An extraordinary what?

July 16th, 2008

We’ve been seeing this commercial a bunch lately. Just try to watch it without sniggering on the last line of the voice over.

Sorry for the mediocore quality. I wish I could find a better quality version online, but this is the best so far.

Nasty Chinese Restaurant

July 10th, 2008

While driving through Port Angeles on our Olympic loop day-trip, we did a double-take as we passed this restaurant:

Nasty Chinese Restaurant

The restaurant’s name is actually Dynasty Chinese Restaurant. And it’s not just this one angle. There were so many signs along this street, that many of views were equally nasty.

We are not the first to notice the unfortunate street signs in front of this restaurant. Robert Lee, hantonmckenzie, Richard Friedman, and Greefus Groink all have similar pictures.

Olympic loop pictures

July 10th, 2008

I just uploaded pics to the gallery from a day-trip drive around the Olympic Peninsula the weekend of July 4th. We drove through Port Angles, then to the Hoh Rain Forest, and down the Pacific coastline. Along the way, the logged clearcuts were full of foxglove in bloom.

C++ joining Java to get closures

July 8th, 2008

Herb Sutter writes on C++ closures, which have been accepted as part of the next C++0x standard.  This means C++ is joining Java in supporting closures.  My first introduction to closures was Javascript, and I think it will be great for the other mainstream languages to support them.  Of course, it will probably be a few years until closures are widely used, as was the case for C++ and Java templates/generics.

If you are interested in more details, be sure to read the comments at the end of Herb’s blog post — there’s some good examples and discussion.

Killed by his own golf club

July 2nd, 2008

Crazy, but true:

In 1994, 16-year-old Jeremy Brenno of Gloversville, New York, was killed when he struck a bench with a golf club, and the shaft broke, bounced back at him, and pierced his heart. Brenno had missed a shot on the sixth hole at the Kingsboro Golf Club and looked to vent his frustration by giving the nearby bench a good whack in retaliation. The fatal club was a No. 3 wood.

Snopes.com specializes in debunking urban legends, so if they say it’s true, then it probably is. The article also talks about 3 other known killed-by-own-club fatalities (in 1951, 2005, and 2005), but they are not quite as dramatic as poor Jeremy.

VW license plate: Y2KBUG

June 26th, 2008

Walking from my bus stop to work, I saw a Volkswagen Beetle (aka Bug) pull up to the drycleaners, with a personalized plate Y2KBUG. Of course it was one of the new Bugs.

Escalator spinning

June 25th, 2008

Recipe for fun: Find a pair of escalators where you can go either up or down from the same place.  Lay your body stiffly across the moving handrails.  Spin.

Pizza vending machine

June 24th, 2008

Subliminal movie posters

June 24th, 2008

Squint your eyes, then read the word spelled by these movie posters:

Movie posters

This doesn’t look Photoshopped. These could be unintentionally placed, or else the work of a clever but subtle theater employee.

[from http://www.eyje.com/pictures/funny/Perfect_Poster_Placement_PIC_]

Upgraded to Wordpress 2.5

June 21st, 2008

I just upgraded to Wordpress 2.5. Let me know if you see anything broken.