I enjoyed the show quite a bit. It's a sitcom focusing on four physics/engineering types, the most socially capable of which is about on par with McKay from Stargate Atlantis. They have quite a few things in there that would be funny to scientifically inclined people.

Fascinating.

So I'm listening to a fan commentary of The Incredibles, and they use this "It's a TRAP!" line that I've also heard in an episode of Yu-gi-oh The Abridged Series. Can somebody explain this joke to me and how it's penetrated pop culture?

So it's just another example of inane attachment to random things. I'm as guilty of it as anyone, so I won't judge further.

It mystifies me that no-one has yet done Ackbar-as-Guevera on a t-shirt, but perhaps they have and I've just never seen it.

Here's my question of the day... "What's that smell?" :confused:

So I saw Indiana Jones 4 for the first time the other night, and I gotta ask: What the photon are aliens doing in Indiana Jones?

I think that's the same question a lot of people are asking.

Well, I may as well cause some trouble. ;)

So, what do you guys think about the Windows Mojave Experiment?

Personally, I would expect that most of the more knowledgable computer users would already know enough about Vista to be unable to participate, mostly limiting the sample to novice users. I think that's one of the main problems.

I dunno, a re-enactment of Fantastic Voyage, perhaps?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Ano...hing..._(novel)

So another author is writing a sixth Hitchhiker's Guide book. Words fail me.

So I'm gonna use you guys as my tech support. Does anybody know how to have a USB flashdrive plugged in and have Windows XP _not_ attempt to boot from it? I use two of them currently, and it's annoying to have to take them out, turn the computer on, then plug them in again.

Yeah, that problem's solved.

Has anyone bought any DualDiscs? Opinions?

GUY: Since you qualify for the tournament, here's your free duel disk.

YUGI: Sweet! This is going straight onto eBay.


Oh wait, you said DualDisc. Never mind.

Opinions on Rifftrax? Worth the money?

Why do people still RickRoll? It's stinking annoying, the joke's been killed, buried and necromanced a hundred times by now!

Furthermore, isn't one of YouTube's rules that you could be banned if you misrepresent videos, either through title or screenshot?

The same reason chain-emails full of heartwarming stories would still be filling my inbox if my aunts weren't manually added to my spam filter: Some people simply haven't learned to wake up and smell the zombies...

So I'm considering buying an iPod, so I want to browse the iTunes store to see how much stuff there is I'd want to buy. Is there some hidden back door to that site, 'cause all they'll let me see is a page telling me to install iTunes first. PNQ: I can't even SEE what they have to help me decide to BUY it?

You can install iTunes without actually owning an ipod: The program itself is free. Not sure why the iTunes store requires you to have the program already installed (Maybe they're just too fancy to have an actual web-based product catalogue) simply to browse the selection, but at least all you have to spend to get it is bandwidth.

Personally, I never bothered with the iTunes store, as my MP3 players came from Creative and so didn't support apple's flavour of DRM.

Yeah, but WHY install iTunes (and set up an account) if you're gonna decide not to go through with it?

PNQ: Okay, I've got a speedrun video file in .avi, and a commentary for it in .mp3. Same number of segments, same duration for all of them. HOW do I overlay the commentary track onto the video track so they're synched? And since the thing is in 25 parts, is there also a way to merge all of them into one massive file?

Grab yourself a copy of VirtualDub.

File->open->first segment of video
file->append avi segment->second, third, fourth etc.

Audio->audio from other file->select audio


Note: If the audio's in chunks the same as the video, it's probably better to combine each chunk with it's audio before attempting to string the AVI files together. I think .AVI files still have a 4GB filesize limit, but if that's really a problem you can always finish on two chunks instead of one

Does YouTube keep intact copies of pulled videos, so that in the future they can be restored if conditions change? Or is all that work lost forever 'cause WMG got riled up?

All of a sudden Firefox is cutting off the ends of the alttext in XKCD comics. Advice?

change browsers?

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1933

Works for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g-N2...eature=related

Is this actually a real form of musical notation?

So I'm reading an annotated version of Alice in Wonderland, and the topic of the immortal riddle "Why is a Raven like a writing-desk?" We all know that originally there was no intended answer, but Lewis Caroll later invented the answer "Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front." Note that "nevar" is "raven" backwards.

The annotated version presents the following alternate answers. What's your favorite?

"Both have quills dipped in ink."
"Because it slopes with a flap."
"Because without them both 'Brave New World' could not have been written."
"Because one has flapping fits and and the other fitting flaps."
"Because one is good for writing books and the other better for biting rooks."
"Because a writing-desk is a rest for pens and a raven is a pest for wrens."
"Because 'raven' has five letters, which you might equally well expect to find in a writing-desk."
"Because they are both used to carri-on decomposition."
"Because they both tend to present unkind bills."
"Because they both have a flap in oak."

PNQ: When will Zeke change my title away from this one that references my old Dopefish avatar? Hehe...

So I finally broke down and downloaded iTunes. Does anybody have any recommendations for free podcasts I should subscribe to?

Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
Skeptics' Guide 5x5 (Five to seven minutes on a single topic)

Car Talk from NPR

If you enjoyed BSG, there are all the podcasts of Ron Moore's commentaries going back to the first season (not every ep, IIRC) and several sets of writers' meetings, which are fascinating from a storyteller's viewpoint as well as an audience member's.

So the new iPod Shuffle is out...

PNQ: Does anybody else think that if an iPod is so small you can't fit the controls onto it, maybe it's TOO SMALL?

I'm not enthusiastic about having to use proprietary earbuds either, especially since i hate earbuds when they aren't required. I almost wonder why they couldn't make a set of headphones with an iPod shuffle built into them. You know, have the 2G-style fake clickwheel on one earpiece and the power and volume controls on the other earpiece. Memory on one side, battery on the other. No cord at all! You could fit a lot more rechargeable battery space in it, not to mention more flash memory.

So I'm trying to enjoy some Let's Plays on YouTube...

Is there any reason why people feel the need to read aloud all of the onscreen dialogue and instructions? I can READ the dialogue, after all. Can't they, y'know, do commentary on the dialogue, just like they do for everything else in the game?

No.

No, really: how do you pronounce "dsokpach"? I need to know this by Tuesday.

...and, in the category of "sentences I never thought would be written," a new challenger emerges.

D'sok'd-pakh, at a guess.

Also, does anyone else feel there would be more opportunity to say "bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronn tuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnu k!" if it were possible to remember the word?

Assuming you're talking about someone doing a "walkthrough" of a game, maybe they aren't sure that the text will be legible in the video?