bastone.org

Author: joemama

  • Oblong Oreos

    We have had a problem for much too long. When we are eating Oreo cookies, we dunk the cookie in milk. But when trying to shove that whole cookie in your mouth, some milk inevitably will get on the side of your mouth, creating quite the mess.

    Kraft has solved our problems by introducing the Oblong Oreo. I say it’s about time. Anything that can make my dunking Oreos easier is fine by me. Sharon says otherwise. They have been making round Oreos forever, and we’ve been able to dunk them with no problems. There’s no need to mess around with tradition.

    Time will tell if this works out. The new Oreos will be in stores in June and July. The success (or lack thereof) will determine if they are a permanent fixture or not.

    [tags]Oblong Oreo, Oreo, Kraft, Cookie, Advertising[/tags]

  • My Canon Powershot A700 Review

    I have wanted a Canon Digital Rebel for a long time. I already have a Canon Rebel and an Olympus digital camera. But the Rebel takes film, and the Olympus is just old. I’ve had it for 3 or 4 years.

    Since Julia was born, Sharon and I have been taking photographs like mad. The Olympus was too slow, ate batteries like candy, and only took mediocre pictures. The Rebel took much better pictures, but I paid for every pictures I took. We needed a new camera.

    I tried to convince myself that I needed a Digital Rebel. The PMA, a huge photography trade show, was to be held at the end of February. I thought that a successor to the Digital Rebel XT would be announced, and I could get the XT on the cheap. Canon had other ideas, and announced a higher end model. I almost gt the Digital Rebel anyway.

    I found the Canon Powershot A700 instead. It was only introduced in February, so I couldn’t find any reviews on it. So I took a chance on it anyway. I’m glad I did.

    Pros:

    • Totally manual control – 1/2000″ to 15″, f/2.8-8.0, ISO 80-800, and manual focus
    • Huge LCD screen
    • Movie mode – with sound! It will do 640×480 at 30fps until you fill out the memory card
    • Good image sensor
    • 6x optical zoom (like 35-210mm)
    • Picture burst mode – it will take about 2 pictures a second for a while. I’ve taken 60-70 in a single burst before I stopped.

    Cons:

    • Still a delay between pressing shutter and taking picture
    • 16MB SD card included – give me a break, that’s like 6 pictures at the highest settings
    • Autofocus could be better

    So there you have it. For $300, you can get your hand on a very nice point and shoot digital camera with full manual control.

    [tags]Canon Powershot A700, digital camera, review[/tags]

  • Jumping the Gun

    I think [tag]Amazon[/tag] sent this a little early.

    The [tag]NCAA Tournament[/tag] does finish tonight, and they do need to get a jump on selling all that crap, but doesn’t someone look at this before it gets sent?

    Anyway, congrats to the [placeholder for winning team]! Job well done!

  • Google Romance

    Google has done it again, diving into the world of matchmaking with Google Romance.

    What else will they get in to? Oh, you did check the calendar, right?

    [tags]Google Romance, April Fools Day[/tags]

  • A Dollar & A Dream

    Here in NC, the state has finally started a lottery. I tried to look online to see what states don’t have a [tag]lottery[/tag], but got sidetracked, and never actually figured it out. I think there’s like 8 or 9 states that still don’t have a lottery. (If you do know, post a comment saying so.)

    I guess it was only a matter of time before we finally got a lottery here. Whenever one of the big lotteries (Powerball or Mega Millions) was pretty high, it made news around here. They would show people (and their money) from NC going to VA or SC to get the tickets. So why not just keep the money in state? And at least give the impression that a lot of the proceeds will be going to education. They have even gone to the extent of calling it the “North Carolina Education Lottery.” Scratch off tickets start today, then the other parts like Powerball starts later.

    I have a feeling that Sharon will buy a ticket every once in a while. But I don’t think I’ll be buying that many tickets.

    [tags]North Carolina, News[/tags]

  • Upgrading WordPress

    I’m going to be upgrading WordPress this weekend. The site might look a little odd for a while, and I hope I don’t break it!

    Update – 3/28/06 8:46pm – The upgrade is (mostly) complete. I’ve installed another photo gallery. So all of those other galleries are gone. Well, at least they won’t be updated anymore.

  • FBI needs e-mail

    Apparently the [tag]FBI[/tag] doesn’t have enough money to give all of their field agents e-mail accounts.

    Now I’ve got about 99 GMail invites left. I’m sure if we can get together, we can get GMail for all the GMen that are without.

    [tags]e-mail[/tags]

  • More Pictures

    Here’s more pictures of Julia.

    Flipping Julia

    She grows up so quickly!

  • Time for Patent Reform

    There is a good opinion piece in the NY Times discussing the need for patent reform.

    Patents are a good thing when used properly. They are needed to encourage innovation, and protect people from having their work copied. But when you can patent a relationship between homocysteine levels and a vitamin B-12 deficiency, something feels out of whack. According to the piece, bodily processes are not patentable, yet that’s exactly what we see here.

    Hopefully, this article will serve as another wake up call that we need serious [tag]patent reform[/tag] here. Recently, RIM ended a long court battle with NTP over RIM’s BlackBerry service. NTP is a patent holding company. Needless to say, RIM is pushing for some patent reform now.

    When I think of a patent holding company, I think of a company that holds many patents on ideas. They wait for another person or company to develop the product, then sue them.

    It would be easy to blame the USPTO for all these problems. But I’m guessing they are doing the best job they can do. I’ve tried to look a few patents, and as with anything related to the government, they are pretty damn hard to read.

    Let’s hope that something is done to reform the patent system, or we’ll all be facing problems down the road.

    [tags]News, Patents, BlackBerry, RIM, NTP[/tags]

  • Another bad day for Bush

    President Bush can’t get any love.

    Jessica Simpson, of reality TV and bad movie fame, declined to meet the President at a Republican charity event. Why? Because it was at a political event, and she keeps her political views private. Umm, sure.

    I’ve never really thought of Jessica Simpson as a political activist. Then again, I never really thought of her as a singer or TV personality. I mean, when you’re upstaged by Miss Piggy on Pizza Hut ads, your career is not looking so good.