03 July 2009

Add this to your collection of geeky.web.stuff

For instance, House devotees may remember a case like this

[Thanks, MM!]

28 June 2009

15 Books in 15 Minutes

Damn FB taggers.  I can't even type this up in 15 minutes.  So I'm cheating.  :) 

I tried to put this roughly in time order.  And it has either more or less than 15 books on it, depending on how you count.

  1. Life Science Library and
  2. Life Nature Library -- I didn't know until I went to look these up that they were two separate series.

  3. Some series of small art books my elementary school had.  The good thing was that you could check them out and carry them around, but they still had (small) pictures in them.

  4. The Isotope Man was the first science fiction novel I ever remember reading.

  5. Godel, Escher, Bach -- added after looking at my friends' lists.  [Cheat.  :)]

  6. Lord Of Light and
  7. The Lathe of Heaven -- had to put some science fiction in here somewhere, right? :)

  8. Games People Play was the book that finally gave me an appreciation of the social sciences, or maybe that was LOH, above.  :)

  9. A Peace to End All Peace was when I finally started reading and appreciating some history.

  10. Underworld -- I think this is just in here as a sop to my own ego.  I don't even understand why I liked it.


Not tagging anyone else.  But when FB updates, I'll back-tag the folks who tagged me. 

19 June 2009

Refreshing

Even if it's unfair and they're our allies, it's kind of refreshing to hear a nation other than the U.S. be called "evil."  Iran also put some sort of Evil Eye curse on Hillary and caused her to break her elbow.  Maybe we'll have WWII all over again, where Britain is responsible for the Middle East and we're charged with, um, handling the Pacific.  Europe will be up for grabs this time.  Maybe the Scandinavians will take it and invade Russia up to the Urals, since they can handle the cold.  Denmark and Finland can attack Poland from opposite sides and partition it.  Or maybe not. 

16 June 2009

Dead people

Wow, tomorrow is my first dead brother's birthday.  Ignore the stuff about him being in the Army: as he was only alive for three weeks, I doubt he had time to join up. 

The "VILAS JOSEPH H" on there is kinda creepy.  I wonder if that's my grandfather.  I never met him, and I sure as hell didn't know he was buried in Golden Gate National Cemetery.  But maybe that's not him.  I believe he was Henry instead of Harry. 

The Joseph Norman Vilas on there is my dad. 

No idea who Betty is. 

03 June 2009

Bring me the head of the dinosaur!

The Durham Police have found the head of the decapitated Museum of Life and Science dinosaur.  Excellent.  Now I guess we need a fundraiser to get the dinosaur re-assembled.  [via Barry.] 

Edit: Story at MyNC with picture, and previous story about theft

As I know a lot of my friends are into comics II...

I think he looks like Michael Landon.  [Via RNLee.]

As I know a lot of my friends are into comics...

25 May 2009

D'oh

If you've been waiting on me for something social or the like, and I haven't responded, I apologize.  I think I've had the croup maybe three times since the beginning of the year.  I imagine I'll get better eventually, but right now it's just frustrating. 

21 May 2009

resume

My résumé is available online.  Feedback welcome. 

16 May 2009

Places I've lived, all on Google Street View

  1. 1852 Sweetwood Drive, Broadmoor, CA
  2. 1019 Nimitz Drive, Broadmoor, CA
  3. rural Sampson County, NC
  4. 201 S. College St., Wallace, NC
  5. Edens Quad, Duke University, Durham, NC
  6. 205 Watts St., Durham, NC
  7. 1020 Iredell St., Durham, NC
  8. 2505 West Club Blvd., Durham, NC
  9. 909 N. Gregson St., Durham, NC
  10. 804 Sanderson Dr., Durham, NC
  11. 1501 Glendale Ave., Durham, NC
  12. 216 W. Markham Ave., Durham, NC

I'm leaving off my current address, and anyplace I've just visited or stayed for a couple weeks.  The shot of Edens Quad is the best I could do: Lancaster, the dorm where I lived, was actually on the opposite side of Edens Quad from where that photograph was taken.  And of course the real surprise is that Google Street View has made it down to rural Sampson County. 

02 May 2009

How much of the NC "Education Lottery" goes to education?

About a thirdIt's a racket, if you ask me. 

Update: Oh, it gets better

20 April 2009

So does that mean they're not countably infinite?

I know xkcd is already over-the-top geeky, but this one really takes the cake:

19 April 2009

J. G. Ballard, RIP

Author J. G. Ballard has died at the age of 78.

18 April 2009

The neighborhood speaks

From the neighborhood that brought you traffic circle tea parties, AKA "Dyke Park":

I don't technically live in the same neighborhood anymore, having moved all of 2 blocks south of the dividing line.  But both Duke Park and Old North Durham are great places to live. 

12 April 2009

Flowering dogwood, Easter 2009

Flowering-dogwood
Click to embiggen in a pop-up. 

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