Monthly Archives: September 2007

Testing the Kandinsky Zone Effect

26 Wednesday Sep 2007

Posted by in Blogging

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What is the Kandinsky Zone Effect?

I ask myself that question all the time.

Actually, it’s really just a test.  I’m testing to see how long it takes blogsearch.google.com, technorati, etc. to pick up my a posting with a phrase that I really doubt anyone has ever written about before.

I’m also testing to see how long it takes to get into the regular Google search index after it gets into their blog index.

Stay tuned for results…

Update: Wow.  In less than 10 minutes, this post is viewable in the regular Google search index (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Kandinsky+Zone). That’s amazing spidering and indexing speed by Google.  On top of that, that’s a truly unfair advantage blogs have over regular webpages.

Next, I’m going to try it with a new blog that is not yet in the index…

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Apple threatens to brick unlocked phones?

24 Monday Sep 2007

Posted by in Gadgets, Technology

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A lot of buzz today around Apple’s announcement that a future update may cause “irreparable damage” to the device.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t much about hardware (definitely not devices), but I find it incredibly unlikely that a software hack of any kind can permanently damage a device. Maybe Apple won’t do it for you, but there has to be a way to wipe your device back to the its factory software/firmware.  I’m sure it’s something that Apple engineers did all the time while developing the iPhone.

So is Apple bluffing?

I don’t blame them for it (I’m sure they’ll make more from their cut of AT&T’s monthly fee than from the device itself).  But can you imagine the level of the screaming if Microsoft did something like this?  As far as I know, unlocked Xboxes still work…

Update: Ahhh, the drama continues.  The incredibly insubordinate iPhone Dev Team has smacked down Apple, and is releasing a fix to revert the iPhone back to its original state.  We all knew it wasn’t that hard.  The only question is whether Apple will try to take these guys down…

Butter from non-dairy creamer

12 Wednesday Sep 2007

Posted by in Food

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So all day today, because we’re crazy here at Homestead, Kyle Woodward, Bryan Lee, and I are all shaking little containers of liquid non-dairy creamer (Coffee-Mate, if you must know).

Why? My sister-in-law (a PhD and smart girl) once told me that if you shake them long enough, solids will start to form and you’ll eventually get butter.

Yes, from non-dairy creamer.

She might have been totally pulling my chain.  Then again, I may be completely snowing Kyle and Bryan so I can watch them shake mini plastic cups of creamer all day long. Oh, I wish I were that cruel and unusual.

We’re giving ourselves until 5pm today to see what happens. Stay tuned for results.

I love being stupid.

Update: Well, we haven’t opened them yet, and I left it on my desk for the weekend.  We’ll shake again on Monday then open Monday afternoon.

Update again: Well, after several days of sporadic and not very vigorous shaking, we opened them.  No solids at all.  And worse yet, Bryan and Kyle actually pounded their creamer. There is such a thing as going too far, guys.

Now we just need to get an actually butter churn and fill it with non-dairy creamer and see what happens…  Any takers?

And I thought fried butter was a joke…

08 Saturday Sep 2007

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A few years ago, Elice and I had a (rather rockin’, I think) deep fry party.  Two deep fryers going, a few gallons of oil, wrappers, three batters, several coatings, the works. We joked about deep fried butter but we never did it.  It’s just a joke, right? Who would do it except idiots who do stupid things like try to make butter out of non-dairy creamer?

Well, apparently Paula Deen of Food Network fame; here’s her ridiculous recipe.

I love fried food, but wow.  Wow.  If anyone actually makes this, you gotta tell me how it is.