10:19 AM
HD Loader may be no more, but if you missed out on ordering one, Divineo still has a few in stock. It looks like they raised the price by a couple bucks too.
10:41 AM
Concept cars almost always look super cool, and almost never make it to market.
Believe it or not, Toyota's hybrid Volta sportscar concept is going into production! Although for $72,000, you'd think they'd be releasing it under the Lexus brand.
12:20 PM
About 10 years ago, Black Angus used to be a pretty well-respected chain of steakhouses. The food was great, prices were reasonable, and most Black Angus locations were kept up reasonably well with low-light environments, expensive wood tables and accents, and classy silverware that really put some weight in your hand.
This weekend we ate at the Black Angus in Tustin and I can sadly report that the chain appears to have done a complete 180. The place is loud, the decor is more like that of an Applebee's, the drinks are weak, the food is only so-so, and the silverware is so flimsy you can bend a fork between two fingers. The service wasn't so hot either. All that combined with a severe lack of meat on the ribs that I ordered seemed to be indicative of a cost-cutting trend in this particular chain of eateries.
It may just be the Tustin location that sucks, but I have many fond childhood memories of hitting the Black Angus in Torrance and that place seemed a whole lot better. It's just sad.
These days if you're looking for a good steak at a chain that won't break the bank, your only choices are really Claim Jumper, The Elephant Bar, and Outback.
4:10 PM
If you're a lousy tipper you may soon find yourself in the Shitty Tipper Database.
I hate tipping bartenders. That's the worst. God what a waste of money. It's like 'Hey, thanks for doing your job. I'm going to pretend like you don't get paid to do this already, and give you another two bucks for no reason. Because clearly, mixing those two bottles together is a very difficult chore and they must not be paying you enough.'
1:25 PM
The truth behind the aggresively pushed extended warranties at Best Buy can be found at WarrantyBullshit.com.
From what I've read online, all Best Buys are the same - their floor managers turn their sales employees into braindead assholes who will try to force you into shelling out even more money for a totally worthless extended warranty, often on items as low as $50. Sometimes they'll even refuse a sale altogether if a customer doesn't go for the extended warranty.
The retail experience sucks ass when quotas and commissions are involved - just look at Circuit City! Pushy pushy!
Read more wonderful Best Buy extended warranty horror stories here, here, and the many wonderful comments in this Slashdot thread.
11:35 AM
Sirius has been making some major changes (for the better) to their Radio Classics station. The best part about these changes is that they're now publishing a schedule of what airs on the station. Before the schedule I think they just had a couple hundred shows on a random shuffle system or something.
9:51 AM
Lately on my way to work I've noticed a new coaster rising above lowly Buena Park. Westcoaster's got photos of the Silver Bullet, now being assembled at Knott's.
3:24 PM
I had to stop at the Home Depot near my house this morning, and as luck would have it they were filming an employee training video there today! There were lights and cameras and people with walkie talkies all over the place. There was even an satellite hookup trailer in the parking lot marked "Internet Everywhere" - although I'm not sure why that was there.
You'll find me in that video as "Background Customer With Shopping Cart #1" as I slyly walked behind the actors during a take - on purpose! I'm pretty sure I made it into the shot, but I'll never really know for sure. Nobody told me not to walk there, so I did!
1:30 PM
Dish Network subscribers, get ready for the 2004 Olympics!
Once the Olympics start, tune in to channel 9910. It will contain six TV screens showing six different channels each carrying Olympics coverage simultaneously - and it also includes six corresponding alternate audio tracks so that you can pick which station you'd like to listen to.
4:19 PM
Disneyland has its 49th birthday tomorrow. Expect some kind of PR event in the morning when more 50th anniversary plans are unveiled. Annual Passports are rumored to get a lot more expensive starting tomorrow, too.
I dunno man...Knott's is practically a hop skip and a jump away from Disneyland, and their passes are only $150. Tempting!
1:52 PM
Two clinical studies (1, 2) have shown that using Listerine twice a day is as effective as flossing your teeth once a day. Of course both were sponsored by Pfizer, makers of Listerine, but they wouldn't make a claim like this if it weren't true.
Of course, Pfizer says you shouldn't stop flossing, but that's just to cover their asses. I say we all stop flossing and start swishing!
Nobody has time to floss - but everybody can swish some liquid around in their mouth for 30 seconds. It's easy!
3:09 PM SENT is "America's First Phonecam Art Show," and it's not just some online thing. There's an actual galleryspace in downtown Los Angeles being used for this.
You can't get more high-fallutin', uber-pretentious, and totally full of yourself in the world of art no matter how hard you try. Whether you're an organizer or a contributor taking it seriously, you are a retard.
I say this to you 'artists' because you may not get out much and you probably rub elbows with other weirdos, but I can't make it much clearer than this: "America is laughing at you."
Hey, everybody's invited to my house next week for America's first macaroni art show! It will be great! I'll have free wi-fi too! And I will somehow get NPR to sponsor it, just like these people did.
Look, I can understand having like a 'digital camera art show' or something. But why segment it down to a 'low resolution digital camera art show'? And christ almighty, why not just have a 'photography show'? Who cares about camera phone art anyway?
11:57 AM
There is a single file used by Windows XP that prevents you from using third-party visual styles (those lacking a digital signature from Microsoft.) This file is uxtheme.dll.
Products that work around this limitation like StyleXP and WindowBlinds have made their authors rich as thousands of Windows users worldwide have embraced their skinning products. However, each of these products have run *on top* of the Windows operating system. That's not neccessarily bad, but system tweakers don't like that approach.
Well you can uninstall all of that junk, because the Neowin UXTheme Multi-Patcher v1.5 makes them irrelevant. It'll patch uxtheme.dll in mere seconds to allow unsigned visual styles to work with Windows - no extra software required. It'll even un-patch the .dll if you'd like it to.
EDIT: Not working? Run the patcher in safe mode. That'll fix it for sure.
12:52 PM
Officially sanctioned and commissioned by both Sony Pictures and Lego, Spider-Man: The Peril of Doc Ock is one of the best stop-motion Lego movies you're likely to see in this lifetime!
11:35 AM
Effective tomorrow, Sirius is adding ten new streams to their lineup - five new music channels, four talk stations, and an all-NFL stream. Say goodbye to Planet Dance though - it's being replaced by (or at least renamed) Area 63.
Saturday night we had dinner with Stacy and Steve at Claes Restaurant in Laguna. They're having their rehearsal dinner there in October, so it was nice to get a sneak peek. Afterwards we walked through The Montage, drinks in-hand, to check out the wedding and reception areas. Pretty swanky! They're gonna have one heck of a wedding.
Sunday we spent the day at Tammy's parents house (her dad made the jump from charcoal to propane - awesome) and the night at Disneyland with S&S. The 4th fireworks were so-so. I was hoping for more. They kind of skimp on the really big exploders, I've noticed.
Then Monday we were out pretty much all day again with S&S, having lunch at a beachside pizza place in Laguna and then stopping at the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Canyon, which is like an outdoors art studio filled with lots of people selling their work.
9:15 AM
The fireflies from the Pirates of the Caribbean queue can now be yours - for a price. Six of them will cost you $98 - and that's an introductory 'discount' from $149.95.
Sooner or later a Chinese manufacturer will get them down to $19.95 and we'll see them in every party store in America, but until then, we wait.
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