geek humour

This owl can wreak havoc in the IR universe. Bubo will sniff out the IR transmissions from a variety of devices, intercept the signals and begin learning the commands of the IR device and casting random commands.

If I think it's cool, does that make me too much of a geek?

my failing

the entrepreneur;
fears regret more than failure.
I coddle safety

philips magnetic resonance

I had an MRI scan this morning. It was loud and had an unusual warning on the door: "warning: philips magnetic resonance".

I'm not kidding about the noise either - it's like listening to a jackhammer on amphetamines. It's the type of noise that's consistent enough to get accustomed to, so when it stops you get hit with a wall of silence.

I pictured MRI machines to be quiet little tubes that you lie in while your doctor stands at the end talking to you in dulcet tones to calm your claustrophobia. While the image is pleasant, it's far from reality. The process itself wasn't unpleasant in any way, quite relaxing actually, but if you think you're going to go into the tube while being comforted by your loved one you're mistaken.

The pictures are very cool. I had a flip through them before I left. I was told they would be sent to my doctor, but I do own them. I'll make sure to claim my prize after my next visit.

sleeping fully clothed

Flexible OLED, 5-Inch Carbon Nanotube Display and $150 Nano eat your heart out - the shining star in today's gizmodo news has to be this.



A wearable sleeping bag. Genius! While wholly impractical, I love it.

the stelios vpn

While browsing the other day I came across an application called hamachi. It's like a lightweight, easy to setup VPN. You install it, create a passworded network (or more) and then share those details with whoever you want to connect to. I haven't tried it out with any real world applications yet, but I'm already very impressed.




It works by installing a network adapter on your machine and it assigns an IP address that's outside your IP range so as not to conflict. You then create a network (which is more like a private room), share the details with a friend and.. well, that's it.

It is a breathe of fresh air for anyone that's tried to use GIT before and also for anyone that just doesn't want to bother to find out which thousand ports gamespy needs open to phish function correctly.

get a job

A friend pointed me to this rather disturbing url yesterday.

(CNN) -- A two-year investigation into a Colombian heroin ring netted more than 65 pounds of drugs, resulted in the arrests of more than 20 people and saved the lives of some drug-smuggling Labrador retrievers, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said Wednesday.

In the case of the puppies found during the 2005 raid, the dogs' bellies had been cut open, and heroin packets were stitched into their stomachs, Payne said. The pups, mostly purebred Labrador retrievers, were sewn back up and prepared for shipment to the United States, he added.

While this is sick and really wrong, some part of me wants to give some modicum praise the guy that came up with the idea. I know it's not rocket science to come up with such a cunning plan, but it at least proves that the guy isn't a total moron. Why can't these sickos apply this knowledge to the real world rather than criminal activity?

What a waste of potential.

illkerchief

If I were swiss I'd be wearing a small scarf around my neck this morning.

I'm not sure if it's just the swiss, the germans and the swiss, or just germanic people living in switzerland that do it. It's like a public display of illness; you wear a scarf around your neck to signify in a visual way that you won't be coming into work tomorrow. By then you see, your illness will have taken over and unlike this morning you weren't able to fight it off; in fact you would have stood no chance unless you put the scarf on.

I think it's silly.