Journal entries for December, 2004

Nik documents the various photos, notes, etc. that can be found lying on the ground in Canada. I find the website interesting, because I've done the same. Being a bit of a packrat by nature, I've come across some interesting things myself, and speculated about the story behind them. I wish I had thought to save them. I think from now on I'll try to.

This whole photography thing was much easier back before I had realized it was a hobby of mine. I had lower expectations then. Originally, I just enjoyed having a camera and taking pictures of things. Then people started telling me I took good pictures, and in response to that I started trying to take better pictures, and became Wile E. Coyote. I'd run off the cliff, but everything went fine until I realized it, and then suddenly I found it so much harder to do because my ambitions were higher.

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Tonight as I was driving home from work, I noticed this large wooden tank or some other sort of cylinder which they've built by the side of the road. I have no idea what it could be for, but the area is pretty industrial, so it doesn't surprise me to see it there. What perplexes me more is the fact that it's made of wood and not metal. It just seems so medieval and out of place in an industrialized society.

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Today as I bent to pick up a hubcap on the side of the road (this would be my second), I noticed the astounding similarity to the way the human body stores fat, and I realized that the problem is a simple one: my body is just a packrat! Show it a broken Walkman and it says, "Hey, this might come in useful sometime!" And pockets it away in some artery or buttock.

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Sorry for more political crap, but this latest Rumsfeld thing just pisses me off.

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Very cute and informative Japanese lessons. You know, for kids.

Edit: I first experienced it at work with no sound. You might want to do likewise, the sound is just annoying :)

this is the best thing i've ever seen

Traffic jams in PR provide a good demonstration of the rules of conformity and distortion of action that Asch found in his experiment in the 50's.

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Miss Doxie shares with us amusing anecdotes, usually about her dogs pooping. Writing style slightly reminiscent of old Drew. Highly recommended.

I just discovered the "Discovery: Wings" channel, by Discovery Channel but all about airplanes and flight in general. Awesome.

I was watching an episode of this show called Strange Planes, about the catapults on aircraft carriers and how the idea was first used by the Wright brothers to get their underpowered (12hp) airplanes in the air.

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Edit: And if you're curious what processing 272k emails does to a poor little P133, here's a CPU utilization graph.

Well I'm basically at the point where I can fly on my own with no help from Harold. I still can't do much forward flight or turns or anything, and I can only hover while the helicopter is pointing away from me (called tail-in). So I'm far from done yet, but at least I can fly without his intervention, as long as I stick to tail-in hovering. I still wouldn't fly at the park here or anything yet, but now I don't have to wait for him to be free at the airfield. I can hover around and do some basic forward flight and practice landings, and then when he makes his way to me we can practice more advanced stuff with the trainer cord.

Once again, I hastily wrote down notes about two dreams I had but then forgot to expand them later, and now I've forgotten the details. So I present to you the vague outline of two dreams I had sometime last week :)

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My big event of the day was finally succumbing to all of Scott's regales about the benefits of a dual monitor setup. He just got a nice pair of LCDs and a video card with two VGA heads, and is quite happy with himself.

Today was also the Xapiens company Christmas party. Yeah, that was about what I expected: computer nerds standing around trying to find non-computer-related things to talk about :)

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How could you possibly make cosplay more amusing? Dressing up as your favorite anime characters is about as nerdy as it gets. ...Or is it? (Thanks Jeff :)

Hahaha. Bryan helpfully reminded me of a notable event in my life. When I was like 16, I was chewing on a guitar pick and accidentally swallowed it. And then as Bryan says... biology took over. Man. I've led an illustrious life.

I call it, "You get what you pay for." Patent pending.

I finally got around to scanning and uploading the photos from the B&W roll I took with the cheap Canon EF-M I bought on Ebay a few months ago. Unfortunately, over half the shots were half unexposed, suggesting to me a badly synchronized shutter. There's a chance it could have been mistakes during the developing process, but given the price of the camera, and the fact that had the roll developed at a photography store, I'd like to give the benefit of the doubt to the store and assume the problem is just that it's a cheap camera.

Only nine of the 30 photos evaded the camera's sabotage, but there's some decent shots. I guess I won't bother using this camera anymore, though. Hopefully I can eventually get an older, fully manual camera like the one Jenn said she had. In the meantime, I guess this just means less crap for me to carry around everywhere.

Hooray, first of the month means the web server logs get analyzed, and that means I get to peer into people's lives and see what search terms have brought them to BinRock. Here's a few I found amusing.

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Everyone says that talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity, but it's not really that out of the ordinary, right? ...Right?

I've always talked to myself when I drove, but over the course of the last few months I've been finding myself doing it excessively — like I say almost all my thoughts out loud now. I guess it's because I spend so much time alone. Every few days I'll suddenly notice all the concerned glances and realize that I'm walking through a store and mumbling to myself. Sort of like when you find yourself absently picking your nose and suddenly realize you're in public. Except with more straightjackets.