Rails on the Run - Ruby on Rails: the Duplo generation
Topic: Miscellaneous
4:36 pm EDT, Mar 17, 2008
Duplo bricks are eight times the size in volume, twice the length, height and width of traditional Lego bricks, and are easier to handle for younger children. Despite their size, they are still compatible with traditional Lego brick.
Duplos are great to introduce kids to the concept of Lego bricks and to get them to think about building their own creations. However you would freak out if your kid would grow up and not want to start playing with Legos and building more advanced/custom stuff.
Unfortunately, that's exactly what's going on in the Rails community right now. We created a generation of Duplo developers.
RE: French ban on Red Bull (drink) upheld by European Court
Topic: Miscellaneous
1:11 pm EDT, Mar 13, 2008
Worthersee wrote:
Red bull + Vodka = the most self destructive drink evah!
Not quite. :)
Here's what the Encyclopaedia Galactica has to say about alcohol. It says that alcohol is a colourless volatile liquid formed by the fermentation of sugars and also notes its intoxicating effect on certain carbon-based life forms. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy also mentions alcohol. It says that the best drink in existence is the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster. It says that the effect of a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster is like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick. The Guide also tells you on which planets the best Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters are mixed, how much you can expect to pay for one and what voluntary organizations exist to help you rehabilitate afterwards. The Guide even tells you how you can mix one yourself. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy sells rather better than the Encyclopedia Galactica.
Above quote borrowed from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as quoted in the relevant Wikipedia entry. Fictional, of course, but that has not stopped people from attempting contemporary earth based equivalents. One must immediately appreciate the self-destructive nature of a drink inspired by the description "the alcoholic equivalent to a mugging: expensive and bad for the head".
Can you feel it? We're having a 6.7 quake now | KOMO-TV - Seattle, Washington | News
Topic: Miscellaneous
12:41 am EST, Mar 7, 2008
Did you know the ground beneath is rumbling again right now? You can't feel it, but it is moving about 25 miles below us. ... "It's nothing very interesting to look at on the seismograph, it just looks like wind noise," he said.
But, for Creager and his colleagues, this is exciting stuff. Those 25 miles below us, they can watch the earth move in real time.
Scientists call this a slow tremor. It happens once about every 14 months.
They mapped it for the first time in July 2004. Even though the ground's moving beneath us again, we can't feel it. If we could measure it, it would have a magnitude of about 6.7. And that's just about what California's Northridge and our local Nisqually quakes were.
However, those happened over a period of about 15 to 20 seconds. The ground moving below us right now will occur over about 15 to 20 days.
"It's still releasing the same amount of strain energy, but it's just taking a long time so it's not felt, it doesn't do damage," Creager said.
This slow tremor started Sunday and may last another week or more. But the movement is so slight -- just a fraction of an inch -- that researchers needed a new network to track it.
EARTHQUAKE!... err, movement?
And we end with the scientist establishing street cred:
Does that mean a major earthquake could be just around the corner?
"The general consensus is that we don't really know enough about the problem yet to say anything concrete about it yet, but it's possible," Creager said, adding possible, but not probable.
Neatorama » Blog Archive » The Evolution of Tech Companies’ Logos
Topic: Miscellaneous
3:29 pm EST, Feb 19, 2008
Really neat article with old tech logos. And stories. Like this:
The first Apple logo was a complex picture of Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. The logo was inscribed: "Newton … A Mind Forever Voyaging Through Strange Seas of Thought … Alone." It was designed by Ronald Wayne, who along with Wozniak and Jobs, actually founded Apple Computer. In 1976, after only working for two weeks at Apple, Wayne relinquished his stock (10% of the company) for a one-time payment of $800 because he thought Apple was too risky!
Toshiba loses face but saves money in DVD defeat | Reuters
Topic: Miscellaneous
11:53 am EST, Feb 19, 2008
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Toshiba Corp will have to swallow its pride, exiting from its DVD war with Sony, but analysts say it's a smart move to cut its losses now rather than later.
This has been in the works for a while, but only today it occured to me...
Did Sony just win a format war?!
I may have to revise my assumptions about our land war prospects in Asia...
Perez Hilton highlighted a song/performance by Tori Amos about Lindsey Lohan. Brilliant.
When I was 21 do you think I had a bag of cocaine in my car?
If I did - if I did You’d never know it because it would have been hidden I’m not stupid. But why are so many 21-year old millionaires so stupid? Stupid and cute. But stupid - I don’t know.
Let’s just say When I was 26 (or seven - or eight) And I was a billionairess What would I have done? Many naughty things. Many, many, many naughty things. But I would have had a DRIVER!
CRACKED.com - 8 Important Lessons Learned from '80s Cartoons
Topic: Miscellaneous
8:54 pm EDT, Jul 28, 2007
CARTOON: Popeye LESSON: Spinach is good for you. Sure, it doesn’t taste as good as candy, ice cream or opium, but it’s full of essential vitamins and minerals that’ll make your muscles explode like battleship cannons. If you want to triumph over the bullying Blutos of the world and win the affections of your own lovely, leggy Olive Oyl, pound a can of spinach at least once a day. Or put it in your corncob pipe and smoke it, like everybody’s favorite ornery, mumbling sailorman. Toot toot! How it affected us as adults: You only need to look at the steroid scandal rocking Major League Baseball to see that Popeye raised a generation that is willing to use performance enhancers. Also, it should be pointed out that Olive Oyl was the first anorexic sex symbol.
