Cedar Point

Trustys at Cedar Point

Trusty's at Cedar Point

With my brother’s family in town, we decided to brave the lines at Cedar Point.  The picture above demonstrates how advanced our communications have become.  I stood under the Cork Screw and waited for my wife to call me from the loading platform.  Somehow our crew managed to get the first ten seats and I photographed them as they went by.  Those two empty seats aren’t empty.  If you look closely, you can see some “little kid” hair.

On the Skyhawk we had eight seats together.  My wife snapped the picture below when we were 125 feet above where she was standing.  We don’t know those two people on the far left, but everyone else was in our group.

The Skyhawk

The Skyhawk

And then there’s my mom on the Wildcat.

Grandma on the Wildcat

Grandma on the Wildcat

You can see the whole set here.

One cool technology addition to the Raptor was the “ride cam.”  Behind each pair of seats is a camera that records you during the entire ride.  When you exit the ride, you can purchase a DVD of you riding the Raptor.  There are actually two cameras that cover four seats.  When you sit down in the ride, check between the seats in front of you.

We didn’t see cameras on the other coasters, but it’s only a matter of time.

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$200 TC Tablet

Yesterday, TechCrunch proposed a challenge to build a web tablet for $200.  The initial product specs are pretty simple.   The device needs to run Firefox and Skype.  The screen needs to be some sort of iPhone-like touch screen.  There must also be WiFi, a speaker, camera and microphone.

The basic idea is a device that can be used any time you are away from your main computer.  Since many people surf the web during much of this screen time, the TC Tablet will handle this quickly, from any WiFi location.  If all the software is open source (Linux, Firefox, etc) and customized by the open source community, all the cost is in the hardware.

Personally, I think this problem has been solved.  I can use my iPod Touch to do all the “quick computing” I need to do.  If I need to check my email, the Touch goes from “off” to “checking mail” in five seconds.  The Touch is also more portable.  It easily fits in my shirt pocket.  The battery lasts all day with constant use and three or four days if I use it periodically throughout the day.

I’m not sure how I would tote the TC Tablet around all day.  If I am going to carry something this big with me all the time, that screen better be sharp.  Although my Touch screen is small, it is high resolution.  I can easily read six point text on the Touch.  The big screen with multi-touch may be the demise of the TC Tablet.  I don’t know the prices of such hardware, but the screen alone might be too much of a factor in the bottom line cost of the TC Tablet.

If TechCrunch can pull this off for $200 it will be something to see.  It will take a dedicated effort from the open source community to make the software perfect.  For $200, it could be useful in a classroom setting.  E-books would look nice on a device of this size.

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Citrus Buzz

This one is for Buzz.

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The Little Animal


Thanks to my brother for the tickets to a dinner with James Laurinaitis, linebacker from the Buckeyes.  Laurinaitis is the son of a professional wrestler (The Animal).  You’ve probably seen pictures of the Road Warriors, the Animal’s famous tag team.

James was an All-Star in high school and was asked to speak at the North Central Ohio All-Star banquet.  At Ohio State, James has been an All-American twice.

Check out my pics at Flickr.  After the dinner he signed some autographs.  Check out the football he signed for me.  Nice guy.

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Protopage Upgrade

Sometime yesterday Protopage had an upgrade.  Here is what the site looked like before the upgrade.

Below is the same page after the upgrade.  Notice how everything is shifted down about half an inch so that the options tab can be seen at the top. 

The options tab is not new.  Before this upgrade, the tab was at the bottom.  That was nice considering that I use the options tab only a few times each year.  I have posted a “downgrade” request on the Protopage blog.  While I wait for a response, I’ll spend a little more time scrolling on my startpage.

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