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by butazabuta
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Palo Alto Baylands Nature Trail

I brought my trusty Nikon 8700 to work the other day, and was out on a photo-walk during lunch in the Palo Alto
Baylands Nature Trail just off E. Bayshore near San Antonio. The weather was overcast and not much interesting to shoot in the way of wildlife. Usually there are tons of pelicans and herons, but they weren't very social that day.
Palo Alto Baylands Nature Trail_d0034270_15272112.jpg
So I was kinda disappointed on my way back, but then came came across this tiny gopher snake that was hanging out in the middle of the bike trail. He (she?) couldn't have been more than 7 or 8 inches long, but apparently they get large enough to eat Gophers, and an adult can get up to 8 feet long.
Palo Alto Baylands Nature Trail_d0034270_1524193.jpg Well, that's no Burmese Python (ala the problem they're having in the Everglades), but not something i'd want to come across on a 'nature walk'... Anyhow, to get this shot, I had to set the camera body right down on the pavement, and move the lens about an inch from the snake's head. If you look closely, you can see a self-portrait in the eye~ :-)
# by butazabuta | 2005-11-11 15:30 | Travel (旅行)
Japanese coverage of Topix.net's blog launch ~

ニュースアグリゲーターの米Topix,1万5000ブログを収集ソースに追加ニュースアグリゲーターのTopix.netは,収集するニュース記事に1万5000のブログを加えることになった。これまでTopixは,1万2000のメインストリームメディア・ソースから収集していた。

 カテゴリー別,地域別に細分化したニュースサイトとして評価の高いTopixも,ブログをニュース記事として位置づけたのだ。最近になって,幾つかのニュースサイトがニュース記事とその記事を引用したブログを同時掲載したり,Yahoo! Newsのように検索結果で関連ブログを同時掲載している。米国のニュースサイトが外部ブログの取り込みに大きく動き出したことは見逃せない。課題は,質の高いブログをいかにフィルタリングするかだ。

 そのフィルタリング,つまり質の高いブログの選別については,次のように説明している。

How did we judge which blogs to add? We started by crawling about 1M blogs, and then began automatically filtering and ranking these using our NewsRank algorithms -- which consider a variety of factors, such as blog posting frequency, writing style, type of reference, popularity, and so forth. We ended up adding the top 15,000 sources that passed these tests.

 ほとんど機械的に選別しているようだ。すでにTopix.netのサイトでは,ブログ記事がメインストリームメディアのニュース記事とほぼ同格に扱われており,カテゴリー別ページなどに混在した形で掲載されている。

 今回のサービスに合わせてTopixが興味深いデータを発表した。メインストリームメディアとブログのカバー分野のシェア調査である。ブログが得意とするカバー分野は,Technology,Business,Entertainment,Lifeとなっている。

*Topix.netについて
 Topix.netはGoogle Newsのようなニュースアグリゲーターであるが,特徴はカテゴリー別,地域別のホットなニュ-スを提供していること。またカテゴリー別や検索結果のニュース更新を,RSSで配信してくれている。今春,Tribune Group , Gannett , Knight-Ridder の3大手新聞社グループに,事実上買収されたことでも話題になった。

# by butazabuta | 2005-11-09 02:49 | Random (きまぐれ)
Layang Layang restaurant in Cupertino_d0034270_1435182.jpg

Props to JatBar.com for once again turning me on to another decent retaurant I would never have found otherwise.

First, they recommended Tres Potrillos in Sunnyvale off Fair Oaks. My god, it's walking distance from our house and I had never even seen it. Killer Carnitas and the biggest fresh orange juice I've ever seen.

Second, they mentioned the Rose & Crown pub for Fisn n' chips, which I must have walked by a hundred times. Very good fish if you're up for a pub atmosphere.

Third times a charm, I figured, so we headed over to Layang Layang on S. De Anza, between 85 and Prospect for some Malaysian food.

We ordered:
1) Roti
2) Hainanese Chicken
3) Seafood Layang (or something)
4) Chicken Rice
5) Young coconut pudding dessert

1) The Roti is stellar - perfectly chewy AND crunchy. I don't know what their secret is, but I'm going to find out somehow.

2) Hainanese chicken was so-so: it was a bit under-cooked, and we're spoiled from the one they serve at "Noodles" restaurant at the Bellagio in Vegas, which is really hard to beat.

3) Seafood in taro basket: If you like deep-fried Taro, you will love this - otherwise, I'd get something else. I happen to love taro in all forms, so this was pretty good.

4) Chicken rice... was rice made with chicken broth. Nice solid complement to the Hainanese rice.

4) Coconut pudding: Fantastic, but more like coconut jell-o than pudding. Still, this would be killer on a hot day, and the thing is pretty huge, as R and I split one order between us.

All in all, I'm interested in going back to Layang Layang again, simply because of the Roti, and the potential for other dishes. Their dessert menu is great, if you're into S.E. Asian desserts (and I am :-)

Layang Layang

1480 South De Anza Blvd
San Jose, CA 95129
(ok I lied, it's not Cupertino, but it sure felt like it...)
# by butazabuta | 2005-11-03 14:37 | Food (食物)
Have a dynamite halloween... (oof)_d0034270_355777.jpg
Happy Halloween, all - -

Here are some killer jack-o'-lanterns I found on Worth1000.com

Granted, these were generated in ye olde Photo Shoppe -- I learned a great punkin carvin' technique from fellow co-worker and crime-fighter K (check out his "Re-animator live" post ~ spooky). It is as follows:

1. Git yer punkin'...
2. Git yer power-drill set out...
3. Start carvin'!

I've been too busy with "the little one" to try this technique, but it's got to work... I suspect you need to wrap some kind of plastic wrap around the drill, or you're going to have an ugly(ier) clean-up session. Napoleon Dynamite's portrait might be a bit aggressive for a first pass, but I'm sure you could do some pretty cool stuff. Now's a perfect chance to head down to the old Sunnyvale OSH and buy me one o' them new fangled diamond-tipped titanium drill bits...
# by butazabuta | 2005-10-29 03:12 | Random (きまぐれ)
The Idiot\'s Guide to Marketing Book Titles_d0034270_1329433.jpg Alas, poor Robert Pirsig -- Urban legend has it that the author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance submitted his novel to no fewer than 40+ publishers before one finally decided to pick him up. But through perserverance, he prevailed in the end, adding a fine piece of literature to the canon of 20th century American Lit that will be enjoyed for generations to come. And how did society thank him? Why, by shamelessly ripping him off, of course:

A quick scan of Amazon leads to 172 returns, including these fine titles:

Zen and the art of dishwashing

Zen and the Art of Funk Capitalism: A General Theory of Fallibility

Zen and the art of genetic algorithms

and my favorite...

Zen and the Art of Anything

ENOUGH with the Zen Art already -- Don't authors have some unwritten code of honor that punishes this type of behavior? There's a reason we don't hear stand-up comedians tell jokes about airline food anymore -- yes it's as bad as ever, but it just isn't funny anymore.

The same thing is true for Seven Steps of Highly Effective Booger-Pickers, and Chicken Soup for those Damned to the 4th ring of Dante's Inferno. The worst offender is possibly the Idiot's/Dummies series...

Who wants to help create the Frankenstein's Monster of book titles? Who's with me now?

The Idiot's Seven-Step Guide to Zen and the Art of Everything I needed to Know I learned from Chicken Soup

Beat that... please~
# by butazabuta | 2005-10-27 13:34 | Rant! (文句)