Massive half mile swimming pool

When I saw this headline I thought it would be just some kind of diversion of ocean water to create the pool, but it really is a pool that is separate from the ocean entirely. check out the pics

The ocean doesn't seem so blue

A cool glass thing pyramid thing

Kayaking in a pool, that's fun!

It is a really big pool

The pictures I put up are just a few of them. Click the link at the top of the article to see a few more

Battlefield 3 humor

Here are some funny battlefield 3 memes. Hopefully you have played the game or most of them won't make any sense. Click here

A Day To Remember

It being Memorial Day and all most of the country is thrilled to have the day off and spend time with friends and family and enjoy the early summer weather.  It was nice just to have a day to relax and not worry about work or school or anything else for that matter.  Most of the day for me was spent outside riding my bike and whatnot.  After being out side for a while I found a sketchy website and downloaded the movie Act of Valor.  The video quality I downloaded was not that great, but the movie was.  For those who haven't seen it I would highly recommend it.  Though the story line is fictional, stuff like it happens everyday, and makes me grateful to those who serve in all branches of the military to allow me and everyone else in this country to live in freedom and peace.

I am grateful to have a grandfather who has served this country and for the blood he shed and the contributions he gave in WWII.  My grandfather (Howard Dutton) served in the Marines and fought in Iwo Jima at the age of 16.  He bluffed about his age so he could serve.  Here is a picture of him and fellow marines moments after the famous flag raising on Iwo Jima.

My Grandpa is on the far left standing with helmet in hand

While serving in Iwo Jima my grandpa earned his purple heart by taking shrapnel from a near by grenade while covering a buddy of his from the blast.

My grandpa passed away late December this last year and my thoughts are drawn to him this day and all those brave individuals who serve our country. God bless America and those who serve it.

Leap Motion Sensor

Just watch the video

Leap Motion Sensor is incredible.  It was inspired by the Kinect sensor that Microsoft developed and goes completely beyond what the Kinect can do. According to CNET the technology can detect motion up to a hundredth of a millimeter in accuracy, so it can detect each individual finer and its motion.  With such detail it can recognize all touch based gestures we are used to on our smart phones and tablets, just without out the need to touch anything.  Leap Motion will hit the market December of this year or January of 2013

Here is their website for more detail

Life as a library security guard

For those who do not know I am a security guard at the library on Brigham Young University's campus.  Your thinking security guard at a library?  Well the main reason security guards are here is because of the special collection section of the library.  Special collections is a department in the library that collects and gathers cool stuff from around the world that is worth a lot of money.  Every now and then we as security guards get to be escorts on tours through the special collection vaults and archives.  A large majority of the things that are in the vaults are documents, art, books and various other atrifacts associated with the LDS church.  Right now there is a display of the King James Bible and how it has developed over the last 500 years or so. Pretty neat to see.

So other than the cool stuff in special collections, we sit at a desk by 3M sensors and wait for something to set it off, which rarely if ever happens.  When it does happen it is usually some idiotic student who doesn't know that they need to check out books, before they can take them from the library. And I thought Universities were filled with smart people. but that only happens every now and then so most of my time is just sitting in front front of a computer passing the time.  Even though there is not much going on and my job can get pretty boring just sitting around all day, I have found several ways to keep entertained while at work.

1. People Bingo

There are several different types you can play, the one in the picture is hipster bingo

2.  Laugh inside at people who don't know how to use a book drop (which is quite a few)

    

Just the other day there was a person standing in front of the book drop with the most confused look on his face. I asked him what i could help him with, and he asks, "So i just put the books in here?" I told him yes and he proceeded to reach his arms into the book drop slot and gently set the books down, he almost didn't get his arms out.

3.  Watch the stocks/invest

I use Scott Trade which is pretty nice so far, if anyone has any other services they have found, comment below and ill check it out

4.  Watch Netflix/Hulu/those questionable P2P sites that actually have good movies

5. Read

If you know of any good books, leave it in the comments below

6.Stumbleupon

7. Post Stuff to my blog

All of my postings except for one have been posted at work

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So there you have it, that is life as a library security guard. Not always thrilling, but always interesting. 

and here's a funny picture

(read the caption)

Kinect-like technology turns any surface into a touchscreen

When I saw this it seemed to good to be true.  though it is in early developmental stages with the UI and hardware bulkiness, the technology is quite interesting.  In the video above is a brief demo of how people used the Kinect for Xbox camera sensor to respond to gestures on a projected image.

American Sniper

   I recently finished reading the book American Sniper, an auto biography by Navy Seal Chris Kyle.  It was a very eye opening read with very detailed accounts of Kyle's experiences in Iraq and the middle east.  War is hell, and from the experiences in this book its easy to see why.  Various times Kyle details the what his job as a sniper was and what it was like to kill so many people.  A majority of the time Kyle would help clear out buildings in cities so he could get a good look out spot to cover ground troops and take out hostile targets. I won't go into detail about some of what was read, so here's a link a more detailed review and one of his interviews.

Book Review: American Sniper Review

Interview: 10 Questions with Chris Kyle