Doug's Exploits in Triviality

Danger Chainsaw

2011-09-01T13:54:00.002-06:00

http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/13/windows-7-to-be-officially-named-windows-7/ Amazing, what ever will they think of next? :-; Actually I understand how it's necessary to keep people tasked with R&D. But announcements and leaks of

Here’s a (weak) justification for including a solar panel on the Prius - PowerSource - Blog on EDN - 1470000147

2008-07-24T18:52:00.000-06:00

Here’s a (weak) justification for including a solar panel on the Prius - PowerSource - Blog on EDN - 1470000147Great article. There seems to be a lot of "green at any cost" out there.

EETimes.com - Will industry build 450-mm fabs?

2008-03-11T13:51:00.000-06:00

EETimes.com - Will industry build 450-mm fabs?So it seems we have some rational thought. The survey that was mentioned indicates the year 2013 if ever. I agree with caution in this.-doug

Outside my office window today.

2007-11-15T18:03:00.001-07:00

This is what I saw at about 4:45 PM today. A beautiful sight in Colorado

IBM gives boost to solar energy; Process recycles scrap silicon - October 30, 2007 Tuesday - Semiconductor International

2007-10-30T13:49:00.000-06:00

IBM gives boost to solar energy; Process recycles scrap silicon - October 30, 2007 Tuesday - Semiconductor InternationalExcellent idea, we need to make panels cheaper by far since rebates and credits will not last forever. Currently the installed cost per watt is about $8.00 for large systems.

450 mm Wafers?

2007-10-30T13:39:00.000-06:00

'Big Four' Talking 450 With Tool VendorsDavid Lammers, News Editor -- Semiconductor International, 10/30/2007 8:06:00 AMProponents of the 450 mm wafer generation said they are in discussions with equipment vendors to create a business model that will entice toolmakers to put their own skin in the high stakes 450 mm wafer game.So when does it stop. Eventually wafers will become so cumbersome to

Coding Horror: Speeding Up Your PC's Boot Time

2007-08-02T16:35:00.000-06:00

Coding Horror: Speeding Up Your PC's Boot TimeI agree that "no boot time" is the best time.A few years ago I heard that Microsoft was thinking of getting into that TV appliance market. Can you imagine "booting" your TV and taking a few minutes? How about your car, modern cars can have over 20 processors running and I can use my ignition key to get instant start and stop with no penalties. I can

ChaplainNorris.com - Thank our soldiers -- they've got our backs

2007-05-19T11:19:00.000-06:00

ChaplainNorris.com - Thank our soldiers -- they've got our backsI couldn't agree more with this article. I am a Vietnam era vet and when I came home I quickly covered all the evidence I could that I had served. From my experience these kids don't join because of political motivation, rather from patriotic. Conversely, it seems to me that those who complain and protest are standing on the outside

Update to links section

2007-03-06T11:45:00.000-07:00

I added a few links to this site. Of note, is the "Library Thing"; I plan to keep adding stuff in that site over the next few months.

Stop Imitating Mainstream Programs

2007-03-06T11:19:00.000-07:00

I couldn't agree more with this. There are churches and other "Christian" groups that feel they must appeal to the world by being like the world. This is simply wrong. We are called to be in the world but not of the world. We recently heard christian music group in a local church that played loud music (don't get me wrong, loud is not wrong), with no message. If there was any real singing it

Slacker

2007-03-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

Well it's been awhile, guess I've been slacking off. Actually, it's more like being too busy. It seems that so far 2005 was my busiest year posting, I shall endeavor to do better this year.

List of songs featuring cowbells - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2006-05-10T17:26:00.000-06:00

List of songs featuring cowbells - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaI am truly amazed at the trivialty that can be found on the web. Not only that, but the volume of energy expended in this pursuit. Isn't it great...

Finally, here's your big chance to get it right!

2006-04-05T09:03:00.000-06:00

Apple announced their dual boot today that loads Windows. Of course, I don't expect the most efficient implementation. I am anxious to learn if Apple Mac bears up under the expected onslaught, now that they will have an OS a world of hackers is scrutinizing. I've always said that if Apple products had the same attention that Microsoft products have, they would go to their knees instantly. Of

Dschinghis Khan doing Moskau

2006-03-24T12:24:00.000-07:00

This one has a cool Disco beat, done by a German group about Moscow. It is somehow cool and really funny at the same time. And here it gets really fun. Some kids are doing their best to dance along.

One of my favorite topics - Coffee

2006-03-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

Blog name change

2006-03-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hey, I decided to change the name of my blog. It was "Doug's Ruminations" and now it's "Doug's Exploits in Triviality."There is a good reason for this too, it's all about Obscurity.In the interest of maintaining obscurity, I was looking for a concise phrase that describes exactly what I do most of the time… and of course the phrase itself would have to be obscure so I decided to see it I could

USA Today Removes Photograph

2005-10-28T09:32:00.000-06:00

So, "the editor brightened a portion of Rice's face" - What a lame excuse!!!Give me a break, her face and especially her eyes were obviously photo-shopped for the effect. If you carefully compare the before and after, even a non-expert knows better. The brightening and sharpening of her skin is negligible. The effect on her eyes is extreme and would be great if she were going to a Halloween

Ultimate traffic solution? I think not!

2005-10-25T11:17:00.000-06:00

This 'solution' is the ultimate only as long as you are the only one on your block that has one.A personal helicopter has been a long-time dream for me, but I thought it through and realized that if everyone has one then it would be a little like the Jetsons. Only there are no traffic controls. Can you imagine?

In woods near Melilla, Africans plan European entry

2005-10-06T10:10:00.000-06:00

Apparently the USA is not the only place with border problems

Computer support helps deputies make an arrest

2005-10-04T09:58:00.000-06:00

Lincoln Journal StarThe disturbing thing is, this is my home town. But I claim no relation or affiliation.

Power-Dressing Aussie leaves trail of destruction (Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.co.uk)

2005-09-16T12:45:00.000-06:00

"It sounded almost like a firecracker", Clewer told Australian radio on Friday. "Within about five minutes, the carpet started to erupt."I never heard erupting carpet before..."We tested his clothes with a static electricity field metre and measured a current of 40,000 volts, which is one step shy of spontaneous combustion, where his clothes would have self-ignited," Barton said.Well, current is

Who's showing up?

2005-09-08T19:57:00.000-06:00

Well, I am amazed. And, I'm big enough to admit that I was wrong. There are an amazing number of countries offering help. Even Mexico is sending army troops onto American soil for the first time since the 19th century. WOW! Doug's Ruminations: German conservative links Katrina to U.S. CO2 policy

German conservative links Katrina to U.S. CO2 policy

2005-09-01T12:51:00.000-06:00

A thinly veiled attempt to blame the USA/George Bush for not signing the Kyoto Accord and getting their just dessert. Remember, it's the USA that always shows up to help when someone else is in trouble. This is just their attempt to assuage their own guilt for not showing up when the USA is in trouble. Gordon Sinclair said it best back in 1973...

Israel Pullout

2005-08-18T13:01:00.000-06:00

The following was written by a good friend of mine. It is a well written piece on current events in Israel.Israel Pullout The plan for Israeli Disengagement from Gaza consists of 1) removing Israeli civilian presence from the area known as Gaza and 2 communities in North Shomron region. 2) Leaving portions of the infrastructure in place to assist the economy of the Palestinians that move into

The Lost Liberty Hotel

2005-06-28T13:35:00.000-06:00

Eminent domain comes back, bites Souter?Truly this is the way to get a message through to Mr. Souter. I applaud your efforts Mr. Clements.[News Link1][News Link2][News Link3]

Fearing strangers, Boy Scout hid from searchers

2005-06-22T11:30:00.000-06:00

I can understand this boy's fears; we live in a hostile world.Once we lived in the paradisaical world of the 1950's when we were still flush with victory in a world war. We seemed to live in a safe place where small town America was a wonderful place to be and small town America was the attitude everywhere.Now, it's don't talk to strangers, don't answer the door, child molesters, Amber alerts,

FOXNews.com - U.S. & World - Death at Disney Concerns Consumer Group

2005-06-20T09:43:00.000-06:00

"Last year, more than 328 million people worldwide visited amusement parks but the death this week of one 4-year-old boy at Walt Disney World has led some to question whether more needs to be done to improve theme park safety."Are you kidding? This is another case of over reaction by the media. One in 328 million, we don't have that kind safety of a record in our everyday lives! Yes, it is tragic

Yale grades portray Kerry as a lackluster student

2005-06-08T08:18:00.000-06:00

Lackluster? This is reminiscent of the accusations that Dan Quayle recieved for the "deer-in-the-headlights" look. You would think that Kerry would at least try to look pleasant for a posed photo, especially if he has political aspirations for the future.

Planet Ark : Russian Lake Disappears, Baffling Villagers

2005-05-20T14:56:00.000-06:00

So, who was first, the Russians or the Americans?

Woe! Lake begone! - Peculiar Postings - MSNBC.com

2005-05-20T14:54:00.000-06:00

So, this is how it ends, I'm certain the Russians are coming to get us!

Newsweek retraction not enough: US, Pakistan

2005-05-17T11:18:00.000-06:00

It's amazing.Liberals will often say "Nobody died when Clinton lied", implying that Bush lied and people died. Regardless of the fact that Bush DID NOT lie, here we have a case where Newsweek lied and 17 people died. And all they can say is "I'm sorry"?Now I hear that Eleanor Clift, a contributing editor at Newsweek, has said, "I think conservatives ought to quit trying to intimidate the rest

Meme - what is it?

2005-05-02T12:17:00.000-06:00

I just learned of this term today, in the context of the internet. By definition meme is how an idea transfers from one mind to another. Apparently, this concept is now being used by companies to research how quickly a bit of advertising can move through the internet. The idea is to plant a meme and monitor it's movement and growth. We've all seen something similar to this in the form of

The new media of Blogs and News Feeds

2005-05-02T08:47:00.000-06:00

I would like to suggest that the definition of the blogosphere be expanded to include not only blogs but also news feeds. There is a huge number of blogs and these can and are being be networked together with news feeds. Blogs and feeds work very well together and as a result it may be possible, not just for individuals, but for companies, large and small to take advantage of the technology.I

O'Reilly Hacks Series

2005-04-22T14:55:00.000-06:00

WONDERFUL - It's about time someone reclaims the definition of Hacks. Originally it was the good guys and they had their reputation besmirched by an unscrupulous bunch.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israel frees Jordanian prisoners

2005-04-22T14:24:00.000-06:00

"Israel called the move a goodwill gesture towards King Abdullah II of Jordan."This is a wonderful story, and I applaud the efforts to better relations. But I have only one question.The media only report warming relations when it is only Israel that is making the concessions. Where are the Jordanian concessions, where is the meeting in the middle?So far all I see is "If Israel gives us _______,

Lawmakers Push Bill on Chinese Currency

2005-04-08T14:06:00.000-06:00

This bears watching:Yahoo! News - Lawmakers Push Bill on Chinese CurrencyAlso, note how the USD, CNY exchange rate flat-lined sometime back in October of 2004.USD, CNY exchange rate

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | UK puts back e-waste law to 2006

2005-04-04T13:33:00.000-06:00

Amazing, all the tree hugging that goes on and now those who would ramrod legislation on e-waste through the EU can't even follow through with their own requirements (BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | UK puts back e-waste law to 2006). I know, these governments didn't do it, exactly, but they sure did did ratify.

Can't these people figure out what they want?

2005-02-15T07:58:00.000-07:00

1) First they vote down spending in Iraq and prevent armored vehicles from being available to our troops.2) Then they complain that our boys are dying because of Bush policy on armored vehicles.3) Now the headlines say, Bush wants more money for Iraq, as if this is the worst possible thing.All this has nothing to do with Iraq, it's a simple case of bald-face Bush bashing. They hate the man for

A change in Valentine's-Day observance

2005-02-15T07:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I changed... In the past I always bought her a box of chocolates for V-Day and she would complain that she really didn't need this. This year, I bought her a vase full of long-stemmed roses and presented them on Sunday morning. I called it Valentine's Day Eve. This worked like a charm and she was happy all day and into Monday the 14th.

2005-02-15T07:41:00.000-07:00

Wish I had thought of this first. Another case of someone taking advantage of two groups of people. Those who are ignorant, and those who laugh at those who are ignorant.

Inauguration

2005-01-20T17:25:00.000-07:00

I find it astounding that the liberals in this nation. The Sec. of State was confirmed and they want to somehow show they still have a small bit of control by delaying the swearing in. These people need to get a life!

My very first programmable anything

2004-11-10T08:28:00.002-07:00

HP-67 Programmable Calculator My very first programmable device of any sort. This was a great calculator, it is the card reader version of the HP-65. I used is for many years and cut my programming teeth on this. The internal memory was small enough that I had to learn how to keep code really tight. I especially liked the RPN systems, as it really is more efficient. Too bad the unwashed masses

Asterix & Obelix

2004-09-24T17:04:00.000-06:00

A couple of cool guys... Asterix around the World (the Many Languages of Asterix)

Google Jobs Puzzle

2004-09-24T16:57:00.001-06:00

CongratulationsI found it fairly easy to get to this site. I played around with prime number thing for awhile using the Sieve of Eratosthenes algorithm in my favorite compiler and gave up after about 30 miuntes. I then resorted to the Kobayashi Maru technique.The next one was a little harder. Finding f(x) where x=5 I surmised that the previous examples could be best modelled with a cosine

Virtual Bubblewrap

2004-09-16T18:35:00.000-06:00

Wish I had thought of this! It's great for those who can't keep their hands off the bubbles

What you deserve

2004-06-17T11:14:00.000-06:00

When you get what you deserve, its justiceWhen you get less than you deserve, its mercyWhen you get more than you deserve, its grace.Seen in a bagel shop, in Ft. Collins CO.

The demise of the Pocket Protector???

2004-06-07T17:16:00.001-06:00

I became worried that we may have lost another icon to history when the Office Depot in my town stopped carrying the venerable Pocket Protector. So, I decided to get busy and hunt for a new supply. I found this at the IEEE History Center: History of the Pocket Protector (link) Full text is here in case the link goes down: There was no such thing as a nerd back in 1947, when Erich Klein

Here's another challenge.

2004-05-27T15:27:00.000-06:00

It's at the Google Whack web site. I've been a longtime user of Google and find that most searches actually do come up with thousands of hits. So far, by following the Google Whack rules I can't seem to get less than about 500 hits. I'll let you know when I have any success or near misses.

2004-05-11T18:18:00.000-06:00

It’s getting kind of boring, all those lists of oxymorons. I think the challenge is the “one-word oxymoron.” That is, a self-contradictory single word. Here’s my list so far… o Disingenuous o Inflammable o Infamous o Factoid o Naturalization o Preincarnation o Aloha o Driveway o Parkway o Shipment (cross-country) o Cargo (across oceans)

An article I saw...

2004-05-06T10:57:00.000-06:00

No Golden Anniversary… and now for something different. The sentimental among us will be saddened by the news that, for that eternally young thermoplastic couple, Mattel’s Ken and Barbie, there will be no Golden Anniversary. That’s right, kids. After 43 wonderful years, the plastic duo is together no longer. Barbie has dumped Ken, and taken up with Blaine, her new Aussie surfer toy. How and why

2004-03-24T15:50:00.000-07:00

A great site that is amazingly accurate. My success rate is currently 29.41%

2004-03-18T18:55:00.000-07:00

I was reviewing Malori Aslan Smith's pages. I am reminded of how God can impress on a young person deep spiritual realities. I am humbled again. -dep Malori Aslan Smith's personal Pages Aslan's Army

2004-03-11T18:13:00.000-07:00

Dibbs on the idea! It's tempting to consider leaving all this high-tech job stress and open a bait shop. I'll call it the "you dig-it bait shop." I just hand out buckets and shovels, then let the business come to me...

2004-03-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

I thought this was cool. Error Message Haiku

2004-03-01T12:34:00.001-07:00

I also wonder what satisfaction a writer of viruses gets. Today, we had this mass mailing worm that seems to only be interested in clogging up email servers. The originator doesn't get the satisfaction of seeing the results, at least not directly. So what's up with this kind of thinking? I know there are a lot of kids who think of themselves as hot shot programmers, but until they produce

2004-03-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

I am wondering why it is that so often we get those "email forwards" that are reworked versions of ones we've seen before. For example, the oft repeated Peace Plan by Robin Williams. First of all, Mr. Willams did not produce this work. It has some good points, so why doesn't the real author come forward? Afraid of repercussions?

2004-02-19T13:05:00.000-07:00

Is it just me? Seems I'm getting bombed with email.