Rocket Science

I saw this great link from O’Reilly’s Radar about DVD playback. Really, perhaps the pirates have it right…

Source: Unknown

Perhaps the pirates have it right...

And now for my quote…

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Unknown, probably Brown, Rita Mae. Sudden Death (Bantam Books, New York, 1983), p. 68.

There’s a nice article at Psychology Today that summarizes some of the issues with attribution.

Once again it’d be really funny if it wasn’t true.

Sunday, February 14, 2010: Rolling Hills 2, 90 minutes, 21.0 miles, 486 calories, 64 watts
Monday, February 15, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010: Rolling Hills 2, 30 minutes, 7.5 miles, 187 calories, 74 watts
Wednesday, February 17, 2010: Rolling Hills 2, 30 minutes, 7.5 miles, 188 calories, 76 watts
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010

All of this is done on my Schwinn 231 Recumbent Exercise Bike

It’s been a long time since I played a paper-based RPG, but a recent BigBearButt blog post lead me to this comic.

Source: DM of the Rings by Shamus Young

You did what?

Today I did a Google search for “find it use it get it”, and who’s lovely mug did I happen to find in the first 10 search results?

Source: Brandon/Google

Justin as a search result?

I don’t think Google quite understood my query, but nonetheless it’s fun to find someone you know in the top 10 results. I wonder if my search results are biased by Google Buzz? (I have search tracking turned off, so that shouldn’t be it.)

Do you have TivoHD? Do you have a Samsung UN46B8000? Want to know how to use the Picture-In-Picture feature?

Here’s how I did it…

So, I have Comcast Cable (I’ve written about some of the issues) connected to my TivoHD. And the TivoHD is connected to my TV via HDMI–which really is the best way to do it to get a super high quality picture.

But the TV comes with a Picture-in-Picture feature. I’ve been wondering how I might use that feature. Wouldn’t it be great to be watching a DVD/Blu-Ray but be able to check on the incoming blizzard? (Well, ok we’d have to have a blizzard first…knock-on-wood.) Or play a console game, and keep an eye on the news or a sports event? Yep, sure it would. But wait, for some reason the PIP only works using the cable/antenna input. Say what? Grr…

It’s a nice to have feature–but until I get HD quality video directly from the cable without extra processing (HD Tuner or Cable Card), or until I get cable that works on a digital tuner without a cable adapter…it’s, well, useless. I really can’t use the feature without spending more money.

But wait! I’ve figured out a way around it–all thanks to the digital transition. Comcast sent out a “free” “Digital Transport Adapter” to enable my old-fashioned analog TVs to continue to receive the cable channels after Comcast fully switches to digital transmissions in my area. Hrm, I wonder if I can connect that up to the TV’s antenna/cable input and get PIP.

You guessed it, yes I can. So, lo and behold, I can now use the PIP feature, without having to pay extra. The picture quality isn’t great, but the PIP window is pretty small and I don’t notice the *much* lower quality, so it all works out.

Yay!