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Random Things Aug 2010

wtf?

  • The NAU Department of Physics and Astronomy is looking for a replacement telescope for their department (from which I graduated in 2000). If you have $50,000 and want your name on a sweet Ritchey-Chretien Telescope (or, for $500, in it!), call the department of physics and astronomy there and ask for David Cornelison.

  • I upgraded to Mac OS X Leopard...

    • ... pretty damn painless.
    • I used the "Erase and Install" method with the Migration Assistant.
    • I'll still need to look through my old /usr/local/ for good stuff that I might need that wasn't copied by Migration Assistant.
    • I decided to fork out $20 for SteerMouse in order to consolidate my 2-3 dorky mouse drivers into one slick preference pane.

  • Check out Perian... an open-source QuickTime plugin that plays things QuickTime doesn't... like FLV. (FLV is "flash video", what YouTube and many other online video sites use.) They have a video that shows how to download a movie from YouTube and play it in QuickTime with Perian. Cool.

  • When Anonymous is done with Scientology, maybe they can take on a global campaign against the Fauxhawk? People, it's not cool. (I should talk with my Ulysses S. Grant facial hair.)

  • Went down to LA for the ABA panel at the Beverly Wilshire hotel. Nice place... felt a bit strange riding up in a cab next to a new Ferarri, Bentley and a Maserati. Good event, though. Dean Logan and Freddie Oakley are wonderful election administrators with lots of wisdom and plenty of funny stories.

    Incidentally, the panel was over at 5p and I had three hours until my 7p flight. I figured I might as well make my way to the airport anyway. I happened to get one of the coolest LA cab drivers, ever. He knew a "shortcut" that would take more miles but would get us to LAX much faster than the freeways... so we agreed on a price and he turned the meter off. What ensued was the wildest ride through the alleys of Los Angeles that I had ever been on. He even ran over a nail at one point. He felt the nail in his tire and made sure to not knock it out so we could make my plane without a flat. Very interesting character... and, I'm not about to tell you who he is (apparently, he doesn't take calls; he has a regular clientèle that keeps him occupied from 5a-5p everyday).