Archives for: November 2006

11/27/06

  08:08:38 pm, by Nimble   , 393 words  
Categories: Thoughts, Politics

Ted Morton?

Has the Calgary Sun become less conservative over time, or is Ted Morton really that spookily right-wing a character? Dining on fabulous nosh at Willy's (and strangely, finding the owners had used turkey bacon as a substitute for bacon), I opened up… more »

11/26/06

  05:06:28 am, by Nimble   , 2998 words  
Categories: Reviews, Books, Science

Universe in a Nutshell : Stephen Hawking

I must admit, that apart from the pretty pictures, light humour and some interesting background on Einstein, I was pretty disappointed in this book. It starts out well, but holes appear in it later, not just the black kind, and a lot of space is spent… more »

11/25/06

  01:21:44 pm, by Nimble   , 104 words  
Categories: Thoughts, Common Sense, Science

Coolest Skeptic's Video Ever

This video of a talk by Michael Shermer is definitely one of the niftiest videos you may see about how your senses can be fooled. He's the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine. I must admit, though, I've bought the magazine before, and struggled to… more »

11/21/06

  07:53:45 pm, by Nimble   , 545 words  
Categories: Thoughts, People

When Is A Prize Not A Prize?

About a week back, I got a phone call that I had won a prize in the Jysk draw: a free meal for up to five couples at the China Rose. That part sounded great, but my alarm bells went off a little when they talked about having a fire safety presentation… more »

11/20/06

  08:00:42 pm, by Nimble   , 170 words  
Categories: Thoughts, Internet

Badware

I was trying to look up the lyrics to a few Scissor Sisters songs, since they sound Bee Gees-like and my mother loved the Bee Gees, just because I'd heard that some of their lyrics were questionable. So I click on the first lyrics site (lyrics and… more »
  02:44:50 am, by Nimble   , 147 words  
Categories: Distractions, Toys

Prodikeys

I had been gazing at the Saitek Eclipse II Backlit Keyboard with some longing, but now there's another product that is giving it some serious competition in the Ritchie saliva production department: Prodikeys. I have long lamented that I have no space… more »

11/17/06

  11:00:11 pm, by Nimble   , 136 words  
Categories: Distractions

How To Dunk A Biscuit

Len Fisher, author of How To Dunk A Doughnut came to the aid of the Mad Labs crew to try to help perfect dunking biscuits for the maximum in slightly soggy flavour-boosting without the dreaded plop of soaked-through cookie crumbs into the bottom of your… more »
  02:07:55 am, by Nimble   , 337 words  
Categories: Announcements [A], Thoughts, Common Sense, People

Microlending Earns The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize

I caught an interview with Muhammad Yunus on the Daily Show, founder and director of the Grameen Foundation. He and the foundation split the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for work on microfinance and microlending as a tool against poverty. Microfinance is a… more »
  01:45:47 am, by Nimble   , 113 words  
Categories: Announcements [A]

Permanent Stamps

I had to blink a few times when I was picking up a parcel today, from a sign I saw at the post office. Canada Post has at last brought the concept of the "permanent stamp" across the pond. This is a stamp for a particular function (in this case,… more »

11/16/06

  06:56:29 pm, by Nimble   , 40 words  
Categories: Distractions

Poland Will Appear Again

According to this blog on MSDN, Poland has been missing for quite a while. Is it Brigadoon Poland? Is it really a sea? Apparently, Poland will rejoin us in Windows Vista. Until then, enjoy the mystery of the Polish Triangle. more »

11/15/06

  12:38:38 am, by Nimble   , 2337 words  
Categories: Thoughts, Programming

Delphi .NET Fun

I'm making a card game - a physical one, not a computer one, so I decided to give myself both a learning experience and a tool to help print out the cards by pulling down Turbo Delphi for .NET at home and try to program the entire thing with the… more »

11/14/06

  10:05:49 pm, by Nimble   , 283 words  
Categories: Thoughts, Common Sense

UPS Follies

Wow, UPS is not making it into our good books this past week. more »

11/11/06

  02:40:42 pm, by Nimble   , 386 words  
Categories: Reviews, Television

Robot Chicken : Season 1

Robot Chicken is one further step in the return of animation to the world of adults. Well, in this case, not drawn animation. Stop-motion animation. Isn't stop-motion animation expensive? Well, yeah, if you make all your models from scratch and stuff.… more »

11/09/06

  07:30:18 pm, by Nimble   , 1325 words  
Categories: Thoughts, Programming

The Essence of Algorithms

I was helping a co-worker puzzle out an algorithm or two today, and he got me to go back through the steps I took to come up with an appropriate algorithm. It's a skill I have that comes from the combination of experience and a little bit of ability,… more »

11/06/06

  10:52:45 pm, by Nimble   , 424 words  
Categories: Distractions, Thoughts, Languages

The Accent Archive

Ah, a web project after my own heart. The Accent Archive is a project in which speakers of many backgrounds read the following paragraph: Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these things with her from the store: Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five… more »

11/04/06

  03:34:37 pm, by Nimble   , 33 words  
Categories: Distractions, Stores, Toys

Anatomy & Science Gifts

Sites catering to anatomical supplies, in particular, have some pretty unusual gifts. How about Bones Socks? Or, overwhelm your opponents with a Blinded by Science T-Shirt? Or some syringe pens? Amazingly goofy stuff :) more »
  03:03:00 pm, by Nimble   , 298 words  
Categories: Distractions, Thoughts, Politics

The Ultimate Godwin

This video has been showing up in a few places. Sometimes associated with a "Don't Vote For Bush!" theme, sometimes not. It's an old educational video by the 'war department', and you can find it listed as "Don't Be A Sucker". It's a 17 minute… more »

11/03/06

  12:49:01 am, by Nimble   , 608 words  
Categories: Reviews, Books, Programming

Peopleware - Productive Projects and Teams : DeMarco & Lister

This is an interesting paperback concerning itself with how companies are run where the business is development, like code, as opposed to production, like cheeseburgers. In particular, there is a focus on what sort of management mismatches and business… more »

11/01/06

  12:36:07 am, by Nimble   , 355 words  
Categories: Thoughts, Science

I Still Don't Get Virtual Particles

Having gone back and read about virtual particles once more, I must say that they have become less, rather than more clear. more »