Considering buying Lojack for a new laptop – wonder if it is worth it.

I started taking graduate matsci courses several years ago at the UW via the Edge program, and also took some on campus. I have found it hard to continue though as the UW materials science school doesn’t have a deep schedule, and they have decommitted from the distance learning effort. So I am shopping for other programs.

Columbia’s program – CVN - Columbia Video Network – seems to be among the most complete with a full schedule of courses. And they offer a full MS degree via online. And you can start as a non-matriculated student. Florida has a program as well. And so does USC, tho the courses offered is a smaller slate than Columbia’s.

We have these plastic Stockli 7 liter watering cans that we love – but after years of use they are breaking down. I can’t find any US source for them which is a bummer. But these Dramm - Watering Cans seem to be an equivalent and are available widely. So we will give them a try – the 7L size are great for outdoor use – big enough to carry a lot of water, but not so big that they are unusable.

* Many Tricks · Witch – super useful task switcher, let’s you see all windows within an app * doug’s applescripts for itunes – a ton of scripts for manipulating your song library * Geektool – show system stats on the desktop

Infectious Car Art – pretty cool stuff.

Clever Uses: Magnets Kill the Cell Phone Speaker Buzz – an old but effective idea

Toolmonger » Blog Archive » Power-Drill Tent Stakes – OK I love to use power tools but I tend not to carry them while camping, not even if I ever car-camped. I guess this is for people setting up tents at shows, etc.

Hard-ass quote for the day:

Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.

-- Lou Holtz

Now that I have a PS3 I want to serve up photos etc to it. Trying to decide between all the choices out there:

* Google’s new media server * Free Media Player Streams iTunes, Syncs Content, Converts Video for iPod, PSP and Xbox 360 - SimpleCenter * WMP 11 of course * One man’s guide to all the choices out there * Eyeconnect seems to be liked on the Mac * or Mediatomb

I have a TON of photos and I need something that will perform well, not clear which of these is the way to go. Time to start experimenting I gues

I’m going to convert sometime in the next 6 months to an HDMI receiver I think – here are some Sony units – CrunchGear » Archive » Sony is adding three ES receivers to its 2008 line-up – I am wondering if I have to convert my current TV as well – it doesn’t have HDMI input, only component – will these receivers convert HDMI in to RGB? Need to learn more about the technical and DRM aspects of this.

CrunchGear » Archive » ‘Image Fulgurator’ ruins photos with hilarious results – this is awesome.

The WSDOT does a great job posting ferry schedules and making them available for cell phones. For some reason tho, the exact quotas for cars on each sailing are not online – you can get them in person at the ferry docks but no online presence. They are willing to email them to you tho, so here they are for Lopez this summer:

There are separate quotas for overheight vehicles, let me know if you need those.

Strategic News Service Blog » Blog Archives » Solving America’s Energy Crisis – a reasonable approach. I heartily agree with the idea of getting to all electric as soon as possible. We need an Apollo-like program – we need the leadership to propose it and to get everyone focused on it. The whole country focused on the July 20 1969 Apollo landing and rallied around it – we can do the same around the date of the last tanker docking at our shores from overseas.

As I’ve mentioned to some people – there will never be a solar embargo, there will never be a solar cartel, the sun isn’t controlled by governments inimical to our interests, “peak solar” is billions of years away, and solar production economics are going to follow a Moore’s-Law-like curve. What is not to like?