7.27.2006
6:15pm

About a mile from our house in Palm Bay are Elmira Ave and Corning Ave. Google Map. When I was a kid my parents lived right next to the towns of Corning and Elmira in New York. Coincidence?

7.26.2006
8:10pm

I got my August National Geographic a few days early and there is some scary stuff in there about the future of our planet. The title story was about the intense hurricanes during the 2005 season, but there was also some serious discussion about rapidly rising CO2 levels and the impact it's proposed to have within the next 10 years ("A Deeper Shade of Green"). My favorite line from the article: "Historians, I think, will look back on this as the time when denial finally began to crumble." Combine that with a chart displaying the top causes of unnatural human death (heart disease takes first place at 1 in 5 chance) and it made for a grave read. Of course it all has to be tempered with the opposite viewpoint which says among scientists there is no general consensus that a global warming trend exists. I'd say the first half of this year (the hottest on record) might put a dent in that conjecture, but that's also very small time scale compared to geographic climate shift.

I found out about a company called Bigalow Aerospace today, because Nate found out that Julie Wikete works there now (she was a past Student Ambassador). Turns out the company is planning to build a space hotel of sorts (expandable habitats for space, per the web site). They are also offering the option to send photos / small objects into space for $295 each. I also noticed that they like to trademark phrases. I will have to keep an eye out for their name in the news to see if they get anywhere with their project.

There are only 3 and a half more weeks left until school starts. Tim is moving out in about a week I think since he's doing RA training.

7.23.2006
7:32pm

One of the better flash animations I have seen in a while: Ultimate Showdown. Hosted at Weebls-Stuff but looks like it was not created by them.

7.22.2006
2:05am

I saw Clerks II tonight. Heh there's a little something for everybody in there. And a lot of stuff for nobody in particular. That's all I'm going to say about that.

We also got to see the new Hyundai commercial during the trailers before the movie. It shows a lioness and a gazelle on an African plain; suddenly the lioness takes off after the gazelle at a dizzying pace and the gazelle sprints away just as quickly. The camera cuts back and forth between the gazelle and the lioness at an increasing pace to make it seem as though the prey it about to be overtaken. Then in the final cut scene, the gazelle and lioness have switched positions and the gazelle makes the fatal pounce onto the feline instead of vice versa... followed by the tagline "rethink everything." Of course it has already turned up on Google Video.

7.19.2006
6:28pm

How to sleep comfortably on a hot night. Might be useful if we lose power due to a hurricane or ice storm. Actually scratch that last one.

7.18.2006
11:25pm

House M.D. is one of the best TV dramas I've ever watched. It took a few episodes to grow on me, but now I appreciate the humor, sarcasm, and truly interesting cases that they present each week. I have only Dan and Cory to blame since they introduced me to the show earlier this year.

Today at Harris we had another Intern tour of the publication / printing center (same as last summer) but also a new tour of the FTI project (FAA telecommunications infrastructure). That's where Ron works for his summer internship and the overall program employs around 500 people which is huge compared to the other Harris programs. We got to see the network operations center where they handle incoming calls and monitor critical network functions and equipment. They get their current event updates via a 24/7 feed of Fox News. Insert political joke here. I did see that they were using my department's NetBoss software for some of their monitoring so that was neat.

7.16.2006
9:48pm

I'm ready for the 7th Harry Potter book to be published. Unfortunately it isn't due for about another whole year. There is quite a bit of information on Wikipedia about it but still entirely at teaser status right now. I decided to re-read book 6 this weekend and the ending is rather abrupt and left me wishing for closure to all the unanswered questions. I'm not obsessed or impatient enough to go read a bunch of fan fiction (no lack of it at fanfiction.net though), but I will be eager to buy the official copy the first day it's available.

I found out that coincidentally, today marked the 1-year anniversary of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" going on sale.

Last night we had a big poker game over at Ron's place; 10 people in all which meant the game lasted for about 5 hours. After that was over Tim and I listened to a few of the keyboard tunes that Ron has been developing... he's really good at improvisation and playing stuff by ear, like my Dad is. I never had that knack, but playing piano was still enjoyable in its own right. Tim is learning the guitar so it looks like I might have to start playing an instrument so we can jam together. I've always wanted to get one of those electric drum sets.

7.14.2006
7:29pm

This compact disc's remarkable performance is the result of a unique combination of digital playback with laser optics. For the best results, you should apply the same care in storing and handling the Compact Disc as with conventional records. No further cleaning will be necessary if the Compact Disc is always held by the edges and is replaced in its case directly after playing. Should the Compact Disc become soiled by fingerprints, dust or dirt, it can be wiped (always in a straight line, from center to edge) with a clean and lint-free, soft, dry cloth. Do not use conventional record cleaner on the disc. Do not expose the disc to direct sunlight, heat or humidity for a prolonged period of time.

Oingo Boingo - Skeletons in the Closet CD, 1989, case liner notes.

7.13.2006
7:39pm

I wrote a really short poem (yeah I can't believe it either):

Florida sky so bright and blue,
The flora and fauna all bow to you.
But come the rain and cracks of thunder,
All below feel fear and wonder.

Blades will bend and bows may break,
But wet the air doth its thirst slake.
When done the storm and all is calm,
Find a comfy spot 'neath that lone palm.

The fickle weather around here lately was inspiration.

7.12.2006
8:32pm

Network Computing had a funny blurb with the top 11 worst IT resumes:

11. Lead programmer of the SQL Slammer worm
10. As data analyst for the Dept of Veteran's Affairs, I often took work home
9.  Spearheaded the 2005 deployment of my company's Token Ring network
8.  Saved thousands of dollars in electricity by turning off the AC in the server room every night
7.  Certified in OS/2 Server support and Apple Newton repair
6.  Initiated personal project to find holes in corporate Web porn filter
5.  Designed a document management system when working for Arthur Anderson on Enron audit
4.  Successfully transferred $3.2 million in corporate funds to wife of former Nigerian oil minister
3.  Improved MP3 download speeds by switching from Kazaa to BitTorrent
2.  Set company record for most HIPAA compliance violations
1.  Assisted NSA agents with installation of network taps at AT&T

Also, Microsoft got fined $358 million today by the European Union for not complying with anti-trust legislation from back in 2004.

6:36pm

So I heard that federal and state government agencies can circumvent privacy restrictions on Facebook and view any profile under the protections of the Homeland Security act. Be warned all ye college hooligans with scandalous photos and profane quotations.

7.11.2006
12:46am

So apparently quite a few people went to see PotC:2 this past weekend. Domestic total is at $135M and overseas at $46M. They've only got a little ways left to go to recoup the $225M production expense. Actually subtract $5 from their domestic total because Oaks 10 accidentally charged me for two tickets but they're refunding the extraneous charge :)

7.9.2006
4:04pm

Yawn. Another boring weekend. Nobody to blame but myself I suppose :)

On Thursday night I went with Tim, Ron, and a few other people to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and that was entertaining. We were warned that it had sold-out on all 4 screens and seating would be filled, but there were still a few emtpy seats in the 4th theater that we were in. I guess some of the people decided not to stay up to ungodly hours of the night like we did. We didn't leave the theater until 2:30am since the movie was more than 2 hours long. I enjoyed most parts of the movie, not quite as much as the first, but my overall impression was positive. There are some cool action scenes, some humorous in-jokes on the first film, and Kiera Knightly does a better job of acting. All of the usual suspects from the first movie are back, one of whom you will be very surprised to see. The finale is a cliffhanger, thus Disney sets themselves up for the third film in the trilogy which should come out next year.

I've gotten myself hooked on Counter-Strike: Source again so I've been playing that on-and-off. Usually on the Lords of Carnage CS:S Pub server. I also played through the Half-Life: Lost Coast technical preview and I've gotta say that HDR (high dynamic range) is pretty awesome stuff and I hope to see it used more in the future. The lighting effects are as close to reality that you can get from real-time rendering.

7.4.2006
10:31pm

Happy Independence Day!

The VW Rabbit is back. Along with a new "birds and the bees" commercial that alludes to cars reproducing like rabbits. Ha ha. I didn't laugh quite as much as the "pimp my auto" commercials but it's still amusing in that Volkswagon sort of way.

YouTube rocks. I know they won't last forever but at least in the short-term it is an extremely popular site to post videos.

7.2.2006
12:42pm

Lighting off fireworks in Florida is illegal mmmkay? At least according to the Palm Bay cop that showed up to give us a warning last night. Ron and Courtney bought a variety pack from Phantom Fireworks after signing all of the requisite waivers... you know the ones that say you acknowledge they are illegal except for very limited cases like agricultural pest management. Anything that goes boom or flies up in the air is off-limits. So that leaves you with... sparklers and... hmm... candles? Kum bah yah. At least while we were outside we got to see some of the neighbor's more impressive mortars (they obviously spent more money). Oh and we did the responsible thing and cleaned up our mess.

Partners in crime:

7.1.2006
10:36am

You know you've been on the Internet too much when you dream about random web pages.