Disqus - Latest Comments for breley

Re: Grilled Cheesus and the Ecumenical Guide to Grilled Cheese

Bryan Eley — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 13:35:56 -0000

There are atheists who jokingly subscribe to the Flying Bread Machine. In fact, one fella tried to get his driver's license picture taken with his face obscured by a bread bowl, but the DVM said he was toast and told him to quit loafing.

BTW, in certain schools of Islam, if a Welsh Rarebit/Rabbit/Hare (a form of toasted cheese and bread) contains rennet, it may thus make the "Welsh Hare" Welsh Haram.

Re: Steve Jackson’s Sorcery Part 1 Gets Massive Update As Part 2 Readies for Release!

Bryan Eley — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 13:05:49 -0000

This looks like a fun twist and interesting visual perspective, so I'm installing it now. Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

Re: Nest Protect Will Be a Beautiful Smoke & CO2 Detector

Bryan Eley — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 08:45:04 -0000

Shades of Ray Bradbury's "There will Come Soft Rains". Pretty nifty gadget, though I wonder if it might pique my kids' curiosity TOO much.

Re: When Bloggers Do Battle

Bryan Eley — Sun, 06 Oct 2013 14:09:56 -0000

Say, shouldn't Texas have been red and New York blue? That's at least how news outlets color those states. ;) Nice fight nonetheless!

Re: Smoke at Home with Masterbuilt

Bryan Eley — Fri, 04 Oct 2013 13:11:21 -0000

Great. Something else I might have to put on my Christmas list. ;) Chris, those are some excellent observations about the advantages of electric smoking over conventional charcoal. I've seen quite a number off different smokers, from the kamado-type smoker/grills like the BGE that are very pricey and very heavy, to bullet smokers to smokers that require special pellets, but this sounds like something right up my alley since I'm quite the amateur where smoking meats is concerned.

Re: Give My Yad a Hand – Technology Meets Tradition

Bryan Eley — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 15:34:42 -0000

Interesting. Having dabbled in calligraphy, I'm assuming an additional practical reason for not touching the Torah was that like much of the Medieval manuscripts, the materials of choice would have been vellum or parchment, though split cowskin was occasionally used, and whereas paper fully absorbs ink, ink on skins sits more on the surface, so it would be very easy to abrade or degrade the inking. Like their Jewish counterparts, Christian and Muslim scholars would use blunt pointer-like devices to reduce physical and chemical damage.
Dan, does the use of the yan primarily arise out of a religious proscription not to touch the Torah to maintain its purity, with the secondary, perhaps serendipitious benefit being the physical preservation of it?
With regard to the printed yad, how smooth is the final product after printing? Does it require a bit of polishing after production?

Re: Google Completes QuickOffice Assimilation and It’s Now Free

Bryan Eley — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 15:02:28 -0000

After March 31, 2014, all the cloud features will be unavailable aside from Google Drive , so no dropbox, box, evernote, sugarsync and such integration.

Re: Griffin PowerDock 5 Review – an Efficient Charging Station + Storage for Five Devices

Bryan Eley — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 07:36:22 -0000

Hm, that might come in handy for my as I wrestle with multiple charging devices on my desk. I may have to give this a closer took!

Though with regard to pricing, $100 works out to be about what you'd pay for five Apple chargers @ $19 apiece, and without the physical consolidation aspect. However, I think $19 is ridiculous for a mere Apple charger plug in the first place, so ultimately I agree with Mike that the original price is steep, but in a roundabout way. ;)

Re: Apple Now Lets You Get the Version That Works on Your Crappy Old iOS Device

Bryan Eley — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 12:25:34 -0000

This could be excellent for me if I could get this to work on an old iPod 1G for my youngest! I'll have to investigate further later.

Re: Reading the Tea Leaves on the 5c Launch

Bryan Eley — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 19:34:21 -0000

I would agree. There's a lot of context in color assignment to various things, and gender assignment by color seems more entrenched in recent years. I like green, in more of the yellowish shades or lime greens. I don't know if it's "masculine" or not, it's just the color I like.

I do remember going to a local toy store with my kids when they were younger, and one section was for girls, with EVERYTHING boxed in bubble gum pink or bright purple. The difference between the earthy colors for boys was startling.

Re: Reading the Tea Leaves on the 5c Launch

Bryan Eley — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 19:28:12 -0000

Guess he should have said "Based on Western marketing and societal color conditioning I have been exposed to, I deem these colors to be more aligned with those of the stereotypic XX chromosomal phenotypes." :)

Re: Apple’s September Event – Here’s the Latest

Bryan Eley — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 15:30:28 -0000

Meh, put on some packing tape along the back. If you're wanting a bit more style, use duct tape.

Re: Apple’s September Event – Here’s the Latest

Bryan Eley — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 13:49:55 -0000

Camera improvements should be nice. I use my iPhone for photography far more than I thought I would.

Re: Apple’s September Event – Here’s the Latest

Bryan Eley — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 13:44:49 -0000

If it's the slicky, shiny texture, yes, but the only signs of wear on my Lumia was the sharp edges. The back was pristine, but had a very fine, granular texture (not smooth).

Re: Apple’s September Event – Here’s the Latest

Bryan Eley — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 13:41:44 -0000

Not 56k faster? :D I've been itching to try faster LTE-type speeds on my smartphones.

Re: Apple’s September Event – Here’s the Latest

Bryan Eley — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 13:39:39 -0000

It WILL be interesting to see how quickly the new OS is embraced given this is a major GUI upgrade along with the finger reader. But, WHERE'S MY SHINY GOLD IPHONE COLOR? :) I do like the green 5C color...that's almost the shade of my office walls.

Re: Apple’s September Event – Here’s the Latest

Bryan Eley — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 13:33:21 -0000

Too many prior "spoiler alerts". ;) This might just be the ticket for me and my wife to upgrade to the latest iOS device. She's got a Windows 7 phone and has been griping of late about not being able to download school software and such because it's iOS/Android only. Will she bite???

I'm looking forward to the iWork if I do upgrade. I've been putting off buying them so the "free with new" will be a nice incentive.

Re: Week #1 of My Chromebook Challenge … Was a Challenge!

Bryan Eley — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 10:47:42 -0000

Your Chromebook problems with regard to integrating the unit into a corporate network is not unique. I've read a few other posts from users having similar issues, with IT staffers attempting workarounds but those not quite working. I'm curious what the technical reason is. Is it because this generation of Chromebooks are explicitly designed for home users or people operating on unfettered wifi networks, or just missing security protocols/drivers that iOS and Android devices incorporated?

Re: Sugru Is the Grown-Up Play-Dough for DIY Projects

Bryan Eley — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 13:51:52 -0000

There's some ingenious things people have done with them. There are several videos showing how to create a 3-4 point mount for an iPad using Sugru, which is how I stumbled upon it.

Re: My Workspace: 50 Year Old Desk Mixes Modern and Old School Tech

Bryan Eley — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 13:34:56 -0000

Thanks for an interesting writeup. I had forgotten about the featured workspace/tech bits on lifehacker, Joel. I'm muddling through some home re-arrangement ideas right now since my youngest has entered the school fray in kindergarten.

Re: How Many New iPhones Can We Expect to See in September?

Bryan Eley — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 13:24:09 -0000

I've been patiently waiting to upgrade my phone, so I'm keeping a close eye on things. Maybe I'll get one of the rumored blingy gold iPhones. :)

Re: Is “Textspeak” Ruining Communication?

Bryan Eley — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 07:36:45 -0000

Ha, I'm a curmudgeon where words are concerned as well, but I'm of two minds on this. Simple mobile phone keypads and nascent texting service limitations certainly conditioned the people most using services at the time, and while the technology evolved, peoples' habits did not. I also see form sacrificed for speed and convenience, with a dose of laziness thrown in. We don't dress up to go to the movies like our parents or grandparents did, we often just click on Netflix or some such for instant video gratification. The "ceremony" or decorum of the occasion is lost because we have become so casual. Casual in habits, dress, and of course, causal communication. Is it simply the evolution of language that it is more simplistic yet more efficient, or is it indeed laziness?

Of course, the problem with simpler, cruder communication is that one loses the broader capability of descriptiveness and the more detailed thought accompanying it. Suddenly our linguistic Crayola box has gone from 64 colors to a mere 8. Isn't it ironic that human knowledge is vastly increasing but our ability to communicate that knowledge is decreasing?

Incidentally, Carly, regarding your Newspeak reference, also consider that while our social language is perhaps simplifying, would that the language of the laws we pass to govern ourselves were equally simple, but then truth and politics rarely commingle.

Re: Pebble Adds Email Notifications For iOS Devices

Bryan Eley — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 12:52:01 -0000

It will be interesting to see how the Pebble handles being away from the phone (out of BT range) with these accounts and then resyncing when the Pebble is back in BT range of the phone. I don't know how often it's been an issue for you, Travis, but it gets quite vexing at work if I have to run off to put out a fire while my phone is docked and charging—I very frequently have to go back into the iOS Notifications settings and disable/reenable mail accounts and text messaging to get notifications to appear back on my watch.

Re: What’s a Fair Wage for Fast Food Workers?

Bryan Eley — Thu, 01 Aug 2013 07:21:41 -0000

Absolutely agree with you, Carly & Mike that a better salary and benefits to encourage long-term employment could potentially reduce turnover (a la the Costco model) and reduce long-term costs not always obvious (training, HR & accounting support, etc.). @Carly, I must have overlooked the salary adjustment, but then that's why I'm not an economist. ;)

Re: What’s a Fair Wage for Fast Food Workers?

Bryan Eley — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 16:27:24 -0000

You're right, Mike, and I hope my comments didn't come across as adversarial (context in cyberspace is difficult). ;)