Latitude is a pretty cool feature built into mobile google maps. It allows your friends to see where you are based on gps location or cell tower radius. Casey and I use it to find out where we are in the work day (working late, at the store, etc). This ad stunt by google is kinda cool:
CNN is following an article here, that details the current standoff. The original ship the somali pirates tried to hijack is gone with security on-board. All that’s left is the lifeboat with the original ship captain and 4 or 5 pirates with machine guns, and an enormous US destroyer ship capable of destroying small islands.
No one actually knows what is going on during the current “negotiation” but so far all I hear is that it’s a “delicate situation” because the captain is on board. There’s even talk of paying off these losers so they release the capatain! In my opinion, that’s bullshit. Here’s my version of one of several options that insure the captain’s safety:
3 special forces guys with scuba outfits and a spare respirator go into the water undetected and swim underneath the lifeboat. The article I linked to above says the lifeboat has 10 days worth of food but no restrooms. So all the guys on board are going to have to sit in the water every once in a while to poop at least once per day. When the captain goes into the water to poop, the special forces guys pull him under and give him a respirator. At the same time, snipers on the navy boat take head shots to each of the pirates if they go for their guns.
Problem solved, no one is hurt and the next set of pirates will think twice the next time they try to hijack a boat. The important thing to note here is that we’re setting a precedent. If we give these guys money and let them go, piracy will no doubt increase…
Download and save to desktop then browse to this folder during found new hardware wizard.
Quickcam Drivers
This is a pretty cool idea. It’s worth pointing out that you must first sniff the bluetooth address which is similar to a MAC address and then you must guess the pin. Most devices are apparently set to a default of ‘0000′ so if you’re concerned, set yours to something else. Of course there are only 10^4 or 10,000 unique pin combinations, which isn’t that hard to brute force.
It’s as if someone sent me a joke in the mail. I love it. Maybe I should write a check to Mercury car insurance for $null amount?
Came across this today and thought it was post-worthy:
I would expect any program that uses cout in more than one thread,
without locking, to fail in random ways. A deadlock or crash means
you got lucky, because by the specs in that case it’s allowed to
erase your disk and impregnate your sister.
I found it here in a discussion of using cout from concurrent threads.
I got an air compressor for a couple hundred dollars from autozone today. It’s not bad, it came with a bunch of cheap-o air tools too. Of course I didn’t have the right size sockets so that screwed things up. I bought it because the toyota dealer was charging double for an oil change to rotate the tires too. So when I got home to do it myself the lug nuts were on tighter than they’d ever been before…probably not a coincidence since the guy was not real happy that we figured out his scam. So my quest to save $30 cost me around $300. But it’s not like I wont use this thing for a lot of other stuff.
Lately this picture accurately describes my work day. I do this all day long. I think the only difference is that I’m not smiling anymore.
This ebay seller implies he’s selling a $100 coupon but he’s actually selling a green PostIt attached to the coupon. He goes on to truthfully describe the coupon which he is NOT selling. You gotta admire the ingenuity of this scammer. Then again, I also hate him 
link to auction
The more I take classes for my masters, the more deeply rooted my love-hate relationship with school becomes. This is my second class with professor Crowley at USC. The guy is amazing and I find myself reusing the stuff I learn in his classes daily. But I also spend most of my non-working life writing code for his homework assignments. In this 11 week class, I’ve probably spent an average of 3 hours a day; not just on the 2 days of class, every single day, including weekends! I’m not gonna do the math but I know that’s got to be some serious time I lost from my life. I could take an easier teacher; everyone knows who they are. But after the class I feel this sort of liberation from my ignorance of the subject he teaches. I’m even using my skills that i learn in his class at work. So [insert aerospace company here], you are at least getting some of your money’s worth