/dev/null/kevin

Things I just learned in the last five minutes:

• My 22 month old daughter really likes this online Elmo game.
• When your 22 month old child starts scolding herself ("No, NO! NO! No draw draw Elmo!"), look up to see what she's doing.
• Don't leave permanent marker pens within grabbing distance of a 22 month old.
• Office Depot's Multi-Purpose Anti-Static Cleaner works really well cleaning off permanent marker drawings from a 21" flat panel computer monitor.

So, I sent her off to play with her mother's makeup...

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March 30, 2005 09:22 AM PST Permalink | Comments [4] |

As I write this, I am slowly going into a diabetic coma brought on by eating the richest pie I have ever eaten.

Marie Callender's "pie of the month" is a new S'mores Pie and just one piece is doing me in. Starting at the bottom, this pie has the following ingredients:

1. Graham cracker crust
2. chocolate layer
3. marshmallow layer
4. chocolate mousse layer
5. whipped cream layer
6. more graham crackers
7. mini marshmallows
8. chocolate bars
9. chocolate syrup

Does it taste good? You betcha, but my head is spinning as the sugar kicks in. I think I'm going blind.
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March 22, 2005 07:22 PM PST Permalink | Comments [2] |

Tim Bray is mentioned at slashdot for this interview with Jim Gray (of Microsoft). As usual, a few of the folks at slashdot went off on weird tangents, like how XML is a bad thing. Whatever, morons. For those of us whose lives are so much better due to XML, let me just say "thanks."

Jim Gray intervews Tim Bray: I think we need more rhyming interview pairings like that. Maybe I'll get in to the act: Kevin Chu interviews Kelly Hu. Oooh, baby.
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March 18, 2005 10:15 PM PST Permalink | |

Great news for TiVo fans: TiVo and Comcast have signed a deal. For once, smarter heads prevailed and Comcast realized that people want TiVo's service over Comcast's rather crappy PVR. Now all that remains is for people to realize that using your PC as a PVR isn't really a good thing. It won't take long to realize that you need to dedicate a PC to this task, you can't expect to have your primary PC be your PVR, too. Need to reboot? Can't! I'm recording your soap opera. Want to watch your soap opera? Can't! Junior is playing Counter Strike and doesn't want any lag. Oh look! I'm a PC! I crashed. Hope you didn't want to see who was booted from American Idol.

If you're going to dedicate a PC to be your PVR, you might was well just buy a TiVo, or now get one from Comcast.
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March 15, 2005 10:22 AM PST Permalink | |

This just can't be a good thing: The Lord of the Rings MUSICAL.

Even though it claims to actually not have any singing hobbits, this still can't be a good thing.

I'm a Shadow Wraith, and I'm OK, I hunt all night and I sleep all day!
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March 15, 2005 08:32 AM PST Permalink | |

Today, while walking past the Jamba Juice in Cupertino, CA, I overheard this question being asked of an interviewee:

"So, how do you feel about dressing up as a banana?"

Thank you, college degree!
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March 11, 2005 04:12 PM PST Permalink | Comments [3] |

Use your brain to control your computer? It's coming soon. I stumbled across this story about a brain computer interface that is being developed at the Helsinki University of Technology. While it looks like a bad special effect from a low-grade sci-fi movie, the results look promising. I've always thought that voice-controlled computers just never seemed like a practical idea, but this interface might have some real uses. If nothing else, this BCI would be of great help to someone without the use of their hands.

In an unrelated story, except the brain aspect, researchers have also found that meditation really does help develop the brain. Quoting:

Brain research is beginning to produce concrete evidence for something that Buddhist practitioners of meditation have maintained for centuries: Mental discipline and meditative practice can change the workings of the brain and allow people to achieve different levels of awareness.

Guess I better start doing some "brain push-ups."
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March 11, 2005 10:00 AM PST Permalink | |

Or so it's called. Still, it's pretty funny. Watch it for yourself from Sun's media server.

Watch Now

Yes, I'm really just testing the media server, but who doesn't need a good laugh these days.
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March 10, 2005 04:22 PM PST Permalink | Comments [5] |

That should be the name of the new reality TV show with Mark Geragos. Geragos is the "celebrity" lawyer who would represent regular people in their cases. Geragos has represented the following famous clients:

I'm not sure I'd want this guy representing me!

But all kidding aside, is it really fair to have a high powered lawyer just randomly appear in small cases? Is it fair to the other side who can't afford the same kind of lawyer? I don't think so.
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March 04, 2005 08:30 AM PST Permalink | |

Yahoo's stupid ice cream give away is falling flat. With each store only able to give out 300 scoops total, Baskin Robbins stores were running out of ice cream early in the day. I can vouch for this locally as my family was turned away from two different stores. Fortunately for me, my kid is too young to know what was going on, but we saw other kids crying as parents lead them away, ice creamless. The only winner was the local grocery store where people, like us, were going to buy ice cream (for much cheaper, BTW).

I'll bet that this campaign backfires as people like myself get pissed off at the "bait and switch" tactics used here. My calculations say that 300 cones per store works out to about 1 million cones WORLD wide. While that is a lot, I'll bet it's not nearly enough to handle all of the people who tried to collect. It's like the teachers say, "Did you bring enough gum for everybody?"
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March 02, 2005 07:54 PM PST Permalink | Comments [3] |

The San Jose Mercury News reports that a swearing chicken toy has been recalled because it doesn't say "cluck," but rather something that rhymes with "cluck." The site requires a free registration, but you get to hear the sound for yourself. Personally, I think the word was just truncated to "luck" and only says something else if you want it to.
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March 02, 2005 09:08 AM PST Permalink | |

Putting the "P" back in "IP" networks, the folks at thinkgeek.com apparently think that we just can't leave our computers and need the internet urinal. The text says that we can destroy your opponents in that all imporant Quake 3 clan match without taking a break. Really? I'm not a big Quake player, but I think you need both hands to play, so how would you actually use this with no free hands? Also, this is in the "cube goodies" section. Uh, I don't want the guy in the next cube to me using this thing.

Also disturbing is the "Send us your action shots" link. Please, no action shots.

If you really use this product, remember to "flush your cache" when you're done.
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March 01, 2005 02:00 PM PST Permalink | Comments [1] |