[Toshi]

go to annualcreditreport.com <--- free yearly credit report from the three major credit reporting agencies. too bad you east coast people have to wait an extra year

also, this is the 2000th post in this thread. yay.

more bonus material for post 2000: http://www.redbullcopilot.com/ . i recommend going straight to the race section, then director's cut. also, this ad is worth watching, if only for its straight up weirdness (it's of a model riding a mechanical bull while eating a carls jr hamburger): http://www.carlsjr.com/tv/Bull_200k_qt.htm

 

[Toshi]

purple bear:

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/2353112/detail.html

 

[Barbaton]

entertaining vids:

http://www.sublimedirectory.com/stimes/09-20-2004/intersection.wmv

http://www.sublimedirectory.com/stimes/07-12-2004/mustang.wmv

http://www.sublimedirectory.com/stimes/08-02-2004/musicballs.wmv

http://www.sublimedirectory.com/stimes/06-14-2004/ref.wmv

and at least one bike related one.

http://www.sublimedirectory.com/stimes/04-19-2004/minnow.wmv

 

[Barbaton]

hmmm. i was just looking at the funny videos. there seems to be a lot of sketchy stuff on that site... hmmm...

 

[Toshi]

that musicballs one is blatantly, er "ball-synced". he's not hitting the proper keys

 

[Toshi]

this is quite cool:

http://www.cyphic.net/zoomquilt/zoom.htm

 

[Toshi]

here is what i've been working on for the last month or two: Autumn 2004 gross anatomy vivas (4.3 MB word file). being done is good, but now i need to be able to recite all the stuff in it

 

[Toshi]

also, a xpost of a small tire review i wrote for another board that is down at the moment:

i run 31x10.5 bfg MT tires on my pathfinder. here's a glamour shot:

http://s91590527.onlinehome.us/pathfinder.jpg

they aren't overly loud but are definitely louder than stock. the switch to them + the 29"->31" jump hurt mileage by about 2 mpg, or roughly 10%. driving more conservatively to prevent the transmission from downshifting has gotten much of that loss back. traction seems fine altho i have little to compare it to.

i picked the bfg mt because it did well in some mud bog test in one of the trashy 4x4 magazines. it almost got the same distance in the mud bog as the swamper trx or whatever its name is, and was the quietest mt model they tested.

 

[Toshi]

hmm, it may be several months before i receive a replacement for my bic-able kryptonite:

the above was posted on nov 14. now it's dec 6, and i just received a shipping label (via email, picked up/printed out electronically from ups.com, nifty) from kryptonite. so i should have a new lock soon.

 

[Barbaton]

the above was posted on nov 14. now it's dec 6, and i just received a shipping label (via email, picked up/printed out electronically from ups.com, nifty) from kryptonite. so i should have a new lock soon.

damn. i keep meaning to call them about that. did you have to have the original receipt?

 

[Toshi]

damn. i keep meaning to call them about that. did you have to have the original receipt?

i have no idea where the receipt is. i just have to ship them the lock and a working key. sign up online, don't call them. www.kryptonitelock.com i think

 

[Toshi]

ugh. shipping the lock was a huge pain. pouring rain, nasty traffic on the roads, huge puddles to hydroplane through, and the ups store was on the opposite side of the mall from where i parked. but i should have a new, free, non-tubular-key krypto u-lock by new years... and now's the perfect time to do the swap since classes ended last friday.

 

[Toshi]

check it out, side car motorcross: http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104609

 

[Toshi]

some science humor: http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/crerar/exhibits/humor7.html

make sure to read about F. D. C. Willard

 

[Toshi]

one final exam down, three to go. this one took all of 25 minutes of its allotted 3 hours. it was really short, 26 multiple choice questions -- there were about half a dozen people who finished in about that time, and that was after checking answers. if only the anatomy final would be that easy.

it's weird having finals before winter break btw

here's a study on the use of "dude", i kid you not: http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/12/08/dude.study.ap/ . soft sciences are up to no good, i tell ya ink:

a quote from it:

Kiesling says in the fall edition of American Speech that the word ["dude"] derives its power from something he calls cool solidarity -- an effortless kinship that's not too intimate.

Cool solidarity is especially important to young men who are under social pressure to be close with other young men, but not enough to be suspected as gay.

 

[Toshi]

here's a new pic from tonight:

 

[narlus]

that purple bear is cool.

how about puce wombats?

 

[Toshi]

that purple bear is cool.

how about puce wombats?

yeah, he looks so sad in that pic, too. is puce wombats a reference to this?

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7117/chant/poetry2.html

i am proud to have contributed to the locking of the "pig on a spit" thread along with you, heh

 

[Toshi]

here's a cool tool, google suggest

http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en <-- it autocompletes entries based on popular queries, not what you've searched on before. try starting with "my cat"

 

[Toshi]

this is what i posted on another board, just in case you guys are in the market for cell phones:

Originally posted by SafariX [on MacNN forums, not here]:
The SE T637 has been perfect. Great reception, bluetooth, great battery life and a super bright screen.

i've owned a nokia 3650 and currently have a SE T637. the T637 is not all roses:

T637 high points:
- small size
- good looking
- free themes available
- reception is fine with Cingular in metro Seattle, WA

T637 low points:
- the phone is locked down: i can't put my own ringtones, programs, or games on, can't modify the menu or the stupid joystick shortcuts from the main menu
- the interface is awkward. there's no quick way to exit from the browser, for instance, and having a dedicated "back" button that's not at the top edge of the buttons is also annoying
- the camera is useless
- the built in WAP browser is also useless
- unlocking the phone (both in the sense of carriers and in letting the user change programs) requires a PC and a dedicated cable

Nokia 3650 high points:
- Series 60 rocks. Opera for Series 60 worked great
- my T-Mobile 3650 let me transfer files freely via bluetooth, including wav and midi ringtones, apps/games
- unlocking the phone from T-Mobile was a matter of going to a website, generating a code, and typing it in
- reception was good
- battery life was good
- camera took very decent images, sort of painterly
- syncing of calendars, etc. via isync worked fine. additionally, address card pictures (that you see in iChat and in address book) synced to the phone, so when you'd call or receive a call from a contact their picture would show up next to their name. very slick.

3650 low points:
- HUGE in comparison to modern phones
- very lightweight feeling, not confidence inspiring
- circular keyboard not for some. my thumb got used to it
- Opera is not supported any more, and isn't perfect

overall i'd pick the T637 again at this point in my life, since i'm using the phone exclusively as a phone and its size is important. however, in terms of usability and interface the nokia series 60 product wins hands down without a question. once i unlock my T637 perhaps i'll have a better impression of it.

 

[Toshi]

just when you thought that you had seen it all comes along an off-road segway:

http://www.hardocp.com/images/news/1091057629x4GdutY5Cn_1_1_l.jpg

 

[Quadari]

just when you thought that you had seen it all comes along an off-road segway:

How about segway polo?
http://www.bayareaseg.com/Polo.htm

(As linked from /.)

How is everyone out there anyway? I've been sort of lurking for a while.

 

[Toshi]

hi ari, how's life? i just got in/done with pics from a holiday party at kristel's apartment building, which is filled with yuppies. good food and open bar tho

rest o' pics here

time to go to sleep and then wake up early for some anatomy review action

 

[Quadari]

hi ari, how's life?

Life is okay. Almost done with my current project. Then a few weeks off, then, who knows what?

I just posted long overdue pictures from the red sox victory parade.

What's everyone doing for the end-o-year festivities?

 

[Toshi]

oh, i did something bike related yesterday: bought new, big grips (a month after the big grips thread ) and dropped off my toasted rear wheel from the evil to be rebuilt. it's getting a Sun MTX rim, 14/15 double butted spokes, and brass nipples, and i'm sticking with the current XT disc hub + gusset 1'er semi-ghetto singlespeed setup.

 

[Toshi]

mmm, done with gross anatomy!

here's a random pic of the funky keys of a friend's piano snapped on saturday:

 

[Quadari]

mmm, done with gross anatomy!

Gross! (Yes...I'm funny.)

Congrats though!

 

[Toshi]

i'm mirroring my comments from this thread in the lounge, because i think that the original poster is going to delete it soon since no one is siding with the ridiculous claims made by his friend, the assistant referenced below. the quoted text is from this article. finally, use this login information if you want to see the article without registering.

Anderson claims the alleged e-mail served as a contract, but he was always an at-will employee, the lawsuit states.

"Defendant alleges that such an e-mail exists, but does not have a copy of the e-mail, although he purportedly 'remembers it clearly,' " the lawsuit states.

As Armstrong's assistant, Anderson performed various tasks, including helping Armstrong with day-to-day training and landscaping. After he was fired, Anderson demanded that Armstrong and his company pay him and his wife, Allison Anderson, half-a-million dollars, the lawsuit states. Anderson asked that Armstrong purchase cashier's checks worth $300,000 payable to Mike Anderson and two $100,000 cashier's checks made out to two law firms that made the demands and wrote two letters on Anderson's behalf.

Anderson also requested a signed yellow Tour de France jersey and three autographed posters made out to "My Friend Mike — Thanks for all your help and support," the lawsuit states.

Anderson also demanded a "highly favorable" reference letter with precise wording and a future provision requiring Armstrong to make endorsements and public appearances at a bike shop which Anderson might buy or open in the future.

the trainer sounds like a lowlife. read the above passage if you haven't already...

 

[Barbaton]

ouch

http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105253

 

[Toshi]

here's a pretty cool jumping vid: http://www.blurredout.com/Movies/Dirty04.wmv

 

[narlus]

yeah, he looks so sad in that pic, too. is puce wombats a reference to this?

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7117/chant/poetry2.html

i try to stay from poetry, esp bad poetry.

i am proud to have contributed to the locking of the "pig on a spit" thread along with you, heh

yeah, the long arm of the law got us. oh well.

 

[Toshi]

woohoo. went night riding today with evilbob from RM. took the evil with some changes:

- the abovementioned nifty oury grips. they feel nicer than ruffians to my paws
- i slapped the Z1 on the DBR, part of the benefit of running chris king headsets on all of the off-road bikes. it just needed about, say, 3" of headset spacers to work
- new battery for the stadium light, of course
- swapped saddles with the road bike: the uncomfortable terry firefly goes to the commuter, the dbr gets my tried and true wtb sst.k

 

[Barbaton]

for you lego loving computer monkeys:

http://goldfish.ikaruga.co.uk/logic.html

 

[Toshi]

for you lego loving computer monkeys:

http://goldfish.ikaruga.co.uk/logic.html

wow, that's too much for my finals-addled brain to handle first thing in the morning, but very cool nonetheless

 

[Toshi]

oh, i [...] dropped off my toasted rear wheel from the evil to be rebuilt. it's getting a Sun MTX rim, 14/15 double butted spokes, and brass nipples, and i'm sticking with the current XT disc hub + gusset 1'er semi-ghetto singlespeed setup.

the new wheel is done. will post low depth of field pics of it and the dbr + Z1 setup on the first sunny day that comes my way. which may well be a long time off

 

[narlus]

what's the dbr? you have a diamondback?

 

[Toshi]

what's the dbr? you have a diamondback?

that i do. vintage 1996 diamondback racing axis. tange prestige, breezer dropouts, not even a thought of disc brakes in the mind of the designer. its small tubes match the 30mm stanchions of the z1 well

here's an ugly old pic. no, i don't actually run toeclips. or red tires. or that z2 superfly (cracked both stanchions ). or that stem.

actually, this pic is more recent. the pictured firefly saddle is quite painful, just for the record. wtb sst.k is a much more agreeable piece of leather and metal.

 

[Toshi]

i went on a night ride with skookum and two other lurking monkeys tonight. did about 10 miles, starting well after sunset. feet got cold but my light did its job. my suspicions about needing a helmet light as well were confirmed. i'll attend one more night ride to make sure this recent streak isn't too much of a fluke and then order one (a non-hid this time!) up

i also mounted the sportworks bob ratchet rooftop mount that i bought back in october. it was surprisingly difficult to install, requiring lots of crescent wrench action in tight quarters. hopefully my (and others') bikes will not fly off of it on the freeway...

 

[Toshi]

iso 3200 + pushed 0.5 stop (! which makes it ISO 4480 equivalent), 50/1.4 wide open at f/1.4, 1/60. shot in almost no (and very red) light, noise reduction applied of course:

i also went on a group ride today, and bonked. hard. here's the group:

see the gallery for more, and this thread in the lounge for commentary on the images, particularly this one of Vno:

 

[Toshi]

here's the newly rebuilt wheel:

a 100% crop, not bad at all imo for the 12-24