Hungry Tiger's Food for Thought

Fair Use Copyright Question

2009-10-13T15:02:05Z

A question for the copyright knowledgeable out there:

Can I copy an image from an artist's website to make a custom skin for a laptop (or similar device) that I'm going to use for myself? That is, I'd be generating a printed image using some cropped part of the artist's image to make a single version of it for my own use, not for resale. Is that okay under "fair use" or is that copyright infringement?

Paris Vacation Photos

2009-09-09T13:50:31Z

For those who don't catch me on Facebook, here's a link to some of the highlighted photos from our recently completed Paris trip...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42302609@N04/sets/72157622314732194/

Avatar

2009-08-18T16:26:58Z

Reposting this link from madamruppy , because it's just so damn funny (and a well done song too - can someone tell me if this is original tune or a parody of a pop song I'm not familiar with). I've been seeing Felicia Day everywhere these days (Dr. Horrible, Dollhouse, Sears commercials) and had no idea she could pull off sexy as well as she does the funny. I've really got to start checking out her web-series, The Guild (which is what this song comes from).

An Unusual Job Listing

2009-07-28T15:35:37Z

One of the more unusual job postings I've seen... Temporary Winter-Over Engineer, South Pole Station. The person who gets the job will be spending most of 2010 in Antarctica maintaining the systems that the NASA - Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory uses to study cosmic microwave background radiation. I work at an interesting place.

Side note: if you're hoping to get into a 1-in-10 million chance accident that turns you into a superhero, this seems like a pretty good option. Plus, it already comes with a good name... "I... Am... The Over-Engineer!"

Handyman Help / Tools Request

2009-07-13T19:45:00Z

I want to put a screen door over the rear door to my house. In the attic, we found the wooden-framed screen door that the previous owners clearly purchased with this purpose in mind. However, said screen door is about 1/2 inch too wide and 1/2 inch too tall. Does anyone have a circular saw and/or the skill to help me trim a wooden screen door to fit?

Netflix Algorithm Fail

2009-06-30T14:08:51Z

While updating my queue on Netflix this morning, I noticed that it was recommending a 1939 Claudette Colbert / Don Ameche screwball comedy for me called 'Midnight' (which I'd never heard of, but does indeed look like something I'd like). I added it to my queue and then looked at the 'movies most like 'Midnight'' and saw the following list...

It Happened One Night
The Philadelphia Story
Top Hat
My Man Godfrey
The Shop Around the Corner
Ninocthka
The Wire: Season 1 .... WTF?

... One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong ...

Fringe?

2009-05-12T16:38:36Z

Is anyone watching Fringe and if so, would you recommend it for me. I was never a big X-Files fan, but I did like Alias (I enjoy mystery and big plots, but not mystery for the sake of mystery and mood, there has to be compelling characters as well). I noticed that the season finale was on tonight and was thinking about jumping in and checking it out. Good idea or bad idea?

Michelles, mes belles

2009-05-11T20:01:17Z

Michelle has recently become infatuated with a charming kids book entitled, "The Mice of Bistrot des Sept Freres," which is about a family of mice that run a restaurant in Paris and their famous cheese soup (no, it's no relation to the Pixar film, Ratatouille).

It's a cute book, but I suspect that a good part of her infatuation comes from the fact that one of the main characters in the book is "Petite Michelle," the one daughter who works in the bistro of the seven brothers, and she enjoys idenifying with a character that shares her name. So, this has me wondering if anyone else knows of any kids picture books or chapter books that feature characters named Michelle. Wikipedia and Google have failed me so far, so I ask the hive-mind.

BTW, we found the book via Food Network's "Ace of Cakes" in an episode where they made a cake based on illustrations from the book. A photo of the cake (along with more details of the book) can be found on the author's blog.

Edit: No, I'm not interested in books based on the "Full House" TV series, but thanks for looking.

Web Roundup

2009-05-08T18:17:42Z

Tesla's Wardenclyffe Wireless Electrical Tower (and Death Ray?) are to be demolished
     Boo! Hiss! Additional link to the longer NY Times article.

Bill Simmons on How Manny testing positive screws with the legacy of the '04 team.

Cool Retro-Styled Posters about protecting yourself from the Zombie Menace

Fall TV Cheat Sheet
     Current status and likelihood of renewal for various TV shows.

100 Useful Web Tools (nominally for training)
     A collection of web tools designed to improve training/learning. It's divided into categories based on how people learn so "visual learners" get links to mind mapping, charting, and video tools; "auditory learners" get links to podcasting, presentation, text readers, audio books, and general audio tools; and "kinesthetic learners" get links to note taking, interaction, bookmarking, and collaboration tools.

Mobile Makeover
     Laptop Magazine's guide to turning an old laptop into a media center. I'm intrigued and might go dust off the old one I've got lying around.

Answer me these questions fifteen.

2009-05-06T19:10:24Z

Tonight is the penultimate episode of the penultimate season of Lost. From here on out the unwritten contract between the show and its viewers says that they need to answer more questions than they raise. They've done a pretty good job of that so far this season but, inspired by today's column by EW's Doc Jensen, I've come up with my list of the top 15 questions that I want the show to answer before it all ends next year.

1) What is the smoke monster?
2) Who is Jacob?
3) What are the whispering voices?
4) What's the deal with the giant statue (and what lies in its shadow)?
5) What are "The Rules" that govern Ben and Widmore?
6) How do the characters separated in time reunite or will they erase the past? (We'll probably find this out next week.)
7) Do "The Numbers" have some cosmic signifigance?
8) What is the Dharma Inititive doing today? (If they're not active, then who made the Dharma-branded food drops?)
9) Who are the skeletons in the caves? (I'm guessing Rose and Bernard.)
10) What faction do Bram and Ilana represent?
11) What happened to Cindy and the kids from the tail section?
12) Do Aaron or Walt have some important destiny?
13) Why does the Island heal some people and not others (similarly, why were some people jumping in time, but not others)?
14) Do Desmond and Penny get to live happily ever after? Jin and Sun? Anyone?
15) What happened to Vincent (the dog)?

Yes, that was technically more than 15, but since it's likely that some of the answers will either apply to multiple items I've listed (or invalidate some) I'm going with it anyway (For example, I suspect that #4 and #10 will be answered together.) Of course, there are other questions I have, but some of them I've formulated my own answers for and others I'm confident that we'll get answers to tonight or next week. It's really only the Top 5 that I'd get really ticked off if we don't get answers to.

Nanoo-Nanoo

2009-05-06T14:42:55Z

I had a dream last night in which I figured out that Mork was backwards for Crom (the fictional deity worshiped by Conan) and that they might be different incarnations of the same being. In the dream it was very important for me to let people know this, so I'm spreading the word.

Oddly, I was never much of a fan of either Mork and Mindy or Conan the Barbarian, but that's dreams for you.

Netbooks: XP or Linux?

2009-05-05T20:16:43Z

So I've ordered myself a netbook (yay!). Now I've got a Q for my techie friends. I've heard various people talk about wiping their machines and installing Linux and I'd like to know why I might want to do this? The model I'm getting (Samsung nc10) comes with Windows XP installed and I'm assuming that I'll get Open Office or something to do my word processing and Firefox/Chrome/IE for web surfing needs.

What are the pros/cons about Linux?

Edit: I find it interesting that this post seems to be getting more anonymous replies than usual and they don't seem to be from people I know who weren't logged in. Must be keywording that drew some other techies over here.

Funny Image #2: In the future, we'll do what?

2009-03-13T20:21:20Z

No Offense, Future Man

Funny Image #1: Ghost Rider, Mall Cop

2009-03-13T20:07:27Z

From a comic-book shop owner's blog entry that I stumbled across

Spoiler-Free Watchmen Comment (plus a Watchmen Easter Egg)

2009-03-11T03:20:22Z

I fell in the so-so camp on Watchmen. I know that some people really liked it, but I thought it was just ok.

The problem for me is that Watchmen the movie is a fine superhero murder-mystery action film, but that's not what Watchmen the book the book was. The book is a series of complex character studies with a murder mystery used as a framework to tell those stories. The wow moments in the film (and there certainly were some) tend to be nifty action scenes. The wow moments of the book are quiet conversations between characters wherein the reader picks up clues that have been carefully placed over the previous 300+ pages which allow you understand who they are and how they got that way. The movie just teased me with hints at that depth and never got me to care about the characters (particularly the important secondary characters). Also, the director's gore fetish was also a bit much for me. The violence was stronger than in the book partially because of the medium, but also because he chose to ramp up some of those scenes and linger on them. It was probably about as good an adaptation of the book as could be done, but like so many adaptations, it didn't really capture the heart of the source material, at least for me.

OTOH, I thought that Jackie Earle Haley was absolutely amazing as Rorschach, even surpassing the originally version of the character for me in a couple of key scenes, and that the opening credits were fabulous.

And speaking of the opening credits, here's that Easter Egg I mentioned:
I just read an article on i09 that pointed out that, in the Watchmen opening credits shot of the original Nite Owl punching out an armed thug, the background has a wealthy couple (man in a tux, woman in pearls) leaving an Opera House performance of "Die Fledermaus" (The Bat). Very nice touch to those who know their comics history. Here's the article which covers the credits in more depth:
http://io9.com/5167732/easter-eggs-and-missing-parts-in-watchmens-titles

Excuse me... WTF???!

2009-03-10T20:40:30Z

Off Sci-Fi Wire...

Publishers have authorized a new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book. It's a totally new work by Eoin Colfer, not based on left behind notes by Adams or anything. I've ready the first book of Colfer's Artemis Fowl series and it wasn't bad, but this is just wrong. I really hope that HHG fans just stay away from it.

Details at:
http://scifiwire.com/2009/03/first-look-at-hitchhikers.php

Oooo... Rockets!

2009-02-11T19:36:09Z

http://www.coolrockets.com/

Shiny!

Do you have what it takes?

2009-02-09T16:43:16Z

A couple of weeks back my daughter's day care center did a unit on Superheros (e.g. dramatic play dress up, discussion of what "good people" and "bad people" do, imagining superpowers, practicing leaping and posing, etc.). In one of their group discussions, the kids were asked, "What do you need to be a superhero?" The teachers recorded the kids' answers and here are some of my favorites:

"You need to help people"

"You need to eat your healthy foods like broccoli and carrots."

"You need to be fast and strong"

"I was going to say you need to eat your broccoli and carrots too, but you should also eat your watermelon and second you need a suit so that you aren't walking around naked and people can see your bum bum."

That last child really understands the essentials of being a superhero.

BSG DVR FYI (and other TLAs)

2009-01-15T15:17:49Z

Signal Boosting:
A head's up for Galactica fans, SciFi Wire is reporting that the BSG premiere tomorrow night will run 3.5 minutes long. Set your DVRs accordingly.

Details: http://scifiwire.com/2009/01/battlestar-galactica-premiere-will-run-3-12-minutes-long.php

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T01:53:03Z

Have a safe, happy, and healthy 2009 everyone.

Elizabeth Bennet became a fan of Pemberley

2008-12-16T15:06:29Z

Passing this along:

Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" told as a series of Facebook entries. Oh Internet, is there nothing you can't do.

Wednesday morning analysis

2008-11-05T16:59:05Z

Click on the image below for some state and county population-based cartograms of the election results. It's interesting how different the map looks when you weight it according to population or electoral votes.

Now give me my coffee and ice cream

2008-11-04T21:05:11Z

Behold the power of Citizen Man! Not only have I voted today, I also just donated blood.

And here's a well-written item from herooftheage about why voting is important even when there's absolutely no question about how your state's electoral votes will go and your vote really won't change anything.

Evil and stupid!

2008-11-04T17:55:49Z

A link to a good article from Miss Conduct's Blog. She discusses the woman who refused to give Halloween candy to kids of Obama supporters and gives her advice about how the McCain campaign should have dealt with it. As an etiquette columnist, you can practically see her head exploding in incredulity at this story.

Halloween 2008

2008-10-31T16:16:29Z

X-posted from isisofcool:

Here's this year's Halloween costume. It's a homemade "Peacock Fairy" costume inspired by an overpriced costume from Pottery Barn Kids. Little M is four and a half now and this is a nearly perfect costume for a four year old girl as it combines elements of fairies, princesses, and ballerinas while using sequins, beads, and feathers. The work was done by isisofcool with design input from Michelle.