| Phoenix |
[May. 27th, 2008|12:20 am] |
|
Forget Wall-E. This is the greatest animated robot movie I've seen in some time. |
|
|
| My new band will be called |
[Apr. 24th, 2008|02:51 pm] |
|
the Subtle Pecans. |
|
|
| fully synthetic genome |
[Jan. 24th, 2008|05:50 pm] |
from the rehearsals-for-playing-god dept.
Scientists create synthetic genome
Scientists have synthesized the entire genome of a living organism — a bacterium — an accomplishment they say could lead to the development of artificial life.
The entire genome of the bacterium Mycoplasma genitalium is only 485 working genes, the smallest of any living organism that can replicate by itself. But researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Md., said the process could eventually be applied to create synthetic organisms capable of producing biofuels or cleaning up toxic waste spills. Previously. |
|
|
| holiday photos 2007 |
[Jan. 2nd, 2008|01:23 am] |
|
|
|
| Evel Knievel, RIP |
[Nov. 30th, 2007|11:13 pm] |
US daredevil Evel Knievel dies
Legendary US daredevil Evel Knievel has died at the age of 69, his granddaughter has said.
Knievel had suffered ill-health, including diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis - an incurable lung condition - for several years.
He underwent a liver transplant, after nearly dying of hepatitis C, in 1999.
Knievel gained cult status performing death-defying stunts in the 1960s and 70s, including an attempted motorcycle jump over Snake River Canyon in Idaho. |
|
|
| Random pictures |
[Nov. 22nd, 2007|12:15 am] |
I just uploaded a bunch of pictures from my cellphone camera.
And even more in the Random Observations gallery! |
|
|
| Split-flap announcement board |
[Nov. 19th, 2007|10:25 pm] |
Dear Internet:
If you really love me, you'll find me a salvage split-flap announcement board from an airport or train station, and give it to me for Christmas.
Thanks.
|
|
|
| Longest run to date: 11km |
[Nov. 7th, 2007|11:37 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | accomplished | ] | Tonight I ran 11km (in 10/1 intervals) -- all the way from my place to my friends' house up in the northeast. Took me about 1:20 -- but I did it. Ran 11km. Just kept running. |
|
|
| xkcd: dark times |
[Oct. 25th, 2007|11:48 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | thoughtful | ] |

"You make forgetting look so easy." |
|
|
| Well, we're being bought. |
[Oct. 13th, 2007|12:58 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | bioware | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | optimistic | ] |
Electronic Arts buys Bioware/Pandemic for $860 million
Apparently I can't say very much about the deal besides what you read in the press, because EA is publicly traded (gooooo ERTS!)
I'm positive, though. It's been an exciting year-and-a-half at BW, and it doesn't look like it's going to be any less exciting in the coming year. |
|
|
| more running |
[Sep. 6th, 2007|09:51 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | me | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | excited | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Alph-Lyla with Toshiaki Ohtsub: Again | ] |
I realized today that my next 5K race is, uh, Sunday morning. Decided to check today how I'm doing and charted out a 5K out-and-back route on Google Maps.
31:55! 4 weeks ago I ran the ING 5K in 36:50. That's a good five minutes down; have to see how things turn out on Sunday. Probably a little faster. This also means I'm running about 5K every time I go out; I usually run a little over half an hour 3 or 4 times a week. |
|
|
| iPod Touch |
[Sep. 5th, 2007|12:04 pm] |
With wifi. Honestly, people, this is what you do with a wifi-enabled music player. You let people buy music over the air, and then sync it back to your PC or whathaveyou.
I'm not sure whether this falls under "kicking the Zune while it's down" or "tapdancing on the headstone". Previously. |
|
|
| My Chemical Romance |
[Aug. 30th, 2007|05:38 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | me | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | My Chemical Romance: Welcome To The Black Parade | ] |
I'm listening to My Chemical Romance.
Clearly the end times are upon us. |
|
|
| PAX minus one week |
[Aug. 15th, 2007|11:35 pm] |
|
Okay, folks, it's one week to PAX. I'll be in Seattle from Friday through Monday. Anyone else going that I should know about? |
|
|
| I'm a runner now? |
[Aug. 11th, 2007|01:56 pm] |
I guess so. After taking the Running Room Learn to Run clinic for the last 10 weeks, I ran 5K today as part of the ING Marathon Weekend. I finished in 36:50, which is just a little bit faster (7:22 minute/km) than the practice pace we've been doing in the clinics. I felt pretty good at the end, too -- certainly tired, but not exhausted.
Haven't really decided whether to take another clinic just yet -- I don't really feel ready to start the 10K clinic. I might just keep running on my own for a while and work toward another 5K race (maybe the Open Minds Walk and Run on Sept 9?) and/or the 5 mile run/walk at the Fall Classic (October 21)...
now, back to the folk festival! |
|
|
| Idea: "Cthulhululemon" |
[Aug. 3rd, 2007|10:00 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | ideas | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | working | ] |
Iä! Iä! stretchy pants f'taghn!
thank you, that is all.
addendum: is it more properly spelled "Cthulhulemon"? furthermore, I need to make an appropriate version of the logo. |
|
|
| Tim Kreider bats one out of the park |
[Jul. 31st, 2007|10:17 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | touched | ] | The Author's Statement for his latest "The Pain: When Will It End?" begins...
Lately I’ve been thinking about Lisa Nowak, that astronaut who donned an adult diaper and drove hundreds of miles across the country to confront her romantic rival with pepper spray. The news media had a decent amount of fun with that story--the equivalent, in what passes for our national dialogue, of middle-school gossip and eye-rolling, everyone saying "Whatever" or "O-kaaaayyyy….". I think everyone was so eager to laugh at that pathetic woman because they all wanted to reassure themselves that she was crazy, her behavior was incomprehensible, that they would never do such a thing. But I think anybody who pretends not to be able to imagine what she was thinking is either naive or disingenuous. I understand exactly what happened to her. I recognized the symptoms immediately. She lost her shit.
Remember that pitiful mug shot of her face, looking so gaunt and disheveled, deranged and exhausted, utterly broken and lost? I've seen that face before, very recently, in the mirror. And so, I suspect, at one time or another, have most of us. And frankly anyone who hasn't isn't the sort of person I can fully understand. Most of us have just been lucky enough not to have that face photographed for the public record. But we shouldn’t let ourselves forget it, or the hours and weeks we spent curled up weeping on the bathroom floor, smashing things, sending ill-advised emails or having wrenching late-night phone conversations, watching whole seasons of TV series at one sitting, listening to the one song we could still stand to hear over and over, eating Froot Loops and bourbon, planning impulsive romantic proposals or scheming terrible revenge, sobbing in public, screaming and literally pounding the walls, praying out loud for the pain to stop. We’ve all worn the diaper.
... and continues from there. Go read it. |
|
|