Engadget has a great article on how you make your in-house phone jacks work with VoIP. It actually looks pretty simple too.

Great photo of the winners of a Jack Sparrow look-a-like contest. Via

My wife’s writing laptop’s hinges broke. The cheapest I found new hinges for online was $49.00. Sheesh. In the meantime, she needs a quick fix. I tried duct tape. I’m pretty sure that would fix it; I just couldn’t figure it out how. In the end, I tied a string around it… Surprisingly, the string worked pretty well. Unfortunately, I think my wife is too proud to use it.

Anyway, here’s a guy who thinks he has a solution to the broken laptop hinges problem (via Make), but I couldn’t figure out for the life of me what he was doing.

Last night was my best BUDS birthday. After struggling with what I wanted to get him, I settled on a mildly interesting but not overwhelmingly perfect gift. Of course, to make up for it, I determined to hit the town with him in celebration. No, we didn’t blaze through the town in a hazed spectacular. We merely took a relaxing tour through some interesting bars in the city.

Anyway, when my BUDS brother took leave for the evening, we decided to hit a local martini bar. The place was atmospheric enough, and we mused on the meaning of being a year older (not really). So, happy 26th birthday, bro!

Oh, and what about the whole point that I’m trying to make? If I ever own a tiny martini bar, I’m going to call it Shaken and Stirred. That name came to me in an early morning act of inspiration.

Warning: This may be my crudest post to date, but it needs to be said.

I used to hate using the restroom at work. You might know what I’m talking about. I was one of those people who could only sit on a toilet in the privacy of my own home. Something changed at my current job though. I realized that if you take that break while working (versus painfully holding it all day like I would sometimes try) you were getting paid essentially for you know using the bathroom. In fact, after a while, I found that whenever I was taking a bathroom break at work, I was more relaxed than I would be at home. At home, there’s plenty of things I would rather be doing. At work, well, there’s just work, and I might as well take as long as I need. Besides, is there any better place to let a difficult problem mull through your mind?

So, now I’m a true convert, and you might be thinking I just shared too much.

Mark this incredible vehicle down for my wishlist. It’s a 4 wheeler (ATV) that converts into a jetski. Go on land or water, when you’re this cool, you just don’t care.

I heard they were going to remake the original Karate Kid and all the bad guys ride around on these instead of dirt bikes. Daniel-san is really going to get his butt kicked now; I don’t even care how good he is with a soccer ball.

Continuing with my When Does an Operating System Cost Too Much line of thought, I began wondering if computers are actually getting cheaper, or if the cost is just getting juggled around.

Sure, every year, you get twice the computer for the same price as a year before, but that’s only the hardware side of the story. It seems to me like that cost is just redirected into paying for the software.

Honestly, no matter how many improvements Microsoft makes to Word isn’t it still just a word processor. Aren’t those improvements actually just fixing problems that exisited in the last verision of the software? When do we shut the case on the word processor and consider it solved? Same goes for the spreadsheet, and how come a web browser (a piece of software just as complex and useful) is free when we pay over a $100 for just a spreadsheet and word processor?

For that matter, is it fair to charge for an operating system? You don’t sell a car and then charge an extra premium for the engine that runs it, although that sort of tactic is something that would be associated with car salemen before it would be with computers.

When the OS costs more than a computer… It costs way too much. According to Download Squad, Windows Vista Ultimate will fit that bill.

[W]ith a price tag around $450 … that’s about as much as a budget Dell system will cost you.

Personally, I think the most ANY piece of mass market software should cost is $99. Anything more expensive should at least double as a defense against a zombie horde.

After begging my wife to let me watch Fight Club, I finally snuck in a viewing while she was out and the baby was asleep. This wasn’t the first time I had watched the movie, but it was the best. Sitting there, enjoying the movie’s nihilistic approach to manhood, I realized that I probably shouldn’t have been asking to watch the movie. If I followed Fight Club’s logic, I might have burned down my house, stolen a car, and lived the film instead.

Fight Club is the ultimate guy film, and it’s hard not to like. With themes like underground boxing clubs, pointless mischievous vandalism, and showing up to work unkempt, how can you go wrong? Who doesn’t want to blackmail their boss into letting them stay at home and get paid for nothing at all? Sure, the protagonist had beat himself to a bloody pulp to reach that goal, but he probably felt it was a small price to pay once he had blown up his condo and all his worldly possessions.

I’m sure the movie has deep, thoughtful, underlying themes, but honestly I just thought it was fun. It might have something to say about various disorders like narcolepsy and split personalities, but I kept seeing those devices as more of a means to an end: bare-fisted backyard brawling. As long as a movie has characters who are willing to trade their workday suit and tie for an opportunity to slug it out, I’ll be a captivated audience.

In the vein of journalistic disclosure, I should mention that before watching the movie I invited a buddy over to trade some punches in my backyard. It was by no means a fight club. We wore gloves and tried not to get hit, but I did end up with a black eye for my effort. I told my co-workers that I got hit by a Frisbee. My only regret is that I didn’t snap a picture to post here. I guess I will have to do that next time.

The other day, I reached into the dryer, pulled out a freshly cleaned towel, and put it to my face for a giant wiff. Much to my disaapointment, it smelled like cigarette smoke. I often find that clean clothes and towels smell vaguely of smoke. I don’t smoke. I don’t even know anyone who does. Is my sense of smell broken, or do I need to switch fabric softner?

You have to love a good stock photo cliche (via). My favorite on the list has to be this one:

3. The Big Thumbs of Triumph: Good job, ace. You’ve saved the company again.

The pictures add a lot of course.

I love to look up the definition of words. Most likely, I enjoy it because I’m always surprised by what I find, and I love definitive answers. Today, I was reading a website that used the word “intransigent”. I didn’t know what it meant, although I had an idea from the context. And I did exactly what I usually do to find the definition. I searched for it in Google. As often happens with big words like this, the top result in Google is the dictionary definition.

I couldn’t help but think that if the top result for the word (i.e. it’s most cited use) is its definition, maybe you shouldn’t use it… Then again, maybe that’s the best reason to use it.

I just read about NBC’s new line-up, and one line stuck out:

Conversely, gone from the fall lineup are such shows as “Fear Factor,” “E-Ring,” “Conviction,” “Surface” and “Joey.”

Are they sick? Did they really cancel Fear Factor? That show was great.

My buddy Donald sent me a link to his new color wizard. Wow, it’s pretty cool and definitely one of the better color apps that I’ve seen.

I’ve updated my feed list with a few intersting sites:

• Mighty Magic Tricks - all about how to make and perform magic tricks
• Mighty Optical Illusions - I’ve always been a big fan of optical illusions

Via Make