Dan sent this really cool CG film called Delivery.

Delivery.

Another one sent over by Dan. This is great stuff!

40 things

These are funny:

1. When paying for a taxi, don’t look at your wallet as you take out a note. Just grab one out at random and hand it over. It will always be the exact fare.
2. All grocery shopping involves the purchase of French loaves which will be placed in open brown paper bags (Caveat: when said bags break, only fruit will spill out).
3. If you are heavily outnumbered in a fight involving martial arts, your opponents will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around you in a threatening manner until you have defeated their predecessor.
4. All beds have special L-shaped sheets that reach to armpit level on a woman but only up to the waist of the man lying beside her.

Taken from ArsTechnica (without asking):

Apple just released their third quarter financial year numbers and they’re looking better than ever. Driven by strong iPod sales, they reported strong growth over the previous year and quarter (I missed my guess of US$4Bn revenue by a pretty wide margin):

Apple posted a net quarterly profit of $320 million, or $.37 per diluted share, and revenue of $3.52 billion. These results compare to a net profit of $61 million, or $.08 per diluted share, and revenue of $2.01 billion in the year-ago quarter, and represent revenue growth of 75 percent and net profit growth of 425 percent. Gross margin was 29.7 percent, up from 27.8 percent in the year-ago quarter.

Apple also posted impressive gains in both Macintosh and iPod sales over last year:

Apple shipped 1,182,000 Macintosh® units and 6,155,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 35 percent growth in Macs and 616 percent growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter.

Impressive, Apple! What will be most interesting is if Macintosh sales stay strong and if the iPod juggernaut can continue to gain momentum into the Christmas season.

More good news:

* Over 80% of music downloads based on Nielsen Soundscan ratings
* 8,900 visitors per store per week vs. 5,800 same quarter last year
* Edu revenue and unit increase 16% year over year
* Higher ed 34% and 35% year over year revenue/unit
* K-12 8% for both
* Huge revenue growth for the stores all over the sale
* High margins came from unexpectedly high Tiger sales and favorable commodity prices
* $7.526 billion cash on hand
* Outlook for 4Q FY05: revenue of $3.5 billion, 50% yoy growth
* Music business sales 317% year to date
* CPU sales growing at 3 times the overall PC market, 495,000 units
* Tiger revenue $100 million
* 20% margins on iPods

Some day, I’m going to own either a PowerBook or a G5 or G6 (if it takes me that long). Being that I’m getting more and more into digital photography and possibly digital video (as Benjamin gets bigger and does more “stuff”), it could possibly make sense that I own a Mac.

But… pretty damn expensive at $150! Not only do they use bluetooth for the actual sending of the audio signal, but they also allow you to control your iPod which is very interesting. If they only made headphones like this that were earbuds, say, based off of the Shure or Etyomic earbuds. Of course, the control option would probably be missing on something that small.

Wireless Headphones for iPods

We had a little laugh fest with Benjamin the other day!!

I had the privilege of getting a nice picture with Ben and Dino!

Well, some of you may be wondering what’s new with Ben?

As of six weeks (yesterday), he’s:

1. Holding his head up, for the most part
2. Smiling when he sees his parents and prompted by grandparents
3. Having some light giggles when seeing his parents
4. Making “coo” noises and “talking back” when prompted
5. Starting to suck his thumb rather than trying to stick his entire hand in his mouth

It’s so exciting to sit and play with my son, having him do all this new stuff. It’s even more exciting getting to do this stuff with Michelle. She’s the best mother and cares and love for Ben better than I ever thought a mother could. I’m so blessed to have Michelle as my partner in all this.

We spent a good amount of time at the mall yesterday and got Benjamin a new hat!

He was so adorable in this hat that we ended up taking about 8 pictures of him wearing it!

Last one:

Well…maybe one TOO many pictures:

We were talking at work about how my friend Alison is getting married this weekend. Her new last name will be Link. That made me think of…

Thanks for sending this along, Pepe!!!

So, this being my second try with the Baby Bjorn Active Carrier, I’m glad to say that it worked as planned. With Michelle at the gym and me having some “computer lifing” to do, what better way to meet the needs of keeping Ben close while I bash away at the keyboard doing what I do than to use the Baby Bjorn.

My friends Justin and Nicole are living in Ulanbataar, Mongolia.

Here is a picture of BD’s Mongolian Barbeque and Detroit American Bar:

BD’s Mongolian BBQ

Thanks for sending this along, Dino!

Gord at work told me about this one:

Press Release

For Release Monday, June 27 to New Hampshire media
For Release Tuesday, June 28 to all other media

Weare, New Hampshire (PRWEB) Could a hotel be built on the land owned by Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter? A new ruling by the Supreme Court which was supported by Justice Souter himself itself might allow it. A private developer is seeking to use this very law to build a hotel on Souter’s land.

Justice Souter’s vote in the “Kelo vs. City of New London” decision allows city governments to take land from one private owner and give it to another if the government will generate greater tax revenue or other economic benefits when the land is developed by the new owner.

On Monday June 27, Logan Darrow Clements, faxed a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road. This is the present location of Mr. Souter’s home.

Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, points out that the City of Weare will certainly gain greater tax revenue and economic benefits with a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road than allowing Mr. Souter to own the land.

The proposed development, called “The Lost Liberty Hotel” will feature the “Just Desserts Caf?” and include a museum, open to the public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon’s Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged.”

Clements indicated that the hotel must be built on this particular piece of land because it is a unique site being the home of someone largely responsible for destroying property rights for all Americans.

“This is not a prank” said Clements, “The Towne of Weare has five people on the Board of Selectmen. If three of them vote to use the power of eminent domain to take this land from Mr. Souter we can begin our hotel development.”

Clements’ plan is to raise investment capital from wealthy pro-liberty investors and draw up architectural plans. These plans would then be used to raise investment capital for the project. Clements hopes that regular customers of the hotel might include supporters of the Institute For Justice and participants in the Free State Project among others.

This is absolutely awesome! I can’t believe the Supreme Court ruled against the private land owner!!!

Google Earth and Google Video offer new stuff.

Google Earth
Google Earth - Explore, Search and Discover

Want to know more about a specific location? Dive right in – Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world’s geographic information at your fingertips.

• Fly from space to your neighborhood. Type in an address and zoom right in.
• Search for schools, parks, restaurants, and hotels. Get driving directions.
• Tilt and rotate the view to see 3D terrain and buildings.
• Save and share your searches and favorites. Even add your own annotations.

Google Video

Now offers video playback with the Google Video Viewer (on selected search results that have had video clips uploaded).

Google’s a damn good time. A bit oppressive, but a good time, nonetheless.