most useful, innovative, simple, awesome thing I’ve seen in a long time. I want one, not because it’s “cool” or the newest flashiest thing, but because it IS the future of recording thoughts during meetings, and studying.
It’s awesome.
Get one!
Aaron Allston is one of my two favorite Author’s. Orson Scott Card is my other.
I always laugh when I read Allston’s books. He is really good at doing un-expected things. I’ve read a LOT of Star Wars books, and a lot of them are boring. They just blend together, it’s the classic good vs evil, Han and Leia are in a tough spot, and get out, or substitute Han and Chewie, or Luke and Mara, etc… But Aaron’s books always break out of the mold and give you something fresh.
My absolute favorites are the Enemy Lines series including Rebel Dream in the New Jedi Order Series. I also LOVED Wraith Squadron… Especially the part where Piggy in-advertantly blasts the captain of a ship into crispy crunchies while blwoing his way into the bridge…
After reading the Enemy Lines series, I enjoyed it SO much that I found Aaron’s email address and sent him a note. Here’s what he sent back.
At 02:07 PM 9/30/2007, Joey Novak wrote:
> I just finished reading the second Enemy Lines book. It was fantastic! I laughed when Artoo altered the food database so that the Security droid would pass Han’s blaster and Lia’s Light Saber as food and then rescued Han and Lia, and when wedge flew under the legs of the Vaugh ground based weapons platform. (A Rankat?) It was awesome!
> Thanks for the entertainment,
I’m glad you liked it. Thanks for letting me know.
== Aaron Allston
== allston@AaronAllston.com
== http://www.AaronAllston.com/
My wife and I have this palm tree that houses at least 2 dozen pigeons… (Seriously, it’s like a cheap hotel… I’ll post a pic). At first when we moved in, we were ok with them, because they didn’t seem to poop anywhere in our yard. Well… Something changed and now they do. A lot. And it’s gross.
So! Guess what’s for dinner!
See, I bagged at least 3 pigeons today, and just threw them away (Actually over the fence into an empty lot… shhhh….). I feel a little bad about just killing them, so I researched some alternative ways to dispel pigeons. Like hanging cd’s from strings around your yard, stringing up fishing line, fake snakes, etc… But shooting them is just so dang fun I decided I’ll just keep eradicating them but cook whatever I shoot. I never thought I’d be a hunter; killing things just isn’t in me, but shooting annoying birds that make a mess and taste good… I can do that!
When I think of it though, it seems pretty funny. I can just go into our backyard, point my bb-gun up in the palm tree, shoot a pigeon and eat it… A complete hunting trip with no hassle! I can even wear my slippers! Boy, do I feel like a red neck now… I almost can’t wait for Monday night!
This has got to be one of the most beautiful seat belt videos I’ve ever seen. It’s awesome.
Check it out: http://putnik.blog.rs/blog/putnik/reklame/2010/03/09/reklama
The author of this blog maintains a project on Source Forge that I use and am becoming intimately familiar with: htmlcleaner
After over 3 years (2 of which were in storage), the SHO Truck is finally ready for testing!!!
I finished up the basic electrical today, so that you can start and stop the engine using the truck’s ignition. I also finished the throttle linkage, and adjusted the stop block on the gas pedal so there wasn’t any stress on the cable when you are at WOT.
My buddy Austin was over and he filmed the first voyage…
And here it is!!!
The truck has bad gas in it at the moment, so the engine doesn’t respond very well, but it will! It wasn’t really terrible though, it drove great, but the engine performance is terrible with the bad gas. Stay tuned… Wheelie’s here I come!
Scientists designed their own DNA for a new lfie form. (Including a “designed by humans” watermark so that it will never be confused for a natural organism.) They took this DNA they designed, created it, and then injected into bacteria cells. The bacteria cells original dna was destroyed (through some mystical bio chemistry/dna magic). And the bacteria began reproducing itself with the new DNA.
Unless I am missing something, and this isn’t actually totally awesome and new. This is a huge breakthrough that leads the way to custom building bacteria for specific tasks such as converting co2 to bio fuel (I think that’s a little stretch), cleaning up oil-spills (wouldn’t that be nice right now), etc…
Pop-Sci article about: Craig Venter Institute Creates Worlds First Synthetic Cell
The DMV… One of three goverment offices I dread visiting. Fortunatly I don’t have too!! AZ contracts out DMV authority to LOTS of places in Phoenix. Private businesses! And there rates are cheap! I registered our new (used) $300 saturn sl1 yesterday. It took 5 minutes, and cost only $36!!! ( it cost me over $100 to register a car in VA a few years ago) That includes all DMV fees and a $12 charge from te service center. I walked out with the new title, registration, and a plate! And they were friendly and corteous and even filled out the paper work for me!! (they fill it out on their computer and then print it and you sign in.
Amazing! I’ll never visit the DMV again!
This is Rainbow Bridge / Donner Memorial Bridge on the Old Donner Pass Highway. It has a spectacular view of Donner Lake and Donner Pass.
A bear was walking across Rainbow Bridge on Saturday Sept 15th 2007 when two cars also crossing the bridge scared the bear into jumping over the edge of the bridge. Somehow the bear caught the ledge (see above).
And pulled itself to safety. Animal control wasn’t quite sure what to do in such a situation, and decided to do nothing that day. They returned Sunday to find the bear still asleep on the ledge.
After securing a net under the bridge.
The bear was tranquilized and pushed into the net.
Lowered
Then woke up and walked out of the net.
There is a moral to this story. This old bear made a wrong move and found he was hanging by his nails. Somehow he was able to pull himself up onto the ledge where he saw he was in a very bad, impossible situation so he took a nap, and sure enough the situation took care of itself while he was asleep.
So next time you are confronted with an impossible situation… That’s right! Take a nap.
This story has been verified by snopes. See: http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/bearledge.asp
My wife and I recently moved into a house. Moving sucks, there are very few activities I loath as much as moving. We tried something new this time and used IKEA bags to move. We bought 60 bags, at $.59 a piece. The bags are large and easily compare to a Home Depot medium size box you can get for the same price.
Packing was a cinch. All you did is open the bag, fill it, and put it in another room.
Moving them was awesome. Our friends that helped us move kept commenting on how nice they were. Ikea bags come with long and short handles on each bag. So unlike a box, you don’t have to bend over to pick them up. You reach down, grab the handles and lift. The bag hangs about 1′ off the ground so it’s not as much work to lift them either. We also bought 20 or so small Ikea bags for heavy items such as books.
The one downside to the bags is that they don’t stack very well. That is why we got a 26′ truck for our local move. We had plenty of room and stacked them 2 deep in the truck.
I would highly recommend you get a few dozen bags the next time you move for odds and ends that you can throw on top of stacked boxes in the truck.
Now the only question is what do we do with 60 empty Ikea bags? I think we may build a boat…