Halfapenguin.com
randomthought

My poor car

06:05, 22 Jan 2010

Most of you probably heard about my poor car and its accident before christmas... but don't know what the results were...

I'll post a longer entry in the morning but here are the photos of the car in the yard.

This made me smile

18:58, 09 Nov 2009

Although i remember Terry Pratchett talking about using the death of kings and use of their successors to use the transfer of monarchy from person to person as a method of faster than light travel since one became king instantly on the death of the old king, without any waiting time caused by an actual signal being sent....

Personally i like my idea of a long stick as a better and more humane idea...

Reposting about roadtrips

19:51, 22 May 2009

There was a missed post from feburary, it didn't seem to post, probably because i suspect i was trying to bug test the live-journal interface (doesn't allow i-frames)...

I need to write something to fix this in an upcoming patch for the software.

So here is the reposted article.

This is the third attempt at writing this entry, since safari has been logging me out midway through writing.

I was thinking about how i really want to do a proper road trip at some point, and while i don't have the time right now, i thought i'd make a rough plan with the help of the Great and Powerful Google.

After working out i'd like to head to San Francisco and chose places i'd like to visit along the way, this is what it gave me.


View Larger Map

Admittedly its nearly all southern places, but then i can always do a northern road trip in the future :)

I told google to avoid all highways, since it means i can see the little places as well as the big places, which is part of the reason for the trip.

I'd want to stay in each of the places on my list, so this would be about a 3 week trip, so not really practical on the amount of holiday i'm given... maybe i could work this into the idea of being a roving developer...

Aside from the time however i'm more concerned about the carbon footprint such a trip woud generate. If i took my current car, thats about 250 gallons of gas and thats being optimistic... so i'd want a carbon neutral car... anyone mind lending me their Tesla?

Realistically tho, until the technology allows me to do this trip without burning huge amounts of carbon fuels, i'm going to have to wait at least a few years...but when the car is available, i'll be heading to San Francisco... anybody want to come with?

However given i'd probably want to get back to where i started, i'd probably do the extra special see as much as humanly possible trip, which would be something like this...


View Larger Map

For those of you wondering about spokane, i'm still waiting for my breakfast in spokane from 4 years ago...

So i'd probably end up needing a bit more time for this trip... still i'd love to do something like this... roll on fuel cell green supplied cars :)

This is just plain scary

15:50, 26 Feb 2009

Its a simulator for showing the damage different Nuclear strikes would affect an area (and what the average affect would be at each distance).

Interestingly it does put a bit of a damper on the entire premise of Spooks Code 9 (a terrible spin off of a great show). It would take a Tsar class bomb in order to make the South of England uninhabitable.

3rd time dreaming about road trips

01:31, 19 Feb 2009

This is the third attempt at writing this entry, since safari has been logging me out midway through writing.

I was thinking about how i really want to do a proper road trip at some point, and while i don't have the time right now, i thought i'd make a rough plan with the help of the Great and Powerful Google.

After working out i'd like to head to San Francisco and chose places i'd like to visit along the way, this is what it gave me.


View Larger Map

Admittedly its nearly all southern places, but then i can always do a northern road trip in the future :)

I told google to avoid all highways, since it means i can see the little places as well as the big places, which is part of the reason for the trip.

I'd want to stay in each of the places on my list, so this would be about a 3 week trip, so not really practical on the amount of holiday i'm given... maybe i could work this into the idea of being a roving developer...

Aside from the time however i'm more concerned about the carbon footprint such a trip woud generate. If i took my current car, thats about 250 gallons of gas and thats being optimistic... so i'd want a carbon neutral car... anyone mind lending me their Tesla?

Realistically tho, until the technology allows me to do this trip without burning huge amounts of carbon fuels, i'm going to have to wait at least a few years...but when the car is available, i'll be heading to San Francisco... anybody want to come with?

However given i'd probably want to get back to where i started, i'd probably do the extra special see as much as humanly possible trip, which would be something like this...


View Larger Map

For those of you wondering about spokane, i'm still waiting for my breakfast in spokane from 4 years ago...

So i'd probably end up needing a bit more time for this trip... still i'd love to do something like this... roll on fuel cell green supplied cars :)

What I believe in (at least part of it)

08:33, 07 Jan 2009

Someone asked me yesterday what i believe, i said it was an difficult thing to define because its constantly changing. However one thing doesn't change, i do believe in this ideal.

30 MPG is pathetic...

23:00, 16 Nov 2008

I know most people who read this would agree,

I just have to say 30 MPG is pathetic... when you get 60 MPG might make me mildly impressed...

I'm going to write about what i think about the automaker restructuring tomorrow.

Also i'm in total opposition to use of natural gas its a dead end that doesn't fix any problems...

And finally anyone even thinking about buying an suv (the gas price has been dropping so suv manufacturers are ramping up production) needs something done to them...

Finally you could fuel a space shuttle with hydrogen ergo you could power an 18 wheeler gas guzzler

a new option on polls

17:18, 02 Jul 2008

I keep reading online polls on websites like this

was cheryl col right to take back husband ashley

My biggest issue is, i want two extra options,
"I don't know who these people are"
and
"I really don't care"
I'd be interested to see what the statistics would show if that was put into more polling.

Almost midnight....

23:18, 09 Jun 2008

Its almost midnight, and its still overly hot.

28 C at 11 o clock

If i go to the front of the apartment, its like an oven... i'm torn between turning the air conditioner off, and keeping it on... but i'll probably be environmental and turn it off.

Measure of pride...

14:52, 09 Jun 2008

Found this via Shakenbysound

-6

As a 1930s wife, I am
Very Poor (Failure)

Take the test!

I take it as a matter of pride.

Summer is here with a vengance

19:09, 08 Jun 2008

As anyone who's in troy has noticed, summer has arrived, late as usual, and on overdrive to make up for missed time.

(Humidity 82%, 30-35C, less that 6mph winds)...

However i took it as an excuse to wash my lovely car

My shiny :)

Next time tho i may get them to do a whole works rather than a basic scrub, but its gonna rain with a vengance some time in the next week so that would seem a bit of a waste.

So i got home after getting a few bits and pieces (no noro sock yarn as yet, most yarn stores round here seem to be closed on sundays) and turned on the air conditioner.
Underpowered and overdraining

But because its only in the kitchen, and my apartment is huge and been heated all day, it did struggle a bit, so i ended up finding a creative use for my knitting needles and a fairly useless sheet....

Another use for knitting needles

So now the back rooms are segmented off with the sheet, so its a lot more survivable back here.

Anyway, i hope in a little while it cools down...

Its Volcano Day

11:11, 09 May 2008

Sunrise at Chicago O'Hare

Okay it may not be a volcano, but its a pretty dawn, and today was a pretty morning...

Don't save my life, its against my beliefs...

13:57, 05 Nov 2007

I was reading in the Daily Mail this morning that a young woman died as a result of refusing blood transfusions post birth due to her Jehovah's Witness beliefs.

Initially i was thinking what I would have done if i'd been the attending doctor.

If the woman had been conscious, i'd have probably tried to get a court order to get her declared clinically insane (or trying to commit suicide). Once she'd lapsed into unconsciousness, i would have tried to arrest the family for acting against their charge's interests.

However now i'm wondering how i'd feel, if someone tried give me a procedure i didn't ethically agree with, even if it was to my own benefit. Blood transfusions are a very moral consequence free treatment, since the person who gives the blood is not harmed, and it has huge benefits, wearas organ transplants can have serious or even fatal consequences for the donors.

I suppose the closest example for me would be a treatment developed by either higher primate or human experimentation. I believe we have no place experimenting on higher primates (or possibly lower primates) for our own selfish benefit. That said its a bit of an ethical dilemma for me whether use of such knowledge garnered from such in-human activities is justifiable.

I think i would probably claim a form of moral superiority, because my example is actually a relevant ethical question, while the Jehovah's Witness's prohibition is based on a questionable interpretation of the bible that was written thousands of years before the possibility of blood transfusions existed.

It is an act of extreme selfishness to ask doctors to stand by and do nothing while someone is dying. For the time of medicine, doctors have wrestled with "Do Not Resuscitate", and most have found this to be fair, because there are certain situations where more medical intervention is just prolonged suffering. However this was not like this, it was a young woman dying because a procedure could save her life was refused on very questionable grounds. It is barbaric to force medical staff to do nothing because of a belief, if you don't want medical help, then stay away from a hospital, because doctor's have to go through too much to have to put up with people committing senseless suicide in front of them.

Parody of self, on godtube

12:33, 06 Oct 2007

Maybe its me, but i always see the "Mac vs PC" adds as a little bit self reflective humor, slightly poking fun at the holier than thou Mac User

"a true macologist does not need to expound the values of the mac, for just by being, it is great"
-Book of Self Righteousness, Chapter 27, Verse 3 as contained with the Book of Jobs

I can't really complain too much, i'm a fair mac evangelist myself, as much as i wish i wasnt, but they do a good job.

Its rather funny however when people try to parody the ads, and don't realise the humor directed at the Mac Guy.

For example

To me, the "christ follower" comes across as a bit of an ass, just by his nature, because he's doing the Mac attitude. Also as is kinda expected, i feel really sorry for the christian because he's just the butt of a bad joke.

Anyway, just my random thought for the moment.

Love the big guy!

08:29, 04 Oct 2007

I came across this brilliant short film on the internet

AtomFilms.com: Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | Comedy Central

Its a little long, but well worth the time to watch.