March 2004 Archives

I finally achieved my dream of submitting a photoshop entry to fark. It wasn't much, but it was a start. The threadwas "Photoshop what Saddam has been up to".

My entry got four votes. I think it could have drawn more votes if I submitted it earlier.

After town hall meeting with veterans today, John Forbes Kerry was seen massaging rival candidate Michael Rice's shoulders and neck. Analysts speculate that Kerry may be "sizing up" Mr. Rice as a "running mate". The analysts then gave a knowing look and said "if you know what I mean".

It should be noted that, despite his presence at a veteran's gathering, Mr. Rice has never served in any branch of the American armed services. A spokesperson for his campaign denies charges that Rice's lack of military duty is related to his fondness for being massaged by strong, masculine hands. Rice is also a known cat fancier.

During the exchange between the two men, Kerry was overheard saying "you must work out".

This story has two things going for it. A couple of Rodens and an alternative construction method.

If you haven't registered for LA Times and don't want to, you can use this blog's account (user: paperhat; password: paperhat)

I just tried vegemite for the first -- and possibly only -- time. That is, by far, the saltiest thing I have ever tasted.

Granted, I had it straight, which is not the recommended usage, but I can't think of anything that would be made better by vegemite.

Protein wisdom posts about learner's permits for beer. I thought it sounded like a great idea until I realized that it is already legal (at least in Texas) for children to drink with their parents.

I occasionally do a google news search for the surname Roden, which I have a familial interest in. Recently I noticed that two different teenagers named Joshua Roden on opposite ends of the country both had run-ins with the law involving firearms within two weeks of each other.

The Daily News Online reports that 18 year old Joshua Roden was arrested for felony posession of a stolen firearm in Kelso, Washington.

An unrelated story, An unrelated story from the Cullman Times reports that high school senior Josh Roden was involved in an altercation and investigated by police on suspicion of having a firearm on school property. School officials later confirmed that no weapon was involved in the incident, and Josh Roden is no longer being investigated by police.

The second story has an interesting quote from Josh Roden's mother that I can certainly relate to. "I'm sorry, but I'm convinced that if my son's last name had been anything but Roden, you never would have heard a word about this ..."

I'll let you, the reader, form your own conclusions about these two incidents. I am merely bringing them to your attention.

The reverse raffle is a simple idea I just came up with. Instead of selling tickets, you give people money to take tickets. After you've given out all the tickets, you randomly select one ticket. That ticket's owner owes you enough money to cover the cost of giving away the tickets plus a little profit.

For example, in a 10 ticket raffle, you could give away $1 with each ticket. Then you randomly select one ticket holder to pay you $11.

In a traditional raffle, all ticket holders except one are losers. In a reverse raffle, everybody comes out a winner. Almost everybody, that is, except for one big loser.

I will restrain myself from commenting on this piece from protein wisdom because that would just make the situation completely spin out of control.

I will note, however, that protein wisdom is rapidly moving up my list of favorite political blogs.

Have you heard about sniglets? Sniglets are made up words to describe common things that have no legitimate name. For some reason, many of them make reference to '80s pop culture. I am told they are quite funny, and I bet they will catch on soon. I wonder if there is a way I can cash in on the upcoming sniglets mania (could we call that sniglania?)

Southwest Airlines Travel Policies states, "Parachutes are allowed in checked or carryon baggage, but may not be worn in flight." How can I feel safe on an airline that won't let me bring a parachute just in case something goes wrong?

For those of you keeping up with the stylings of my man hair, I've whittled the full beard down to a vandyke.

I heard a song on KUT today called "(You're Going to) Look Like
a Monkey When You Get Old". It contained the lyric, "I can tell by your face that you belong to the monkey race You're bound to look like a monkey when you grow old." The song is by Boozoo Chavis, but it was a cover they played. Then they interviewed the singer about the song and album without mentioning the elephant in the living room.

I posted some more pictures at roden.cc. Here's a preview.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you; the rodenator.

UPDATE: Here's a video of the rodenator in action

In an online conversation with Lazlo, he said "information would like nothing more than to have a quiet night for once, without everyone blowing up about some stupid thing."

I find that funny.

Glenn Reynolds is using my discarded jokes Lazlo can confirm that this joke was made over a week ago.

UPDATE: It has come to our attention that Lazlo may have been the first to point out the double entendre in the aformentioned headline.

I got to hold aerogel yesterday. It is the most amazing substance I've encountered so far in my life if I don't count substances I take for granted like water and compost.

For those of you who are not aware of this amazing substance, it is over 99% air. The rest is silicon making it only slightly heavier than air. It's only current use is in aerospace with an emphasis on the space part, but it has potential to be the next velcro. In 10 years, toddlers everywhere may be fastening their shoes with aerogel.

Before I actually saw aerogel, I couldn't register that it would look exactly like this photograph, but it does. It is simply amazing.

I got to see this aerogel as part of a presentation by one of NASA's Solar System Ambassadors named John Gibbons who works with me at PlanView.

The presentation was about NASA's Genesis and Stardust missions, but to me, the most interesting part was the explanation of how the solar system was formed from a cloud of hydrogen gas. If you ever have a chance to see John give a presentation as part of this NASA program, I highly recommend that you avail yourself.

I'm attempting to use the word "turd" on the Wimpkiller BBS as much as possible this week. Let's see if anybody notices.

UPDATE: I suspect michael rice is onto me.