Yep, you can apparently use a microwave to cook “normal” Kraft Dinner (you know, the “original” in the box kind - not the expensive “EasyMac” in a cup kind).

Kraft Dinner’s website is some flash monstrosity, and that’s where they keep the directions. I’ve reproduced them here:

Empty pasta into 6-cup (1.5 L) microwaveable dish. Add 1-3/4 cups (425 mL) HOT water.

MICROWAVE uncovered on HIGH 8 to 9 minutes or until water is absorbed, stirring every 3 minutes.

ADD 3 Tbsp (45 mL) butter or non-hudrogenated margerine. 1/4 cup (50 mL) milk and the cheese sauce mix. Stir until pasta is well coated.

MAKES 4 servings (3/4 cup / 175 mL each)

I’ll try and remember to blog on it when I try it.

Apparently Google is launching its own browser. It’s set to compete with Firefox and Internet Explorer.

The BBC article is pretty light on details (but the beta drops tomorrow, so we’ll see a flurry of posts all over the tech media then). It looks like they want Google Gears on steroids - that they’re not content to work through other people’s APIs, they want to reach into the PC on their own, directly.

I think it’s good to have innovation, but I’m afraid we might just wind up with “The Linux Problem” when it comes to browsers. “The Linux Problem” I’m referring to is, of course, the endless forks and customizations of Linux. You can’t just “Get linux” - you need to decide on Linux, then pick a distro, then pick whatever edition of a distro (eg. Debian Unstable VS Regular Debian), decide which endless bit of software you want (Firefox or the backported hacked up “Iceweasel”?), etc. etc. etc.

I hope I’m proven wrong here, but I wonder if there’s all that much room in the browser market. As it is, it seems to me, you’ve got two camps - the “I’ll use whatever came with my PC” camp, and the “I want a new browser” camp. That second group is only so big, and they’ve chosen Firefox in a big way. Sure, there’s Safari and Opera, but no one but a small few actually use them. When someone asks their tech friend, “What browser should I use?” the answer is usually “Firefox”. A big entry from a big player could screw that up.

Firefox was supposed to solve the “Feature bloat” problem with Plugins. You’d have a base, rock solid browser and then you could get Plugins for whatever special functionality you want. I’d be happier if Google hired a few programmers to work on Firefox full time (Probably some people are using FF as their 20% projects…) to build out the core, and then put in their own plugins to achieve their goals.

From a business standpoint, this Google decision worries me - the Mozilla foundation gets millions of dollars every year from Google for making it the default start page, and the default searchbar entry. It’s pretty clear that this is a donation as much as anything else (everyone would set their searchbar to default to Google on their own). Hopefully Google sees the value of a robust Firefox browser to get people to step away from IE. Otherwise, there’ll likely be a big upheaval in the future.

Here’s some video I took of my residence room… it’s 5 minutes long, sorry:

Consider this the “Before” shots; stuff’s more or less set up now, so I’ll be able to show the “after” shots. I’d love to show the renovations too when they’re ready (right now all common spaces are blocked off; apparently it’ll be another two weeks until they’re good to go).

Moved in yesterday.

Last night was the leader “Send off” at Fed Hall.

This morning it was to muster at 8:00 AM; figure out team flags, cheers, etc.; then this afternoon (in the afternoon sun!) we had to learn the “Leaders Dance”; which must’ve taken two hours. Then went back and talked about the actual week in a room in AL.

It’s now 5:30 PM, I just got home and had a quick shower. Now I need to get a nap because I’ve got to be at SLC for 11:00 PM - 2 AM because I’m a driver for Safe Home tonight.

Then, I need to be at AL by 7:00 AM for breakfast, more dancing, more training.

Then the Frosh arrive at 9 AM.

(though it’s actually an AP story - which makes more sense…)

Just saw an article on Apple fanboyism. I thought it was pretty even-keeled.

Starts to make you wonder about tech “journalism” though. In so many ways it feels really infantile. People, especially reviewers, are so caught up in certain brands and ways of doing things, they shouldn’t even pretend to be impartial, but every day we see “definitive reviews” on products.

Take it another way. We’d never accept objective financial information on a company from a stockholder of that company, and we should never be OK with election coverage where the CBC reporter first flashes his Liberal Party membership card, then proceeds to report on Stephen Harper. Heck, we wouldn’t ask someone who’s only driven Ford trucks all their life what they think of the Prius or the Smart Car either.

The editor for the New York Times claims that he doesn’t vote; in fact he claims that he doesn’t even vote in his head - he feels that in order for him to maintain objectivity he needs to keep everything at arm’s length. Now, I’m not suggesting that editors for these publications not use computers at home and day to day in the office, that’s just not an option. But I’d wager most editors are like most people, they have massively more experience with particular hardware, particular software, and particular operating systems. How about having the editor switch from Windows, to Mac, to Linux every quarter to make sure they’re keeping up-to-date and have experience in all major platforms?

If anyone should be “tech agnostic” it’s the people who we trust to report on tech.

I just thought you should know that, apparently, that’s what “Freedom of Speech” means. I was confused, to be honest - I always thought it had something to do with freedom (you know, your ability to do as you choose, including not having to do it on command).

I wanted to clear it up for everyone. Thanks.

P.S. - way to get into the middle of a dense mass of people to make it look like they’re roughing you up a bit. That was fun. What’s up next, running through the middle of a paintball game and complaining when someone shoots you?