hit the lights

As I've mentioned a couple of times before, I like funky furniture - it's cool.

This particular piece I wouldn't want to own. Although it's very interesting, I don't think it'd fit. Also, at $2399, it'd suck if the bulb blew.

pipe dream plumbing

I have ranted many times offline about my thoughts for the future of online distribution and storage. In essence I would like to purchase content without the hassle of having to store it myself. I don't want to collect DVDs, I want to buy (or rent) the rights to watch a DVD whenever I like. The reason is simple; if I'm not at home, but in a hotel room or at a friends house I want to be able to watch my movies or play my games.

gmail have got off to a good start with persistent email storage, and flickr offer some good rates on permanent image storage.

Because of my grand thoughts about online content, I was happy when I read this article

Microsoft has inked a deal with Exent Technologies that will effectively bring Microsoft Games Studios content to the world of online game distribution.

Valve tried online game distribution recently using Steam, but they only half succeeded. Their part-failure seemed to be fueled by gamers' reluctance to accept the procedure. With Microsoft on the bandwagon with their games, hopefully it'll start things moving in that direction.

silver fox

Yesterday afternoon I noticed that my hair is starting to gray at the front now as well as at the sides. I chose to share my distress with rahel, the 2 people I share my office with. Her response was a resounding "Don't talk to me about going gray" or something to that tone.

Because of this I've decided on a new way to measure how gray I'm going - relative to rahel.

fashion reject-kun

Skiers and boarders alike both know that the words "fashion" and "skier" are never used in the same sentence without the addition of negative (and optionally offensive) words. Because of this, I forgive the badly styled skier-kun, but frankly I'm shocked at the chav tracksuit getup of the boarder-kun.

I've never before skied in Japan and now I don't want to. All I can picture is the normal fluorescent skier fashion-tragedies out-styling the romper-suit clad boarders. The image pains me.

anti-social deterrents

In Basel, the council embrace their 4-wheeled friends. If there is a wall that's good for grinding, they install skate ramps to encourage it rather than spending money trying to abolish it.

Although I applaud the innovation, I scowl at the implementation of these skate stoppers.

Thanks engadget

servomechanamagic

There is no physical connection between the flaps of an aircraft and the joystick in the cockpit; it's all done via servos. It's clear why that's the case; Arnold is too busy being a governor to fly an A380.

A little back I was curious as to when they would remove the physical connection between the steering wheel of a car and the wheels. Interestingly I discovered that people have already done this in the movies; I believe (although not 100% sure) that the car driven in the chase in The Bourne Supremacy was steered using servos, which allowed a camera mount to be attached to any side of the car to get good action shots.

As aircraft and the car in that film have proved, it is feasible to improve cars in this way, but it doesn't seem to be on the requirement list of the next Ford I-Don't-Want-To-Stand-Out 2.0i. I find it a bit of a shame because cars haven't changed in such a long time that I believe they're due a technological breakthrough.

On a slightly related topic this is cool. Remote surgery via the interweb. Click a few buttons and you automagically operate on someone. Come on Mercedes, even our surgeons are using servomechanisms now - catch up!