Category: observations

Popcorn was required this evening, and I had laid in some kernels a week or two ago in preparation for just this eventuality. So into a 2 qt pan went a couple of tablespoons of oil and, after some time seeking the right temperature, 1/3 cup of kernels. The 11 year old, as he saw the drama unfold, asked, “why do people buy it when they can make it?”

My work is proceeding nicely.

I suspect that won’t match anything.

This picture was chosen for this new-fangled guidebook. I need to put this on my calendar so I can try and get some better shots this November.

And let me get this straight: In what may have been the most successful intelligence operation in recent world history, Iran takes out both their chief regional rival—Iraq—and co-ops their main worldwide enemy—that would be us—by passing lies to a credulous bunch of right-wing Republican loons who have bought into the crackpot neocon theories of a gang of ex-Trotskyites. And DEMOCRATS are so terrified about appearing out of touch on national security they let them get away with it. That about cover it?

[From
TBogg » The Weakest Links ]

for i in `ioreg -l | grep "current-value" | cut -d"=" -f2`; do echo "$i / 65536 * 9/5+32" | bc -l ; done


This doesn’t work everywhere, alas.

My iBook returns this:


105.80000000000000000000
110.75000000000000000000
114.80000000000000000000
33.98803100585937500000
32.00000000000000000000 <- bogus
32.00002746582031250000
87.80000000000000000000


The iMac G5 returns:

32.04663696289062500000 <- these are all suspect
32.04117126464843750000 <-
32.06311645507812500000 <-
32.01227722167968750000 <-
32.02210998535156250000 <-
32.01738586425781250000 <-
129.20000000000000000000
32.00000000000000000000 <- bogus


(The 32° readings are actually zeroes.)

But while an aircraft’s wings provide lift, an F1 vehicle’s spoilers, along with its sloping upper body shape and intricate underbody surfaces, do just the opposite: They create downforce, giving the vehicle wicked-fast cornering speeds and massive amounts of braking power. The downforce is so strong that the cars could theoretically drive upside down on the roof of the tunnel at Monte Carlo, Hughes says.

[From Inside the Scandal That Rocked the Formula One Racing World ]

That would be entertaining: Hot Wheels, in large scale.

From today’s NYTimes:

“I don’t doubt for a moment that you are good, hard-working people who have done what you did to help your families. Unfortunately for you, you committed a violation of federal law.”

MARK W. BENNETT, a federal judge, to illegal immigrants sentenced to prison terms in Iowa.

I haven’t read the story but here’s what I would like to see reported:

• Who the employers were
• What industries benefited (if it’s not obvious)
• How long they were here
• How much in remittances they sent back home
• How much tax they paid
• What federal policies/market forces led to a need for these people to be here illegally

I got an email with a lot of updates this AM, lots of people happily linking, and some nicely-crafted recommendations.

But it was like finding yourself at a party where you know people but don’t have anything to talk about. So a little housecleaning was in order.

I had planned to get out of this a while back but the thought that I might be linking any two people together stayed my hand. Sadly, the couple of recommendations I left for people will go away when they scrub me from the system, but I doubt I was helping anyone all that much.

Just stop for a few days, for whatever reason (in my case, I just decided I was spending too much time consuming and not enough producing). Then come back and look at the total of unread posts. This is just one small part of one grouping I have. Much as Roy amazes me with his erudition and wit, to say nothing of the cutting snark, I can’t read 26 posts. And 148 from Attackerman? Not gonna happen.

My total unread is 9,744. I just can’t read them all. And marking them all read, as easily as I do that with email, just doesn’t seem worth it. It will be back over the top of the bucket again in no time. think it’s time to prune, as in hack to the ground, my feed list.

At this point, I’m good with a once-daily email summary or preview like TPM does. Everything old is new again . . .

Maybe that’s the new aggregator: something that summarizes the posts in an RSS feed and mails you the result. Lazyweb, get on that, won’t you?

How can you convert this iTunes music store link to the same track at AMZN’s mp3 store?

I like the iTMS experience, the presentation and organization, but the DRM issues and the simple fact that many tracks are cheaper at Amazon are enough to make me shop there instead. And I understand that Apple would rather not inflict DRM on its customers, but until the RIAA cartel can be compelled to give it up, I’ll vote with my money elsewhere.

So who has a clever parser/transmogrifier that can do this? Some AMZN affiliate grease there if you want it . . .