Aruba Pictures

Here are a few Aruba pics. Follow the link for more.

















Pangolyn/Aruba - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

]All Cats Have Asperger's

This book looks interesting. It tries to explain Asperger's without technical jargon to help kids understand what it means.

Amazon.com: All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome: Kathy Hoopmann: Books

5-yr-old Kid Voted Out of Class by Students

A kid with Asperger's was voted out of a class because the kids didn't like his behavior.

Teacher lets Morningside students vote out classmate, 5 : St. Lucie County : TCPalm

Encyclopedia of Life

Found this on a NOVA special. The ultimate goal is to have a page for every known species.

Encyclopedia of Life

CrossOver: Play Windows Games on a Mac

I'll have to check this out. Windows games are the only reason I have a Windows XP partition on my MacBook Pro. If I could install the games on the Mac side then I could save a few GBs of space from the Windows XP install.

Windows Games Seamlessly Integrated on Mac or Linux - CrossOver Games

Archlord is Free

I hever played this game, but for free I'll have to check it out.

Archlord - www.mmosite.com

"Bug" Macro Pictures

Here are a couple of new macro shots of invertebrates:





Pangolyn/G7 Photos - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

G7 Photos

We camped this weekend, which meant I took lots of nature shots. The macro capabilities are fantastic and allow me to get to within a couple of centimeters of the subject.

The following are some examples:



















G7 Photos

Silly Cats!

We have wild bunnies in the juniper in front of our house. Our back porch winds around the back of the house far enough that we can see the edge of the juniper island. Earler this week my wife noticed a neighbor's cat patiently waiting by the juniper. Not long after she turned away she heard a sqeak, turned back and saw the cat running with a bunny in its jaws! She yelled for me to come over so she could explain what she saw.

I went to the neighbor's fence where the cat was standing with the bunny still in its mouth. As I approached it got scared, dropped its prey, and ran under their porch. The terrified bunny hopped away a small distance, but something didn't look right. Its back leg was sort-of sticking out of its back. It kept trying to move but it just looked awkward. I thought its spine was broken, but then how could it move its back leg? Eventually it straightened up. I clapped a few times to alert it and it finally bounded into another neighbors yard, away from the cat.

This morning I looked out on the porch and saw a cat walking along the top of the wooden 6 foot fence where the chipmunks go. It traced the path normally reserved for small rodents, jumped down, and trotted away. I didn't see any animals in its mouth, but it was still odd to see a cat up there.

MMMM!

Two FARKs in one day? I need to go to bed.

FARK.com: (3592420) The greatest idea any one has ever had about anything ever

Wii Fit?

We're starting to get excited about Wii Fit. I wasn't sure about my wife's eagerness until this afternoon. We went to Blockbuster after dinner and I asked if they were taking preorders for Wii Fit (they were). As we walked out my wife said that everyone's going to be sold out of that one. We watched the promo on the new Nintendo channel on the Wii, as well as the free DVD from Blockbuster that promotes the thing. I'm personally excited about the skiing and tilt-to-move-the-ball minigames.

We are trying to eat better and exercise more. This is a tool that we will at least use for a month, so the $90 price will be worth it. We'll probably reserve it this weekend to make sure we get one May 19th.

Wii Fit

Underwater Photography

I recently purchased an underwater rig for my Canon G7. I browsed through the yahoo G7 group and came across a link to this guys' gallery. Absolutely amazing photographs. I hope I can make a couple of shots close to his quality.

EdvinEng.com - Gallery

Golden Books that Never Were

I normally don't post pure FARK comment pages, but this one is really good (NSFW):

FARK.com: (3580744) Photoshop some Little Golden Books that never made it. (LGT inspiration)

Blue Man Group

I wrote this a while ago but never posted it:
Slothful Geek: Blue Man Group

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Quick Review

Very, very funny. I put it up there with 'Something About Mary'. Much better than his other movies ('40-yr Old Virgin', 'Knocked Up', etc.) The plot is extremely predictable, but it's just the vehicle used to support the humor. If you liked 'Mary' then you must see this film.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

Biking in Orlando - West orange Trail

I wrote about this a few weeks ago but never published it.
Slothful Geek: Biking in Orlando - West orange Trail

Canon PowerShot G7

I've been wanting a 'G-series' Canon for a long time, the G7 for a couple of years. MicroCenter is having a sale on all cameras this month, and the sale apparently applies to clearance items.

I went there to look at the Canon A720 IS (around $180). While I was there one of the salesmen started talking to me.


He pointed out the Canon G9 but I couldn't bring myself to spend over $400 on a camera, no matter how nice it was, but I did tell him that I thought it was very nice. I was thinking of getting a G7, and the only real differences are slightly more pixels (yawn) and the ability to save RAW (I later found a hack to make the G7 save to RAW, so this is moot).


He mentioned that he had a few cameras on clearance (returns), so I walked over with him and saw a (gasp) G7 box. The clearance sticker on the box stated $280 but in reality it was only $211! I gave myself a limit of $200, but I could go without lunch for a couple of days to make up the $11. Unfortunately, the box was empty! Someone stole the camera out of the box.

I was sad, and didn't care about getting any camera since I came so close to the G7. Eventually he went into the back to see what else they had. He came back with another G7 clearance, apparently never opened (battery, neck strap, cd, cable, memory were all still sealed), also for $211. I bought it immediately.

I showed my new find to a photography nut at work who was also wanting a G7. He went to the same store, even though I told him the other box was empty, just so he could have a chance at getting the same deal. Unfortunately, they still were unable to find the camera, so he left empty-handed.

Curious, I looked around online to see if I could get him a similar deal from somewhere. No luck. Ebay was the cheapest, with auctions for used ones over $250. Online stores still have it for over $400 (it was around $600 when it came out).

I'll post a review of the camera after I've used it for a few days.

Canon Powershot G7 digital camera

Guillermo Del Toro to Direct the Hobbit

I've been very impressed with his other movies. He apparently wants to use as much puppetry as possible, reducing the dependence on CGI for everything.

Monday Morning Poll: Will the Seas be Smooth for Del Toro's 'Hobbit'? - Cinematical

Kikkoman Shoyu

Um...



Per request, here's where this came from.

I was playing Shiren the Wanderer on the DS, which is a Rogue-like game. I decided to research Rogue-like games to find out their origin, the programming methods, etc. I ended up on the page of one of the first two programmers of Rogue. His articles led me to a sentence along the lines of "you'll think twice about this once you hit a shoyu". I looked up shoyu, and this video was one of the results. Apparently shoyu is a type of soy sauce. Never found out its relationship with Rogue.

Toys R Us getting big Wii shipment Sunday - Joystiq

Toys R Us getting big Wii shipment Sunday - Joystiq

Camping Nightmare

I like to camp. I'll do whatever kind of camping everyone's up to. Usually that means car camping. We (my wife and our friends) found ourselves without children for a night, so we decided to go camping. Unfortunately the only place we could get at at 5:00 in the afternoon same day was the campground at Stone Mountain.

We split up, gathered up just enough to camp for one night, hooked back up, zipped to the grocery store, then headed to the park. We had just enough daylight left to get the tent set up (it's a huge tent that requires two, but really needs four, to put up).

The big huge tent seen from its not-so-big side.

I know that looks like a sidewalk, but that's actually just sand with a straight tree that fell close by, with the other dog's runner crossing under Z's leash.

We had a wonderful dinner of assorted chicken products from the Publix deli. We had an excellent spot with a beautiful view. We chose a primitive camping site because we wanted to have a nice quiet 'back to nature' type of camping experience. Unfortunately, the primitive camping site at this park is a 'bargain basement' area with too many campsites placed too close together. However, we had a lakeside spot so we could imagine we were the onle ones there while we ate and tried to get our fire started. There were lots of lakeside spots left, and it was otherwise crowded, so I assume many of the campers were camping at the cheapest site they could find (it was $5 more for a lakeside site).

Awesome view. Will have to Photoshop to bring out the colors so they look like how our eyes saw them that night.

Right before the laser light show a few other campers quickly set up their tents, then almost everyone around us disappeared. After the light show's finale (fireworks could be seen from our site) the campers trickled back in, so I assume most went to the show because the weather was nice. It was apparently the 25th anniversary of the show, and this was the third night of the new production, so seeing it is a big deal. Everyone seemed nice, and some were a little noisy, but nothing bad. I'm sure we were a little loud a couple of times too.

We tried over and over to start a fire but our pathetic attempts over a two hour period never had wood burning on its own. We did, however, have a nice paper plate fire for a little while. We went to bed around 11:00, not sure of the exact time. We were tired and, since the fire would not stay lit, cold. We retired to the beds to warm up and wait for the morning.

By 1:00 AM we were all up, disturbed by a loud, obnoxious, drunk lady. One of us asked her to keep it down (very nicely, I might add, one of her skills) but the lady took it as an insult, saying she wasn't doing anything wrong, then proceeded to talk louder, and sometimes about us, for another thirty minutes. My wife was frustrated to the point that she went to the ranger station to get them to shut up. Meanwhile, a few minutes later, I stuck out my head and asked them when they were going to bed. She got all upset, and her daughter's boyfriend bowed up, walked over to our campsite, and threatened to punch me in the face because he said that's how he settles things (remember, all of this was because we asked her nicely to keep it down). I made some smart-ass comment about not being able to believe that he actually said he was going to do that. For some reason, he backed off and went back to his site. Maybe its because he thought I was younger, but realized I was an adult when he got closer. I know it wasn't because of my huge muscles.

The cops showed up around 1:30. My wife, unable to find a ranger, called the police to get them to settle it. By now, the kids realized that this was not a good situation and went into the tent. The mom was sitting outside loudly discussing how she should be able to talk all she wants. Right away she stood up to them and said she wasn't doing anything wrong. They told her that there were complaints about the noise, and she fingered us as the complainers. They assured her that there were many complaints and that we were not the ones that called the cops (we were, but maybe he didn't know our site number). They asked her to keep it down, then left. She continued to make phone calls to people asking them to come over and party with her, and that she was probably going to get taken off to jail. She joked about peeing so that it trickled down to our tent. This lady was in her 40's at least, so this just made no sense.

By 2:00 she ran out of people that wanted to talk with her on the phone, and her family had long gone to sleep, so she finally shut up and went to bed. There was another group of kids, apparently back from a prom, that were occasionally noisy but they were far enough away that we could ignore them and get to sleep.

We finally awoke around 7:30, tired from the lack of sleep. We ate a quick crappy breakfast and packed up the tent and the stuff. Three of the kids were sitting at their table, quitely chatting, laughing occasionally. We walked right by their table on our way to the van several times while we loaded up and they never said anything. I looked at the kid that threatened me the night before and wished him a good morning. He told the other guy in our party 'have a nice day' as he made his last trip to the van.

We never saw the mother that morning, nor the other guy. Apparently she was there with her two daughers, her son, and one of her daughter's boyfriends (this was gathered from one of her phone calls). They were all crammed in a three person dome tent.

There were some nice people there. In the morning the other campers around the rude family were very nice to us, even though they didn't talk to each other. This indicated to me that they were grateful in some way that we at least tried to shut her up. One family brought us leftover steak for the dogs to eat, while another asked questions about some of our equipment because she thought it would be a good idea to have the same things. Later on the equipment lady and her husband met us near the van and told us that they couldn't believe that lady was so rude.

One of us talked to a person in the office about the ordeal. She felt so bad that she refunded our night and gave us a rain check for any night in the future for free. She also told us the best campsites to use to have the experience we wanted--peaceful, scenic, and near the water. We drove by those sites on the way out and were sad to see how nice they were. We weren't going to ever come back again, but the office lady was so nice that we feel we must come back to try one of her recommended sites.

What a night.

[edited for typos]

Brought the Wrong Dog Home

I guess this is possible if your dog's breed is a solid color and you don't groom the dog. Could never happen with our multi-colored, unusually groomed Cocker.

Man who claimed dog was imposter reunited with right pooch

Revoltech Evangelion Unit-01

Can't wait for this one.

Amazon.com: Neon Genesis Evangelion Revoltech Eva-01 Figure (Purple): Toys & Games

CNET: Rickroll Must Die

Buzz Report: The Rickroll must die video - CNET TV







Just kidding--here's the real link:
Buzz Report: The Rickroll must die video - CNET TV

Chumby

Cool!


chumby › internet radio player, digital picture frame, alarm clock - more!

Blue Man Group

We saw the Blue Man Group in Orlando this past week. What an amazing show! You truly have to see it yourself to get the whole experience, and much of the fun is seeing how they handle situations and how they interact with the audience, so I'll try not to spoil any of that. I will say this, though: Do not be late.

As you probably know, it's basically a rhythm show. It starts with three guys with smooth blue heads and no ears beating on drums. The drums eventually get covered in paint, so beating the drum heads sprays paint into the air. That's the scene everyone sees in any BMG ads, so no spoiler there.

Painted drums would get boring after a while, so that ends quickly. The rest of the show involves a surprisingly funny sequence of skits, feats of skill, thought-provoking dialog and audience interaction. The three blue guys are not the only performers--there is an elevated stage with several musicians in fluorescent garb that keep the show moving.

Before the show started I went to the restroom. There was a kid with toilet paper wrapped on his head like a bandana. Later, after I arrived at my seat, I noticed that everyone had toilet paper somewhere on their body. It wasn't toilet paper at all, but a yard or so of long skinny paper that was handed to everyone as they sat down. I expected this to get used in some way, something involving black light, but the way it was used was simply amazing. I have never seen anything using music, flashing lights and paper that was so engrossing.

The show ended at the perfect time, so we slowly made our way out of the theatre. We all agreed that it was the best thing we had experienced in many years.

Biking in Orlando - West orange Trail

We rode parts of the West Orange Trail two different days for a total of 35 miles. Although it was not the most scenic ride we have ever done, it was really nice.



Most of the trail is a 'rails to trails' project (according to their website) which means that the trail should be about 14 feet wide with gentle slopes that a train can climb. For the most part we found that this was the case, even using an old converted train trestle to cross the Interstate! However, there were many sections that were clearly NOT railroad beds, especially the hardest section to pedal that involved two sharp bends, steep hills, and the crossing of a road that prevented the use of momentum to roll up the other side. That was really the only hard section.



There were a few long, slow climbs that made us sweat a bit, but most of the trip was pleasantly flat (this IS central Florida). Several of the miles went through quiet towns with sandy roads (the path was paved) and through tree-lined paths. A few miles went along the sides of roads, but almost all roads were of the sleepy type with very few cars. We probably crossed 30 or so roads on the path and only a couple required a complete stop to let a car pass. We SHOULD have stopped at every crossing, but it was easy to see that the way was clear and the other bikers were skipping them too.



There were a few other bikers on the trail. We encountered 60-yr-old couples, 20-something speeders and many 30- and 40-somethings getting exercise at our pace. It was rare to go more than 5 minutes without seeing another biker. There was also a big group of about 20 bikers traveling the other way.

The West 1/2 of the trail has most of the towns and stops along the trail. Most stations were about 2 miles apart. The trail also passes right through the middle of [winter town name]. The East 1/2 only has one station and just a few rest stops, and these were all at least 4 miles apart.

Both days ended in Winter Garden. We first wanted bar-b-que at one of the local restaurants, but we found that it was closed. My wife noticed the big group of 20 bikers we saw earlier at a restaurant called the Moon Cricket Grille.



We ate the fish appetizer, followed by a fish dinner. Very tasty! I also had a Guinness and a Blue Moon the first time. The first time we had the best waiter ever. He ran all over the restaurant and took care of our every need. We gave him a huge tip because he was so nice. The second time we were graced with a 'normal' waitress which seemed crappy by comparison. The restaurant had several coolers of many different beers, but I just stuck with the Guinness and Blue Moon on tap the first time. We had tea the second visit.



We encountered a big tortise our second day. I stopped to take a picture while my wife pedaled on. She was booking it because it took me a long time to catch up.

Overall it was a nice way to spend a few hours in Orlando. My wife and I agreed that this was better than the days we spent in the theme parks.

Awesome Aruba Interactive map PDF

There is a really nice interactive map of Aruba linked below. We are going there this summer. This will be a nice addition to our planning tools.

Direct link
Brochure page

Jeff GoldBluMan Group

I can't find an image to use for this, and I'm not sure this is a direct link, but you must see the Jeff GoldBluMan Group's Funk Barn from the Innernette episode of Tim & Eric's Awesome Show Great Job.

[adult swim] Adult Swim Video

Neon Genesis Evangelion, Elfen Lied Cheap

Two of my favorite Anime Series are dirt cheap at Best Buy Outlet right now--each one less than $20 after tax & shipping! These are normally around $50. I already own Neon Genesis Evangelion, but I didn't have Elfen Lied so I picked it up today.

Neon Genesis Evangelion Platinum Collector's Edition - Dubbed - DVD

ELFEN LIED 1: DICLONIUS REPORT (3PC) - DVD

UPDATE: Apparently the sale is now over, as both are over $40 now. In addition, Evangelion is now back-ordered.

Death

My father-in-law passed away this week. However, I just can't be sad for him. I've tried, but I can't shed a tear.

My father had cancer and slowly died over a two-year period. He was so weak from treatments that he couldn't do anything he wanted to do. He was so out of it by the last two months that he wasn't really there. He suffered in the hospital for his last few days. We held his hand as he drew his last breath. We saw the color leave his face as his spirit left his body.

My father-in-law came to our house the day before he died and grabbed an old lawnmower. He called my wife and joked around. He died in his sleep that night.

I would much rather go like my father-in-law: Do what I want every day and just die in my sleep one night. My wife is sad that she didn't get to say goodbye, but I'm not. Like I said, I'm glad he went the way he did and I cannot feel bad about his death.

Galagalaxian clone for Mac

My wife loves Galaga (or Galaxian, not really sure) so she might be interested in this remake for the Mac. It's also for the PC, but we have Macs so why not use 'em?

Warblade - the classic arcade shoot'em up game! Home of Warblade - Deluxe Galaga - Deluxe Pacman

"Kayakin' Turtles" Shirts

The shirts are finally on their way after a couple of months of procrastination.

Slothful Geek Feed II

I'm in the process of pointing blog.herseysoft.com to slothfulgeek.herseysoft.com. Unfortunately this could take up to 48 hours for all DNS servers to get this information. In the meantime, this feed might get messed up for a little while. Just be patient and it will all settle out in a couple of days.

Slothful Geek Feed

It has come to my attention that the RSS feed is now only showing headers. Blogspot wants you to use the Atom link just above my profile information to get a full feed. I've added the link here for your convenience:
Slothful Geek Feed

Healthy person actually wins a beauty contest

Cool!

Chloe Marshall Sweet Size 16 Vying for Miss England 2008 (Photos)

Care for Life Do not Fun

FARK.com: (3480752) Beijing be monkey park its poor English

Yummy Lunch

Carr’s Crackers & Cookies

My God, It's Full of Stars

Arthur C. Clarke, 90, Science Fiction Writer, Dies - New York Times

Bicycle Saddles (Seats)

Interesting article on comfortable saddles.

Bicycle Saddles

Mini Review - Novara Bonanza

I went with a friend a few weeks ago to Tribble Mill to try out an easy single-track trail she found. She rode her cool new Electra Townie and I rode my crappy Columbia dirt bike that I later returned (see earlier posts). I bought a Novara Bonanza (REI's store brand) and wanted to take it on the same trail. The group decided to try the trail after we kayaked earlier

that afternoon (see previous post).

I can truly see why there are price differences in bikes. I previously thought that there was not going to be much more than a weight difference between a good MTB and a crappy one, but I was mistaken. Everything about the bike feels better. For example, the brakes really feel progressive (more pressure slows you down more without locking up) and they don't warp or get out of alignment when running them hard. The drivetrain seems to be able to deliver much more power than even my K2 Easy Street Deuce, but I haven't figured that one out yet. Maybe it's due to the chain or the crank length? The front suspension fork is much smoother and seems to have very little 'stiction' (sticky friction that prevents the initial movement of the sliding surfaces). The tires would not let go of the track, even when I rode along the length of a wet rock on the side of the track at around a thirty degree slope. Roots were very fun to traverse, and were easily overcome, even when going up a hill filled with them.

All of us were riding the track on bikes we had not taken off-road before, so there were lots of stops along the way as we figured out how things worked and made adjustments. I want to go again now that everyone has figured things out so that I can ride it continuously as much as possible.

Kayak Season - Advanced Elements Dragonfly

We finally broke out the kayaks this weekend. It was warm enough to wear shorts & no jacket, but not quite 'hot' yet.

We all have Advanced Elements Dragonfly inflatable kayaks. They weigh about 25 pounds and pack into a large suitcase so they are suitable for airline travel. They also fold up small enough to fit three of them, along with paddles, PFDs and assorted other gear, in the trunk of my 2007 Acura TSX. My wife actually has the two-person model so that she can bring the dog (didn't bring the dog this time, though).

Our friends also have the same kayaks, except their two kids share their two-person one. Even though it had been several months since we last used them, everyone pitched in and remembered how things worked well enough for us to get all six pumped up and in the water in less than 15 minutes.

Normally Tribble Mill lake is filled with underwater weeds and lined with lily pads (see above), but not this time--I guess winter took its toll. I'm sure it will all be back soon enough. What surprised us, though, were the large amounts of turtles. We easly saw over one hundred turtles this trip.

We only paddled for about 45 minutes because the seal on my son's kayak wasn't tight. It was enough, though, because it gave us enough time to get out the bikes...