This is pretty fucked up funny:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=147553&cid=12363953

I think it was the "handlebars on the headboard" part that got me.

Posted by in main at 20:07 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

I should write a book... Highway Waterskiing: A practical guide to hypdroplaning on the freeway.

This happened yesterday, but it was pouring down rain and there was a lot of water on the road. I was in the middle lane, and traffic was pretty heavy, but still moving along at 55-65mph.

As I made a minor correction, I noticed that the steering felt a little funny, a little too easy, as if I was on ice. I still had my foot (very lightly) on the gas, just keeping up with traffic, but I suddenly noticed that the "low traction" light was lighting up. Realizing that I was more or less hydroplaning, my instinct was to let off the gas, but I had a truck bearing down on me so I gently gave her some gas again, trying to get to where I could move to the right lane and slow down. However, just touching the gas caused traction control to engage and lit up my "low traction" light. I continued along white-knuckled for a few more seconds, looking for a break in traffic.

I finally managed to move over to the right and coasted down to 45-50 mph but then I had to try very hard to stay out of the ruts in the road that were full of water. I got off at the very next exit, but even travelling at the slower speed until I got to the offramp, I felt as if I was waterskiing the whole time. This was probably the scariest non-accident event I've ever had in a car.

:cue the end-of-family-sitcom-falling-action-music:
Moral: Getting new tires BEFORE the old ones completely wear out could be both fun and helpful for not dying.

Posted by in main at 19:37 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

Reportedly available now (with purchase of a new pc), Glass-paned-openings Xtra Pretentious x63.5 edition should be able to crash your system faster than ever before. Although there is some goofy trade-in program for current owners of the non-64bit version of the cripplified os, the product will not (yet?) be sold in retail stores. Cnet details their underwhelming experience in this review.

Posted by in tech at 18:58 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

After contemplating defection to a GSM network with greater flexibility (intl roaming, etc) and better handsets, we have reluctantly signed another Verizon contract. Verizon does not carry any phones that I was excited about, but the sad fact is that their coverage area is tough to beat, and their rates simply cannot be beat. Our 5-way shareplan brings each phone to less than $20/month - nationwide no-roaming, unlimited mobile-mobile (which covers ~95% of the airtime we use), etc.

Posted by in tech at 18:43 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

This is from a FreeBSD box at work:
2:40PM up 510 days, 21:14, 1 user, load averages: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00

I would like to see a Windows box go that long without a restart. Not really though, it would probably be unresponsive by that point.
The server above is a mail server that handles all outgoing mail for ~35 users, and it also gets some use as a web, file and db server.

These are the secondary and tertiary dns/mail servers: (running Debian Linux)
18:42:53 up 159 days, 23:47, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
18:43:10 up 131 days, 57 min, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00

Also interesting is that the last one doesn't even have a UPS

Posted by in tech at 09:48 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Friday is named for Frige, the Goddess of Love from Germanic Mythology.

That probably means you should go have sex today, so get busy.

Posted by in main at 09:20 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

I didn't get off work until 1800, but anyway I got my taxes done Friday night. We dropped them off downtown at about 2300, so I still had an hour to spare

I didn't sleep in too late Saturday, instead I got up and mowed the lawn and moved a bunch of dirt to fill in about half of the trench I dug last year for a drainage pipe. To celebrate Saturday's accomplishments, I vegged out today and relaxed, which was very cool-- something I haven't got to do in a long time.

Posted by in main at 18:08 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)