I hate to post another video since my last post was also a video, but I have not had time to post anything lately but heard something about this on the news this morning and when I saw the video I knew I had to post this.

Have you ever gotten up off the couch to get a beer for the umpteenth time and thought, “What if instead of ME going to get the BEER, the BEER came to ME???”

To some people this is more than just an idle desire. John Cornwell, a Duke University engineering graduate has solved the problem. He created a robotic fridge that will load and catapult up to 10 cans across the room.

Well, that was how I first conceived of the beer launching fridge. About 3 months and several hundred dollars later I have a fully automated, remote controlled, catapulting, man-pit approved, beer launching mini-fridge. It holds 10 beers in its magazine with 14 more in reserve to store a full case. It is controlled by a keyless entry system. Pressing unlock will start the catapult rotating and when it is aiming at your target, pressing unlock again will stop it. Then the lock button can be pressed to launch a beer in the selected direction.

Robotic Beer Launching Refrigerator

Hopefully it can handle cans of stouter stuff, Miller Lite is hardly able to be called ‘beer’.

Update 03/12/2007: Jay Leno mentioned the “beer tossing refrigerator” on the Tonight Show this evening. He asked:

How fat and lazy are men getting in this country when we can’t even yell at our wives to go get us a beer?

The primary purpose of the DATA statement is to give names to constants; instead of referring to pi as 3.141592653589793 at every appearance, the variable pi can be given that value with a DATA statement and used instead of the longer form of the constant. This also simplifies modifying the program, should the value of pi change.

– FORTRAN manual for Xerox computers

1.

I received an email today, March 10th, from Palm because my Palm Tungsten|T3 is registered with them.

Daylight Saving Time (DST) begins March 11, 2007 — three weeks earlier than last year. DST will also last one week longer in the fall as well, changing back to standard time on November 11, 2007.

To help your calendar events and email reflect these new DST changes, please visit the link below to download the DST update for all Palm(R) devices. Remember, your device will NOT update automatically, so please download this update from Palm.com before March 11: http://News.palmnewsletters.com/cgi-bin13/DM/y/ekJl0WAcHK0HXH0Zlu0G6

So, nice of them to send me this. But why am I receiving it just one day before the time change? Seems that they could have had this update out weeks ago.

Why not just manually adjust the time on your palm like you do your VCR? Well, the Palm depends on the correct DST rule on the device to keep track of different time zone associated calendar events.

If I travel to Boise, or Phoenix, rather than changing the time on my palm, I am supposed to change the time zone. This keeps calendar items correct (I think).
But, other things depend on the correct time zone too. I use a planetarium program on my palm. Without the correct time zone settings, it will not be ’synced’ with the night’s sky.

Another thing I noticed in the instructions:

All users: In the event of a hard reset, this update will need to be installed and run again on your device.

So this is not a bios update, just a temporary fix. Luckily the daily backup program I use, BackupMan, will restore this file if I have to do a restore.

© All rights reserved. Used with permission

This photo by mommyof4ruggies almost looks like it was painted on canvas.
She has quite an eye. The framing of the photo with the trees is superb.

When I first saw this drive-thru photo over at A Welsh View, I thought it was an Amish McDonalds. Turns out it is in Russia.

Not sure why I like it, I guess it is the contrast between old and new, traditional and modern.

I just finished watching the 80 minute documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle. This show examines the claims made by the international left’s newest article of blind faith, Global Warming, or rather the Human Cause of Global Warming. The documentary does not deny that the climate is getting warmer, but they contend it’s not your fault and you can’t do much about it anyway.

The film brings together the arguments of leading scientists who disagree with the prevailing consensus that carbon dioxide released by human industrial activity is the cause of rising global temperatures today.

The film argues that rises in atmospheric carbon dioxide have nothing to do with climate change. Further, the present single-minded focus on reducing carbon emissions may have the unintended consequence of stifling development in the third world, prolonging endemic poverty and disease.

Recent research, presented in this film, apparently shows that the effect of cosmic radiation, and solar activity may explain fluctuations in global temperatures more precisely than the carbon dioxide theory.

The film features an impressive roll-call of experts, in climatology, oceanography, meteorology, environmental science, biogeography and paleoclimatology, from such reputable institutions as MIT, NASA, the International Arctic Research Centre, the Institut Pasteur, the Danish National Space Center and the Universities of London, Ottawa, Jerusalem, Winnipeg, Alabama and Virginia.

The film’s theory is that:

• The climate is controlled by presence or absence of clouds.
• The presence of clouds is controlled by the amount of cosmic rays hitting our atmosphere.
• The amount of cosmic radiation is reduced by the cosmic winds caused by increased solar flare activity.

Made a pretty good argument if you ask me. Of course, no one does.
HatTip: Little Green Footballs

© All rights reserved. Used with permission

This is a great photo of the cable bridge taken by earthdog while he was in the area. I may have to ‘cheat’ and go looking for that same location to take some photos of my own!

I know there are a few readers that will enjoy this one…

HatTip: A Welsh View

Well, If you ever need to write something and need a little bit different font — You might want to look at this Cookie Cutter Image Generator. Here are a couple I created:

HatTip: Land of Lin

Dr Seuss’s lyrics and Bob Dylan’s voice go together like green eggs and ham.

These two giants of American literature are brought together in this superb tribute by authors unknown at http://dylanhearsawho.com.

Seven (sometimes too long) tracks plus cover art are available on the site, which is so understated that you want to believe it is not a parody.

I am am trying to visualize my grandsons listening to these…. naa, never gonna happen.

(If the voice gets to you, listen to track 5, “Too Many Daves”.)

HatTip: Simply Victoria

Update: The site is down. Looks like Dr. Seuss Enterprises did not see the humor.

© All rights reserved. Used with permission

This is why people fish. teeetah’s photo of fishing at sunset really captures the ideal of ‘quietude’.

A funny parody of the “Heroes” TV show.

HatTip: A Welsh View (again)

I have begun using my gmail as my primary email address in anticipation of dropping the email provider I have used for the last 8 years. GMail defaults to displaying a Google Talk window on the GMail interface. This might not be a problem for some, but I am using Miranda as my instant messaging client, and don’t need GMail to run a competing client on my machine.

Turning off the GTalk client was simpler than I thought it would be. I found the instructions over at Tech-Recipes:

Scroll down to the very bottom of gmail after you log in. You should see the standard view without chat link. Click it and you are set.

I’ve included a quick screenshot that shows where it is:

What happens when you put a 20″ lift kit and 30″ clear wheels on a kandy orange ‘85 Chevy Caprice?

How much does it cost to not only make your car impractical (and illegal?) to operate, and make it ugly at the same time?

You don’t even want to know what the wheels cost.