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Sniffing out disease - electronically. The "eNose" has a promising future in detecting infections and other diseases by sampling people's odors... be glad you're not an eNose.
—Mike @ 05:40
What's it like on the surface of the sun? - Thanks to this amazing photo, revealing the most detail ever seen of features as small as 100km across, we now have an idea. It doesn't look like a place we'll be visiting up close and personal anytime soon.
—Mike @ 16:15
Google rules once again - Version 2.0 of the popular Google toolbar has a built-in popup-blocker, an automatic form-filler, and even an interface to Blogger, among other nice features!
Progress report - Mom continues to recover quickly from her surgery. Her doctor discovered the artery blockages during her routine annual physical exam, so she didn't have to find out about the problem the hard way. She's a good advertisement for getting regular check-ups... food for thought.
She also had a brand-new technique done, where they no longer need to cut open the leg from top to bottom in order to take the new artery for the heart. Now, she just has three tiny incisions through which they were able to somehow do what they needed, so she only has little band-aids on her leg, which is where most patients in the past had the most discomfort. The doctors continue to be pleased with her progress.
—Mike @ 22:31
"Computer, initiate self-destruct sequence" - OK, it's not that sophisticated (yet), but within 18 months, we may be able to "dictate and send e-mails, get spoken directions to a restaurant, even play a game" with the onboard computer in our car.
—Mike @ 17:46
Can't find what you're looking for? - Would some free help from a live, professional librarian be useful? That's exactly what a web site called Q and A NJ provides. It's the first — and currently only — statewide virtual reference service in the US. When you start a session, a librarian will chat and co-browse with you in real time to find the information you need, using the web as well as specialty databases funded by libraries. Sounds like one to bookmark!
—Mike @ 17:45
Just when you think you've got it all figured out - Scientists have discovered an entirely new kind of lightning: "gigantic jets of lightning that shoot upward from cloud tops to nearly 60 miles into the upper atmosphere." Still discovering atmospheric phenomena on our own planet in 2003... amazing.
—Mike @ 17:39
A Father Time special - check out this rather odd clock, made from digital cable.
—Mike @ 17:22
Create your own traffic jams - by tinkering with the settings on this German road traffic simulation... caution: it's mesmerizing.
—Mike @ 17:04
Opinions from all sides - If you're at all into politics and opinion, then check out WatchBlog -- three side-by-side web logs representing the opinions of Democrats, Republicans and Third Parties. It's a fascinating site. [Thanks, Carl!]
—Mike @ 19:31
Thanks, Big Dan - My favorite radio DJ of all time, funny and innovative Dan Ingram is leaving NY radio after 42 years at the top. I'll miss him; he was the best.
—Mike @ 19:16
Stopping telemarketers - Around July 1st, the web site to visit to register for the FTC's interstate do-not-call list is www.ftc.gov/donotcall. New Jersey's soon-to-be implemented do-not-call list will require separate registration when it goes into effect. The NJ law is considered among the strongest in the nation, and will close most of the loopholes and exemptions granted by the federal law.
—Mike @ 19:10
Liquid Air - Every time I empty the heavy containers of water that the dehumidifier in our basement keeps cranking out, I wish I was more of the clever inventive type that could put this water-generating machine to good use somehow. Well, it looks like some creative person has finally done just that, and created a drinking dispenser that produces fresh water from the humidity in the air. Very cool. [Thanks, Alex!]
—Mike @ 21:29
Family Photos - V's cousin's son Chris recently got married to Katy at a small ceremony in New England, and they came back to NJ for an after-wedding reception a few weeks ago. I did my best to take several candid portraits of the dozens of family members there, but the batteries ran out on me before I had captured everyone I wanted to. Still, it's a good collection of pics. There was also a caricature artist there, which made it easy to steal photos of people as they posed!
—Mike @ 21:26
How to make a non-Hollywood movie - This summer, a movie called Indigo is being made up in Oregon, the latest in the spiritual genre (stories that ask who we are and why we're here) from filmmaker Stephen Simon and a couple of his famous Oregon neighbors. Judging by this article and this one, it sounds like they're off to a good start with a large outpouring of enthusiasm and support.
—Mike @ 21:26
Good news - Mom came through her quadruple bypass surgery today with flying colors. We just returned home from the ICU at Columbia Presbyterian. She had one of the top surgeons in the field, and is being cared for at one of the top hospitals (the place is very impressive). We spent the afternoon and evening in the waiting room (we all even played a game of cards to help pass the time), and visited her as the nurses allowed. She showed remarkable progress throughout the day. They hope to remove her breathing tube tonight already, and if everything goes according to plan, she may be out of the ICU and in a regular room by the time we visit her tomorrow. Thanks to you all for your support, prayers and good wishes!
—Mike @ 20:43
Mom - is going in for a heart bypass operation in a few days. Please say a prayer/send good thoughts/keep your fingers crossed for a speedy recovery. Thank you.
—Mike @ 23:22
Sign up for POTUSpoll - Express your opinion in a series of 11 monthly president preference ranking polls beginning in August. They're even going to use Instant Runoff Voting.
—Mike @ 08:59
What if you could not use any "to be" verbs? - such as: is, was, am, were, be, been, being, etc? That's the idea behind something called E-Prime, which claims that eliminating these words can make your written communications much clearer. Easier said than done, but an interesting idea. [Thanks, Leif!]
—Mike @ 21:46
Quote du jour -The National Enquirer reports Melissa Rivers won't pose in Playboy, after all. So I guess the terror alert can drop back down.—Jay Leno
—Mike @ 19:59
Live and Learn - I never did understand the sudden move years ago toward SUVs, and the demise of the station wagon, which had served families so well when I was growing up. I never thought SUVs were attractive, they're hard for cars to see around, and they have a 6% higher death rate than cars. I don't really know whether to believe this or not, but according to Joyce Brothers' column in the paper, "most people buy SUVs because the feeling of being above others on the highway gives them a sense of power and control."
Could that be true? I must admit, this is a reason I never would have come up with myself. It sounds pretty silly to me: what does sitting a foot or two higher in altitude have to do with power? And why would so many need to have a sense of power over people they don't even know? Add in the fact that I (and how many other drivers?) are apparently clueless about their feelings of grandeur anyway, and I'm left still wondering what's it all about?
—Mike @ 19:56
Sayonara to static - Now, it's shortwave's turn, as the major international broadcasters have simultaneously embraced digital broadcasting.
—Mike @ 17:21
Con-graduations -
My twin nephew and niece graduated from kindergarten tonight, and it was one of the funniest things we've ever seen. Kids that age suffer from incurable cuteness, especially when they're trying their best to put on a good stage show. We were treated to an hour of well-rehearsed song and dance from two classes of 5 and 6-year-olds... what a great job they did!
—Mike @ 23:05
Some people are just naturals - Today's local paper has a story about the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional in the world, living right here in NJ. Omar Rizwan got his certification when he was just 8 years old! Of course, some would say this amazing talent is being wasted on Microsoft technology, but I'm still in awe.
—Mike @ 22:09
Quote of the day - or of any day, for that matter, can be found at WorldofQuotes.com, the "Largest collection of Historical Quotes, Movie Quotes, and Proverbs on the web." The current count of quotes available on the site is over 14,000.
—Mike @ 16:30
Order ballpark food from your seat - Here's a video story about baseball fans in Seattle who are testing a wireless way to order hot dogs and drinks, without getting out of their seats. They use the screens on their cellphones to access a menu and choose the food items they'd like. The delivery charge is built into the menu price, and takes about 10 minutes to arrive. An interesting use of the technology.
—Mike @ 16:26
Peanut Punch - Monica passed along this recipe for a drink she came across in a little eat-in/take-out Jamaican restaurant in Orange, so I gave it a try (I invented the proportions myself; your mileage may vary): One tablespoon honey, two tablespoons natural crunchy peanut butter, blended into a glass of soy milk. The taste was good; the only complaint I had was that the substance of the drink remained pretty solid at the bottom of the blender, making for a chewy finale. I'll try blending it longer next time. Or maybe I need to alter the amounts.
—Mike @ 18:26
Finding Fido - Scared of losing your pooch? Soon, a GPS-based solution will be coming to the rescue.
—Mike @ 17:27
Quote du jour -Life is sexually transmitted.
—Mike @ 16:58
Try your hand at piloting a helicopter - This one had me in stitches, due to my utter lack of simple coordination. (If I was a passenger on the thing, I'd literally be in stitches!) [Thanks, Steve!]
—Mike @ 15:45
HD Radio samples - WOR in NYC has posted to its web site some samples recordings of the differences we can expect to hear when digital radio receivers become available.
—Mike @ 12:40
Keeping up with Mother Nature - We're coming to the end of an extremely rainy spring. In fact, we've accumulated over 7 inches of rain just in the last two weeks. Everything is growing like there's no tomorrow. Even though we had already cleaned out our gutters earlier this season, there were little maple trees happily growing up there in the moist tree droppings. The more we started to clean up and trim this weekend, the more we noticed how much everything had grown. We ended up on the roof, trimming away major limbs that were overhanging the house, producing a half-ton pile of branches waiting for pick-up at the curb. OK, that's an exaggeration, but it's a very big pile.
Nemo - The group movie this week was Finding Nemo. I assumed it would be good, coming from Pixar & Disney, but I was really amazed by this film... the kids liked it and the adults liked it just as much. The digital animation is probably the best I've ever seen, even better than I remember in Shrek and Toy Story, the writing and humor is excellent, the performances were top-notch (it was fun trying to identify the various voices), and the story's a good one. What more could you want? Of course, there's the customary Pixar short film preceding the main attraction, which is always entertaining too.
—Mike @ 11:46
Precise & Crisp, Vibrant & Thrilling! - Those are the best adjectives we could pick to describe the stunning Irish dance show Riverdance, which we went to see last night at our favorite venue, the NJ Performing Arts Center in Newark. The dancing was nothing short of breathtaking; I would have sworn that kind of footwork would be impossible. At times, there were as many as 45 dancers on stage. I can't even imagine the amount of rehearsals and energy that would be required to put on that kind of show, where every step for two hours was done with such precision. I guess that explains why the average age of the dancers is between 18 and 19! According to the playbill, their sturdy shoes have to be replaced every couple of months... I believe it.
—Mike @ 21:44
"An unprecedented challenge for theoretical astrophysics" - The flattest star ever seen — a full 50% wider at its midsection than at its poles — was recently detected by astronomers. The problem is that none of the existing theories of stellar physics can explain how this is possible. Back to the drawing board!
—Mike @ 17:10
Love those theme songs - The current issue of TV Guide references this web site that has a very large collection of TV theme songs, jingles and other musical ditties. Another site with a large library of sitcom information, including theme songs, can be found here. I noticed something interesting while sampling the huge selection of themes: the younger I was when I watched the show, the stronger the association I had with the music. Themes from the 50s and 60s definitely evoked the stongest reaction in my brain. I didn't even know I'd recognize some of them until I played them. Isn't it amazing we don't even know what's stored in our own brains??
—Mike @ 21:11
A snapshot of the universe - This picture represents the layout of more than two million galaxies. Discoveries made in studying it for about ten years include surprising super-structures, or filaments, of galaxy groups. Say "cheese"!
—Mike @ 19:11
Geek toy - Watch out, James Bond — here comes the Mega Memory 128MB USB Watch... be the first on your block!
—Mike @ 16:45
A remarkable book - Why is it that I can only read through the books from my reading pile when I'm traveling? On the Texas flights last week, I read Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson, by Mitch Albom. It's the true story of the death of college professor Morrie Schwartz, as told by one of his former students. What a touching story, chock full of wisdom — I highly recommend it. I also understand it was made into a TVmovie starring Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria; I wonder if TV movies are rentable."Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live."
—Mike @ 16:36
Transportation factoids - A newly issued booklet by the US DOT has pointed out some little-known facts about New Jersey. For example,
- NJ had the 3rd lowest number of traffic fatalities per 100,000 drivers,
- NJ is the 10th-favorite US destination for overseas travelers, and
- NJ has the 3rd lowest gas tax in the country.
—Mike @ 20:57
How to turn a printed advertisement into $95,093.35 - This is an amazing but true (and entertaining) story, about how this ordinary guy turned junk mail into cash, much to the chagrin of his bank. Warning: expect to give up about an hour of your time.
—Mike @ 19:37
Good thing they didn't use a 1:1 scale - The world's largest scale model of the solar system is laid out along a 40-mile stretch of highway in Maine.At scale, 7 mph would be the equivalent of driving at the speed of light; it would take eight minutes to travel from the sun to Earth. Of course, that would be ill-advised on a two-lane highway.Dedication of the model takes place this Saturday. It took four years to build through an all-volunteer effort. Nice!
—Mike @ 17:28
What a great way to see a concert - Last night, we joined friends Sue and Mike to see Chicago (not the movie OR the play this time, but the band) at a cozy table for four in the Caesars Circus Maximus Theater in Atlantic City. I love brass, and nobody plays it better than Chicago. We watched eight extremely talented musicians play two straight hours of the best "brass" rock this side of heaven. It's just amazing how many hits this group has had over the past 35+ years. Caesars kept the drinks coming to the table and, amazingly, our singing sounded so much better as the night went on!
I have to thank my buddy and college roommate Carl for regularly investing the money at E.J. Korvette's to buy all those Chicago albums 30 years ago during our days at Seton Hall... so many of their songs and lyrics became burned into my brain during those days.
We stayed overnight at the nearby Sands Casino Hotel, played cards, walked the boardwalk the next day, and even managed to come out a couple of dollars ahead in the casino. Except for the cigarette smoke in the casinos, I'd say it was a perfect weekend.Does anyone really know what time it is? Does anyone really care? About time?
—Mike @ 20:05
Details, details - Carl sent along a link to NationMaster.com, the "world's most diverse national statistics database." A handy form provides a way to graphically compare nations in hundreds of different categories.
—Mike @ 01:51
Jacob and Emily? - They sound like old people's names to me, but apparently I'm in the minority, because they're at the top of the list on the recently released Most Popular Baby Names for 2002. Michael's still hanging in there, at #2.
—Mike @ 01:09
Saving for college? - If you're using a Upromise account to help, there's now a Upromise credit card that contributes 1% of your charges to your Upromise account, and there's no annual fee.
—Mike @ 00:21
A government program that's actually useful - Okay, it's local government, but still it was unexpected. It seems our county has started up a discount presription drugs program for all residents for an optional low annual fee of $20... nicely done!
—Mike @ 19:29
Tasteless quote du jour - This one from last night's David Letterman show:Hillary's written this huge book - 506 pages. It's a memoir of her life and times at the White House. In the book she says when Bill told her he was having an affair, "I could
hardly breathe, I was gulping for air." Oops, no, I'm sorry, that's what Monica said.
—Mike @ 14:25
A new type of "live coverage" - Between the proliferation of video cameras and web loggers, it seems no event can ever go uncovered again. There's even a web site that's been set up to aggregate bloggers' comments concerning this week's TechEd Conference here in Dallas. [Thanks, Bob] Last night's activities included a bus trip out to the Circle R Ranch in nearby Flower Mound, Texas, where attendees were treated to a live band, rodeo. horseshoes, horse riding, armadillo races, lasso contests, and other such "ranch activities" -- it was like watching City Slickers live. Tonight's Attendee Party is at the Dallas State Fair Grounds, where they promise things like laser tag, XBox competitions, Virtual Reality games, and some casino fun. Live entertainment to be provided by Smashmouth and The Wallflowers.
The conference itself is very well organized, considering they're handling some 9,000 people, the people are friendly and there's a good variety of things to choose from during the day. Educational sessions (all geared around new MS products and features, of course) run throughout the day, with a choice of dozens of subjects in each time slot. If you get tired of those, there are vendor booths galore, and "Ask the Experts" booths where you can take your problems, suggestions and concerns to those who know the products. One place I've enjoyed spending some time is the self-paced hands-on labs, where step-by-step instructions are provided to guide you through using many different features and products (including some non-Microsoft) , or practicing installation and upgrade exercises. I've used these as an opportunity to be exposed to things that I normally wouldn't be involved in at the office. The conference ends tomorrow.
—Mike @ 13:13
Gorillas use it? - For what, I wonder? It's Gorilla Glue, the "Toughest Glue On Planet Earth".
—Mike @ 22:17
Misc Quotes and bumper stickers - Leif sent along a link to this site, which includes an extensive list of quotable quotes in the fields of Politics, Religion, Murphy's laws, Aphorisms, Work, Mind, and "Huh?" What's your favorite?
—Mike @ 21:48
Up, up and away - While debate over the future of U.S. spaceflight goes round and round, private efforts are moving forth at full speed. Development of that private spaceship is continuing -- and it's now proven itself airworthy.
—Mike @ 03:10
A hot time - Bob and I are in Dallas all this week at the Microsoft Tech·Ed convention, along with several thousand other geek-types. This weekend it was 101° here, and its been in the mid-90s since. Yes, and humid to boot. Eesh… I hate it.
The conference is good – Microsoft knows how to organize and throw a big bash – and handle the logistics to move and feed everyone on schedule. Its the first training we've been able to take in years, so we're making the most of it. Our hotel is one of those old-fashioned luxury places, but we're getting a very good deal with the conference rates (they're definitely spoiling us). The sessions run from 8:30am til 6:15pm though, and with evening activities and parties also scheduled, so I'm sure us old farts will be dragging by the time the week is over!
—Mike @ 02:39
Internet voting in Presidential elections? - It may be sooner than we think. Overseas Americans will get their first chance next year.
—Mike @ 23:47
Bigger than NYC's Central Park - Just a couple of miles from our house sits a 2700-acre estate that was owned by the late tobacco heiress Doris Duke, once the richest person in the world, second only to Queen Elizabeth. The house sits in the middle of a beautiful piece of parkland that has remained completely isolated from the furious suburban development surrounding it throughout the latter half of the 20th century. Since her death ten years ago, the foundation that manages her affairs has been working to open the place to the public for the first time in 50 years, and that effort culminates this week with the first regularly scheduled tours of The Duke Farms Park. We'll definitely be putting this on our must-see list.
—Mike @ 20:03
More? - There's additional reading available in the Archives.
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