Recently in Random Stuff Category

Well, it took it's time, but it's finally here (at least for a bit). We were sitting watching the new (and excellent) Sherlock BBC series when we looked out the window and what appeared to be snowballs were falling from the sky. Turns out it was just snow in huge flakes though. Grabbed my Pentax and took a few shots (here). Glad I have the weather sealing because the big flakes had a lot of water in them. Nothing special, but wanted to record that the snow (finally) arrived. Course, I have a feeling it'll be gone by tomorrow morning, no matter what the weather report says!

Is it odd sad that the most exciting parts of my evening are that the new season of America's Next Top Model is starting, there's a new iTunes and a new iPhone OS update out?

I have no idea where this is from, but it really kinda freaks me out....

OMG, the latest Zero Punctuation review is possibly the funniest yet.... ROFL, LAMO, etc.

When a geek's mind sees the solution to an interesting problem is through a twisty maze of corridors, identifies the path, and leaps into a blur action involving cables, spare hardware, and possibly a screwdriver.

Such as seeing the solution to "how do I download this 150G torrent of 'Dr. Who' episodes in a sane method?" is to attach a spare 150G USB drive to the linux server (even if it only has USB1 on it, quickly install Ubuntu in a VMWare Virtual machine, map the virtual machine's network to the unused internet connection from work, and then download, download, download!

Just as an example of course. Sadly it appears that once again I'm not the first person to think of the phrase. I had the same dissapointment when I coined WhoGasm.

A nice look at how to declutter your desktop. I don't need all that because I did some of it with my weekend project, however it is a nice idea that I'm sure I can use.

Oh my. This pic has to be the cutest ever. Seriously. Ever.

Microsoft released their iPod competitor the Zune, or at least that's what everything things it is. I have two theories (conspiracy theories of course, full tin-foil hat engaged) about what the nefarious plans for the Zune really are however, and they both include the fact that the Zune was never meant to be a serious competitor in the iPod space.

Theory #1
Part of the deal that Microsoft struck to get their Zune store up and running was to pay universal music $1 for every unit sold. Not only is that a bit offensive to me, as it basically is saying that anyone who buys a Zune is going to pirate music, so Universal is going to get it's shake, but it also presents potential problems to Apple.

Because the record industry has now seen that it can get manufacturers of MP3 players to pay on a per unit basis as well as taking a cut from the online music sales, they will no doubt pursue this avenue when their contracts with Apple need re-negotiation. Why accept butter on only one side of the bread when you can have two? Aren't these the same guys who tried (unsuccessfully) to get Apple to raise the prices of songs in the iTunes Music Store from $0.99 to $2.99 or so for newer releases, and create a sliding scale of "new music costs more"?

What's to say that Microsoft was looking at what it would take to compete with the iPod and the iTunes Music Store and found that the only way they could license music was to give the record companies a cut of each unit sold. Obviously they'd know that by doing this that a precedent would be set for the next time that this happened. I'm willing to guess that they are well aware of the slim margins that you get on not only the hardware sales but the online music store as well (I've heard that apple barely gets more than a few cents out of each $.99 purchase, and from experience I know that selling hardware sucks, and I doubt that a huge amount of an iPod sale is profit).

Wouldn't you see this as a chink in the Apple monopoly of music players? Force Apple to get less profit by convincing the people that Apple deals with that they need more of a cut on hardware?

I'm just sayin'...

Sometimes I really forget we live in the world of tomorrow. I watched this video of the launch of Discovery, Mission STS-116 on YouTube and it hit me after the fact that I was watching an immense space vehicle blast into space. Sure, they've been doing this since I was in elementary school, and hell, we have a space station... in space, but still, sometimes it really boggles the mind my mind that these things are here and now. Heck, not that long ago this year we were downloading almost live photo imaging from mars. It's pretty cool to realize that kids who are growing up these days won't ever know a world where people aren't routinely going into space (not the common people yet though), and that a space shuttle lift off is pretty routine.

Random memory:
I was probably about 10 or 12 or something, in the boy scouts at a jamboree over on Vancouver Island and one of the activities was something about space. We had about 9 kids sitting in chairs and we all got assignments of "mission specialist" or "pilot" etc, just like on a real shuttle mission. I think we just watched videos and learned about space missions and NASA, though that sounds pretty lame. Probably not when you're that age though, I remember it being pretty neat. Anyway, something that the teacher said has stuck with me till now. "You will be the generation that walks on Mars." I of course didn't believe it at the time. Now though, twenty odd years later I am starting to believe it. We're getting closer anyway, and probably people my age are pretty much on the cusp of being the ones selected for the mission that will finally land us on another planet.

Now where's my flying car?

Somewhere in a conversation today at work about someone's friend who had a sex change operation (female to male), when asking why you wouldn't just use a strap on the following was said:

If have a female end and you want a male end, you get a gender-bender, you don't re-crimp the cable!

Possibly the geekiest thing I've heard on the subject. Probably doesn't make any sense to anyone, and is no doubt horribly offensive to anyone who has had a gender change.