The Big Think

Is there gas price gouging going on in Austin? You be the judge. Austingasprices lists the cheapest gas in our area at 1.77/gallon. The most expensive is 2.07. That’s a .30 difference between two stores that are only a few miles apart. Sorry, but I don’t buy the supply/demand argument here. I waited for 10 minutes in line at Sam’s today for a fillup. It was crowded as all get-out. Huge demand, but they still have the lowest prices around. And lest you think that Sam’s is running gas as a loss-leader, there are a few dozen other stations that have gas priced within a few cents of that. BUT there are still plenty that seem to be frantically pushing the $2.00 mark.
I think this is a sign that gas prices are finally, er, topping off. Hopefully between these pricing pressures and OPEC’s recent decision to talk about opening the spigots a bit we’ll see prices drop. The question is, will we ever see them back down around $1.27 here again?
Stay tuned.
btw, $23.50 bought me another 250 miles in my truck today. Ouch. For the past few weeks I’ve been thinking of short trips in terms of how much they’ll cost in gas. Day trip to Jan’s: $4.00. Trip to Woodcraft: $2.50. Heck, going the mile to the HEB and back costs me a quarter. It’s definitely changed my driving habits lately. My last fillup was on may 9th.
Have high prices changed your habits?

Either ABC News is the victim of a huge hoax, or one of the greatest jokes in the history of comedy has just been perpetrated.
Remember Andy Kaufman? He’s the comic from “Taxi”, the one who Jim Carey played in the movie “Man on the Moon”. The one who fought wrestlers and died from cancer 20 years ago. Well, he’s reportedly not dead. He faked it. He’s been living on odd jobs and traveling the world for the last 20 years. ABC reports that hair. blood, fingerprint, and DNA samples prove to a 99% probability that he’s the real deal. More news, and I’m still shaking my head in disbelief. Crazy, amused disbelief. Wow.
Still, why would the guy in these pictures wear sunglasses. Ah well, there are better things to do with my life.
Like blog. Yeah, that’s it. I’ll…. blog.

Thanks to Scott for this link: Airship to Orbit. It looks like some, erm, enterprising engineers may have figured out a way to take a balloon all the way to orbit. Yup, folks. That’s not a giant boomerang, it’s a 2 mile wide, mach 25 bag of hot air. Figure three to nine days from launch to orbit, and the view just gets more spectacular as you go. So why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?
The thing is, in spite of polyannic hyperbole we’ve heard about space travel the past few years, it really does look like we’re poised to make the Big Break any time now. Between Spaceship One, the 20something other Xprize teams, this crazy airship idea, China’s space program, Bush’s new Moon/Mars initiative, and a host of other breakthroughs, I may just get that big list item (see the Earth from space) checked off before I’m outta here myself.
Keep working guys, I only have five or six more decades…

(in my best StrongBad voice): GMAAAAAIL!
Patrick hooked me up with a Gmail account. To avoid spambots I won’t post it here. Instead, let’s have a little contest: See who can guess my account and send me my first real Gmail. The prize for winning is that I’ll mention you on the blog here and literally dozens of people will see it. Imagine! Your chance at immortality!
ready, set, gmail…
And thanks, Patrick. I just realized that he spent his one gmail invite on me. Just goes to show you that Barelytones are thicker than… er, not Barelytones. What a hoser.

If you ever watched the documentary “Roger and Me”, you might remember it was about a small-time, scrappy documentary filmmaker who tried unsuccessfully to get an interview with the evil head of General Motors, Roger Smith. The film was the springboard for Moore’s career, made him a multi-millionaire, and gave him a national platform to speak.
Well, the size 14 is on the other foot as another Michael is currently making a documentary called Michael Moore Hates America. In it the small-time, scrappy documentary filmmaker tries (apparently unsuccessfully), to get an interview with Michael Moore’s evil-headedness. Oh, and he also talks about media bias.
The trailer is worth a look. Schadenfreude.

Fed up with slow wireless speeds? Try the WiFi Speed Spray to increase your connectivity! (wink wink)

via msnbc: Can Star Wars, Episode III be saved? (thanks John)

I scored an 87% on the PCIQ standard test. What did you score?
The main things that got me were the specs on PC hardware (# of pins in an ATA cable, etc)

Must. Write. Predictions. Soon
via msnbc: About ten years ago I asked Steve Jobs for his vision of the ultimate computer — the machine that might be possible midway through the 21st century. He said it would be a flat, tablet-like device that you might get as a child; you’d unwrap it, and, via speech and voice recognition, it would ask your name, where it was and then begin learning everything about you.

You’d carry it everywhere: do your homework on it, store all your books and correspondence, and it would subtly integrate itself into your life. It would ask, for example, where you were going and you’d say, “To my tennis lesson,” and it would respond “Would you like me to remind you about your tennis lesson at this time every week?” And then finally, Jobs said, you’d be 17 or 18 years old, sitting on your bed talking to your computer, and you’d mention that you’d just broken up with your girlfriend. And the computer would say, “Steve, it’s the third time it’s happened that way. You want to talk about it?”

via espn: Arizona Diamondback pitcher Randy Johnson pitched the 16th perfect game in baseball history the other night. Excellent!

Pass some time. This one’s worth it.

The Register is reporting that the RIAA and recording industry is forcing Apple to increase the price of iTMS singles to $1.25 and albums to $16.99. As they say, that’ll really stop the piracy.

via yahoo:Nothing any talking head will say can deter me or my fellow Marines from caring about the people of Iraq, or take away from the sacrifices of our comrades

Jeff Starnes, a good friend from college, fellow music school grad, and groomsman from my wedding 7 years ago, stopped in today. He’s in town for the day and we made him stay in our guestroom while he’s here. Jeff has been living and working in Dallas and I haven’t seen him in over 2 years. Had a great dinner at Chuy’s with yummy sopapilla’s and deep conversation. It’s good to catch up with friends after a long absence.

What took NASA several years and billions of dollars has finally been accomplished by a bunch of amateurs. Granted, it was only after five decades of technological development, but a team of amateur rocketeers have sent an unmanned rocket into space. Here’s the scoop.
(thanks Scott)

Whoa. Give this a try. Promise: it’s not a “stare here and I’ll scare you silly” fakeout, but it is really weird. Flash required.

Ah, your media at work. This story is going to turn out to be totally bogus. It’s already been disproved a half dozen times and yet it still get airtime. I’ll bet Elvis was involved. Don’t these reporters watch MythBusters?

It looks like the long-awaited magnetic pole reversal has begun. Saw a good NOVA on this a few weeks ago.

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the death of Andy Kaufman. According to this website, he faked his entire death as a stunt. Seems he thought that being “dead” for 20 years was a nice round number and long enough for people- family, friends, fans, everyone but a few inside- to really get zinged by his joke. No word on if it’s true or not, but the blogger says he will come forward with “definitive proof” very soon. My guess is it’s a very bad joke and an attempt to make Kaufman as immortal as Elvis.