Narwhal, Leeroy Jenkins and music videos
I’m going to start today’s post with some animals and Muppets, then move on to cartoons and video game characters and ultimately end up with singing, dancing, basketball-playing human beings. Go! Narwhal Narwhal are interesting, with their helical tusks. Compare and contrast Weebl’s Stuff’s silly looping Narwhals animation to this report about the real-life sea […]
Satellites and space debris (plus Achievement Unlocked)
Before I get into music and entertainment links, I will start with a depressing space-related science article chain. Satellites Uh-oh (Feb. 11): “Debris Spews Into Space After Satellites Collide.” Did this collision between a U.S. communications satellite and a defunct Russian satellite just create a new atmospheric minefield for future space launches? Very cool (Feb. […]
Super Bowl, CrackBerry, network neutrality, resveratrol
On the edge of a weekend that includes the Super Bowl, the finals of the Australian Open and the men’s basketball Civil War (starring Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson, who is Barack Obama’s brother-in-law), I have a bunch of random things to share. It’s interesting how Obama ultimately got to keep his CrackBerry, I […]
Barack Obama’s inauguration, Dear Sister revisited
Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States this morning. It’s exciting. It’s official. His speech was moving and hopeful. A new era of responsibility? Obama said: “This is the price and the promise of citizenship. This is the source of our confidence – the knowledge that God calls on […]
BCS National Championship in 3D (and the future)
Guess what? For the first time in the history of ever, the BCS National Championship is available to watch in Live 3D at a Cinedigm Digital Cinema theater near you. Apparently the closest Cinedigm theater to me is in Gig Harbor, WA (just northwest of Tacoma). There are no Cinedigm theaters in Oregon. I think […]
Thanksgiving with football, Coraline, World of Goo
This month, my “Lazy man’s Thanksgiving dinner for two” post from last November has, rather appropriately, become one of this blog’s most popular. With wins this weekend, both the Oregon State Beavers (8-3) and the Penn State Nittany Lions (11-1) stayed on track for a rematch in the Rose Bowl. OK, now I have some […]
Seven years in Oregon (and SecondLight, air cars)
I’ve lived in Oregon for seven years now. So, how true is the myth that all atoms in the human body get turned over, or regenerated, every seven years? Has my body become 100% Oregonian? Well, the seven-year-regeneration idea may actually be true of some cell types, on average, but probably not all. According to […]
MLB 2008 payrolls, Repo! and randomness
Considering the outcome of this year’s Major League Baseball playoffs, it’s time to mention MLB payrolls. Of the 30 franchises, the three teams with the highest payrolls (New York Yankees, New York Mets and Detroit Tigers) did not make the playoffs. In fact, the Yankees actually eclipsed $200 million this year. What a waste. The […]
Beavers upset USC, first presidential debate, Sarah Palin
On Thursday, the Oregon State Beavers held on to upset the No. 1 USC Trojans and damage their national title hopes for the second time in three years. This year the score was 27-21. Since 2006, the Trojans have posted a paltry 2-3 record against teams from Oregon while running up a 22-2 record against […]
Smartphones (Android, G1, Shadow II) and Google Chrome
Now that I’ve been back from vacation for a few days, it’s time for a lengthy tech post. I will most likely get a new cell phone (and two-year plan) sometime between now and the end of October, probably through T-Mobile because their monthly plans are the least expensive. But what phone to choose? There […]