Archive for May, 2008

Microsoft-Yahoo wedding called off (plus ceiling cats)

Today Microsoft said that it was abandoning its blockbuster bid to acquire Yahoo after the two companies could not agree on a price: “Microsoft Withdraws Its Bid for Yahoo.” Probably for the best. The news reminded me of this video: Microsoft designs the iPod package. Awesome. Every company has its own strengths, right? Remember the […]

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Map of Strange, interactive satellite maps, Sarcasma

Here’s a well-worn concept for the day: Sports as a metaphor for life. That’s part of what makes following sporting events so compelling. I enjoyed this ESPN video: SportsCenter Flashback: Chris Paul Pays Tribute To His Grandfather. CP3 scored exactly 61 points, as planned, during a game in high school. In related news, the New […]

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Tower defense games, Oregon tennis tournaments

This is a quick two-part post. If you are one to become addicted to games, I’d suggest not reading the first part. The second part is for summer Willamette Valley tennis tournament enthusiasts only. Tower defense games Last year a couple of my friends lost weeks of their lives trying to complete Xeno Tactic, a […]

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Cats and ducklings: Part one

Happy Mother’s Day! I was going to hold off posting about all of our recent cat and duckling experiences for a bit longer, but I’ve been inspired by Google’s avian-themed logo doodle for Mother’s Day. It looks like they’ve got a white pekin duck mothering two mallard ducklings. Hooray for adoptive parents. Unless that’s a […]

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Cats and ducklings: Part two

This is a continuation of Cats and ducklings: Part one. Since our cat Smokey died on Sunday, April 6 and was cremated on Thursday, April 10, these became two significant dates in our search of a new companion for lonely Eli. Reincarnation is a comforting idea, especially for grieving mothers. Soon enough, a litter of […]

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Snow in the Quad, flags for Iraq, Fusion Man

Today was the third annual Snow in the Quad rail jam event on the Oregon State University campus. Read an article on last year’s Snow in the Quad in The Daily Barometer. Here’s a YouTube video and some Flickr photos by Blair Cook from last year’s Snow in the Quad. And here are OSU webcam […]

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Oregon primary election and random links

Oregon’s vote in the primary elections almost mattered this year! Barack Obama won easily, as expected. The Oregon primary election, held yesterday, was apparently the “most exciting Oregon primary in 40 years.” With the party nominations usually wrapped up well in advance of May, it’s not often that Oregon gets to be marginally relevant in […]

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WebVisions 2008 in review: Part one

On Thursday and Friday, May 22-23, I am attending the WebVisions 2008 conference at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. (Also see my review from WebVisions 2007. I didn’t compose a write-up when I attended in 2005 and 2006.) Below is a quick (read: marginally coherent) overview of all five sessions I attended on Thursday, […]

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WebVisions 2008 in review: Part two

This is a continuation of WebVisions 2008 in review: Part one. On Thursday and Friday, May 22-23, I attended the WebVisions 2008 conference at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland. Below is a quick overview (or: potentially understandable scrawling connected by lots of ellipses) of all five sessions I attended on Friday, with links. Many […]

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Windows 7, Dell XPS M1330 with XP, fun movies

If you don’t care about Windows operating systems, skip to the bottom of this post for the fun movie stuff. For the rest of you poor souls: The unveiling of Microsoft Windows 7 last night at the D6 Conference reminded me that I never shared my process for reformatting my Dell XPS M1330 laptop from […]

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Flavor tripping with miracle fruit (and Snuff)

Interested in flavor tripping? Try the miracle fruit. It’s a cranberry-sized West African berry (Synsepalum dulcificum) that numbs your sour and bitter tastebuds for a couple of hours after eating it, making certain foods taste weirdly sweet. Flavor-tripping parties are being held in New York City and San Francisco. The New York Times reports on […]

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