I woke up with an unpleasant surprise yesterday – pink eye.
Michelle had it last week and apparently, it’s quite contagious. Yesterday, being SUnday, I couldn’t go see a doctor. This morning I woke up and the whole eye was swollen shut.
This picture is shortly after my first treatment for the condition. They say everyone in my family is going to get it before it is over.
It wasn’t intentional (at least not on my part), but I managed to get several similar pictures on this trip as I did on my original trip to Alishan in 1998.
In this one I’m demonstrating on the train, traveling in style in 2007.
These purple flowers are all over at Alishan. I’m quite certain this isn’t the exact same flower as in 1998.
Finally, we stayed in the exact same hotel in Fenchihu, but not the same room. It was the first time I’d ever seen a wooden bathtub in actual service. Pull the wooden plug out of the bottom an the tub drains onto the bathroom floor.
The Keeper of Traken has been released as part of the “New Beginnings†boxed set which also includes Logopolis and Castrovalva
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We stopped in the nearby Apple store this evening before dinner. I don’t know if they had any iPhones actually for sale, but they did have many of them out for a hands-on experience. Since I’m unlikely to buy one anytime in the foreseeable future, here’s my impression from 5-10 minutes playing with one.
Phone – no idea, the phones are activated, but I didn’t try calling anyone.
iPod – Yeah, it’s got CoverFlow… the single most overrated user interface I’ve seen. Yes, I have it on my iTunes, no I never use it. Why not? 5,759 songs, 100 album covers. Even with the new feature of iTunes to search and acquire album artwork, most of my music is without it. CoverFlow is just stupid without it, and even with it, it’s not that good of an interface. It’s inefficient. “Best iPod – everâ€? Hardly. Sound quality was OK.
Maps – that’s cool
YouTube – I didn’t try searching, but the the videos in the favorites and recent were all so uninteresting I didn’t want to watch them. I did try one but it took so long I gave up before it played.
SMS – worked just fine, very nice
Web Browsing – Now this is the reason I’d consider an iPhone. I want (even it if it slow) to browse real websites at any time during the day. I rely on the internet to look up information frequently and this is the make or break item for me. Pages loaded somewhat slow, but everything I tried came up fine and looked great. I even posted a comment to my own website just to test it out.
Keyboard. I had no trouble adapting to the keyboard and, provided I was only typing characters, I had no trouble with missed keys, misspelled words or anything like that. What I did have trouble with was punctuation. I have never gotten in the habit, even in SMS messages, of omitting punctuation or ignoring rules of spelling or capitalization. The iPhone keyboard requires that you shift modes to get to punctuation, and I could find no way (remember, 5-10 minutes with this device) of shifting back without hitting the spacebar. So, when I tried entering a comment, the text was fine, but entering my e-mail address was a real nuisance. E-M-A-I-L-[SHIFT MODE]-@-[SPACE BAR][BACKSPACE]L-O-N-E-L-O-C-U-S-T-[SHIFT MODE]-.-[SPACE BAR]-[BACKSPACE]-C-O-M-[DONE]
For some reason, that process, while entering into an HTML form resulted in several failed attempts. The oh-so-cool [.COM] button that appears on the URL keyboard isn’t there on the regular keyboard.
Once they have flash and (hopefully) java enabled in the browser, this could be a viable device.
To quote some of the dumbest lines ever used too often in Doctor Who, “What? What? What? What?â€
Catherine Tate is set to return to the TARDIS for the complete 13 week run of Series Four of Doctor Who.
Is this how Russell wants to get out his contract? First he destroys the ending of the best season yet of the revival series, then dumps possibly the best companion the Doctor has ever had and finally, brings in Catherine Tate for the entire fourth series?
I’m reminded of how desperate John Nathan-Turner was to leave the show, too.
Technorati Tags: Blog, Doctor Who, Dr Who, Rant
So that it doesn’t seem like I’m constantly down on Taiwan’s dubious implementations to be more “greenâ€, here’s one that makes perfect sense at every level.
Taiwan’s Bureau of Energy, under the MOEA, said Taiwan now has 350,000 traffic lights using LEDs as a lighting source, with the remaining 420,000 traffic lights to also use LED lighting in the next three years for a total savings in power consumption estimated to be 85%…
So I just happened to have $1198 (plus tax) lying around, so I thought, “Hey! How about a pair of matched iPhones?!”
Or, actually, I just found this picture on flckr… that’s all I could really afford.
In what capped off a terribly awful episode of Doctor Who (Last of the Time Lords) was the surprise (to me anyway) departure of Martha Jones as the Doctor’s companion.
Martha has proven to be one of the most competent and intelligent companions the Doctor has ever had and as such it’s been a real joy to have her on the TARDIS, although her school girl crush on the Doctor was a bit overplayed. Now, the word is out, she will be back, but…
As Doctor Who’s Executive Producer and head writer, Russell T Davies notes: “Series three has gained outstanding reviews and Freema has been a huge part of that success, gaining rave notices for her portrayal of Martha. Now we are taking the character of Martha into brand new territory with a starring role in Torchwoodâ€.
What? Her character needed a little buggery before she could continue on in time and space? Seriously, Russell, Torchwood desperately needs help, but this isn’t the answer.
The Doctor will also have a new companion for the entire 13 week fourth series.
Link: BBC.CO.UK – More Martha!
and
Link: BBC Press Office – Freema Agyeman returns as Martha Jones and guest stars in Torchwood
Technorati Tags: Blog, Doctor Who, Dr Who, Torchwood
