Stupid Ideas
Posted by Matt in Rants & Raves on 07 30th, 2007 | No Comments
The trip I’m going to be taking to Africa is part of a class. So I have some assigned readings, and we’re supposed to be commenting in an online forum.
I’m having problems right now, because the ‘online forum’ is randomly comprised of Java applets. Not only is it the worst...
An Image Idea
Posted by Matt in Computers on 07 30th, 2007 | 5 Comments
Some of my favorite posts are the ones with images. I like to sometimes post photos I take, and they can really make a post much better. (As an example, Kyle’s recent headphones post.)
There are some ‘risks’ with allowing images, though:
Offsite images can change. You might post a...
The Scariest Thing You’ll See All Day
The Vampire Bat.
A Cure for AIDS
I just killed a mosquito, which got me thinking about how I need to book an appointment at a travel clinic on Monday to get my malaria vaccine in Africa.
Malaria, like AIDS, is very common in Africa.
But wait! If malaria is spread by mosquitoes, how about AIDS?
This page explains why mosquitoes don’t...
A Day in the Life of a Geek
I got my hair cut today. And I found myself thinking the same thing I usually think: why on Earth do they have ten appointment books, one for each stylist? And why is there a separate one to track sales?
I think you could write a pretty simple software solution. They just need a few database tables,...
Wine
So as most of you know, WINE is a utility to allow Windows applications to be run in Unix. There are several commercial forks, such as CrossOver Office and Cedega, which supposedly work better. It seems like most anything works.
Here is a list of Windows programs that are good enough that I still have...
Paint
Posted by Matt in Uncategorized on 07 27th, 2007 | No Comments
I picked up some touch-up paint for my car today. Here is what’s in the bottle:
Toluene
Methyl ethyl ketone
Ethyl 3-ethoxypropionate
Ethanol
Methyl isobutyl ketone
Ethyl acetate
These are only the ones mentioned in the warning label. (Mentioning both that it’s extremely flammable and that...
Matches
Posted by Matt in Insanity on 07 27th, 2007 | 2 Comments
We keep a box of matches at work, not so much for smokers (although they ask for them sometimes), but more for birthday parties who forget them and can’t otherwise light the candles on their cake. (This is surprisingly common.) The other night we ran out, so I got a new box from the closet.
And...
It’s Fiesty
Posted by Matt in Computers on 07 26th, 2007 | No Comments
Posted from a native install of Ubuntu’s Fiesty Fawn on my new 160 GB drive. I’ve left room to copy over the contents of the old drive (e.g., Windows), but I think Ubuntu’s going to become my primary OS.
I still have lots of work to do, but here are some starting thoughts:
The install...
NTP Pool?
I’ve always had a strange obsession with the exact time. It really, really annoys me when clocks are off. Especially when you’re surrounded by clocks, some fast, some slow, so you end up with like a 20-minute window: the time is somewhere between 2:50 and 3:10.
Unsurprisingly, then, I love...