May 2007 Archives
Man vs. bear
In spirit, this is what every internet forum post is like. One of the funniest things I've ever seen on the internet:
Could a typical young man, armed only with a knife, (say, six or eight inches long) be trained to consistently "win" fights with a grizzly bear? Assume no element of surprise.
Includes this award-winning response:
In the meantime your knife will probably break. Or worse yet, get stuck. Have you ever felt bear hide? Counting in the thick fur I suspect most blows would glance off. Remember that the bear is moving very fast. And all it needs to do is tag you once and you're toast.
and this counter-response:
I'm talking serious ninja-level combat reflexes here, though. You're probably thinking of just Secret Agent level reflexes. Step it up another notch. I'm imagining the guy is all wall-jumping off trees and doing scissor-kicks and stuff.
LightInSight is a clear windshield mounted fresnel lens for assisting drivers in seeing traffic lights that would not be in the driver's normal field of view. If I only had a car, I think I'd get one.
[LightInSight Super wideangle windshield view]
Who doesn't need a high-end laser pointer for -- well, just about everything?
[Wicked Lasers]
T-shirt with a built in sound sensitive graphic equalizer panel. As the music beats, the shirts equalizer lights up to the beat of the music. Great for concerts and parties.
[Show-off t-shirt from BimBamBanana] $99.95
[T-qualizer t-shirt from ThinkGeek] $39.95
[T-qualizer t-shirt from tqualizer.biz] $39.95
Not really sure why someone would prefer to spend $60.00 more.
[Most dangerous roads]
[Most dangerous roads, part 2]
[Most dangerous roads, part 3]
AQNT 2007-05-18
OMR 2007-05-18
Present Perfect Tense & Exercise
- already
Lori has already visited Spain. - before
I have never seen a Manet before. - yet
I haven't met her yet. - never
I have never seen such a magnificent dress.
opinion size age shape color origin material purpose:
The ordering of adjectives in English
Amazingly, there is an order in which adjectives modifying a noun are sequenced, and we all do it naturally and the same way. It is not taught in any explicit way, but if you heard an alternative ordering, you would consider it wrong.
[Rules no one teaches but everyone learns]
[Adjective Lesson Plan - English Adjectives Activity]
- Determiner, Opinion, Description (size, age, shape, color, origin, material), classification
- Determiner, Opinion, Dimension, Age, Shape, Color, Origin, Material
- Determiner, Opinion, Size, Age, Color, Nationality, Material
- Determiner, Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Color, Material, Origin, Purpose
- Determiner, Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Color, Origin, Material
- Determiner, Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Color, Origin, Material, Purpose
- Determiner, Opinion, Size, Shape, Condition, Age, Color, Origin
- Determiner, Opinion/Evaluation, Appearance, Age, Color, Origin
- Determiner, Opinion/General description, Dimension/Size/Weight, Age, Shape, Color, Country of origin, Material, Purpose/power
- Determiner, Opinion/Judgement, Size, Age, Shape, Color, Nationality, Material, Purpose/Qualifier
- Determiner, Opinion/Value, Size, Age/Temperature, Shape, Color, Origin, Material
- Determiner, Observation, Physical Description (Size, Shape, Age, Color), Origin, Material, Qualifier
In addition, determiners sometimes have their own order. Here are some opinions:
- Quantifier, Determiner, Order, Number, Intensifier
- Quantifier, Article/Possessive/Demonstrative
- Determiner (Articles/Demonstratives/Indefinites/Possessives), Order, Quantity
- Article, Order, Number
IDEO Method Cards
IDEO Method Cards show 51 of the methods we use to inspire great design and keep people at the center of our design process. Each card describes one method and includes a brief story about how and when to use it. The cards are divided into four categories Learn, Look, Ask, and Try making it easy to reference, browse, sort, and share the cards.
[stoutbooks.com] $49.99
Similar product: [Eno Oblique Strategy cards]
SourceForge project: WiX]
"The Windows Installer XML (WiX) is a toolset that builds Windows installation packages from XML source code. The toolset supports a command line environment that developers may integrate into their build processes to build MSI and MSM setup packages."
If you're not familar with it, WiX is an open source project started by Rob Mensching of Microsoft. Help is available on the SourceForge lists.
All ABBA, all the time
An entire 4-hour trip through Iowa listening only to Abba's "Dancing Queen"
[dice]
[monster]
[yahoo]
[getnetwise]
[extremetech]
[labs.google.com]
[lifehacker]
[sourceforge]
[engadget]
[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]
[fedstats.gov]
[craigslist.org]
[about.com]
[answers.com]
[howstuffworks.com]
[ipl.org]
[lii.org]
[loc.gov]
[firstgov.gov]
[nationalgeographic.com]
[nolo.com]
[opensecrets.org]
[snopes.com]
[straightdope.com]
[wikipedia.org]
[AMG All Music Guide]
[Citysearch]
[Epicurious]
[iFilm]
[IMDb]
[Internet Archive]
[McSweeney's]
[The Onion]
[Smithsonian]
[Urban Dictionary]
[ScienceDaily]
[Yahoo! Music]
[BBC News]
[NPR: National Public Radio]
[Salon]
[Slate]
[Overheard In New York]
[Surprise.com]
[Techbargains]
[ThinkGeek]
Google books
Google Books is really cool. There are lots of books you can browse online. In fact, many appear to be available nearly in their entirety. I noticed it again today (2008-11-04, an update) when Programming WCF Services appeared in my google search and I was amazed to find how much of the content was available to examine.
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