Monday, May 31, 2010

It's a theme People!



I'm not into the whole god bless thing. You remember, I'm an atheist. What is funny about this is... somehow this guy manages to find balloons for every occasion.

Normally he has a big Christmas thing. Here. He has balloons for Easter. Aliens for Halloween. It was the first time I'd seen him with a patriotic theme. I don't know where he finds this stuff.



I'd probably have more to say - but I drug our asses out of bed at like 6 this morning to watch people blow up balloons. To say I've seen it once. And if you knew how badly I sleep you'd give me a break on the content. I also didn't bring the right lens. So you get crappy shots. It is the thought that counts.

Now back to BBQ'ing.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Fanime 2010 - Last.

My ADD is on high today. But, I will give you the last of the pictures I'm going to post to entertain you.











This one was so large it created it's own shadow.





Seen on a bumper.



Shites - all of a sudden it became summer today. I knew we would pay for that mild spell. No happy mediums. Ever.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

FanimeCon 2010



I almost didn't make it to AnimeCon today. I slept worse then normal. Mr S. also didn't sleep well. Which was unusual.

I'd only found out about it yesterday. And, since I'd woken up feeling pretty rough - I was willing to let the whole thing slide. But, I have people to entertain. Namely me. Since I can't participate in any creative destruction right now.

The crowd was a lot smaller which was fine with me. The costumes seemed a little more creative. And OMG - it is nice to have people who actually want to have their picture taken.

The other amazing thing about the people at Fanimecon? They are so respectful of the camera.

I was hiding behind a pole to stay out of the stream of traffic. There was no way people could see me until they got right up on me, and every single time they would completely halt until I said they could go. Everyone pretty much fell out of their way to stay out of peoples shots. It was impressive.



One pretty funny thing happened at FanimeCon. The protesters were there again this year. At one point I went out and exclaimed "hey - now they have Jesus!". Which I thought was funny because the protesters are usually some god hates f@gs group. But the FanimeCon usually has a Jesus walking around.

I turned to Mr S. and said - hey, I think I've seen Jesus before. Mr S. looked at me funny.

Me - No, I'm serious. I've seen Jesus before.

Mr S. makes some ridiculous comment about enlightenment.

It turns out I had seen Jesus before. At the last Tea Party protest. Here. Second photo in the post.



Gay Mario.





This costume was the best one there. I think. Video here.



FanimeCon is like geek Mardi Gras shot.



Some guys asked this girl what would happen if they solved the Rubix cube. She replied - you can't solve women. Maybe not as funny in text - but it was funny at the time.





This guy I kinda loved. I walked up to him because he looked way out of place. Are you working this show - I asked. No - I'm waiting for my kids. Which made me laugh.

He just put out the vibe that he couldn't believe he was doing this crap, but he was doing it anyway. It was funny.

The first rule of Fanime club?

Bathe.



What does it say about your group when you have to remind them of this?

Friday, May 28, 2010

A quick way to spin me up.



Today, at lunch, I was picking up parsley for the bunnies - when I ran across this display.

Long time readers will laugh because they know this pink ribbon thing drives me nuts. I must have a half a dozen posts about this issue running around on my blog somewhere.

This display though, manages to combine with my other despised female phenomenon: "Girl Power".

I don't know why women feel such an intense need to have "girl power". Honestly, being intrinsically female is enough. If you act interested - guys will treat you the same. Honestly. Men in male-dominated fields almost die to have a female they can treat as an equal.

You don't need girl power. You just need motivation. And, you certainly don't need a pink branded power drink. It's stupid!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Daily affirmations?



This made me laugh, because it meant some of the taggers in town were in fact female. Not those bitchy taggers. Nice ones. Apparently.

These people have gone insane.

"Speeding through a red light? Not a chance, according to IBM Corp.

The technology behemoth, known for its work with computers, is now trying its hand at traffic. The company recently filed a patent application for a system that could remotely stop and start vehicle engines at traffic signals in order to save fuel and prevent crashes.

The system would sense vehicles’ positions and send a “stop engine” notification – either by automatically turning off the engine or displaying an alert telling drivers to manually switch off power.

At intersections, railway crossings and other locations, the system could use anything from weight sensors to camera and GPS units to track vehicles. The technology could also be used to calculate when cars have been idling for too long and should be shut down."


Read more here.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

It's my blog and I can do anything I want!

This is something that has been bothering me the last couple of months.

It's the Tea Party constantly telling people who come to their events "Any references to Hitler, Nazis, etc. are not welcome". I'm personally not prone to bring any signs. Still it irritates me all the same.

These events are almost always on public streets. And, those people with the Hitler Nazi signs aren't even tea partiers anyway! They are Lyndon Larouche people.

I have pictures of them at the last Berkeley protest I went to. No Tea Partiers allowed there. It's Berkeley! Why don't they just say - no Lyndon Larouche people? I was under the impression a lot of Tea Partiers were Libertarians.

And anyway....these protests always have spill over groups from all sorts of insanery. I just think it is really odd they are trying to control what signs people bring.

Mr S. of course is completely on the other side of this issue. Debate on Mr S. Debate on.

OMG!

I can be tricked into going anywhere, with the promise of pancakes.



But - I never order pancakes.

I started noticing this oddity about myself a couple of months ago. A commercial for iHop came on promising "all you can eat" pancakes.

I of course blurt out - we should go to iHop this weekend for all you can eat pancakes! Mr S. looks at me funny and responds - you never eat barely one pancake.

Still, each and every time we are out of town and looking for a breakfast place - the conversation starts.... look at these great photos of pancakes. We get there. I never order them.

Now. Isn't this funnier than wondering who is plowing a ton of money into the market to roll it up a hill?

Monday, May 24, 2010

Make yourself at home.

It's like he's waiting for his wife to get back from shopping for shoes.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

At some point - it ceases to exist.



I have to admit - there hasn't been much in technology that has excited me lately. But, I was in Fry's today and ran across this Samsung UN55C 9000.

OMG. If there wasn't a recession going on right now. I would be a lot poorer. I swear to you, the screen is literally about a quarter of an inch thick.

Honestly, it just made me really happy. The world is still trying to go somewhere new.

Maker Faire - pt5.

Tesla coil.

Maker Faire 2010 -pt4













I might have some video of this one later.



Anybots was there. And - I have to admit, there are times in the robotic field I feel sad. They just can't find a niche. To see how reduced down some of the Anybot machines have become, is a little depressing.

Remember I took these shots of their articulated bots a few years ago. Having just seen one of their machines on How I Met Your Mother just last week - I guess I was expecting more.

Not unexpectedly, these machines are too expensive for prime time. It's sad to see how much money they must have plowed into this to come to that conclusion. But hey - these new bots have a telescoping neck. High tech ya'll.

Maker Faire 2010 -pt3.



This cofee table has been at the faire a couple of times, but you just can't represent it well enough in photos. I chopped it a little early. I might add other clips a little later.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Maker Faire 2010 -Pt2.



You can hear me talking about how my flipcam is putting out savage refreash. So, this is shot from Mr S's Palm Pre.

Maker Faire 2010.

Here is the first run of pictures.

Updated: With video.














I have so much awesome stuff for you. Check back later.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Pictures I should have posted.



I was looking for a picture that I'd taken for something else I was going to write about - and I realised just how many of my shots never make it onto the blog.

I try to post things as they happen in my life. Sometimes I feel like I've just saturated my readers. Sometimes, I don't feel it is interesting anymore. Yet I rarely go back and post some of the stuff I thought was sort of interesting later.

Which is a bummer, because sometimes I leave you guys with such a dry spell.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Thank hells it's Thursday.

You know - I was never into Jackass. The whole time it was popular, I resisted. I thought it was stupid.

Until the winter of 2008. At that moment I was glad I had never gotten into that show. Because...... I could watch them all. Day after day. Gorging myself on them. I'd watch Doomberg, then Jackass. All better.

Somehow when the dudesons started a few weeks ago.. I was sure I was going to need this show. Johnny Knoxville could have never expected I would be his demo. I'm not an adolescent male teenager. Still, there is nothing that makes you feel more okay about a 400 point drop in the market then watching someone injure themselves. I don't know why. They choose to do it. I'm all for self choice. I will watch.

WARNING - do not click play if you can't handle injury, pain, and plain stupidity.

Monday, May 17, 2010

I've never been in love with an alpaca before.

Oh stop. You know this is the reason you come here.



You see this Alpaca giving me the stink eye? It's that same look Paisley gives before she is going to nip me. Still, I previously thought alpacas were huge beasts. These came just up to my boobs. And, they look like freakin poodles.



Now if someone bred a teacup alpaca - all the world would own one. Screw tiny pony! You can put the word teacup in front of pretty much anything, and it becomes cute. Teacup hippo? Yeah. Cute. Probably.



If I didn't love my leather interior so much, this thing would have gotten 3rd passenger status and would be sitting in my backyard. Did you know they are a little like bunnies and can be litter box trained. Ish. They trend towards going in the same spot.

You see what happens to a person who's husband has crazy allergies? I'll try to turn anything into a dog.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

A breather.

I think I'm going to take a few days off from the blog. It is just really hard to find funny entertaining things when all I feel is anxiety over this cluster fuck we call a government. I mean seriously. How can I read that Illinois has just completely stopped paying their bills and not feel anything but hopeless?

"Plenty of states face major deficits as the recession continues. They're cutting services or raising taxes or expanding gambling to close the gap. But Illinois is taking the extra step of ignoring bills.

Right now, $4.4 billion worth of bills, some dating back to October, are sitting in the Illinois comptroller's office waiting to be paid someday."


Link here.

All the while the banks have vacuumed all the money out of the economy, while bragging about perfect trading quarters. The government is trying to convince us we just don't pay enough in taxes - while they were padding their offices with Chihuly's.

The banks who said we needed to bail out Greece now confess they don't think Greece can pay the money back.

It just goes on and on. I'm tired, and not feeling very personable.

So, there you have it.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The next leg down for Green Energy.

The world economies wake up one day and say - Hey! I don't have any money. Which is what I think is happening right now. One could wonder if this green energy bullshit is what helped some of these economies go bankrupt. For a 20% return, it certainly is not worth the fiscal price tag.

Anyway - If I were a green energy technology company, I might be shitting my pants. Take for example Vestas. The largest Windmill maker. I've been watching this company for at least a year. The employees took a manufacturing plant in Britain hostage for something like a month last year. They were upset the company had made obscene profits (in their opinion) in the previous quarter. They wanted the government to take the company over to save their jobs.

Well, Vestas turned a "surprise" loss this quarter. I don't know who it was a surprise to, because anyone could have seen this coming. What perplexed me though, was the stock spiking almost 12% on the news that Vestas seemed hopeful for a return to profitability - because they'd gotten a massive order from Portugal.

This is course made my eyes grow as wide as saucers. Self I said - Portugal is going bankrupt. How are they going to pay for this huge order? And... the question remains.

Still when I woke up this morning and saw they'd agreed to cut spending - I found it interesting. I don't think it helps the green energy folks much. But at least maybe they will still get some money instead of loosing the contract full bore.
Finally found my neighborhood garage band. Wanted so bad to stop and thank them for not sucking. But the neighbor right behind me was stalking them. So I didnt stop.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Greece - the sequel. Opens Friday.

Honestly, I've been bummed since Sunday night when I found out about the whole EU "rescue".

One, I don't even like Gyros that much.

Two, I was responsible and didn't fuck up any of these economies. And, frankly feel pretty resentful I have to pay for every else's retardedness.

Three, oh yeah?!... California is about to drop into the ocean. We don't have the money to lend to any other countries. Duh. On Friday the Tardinator is going to release the revised budget - because you know... our tax revenue was down 25-30% for April.

No biggie though. The Tardinator just says "grab all those cities redevelopment funds" to close the budget gap. The cities respond "the fuck you, I say. I'm not doing that".

Oakland Ca, is a mere 5 weeks from claiming bankruptcy. Unless of course they can come up with a full 10% of the city budget all gansta style and make a payment due on July 1. Here.

Update - my bad. They have a year. Nothing to see here.

What does it all matter anyway. The feds will make money if we roll over. They now own credit default swaps in California. Here. Awkwarrrrd.

Certainly California won't announce like Rhode Island did that they aren't sending out any refunds until new money comes into the coffers. Would they?
Listening to a meeting where they keep talking about leakage. And as infantile as I am....it makes me laugh internally each time.

Sunday, May 09, 2010

It all started with a duck. Continued.



Over the past year or so - I've come down with almost a complete obsession with kitchy old diners. It isn't that I have a thing for history. I'm more rushing towards the future type of gal. It is just an experience you can't really describe.



I'm pretty sure it started when I went to Sacramento. They still have a bunch of these old Americana style diners. And not the ones "trying" to be Americana. Real, I'm rushing towards suicide slowly through jamming my arteries full of crap, style diners. These places have virtually scrubbed clean in the Bay Area. Replaced by strip malls that look virtually the same in every city. In the outskirts however, you can still find a few.

So, when we thought we were going to a car show on Saturday we figured we would pre scout out a breakfast place. Which is usually our routine. I don't eat breakfast at all during the week. So, on the weekends breakfast is a must. The place we decided on took us about 30 minutes out of the way. It was an old "divey?" roadside diner from the description. They didn't even have regular bathrooms. They had porto potties. Thank gawd for the warning from yelp. That way I didn't have to break my ban on porto potties.

Thankfully when we arrived, it wasn't divey. Just built as a roadside diner. And will probably be shut down by some people with disabilities lawsuit. Like the Squeeze Inn.

All of a sudden the car show was a "maybe". We'd gotten out so late. There was some traffic slowdown on the Martinez bridge that added a half hour to the trip. We didn't get to the restaurant until almost 2. They stopped serving breakfast at 1. Which was a bummer.

Then we decided to just hang out in the town and try to get some High Dynamic Range photos. But, while we'd remember to bring the tripod - I'd forgotten the camera platform. So that was out too.

It was still a nice day. Just more effort full than it needed to be.

Saturday, May 08, 2010

A place in time.



Honestly - I rebranded this photo. It didn't come out how I imagined it in my head. Still, sometimes I grow to like them later. Not for the reasons I thought I would.

Perhaps I love that we completely stumbled on this place by accident. It was this old moody cemetery. This headstone was one of the oldest of the bunch made of wood from the 1800's. The rocks on the top a sign someone was still stopping by. Or possibly had been undisturbed.

The place right in the middle of a pretty upscale neighborhood, yet totally unkempt looking.

Maybe I like it because it didn't turn out like the perfect photo I imagined. And maybe that's enough.

It all started with a duck.

Today has just been one of those days where nothing has come very easily. Mr S. and I couldn't decide what we wanted to do today until very late last night. So, we wound up having a miscommunication and slept in till 10.

First thing leaving the city - we were on a three lane highway. I saw a duck with some chicks start to cross the highway on the other side. Once she got to the far side of lane one - she just laid down in the road.

Within the span of a few seconds I tried to figure out if I could get across the highway to the other side, and when I looked back, a car was passing me and ran over the family. It was really nothing they could do. It was one of those scenarios where it was a blind hill and once you crest it, you are doing 65. There was no way to see them in time.

The only reason I saw them at all is a few times lately Mr S. has been reporting that he has seen odd wildlife dead on the freeway. Like turkeys, and a cougar. Deer are somewhat common, but not those things. Those are really odd. So when I saw something that looked like a bird - I naturally thought it might be a turkey. The whole Bay Area seems to be getting over run with them.

We were going to go to a car show. But honestly - cars are played out. I'm not a car blog. I'd rather be doing technology. There isn't really anything interesting going on in technology right now.

Cont....

Friday, May 07, 2010

Ungrateful.

I just picked my canister vac up from the repair shop. Apparently if you run it without a bag - you get the black smoke of death.

Duh! You think.

Still in my defense I use it so rarely I just assume it has a bag.

Anyway. My robot vacs were pissing me off - so I figured I might as well fix the canister. I guess when the repair shop fixes it, they stick a fragrance in the bag. So I immediately thought, Awww, that was a nice touch.

However - after running it for a few minutes I realize they filled it with old people smell.

Couldn't they have picked some nice lilac or strawberry? Instead they picked baby powder. Now I have to air out the house.

Such irritating tools.

Listen government - it isn't that I don't trust you. But, I don't trust you.

How is it that ADP (which up until this weeks unemployment data) has been taken as a gospel source of data, says only 32,000 jobs were created. Yet the government says 290,000 jobs were created. And not those unconvincing "temporary census jobs". Video here. "Broad based" hiring they claim.

From the ADP website.
The ADP National Employment Report
April 2010 Report


Nonfarm private employment increased 32,000 from March to April 2010 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the ADP National Employment Report®. The estimated change in employment from February to March 2010 was revised up, from a decline of 23,000 to an increase of 19,000.

Additionally - How is it that google keeps claiming the unemployment rate is 10.2. Here. Surely google must have it wrong. Right? Still, see that button right at the top that says "more info"? When you click it - you get taken right to the website for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Yesterday I realised now when Mr S. calls to see how I'm doing, and I respond "not well" the market was down 1000 points - it can no longer be considered dramatic sarcasm.

Thursday, May 06, 2010

It was a bloodbath.

Oh. You thought I was going to talk about the stock market. There will be plenty of time for that.



The thing about having velveteen lop bunnies - is that they don't have the normal protection most bunnies have. All of the really short breeds have problems with their feet, but the velveteen seems to have an especially big problem. Not only is her hair short, but it isn't as cush as say a Rex. So she doesn't have the padding on her feet.

Many years back, we found that just living on short carpet was too abrasive, and she got moved to towels in her cage. Oh yes. Towels. And it isn't like they don't chew them up occasionally - so don't buy a bunny. They are really expensive.

Anyway, from time to time (usually once a year) she manages to hit the pad on her foot getting out of her litter box and splits it open. The first couple of times I thought she was dying. Only to find out she'd hit her foot, and she was completely fine.

This morning I'd gotten up and Mr S. says to me - Binny hit her foot last night and really bled out. I've checked her and she's fine. Oh yes.. a grown man uses the word Binny. It's much more manly than Pink Paisley Princess. Which is what her name really is. I had to shorten it because even I was embarrassed to call her that.

So I go to investigate and check her out, only to freak out a little. She'd really had a big bleed. Mr S. and I do the once over, because I can't believe her foot made that much blood.

Just a couple of days ago we were joking that we needed to make some kind of booties for her. But, you know bunnies chew everything so we put it out of our minds.

I have to say. Market down 1000, bunnies bleeding out. My nerves are a little frayed.

You can see she is indeed alive and well. Just in case you were suspicious.