A Good Imagination and a Pile of Junk

Bill Whittle’s awesome. Check this 3 minute video out.

The Piranha Party

One of my favorite games of all time is Half Life 2. I’ve played it through a dozen times easily and it now takes a long evening.

One of the very distinctive things about it is the sound crafting of the various enemies. The vocal tracks and sound effects of bad guys of various stature add an awful lot of the atmosphere that’s made the franchise what it is.

I’m sitting where I sit when I play games, working on the market.

Cut to an hour ago when I hear this weird ascending whooping sound coming I’d never heard from 3 places in the city bounds. It sounds just like a strider, a daddy-longlegs looking badass.

It took me a second of recalibrating to not try and select weapon group 5 (the rocket launcher) and to actually look out the window to that great big place with no roof.

A few minutes of that before I heard “This has been a test of the emergency warning system” clear as could be.

So THAT’S good at least. Makes me feel better that there’s something like that out there.

But DAMN did it freak me out for a sec.

$25,000 Reward for Obama/Ayers/Dohrn/Khalidi Tape
Dirty Harry suggests a benefactor can offer $100,000.

Well, I don’t know if one will step forward. I can guarantee, though, that if the goods are delivered the blogosphere can contribute $20,000. In a matter of hours.

Maybe more. More would depend on the tape.

This offer includes is particularly directed towards Los Angeles Times employees. Maybe ones that just got fired. Or will get fired in the next couple of weeks.

Hat tip to SondraK

This started as a comment on I Think Therefore I Blog, but I got a little windy so I cut it short over there.

As an almost “long time” baker (does 7 years count?) I finally succumbed to the pressure to buy a bread machine. It’s always seemed like cheating to me.

But I’ve got to say the results are absolutely stellar. I use it for a couple things:

• Bread to be ready when I get up in the morning (I try to keep this to a minimum.) Perhaps it’s a sign of getting old but I’d sure rather be woken up by the smell of bread than… well, nevermind.

• Testing ingredient combinations. This is awesome. If I have a “I wonder what would happen if I threw THAT in to a loaf” thought (which only happens a few times a day while sitting at my desk trading) I just set it up and let it go. If I like the result out of the machine THEN I do the real bread crafting work.

Got a loaf going now.  It’s just too rimey out not to have fresh bread.