The Week Off
I’m really excited. I found out last week that my request for a week off of work was approved. Now I’ve got an entire week – the week of my birthday, mind you – to fill with fun things to do. But the real challenge is finding what to do. Go to a Rangers game? Take a train trip to Austin? (I’ve always wanted to try out Amtrak.) I’m not entirely sure yet. I know I’ll probably make a quick trip over to Dallas to finally play golf with my uncle again. It was a lot of fun the last time.
Anyway, rewinding back to this next week, I’m also excited about Tuesday Bike Night, a weekly bike ride that starts at the Language building at UNT, goes God knows where, and ends back at the Lang Building. This is my first time doing it, and I’m hoping it’s a lot of fun.
Man, it seems like all I’m talking about today is ways to have fun. I guess working all the time has had an effect on me.
Gidget the Dog: 1994-2009
Maybe there were underlying reasons why I went to Taco Bell yesterday. Apart from having an upset stomach for the rest of the day, I also honored the life and times of Gidget the Chihuahua, who died yesterday at the old age of 15. CNN reports:
Uttering the words “Yo Quiero Taco Bell,” Gidget, a female dog, played a male dog in the commercials. She was cast as the girlfriend of the Taco Bell Chihuahua, but the director changed his mind at the last minute and made Gidget the lead dog, Chipperton said.
Rest in peace, good friend.
Video of the first moon landing.
If BoingBoing posted it, I guess I oughta. Here’s the iconic footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Here’s to honoring those that made it happen, and to being ashamed of the fact that we haven’t done better by now.
My First Week With Jolicloud
Early last week a received an invite to download the alpha version of the new netbook OS from Netvibes founder Tariq Krim. It’s called Jolicloud, and I’ve been pretty pleased so far with how it’s running on my Acer Aspire One with a paltry 512MB of RAM.
First off, you should know that Jolicloud approaches applications differently than you’d probably think. Jolicloud focuses more on cloud applications. They integrate cloud apps into the OS using applications that simply open up the website in Mozilla’s new Prism software. Prism is basically a web browser without any navigation buttons or any other features except for displaying the website. For example, the Jolicloud Applications page has an application for Pandora radio. When installed, it puts a Pandora icon on your desktop. When you click on the icon, it simply opens the Pandora website full-screen for your enjoyment.
The reason why the Prism feature is so important to netbooks is because it uses less resources than full-fledged Firefox. With 512MB of RAM, my Aspire One appreciates that very much.
Even though Jolicloud has a very heavy emphasis on the cloud, it’s really just Ubuntu with some cosmetic changes. The Jolicloud desktop looks exactly like the one on Ubuntu netbook remix, except completely black. Also, from what I’ve seen, it’s not completely stripped down and devoid of utility, like the copy of Linpus Linux that was included on my Aspire One. So, you can pretty much install any Linux program you like without plunging into the murky depths of dependency hell.
All in all, Jolicloud is an impressive take on the netbook OS, and it’s not even out of alpha. The cloud focus is a great addition, it looks great, boots fast, and is pretty peppy on my laptop. I can’t wait to see what the beta will have in store.
Free Slurpee Day Today!
Lifehacker reported yesterday that today, July 11, is free Slurpee day at your local 7-Eleven. They also posted some neat facts about America’s favorite frozen carbonated beverage.
- Slurpee drinks are all served at 28 degrees.
- Slurpee was “invented” when some sodas were put in a freezer to cool them down – and they became all slushy.
- Winnipeg, Canada is generally thought to be the Slurpee capital of the world, due to their amazing Slurpee fanaticism.
- When Slurpee first hit the market, it wasn’t self-serve. The machine was behind the counter and the clerk served the product to you.
- At Slurpee, we call it a BrainFreeze. The scientific name for it is Sphenopalatine Ganglioneuralgia. Really.
- Sugar is the anti-freezing agent in most Slurpee drinks.
- American Slurpee is injected with air. Canadian Slurpee is not.
- Every day more than 11.6 million Slurpee drinks are consumed around the world.
- In 2004, 7-Eleven created an edible Slurpee straw.
- Only one private individual owns a bona fide Slurpee machine. The rest are in 7-Eleven.
I will definitely be stopping by today to gets me a cup of that special Transformer’s tie-in Mango flavor!
Whirlwind
It’s been a really busy week, but really fruitful, too.
Finally bought a bike this week, a 1983 Schwinn World Tourist. I found it on Craigslist and got it for eighty bucks. It’s in great condition, except for the original tires, which are starting to curmble. As soon as the next paycheck comes, I’ll get a new set. Here’s a pic of my new ride on the library mall at UNT:
The coolest part about this thing is the very strange and rare Shimano Front Freewheeling system. When coasting, the chain continues to move, allowing you to shift gears. I didn’t have any problem shifting the gears on my ’71 Varsity, but this is a really cool feature that does make shifting gears while coasting to a stop at an intersection a breeze.
On another topic, I have finished my five-week summer course on Nutrition, everyone’s least-favorite required blow-off class. After the final grade was computed, I ended up with a mid-B. It would have been an A, if it hadn’t have been for an assignment that was due immediately after a test that I forgot to submit. Oh well, I’ve got the credits, so I’m good.
The weekend brings the weekly ritual of returning home to wash clothes, probably watching a movie with my friends, and a Sunday afternoon fish-fry at my uncle’s. Should be nice.
Sunday Throatbeard
Spent the first two hours of my Sunday at the lovely Firestone Car Care Center, getting my oil changed again after the guy last time left on my original oil filter. I probably won’t be stopping my there again.
Love how it decided to rain today. I think of it as a reward for putting up with the 100+ degree days through the week. A good reward, I say.
The 4th wasn’t too particularly exciting. All of my friends were doing something else, so I just stood on the second floor walkway of my apartment building and watched the Fouts Field fireworks show. I did finally meet someone who actually lives in my building that evening. A couple, actually. They went to the Sack-&-Save parking lot to see the fireworks, but soon returned to good ‘ol Campus Square and realized that they had a better view. Nice folks.
I thought about taking a stab at writing a book sooner or later on Friday night. I really cool idea came to me about my old high school and the athletic department’s stranglehold on almost every aspect of it. About how those coaches that always appear wholesome in the public eye but always seem to be lowdown rats at the end of the day. Yes, you can now assume I was not an athelete. You’d be right. I was an academic guy, always getting the short end of the stick when UIL competition came around and there was no money left. Hopefully I can capitalize on this idea instead of let it sit and dry up in my mind like I usually do.
ZOMG IPHONE 3GS UNLOCKED!!!!111ONE!!!!
I’ll let Gizmodo explain this:
On Friday, George Hotz (aka the guy who unlocked the original iPhone 2G) released his purplera1n iPhone 3GS jailbreak tool.
So go on kids, jailbreak and unlock those puppies. I don’t own an iPhone myself, but I’m excited the jailbreak program is named after a Prince song.
via Gizmodo – iPhone 3GS Unlocked with Purplera1n + UltraSn0w – Iphone 3gs unlock.
CompuServe: 1979-2009
A sad week for Michael Jackson fans and computer uber-nerds alike. AOL finally pulled the plug on Compuserve last week. Check out the snippet from Basex Blog below and follow the link to see some interesting comments from former users:
The original CompuServe service, first offered in 1979, was shut down this past week by its current owner, AOL. The service, which provided its users with addresses such as 73402,3633 and was the first major online service, had seen the number of users dwindle in recent years. At its height, the service boasted about having over half a million users simultaneously on line. Many innovations we now take for granted, from online travel (Eaasy Sabre), online shopping, online stock quotations, and global weather forecasts, just to name a few, were standard fare on CompuServe in the 1980s.
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