Sushi! Trevor Corson's The Zen of Fish

You should all read Corson's The Zen of Fish. Funny, moving, inspiring, and filled with history and science in an accessible and enjoyable manner (science is good, it is not scary).

Has a pretty cool website, too.

PS2

They are still releasing titles for the PS2. Amazing. I have read one developer said that they know the platform so well by now they can squeeze every last drop of performance out of it.

But, tonight I was faced with a decision: Psychonauts for PS2, or Xbox? PS2. Why? My third Xbox 360 is starting its downward spiral (it keeps hanging after about .5 an hour with a "unreadable disk" error, which is what it did the first two times it died).

Bad, Microsoft, bad.

And my iPhone rocks, the interface is amazing. Microsoft could never, ever, come up with something so cool. Why not? The Cult of Bill, that's why not. Windows on every desktop instead of super awesome OS, that's why. Alas, Microsoft...

Boston Sports

BC football is #2.
Celts are supposed to be amazing.
Pats destroyed the Redskins, 52-7.
I think I'm missing something....
1918?

Old Photos

I was in a second-hand store the other day and there was a big basket of old, mostly black and white, photos (below). Seemed rather sad. Reminded me of Blade Runner and how they had photos to represent their pasts, but of course the photos weren't really of their past since they didn't have pasts. I have been told, however, by the owner of the second-hand store that these are usually extra photos that the families still have copies of, so, no loss. Still interesting to be able to buy photographic stills of others' pasts.

More Numbers!

From the NYT, as usual:

There are some 200 billion stars in the galaxy.... The first thing Dr. Shostak and his colleagues plan to do with the newly operational 42-antenna array is to survey a strip across the center of the galaxy. There will be several billion stars in the field of view, but they will be very far away, 10,000 to 50,000 light years...

Wow!

Morris Blog

Errol Morris has two very cool entries (awaiting #3) about a photograph from the Crimean War. Wonderfully detailed. Great story-telling and writing. Totally riveting even though you know they are very long entries. Appropriately long, though. Illustrated. Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.

You'd Think...

The Saga:

Xbox 360 comes back, RRoD's on fist start.

Perhaps, a friend suggests, it is the AV cable?

I test that, but if it's loose it actually works, and if it's out it has four red lights, not just three.

So, yes, it is true, Microsoft sent me a unit that RRoD'ed the very first time I fired it up.

Insane. (You'd think they would send me one that doesn't do that.)