Nic

February 19th, 2009

10:17 pm
I just ordered a slide rule. I'm convinced that the visceral feel for numerical relationships has been lost with the advent of the modern calculator. I suppose we'll see if I'm full of crap or not after I have a chance to use the slide rule for a while.

In other news, I was volunteered to take a Project Management course at work. So far it hasn't been the most fun I've ever had, but it's definitely more interesting than I was expecting. And I really should be reading the 80 pages I need to read by tomorrow, but of course I'm not. At one point just after graduating high school I was reading at about 1000 words per minute. (Our school's 'survey of American lit' class was actually a speed-read-American-lit class). After years of reading physics texts, I'm lucky to get one page per minute in a standard paperback novel, which can't be more than a few hundred words.

I suppose I should stop procrastinating...

(5 comments | Leave a comment)

January 28th, 2009

12:12 am - Astley...
Is there a term for when you think you're following a link to Rick Astley's video but you end up somewhere else?

Inverse Rickrolling? ...Rickblocked?
Current Mood:

amused
Current Music: take a wild guess

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

May 9th, 2008

11:36 pm - two things:
50 cent ice cream sundaes at work can considerably brighten one's day.

i love scotch! scotchy scotch scotch.
Current Mood: inebriated and antisocial

September 25th, 2007

11:41 am
The Aquateen Hunger Force movie had both Mastodon and Neil Pert in it. I really need to find the Linoleum Knife song. That should be the new movie preamble in every theater, everywhere.

July 26th, 2007

11:12 am - Harry Plopper?
Diagon Ally. diagonally. I can't believe I didn't catch that before. I feel so dumb.

June 28th, 2007

04:06 pm - Random updates
I passed my ikkyu test for kendo. Only got sankyu in iaido, but that's better than what I had before. Now if I could only find a Limalama school that isn't in BFE. I found out too late that the organization's office was based in Conroe. 'Was' being the operative word. They've moved to Seattle.

We've got Tivo now. I don't like the way the service payment is set up, but the system is actually pretty nice. We've just got standard cable and it adds in the info bar and will let you search for what you want over the next two weeks. I suppose it was worth it. As long as the rebate goes through that is.

Chocolate that contains chili peppers is very good. Not an everyday type of chocolate, but it is a nice pick up in the late afternoon at work.

The NIN track from the 300 trailer has been in my head for two days now. I like it, but I need something else I think. Previous to that, it was Tenacious D's 'Dude (I Totally Miss You)', which was stuck in my head on and off for about a month.
Current Mood:

blank
Current Music: The D: Dude (again.)

April 30th, 2007

12:33 pm - An interesting take on the new wave of incandecent bulb replacements
Link to article in the National Post

April 26th, 2007

01:34 am - Embrace the Nerditude
There is a Book whose authors, while presenting a mathematical work, still retain their humanity and, further, their humor. A Book whose introduction contains the phrase, "so that only seldom is it necessary to use the phrase, 'it may be shown,' so frustrating to the reader" as well as the phrase, "sufficient ocular decoupling". A Book that can still provide the sweet, sweet ache of knowledge.

I speak of the Book by Morse and Feshbach.
Current Mood: nerdy

April 15th, 2007

08:23 pm - C'mon! Everybody is doing it! You know you want to write one.
The Goat puts pressure
on us to write poetry
and Stiffie succumbs
Current Mood:

amused
Current Music: Baby.

April 10th, 2007

10:14 am - Update?
I've probably missed a few people in my tell-everyone-about-the-baby rush so if I've missed you or someone else let me know so I can send you the link for pictures of Nathaniel... if you're the type of person who enjoys such things that is.

(5 comments | Leave a comment)

January 17th, 2007

04:13 pm
The Pompatus' post the other day made me wonder what credibility the SciGuy (at chron.com) has that would give him the wherewithal to write about science. I've read a few of his posts that irritated me, though I don't remember if it was lack of factual backup or just plain disagreement that rubbed me the wrong way.

Unfortunately I couldn't find any reference on his blog page other than a brief mention of graduate school, though I didn't do anything close to an exhaustive search by any means. Does anyone know what his credentials are?

(Also, on a completely different topic, i find it amusing that Livejoural's spell checker doesn't recognize 'blog')
Current Music: The Streets -- Sharp Darts

January 12th, 2007

12:20 pm
Finally!!

The illustrated pirate joke!
Current Mood:

amused

December 14th, 2006

05:14 pm - Next!
How many mice does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Two, but don't ask me how they got in there.
Current Music: Warren G - Regulators

December 13th, 2006

06:53 pm - Best Joke of the Day
Waiting for the hotplate to cooldown, I ran across this one:

Q: Why did the scarecrow win the Nobel prize?

A: Because he was outstanding in his field.
Current Mood:

amused
Current Music: Aesop Rock - Float

December 12th, 2006

06:05 pm
What ever happened to the idea that you're responsible for the safety of yourself and the ones around you?

The current trend for lawmakers to try to impose these all encompassing laws to "protect" the citizens is insane. When I walk out of the house I realize that I may not return. A lot can happen in a single day and the world, while amazing, is dangerous. It always has been and it always will be. I don't think for a minute that I'm not responsible for taking care of myself, and by extension, those around me.

Am I expecting too much from the general population of this country? Yes we need people willing to go out of the way to protect us from certain things and certain people with which we as individuals are not equipped to deal. But people, if you're not willing to look after yourself or your own children, either in the real world or in the virtual world, then there are much more serious problems than those being addressed.

November 18th, 2006

12:01 am - Holloween Pics, finally!
Link to the Flickr set... more to be added later

November 8th, 2006

06:56 pm
The phrase of the day is "padded pole compartment", and I can't stop laughing about it.

(4 comments | Leave a comment)

November 3rd, 2006

06:26 pm - Wha?!!!
How is it that the department can offer that many classes, none of which can be applied to my course of study? Unless I want to take Quantum II before passing Quantum I... which I really don't want to do! And the only other 7000 level class available requires QII!!
Current Mood:

confused