A Glendale, Wisconsin couple are in the news after leaving their 14 month old baby home alone while they went out partying. Who's to blame? Partying, of course. This highly addictive activity encourage mature adults to intake unhealthy fluids until they behave like children. "Parties" involve more than one person and often revolve around alcohol. They are often scheduled in the evening and sometimes last until early the next day. Often the sources for more violent crimes such as date rape, drunk driving and physical altercations, parties have become commonplace among today's youngsters.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Halo 3 is here!
Who else drove to work this morning humming the Halo 3 theme? The day is finally upon us. I picked up my Xbox 360 last weekend, but I didn't preorder. I'm hoping they still have copies at Best Buy that I can pick up at lunch. I should get there before all the 15 years old get out of school so I do have an advantage. Here's my agenda tonight at 9pm when I plan to first play.
1. Light some candles, do some yoga, decorate the floor with rose petals to get me in the mood.
2. Load up the multiplayer with just myself. Run around explore the map and familiarize myself with the controls (I don't like jumping into the campaign without a good feeling of the controller layout).
3. Load up Campaign single player. I'm going to start multiplayer coop later in the week when one of my friends has time to play. Play an hour or so.
4. Jump on Xbox live for some multiplayer action.
1. Light some candles, do some yoga, decorate the floor with rose petals to get me in the mood.
2. Load up the multiplayer with just myself. Run around explore the map and familiarize myself with the controls (I don't like jumping into the campaign without a good feeling of the controller layout).
3. Load up Campaign single player. I'm going to start multiplayer coop later in the week when one of my friends has time to play. Play an hour or so.
4. Jump on Xbox live for some multiplayer action.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Office Etiquette Part I
Today's lesson is how to click a mouse button. Surprisingly many graduate from college with computer skills but no keyboard etiquette. The secret is in a relaxed and slightly bent index finger. As the finger goes down, you'll hear a very soft click followed by another click as you release pressure. Try this several times and note the finger never leaves the mouse button.
AVOID THE POWERCLICK!
What is the powerclick you ask? Chances are you've heard it before but are unaware. Let me start by defining a "strong click". A strong click is any left mouse click where the index finger leaves the surface of the mouse before striking the mouse button. Taking this one step further is the grandest of all office etiquette offenses the power click. A power click is a "strong click" where the index finger is lifted and extended to a straight or nearly straight position before descending loudly on the left mouse button. The result is a horrific sound that sends shivers up your cube neighbor's spine.
A mouse button sends TWO AND ONLY TWO signals to your computer. They are mouse button pushed DOWN and mouse button pushed UP. Contrary to what you might be thinking during your power clicking, the computer does not differentiate between a hard press from a soft press. The result is still the same.
There is also no need to point upwards before clicking. You are not Hank Aaron about to hit a homerun to left field. There is no audience that is going to cheer your firm mouse stroke. Save your finger the extra workout and leave it on the button.
Getting help...
Here's a list of steps you can take to cure yourself from the power click for good.
1. Start your morning off everyday by maximizing and minimizing a window with the left mouse button. Be sure to use good form. Finger should be bent and should not leave the mouse button. Note the separate clicks.
2. If you notice yourself power clicking in the middle of the day.. repeat the drill in step one.
3. Imagine your mouse is a real delicate furry creature. You don't want to hurt it. Treat it as your tiny friend.
4. Take small piece of tape and roll it into a small loop just big enough to fit your finger inside. Make sure the sticky part is on the outside. Place the tape on the left mouse button. Now when you use the mouse make sure you slide your finger in and out of the tape loop when moving the hand from keyboard to mouse. The loop will prevent the temptation of lifting your finger.
Soon to come...
I'm working on a prototype mouse that can actually sense the force of a mouse press. The Catch? Presses over a certain threshold will be ignored. Sorry power clickers. Stay tuned for Office Etiquitte 2: The Power Return.
AVOID THE POWERCLICK!
What is the powerclick you ask? Chances are you've heard it before but are unaware. Let me start by defining a "strong click". A strong click is any left mouse click where the index finger leaves the surface of the mouse before striking the mouse button. Taking this one step further is the grandest of all office etiquette offenses the power click. A power click is a "strong click" where the index finger is lifted and extended to a straight or nearly straight position before descending loudly on the left mouse button. The result is a horrific sound that sends shivers up your cube neighbor's spine.
A mouse button sends TWO AND ONLY TWO signals to your computer. They are mouse button pushed DOWN and mouse button pushed UP. Contrary to what you might be thinking during your power clicking, the computer does not differentiate between a hard press from a soft press. The result is still the same.
There is also no need to point upwards before clicking. You are not Hank Aaron about to hit a homerun to left field. There is no audience that is going to cheer your firm mouse stroke. Save your finger the extra workout and leave it on the button.
Getting help...
Here's a list of steps you can take to cure yourself from the power click for good.
1. Start your morning off everyday by maximizing and minimizing a window with the left mouse button. Be sure to use good form. Finger should be bent and should not leave the mouse button. Note the separate clicks.
2. If you notice yourself power clicking in the middle of the day.. repeat the drill in step one.
3. Imagine your mouse is a real delicate furry creature. You don't want to hurt it. Treat it as your tiny friend.
4. Take small piece of tape and roll it into a small loop just big enough to fit your finger inside. Make sure the sticky part is on the outside. Place the tape on the left mouse button. Now when you use the mouse make sure you slide your finger in and out of the tape loop when moving the hand from keyboard to mouse. The loop will prevent the temptation of lifting your finger.
Soon to come...
I'm working on a prototype mouse that can actually sense the force of a mouse press. The Catch? Presses over a certain threshold will be ignored. Sorry power clickers. Stay tuned for Office Etiquitte 2: The Power Return.
Can't remember what your wore last week?
Maybe its time for an RFID system for your clothes. There's a good tutorial on developer.com of how to program an RFID system. The receivers are around $60 but the tags are as cheap as $1. I've contemplated installing a system in my closet where I can scan clothes as I leave for work in the morning. After scan some routine would determine when I last wore the clothes and if it was within a determined limit it would sound some type of alarm. Of course the pain in the neck part is installing RFID chips in my clothes. And its bound to accidentally trigger some shopping mall store sensors. How embarrasing would that be trying to explain to police officers that I tag my own clothes.
Friday, September 21, 2007
The real victims
You know who has it bad in United States...? German americans. I can't tell any racist jokes. I'm not black, jewish, hispanic, asian, middle eastern or anything else with amusing stereotypes. How am I supposed to be funny without offending anyone? When's the last time you heard a good bratwurst joke? Maybe thats just God's deal with us. He granted us some freedom from prejudices, but took away our ability to tell jokes. Totally unfair. I want a race transplant, my lederhosen havn't been getting many laughs lately anyway.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Don’t wash your hands when you go to the bathroom day
If yesterday was "Talk Live a Pirate Day", today must be "Don't wash your hands when you go to the bathroom day". I've already seen three dudes leave the restroom with urine hands and its only 10 AM. The funny thing is they'll glance at me on the way out. I can imagine what's going in their head..
"Look at this kid in his casual clothes. He's probably a nobody. Probably won't wash his anyways. I don't know him and there's no way the word will get out that I don't wash my hands."
Well your wrong Mr. curly, blonde hair Scandinavian dude. Now the whole interwebs knows about your urine hands. Better think next time!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Creeping Madness
Wouldn't it be easy to see our own insanity if it didn't happen so sloooooooooooooooowly.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Popcorn Lung
Thinking about some Extra Buttery Microwave Popcorn with your movie rental? Think again. You may develop "Popcorn Lung". A Denver newspaper reported 53 year old man has recently been diagnosed with a dangerous lung disease caused by the butter in microwave popcorn. This guy ate 2 to 3 bags of popcorn a day for close to decade. Doctors are reporting his lung capacity detriorated to 50%! Judging by the picture released his lungs might not be the only problem. The yellowy complexion seems to hint at "Popcorn Face".
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Power outage
The power went out at work today for over an hour. It was the most exciting work moment since a large box toppled over in the closet last fall. As soon as it happened I managed to save my work before my battery backup gave out. The last outage I remember losing power then triumphantly announcing to everyone my backup was still working. As soon as the words left my mouth sure enough the 10 year old battery backup died and I hadn't clicked save.
The next couple minutes we sat around just talking about the sounds our backups are making. We got up out of our chairs and looked to see if each other's computers were still on. We now had about 30 minutes left of power but the network was down so we really couldn't do work anyway. So we all huddled together and talked about the times the power went off before and how this was the longest time the power went off.
After about ten minutes of talking in the near dark we moved into a senior Developer's room and started playing HORSE on the mini basketball hoop. We probably played for near half an hour. Then we started talking about other games we could play cards, cubicle baseball, hide and go seek. We were mid fantasy conversation when finally the lights came back on. Talk about a sudden surprise and feeling of gloom. We just stared at each other for the first 30 seconds waiting for some miracle to get the lights off. Unfortunately the electrician must have known what he was doing because the lights stayed on. Return to boringness.
The next couple minutes we sat around just talking about the sounds our backups are making. We got up out of our chairs and looked to see if each other's computers were still on. We now had about 30 minutes left of power but the network was down so we really couldn't do work anyway. So we all huddled together and talked about the times the power went off before and how this was the longest time the power went off.
After about ten minutes of talking in the near dark we moved into a senior Developer's room and started playing HORSE on the mini basketball hoop. We probably played for near half an hour. Then we started talking about other games we could play cards, cubicle baseball, hide and go seek. We were mid fantasy conversation when finally the lights came back on. Talk about a sudden surprise and feeling of gloom. We just stared at each other for the first 30 seconds waiting for some miracle to get the lights off. Unfortunately the electrician must have known what he was doing because the lights stayed on. Return to boringness.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
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