Category: Random Ramblings

Anything that catches my fancy as a topic I want to cover. Truly random crap.

Posting again – hackery at work

Thanks to Andrew’s suggestion that I use Windows Live Writer, I’m able to post again.  The program has improved significantly since I first tested and rejected it.  There are still some problems I have with it, but I think in part they tie in to the problems I have with how WordPress handles posts and the HTML code behind the posts, so I’ll have to sit back and work out those issues behind the scenes.

I have no idea WTF is up with year-old comments showing up as recent comments in the sidebar, there, but that’s another issue I’ll have to figure out later.

Now that I’m posting, look for loads of updates in the next few days as I try to get caught up.  Might not be much today while I deal with real-life crap (I’m looking at you, crapped out Air Conditioner), but tomorrow or possibly even tonight I can get going again.

[tags]Useless knowledge, Posting again[/tags]

Oh my – that *IS* a big one you have there

Washed up on the shores of a Dutch beach recently is this over-sized LEGO man.

giant-dutch-lego AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A giant, smiling Lego man was fished out of the sea in the Dutch resort of Zandvoort on Tuesday.

Workers at a drinks stall rescued the 2.5-metre (8-foot) tall model with a yellow head and blue torso.


My wife keeps telling me size doesn’t matter, but I’m not sure giant-LEGO-man would agree.

[tags]Giant LEGO man, LEGOs, Amsterdam, Size doesn’t matter[/tags]

Test post

This is extremely frustrating.  I cannot post via normal posting methods for my site software.  My remote posting is only working about 10% of the time.  I can’t figure out why either fails to work.  I”m going crazy.

And my air conditioning in the house is barely working because of a bad blower fanwheel (which will hopefully get fixed tomorrow).  I’m not happy-RagMan right now.  🙁

Today in history – Thor finishes 4300 mile journey

The History Channel has lots of cool information on Thor Heyerdahl’s 4300 mile oceanic journey aboard the balsa wood Kon-Tiki raft in 1947. And with a name like Thor, how could I resist posting about it?

On this day in 1947, Kon-Tiki, a balsa wood raft captained by Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl, completes a 4,300-mile, 101-day journey from Peru to Raroia in the Tuamotu Archipelago, near Tahiti. Heyerdahl wanted to prove his theory that prehistoric South Americans could have colonized the Polynesian islands by drifting on ocean currents.

Secretly, I think Heyerdahl was trying to impress some woman. That’s pretty much the primary motivator for 95% of what we men do, after all. We try to impress chicks, so we can have the sexx0ring with them. Any other behavior is driven by need for sleep or food.

Yes, we’re really that shallow, ladies.

[tags]Today in history, Thor Heyerdahl, Balsa, Kon-Tiki, raft[/tags]

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Church messages

YES, THE SITE IS SCREWED UP RIGHT NOW.  Sorry for the shouting.  I’m working on it, but it will probably be a day or more before I’m able to fix it.  I’m not sure if I can even post updates right now, giving the problems I’m having with the site software right now.

I wonder if I can convince my wife that God believes she should blow me more often?

your-knees.jpg

See, proof that God and the church want you on your knees more often.

[tags]Humor, Church signs, Blow me[/tags]

Two thieves rob Game Stop store – stupid evident

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before – Two men walk into a videogame store to rob it. Unfortunately for these idiots, the robbery was caught on store camera.

The Game Stop Store in the 3400-block of Cooper sells a lot of high-end video equipment, so when robbers came in they ignored the cash register and took merchandise.

. . .

As the robbery progressed the tape is still recording as a young boy walks into the store. As the gunman confronts the first boy and orders him to the ground. A second boy walks into the store, sees what’s happening and also gets on the ground.

Looking at the video, it appears that the men stole the PlayStation 3 consoles. Guess there weren’t even enough Nintendo Wii consoles for them to get those. Too bad, since that’s the system everyone wants now.

According to the story, one of the two robbers has already been caught. No word on how much the gaming systems sold for. (via Kotaku)

[tags]Stupid, Crooks, Game Stop robbed in VA[/tags]

A special kind of ugly

I just recently upgraded my cell phone to an LG enV VX9900. While searching online for a decent protective cover for it, I stumbled on this special kind of ugly snap-on faceplate for a different phone. Apparently, it is covered with Swarovski crystals, which is somehow supposed to make me desire adding the ugly to my phone enough to pay almost $150. There are two different faceplates, so be sure to click on each to seem them in their full ugly glory.

[tags]Ugly, Swarovski crystal, Cell phone face plates, A special kind of ugly[/tags]

Snake attack

The ball python is not native to North Carolina, so I’m sure that played into the certain shock experienced when one bit the ankle of a 15-month old boy recently in Charlotte.

Christine Abdelmonem had taken her son, Adam, to get a better look at some ducks waddling nearby in Freedom Park on Monday. As she lowered the boy to the ground, she felt a tug and saw the snake wrapped around his leg.

When she screamed for help, two maintenance workers came and attacked and captured the python. The child is fine, but maybe not so much the snake.

John Calchera, a pet store owner in nearby Pineville, took in the constrictor snake. He thinks it may have been abandoned by a pet owner and that it won’t survive being beaten.

“It’s a totally harmless thing,” he said. “Why attack a harmless thing?”

I’m going out on a limb here, but I bet biting a child somehow factors into the answer to that question, Mr. Calchera. That plus the likely lack of proper snake-attack reaction training for the general public.

But hey, if you want to join the Ball python owning community, make sure you learn proper selection, feeding, enclosure, handling, and treatment for the snake.

[tags]Snake attack, Ball python, Charlotte NC[/tags]

All your robot needs – until they take over, at least

Is there much in life cooler than robots?

robonova1.gif

RobovieM3.jpg

humanoid.jpg

Well, I guess frikkin’ sharks with frikkin’ laser-beams on their heads. And robots with chainsaws for hands. And fire-breathing amphibious zombie shark robots with lasers and chainsaws.

And ninjas or pirates or ninja pirates or pirate ninjas. But that is just about everything that that could be considered cooler than robots. And once the robots take over, none of them will be allowed to exist, so it will become a moot point.

[tags]Robots, Ninjas, Sharks, Pirates, Robots will take over[/tags]

Gene for my awesomeness found

Oops. That headline is supposed to read “Gene for left-handedness found”, but sometimes, my self-proclamations of awesomeness just escape before I can stop them.

Scientists have discovered the first gene which appears to increase the odds of being left-handed.

See. Simple story. Simple quote. Here’s a kick-in-the-pants, though.

The Oxford University-led team believe carrying the gene may also slightly raise the risk of developing psychotic mental illness such as schizophrenia.

What? So since I’m a lefty, I’m more likely to go all wacko? Great.

The full article discusses a bit more on the gene LRRTM1 and how it appears to play in assymetry of the brain, hemisphere assignment for speech and emotions, and potential effect as a contributor to schizophrenia. So much from one little series of markers.

[tags]Gene for handedness, Lefty could increase chance of crazy?[/tags]

Reboot gets rebooted

I don’t know how many of you watched or remember the cartoon ReBoot from the mid-90s, but the series will be seeing something of a rebirth in form of 3 feature length films and a web comic. The show was cheezy, but entertaining to many (a group in which I include myself).

“ReBoot” — one of the earliest computer-animated episodic TV series — will be redeveloped as a trilogy of feature-length films by Rainmaker Animation.

Originally produced in 1994, the series was created by MainFrame Entertainment, which was acquired by and renamed Rainmaker in 2006. “ReBoot” aired for several seasons on ABC, YTV and Cartoon Network.

“The idea is to relaunch the brand in a new way,” said Rainmaker Animation executive vp Paul Gertz, who will oversee the project.

Ultimately, the series rebirth appears tied at least tangentially to the comic fan social networking site Zeros 2 Heroes, if I’m reading the article correctly. So today I’ve learned of the coming rebirth of an animated show I used to enjoy AND that there is a social network out there which seems to be targetted at people even geekier than I am. What a learning experience this has been.  Now if someone would just release the entire series on high-quality transfer DVDs (they messed up season 4 in an earlier DVD release – I want all the seasons done right).
BONUS: Unaired “Making Of” video via YouTube.

Extra Bonus: Keep up to date on the revival efforts by fans at the ReBoot Revival web site.

[tags]ReBoot!, Rebirth of ReBoot animated series, Heroes, Cartoons, Comics, Social networking[/tags]