Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle: SUNDAY, Jul. 6, 2008 - Brendan Emmett Quigley (“TREASURE ISLAND” ILLUSTRATOR, 1911 / TOWN AT THE EIGHTH MILE OF THE BOSTON MARATHON)

…Criminy. Look, I don’t mind stuff I don’t know (I see it every day), and I don’t really mind stuff I don’t know crossing other stuff I don’t know, but only if there’s some way for me to make a reasonable guess…Come on. That NW corner is just dickish.

I have to agree with the sentiment.

10 Amazing Hotels With Ultra Stylish Minimalist Designs – these all look fun.

* Mitsubishi Ultra Thin Frame Premium Flat Panel TV with Integrated Sound Projector » Coolest Gadgets – cool. I have a discrete sound projector in one room and have been happy with. this is a great way to get surround sound with minimal fuss. * At the other end of the price spectrum, the Li’l Guppie Multi-tool. I am not sure I actually get much value out of multi-tools but they look cool. * Realtime power use monitor – this actually seems pretty useful.

!>http://jhludwig.smugmug.com/photos/326309800_TAsa6-Ti.jpg!:http://jhludwig.smugmug.com/photos/326309800_TAsa6-X3.jpg first time I’ve ever seen an owl in nature. Apparently a juvenile barred owl. Very curious about us.

* [0807.0378] Nano Imprint Lithography on Silica Sol-gels: a simple route to sequential patterning – multiple layers of stamping for nanophotonic or microfluidic apps. I love microfluidics, what a crazy and fun area * Scale production of nanotube circuits – I’m not sure what they’ve done but scale production is the key problem * Qubits and branes share surprising features – way beyond me… * Cornell researchers figure out how assemble metals in complex nanostructures – a cool new way to form bulk metals * Controlling quantum state via voltage – interesting work on the way to useful quantum computers

Football: Big Ten Announces TV Plans for First Four Weekends of 2008 Home Schedule - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com – here you go. I expect to be at the USC game.

* “We Disappear”:amazon by Scott Heim. Drug addict son returns to small-town childhood home to care for dying mother and unwrap the mysteries of her life. Some bizzare david-lynchian moments. Just ok, never really hooked me. * “Free Lunch”:amazon by David Cay Johnston. Central premise about corruption, government subsidies abuse. Some solid examples but way too much diatribe. One good prescriptive recommendation – 100% public funding of all political expenses, no gifts whatsoever. Oh and I hate the “the rich are taking ever more of the pie” argument – this may well be true but the analysis is terribly incomplete – there is no discussion of globalization, of the incredible advantages the US had post-WWII that are finally being whittled away, there is no discussion of the fact that a growing economy naturally will create more spread at the high end of the income distribution. * “A Fine Balance”:amazon by Rohinton Mistry. Strap on your hard hat because this is a relentless and long tale of tragic injustices and disasters battering away at every character in the book. No one ever achieves a balance, tragedy rips away at their joy. No one comes away untouched, many die. If this book is truly reflective of India in the 60s and 70s, man that was a tough time. * “Altered Carbon”:amazon by Richard K Morgan. A real ripsnorter. Nanotech, virtual tech, multiple layers of conspiracy, a hard-bitten anti hero. My second read of Morgan and both have been great fun.

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