The Bard of the Grey Wind

Things I love about my friend Edward Waters:

He writes poetry, sermons, and is a beautiful singer/songwriter.
He is devoted to his wife Cindy.
He has eternal life through our Lord, Jesus, the Holy One of Israel.
He's a big Lord of the Rings fan :).
He attends a great church.
He ministers to me by his newsletter and remembers me at Christmas.
He has a beard.

Need a Building? Just Add Water

via Wired News It's a portable (500 lbs) instant shelter-in-a-bag made of concrete-impregnated fabric lined with plastic. Just add water (no measuring) to the bag, inflate the structure with air, and in 12 hours your 172 square foot shelter is ready for use. All the convenience of a tent, but with the protection of a modular structure, and much cheaper.

The inventors are engineers pursuing a master's degree in industrial design engineering at the Royal College of Art in London. William Crawford and Peter Brewin came up with the idea when they were thinking of an entry for the annual British Cement Association competition for new and innovative uses of concrete.

I want one.

Very cool igloo photo

This is a nighttime photo of an igloo lit from inside, from the people who bring you the "Ice Box (r)" igloo-making tool.

13 things that do not make sense

Via New Scientist . What is the stuff that blows the minds of the scientists? That forces them to think heretical thoughts? That threatens the very foundations of physics, chemistry, physiology? There's thirteen of them.

Religion and the Founding of the American Republic

The Library of Congress has an exhibit called Religion and the Founding of the American Republic:

"This exhibition demonstrates that many of the colonies that in 1776 became the United States of America were settled by men and women of deep religious convictions who in the seventeenth century crossed the Atlantic Ocean to practice their faith freely."

Because it's a library, the exhibit consists mainly of books and documents, but the online articles are fascinating.

Bad behavior of e-mail users is helping spam grow

According to a survey conducted by security firm Mirapoint and market research company the Radicati Group, nearly a third of e-mail users have clicked on links in spam messages. One in ten users have bought products advertised in junk mail.

Clicking on a link in a spam message can expose people to viruses and alert spammers to live e-mail accounts.

If no-one responded to junk e-mail and didn't buy products sold in this way, then spam would be as extinct as the dinosaurs

Read more at the BBC

Family-friendly films make big bucks

'Incredibles,' 'Treasure' a holiday banquet for BV:

"With the exception of 'Polar Express,' which carries a G rating, every film in the top five this weekend was rated PG. The aggregate boxoffice for those five films comprised an impressive 76% of the sum of the top 12 pictures."

Xandros Linux desktop hits Walmart.com

DesktopLinux says: "Linux software maker Xandros has joined the growing number of open source software offerings on PC desktops at Wal-Mart's online store. Like other PCs available from Wal-Mart, the Xandros-powered systems don't come with a monitor, and range in price from US $200 to $600."

Emergency Essentials

Emergency Essentials sells freeze dried food in cans and pouches, MREs (Meals Ready to Eat), food and water storage equipment, first aid, shelter, camping, and disaster preparedness supplies, even a hand-cranked cell-phone charger.

Blogger is too successful

Google is taking steps to remedy the problems which are making Blogger slow and glitchy. They said they need more power. Meanwhile, my apologies, Faithful Readers, that I do not host my own blog.

The Reality of Faith and Good Works

via Tech Central Station:

"How sad that a bunch of Jesus freaks, working on their own, counter-intuitively even, without the guidance of the trained and the professional, seem to have discovered, worked out, the most effective method yet known of reducing the abuse of children. It must be something of a shock to those who insist that the State, the all-embracing Nanny, knows what is best for us." Read more

NATO

At ShoWest, National Association of Theatre Owners President John fithian urged film studios to "look beyond the liberal confines of Hollywood" and begin to make more family films, which, he pointed out, represented half the top-ten-grossing films of 2004. "There's more money in family movies," he said. "Families buy more tickets."

Carolina Theatre

At the Carolina Theatre tonight:

The Banff Mountain Film Festival - World Tour 2005 - hosted by Blue Ridge Mountain Sports and UNC-G Outdoor Adventures, featuring the world’s best films on mountain subjects.

Films showing:
Psicobloc,
The Collective,
Alone across Australia,
The Man Who Jumped Beneath the Earth or Russian Wave,
Out of Ophirica,
Sinners,
Ouray Ice.

For more information on the Festival, please visit the Banff Centre.

Tickets are $10 in advance, $8 with a valid student ID, and $12 at the door.

Things I've bought lately

I've ordered my copy of The Incredibles from Amazon.com. I want to give it away after viewing it, possibly to one of my nieces or nephews. If you are one of my nieces or nephews, place a comment on this post, and it's yours. First come, first served.

I've ordered an all-access pass to RiverRun film festival, and a film pass to Full Frame documentary film festival, so I'm all set.

I've made hotel reservations for Dragon*Con.

Corrie gets a wizard

As a fan of the best British soap, I find this news interesting, that Sir Ian McKellan is joining the cast of Coronation Street for ten episodes.via Reuters.co.uk

where you've been

Where I've been:
bold indicates the states I've been to, underline the states I've lived in and italicize the state I'm in now...

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /

This is a meme I found on Bloglines top links list for February 27.

OTHERPOWER.COM

OTHERPOWER.COM is for people who are looking for other sources of power, besides electricity, politics, or money. They have instructions for how to convert your mini-maglite into an LED flashlight that lasts 50 times longer.

The Passion Recut

The Carousel Cinemas on Battleground Ave in Greensboro, NC is showing Mel Gibson's The Passion Recut. It's supposed to have the violence toned down for a more general audience. I was glad to have the realism of the first one, because it's necessary, but I'm also glad to have it toned down. It was awful. Find a description and showtimes at TriadMovies.com.

Sidebar: I love Carousel Cinemas, because they are independent and support local cinema. I like that they show a mix of wide-release and limited-release titles. They don't avoid controversial films. They show films that represent every minority, including Christians, gays, African-Americans, Hispanic, etc. They have great refreshments, too, including a bistro cafe which serves food and hot beverages. In addition to liking the Carousel, my friends will tell you I spend a lot of money there!

Don't Shave That Yak!

Seth's Blog:

Yak Shaving is the last step of a series of steps that occurs when you find something you need to do.

Bottom line: "Doing it well now is much better than doing it perfectly later."

My lips hurt real bad!

I Caught you a delicious bass

Don't Be Jealous That I've Been Chatting Online With Babes All Day



The Official Napoleon Dynamite site

Hat tip to Luke.

Everyday Superheroes Action Figures

Happy Worker is a Canadian team which makes "everyday superheroes action figures", like GeekMan, BossMan, and MoneyMan. BossMan comes with three faces and a megaphone. MoneyMan comes with a wad of cash and a shredder.

The Eggcorn Database

Word weenies rejoice! The Eggcorn Database celebrates minor fender benders on the great freeway of English usage. Eggcorns (the term comes from a misuse of the word "acorns") are grammatical whoopsies like "vintage point" for "vantage point," "backpeddle" for "backpedal," and "run the gambit" for "run the gamut." Most of these are homophone substitutions, or the misuse of similarly sounding words. If you're into this kind of stuff (guilty!), editor Chris Waigl provides impressive, OED-like listings with citings and analyses. While some examples are particularly egregious and ego-massaging (consider "zero-sum gain", social morays, and French benefit), you may discover a few shameful eggcorns in your own closet. We got busted on "demure" for "demur" -- a mistake we'll never make again.

via Yahoo! Picks

Unfinished Business

THE MASTERS LOFT
50 Miller Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27104
336-722-9000

Saturday March 5, 2005
7:00PM – 10:00PM

UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Mike Nichols – Brandon Baine – Mitch Baine – Ed Nichols

PVRblog On TiVo Rebates

This discussion on PVRblog regarding why Tivo uses rebates to sell its machines reveals something significant about consumer psychology.

As to the idea of just lowering the price rather than offering a rebate, rebates are used for a couple of reasons (by just about every consumer electronics company out there):

1. Not everybody claims them. The fact that only a certain number of people will complete the rebate paperwork is figured into the cost of a rebate. Lowering the price would have a much larger financial impact than a rebate, likely making it impractical.

2. Just having a rebate drives people to buy products. Lowering the price $100 does not have the same effect as having a $100 rebate. People buy more products when there is a rebate - regardless of if the final price would be the same either way.

One commenter remarked that the industry standard for rebate redemption is only 2%.

Blue Collar and Proud of It!

Blue Collar and Proud of It! is a Web site devoted to connecting blue collar workers with job opportunities, building awareness of the many lucrative careers available, and encouraging people to be proud of a blue collar career.