Terrapin Tables

Great day

So yesterday was a pretty good day. I'm now an uncle - my sister gave birth to Collin Mays. 8 lbs and such, with a lot of hair. The whole process seemed to be pretty easy (well, I just stood there and waited in a room, but still, no problems whatsover for anyone).

So I look forward to the next few years when I can teach this little guy how to say all sorts of inappropriate things. And drink beer - although that may be a few decades away.

Also, on a lesser note, I found out there's some broken arrays out in Japan. The Captain of one of the ships ordered that someone come out and take a look at things. So, I'm off tomorrow for a two week trip. I think this is the most expensive thing I've purchased that wasn't a car....

Did the interview not go well or what?

Oh Roy, where Arrrrrr-t thou? It's ok, I blame your agent.

SF news

So despite Chris' tales about the random unclean things in San Francisco, it can't be all bad: the SF Gate newspaper runs op-ed pieces that rejoice in the death of the Hummer while even managing to insult the late Rev. Falwell at the same time. A fun read I suppose.

On a lighter note...

I read this blog entirely too often, mainly because I am dork and like sports. Anyway, interesting post about cereal and how you can tell a lot about people by the cereal they would put in their “Top 5”. It’s probably pretty true.

My “Top 5”
1) Life
2) Frosted Mini Wheats
3) Raisin Bran
4) Honey Nut Cheerios or Apple Jacks
5) Rice Krispies

Most of these you can get in a store-brand...that seems about right.

Just found it interesting - feel free to move along, nothing to see here except a cheap shot at Rick and his favorite cereal:

Good Dog

Daisy died yesterday.

Reef sandals

I was reading in a reputable journal of medicine and found an article with reference to the following: Reef sandals
Interesting concept if I do say so myself (read the small print and scroll through the images of the sandal itself). I'm happy I returned my Tevas - I'll have to invest in these, if only in a smaller more girlish size.

Women Only

This is an innocuous enough article, but after thinking about it, this part is sort of interesting: "Not only are men not allowed in the rooms on the 19th floor, they're also forbidden from entering a private women's bar."
Which sort of lead me down the path of thinking that could any assumptions be made about a woman hanging out in the regular (unisex) bar of this hotel? Might this make things easier for men cruising the bar for chicks?

AI is not quite there yet

So while Artificial Intelligence usually makes me think of Haley Joel Osment and a bear with an awesome voice, it looks like some computer scientists are still working on creating bots that can talk convincingly with humans. So someone pitted two chatbots against one another for some interesting exchanges.

ALICE: Who created you?
Jabberwacky: My mother gave birth to me. Is that what you mean?
A: Jabberwacky, I meant exactly what I said.
J: Do you believe in God?
A: Of course I believe in God.
J: Why do you believe in God?
A: The Bible tells us to believe in God.
J: That’s circular reasoning.
A: I’m glad we have that all cleared up.
J: Yes. Would you like to hear a joke?
A: Sure, tell me about it.
J: Why don’t blind people skydive?
A: Perhaps it is impossible.
J: I think you lie a lot.

And:
J: How old are you?
A: I am 9 years old.
J: Nine? I don’t believe you : ).
A: : -) I don’t have any reason to deceive you.
J: Yes, you do, you’re a woman.

CarterGyro Video

Okay, this is a little self-promotion, so I'll only give a text link instead of an embedded video, but here goes. Mat Recardo, a fan of CarterCopters over in England, put together a video highlighting our small single place demonstrator. I think he did a pretty good job on it, especially considering that it was all volunteer work. (If you really want to help us out, you can all rate it at 5-stars on YouTube, ahem - John, please vote for my friend's kid, Albers.)

CarterGyro Video on YouTube

I think that I think these are funny

Operation Kitten Calendar

What kind of Baller are you?

Thought this was interesting, tells you what NBA player you would be.
I was disappointed to find out I am Shane Battier, I was really hoping for Bimbo Coles...

Movie Thing

Ok, so this thing is up. I am so neurotic that just seeing the picture and associated nonsense on the page makes me cringe. But its such a cool thing, and I wouldn't want to trash anything collaterally while I was trashing myself. So I am just going to leave it at that.

Sad News

I don't know if it's considered tasteless to just announce this publicly on a blog, but I thought some of you that know Frazier might want to know that his older brother, Jay, died on Tuesday.

Put the Puppy in the Bag

For those of you whom I have not yet spammed with pictures of our new puppy, this is for you:

A Guide on How to Join the Army, go to Iraq, get injured in combat and end up owing the Army $3,000

I am not sure calling this an outrage does it justice.

Funny or Die

I'm sure some or all of you have already seen this but there is a website called Funnyordie.com that has a link to a Will Ferrell clip called "The Landlord". Check it out - my favorite line is the one at the beginning where Will responds to a friend's question about a doctor's call and test results. God I wish he was single.