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I just cannot imagine anyone else’s in-laws calling you up on iChat to wear a fruit rind on their head…

Technorati Tags: Apple, Blog, Computer, Family, Taiwan

Yahoo News => Remains of ancient reptile are found

OSLO, Norway – Researchers on Thursday announced the discovery of the remains of a short-necked plesiosaur, a prehistoric marine reptile the size of a bus, that they believe is the first complete skeleton ever found.

Unfortunately, the original article isn’t in English, but the artist’s drawings look like lipleurodon rather than a plesiosaur. I suspect they are just convenient artwork that was lying around.

The Svalbard islands are fertile ground for marine reptile fossils, as other rare finds have been made there in the past.

I bought a second one.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Blog, iPod, Technology

Did I mention I’ve been sick?

I mention that now because I think I need an excuse, or perhaps it is psychology.

There’s a psychological condition, at least on TV, where the brain manages to take anomalous or unacceptable information and twist it around inside our brain to make it more palatable.

That must be what happened.

Tonight, my wife was reading my blog posts. (Which, by the way, is one of the two reasons I never say anything bad about my wife in my blog. The other reason is because she’s so wonderful, I never actually have anything bad to say about her.)

Anyway, after reading my post about pasture cakes she said, “I’m embarrassed by my people.”

“I mean, who would think about putting grass inside a cake and eating it?”

And then it hit me.

Somehow, despite everything I wrote and mocked about pasture cakes, my brain, in an effort no doubt to save what’s left of my sanity, had somehow actually blocked comprehension that people were actually eating lawn grass. The clippings from a lawn mover, ground up and somehow stuffed inside something that looks like a Twinkie.

It sure is funny how the mind works sometimes. Somehow, I was thinking something more like bamboo, or some other form of plant that is technically of the grass family, but not what you’d be strolling across in a park.

There’s a fortune to be made in Taiwan. I wish I’d know this before I’d ripped my lawn out and replaced it with dirt.

Engadget => Exploding Hello Kitty toys recalled

Although a Hello Kitty toy might not seem quite as dangerous (read: life threatening) as the notebooks and cellphones we’re toting these days, the explosive tendencies have somehow veered from batteries to stuffed animals. In the latest episode of spontaneous combustion, Takara is being forced to recall specific Hello Kitty dolls which featured a heatable disc that could be warmed and stuffed within the lining to keep kids toasty while resting. Apparently the microwavable pad housed a chemical substance (manufactured by ADEKA) not quite stable enough to handle the heat

This post is just for my wife… well, and for my amusement.

Technorati Tags: Blog

Entertainmentwise => Are You Ready For ‘Doctor Who’ The Film?

After the success of the all new ‘Doctor Who’ TV show on BBC1, producers have decided to make a big budget film.

‘Doctor Who’ has been a big hit in America and producers are hoping to cash in on the interest there with a movie.

However, it is hoped that Billie Piper who played Rose Tyler the Doctor’s side kick will be reunited with the Doctor, played by David Tennant in the new film.

A source told the Star: “There’s been so much interest in ‘Doctor Who’ since the show was sold to America that a film is the natural progression.

”Top of our list is to get Billie on board – not only was she amazingly popular, it would be really exciting to get her back with the Doc.“

No! Leave Rose gone. Don’t cheapen her any more than family background has already done…

Technorati Tags: Blog, Doctor Who, Dr Who

Not many posts last week, first the kids were sick, then I came down with it. No fun. No Energy.

Nonetheless, one thing worth noting did happen to me this week. I finally got my iPod.

For the last three years, every Birthday, Anniversary and Christmas my wife asks me, “What do you want for [insert occasion here]?”

To which I reply, “An iPod.”

Alas, for a variety of reasons, no iPod arrived on the scene.

When the iPod Shuffle first came out, I went down and bought one. It works, but, 1gb of storage is grossly inadequate for my 20gb music collection.

A few weeks ago, when Apple announced the new 5.5th generation iPods, a sudden rush of returns/refurbs showed up at a decent discount on the Apple store online. I decided I’d buy a 2gb Nano for my wife. When it arrived, I was really impressed. Apple refurb process had made it “new” again. (Unlike some of the old, coffee-stained refurbed equipment they sell at Fry’s Electronics.) I was so impressed, I decided to buy a 30gb iPod with Video.

It arrived Thursday, coinciding with my getting sick, so I was at home when it arrived. Apple requires that Fedex collect a signature, so my wife was alerted and I was ready also. being sick, though, I fell asleep.

Something woke me at 11:45. I just happened to be facing the window when I awoke and saw the Fedex truck drive off. Hurray! My iPod was here! I leapt off the bed and promptly collapsed on the floor. (I really was very sick.) I collected myself and ran into to living room only to see my wife and son sound asleep on the sofa. I opened the door in horror to see the little “We’re sorry we missed you, but you have to sign for this package, so we’ll bring it back when it is convenient for us.”

Friday, I was still sick, but I refused to go to sleep until after the Fedex truck arrived. At 11:45, the Fedex truck came down the street, passed our house, and headed on down the road. I ran outside just in time to see him turn onto the major thoroughfare and depart.

It occurred to me that, perhaps, Fedex put the iPod on the afternoon shipment, thinking it might stand a better chance of getting a signature. Knowing that the Fedex truck comes by around 4:00PM, I was finally able to go to sleep. Until 1:45, when I awoke to, once again, see the Fedex truck in front of the house. Screaming at the top of my lungs, shouting, “Fedex truck is here,” I tried dashing out of bed again, with similar results. This time, fortunately, my wife was awake, received the package and my iPod had found a new home.

It’s quite nice, all new and shiny. I hooked it up to the MacBook to offload my music and videos (it took a while) and let it charge.

Later that night, was feeling a bit better and we decided to go out for an ice cream and stop at the Apple store to buy a case for it.

I got a nice Agent 18, clear case, which allows you to still see the styling of the iPod but protects it from mars, chips, etc. It also has a removable belt clip and video video stand, allowing you to stand it up for watching videos. By the time we’d finished at the Apple store, I was knackered again and I went home to sleep.

Saturday morning, 6:00AM I was awake, Michelle woke up, everyone else was asleep. I was feeling better, and the weather was great, so I took Michelle to the store to buy some needed groceries.

The iPod was great. I could walk up and down the aisles, not having to listen to the horrid muzak in the store and, oblivious to all the things Michelle invariably asks to buy. Wonderful!

That took about an hour and when we got home, the weather was still great, so I decided to go into the backyard and do some light maintenance. Feed the dogs, water the trees, pick up and trash that had blown in the yard, fill the pool, etc.

I tossed the hose into the pool, but too much of it went into the water, so I bent down to retrieve some of the hose. My left arm lightly touched the iPod. The iPod leaped off of my belt and flew 4 ft straight out into the pool and sank to the bottom. It was playing “A Taste of Honey” by the Beatles as it broke free from the headphone safety line.

I momentarily thought, “Wow, the water is so clear, I could see what was on the iPod’s display, if it were on.” Then unprintable thoughts started going through my head and, without thinking, a desperate plan of action formed in my mind. I removed my sandals…

No, let me re-phrase that, I removed my waterproof sandals, so they wouldn’t get messed up, and jumped into the pool to retrieve the iPod.

It’s a pity I didn’t think to remove my wallet or my cell phone before jumping in. But at least my shoes didn’t get wet.

20 seconds. My new iPod was only in the water for 20 seconds, but it might as well have been a lifetime.

Without being able to immediately remove the battery like on my cell phone, nothing I could do would guarantee that that battery wasn’t surging power through the circuitry.

All attempts to dry it and revive it have failed.

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod

Seday in Taiwan=> Bathroom Air Hand Dryer -I thought everyone had one

I just saw a news article on MSNBC or was it Google News? Anyway, they mentioned a new (bathroom) hand dryer by Dyson. I was very surprised at this news. I thought all bathrooms around the world used these hand dryers.

These hand driers are so cool, they need to get all the publicity they can get.

Do you hear me stores and businesses?! Buy these hand driers!!!!

See also my previous post on this amazing device.

Update: 10-4-2006, Wow, these jet driers made it to Digg during the night. More exposure is good, but where does the original Gizmodo article get off claiming this is a Dyson invention, though?

Technorati Tags: Blog, Taiwan, Technology, Toilet

We were at the Chinese market the other day and I ran across this unfortunately named delicacy: “Pasture Cake”

Now, I suppose you can’t expect the Taiwanese to know that a pasture cake is a cow turd, but it’s hard not to associate in my mind.

Then Chu-Wan translated it for me: It’s really “Cow Grass Cake”. How is that better???

Having never heard of this, Chu-Wan asked her father about it this evening. Apparently, Cow Grass is the latest health food craze in Taiwan, second only to pomegranate juice. No, it’s not figurative name, either. It really just is grass that cows eat. Not just any cow-eating grass, either. There are certain types of “famous” cow grass that grows in Taidong, and people make special trips there just to eat it.

Why?

Why is this considered healthful?

Well, just look at a cow. He’s big. He’s strong. All he eats is grass. Apparently in the Taiwanese mind it stands to reason that a person eating cow grass will grow big and strong like a cow. Perhaps it’s true, but I think the phrase “dumb as a cow” has to play in this equation somewhere, too.

Technorati Tags: Blog, Loonies, Psuedo-science, Science, Taiwan

Video chat, that is.

Finally got the chance to try out iChat AVs much touted ability to conduct a three-way video chat. My in-laws recently upgraded their Mac Mini to OSX 10.4 and with my MacBook being the only computer between us power enough to initiate one, we tried it out.

It worked pretty well. There was a little bit more audio lag/feedback than we usually get in the standard chat, but not so bad as to make the conversation difficult.

That leads me into a comment that I got my MacBook back from Applecare (for the second time) yesterday. This time they only replaced the following:
APP-607-0199 ASSY, HEATSINK, M42 (1.0mmConnect

I hope that means this time they know what it takes to fix it. Last time one of the things they replaced was APP-603-8071 ASSY, HEATSINK, M42 – let’s hope this one is more successful.

It still boots up with those nasty color bars once in a while, even though the Genius Bar told me that was fixed with 10.4.7 – he was clearly wrong. Now I’m told it will be fixed with 10.4.8. It doesn’t look like a software problem to me, it happens at what appears to be before the OS load.

While on the subject of changes, a few weeks ago I grabbed a bluetooth keyboard, and today I hooked the MacBook up to an external monitor. Now with two screens it’s almost using my PowerMac G4 – except the MacBook has a lot more power. I just need to find a bluetooth trackball.

Since the new 5.5th Gen iPods came out, the Apple store online has had some great deals on refurbed iPods. I bought Chu-Wan an iPod Nano for under $100 and it’s really just like new, so I decided to break down and buy myself a 30Gb iPod with Video. It should arrive by the end of the week.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Applecare, Blog, Computer, Family, Kids, Mac, MacBook, OSX, Taiwan