It's probably an expensive way to dispose of vegetative material, but given Calgary's climate, I like the idea of a composter that you don't need to go outside into the severe cold to feed. more »

Sometimes think that I need an "obscene" category when "silly" just doesn't cut it. I suppose I should be glad they they didn't deface one of their decent-looking models while creating this hideous monstrosity. (Via Gizmodo) more »

Interesting article on how poorly constructed code makes a hash of legitimate names. On the other hand, xkcd has a nice example of when you really should filter your input data... more »

I recently received an email with the following sentence: No one seems to want to say the "R" word out loud, but there are irrefutable signs that a recession may be looming When things are "irrefutable," one doesn't qualify them with a "may." more »

Wow. It's sad when real life not only imitates Dilbert but appears to be instigated by it. (Via Nodwick) more »

Link is to a neat illustration of how some tech companies' logos have changed over the years. (Via Gizmodo) more »

A staircase/bookshelf/reading spot. I love this design! more »

Well, well. I just had to blog about high-frequency young-person annoyance devices, didn't I? Just this past week, Calgary Transit has been piping in a rising and falling very high pitch tone at McKnight station... JERKS! It's pretty much constant,… more »

Forget the Gizmodo story (although it is a follow up to something I linked to earlier); just look at the associated photo and try not to think "I want that set." more »

Too bad he de-emphasized it as the reason in favour of cabling, but blogger bbum felt that one of the principal failings of Apple's G4 Cube was that of: having a flat topped, conveniently sized, surface on top of which things will be placed, will fall,… more »

Anyone who has been into a computer components store in the last five years has seen these monstrosities: poorly rendered or airbrushed genre art (typically fantasy or science-fiction) placed prominently on a cardboard box that has nothing more… more »

I have a sneaking suspicion I know at least one person who would buy an iPhone specifically for this app were it ever realised... (Via Engagdget) more »

Recently I've had two minor complaints that were dealt with in a way I felt was wrong. It's not that the people involved were rude or difficult but simply that their initial reaction was not what would have been easiest or most appropriate. more »

Recently I got my hands on a Freecom MusicPal, a rather cool little internet-radio aware alarm clock. I'll probably get around to writing a review once I've had it running for a few weeks and worked through its idiosyncracies. more »

I've been a little preoccupied answering and posing questions over on the Expelled! blog. It's a blog related to the upcoming movie, Expelled!, which purports to show how "mean Big Science" is "unfairly oppressing" "noble truth-seeking Intelligent… more »

The concept is cool: take a picture of the space behind your computer, place it appropriately onscreen, and then take another photo of the result so that it looks as if the screen isn't there. It's entirely impractical, but it does look great. (Via… more »

Funny post about the problems of scheduling a family life around World Of Warcraft. (Via Kottke) more »

Link is to an entertaining article from dating site Lavalife on various, uh, problems people have encountered on St. Valentine's. It's much funnier than the similiarly named "I Love Valentines" from the same author which appears to be a standard "Do… more »

Over on his Facebook page, Ritchie made an offhand comment about still being able to hear 17.4 kHz. My first response was "huh?" The second response was a little smarter, involved Google and thus resulted in the link above. So, now I know the word… more »

There is a nifty site called VisCheck, a particularly interesting feature of which is the feature they have to show a web page as it appears to the colour-blind. It simulates three kinds of colour-blindness: Deuteranope, Protanope and Tritanope.… more »

It's his 199th birthday! Stay safe, and keep yourself in the gene pool, kiddies! more »

Adam was wondering about my 17.4 kHz comment... What it relates to is that there's a device in Britain which uses high frequencies to annoy teenagers away from the premises: A controversial weapon in the war against antisocial behaviour should be… more »

I suspect this is old hat to most but the link is to a how-to on mounting remote Windows file systems under OSX. Leopard (Tiger too) does a decent job of allowing you to locate via the Finder machines on local subnets and workgroups. However it never… more »

PocketGear just sent out an email advertising one of their regular promotions. It was (as one might expect for this week) Valentine's Day themed. The kicker was in the title of the email: Subject: Spending Valentine's Day Alone? Try Astraware… more »

Fantastic Voyage: The Science Behind Radical Life Extension, is a bit of a weird book. more »

As the the title says. I'm not sure all of them were actual adverts so much as people's concepts though. (Via Kottke) more »

I liked the idea of the Roomba enough to buy one. I love the idea of a lawn mower that works the same way too, but for $2500? That just hurts. (Via Engadget) more »

"Dude; it's coming from inside our house!" (Via Wired) more »

I never really did like flying and it's getting progressively worse dealing with American airports. It shouldn't be too long until my entire carry-on luggage is composed of smaller bags to be run through security independently. While traveling this… more »

I doubt that I would see eye to eye with Ezra Levant on many things. The Reform Party is pretty antithetical to my views, and even within the Reform Party context, I thought Preston Manning was a gentleman, and Stockwell Day, whom Ezra supported, was a… more »

Submitted with no further comment. more »

Just poking a quick heads-up here, since this particular scam isn't being caught by some anti-phishing filters. It's entitled "PayPal Resolution Center - Remove Account Limitations", and it points here. You get the typical bullshit that phishers use to… more »

Apparently it's Guillermo del Toro, director of "Pan's Labyrinth". I've not seen the movie but Ritchie liked it which bodes well. (Via Kottke) more »

This is perhaps the best send-up I've seen of the Open University type programs that seemed to dominate BBC 2 during the day throughout the 70's and 80's. Of course, if you didn't grow up in the UK during that period, this is going to be nigh on… more »

When you mix mathematicians with foodies, you get some strange problems. This one for example: Can you find three foods such that all three do not go together (by any reasonable definition of foods "going together") but every pair of them does go… more »

I must be growing old; I went to a Fry's Electronics store to pick up a set of $30 speakers* and walked out with pretty much nothing else. It wasn't too long ago that doing that would have resulted in a very large credit card bill... (Ok, I did pick up… more »

Joel Spolsky on how using the toddler's incessant cry of "why" can help improve performance. It's valid for software development and maintenance as well as (in his illustrated case) uptime and process. He actually cites Sakichi Toyoda as the source of… more »