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 […]
Mail Goggles and late night talk show hosts
I have a couple of amusing email-related links to share. If you have a problem with late-night drunk emailing, Google has a solution for you: “Mail Goggles: A breathalyzer test for your Gmail.” Similarly, do you know people who overuse smilies and exclamation points in emails? Do they happen to worship cats? Are you aware […]
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 […]
WordPress 2.6.1 upgrade (and Paul McCarthy)
Today spiral::notepad was upgraded to WordPress 2.6.1 (released yesterday). Everything basically looks the same, but now I’m current again with bug fixes, security patches and enhancements. Except I had to disable post revision in WordPress 2.6 (and disable/delay autosave), because all of that version tracking-related database clutter/bloat drives me crazy. Of course I still haven’t […]
Random technology, sports and humor
I’ve been so busy working, playing tennis tournaments and looking into houses to buy that I’ve forgotten to post. Anyway, here’s a quick list of things I’ve found interesting or funny over the past two weeks. If you’re in the IT industry, this is awesome: The Website is Down. Also, here are a couple of […]
Friday the 13th: Radiohead remix and cool games
Hey, I was actually able to hold out for nine days before posting again. Below are some highlights I’ve been compiling for a couple of weeks. Music The remix of Radiohead’s “Nude” by James Houston using a bunch of old computer hardware is awesome. Don’t get discouraged by the extended intro. A Sinclair ZX Spectrum […]
Miniature disasters and the Democratic nomination
Today this blog turned six years old. I’ll take a cake with marzipan icing, please (but hold the marzipan babies). Mmm . . . sugar-almond paste. Yesterday was a weird day of accidents in Corvallis. Driving to work in the morning, I was forced to stop because the westbound lanes of Philomath Boulevard had been […]
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 […]
The Soup Mines, elephant artists, Obama
Here’s a very Don Hertzfeldt-esque webcomic that I just found and enjoy: The Soup Mines! Do you know about the elephant artists from Thailand? They are elephants who can paint representational forms (well, some seem to be abstract artists). Mostly they choose to paint flowers and trees. But a few elephants can apparently paint fairly […]
WordPress 2.5 upgrade
Today spiral::notepad was upgraded to WordPress 2.5 (released yesterday). The basic design of my custom theme has stayed the same, but I took this opportunity to add some features and widgets I had wanted to implement in my theme for awhile. WordPress 2.5 improvements include “multi-file uploading, one-click plugin upgrades, built-in galleries, customizable dashboard, salted […]