Tech
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Friday rapid fire
- A super sonic blaster in Los Angeles (and Iraq)
- Cool military gear
- Practical and unsubsidized solar power
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Computer annoyances
Last night my computer was randomly freezing. I reboot and find that my two CD-rom drives are no longer working. Not really a huge problem.
I wake up today one of the CD-rom drives door is locked open. Later email goes down. What’s the deal?
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Odd from Microsoft
You now have to “validate” your software to use Windows Update. Hmmmm.
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Irritating
I finally see something I want on E-Bay, and it is very nicely integrated with both Paypal and G-Mail. So far so good.
But, for no good reason, neither Paypal nor E-Bay are talking to each other, therefore I can’t get the book I want. A pox on thee E-Bay.
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Friday Rapid Fire
Since I’m stuck on a JavaScript bug, I’ll post some thoughts and links
- Good Idea – In your cell phone address book, type ICE (in case of emergency) in front of someone’s name so paramedics can know who to contact. HT: Marginal Revolution
- uncertainty – I’m not sure that this (and it’s natural conclusion) is a good idea, though I do support the sentiment, I think.
- Backstoke of the West – Star Wars translated into Chinese, then back into English, perhaps Engrish would be a better word.
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Thought of the moment
A random notion I had while walking Drex (and mind you this just throwing out an idea)
Three True Points:
- The internet has made educational material very, very cheap, realistically the only cost is time.
- The return on human capital (brains) is at an all time high and climbing
- It is easier to learn points of fact via the web than it is to learn matters of mathematical principle and logic
Therefore we should stop teaching the following in the lower grades:
- History
- Literature
- Anything labeled “Social Studies”
- Applied Science
Why not concentrate the classroom time into learning grammar, logic/science and math? The student has due incentive to learn all of the subjects excised from the classroom, and it would not be filtered though our complicated education bureaucracy.
Thoughts anyone? I do realize that this would not be an issue if education were properly privatized.
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Wednesday Rapid Fire
- The DefenseTech “Iraq Dairy” blog is quite good.
- Thoughts on Roomba – I still need to get one.
- The long awaited car computer is almost here
- Global warming and it’s effect on celebrity reasoning.
- Southern English
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Technical Annoyances
I find out through experimentation that while my UPS is in fact working, it does NOT include surge protection (like every other UPS in the world).
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Flagrant gadgetry
- Navicore Personal GPS – it wirelessly turns your bluetooth phone in to a GPS device. Very cool, but it seems to only be available in Europe, though I imagine that will change soon. HT: Gizmodo.
- 10 Million Candlepower flashlight – with built in recharging! And only $49 bucks too. There’s a 15 million candlepower for sale too.
- The Pain Ray – Not really a gadget, but cool in a creepy way. It uses microwaves to heat nerve endings. Supposedly for security and crowd control.
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More Ajax Links
Google-xjaxslt via the Google Blog.