A few weeks ago, Amanda and I went to the Birch Aquarium. It is a nice (but small) aquarium. As part of their displays they have many things that try to instill environmentalism in children.

One of the displays is a fake news booth where kids get to be the reporter reporting on how a careless person started a fire that is destroying habitat and homes. The kids stand in front of a green screen and get to read a teleprompter while a camera records them. Outside of the booth is where parents can see their child with footage of the fire super-imposed in the background. Unfortunately for the designers of the exhibit, kids are so thrilled with being on "TV" that they tend to cheer and jump up and down, forgetting the purpose of the display. The end result is that children are jumping up and down, cheering, while in the background images of destroyed woodlands and homes are being displayed. FAIL.

Based on the recommendation by dandrake, I watched the Death Note anime series. It is 37 episodes, which must be two seasons, since there are 2 distinct conflicts that run serially.

It is a very entertaining series, but like many other detective series, they use some tricks to move the plot along (like a normally skeptical character falling for a ruse). The interesting thing about this series is that you, the viewer, know everything. You get to see the characters try to outsmart each other.

It also reminded me of the TV series Dexter, which also features a killer trying to better the world.

Over the past year or two, I have seen a proliferation of articles / blog posts that proclaim the 10, 20, or 30 best somethings. This format annoys me because there is rarely much thought put into the creation of the list. They are just an attempt at a fast and easy way to draw readers. They are like the reality tv of web articles. Take a bunch of loosely related things, put them together, and see what happens.

Because of this, I almost always skip over any article with a number in the headline.

The recent announcement of the iPhone 3G-S with its built-in compass got me thinking that the phone would be nice for photography in that it should be able to store not only the GPS coords (as the 3G does) but also the heading.

GPS and compass chips aren't that expensive, are they? Why don't all point-and-shoot cameras come with this functionality? I have been using a separate GPS with my camera to geotag photos after the fact, but it is a pain, and I don't get heading info.

I just updated my Kurobox to the latest version of Debian, which will require a restart to utilize the new kernel. Goodbye uptime.

indium:/# uptime
10:23:10 up 782 days, 13:11, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.05, 0.07

If you are in the mood for a hilarious, over the top zombie flick, I recommend Planet Terror. It is available on Netflix streaming.

In recent years, more and more information is being moved from mailing lists, newsgroups, and home pages to forums and blogs. Most forums, blogs, and articles have timestamps, but not all, and they are not always complete (some give time, but not date or date, but not year). Beyond that, as far as I know, you cannot have google limit search results to items that are x months old or newer. As a result, it can be hard to find up-to-date information on things that change quickly, like anything technology-related.

I really wish html had a standard modification date metadata field which would facilitate filtering search results. Until then, I guess I will include "2009" as a search term to help limit results.

Penny arcade posted a comic criticizing Dollhouse and a text post saying that you needed holographic memory technology to record all of their complaints about it. I watched both episodes on Hulu and found them entertaining. What am I missing? What is so bad about it? The show seems slightly less cheesy than some of his other shows, but I don't see that as a bad thing.

After watching the two episodes, I then read a couple of pages of comments on the penny arcade forum, in which people are complaining that the show is no good because there is no where for the plot to develop. WTF? Let the show develop and see where it goes, don't preemptively decry the plot.

The EFF started a petition to get a DMCA exemption for mobile phones.

Even if the exemption is put in place, it won't stop the arms race between lockers and unlockers, but it is a start.

Yesterday I finished Grand Theft Auto 4. It was an interesting game, but the plot is a little weak. The setting and characters were good, but basically the plot is about being back-stabbed and getting revenge repeatedly.

I have been playing a lot lately, and last night I dreamt that I had stolen a car and the police were on my trail. Time to find a different genre, I think.

-- Rick

Except for around here where it has been in the upper 70's / low 80's. It is a little warmer than I would like, but we haven't had to open the windows yet.

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Aside from Netflix, I haven't rented a movie in years. I wanted to rent one yesterday, but I didn't feel like dealing with Blockbuster and having to return a movie, so I though I'd give iTunes movie rentals a try.

Using iTunes is easy. I found a movie, and looked at the trailer, which looked good. I decided to rent it. I was expecting to be able to stream the video (like the trailer) and start watching immediately. Unfortunately, iTunes needs to download the entire thing before you can start watching it. It took between 2-3 hours to download the 1.8 GB movie. I didn't want to wait, so Amanda and I watched a movie through Netflix streaming instead.

I guess I can see why they want you to download it, so they can minimize their bandwidth and allow you to copy it to your ipod, but it is annoying to have to wait for the movie when you know that you shouldn't have to. Blockbuster would have been faster.

You may have heard about the fighter jet that went down in a San diego neighborhood earlier this week. It happened about 2 or 3 miles from my work. We also live under the flight path of the commercial airport. Luckily, most flights are not directly overhead.

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Just bought a Philips 47 in 1080p LCD tv. It seems huge, but I'm sure we will get used to it. We barely could fit it in our car to take home from frys. Now we just have to find worthwhile things to watch. The xbox 360 looks pretty good at 1080p.

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After playing Fallout 3 at a friends house, I decided to buy an xbox in order to play it. So far, it is fun. I just picked up bioshock too. I would like to get some other good games that aren't shooters or sports games. Any suggestions?

My xbox live ID is NOPLATE.

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Ugh. It was hot today. 90 degrees. When does autumn start?

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I like it but the portrait mode keyboard is hard to use. The required phone plan is a little expensive.

The apps aren't the most stable either, but overall it is a good user exerience.

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Haven't posted in a while, so here is a quick rundown.

Recently went to Universal Studios. It was fun.

Bought a 2001 Volvo S60, Pioneer navigation unit, & speakers. In the process of selling the motorcycle.

Economic stimulus check is apparently lost in the mail. Have to see if I can get another one.

My weekly D&D game group has been playing 4th edition for a couple of weeks. So far, so good. Thumbs up.

Air Gear is an anime about roller-blader gangs. The style is fresh and the soundtrack is great. The first 4-6 episodes are the best. After that it drags out a bit. Give it a try. You can stream it through NetFlix.

It is almost record highs this weekend. Nearly 90 degrees and no air conditioning in our apartment. Humidity about 50%.