Posts Tagged ‘links’
Thor Daddy Issues
If you really want to scare Thor, threaten to call his All-Father on him.
This Is Just Wrong (Links)
A 15-Year-Old Girl Was Forced To Wear A “Shame Suit” After Her School Decided Her Dress Was Too Short. (Buzzfeed)
More Cool Space News
Ready for more cool space news? This Gizmodo headline had me at “hello world” — NASA Will Reformat Mars Rover’s Flash Memory From 125 Million Miles Away.
How neat is that? According to Gizmodo, “NASA’s Opportunity rover is still trundling across the surface of Mars… But its software is getting bogged down, so NASA’s doing a full system backup, memory wipe, and reboot. It’s just like your routine computer cleanup, just from the next planet over.”
The Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity (note to future Geek Gold Gard parents — good names for twins!) have 256MB of flash memory each.
Imagine it this way. It is the Dark Times, the days of Windows 95, 98, and (Lords of Cobol help us all) Windows ME. Eventually the computer running said operating systems becomes so filled with cruft that it is unusable. (To be fair, this happened to me recently with Windows 7, although that was more about the bloatware that came pre-installed on the laptop. But I digress.) You reformat the hard drive and re-install the OS. (In my case, after several years of this, you give up, buy a Mac, and become an iHole.)
Now imagine that you are doing something similar, but remotely. REALLY remotely. Like, you’re on Earth and the computer is on frickin’ MARS.
Remember, we promised to get more excited about space travel.
This XKCD comic was in the comments section on Gizmodo, but I’m reposting it here because (a) I can (XKCD is cool that way) and (b) it’s funny.
NASA Will Reformat Mars Rover’s Flash Memory From 125 Million Miles Away – Gizmodo
Image via Wikipedia
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Grumpy Pants Tries To Shut Down Kid’s Lemonade Stand
This of course happened in Florida. Because, you know. Florida.
“Lemonade with straws” by newleaf01 – Lemonade-009375. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Gawker points us towards an article on from the Tampa Bay Times about a 12-year-old boy with a lemonade stand. Apparently the boy’s neighbor is not happy and is trying to get the stand shut down.
(Note: We removed the embedded video because it was auto-playing and we think that’s annoying.)
This quote from Gawker was my favorite:
The Times reports that his most recent email to City Hall complained that T.J.’s lemonade stand was back for the summer, “AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!”
h/t Florida Man Asks Police to Shut Down Kid’s “Illegal” Lemonade Stand (Gawker)
via Tampa Bay Times
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Real Life Japanese Toy (Buying) Story
From Kotaku East, the story of a father trying to buy a Yokai Watch watch, which apparently isn’t a watch. It’s some kind of anime-related toy. The story, which I admit I expected to find exasperating, is actually rather sweet, mostly because the author, Brian Ashcraft, appears to have raised his son well. There’s no whining, no “dad, you go wait on line for the toy while I sit home and ignore the 782 toys that I already have”. The kid, who is 5 years old, even calls Toys R Us himself. He also does something very cute that I won’t spoil for you because it’s, well, cute, and the original article isn’t very long so just go ahead and click the link below and read it.
Consider it research: according to one of the related links below, the company that makes the Yokai Watch non-watch could release it over here. Looking at how popular this thing is in Japan, I’d say it’s worth a try.
Buying Japan’s Most Popular Toy Was Crazy Hard – Kotaku
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Comics And Robin Williams Collide (Links)
There’s a series of panels in the graphic novel ‘The Watchmen’ in which Rorschach (probably my favorite character in the book) delivers the following ‘joke’:
Man goes to doctor. Says he’s depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says, “Treatment is simple. Great clown, Pagliacci, is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up.” Man bursts into tears. Says, “But doctor, I am Pagliacci.”
Here’s the “joke” as portrayed in the movie version of ‘Watchmen’.
Personally I prefer the original, which you can see at ComicBook.com, or right here.
For anyone wondering what the hell this has to do with Robin Williams, here is the explanation from ComicBook.com:
Echoing the series’ central question of “who watches the watchmen?” the joke poses the question of “who makes the clown laugh?” It’s a question many fans find themselves asking with Williams’ passing. So many fans turned to him and his work for cheering up when they were down, but who was there to do the same for him?
If you, or anyone you know, is struggling with depression, remember that the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s is open 24/7, and that the number is 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
I appreciate that they put in the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s phone number. If there is anything we can learn from Williams’ untimely demise, it’s that suicide is not a joke and not limited to those whose lives appear to be crappy. Depression is very real and should be taken seriously.
Our condolences to Robin Williams’ family, friends, and loved ones.
Watchmen Joke Goes Viral After Robin Williams’ Death | Comicbook.com.
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How To Rotate Video in OSX (Tips)
We’re putting together our post about this year’s Crown Royal Your Hero’s Name Here 400, and needed to know how to rotate video in OSX. It’s not that difficult, but it’s also not as easy as it should be, so we thought we’d share this lil’ tech tip in case you need it.
Basically, the default free Quicktime player in current versions of OSX does not offer a Rotate Video option. For that you need to use Quicktime 7 Pro, which is not free. I bought a license years ago back when I used Windows. (Before the dark times… Before the Empire… Actually, I prefer Macs, but what the hell. Any excuse to use a quote from the late great Sir Alex Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi. Geek Gold Card.)
Apple’s online store lists Quicktime 7 Pro in both Mac and Windows flavors.
There are probably free ways to rotate a video in OSX — iMovie perhaps, or some open-source/freeware option. There are generally more free options available for Windows users than for iHoles such as myself. Using QT7 Pro is simply a very, very easy way to do it.
Bonus tip: if you bought a license to Quicktime 7 Pro back in the Jurassic era like I did and still have the code, you may be able to use it to unlock the software on your newer Mac. No guarantees, your mileage may vary, caveat code-enterer. But it’s worth a try.
If anyone reading this has a tip for rotating video on any operating system — OSX, Windows, Linux, BeOS, OS2/Warp, something even more obscure — please share it in the comments. It takes a village, folks.
How do I rotate video? | Apple Support Communities.
