Archives for May, 2006

Survivaball?!

I just got this spam mail, and almost threw it away . . . until I read a few paragraphs. All about the “Survivaball.”

survivaball.jpg

An advanced new technology will keep corporate managers safe even when climate change makes life as we know it impossible.

“The SurvivaBall is designed to protect the corporate manager no matter what Mother Nature throws his or her way,” said Fred Wolf, a Halliburton representative who spoke today at the Catastrophic Loss conference held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Amelia Island, Florida. “This technology is the only rational response to abrupt climate change,” he said to an attentive and appreciative audience.

Most scientists believe global warming is certain to cause an accelerating onslaught of hurricanes, floods, droughts, tornadoes, etc. and that a world-destroying disaster is increasingly possible. For example, Arctic melt has slowed the Gulf Stream by 30% in just the last decade; if the Gulf Stream stops, Europe will suddenly become just as cold as Alaska. Global heat and flooding events are also increasingly possible.

In order to head off such catastrophic scenarios, scientists agree we must reduce our carbon emissions by 70% within the next few years. Doing that would seriously undermine corporate profits, however, and so a more forward-thinking solution is needed.

There’s a website, of course. Fun reading. Take a look. No idea if someone signed me up for a mailing list or what, but I’m glad the filters didn’t just toss this one into the trash folder.

05/11/2006 | web | Comments Off

Digital lightroom




GraphicConverter "digital lightroom"

Originally uploaded by Durf.

If you drop a folder of photos onto GraphicConverter.app, you can open them all up at once in this sort of interface. Very handy. I just discovered this, and am sure that everyone else knew all about the poor man’s Aperture but wasn’t telling me. Curse you all!

Something fun to play with. I might try using it instead of iPhoto for a while to see how it deals with huge amounts of images.

05/10/2006 | tech | Comments Off

MarsEdit testing

Here we go once again . . . Trying to get this software working. It could be so nice, etc. etc.

EDIT: Success! Man, if there’s one thing my life needed it was more software to install on all my machines. Nice interface though.

05/08/2006 | web | Comments Off

Fish ladder




Fish ladder

Originally uploaded by Durf.

This fish ladder (魚道 in Japanese) lets the slippery little things get back to where they want to be when they spawn and die. Taken at Shiromaru Dam, a short hike down the river from Okutama Station. We went up there on Saturday and enjoyed the last good weather Golden Week had to offer.

05/08/2006 | fun, life | Comments Off

Mapping the restaurant

Went over to Google Maps and Yahoo Japan Maps to add some links to the in-laws’ restaurant’s website. On the whole I’d say that Yahoo gives users more helpful gimmicks—mailing a map to your keitai so you can wander around town and see where you are later—but Google has a nicer presentation. So I linked them both.

Today’s the last day of our Golden Week vacation. Yesterday we headed up to Okutama and did a little bit of hiking. Nothing serious; just a long walk along the river. Pictures will get uploaded and linked tomorrow. Today it’s wet and windy . . . a nice way to mark the depression at going back to the office tomorrow.

05/07/2006 | family | Comments Off