New Digs
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I finally decided to do it; I registered a domain name and have moved Ratlands to my own web site. You can find it at

www.ratlands.com

by Cziltang 
Posted: Wednesday, June 07 2006 10:36:21 PM

Dark Territory
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OK, that's a bit grand. I anticipate being out of circulation for a few days. My mother is having minor surgery and I've got a couple of big projects in the works. If all goes according to plan, I should be back to whatever it is that passes for normal here in the Ratlands by Wednesday. Or not.

by Cziltang 
Posted: Sunday, June 04 2006 10:57:00 PM

But it really, really hurts
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One of the local TV stations recently did a piece on the impact the high price of gas was having on people. They lined up several people whose lifestyle was being adversely impacted by gas prices. These people were having to make significant alterations in their lives because...

(wait for it...)

they are now having trouble affording to put gas in their ski boats.

I live in an affluent society. Our standards for gauging hardship are not in sync with the rest of the world. That's OK by me. But, I have a bit of trouble feeling sorry for people who can't afford to put gas in ski boats that probably cost more money than I make in a year. But, with that as a background and with a sense of irony fully engaged, I will wander into "what I did with my weekend" territory.

Specifically, I had to replace the projector bulb on our DLP TV. It turns out that it isn't quite as hard as I thought it might be. The only problem was the apprehension inherent in trying to do something you aren't quite sure how to do involving a really expensive light bulb. (Because I'm not looking for sympathy a la "poor ski boat owners" I won't say how expensive, just that it was several gas tank's worth.) The cool part is that the new bulb makes for a much brighter picture that we had had recently. The uncool part is that I was only vaguely aware that the things could burn out, so I wasn't expecting it.

In the end, the only real point of consequence is that the Head Rat is happy and life has returned to normal here in the Ratlands.

by Cziltang 
Posted: Sunday, June 04 2006 01:44:24 PM

Decisions about Food
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Planet Moron on a recent FDA report on food choices in restaurants:

"...And it’s not as if your average citizen could eye up a 24 oz. tenderloin, green beans smothered in cheese sauce and a potato as big as an Ottoman and determine that the meal might be “a lot.” No, you need to be not just smart, but Margo Wootan smart for that kind of sophisticated problem-solving challenge.

To address this dilemma, the Keystone report makes a number of recommendations but they essentially boil down to two main courses of action:

1. Reduce food consumption by requiring that restaurants offer customers things they don’t want, kind of the way NBC got viewers to watch less television by broadcasting shows no one likes. Such items could include smaller serving portions, steamed vegetables, and tree bark. Not only would this result in customers slimming down, but restaurant workers would shed pounds as well as declining business would make them less able to afford food.

2. Establish a far-reaching multi-faceted public education program the purpose of which would be to help the American populace to become more like the authors of the Keystone report."

by Cziltang 
Posted: Sunday, June 04 2006 03:45:25 AM

Playtime
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After the "Firefly" festival Tuesday, I was preparing to settle down and do some serious writing on Wednesday. I was just generally angry, and that is usually a good thing when I'm trying to write. It was with mixed emotions that I discovered the box containing the Head Rat's new Digital Video Recorder in the living room when I got home from work. So, I spent last evening setting up the new DVR. (And checking out all the menus and gadgets and gizmos.) Then, today they finally delivered the two Tablet PC's I ordered for work, so I spent a couple of hour checking out the limits of the wireless network and assessing the functionality of the units. OK. That's crap. I wandered around the building playing with the wireless connection and doing basic demonstrations for the staff.

Basically, I've been playing for the last 3 days.

I did want to mention something I found really interesting. While we were shopping for the DVR I considered buying one made by LG. The LRM-519 has a 160 GB hard drive for recording shows. At $599, it was outside my price range, but this really intrigued me:

The LRM-519 can also serve as a digital media hub by allowing devices which have USB connections, such as digital cameras and MP3 players, to connect so their content can be accessed through the DVR. Media file formats supported through this method include WMA, JPEG and MP3. External USB hard drives can also be attached to expand storage memory options for recorded television programming. Through the LRM-519’s Ethernet port, the DVR can connect to a home network, wired or wirelessly, to access and share TV shows, photos and music with a Windows XP-based PC.

Sending recorded TV to your PC over your wireless network? Too cool.

by Cziltang 
Posted: Thursday, June 01 2006 10:04:46 PM