/dev/null/kevin

This is the dumbest thing I've ever seen.  Given my friends and family, that's saying alot. 

Tags: remote wrangler | stupid

Here are my predictions for who will win (not who should win) the Oscar.  Predictions are in bold type.

 Update: Winners are in green, my incorrect predictions are in red.

• Best Picture:
• "Babel"
• "The Departed"
• "Letters From Iwo Jima"
• "Little Miss Sunshine"
• "The Queen"

• Actor:
• Leonardo DiCaprio, "Blood Diamond"
• Ryan Gosling, "Half Nelson"
• Peter O'Toole, "Venus"
• Will Smith, "The Pursuit of Happyness"
• Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland"

• Actress:
• Penelope Cruz, "Volver"
• Judi Dench, "Notes on a Scandal"
• Helen Mirren, "The Queen"
• Meryl Streep, "The Devil Wears Prada"
• Kate Winslet, "Little Children"

• Supporting Actor:
• Alan Arkin, "Little Miss Sunshine"
• Jackie Earle Haley, "Little Children"
• Djimon Hounsou, "Blood Diamond"
• Eddie Murphy, "Dreamgirls"
• Mark Wahlberg, "The Departed"

• Supporting Actress:
• Adriana Barraza, "Babel"
• Cate Blanchett, "Notes on a Scandal"
• Abigail Breslin, "Little Miss Sunshine"
• Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls"
• Rinko Kikuchi, "Babel"

• Directing:
• Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, "Babel"
• Martin Scorsese, "The Departed"
• Clint Eastwood, "Letters From Iwo Jima"
• Stephen Frears, "The Queen"
• Paul Greengrass, "United 93"

• Foreign Language Film:
• "After the Wedding" Denmark
• "Days of Glory (Indigenes)" Algeria
• "The Lives of Others" Germany
• "Pan's Labyrinth" Mexico
• "Water" Canada

• Adapted Screenplay:
• Sacha Baron Cohen and Anthony Hines and Peter Baynham and Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips, "Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"
• Alfonso Cuaron and Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, "Children of Men"
• William Monahan, "The Departed"
• Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, "Little Children"
• Patrick Marber, "Notes on a Scandal"

• Original Screenplay:
• Guillermo Arriaga, "Babel"
• Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis, "Letters From Iwo Jima"
• Michael Arndt, "Little Miss Sunshine"
• Guillermo del Toro, "Pan's Labyrinth"
• Peter Morgan, "The Queen"

• Animated Feature Film:
• "Cars"
• "Happy Feet"
• "Monster House"

• Art Direction:
• "Dreamgirls"
• "The Good Shepherd"
• "Pan's Labyrinth"
• "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"
• "The Prestige"

• Cinematography:
• "The Black Dahlia"
• "Children of Men"
• "The Illusionist"
• "Pan's Labyrinth"
• "The Prestige"

• Sound Mixing:
• "Apocalypto"
• "Blood Diamond"
• "Dreamgirls"
• "Flags of Our Fathers"
• "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"

• Sound Editing:
• "Apocalypto"
• "Blood Diamond"
• "Flags of Our Fathers"
• "Letters From Iwo Jima"
• "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"

• Original Score:
• "Babel" Gustavo Santaolalla
• "The Good German" Thomas Newman
• "Notes on a Scandal" Philip Glass
• "Pan's Labyrinth" Javier Navarrete
• "The Queen" Alexandre Desplat

• Original Song:
• "I Need to Wake Up" from "An Inconvenient Truth" Melissa Etheridge
• "Listen" from "Dreamgirls" Henry Krieger, Scott Cutler and Anne Preven
• "Love You I Do" from "Dreamgirls" Henry Krieger and Siedah Garrett
• "Our Town" from "Cars" Randy Newman
• "Patience" from "Dreamgirls" Henry Krieger and Willie Reale

• Costume:
• "Curse of the Golden Flower"
• "The Devil Wears Prada"
• "Dreamgirls"
• "Marie Antoinette"
• "The Queen"

• Documentary Feature:
• "Deliver Us From Evil"
• "An Inconvenient Truth"
• "Iraq in Fragments"
• "Jesus Camp"
• "My Country, My Country"

• Documentary (short subject):
• "The Blood of Yingzhou District"
• "Recycled Life"
• "Rehearsing a Dream"
• "Two Hands"

• Film Editing:
• "Babel"
• "Blood Diamond"
• "Children of Men"
• "The Departed"
• "United 93"

• Makeup:
• "Apocalypto"
• "Click"
• "Pan's Labyrinth"

• Animated Short Film:
• "The Danish Poet"
• "Lifted"
• "The Little Matchgirl"
• "Maestro"
• "No Time for Nuts"

• Live Action Short Film:
• "Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea)"
• "Eramos Pocos (One Too Many)"
  
• "Helmer & Son"
• "The Saviour"
• "West Bank Story"

• Visual Effects:
• "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"
• "Poseidon"
• "Superman Returns"

Tags: academy awards | oscars | predictions

This is the coolest anti-theft device ever.  He calls it the Eye of Sauron.  I think it looks more like Emperor Palpatine's force lightning, but I'm a huge nerd. 

There are more pictures of his Tesla coil from his web page. 

Tags: Tesla coil | lightning | anti-theft

IMDb's new look is nice, I guess, but the muscle-memory in my mouse hand doesn't know where to click anymore.

Help!

Tags: imdb
 

flickr.com kept getting a massage all Monday night.  It went down several times as I was trying to organize some photos of our Hawaii trip.

 From flick's blog:

Note that it's now 9:40pm PST and flickr is down again.  Sigh.

I hope this massage has a happy ending.

UPDATE:

Guess things aren't getting better:

Tags: flickr

Hasbro has recalled almost one million Easy-Bake Ovens because kids can get their hands stuck inside and easily burn them.  29 injuries reported so far, 5 with burns.

Here is the recall notice.

Still no word on how dangerous it is to actually eat anything "baked" in one of these.

Tags: easy bake oven | recall

Here are some cool pictures of an artist who cleaned the soot from the inside of a tunnel to create art.

 Tags: skulls | soot | art

Since the law requires that all sys admins (1) drink coffee and (2) wear t-shirts, my group is doing its part to make sure Sun customers are compliant with the law by giving away shirts and mugs.  You're on your own regarding the facial hair regulations.

Head on over to Steve's blog (my boss) who describes the deal better than I could.  But really, all you need to know is "free stuff."  And that your Solaris systems will be more secure and easier to manage.  I know, I had you at free stuff!

As a long-time Sun employee, I have dozens and dozens of shirts and mugs.  But is it enough?  Of course not.  How can anyone have enough t-shirts and coffee mugs?  That's like having enough love or bandwidth.  Or cookies.  Mmmm... cookies.

Tags: free stuff | solaris  | sun connection

This is what I'm going to buy when Sun stock gets a little higher.  Like 50.  Maybe I can improve on my 2 goal, 2 assist season last year (still not bad for a defenceman).

Tags: rapidshot | hockey | training

People waste money.

I'm not talking about spending money on frivolous things or simply paying too much.  I'm talking about spending money on things that they think they need, but really don't.  Here is my list of things that people should never spend money on:

• Weed Mats - They don't work and make things worse.
  


• Extended Warranties - Just donate the money to charity.  The karma will protect you better.


• Sci Fi Channel Movies - Mansquito, Sasquatch, and a host of snake movies.


• Microsoft Office - Open Office or Star Office, baby.
  


• Paris Hilton - People actually pay for her to appear at events.  I'll pay to have her stay under a rock for a year.
  


• Windows Vista "Speech Recognition" - Are you kidding me?  Read the slashdot comments for some funny stuff.  Reminds me of an old Dilbert cartoon where Wally yells "DELETE ALL FILES" at Dilbert's new computer.