| Sunday, January 27, 2008 |
12:04 - Harold and Kumar go to the Neutral Zone
http://movies.aol.com/movie-photo/star-trek-new-enterprise-cast-photos
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Check it out: photos of the people they're getting to play the young Kirk and Spock in the new Trek movie.
Karl Urban as Bones. <snort> I still can't get over that. Don't they have a cure for giant shoulders in the 24th century? And I love their pick for Sulu.
This could work. Even if just for comedy value.
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| Saturday, January 26, 2008 |
09:32 - The collapse of civilization continues apace
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What is it with the plummeting standards of grammar, spelling, and general editing literacy among people who are allegedly professional writers and announcers lately?
Just yesterday and today I've noticed three examples:
• In this Macworld article on the Microsoft Office 2008 permissions problem, Dan Frakes uses the phrase "free reign" rather than "free rein". Not an uncommon error, but when I posted a comment alerting him to it, he deleted the comment and left the text intact. Butthole. [UPDATE: The comment has been reinstated and replied to, it seems.]
• Autoblog has a post on the Hummer H3T which points to a scan from Truck Trend posted on HummerGuy.com.net, in which the title contains "Sneak Peak". Originally I thought this was something that actually appeared in the print magazine in question; but turns out it was just the site's header for the scanned sidebar, and Autoblog kept a screenshot just in case the post gets pulled. But even so, it's been immortalized now in raster graphics, and that's another bunch of readers who'll think "sneak peak" now has some form of legitimacy.
• On "How It's Made" last night, the announcer was describing the process of making wax dolls by melting various kinds of wax in a crucible... "...until it's homogenous." Not, as would be correct, homogeneous. Come on, guys. There are five syllables: Ho-mo-GEE-nee-ous.
Is the profession of "editor" one of those fading avocations that we'll one day look at with bemused nostalgia, like traveling salesmen or gas station attendants?
UPDATE: Gaaaaahhhhh!
UPDATE: Mark sends this scan from Car & Driver:
Not only are its sinews "taught", it apparently taps the ground with its tires at the edge of the parking space.
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| Friday, January 25, 2008 |
09:53 - Dude, I just got snaked by a Subaru
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/24/video-major-air-ken-block-and-his-flying-subaru/
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I suppose I should have known better than to compare skiing to race driving. This is quite a video right here.
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| Wednesday, January 23, 2008 |
01:36 - For the record
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It seems that for optimal ganache texture, the ratio of cream to chocolate needs to be two to three times higher than in this recipe.
This attempt was with 1 cup cream to 1/4 lb. Lindt 70%, and it's nice and creamy at room temperature yet sets up quite cooperatively when chilled. The ratio called for in the recipe turned into a lumpy gross broken mass in my earlier attempt.Though I was eventually able to salvage some of the batch, it was still a desultory anticlimax to have to dig the ganache out of the bowl with a spoon hefty enough not to get bent against the dry, concrete-like broken emulsion that had unattractively separated from all the cocoa butter. This time all I'll need is a melon baller and some warm breath and it'll form up quite nicely.
Trial and error. It tastes sweet.
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17:11 - Oops
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4183340.stm
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You're playing with mysterious fire there, China.
The government in Beijing is reported to be introducing the controls to deter people from playing for longer than three consecutive hours.
The measures are designed to combat addiction to online role-playing games such as World of Warcraft and Lineage II.
More than 20 million Chinese play games regularly, mainly in net cafes.
Extreme devotion
Games are serious business in China. Last year, Chinese players spent almost US$500m on online games.
The government has been encouraging the growth of online gaming. It is hosting a two-day games conference in September in Beijing in the hope of attracting more foreign investment.
But the phenomenal popularity of online games has fuelled concerns that some people may be losing themselves in the virtual worlds of massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG).
In one extreme case, a player killed a fellow player who had stolen his virtual sword. The gamer received a suspended death sentence in June.
The state encourageth, and the state taketh away.
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13:38 - Jewelboxing sound
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/23/bird-electrons-ez17-b-speaker-puts-your-old-ipod-
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Now this is pretty classy:
Turn your clear iPod box into a set of speakers. That's an excellent way to not have to feel bad about throwing that bit of packaging magic in the trash, if you ask me.
Via Mark.
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09:08 - And lead me not into useful achievement, but shield me from responsibility
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=509713&i
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You know...
"It is definitely discrimination, almost like a hate crime," 19-year-old Miss Maltby said yesterday.
The music technology student had this defence of her lifestyle.
"I am a pet, I generally act animal like and I lead a really easy life," she said.
"I don't cook or clean and I don't go anywhere without Dani. It might seem strange but it makes us both happy. It's my culture and my choice. It isn't hurting anyone."
The bus driver, however, has obviously not been listening.
He has repeatedly refused to allow Mr Graves, 25, and his "pet" on to his bus in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
Last month, with Miss Maltby on a leash as usual, the couple tried to board a bus at the bus station.
The driver, who was off duty, was standing near the door.
Mr Graves alleged: "He shoved me off the bus. He called us freaks and he called Tasha a dog.
If it's your choice, then you get to face the consequences of that choice. You don't get to demand that society indulge you or make accommodation for what you choose to do, especially when it's something you've deliberately chosen so as to tweak the "normals".
The couple, who live on benefits in a council house and plan to start a family, have been friends for years.
And especially when those "normals" are paying your way in the world.
And of course everyone's on these morons' side. Such is the learned collective guilt of success, I guess.
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| Tuesday, January 22, 2008 |
11:01 - This time for sure
http://apcmag.com/7874/windows_7_to_be_released_next_year
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I don't know who APC Magazine is, but...
A recently-release roadmap for the next major Window release – Windows 7 – indicates that Microsoft is planning to release the new operating system in the second half of 2009, rather than the anticipated release date of some time in 2010.
There are apparently three “milestone” builds planned for 2008, and the first one – M1 – has already shipped to key partners for code validation. M1 is for the English language build only, but is available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Microsoft has announced that Windows 7 will most likely be the last Windows operating system available in 32-bit, and given the rapid advances Windows Vista is making in the 64-bit computing market, this seems a sensible decision.
I sure hope they call it "Windows 7". You know, for consistency.
Via Chris.
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Brian Tiemann
