Hot Dog Stuffed Pizza

Posted on April 17, 2012 by dgilbert
Hot Dog Stuffed Pizza

Hot Dog Stuffed Pizza

There certainly might be more important things to blog about, but nothing at the moment seems quite as satisfying as the “Hot Dog Stuffed Pizza” on offer to the citizens of the UK.  I think the picture says it all.  Maybe this would be better if instead of hot dogs, we had cheese dogs (hot dogs or sausages stuffed with cheese).

Maybe we should invent a “Bacon Stuffed Pizza” … ?  Make a ring out of a weave of bacon?  I dunno.  Maybe “Cheese Bacon Dog Stuffed Pizzas” … ?

I suppose we have to be careful about escalation of fat content.  Bigger might not be better, but I still think I’d like to try Cheese Bacon Dog Stuffed Pizza …

Posted in Products | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

GLI: Technology Amplifies Everything

Posted on April 7, 2012 by dgilbert

It’s been awhile since I considered adding to the Gilbert’s Laws of the Internet (GLI), but my recent post concerning Apple’s new iPad3 woes gave me pause to think as I wrote that Technology Amplifies Everything.  It really is important enough to be a law.

Man has been trying to find ways to make his life easier since there has been man.  A club lets you hit harder, a lever lets you move larger things and wheels let you move larger things further and faster.  And so on.

But technology is an amazingly large an versatile lever.  In producing the general purpose processing unit (and thus the computer), we have made it possible for “everything” to do “everything.”  The old adage was that all software grows to the point that it can send email (or, if you’re born after 1980, all software grows until it can browse the web).  Complexity isn’t necessarily the friend of software or of any device, but each of the devices we use has steadily increased in complexity or been replaced by one that does (think about cameras, for instance, being replaced by smart phones which might be replaced by tablets — and how much of the function of your camera/smartphone/tablet is duplicated by your current or next automobile).

It is computers that have achieved the bulk of the advances in fuel efficiency in automobiles in the last 30 years.  It is computers that make phones and the internet and large swaths of our daily life possible.  In many cases even the people who have experienced life without ubiquitous computers are no longer able to mange life without them.  And I’m not talking about just turning off and going camping for the weekend — the car wouldn’t work, buying supplies would be difficult without cash machines or credit cards — I’m talking about being truly technology free being almost no longer possible.

But Technology Amplifies Everything.  From the mundane amplification of mistakes to the daunting amplification of crime, technology extends the human reach in every direction.  From those who seek to empower people with disabilities to those who would control us for nefarious means, technology enables on a scale never before imagined.  From the ubiquity of information to the Orwellian surveillance of people, technology makes it both possible and practical.

It is important to note that while amplifying things, Technology doesn’t necessarily change their nature.  Spam is rather like the crap you find (or used to find) in your physical mailbox.  “Nigerian” scams existed well before the internet.  People made errors that caused thing to crash, explode and fizzle before the internet.  Technology doesn’t invent new problems, but it does allow small problems to affect people on a massive scale.

 

Posted in Life, Tech | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Compliments Lost in Translation

Posted on April 6, 2012 by dgilbert

I posted a bit about the spam on this site before.  It’s not like I have that many readers, but as far as I can tell, it’s worth a lot of Google Kudos ™ to get your site linked by other sites.  The spam all contain completely unrelated links … unrelated to their content, unrelated to my content … completely non-sequitur.

Where am I going with this today?  Well… it strikes me that while I have talked about the fact that no comments are posted to articles until I have approved at least one comment from a particular comment poster.  Even though the hopeful SPAM posters (I’m somewhat convinced that at least some of them are human) seem to post comments without regard to this and even though, of them, the anti-spam plugins on my site seem to eliminate about 99% of them, in SPAM, like a horny teen-aged boy, hope springs eternal.  That metaphor could have been worse… really.

Anyways, I think the chief method by which they hope that I approve their comment is flattery, but they don’t get it quite right.  I’ve read quite a few of these as they go by, and they generally don’t scan, but this one in particular I feel like singling out for ridicule:

Its such as you read my mind! You appear to grasp a lot approximately this, like you wrote the ebook in it or something. I believe that you simply can do with a few percent to drive the message house a bit, but instead of that, that is fantastic blog. A great read. I’ll certainly be back.

There are a few similarities worth noting.  They almost all talk about thinking alike.  Creepy, really.  The second sentence, “You appear to grasp a lot approximately this” feels like it’s been through Google translation one too many times.  I see the complement — your blog is so good it reads like a book — even though a disjoint series of thoughts doesn’t read like a book at all.

The next sentence is a complete botch of another common theme: that you should write longer posts.  “… to drive the message house…” … just “wow.”  They almost always claim that they’ll return.

Sigh.  But this comment was attached tentatively to my Explosion Proof Fridge article… which is more than a year old.  Certainly, as Spam, “I’ll be back” is appropriate.

Posted in fail, metablog | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Harper Passes a Loonie, Fools Nobody

Posted on April 3, 2012 by dgilbert

I have made no secret of my disdain for Steven Harper’s leadership.  It’s very unCanadian in that he seems to lead without compromise and without listening.  You could argue that this is a legitimate style of leadership in that it works and it has brought him to power.  A very calculated power, but power nonetheless.

However, the recent F-35 news story shows very clearly the less legitimate and more evil side of Harper’s leadership.  Harper has made it very clear that he leads the government by restricting what bureaucrats and even his own ministers and party members can say.  He goes so far as to “brand” is government (by insisting that people refer to the “Harper” government rather than the “Canadian” government) .

We have already had examples where missteps by the government are passed off on other stooges.  We didn’t believe it then, and we certainly don’t believe it now.  What kind of leadership example is the Prime Minister setting for the people of this good country by simply passing the buck for this bad decision when it is so clearly his responsibility.

When will Canadians wake up and realize that Harper doesn’t quite smell as pretty as he thinks he does?

Posted in Media, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Possible First Welding Project

Posted on April 2, 2012 by dgilbert

I’ve posted here quite a few times on the escapades of Gilbert’s Auto Repair, but of all that we’ve done in the shop, we haven’t yet tried welding.  Partially, that’s been from a slight fear of the unknown and/or lack justifiable reason to buy a welder.  That latter reason may have elapsed. Continue reading →

Posted in Tech | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

IFlop? Bad iPad3 reviews a significant first

Posted on March 25, 2012 by dgilbert

I haven’t said much about all things Apple on my blog thus far… and maybe I should have.  The “curated” application experience has many hidden consumer pitfalls including loss of privacy, but loss of control over our own computer devices is palpably the most important.  Many science fiction writers have written volumes of the time when machines will control us, but does that start with the “singularity” or simply the purchase of technology that works against us quietly? Continue reading →

Posted in fail, Intellectual Property, Life, Media, Politics, Products | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Walking on the Ground: GPU Foolishness an Wookieepedia

Posted on March 23, 2012 by dgilbert

I was watching a technology demo for a new graphics card today — not that I can afford a new GPU, but I like to keep up.  We’re quite fortunate right now that the gaming consoles suck — it means that it’s never been cheaper to have a gaming PC that can play pretty much anything at the best settings.

Anyways, at one point in the demo, they seemed immensely proud of their new achievement: that they could now render a wookie in stunningly realistic quality “hair-by-hair.” with more than 100,000 hairs modeled by the software, hardware and whatnot. Push.

Hold-the-phone.  Sidebar.  Wookieepedia?  Really? Continue reading →

Posted in Games, Life, Tech | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Massively Multiplayer Thoughts

Posted on March 19, 2012 by dgilbert

I played Eve-Online for some considerable time.  What I’ve realized is that online massively multiplayer games seem to share it’s simplistic graphics requirements.  I remember there being (at one point) a big stink about the game finally dropping support for 10 year old graphics hardware.  This works fairly well for Eve.  Even a complex battle, the number of polygons required to accurately render them is small and the universe backdrop is the only pretty piece of art.

Eve Online Battle

Eve Online Battle

Continue reading →

Posted in Games | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Mass Effect 3 Review

Posted on March 12, 2012 by dgilbert

If you’re looking for the short, spoiler-free shopping recommendation, then Mass Effect 3 (and in fact, the whole Mass Effect series) is an experience that no serious gamer should be without.  In fact, if you’re serious about spoilers, refrain from reading past the picture below as this article is mainly a review (in other words, a discussion) of the Mass Effect content, and not simply a means by which you decide to buy-it-or-not.

I will, however, say that I’m not a games journalist, that I don’t receive preview copies of games and that I have no relationship with EA or Origin other than a customer.  Many high profile professional game review magazines cannot claim the last part of that statement — this industry needs to be cleaned up.

Mass Effect (the series) is grand.  It is Space Opera writ large.  Decisions have real and surprising consequences and all three installments will have you experiencing the full range of emotions toward the outcomes.  While other game series have achieved many other unique things, the cohesive three-part story with power and emotion at epic levels throughout is possibly only equaled by that of the (as yet unfinished) Half-Life series.

If you haven’t yet played though, stop here, go play them all, in order, and come back.  I’ll wait.

Mass Effect 3 London Destruction

Mass Effect 3 London Destruction

Continue reading →

Posted in Games | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Household Airbags

Posted on March 1, 2012 by dgilbert

I remember being a fan of Super Dave Osbourne when I was a kid.  In many ways he filled in the self-inflicted pain humor that Wile E. Coyote did for a generation before.  I recall at one point (and I’m possibly remembering something else … something similar) Super Dave had “invented” airbags for his motorcycle.  This would have been around the time that airbags were being introduced for cars … and of course, he got hurt.

If I recall correctly, Super Dave’s airbag deployed in front of his bike, but he was thrown free.  And probably crushed to just feet sticking out of his helmet … that’s how these things generally went.  I can’t believe I can’t find that picture.

Anyways, since then, many types of airbags have been invented.  Volvo has talked about airbags on the front of your car to protect pedestrians.  Several motorcycle manufacturers have come up with airbags that work better than Super Dave’s.  Cars no longer list the existence of an airbag but rather how many of them and how sophisticated they are.

So today, I want to introduce you to whole house airbags.  These have been invented by the Japanese to protect your house from earthquakes.  No really.  The plan is an “earthquake sensor” will trigger and a large and fast air pump will inflate an airbag beneath your house to “float” it above the foundation and protect it from the worst of the earthquake.  I say “the worst,” because they’re aiming to float your house about 3cm above its foundation… and the oscillation of many earthquakes is much larger than that… but still, it will reduce the worst of the effects.

Good thinking outside-the-box … err … house.

 

Posted in Life, Products | Tagged , , | Leave a comment