Archives for: August 2007

Playing music in a car without an aux-in

08/31/07 | by Adam | Categories: Technology, Music
While planning my photo trip around western Canada, high up on the priority list was what to listen to and how I was going to listen to it. I've moved on from tape and CD so try to use line-in where I can. Compared to every other method outside of… more »
 

The definition of "depressing"...

08/30/07 | by Adam | Categories: Whining
...is uploading your most excellent photos to Flikr, geotagging them, and then making the mistake of looking at everyone else's much better shots of the same content. more »
 

Game copy protection goes one better (worse?)

08/29/07 | by Adam | Categories: Copyright, Games
I'd not heard of this one until going through the Register's RSS feed. 2K Games (they of Civ 4 fame amongst others) put some copy protection on one of their new games that went a little above and beyond the usual. These days games typically have one or… more »
 

George Kenney's Halton Arp Interview

08/24/07 | by Nimble | Categories: Thoughts, Science
George Kenney of Electric Politics interviewed Halton Arp back at the beginning of June. I have transcribed the interview here. Here is the original podcast. Arp was a little hard to make out in some spots in the interview, so if you know any of the… more »
 

From Nigeria to U.S. Soldiers

08/24/07 | by Nimble | Categories: Internet, Spamming
Oh boy - the sources of free money just keep moving around, like some sort of Quantum Leap scenario. Who's got tons of cash and somehow needs me as a willing partner in crime this time? more »
 

A Week Of Anti-Science Nutjobs

08/22/07 | by Nimble | Categories: Thoughts, Common Sense, Ethics, Religion, Science
Wow, it's been a banner week so far, and it's only half over! In recent news... Adnan Oktar, the nut behind the pen name Harun Yahya, distributor of glossy, expensive textbooks full of creationist fantasy, got the Turkish courts to have the entirety… more »
 

Spamese

08/22/07 | by Adam | Categories: Technology, Silly
Sometimes one receives spam that's worth repeating. This is one such. Dear Mr.; In fulfillment of the effective legislation referring to the protection of data and Spam: We asked for its permission to him and authorization to send our commercial… more »
 

Freecom's MusicPal

08/21/07 | by Adam | Categories: Technology, Music
I've been looking for a good replacement for the el-cheapo Sony alarm clock that awakes me to the dulcet tones of Radio Adam, and this could be it. I wonder if it'll be for sale in Canada. (Via Engadget) more »
 

RSS and the Blog

08/20/07 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
While looking through my logs for nimblebrain I noticed that I had a decent number of searches from Google (both .com and .ca domains) that had no associated search queries. Since I wasn't sure on how that worked I did some basic investigation. One… more »
 

Bishop's "The Campus" goes online

08/19/07 | by Adam | Categories: Potpourri
I stumbled across the online version of Bishop's University's student newspaper, "The Campus." I was actually looking to see if the faculty and staff lockout at the university had been resolved (it has) but I'll take what I can get. I still have an… more »
 

Translation weirdities

08/18/07 | by Adam | Categories: Technology, Potpourri
While on Arcnet, a IRC-compatible channel populated by former Amigans, I made a slightly disparaging comment about wiener schnitzel. One of the resident German speakers responded with the word: arschgeige My German's a bit weak so I popped that into… more »
 

Wireless data pricing can be steep

08/17/07 | by Adam | Categories: iPhone
Imagine you're used to American cellphone pricing which, while hardly free, is quite cheap. Imagine you've gone somewhere else which has a roaming agreement so you have service. Imagine you've not read the charge tariff. Now imagine you're the proud… more »
 

Evolution Is Not "A Fantasy"

08/17/07 | by Nimble | Categories: Thoughts, Religion, Science
The lady who plastered anti-evolution billboards around Minnesota has a website. It is full of, as I would deem it, anti-evolution propaganda, including various quotes mined out of context. Some of them might seem quite damning, like Brian Goodwin's… more »
 

Immortalize yourself in Lego

08/16/07 | by Adam | Categories: Silly
Well, not Lego per se, but you've seen the South Park character generator and people are pretty familiar with the Wii Mii's. Same thing, except it's a digital Lego minifig. And no, you can't see the one I created for myself. (Via Pharyngula) more »
 

A pox on cheap LED mice

08/15/07 | by Adam | Categories: Technology, Whining
I'm currently using an inexpensive Belkin USB optical mouse (F8E814-BLK-OPT.) It has a very annoying habit of sometimes randomly placing the pointer on screen when moved. As I'm using a four-headed workstation this means the arrow could be pretty much… more »
 

Electric bike

08/14/07 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
One of the more interesting technologies that's beginning to makes its presence known (again?) is that of the electric bicycle. If you're familiar with the older moped or bromfiets technologies you'll know where I'm going with this. There're two major… more »
 

Owned today, lost tomorrow

08/13/07 | by Adam | Categories: Copyright
Just another data point on why DRM is bad for the purchaser. (Via BoingBoing) more »
 

Wind-up MP3 player

08/12/07 | by Adam | Categories: Technology
This is a smart idea: the EMP-MX71 is an MP3 player (albeit bulky) powered by a wind-up motor rather than a standard battery. Naturally it was designed by the same person who came up with a wind-up radio, something else I thought was a good idea. (Via… more »
 

That rather paints them into a corner

08/11/07 | by Adam | Categories: Macintosh
In one of the first sentences on the page describing the Mac Pro, "MyMacDealer" uses the unfortunate phrase: Fastest Mac ever. Well, I guess that's it over for the Macintosh. 3 GHz and it's never going to go faster. Ever. Fortunately though,… more »
 

The Tech Commandments

08/10/07 | by Adam | Categories: Technology, Silly
I'm not sure how I missed this Joy Of Tech comic when it was initially published back in, well, I'm not sure really, but it's a good 'un. more »
 

Gold Seal "Tunaesque" Salmon

08/10/07 | by Nimble | Categories: Reviews, Cooking
Here's something that might not last, and that'd be a bit of a shame: tinned salmon without bones. It's Gold Seal's Flaked Pacific Pink Salmon, Skinless and Boneless. They have affixed an explanatory note to the top of the can: NEW! Mild, tuna-like… more »
 

"For the horde!"

08/04/07 | by Adam | Categories: Silly, Games
Warcraft? The Australians are worried about "World of Warcraft" as a terrorist training program? You could try to sell me on "Counterstrike" or "Battlefield 2" where you can at least create virtual environments to practice in. Quoting an online game… more »
 

Parade of Foolishness

08/04/07 | by Nimble | Categories: Thoughts, Common Sense, Religion, Science
There's an extremely short blurb referring to Ham's creation museum over on Parade. I wasn't expecting the comments section to be one of the strangest, most worrisome indicator of the intrusion of a new American Dark Ages I have seen in a long while.… more »
 

What? Now?

08/03/07 | by Adam | Categories: Potpourri
I'm not much for the various leadership, productivity and self-actualization gurus -- being obliged to read Stephen Covey’s "Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People" was a rather trying period -- but sometimes their advice isn't all bad. This one I… more »
 

v2 of Microsoft's OSX Remote Desktop client out

08/02/07 | by Adam | Categories: Macintosh
Well, it's only a beta, but it's very nice to see. more »
 

You wouldn't like me when I'm angry...

08/01/07 | by Adam | Categories: Silly
Well, that's nice. According to various scientific papers, as a left-hander I "can think more quickly when it comes to tasks such as playing computer games or playing sports." The downside is that I'm a bit more likely to go psychotic while doing so… more »