Geek

More random updates

The vet called back today with the results of Sebastian’s bloodwork and fecal workup. As I predicted, she told us that he was amazingly healthy, especially for an older cat. She also said that he was the loudest cat he’d ever treated. Not bad for a cat who is basically a geriatric.

Also, tonight we beat [...]

The future is here, and kinda scary

I use a program called Subversion to keep all my documents syncronized between my various computers. And recently I copied all my documents onto an 8 GB USB drive that I picked up from Woot.com. After I did that I saw that I had more than six GB left. That means that my total repository [...]

Not really a map geek, but…

From the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection comes what it possibly the coolest overlay for Google Earth ever: a collection of historical maps which you can overlay on Google Earth. Here’s a screenshot from my own computer:

I’m not really a map geek myself, but I do have a fondness for historical maps and globes, so [...]

A Nautical, Musical Treasure

Awhile ago, my musical friend Stephen Whitehead sent me this nautical treat:

I SO want to write a story about pirates now!  But The Solitude of the Tentacled Space Monster calls…
(And a PS to those reading this on my LJ.  The MP3 enclosure doesn’t seem to have translated properly.  I’m still trying to figure out how [...]

Eep. And squawk.

Tomorrow I turn 39.
I’m freaking out.
In other, more random news, the Marabou stork, which hails from sub-Saharan Africa, is quite possibly the ugliest bird on God’s green earth.

Richard Crawford, Live

I was just on the radio, on a program called Insight, which is produced by our local National Public Radio affiliate, KXJZ. And because I am currently going through my monthly respiratory infection which is zapping my lungs yet again, I dosed myself up with albuterol and decongestants and all kinds of things so [...]

On a more technical note

Most readers of my blog (and associated LJ) won’t care about this, but maybe someday someone doing a Google search will need to know the answer to this issue, which took me a day to figure out.
The problem: attempting to install Xubuntu 6.10 on an old IBM thinkpad keeps failing.  The install process gets midway [...]

The point of philosophy for a writer

So, I’ve got a degree in Philosophy. Everyone to whom I’ve told that has asked me Why. “What did you think you were going to do with that?” they ask, incredulous. “Did you think you would do anything useful with a philosophy degree? Is what you’re doing now at all philosophical?”
Usually, [...]

The 95 Theses of Geek Activism

I don’t usually repost things that I find elsewhere on the web in my blog here, but in this case I’m making an exception. I am happily, and in the spirit of the theses themselves, reprinting this from the Science Addiction blog.  I don’t agree with all of them, but they’re all important points.
The 95 [...]

A Sad Day In Chelonia

Charles Darwin’s tortoise dies - Top stories - Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au
Harriet was 176 years old.  Imagine that; imagine being a tortoise 176 years old.  This was the tortoise that Charles Darwin studied on that Galapagos.  She was around during the Civil War, and during both World Wars.  Nations have risen and fallen since [...]

Ruminations on a Zeppo

The cold I picked up in Ireland appears to have mutated into some sort of annoying permanent viral respiratory infection which has knocked me on my ass for the past couple of weeks. I’m extremely fortunate in that I can work from home while sick, which means I can stay close to my nebulizer [...]

Ruminations on a Vampire Slayer

Over the past month or so, I’ve been sick with a persistent URI (though my doctor and I are working on a different theory now — more on that some other time), and I’ve been taking advantage of the situation to rewatch all seven seasons of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Angel.  Of course I’m [...]

The Not-a-schmuck report, #1

On the other hand, not everyone in the world is a schmuck.
Dean Kamen is not a schmuck. If the man who gave us the insulin pump and the Segway (commercially a flop but technologically brilliant) wants to turn his brilliant mind to the problem of delivering power and clean water to the underdeveloped populations [...]

Snips and Dribbles

In which I expound on cynicism, politics, science, and other random topics. Because I’m bored and unfocused.

Supraluminal

I just think that the word “supraluminal” — which means “faster than light” — is cool. Isn’t it? It’s actually a really pretty word. Something you’d name your daughter, right?
The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second, more or less. Nothing in our universe can travel faster than that, not if they want to [...]