I can't believe Austin wasn't affected!

Evacuees came to Austin fleeing Ike in the Gulf of Mexico. I thought for sure that Austin would have to endure high winds and heavy rainfall, but we got only a few sprinkles. The Boston Globe has some really beautiful and heart wrenching pics of the distruction of Hurricane Ike. Now the rebuilding process begins for the evacuees.

Donation Sites:
Austin Capital Area Food Bank of Texas
American Red Cross
Salvation Army

"In its brief lifespan of only 13 days, Hurricane Ike wreaked great deal of havoc. Affecting several countries including Cuba, Haiti, and the United States, Ike is blamed for approximately 114 deaths (74 in Haiti alone), and damages that are still being tallied, with estimates topping $10 billion. Many shoreline communities of Galveston, Texas were wiped from the map by the winds, storm surge and the walls of debris pushed along by Ike - though Galveston was spared the level of disaster it suffered in 1900."
- Boston Globe

[via Digg]

How to keep the remaining herd alive?

As I get older, my mortality becomes more prevalent. I am trying to live healthier as I grow older to delay the inevitable. One thing that I am trying to preserve is my brain power. EcoSalon.com has a good article on brain food.

"On a deadline? Need to rally? Avoid the soda, vending machine snacks and tempting Starbucks pastries and go for these powerful brain boosters instead. The path to a bigger, better brain is loaded with Omega-3 fats, antioxidants, and fiber. Give your brain a kick start: eat the following foods on a daily or weekly basis for results you will notice."
- EcoSalon.com

[via Digg]

Real Men Where a Goatee

The GoateeSaver has got to be a time saver. I totally enjoy my goatee, but I hate getting the sides straight and even when it has grown out too long. I also usually shave the whole thing off, if I booger up the sides as well. Then all of the chubby kid jokes come out of the wood work.

[via Gizmodo]

Robotics, Say What? BigDog!

BigDog is a level of robotics like I have never seen. Not that I see a lot of robotics in a typical day, but Boston Dynamics is doing some stuff with robotics that is off the hook!

"BigDog has an on-board computer that controls locomotion, servos the legs and handles a wide variety of sensors. BigDog’s control system manages the dynamics of its behavior to keep it balanced, steer, navigate, and regulate energetics as conditions vary. Sensors for locomotion include joint position, joint force, ground contact, ground load, a laser gyroscope, and a stereo vision system. Other sensors focus on the internal state of BigDog, monitoring the hydraulic pressure, oil temperature, engine temperature, rpm, battery charge and others."
- Boston Dynamics

Evolution of Olympic Torches

The NY Times has an interactive collection of the Olympic Torches. My have times changed and so has the Olympic Torch.

"Commemorating the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus, its origins lie in ancient Greece, when a fire was kept burning throughout the celebration of the ancient Olympics. The fire was reintroduced at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, and it has been part of the modern Olympic Games ever since. The torch relay of modern times which transports the flame from Greece to the various designated sites of the games had no ancient precedent and was introduced by Carl Diem, with the support of Joseph Goebbels, at the controversial Berlin Olympics as a means to promote Nazi ideology."
- Wikipedia

[via Gizmodo]

Playing Fetch w/an Eagle

It's not evryday that you witness someone playing fetch with an 8ft. eagle. It comes with a price, but you'll have to watch the video to see what I mean. Pretty freakin' cool!

[via Digg]

Smart Arse Pen

The LiveScribe Smart Pen is something that I wish I would have had when I started my Master's program. The Gadgeteer has a very thorough review of the LiveScribe Smart Pen.

"Pros:
Very easy to use
Records audio and ink
Can search for written words in text
Can share notes with others
Cons:
Have to use special paper with the pen"
- The Gadgeteer

[via The Gadgeteer]

I See Bad People

CrimnalSearches.com is an interesting site. A previous blog, Family Watch Dog + Google Maps, talks about a site to find sex offenders in your neighborhood. It's interesting just to see who and where peeps who have been caught doing bad are in your neighborhood.

[via Lifehacker]

/* Cool Tool Whatchamacallits */

I haven't posted a Cool Tool Whatchamacallits in a while, but I do keep track of all of the good stuff coming out of CoolTools. Here are the last twenty CoolTools that I marked as favorites.

1. CliC Readers
2. Strap-A-Handle
3. Bemis Easy-Clean Toilet Seat
4. Sleeptracker Pro
5. IKEA Frost Drying Rack
6. SpeediBleed
7. Bod-i-Bag
8. MacKissic Mighty Mac Chipper Shredder
9. Scoop Clip
10. BodyGlide
11. Black & Decker Accu Mark Level
12. It's All Too Much
13. Multi-Use Car Charger
14. Topeak Turbo Morph Bike Pump
15. Gamma Seal Lid
16. Roku + Netflix
17. StrollAway
18. Bivanorak
19. Yamuna Body Rolling Footsavers
20. Fluke Voltage, Continuity & Current Tester

[via CoolTools]

Xobni Integrates with LinkedIn

I just re-installed Xobni with LinkedIn integration and it's NICE!

"Xobni, the email startup that we’ve described as “The Superplugin for Outlook”, has partnered with LinkedIn to automatically pull contact information from the popular professional network. Xobni will now draw from public profiles on the LinkedIn network, displaying information about contacts’ employers, job titles, and pictures as part of the plugin’s sidebar."
- TechCrunch

[via TechCrunch]

Wake and Bake, DUDE!

The Food Dudes keep it real with a series of cooking videos on Eat Drink or Die. They have recipes such as steak and eggs, the one eyed willie, thomas' mcmuffin, "kosher our way" bacon egg bagel and jon's dirty maple sausage gravy.

[via Digg]

George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008)

George Carlin passed away 06-22-2007, Sunday of heart failure at age 71. He was an American icon and will be missed.

Known as the guy who took black humor and beat the crap out of it, then introduced it to drugs and porn, and then took it around the country for a series of unbelievably insulting stand up shows, Carlin also left a footprint on the media. Having ridiculed television for the seven dirty words you can’t hear on TV (and getting arrested for obscenity several times), he reached unprecedented fandom on the Internet, where thousands of kids were delighted to hear the dirty old man telling it like it is.

Here’s a short selection of George Carlin’s best YouTube flicks. If you’re a fan, I know you’ll enjoy them; if you’re one of the uninitiated, well, better late than never.
- Mashable.com

[via Digg]

UV or Not UV, That's the Question

Determine how much UV you are getting on your day at the beach with the Portable UV Monitor from the GadgetShop.

"The UV monitor gives pretty detailed analysis and determines how much exposure you shall get based on your skin type. If you use some kind of suncream for your skin, you can also input to the device to let it know what the SPF level is. And it’ll analyze everything for you, and work out an optimal exposure time for you to ensure that you don’t get sunburn."
- Techchee.com

[via Gizmodo]

Gravity Defying Houses

Check out hese Houses defying gravity photo gallery. Some would be ertty cool to live in and some are just a little too weird.

Mobile TV Guide is Enabling TV Addicts

What time is the season finale for L.O.S.T.? How can I find out quickly? Well Handmark has TV Guide Mobile for you to answer tv viewing questions.

MUTO by BLU

I can't even imagine how long it took to make this short film. You have to see it to believe it!

"The new short film by Blu an ambiguous animation painted on public walls. Made in Buenos Aires and in Baden (fantoche)"
- Vimeo.com

Windows XP SP3, What is it good for?

So what is Windows XP SP3 all about? Well the biggest item I could see besides a rollup of security and update patches is Network Access Protection (NAP).

"NAP is a policy enforcement platform built into Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows XP SP3 with which you can better protect network assets by enforcing compliance with system health requirements. Using NAP, you can create customized health policies to validate computer health before allowing access or communication; automatically update compliant computers to ensure ongoing compliance; and optionally confine noncompliant computers to a restricted network until they become compliant. For more information about NAP, see Network Access Protection: Frequently Asked Questions.""
- Microsoft

Before installing, I would reccommend reading over the "950717 Steps to take before you install Windows XP Service Pack 3". I installed it with no hiccups. The biggest item that I saw was about Internet Explorer (IE). If you want to be able to go backwards to IE6 after installing SP3, then make sure that you uninstall IE7 or IE8 before installing SP3, so that your currently installed IE version is 6.

"Microsoft recommends that users who want to retain the ability to downgrade from IE7 to IE6 should uninstall the former before upgrading to XP SP3. Once Windows XP has been updated to SP3, users can then install IE7 and if necessary, later restore IE6. IE8 Beta 1 users should also uninstall the preview before upgrading"
- ITWorld.com

Another good FAQ site for SP3 is WinSuperSite.com.

Limping to the Second Year

Well I have barely kept the ol' blog going for two years. I plan on keeping it up and running. School is kicking my bootie with writing, so I don't feel much like doing it for fun. I am keeping up on my RSS feeds and have added my ...My Google Reader Items... to the blog as well. So I thought it would be good to see what the posts were from years past:

April, 2007

• HALO 2 Blastacular Map Pack
• /* Cool Tool Whatchamacallits */
  • Domke Camera Bag
  • Tool Box Grill
  • Sand & Kleen Dustless Drywall Sanding
  • Cordinator
  • Chain Mail Glove
  • APC Universal Notebook Battery
  • SmudgeGuard
  • Viewtainer
  • Deep-Step Safety Ladder
  • Innotek Dog Training Collar
• XBOX360 Qwerty Keyboard for Controller
• Pimp That Snack
• Sculptures from Computer Parts and Such
• Christians and Technology
• Finally Pulled the Trigger on a Bluetooth Headset
• Nice Bunny Paper Toys
• Spring is in the Air
• Perfect Expresso

April 14, 2006

• XBOX 360 Gamercards...Gawsh!
• What do you mean LOL?
• Smokin Fonts and Icons
• Freebies
  • Neowin's Freeware Alternative List
  • PCWorld - 101 Fabulous Freebies
  • Freeware Utility to ... 300+ common problems solved
  • SnapFiles.com
  • CleanSoftware.org
• TiVo was It's Name-Oh
• HDTV 411
• Earbuds Suck

Samsung Instinct, Me Like-eee!!!

So SPRINT is trying to come out with an iPhone Killer. The Samsung Instinct looks pretty slick. I currently have the PPC-6700 with the Spb Mobile Shell v.2.0 GUI. I like it a lot! I have also seen Touch Commander that looks pretty swank for the PPC-6700.

[via CrunchGear]

Fuel Saving Tips

CNN has an article "How to lower the pain at the pump" that has 6 tips on how to be frugal when it comes to gasoline. I had posted an article on GasBuddy.com, but I think GasPriceWatch.com is a little better. The 6 tips that the CNN article gives are:

1. Find the cheapest gas stations in your area
2. The type of gas station makes a difference
3. What time you get to the pump
4. Driving style
5. Air cents
6. Use the right gas

[via Digg]