Monday, June 28, 2004
Monday, June 21, 2004
Stupid Traffic Patterns
I like Minnesota, but some of the traffic patterns used all over the state (at least all over the Twin Cities area) are kind of dangerous.
There are a lot of entrance/exit ramps on the Highway that use the same lane and the entrance ramp comes before the exit ramp. So you have a lot of people trying to merge onto the highway, while at the same time a lot of people are trying to get into the exit lane, but they have to merge in with all the people entering the highway first. So you have a bunch of slow cars coming on who are trying to get up to highway speed and a lot of fast cars trying to slow down to exit ramp speed and they're all trying to do this in the same lane. It seems very unsafe to me.
On smaller highways (4 or more lanes, but with lights and stuff), there are a lot of intersections where you'll have two lanes going one way and both can go straight at the intersection, but then, after you get through the light, they immediately merge into a single lane. If someone's not paying attention, it's easy to assume that the lane will continue for a while - otherwise, why have both lanes go straight. It's stupid, and if there are more than about 2 cars on the road, it's a pain to merge after the intersection even if you do know about it.
But it's still better than driving in Ohio or New York.
There are a lot of entrance/exit ramps on the Highway that use the same lane and the entrance ramp comes before the exit ramp. So you have a lot of people trying to merge onto the highway, while at the same time a lot of people are trying to get into the exit lane, but they have to merge in with all the people entering the highway first. So you have a bunch of slow cars coming on who are trying to get up to highway speed and a lot of fast cars trying to slow down to exit ramp speed and they're all trying to do this in the same lane. It seems very unsafe to me.
On smaller highways (4 or more lanes, but with lights and stuff), there are a lot of intersections where you'll have two lanes going one way and both can go straight at the intersection, but then, after you get through the light, they immediately merge into a single lane. If someone's not paying attention, it's easy to assume that the lane will continue for a while - otherwise, why have both lanes go straight. It's stupid, and if there are more than about 2 cars on the road, it's a pain to merge after the intersection even if you do know about it.
But it's still better than driving in Ohio or New York.
Friday, June 18, 2004
I made another blog where I will put all my technical posts. I've moved some of the tech posts from this blog to qptech already.
Tom will appreciate this. Remeber all the fun we had with these things?
I was wondering if Klutz still makes these things, so I went to their website and they do!
I'll have to buy some.
For anyone who doesn't know what these things are:
It's a sticky hand. Icky poo is to a vending machine sticky hand as a Buggatti Veyron is to a rusted out Yugo.
I was wondering if Klutz still makes these things, so I went to their website and they do!
I'll have to buy some.
For anyone who doesn't know what these things are:
It's a sticky hand. Icky poo is to a vending machine sticky hand as a Buggatti Veyron is to a rusted out Yugo.
I got this website from an advertisement in a senior citizen's magazine. The ad was pretty long, but I couldn't stop reading it because it was so insanely stupid. You just have to check out the webpage. I hope it's as funny as the ad.
It's just some kind of drinking water distilling machine, but the ad tells about how water carries disease and this machine is the only way to remove the history of disease from the water - other distiller's don't work because they remove "electrons" from the water. This machine adds electrons which remove the "disease markers" and "disease memory" from the water. "That's what electrons do".
This page is what I'm talking about.
It's just some kind of drinking water distilling machine, but the ad tells about how water carries disease and this machine is the only way to remove the history of disease from the water - other distiller's don't work because they remove "electrons" from the water. This machine adds electrons which remove the "disease markers" and "disease memory" from the water. "That's what electrons do".
This page is what I'm talking about.
Vet business
I've been house sitting for the Arcos for nearly 2 weeks now. Laurie has two horses staying in the pasture of some friends who have a nice barn an pasture, but no horses of their own.
I got a call from them Monday afternoon that one of the horses (Thunder) had a big gash on his leg. I thought that they might be exaggerating because horses get scrapes and cuts all the time.
I went over there and found out that they weren't exaggerating at all and he would definitely need stitches. So I called the vet and she came out, stiched him up, and gave me antibiotics, wound spray, and an anit-inflamatory to give him.
So now I have to go out there twice a day to give him all this stuff and I'm supposed to run water over the wound for 10 minutes to flush it out - the vet left the bottom open a little bit so that it can drain out. But he won't stand still long enough to really get it cleaned out. I've tried pouring water with a cup and having someone else help me so that I can try to hold him still, but he seems to really hate having water dumped on him.
Well, I have a few more ideas to try, but the would doesn't look too bad. I don't think that it's getting infected or anything. And he's not bad with all the rest of the stuff I have to give him.
I got a call from them Monday afternoon that one of the horses (Thunder) had a big gash on his leg. I thought that they might be exaggerating because horses get scrapes and cuts all the time.
I went over there and found out that they weren't exaggerating at all and he would definitely need stitches. So I called the vet and she came out, stiched him up, and gave me antibiotics, wound spray, and an anit-inflamatory to give him.
So now I have to go out there twice a day to give him all this stuff and I'm supposed to run water over the wound for 10 minutes to flush it out - the vet left the bottom open a little bit so that it can drain out. But he won't stand still long enough to really get it cleaned out. I've tried pouring water with a cup and having someone else help me so that I can try to hold him still, but he seems to really hate having water dumped on him.
Well, I have a few more ideas to try, but the would doesn't look too bad. I don't think that it's getting infected or anything. And he's not bad with all the rest of the stuff I have to give him.
Monday, June 14, 2004
Some People Shouldn't Drive
Oh yeah, I meant to include this a few days ago:
Saturday, I was driving around Hudson, WI - when I was all-of-a-sudden rear-ended by some girl in a Grand Am. We were in a long line of traffic waiting for the light to change(this was a very long line of traffic). When the car in front of me inched forward a few feet, then stopped again, I followed and stopped. The car behind me didn't stop (until it met my bumper). The girl got out (still talking on her cell phone), surveyed the damage (but didn't say a word or even look at me), then got back in her car. I pulled into the parking lot of a nearby grociery store thinking that it would be a safe place to check out the damage, but the girl just drove on. There was no visible damage except for two hexagonal marks from her license plate screws, and my hatch seemed to open just fine. So I figured that I wouldn't hold it against her. I pulled back out onto the road, drove down the clear non-turn lane (everyone was trying to turn left to get to the highway), and cut the girl in the Grand Am off to get back into the turn lane (I guess traffic hadn't moved much while I was in the parking lot).
So, I guess that some people just shouldn't be allowed to get a driver's license - we need a more thourough screening process or something.
Saturday, I was driving around Hudson, WI - when I was all-of-a-sudden rear-ended by some girl in a Grand Am. We were in a long line of traffic waiting for the light to change(this was a very long line of traffic). When the car in front of me inched forward a few feet, then stopped again, I followed and stopped. The car behind me didn't stop (until it met my bumper). The girl got out (still talking on her cell phone), surveyed the damage (but didn't say a word or even look at me), then got back in her car. I pulled into the parking lot of a nearby grociery store thinking that it would be a safe place to check out the damage, but the girl just drove on. There was no visible damage except for two hexagonal marks from her license plate screws, and my hatch seemed to open just fine. So I figured that I wouldn't hold it against her. I pulled back out onto the road, drove down the clear non-turn lane (everyone was trying to turn left to get to the highway), and cut the girl in the Grand Am off to get back into the turn lane (I guess traffic hadn't moved much while I was in the parking lot).
So, I guess that some people just shouldn't be allowed to get a driver's license - we need a more thourough screening process or something.
Saturday, June 12, 2004
Mouseover the links
I added some links to the menu on the right. Move the mouse over the links to see a description - I did this using CSS and span tags inside the links. The CSS is pretty simple something like
a span {color: #000; display: none;}
a:hover span {display:inline;}
Then any SPAN tags inside the A tags will not be displayed unless the mouse is over the link.
Anyway, I think it's pretty neat.
a span {color: #000; display: none;}
a:hover span {display:inline;}
Then any SPAN tags inside the A tags will not be displayed unless the mouse is over the link.
Anyway, I think it's pretty neat.
The Greenes were here (some of them)
Dennis, Caleb, Paul, and Jeremy Greene stopped by last Friday. Dennis and Caleb stayed here all week, but Paul and Jeremy went to stay with some other relatives in Wisconsin somewhere.
It was nice to have someone else here, 'cause otherwise I would have been all alone the entire time. And Dennis is pretty cool. He insisted on replacing the food they ate even though he didn't need to (There's more in the fridge than I could possibly eat before it goes bad). I went with them to a graduation party for Dennis's nephew Nathan in Red Wing. Dennis's brother-in-law is Charlie Brown. They're a pretty neat family. We sat around and visited for a few hours, talking about all kinds of things. It reminded me of the family get togethers with my dad's family.
The Greene's had ridden up from Ohio with Dave who was returning from PA to take care of some business up north. So Dave continued on to Floodwood while Dennis and the boys stayed here. I let Dennis borrow my car while he was here and I think that he appreciated not having to pay for a rental car (as he had been considering).
It was nice to have someone else here, 'cause otherwise I would have been all alone the entire time. And Dennis is pretty cool. He insisted on replacing the food they ate even though he didn't need to (There's more in the fridge than I could possibly eat before it goes bad). I went with them to a graduation party for Dennis's nephew Nathan in Red Wing. Dennis's brother-in-law is Charlie Brown. They're a pretty neat family. We sat around and visited for a few hours, talking about all kinds of things. It reminded me of the family get togethers with my dad's family.
The Greene's had ridden up from Ohio with Dave who was returning from PA to take care of some business up north. So Dave continued on to Floodwood while Dennis and the boys stayed here. I let Dennis borrow my car while he was here and I think that he appreciated not having to pay for a rental car (as he had been considering).
Sunday, June 06, 2004
House sitting
I'm in Afton, house sitting for the Arco's because they're out of town (actually out of the western hemisphere) for a few weeks. I'm kindof looking for work, but I might go work for Dave again later this summer. I need to get a real job some day.
I sold my computer (to Alice Shafer) 'cause I was only using it to goof around and I use the Arco's computer to get on the internet while I'm here anyway. And I need to build a faster computer: the 800 MHz Athlon just doesn't cut it anymore - not for video encoding and stuff.
My (now Alice's) computer is still Microsoft free, but that may change in a little while. I told her I'd install Win XP on it for her. But for now, linux is working just fine for her.
I sold my computer (to Alice Shafer) 'cause I was only using it to goof around and I use the Arco's computer to get on the internet while I'm here anyway. And I need to build a faster computer: the 800 MHz Athlon just doesn't cut it anymore - not for video encoding and stuff.
My (now Alice's) computer is still Microsoft free, but that may change in a little while. I told her I'd install Win XP on it for her. But for now, linux is working just fine for her.
New Template (Again)
Now I have another new template... I'd had a crappy pre-made one for a while. This one is based on the simple template, but edited quite a bit. It's mostly some simple CSS style changes, but I added a few DIV tags and some other stuff to get it to work right.
Friday, June 04, 2004
This is a link to a nice page with a pre-compiled Windows binary for MPlayer. Just download and run. It's a very nice media player that can play pretty much every type of video format(if compiled correctly, which you don't have control of with this one). It never tries to connect to the internet or convince you to pay for the full version (this is the full version - it's open source)
It's good for divx, and dvd's too - you can't navigate the dvd menu, it just plays from title 1. You can specify title, language, subtitle, etc on the command line.
It's a command line program which opens a seperate video window and normally has no gui. There is a gui version, but I'm not sure if it's include in this package.
Anyway, check it out.
It's good for divx, and dvd's too - you can't navigate the dvd menu, it just plays from title 1. You can specify title, language, subtitle, etc on the command line.
It's a command line program which opens a seperate video window and normally has no gui. There is a gui version, but I'm not sure if it's include in this package.
Anyway, check it out.