ultrasupergenius’ journal

March 7th, 2008

Inventor teaches Crows to find him money

Hacker Josh Klein wowed attendees this weekend at TED — the Technology, Entertainment and Design conference — with his “crow vending machine,” a device that gives the birds peanuts for depositing a coin. It’s all part of Klein’s plan to train crows to save human lives. He describes crows as “better than flying monkeys”.

Just amazing. I feel a lot dumber just knowing that someone this smart actually exists. And me over here, working for money like a sucker. Sheesh.

March 4th, 2008

First Road Trip with the Turtle

Turtle and me

Turtle took me to North Carolina this past weekend, and we met up with about 30 or so other Volkswagen buses and vanagons and whatnot for “The Rides of March”. It was nice campout with some fun Volkswagen people. We were in Wilmington North Carolina, camped out on someone’s property right along a beautiful creek / swampland. It was the closest I have seen to a Louisiana cypress type swamp outside of the deep deep south.I had some “events” along the way… the first was getting pretty darn lost trying to find the place, but that was to be expected. I am me, afterall. I was a little bit more concerned when I went to start up the bus one time, and nothing happened - no starter sound, no whirring of the engine. Just silence. I pleaded with Turtle - “C’mon - do that thing you normally do when I spin the key… Pleeeease! Please please please please puhleeeeeease…” but to no avail. I put it in neutral, got it rolling along in the quicki mart parking lot, jumped in, threw it in gear and popped the clutch. Turtle fired right up, and we kept on rolling right out of the parking lot and back on the road. Nice and smooooth. hehe. In a later conversation, someone told me that they prefer to pop the clutch in third gear - it makes for an even smoother start. It turns out that it wasn’t a dead battery, but a “dead spot in the starter” that caused the issue, which was conveniently repeated while talking to some old time Volkswagen enthusiasts. Daryl figured it out right away, and taught me how to climb under the bus and short out the starter, which makes it spin out of its dead zone. He executed the manuver, and just as had been explained, Turtle fired right up.

The list of tips and tricks figured out on this trip:

Heater ‘works’ (about .005 degree difference) but the cable is too tight, so it turns itself off unless you keep some pressure on it
Jiggle the speaker wire to turn the radio back on
Pop the clutch in third for a super smooth dead start
jump the starter to spin it out of the dead spot

I am sure there are plenty more tips and tricks that I will pick up along the way!

Posted in General | By didj No Comments »

February 26th, 2008

2008 Election Results Leaked Early…

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Posted in General | By didj No Comments »

February 13th, 2008

Pet Peeve #699742 - Comic Sans

Why do some people choose to format every email that they send out in a Comic Sans font? I just don’t get it. Is it to amuse me? Do they think it makes a better impression?

Using Comic Sans as a default font for email is the equivalent of one of those cheesy Sit Coms that punch the laugh track button after every line. It just isn’t right.

Posted in General | By didj No Comments »

February 5th, 2008

Republicans pimping Hillary

I went to the Republican Party’s official website, http://www.rnc.org/, and was blown away by what I saw. Nothing but pictures of Hillary. Seriously! I went to that site for a quick review of the folks that the RNC still had in the running for the nomination - and the site looks like a Hillary Clinton supporters site. There are grand total of 5 images of candidates on the RNC homepage - and each and every one of those images is Hillary Clinton. Nothing on Obama. Nothing on McCain. Nothing on any of the other candidates, whether in the running or recently dropped out. NOT A SINGLE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE SHOWN OR MENTIONED ON THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE WEBSITE, AND IT IS SUPER TUESDAY for goodness sake! What are they thinking?!? Below is a screenshot of the RNC.ORG homepage as it appeared on Super Tuesday, 2008 (I have added the big red numbers as a count of the Hillary images):

Republican National Committee Website

Note: #4 might be hard to see, but it is a little rubber stamp of Hillary’s face, with the slogan “Access Denied”. The article has to do with a petition to see Hillary’s library. (?)

Posted in General | By didj 2 Comments »

January 30th, 2008

President Edwards: So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye (or maybe see you in 8 years?)

Edwards

John Edwards has left the race for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. I think that is unfortunate - I was hoepfull that Edwards was capable of a McCain style turn-around… I was hopeful that folks would come to the same conclusion that I have - that Edwards is the best candidate out there. I suppose he just wasn’t flashy enough, when compared to his competitors. He didn’t get the media attention, he wasn’t the “New” story, and as a result he was not able to get the message out. That leaves Obama and Hillary in the running for the Democratic nomination, both of which are running on a platform of “Change”.

Hillary

What Hillary brings to the game is the ability to field a deep bench of top-notch advisors and political appointees - all tried and true - with little to no start up time… But she is running on a platform of change. Pitching your entire campaign on “Change” when your strength lies in your ability to bring a tried and trusted administration to DC is a bad idea. Hillary is as ‘out the mold politics as usual’ as I can imagine… about the only ‘change’ I see associated with Hillary is that I’ve been getting screwed by rich male politicians for my entire life - this is a chance to get screwed by a rich female politician. eh. Big deal. I’ll take a cue from Bill, and pass on that opportunity. In the interest of full disclosure I should also mention that the moment I heard about the House and Senate votes to go to war with Iraq, I swore that I would not vote for anyone that voted for that war. The concept of going to war without first utilizing diplomacy is despicable. The lives of thousands of American soldiers, and countless innocent Iraqi citizens have been thrown away by those who voted us into this war. Hillary voted to cease and desist from any diplomatic processes, and pursue a policy of brutality, profiteering, and world wide isolationism for America and its populace. Be damned with her and her ilk, says I. I am not in the least bit interested in another 8 years. And don’t get me started about that “Florida I hear you” crap. What a two-faced liar.

Obama

Obama was one of the lone standouts that risked personal and political retribution and persecution by standing up and declaring in a loud and unwavering voice that the vote to go to war was premature - and that diplomacy needed to run its course. That is admirable. Obama is not tied to the lobbyists and political machine the way Hillary is. Obama represents a chance to get out of the Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton regime that has held us for almost two decades, and potentially still continuing on. Obama is both running on a platform of change, and REPRESENTING change. It would be impossible for Obama to play the politics game the same as it has been played thus far. That dog won’t hunt, whether he wanted it to or not. Obama is not entrenched in big corporate and old money politics, and short of winning the presidency, I do not believe that he will be courted. They have too little to offer, and too much to lose by backing Obama now. Old money, corporate interests and lobbyists NEED Hillary vs. McCain. Obama IS change. Question is: can Obama make it far enough on just the people’s endorsement? Can Obama get the nod WITHOUT Corporate and Old Money support? I sure hope so. God, I hope so.

Obama

My new ticket is as follows: Obama and Edwards. God Speed to you, gentleman. Good luck on your upcoming journey through politics. Good luck beating Hillary. Good luck beating the system. And thank you for beating McCain in the Presidential race. If there is one thing this country can’t afford, it is another war monger for President. If there are two things this country can’t afford, it is another war monger or Hillary for president.

Posted in General | By didj 1 Comment »

January 4th, 2008

Edwards Obama 2008

My preferred ticket in the next election:

John Edwards Barack Obama

In perhaps more important news, a group of researchers in Australia are working on methods to make Cattle and Sheep’s farts more like Kangaroo farts. It turns out that while the Kangaroos have a similiar diet, they do not emit Ozone Depleting methane gas when they toot. This has been attributed to the presence of a certain bacteria in the kangaroo’s belly… and now researchers are looking to get that bacterium into the belly of Ozone Destructive tooters. More info here: Scientists to Make Cows Fart Like Kangaroos to Cool the Planet.

Posted in General | By didj No Comments »

January 1st, 2008

New Resident - Roofus Toofus

Roofus (II)

Originally uploaded by ultrasupergenius

I am happy to announce a new resident moving in to the condo starting in 2008, this handsome young Betta named Roofus. His full name is “Roofus Toofus”… and yes, that is Toofus to recognize that he is Roofus #2. (Not to be confused with the former resident Roofus Doofus).
He is a Crowntail Betta, with lovely scalloped edges to his fins. He is still on the small side, which likely indicates he is still on the young side and as such has some growing to do.

Posted in General | By didj 1 Comment »

December 27th, 2007

Christmas Present - A-OK!

DSC_3921

Originally uploaded by ultrasupergenius

Christmas at the Hobson household was pretty darn fantastic. I spent tons of time flipping and throwing my nephew Ben, spent some quality time with my newest nephew Alex, chilled with the fam and ate too much food… and dare I say the loot I got was out of this world. Case in point - me wearing this absolutely fabulous Nascar leather jacket, complete with a huge patch on the back for Home Depot, and patches on the front for Coca Cola, Sunoco, Subway, Slim Jim, Old Spice… and Bass Pro shops! A short google later and I came to the realization that this jacket is a celebration of a particular race car driver by the name of Tony Stewart, who is apparently my favorite. So damn cool. I just love the way that that Tony Stewart probably drives his car around the Nascar race track in a fast and possibly reckless (or maybe precise) manner. I am sure that this Tony fellow has a special place in his heart for his fans who own this particular leather jacket, supporting him, his team, his race car number (#20), and his sponsors. I can’t help but feel that I am part of something larger and stranger than I ever wanted to be a a part of before. Christmas rocks!
Anyone remember that movie Breakfast Club, where the tough guy shows a scar on his arm and says “this is what you get in my family for spilling paint in the garage”. So damn cool. Well, this jacket is what you get in my family for ignoring calls and emails asking what you want for Christmas. Yes, the Hobson’s are bad like that. Particularly the lady-folk. I will wear this leather jacket as a badge of honor, not unlike the cigar shaped scar on the aforementioned tough guy’s arm. When folks see me in this jacket, the majority will probably think “There goes a big ol’ Nascar fan”… but there are likely a few who will get it. A few who will pay me my due respect, as they mumble quietly to themselves “Damn… that guy comes from a really mean family”. That’s right. Pay homage suckers. Hobson’s are badass.

Posted in General | By didj 4 Comments »

December 4th, 2007

strange…

Just struck me as strange that Alone and Along would be such similar words (only one letter different), and yet completely different in meaning.

Posted in General | By didj No Comments »

ultrasupergenius’ journal

March 7th, 2008

Inventor teaches Crows to find him money

March 4th, 2008

First Road Trip with the Turtle

February 26th, 2008

2008 Election Results Leaked Early…

February 13th, 2008

Pet Peeve #699742 - Comic Sans

February 5th, 2008

Republicans pimping Hillary

January 30th, 2008

President Edwards: So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye (or maybe see you in 8 years?)

January 4th, 2008

Edwards Obama 2008

January 1st, 2008

New Resident - Roofus Toofus

December 27th, 2007

Christmas Present - A-OK!

December 4th, 2007

strange…

Photo Galleries

Links

Pages

Archives

Categories

Meta