I’ve been using two flat-screen displays at work for the past few weeks.  I’ve previously wondered why anyone would need more than one monitor hooked up to a computer, but now I get it.  I love being able to reference a document on one screen while I’m drafting something on the other screen.  And since I’m stuck using Internet Explorer, I can have two browser windows open simultaneously.  There’s also something about having two screens in front of me that makes my inner geek giggle uncontrollably.  I’ve considered setting up something similar at home, but I think that will have to wait until the day I can justify the purchase of a second monitor as a business expense. 

I feel a little sheepish admitting that I hadn’t heard of the annual Minicon, the science fiction convention that’s being held in Bloomington this weekend, until someone showed me an article about it in the newspaper.  Harlan Ellison is one of the guests of honor, an author whose work I admire.  And Doug Friauf, who sits with me on the Minneapolis Advisory Committee on People with Disabilities, is the guest fan of honor.  I briefly debated forcing my nurses to sit through a weekend of lectures with titles like “How to Destroy the Earth” and “Battlestar Galactica Geek-Out.”  But I think that I’ll wait until next year.  Whenever I drag my nurses to geeky or political events, I like to give them advance warning so they have time to prepare themselves. 

 

I just watched a brief video clip of the upcoming Heroes of Might and Magic V.  I might invest a new video card just so I can play this game in all its 3D-rendered glory.  It looks amazing. 

There are times when I feel sorry for creationists and their incrementally better-dressed cousins, intelligent design advocates.  It must take a tremendous act of willful ignorance to maintain blind adherence to an archaic worldview that is crumbling under the weight of an ever-growing mountain of scientific evidence.  Every week brings news of the unearthing of yet another marker on evolution’s long and winding road.  Why, it’s enough to make the average creationist want to cancel his/her newspaper subscription.  The effort to tune out the media’s coverage of discoveries of new fossils must be exhausting.  I wonder if they get migraines from the strain.  I’m offering an aspirin to the next creationist I meet, right before I start making denigrating remarks about their intelligence.

YouTube is the latest Web 2.0 application to generate ear-shattering decibels of buzz amongst tech journalists and bloggers.  It’s basically Flickr, but with videos instead of photos.  However, after browsing through some of its offerings, I’d say that the promise of YouTube is not yet fully realized.  A lot of the videos are copyrighted material–clips of television shows, especially anime.  Then there are the homebrewed videos of cute young women doing something naughty or seductive or whatever.  Yawn.  Perhaps the next Kevin Smith will one day be discovered via YouTube, but for now the site is firmly in the grips of narcissists and voyeurs.  Oh, and the anime freaks.  Can’t forget the anime freaks. 

I just returned from the Race for Justice, a charity event to raise money for the Loan Repayment Assistance Program.  LRAP provides subsidies to public interest attorneys with outstanding loans.  I finished the 5K route in approximately 53 minutes without even breaking a sweat.  I’m pretty sure I could have easily done another five or even ten kilometers before I would start cramping up.  The key is to stretch properly and load up on carbs the night before.  You would not believe what a pain in the ass it is to push spaghetti noodles down my g-tube.

 

And a big shoutout to my friend Erin and the other race organizers who made sure those of us on wheels could safely traverse the course.  I was especially grateful for the pieces of plywood across some rather menacing rail tracks.