Like They're MindReaders Or Something

That would be the creators of this list of, "You Might Be A Fan If..."

Particularly pertinent ones:
- You own CDs because you first heard the songs in a fanvid and liked them.
- You giggled when Serenity showed up briefly on BSG. (actually, I may have clapped)
- You are incapable of hearing, reading or speaking the word "inconceivable" without quoting "The Princess Bride."
- You can't help but think LEGO anything is automatically more cool.

Although compared to some of the other items listed....I feel remarkably ungeeky right now.

Link to full post.

Pattern Backlog

With all my running around for work and real-life, I've come across several interesting and eye-burning patterns lately. Here they are for your snark & enjoyment.

Teaser: Hallway carpet, hotel in Michigan

Well, this would wake me up in the morning.

Also while in Michigan, I came across yet another example of "Carpets I firmly believe are used in Rainbow Brite's House":

The office up there had tons of chairs covered in these geometric prints. Most of them didn't photograph well. An exception is this lovely print:
Which I call "Attack Of The Colored Blobs"

Back in San Antonio, I noticed the upholstery at one of my regular restaurants.
It's like a cubist's calligraphy sketchpad.

At another takeout place, they were making repairs. Instead of hanging clear plastic to block of the area, they'd built a little plywood enclosure covered with this cloth:
(sings off-key)
Rock a bye baby
In the treetop
When the bough breaks
Cradle will fall
(ends singing)

We've had several visitors from Japan recently, who brought gifts. I got a lovely embroidered coaster and a towel: I'm somewhat tempted to taking this fishing with me. Don't know why....

While shopping for a gift in Target, I came across another example of a pattern making a comeback:
Personally, I don't know what's so attractive about glittery paramecium.

Link to full post.

Trout Eating Zombies!!!

OR Reasons Why You Should be Watching “The Middleman”
(Monday Nights @9pm on ABCFamily)

Monday nights this summer have been an unexpected treat for me. Because in mid-July I discovered ABC Family’s “The Middleman”. Unfortunately, not enough other people have made the same discovery. Which is a shame because this is such a smart, funny show. So, in an effort to utilize my little Blogger soapbox for some good, here are some reasons why you should be tuning in…..

9) PSA Announcements from your friendly neighborhood superhero team.


8) With villains like alien-dictator boy bands, lucha libre wrestler gangs and trout eating zombies, who can resist watching? Seriously if you need more than "trout eating zombies", please leave my weblog immediately.

7) Come for the wacky villains, stay for the wacky catchphrases! In an effort to avoid swearing, the title character utilizes other means to express himself, including such gems as "Flowers for Algernon!", "Holy Onions!" and "Great hearts of palm that is grotesque!" (For more go here)

6) ART CRAWL! (thanks TWOP!)

5) Techno-bablble for very non-technical persons. For example,
A "HEYDAR" is
In technical terms: Global analysis and information gathering device capable of preforming onboard evidence analysis as well as universal intelligence searches across all data platforms.
In non-technical terms: It’s a big silver ball that gives us answers to things

4) The scene which sold me on the show - The milk interrogation in the first episode.
To paraphrase “just because you’re a good guy doesn’t mean you have to be a fool.”

3) You have to pay attention. Or you miss the running gags like different timezones in the time/place captions during the 3rd episode. My favorite was "9:50 PM Mitteleuropaische Sommerz". Or that episode with all the "Back to the Future" references.

2) For a show with trout eating zombies, they have a pretty good habit of showing the consequences of actions and giving those consequences emotional weight. Examples include: A confrontational performance artist has to learn how to follow her art without getting arrested because no one wants to hire someone with a record. People who’ve known you for years won’t be easily fooled by the usual cover stories (1000+ bonus pts for that alone).

1) (Totally a personal opinion) Isn't Matt Knessler reason enough?


The not-so-secret goal of this post is to have at least one person discover my weblog via a web-search for “trout eating zombies”.

Link to full post.

Widmanstatten Patterns

Are they:

a) A German Wallpaper Company

b) A Sociological Phenomenon Used to Predict Traffic Flows

c) A Metal Crystal-form Named After The Guy Who Discovered Them Second

d) A Form of Chocolate Netting Used By European Confectioneries

Click Here for Correct Answer!

(Hint: A common alias for these elusive entities – “The reason I got an ‘A’ in my Materials Engineering lab”)

Link to full post.

On The Left, We Have EPIC FAIL

You know what one of the biggest impediment to freedom in the world is? “Freedom for me but not thee” Syndrome. Case in point is this article (via Instapundit) describing the single worst political idea of 2008, so far. Right or left, it is supremely disgusting and anti-ethical toward the US system of government to harass people for their political beliefs and donations. Which is exactly what these guys intend on doing to people who donate to conservative organizations. From the horse’s mouth:

"Led by Tom Matzzie, a liberal political operative who has been involved with some prominent left-wing efforts in recent years, the newly formed nonprofit group, Accountable America, is planning to confront donors to conservative groups, hoping to create a chilling effect that will dry up contributions......The warning letter is intended as a first step, alerting donors who might be considering giving to right-wing groups to a variety of potential dangers, including legal trouble, public exposure and watchdog groups digging through their lives." (my emphasis added)

Isn’t it comforting to know that certain totalitarian lesson plans haven’t been completely tossed into the dustbin of history? How is it at all acceptable that they are basically attempting to blackmail conservative donors into non-participation? If it's wrong when pro-life groups harass people who donate to pro-choice groups (which I think it is), then why isn't this equally wrong? One of my bigger problems with the Left in general is that for all their talk of compassion and tolerance, too many of the Left’s advocates and followers turn into emotionally unstable bullies at the drop of the rhetorical hat. Supposedly these guys are claiming they're just trying to beat Republicans to the punch...way to take the moral high ground people.

If I gave money to any organization covered by this endeavor*, I’d be doubling my donation right now. Because real-life trolls shouldn’t get away with this kind of BS.

Link to full post.

I'm Not Dead...I've Just Been Reading

To make up for my slacking off earlier in the year, I have been reading books at a breakneck pace. Everything from comics to literary nonfiction. Thanks to this aggressive reading schedule, my “To Read” pile of books has been reduced from almost 40 titles to 17.

See full post for review of 23 works. The breakdown:
2 Comic books
3 Historical Romance Fiction
7 Science Fiction Novels
2 Science Fiction Short Stories
3 Young Adult Novels
1 Mystery/Crime Fiction
1 Autobiography
1 History
2 Science & Technology Nonfiction
1 Opinion/Current Events

“Barnum! IN Secret Service To The USA” by Howard Chaykin & David Tischman. (Comic) What do you get when PT Barnum & his gang of sideshow freaks teemed up with the US Secret Service to save the US from the nefarious schemes of the evil Dr. Nikola Tesla? You’d get this fun and engaging comic book. Great premise, good story and just very amusing.

“From the Hands of Hostile Gods” by Darren R. Hawkins. What a strange wonderful read. A mind bending mystery tale wrapped up in a love story. Set in an isolated outpost on a world being terraformed, the author does a brilliant job conveying the isolation and little social quirks that come with such locations. And when the mystery ramps up into disaster, Hawkins is equally up to the task of writing suspense. This is a good creepy book at a time when I read several bad to so-so creepy books (see below). Definitely worth downloading.

“The Remarkable Worlds of Professor Phineas B. Fuddle” by Boaz & Erek Yakin. (Comic) A lost-in-time absent-minded professor, Victorian London being overwhelmed in temporal paradoxes and two wayward adventurers. Again, ridiculous but wonderful fun.

“The Ghost Map” by Steven Johnson. An account of an 1850s cholera outbreak in London, the investigative aftermath and the historical consequences. A completely riveting book that ties together sociology, epistemology, globalization, urbanization, paradigm shifts in science and other awesome topics. Although I wouldn’t recommend reading it on a sick day (total mistake), it was an excellent book.

“The Sea of Monsters: Percy Jackson & The Olympians – Book 2” by Rick Riordan. The second book in this series is just as good as the first with some emotionally interesting plot twists on the inherent evilness of Cyclops and the Olympian gods’ opinions on redemption for their fallen children. Actually, pretty interesting in that the larger conflict of the series steps up a bit and the book-specific adventure has a really, really great payoff at the end. I will definitely be continuing this series.

“Fairest” by Gail Carson Levine. A fairy tale with a twist. While there are curses & such as expected, this isn't a predictable tale. For all it's fairy-taleness, it is really a story about a young girl coming into her own. Pretty interesting. My only complaint is that after making you hate a character for most of the book, she ends up being a non-entity in the end.

“Life At The Bottom” by Theodore Dalrymple. Dear God what a depressing book! Basically, the book is a bunch of anecdotes and opinions based on years of serving as a medical practitioner in some of Britain’s rougher neighborhoods. If you ever had any doubt that people could do self-destructive and stupid things, this book will cure of that doubt quickly. Sociologically interesting but not exactly enjoyable just for the unrelenting negativity of the subject.

"Mr. Darcy's Daughters", "The Exploits & Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy", & "The Darcy Connection" by Elizabeth Aston. Basically this is published fanfiction set in Austen's “Pride & Prejudice” universe. It follows the daughters of Mr. Darcy & Elizabeth Bennett and their assorted cousins. Definitely quick enjoyable reads if you like Austen.

“Into the Looking Glass” by John Ringo. WHA-HOO. That’s the only fitting description for a book that opens with a 60KT explosion in modern day Florida….and then gets worse (or more exciting depending on your point of view). Very good pulpy military sci-fi with an interesting premise and a breakneck pace. I’m seriously looking forward to the other two books in this series.

“The Creature From Beyond Infinity”, “The Dark World” by Henry Kuttner. The titles aren’t related, just two works by the same author. “Creature” is a typical golden-age sci-fi work with a lot of optimism hiding under its dismal premise. The back & forward story structure is also quite engrossing. Overall, “Creature” was surprisingly enjoyable for a book I read because of its amusing title. “Dark World” is a good deal stranger. It does have a unique approach in that the main character is (one of) the antagonist(s); past a certain point you don’t really feel sorry for what happens to him. I give “Dark” points for being creepy and disorienting, but I still don’t know if I liked it.

“A Strange Manuscript Found In The Copper Cylinder” by James De Mille. Ugh. This is what happens when you combine Jules Verne, a talky-preachy frame story and lots & lots of cannibalism. Based on this book, the reader might develop the mistaken belief that people in the mid-nineteenth century were greatly obsessed with cannibalism and death cults. Seriously, WHAT THE HELL? This is just a weird, gross story that never really became a good story. The mentality of the death cult was academically interesting but that’s really the only good thing I can think of at this point. Yuck.

“Evil Genius” by Catherine Jinks. What would you do if you discovered your psychiatrist was the head henchman for your super-villain-in-jail biological dad? That’s the premise of this wildly entertaining read. Initially, it seems more like a comedy but as the plot progresses, things that were hinted at for laughs now become deadly serious as the main character realizes that maybe, he isn’t really cut out to be a super-villain. Very good read which also has a sequel that sounds interesting.

“The Cosmic Expense Account” by CM Kornbluth. (Short Story) Well, this was different. Sorta a zombie story that combines rational empiricism and questionable publishing ethics (really). It’s amusing but not very engrossing. The best parts are the complete antipathy between the two main characters and the fact that the super-villain is a little old spinster lady.

“The Crystal Egg” by HG Wells. (Short Story) Ever wonder how the aliens in “War of the Worlds” gathered intelligence on humanity before they invaded. This story is your answer. The concept is good but none of the characters really gelled into actual people for me. And the ending is a bit unsatisfying.

“Japan’s Longest Day” by The Pacific War Research Society. This is an absolutely riveting account of the last day before Emperor Hirohito’s announcement to the Japanese people that Japan was surrendering. What’s most amazing by the tale isn’t how close Japan came to fighting on at the behest of their military officers but how many of the officers and other government officials were genuinely offended by the very idea of a coup d’etat. Excellent book for anyone interested in the final days of WWII.

“Hard Corps” by Marco Martinez. The autobiography of how a guy from New Mexico went from gansta teen to Iraq War hero and winner of the Navy Cross. The Marine training was actually harder for me to read than the combat scenes, which seems weird but maybe all those military sci-fi stories have desensitized me or something. Still, very good read even if Martinez comes across a bit too strong sometimes (but honestly, what else am I to expect from a Marine?).

"Magyk: Septimus Heap Book One" by Angie Sage. Sorta like “Harry Potter” lite. A fun read but it dragged a bit in the middle. I did like how it kept you guessing about a couple of plot points while revealing others almost right off. I'll probably check out the others in this series.

“Agent to the Stars” by John Scalzi. Instead of evil insect invaders, Earth gets contacted by very polite aliens who knowing their slime-like forms aren’t appealing to humans decide to hire a Hollywood agent to introduce them to the world. Comedic premise with emotional payoff = Writing gold. Great read with the physical nature and capabilities of the aliens integrating into the story in a hundreds wonderful ways.

“Edison Conquers Mars” by Garrett P. Serviss. Written as a response to HG Wells “War of the Worlds”, it starts just after the great Martian invasion has failed. Thomas Edison & other great scientists of the day reverse engineer & improve the Martian's machines of war and take the battle to Mars. Very engaging and delightfully quaint sci-fi written by someone who apparently accomplished a great many sci-fi firsts even though I'd never heard of him before. A surprisingly fun download.

“Bones to Ashes” by Kathy Reichs. Another great book in the “Temperance Brennan” series that spawned the TV show “Bones” (which I love). The books are very different in tone and set-up but are quite enjoyable in their own right. Reichs has a real talent for creating mysteries with “expected” outcomes that don't payoff in expected ways. Great weekend or travel book (it's no wonder I always find her books in airport bookshops, they make long journeys feel short).

“Breakthrough: From The Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility” by Ted Nordhaus & Michael Shellenberger. Absolutely excellent book on the environmental movement, right & wrong. Although the authors liberal bias is very prevalent, they do present a fair portrayal of both parties’ stances. Their prescriptions for reforming our energy situation are thought-provoking. I found this a hugely interesting read.

Link to full post.

Interesting Glycemic Facts

While browsing through some of the worst offenders in the Glycemic Index Database, I came across the expected muffins, breads & grains, However, there were a few entries which really surprised me:

Cranberry Juice: 56-68 GI
Cheerios: 74 GI

Granted both of these have other health benefits, but clearly my Cheerios & Cranberry juice diet idea isn't gonna fly. There's also these quite interesting comparisons:

Ice Cream: 56-80 GI vs. "Tofu-based frozen dessert": 115 GI
Mars Bar: 62-68 GI versus Fruit Roll-ups: 99 GI

Truly, we live in a topsy-turvy world when a candy bar is healthier than a fruit roll-up!

*goes off to cross-references grocery list for any surprise offenders*

Link to full post.

Overheard At Work, pt15

[When informed a friend couldn't attend their weekly role-playing game because he cut off part of his finger]
Engineer: But he can still roll with his other hand!

I'm 98% certain he was joking.....Well, 95%.

Link to full post.

The Dark Knight

I'm not going to equivocate or explain my opinion. It's very simple really.

WOW.

If you don't see this movie you are depriving yourself of an absolutely stunning piece of film.

Link to full post.

Summer YA Reading Spree

Recently, I’ve been on a young-adult reading frenzy. It’s a bit strange, when I was a kid I preferred adult science fiction. But now that I’m an adult, I like young adult novels. Maybe it is because the YA books are a lot better than they used to be.

“The Princess Academy” by Shannon Hale. A really interesting modernized sorta fairy tale. When the royal priests degree the future princess will be from a frontier mountain known for its quarries, officials build an academy to train the local young ladies in proper princess behavior. Only the point of the story isn’t really marrying the prince, but how education broadens the minds and perspectives of these girls so that even if they aren’t the future princess, their homes and families are greatly improved because of their greater understanding of the world. When you combine this with a likable heroine, some good adventure and complex adult characters, well, it makes for an excellent read.

“The Lightening Thief” by Rick Riordan. What is it about Greek gods? 2000 years after their worship fell out of favor, numerous fictional works make use of the mythology. Perhaps the reason is that with twelve main gods and armies of various supernatural creatures, the Greek Pantheon makes for good drama. That’s just as true for young adults as is it for grown-ups. What if you discovered that your missing father was a Greek god? What if this turned out to be a really dangerous fact? That’s the premise of the “Percy Jackson & The Olympians” novels. This first book in the series is a very fun, well-paced read with a trio of pre-teen demigods trying to prevent a war. Good fun, humorous plot twists revolving around various points of Greek myth and some interesting hints about Western civilization in general. I look forward to reading the rest of these books.

“His Dark Materials” Trilogy by Phillip Pullman. Ah yes, the controversial trilogy that advocates the death of “God”. Honestly, the subject matter is less disturbing than the extreme unlikability of most of the major characters, heroes and villains alike. I’m actually impressed that Mr. Pullman wrote three novels involving people I don’t particularly like but he somehow managed to make them suspenseful. This was mainly a credit to his plotting skills. My main gripe is that the conclusion of the series is woefully anticlimactic. The story continues for a couple of chapters beyond what it really should in order to deliver a gut-punch of a twist that frankly seems entirely too convenient. These are good books in the sense of being well-written and plotted, don’t get me wrong. Unfortunately, the last book was the least enjoyable for me.

On a sidenote, I'll be travelling for work this week so it's unlikely there will be any posts until Saturday.

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Thoughts From The Drive Home...

Superman and all those other superheroes are creations of another age. I mean, who cares about supervillians on the rampage anymore. This is 2008 and we have 2008 super-problems that need solving. In a time when the price of oil is skyrocketing, who will be the superhero for our age?

It appears our cries for help at the gas pump are being answered.....Never fear, guess who is here!

Link to full post.

Pajamas from the Mall

While at the mall today, I generally refrained from taking pictures of patterns. I find that retail personnel for clothes in particular don't like it when you're photographing their stuff. However, in the pajama department of Dillard's I came across some patterns that demanded my camera's attention.

See full post for sleepwear designed to give you psychedelic nightmares. The sheer loudness of these prints would keep me awake for hours.

Teaser: The tamest pattern of the bunch.
No really.


When acid-dropping ferns attack! (in your sleep)


I do not care how many times they say it, Brown + Pink DOES NOT equal pretty.
See?

If you stare at the following pattern for move than twenty seconds, it will appear to move.

Link to full post.

Movies from My Weekend

Spent my holiday weekend reading, shopping and watching some movies....

"The Spiderwick Chronicles" is just a good, fast-paced romp through a fantasy world. I'd never read the book(s?) this movie is based on but it was pretty enjoyable. Also, Freddie Highmore impressed me by being able to play twin boys in such a way that I never once confused who was who. A nice family movie.

"Hancock" was great but, man, this wasn't the super-hero movie I thought I was going to see! And I mean that in the best possible way. After the big reveal, I had no idea where the plot was going. Charlize Theron's character especially pleasantly surprised me. It was pretty interesting to see a superhero film where the superhero is such total jerk. Also even though Hancock cannot be injured (for the most part), the film did a really good job of conveying the destruction and peril that would result from these powers. There's a good bit of language but overall, this is really enjoyable action movie.

Link to full post.

CD Baby Strikes Again!!

Aka - How I spent my Stimulus check, part the first

Once again, I wandered into the online music store CD Baby and have now purchased an insanely eclectic bunch of music. Also, I discovered their $5 sale (buy any 3 CDs on the sale list and they are all $5 instead of their list price). Reasons for my depleted bank account:

Vibeke "The World Famous Hat Trick" - Described as "Norway's answer to early Blondie", this is rousing album of jamming music. I particularly like track 6, "Meant To Be With You".

The Frolics "The Frolics" - Like kinda dirty punk-country with a wonderful sense of humor. I can easily imagine myself humming "Crackhead Fred". Besides, you've got to admire a even tangentially country band who includes "A Ballad to Eazy-E" on their CD.

Devotchka "How It Ends" - "European influenced sad bastard music"....And what music! Although only four tracks are available for previewing, they are a varied and interesting group of songs. If I had to pick a favorite, I'd got with "The Enemy Guns" for being the coolest song I've heard in months. I really can't wait to listen to the rest.

Kagero "Kagero" & "Red & Black" - A Half-Japanese Gypsy-Punk Group whose lead singer channels Simon Le Bon. The self-titled album is more punk with songs like "Samba Au Lait". The second album, "Red & Black", with only three songs makes a surprisingly huge impression based on pure gypsy awesomeness, especially the title song.

Devil Doll "The Return of Eve" - HOLY MOLY. A rockabilly/jazz/punk singer with an out-of-this-world fantastic voice. Just absolutely blew me away with every single track. Not to mention, there's a huge variety in the song styling, from the punky "The Curse" to the more contemplative "Tortured".

Next up, buying CDs that I actually have planned to buy for a while but put off for reasons that escape me now.

Link to full post.

The State of Engineering, Sorta

Thanks to a coworker, today I read this article in “Design News” magazine which discusses the results of a survey of 2000 engineers on the state of engineering careers. I had a great deal of trouble taking this article seriously when, in one of the graphics, it lists the average engineer’s salary as $86,194(!). Um, maybe in the computing industry.....

Another amusing part of the article was when they asked engineers in their survey what would they change if they were CEOs of their companies? While some of the items listed are worthwhile goals, several were wildly infeasible. Here is my favorite suggestion of the bunch:

“Get rid of bureaucracy”

I think pretty much every corporate employee in the history of mankind has had this recommendation. Bureaucracy is very, very frustrating. However, how many bad ideas are (thankfully) prevented from being implemented because of bureaucracy? Imagine how much worse things would be if red tape didn’t hold back the “shoot from the hip without thinking” ideas that needed to be held back. Good bureaucracy acts as a filter without overwhelming or swamping its participants in paperwork. Whether your company has good or bad bureaucracy is a different question, but guys, entirely “getting rid of bureaucracy” is like wishing for the sky to be purple...and on fire.

The article did have one absolutely brilliant quote about working in engineering:

“In general, engineering is a very demanding and relentless pursuit, mixed with periods of chaos and panic and brief moments of satisfaction. After months of hard work and finally pulling the proverbial rabbit out of a hat, there is a brief moment of satisfaction and accomplishment. Then, your boss hands you your next assignment – and this one involves two rabbits and a smaller hat.”

Very well said.

Link to full post.