January 30, 2005
This is hard
I hurt for me. I hurt for her. But, I know it was the right thing to do.
Posted by John at 10:06 AM | TrackBack
January 28, 2005
scary shit
Here are some pics of creatures grounded by the Tsunami:
http://forum.openwater.ru/index.php?showtopic=611
Posted by John at 03:12 PM | TrackBack
January 27, 2005
Trying Zempt
In an effort to make my life (and server setup) even more confusing, I'm trying Zempt as an entry tool for my blog. Rather than having to log into my server and run all those cgi scripts on my pokey slow server, I'm hoping I can use this and cut down the churning. Hey, there's spellcheck! Oddly, 'Zempt', 'blog' and 'spellcheck' are not in the spellcheck.
Posted by John at 07:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
worried about weather
This Story entitled "Global warming approaching critical point" has me quite worried. This is not the first warning we've had that we're reaching a critical point regarding weather change but this time they've suggested that the change could be irreparable in less than a decade. With the major offender being the US and Bush in for almost half a decade yet, there is no chance that they will be working on cutting back their emissions. China is becoming a bigger part of the problem as they feverishly try to 'modernize'.
I'm sure we're going to see more and more that the 'strange' weather we've been seeing in the last few years becomes the new normal. Bigger winter storms like we're seeing on the East Coast, heavier rains like we're seeing on the West Coast. Warmer than ever in Utah, snow in Texas.
I can imagine that once the weather patterns change and widespread famine and calamity spread, anarachy will follow close behind. How will farmers know when or what to plant when the weather can no longer be predicted? Society will begin to break down and groups of armed bandits will rule the streets at night. (Sounds a little like Iraq, doesn't it?)
Yesterday on Daily Planet they had a story which talked about how 14% of the garbage in landfills in North America is food that people had thrown away. I'll bet once produce becomes more scarce we'll learn to use more of what we have.
I read somewhere that the balance of the world's ecology began to shift the moment man learned agriculture and began to settle down. Since that time we've acted like we aren't part of the planet but lords of it. We've hacked and built and altered it to fit us rather than working with it. This is not a new idea but I thought it was an interesting thought that it's been a downward slide since way back then.
I don't know what's going to happen but I have no doubt that it will radically affect all of our lives. World War 3 may be more about humanity versus the weather rather than some countries against others.
Quotes from the CNN story:
Global warming is approaching the critical point of no return, after which widespread drought, crop failure and rising sea-levels would be irreversible, an international climate change task force warned Monday.
According to the report, urgent action is needed to stop the global average temperature rising by 2 degrees Celsius above the level in 1750 -- the approximate start of the Industrial Revolution when mankind first started significantly polluting the atmosphere with carbon dioxide.Beyond a 2 degrees rise, "the risks to human societies and ecosystems grow significantly" the report said, adding there would be a risk of "abrupt, accelerated, or runaway climate change."
It warned of "climatic tipping points" such as the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets melting and the Gulf Stream shutting down.
Posted by John at 02:52 AM
January 25, 2005
Too much of a good thing
I have 21 programs running in my system tray. I should keep adding programs and see if I can get the tray to extend all the way over until it touches the Quick Launch bar.
Posted by John at 11:38 AM
January 24, 2005
Sign in Starbuck's bathroom
I think it's odd that you have to remind people working in the food industry to wash their hands after using the bathroom. I mean, if they're capable of reading you would think they'd be smart enough to realize that they should wash their hands. And, if they're not able to read, putting up a sign won't help anyway. So, assuming they're intelligent enough to read the sign: is it really necessary to include a 6 panel cartoon depicting how to do it!?
Posted by John at 03:23 PM
Sunday afternoon hockey
We went to see a St. Mikes hockey game yesterday. Our guys won against, um, the other team. [Edit: Belleville Bulls] I didn't do any investigation to see if they *should* have won. Some of the team member names were interesting. They had Savage and we had Good. They had Killing and we had Elder. Turns out that Good wasn't that 'good' and ended up in the penalty box a couple of times. Our guys pretty much dominated the game.
We also spent considerable time trying to figure out what the Major's mascot was supposed to be. It looked like a shaggy grey Pink Panther to me. We asked someone and they thought it was supposed to be a dog.
Posted by John at 02:46 PM
January 23, 2005
Chilled fish
It's about -17 degrees outside and the radiators in my apartment don't work. With the infused heat from the neighboring apartments and my little heater I have it up to 20 degrees in here. This is reasonably comfortable with a sweatshirt. The only problem is that it is just barely above the lowest level of acceptable temperature in the fishtank and I have to turn off the heater so I can go to bed. I don't trust this old heater to run unattended. Plus, it's electric and bloody expensive to run. I expect the apartment will cool down considerably before I get up in the morning and restart the heater and I'm not sure what's going to happen to the fish.
When I got home this afternoon after my class it was down to 14 degrees in the apartment and slightly less than the safe area in the fish tank. It's very possible that there is enough redisidual heat in the room to keep the fishtank to at least that level for the next 8 hours.
Ah, the responsibility of having $3.88 two-for-one guppies...
Posted by John at 12:17 AM
January 19, 2005
brush brush brush
If I had to choose one gadget from last year that I would take with me to a desert island, there is no doubt what I would choose. If I could take two gadgets the choice would be tougher. Without a doubt, my PDA is the most lifechanging device I've ever owned. Granted, there have been a stream of these lifechanging gadgets, but the idea of having a PDA has made my life so much easier. Having always been somewhat forgetful, I've always tried to find some method of making notes and then retrieving the info when needed. The PDA filled that bill. Now, with the Zire 72 I also have tha ability to play mp3's and take (admittedly low rez) pictures; my life is complete!
Which is exactly why it would be difficult for me to choose the second device to spend eternity with. I believe the most useful secondary choice would be my electric toothbrush. (Note that having electricity would be required of any deserted island I happend to be stranded on.)
I've always been blessed when it's come to my teeth. They're not perfect but I've never needed braces or such a thing, nor have I ever had a cavity. I'm sure most of this is genetics, but I've also been reasonably strict when it comes to mouth maintenance. I only use Crest toothpaste and I try to replace my brush quite frequently. So, switching to an electric brush last year was quite a risk. How am I to know if my manual brushing technique is what has saved me from the dreaded drill all these years? But, the feel of the teeth after using an electric toothbrush quelled my fears. Mmmmmmmm, smooth; just like after a dentists cleaning. And I have this everyday! Twice a day! It's pretty hard to resist.
Last year was the Year Of The Gadget and so there are a number of items to choose from. I have a GPS, a PVR, Digital Camera, cell phone, MP3 playing CD Player. Any of them would be a fine choice to wile away the lonely hours. I guess, since an island with electricity is just as likely to have cell phone coverage in this day and age, the cell phone would have been the most prudent choice. Regardless of that, I would not last a day without being able to run my tongue over my teeth and go, "mmmmmmm, smooooth."
Posted by John at 09:20 AM
January 17, 2005
Hero of type
Following the lead of my hero, Wil Wheaton, I have installed MovableType onto my site as my blog software.
I have to say that it was both easier and more difficult than I expected it to be. I had to install Perl and MySQL onto my Windows2000 machine and search the net for info on how to configure these on Win32 systems. Ultimately, it only took a few hours; which is far less time than I've spent installing much simpler software in the past.
I'm excited about this. I hope that it works well and that I don't spend more time configuring and troubleshooting than I do actually using it.
Posted by John at 06:53 PM | Comments (0)