Architeuthis Unmasked!

File under HOW COOL IS THAT?!!?

JApanese scientists have now captured video of LIVE giant squid -- a first. It's way exciting. It'll be even more exciting when I can ACTUALLY SEE the video. The NY Times article is pretty cool, though.

How frustrating

What great leadership. We stand on the edge of a petroleum crisis, and the solution from the executive branch is -- unsuprisingly -- reduce the limitations on building refineries (i.e. make the world safe for pollution), and... uh... asking the citizens to "conserve". No increase in our incentives to look for or exploit alternative fuel sources, just the same old protect-the-petroleum-economy strategy. I'm no energy-policy genius, but that doesn't seem to address the real issue: our dangerous petroleum dependence.

Grr.

I guess the saddest part about this whole thing is that this too-little measure represents a big reversal -- conservation was explicitly rejected from our prior energy policy as an "American way of life issue".

I try to avoid politics in this space, but sometimes I fail. Sorry about that.

The Real Lives of Thomas the Tank Engine

Very cool. Someone has done the homework to identify the "real" engines for the characters in the Thomas the Tank Engine universe.

The Real Lives of Thomas the Tank Engine

The Maine Lobster Game

Oh yeah, THIS is a game I could get into.
lobstergame.com

Dirty James Cash

is my Pirate name... Here's the explanation...

You're the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean -- not to get rid of you, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. You're musical, and you've got a certain style if not flair. You'll do just fine. Arr!

Weee-ird

We are watching ABC "News" 20/20 (not usually a habit of mine) reporting on Hurricane Rita -- and I was kind of suprised that they actually reported that religious wingnuts have made remarks about the devistation of Katrina being "God's Punishment".

Interestingly enough, it was radical Protestants condeming New Orleans for being a "City of Sin", a radical Rabbi in Israel condemning us for "America's Israel Policy" and a radical Islamic website condemning us for... the usual. It's interesting to me that fundamentalists of all stripes are sick in the same way. But I thought it was really, really weird for ABC news to dignify that kind of nutcasery with comment. Are we in such a religious country that it's commonplace for newscasts to ask if God is punishing us?

Wee-ird.

Pirate Name

Greetings Matey -

Try this quiz to learn your pirate name:

http://www.fidius.org/quiz/pirate/

Sincerely,
Mad Roger Read

Fossil Fueled Extinction

As I was filling up the gas tank of the Subaru the other night I caught a whiff of that odd, almost sweaty, tingly smell of gasoline. The thought that gasoline is a fossil fuel, distilled from flora nad fauna that lived long ago struck me and immediately I was left with some lingering questions:

Did dinosaurs smell like gasoline?
If so, were they highly flammable?

Maybe that's what happened to the dinosaurs...

Gabe Loves Words (Especially BIG Ones)

I feel like posting another one of my poems, and I hope that's okay.

REGARDING WORDS

As a child, I would suck on the pits
of apricots and plums:
I'd suck all the sweetness out
to the bitter end.
I'd suck the coolness out until
the temperature of the pit and my mouth
were the same.
Words are the seeds one finds
in fruit.
Imagine that--
a universe in a wooden bowl.


Missing you guys - Richard

Quote of the day:

"Light coming through shoji is like the sound of waves: it’s always basically the same thing but it’s never actually the same thing."
from Antipixel.
Wow.
Back to work...

Great Article on Risk management

Digital Web Magazine - Risky Business

Another article sort of stored for me. Have fun, if you're interested in basic project management.
Can you tell I'm at work?