ms

30 lbs in 3 weeks? Really?

The average person burns through about 2,000 calories in a day. 2000 x 7 x 3 = 42,000 calories

It takes 3,500 calories of activity to burn through 1 lb of fat. This person lost 30 lbs, so 3500 * 30 = 105,000 calories

In order to lose 30 lbs, not only would this person not have eaten during the entire time, but also would have had to excercise at least 3,000 calories' worth each and every day. And I'm not a doctor, but that's got to cause some serious heart strain.

Then again, they might have sucked it all out.

I'm still wondering when the successor to the FZ50 is coming out. The FZ50 has stayed remarkably competitive despite coming out in '06, but you'd think they'd come up with something newer by now.

One of the big features of Leopard is the included (and fairly decent) EJ, JE, and Japanese language dictionaries built-in to the OS (which means they can be accessed with cmd-ctrl-d). Also, other EDICT dictionaries can be had for free. What did this guy do to get so much free publicity from you guys?

I'll cut Aspyr some slack -- there's a whole lot holding back gaming on the Mac, including:

* No ActiveX-like environment for game programming
* Apple as a company seems completely uninterested in gaming
* Smaller installed base, meaning smaller profits
* Porting is a tricky business, period

That said, their priorities seem wrong. How many Sims add-on packs do we need, rather than solid first party titles? And with the popularity of Intel-based Macs, shouldn't that make it easier to port these games?

I am sick and tired of Aspyr. NWN was so buggy, I couldn't play through expansions. KOTOR was similarly unplayable. Lego Star Wars for the Mac convinced me to get Lego Star Wars for my GameCube. In fact, I'm done with Aspyr, and any gaming I do from now on will be done on a console. Get your business in order and I might come back.

Also, kudos Mr. Schramm. It's about time someone said it.

Another EDICT/JMDICT dictionary? People, this dictionary is horrible. HORRIBLE. Here's why:

1. The entire dictionary assumes that the Japanese and English words are direct translations for each other, even when a word can have many different meanings in English. For instance, look up the verb _suru_.
2. No examples are given to provide usage examples.
3. The dictionary is J>E only. This means you can easily find an English translation of a Japanese word, but it'd be difficult (if not impossible) to get the right Japanese translation of an English word.
4. Definitions tend to be exhaustive rather than helpful. You'll see any possible translation for the word given equal weight with no emphasis on the meaning that's used 99% of the time. This is further hindered by the fact that no usage examples are provided.
5. Japanese transliterations of English words are included and treated as valid Japanese words.

In short, the project suffers from poor editing and oversight -- a common flaw in the open-source community. This dictionary, though, is not open source. That's right, you'll have to pony up $15 for a free, open-source dictionary.

Do yourself a favor: save your $15 and don't bother with this program. If you want to see how useful EDICT/JMDICT is for yourself without paying for it, there's any number of free utilities you can use (http://ziggr.com/mayjay/). Personally, I'd suggest using a good dead-tree dictionary -- such as the excellent Oxford Beginner's Japanese Dictionary (available on Amazon for $13) or Kodansha's Furigana Dictionary (available for $23 on Amazon). Both are much more helpful in translating Japanese than the horrible, horrible EDICT/JMDICT, regardless of which program you use.

What rtolson said -- the local branch of the Audio Engineering Society has been doing snow speakers during my entire time at Tech. They usually also put up a wall to project movies on, as well as a "snow couch" to sit on (very few takers, incidentally). Looks like they topped themselves this year.

I know that's supposed to be Will Wright, but damn if it don't look like Hitler.

I've dealt with this "U3" before on my work PC, and let me tell you something: the application is _far_ more intrusive than useful. I consider it a bonus for the Mac platform that such applications aren't available.

Ack, the Mike Elgan article link is below:

http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=16016&Page=1&pagePos=3

Stoopid Intarwebs.

See, Scott, I'm conflicted. As an ironic child of the 90s, I do see Hawaiian shirts as being cool -- but only in the "lame is the new cool" sense. I haven't heard anything about fat being the new thin, though I'll guess I'll have to trust you on that.

But I'm really confused now. I mean, those cool cats down at Piper Jaffrey say the iPod is still the bee's knees. But Mike "hepcat" Elgan boldly declares the Zune to be "actually pretty cool."
Oh, which to believe?