A New Site Idea
I need to start another site like I need a whole in my head, but I think I have a good idea. I've compiled a list, based on “audience reaction of a typical group of fireworks watchers” (my extended family), of the best affordable fireworks. Maybe I'll start posting my picks somewhere… Hmm.
Happy Fourth, everyone!
Last Minute Shopping...
Nothing says fun quite like lighting large amounts of paiper-mache and explosives on fire. If you are looking for an impressive firework for your display, and you've waited this long, here are a few of my recommendations, based on the ones I shot off tonight at a family get-together. All but the “Bug Zapper” are returning favorites, so I can vouch for their consistency.
The Big Guys- J.A.S.F.: Just Another Stinkin' Fountain — This is one that I've purchased for the last few years. And it is just as good as I remembered it. For around $7-$10, it is one of the best, longest lasting fountains you will ever encounter. It may very well be the best fountain, actually.
- Pop Goes the Fountain (Black Cat) — Another very long lasting fountain with very nice, white and gold sparks. This one only costs around $7, which makes it an excellent value.
- Bug Zapper — The only 500 gram fountain I've seen. Given that 500 grams is the maximum legal amount of explosives, it is unusual for it to be put into a fountain. While it did not last much longer than Just Another Stinkin' Fountain, it did put on a very large and brilliant fire show. It costs around $16.
- Nuclear Meltdown (Black Cat) — This is another colorful, very long lasting fountain that has been around for a few years. At $11, it was the best value until I found J.A.S.F. a few years back. It is still worth adding to your display.
- Golden Silver Flowers/Flowering Peach — Both of these classic, smaller fountains last a nice amount of time and cost around $1.50.
- Green Bamboo/Big Snow — These small aerial balls put on a vivid, if short show for about $4.00.
- Happy — For a small aerial firework, you still cannot beat the old standby, which comes in a variety of prices and sizes.
Smoke: The best smoke bomb you can get is Don't Smoke in a Can. At $3.00, it is pricey, but there is simply none I've found better. It lasts a very, very long time and emits three different colors of smoke.
Combine these with others such as Cuckoo, 2 Cool, Wow!, strobes, artillery shells and so on for a great show everyone is sure to love.
Have a happy Fourth!
Virtual FireworX
If you have a Mac, and you're looking for a way to make your system seem a little more festive for Independence Day, checkout Virtual FireworX, which I just reviewed in my gadget column at OfB. It is really impressive, and a basic version of it is even free.
FridayQ: Never Say Never
FQ1: Somewhere you'll probably never go, but would like to.
The moon. OK, for an answer that is not out of this world — ahem — I'll say Australia. There are some places in Europe I'd like to go to, but I'm counting on making it over the pond one of these days. Down under seems less likely.
FQ2: Something you'll probably never do, but would like to.
Run for Congress or the Senate.
FQ3: Someone you'll probably never meet, but would like to.
Steve Jobs — I'd love to sit down with him to do an interview; he is undoubtedly one of the most visionary people of our times (as a side note, I wrote a post over at TSN last week on some points Jobs made at Stanford that make nice theological points). I would also like to meet Philip Yancy, something that is probably a bit more likely (perhaps at a book signing or something).
FQ REALITY CHECK: What would have to happen in order for you to actually accomplish those three things?
For the first one, someone could hand me a check for a few thousand bucks and I could set off right now to the “bottom of the globe.” In the more extreme choice of the moon, it would require NASA to build its new lunar lander and let civilians ride along and demonstrate it was safe enough for me to feel comfortable getting on it. The second one would require a few tens of thousands of bucks and the opportunity to meet a good political strategist. The third? I'm not sure. Jobs doesn't talk to just anyone, and money certainly wouldn't buy the chance, so I'm not sure… perhaps getting press credentials from the New York Times would do the trick.
Sunset
Tonight was a beautiful night. I've been trying to take more time to enjoy the simple pleasures that can be so easily overlooked with everything that needs to get done. This evening, it was the absolutely stunning sunset that seemed to almost set the trees of the area on fire. Having an ice cream soda to drink while enjoying the view was an added bonus.
Below the trees, not too far away, there were several groups playing baseball. It all seemed almost surreal, as a light breeze blew by, wiping away the memories of the last few scorching days of near 100 degree temperatures Fahrenheit (37 Celsius).
In other news: It looks like my PhotoQuest isn't getting done tonight, so I guess I'm going to have to post it on “June 31st.”
A 64-bit UNIX Workstation...
…for under $900? Now, this looks like a tempting deal. Now that Solaris comes with the Java Desktop System as its primary desktop environment, I'm betting these should sell pretty briskly.
Not an Oven MIT
Go take the MIT Weblog Survey, I did.
Thanks go to Christopher for finding this.
Nothing Done
I had good intentions today of getting something done. I wanted to write out some ideas that had been hitting me lately, but when I opened up Word to write, I lost all inspiration. I kept trying on and off tonight to no avail. I was going to go back to the book I've been reading this week, Journey to the Center of the Earth, but couldn't motivate myself to even do that.
This morning was interesting, though. The Expansion and Renovation Project (E&R) team at church took those interested on a tour of the building project. Construction began in January, and major work started in April, so while there is a long way to go, there was a lot of interesting work already done that had been behind locked doors. It is weird to see some parts of the old building that look so different that I had to think where in the building I was (and I knew the building pretty well!). The new multipurpose room and entry hall that are being added on are making good progress too, with masonry work all but completed on three sides. It is exciting that we are actually ahead of schedule at the moment.
The heat was really bad, though. The sanctuary has been rather uncomfortable the last few weeks with only small, temporary A/C's working, but the rest of the building does not have a working HVAC at all presently, while we await the installation of a new chiller unit (“It should be in by July 41st”). We were assured this morning not to worry, if we wanted heat, the boilers are ready to go.
A Beautiful Day
This song just kept coming to mind today, and then my iPod played it when it was shuffling for me tonight.
If You made me like the grass that is green
Growing tall and covering the hills above me
Maybe I would pray for sunshine and a little rain
To fall now and then to make me lovely
I could be a place where sheep could graze
Or barefoot feet could play
And I would grow and grow and hope You'd bend down low
To hear me sing my offering(Chorus)
Open up the heavens, open up the sky
All of Your creation wants to testify
I have a song, so let the earth sing along
'Cause I just want to praise You—Nichole Nordeman
Why I Love Perl
I just wrote a complete XML-RSS aggregator that pulls in data from 137 feeds that are in a MySQL table, parses each feed, adds new entries into another MySQL table, and then changes the first table's entries to represent the last fetch time, last processing time (if the feed retrieval was successful), and last update time (if there were new entries added to the other table). I accomplished all this over today while doing other things, likely spending less than three hours on the actual project, including time studying a legacy MySQL table to which I am trying to conform.
That's why I love Perl. I am not someone who just loves to program, but Perl makes things efficient and sensible enough that at least I can get what I need to get working done in as little time as possible. cough Unlike cough PHP cough.
More on just how this fits into yesterday's post later.
