I don't know why they even bothered with a scientific name. If you had to ask me what I'd call a 5 foot tall penguin with a long, sharp beak, I'd say you call him, "Sir."
And no, he's not related.
Full face all the way, but a flip face still beats a 3/4. About 1/3 of all strikes are to the chin area of the helmet. Not to mention that having your face covered can save you all sorts of nasty pain in everyday riding. I've had a Palo Verde beetle (an Arizona thing - they're as big as your thumb) bounce off my faceshield at 70 mph. It felt like a rock when it hit. That would have really sucked without a faceshield. And rocks. Been hit with a bunch of those in the faceshield. Better that than my face. (I wear an HJC CL-14, if that matters for anything.)
Tip 1: Do not, under any circumstances, use Comic Sans for type.
Tip 2: For photos, please do not use Lens Flare. Please.
Other little things will make a difference. If you devote a little time to the study of type, you'll learn just how many "little things" you can do to make things look good. For example, look at the letters in your logo. Does the letterspacing (aka kerning & tracking) look right? Chances are, some of the letters are going to be spaced unevenly when you type it. Fixing that can have a huge impact on the quality of your work.
"Special treat for American monkeys on MLK day"
I did a double take on that one, and then remembered which site I'm on. The doubletake being caused by "monkey" being a derogatory slang word for black people...
This is... awesome news. I've always described Jones Soda as drinking a Jolly Rancher candy; the flavor is that potent. (And, no, I don't drink the holiday turkey and gravy flavors.) Since I don't drink alcohol, I am stuck finding my connosieur (or however the hell that's spelled) side with sodas. I beg and pled with any friends or family passing near the Dallas area to stop by Dublin and pick me up cases upon cases of that pristine Dr. Pepper. And I stop by Pop The Soda Shop (popsoda.com if you're looking for a big selection of different sodas) anytime I'm in the Phoenix area. Now I get Jones with no HFCS aftertaste? Hell yeah!
If you need something similar to Zurich, but a little livelier, try Eurostile. If you just need a sans serif font, though, the aforementioned Frutiger has a nice kick. Gill Sans also lends itself to many situations; you will find that the Light variation of that font can give something an upscale yet friendly appearance if done right. Just be careful using the bolder versions of that one.
How full is the hard drive on the computer in question? That actually can affect performance on your Mac. (If you've got a external firewire - nor USB - drive, or know someone who has one, plug it in and see if the computer works better. You might be surprised.)
I have two ant colonies in my yard that have been there for several years. These are the large black ants that pack a serious punch to their bite. (My wife wondered why I hated them so much... until one bit her on the shoulder and her entire arm felt like it was on fire.) These colonies have withstood all attempts to eradicate them... this would be some sweet payback on the little bastards.
Picture a hot Arizona summer day, and you're outside working with some friends. It's 110, and the sun is withering you fast. Then someone brings an ice chest, and along with the cold sodas, there's a nice cold sweet, crisp watermelon. There's no other relief like that - it tastes great and will cool both your body and your soul down fast.
I talked to the IT guys today - they've already put Boot Camp and XP on three Intel Macs. According to them, XP just flat out flies on the Mac hardware.
I've been a Mac owner for the past three years. (And I still get calls to fix friends' spyware-laden and/or virus-hosed Windows boxes...) I can see the occasional time where I'd want to run a Windows only application, so I can see where this move would make sense. However, I don't see this as a threat to OS X. If you have a choice between booting into OS X or Windows, most pople are going to boot into OS X if they can avoid Windows. Much more smooth, secure and stable, and not only that, XP is butt-ugly. Especially after you've been on OS X. Plus the whole "it just works" thing. OS X isn't going anywhere.
This story is making some pretty big waves here in Arizona; people are pissed off about this. This news actually broke about a month ago about the plea deal. Dad isn't just a state senator, but the Senate president. He's been responsible for a lot of bad legislation, much of which put the state in a bad financial position. He'll probably win re-election, but it'd be nice to see him held to account on this; when you have a crime with dozens of victims, and the kid is basically off the hook, you can bet Dad stepped in on it.
Actually, Space Coyote, baseball is odd in that respect, because anyone truly can beat anyone on a given night. Things like who is pitching, how is the wind blowing, hot hitters, cold hitters, the particular umpire's strike zone, etc. During a season you'll see some unexpected outcomes - heck, the Yankees got beat 22-0 not too long ago. Sometimes the hitters are going to hit anything you throw, no matter how good, and hit it a long way. Or you run into the occasional pitcher who is having one of those "on" days, when he's throwing darts and the hitters don't stand a chance. (One game a few years back featured Randy Johnson pitching a complete game 2-hitter, giving up one run - and losing the game to by Jose Jimenez - he finished the year with a losing record - who threw a no-hitter.) And that's what makes the game so much fun for those of us who really love it. Over the course of a season, or a seven-game playoff series, the better team will almost always win. But on a game-by-game basis, there's no telling.
I've got an autistic nephew. A few eeks ago, my sis took him to a restaurant. Her and hubby decided to shoot a game of pool. Nephew asks to try - he's never played pool before. (He's 9.)
What happened next? The kid started making shots. Lots of them, including some crazy ones. They kept putting quarters into the table becasue they were having so much fun watching him play. So, yeah, I love this story, and can totally see this kind of thing happening.
Tie Fighter was good. Damn good. X-Wing Alliance, however, was a hell of a lot better. Oh, and a Gravis Blackhawk joystick will serve you extremely well in either of those games.
These screenshots are awesome, to say the least. They're better than X-Plane - but to be fair, the X-Plane developers most likely do not have access to the Vista graphical interface yet, and therefore haven't been able to program for it. But I do wonder - can you actually log FAA flight instruction time on MS Flight Sim X? With the proper setup, you can on X-Plane.
Belkin's USB wireless adapter will work on 10.3; my wife's Mini is using one as we speak. The one problem it has on the Mac is that if the computer goes to sleep, you'll have to unplug the USB adapter and plug it back in again. We've had this problem, and I've heard of other Mac users have this problem. Why, I don't know. But other than that, it works fine, and she's got a good connection to the net and also to my Mac.
That's kind of scary for me to see, since I do 90% of my commuting on a small motorcycle. Most MC accidents are avoidable if the rider follows safe riding practices. (For example, you throw the whole concept of right-of-way right out the window when trying to anticipate other drivers. It doesn't matter that you had the right-of-way and the other driver is at fault when you're the one laying on the pavement.) This one, however... she was keeping a safe following distance, and staying out of blind spots, and she'd already started rolling off the gas well before that car spun out. There was really no time for her to pick an escape route either; she tried to aim for that gap on the right but it closed up on her.
That's the perfect argument for good gear, though - imagine if that had been some "I don't like helmets" rider who was in jeans, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes. Instead of what seem to be fairly minor injuries (from reading the thread), that easily could have been a fatality.
A good deal of my job involves proofreading ads for the local car dealerships. I get to see on a week-by-week basis how the numbers change. Now, as you might imagine, they are always advertising the low, low prices. Many of these involve rebates that most people cannot qualify for (recent college graduate, military, brand loyalty, dealership loyalty) - sometimes all in the same ad. And most of them involve factory rebates. What that means is that the dealer keeps the rebates, which they add to the profit on the car. (It's easy to take $1500 off the price of a car if you know that you're getting that money from the manufacturer anyway. That's pure profit.)
The best points at the end of that article, though, are to use the internet, and also to get the hell out of there if you don't like anything about the deal. The internet - and Carfax if you're buying used - is your friend.
This stuff is nothing short of freakin' genius.
posted by azpenguin 16 years ago
In "Giant"
I don't know why they even bothered with a scientific name. If you had to ask me what I'd call a 5 foot tall penguin with a long, sharp beak, I'd say you call him, "Sir." And no, he's not related.
posted by azpenguin 16 years ago
In "Curious George: Motorcycle Helmets"
Full face all the way, but a flip face still beats a 3/4. About 1/3 of all strikes are to the chin area of the helmet. Not to mention that having your face covered can save you all sorts of nasty pain in everyday riding. I've had a Palo Verde beetle (an Arizona thing - they're as big as your thumb) bounce off my faceshield at 70 mph. It felt like a rock when it hit. That would have really sucked without a faceshield. And rocks. Been hit with a bunch of those in the faceshield. Better that than my face. (I wear an HJC CL-14, if that matters for anything.)
posted by azpenguin 16 years ago
In "Curious George: Visual Design Rules?"
Tip 1: Do not, under any circumstances, use Comic Sans for type. Tip 2: For photos, please do not use Lens Flare. Please. Other little things will make a difference. If you devote a little time to the study of type, you'll learn just how many "little things" you can do to make things look good. For example, look at the letters in your logo. Does the letterspacing (aka kerning & tracking) look right? Chances are, some of the letters are going to be spaced unevenly when you type it. Fixing that can have a huge impact on the quality of your work.
posted by azpenguin 17 years ago
In "Happy MLK Day"
"Special treat for American monkeys on MLK day" I did a double take on that one, and then remembered which site I'm on. The doubletake being caused by "monkey" being a derogatory slang word for black people...
posted by azpenguin 17 years ago
In "The Good News:"
This is... awesome news. I've always described Jones Soda as drinking a Jolly Rancher candy; the flavor is that potent. (And, no, I don't drink the holiday turkey and gravy flavors.) Since I don't drink alcohol, I am stuck finding my connosieur (or however the hell that's spelled) side with sodas. I beg and pled with any friends or family passing near the Dallas area to stop by Dublin and pick me up cases upon cases of that pristine Dr. Pepper. And I stop by Pop The Soda Shop (popsoda.com if you're looking for a big selection of different sodas) anytime I'm in the Phoenix area. Now I get Jones with no HFCS aftertaste? Hell yeah!
posted by azpenguin 17 years ago
In "IranFilter"
RTD, my wife suggests that "hailing the taxi" should be slang for picking up a, um, large woman at a bar.
posted by azpenguin 17 years ago
In "Curious George: Serif font."
If you need something similar to Zurich, but a little livelier, try Eurostile. If you just need a sans serif font, though, the aforementioned Frutiger has a nice kick. Gill Sans also lends itself to many situations; you will find that the Light variation of that font can give something an upscale yet friendly appearance if done right. Just be careful using the bolder versions of that one.
posted by azpenguin 17 years ago
In "Curious George."
How full is the hard drive on the computer in question? That actually can affect performance on your Mac. (If you've got a external firewire - nor USB - drive, or know someone who has one, plug it in and see if the computer works better. You might be surprised.)
posted by azpenguin 17 years ago
In "Scientists pour molten metal down ants' nests."
I have two ant colonies in my yard that have been there for several years. These are the large black ants that pack a serious punch to their bite. (My wife wondered why I hated them so much... until one bit her on the shoulder and her entire arm felt like it was on fire.) These colonies have withstood all attempts to eradicate them... this would be some sweet payback on the little bastards.
posted by azpenguin 17 years ago
In "Mmmmm, watermelon!"
Picture a hot Arizona summer day, and you're outside working with some friends. It's 110, and the sun is withering you fast. Then someone brings an ice chest, and along with the cold sodas, there's a nice cold sweet, crisp watermelon. There's no other relief like that - it tastes great and will cool both your body and your soul down fast.
posted by azpenguin 17 years ago
In "Yes, in fact, we DO do Windows."
I talked to the IT guys today - they've already put Boot Camp and XP on three Intel Macs. According to them, XP just flat out flies on the Mac hardware.
posted by azpenguin 18 years ago
I've been a Mac owner for the past three years. (And I still get calls to fix friends' spyware-laden and/or virus-hosed Windows boxes...) I can see the occasional time where I'd want to run a Windows only application, so I can see where this move would make sense. However, I don't see this as a threat to OS X. If you have a choice between booting into OS X or Windows, most pople are going to boot into OS X if they can avoid Windows. Much more smooth, secure and stable, and not only that, XP is butt-ugly. Especially after you've been on OS X. Plus the whole "it just works" thing. OS X isn't going anywhere.
posted by azpenguin 18 years ago
In "Sadistic Senator's Son"
This story is making some pretty big waves here in Arizona; people are pissed off about this. This news actually broke about a month ago about the plea deal. Dad isn't just a state senator, but the Senate president. He's been responsible for a lot of bad legislation, much of which put the state in a bad financial position. He'll probably win re-election, but it'd be nice to see him held to account on this; when you have a crime with dozens of victims, and the kid is basically off the hook, you can bet Dad stepped in on it.
posted by azpenguin 18 years ago
In "Cuba and Japan will face each other in the inaugural World Baseball Classic final tomorrow."
Actually, Space Coyote, baseball is odd in that respect, because anyone truly can beat anyone on a given night. Things like who is pitching, how is the wind blowing, hot hitters, cold hitters, the particular umpire's strike zone, etc. During a season you'll see some unexpected outcomes - heck, the Yankees got beat 22-0 not too long ago. Sometimes the hitters are going to hit anything you throw, no matter how good, and hit it a long way. Or you run into the occasional pitcher who is having one of those "on" days, when he's throwing darts and the hitters don't stand a chance. (One game a few years back featured Randy Johnson pitching a complete game 2-hitter, giving up one run - and losing the game to by Jose Jimenez - he finished the year with a losing record - who threw a no-hitter.) And that's what makes the game so much fun for those of us who really love it. Over the course of a season, or a seven-game playoff series, the better team will almost always win. But on a game-by-game basis, there's no telling.
posted by azpenguin 18 years ago
In ""McElwain, you're in!""
I've got an autistic nephew. A few eeks ago, my sis took him to a restaurant. Her and hubby decided to shoot a game of pool. Nephew asks to try - he's never played pool before. (He's 9.) What happened next? The kid started making shots. Lots of them, including some crazy ones. They kept putting quarters into the table becasue they were having so much fun watching him play. So, yeah, I love this story, and can totally see this kind of thing happening.
posted by azpenguin 18 years ago
In "52 Flight Simulator X screencaps"
Tie Fighter was good. Damn good. X-Wing Alliance, however, was a hell of a lot better. Oh, and a Gravis Blackhawk joystick will serve you extremely well in either of those games. These screenshots are awesome, to say the least. They're better than X-Plane - but to be fair, the X-Plane developers most likely do not have access to the Vista graphical interface yet, and therefore haven't been able to program for it. But I do wonder - can you actually log FAA flight instruction time on MS Flight Sim X? With the proper setup, you can on X-Plane.
posted by azpenguin 18 years ago
In "Curious George: USB wi-fi adapter for an old iBook."
Belkin's USB wireless adapter will work on 10.3; my wife's Mini is using one as we speak. The one problem it has on the Mac is that if the computer goes to sleep, you'll have to unplug the USB adapter and plug it back in again. We've had this problem, and I've heard of other Mac users have this problem. Why, I don't know. But other than that, it works fine, and she's got a good connection to the net and also to my Mac.
posted by azpenguin 18 years ago
In "Quote from Honda Civic driver: "She hit ME"."
That's kind of scary for me to see, since I do 90% of my commuting on a small motorcycle. Most MC accidents are avoidable if the rider follows safe riding practices. (For example, you throw the whole concept of right-of-way right out the window when trying to anticipate other drivers. It doesn't matter that you had the right-of-way and the other driver is at fault when you're the one laying on the pavement.) This one, however... she was keeping a safe following distance, and staying out of blind spots, and she'd already started rolling off the gas well before that car spun out. There was really no time for her to pick an escape route either; she tried to aim for that gap on the right but it closed up on her. That's the perfect argument for good gear, though - imagine if that had been some "I don't like helmets" rider who was in jeans, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes. Instead of what seem to be fairly minor injuries (from reading the thread), that easily could have been a fatality.
posted by azpenguin 18 years ago
In "Confessions of a Car Salesman"
A good deal of my job involves proofreading ads for the local car dealerships. I get to see on a week-by-week basis how the numbers change. Now, as you might imagine, they are always advertising the low, low prices. Many of these involve rebates that most people cannot qualify for (recent college graduate, military, brand loyalty, dealership loyalty) - sometimes all in the same ad. And most of them involve factory rebates. What that means is that the dealer keeps the rebates, which they add to the profit on the car. (It's easy to take $1500 off the price of a car if you know that you're getting that money from the manufacturer anyway. That's pure profit.) The best points at the end of that article, though, are to use the internet, and also to get the hell out of there if you don't like anything about the deal. The internet - and Carfax if you're buying used - is your friend.
posted by azpenguin 18 years ago
(limited to the most recent 20 comments)