Boxen

Chia is good for you?

2009-06-21T08:50:08Z

or similar herb seeds, such as basil, timothy, alfalfa, marjoram or thyme.

- Chia pet instructions

I have half a dozen of these things, easily. I also have some awful white plastic planters, modular and singles, that I have to figure out what to cover them with, so they can be around the house without looking ugly. I'm thinking to grow kitty grasses.

Most of these clearly can't be grown on a Chia Pet. More. Et more.

Poisonous plants for cats

Next up, trying to figure out how math helps reinforce origami and vice versa, 'cause the kidlet loves origami and to find other materials he can work with so they're stronger-bigger-longer lasting than the simple paper he's been working with.

Note that where the lists conflict, it's safer not to risk your cat on what you've read on the interdawebs.

Why PowerPC users will jump ship in droves: Because 10.6 is...

2009-06-15T19:25:12Z

Hi,

Can a linux programmer please add some of these features to the next Ubuntu? Why yes, yes they could. Most of these feature improvements are such that the usual group of Macintosh third party programmers are probably going to make a bunch of small programs and charge for each one.

Seriously, this is what they're giving us? I'm about to jump OS'.
www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/enhancements-refinements.html

The first act is to organize your ignorance

2009-05-28T21:22:54Z

Knowing what you don't know is a good step, however...

The GOP has no position on Health Care for America

Zeus shuts down 100K machines

2009-05-09T00:47:27Z

None of them are Macintosh.

..."S21sec notes, however, that invoking the kos command only results in a bluescreen and subsequent difficulty booting the OS. There appears to be no significant data loss and neither the Trojan binaries nor the startup registries are removed, indicating that Zeus isn't trying to keep itself from being dissected by researchers. It could also mean that, once those hundred thousand or so users manage to get back online, Zeus will get back to work stealing passwords and credit card info."

Yo, Fan boy...

2009-04-22T02:40:38Z

Comics? Independent stuff? Margaret Cho?

I know, I know, that's Fan Grrl to you...

Pride; let me show you it.

2009-04-18T05:12:22Z

Speaking of Pride... I'm a Pride Safety Team Monitor for San Francisco.

We need, oh, about 200 new people to join the Pride Safety Team, so that it's totally safe, because seriously, people love us and it's us or the cops.

As it stands now, the cops only respond when our people radio in a request for assistance, so we need friendly people who literally, want to be in the parade, who like bopping about with small teams and who like being friendly to oh, hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ people who rely on us to make it look fun while keeping everything safe. We don't just work the Celebration, we make sure it stays a celebration, and get those who're in need, the need they need. And we get fed and watered and have our own bathrooms.

Teams: Friends, bring your friends!! The shifts are just four hours and we have a special, special power: We write down who to donate our volunteer hours to, from a list of community groups, these groups then split the pot of money that Pride raises for just this purpose. So we have rainbow fun and then get to toss the gold to those of our choosing, and they get thousands of dollars from a very small group of people.

200 newly trained volunteers. C'mon, it's a really good bouncy time amidst a very seriously needed thing we're doing.

Kitty Sauce

2009-04-17T07:52:39Z

I'm looking at making something like this, but instead of the small trays, extending the shelf outside of the frame a bit, and using curved pieces.

They wouldn't have to be very big. The idea is to put four of them next to each other to create intervals, as seen here:

So that the cat could travel the top of the shelves laterally, using each one as a stair. By including the curve outside of the bars, I hope to created extra space, perhaps to extend the step closer, perhaps to have a spot to set a plant or a big mug, depending on where along the curve the cat uses to step, or how the curve is cut, perhaps slimmed at the ends. Mini Shelves via a stanchion or an "invisible shelf" option below, would be used for actually storing/organizing stuff.

I don't happen to like the look of railings into my walls, and I don't much like the plastic furniture also displayed in the second image, but I can certainly see how the furniture could have pads added for kitty comfort and and would otherwise be easy to wipe free of kitty's fur, and how railings might be a bit more stable.

erg @ 2009-04-12T20:50:00

2009-04-13T03:56:24Z

AMAZON HATES GAYS. CRUSH Them Lit-A-Rally !! Lit-a-Rawr-lily!

Flower power says free the gay books! Shop at Abebooks.com

World responds to (R)

2009-04-13T03:48:39Z

Bobby Jindail, report to the Fema Response Team, S.T.A.T.

Tralala

2009-04-10T05:27:04Z

What Gives?.

A little something on espresso

Vegan. Caesar Dressing. But it has soy, and yeast and oil, so if you're not already healthy, it's not so healthy for you.

A box, a special box. A cardboard and plastic oven.
Note the bit about a Charcoal making device? I think the cardboard box beat out this.

Needle distribution. Colorado struggles with it. Since California is further along, Oakland has PoD.

About those college loans; can you show me a little love?

The Immigration issue starts to move from the back burner...

News, Journalism, and the web.

Seriously, we know of no one looking for a nice place to live in the East Bay?

2009-04-03T22:59:52Z

Peektures

Craig's List ad

C'mon, at these prices, someone working retail/restaurant could nail the rent and be loving livin' in a *house*.

Specialty chocolatier shop is closing

2009-03-27T22:59:30Z

Josehph schmidts is closing their doors in S.F.

Their staff is sad, they're closing June 30th, they're having sales.

h/t to fd_midori

If you're in the East Bay, you might want to check out Sharffen Bergers, as they're in the same situation, but I don't know their closing date.

I just hope there's a location which can take them on. Perhaps Ghiradelli could now expand into more specialties and hire on the above staff. Ghiradelli co. is union run, at least.

Ice: A battery pack?

2009-03-27T17:52:04Z

The original link

Natural gas locked up in water crystals could be a source of enormous amounts of energy – and if a new technology delivers what scientists are claiming, then it could even be emissions-free too.

To the naked eye, clathrate hydrate looks like regular ice. However, while it is made up partly of water, the water molecules are organised into "cages", which trap individual molecules of methane inside them.

Compared to other fossil fuels, methane – also known as natural gas – releases less carbon dioxide per unit of energy generated. Nevertheless, burning it still releases carbon dioxide and thus drives climate change.

However, according to research presented this week at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society, a new method of extracting the methane could effectively make it a carbon-neutral fossil fuel.
'Bridging fuel'

Due to their physical structure, clathrate hydrate cages "prefer" to have carbon dioxide at their cores, so if carbon dioxide is pumped into the hydrate, it spontaneously takes the methane's place. As a result, it should be possible to simultaneously extract methane and store carbon dioxide.

"Methane from hydrate could be a bridging fuel, to lead towards more renewable energies," says Tim Collett of the United States Geological Survey.

According to the results in Collett's presentation, the exchange process has been shown to work in the lab. Pumping carbon dioxide into rock cores containing hydrate successfully released the methane, and stored the carbon dioxide.

The US Department of Energy is now working with the oil company ConocoPhillips on a field trial in Alaska (pdf), to test whether the technique can be scaled up.
Rival technology

Previous attempts to obtain methane by heating up the hydrate were not effective, but pumping fluids out of the hydrate to release the pressure does release the methane. To be put into commercial practice, it is likely that the carbon storage method will need to outcompete this depressurisation technique.

Deborah Hutchinson of the USGS says that the technique "could make it possible to sequester CO2."

Natural gas normally contains a percentage of CO2, which under industry regulations must be pumped back into the gas wells when it is extracted.

"The first CO2 to be utilised in this [new] methodology would be the CO2 'cleaned' from raw natural gas produced in nearby wells," says Hutchinson. In other words, the CO2 sequestered in the extraction of methane in ice will most likely be the stuff separated from conventional gas reservoirs.

Globally, there are thought to be from 1015 to 1017 cubic metres of methane stored in hydrates – a vast store, large quantities of which should be recoverable.
'Limited sequestration'

Much of it is in sediments just below the sea floor, or trapped under permafrost. Some of the best-studied reservoirs are in Alaska, and beneath the Gulf of Mexico and the Sea of Japan.

The deposits on the North Slope of Alaska are among the richest. A 2008 USGS study showed that there are 2.4 trillion cubic metres (85 trillion cubic feet) of methane in hydrate form, which could be recovered using existing technology.

The US, Canada, Japan and Korea are all looking into clathrate hydrates as a possible energy source.

"A lot of countries are getting very serious about this," says Ray Boswell of the US National Energy Technology Laboratory. "Something that used to be more hype than reality is becoming something people are seriously talking about."

Bahman Tohidi of Heriot-Watt University's Institute of Petroleum Engineering says the Alaska trial is "a step in the right direction", but that the potential for sequestering carbon would be limited by the remote locations of the hydrate reservoirs. "You're talking about long distance CO2 transport," he says.

Neil Crumpton of UK environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth is sceptical. "It's a technology we think is best avoided. The US should be focusing its efforts on concentrated solar power in its southwestern deserts."

Crackerjack box

2009-03-27T13:25:06Z

The laptop has been giving me this nasty message, saying there were disk repairs to be done, that I had to reinstall the OS. *sigh* Nope. Cleaned it up, which took awhile 'cause I did the desktop as well. What's this all mean? Forgot to sleep.

Is this the tipping point for thin clients?

2009-03-26T19:08:23Z

Lock down their access to the physical media, because once exposed, you're fubar.

Speaking of throwing up: Here's where to check so your animal doesn't have to throw up, your plants.

East Bay folks: You know you want to live here:

2009-03-25T19:52:34Z

Perfect Example of why to leave S.F.

Here's one S.F. should do (- ) actual acohol

2009-03-18T22:44:55Z

Subway Gallery exhibit with Cellist, wine bar, coat rack & a few guys in black tie.

erg @ 2009-03-18T08:30:00

2009-03-18T18:22:57Z

The streets of San Francisco: All our cops have been trained to charge into a crack house & Riot Control by the Feds Some places, they just call in the MIL, when they need riot control
. Samson, Alabama may want to let its hair grow out just a little more; Using the Mil on the streets of the U.S. of A., is actually a crime.

What would you do, with your main drag?

Top of the block, they've gone Upscale for the Square.

Don't look at me, I don't think of those numbers as rent, I look at them as mortgage.

Speaking of Sci-Fi numbers, the owners of Star Trek are being sued for royalties.
Just how hard is it, to pay your people? Talk about Intellectual Property.

Not sure why this is better than Craig's list, but if you have something to say, you could make out like a Block Captain.

Wires cross; it's in their nature to do so.

Cat Fence: Keeping your cat the indoor/outdoor cat they've always wanted to be. The over hanging fruit, is really all about the over hanging fencing.

erg @ 2009-03-17T23:06:00

2009-03-18T08:32:31Z

If you want to have a church meeting, have it at Church. Be careful though, many churches let non believers attend as well.

Cliff house;still strawberries on the way down.

Know someone who was affected by the Maddoff Ponzi scheme? The I.R.S. is looking to help them out a bit.

erg @ 2009-03-10T22:28:00

2009-03-11T05:30:39Z

This is not for you if you've had a bad day today.

It's especially not for you if anyone you know has gone through surgery.

So, here's a "Unicorn moment" in the form of a TED video

If I'm improperly taxed, can I get out of my cellphone contract?

2009-03-09T21:35:36Z

90% of Verizon bills are improperly taxed.

Now I have to figure out the line of argument to get out of the contract early, to avoid their early termination fees.

It's never a one liner, it's always one thought used with whoever picks up the call, again with their supervisor and then again with whoever returns the call, as they push it to someone else. Each time more points have to be brought up.

Moog... But, worth it.

Sometimes I forget where I put my keys down

2009-03-09T19:25:41Z

So, you know, this is understandable, Mr. Phelps.

It's only the instructions for how to put together a nuclear warhead. It's good to know, that we could actually forget how to make "nukes".

Oh, and only if you want to read phunny commentary and follow the links the author provides, does this get funnier and funnier. I know, who has that much time on their hands, but it is gigglesome.

I don't mind the last line, it's the paragraph above it...

2009-03-08T18:05:09Z

I personally am not impressed by the attack on the McRepubs, by that paragraph. The rest points a light.

When I say McRepubs, I'm not referring necessarily to McCain, but the corporate Mclown tools mentioned in the praragraph. Yes, the paragraph that I'd have taken out.

It's not that I have a thing against the Faith...

2009-03-08T05:07:09Z

It's the policy's I have a problem with.
Update:

Oh, and just to be clear here: This sense of justice is why turning to the church for Justice, is a very, bad idea. Cardinel Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Catholic church's Congregation for Bishops said "... the accused stepfather would not be expelled from the church."

Backdoor policy

2009-03-06T04:28:59Z

Getting the Feds to recognise Marrriage in the states in which they have enacted equal protection for LGBT.