Distractions

(all the links here are worksafe, not vouching for comments)


This song/vid is pretty funny. Being about a code monkey, it reminds me of engineering school more than former work, though the label applies more to my former working life. I always felt bad for the maladjusted dorky guys who made fools of themselves to whatever female was unfortunate enough to work near their haunts (computer labs, nearest vending machines, etc).

Points for trying dorks, but the hot chick(s) working at the reception desk that literally hundreds of guys walk by every day is/are never going for a guy who slugs Dew and doesn't shower. Just sayin'.


And this is the luckiest son-of-a-bitch to ever drive a truck. Be sure to read through the explanations of the pictures.


Here are some neato pics of wind turbines. I'm guessing you'll have no concept of the scale of these things until you see these pics. I think the super long 18-wheeler carrying one fin does the job nicely (though I only count 12 wheels).


I don't know why people complain about these bulbs, but it's a bitchfest on the local NPR callins. Oh boohoo, the quality of light is slightly different. That really matters when the lights use a fraction of the energy and cost far less per hour of operation.

I have them in every socket in my apartment and they're fine. People are so resistant to change, even when it's painless and obviously beneficial. Kudos to Walmart for pushing them (credit where it's due).


[tangent]
This is completely aside, but I've often wondered why people are proud of never changing. "This is the way granpappy did it, and dadgummit, I'm-a gonna fry my fish spleen in freshly ground chicken beak too".

I spent a good amount of time with immigrants in college -- I was the only native english speaker on my project at times -- and it was really interesting to see how different people dealt with the culture shock.

Aside from obvious things like english proficiency and basic smarts, the most successful at adapting were the ones who kept their good traditions and left the bad, e.g. Indians dropping the caste system but keeping the wet sari scenes.

That said, I met a bunch of asian guys (Indian, Korean, whatever) who agreed
that women should be treated equally in polite conversation, but when it came
time to get married, most of them went straight for traditional girls from home
who "knew their place". You should see the unbelievable crap "traditional" women
will take from a guy, without question. But I digress. Back to link dumping.
[/tangent]


Here are some creepy pics of a praying mantis eating a wolf spider. Gross bug pics are just super for passing the time (that site is a gold mine). If you scroll down to the comments, there's an excellent pic of a praying mantis catching a humming bird.


This is one of the funniest pics I've ever seen, though it's the caption that really makes it so (this site is maybe NSFW for the paranoid among you -- if you poke around the site, you will likely run into pics you don't want your boss to see you looking at, but this one is fine).


And the final time wasters, this game called Samorost (sound starts at link) is a sort of annoying point and click "guess where the mouse pointer is supposed to go" kind of game. But it's a well-done guess where the mouse pointer is supposed to go kind of game.

Here's the sequel, Samorost 2. More 'o the same. I actually played through them, but if you get stuck, just look up the walkthrough somewhere. It's still kind of neat to see the little guy get his dog back, or whatever.

Here's another one just like it called The Polyphonic Spree that I haven't played yet [ed: turns out that's the name of a band, and this appears to be a form of viral marketing -- nicely done I say, as the music goes well with the feel and look of the game].

This game called Gateway is much more logical. They may not be apparent at first, but all the solutions become clear soon enough and they don't rely on tiny mouse-click regions (there's got to be a better name for it than that). It may be a little on the pedestrian side, but it entertains.

And finally, Garlic reccommends this game, but I have yet to look at it.


Yeah, so I'm wasting time. Kind of on edge over here. I don't feel like going out, but I'm sitting on idle hands just the same. I can't seem to concentrate too much on anything substantial. I doubt I will until the situation with my Dad is resolved. He's doing fine all except that he won't wake up. That's what experts call a "sticking point" in the recovery process.


UPDATE: He woke up. Woohoo! Looks like I'm going back to Florida. This trip will certainly involve alot more inconvenience and work than the last, but I won't be dreading it this time.