iKitchen
Okay I finally got through the
iKitchen tutorial. Needless to say I think the whole planning / engineering of the project is overboard in some areas, and not enough in others.
Things I would have considered doing...
- mount the screen on the wall (to save counter space)
- consider mounting the mini somewhere the CD/DVD drive would have been accessable (and NOT a place it was susceptible to kitchen dirt, debris and SPILLS!). Make a mounting bracket under one of the top counters perhaps?
- his ideas for cable management were okay, some I still dont understand (why oh why would you pull the Power LED and powerbutton is beyond me. Yes I realize he stuffed the unit under the counters, but (as mentioned in #2) I wouldn't have considered that for a possible area for placement... too much that could go wrong if you ask me.
IMHO: Nice idea, questionable implementation.
Don't get me wrong, I think the idea is great! and I'm sure he had his reasons to make the decisions he did. My situation is a bit different so I would, of course, go about doing things differently.
But its cool to see the process and notes of his thinking behind it all.
when I get a kitchen of my very own, I imagine I'll do something similar. [GRIN]
Yes, yes... That's very impressive... NEXT!
I'm used to Apple being a shameless self promoter. Most of the time I don't mind. But recently they have been tooting their own horn about
Team Banzai. The fact is... Yes, the project is very impressive. they loaded up a VW Touareg (named Dora) with computers running Mac OS X (no, so far I haven't found which version, assuming its Tiger), and have make it completely automated. In other words, the car drives itself! Yeah, like I said, its an impressive feat!
The problem I have is I've recieved countless emails from apple (I'm on many of their newsletter lists) about it. From their developer to quicktime, all it seems have featured Team Banzai this week. Its getting a bit old and I feel Like I'm being beaten over the head with it.
Hey Apple, find something new to write about huh? How about writing about that handsome young man who graces your education site? Yeah, the
one in the light blue shirt, up front. he seems like a fairly interesting fellow! [Grin]
Shuttle Grounded
Sad news today...
After reviewing the footage of material that came off the Space shuttle during its launch. The shuttle fleet has been indefinitely grounded. This is bad news, and now I begin to wonder if I'll ever get to see a shuttle launch.
Lets see what the coming months will bring.
Space Shuttle Debris Report! (this ones funny)
NASA Held a Preliminary Report on the new measures put in place for debris assessment at 5:30pm EDT today.
The initial report does show that there were a few "debris events" during launch. I think we can all agree that all launches would have a couple. But this launch actually has one of the funniest. As the launch began, before the shuttle even cleared the launch tower the large orange tank, know as the External Tank (ET), struck a bird in flight. No harm came to the orbiter from this event. Click on the image for a larger view!
Have you ever had one of those days?
[
Clarificaton: I've had a few emails sent my way on my mental state at the time of this picture. No! I was NOT high or drunk at the time. It was an experiment, a few months ago I wanted to see what I looked like first thing in the morning. You can see the results, pretty scary! ]
Let's face it... I'm not a morning person. In addition, I don't deal with people very well in the morning. Needless to say I had to get up earlier than normal and the first person I dealt with today was an ASSHOLE!
So I've been in a fucked up mood all day. A complete 180 from yesterday. I was in a good mood damnit!
On a equally depressing note:
James Dohan, Star Trek's "Scotty" died today! Rest in peace my friend!
His Purple badness himself...
much 2 the amusement (or dismay) of many of my friends & family, I'm an admitted teen of the 80's & Prince Junkie! I LOVE his funky sound! Let's face it... U have 2 have some respect 4 some1 who has mastered over 20 instruments!
Its been a while since I spent sometime with the "Purple 1" and it might just show, I've been 2 grumpy with most aspects of life lately. So I cracked open my collection today. (Including the
Coverville podcast dedicated 2 his songs, GREAT show by the way, Thanks Brian!!!)
Needless 2 say, I can't help but B happy and upbeat after listening 2 songs like "Kiss", "Erotic City" & "The Beautiful 1s"
Personal Note: 4 any1 who might have noticed the use of numbers & letters instead of writing out the word. (ex: "1" instead of "one", "4" instead of "for") Yes this was done intentionally, This was a common convention used in all of Prince's Linernotes... Just so you know! [Grin]
Lighting up North
Okay admittedly... this is a crappy shot and I've tried to clean in up as much as possible... But the cool thing is I got this shot just a few short mins ago...
Pretty neat huh?
SciFi Friday: Afterthoughts
Okay...
I finally got to see SciFi Friday... Thankfully my Roomie was good enough to record it for me last night while I was out!
My thoughts in a word... WOW!
SG-1: It was good to see Ben Brower (Lt Col. Cameron Mitchell) take the lead for the SG-1 team. Lots of backstory for this new character! It was also good to see Claudia Black (Vala). (For those scifi freaks out there, you'll remember that Ben & Claudia co-stared in their own series, Farscape. Great to see them working together again!) The season premier was the first in a two parter... the beginning of Ben's custodial duties as the lead for SG-1 was good, but I'll have to get back to you on that next week when the second part concludes.
Rick's Rating: 4 Stars SG: Atlantis:This was the one I've been waiting the last four months for.... We see the what happens to the Atlantis crew... And questions get answered. Will Sheppard sacrifice himself to distroy a Hive ship? Are Ford & Teyla killed by overpowering Wraith forces? What about the last remaining Hive ship? and, of course, Where the Hell is
The Daedalus, the second earth ship being sent to back up the efforts of Atlantis? These get answered and new twists emerge!
Rick's Rating: a perfect 5 Stars!!!Battlestar Galactica:The darker, grittier update to the late seventies SF series BSG was left on a cliffhanger! Commander Adama was shot. Starbuck disobeys orders to find an ancient relic back on Cylon controlled Caprica and the fate of the scout ship that crash lands on Kobol! Are any of these resolved in the season opener? Nope not one, but its a great story and will most likely keep you in your seat wanting more next week!
Rick's Rating: 4.5 stars! A great way to start off the season for all three shows!
But it gets better!
Next week, we see the SciFi channel premier of FireFly! This prematurely cancelled show will start the friday lineup and will no doubt create more fans for the release of Serenity, the FireFly movie due out this fall!
Until then, buckle your seatbeats this season of SciFi Friday looks to be a great one!
Forgot all about this!
Yep your humble narrator has been dubbed less than average by hotornot.com.
What a damn shame!
I did this... Geez, over a year ago as a bit of friendly competition with a friend of mine... He won.
But I remembered it today and wanted to see were I stood. Nothing very surprising, might experiment with it and change out the pic and see what happens.
For those who might be concered if I'm hurt by this... fear not! Remember, I'm the geeky smart kid, thats way better than being "Beautiful"! Besides I have bigger fish to fry than to entertain bored, insecure, 'net surfers, looking for a date!
Anyhoo, On to the next BIG Project!
Oh BTW: Dont rate me, serously its not a big deal!
SciFi Friday
This is it Folks!
Tonight we find out how Ben Browder & Claudia Black do on SG-1, See what the crew of Atlantis do to fight off the Wraith & Learn how gracefully Adama takes a bullet to the gut!
For SciFi folks its been Months of waiting... The waiting has ended!
Personally I think Ben will do a fine job on SG-1, its a shame that Claudia's Character, Vala, will be more of a cameo appearance. As a fan of Farscape, I loved both characters. We've seen Vala in action as a Con artist with an affinity for S&M. It's one of my favorite episodes of SG-1's season 8.
Next up: Atlantis, My new favorite SF show. I personally love all the cast of characters and the season finale was a HUGE cliffhanger! Sure... we all know that they'll win... but at what cost? Remember, They lost Peter in the season finale and the writing crew promised more suprises!
Finally, BSG
Starbucks on Caprica, Boltar and Six Stranded, Boomer's a Cylon, The President is under arrest and Adama's been shot! I can't think of anything to add to that.
Grab the beer, pass the popcorn and settle in for the season premiers!
Enjoy!
The invasion of the Earthships!
Earthships have been around for a while now. Environmentally friendly, and self-sustaining homes have come a long way since their "hippy" roots. Solar, Geothermal & Water reclamation technologies have improved considerably since the first versions.
I've been thinking about looking into one... theres only one real drawback I can see. Bandwidth.... I need it and areas that could accomidate an earthship aren't generally cable internet accessable. Will have to look into alternatives unless something truly revoltionary comes down the pipe!
I'll keep you updated on my findings and you'll be sure to hear any progress I make on actually making my earthship dream a reality!
For more info on Earthships go to:
Earthship Biotecture
Escape Pod
I'm actually ashamed I haven't shared this with friends and my "audience" before now.
Escape pod is a podcast. (I'm sure most of you have heard of them by now... if not refer to
This link about Podcasting) Escape pod is a show that specializes in short SF stories (typically 3-45 mins) Thy are great for your daily commute and take on the feel of the short stories found in the pulp SF magazines of days past.
If you a fan of the genre, this one comes HIGHLY Recommended! They accept submissions, if you are a writer (I'm not much of one, but I've been writing a few in hopes they'll accept one) and they also accept donations... (they do pay their writers for their work)
But don't take my word for it... Go check out their site
site. My current favorites are
In His Footsteps &
Snow Day. but all are worth a listen.
Now go and enjoy some SF!
A Scanner Darkly
Yep, I've heard about it over the last few months or so, But I've only just seen the preview for the film. It looks HOT! The Jury will still be out until I see the film (Due out April 2006), but from the preview it looks to be one of the closer interpretations of any PDK (Thats Philip K Dick, for you non SF readers) Book to date.
This brings up the SERIOUS need to dig around in my bookcase and re-read the book! But until then...
Check out the trailer
Great-Granddad
I spent the day helping mom with some of the things she's doing on her computer today. She's been using hers for genealogy...
I helped her use her flickr account to post pictures to the messageboards she frequents.
Heres one we did today. He's my Great-Graddad Fred! Everytime I've seen this picture, I can't help but think of the Animations from Monty Python. I've often been tempted to create one!
Well heres to another weekend that flew by!
Hope everyone enjoyed theirs!
AudioBlogging is back!
Sure its probably never been away that long to begin with, But they changed their number and I just had to post a stupid little something. Prepare yourself for more in the future!
The City in the morning.
reach up for the sunrise
put your hands into the big sky
you can touch the sunrise
feel the new day enter your life
- "(Reach Up for The) Sunrise", Duran Duran
I took a few shots and posted them to flickr in hopes it'll get the shuttlebug bitin' again. Heres to hoping I return to my old form.
UPDATE! GOD! I miss Hockey!
UPDATED LINK:
[It appears the original link posted for this video went down, I found a new one so all can enjoy again!]
Yup,
Footballs over, basketball sucks and the NHL will not be around this year.
How depressing...
So I'm collecting all sorts of Hockey related media in its place. Hopefully that will quell some of this need for slapshots to the five hole and hockey fights. First on this list is a fine ad from the molsen folks. Its funny as hell and a MUST see for any hockey fan. So the non-hockey savvy this may not appear to have anything to do with the sport. But trust me, I've you wondering why your Hockey buddies are laughing their asses off to this commercial... have them explain after they stop rolling on the floor!
Quite possibly the funniest hockey ad EVER! Enjoy!
Techsavant
You did want?!?!
Today I spoke with a friend who asked me to come fix a few things on his website. He's a good guy and always makes sure I'm well compensated for my time.
It's usually cash or even a nice dinner somewhere. For me thats prefectly alright! Today was a bit different. Today He wanted to take me to a strip club. First and foremost... it was a very generious offer! But I had to decline. Back in the day, I would have jumped at the chance. These days its a bit different.
Don't get me wrong I enjoy seeing naked young ladies as much as the next guy. But five years of NO female companionship has a tendancy to get to you. The life of a geek I suppose.
Maybe because I'm getting older, maybe its because the last few experiences made me feel like a leach. most likely a combination of the two.
Needless to say, The deal was for dinner again. I'm more than happy with the arrangement. I'm thinking a good steak!
London Underground Bombings
It was the first thing I woke to today...
Hearing news of the London Bombings that happened while I slept. The news saddens me on a day that should be a rather happy one. Today also marks the anniversary of my families arrival to the United States, 28 years ago today! I was seven at the time.
My condolences go out to all the families that suffer from todays tragic events.
