sandblade.net

…must come to an end, at least that’s how the saying goes. For five years Team CSC has gone from a second rate team to one of the most successful teams in the pro peloton. What has always made CSC so remarkable was not that they had a few super stars, but that every rider was really above average. As a team they were much more than the individual riders. So it seems unbelievable that after years of a very good winning formula, the team is starting to dissolve. (more…)

So I’ve been living with the Dell Mini 9 for about two weeks now, and I have to say I’m more than pleased with it. It’s actually turned into a really useful tool. I primarily use it for three things, web browsing, cli terminal, and remote desktop.

There are a lot of mini 9 reviews out there and I agree with most of them, so no need to repeat unboxing shots or gripes about the location of the ‘ key. What I will do is tell you how I use it in my everyday life (more…)

So if you’re like me you’re probably not sure if you should buy that macbook or if you should liquidate all your assets and buy some farmland and live off the grid. A friend of mine asked if I thought we were going to go into a depression or not. And I think I changed my answer a dozen times. I’ve always had an interest in macroeconomics ever since college, but I barely understood it then, and it’s even more complex now. As a complete amateur hack in econ, here are my thoughts about what’s going down (and it’s mostly down). Take it with a proverbial bag of rock salt. (more…)

I used to like Sigg products. I have their aluminum box which is a good lunch box, and I use a Sigg bottle for my white gas camp stove. However I can’t abide by the recent trend of everyone drinking out of these fancy pants Sigg bottles. Of course the BPA plastic bottle scare, and Sigg’s clever marketing department are the big reason behind this trend. It also doesn’t help that Sheryl Crow blames plastic bottles for her cancer. Of course this conclusion is entirely anecdotal, and French kissing Lance could have given her cancer too. Who knows. The thing I can’t stand is that no one bothers to question what the mystery lining in the Sigg bottles is made of. We’re just supposed to trust that it’s safe. Also they never quite explain how this mystery lining doesn’t peel when the bottle gets dented either, once again we’re to trust them. Here’s a short list of why I can’t stand Sigg bottles for drinking

• $22 and up…
• narrow mouth
• impossible to clean
• can’t squeeze it to get more water out faster
• can’t tell by looking at it how much water you have left (Scottie how do you make clear aluminum?)
• ridiculously high smugness to practical ratio
• They have a range called “lifestyle bottles” Lifestyle bottle? Ugh..

I never could get into the idea of the everlasting gobstopper, why would anyone want a jawbreaker that never melted, ugh. However what I would want is a never ending bag of sun chips. Picture a bag, where when you reached in there was always another delicious Sun Chip. How much would you pay for that bag (think about free sun chips for the rest of your life)? I’d pay $350 max.

• “Who’s your favorite Jonas brother?”
• “I still think Ron Paul has a chance”
• “So does anyone know what a collateralized debt obligation is?”
• “I think Highlander 2 was still the best one in the trilogy”
• “I’m having this problem with gentoo and I wondered if…”