A friend posted a link to this Google Crisis Response page regarding the Deepwater Horizon well breech.
I don’t really know if this incident qualifies as a “spill” as much a geyser spewing oil from the earth, but it still conveys the message: They be oorrl all over the Guf, y’all.
I am going to an OKC Thunder v. Dallas Mavericks game tomorrow night.
Does anyone know who, other than Kevin Durant, I should be watching and/or rooting for? This is my first NBA experience, other than when I went to an NBADL game two years ago (ouch!).
I hope that Dallas-OKC becomes a good rivalry. The match up shows promise since they are both in the same conference and people from both states don’t like each other, even though we are basically the same.
I’ll let you know how it goes…and how many times this classic Garth Brooks song plays over the loudspeakers.
One dude I follow posted the link to this site. It’s kind of interesting, and I’m sure can be used for more than just an idea of how much you use Twitter.
Thanks to MM, I’ve given up the idea that a BlackBerry phone could ever satisfy my needs/wants in a mobile phone experience.
Since I’m now a family man, I need a family plan, and Sprint has the corner on the most bang for buck when it comes to data/voice/txt multi-line plans. I’m casting off from AT&T, and therefore, the iPhone.
That leaves me with the choice of a device. Clearly, the Palm Pre is the best phone that Sprint carries right now, but they are supposed to get the HTC Hero in October. The (who comes up with these names?) Hero is powered by Android, Google’s mobile OS.
Lauren and I will both be getting new phones. I have been researching all the usual sites and watching head-to-head comparison videos on YouTube, but I’m still left with a little anxiety (relative anxiety, that is–it’s only a phone, after all). My question for you guys is whether you’ve had any experience with either one and/or do you have a recommendation or things to consider beyond “you should really get an iPhone.”?
Thanks!
CNN has a neat calculator one can use to compare costs of living in different U.S. cities. I like just finding cool jobs in different places. Since I make a predictable salary, it’s fun to see what kind of financial lifestyle I could expect in different places. This is particularly useful for me because I receive loan assistance based on my salary. If I was in a larger/coastal city making the same living-expenses-adjusted income, I probably would be ineligible for assistance and would be poorer on a month-to-month basis than I am now.
Anywho: here’s the link.
via [lifehacker]
Magnificent Seven of JttM,
By now you should have received your invitation to my hitchin’. In case you only read digital text, it will be on August 1st in Tulsa at the University of Tulsa chapel. That is a Saturday at 2:30pm. There is also a website . The “save the date” link is sure to delight.
Since all of you are fairly far away, I don’t expect a full showing, although Mohsen has confirmed his attendance. Obviously, I would be thrilled if you can make it. Even more thrilling would be your presence at the bachelor party festivities which will probably take place on Thursday, July 30.
If you want to get in on that action, please shoot an email to my friend Michael. Some of you might remember him. He and I grew up together and sweat it out in the Hump Dump our sophomore year while you guys were luxuriously lounging on the Brain’s futon in Holcombe. He uses gmail; roadbikr is his handle.
As for the wedding, if you are planning to come and need a place to stay, two of the dudes in the party have extra bedrooms, and I have extra floor space and air mattresses.
Sorry to hijack JttM for my personal uses. I’ll try to keep future posts up to snuff. Thanks!
Let the “the economy is not as bad here” smack talk begin!
P.S. I hope this gives y’all extra incentive to make it to T-Town on August 1st of this year.
Since June 2007, I haven’t had a television in my residence. For a two-month stint last year, I didn’t have a computer. I became well acquainted with the programming schedule of my local NPR station. On Thursday nights, they broadcast a program that actually makes my life better, and I have downloaded all the podcasts that are available.
The program is called Radiolab and is produced by WNYC in, well, NYC. It is hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich. Krulwich is a science correspondent for NPR and hosted Frontline on PBS-a legit journalist. Abumrad is a producer (music/documentaries).
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that I’m the last one of us to discover this program. It’s all about science and human existence. This show is absolutely fascinating, and I encourage everyone to give a the episodes a listen. It reminds me of the conversations we had in college over an OE 40.
If you need a starting point, I recommend Sperm or Placebo. Enjoy!
As of Friday at about 10:00p.m. I am an engaged gentleman. Not necessarily engaged in political discourse, discussions involving the word “nanoscience”, or a grappling match. No, I’m engage to be married.
Her name is Lauren Vanderlip, and she’s a 2L at Oklahoma Law. We met via my friend Amira, who some of you may remember from UA.
Since we both have friends strewn across the globe, we’re recording a short announcement/introduction video this weekend to send out. I’ll keep you posted once it’s posted.
We haven’t set a date yet, but I suspect some time next summer.
We’re thinking CO for the honeymoon* so Ben’s roommate density theory is panning out. I guess that would make me an orbiting electron.
*Yes, I know that I’m basically Zach Johnson, Jr. Going to a Big Ten university for grad school, marrying a girl named Lauren, honeymooning in Colorado. I’m sure dancing on ice and drunken blog posts are soon to follow.
Just wishing you people fun and fright on this devilish night!!!!!!!
I just wanted to post and say thanks to Joel for keeping this thing rolling for all these years. Here’s a newly-discovered ginger brew to you!
Also, I wanted to post because I was getting sad when I looked at the gadget on my netvibes page and saw no highlighted post titles.
One bit of tech news I’d like to throw up to the crowd is the arrival of the netbook.
About two months ago, my trusty Powerbook G4’s logic board went bad. I had already replaced the HD myself (out of Apple Care warranty), so I thought I’d just buy a logic board and try to DIY again. I found out that boards cost ~$500. A used PBG4 runs about $600 on eBay. That’s when I started looking at purchasing another machine. I’ve determined that I would want another Powerb…err…Macbook Pro, but I don’t have the extra $2000 just lying around to purchase some alumized sweetness. That put me searching for a Windows or Linux machine.
In my search, I struck upon a new-to-me market segment of notebook computers-netbooks. The first machine that caught my interest is put out by Asustek. It’s the Asus EEE pc. It was popularized after Asus tried to offer a viable entry in the OLPC project, but was unable to do so for the target price of $200, but they were able to do it for $300. These little dudes were made for internetting and basic operations, most of which running Linux Xandros.
Asus was putting out the only 9″ computer, then companies like Samsung, Acer, HP and now even Dell have jumped on the bandwagon. MSI, Asus, and Lenovo all offer 10″ versions, which were the ones I was looking at. The 9″-er’s keyboard is just too cramped for any long-term writing work, but not as bad as you would think. Standard specs is a 1.6Ghz Intel Atom chip designed specifically for this market, 1 GB RAM, either a smallish SSD or largish standard spinning platter, and most are shipping with Windows XP, but some are also coming with Linux distros like Xandros, SUSE, or Ubuntu (although rarer). Most have 3 USB ports, a multi-card reader, some sort of video out, Ethernet port and audio jacks. Most also include a 1.3 Megapixel built-in camera. No optical drive.
In the end, I went with a much larger Lenovo machine that has full-sized keyboard, DVD burner and various mulit-media options like 5.1 “surround” sound on-board speakers-largely because I do not own a TV and use my computer for all video entertainment. I’m only experiencing slight buyer’s remorse because this baby is a behemoth compared to my Powerbook, and just plain doesn’t feel as solid. It’s not a ThinkPad, it’s from Lenovo’s new consumer line, IdeaPad. I know that’s why the thing feels a little Dell-sy and only cost me $550 on TigerDirect. Oh, and I think some of the frustration is Windows-related. Yes, it runs Vista, which I firmly do not hate.
All this is to say/ask, do you guys have any experience with (1) netbooks, and which one or (2) Vista, and what do you think apart from it being bloated and requiring a minimum of 2GB of RAM.
Lastly, do you guys have any experience with more recent distros of Linux? I am considering Dual booting for simple tasks like web browsing.
Finally for real, are you guys aware of how awesome Open Office is?
Apple users:
I had to replace the hard drive in my Powerbook G4. I did it myself, and I believe the hardware install went fine. The problem I’m now having is installing Leopard on a blank drive. I know that sounds fishy, but each time I try to install, it either freezes up or says that the “Essentials” package from the installation DVD can’t be accessed. I’ve already formatted the drive with no problem using the built-in Disc Utility application. I’m also reading, when not working, the articles I find online.
If any of you have advice other than making sure the DVD is clean, etc, I’d appreciate it. If all else fails, I suppose I’ll have to go to the Apple store :(
I posted to the main page yesterday evening, but it didn’t appear as the most recent post. At first I thought it was the work of those Nazis, but then I realized that it posted at the time that I saved it as a draft.
Just FYI if you didn’t know, saving a post as a draft will cause it to post to the site at that time as opposed to the time you publish.
If this is not news to anyone, then I’ll wear the dunce hat for the day.
But only as as far as a personal update is concerned. I haven’t bought a house with someone named Kristin.
What I have done is become a felony prosecutor. That means more work, same money and more stress because I’m deciding on punishment that ranges from 5 years to life…or death. Zoinks!
I just moved into an old apartment building in downtown Tulsa that is across the street from the courthouse. It’s called the Blair. I’m pumped because I’m walking to work and saving tons of money on fuel and utilities. The place is tiny, but I feel much more comfortable here than in my old place that is twice the size.
As of Labor Day last year, I have been dating a girl named Lauren. She’s a 1L at OU law. Things are going great, and she’ll be working in Tulsa this summer. Sorry to ZJohnso for trying to become you. Nearly sharing our first and middle names and going to grad school in the upper Midwest was not enough.
I’ve started playing ultimate on the weekends, although I’m still just as slow and inaccurate as ever. I’m also playing guitar and mountain biking when I get the chance. Next up is probably a puppy. Gotta build the yuppie cred.
Am I taking root in Tulsa? Kinda. I’m involved with a church here, and my family’s here, but it’s unclear how long I’ll be here until something else comes along. Work is great, so I’ll just say that for now.
I hope everyone’s doing well, and I look forward to the Summit of the Seven.
The Macbook Air has arrived. Click the link for the skinny. Pardon the pun, couldn’t resist.
Ever since Joel turned me on to netvibes I have dramatically increased my blog consumption. If you’ve kept up with the del.icio.us roll at the right, you’ll notice that I’ve been consuming a lot of lifehacker posts. I’m really digging the evolution of the web and how much of the productivity software is moving to web apps and away from our hard drives. For instance, I use Google Calendar exclusively for all my calendaring needs, GMail for all my email and Google Docs for anything I want to be able to access on the weekend when I’m not at the office. I’m sure you all do something similar. I know Joel’s referenced Remember the Milk
What I want to know is where we go for info. My netvibes is tabbed thusly: life, news, sports, politics, tech, GTD. The usual suspects appear for the news (nytimes, washintson post, Google News) and Espn.com for sports, crooks&liars, etc. for politics, wired, boing-boing, slashdot for tech, 43folders, dumblittleman etc for GTD.
JttM where do you go to function on the web?
(yes, i know this could be handled by checking out each other’s del.icio.us posts, but i don’t think anyone but jhb, murder and me use the bookmarking service)
p.s. if anyone can help me load a .html text file and access it as a bookmark, i’d appreciate that. here’s why.
Disclaimer: This post will lack in relevance (not all of us are Mac OS X users) and depth (there are people who are much more knowledgeable about Mac OS and other things writing better “reviews” all over the interweb). I thought you might want to hear my impression just the same.
I was faced with the “necessity” of upgrading my OS when last week I decided to fix a few issues I had with iPhoto and DVD player by taking in to the newish Apple Store here in T-town. Part of the problem was that I never received an iLife ‘06 install disc because I bought it pre-loaded from the campus bookstore back in 2005. The other part of the problem was that although I am still covered by Apple Care and could have iLife ‘06 reinstalled, I was still running Mac OS Panther. For the most part, I never noticed that I was two generations behind (Tiger came out right after I got my machine). Recently, however, I have been bugged by some glitches when installing some apps and what not. I was faced with the options of upgrading to iLife ‘08, which has some very nifty changes to iPhoto that I would use, or upgrade to Leopard and reinstall iLife ‘06. For expense and longevity, I chose the second option. If you’re still interested in what I think of Leopard, let’s go for Read the rest of this entry »
Those quotes were great! I like that guy too, so much that I could hear his guitar in the background as I read the quotes. The last one, about “sort-of” touched on a post I thought about writing this weekend.
Have you guys noticed that “sort-of” is the academia/intellectual/elitist version of “um” or “y’know”? I first noticed it while in law school, but now it’s becoming as ubiquitous on NPR as “chipotle” (the seasoning, not the restaurant ) is to the food industry. Instead of being used in the sense I always understood it–as in “almost” or “of the same sort”, it’s often used as a filler for smarter people to not say “like”.
Am I crazy on this, or right on the money?
This is probably only interesting to ZJohnson, but Hoyt Purvis was interviewed for the piece on Mike Huckabee. It is part of the “First Race” series running on Morning Edition. Purvis is one of my favorite people at the UA, and I’m glad he’s still around the campus.
Has anyone had the notion to go back and try to take an old professor out for a beer or something? There are a couple that I wouldn’t mind knowing socially.