Scott Adcox

Doing More With Less Since 1972

Author: Scott (Page 52 of 80)

Happy Earth Day (1970)

April 22, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Don’t get me wrong. I love Earth Day. Earth Day 1990 gave me the opportunity to see The Bellamy Brothers, Roseanne Cash, and Rodney Crowell all at the same venue. For free! Can’t beat that.

Luckily, there will always be some sort of environmental scare going on, so even if they change over 40 years or so, we’ll still have the opportunity to listen to some good music while surrounded by chicks who marinate in paciulli.

Here’s my favorite part from Reason’s article:

Kenneth Watt was less equivocal in his Swarthmore speech about Earth’s temperature. “The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years,” he declared. “If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age.”

I guess the lesson here is that we did too good a job heeding this warning and should avoid overshooting the mark going forward?

To The Jackass Who Almost Ran Over Me

April 21, 2010 / / 2 Comments
When you are almost hit by a car

My paint job is messed up. His in intact.

The big fat line painted on the parking lot you were exiting and the big octagonal red “STOP” sign were directed at you. Luckily (mostly for you), I’m a much better cyclist than you are a driver. If that weren’t the case you’d be dealing with some actual legal problems. I realize you were in too big of a hurry to get somewhere to at least roll down your window and ask if I was ok. Hope it was important. Please tell the Brevard County Sheriff’s deputy I said thanks again when he stops by your house.

Also, a big thanks to Jesse, who works for Brighthouse and called in your plates. Poor guy thought you actually hit me. I guess your car was in the way when he saw me go Supermanning over the handle bars, so he couldn’t see me bounce off the pavement instead of your vehicle.

Again, I’m ok–very little damage done, other than me being very angry. On second thought, maybe it is best that you just drove away.

Picasa Server In The Works? Please?

April 19, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Now that Google has purchased Picnik, presumably to try to better contest Flickr in the online photo sharing market, I’m hoping they take a huge step to offer something Flickr can’t come close to. They already offer amazing photo organization at home (Flickr doesn’t), but it’s not quite where it needs to be yet…

I absolutely love Picasa for the desktop. If you haven’t checked out its ability to do things like facial recognition, geotagging, nametags, etc you are in for a pleasant surprise. The one hangup for me is that there still isn’t a Picasa server I can run at home. We keep all of our photos on a NAS drive, which means that we have to install Picasa on every computer in the house in order to catalog them on each machine. And if I run facial recognition on one machine, those results don’t show up on another. What I’d really like to do is serve up the Picasa database  (not just the photos themselves) to any client machine on my network. With all the work Google is doing to empower the cloud, I’m hoping the next step for them is to help empower my local cloud (fog?).

I did find this solution, which looks like a pretty decent workaround, but I want the real thing. Maybe even add some accounts that let different users on my network comment and rate photos? Some accounts can edit, some can only view? Basically, I want to be able to do anything I can do on the web on a local server. Still, not complaining about this amazing (and free) software.

Obama Is A…

April 14, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Inspired by this post via Instapundit, I thought I’d build a little Google Spreadsheets chart based on nothing but some semi-random words. People love charts, right?

Below are the number of Google results I got today from doing a search on “Obama is a _______”. I did this for my own amusement, and I wouldn’t put too much stock in these results. Everyone knows that popular opinion and popular vote count only matter on Wikipedia and if the guy you wanted to win the Presidency didn’t.

Feel free to suggest your own phrases in the comments, and I’ll update the chart.

Five Android Apps to Add After the Hero 2.1 Update

April 13, 2010 / / 2 Comments

I’ve been waiting patiently for Sprint to update the HTC Hero to Android v2.1. First it was going to happen in March. Then April 9 was the date. The latest date I’ve heard is April 16…we’ll see? Anyway, there are several apps I’ve wanted to grab for a while, but couldn’t get because I’m stuck on version 1.5. Yeah, I know I could root my phone and do it all now, but I have too many other things to do to waste time trying to fix my phone after I screw it up.


New Google Maps

Turn by turn navigation is the big selling point. Sprint’s turn by turn navigation is atrocious. Ok, maybe that’s not fair. Once you have it running, it’s not too bad, but I’ve found it’s much more convenient to just use Google Maps without the turn by turn feature. Another reason it will be great to have Google Maps work with another little gem I want to grab as soon as I get the upgrade…

Google Buzz

I haven’t given up on it yet. In fact, I think it still has the most potential. As soon as it will let me post Buzz->Twitter it will probably be my go-to social app. But right now I can’t even use the Buzz Widget. It’s sort of ironic that it’s already out there for the iPhone, but I have to blame Sprint/HTC for using such an old version of Android (hurry up with the update!)

Google Earth Mobile

It’s just a toy. But it’s one of my favorite toys to use on a computer. On second thought, maybe I don’t want this on my phone. The ability to multitouch and fly to your current location are very cool. I’ve been in a situation recently where I was trying to use landmarks to navigate (Maps and GPS fail), and this would have been very helpful. Again, the ability to apply layers is very cool, and I’m interested to see how well the multitouch navigation works with it.

FlyScreen

FlyScreen will actually run on Android 1.6, so until the Sprint Hero is upgraded to 2.1  you can’t use it yet. But this is a really cool little app that replaces your stock lockscreen with stuff you use the most. That means fewer clicks/touches to do the things you do the most. Not a good app for people who always lock their phones, but for those of us who seldom leave the house, it’s perfect!

Thick Buttons

If you have fat fingers (literally) like I do, this app will make typing emails and texts on your touch screen a heckuva lot easier. It predicts which letters you are going to want to type next based on the letters you’ve already typed and enlarges them, making useless letters smaller. As someone who types reasonably fast on a standard QWERTY keyboard, I’m constantly frustrated by typing on that tiny screen.

Discovery STS-131 Launch Video

April 5, 2010 / / 3 Comments

We were very lucky Discovery launched this morning, considering there were a couple of no-go periods leading up to liftoff due to some communications issues. In order to make the 6:21 am launch we had to wake up at 2:45 so we could make it through the gates at KSC by 4:30. It would not have been fun to have rolled 8 adults and 2 kids under three out of bed that early for the launch to have been scrubbed. The weather was absolutely perfect–clear skies and just a slight breeze. It also made the waiting a little easier to see the Space Station fly over at 6:04.

The video isn’t as good as NASA will post later, but enjoy!

Special thanks to the SIL for securing an employee’s car pass and to the Brevard Rugby Club for lending us a 15 passenger van so that my parents and the in-laws could all get in to see the launch!

Update — Hi-res photo of Discovery clearing the tower.

Update II — Video that’s only slightly better than our home video at Space Gizmo. 🙂

Stuff You Should See– March 8th through April 2nd

April 2, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Can Science Explain the Concept of Heaven? – I was really just looking for a yes or no.

Only a Few Can Multi-Task – Bits Blog – I got sidetracked when I saw this post. I only read about half of it when something shiny popped up on my other screen.

40+ Awesome Grunge Style Photoshop Brush Packs – Hope to one day find my artistic side.

Knoxville over Huntsville 28-19 | Knoxville Rugby Football Club – Eye of the Possum! Eye of the Possum! Eye of the Possum! Go Possum!!! http://bit.ly/ctwnDt

Twitpic – Share photos on Twitter – Thanks @svandyke for the RedBud mug! I was going to drink this afternoon's coffee from my hands, but now… http://twitpic.com/17e5ap

Colombian Chicken Stew: Sancocho Recipe : Sara Moulton : Food Network – Lunch is leftover sancocho. Wish I could eat this for every meal. http://bit.ly/aWQ9oc

What If The Federal Government CAN Make You Buy A Product?

March 30, 2010 / / 3 Comments

I’m glad the AGs of various states are challenging the federal mandate that compels us to purchase health care coverage from the (“evil”) insurance companies. My worry is that they will lose. And once that precedent is set, what else could we be forced to purchase by law?

Will we be required to have bank accounts, purchased from evil banks? After all, if you have money, you must be participating in commerce, so that can be regulated.

What about funeral insurance? We’re all going to die (I’m working on this one) and there’s a cost associated with that, for now. Or maybe someone will come to the realization that since all of us will need our remains disposed of at some point, this service is a right. And since it’s a right, no one will be allowed to make money on it, making it “free”.

Proof by iteration is a concept that should be taught at around age 10.

Prenatal Care the TSA Way

March 26, 2010 / / 0 Comments

I went through security at ATL this afternoon. Believe it or not, the story gets even worse…

As I was collecting all my carry on items after they were checked, one of the TSA sheriffs calls out to another over his shoulder, “Hey George! She says she knows you! But just for one night!”

I looked over and noticed the lady behind me was pregnant. She didn’t look very amused at all, but she didn’t raise a stink about it. That’ may be the most unfortunate part of the incident.

As for the TSA agent who made the comment, I guess it would have been too unprofessional for him to say, “Hey George! Check out this tramp you knocked up one night a few months ago and never spoke to again.”

What kind of culture exists within an agency that would make anyone think they had a license to say something like that? What would happen in your business if you spoke about a customer that way, especially right in front of them? Get ready for HealthCare.gov. I expect jackasses like this guy will be among the first to put in for a position admitting soon to be moms into the hospital. He probably is working on a bunch of fat jokes as we speak.

Three Winning Tips From a Hide and Seek Professional

March 18, 2010 / / 4 Comments

hide and seek

I’ve been playing a lot of Hide and Seek lately with players of varying skill level–mostly friendly games, but there’ve been a few high stakes sessions too. I’ve been taking detailed notes, and am really working to refine my game. I’m not giving away all of my secrets, but here are three tips you can use to keep most opponents confounded. Just keep in mind that every game (and every round) of Hide and Seek is different, and your opponent isn’t just “It”, but the other hiders as well.

1. If you’re “It”, count as slowly as possible.
This flies in the face of hide and seek conventional wisdom. You’d intuitively think that counting faster would allow your opponents less time to hide, and, as a result, increase your chances of discovering them while they are still in an unprepared state. However, this strategy rarely works in practice. Counting slowly, on the other hand, gives the enemy lots of time to find a hiding spot, and lots of time to get restless and impatient in that spot. If given enough time, your opponents are sure to be faced with the need to scratch or cough. This small slip up will give you the upper hand.

2. Pick a hiding spot as close to Base as possible and 180 degrees away from the direction a fleet footed “It” is likely to begin their search.
This is somewhat of a high risk tactic, especially for less experienced players. But if “It” begins their search in a direction somewhere around 180 degrees away from your hiding spot, you will have an opportunity to sprint to Base early in the round, not only ensuring you won’t have to be “It” for the next round, but also giving you plenty of time to watch the current round unfold from a safe place while you plot your next hiding spot. Just make sure you find a spot that’s close–you are unlikely to outrun a speedy “It” in a distance greater than 40 yards.

3. Choose a hiding place with several intermediate hiding spots nearby.
This is easier in the later rounds of the game, when you’ve had the chance to scout out some of the other players hiding spots you may not have found on your own. Use the intermediate spots to work your way back to Base, but still remain hidden. This is an especially effective tactic if “It” has already checked these spots and cleared them.

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