Friday, March 21, 2008

Reason # 8,529,852 That My Wife Is Amazing

We have a computer in the bedroom. It's connected to the internet so we can watch things like Joost, streaming Ghost Hunters on scifi.com, and things like that there. It's also proven to be beneficial because the DVD player in the tv has started to skip. So, pop the DVD in the computer, and watch with glee and popcorn.

Ever the tinkerer, I modified one project (my version of the Sun Jar) to get its power from the computer rather than a solar cell. Why? Despite living in Arizona, our place is actually quite shady for 85% of the day. Solar cells don't really have a chance to do their thing in here. So, the jar lights up when the computer is turned on.

The other day, a little gooseneck lamp took a goose dive off of a desk. It wasn't worth replacing the bulb, as we had only used it a few times here. We were going to throw it out, but instead I got a bright idea. (Get it? It's a lamp!) I gutted the lamp, added a white LED where the bulb once was, and routed the power to the same source as my sun jar. (Which I guess is now a computer jar.) The result looks a lot less blurry than this:



Yes, the switch on the lamp works.

My wife is amazing because she lets me do this stuff. So there.

Friday, March 14, 2008

I'm Better At Math Than That!

OK, so... watching a news story about the little old lady in New Mexico who beat the crap out of the guy who tried to steal her purse. The news reporter said that the would-be purse snatcher was "four times younger" than the aforementioned little old lady. The woman is 83, so negative four times 83 is -332. Wow! Kids today! They're turning to crime hundreds of generations before they're even born!

I need to stop watching the news. My tolerance for stupid is lower than ever.

Monday, March 10, 2008

It's Called "Toilet Water" For A Reason

Ever the idea man, I've come up with something that will benefit both wearers of scents and the unscented alike. It's a device one could wear on one's person that would give off some sort of warning signal if the wearer was wearing too much scent. Something memorable, like, oh I don't know, a taser to the nether regions. Or possibly a light mist of pepper spray into the ol' eyeballs. Of course it would have to have a security setting, so that if anyone tampered with the device it would unleash a constant shock until a technician arrives in 2-3 business days.

I'm not sure what to call it. "Anti-Stink-O-Meter" is just too cumbersome. "Serves You Right You Rat Bastard! Why Don't You Try Bathing With Water Instead of Perfume/After-Shave?" even more so. Maybe "Stench-B-Gone". I guess it doesn't really matter what they're called. People aren't going to buy them for themselves, and they're installed with a nail gun. (In my world, they are.)

Can you tell I had to deal with people today?

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Not The Casino

Thanks to mom for the six-month Netflix subscription, we saw Stardust yesterday. Not a bad film. Not a great one, but an OK one. I had no idea who the female lead was, and my thought upon seeing her was: "She looks like Michael York." Not a female version of Michael York, but Michael York. To be fair, she looks like Michael York from his Three Musketeers days, as opposed to now. Turns out the woman is Claire Danes, which still meant nothing to me. However, according to IMDb, she was voted one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world by "People" magazine.

Somehow, I hope that makes Michael York happy.

Friday, March 07, 2008

Looking For A Cave With Internet Access

A week or whatever ago, CNN had a little question on its little website. The question they put out to their viewers was: How much air time should we give to Ralph Nader now that he has announced he is running for the presidency? As you can imagine, I was more than a little put off by that question. Not because I really have anything against Ralph Nader. He's Pat Paulsen without the funny. I was angry because, by announcing that he was running for president, they had already given him more air time than they had given to Ron Paul. So, I left a comment on CNN's site to that effect. There were many other comments from other posters saying basically the same thing I did. I checked back the next day to see how many comments the article received.

All the comments that mentioned Ron Paul had been deleted.

No, I'm not kidding. All of them. Color me pissed. I know you don't care, but I'm still voting for him. Especially since I can't muster up anything past antipathy for any of the others running.

Edit: Sam found the site, and it seems at least some of the comments are back. Mine isn't there, which is odd. I wasn't caustic or anything, so that's odd.