It’s official–the ants have invaded my laptop. At first I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me, but I’ve caught one out in the open for long enough to verify that it’s not all in my head. I don’t know exactly what I did to deserve such a “blessing,” but tiny little ants now frantically scurry from point A to B within my laptop as a key-strike or drive movement or fan startup scares them into action. They’re incredibly tiny, move like little hummingbirds, and I have no idea how I will end up getting rid of them. I’ll add pictures soon, if I can catch them long enough to focus on them in macro mode. How am I going to explain this if I need Dell servicing?

I’m apparently not the first to enjoy this little brush with nature. Here is “Ant Farm,” the tale of one individual who had to have her notebook serviced to remove a nest of ants; there is a Yahoo Q&A about ant colonies in laptops; a man who loses his $3300 Toshiba to Australian biting ants, and here is a long list of other ant-invaded electronics such as iBooks, network switches, and so on. I had better find some method of extermination…. I’m thinking it’ll probably involve partial disassembly, some alcohol, poison, and the vaccuum of space…. Or(!), I could just leave ant bate on the desk next to my computer and wait for the colony to die. Then I’d just have to shake the little buggers out of my computer…

Categories: General
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So we got a new camera, plus I’m going to be in Thailand for the entire summer, so I was felt moved to revamp the ole’ wedding website to be a little more useful/relevant for today (768 days later). I haven’t exactly figured out what the divide will be, since I’m not exactly burning up the wires sending new posts to WTG. I think the biggest difference will probably be that gradually the more personal photos will migrate to the personal site (www.isaacandandrea.com). I figured that not ALL my friends want their pictures advertised on the web, and my niece may not want every moment of her early life chronicled for random people on the web. I figure that I can probably implement password protection as needed on the personal site.

Categories: General
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I just loved this quote from my former Contracts professor as he outlined his academic planning suggestions. It’s hard to not laugh at an offhanded statement like that.

Categories: General
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I was just composing this little note to the King of Nepal when today’s news that he was returning to Nepal’s capitol from his vacation made my note irrelevant:

Our own president finds that getting away to his ranch in Texas is a good way to catch his breath, gain some perspective, and relax. However, when big issues come up, he generally heads back to the capitol. Based on this, I offer this advice–When some of your closest friends are willing to comment to international reporters that you are destroying the country, or when you’ve managed to drive most of the country’s political leaders into talks with Maoist rebels, it’d probably be a great time to return to the capitol. Perhaps you’ll have better luck figuring out how to restore that democratic government you promised if you are on location.

The good news is–great minds must think alike! King Gyanendra headed back to Nepal’s capitol. The bad news–his friends think he’s ruining the country, the nation’s elected leaders are in talks with Maoist rebels… oh! and police and rioters have been clashing in ongoing violent protest. I guess it’s sure handy that he has his neighbors India and China to turn to for sound diplomatic advice or democracy-inducing tips.

For more balanced coverage of the story, read or listen to today’s report, Nepalese Political Parties Explore Links with Maoists.

Categories: General
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So I just got back from visiting Andrea and seeing the current status of Biloxi, New Orleans, Mobile, Bay St. Louis, and a few other places in between. I’ve posted a messy mix of photos in the gallery.

I *think* I’ve also managed to get links between blog pages and between the blog and the photo albums working correctly… We’ll see.

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So Andrea is now in Biloxi, MS for work. As if to further emphasize that I’m all alone now in DC, the sky is totally gray with the impending snowfall. We’re supposed to get about 10-12 inches of snow tonight. I hear from Biloxi that the motel’s not too bad, but that she had to eat cereal without a spoon. I’m not entirely sure how she did that because her cell phone battery was dying. I guess I’ll learn more later.

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Categories: General
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In a new story about an old story– “Rumours mount over Google’s internet plan,” we learn a little more about Google’s plan to stick it to yet another popular enemy of the little guy–telcos, while simultaneously advancing they’re not-so-secret plans for world domination. By purchasing up massive amounts of currently unused fiber (shorthand for “fiber optic”) cabling that digitally connects cities across the US and other nations, Google may be able to sidestep the telecoms most recent attempt to cram metered billing down our throat. Just a recap for the short-memoried folks–They’ve tried, at various points in time, to convince Congress and consumers that we need to pay for phone service, cell phone service, data service, TV/cable service, etc the way we pay for power and water–metered by consumption. Only this latest time, they’ve effectively tried to argue that we should be charged for the privilege of downloading content from the Internet, then content providers (like Google) should pay for the privilege of sending us that content. Kind of like income tax and sales tax… Instead, Google is working to avoid the MCI/ATT/Worldcom/Verizon/Qwest/SBC jumble of non-tech idiots completely with their own network.

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Categories: Electronics, General, Public Policy
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In Martin Kaste’s story airing today on NPR’s Morning Edition, Professor Attacks Enthusiasm for Bio-Fuels, there is interesting discussion of a Berkeley engineering professor’s fight to take the alternative fuel discussion beyond oil company, agribusiness, auto manufacturer, and federal government talking points.

Martin Kaste’s story brought attention to some of the general issues behind the marketing of ethanol, however the story failed to highlight two important distinctions between biodiesel and ethanol.

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Categories: Biodiesel, General, Public Policy
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