Sharp Cards

My CardSharp arrived today.

For the uninitiated... go to the link. My brain is still goo from the long weekend and exposition seems unnecessary.

In a nutshell, it's a small knife set in a plastic frame that looks like a credit card.

It's a clever design. The blade is well-secured and not easy to pop out quickly (thus saving one from getting stabbed in the thigh while it's in the pocket and stuff like that).

The plastic frame itself is light and feels potentially easily-broken, but as I haven't broken it in the last twenty minutes, I can't really claim that to be the case.

It does fold out nicely into a very secure seeming little blade. You're not going to be getting into a knife fight with a local gang using this little thing, but it's certainly handy for little stuff. The knife is pretty sharp but not so sharp that I'm going to lose a finger popping the thing into position.

All-in-all, it's a nice little tool.

[Edit] And since I've had the Eon Extreme flashlight for a bit over a week now, I feel I should state that I haven't had any other weird issues with the flashlight. It continues to be awesome beyond words.

And damn is this puppy bright. 230 lumens is not dim lighting.

Best. Ad. Ever.

Okay, maybe not ever, but it's pretty awesome.

(via Vintage Ninja who has an entirely-understandable obsession)

Mmmmm... wha?

I'd like to say it was a delightfully lazy three day weekend, but it wasn't really all that "lazy".

I spent Saturday schlepping boxes about to help a friend move then drank delightful home-made beer before returning home and passing the hell out.

I'm too old for this shit.

Sunday was delightfully slacker-ish but not entirely slacktastic.

Monday... now that was slacktastic. A leisurely morning of a lazy breakfast and crappy DVDs (I got a bad copy of the updated A Chinese Ghost Story that doesn't have the promised English subtitles... *sigh*) followed by a lazy lunch at Triple Rock.

I made myself go running later. I think that was the only health benefit to the entire day.

Good times.

Fleshtacular

I bet you think this post is about porn.

Unless you consider "Dr. Who" to be nerd porn (and there's plenty of justification for that view...) it's not.

Contain your disappointment.

I just finished "The Almost People", the sixth episode of series six of the rebooted "Dr. Who". Yes, I had to be that thorough in stating it that way.

"The Almost People" is the sequel to "The Rebel Flesh" and is about... hm. Well, there's something in it called "the Flesh". You really have to watch the episodes to get it.

I maintain that this season is easily the best season since the series got rebooted. They haven't had a weak episode yet.

And the stuff that goes on in this one... wow.

Steven Moffatt is a genius for his oversight of this season and a terrifying madman who may well be the death of me (or the reason I tip to complete insanity).

Bless his twisted heart.

I liked the episode, in case my rambling was unclear. I'm avoiding saying anything concrete for fear of spoiling stuff for anyone.

Those wonderful three words

Three.
Day.
Weekend.

Sure, it could be better. Those words could be "four day weekend" or "long paid vacation", but no sense in spitting on an extra day of slack time.

Skynet in its infancy

I have a new-ish car. As a result, it's got a computer in its guts that churns out all sorts of information.

A nice thing about my new car is that it has all sorts of indicators to tell me if something goes wrong. I push a button and I can see how much oil life I've got. I push another button and I can see my average miles-per-gallon.

In theory, my car tells me if something maintenance-worthy is pending.

It does have a few issues, though. This morning a bright, yellow-orange light flared on my instrument panel.

I was disinclined to pull over and check the user manual, so I waited until I got to the office and let my imagination run wild.

Once at the office, I looked up the ominous-looking indicator.

It's a warning that my tire pressure is low.

I did a walk-around on my car. The tires look fine. I'll take it in and have 'em pump it up a bit, but ye gods... is it really necessary to try to give me a heart attack first thing in the morning?

Reality Problems

A weird side-effect I often have when plagued by allergies are extremely vivid (and often weird) dreams.

I'll admit I've had mornings when I haven't been able to tell if I'm awake or asleep.

Unrelated, but concurrent, I've had a few unpleasant traumas happen in my circle of people close to me. That likely explains some of the more disturbing elements of a few of my dreams.

Is there anything more boring than someone talking about their dreams? No, there isn't I agree. I'll get to the point.

So I woke this morning to the sound of someone screaming. It wasn't a happy "oh-my-god-I'm-having-an-orgasm" scream. It was the other kind.

What bothers me is that I honestly can't tell if I dreamed it or not. I woke up and made myself really wake up (earlier than I'd like, and that's goddamn early).

I got up. I opened my windows. I listened.

It's pretty quiet in my 'hood.

I hope I dreamt it.

And I hope I stop dreaming crap like that. Ugh.

Oh Happy Day

Few things make me happier than having more Black Blood of the Earth in my 'fridge.

Okay, there might be a few things. A bank account with six or more figures to the left of the decimal point. Freedom from allergies. Superpowers.

Hm. I think that's about it.

This could be entertaining

The Raptor

So how y'all liking the post-Rapture Earth, folks?

How's all those horrific disasters and hellfire stuff workin' out?

Harold Camping is apparently "flabbergasted" that the Rapture apparently hasn't happened.

Poor Harold. I think he missed the point. The silly lad didn't get it.

The Rapture did happen! Some schmuck in rural Indiana popped up to Heaven for tea and crumpets.

As for the rest, if you haven't made a deal with one of the Great Old Ones or been touched by His Noodly Appendage ... well, sucks to be you.

One True Cod

HAR!

Bright Ideas

I'm a sucker for shiny gadgets. That's no surprise to anyone who has ever exchanged more than three words with me in my life.

Sometime last year, blogs were chatting up Iain Sinclair's offerings. Specifically, his knife and his flashlight were being touted about.

They had a deal where you could reserve a place in line and pre-pay an amount that would be applied to the final total. The knife was due... February 2011 or so, at first while the flashlight was due around March.

Somewhere around March I guess there were production problems. My reserve money was refunded and Sinclair's site swapped over to a new payment gateway. The price of the items changed, as did the release date.

Good times. These things happen. Initially I was kind of annoyed with them. They weren't terribly-responsive to email. Then, suddenly, around March they were super responsive.

I reserved both knife and flashlight again via the new gateway.

The release date got pushed back again. I had other crazy things going on in my life so I just let it ride.

The site updated with actual release dates and I got enthusiastic again. I ping'd them a couple of times and got prompt responses as to what's going on.

I'm glad I was patient. Today my Eon Extreme light arrived.

*breathe*

Okay, so here's the skinny:

The flashlight is a skinny thing. It's a bit thicker than a couple of credit cards, but about the same width and height. It's got one depression button that takes some doing to press.

Two clicks and you get the lower light. Three clicks and that puppy shoots out 230 lumens of blinding light. Dracula would fry under this thing.

It comes with a micro-USB cable for charging. The battery is apparently rechargable and I guess USB is the way they opted to go. Whatever works.

My one complaint is that the control is a tad fussy. I've had it... I dunno... lock, I guess. When showing to a friend, the light stayed on the bright setting for... oh... two, three minutes? And it gets hot. Oh boy does it get hot.

Eventually, I managed to turn it off. I still don't know what the problem was. Hopefully it was just a fluke.

I'm looking forward to the knife's arrival.

Buffy the Time Lord Slayer

Okay, not really.



Still, this is a brilliant mash-up.

Buffy would make a hell of a companion for the Doctor. She's still got nothin' on Leela, though.

Pure Awesome

Words that don't (but should) exist in the English language

Endtimes

So yet another numbnut is out there preaching the world is going to end soon.

Apparently this particular dumbass believes it's happening on Saturday, May 21. Yes, 2011. He's really boxed himself in.

Might happen. Might not. What I love about these jackasses who preach the Rapture and similar bullshit is how they imply they're among the chosen who will be saved.

They're going to feel really stupid for about thirty seconds when Cthulhu cracks open their skulls and snacks on what passes for their brains. That's my take, anyway.

*sigh*

I guess that's pretty harsh of me. I should be less-critical of religion. I do know people who have faith and it's made them into great people. Heck, I just spent a long weekend with a ton of such people, so I ought to be more charitable.

Given that I'm a borderline-atheist, it's a bit hard.

Besides, we all know the real way the world is going to end: Ninkasi and the other goddesses and gods of beer are going to drown our sorrows in liquid goodness. There's worse ways to go.

Mmm... obliteration by beer...

Hmph

What a bizarre week.

No sooner am I back from a long weekend in the Pacific Northwest, then I'm hit with rain and cold worthy of March... and it's mid-May. My allergies dogpile on me and work me over like thugs with baseball bats.

It seems like pretty much everything I'm touching yesterday and today is breaking. Software, garments, electronics, you-name-it. I've apparently exhausted all the good luck I used over my long weekend.

And I pulled something in my back. I have no idea how.

On the plus side, it's a short week for me.

I'm now caught-up on both "Dr. Who" and "Game of Thrones".

This latest season of "Dr. Who" is brilliant beyond words. They haven't had a dud episode yet.

The "Game of Thrones" adaptation is pretty awesome too. They just got to a scene with a major confrontation between House Stark and House Lannister. The scene went differently than in the books, but I think they handled it okay. I'm very amused with my associates who have not read the books and are trying to predict what's going to happen.

It's very hard for me to keep my peace.

Idris?

Watched "The Doctor's Wife".

That was good, clean fun.

Targeting Solution

io9 announced that FOX cancelled "Human Target".

Good.

That second season was so awful that the show really needed to be put out of its misery.

NGAF

I consider this to be essential reading:

The Complete Guide to Not Giving a Fuck.

I'd apologize for the profanity, but I really don't give a... well, you know.

Enjoy!

Roll a d6

Either you get it or you don't.

If you don't, well I pity you.

thoughts

1. It's amazing how "me time" helps the brain.

2. I kinda like Firefox 4.

3. "The Curse of the Black Spot" was a more entertaining "Dr. Who" episode than I anticipated.

4. I make damn good chocolate chip cookies.

5. Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movies never get old.

spin

SPINspinspinspinspinsPiNspinSpInsPInspinspinspinspinspin

Whatwherewhennow?

I could stand with my life getting a bit less "interesting" for a while.

Not only did I not know what day of the week today is, I didn't know what week of the month it is.

This, my friends, is a sign of exhaustion.

bleah

Argh!!!!

Series Six of "Doctor Who" makes references to events in Series Five, so I've been going through my Series Five DVDs to refresh my memory.

That's when I discovered the scratches on my last disc of Series Five.

To say I'm disappointed at being unable to watch that DVD is understating things a bit.

Argh.

Obama took out Osama

It'll be interesting to see how the TeaBirther retards react to this.