Ryan’s Blog

I’ve been working a lot on my 101 things to do in 1001 days list. I started this project back in 2005, and my deadline is really sneaking up on me. The one that’s beating me up the most has got to be the “watch every movie to ever win “Best Picture.”

I’ve stopped writing a review for each of them, mostly because they’ve haven’t been all that interesting as of late. Maybe it’s because my Netflix queue has them all in chronological order. These movies from the 30’s and 40’s are… I’m not sure if boring is the right word or not, so I’ll just call them underwhelming. So far, only two or three have been worth the three hours to watch them. I might have to shake things up a bit and try to grab some more recent flicks.

When I first decided to do it, I was really interested in film making, and I thought I would feel more “cultured” if I exposed myself to more things. Now it just seems more like a chore. Although, I will admit it’s interesting seeing some of the changes in social behavior, as depicted in the films. One thing that stands out, is that I doubt there are more than a couple scenes where someone isn’t smoking.

I’ve got a couple “techie” posts that I’ve been working on that should be coming up soon, as well as some changes and updates to this site in general.

There was a great post on Slashdot a while back, that I just wanted to share. It offers a great insight into the motivation behind the automation of several tasks.  It’s a little long winded, so I’ve hidden the actual thread behind a break.

Just some food for thought…

(more…)

Unless you’ve been under a rock, I assume you’ve heard the medias latest buzzword, “Hypermiling.” The easiest way to describe it is a method of driving to increase the fuel economy of your car. It involves various techniques such as drafting, and coasting in neutral down hill, and making as little use of your breaks as possible, to prevent distrupting the momentum of your car.

Every time I hear anyone talking about it, it’s being touted as some brilliant new idea, and absolutely revolutionary. Yeah, I gotta throw out the red flag and challenge that one.

Hello? Am I the only person that ever took drivers ed in school? This stuff isn’t new, or revolutionary. It’s called common sense. Aside from drafting, which is technically illegal, (Tailgating, and “failure to maintain a safe distance” I believe is what the law calls it) all of these things were part of what I was taught when first learning to drive.

Slowing down and coasting to stop signs and lights, instead of “stop and go.” Easing into a start, versus slamming on the accelerator. Taking all the excess junk out of the car to reduce weight, and keeping the cars exterior clean to reduce drag and improve arodynamics. Again, all not rocket science, just common sense.

I don’t understand, I really don’t. Has the whole world really lost common sense? Or am I just one of the lucky ones who paid attention and made use of it?

Well, let’s hope all those comic books aren’t full of shit. I just got injected with some sort of radioactive dye and here’s to hoping for some super natural powers. listen

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Blog.

 It’s like the sound you make in the can after a night of having too many adult beverages.

You kids today and your abreviated words. What ever happened to Journal? Or Diary? Well, I guess diaries are for 12 year old girls. But anyway, Is “Web Log” really that long to where we had to abreviate it? Maybe I’m just settling into my old man stage of life again. Or maybe kids today are just lazy.

While you’re at it, Get off my lawn…