mm » Randomness

Now hold still honey while I rub this radioactive dirt on your face…

mark — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 22:20:39 +0000

What physicists do for fun during a nuclear detonation

mark — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 03:21:10 +0000

During a test in the Nevada desert of a miniaturized nuke called Scorpion, theoretical physicist and weapons designer Ted Taylor used a parabolic mirror to light a cigarette. Ah the good old days.

This is an extract from Under The Cloud by Richard Miller:

Extract from Under The Cloud by Richard Miller

Business lessons from Breaking Bad

mark — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:58:36 +0000

On the recommendation of my sister-in-law I’m watching a few episodes of Breaking Bad, Season 1.

There’s a classic exchange between Walt and Jesse in Ep 6 as they realize they need to move from retail to wholesale:

Walt: This is unacceptable. I am breaking the law here. This return is too little for the risk. I thought you’d be ready for another lb today.

Jesse: You may know a lot about chemistry man but you don’t know jack about slangin’ dope.

Walt: We have to move our production bulk wholesale now. How do we do that?

Jesse: What do you mean? To, like, a distributor?

Walt: Yes. Yes, that’s what we need. We need a distributor now. Do you know anyone like that?

Jesse: Yeah. I mean, I used to until you killed him.

Best Light Bulbs for all night coding

mark — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 00:03:49 +0000

I went down to walmart late last night in frustration because the power saving bulbs I had in my main light with a dimmer weren’t working. So I switched them (two bulbs) to GE Reveal 71367′s (not an affiliate link), the most expensive bulb I could find at $4.50 each and one of the few to claim to work at different voltages. I’m in love with these things, mainly because they work perfectly with the dimmer in my office and they change color from a cooler (more yellow/orange) color temp to warmer (more white) as you crank up the voltage. The highest setting has a very natural looking light, closer to daylight which keeps me from dozing at my keyboard.

Let me know if you’ve found something better!

Reminding me why I need to travel more…

mark — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:06:11 +0000

My brother sent this to me. I’m not sure who the source is – the original is here. It’s Mt Hua in China.

CO

mark — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:29:55 +0000

I’m in Colorado in a semi-rural area in Elbert County in the town of Elizabeth. I get a lot of work done here because there’s not much going on. This is taken from my macbook’s webcam pointed out the window.

Puzzle

mark — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:50:38 +0000

Got this via email today.

Can you solve this puzzle?

You are riding on a beautiful white horse.
On your left side is a drop off.
On your right side are several ostriches being chased by a lion.
In front of you are four large gazelles that won’t get out of your way
and you can’t seem to overtake them.
Behind you is a stampede of horses.
What must you do to get out of this highly dangerous situation?
For the answer click and drag your mouse from star to star.
* Get your drunk ass off the merry-go-round. *

Oh Wesley!

mark — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:30:53 +0000

Even if Wesley Snipes is right about not having to pay his taxes, he’s missing the point. If you’re enjoying the fruits of government infrastructure then you’re morally obligated to pay your taxes. My guess is he’s really not that naive. He’s just fell in with the wrong crowd and dug himself a hole so deep that he has no choice but to go to court.

Of course if he wins and we’re all not obligated to pay income tax… now that would make for interesting times what with a recession looming and all that.

California Fire Satellite Map

mark — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:15:33 +0000

I found this image on the awesome http://firefighterblog.blogspot.com/ that’s getting a lot of traffic today and is posting a constant stream of fire updates, so be sure to subscribe to his feed if you’re following the fires.

Originally from the MODIS Terra polar orbit Satellite (click the image for the source). The fire appears to have crossed the Southern US border.

Wikipedia, Vulcans, Suss-Mahn and cerebral entropy

mark — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 20:33:23 +0000

In case you were looking for it, here’s a list of fictional martial arts courtesy of wikipedia…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_martial_arts

How did I arrive there? I was researching Vulcans.

There’s a martial art called Suss-Mahn used by T’Pol in one of the enterprise episodes (which I just watched for $1.99 courtesy of the awesome Unbox) and it’s named after producer Mike Sussman.