Good morning all! Today I'll take the twins for their First Confession. Yes, I'll lead by example. It's been a month, so it's time. We'll also celebrate the 3 boys' birthdays. Being fans of weird money, we got them some JFK half dollars & some of the new Zachary Taylor dollar coins. We also have the new Bejeweled Twist DS game for them. They say they want to go to McDs for lunch. That's the kid mindset for ya'! ☺.
Reviewing the new trending twitter topic: #3wordslibshate at (related link) Don't worry, twitter has its fair share of conservative bashing as well.
Without getting into a debate about women priests, I must say it's cute watching Abby role play Confession with the twins to help get them prepared.
Just back from Confession. It was the twins' first. 4 kids down, 1 to go.
Our boys have opened their birthday presents.
Took the family to McD's and then swimming. Now we're enjoying birthday cakes.
Installing VLC on Michelle's hackintosh netbook so that she might be able to watch some prerecorded shows the next time she's waiting around in oncology. I hope the CPU/GPU is up to the task of decoding Divx & Xvid video files. With her screen size playing anything 720p/1080p resolution would be pointless.
Now that Michelle successfully watched "Vampire Diaries" on her netbook, I'm trying out the DVD ripper, Handbrake, to see if it can rip a rented DVD to play on her computer. Her computer doesn't have an optical drive for her to play a DVD on. Perhaps she'll be able to watch "Lost in Austen" next week while she's sitting around at oncology.
Been doing more experimenting with Handbrake. It looks like the version of the movie it built for Michelle's netbook looks good. Now I'm experimenting with it's ability to transcode a DVD into something small -- able to be played on mobile phones. For now though, good night.
Bookmarks I made today:
UN climate change expert: there could be more errors in report
Comment: The IPCC’s 2007 report, which won it the Nobel Peace Prize, *had* claimed that the probability of Himalayan glaciers “disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high”. It always seems to me that the most outrageous claims that they headline never hold up under scrutiny. They make some claim that creates news headlines, but later when it's found false, the news media has moved on and doesn't bother to clear it up.
Excerpt: The Indian head of the UN climate change panel defended his position yesterday even as further errors were identified in the panel's assessment of Himalayan glaciers.
Watch "Conan O'Brien's Emotional Goodbye Speech" Video
Comment: In it he encourages his fans to reject cynicism.
Excerpt: “Walking away from the Tonight Show is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” said Conan at the close of his run of the Tonight Show, for seven months of zaniness and fun. It was not a moment of punchlines — it was his last to address his staff, his fans, and the company where he spent his career: ...
Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot:
Comment: Oh my goodness! Hulu.com has episodes of the hokey "Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot". I remember seeing all the commercials for this when I was growing up in Chicago. WGN/channel 9 perhaps? Perhaps I should play a few for my kids so we can get a good laugh.
Pretty Empty GalleryThen…
Comment: As a photo buff, I liked the irony here. [Hat tip: Lavona Rann]
Compiz Fusion (Ubuntu 9.10 64bit)
Comment: Forgot that my Ubuntu installation included Compiz Fusion window effects. Uber-eye candy, borderline Minority Report. See video for some examples.
Excerpt: A quick demo of more advanced effects in Compiz Fusion. You need a faster graphics card for these effects.