Friday, September 28, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
What the heck was REM singing about?
A bunch of gibberish, mostly dummy lyrics evidently. Still it was fun listening for a lot of years. Here's a site at a long-defunct poetry webzine that takes a flying guess at what some of the phrases meant, arranged by studio album and song. (Don't panic, some of the pages are just plain missing. As I said, long-defunct.) Mostly pretty obvious stuff (some of it annoyingly obvious) but a few of the more obscure sayings are explained.
It's fall. I listen to REM a lot in the fall, can't really say why.
It's fall. I listen to REM a lot in the fall, can't really say why.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Today's "Big World Click & Drag" XKCD
If it was... a little much to click and drag through, here's a zoomable version.
Afternote: at that scale, the entire width of the drawing is comparable to the first leg of the Tuxachanie Trail, from Hwy 49 to Airey Lake. If you've hiked that, it does put it into perspective.
Afternote: at that scale, the entire width of the drawing is comparable to the first leg of the Tuxachanie Trail, from Hwy 49 to Airey Lake. If you've hiked that, it does put it into perspective.
More positive news on robotics.
An easy to program, practical robot for small industrial applications over at Technology Review. Naturally, from one of the founders of iRobot. As I've said (or at least implied) in several recent posts (Roomba, warp drive, and a few other posts lately), now we're getting somewhere.
Goofy eyes, but according to the article they actually have a function so go read the article.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Ten Years of Roomba
Article over at Mashable.
Amazing devices, finally got one myself a couple of weeks ago. Here's a video of a Roomba like mine over at the manufacturer's web site. Yes, it really does work. Yes, it is a genuine labor- and hassle-saving device. Yes, it really can get into a lot of places, including under beds. And more importantly, it can find its way back out. And even if it can't quite reach, entropy will eventually take care of that hidden dirt, as we've discussed previously. I hit the start button on the way out the door in the morning, and when I get home it's sitting back at its recharging station, waiting patiently with a full charge and a binload of dirt. No, it doesn't have any trouble navigating my house, all on its own and automatically. The only hitch so far is that it sometimes high-centers on my easy chair's tapered legs, maybe one time out of five.
Yes, it has dramatically upped the level of cleanliness in my house. Almost a cliche by now, but as so many other new Roomba owners have said: What took me so long?
The new models just came out last month, so street price is still full MSRP. But Bed Bath & Beyond will give you a 20% off coupon if you go over to their site and give them your spam-bucket email address.
Amazing devices, finally got one myself a couple of weeks ago. Here's a video of a Roomba like mine over at the manufacturer's web site. Yes, it really does work. Yes, it is a genuine labor- and hassle-saving device. Yes, it really can get into a lot of places, including under beds. And more importantly, it can find its way back out. And even if it can't quite reach, entropy will eventually take care of that hidden dirt, as we've discussed previously. I hit the start button on the way out the door in the morning, and when I get home it's sitting back at its recharging station, waiting patiently with a full charge and a binload of dirt. No, it doesn't have any trouble navigating my house, all on its own and automatically. The only hitch so far is that it sometimes high-centers on my easy chair's tapered legs, maybe one time out of five.
Yes, it has dramatically upped the level of cleanliness in my house. Almost a cliche by now, but as so many other new Roomba owners have said: What took me so long?
The new models just came out last month, so street price is still full MSRP. But Bed Bath & Beyond will give you a 20% off coupon if you go over to their site and give them your spam-bucket email address.
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