So, with the V-word a less than fantastic success
Microsoft is already close to releasing their new operating system. With a new version of OSX on the way, it makes sense to re-compare the two operating systems… I’ll spare y’all the gory details and boring spec analysis, and instead refer you to a useful side-by-side comparison of the core features:
Somehow, it has been over two months since my last post (appropriately enough, this is starting off sounding like a confession, sans pedophile) and for that I apologize.
I think most of the blame is due to the fact that I can’t/don’t dare post or even look at the blog while I’m at work, and since historically my posts occurred during breaks at work, that’s naturally going to kill my posting rate. I guess this isn’t unreasonable, but it’s another reminder of how nice the academia-bubble can be.
The other cause of my lack of posting has been the occurrence of power-system problems with my powerbook. A little while ago (I guess two months ago) I unplugged my powerbook one day to move into the livingroom and it died. I hadn’t noticed any problems with the battery, but when I replugged the power cord and booted it back up, I noticed that the battery was at “29%, charged”. Following the instructions for recalibrating the battery, I unplugged the powercord and let it run down until it went to sleep, then took out the battery, poked the PRAM, plugged it back in, and… nothing. It now says “0 %, fully charged”.
Has anybody else encountered problems like this? Poking around the interwebs it looks as though this is not a terribly uncommon problem, but a clear solution does not exist. I have considered taking it down to the Apple Store downtown, but so far that’s been too much bother. I hope that the solution is as easy as spending my hard-earned cash on a new battery, but I’m leery of doing that only to discover that my new battery won’t charge either.
I think that’s enough complaining for now. More posts to come – I’ve actually got a whole folder of post-items in my gmail just waiting to be used, although many are now out of date. Anyway, howdy everybody and it’s good to be back.
-m
Ted Stevens looses his senate seat? That’s something that I thought would only happen when hell froze over or pigs started flying.
He was a senator ever since the Johnson administration. And the election was decided on his 85th birthday. That’s got to be kind of a kick in the nuts.
Of course, there’s the other issue that, despite the fact he was just convicted on seven felonies, he still only lost by 0.25% of the vote. Ahh, Alaskan politics. Full of winners.
Woohoo, first movie I’ve gone to see in five months!
When “Casino Royale” came out, it was an amazing thing. A James Bond movie whose plot didn’t require billions of improbable spy gadgets. It had actual acting. And a plot! The main thing about it though was that I, at least, spent a lot of the movie saying “My God, James Bond is just so fucking cool.”
“Quantum of Solace” is really a continuation of “Casino Royale”, it starts minutes after where the first movie ended and, in the end, resolves a few of the questions from the first movie. The action is good, the acting is decent, there’s a bad guy, hot women, everything that you’d expect. The thing missing though is that “James Bond is fucking cool.” vibe. There’s not that much separating JAMES BOND from anyone else. Yeah, he flies a plane, races cars, etc, but any secret agent could do that. I want to see a special secret agent. I want to see him bend luck to his will. I want the amazing to be plausible because of the strength of personality.
Oh, and while I’m at it, I want to win the lottery.
We had a discussion at lunch today that any joke you have to explain is one that has failed.
Now, moments ago, in the hallway:
Established Astronomer 1: “It’s like ‘Groundhog Day’.”
Other Astronomer: silence
EA1: “You know, because I saw you in the hall before and now I saw you again.”
OA: silence, walks away
EA1: “The movie with Bill Murray.”
OA: nervous laugh, quietly and semi-sarcastically “yeah, that was a good movie”
OA: practically runs the rest of the way down the hall.
Gotta love working with such great folks.
I’ve been doing a lot of raking and walking through leaves the past few days and I’m really struck by how good and spicy leaves smell.
I wonder if anyone’s tried making leaf spice cookies. “Oooh, this one has some good oak.” “I prefer this maple one.” “You’re both dweebs, you haven’t had a good cookie until you’ve had the black locust.”
I’m guessing there’s a reason we don’t eat a lot of leaves though.
Just a quick shout out to MBH and his Penn State Nittany Lions. PSU is currently ranked #2 in the country behind Alabama in the Harris and Coaches polls, and #3 in the BCS and AP. With any luck they’ll be headed to the national title game since Alabama (still to play LSU, Auburn and the SEC championship game) and Texas Tech (still to play OU and the Big 12 title game) are sure to lose at least one before the season comes to an end.
Take that Bowden. Joe Paterno is 81 years old and still kicking ass.
