I loved the movie, bought it on DVD, so when I saw the book by a retired US Navy captain, Peter Hughthausen (say that 5 times fast!) I grabbed it.
VERY interesting - gives the whole story of the sub, the shoddy and unsafe reactors and nuclear history of the former USSR, the human story, and […]

Last week I read Krakatoa, the Day the World Exploded, by Simon Winchester.
When I picked it off the shelf, I was looking mainly for the science and info-porn behind the disaster … how big, how much, how hot, how loud, etc. etc., but the book delivered a lot more.
Winchester situates the event in a […]

OK, OK, OK. Language pet peeves today.
Why, oh why, must reporter types write like this:

Sony on Thursday released its $249 PlayStation Portable (PSP) to the North American market.

Is that not one of the most awkward, twisted, and, frankly, stupid-sounding constructions in the English language? Sony on Thursday? What is that? Is Thursday some new kind […]

I had the strangest experience late last week: talking with a total stranger on the phone for 30 minutes - who might be a close relative.
My son Ethan was featured in the local paper. He was at the library during a ’science’ demonstration, volunteered, and a news photog took a series of snaps that made […]

This is a visual map of my del.icio.us bookmarks.
Note: this is just Some Guy’sâ„¢ website; it may disappear at any given moment for reasons and destinations unknown.

Teresa and I took the kids to the Chilliwack Blue Heron Wetlands yesterday, which being Good Friday (the day Christ was crucified) is a holiday in Canada.
The nature reserve is about 20 minutes from our home in Abbotsford, and it was well worth the drive. Here’s some pics of the festivities …
This gives you an […]

As I previously mentioned, Aidan cut his head open on our fireplace hearth just a few days ago.
How’s he doing now? I thought I’d post a photo of him two days after the accident …

Still happy, still crazy, still doing insane stuff. In other words, the same old incorrigible loveable kid.
That’s 9 stitches in his […]

This has to be seen to be believed ….
Check out this photostream of laptops and computers that people are putting a desktop pic on that exactly matches the actual background. The visual effect is as if your laptop screen is completely transparent.
Very cool! I’m sure it’s a ton of work to get it right, […]

I was foaming the other day (not at the mouth, foaming is my word for trolling recent submissions to del.icio.us) when I saw this article on why it is so hard to learn Chinese.
More specifically, why it is so hard to learn to read Chinese.
This is of interest to me, because I have a friend […]

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare - your child has had an accident, and you have to take him to the hospital.
We have a raised hearth at one end of our living room, and it’s tiled with slate. Slate happens to have very sharp edges … and when my son Aidan fell towards the hearth after […]

This one might be both at the same time: the dullest blog.
This blog totally captures, at one and the same time, the stupidity and vapidity you can find in blogs (why, after all, do I care that you clipped your toenails today). But at the same time, the dullest blog is a great example of […]

Somewhere in the bowels of Google some strange science goes on that probably all makes great sense on many levels. But sometimes you just gotta wonder.
How the heck can you explain a posting on my blog coming up as the FIRST result on Google for the word “unimpressive.”.
Impressive!
[ update - March 20, 2005 ]
It’s now […]

I just saw a video of a baby that is seriously freaky. Both the video and the baby, that is.
Check out Pleix Films’ website and click on e-Baby.
Yikes. If this is the future I want a club and a sabre-tooth tiger skin.
[ ADDITION ]
Net Flag is also very cool. And remember those games you played […]

I’ve recently installed and configured Moodle, an open-source learning management system (LMS). It took about 5 minutes - unbelievable.
The testbed Moodle is for a course I’m taking, ETEC 510 (Educational technology 510), which is part of the University of British Columbia’s Master of Educational Technology program.
(You gotta love the “Untitled Document” page header on that […]

This is a copy of my weekly email from eWeek.

They send me the dead tree version of their magazine every week, and almost every week ask me to confirm my ’subscription’ details to it, or else. Or else they won’t send me the magazine.
Oh dear. I don’t want the paper version anyways. I don’t read […]

I’m a huge fan of the Dune books by Frank Herbert … even though Herbert’s legacy is being dragged throught the dirt by his son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson.
So it was trés cool to see one of Frank Herbert’s riffs on mentats adapted to code architects.
I can’t resist quoting:

Above all else, the [architect] must […]

I recently started using Flickr and now I’m finally starting to stick some half-decent photos up there.
Check out this pic of sea foam coming up Coach beach. I love the footsteps that are just about to be washed away.

Teresa (my wife) and I took the kids to Port Moody last week Saturday and enjoyed the beautiful summer-like weather and the trails and beaches.
I ran into this sign, which I kind of like. It doesn’t really aid in navigation, however …

My daughter Gabrielle participates in Odyssey of the Mind, an organization that promotes fun learning in groups about technical issues.

Odyssey of the Mind is a school-based, world-wide program that promotes creative problem solving for students from kindergarten through college. Under the guidance of a coach, teams of five to seven students learn creative thinking and […]