The Juggernaut

So with some of my tax refund, I decided to flesh out my lens selection with this spiffy new 70-200mm telephoto lens with the extra froody image stabilization for hand held shooting.

"I AM THE JUGGERNAUT!"

Someone At M$ Likes Porcupine Tree???

Listening to the sample songs on my 360 and I was shocked to hear "Shallow" by Porcupine Tree coming out of the speakers. Nice!

Fred Brooks Would Be Proud

And another thing about Vista from the Merc. In another article the columnist mentioned Fred Brooks' seminal book The Mythical Man Month was something that Microsoft's engineering management should read. Brooks' Law says adding more manpower to a late project will just make it later. IBM found this out the hard way... in the 60s. Personal experience suggests engineering management either has not heard about this book or chooses to ignore it. It was pretty surreal seeing that title in a daily newspaper, though.

The article also points out that the Windows source code base has grown from 2.5 million lines of code to 30 million to 40 million to 50 million in Windows 3.1, Win 95, Win XP, and Vista, respectively. In Microsoft's defense, the growth or their code base has slowed down a lot. :-)

What's New In Vista?

The Mercury News ran this article about what's new in Windows Vista and I have to say I'm kind of underwhelmed.

• Windows will now ask you before it installs stuff.
• Start menu features a quick search to find files on your computer.
• Aero Glass -> eye candy
• Windows sidebar features "gadgets"

That's it? All of this has been available in <cough> other operating systems or even as add ons for Windows 2k/XP for several years now. This is what it's taken them five years to write? I thought the "Welcome to Longhorn" t-shirts (with a picture of the Mac OS X Tiger CD on them) were a silly, cheap shot at Windows. But our friends in Redmond appear to have exceeded my expectations of lameness.

RIP Stanislaw Lem

Polish science fiction author Stanislaw Lem has passed away at the age of 84. Lem's work include the novel Solaris upon which two movie versions were based. [article]

Pastafarians Publish Holy Book

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster now has a holy book, The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. If we have people worshipping pasta in 4000 AD, I think the joke may have gone a little too far. [article]

The Strokes

Saw the Strokes last night in the City with Esther. The sound was ok, but I couldn't see very well until we moved to the back of the hall. People watching was fun (saw three people forcibly ejected by security!). Had an entertaining time overall. It was pouring as we left, so we got soaked as we dashed a couple blocks through the rain. I love seeing shows in the City. Oh, The Eagles of Death Metal opened. They are a hoot. I can't figure out if their retro 70s sound is a joke or what. Fun though.

Oh Come On, People

Star Wars Transformers??? <shakes head> [link to the insanity]

V For Vendetta

I went out and caught the late show of V last night. The Wachowski brothers have made an excellent adaptation of Alan Moore's (286 page) graphic novel. It seemed a little slow occasionally and a little preachy occasionally, but otherwise was a pretty good film. Natalie Portman was excellent! I also enjoyed Hugo Weaving and John Hurt's performances. Worth a viewing for sure.

Slacker Crackdown?

There's something really naughty about reading this article on employers cracking down on workplace slacking while one is actually at work. The bit about Cyberslacking is especially guffaw inducing. <giggle>

Proof That I Am Not The Worst Housekeeper Ever

This woman in Lansing has a disease or something, though. Compulsive Hoarding Syndrome. That's an estimated twenty tons of garbage, people! [article]

APOD: Enceladus With Saturn

New Toy

(Chris is racing down I-280 in a driving rain. Phone Rings)
Evan: Hey, Chris. Remember how you were complaining at lunch that you couldn't find an Xbox360 anywhere?
Chris: Yeah, why?
Evan: Because I'm looking at one right now.
Chris: Really. Where are you?
Evan: EBX in Valley Fair.
(looks at freeway exit signs)
Chris: I'll be there in a few minutes.

And 20 minutes later I had a 360 in my hot little hands. It's so shiny! I haven't quite sorted out the audio out and it needs a hard drive so I can, you know, save games (Boo! Hiss!), but the video is lovely, since it can output 720p/1080i HD video to my HD TV. Many hours of playing Kameo (which I feel a little embarrassed about) have validated my purchase. And today a game I've been waiting for a long time comes out. Starts with O and ends with blivion. I'm not going to get much done around here for a bit.

Vernal Equinox

The equinox is today at 10:26 PST. Spring is on, baby!

Vacation Vacation

Whew! Got back from Tahoe last night. The weather was beautiful, the company was good and it was a great trip that I already miss. Got in about three hours on the slopes on Saturday. Didn't have the energy to make another run at it Sunday. In fact, I'm still kind of tired today. Guess I should get moving to see what new adventures await.

Norwegian Woman Experiences Beer Miracle

A norwegian woman was surprised to find that her tap water had turned to beer recently. Not a miracle, it seems, however. A plumber swapped the pipes with her downstairs neighbor, a bar. Unfortunately, it seems the beer was flat, and probably not great for washing clothes. [article]

How Many Horsemen Are There Coming?

In another premonition of the end times, Hollywood is casting for Dallas, the movie. Currently under consideration are John Travolta as JR, J. Lo as Sue Ellen, Luke Wilson as Bobby Ewing, and Shirley MacLaine as Miss Ellie. WTF??? Didn't they at one point have ideas in Hollywood? Did I have some head trauma that made me imagine that? [article]

This One's For You, Fred

You can even get a shirt proclaiming your love of ribbons from glarkware. They have a bunch of other amusing ones, as well.

Latest Chinese Wedding Fashion: Nude Wedding Pictures

Evidently nude wedding pictures are the hot new trend in China. I know there's a joke in here somewhere, but I can't quite put my finger on it. [article]

Fark News Roundup

Illinois students required to take driver's ed... even if they're blind.

AK student's right to display "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner upheld.

Australian man arrested driving car backwards down highway.

Next Google Conquest: Mars

Google has conquered Mars in its mapping mission. Check it here.

Three Amazing Things

Yesterday I saw three amazing things:

1. Slush in the median strip of Highway 1 in Monterey. Either from hail or snow, I'm not sure. But I did do a triple take as I was driving by and probably scared the shit out of the other drivers on the road.

2. An otter playing in the surf:


(click for larger image)

3. Some otherwise reasonable friends of mine throwing themselves out of a perfectly good plane:


(click for larger image)

I am pleased (but not really surprised) to report that Noelle and company successfully survived her birthday present at the Seaside Skidiving School. Afterwards there was excellent Mexican food and margaritas! All in all, a very enjoyable (if exhausting) afternoon.

Origin of the otter picture: I went down to the Monterey peninsula to do some early morning photography on the coast at O' Dark Early and found a great spot in Carmel Highlands and another one at Garrapata Beach. The surf was pretty high and the roar of the waves crashing was awesome! I saw this little guy frolicking around in the tide. He/She was so much fun to watch! Some more pix (click for larger versions) from the coast. More to come, when I have a chance. It really was a spectacular morning there (rain and snow aside).

Weird Weather In SJ

(click to see album)

It's been an odd sort of a winter this year. We had snow on the western side of the valley, which hasn't happened in the seven years I've lived here. I took a few pictures of that last week (along with a few other random pictures from the towers where I work). Today there was hail downtown. It was weird seeing small piles of slush on the sixth floor patio.

Photo Contest

I entered a picture from my Death Valley trip on Shutterfly. Now to see if it goes anywhere.

Thief's Mom Brings Stolen Purse to Sentencing

That pretty much says it all. [article]

Winter Olympics 2014: Hoth(?)

In an effort to raise awareness about the winter olympics, some dude has started http://www.hoth2014.com/ (warning, may load like ass) to promote his campaign to make Hoth the site of the 2014 olympics. For mascots he's suggesting a tauntaun named "Gutsy" or a one armed Wampa named "Lefty." Yeah, I know it's a make believe place, but that's what they said about Turin, too. [yahoo news article]

Last of Death Valley Pix For Now

"Lone Sentry"
(click image to go to album)

So I have made my first pass through all of the pictures from Death Valley and uploaded the keepers to Shutterfly. Now on to the Yosemite pictures from later that week.


(Darwin Falls)

Another Reason to Mock MySpace

MySpace, the Movie Yee-ta (It's Eastern European) is the best.

Death Valley Day 3

(click image to go to album)

Whew. Pushed out the pictures at the dunes that I took at Death Valley. Almost done with this set now.

Here are a couple black and white versions of a picture I like a lot. Same picture, just different photoshop settings. Click the thumbnails to see a larger version.

Bonobos Threatened With Extinction?

My favorite primate, the bonobo ape, is threatened with extinction in its native Congo because locals make money selling its (evidently) tasty meat. These "Hippie Apes" are known for their matriarchal society and the fact that they use sex to settle disputes, unlike primates you might be more familiar with. If only humans were descended from Bonobos the world might be a happier place, man. [article]

The Horror, The Horror

Saw the movie Ultraviolet last night. I expected it to be bad, but this was off the scale bad, the likes of which I haven't seen since Vannnnnnnnnnnnnn Helsing. The dialog is really dreadful. The story line is nearly incomprehensible. They really cheaped out on the effects budget. They had computerized car chase scenes that looked like cheesy 80s video games. The only redeeming feature (well, Besides Milla) was some of the sci-fi elements were interesting (like printable, disposable cell phones). Overall, this has moved into my top three worst movies evar (With Van Helsing and Portrait of a Lady) although in fairness, I did get a number of really great laughs out of it.

Death Valley Again

(click to go to album)

Ok, I think I am done with the images from Zabriskie Point for now.

Massive Attack!

Massive Attack is playing Coachella! Crap. I wasn't going to go, but this changes things. Now how do I make it work out?

High School Kids Make Bio-diesel Sports Car

Some high school kids in Philadelphia have made a bio-diesel powered sports car. It goes from 0-60 in 4 seconds and gets 50 mpg. Holy crap! I wonder how long it will take for the oil companies to shut that one down. [article]

Un-Pimp Your Ride

I could watch these all day:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=uiXXPMezTV0&search=New%20GTI%20commerical
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Kp8ZbqtjQW0&search=GTI
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4NNPvdUw53k&search=GTI

"What does this do?"
"It sucks in air."
"It's definitely sucking."