Nightswimming

Wrongness

Davy, that's just nasty . I mean, we don't know what's in hot dogs to begin with, so why would you want to associate them with octopuses? Octopussi? I'm sure you'll know what the plural is. I'd look it up, but I'm too busy creating the adventure I'm supposed to run my friends through tonight. Cram DMing, I guess you could say. Sweet!

Speaking of DnD, one of my players wants to play a kender psion. Someone please tell me what's wrong with this planet!

Turn your hot dog into an Octopus!

• Introducing The Octodog!
  
• Have you ever seen a cloud with a hole in it?
  
• While I tend to think that Fred Langa's test showing that 40% of e-mails are never received is a little overinflated, it is still a rather alarming figure.
  
• Man builds a machine that creates new inventions. He calls it Edison in a box.
  
• Here is an interesting article about the problems of implementing a democratic government in third world developing countries. (NY Times website requires registration.)
  

Scientists Discovere New Form of Matter

Brian is the man for pointing this out to me.

Linkage

• The Japanese have developed a telephone that uses your human bones as the sound conduit. Neat. Scary, but neat.
  
• A soon to be published study has found a correlation between liberal abortion laws and decreased crime rates
  
• Another optical illusion page. Some of them are animated.
  

Precision Calculators

This website allows you to download a calculator for windows that allows calculations with integers up to thousands of digits long. (Note: I haven't actually used the software yet, so this isn't an endorsement, just a pointer.)

Juggling Rocks!

Scientists have found that learning to juggle increases the amount of grey matter in your brain.

Norah Jones Samples

Samples of the new Norah Jones album, Feels Like Home, are available on Blue Note Record's Website. The album goes retail on February 10th.

NOVA Mars Special Online

NOVA's special on the Mars rover is available for online viewing in case you missed it.

P.S. Sorry Brett, didn't mean to pressure you.

Batter up!

You want funny? Do you, punk!
How far can you bat the penguin ?
This seems to be the furthest we anyone in the office can get.

Wow, no pressure or anything there Davy.
What to say, what to say? I'll have to come up with something witty tomorrow while I'm sitting at work bored. Until then, go laugh at this.

Nose to the Grindstone

We've run into a critical deadline at work and I will be lucky to have any contact with the outside world until about the 25th, so no updates for awhile. Maybe Brett will post something entertaining in my absence.

Be A Lego Builder

Brian found this cool Slashdot article about somebody who interviewed to work for Lego.

Mathematik

There are some really super mega hyper cool math presentations at this site.

Weird game

Fun, but weird. Roobotik

Linkage

• I'm sure all of you who don't live in Portland are sick of hearing about us and our snow, but oh well. Yesterday's storm was actually sleet and not snow which gets me wondering... What is the difference between snow, sleet, and hail?
  
• This is an interesting article about free thought, social dissidence, and the thoughts we keep to ourself. (Its a bit long and philosophical; I wouldn't start into it if you're looking for brain candy.)
  
• Kurt Wenner produces some of the most amazing sidewalk portraits I have ever seen.
  

Mars Wallpaper

I made a wallpaper of the ultra high res color image from Mars. Enjoy!

• 800x600
  
• 1024x768
  
• 1152x768
  
• 1280x1024
  
• 1600x1024
  
• 1600x1200
  

Yes, I DO own a pair of 3-D glasses

A picture from the Mars Rover in 3-D. This one is bigger.

Recycled Fark

For those who care, we didn't get any more snow in Portland after New Year's Day, but we are snowed in today. I can't even call in to work because nobody showed up. Anyway, here are some exciting links from the past week.

• It amazing what the Girl Scouts are being taught in this day and age, ecological warfare for instance.
  
• Apple peeling stimulates the most evolved part of your brain.
  
• Another astronomy gallery but this one is done by an amateur. After you're done looking at his pictures, click on the link where he shows you what equipment he uses.
  
• You could have owned your own Imperial AT-ST walker except that the auction is over.
  
• A logger finds mister frowny face inside a tree branch.
  
• A man in Indiana bowls nonstop for 52+ hours for Special Olympics.
  

All the bests of 2003

For those of you like this sort of thing, here is a compilation of several of the "Best of 2003" lists found on the internet.

Happy New Year!

We've got about 4-5 inches of snow in Portland and it doesn't look like its going to stop any time soon. In fact, its forecast to keep coming through Saturday. (This is an usually high amout for Portland. Normally, if we get snow, its only a couple of inches that won't stick.) Anyway, this is mostly for my parents back home in Dallas, but here are some pics of what it looks like out here.

• Our apartment complex, snowing last night
  
• My car, in the snow, in the middle of the night
  
• Same as the first picture only about 11 AM this morning.
  
• More of the complex
  
• Even more of the complex
  
• The elementary school playground next door
  
• This is me eating snow
  
• Me and the dogs in the snow
  
• A snowman that Kellie and I built.
  
• I'm trying to get the dog on top of the snowman, but its too tall.
  

Anyway, thats it. I hope everybody has had a wonderful holiday season.