Where Are My Keys?

Running of the Bulls, Michigan-style..

Look out for pregnant bovines around your cell phone.

Loose cow at fair

 

One for Joe F in Salem..

He thinks I should be Tweeting on Twitter.  I'm more inclined to agree with Harsanyi than Joe:

Twitter's popularity and usefulness are a mystery to me. Pressed by personal, professional and cultural forces, I sporadically deploy short missives for fear of becoming one of those cantankerous technophobes who is too dense to recognize the miracle of letting "followers" know I hate raisins or that I loved the finale of "Mad Men."

Now, not only am I expected to transmit this minutiae mere seconds after I think it, some 20-year-old in California has decreed that I must do it within the brevity of 140 characters. This need for conciseness, in fact, induces normally articulate friends of mine to write in Prince lyrics — recklessly using "2" and "4" and "U" as words.

To this point, I've found Twitter so aggressively worthless that I was forced to research exactly what I was missing. In the process, I stumbled across a useful New York Times tech column penned by David Pogue that clarified all. The headline read, "Twitter? It's What You Make It."

In summation, like your beloved pet rock, Twitter is useful only in your imagination.

Despite this, I can't begin to add up how many times, as a member of the media, I've been instructed that I need to Twitter by people who have absolutely no clue what Twittering means. How Twitter helps journalism is yet to be determined.

But the deepest mystery of Twitter is why celebrities and elected officials take part. After all, we all know they can't write their own lines.

Now, admittedly, Twitter can be entertaining on occasion, as it turns out that 140 characters offers a great chance to be misunderstood — and an even greater chance one will expose his inner troglodyte.

I'm still on the fence.

Too bad the Interwebs weren't around when Woody was playing D & D..

He coulda been an Internet Advice Dude as well as a pinball wizard.

What has being a D&D player taught you about dating?
If you’re going to date friends, be willing to deal with the consequences. My Game Master and best friend recently divorced — killing three long-term games in the process. On the other hand, dating your dice-mates  guarantees that when you joke about the enhancement bonus of your morning coffee, you won’t just get a blank look. Plus, they’ll understand why you can’t go out on Friday night — your party needs you!

On the positive side, being a D&D player has made me understand the importance of respect in relationships, even about the little things. If my partner has disdain for my hobbies, things aren’t going to last. There’s very little dignity in rolling dice and slaying dragons, but it’s what I like to do. So when someone I like mentions that they scrapbook, I try to respect that. And not snicker. Too much.

What’s the best way to pick up a D&D player?
If you’re a geek and you see a girl geek browsing the comic books and players’ manuals, don’t make assumptions. Nothing irritates me more than having someone tell me what I’m holding. I know what I’m holding. Aside from the fact that I came in here specifically looking for it, I CAN READ. Instead, try a trivia tidbit or a commentary on the quality/author/whatever. Your goal is to sound interested, not condescending. For the non-geek, we’re really not that strange and different, but we tend to be a little defensive. Be willing to listen, stumble through some conversation you don’t have the lingo for. Don’t mock. Unless your romantic candidate starts talking about their characters in detail. No one finds that interesting. Really. Get out while you still can.

Pretty cool use of technology..

Found this over at Instapundit.  It's a website that tracks marine movement around the waterways of the world.  Click on a quadrant (the number inside shows how many ships are in it), and the map zooms to give you more detail.  The more you zoom, the more info pops up, including type of ship, speed, and even a photo.

Pretty neat.

I know Woody will love this one..

Your choice of Smartphone tells much about you.  And if you are using an iPhone, well..

Essentially the iPhone is safe from the Droid because most iPhone users are liberals. They are people who WANT a Mommy and Daddy watching over them. iPhone developers  must navigate a Byzantine approval process that is so bad, that some even stoop to using Microsoft's .NET to get things done.  Apple tests and approves every application offered on the iPhone to make sure they all play nice together. This of course ensures the phone will deliver the beautiful and slick  user experience Apple has decided its users will have. The iPhone is a good example of the "one-size-fits all" top-down mentality of liberals.  If you want a different experience from what your masters thinks you SHOULD have and SHOULD want, you are just SOL.  The lowercase "i" in iPhone doesn't occur by accident. The individual just isn't as important, and the "Phone" takes precedence. Many iPhone and Mac  users come near to worshipping Apple and their products,  going so far as to genuflect when they turn on a Apple device, ensure they face San Jose 3 times a day to give thanks for their iLife and to pray for the saving of the pagans who do not yet have one.

In contrast, Verizon's Droid in Particular, and the Android OS in general are created for a different set of users who are interested in an I-Phone rather than a iPhone. They are interested in a "MY LIFE", rather than an iLife. Open Development is a form of freedom that comes with its own attendant problems: some applications might conflict, the interface will be bit rough around the edges, and you have to look out for and solve these difficulties yourself.   I-Phone users will sit down and write applications that fit them, break the new ground they want to explore , and they don't need nor want a Master approving what they can and can't do.

The  Droid I-Phone  is not an iPhone killer because  those who own an iPhone are NOT INTERESTED in the FREEDOM provided by an open development device.  Likewise, those same people are NOT INTERESTED in the freedom provided by our Constitution and our Founding Principles. They religiously worship the iPhone and feel justified in trying to force everyone to have an iLife. Liberals wish to control your Life Experience to meet THIER tastes and ideas of what people <SHOULD> want- be it in the type of insurance you buy, the food you eat, what fuels you will use, what you may wear, what you may say, and what opinions you may hold.  They seek that safe, integrated experience where we all play nice with each other, look good together, and each person's life  is approved and sanctioned by a central authority. 

I tell ya, those Townhall bloggers are a pretty good bunch!

(H/T: Instapundit)

New pool table for Woody's "Man Cave"..

Digital Pool Table - Watch more Funny Videos

Best YouTube remix ever..

I'm sure you saw the video of Drunk Guy Trying To Buy More Beer last week.  Some guy took it up a notch by adding silent movie music and title cards to make it even better:

Zach Braff ain't dead..

Props to the star of Scrubs, in responding with humor to an internet rumor.

Now You Know, 4.0

These guys have done a few cool videos.  The latest installment is no different:

The Free Market and innovation march on..

From the folks at Dyson (you know, the bagless vacuum guys) comes their latest invention, a bladeless fan.  While we still have a "traditional" vacuum, the next one will be a Dyson.  Check out how long these guys worked on perfecting the device before bringing it to market:

A team of fluid dynamics engineers spent four years running hundreds of simulations to precisely measure and optimise the machine’s circular aperture and airfoil-shaped ramp before perfecting Dyson’s Air Multiplier technology.

“We realised that this inducement, or amplification, effect could be further enhanced by passing airflow over a ramp,” says Mr Dyson. “And of course this was the point where the idea of a bladeless fan became a real possibility. Here was a way to create turbulent-free air ¬and finally do away with blades.”

The new fan works by drawing air into the base of the machine. The air is forced up into the loop amplifier and accelerated through the 1.3mm annular aperture, creating a jet of air that hugs the airfoil-shaped ramp. While exiting the loop amplifier, the jet pulls air from behind the fan into the airflow (inducement). At the same time, the surrounding air from the front and sides of the machine are forced into the air stream (entrainment), amplifying it 15 times. The result is a constant uninterrupted flow of cooling air.

The Dyson Air Multiplier is powered by an energy efficient brushless motor and air speed can be precisely adjusted with a dimmer switch. It will be available in two sizes, a 10-inch model costing $300 and a 12-inch model costing $330.

I was in Portland a few weeks agog for a trade show, and came across a Dyson Airblade in the restroom.  It was the first time I saw one, and I came away very impressed.