January 30, 2008

Need to Know Who the Daddy Is?

Or detect mutations or solve a crime or....

You need PCR!

I recommend full screen mode.

Posted by Steve on January 30, 2008 | Comments (1)

January 28, 2008

How Sweet It Was; How Sweet It Will Be

This was the last time* we will have the great pleasure of listening to w speak a state of the union address.

Or listen to only the last 10 minutes as I was blessed with...really, how could I have forgotten so easily?

*Trust me on this: if you, I or anyone else hear w speak another sotu we are all in really deep shit and will be regretting that we did not pay more attention to exercising the 2nd amendment while we could.

Posted by Steve on January 28, 2008

Nasty Business

Ok, more than you might want to know....

It started out one evening a week ago with a slightly scratchy throat; no big deal.

The next night I was out, in bed, gone for 20 hours before I thought I was starting to get better. Ok, a major hit of acute bronchitis. The symptoms seemed to match.

After a day of seeming recovery, it hit again. Alternating fever and low body temperatures; no energy; no, less then no energy; aches; headache; etc. Now it was acting like a particularly virulent flu.

Yesterday and today getting slowly better. Still temperature problems and low energy, cough, and all the other symptoms of a cold.

Whatever the hell this bug is do not get it!

Posted by Steve on January 28, 2008 | Comments (2)

January 25, 2008

Friday Ark #175

We'll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and....?

Visit all the boarders, Link to the Ark and check back for updates through Sunday afternoon!

You can find out how to board the Friday Ark at the Arkive page.

ALERT: Our boarding crew is sick...expect delays...

Alert Update 1/27 18:47 EDT: Apologies to everyone we have not boarded yet. Still sick... We will complete boardings as soon as possible.

Cats

Dogs

Birds

Invertebrates

  • The Backyard Arthropod Project: Snow Fly

Other Vertebrates

In Memoriam

Didn't Make It

  • The Daily Kos: Marine Life Series - Megalodon boarded 1/28

Exceptions (inclusion not guaranteed)

  • x

Extra, Extra: All Ark boarders are invited to shout out at the Friday Ark Frapper Map.

Dog folks: remember to submit your links to:

Cat folks: remember to submit your links to:

Birders: I and the Bird: A Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers is published every 2 weeks.

For the spineless: Circus of the Spineless. A monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles.

For other current carnivals check out The Blog Carnival and The TTLB Uber Carnival

Posted by Steve on January 25, 2008 | Comments (6)

January 22, 2008

24: The Pilot

Here, straight from 1994 is the original pilot for 24:

Via Randy Barnett.

Posted by Steve on January 22, 2008

January 18, 2008

Friday Ark#174

We'll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and....?

Visit all the boarders, Link to the Ark and check back for updates through Sunday afternoon!

You can find out how to board the Friday Ark at the Arkive page.

Cats

Birds

Other Vertebrates

  • Outside My Window: Red Fox
  • First Draft: Friday Romance Novel Plagiarism Blogging ~ With Ferrets

Invertebrates

Dogs

In Memoriam

  • x

Didn't Make It

  • x

Exceptions (inclusion not guaranteed)

  • x

Extra, Extra: All Ark boarders are invited to shout out at the Friday Ark Frapper Map.

Dog folks: remember to submit your links to:

Cat folks: remember to submit your links to:

Birders: I and the Bird: A Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers is published every 2 weeks.

For the spineless: Circus of the Spineless. A monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles.

For other current carnivals check out The Blog Carnival and The TTLB Uber Carnival

Posted by Steve on January 18, 2008 | Comments (3)

January 17, 2008

Amricana flickr Collection

3115 photos from the 1910s, '30s and '40s recently uploaded by the Library of Congress:

We want people to tag, comment and make notes on the images, just like any other Flickr photo, which will benefit not only the community but also the collections themselves. For instance, many photos are missing key caption information such as where the photo was taken and who is pictured. If such information is collected via Flickr members, it can potentially enhance the quality of the bibliographic records for the images.
The flickr folks have some things to say about this as well.

Via Singing Loudly.

Posted by Steve on January 17, 2008

The Mustache is Fascist

Just watch:



Via Riba Rambles.


Posted by Steve on January 17, 2008

January 16, 2008

A Quick Fix for Obesity?

The genetic basis of human weight control is complex. New research suggests that as many as 6000 genes may be involved in determining body weight.

"Our results suggest that each newly discovered gene is just one of the many thousands that influence body weight, so a quick fix to the obesity problem is unlikely."
The idea that we as individuals, families and society can screw up our bodies and then go down to a Doc and get a quick fix is one of the major issues with rising health care costs.

Take care of yourself in the first place and most of you will not need a quick fix for obesity...be it a pill or bariatric surgery.

Don't get me wrong. I do not object to the research. Rather, I object to the idea that a magic pill or a genetic modification that will help you lose weight is the fix that is needed.

A long term solution is needed and that will mean dismantling a good part of the culture of obesity that we live in.

I'm overweight. I've already taken a short walk and I'll be on my erg in about 2 hours. Have you exercised today?

Posted by Steve on January 16, 2008 | Comments (3)

January 15, 2008

Connecting The Dots

Yet another tool to to paint a picture of the web.

The Touchgraph Google Browser is one of the cooler ones I've seen. Give it a keyword or a URL and presto, well almost presto, it gives you a context mapping based on Google information.

Even more fun, there are tools that let you fine tune your search, add delete sites, change colors, modify groupings, filter stuff, and so on.

You might want to save this to play with at home.....they also have browsers for Amazon and Facebook.

Let me know if you you figure out how to capture an image of the Java display.

Via Asymmetrical Information.

Posted by Steve on January 15, 2008

January 14, 2008

Cracking Free Software

I understand, though I do not condone, why thieves might seek out ways to circumvent the key protection used by a lot of commercially available software.

But, when the new release of a program is distributed free by its maker exactly what is the point of illicit distribution?

Feed Demon is a great reason to run Parallels or some other emulation software on your MAC. The last time I compared the two I liked FD much better than Netnewswire. Now that there is a new version of both I'll give the latter another look when time permits.

Posted by Steve on January 14, 2008

January 11, 2008

Friday Ark # 173

We'll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and....?

Visit all the boarders, Link to the Ark and check back for updates through Sunday afternoon!

You can find out how to board the Friday Ark at the Arkive page.

Cats

Birds

Dogs

Other Vertebrates

Invertebrates

In Memoriam

Didn't Make It

Exceptions (inclusion not guaranteed)

Extra, Extra: All Ark boarders are invited to shout out at the Friday Ark Frapper Map.

Dog folks: remember to submit your links to:

Cat folks: remember to submit your links to:

Birders: I and the Bird: A Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers is published every 2 weeks.

For the spineless: Circus of the Spineless. A monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles.

For other current carnivals check out The Blog Carnival and The TTLB Uber Carnival

Posted by Steve on January 11, 2008 | Comments (5)

January 10, 2008

The Bird's the Thing

One of the long banned works of Oscar Wildlife, “The Importance of Being an Ornithologist,” surfaces in Born Again Birdwatcher's presentation of I and the Bird #66.

Posted by Steve on January 10, 2008

January 9, 2008

Wednesday Skritchin'

You know what to do:

For a slightly different portrayal of pets and animals check out Caw to Art #5.

Enjoy!

Posted by Steve on January 9, 2008

January 8, 2008

Who's The Hot dem...?

Nationally, you might be a bit surprised.

Posted by Steve on January 8, 2008

January 7, 2008

Don't Take....

...candy from a stranger (...not quite work safe).

Posted by Steve on January 7, 2008

January 4, 2008

Appropriately Juxtaposed Headlines

The Dallas Morning News sends out their E-mail edition in the afternoon; go figure.

The following two headlines lead the Local News section of the edition that arrived in my inbox an hour or so ago:

Perhaps Mr Said, the subject of the first article, will be well rewarded by the sentiments of the second article.

Posted by Steve on January 4, 2008

Friday Ark #172

We'll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and....?

Visit all the boarders, Link to the Ark and check back for updates through Sunday afternoon!

You can find out how to board the Friday Ark at the Arkive page.

Cats

Birds

Dogs

Invertebrates

Other Vertebrates

In Memoriam

Didn't Make It

  • x

Exceptions (inclusion not guaranteed)

Extra, Extra: All Ark boarders are invited to shout out at the Friday Ark Frapper Map.

Dog folks: remember to submit your links to:

Cat folks: remember to submit your links to:

Birders: I and the Bird: A Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers is published every 2 weeks.

For the spineless: Circus of the Spineless. A monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles.

For other current carnivals check out The Blog Carnival and The TTLB Uber Carnival

Posted by Steve on January 4, 2008 | Comments (7)

January 3, 2008

Need Guidance? Just Ask...WWSSD



cruciohisass.gif

Via Joana.

.

Posted by Steve on January 3, 2008

Election Result Commentary

Why wait until tomorrow?

Athenae has already provided

A selection of posts, diaries, comments and rants from the blogosphere, Jan. 4, 2008

Pursuant to number 7 I am really looking forward to November 2008 when 20% of the population will select a new head thief for the country.

Posted by Steve on January 3, 2008

January 2, 2008

Marriage Advice

Getting married...Total Drek has some advice for you:

What many of you may not realize, however, is that when we got married my wife and I were also given some advice. I don't mean advice from my uncle Lester, I mean advice from the great state of California. This advice was given to us in the form of a handy little booklet that came tucked in with our marriage license:

Here it is...slightly modified.

.

Posted by Steve on January 2, 2008

January 1, 2008

Let's Start the New Year With Girls

Well, Geek Girls!

A bunch of them from last February's She’s Such a Geek Photo Contest held by Inkling magazine. Yes, quite work safe.

Let's hope they reprise this in 2008.

Via Lynn Kiesling.

Posted by Steve on January 1, 2008