Wednesday, 15 February 2012

By on February 15th, 2012 in netflix, writing

08:58 – At least Amazon Prime instant video saves recent searches, so when I pressed the asterisk button on the Roku controller last night the search box came up with Inspector Lewis already listed. Still, it’s pretty obvious that Amazon is trying to make watching free videos difficult. Presumably, they’re paying for those videos by the number of times they’re watched, so it’s in their interest to minimize free views. It’s pretty clear that Netflix has nothing to worry about from Amazon.


I’m still working heads-down on the forensics book re-write. There’s a surprising amount of work involved in re-purposing the text to make it kit-based, mainly because having a customized kit available opens up the options considerably. We’re able to add lab sessions that weren’t practical before because of the cost of purchasing all the necessary items piecemeal. Of course, using the book won’t require buying the kit. Anyone who wants to can still buy all of the stuff piecemeal, but they’ll end up spending a lot more money to do that.


13:09 – Hmmm. Here’s a fascinating video of a rabbit that thinks it’s a Border Collie. Apparently, the actual Border Collie shown in the video has trained the rabbit to herd sheep. I particularly liked the part around 2:08 where one of the sheep challenges the rabbit, who gives it that steely-eyed Border Collie stare. The sheep decides it’s not worth messing with something as dangerous as a rabbit.

16 Comments and discussion on "Wednesday, 15 February 2012"

  1. Dave B. says:

    I’m very interested in the forensics book and kit. I am considering buying them when they become available. If your still selling the kits when my daughter is old enough to use them, I’ll probably be picking up biology and chemistry kits to supplement her science education.

    Don’t plan on selling the kits for her anytime soon. Her current level of scientific inquiry is a three step process:

    1. See it.
    2. Touch it.
    3. Taste it.

    She needs to learn a little bit of selectivity with the last two steps, and I think that will take about 12 years give or take.

  2. OFD says:

    I am at about that same level of scientific inquiry but I have the selectivity part down cold.

    37 right now in midwinter northern Vermont. I have an APB out for Algore.

  3. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    If nothing happens to prevent it, we’ll still be doing books and kits by the time your daughter is ready for them. We’re in this for the long haul.

  4. SteveF says:

    If nothing happens to prevent it

    Something like… OFD’s ninja cat strike force?

  5. OFD says:

    So, ‘sup wid the dude wid da bucket? And da blonde chick in the background? Mister Wabbit did the whole thing by himself? And where is Elmer Fudd when we need him?

    Them Dutch seem to have way too much time on their hands.

  6. SteveF says:

    Complaints are rising about AT&T throttling data for customers on unlimited data plans. It’s the user’s fault, says AT&T, for using so much data.

    Here’s an alternative solution: because the problem seems to be AT&T committing to handling more data than they can support, we need to kill all AT&T salesmen and executives. Once AT&T’s capacity grows so that it can support the plans they’ve already sold, they’ll be allowed to hired more salesmen and execs.

  7. OFD says:

    Which reminds me of another large corporation that has major business here in Nova Anglia which took on a bunch of temp IT contractors to work on their burgeoning projects but didn’t bother training them on the hw and sw configs or giving them passwords to do their jobs. Meanwhile they couldn’t keep up with the incoming business their marketing wizards kept selling like hotcakes or the complaints and user support issues that came streaming in. I should probably also mention that their management structure is vertical in the extreme, with about 22 or 23 levels between the lower drones and the CEO, and they have about six project managers for every IT drone. I should also stipulate that it is an extreme Windows shop and help desk issues for even the IT drones who work there goes out to off-shored ESL sites where the E in ESL is, not to put too fine a point on it, incomprehensible gibberish.

    Their solution? Dump the newly hired temp contractors, many of whom had been out of work for months, if not years, hire some more project managers, and then change all the job descriptions and post them again.

    While that top guy, 23 levels above the lowly IT drones, rakes in multi-millions and lives the life of Reilly at his gigantic mansion in Connecticut, with regular visits to the WH.

  8. Chad says:

    Sign me up for the sex ed kits when they’re completed. 😉

  9. dkreck says:

    You’re not giving the BC enough praise. Not only did he train the rabbit, he’s got him doing his job while he stands around and barks. That’s management material.

  10. OFD says:

    Hey, let’s all just step back here a minute and give this some thought. All we see are: the rabbit, the sheep, the border collie, the dude with the bucket (which he carries around for an unknown purpose and periodically gives a shake) and a blonde female biped in the background.

    Who is to say that the rabbit didn’t train the border collie and is just giving him another demo of how to do his job, or, for that matter, that he hasn’t got the bipeds trained as well? Meanwhile, again for all we know, Elmer Fudd lies buried under one of those buildings.

  11. Chuck Waggoner says:

    The video is from Sweden.

    Meanwhile, there is a big fire just 2 blocks from me, and it actually smells like my own house is burning down. Light rain is keeping the smoke close to the ground, so the whole neighborhood smells like a lumberyard going up in flames. Which actually did happen here when I was about 5 years old.

  12. SteveF says:

    Could be worse. It could smell like Moochelle Obama left out in the sun after a day on Paula Deen’s set.

    Oh, wait. That was all impolite n stuff. Let me try again, bringing forth the full force of cute-n-lovable Steve:

    It could smell like eggs after Moochelle smiled at them.

    Dammit! I’m just not very good at this cute-n-lovable schtick. I guess I’ll just go with humorously nasty.

  13. Miles_Teg says:

    The Rabbit must have watched Babe (a documentary about an Australian pig who thought it was a sheep herder) too many times.

  14. OFD says:

    Dutch, Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, whatever. Way too much time on their hands since they quit a-Viking.

    The First Concubine is a wonderful example of the usual liberal hypocrisy, which is pretty much summed up by “Do as I say and not as I do.” Another example, of course, would be Algore swanning around the Hemisphere in his jets, traveling between his half-dozen or so McMansions. Or the late Carl Rowan, who waxed heavily and often on gun control from his perch in Mordor On The Potomac but then busted a cap in some teenage kid’s ass when he caught the kid trying to use his pool on a hot summer night down there.

    But don’t mistake lethal intent for fun-loving humor: Michelle would put you on a strict starvation diet had she the power, all the while stuffing her gob with the entire Paula Deen repertoire. Sort of like the old Soviet nomenklatura and our own pols howling for austerity for US while approving more gigantic bonuses for Wall Street pirates, brigands and banksters.

  15. eristicist says:

    The bashing of Michelle Obama is silly. She encourages people to eat healthily most of the time, not to eschew all unhealthy foods all the time. Politics don’t really come into that…

  16. BGrigg says:

    To do good is noble. To advise others to do good is nobler still, and a lot less trouble.

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