Author: cosmo

Tom bought me a book for Christmas that pretty much sums up my life. Nice.

Makin’ cookies with sugar that’s… nine years old?

It’s been a couple of years since the Mentos + Diet Coke phenomenon, so it’s time for a crazy new combination of fun.

Enter potassium chlorate and Gummy Bears!

Step 1: Start with a test tube of molten potassium chlorate.

Step 2: Slide a single red Gummy Bear down the tube to his doom.

Step 3: Watch the flames!

These shots are taken from a video clip, and the flaming concoction lasted for a good twenty seconds. Pretty impressive for a single little lump of chewy red sugar.

Now, back in the old days we’d all see this and say, “Coooooooool!”. These days, it means that by next Tuesday we’ll hear about a new directive from the TSA about how Gummy Bears are no longer allowed on domestic airline flights. Who knows what evil could be perpetrated by terrorists armed with chewy candies?

“If brains were dynamite some people wouldn’t have enough to blow their noses.”

— seen on Slashdot

“Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end.”

— Stephen Hawking

In a discussion on Slashdot someone posed this question:

To which someone else came back with a hilarious reply:

Ahh, physics geek humor.

So another fun insurance thing came up today. I received one of those envelopes filled with random pages of text from the insurance company, most of which deal with how they’re changing their privacy policy to allow any yahoo in the hemisphere to contact you with “special offers” and whatnot. But I saw this really important boldface type about my terrorism insurance coverage, and I just knew that I had to read it so I can fully understand what a terrorist attack on my house would mean to me.

It’s important to notice that only certified acts of terrorism are covered by this statement. Of course that makes me ask several questions:

1) Who certifies terrorist acts? Is that something the insurance company does, or is there some branch of the federal government that specializes in this sort of thing?

2) What are the requirements for something to be certified? Does one of these inspector people stand around in the carnage, frowning a bit, and then nod and say, “Yep, this was a terrorist act”?

3) Why are only 90% of the “terrorism losses” covered? I mean, come on, you’re leaving a measly 10% left? Just pay the whole thing.

4) Since pretty much everything, including my Carmex lip balm, is considered a terrorist tool these days, wouldn’t that pretty much mean even a dog sneezing on my laptop could be covered by this policy?

You know how realtors and pizza places and HVAC companies all have those refrigerator magnets they send you for whatever reason? (Maybe it’s because when you need HVAC work done, the first place you look is on your fridge door?) Well, the insurance agent who handles some business liability stuff for me sent me a magnet today:

It’s got a nice little 2008 calendar, yada yada, but I guess the thing that cracked me up is the spooky glowing blue eyeball. I suppose it goes with the slogan “Keeping my eye on your rates”, but frankly it’s a little weird having a big eye tracking me around the kitchen as I get some milk from the fridge.

“The bottom line is that music has lost its economic value to consumers. But it still has emotional value. People will never stop listening to music; they’ve just stopped paying for it.”

— Wayne Rosso

Things are hopping over at Zing. I hired a new programmer and he started last week. This week I posted a job on Craigslist, because we’re getting so much work that we need even more people on staff. Plus, foosball is much more fun with a foursome.

So once again I get to enjoy incoming resumes from people who, to put it bluntly, don’t have a clue. Here’s an actual line from the e-mail “cover letter” I received today:

So here’s a guy who actually has a resume that doesn’t reflect his talents. That’s a first for me. Out of some kind of morbid curiosity, I looked at the resume. The guy is apparently a real brainiac, because his recent work experience includes work in a “Quantum Engineering Lab” and a job description of “Investigating Zero Point Energy”.

Now, I really dig zero-point energy (who doesn’t?)… but that’s because I’m a physicist at heart. As a programmer, and the owner of a company looking for programmers, I really struggle to understand how someone involved with zero-point energy will help me build my next client’s web site.

Whee!