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June 29, 2004
Googlestore.com
Get your Christmas shopping done early at the Googlestore. This is not like Froogle, the shopping engine - this is purely Google gear. Think of them as future IPO trophies.
Posted by John at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2004
Stupid again.
I'm having a great time studying Charles Colsen's "How Now Shall We Live?" in preparation for teaching a class later this week. I have to be prepared for two 90-minute classes, no small matter. One of the most entertaining things about Colsen's work is he pulls together a lot of what you could call "false assumptions" that we run into every day in modern society. He takes many of the dicey issues that we tend to demur from discussing in public and takes a very conservative, Biblical stance on each one. While there's almost nothing here that I haven't seen before, taken in toto it's a staggering indictment of modern values. He takes statements that we've all heard such as, "I would presonally never have an abortion, but I will defend the right of a woman to choose", and does a pretty incisive intellectual dissection of that position. It's clear that Colsen is pining for lost values. If he could move to Pleasantville, he would. I sympathize - I would too.
The decline in values has corresponding negative impacts on family relationships, health, happiness, education... cascading effects that ripple down through generations. Why, these kids today, they couldn't even pass an 8th grade test from two centuries ago!
Posted by John at 11:58 PM | Comments (2)
June 27, 2004
Hover Craft
OK, the Airboard Hover Scooter is not exactly the flying car I'm still waiting for, certainly no Jetsons contender.
This doesn't even stack up all that well against a Back-To-The-Future hoverboard.
And I'm not entirely comfortable with that "coasting to stop over a distance of 20 feet" metric.
Nor the "some assembly required" language.
And at $15,000, I'm not likely to spring for one any time soon.
Still, a test drive would be cooooool.
Posted by John at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)
June 21, 2004
Warthog Launch
Stack the hand grenades under the Jeep in the right place to launch it into the air, destroying the aliens who hover in a variety of attack formations right over your head. That's all there is to Warthog Launch. I got to Level 30 before I gave up because I had already wasted too much time.
This one is enormously entertaining, but I don't think it's going to prove to be all that much fun to revisit time after time. So I doubt it will make the "Best of" games page. We'll see.
Posted by John at 02:22 PM | Comments (4)
June 17, 2004
Revisitng 1904
Forwarded to me in email today (Thanks, Mike!):
The year is 1904 ... one hundred years ago. What a difference a century makes!
Here are some of the U.S. statistics for 1904:
° The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.
° Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.
° Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
° A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.
° There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
° Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.
° The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
° The average w age in the U.S. was 22 cents an hour.
° The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
° A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
° More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.
° Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."
° Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
° Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
° Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
° Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.
° The five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke
° The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.
° The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was 30.
° Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.
° There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
° Two of 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent of all
° Americans had graduated high school.
° Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."
° Eighteen percent of households in the U.S. had at least one full-time servant or domestic.
° There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.
.... And I forwarded this from someone else without typing it myself, and sent it to all of you in a matter of seconds! Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years ... it staggers the mind.
Posted by John at 11:19 AM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2004
Can't add this to the "Best Of" games page
At a jaw-dropping $19,000 for the game, I doubt we'll see the home version any time soon, but Mindball sure looks like a game I would like to play.
Me: I'll kick your ass at this game.
Other player: Yeah? Just try it.
Me: I'm so calm I might fall asleep.
OP: I'm so calm my feet ARE asleep.
Me: I'm still going to beat you.
OP: No way, Jose. I'm going to clean your clock.
Me: Well... maybe you're right, you might win.
OP: Damn straight. I will dominate you. Resistance is futile.
Me: I'm not sure I can keep this up.
OP: I'm going to own you.
Me: I win. =)
Posted by John at 06:21 PM | Comments (0)
Aside from the bombing of the Twin Towers...
Excepting only the events of 9/11, what would you name as the greatest American disaster of the past 100 years? Hint: The 100 year anniversary of this tragic event is today. Did you name the burning of the General Slocum? Me either.
Posted by John at 06:11 PM | Comments (0)
June 13, 2004
Clean Sweep Assessment
A quick 100 pt. checklist of things you need to take care of, to keep the daily stresses down and give you "complete personal freedom". I scored 69 on the initial assessment, and am feeling pretty good about it.
Posted by John at 02:24 PM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2004
Bowman
Bowman is a nifty game where you are an archer in a shootout with another archer, whose initial distance in unknown. A trial shot or two to gauge force and distance and you stick the other guy like a pincushion. Unless he sticks you first. Play a couple of rounds against the computer on the default setting, then turn the gauge off. Then put a wall up. Then turn on the wind. It gets interesting.
I found some really bizarre behavior in the game. At one point, in a game with a very tall wall and both of us in close proximity, and a lot of wind, my opponent just gave up and starting shooting all his arrows straight up. The wind just blew them all away - backwards.
Posted by John at 11:47 PM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2004
More kids who make me feel dumb
Riding herd on Nick to work on his vocabulary for the SAT exams next year, and I came across an article about the National Spelling Bee yesterday, where a kid passed out on stage, bounced back up and spelled his word correctly. Tough competitors!
Among the words spelled correctly: "xerostomia," "technetium," and "Weimaraner." The stumpers included "belonoid," "Nigerois," and "solipsistic."I could have gotten two of those six right. I think. Maybe Nick isn't the only one who needs to work on his vocabulary. ;-)
Posted by John at 01:02 PM | Comments (1)
