Big Ass Table

A friend sent this to me. It was very funny.
While I'll admit the marketing glitz makes Surface look pretty cool, after reading the tech and history of the device I was reminded of all my experiences at Microsoft.

Clariticity on iPhone

Hey! Check it out! This is what Clariticity.com looks like on Apple's new iPhone! The guys at Marketcircle.com have come up with an app called iPhoney that imitates the web surfing experience on the iPhone. You should download it and check it out!

Heroes cast grows

The cast of the hit TV show 'Heroes' is growing significantly for next season. At least 6 new cast members have been signed. One will play a Samurai Warrior and two will play cheerleaders. Check out more HERE.

IE vs Safari

I just finished reading THIS article. It is about the difference in text rendering between Windows and MacOS. It was very enlightening. This is one of those things that I wondered about kind of subconsciously but never really took time to research or ask questions about. Why does the web look like crap in IE on a Windows PC? Why does it look so elegant and beautiful in Safari on a Mac? The way Apple and Microsoft have chosen to render text on their respective platforms is the reason. And, I think it says a lot about these two companies and where they have come from and where they are headed. Now that Safari is available for Windows you can see the difference side by side in a direct comparison. (see pic above) Apple went to great lengths to bring the Mac way of rendering text to Windows so the web experience in Safari for Windows wouldn't suck like IE. Read the article if you want a technical explanation. Here is a little snippet that kind of summarizes the whole thing.

"Apple and Microsoft have always disagreed in how to display fonts on computer displays. Today, both companies are using sub-pixel rendering to coax sharper-looking fonts out of typical low resolution screens. Where they differ is in philosophy.

Apple generally believes that the goal of the algorithm should be to preserve the design of the typeface as much as possible, even at the cost of a little bit of blurriness.

Microsoft generally believes that the shape of each letter should be hammered into pixel boundaries to prevent blur and improve readability, even at the cost of not being true to the typeface."

The article mentions that when you poll people about which they prefer they choose what they are familiar with. Windows users prefer the Windows rendering and Mac people the Mac rendering. This makes sense to me, but still blows my mind. There is a principal involved here that I wholeheartedly believe in. People will accept the environment they are placed in for the most part. Unless it is too painful they will stay and be loyal to that environment their entire lives and be perfectly happy with it. Even if it is inferior to something else relatively easy to obtain. I on the other hand demand better, bigger, faster, in almost everything I come in contact with. It causes me a lot of pain because my expectations are usually way too high. In this particular case I cannot imagine why when placed side by side one would not choose the superior and typographically true Apple rendering.
I'm sure there are opposing views out there but I just won't listen to any. I am an Apple elitist. So there.

Father's Day 07

Here is a pictorial of our Fathers Day 07!
You can read a nice textual ode to my dear ol Dad over at my sis' blog, Fille de Tulipe


There was yummy finger food...


And, this year, a special treat! Wild Copper River Salmon cooked/smoked on a cedar plank. Yeah, it was YUMMY! We also had a nice Tri-tip!

There were games. Don't worry I didn't throw the board to the floor and stomp off angry. Thought about it though... ;)


Grandpa Carter and his amazing grandkids. No really, they are A M A Z I N G!


Three Generations. And a dog.


Oh! Almost forgot the obligatory Dad at the grill on Father's Day picture.


The end of a great day. Dad and his faithful companion Tootsie.


Happy Father's Day Dad!

Japanese Human Tetris

This is one of the funniest things I have seen in a long long time. It's totally worth the 5minutes or so it takes to watch it.
Makes me want to call up DirectTV and subscribe to a Japanese TV channel or 2.

Enjoy!

Congrats Graduate!

A big Congratulations goes out to our own Miss Shelby. A recent graduate of Cedar Ridge Elementary School! She did a great job and we are very proud of her!

On Mitt and Mormonism

I ran acrossTHIS article the other day and want to share it.
There is an organization called, The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. They held a forum recently that gathered several members of the national media to discuss Mormonism and specifically how Mitt Romney's Mormon faith will play into his politics and his public life during the presidential campaign.
It was extremely interesting. I recommend anyone who is interested in faith and politics read this. It is a little long but is full of some great information both on Mormonism itself but more importantly what the national media impression and thought is on Mormonism.
I am not fond of the national media lately but I was very impressed with the people on this panel. They posed some very thoughtful questions and shared some very interesting personal insights.
I would love to hear each of your thoughts after reading this article.

How much does the internet weigh?

I saw THIS article posted on a friends blog and I just had to share it again.
It is an estimate of how much all the traffic on the internet in one day would actually 'weigh' if you could determine it's weight. It's very scientific but unlikely to be super accurate, for it's based on estimates of the amount of electronic traffic on the entire internet in one day. I don't think anyone knows that number. Anyway, the final estimated amount will surprise you. It surprised me.
Read the article. It was kind of a fun read.