12.29.2006

Lists and Lifehacking = Nerdvana

2006 LifeHack Review: Best 50 hacks for your Life

Oh my

A list of year-end lists - yes!

Video Links

Outstanding collection of links to video all over the internet - OVGuide.

Another Fine List

The Top Ten Films of 2006 -- In No Particular Order After #1 at Cinematical..

They Burn Witches Don't They?

Our general positions over at I'd Offer You Some.

12.28.2006

"Let the 'End-of-the-Year' Lists Proliferate"

Time is, of course, not my favorite source for things, but there are some slightly under the radar sites if you're not too much of a web junkie - "50 Cool Websites".

12.21.2006

12.17.2006

Which one is the lesser evil anymore?

We've been on this for a while and now the big guns have come out - Liberaltarians by Brink Lindsey at Cato and in The New Republic.

12.14.2006

Chess master...Terrorist!?!

Now is not soon enough for Putin and the old KGB (and the old CIA for that matter) to be gone - Garry Kasparov: 'We will march!'. More.

12.08.2006

Ugly Duckling

I'm working on new CSS for the blog from scratch. I went to 456 Berea Street and worked through a how-to. The colors are intentionally awful & I'm still working through some other stuff. It's been pretty fun & much easier than I expected.

12.04.2006

I'm not alone

Somehow I picked up on this stripping down & redoing meme out of the ether - SimpleBits.

12.01.2006

Update your AVG!

AVG Free Advisor: Installation files & documentation

Ben Cook at Lindys with a great take on the coach search thing

A handbook on how to play "Coach Search": "Sit back and wait and see just who eventually winds up behind the podium being introduced at a press conference ... and hope your man doesn't look scared to death when he's up there.That could be a sign that you will be playing the game again in three or four years."

11.26.2006

Sam Harris vs. Dennis Prager

Sam Harris, the author of the 'End of Faith',
puts the wood to a talk show host -
Why Are Atheists So Angry? A Debate with Dennis Prager :: Sam Harris

See also: Richard Dawkins

11.19.2006

Been saying this for a while.

The Dilbert Blog: Atheists: The New Gays

More fonts for Tobermory

Search Free Fonts - over 13,000 free fonts available for download

The Hole that Mike Shula's made.

Saturday I tried to fill the hole that Mike Shula's made in my stomach with Key Lime Pie and Swiss Cake Rolls (and Ribs and Steak). The empty feeling I get when I think about our football team that was never there before, even in 1984 or 1998. It comes partially from the guilt I feel for wanting him gone, and the rest from the obvious fact that he's just not very good. Cecil Hurt has the same feeling - CECIL HURT: Does Alabama have the best coach it could have? | TideSports.com

Only a matter of time...

Wanted: man to land on killer asteroid and gently nudge it from path to Earth

11.14.2006

Oddly enough.

I watched about 30 minutes of this guy the other day & thought, "He's charismatic but not really funny," and turned it off - now CNN's caught up with me - Is Dane Cook the funniest man in America? - CNN.com.

Sweet.

Time Waster - WSJ.com

11.03.2006

More Conservatives Bail.

Breaking the Silence

Reading Daniel Dennett makes me happy.

Edge: THANK GOODNESS! by Daniel C Dennett - Yes, I did have an epiphany. I saw with greater clarity than ever before in my life that when I say "Thank goodness!" this is not merely a euphemism for "Thank God!" (We atheists don't believe that there is any God to thank.) I really do mean thank goodness! There is a lot of goodness in this world, and more goodness every day, and this fantastic human-made fabric of excellence is genuinely responsible for the fact that I am alive today.

10.23.2006

Oh my...

The New Atheists in Wired.

10.17.2006

Doesn't sound very socialist to me

George Bernard Shaw at The Quotations Page:
"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them.
George Bernard Shaw, 'Mrs. Warren's Profession' (1893) act II
Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 - 1950)

10.15.2006

A list of websites - I can't resist

2Spare - The story behind 10 famous entertainment websites

The God Delusion

One of our favorites - Evolutionary Biologist and Humanist Richard Dawkins interviewed on Salon - The flying spaghetti monster | Salon Books

For my friends who have procreated

Inchworm Shoes Online - Inchworm shoes grow in half size increments. Just push the button on the side, and pull the toe of the shoe to adjust into the next size.

10.05.2006

Victor Davis Hanson has a way of cutting to the heart of the matter

And what have we learned in the last five years from its boutique socialism, utopian pacifism, moral equivalence, and cultural relativism? That it was logical that Europe most readily would abandon the artist and give up the renegade in fear of religious extremists.

from - VDH's Private Papers::Traitors to the Enlightenment by way of Chronicles of Tobermory

9.18.2006

I can't look away from 'cool site' lists

PC Magazine's Top 99 Undiscovered Web Sites and other sites

For PLink, Carey, TW and all my military geek friends

World Military Strength Ranking

My job situation has been improved immeasurably.

At school I've used Wikipedia as a quick reference for nearly everything, particularly student questions about something of which I'm not sure. I didn't realize my addiction until it was blocked by the school (by mistake/poor decision-making). I complained enough that it has finally been unblocked. Thank the Law of Averages!

9.12.2006

I told P.C. about this story a while back

One scifi-writer/boingboing-blogger Cory Docotorow's best stories - "0wnz0red" in Salon

Drink up

The Ririan Project™: 10 Reasons To Drink More Water - article is well-done & the blog is pretty good, although it's derivative.

Why do I feel sympathy for a frozen rock millions of miles away?

SPACE.com -- Pluto is Now Just a Number: 134340

8.30.2006

Surprise: Thomas Kinkade is a scammer

We saw one of these in Pensacola (around 2000-01) & thought - they can't possibly be making any money - The FBI is investigating "Painter of Light" Thomas Kinkade and company executives over allegations that they fraudulently induced investors to open galleries, then ruined them financially.SFGate.

8.29.2006

8.28.2006

The Next Net 25

An interesting list of web sites/services from earlier this year - The Next Net 25: 25 startups that are reinventing the web.

8.20.2006

A fine list

Atheist Quotes - www.chrisbeach.co.uk

A favorite curmudgeon

H. L. Mencken - "We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart."

More in the same direction

How to Build a High-Traffic Web Site (or Blog)

This is appealing

10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job

First democracy and now computers

Revealed: world's oldest computer may explain a set of brass cogs & gears from 80 BCE.

7.29.2006

7.16.2006

Back from Tuscaloosa

We've had a fun weekend. Paul & Ferlie visited on Thursday. Friday we went down to Tuscaloosa & got to hang out with Patrick and his housemates. Got to eat at City Cafe and Rammer Jammers. All's right with the world.

7.10.2006

We'll be checking this site regularly

DaaVeeDee - your source of rare foreign, arthouse, cult, classic, independent and unusual movies on DVDs, all in English-friendly import releases.

7.07.2006

Hermits again.

Carey stayed with us til Thursday - we watched several episodes of Season 1 of Deadwood, some bad movies on On Demand and had an outstanding time. We'll see him again soon. We'll go back to being Hermits 'til the DQ game reforms on the 22nd. (Except for a visit by Ferlie & Paul next week).

7.05.2006

Almost everyone who reads this has been here

* I finished teaching summer school on Friday 6/30 - it was a grind, but well worth it - $.
* On Friday I played low-money, high-fun poker with my coaching/teaching guys - Lewis, Richie & Mitchell. Had a fine time.
* Billy came late Friday night - we played a game of PS2 NCAA Football and then Cassondra, Billy & I took a very entertaining trip to Wal-Mart in the middle of the night.
* We started playing the new EASports Head Coach game - it is incredibly addictive for OCD football micromanagers like me (and Billy, and Mike).
* On Saturday morning Roach joined us and by afternoon, Joel, Mike M., Mandy, and a their traveling friends, a cool couple with a happy baby, Emma, were all here to eat Billy's barbeque.
* We cooked and played Head Coach all afternoon.
* Billy, Mike, & I stayed up 'til three finally drafting our new players with a night full of trades & free agent signings.
* They took off on Sunday.
* On Monday Cassondra & I got her turtle corral organized and put up the fencing in front of the porch. Carey came to visit and stay with us on Monday - it's great to have him here.
* He spent the 4th with us - we watched Deadwood & cooked out twice (fine Ribeyes at 10pm). I finished putting the low rock wall around the turtle corral. Miss Fred immediately laid eggs in the soft dirt - it was a biological event.

6.25.2006

The Weekend

  • I sent off my short story, "The Ancient Bridge", to the L. Ron Hubbard Writer's of the Future competition. (It's just about the only thing of his legacy untainted by Scientology.) My story is a straightforward sword story, coming of age - with the help of an old warrior. It's late in their contest's quarterly judging, so I sent it on in. I'll get a rejection in a month or so and send it to your better mags, and once they reject it, I'll find an e-zine to publish it.
  • It was a lazy Saturday of planning a turtle corral and driving around (Saturday driving). There are a lot of expensive and really ugly houses in east Decatur, between the Country Club and Point Mallard. I also tried to rescue one of our tomato plants that outgrew its stake.
  • Sunday was chores - trash cans, finally took down the back gutter (I was covered in mud and had to spray off the patio), cleaned out the professionsal mop bucket, moved some weeds & vines we'd cut down into the woods, transplanted a small sassafras tree (let's hope), moved some stuff into Patrick's room/storage, emptied out this cool old cedar chest that will go into the bedroom, somewhere in their I took a nap, & later on I cooked steaks for supper. We'll watch Deadwood on HBO on Demand tomorrow.

  • 6.18.2006

    Weekend Adventuring

    Spent all day & night Saturday running a Dragonquest roleplaying game based in the world of my short story, "The Ancient Bridge" with six of my good friends from college. A fine time was had by all.

    Interesting and a little unsettling

    HUMAN EVENTS ONLINE - Bush Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway - The American public is largely asleep to this key piece of the coming “North American Union” that government planners in the new trilateral region of United States, Canada and Mexico are about to drive into reality.

    6.06.2006

    BBC NEWS | UK | England | Southern Counties | Honours for Britain's oldest man

    Honours for Britain's oldest man - 110 year-old WWI vet - : "In the past Mr Allingham has put the key to his old age down to 'cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women'."

    6.02.2006

    DIGITAL MAOISM

    The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism By Jaron Lanier - Edge.

    4.30.2006

    Thumos...I like the sound of that.

    Christina Hoff Sommers' Review of Manliness by Harvey C. Mansfield.

    For Tobermory - Europe's powder keg

    If we're lucky, the clash of civilizations will not end with a bang but a whimper, not with a mushroom cloud but the cry of the baby that brings a Muslim majority to Western Europe - newsobserver.com.

    4.28.2006

    We may, in fact, live forever.

    news @ nature.com - Wrinkled cell nuclei may make us age - Blocking a aberrant protein could keep cells pert and young.

    Webby Awards

    Webby Awards

    New geek site

    Geek Feed

    Outstanding! One of the best shows on TV.


    Rome Begins Production of second season

    HBO's epic drama series ROME has begun production on its ten-episode second season, it was announced by Carolyn Strauss, president, HBO Entertainment. Filming of the new episodes will continue at Rome's Cinecitta Studios through next October, with debut set for 2007.

    4.27.2006

    Teddy



    "In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people." --Theodore Roosevelt

    4.25.2006

    4.19.2006

    I have been saying this for 15 years:

    "If you want to know where technology is going, follow the porn" - Porn Industry Again at the Tech Forefront - Los Angeles Times - - "The simple fact is porn is an early adopter of new media," said Paul Saffo, director of the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto.

    4.09.2006

    Does this article border on aiding & abetting?

    I don't much care for this writer, but the info is very interesting - Would President Bush go to war to stop Tehran from getting the bomb? in the New Yorker.

    4.02.2006

    Talking and mowing


    - This morning I talked to my good friend Joe Abreu for about an hour & a half. He works for the feds, lives in Fredericksburg & has two kids. We miss getting to hang out & play roleplaying games together. When I was first BoG Chair at Mallet, Joe helped me run things (or more accurately - I helped him). He was great friends with Cassondra & I was his best man. We talked about possibly getting online together for a game.

    - Been communicating with Patrick about baseball & got 2/3 of the free agents I wanted.

    - Mowed the field, made things look a lot better.

    4.01.2006

    Anniversary


    Cassondra & I have been married for 20 years today. She is a great wife and genius. We had a good day. Eating, hanging out, talking, and burning limbs in our new copper outdoor firepit. I'm a lucky man.



    -- The Tuscaloosa County Courthouse where the deed was done.

    3.31.2006

    Texas Hold-em


    Friday (after the Baseball Draft), I went and played poker with a few coaching friends. It was the first time I'd played poker in probably 20 years. I started out betting too much on weak hands and almost went out. Once I figured out about how strong a hand needed to be and at what level each guy seemed to bid when he had a good hand (and they'd had few more beers than me) I turned it around and ended up a little ahead. It was a lot of fun, I expect we'll do it again in a few weeks.

    Fantasy Baseball Draft Completed.


    Friday I drafted my fantasy baseball team for this year. In the league are Patrick Link, Trevor Jay, Kurt Morton and old friends Mike DeHaye and Ted Stafford. They are all Malleteers. The other guys in the league have winning fantasy experience, it should be tough. Basically out of spite (and the hope he has a good year) I took Barry Bonds.

    3.30.2006

    In and out at Decatur General




    Thursday I went to the hospital at 6:30am to get blood drawn for the last of these damn physical tests. It was actually pretty fast. I was the first patient, checked in, got registered & got my blood drawn & out the door by 6:45am. Of course then I was way early for school.

    3.28.2006

    Selfish Gene: commemorating 30 years of landmark genetics book

    Boing Boing

    Stress indeed.

    Tuesday I took a stress test as part of a heart checkup. It was quite a show, more later.

    3.26.2006

    Now it all makes sense.

    Religious experiences of the prophets caused by altitude sickness? - The Sydney Morning Herald

    3.13.2006

    Really like this blog.

    Ace of Spades HQ - "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken

    Keep grinding away & get me off this rock

    Mars craft drops perfectly into orbit, to whoops of relief

    3.12.2006

    Let the juicing begin

    I think steroids should be legal and this brave ESPN columnists explains why - ESPN.com: Page 2 : Let the juicing begin.

    Stolen from Tobermory

    Townhall.com - Attention Surplus Syndrome by Mike S. Adams

    A literary hoax for the San Francisco crowd

    Began to unravel here - Who is JT LeRoy? The True Identity of a Great Literary Hustler and collapsed here - She is JT LeRoy | Salon.com News. The whole thing is oddly compelling.

    3.09.2006

    Oh so close to finding life.

    Enceladus
    Liquid water erupting on the Saturn moon Enceladus. The Cassini spacecraft has found evidence of liquid water spewing from geysers on one of Saturn's icy moons, raising the tantalizing possibility that the celestial object harbors life.

    3.07.2006

    Once more into the breach.

    Speculative Fiction

    Mendez has a blog.


    One of my favorite people in the world has a blog. I'm excited. A forum to harrass Mendez. We'd not seen each other in a couple of years & this fall we stayed up all night like little kids at Billy's mansion because it was too quiet & not cold enough for big boys to sleep. He's taken on The Amazing Race & the Oscars already. I love me some Mendez -
    I wanna be cool.

    I called this a year ago:

    Once parents actually understand the curriculum this is likely to happen:
    IB program under fire: Some calling it anti-American, anti-Christian.

    3.05.2006

    I've been using the term "Leftist Fundamentalists" this week & now this:

    BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | In thrall to the green god - "Environmentalism has become a religion, writes Martin Livermore in this week's Green Room."

    3.03.2006

    my cult of personality grows

    After last week's link on BoingBoing this week I had a comment on Lifehacker (about a topic I seem to have become too aware of, cleaning up old hard drives). I guess I'm a commenter on all the gawker media websites now. Now if I just had anything useful to say...

    Quality geek poll

    What D&D character are you ?
    Neutral Good Half-Orc Barbarian. About right, but a handsome half-orc.

    3.02.2006

    2.26.2006

    Pro Danish Protests - Outstanding

    Pics at Corsair the Rational Pirate, including our favorite former leftist, Christopher Hitchens (by way of Tobermory).

    RIP Barney Fife



    Don Knotts at Wikipedia

    2.25.2006

    Not your average documentary

    We watched Grizzly Man tonight. The slightly crazy guy killed by one of the bears to whom he had devoted his life. It was well worth the three hours. If you've ever enjoyed being alone in the woods, you'll get it.

    Additional links: Anchorage Daily News Obit., Tim Treadwell in Wikipedia, Grizzly People (his org.), a Google Map, Katmai National Park.

    2.16.2006

    Internet villian wins gold medal in moguls

    I've been checking this out today: Dale Begg-Smith an Australian/Canadian and internet millionare won a gold in the moguls - link. I looked into his internet stuff like 2nd Thought & it is/was some of the worst sort of nasty malware/adware browser-hijacker stuff. Here's the best article about him at a blog for the book Spam Kings. And for fun here's a ticked off post from a 2003 forum. Plus some Aussie goodness on him.

    Been thinking about this idea and here it is

    Prayers for the Assassin a novel Robert Ferrigno - Prayers for the Assassin is set thirty-five years from now, after a civil war in which most of the United States has become a moderate Islamic republic and the Bible Belt has broken away to become a Christian nation. This political shift was precipitated by simultaneous suitcase-nuke detonations in New York, Washington, D.C. and Mecca. - oh my...

    Space Elevator Goodness

    New Scientist SPACE - Breaking News - Space-elevator tether climbs a mile high

    25 Free Grunge Fonts

    Web Design Times

    2.14.2006

    I guess we'll have to get the DVD's finally




    You scored as Serenity (Firefly). You like to live your own way and don't enjoy it when anyone but a friend tries to tell you that should act differently. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you.

    QuizFarm.com :: Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: With which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics)

    created with QuizFarm.com

    I cleaned up the HTML, but I like the quiz, as these things go.






    Moya (Farscape)

    100%

    Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix)

    100%

    Serenity (Firefly)

    100%

    Deep Space Nine (Star Trek)

    88%

    Bebop (Cowboy Bebop)

    81%

    Babylon 5 (Babylon 5)

    75%

    Millennium Falcon (Star Wars)

    75%

    Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica)

    75%

    SG-1 (Stargate)

    63%

    Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda)

    50%

    Enterprise D (Star Trek)

    38%

    FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files)


    13%

    2.12.2006

    One of my favorite magazines

    I used to read this in a doctor's office waiting room. Its tone is exactly the sort of applied leadership that interests me, just that it's in business - Fast Company | Management, Leadership and Career Advice for Business Executives - there are no (okay, very few) education people who think this way.

    2.08.2006

    This. Could. Be. Trouble.

    Interactive Weaver - Weave your own Tartan

    The Fall of the Warrior King

    My friend Brad met Sassaman, the Warrior King, at a football clinic. I'm not real sure on the organization, but the story is excellent - The Fall of the Warrior King.

    2.05.2006

    We are all Danes now

    From The Boston Globe (of all places): Make no mistake: This story is not going away, and neither is the Islamofascist threat. The freedom of speech we take for granted is under attack, and it will vanish if it is not bravely defended. Today the censors may be coming for some unfunny Mohammed cartoons, but tomorrow it is your words and ideas they will silence. Like it or not, we are all Danes now.

    2.02.2006

    Cool Alabama Food List

    Tourism group touts tastiest places in Alabama to eat

    There is no way to rationally deal with these guys

    CBS News | Protests Over Muhammad Cartoon Grow

    The only copy of the controversial cartoons I could turn up:

    Image Hosted by FarkImages.com

    Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_drawings.jpg from Wikipedia


    A Timeline of the Events - as Muslims burn & break things more western news outlets publish & show the cartoons. Interesting that it's a Muslim attack on freedom of the press that has finally gotten the mass media fired up.

    1.31.2006

    Space Geek Links

    Blogcritics.org: SciTech Watch: Space Enthusiast Resources

    All they really had to do was give a Senator an iPod.

    Yesterday's Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the Broadcast Flag--and its younger, brattier, brother, the RIAA's proposed "Audio Flag"--swung a little wildly from its pre-ordained course - History and Senator Stevens' iPod - EFF: DeepLinks.

    Some comic stuff -

    Bolt City

    Copper - Step-by-Step

    The Webcomics Examiner » The Best Webcomics of 2005

    Stress » Blog Archive » The first libertarian comic book hero

    1.23.2006

    We've been making this argument for five years now

    The Republicans are no longer the party of limited government - Triumph of the Redistributionist Left | csmonitor.com

    1.22.2006

    Penn Jillette has a radio show.

    One of our heroes, Penn Jillette, has a one hour radio show and of course it's available on podcast/mp3.

    1.21.2006

    Ok my brilliant friends...

    This site is driving me crazy, and I'm up to 26/33 - MENSA INTELLIGENCE TEST. Update:27, no googling!.

    1.20.2006

    Anime Weirdness

    Friday on Anime Unleashed while decompressing from Battlestar Galactica - Cromartie High School.

    1.18.2006

    Stardust Canister Opened: 'A Huge Success'

    “It exceeds all expectations,” said Donald Brownlee, Stardust’s lead scientist from the University of Washington, Seattle. “It’s a huge success” - Space.com. Sweet.

    1.14.2006

    Conference about my favorite source: Digg.com

    Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection: Digg, Del.icio.us, Kaboodle and Wink

    Stardust is back

    Farthest-traveling and when it reenters, fasting-traveling man-made object NASA's Comet Hunter Stardust is on Final Approach for Sunday Landing (plus cool photo/animations)



    Title says it all:

    Wired: The 50 Best Robots Ever



    15 Tech Concepts You'll Need To Know In 2006

    Popular Mechanics

    1.11.2006

    Okay, this is cool.

    The Edge of I-Hacked » 100’s of Interesting Google Maps Locations

    Reminds me of the good old days of Bureaucracy-busting.

    The day before classes started at Alabama every student got an email telling them their classes had been dropped - chaos (nearly) ensued - The Crimson White Online - Errant e-mail confuses students.

    1.08.2006

    Catching up

    I have put off posting with the intention of writing an extended holiday post about what a great time I had seeing & talking to our friends & family. Instead I've gotten busy catching up with my online psychology (ugh) classes.

    These are the links I have checked out this week:

    I bookmarked:

    Battlestar Galactica at Wikipedia - Lists of Bests (Movies) (working on the "Desert Island 25") - Internet Review of Science Fiction - The Chronic of Narnia - The Best Game you Never Played - CHESS OPENINGS GUIDE - and, sadly, at my students nagging myspace.com/gatetree.


    at del.icio.us:

    Torrent Bulletin Board - The 6 Myths Of Creativity - Top-100 essential downloads of free software & freeware for Windows XP - CreativeGuy » Free online file storage/sending



    at Digg

    What I learned at MIT - Top 10 tips to keep that new computer spyware-free - Five best freeware games of 2005