XKCD is the one web comic I read every week

It is the ultimate in math/science/engineering geek humor.

Email from support

Do we need to do anything special for our product to work with DST?

My response

What’s a DST?

From Wikipedia, DST is an abbreviation which stands for:

* Data Storage Technology, a magnetic tape data storage format from Ampex.
* Daylight Saving Time
* Delta Sigma Theta, a non-profit Greek letter organization of college educated women
* Dexamethasone suppression test
* Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (Directorate of Territorial Surveillance), the French domestic intelligence agency
* Direct Stream Transfer, lossless compression used for SACD
* Directional Symmetry Transform
* Discrete sine transform, a variant of the discrete fourier transform for real and odd functions
* Drill Stem Test, a temporary completion of an oil or gas well to test fluid content, pore pressure and rock properties.
* DST Systems Inc. a software development company.
* Digital Signature Transponder, a cryptographically-enabled radio-frequency identification (RFID) device manufactured by Texas Instruments.

OR something else?

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The first theme I picked for this site was pretty cool, but the creator didn’t test it well enough, so it looked like crap in IE at times. I changed it the other day, but wasn’t completely happy with the new one either. I will probably continue to bounce themes until I find one I like, or until I’ve looked at enough to create my own.

This has been a public service anouncement.

ps. The feature I miss most about Mojira is the entry editor - it had a lot more features.

All software is inherently crap.

I start the day at song 247 on my quest to get through all 795 songs on my iPod.  Here are random songs 247 to 257:

1. Blister In the Sun (Violent Femmes  - Violent Femmes)
2. Pinch Me (Barenaked Ladies)
3. Lies (EMF - Schubert Dip)
4. Pulling Mussels [From The Shell] (Squeeze - Singles 45’s and Under)
5. Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order - Substance)
6. Have You Ever Been To Hell (Ziggy Marley - Conscious Party)
7. 99% (Soul Asylum - Grave Dancers Union)
8. That’s Entertainment (Morrissey - Just Say Anything)
9. I Feel You (Depeche Mode - Songs of Faith and Devotion)
10. Mystify (INXS - Kick)
11. Stay Up Late (Talking Heads)

John O and I were talking a while back about little things everyone could do to combat global warming. I told him that I was slowly switching over our house to the high efficiency lightbulbs. We agreed that the government should either start taxing incandescent bulbs to subsidize the high efficiency bulbs, or simply stop selling them. It sounds like the Australian government was listening.

Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the standard incandescent light bulb, which has been around for 125 years, will be phased out by 2009.

It will be replaced by the compact fluorescent bulb which costs $5 more, but saves an average of $30 a year, and is around 80 per cent more energy efficient.

Mr Turnbull said new government standards will be in place by 2009.

“We are introducing new energy efficiency standards and these old lights simply won’t comply, they will be phased out and basically over a period of time they will no longer be for sale,”

At Walmart or Schnuck’s, it’s more like $5 more for a 4 or 6 pack of bulbs and each bulb will pay for the difference in price almost 10 times over when you consider the energy savings.

Mr Turnbull said the plan was expected to save up to two million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in Australia over time and, if introduced globally, could have an enormous impact.

“If the rest of the world supports us … follows our lead, this will reduce an amount of energy … to the tune of five times as much energy as Australia consumes,” he said.

“It’s a little thing but it’s a massive change.”

I have to admit that part of my decision to switch our house over is selfish.  I’m sick of changing light bulbs every couple of days (yes, we have that many lightbulbs). Once the change is complete, I won’t have to change another lightbulb until Justin can drive — 2012.

Interpreting your results: An average Squid Quotient is around 100. A SQ of 100 means you have a normal affinity for squid. A SQ above 100 means you have an attraction or fondness for squid. Below 100 means that you should probably stay away from the deep ocean.

Find yours.