Temperature Precision

So, for Christmas this year, one of the gifts I got from my list from my in-laws was a non-contact infrared thermometer.  This one right here at Amazon.

The Sunday after Christmas, we did a Skype present opening, and I was excited to begin playing with it.  They of course asked me why in the world I wanted such a thing.  I said because I wanted to check the temperature of things.  As an example I gave checking the temperature of the oven, but that's proving tricky to find the right spot to measure.  I'm learning though.

The real reason I got interested in the thermometer?  This Gizmodo article.

And so now, I've gathered lots of fun data (all numbers are in degrees Fahrenheit):

For drinking, I prefer my tea to cool down to 125.

I've also checked the temperature of my hands and feet at different levels of perceived coolness.  Feet at 75 degrees are surprisingly cold.

The sun shining on our book case makes the wood 10 degrees warmer than the shaded wood.

The hottest part of my laptop  (on the outside) is 140 degrees.

Today, I brought the thermometer to work...

Outside it was about 38 degrees, and the metal window sill in my office is around 60 degrees (55 in the pocket between the window and the bookcase.

The floor is 62 and the ceiling is 73.  After dad telling me about his experience with warming his house up my circulating the layers of air, I'm thinking I'm going to bring in a little desk fan and see if that helps.

I also found out that the water dispenser at the office come out at 175.  This is perfect for green tea, so I'm all set for my David's Tea Perfect Mug which I can't pitch enough for how great it is.

iTunes Top 25

So this evening I was reading this article on Gizmodo, and I just had to look at my top 25 tracks on iTunes with the number of plays.

1. Static-X – Ostegolation – 18
2. James M. Venable – Going Away Party (Clerks 2) – 17
3. The Devil’s Song – Marcy’s Playground – 17
4. My Chemical Romance – It’s Not a Fashion Statement, It’s a Deathwish – 17
5. The Bloodhound Gang – No Hard Feelings – 16
6. Jason Mewes – Jay’s Chant (Clerks) – 16
7. Good Charlotte – Complicated – 16
8. Jonathon Coulton – IKEA – 16
9. Wings – Baby’s Request – 16
10. Billy Idol – Plastic Jesus – 15
11. Breaking Benjamin – Polyamorous – 15
12. Breaking Benjamin – Firefly – 15
13. Def Leppard – 10538 Overture – 15
14. Good Charlotte – Boys and Girls – 15
15. Jeremy Irons – Be Prepared (Lion King) – 15
16. Jim Sturgess – I’ve Just Seen a Face (Across the Universe) – 15
17. Joe Satriani – Raspberry Jam Delta-V – 15
18. Jonathon Coulton – Code Monkey – 15
19. The Offspring – She’s Got Issues – 15
20. The Pointer Sisters – Be There (Beverly Hills Cop II) – 15
21. The Pussycat Dolls – Lights, Camera, Action – 15
22. Sum 41 – Fat Lip – 15
23. Van Halen – Get Up – 15
24. 30 Seconds to Mars – Oblivion – 15
25. The All-American Rejects – Real World – 14

And this all works out pretty well except that #25 times with a bunch of other songs with 14 plays but gets this spot because of alphabetical sorting by artist.

The pint of the article, based on a comedian’s tweet is that many people might be embarrassed by the songs in their top 25 plays.

I’m not really embarrassed, more intrigued by which ones made it.

Strangely enough, “Be Prepared”, will actually go up in the list because I heard it on my iPod about half an hour ago.

Also another odd thought, is that I “discovered” Breaking Benjamin from the song “Firefly” when I was looking for the title song (by Joss Whedon) for the TV show “Firefly”.
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And one additional odd discovery is that I have never tagged “Firefly" before.
Of that, I am embarrassed.  Or possibly ashamed.

Internet fun and City Travels

After reading about the Los Angeles area fires, I wondered what they looked like from space. Gizmodo had a link for me, but then the Boston Globe's Big Picture had a whole series. Beyond the satellite shot, I was amazed by the melted metal and plastic.

Back to Gizmodo, I'm not fully understanding the beginnings of this, but the future applications are squealing geekifying.

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Monday afternoon, Jennifer shanghaied me from working out to go to San Francisco with her. She's working on an event at a beach, and she wanted me to join her for the exploration of the site. So we drove into the city and went to China Beach. Now of course most of the ride there, I'm thinking of the old Dana Delany-Robert Picardo TV show. But the beach was actually a neat place not far from the Palace of the Legion of Honor.

Then we decided we needed food so we parked at the end of the wharf, near Ghiradelli, and walked down to wharf for food. We got clam chowder in a bread bowl, a crab cocktail, and shrimp cocktail. We also got beer, and felt very ghetto/homeless drinking beer wrapped in paper bags while sitting on benches. But the weather and food was perfect, and we walked if off going on to Pier 39, and then walked back looking in shops and such.

***

Then last night after doing a little errand, Jennifer and I went to Luna Ristorante in Concord. It has got to be one of the best Italian restaurant experiences we have had in a long time. At least since our first night's meal in New York. Jennifer started with a spinach salad, while I had a Ceasar. Then we drank a Gabbiano Chianti (by far the best logo in the wine world), while she had mushroom bruschette and carpaccio, and I had an amazing cioppino in a lobster tomato broth. We'd go again even if we hadn't gotten too full to enjoy their desserts. Plus they've got four ports and a muscat that I'll have to work my way through.