Category: Personal

OpenDNS — your friend and mine

I use a DNS (domain name system) service called EveryDNS. A DNS service allows me to point domains at a specific server on the Internet. Translating “www.ramblingengineer.com” to the IP (internet protocol) address of my server. DNS is part of the backbone of the Internet and makes the world go ’round. There are two components…
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Nobel Peace Prize goes to Al Gore???

I subscribe to CNN’s “Breaking News” email alerts. This morning, I was “alerted” to the fact that Al Gore was just awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Can someone please explain this one to me? What does Climate Change have to do with peace? Am I misunderstanding the…
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Texas Legislature voting process

Watch the full video for some interesting behavior from the Texas Legislature. It seems that if someone is absent, whoever gets to their desk first votes for them. [youtube eG6X-xtVask] I wonder if this happens in the US Legislature as well?

Shocking News: Soda makes us fat!

Now, there are those who have been saying this for years, but it’s getting to the point where some might consider it a pandemic. I remember my father telling me that soda pop was just plain bad for us. I believed him for most of my childhood. Even to the point where during football ,…
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Design your dream home — online

Designing your own home just got a lot easier. Suite75 (from the Netherlands) has created a fantastic application which allows you to not only create your own floorplan, but also design what goes inside. Buying a new home, rearranging your room, or moving into a new office? You can save time and have more fun…
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Murphy vs Bonds — Dale takes the gloves off

Dale Murphy recently fired out at Barry Bonds for his “unknowingly” taking performance enhancing drugs.  I was shocked at the public display of, well, hatred he has toward Bonds. “…  I’ve heard the last few weeks, that that he’s being treated unfairly. You know, life just usually isn’t like that. You don’t usually get treated…
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McDonald’s wrapper improves taste

A recent study highlighted the influence of marketing on children by taste testing food wrapped in McDonald’s food wrappers. The study had youngsters sample identical McDonald’s foods in name-brand and unmarked wrappers. The unmarked foods always lost the taste test. Is this something we need to start looking at regulating more? Should advertising by junk/fast…
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iPhone Review

As I mentioned before, I succumbed to the seduction that is the Apple iPhone. Two coworkers purchased it the day it was released and I promptly began drooling over the device. The beauty of the screen and the ease of the interface lured me to it. I couldn’t help myself and visited the AT&T store…
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What to teach your kids — that they aren’t learning in school

I recently started following a blog from a 19-yr old Entrepreneur, Ben Casnocha. A recent post struck me as quite insightful. Ben outlines 8 things that you need to teach your kids that they most likely are not learning in high school. These are things that not only help them in higher education, but also…
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“Fat Tax” could save 3200 lives a year

A study coming from Oxford University is proposing a 17.5% “Fat Tax” to curb demand for sugary and unhealthy foods. The researchers claim that such a steep tax would reduce demand for these products and in turn save lives… an estimated 3200 lives a year. In addition, those who do ignore the tax will be…
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