Thursday, February 9, 2006
From the twisted mind created with a mix of Walkerton water and a little too much BME, here are too proposed shirt designs. If you're an IAM member and want them, post your opinion (including color options; they'll print fine on anything) in the BMEshop forum.
As well as the design on the left (suitable for subincised guys, pierced guys, and I suppose anyone who finds it amusing in general), he's got a shirt dedicated to BME/HARD's “All Things Ass” subsection — the last subsection I ever expected would generate a shirt!
Wednesday, February 8, 2006
So I was looking at Their Levees – Our Levees and thinking about the US budget and how it should be able to deal with the problem… Popular Science is running a feature this month on different ways that New Orleans could be made relatively impenetrable to megastorms. For example, this massive storm surge is capable of handling thirty foot waves.
The problem they write, is the cost — a projected $500 million to $1 billion. The claim is that the government simply doesn't have that money to spend… But let's take a look at that statement. Ignoring things like the fact that the US has about two hundred spy satellites up and the latest one is costing
ten times the maximum projected costs of the levees (at $9.5 billion), let's just look at
Yankee Stadium, for which NY taxpayers are contributing
half a billion dollars.
Sports stadiums regularly cost as much or more than the levees are projected to… I guess it's true, America really doesn't care about black people — unless they're dressed in a costume and performing for the entertainment of largely white crowds.
Anyway, in more pleasant news, I made a nice blueberry sauce:
It got good reviews.
Tuesday, February 7, 2006
I finally installed phone software on my local computer (the machine that had it installed is still at Saira's house), so I thought I'd share a few of the pictures I've taken this week. I probably won't set up a cool moblog like Rachel has, but when I get a chance to sit down and do some programming, I'll quickly patch moblogging by photo email into the IAM software.
This freshly killed raccoon (by a car I think) was practically on our doorstep as we moved in. The good news is that the neighbors covered it with kitty litter to soak up the blood and it was gone almost immediately. |
|
I think if I had a Jaguar, I'd be more careful with my parking. That said, I'm fairly certain that my monster truck is currently in the basement of a barn because of a floor collapse, so who the hell am I to judge? |
This car crash was a couple blocks from our house. Thus far it's been my observation that Mexicans are much better drivers than Canadians and Americans… This is in part due to the lack of “rules” in Mexico, requiring drives to be more alert. |
|
Apparently once you get to the BME server facility where we took this photo, the only way the elevator goes is down (although there are floors above), no matter what button you push. |
Jon actually gets the credit for noticing this — if this is “Turkish Coffee”, why is there a Mexican dude in a sombrero on it? Or did they just want to knock off Juan Valdez as a universal symbol for coffee, so they mixed and matched Latino culture a bit? |
|
This winter coming up I'd like to build a new truck… I had plans for a MkII long ago, but I'm currently leaning toward building something a bit more like a monster truck mated with a military sports car, if such a thing could exist! |
The only thing that sucks is that the capture chip in the phone requires a fairly long exposure. I see plenty of nice clear RAZR photos that other people take, but mine are all quite blurry. I have pretty constant tremors and shaking so it's hard for me to hold the phone steady enough for its needs…
I mentioned a while back that it disturbs me a little that if I'm on the subway or bus that wherever I sit becomes a plague zone and no one sits down near me, even if they have to stand to avoid it. I don't really know whether I should be insulted or not. I just posted a new main picture and while maybe the ears or tattoos throw some people off, I don't think I'm that weird looking by urban standards? Anyway, as I said, I'm not sure if I should be offended or depressed about this.
Valentine's day is coming up :-( which I think will be very sad this year. I'm not sure what I should do to celebrate. Maybe pretend it doesn't exist? Or find some kind of friend with benefits to distract me from the date? Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Please send photos to glider@zentastic.com. Cam photos are acceptable, and don't be offended if I Photoshop them to suit my personal kinks*.
* While I'd be flattered by the offers and always enjoy a graphic challenge, this entry is really just an in-joke.
I'm just prepping a BME update now, so watch for that later tonight. Today Phil and I went and got all the remaining furniture that was needed… Which pretty much taps me out financially, so hopefully nothing breaks in the next week! The network is also running, so once a few more monitors and so on get plugged in, everything will be back up at full speed… Anyway, I'm off to the airport shortly to go get Michael, and then maybe we'll all go out for supper (or eat it here, I don't know).
