primitive things

James Kim dies in the wilderness

primitive — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 21:37:26 +0000

I’m not sure why I’m writing about this. Or why this story seems to hit me so hard. Maybe its because I’ve trekked across those mountains taking shortcuts in early December, less prepared than I should have been… luckier than I should have been. Maybe its that for the firts time I followed a news story on a bookmarking site (digg). Seemed to be at least twenty minutes ahead of even local news… Experiencing news in a communal environment is interesting, I recommend it for anyone who hasn’t tried.

Of course I’m horribly sorry for James’ family, his wife, his two daughters, his parents… The undersherrif that was delivering all of the updates really seemed to hold hope in his heart, and that is rare to see (on television). Brings about a greater sense of humanity, which returns me to the final moments that James was alive, and that I hope his heart was filled with the love of the thousands of people that sat by and hoped for him, prayed for him…

If I believed in heaven, I would believe that it has a place where James could live forever.

UPDATE: eBay / PayPal bombing very hush hush…

primitive — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 20:50:53 +0000

For some reason, googling for ‘ebay explosion’, ‘ebay bombing’, ‘PayPal explosion’, etc. doesn’t show results for anything having to do with the events that took place earlier this week. Here’s a Direct link to the SfGate story (SFGate is the online version of the San Francisco Chronicle for those not living in the Bay Area). Is this a coverup?

read more | digg story

Dr. Pickovers Creepy ESP Card Guessing Game

primitive — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 18:53:22 +0000

This has me totally freaked out. You look at any of six cards, then click any of six eyes and the script removes the card that you are THINKING about. back up, just THINK of another card – even click the same eye, and it KNOWS…. Please someone explain this?!

read more | digg story

Top Five Worst Things You Can Do To Your Cat

primitive — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 21:43:47 +0000

We have a few semi-feral barn cats that I’ve been trying to catch lately, and the whole thing has become a bit of a comedy. If you’ve never dealt with barn cats, let me share a couple of things about them. First, they’re really cute. But the cuteness wears off really quickly. I suspect that being born cute keeps them alive long enough for them to fend for themselves, because as soon as they hit cat-puberty, the cuteness is gone.

Second, they’re smart as.. well, cats. Don’t take this as a compliment. For example they are smart enough to know exactly when dinner time is, yet they’ll meow outside the window all night long thinking that this time will be the one time that you (for some unexplainable reason) are going to let them come in for the night.

Finally, they are – how do I put this – friendly. Prolific. Okay they reproduce every fifteen minutes. Literally. You can watch their little cells divide if you stare long enough.

So while I’ve been trying to catch a few – so that they can be taken to the vet for a ‘checkup’ – and by checkup I mean ‘cut their little nuggets off’ (where applicable) – So while I’ve been trying to catch them, I’ve come up with the Top Five Worst Things to Do to Your Cat:

5. Give Your Cat a Bath
While it seems obvious to some, cats still end up in this obviously embarrassing situation all too often. Seems to me that cats are self cleaning, and really don’t get into that much that would require such a thorough cleaning. Nonetheless, starting our list at No. 5, and in the name of all that is decent and humane, please don’t wash your kitty.

4. Haircut
Another seemingly obvious thing not to do with your cat would be haircuts. How many times have you been walking down the street and seen a cat and thought to yourself “Hey – that cat could use a trim!”. Me either. But after searching on the Web a little I found that its not that uncommon for people to shave the kitty from time to time. If you’re considering this, please hire a professional.

3. Dress it up in Anything
Now moving to things that seem like fun when you’re drunk and alone with your cat – and who among us hasn’t on occasion thought about it – comes the ages old tradition of dressing up the cat in human clothes. A quick Google search revealed images of cats dressed in everything from baby clothes to sweaters, and Halloween costumes too. Now don’t get me wrong, every time my cat gives me that look I want to humiliate it just as much as the next guy – but what would happen if someone walked in on the two of you? How would you explain that at the next office party?!

2. Feed it like your kids
Switching to a more serious topic, overfeeding your cat is really shameful. It’s not like it can order the SuperSize Meal on its own. And furthermore, cats don’t exactly exercise either, so it seems that you should follow the instructions on the side of the bag/can whatever, and give your cat a break – not to mention a few extra years of healthy living.

1. Stuff it
A perfect follow up to number 2 is another kind of stuffing – feline taxidermy. That’s right folks, when you’re at the end of your cats 15 or 20 good years, why not stuff the poor bastard?! I’m not making this up. There are several taxidermists that specialize in this ‘art’ and offer a range of suggested poses to preserve your kitty right there on the mantle. Just watch that burning candle – it might be kinda hard to get a refund…

Here are a couple of Bonus Things Not to do to Your Cat:

Stupid Human Tricks
Yeah, someone thought it would be useful to teach their cat to crap in the toilet. Great. Now I’m going to get blamed for leaving the seat up, PLUS who’s going to clean up that hair?

The Judges give him a 9.6, 9.4, 9.2, and…
Some things, believe it or not, do not have to learn to swim. I can understand teaching your dog, you know, in case of an ice fishing accident or something – sure. Hamsters, rats, mice – hey why not. It’s a short lesson in Evolution, seeing how they seem to swim without the features that swimming mammals usually have. But cats? I think this is similar to No. 3, and is just another form of get-even-humiliation.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

If you have any other suggestions, give me your comments and we can grow the list!

More blogs about cats.

Blogger Sues Digg

primitive — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 23:17:27 +0000

I’ve had it.
No really.
I’ve become addicted to Digg and I can’t stop.

Digg, if you’ve been living in a cave the past year, is a tech-centered news aggregator that has become popular amongst bloggers and web sorts. The only problem is, I’m addicted to it.

Oh sure. It starts out simple enough… a little article about some cool css sites, then a free fonts site or two… The next thing you know I’m three days behind my deadline for a requirements doc, and I’m neck deep in some bizarre ball drawing thing, with another window running some Javascript based adventure game – that I don’t even WANT to play!

So, as far as my understanding of the law goes, I need real damages. Well, how about I haven’t done crap in over two weeks, my cats have lost (collectively) fifteen pounds, my eyes are going bad, and today is the last day of an invoice period where I’ve made NO MONEY.

Diggs fault.

So I am going to call a lawyer, and initiate a damages claim against Digg for wasting my time learning about some guy that created an animation out of the Bigfoot images, or another website where you can create a flipbook-style animation, or this other one I read where you can…

If you’ve experienced a loss of your life because of Digg, share your comments…

Finally the Phone Browser works!

primitive — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 17:43:30 +0000

Finally, a browser for a cell phone that acts like a browser.

I got a Motorola Razr V3 last month, and I’ve been playing with the built-in “web browser” that it comes with. I don’t like it. Even with Google Mobile, which is a great small screen renderer, the phone still relies on the controls that phone designers built.

Enter Opera Mini. Aside from it having a better look and feel, the controls are built by browser designers. For example the bottom of the browser ‘window’ uses the two ‘soft keys’ of the phone contextually, depending on what you’re doing. Check out this graphic:

Notice the Menu link at the bottom? When you click the softkey just below it, the menu opens up, revealing this:

Continuing through the functions is really easy, and the functionality is as you would expect from a browser, not a phone.

The features of the browser are rich, including bookmarks, history, image settings(low res, high res, none), some Sweet Shortcuts, page properties, etc.

A great pdf that shows many of the features can be found here. They also have some great information on Small-screen Rendering (SSR), as well as how to author for small screens. The browser is built in Java, and its a small download (around 100k for Motorola Razr). Sidebar: Why does Motorola store downloaded Java apps under Games !?!

I’ve been recommending SSR to many of my clients building web services, including theaters (schedules), restaurants (menus, events), and even to sales automation projects (inventory management, order management, etc.). The more time I spend using Opera Mini, the more applications I can think of for SSR. Considering the power of Opera Mini’s (server-based) rendering engine, and the overall ease of developing W3C XHTML compliant pages, the better question is why not?!?

It’s really nice to see that Opera has developed a usable platform for phones to access the web. I think that phone companies could sit up and take a lesson. All in all, this little browser rivals full-screen functionality and ease of use.

Bravo Opera!

Verizon Gives Cell Usage Info for Free!

primitive — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 22:54:15 +0000

Seems strange that Verizon employees don’t even know that they don’t have a ‘Special Needs Group’. But if you call them and tell them that you are an employee, acting on the behalf of a speech-impaired customer, they will gladly turn over any of their customers cell phone records.

Maybe they DO need a Special Needs Group…

Here’s the full story.

Bigfoot Animation?

primitive — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 21:31:16 +0000

Here is a composite of the bigfoot images, in a kinda cool build. The thing is, the guy is clearly a lumbering old man walking through the woods looking for his pants.

Check it out yourself:

read more | digg story

Better Range From Your Sirius Starmate

primitive — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 18:32:57 +0000

The house is where the Sirius Starmate Replay lives, and I could *almost* hear it on 88.1 at the office, about 150 yards away. But when I connected a small 2.5mm plug (from an old Nokia headset cord – also at Radio Shack, with a small amount of wire hanging from it, the range more than doubled.

It’s critical that you cut the cord to within 1/8 inch of the quarter wavelength

Go here for an easy to use calculator that tells you exactly how long to cut the wire. Enter the frequency – like 88.1 – then select 1/4 wavelength, then calculate. For 88.1 the correct length of wire is 2 feet 7-7/8 inches by the way.

So now I can hear Stern from the office, and actually as aI drive down the road away from the Ranch.

Drawball!

primitive — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 18:39:00 +0000

Drawball is a very cool collaborative drawing thing. It takes some patience to load, but once you zoom in to the 100% point, you’re shown some primitive drawing tools.

Aside from the soup nazi-esqu warnings up front, I think it is a site worth checking out.

By the way, here’s my house: http://www.drawball.com/34hppmv

read more | digg story