Archive for June 20, 2008

Graduate Materials Science programs — distance learning

I started taking graduate matsci courses several years ago at the UW via the Edge program, and also took some on campus. I have found it hard to continue though as the UW materials science school doesn’t have a deep schedule, and they have decommitted from the distance learning effort. So I am shopping for other programs.

Columbia’s program — CVN - Columbia Video Network — seems to be among the most complete with a full schedule of courses. And they offer a full MS degree via online. And you can start as a non-matriculated student. Florida has a program as well. And so does USC, tho the courses offered is a smaller slate than Columbia’s.

Lojack for Laptops

Considering buying Lojack for a new laptop — wonder if it is worth it.

OSU's Jim Tressel crushing U-M's Rich Rodriguez

Recruiting: OSU’s Jim Tressel crushing U-M’s Rich Rodriguez | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press — a nice early summer pick-me-up courtesy of the Detroit Free Press.

Mac utilities — Witch, itunes scripts

Stockli watering can replacements.

We have these plastic Stockli 7 liter watering cans that we love — but after years of use they are breaking down. I can’t find any US source for them which is a bummer. But these Dramm – Watering Cans seem to be an equivalent and are available widely. So we will give them a try — the 7L size are great for outdoor use — big enough to carry a lot of water, but not so big that they are unusable.

Kill cell phone speaker buzz

Clever Uses: Magnets Kill the Cell Phone Speaker Buzz — an old but effective idea

Wrap your car just like the big boys do

Infectious Car Art — pretty cool stuff. 

Home media server

Now that I have a PS3 I want to serve up photos etc to it. Trying to decide between all the choices out there:

I have a TON of photos and I need something that will perform well, not clear which of these is the way to go. Time to start experimenting I gues

Products I don't understand — Power-Drill Tent Stakes

Toolmonger » Blog Archive » Power-Drill Tent Stakes — OK I love to use power tools but I tend not to carry them while camping, not even if I ever car-camped. I guess this is for people setting up tents at shows, etc.

HDMI AV receivers — Sony

I’m going to convert sometime in the next 6 months to an HDMI receiver I think — here are some Sony units — CrunchGear » Archive » Sony is adding three ES receivers to its 2008 line-up — I am wondering if I have to convert my current TV as well — it doesn’t have HDMI input, only component — will these receivers convert HDMI in to RGB? Need to learn more about the technical and DRM aspects of this.

Motivation

Hard-ass quote for the day:

Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.
– Lou Holtz

Summer 2008 Lopez to Anacortes Car Quotas

The WSDOT does a great job posting ferry schedules and making them available for cell phones. For some reason tho, the exact quotas for cars on each sailing are not online — you can get them in person at the ferry docks but no online presence. They are willing to email them to you tho, so here they are for Lopez this summer:

Sailing6/22- 7/67/7 – 7/277/27 – 9/27
6:40am45samesame
8:55am24samesame
10:00am47samesame
12:35pm356035
2:00pm50samesame
3:35pm100150100
5:45pm36samesame
8:25pm150samesame
11:20pm182020

There are separate quotas for overheight vehicles, let me know if you need those.

‘Image Fulgurator’ prank

CrunchGear » Archive » ‘Image Fulgurator’ ruins photos with hilarious results — this is awesome.

Mark Anderson on Solving America’s Energy Crisis — get to all electric with nuclear then solar/wind

Strategic News Service Blog » Blog Archives » Solving America’s Energy Crisis — a reasonable approach. I heartily agree with the idea of getting to all electric as soon as possible. We need an Apollo-like program — we need the leadership to propose it and to get everyone focused on it. The whole country focused on the July 20 1969 Apollo landing and rallied around it — we can do the same around the date of the last tanker docking at our shores from overseas.

As I’ve mentioned to some people — there will never be a solar embargo, there will never be a solar cartel, the sun isn’t controlled by governments inimical to our interests, “peak solar” is billions of years away, and solar production economics are going to follow a Moore’s-Law-like curve. What is not to like?

Rich on SBUX WIFI

Rich cleverly figures out how to game the SBUX WIFI system — just have multiple prepaid cards.

Amazon Unbox rental — never again

Rented a flick on Amazon Unbox last night — it downloaded fine to my Tivo and it looked fine, but the 24 hour exploding limitation is beyond stupid. We regularly watch a movie on two nights running, half each night, but this is impossible with Unbox rentals thanks to the fact that the movie explodes in 24 hours. I can pay the same price and buy a movie off Tivo PPV and keep it forever. This unbox thing will be a failure until Amazon can get DRM straightened out.

Rich's photo tools recos

Photo Tools: FDR Tool, PortraitProfessional, Lumapix, Digi-labs | Tongfamily.com — lots of great tips here. I am currently using Aperture and Noise Ninja, with an occasional dip in Adobe Elements — I can’t bring myself to spring for Photoshop but may this fall when I have access to academic pricing. For a self-proclaimed Mac convert, Rich sure uses a lot of Windows software…

Firefox tweaks I am trying out

Replacing my DVD player with a PS3

Spent the morning hooking up my birthday present — a PS3. Replacing my DVD player.

One major bummer is the PS3′s use of bluetooth for remote. While I appreciate an RF solution versus an IR solution, as the PS3 boards note, no universal remote will currently work with the PS3. So sigh, I have to keep yet another remote around. Bummer.

Also my AV receiver is a few years old and doesn’t support HDMI and so I have to use RGB + Digital Audio connectors. My AV receiver is in a tight cabinet and so I have to work largely blind plugging cables in, this was painful. HDMI would be nice for reduction of cables.

Solar cost competitive by 2015

Electricity Rates from Solar Cost Competitive by 2015 « Cooler Planet
Clean Edge, a research and publishing company focused on renewable technologies and the non-profit organization Co-op America released a report that states the cost of electricity derived from solar power will be on par with electricity derived from fossil fuels by 2015.
Awesome, this is certainly my bet. The amount of investment that has poured into solar technologies is going to pay off somehow. I don’t know which approach will win, but one of them will.
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