Discovery Reality Shows

So, taking a cue from Michael Mock's blog, I'm creating a pitch-list for programming shows that the discovery networks could air:

• Storm Chasers: Coders on the Road - A group of software developers join forces with one of the storm chasing teams and code up analysis software on the fly for their instruments.
• Industrial Refinery Programmers - Software engineers working on control systems in a refinery. What could go wrong?
• Timber Mill Coders - A group of programmers on a tecnical support mission to service the automated equipment used to cut various wood sizes (a spin-off of Extreme Loggers)
• ER: Code Blue - Programmers race against the clock to fix software bugs in life support equipment.

Reviews of things that suck: KCl

Summary:

OK, SO! My ex was deeply offended when I stated that I did not like the salt free ketchup. I now know why.

Instead of salt, the ketchup uses a substitute: Potassium Chloride. Innocuous, food safe, but dangerous if you're on a potassium sparing diuretic. I'm not. My blood pressure stays just fine unaided (even on a CNS stimulant like Adderall), but, for kicks and because, I don't have very many salts of potassium, it was a cheap addition to my reagents collection (and I'm ALL about the cheap right now!) so, I decided to do a little taste test this morning. This strongly reaffirmed my belief that the addition of KCl to ANYTHING will render it unfit for human consumption.

OK, so, in my usual spice/seasoning tasting procedure, I shook out a small amount onto my hand. The crystals were just as cubic as our friendly NaCl salt that we all know and LOVE ♥. That, my dear friends, is where the similarity ends.

I wet my index finger, dipped it in the small pile to pick up a few crystals. I then placed my finger in my mouth and onto my tongue. For about the first 10ms it was kind of like salt, then it hit, an acrid, cloying, and gag inducing sensation of, "OH MY GOD, SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH this substance in my mouth" Yes, I gagged. Yes, my eyes squeezed down tight and my feeble brain tried to process this horror-inducing sensation in my mouth. I swallowed. The small amount won't actually hurt me, WILL IT? No, I'm reasonably sure it won't. The aftertaste, an impossible to describe, somewhat bitter, medicinal aftertaste permeated my mouth. If I didn't do something quick to neutralize the horror building in my mouth, I was sure to lose my breakfast. I grabbed the nearest drink. A freshly poured glass of cola, and chugged it down, to remove the ionic nightmare from my mouth.

I will never EVER ingest such a vile substance again. Into the reagent cabinet it goes, never to soil another morsel of food ever again.

Pros:

• It won't raise your blood pressure
• I'm sure it would be just as neat as sodium chloride for growing pretty cubic crystals
• It looks just like salt
• Has a nifty warning to consult your physician before using any sort of salt substitute
• Makes a fine addition to my reagents. I don't have any potassium compounds, and now I do
• An excellent source of potassium.
• A great way to pull cruel pranks on unknowing friends when they go to salt up their delicious fries.

Cons:

• May induce vomiting
• Looks can be deceiving. It looks like salt, it shakes like salt, but unlike salt, it tests your gag reflex. 
• It might kill you if you are on certain medications for the blood pressure you're watching so closely.
• It's not iodized like sodium chloride. Your thyroid will be angry. 
• It has a highly disagreeable medicinal aftertaste that will leave you wishing you were dead. 

In short. It looks great on paper, but the reality is it isn't the real thing, and it's not really a substitute. If you're watching your blood pressure, you're probably much better off either going really easy on the NaCl salt, or just skipping the salt all-together. Most food already has enough salt already, so leaving a bit off will leave you better off. 

Mock Ramblings

Some shameless promotion of a friend's blog:

Mock Ramblings

He's a writer, and posts some rather clever series. If you haven't read any of his writing, you really should! It's good. Real good. One of my favorite (though they haven't made an appearance recently) is Reflections of a Deranged Cultist. Formatted as hijacked blog postings, the deranged cultist, and no sometimes his love interest make postings about the goings on in a secret Cthulhu worshiping cult. What could be more fun? A steel sphere filled with angry porcu-bats, that's what!  

British Automotive Show Hosts Chased by Angry Rednecks

Only in the American south could something like this happen...

Bad cars ...

Bad things can happen to good cars. Here's a whole bunch. I particularly like the LOLCat-like captions on the older ones.

Though, I feel a bit remiss about laughing at some of these tragic accidents.

Perfect decorating ideas for Halloweeen?

Bloody home decor.

And now, to kick things off: Lyrics I've misheard

Midnight Star, Weird Al

What I heard: Tell me, tell me, tell me how to make my frostbite grow.

What it really is: Tell me, tell me, tell me how to make my bustline grow.

In a song lampooning tabloid weirdness, either line could fit. Making one's frostbite grow would definitely be the stranger of the two, and definitely shows my twisted way of thinking.

There's a rabbit under there... somewhere

This blog post came up, and... HOLY COW! There's a rabbit under there somewhere.

This thing resembles some sort of tribble!

Photo by Betty Chu

According to Wikipedia, its an english angora rabbit. The beast has to be miserable in the summer time.

Magic

Reading an article on Snopes, I'm reminded of a time when I was chosen from the audience to be part of a magic trick.

I was not in on the act. I was just as dumbfounded as the remainder of the audience. And then it came: The act was performed aboard a cruise ship. Which meant everyone who had seen me at some point had a chance to corner and question me about the trick.

My response: "No. I don't know how he did it, but it certainly was cool."

There are probably people to this day who thought I was part of the trick. Not every magic trick has a preselected participant in the audience.

Tired of Spam? Try this.

I remember getting a link to this from somewhere, but after deleting a mailbox full of badly written spam (and reading the subject lines and wondering how many of these spammers got past 4th grade composition) I decided to revisit this site.

Spamusement, they call themselves.

The Simpsons

Maybe its just me, but this is too strange. Do not adjust your monitor. Yes, the video is the title sequence to the hit show "The Simpsons" but, with a bit of a twist: They're real people!

I haven't had a chance to actually view the video yet, but looking at the stills, it should be very eerie to watch. FWIW, I'm an avid Simpsons fan, so, I do have an opinion: Marge is a bit... off, she needs the 3ft tall blue beehive for it to look right. Homer is nearly spot on. Bart, Lisa and Maggie are not exactly what I was expecting, but then, real people who look like Simpsons characters just don't exist.

I'm unclear whether this is going to be a new series, a title sequence/couch gag, or if it's just a video floating around the internet, and whether it will be seen (on TV) in the US.

Neat! I'll be eagerly awaiting it

I stumbled across this wikipedia entry describing a game going by the name Spore. The game was created by Will Wright, the creator of Sim City.

Anyone who knows me know I used to be very involved in the Creatures community, and I've always had an interest in artificial intelligence, and artificial life. Spore seems to me to be a very interesting concept. Its not out yet, but was previewed at E3. I'm wondering what its hardware requirements are going to be. This might be one of the few games that will prompt me to get a new graphics card for my computer (despite the fact that I have a rather current processor and main board, my display adaptor actually lags behind a couple generations...)