« September 2001 | Main | November 2001 »
October 31, 2001
Man, you can't hardly get
Man, you can't hardly get your board in the water without getting hit by the Fuali Wave. Surfing the Internet, you're bound to run into The Geek Test, The Punk Test, and The Goth Test. For the record, here are my test results and the commentary I received for each:
I AM 37% GEEK. | I probably work in computers, or a history department at a college. I never really fit in with the "normal" crowd. But I have friends, and this is a good thing. |
I AM 14% GOTH. | I wanna be a GOTH. But I'm not. Smoking cloves and too much eyeliner a goth does not make. I'll go home and take your Cure CD's with me. |
I AM 31% PUNK. | Well, I may know what punk is, but... Okay maybe some people think I am punk, but is that enough? Nope. |
If you have opinions about what the missing 18% is, keep them to yourself.
Posted by John at 11:42 PM | Comments (0)
The wild rumor of the
The wild rumor of the day is that Russia will be sending 250,000 troops to Afghanistan to aid in the war on terror. [via robotwisdom]
Posted by John at 01:38 PM | Comments (0)
I'd just like to go
I'd just like to go on the record here as saying that I have issues with Register.com. This company is one of the key players, one of the few who built the backbone of the system of domain name registration -- determining who gets to be www.bestname.com. The sonuvabitches.
When a particular domain name registration lapses -- the owner fails to renew -- they are supposed to return the name to the pool as "available." Well, they don't. Instead, they move the registration over to the "Unpaid Names Department" at register.com. At first I thought, OK, as a courtesy they're holding the name for an extra week or two in case the previous registrant just forgot. There are numerous stories about large corporations "forgetting" to renew their registration, then Joe Sixpack winds up owning www.ibm.com and Big Blue has to buy it back from him for millions of dollars. It doesn't work like that.
ICANN, the *hypothetical* oversight body for domain name management, has the right to strip away a domain name and give it somebody else. IBM could clearly demonstrate a commercial purpose for them having that URL, and ICANN would simply take it away from Joe. I say *hypothetical* because they certainly aren't exercising any oversight on the egregious abuses at Register.com.
There is a particular domain name I've been after for awhile. The registration expired 3/11/01. It is still registered... to the Unpaid Names Department at Register.com.
When I go to Register.com and check the WHOIS, it tells me I can make an anonymous offer to the owner of the domain name through a service called AfterNic. AfterNic is owned by Register.com.
The little screen telling me I can make this anonymous offer also says "minimum $200."
I own 9 domain names which I bought through www.000domains.com for $12.95 each. They've since raised their prices -- to $13.50. Great folks, extremely helpful.
When I click through the little AfterNic box it takes me to a screen, but this one says "Make Offer, no minimum."
 | When I try to make an offer, it tells me I need to register first. Registration is “free.” See the little blue “AfterNic” box above which says “Join - Free Membership.” The “Free” Membership pitch is reiterated in the sidebar, as shown to the left. Notice that underneath the banner “Get Your Free Membership Today”, it lists the Membership Benefits, which include the second bullet point, “Buy and Sell domain names.” As we'll see, this is an outright lie.
And, in keeping with the site's theme of unmitigated greed, it should come as no surprise that you are about five pages of information and ten minutes into the registration process when they ask for your credit card number. There needs to be a public list of sites that do that, so we can all gather around and publicly castigate them. |
OK, so I go through the registration process until I get to the dreaded User Agreement. Having now had some experience with the shady character of the Register.com folks, I decide I better read this User Agreement. I do and somewhere on about page 7 of the incredibly dense legalese, it requires me to agree to the following,
“Fees. Becoming an AFTERNIC.COM Standard Member is free but in order to sell, bid or purchase a domain name registration or use Afternic.com's VIRTUAL BROKER or DNESCROW services, you must become an AFTERNIC.COM Exchange Member. Unless otherwise stated, all fees and other payments are due and payable in U.S. Dollars. Our current fee schedule and payment terms ("Fee Schedule and Payment Terms") are available here and are incorporated by reference in this Agreement." |
Well, it says, “Our current fee schedule...[is] available here.” Only, it's not. Nowhere in that immense legal document is there any mention of fees, other than (1) there are going to be some, and (2) AfterNic can change them at any time without notice. So, I think, it must be out on the web site. I close the User Agreement and check out the site, and no fee schedule. The sidebar looks like this: |  |
But after I complete the registration, lo and behold, the sidebar now has the information I'm interested in. |  |
Turns out they want $10.00 up front, refundable if and when you buy anything, forfeited if your bid(s) is/are unsuccessful. Plus, in order to bid, you must use their “DNescrow” service which costs a minimum of $50.00.
Which means that if I want to buy my domain name through them, in order to break even with, say, buying a domain name through www.000domains.com, I need to bid -$46.50, or in other words, the seller needs to pay me to buy the domain name.
This kind of corporate behavior, usurious fees without any basis in services rendered, deceptive advertising, masking the fee structure through a massive document full of legalese, is all pretty common in the bricks and mortar world of big business. It's also common in the the enterprise software and consulting fields. But it's fortunately still pretty rare in the Internet services world, which makes it all the more disappointing when we encounter it. When you run into this type of corporate greed taken to such an extreme that it almost comes across as violence to the user, it's sickening.
In order for the Internet to continue to grow and demonstrate its awesome potential, it needs to be made more accessible to the average user, not less so. Companies which facilitate non-technical users ability to create, publish, locate, and manipulate information will be the big winners. For the computer rookies in the audience, it need not be expensive or complicated.
If you have email, you almost certainly have an Internet Service Provider (ISP), who provides you with email services and Internet access. Most ISPs also provide users with some storage space for your own web site. So, for instance, I have an ISP account with NetEase (www.neteze.com) and they provide me 20 MB of web site space. So I could put up my own web site at www.neteze.com/jparker at no additional charge. And in fact, I have. That's where I've put the Parker Family web site. All you need is a program that lets you copy the files from your PC out to the storage space at the ISP. This kind of copying uses a technique called File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and there are many free programs you can download through the Internet that will let you copy your files out this way. WSFTP is a good one, and the interface is almost identical to Windows Explorer, so it's very easy to use. Design a page in any HTML editor (again there are many free ones avaialble on the Internet), or you can even use Microsoft Word or Excel and “Save As” as web page (*.htm,*.html). Transfer it out to your ISP storage space. Voila! You have a web site.
If you want to set up a journal or web log like this one, Blogger and Manila are two free services that are very easy for beginners, and they have web page templates already set up that you can choose. You just set the program up one time and from then on, whenever you want to make an entry to your journal, go to their web site, log in, type your entry and hit “Publish.” It is, as Blogger says, “desktop publishing for the masses.”
If you want to think up a good name and get your very own URL, try www.000domains.com. They will also “park” the domain for you for as long as you want, so you don't have to do anything with it right away. But if you've already followed the steps above and set up a web site at your ISP, you might as well hook up your new domain name to that web site. You can do that at ZoneEdit.com. You'll need to transfer your domain name over to them, so they can set up the name servers for you (you still own the domain name). Then you can tell them that your new domain name, say www.parkerfamily.net, should be automatically redirected to your ISP storage space web site at www.neteze.com/jparker.
And, in fact, that's what I've done. If you click on those links, you'll see they go to the same place. ZoneEdit also offer email forwarding services, so any email to anyname@parkerfamily.net gets sent to me. It's very easy to create a sophisticated look and feel, for $13.50 a year plus your normal ISP charges. Who needs Register.com?
I'm pleased to say that I paid ZoneEdit about $100.00 to manage the DNS name servers, URL forwarding and mail redirection for my nine domain names. (They offer these services for up to five domain names for free.) I would much rather see them get my money than Register.com, and I hope a lot of people feel the same way.
Posted by John at 01:27 AM | Comments (0)
October 30, 2001
Media bias in action? [via
Media bias in action? [via smartertimes] CBS News and The NY Times get together and conduct a poll. The New York Times report is entitled, "Survey Shows Doubts Stirring on Terror War", while CBS News focuses on the nation's preparation for bioterrorist attacks but on the issue of general public support for the war on terror, reports, "Support For War Effort Is Strong; President Still Gets Very High Ratings." Hmm. They are looking at the same poll results. The text of the analysis on both sites highlights many of the same points, but the headlines and tag lines are obviously focused completely differently. So you might think the poll results were pretty evenly split, right? 50/50 or 55/45? Nope. 88% approve of the American public approves of the attacks. You get the feeling that somebody in the Times newsroom must have said, "Hey, if there's no story there, let's just make one up!"
Posted by John at 03:36 PM | Comments (0)
Parker is the 47th most
Parker is the 47th most common last name in the United States. There are two towns named Parker in Alabama, two in Tennessee and three in Texas. There are towns named Parker in AL, AZ, CO, FL, ID, IL, KS, MT, NH, NJ, NY, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD TN, TX, VA and WA, and Parker County in Texas as well. And of course, the derivative names. There are towns named Parker City, Parker City, Parker Creek, Parker Crossroads, Parker Field, Parker Ford, Parker Head, Parker Heights, Parker Hill, Parker Island, Parker Junction, Parker Lake, Parker Landing, Parker Landing Light, Parker Place, Parker Springfield Callaway Saint Andrews Cove, Parker Springs, Parker Strip, Parker Wharf, Parkers, Parkers Corner, Parkers Corners, Parker's Cross Roads, Parkers Crossroads, Parkers Ferry, Parkers Ferry Landing, Parkers Fork, Parkers Glen, Parkers Iron Springs, Parkers Lake, Parkers Landing, Parkers Lower Landing, Parkers Mill, Parkers Park, Parkers Place, Parkers Prairie, Parkers Settlement, Parkers Station, Parkers Upper Landing, Parkersburg, Parkerson, Parkersville, Parkerton, Parkertown, Parkertown Mill, and, of course, Parkerville. You can look up your name here.
Posted by John at 12:48 PM | Comments (0)
I overlooked mentioning maybe the
I overlooked mentioning maybe the best 404 page ever [via MeFi]. I first played Zork in 1976 on a PDP11 mainframe. It was written in Fortran. A goodly percentage of today's game designers weren't even born yet. I just want to point out to my kids that this was state-of-the-art computer gaming when I was in college. "You are in a twisty maze of little passages..."
Posted by John at 03:01 AM | Comments (0)
Christopher Walken fans, take note.
Christopher Walken fans, take note. Prophecy 3: The Ascent airs tomorrow, Wednesday, at 9:00pm ET/PT. "A warrior angel sets out to stop the anti-religious activities of a half-human/half-angel preacher in this third entry in the Prophecy series. Christopher Walken returns, this time along with Vincent Spano (Creator) and Brad Dourif (Child's Play)."
Posted by John at 02:09 AM | Comments (4)
Ack! (I love Ack! Does
 | Ack! (I love Ack! Does anyone else remember Bill the Cat?) I ran an HTML 4.0 compliance test on my web site and I got so many error messages that if I had printed it out it would be a phone book sized testament to the problems inherent in the "build your own web site by the seat of your pants" technique. When I change servers I'll start over and relegate all this erroneous code to the archives. I'm headed toward using CSS extensively in the next iteration of Keelhauling, and will probably move from Blogger to Graymatter or Movable Type for some of the more sophisticated features. And I really want the log entries to reside in database that I can access via a server-side scripting language such as PHP. |
Posted by John at 01:32 AM | Comments (0)
I started singing with the
I started singing with the church choir a couple of weeks ago, mainly because I sing bass and the low end was a little light in last year's Christmas music program. We performed some songs for the church the other evening -- my first performance. We sang a couple of really good songs, one was kind of old-time gospel and the other a jazzier Dave-Brubeck-y kind of number. Julie videotaped it because the boyz were singing and playing piano and clarinet. After the concert, they told me I was swaying back and forth in time to the music and looked ridiculous. "Hey," I said, "I love music. If you can't move to the music, you aren't really feeling it. You're just going to have to deal with it." Then I watched the videotape. I look like a giant bop-bag on the back row. One of those inflatable toys with the sand in the bottom that the kids punch and then they bounce right back up. The music is great, and there I am... being punched by the invisible kids in the back row in time to the music. Wham! Wham! Wham! The kids are smarter than they look.
Posted by John at 12:57 AM | Comments (0)
You want the Ultimate Halloween
You want the Ultimate Halloween Costume? Got $200 and lots of spare time? Some long underwear and 110 feet of electroluminescent wire, and you can be Tron. Project plans here.
Posted by John at 12:49 AM | Comments (0)
Tales from the land of
Tales from the land of retail. Gord, you see, owns a store where he sells -- and rents -- computer games. These are his stories...
"New project. I'm hanging up a sign... it will say '# of days where management hasn't had to deal with an idiot.' And when I have to deal with an idiot, I'll sigh, reach over, and take down all the numbers leaving a '0'."
Note: Don't miss Chapters 1, 2, and 3 of "Victory."
Posted by John at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)
October 29, 2001
JP Brown does Serious Lego.
JP Brown does Serious Lego. My favorite is the Lego Robot that solves Rubik's Cube [via gaijin.com] There's something about a mechanical robot built from a child's toy, designed to solve a mechanical puzzle that is basically a child's toy... it has a metaphysical symmetry about it. Wonderful.
Posted by John at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)
Only two more days to
Only two more days to Halloween. Scary links, anyone?
Posted by John at 10:39 PM | Comments (0)
Maybe spurred on by the
Maybe spurred on by the success of the weblog of Wil Wheaton of Star Trek: TNG fame, Adam Curry, former VJ of MTV from 1987 to 1995, has started his own online compendium of stories from the MTV heyday. Called "The MTV Chronicles" (at least for now, although I suspect the TV station's lawyers will be coming after him) it is a series of writings about Adam's experiences with the bands and performers, alphabetized by the artists' names. Warning: Lots of sex, lots of drugs, lots of rock and roll. (BTW, if you missed Wil's rant on Captain Kirk, you really need to go back and read it. It is hilarious.)
Posted by John at 10:38 PM | Comments (0)
I just have to put
I just have to put the link up here, so that when I go searching for it as I'm buying Christmas gifts, I know where to find it. About 7 years ago I bought a couple of great ties that were photomicrographs of wine -- a champagne and a chardonnay, if memory serves. Very cool ties. Along similar lines, a company called Infectious Awareables has launched a line of toxic ties [via SV.com]. I like the Ebola in red & black, and the Syphilis is very nice.
Posted by John at 10:10 PM | Comments (0)
New York City plastic surgeon
New York City plastic surgeon Zachary Gerut was researching an enzyme on lab mice to see if it would break down scar tissue. Several days later, he checked the long suffering mice and the scar tissue was still there, but their body fat had melted away. The enzyme, collagenase, is already used by doctors for cleaning out charred, dead tissue when treating severe burns. This dead tissue has no circulation, making it an easy target for all kinds of microbes. The dead tissue is held in place by collagen. Living animals are comprised of strings of complex moleculoes: polymers. The most abundant polymer in our bodies is collagen. Our skin is 75% collagen. Collagen is the matrix, or scaffolding upon which our cellular structure is built. Just as connective tissue binds various parts of the body together, muscle to bone and vertebrae to vertebrae, collagens are essential for tying cell to cell. And it's tough. It's hard to target collagen without killing other necessary molecules and cells. The enzyme collagenase targets the specific linkages that bind the polymers together, literally breaking it down. There are many different kinds of collagens, and collagenase can be targeted for some specific types. With 800,000 people undergoing surgery for fat reduction each year, this is a potential biotech breakthrough that could be huge. The FDA has already approved clinical trials on humans. Now if only the lab mice had also developed washboard abs and buns of steel...
Posted by John at 10:00 PM | Comments (0)
October 28, 2001
Autoweek comes back from the
 | Autoweek comes back from the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show with pictures. I like the new Mercedes F400. |
Posted by John at 05:21 PM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2001
I was looking at this
I was looking at this little article on Textism, where the author is teaching French children how to swear in English. I remember messing with my kids' heads in small ways, for instance teaching them to yell "Geromino!," with the "n" and the "m" reversed, when they jumped off the swing. Little things that will be my legacy to them, until somebody finally corrects them, years later. Julie teaches an ESL (English as a Second Language) course once a week, with people from Mexico, France, Hungary, Japan and other countries brushing up on their English skills. She doesn't speak all those languages, but the students are all pretty advanced English speakers, so she's primarily working on expanding their vocabulary, practicing conversation, and understanding idiomatic expressions like "in a pig's eye", or "raining cats and dogs." I need to substitute teach for her just once. It would be such a hoot to teach them more interesting things to say.
Posted by John at 12:58 AM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2001
OK, here's the gig. Get
OK, here's the gig. Get your hands on a laser pointer. Go outside tomorrow night (Saturday) between 8:00pm and 8:05pm (Pacific time), and shine your laser at the center of the dark half of the moon. We'll see if we can get a visible light show. Paint the moon. Oh, other folks will be helping out. Hahahaha. No math majors on that web site, I guess. Let's see, in order for that light to be visible from Earth, we'd need to light up an area at least the size of say, California. Assuming no diffraction on your cheap-ass little slideshow laser pointer (an impossibility, but we'll overlook it for now), and assuming your average laser pointer has a projection area of 1 cm2, that means we would need approximately 77,000,000,000,000,000 laser pointers all pretty accurately lined up, or roughly 15 million laser pointers per person if everybody on Earth participates. You ready?
Posted by John at 11:44 PM | Comments (0)
Found a nifty little tool
Found a nifty little tool at textism.com that cleans up Micro$oft Word HTML. When you choose "Save As" and select "Web Page" from the drop down menu, it does save it as an HTML page, but it is incredibly junked up with MS Word residue everywhere. Textism's tool cleans all that stuff up.
Thus this:
<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<meta name=ProgId content=Word.Document>
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 9">
<meta name=Originator content="Microsoft Word 9">
<link rel=File-List href="./test_files/filelist.xml">
<title>This is a test</title>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:DocumentProperties>
<o:Author>The Parkers</o:Author>
<o:LastAuthor>The Parkers</o:LastAuthor>
<o:Revision>2</o:Revision>
<o:TotalTime>1</o:TotalTime>
<o:Created>2001-10-27T01:45:00Z</o:Created>
<o:LastSaved>2001-10-27T01:46:00Z</o:LastSaved>
<o:Pages>1</o:Pages>
<o:Words>5</o:Words>
<o:Characters>30</o:Characters>
<o:Lines>1</o:Lines>
<o:Paragraphs>1</o:Paragraphs>
<o:CharactersWithSpaces>36</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
<o:Version>9.2720</o:Version>
</o:DocumentProperties>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body lang=EN-US style='tab-interval:.5in'>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal>This is a test.</p>
<p class=MsoNormal>This is ONLY a test.</p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
Becomes this:
<p>This is a test.</p>
<p>This is ONLY a test.</p>
Posted by John at 06:57 PM | Comments (0)
George Bush: "I don't have
George Bush: "I don't have anthrax."
Posted by John at 02:56 PM | Comments (0)
Rented Cats and Dogs for
Rented Cats and Dogs for the kids over the weekend, watched it with them. OK, but not as funny as other recent kids movies (Chicken Run, Shrek). Dogs rule, cats drool. Just watch out for the mind-control cats.
Posted by John at 01:24 PM | Comments (0)
Micro$oft's XP is, of course,
Micro$oft's XP is, of course, all the buzz in software, but I ain't buyin' it. And apparently, I'm not alone. The M$ media blitz has failed to generate as much in end-user sales as had been hoped. Of course, as the article says, "Microsoft says Windows XP's strongest selling point is that it is more stable than its earlier home versions." Which means its biggest feature is that it gives me what I should have had all along, a stable operating system. No, really, says M$, this is a powerful new release. Trust us this time.
But...[sigh]... I'm sure that it will succeed in the marketplace, for two reasons: (1) corporate America will be forced to upgrade, which will in turn force them to increase their license count, and (2) it will be the only Windows OS shipped on new PCs before very long. But I sincerely hope that it damages Micro$oft's stranglehold on the market. Not because I despise monolithic entitites that ride roughshod over their customers (although I do). Not because I am unsympathetic to Micro$oft's problems with software piracy. I would simply like to see competition emerge that challenges Micro$oft's dominance, so that their trend toward Big Brothering the user is mitigated.
As a non-technical person, I have only a limited understanding of all the features or of all the problems. But based on what I've heard and seen, let's run down a checklist of the Seven Deadly Sins of XP:
- Your XP has to be "activated." The OS checks your system and based on how it is configured, uses an algorithm to generate a number. It periodically recalculates the number, so if you try and install your software on another PC, the numbers don't match. A side effect is that if you change your hardware substantially, you run the risk of deactivating XP, which requires a phone call to Micro$oft asking for permission to reinstall your own OS. One writer described it as buying a lamp but being told you can only plug it in in the living room. I change my computers a lot. Fortunately, I have complete confidence that M$ will immediately pick up the phone when I call, and I won't have to spend hours on hold. Oh wait...
- XP constantly pops up word balloon dialogs from the system tray (".NETification") telling you to activate your software, register your software, set up a Passport account, set up Windows Messenger, etc. There's already an update to add even more of those "services" to the OS. It's like Clippy on crystal meth. "It looks like you're trying to type a letter." No, actually I WAS trying to type a letter, NOW I'm responding to inane help messages.
- Higher basic system requirements. When I talk about M$ "riding roughshod over their customers," this is exactly what I mean. I hope enough people just say to "no" to send a message to M$. I really don't see why I need to buy new computers every couple years. Get out the vote, reject the bloat! Micro$oft is making your computer obsolete.
- Passport. Passport gives me major creepies. I'm OK with B&H keeping track of my photo equipment purchases, but Micro$oft keeping a database on all my online activities is bad. Very, very bad. Bad enough to make me cancel the date, call off the show, stay away. I simply don't trust Micro$oft's motives. The scary part is that most people don't understand. It will tout the benefits, "creating a secure, online profile that will enable you to avoid re-entering all your information for each site you access..." Blah, blah. blah. If the signup screen said, "Would you like to enable Microsoft to track your online activites and record them in a centralized database? All your pertinent personal and financial information will be stored, and used to profile you as a consumer. Oh, and by the way, our data gets hacked all the time.", I'll bet they'd have significantly fewer signups.
- Bundled "digital rights management." They can't trust us not to illegally copy copyrighted material (but we should trust them, right? Right?). Example: The media player in XP lets you rip CDs, saving files in windows media (.wma) format. Those files don't play on any other computer. So if you load up a WMA file on another computer or send a WMA file to someone it tells you to quit stealing music. This really pisses me off, because we have several computers in the house.
- There is a strong emphasis on "bundled" Micro$oft utilities in XP. Media Player, Firewalling, Settings-Transfer, CD Burning, etc. This is a perfect example of the kind of monopolistic behavior we've come to expect from M$. This will severely damage, if not kill outright, companies such as Real Networks, Norton/ZoneAlarm, AlohaBob and Nero. They are about to get Netscaped. Why doesn't M$ get the message? How many times will they have to be sued?
- Even if I were planning to upgrade to XP, the number one rule is "Not until service pack 1."
At a higher level, XP shows off the beginnings of M$'s implmentation of an object-oriented operating system. File attributes are shown in the Explorer sidebar. Context menus are better. XP is a precursor to having MSDE (M$SQL Server Data Engine) take over the OS. The final step, slated for release in 2005, is codenamed Blackcomb and is completely object-oriented; everything is an object, from files to OS components to application components. Components can be local or remote (.Net). The filesystem is eliminated and replaced with a fully functional database. Blackcomb will be the real "next OS". WinXP is nothing more than a port of WinNT over to the consumer market.
Meanwhile, Win98 works fine. On the machines that meet the increased hardware requirements for running XP, it's pretty stable. I am in no rush to upgrade. I think my next upgrade will be sideways into either Linux or Mac running OS X. Maybe a G5 Sphere! If I absolutely have to run applications that require a M$ operating system, they both have Windows emulation modes.
Posted by John at 11:16 AM | Comments (0)
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, the federal judge
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, the federal judge who will mete out the penalties for Micro$oft in the antitrust case, sold $160,000 worth of MSFT stock last year. You would think someone sitting on the federal bench would have enough sense to recuse themselves if they had such an explicit conflict of interest. I guess the prospect of the media limelight was too much for her.
Posted by John at 09:29 AM | Comments (0)
If you had to pick
If you had to pick somebody to design your haunted house, Alice Cooper wouldn't be a bad choice. He's set one up in Phoenix; I wish we had one here in San Francisco.
Posted by John at 09:23 AM | Comments (0)
"If you tell people that
"If you tell people that soon there would be cameras on street corners that could look into their homes, they'd be against it," he said. "But it's happening now and people can't even see it's coming." The average American is captured on film 6 times a day. My guess, with the newly created Department of Homeland Security desperately in need of a game plan for a game in which they don't even understand the rules, is that number is going up. A lot. Soon.
Posted by John at 02:11 AM | Comments (0)
Crocodiles! 40 feet long, weighing
Crocodiles! 40 feet long, weighing in at 20,000 lbs. That's a lot of shoes. Artist's rendering here. "It would have been something that would have given dinosaurs nightmares." Discovered in west Africa, the fossiled remains of Sarcosuchus (pronounced SARK-oh-SOOK-us), which lived about 110 million years ago during the Cretaceous period, included some skulls that were six feet long with upwards of 100 teeth.
Posted by John at 01:46 AM | Comments (0)
Scientific American confirms what I
Scientific American confirms what I already knew. Even though I slept through a lot of classes in high school, I was still learning. The study shows that you learn, and pick up new information, through continued exposure even if you're not paying attention. As parents, Julie and I already knew this. I can't wait for the follow-up study, which will show conclusively that sleeping with the textbook under your pillow at night will help you do better on the test tomorrow.
Posted by John at 01:42 AM | Comments (0)
The National Academy of Sciences
 | The National Academy of Sciences reports that its latest study shows that 100-600 mg of caffeine, roughly the equivalent of 1-6 cups of coffee, can "help maintain cognitive performance," especially during times of sleep deprivation. Important for our soldiers. It aids in "maintaining speed of reactions and visual and auditory vigilance" and in "enhancing physical endurance and ... in returning some of the physical endurance lost at high altitude," according to the report. |
Posted by John at 01:32 AM | Comments (0)
One thing we Americans pride
One thing we Americans pride ourselves on is our creativity. Well, time to put those thinking caps on! The Pentagon is soliciting your ideas for (a) terrorism prevention and (b) catching terrorists. I hope this yields some fruitful "outside-the-box" thinking.
Posted by John at 01:17 AM | Comments (0)
October 25, 2001
Toronto is just the coolest
Toronto is just the coolest city... Nov. 18 is Jackie Chan Day.
Posted by John at 12:34 PM | Comments (0)
A mother, tired of trying
A mother, tired of trying to meet the paperwork requirements to convince the student loan administrators that her son has died, sends them a bag of his ashes. Now that's thinking outside the box. Of course, it caused quite a furor when this bag of powder was opened up, hazardous materials team called in, general panic ensued, etc. But I have to say I completely sympathize. Try getting rid of an old car, to which you've, um, lost the title, which was titled in another state, and which had a lien on it from a lender which has since been paid off, but said lender sold the loan to another company, and both companies are now out of business. Julie has been dealing with bureaucratic incompetence on that issue for over a year, with that stupid car sitting in my driveway, and still... no title. I might have to burn it and send the Georgia DMV a bag of its ashes!
Posted by John at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)
I am thankful that some
I am thankful that some of our nation's decision-makers are able to keep their sense of humor. This exchange between Colin Powell and US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Dem., FL), charged with sexual innuendo and humor, cracked me up.
Posted by John at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)
I would also like to
I would also like to call your attention to the Games page I've been maintaining. I've added a couple of cool games, and cleaned up the debris around the page. It is now something I am proud of. Slime Volleyball, the newest addition, is simple and fun and frustrating and addictive. Great game. Also added links to XiaoXiao and Pontifex at the bottom.
Posted by John at 03:49 AM | Comments (0)
Another fun test you can
Another fun test you can take in one minute or less is "Which animal are you?" Profile yourself with just 9 questions, and discover your animal counterpart, or spirit guide, or alter ego, or whatever. This is cool. I'm a Tiger. I would much rather be a Tiger than Princess Leia. I'd also rather be a Tiger than find my ~* Fairy *~, because my fairy turns out to be named Migraine Razorwire.
Posted by John at 12:47 AM | Comments (0)
I want to add this
I want to add this tag line to my voicemail:
"If you're calling about getting me to refinance my mortgage, or you have investment ideas that you think I would like to know about, please contact me directly at 212-479-7990."
Posted by John at 12:29 AM | Comments (0)
OK... this is one I
OK... this is one I never would have guessed. Repeated ultrasounds of a baby in utero can make the baby left-handed. This is a serious Swedish study involving 180,000 babies born in the 1970's, correlating number of ultrasounds of the babies prior to birth with the dominant hand. I would really like to see the full study. Fascinating and unexpected.
Posted by John at 12:18 AM | Comments (0)
Bush wants Osama bin Laden,
Bush wants Osama bin Laden, Dead or Alive. OK, Dead. Very Dead. Immediately. If Not Sooner. Of course, according to China news, it was Sooner, Oct. 16th to be precise.
Posted by John at 12:14 AM | Comments (0)
Paranoid Extremism #3 [via Mefi
Paranoid Extremism #3 [via Mefi again]: The "Anthrax Box," yours for only $299. While supplies last.
Posted by John at 12:11 AM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2001
The 2002 Demotivators Calendar is
The 2002 Demotivators Calendar is out [via MeFi], featuring Arrogance, Consulting, Demotivation, Elitism, Fear, Hazards, Irresponsibility, Loneliness, Overconfidence, Regret, Risks, and Sacrifice, with special bonus demotivators, Assumptions and Indifference. I might have to get this calendar just for the Arrogance poster. Also mentioned in the same discussion thread, these posters (ripoffs of the concept, or the originals? I don't know) which I hadn't seen before.
Posted by John at 11:48 PM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2001
Scramjets! Supersonic Combustion Ramjets use
Scramjets! Supersonic Combustion Ramjets use their high speed to compress air, rather than having to carry liquid oxygen. Result: far superior thrust-to-weight ratios, faster jets. The first full-size scramjet tests should take place this week in Australia. New York to Sydney in 4 hours, soon.
Posted by John at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)
Best info on magnets I've
Best info on magnets I've ever seen. Remember all the cool tricks your high school science teachers did with rare earth magnets? Now you can too! Ferro-fluid, basically liquid magnet, looks like fun. Watch the movie.
Posted by John at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)
Ferret-legging. I had actually heard
Ferret-legging. I had actually heard of this, but this article is the funniest I've read in a long time. You alternately wince and laugh at the mental pictures this conjures up. The things the British do for fun...
Posted by John at 11:19 AM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2001
ENGLISH-TO-ENGLISH ...we need better dictionaries!
ENGLISH-TO-ENGLISH
...we need better dictionaries!
The seeds of this idea were planted 27 years ago by my father. I was having trouble with one of my classes - maybe trigonometry - and he laid one of those aphorisms on me that recalibrated my world. And it stuck. He told me,
"You're smart to enough to understand anything. There's no subject out there that's so inherently complicated that you can't understand it. But every field has its own language, specialized terms with specialized meanings. You just feel stupid because you don't know the language yet. Learn the words, what they mean and where they come from. Once you can speak the language, you're 80% of the way there to mastering the subject."Smart guy, my dad.
When I went on college, and then into the working world, I saw his observation proved true time and time again. At the beginning of every class, I paid special attention to the terms and how they were used. The rest of the class material just kind of fell into place after that. At work, I learned how to use it as well. As a portfolio manager at a bank, if I had a trader who specialized in mortgage-backed securities coming in to see me, I would spend a little time brushing up on cash flows, prepayment trends, duration and convexity. As a broker, if the options strategist for the firm was coming to visit the branch, I would bone up on spreads and straddles, implied volatility and valuation models. As a senior executive at an Internet company, if I needed to talk about online advertising I would refresh my memory on clickthrough and conversion rates, CPM price trends and rich media strategies. While it was rarely enough to make me an "expert" in the field, it was enough to set me apart and make me look like a genius compared to my peers. I can't even count the number of times it has helped to advance my career.
We face a problem that didn't exist 27 years ago, information overload. It takes several forms, but here, I'm not talking about the simple flood, the raw quantity of news, opinion, commentary and advertising that come at us through multiple media every single day. That's a real problem, but it's been addressed elsewhere. I'm not talking about the filtering problem, either, the fact that 99% of everything that comes at us every day is pure crap. This is an emerging problem, to which the only solution is superior filtering, a suite of technologies that are only just now reaching the stage of practical application. Most of us who are actively seeking out new information all the time have developed our own network of reliable sources, and have developed finely tuned filtering and crap detection mechanisms.
The Parker Principal
| I'm talking about the fact that the Internet places at the hands of virtually every person in technologically advanced countries such a wealth of incredibly detailed, in-depth, specialized information. This issue arises not so much when information is coming at you unsolicited, but more when you go looking for it. It manifests as what I will call the Parker Principal, in honor of dear old Dad: |
|
Let's say, for example, that you are interested in upgrading your stereo system. How do you go about it? I'm willing to bet that you don't jump in your car and drive to Stereo Village to talk to a salesman. If you have any concern at all about quality, you probably don't head down to Best Buy or Wal-Mart and see what's on sale either. No, you want to do this right. You want quality AND good value. So... you do a little research. Off to the Internet!
First you've got to figure out what kind of surround sound you want, and what kind of media you want to play. Do you want to handle movies as well as music? Do you want CD, DVD, SACD? Do you want Dolby 5.1, 6.1 Dolby ProLogic, THX certification? For these questions, there are lots of general interest magazine articles and web sites. The language is not too specialized, primarily because they are written for the sole purpose of helping the layperson understand these issues. Then you've got to select the equipment.
This is where you start encountering information overload, as the research you are doing becomes more specialized. You don't want the Stereo Review kind of article, which concluded that every piece of equipment they ever tested "offers a compelling alternative for the value-conscious buyer." They think Bose table radios offer "audiophile quality sound at an affordable price." Bah. You want - you need - more in-depth, scientifically rigorous test results. You want microphones and sound meters and oscilloscopes hooked up to the equipment, you want to be able to compare the results with other equipment, and you want the reviewer to actually listen to the equipment with a highly trained and critical ear. And this is just to pare down the list of available selections from thousands to the critical few that you will listen to yourself.
Given these requirements, you probably end up at a web site such as that of Stereophile magazine. Stereophile is a high-end audio magazine, whose equipment reviews are among the most influential in the industry. A rave review of a new pair of speakers in Stereophile can make the fortunes of a small audio equipment manufacturer. A poor review can impact the bottom line of the largest companies in the business.
But... and this is a central part of the problem... Stereophile is written by professional audio engineers and audio critics, primarily for professionals, equipment manufacturers, audio dealers, and the like. The usage of specialized terms expands exponentially over what you will find in mass market media. The specialized vocabulary is a critical necessity for Stereophile writers and readers alike. It promotes efficient communication and ensures accuracy. If Stereophile were to insist that writers define every technical term in context in every article, every issue would be the size of a telephone book and it would be unreadable. Following is a sample from the magazine, one paragraph of an equipment review in a recent issue.
STEREO EQUIPMENT
From Stereophile magazine, Sept. 2001,I remember encountering this problem for the first time as a kid, maybe a sophomore in high school, when I stumbled across some back issues of Scientific American that my dad had laying around. One article in particular was exploring an area that I had just read about, I think it was the phenomenon of "black holes", and the SciAm article went deeper, with more detail than anything I had ever read before. I kept reading. I discovered that, after I had read these twenty or so issues cover-to-cover several times, the articles were making more sense. I was picking up scientific knowledge and the necessary lexicon through osmosis, determining meanings through context and the occasional explanation. Following is an example from a recent issue of Scientific American:
equipment review, "47 Laboratory 4704 PiTracer CD transport"Until this point, all of my listening had been to the PiTracer into the Purcell/Elgar Plus: sometimes direct to the amps, sometimes not. Feeding the 'Tracer Driving to the Accuphase DC-101 upsampling DAC, with its sextet of 24-bit/192kHz-capable MASH converters doing industry-standard 8x oversampling (not upsampling, as dCS would have it) into the Lamm L2 preamp, I found that while I appreciated the Accuphase DC-101 at 16/44.1, I appreciated more the way the Purcell/Elgar Plus did it—and by a country mile. I'm not talkin' SACDs here—just "Red Book" CDs. But when I wired the Accuphase DP-100 into the Purcell/Elgar Plus and upsampled to 24/192, the SACD transport sounded just as great as I've been telling you—a touch more round, warm, and sexy, not quite as clear and fast. I thought I'd miss the PiTracer's clarity more, but the DP-100 ain't chopped liver!
SCIENCE
From Scientific American, Aug. 2001,
"NANOTECHNOLOGY: Researchers Fashion the First Single-Molecule Circuit"This past April the IBM scientists developed a novel, highly efficient way to create arrays of carbon nanotube transistors. But these nanotubes were what are known as p-type transistors in which, instead of electrons, "holes" that lack electrons carry the current. To make a NOT gate—which essentially flips an incoming bit of binary code from a zero to a one or vice versa—requires n-type transistors, in which electrons pass the current. The breakthrough came when Avouris's group recently found that they could convert p-type nanotube transistors into n-type transistors simply by heating them in a vacuum. Not only were the scientists able to convert an entire nanotube, but they also discovered that they could convert just part of a nanotube. In this way they built the carbon nanotube NOT gate. To make the device, the team first placed the nanotube, shown in blue in the illustration above, over gold electrodes to generate two p-type transistors in series. They then added an insulated layer of PMMA and opened up a window in it to expose part of the nanotube. Potassium that passes through the window converts the one p-type transistor to an n-type transistor.
Sure, you say, articles about cutting edge science or complex electronics are going to be full of specialized terms. I say "Au contraire, mon ami," utilizing fully 50% of my French vocabulary. We encounter this problem almost every day. We've simply become desensitized to it as our exposure to specialized information has expanded. Almost any subject you care to explore has its own vocabulary, its own set of terms and patterns of word usage. It can be as routine as going to the auto shop because you hear a squeaking noise. The mechanic puts the car up on the rack, and comes back in 20 minutes to tell you,
"Well, your U-joint is going to have be replaced. It looks like maybe you hit a nasty bump. You car has nylon bearing cup retention rings. See, besides the internal and external snap ring -- or 'c' -- clips, your U-joints are fastened to the drive shaft with a nylon ring. It's simply sheared off, because your bearing cup is pressed out of the yoke. You can't fix it, there's no way it can be pressed back into true and we couldn't replace the rings without dropping the drive shaft anyway, so the whole U-joint is going to have be replaced."Panic sets in. True, false, likely to be true, need a second opinion, what do you do? Most of us rationalize the decision away and cough up the $700 because we just don't know. We don't speak the language.
Even things that we consider fun - recreational activities - can be obscured by jargon if we get into it deeply enough. Say, for example, that you've hit the jackpot and are looking to buy a sailboat. Check out this paragraph from Sailing magazine, in an equipment review.
SAILING
From Sailing magazine, Aug. 2001,
"Boat Test: SCHOCK 40"The round Lewmar forward hatch makes setting and dousing the chute easy. Visibility from the helm position is good, and all the controls are within reach. The Forespar rigid boom vang is of sufficient size for the boat’s large 540-square-foot carbon fiber mainsail. The jib is sheeted on two inboard tracks and two outboard reaching leads. The traveler track, located well aft of the helm, is out of the way, but the controls are within easy reach of the driver. Especially close are the recessed buttons controlling the canting ballast. A nifty detail is the removable kelp cutter that is inserted through a small tube next to both rudders. It’s reminiscent of arthroscopic surgery, but it works like a charm.
Take cooking as another example. Most of us can follow the directions on a box of macaroni and cheese, but what if you really want to make something fancy? If you're not an experienced chef, you're likely to hit a few snags along the way.
COOKING
From Gourmet magazine, excerpts from recipe for
"Sauteed Langoustine with Chardonnay Reduction"For langoustines: Separate the head from the tail and reserve the heads. Using kitchen shears, carefully cut the shell on the underside of the tail up to the last section before the "fins". For shellfish butter: Put the heads in a roasting pan. Add butter, let it melt until it has foamed, but before the milk solids begin to noisette and add water. For the Chardonnay reduction: Add the grapefruit zest, vanilla seed and pepper. Pour the wine and the langoustine broth; reduce quickly on the stove. When the liquid has been halved, add the remaining butter. Add the chili and mint; let them infuse for a few minutes and strain the sauce. For the salsify: Peel the salsify and slice into two inch pieces on the bias. In a sauté pan, add half the duck fat; pan fry the salsify, add the chicken stock and butter. Cook quickly on the stove. Reduce the stock completely and remove the salsify. Season with pepper and fleur de sel. For the truffle dressing: Mix all the ingredients together; macerate the basil in the vinaigrette.
[Note: I can tell these are good examples, because my spell-checker is lighting up like a Christmas tree.]
We could go on and on, but we really don't even need to bother with specific examples in medicine, law and computer science. The issue in those fields is almost impossible to avoid. This is not a problem that is simply attributable to poor vocabulary. If you are reading the writings of an erudite author, such as Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, having a dictionary nearby is almost mandatory. But it's even more difficult to read, for example, a legal brief, an intellectual property patent claim, or a clinical trial report on a pharmaceutical compound without a topical dictionary close at hand. These types of documents can have a fog index of 25 or so. In the case of our encounters with highly specialized vocabulary, a general dictionary isn't going to help much.
SOLUTIONS
If this is a problem that the Internet has created by making highly specialized information readily accessible, perhaps it is also a problem that the Internet can help solve. Because those definitions are out there, somewhere. We can, for example, reference specialized dictionaries and glossaries for terms peculiar to a particular profession. In the "Stereo" example above, we could reference a definition of "upsampling," perhaps leading on to a more comprehensive explanation of the term.
What is needed, then, is an online compilation of specialized dictionaries. The initial iteration of this could be as simple as a links list, with a general lookup that would search all specialized dictionaries at once. Growing these existing sites to include a vastly wider array of specialized dictionaries would be a tremendous stride forward, but is still far from the comprehensive answer I think we are capable of delivering.
The primary problem is one of "context." Most search engines are not "smart" enough to recognize context. You ask for information and it responds with a few accurate and relevant replies, intermingled with many useless references.
Search engine technology is moving forward rapidly, however. An online article by Gregory J. E. Rawlins, associate professor of computer science at Indiana University, does an excellent job of highlighting these and other issues.
For our purposes, we know several important facts that mitigate many of the problems inherent in building a complex, intelligent search engine. First, we're only interested in definitions. Our search can therefore initially be restricted to dictionaries and glossaries, and later (perhaps incorporated by user feedback), explanatory articles. Second, it is essentially a one-time application. Unlike Google or AltaVista, we aren't likely to be performing iterative searches and changing topics frequently. We would have a "target", a specific document, page, email or web site, and our goal would be to find the appropriate dictionary. Once that dictionary was located, we would repeatedly access the same database for new words in that specific article.
We would want our ideal English-to-English dictionary to have some important characteristics:
- It should be platform independent. Initially, an Internet web site that built a frame with dictionary commands around the normal browser window would be a possibility, as would an applet that could be dragged to the task bar in the browser, or an addition to the right-click menu.
- It would evaluate context. It would parse the entire document or page currently being viewed, and would be smart enough to cross-correlate search results. An article referencing "upsampling","DAC" and "SACD" is highly likely to need an audio equipment dictionary, for example.
- It would remember you. If it's a tossup between a specialized medical dictionary and a PC-gamers dictionary, it would know that you have never accessed a PC-gamers dictionary before, but have been a frequent visitor to the medical dictionaries online.
- It would let you manually choose which dictionary to use, overriding the "intelligence" of the program. Initial parsing of the document would reveal correlations of vocabulary and it would present those to you in order of relevance.
- It would let you use multiple dictionaries at once. If you were reading a specialized document that also included unfamiliar but non-technical words, you would not be precluded from using Websters or the OED, for example.
- It would stay out of the way if you didn't need it. It might, for example, parse the document and then re-draw the document with every identified word as a hyperlink. Or it could utilize mouse-over definitions drawn from the linked dictionaries. Even the initial design should not, however, preclude adding links to explanatory articles to the navigation later.
This utilization profile makes the topical dictionary an ideal companion to some existing sites whose focus remains on generating traffic. Yahoo, Google, and AOL come to mind. It would also be a fit for Microsoft as a value-added integration to Internet Explorer. While it might be possible for a company to build this product as a standalone and use it to compete with Yahoo or Microsoft, it would be very difficult because the content, which is already perceived as free, will not command a premium price in the marketplace. The company would likely end up licensing the topical dictionary to Yahoo or Microsoft in any case, and possibly being acquired. While that could serve as a business plan, it would be a highly risky one.
The major traffic sites, however, can immediately extract value from the topical dictionary as another vehicle for ad placement. It also offers the added advantage that inquiries to the topical dictionaries are, by definition, highly segmented. Displaying ads from stereo manufacturers within dictionary topics specific to audio will be vastly more attractive to those advertisers than generic ad space on Yahoo or Google.
Functionally, it is a product and a project that can be driven to completion largely through business development and engineering. The goal is not to create these topical dictionaries from scratch, an overwhelming task that would take years. It is to create acceptable business models to partner with existing specialized dictionaries and make their content more accessible. Since there would not necessarily be, or perhaps it is even preferable that there not be, a "user interface" in the traditional sense, building this product would mostly involve linking database accesses through the web.
The Internet is an awesome engine driving the democratization of information. Linked, smart topical dictionaries have the potential to broaden the base of understanding, rendering vast quantities of specialized information and analysis comprehensible to an exponentially larger audience. Google, Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft, you listening? If you're looking for somebody to build this thing for you, I'm available. Email me at John@keelhauling.com.
Posted by John at 01:06 PM | Comments (0)
I saw Ninja Burger about
I saw Ninja Burger about a year ago (Delivery in 30 minutes or Less, or we Committ Seppuku!). It was funny, but a one-trick-pony, so I didn't link it. Now, however, they've started a Survivor Contest that should prove interesting. You might want to check in on this periodically when you need a laugh.
Posted by John at 09:40 AM | Comments (0)
FYI, for the first time
FYI, for the first time in quite awhile, they've updated the Darwin Awards web site. Funny as ever. It's been so long, I almost took the random darwinisms off my home page this weekend.
Posted by John at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)
I'm fascinated by articles and
I'm fascinated by articles and web sites focused on new types of user interfaces. I'm absolutely convinced that the current header/sidebar/body style of 90% of web sites will be relegated to the digital museum for future generations to study, possibly - hopefully - as soon as 10 years from now. Working copies of new UI models are even better. Every once in awhile a new site comes along that attempts to test a new user interface, and 90% of them are untenable for one reason or another so I don't waste a lot of time looking at them until they've been around a few years, shown some staying power. A new GUI has to offer some compelling advantages over existing navigation schemes in order for users to justify learning a new system. The "virtual world" format has some exciting potential; ActiveWorlds.com is one of the best examples. It's pretty well developed. Hundreds of thousands of users chat and build 3D virtual reality worlds in millions of kilometers of virtual territory.
Posted by John at 12:34 AM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2001
"Kathleen C. Bailey, a former
"Kathleen C. Bailey, a former assistant director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, has visited several biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms. She is "absolutely convinced" that a major biological arsenal could be built with $10,000 worth of equipment in a room 15 feet by 15. After all, one can cultivate trillions of bacteria at relatively little risk to one's self with gear no more sophisticated than a beer fermenter and a protein-based culture, a gas mask and a plastic overgarment." While government sources make the case publicly that producing biological weapons is a sophisticated process requiring huge labs and highly trained genetic engineers, from a practical perspective it's just not that complicated. I don't like that word: arsenal. Excellent article from Scientific American on "The Specter of Biological Weapons."
Posted by John at 12:09 AM | Comments (0)
October 19, 2001
Taliban Singles Online. [via Neoflux]
Taliban Singles Online. [via Neoflux] Simultaneously funny and sad. Very well done spoof page, just a picture (not functional) but it sure drives home some of the cultural differences.
Posted by John at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)
I like robots. You like
I like robots. You like robots? GUIGalaxy has great robots. And robot icons. Since it's all in caps on the site, it took me a couple of minutes to figure out that it's GUI Galaxy, as in Graphical User Interface. This site is weird and wonderful. It is simultaneously one of the coolest and non-intuitive navigation schemes I've ever seen. As a GUI, it sucks. As design, it rocks.
Posted by John at 11:26 PM | Comments (0)
OK, let's play 20 questions!
OK, let's play 20 questions! [via MeFi] Can you tell which quotes belong to Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson or Osama bin Laden? I got 8 out of 20.
Posted by John at 08:53 PM | Comments (0)
Romanian news editor Cornel Nistorescu
Romanian news editor Cornel Nistorescu wrote Ode to America about 2 weeks after the WTC attack. [via MeFi] It's encouraging that the perception from outside the US is one of unity and compassion. From the inside, that's not always the feeling I get.
Posted by John at 08:47 PM | Comments (0)
This wouldn't be the least
 | This wouldn't be the least bit funny if it happened to me, but since nobody got hurt, I can laugh. The funniest line in this article is, "Insurance representatives who visited the home Thursday morning initially told Burns his policy would not cover the damage..." |
Posted by John at 07:19 PM | Comments (0)
"The UNC scientists used isohumulones
"The UNC scientists used isohumulones from brewing companies in a sophisticated technique called time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy to figure out what happens chemically during photo degradation. Lasers served as the light source for producing the chemical reactions they studied." And that's what makes beer skunky. Brewers, of course have known for many years that exposure to light skunks their brews, which is why beer comes in brown or green bottles. But I feel so much better now that I can say "isohumulones."
Posted by John at 07:10 PM | Comments (0)
Art is in the eye
Art is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. If you're the janitor at the museum, you better be careful.
Posted by John at 07:06 PM | Comments (0)
More paranoid extremism: A man
More paranoid extremism: A man gets kicked off a flight for reading a book that has dynamite on the cover. "An explosive novel", is what the reviewers should have said. It strikes me that there's no need for all this bizarre behavior driven by paranoia. There is more than enough bizarre stuff going on, driven by practical necessity. As evidenced by the Japanese manufacturers marketing a metal-free bra, to whisk you through airport security without those annoying alarms, scan wands and cavity searches.
Posted by John at 07:03 PM | Comments (0)
The Great Anthrax Stock Swindle.
The Great Anthrax Stock Swindle. This is excellent amateur investigative journalism. All the threads tied up together into one neat little bow. The military-political-industrial complex rocks on, making millionaires out of politicians who skate the thin ice.
US Navy Adm. William J. Crowe Jr. sold American made weapons-grade Anthrax to Saddam Hussein in the hopes that he would use it on Iran. Now he's retired. And richer than he should be. And he owns 13% of BioPort, the only corporation in the United States with a license to make Anthrax vaccine. Only about 4% of the amount of vaccine contracted for by BioPort's only customer, the US Defense Dept., has been delivered, due to problems with passing -- or more accurately, not passing -- FDA tests. Nevertheless, the anthrax scares have now pushed the price of the vaccine, such as it is, above $3.50/oz. Which means the BioPort investors will make a killing. Said investors including, by the way, the Carlyse Group, where by happy coincidence, George Bush Sr. is currently employed.
And in the final match, ladies and gentlemen, Capitalism scores a decisive victory over Democracy... again. Democracy never even saw the punch coming.
Posted by John at 12:12 AM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2001
Terror? We got your terror
 | Terror? We got your terror right here. |
Posted by John at 10:35 PM | Comments (0)
Best summary info on anthrax
Best summary info on anthrax I've seen, with more in depth info available in the linked fact sheets and discussion forums. From the University of Wisconsin.
Posted by John at 05:02 PM | Comments (0)
Optical illusions have always fascinated
Optical illusions have always fascinated me, but this one's freaking me out. [via MeFi] Best I have ever seen. This one is pretty good, too. Oh, and this one. Of course, this one's not bad, either. Ohhh, now my head hurts...
Posted by John at 05:00 PM | Comments (0)
I get different info everywhere
I get different info everywhere I go. The web sites of people like the CDC say anthrax spores can live in the soil for 40 years, can survive boiling for up to six hours, etc. Basically, they're indestructible. Meanwhile, a guy who used to actually produce the stuff for the Russians back in the bad old days says, if you're worried, just steam-iron your letters.
Posted by John at 12:56 PM | Comments (0)
AdAware version 5.62 has been
AdAware version 5.62 has been released. Download it. Run it. This program catches and deletes and "spyware" applications you may have inadvertently downloaded through visiting Internet sites. Powerful and easy to use. This program has a 98% approval rating on c|net, the highest I have ever seen.
Update: 10 minutes later.
Found and deleted 250 components to 221 programs on my PC. And I have an excellent firewall, and practice safe computing. Yikes.
Posted by John at 08:20 AM | Comments (0)
When you decide to surrender,
When you decide to surrender, approach United States forces with your hands in the air. Sling your weapon across your back muzzle towards the ground. Remove your magazine and expel any rounds. Doing this is your only chance of survival. Highlights from the propaganda.
Posted by John at 07:58 AM | Comments (0)
October 17, 2001
God Bless the state of
God Bless the state of Florida. They can always keep you laughing. Florida Power and Light has put up a web site where you can report it when your power goes out.
Posted by John at 05:09 PM | Comments (0)
The Official CDC Health Advisory.
The Official CDC Health Advisory. How to Handle Anthrax and Other Biological Agent Threats. It suggests that you do not open envelopes "marked with a threatening message such as 'ANTHRAX'."
Posted by John at 05:07 PM | Comments (0)
Paranoia out of control. Six
Paranoia out of control. Six Army's Golden Knights parachutists drop in -- literally -- on an Austin high school on a recruiting drive, hundreds call 911 reporting "invasion."
Posted by John at 04:59 PM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2001
Operation Root Out Evil and
Operation Root Out Evil and Crush It Wherever It May Be Hiding is going to be long, long war. [via MeFi] These aren't technically all "evil" groups, at least not the pure, unadulterated, not-from-concentrate kind of Evil that we think of when we contemplate our next steps to bring bin Laden to justice. Some of them are resistance movements and the powers they are resisting are the Evil ones. But, for the most part it's a pretty accurate list.
Posted by John at 01:59 AM | Comments (0)
Never underestimate the power of
Never underestimate the power of stupid people. Never underestimate the stupidity of powerful people. Never underpower people who estimate stupidity. Stephen Hawking's excellent book, "A Brief History of Time", is apparently "notorious as one of the most commonly unfinished books by readers." I had no idea. I read it, and thought it was clear, concise and very straightforward. There were 3-4 pages about 90% of the way through that I had to read twice. Well, to SH's credit, he's not looking down from his lofty intellectual height on the mental midgets among us, he's rewriting the book in a short and simpler version. I am so ashamed for us as a species. Stephen, on behalf of humanity, I apologize.
Posted by John at 01:37 AM | Comments (0)
Unskilled and Unaware of It:
Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments. Or, "why Peter doesn't think the Peter Principal applies to him." A hilarious, albeit completely serious, psychological treatise on the problem, from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
This is merely one of the category winners in the annual Ig Nobel Prize awards ceremony, an eccentric event held at Harvard University honoring people whose achievements "cannot or should not be reproduced" and attended by many of the actual Nobel laureates. Scroll through the winners list from this year and previous years. It doesn't just tickle your funnybone, it beats it until it's numb. [via Yaysoft]
Similar site, with many more awards: the Bonehead awards site. While prizes for brilliance are usually only awarded once a year, the Bonehead Of The Day Award is awarded daily.
Posted by John at 12:32 AM | Comments (0)
October 15, 2001
"By looking at the quantum
"By looking at the quantum mechanics of the relativistic string normal modes, one can deduce that the quantum modes of the string look just like the particles we see in spacetime, with mass that depends on the spin." And other things you might have wondered about string theory. The Official String Theory Web Site is an extraordinarily well-done site that takes you from basic knowledge through the advanced math behind strings, superstrings and supersymmetry. The site was built by Patricia Schwarz, PhD Physics from CalTech, who also built the "Theoretical Physics Fun" site.
Posted by John at 06:39 PM | Comments (0)
The Truth is Up There.
The Truth is Up There. In this nifty Flash game you get paid for taking pictures of UFOs moving across a very detailed sky background. Use your digital movie camera to track the UFOs and zoom in for closeups, while conserving battery power.
Posted by John at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)
retroCRUSH has started an excellent
retroCRUSH has started an excellent photo compilation of the world's greatest monsters. The opening page has thumbnail photos of 60 of the most famous - how many can you name? If you restrict yourself to real names (not "that guy from the Hellraiser movie", or "that dog from that Stephen King movie") it's pretty tough. I got exactly half (although all the links don't work yet, so I have to say that's +/-2).
Posted by John at 09:09 AM | Comments (0)
Dave Barry's got your Christmas
Dave Barry's got your Christmas gift list ready to go, with his annual weirdo Holiday Gift Guide.
Posted by John at 08:51 AM | Comments (0)
October 14, 2001
Giuliani gets knighted. Mayor Giuliani
Giuliani gets knighted. Mayor Giuliani would join a select group of Americans to have received the honour, including U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, film director Stephen Spielberg, British born comedian Bob Hope and former President George Bush. Although the mayor will not be entitled to call himself Sir Rudolph, he will be able to include the letters KBE after his name.
Posted by John at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)
Patriotic pumpkin carvings are probably
Patriotic pumpkin carvings are probably *the* new thing for Halloween this year. Of course, if you want it to be really impressive, it helps to start with a 912 lb. pumpkin. [via usr/bin/girl/]
Posted by John at 03:17 AM | Comments (0)
DEBKAfile is reporting that China
DEBKAfile is reporting that China has begun trickling Muslim Chinese fighters into Afghanistan to support the Taliban, and this has been followed by a massive military buildup along its borders with Afghanistan and the Central Asian republics. That force is reported by DEBKAfile’s Chinese sources as having been placed on full war alert since the end of the first week of October. Bush lands in Shanghai in six days for AIPAC, and both the Chinese and Russian Presidents will also be there. Could get interesting.
Posted by John at 03:09 AM | Comments (0)
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has pulled its Web site from public view over fears that its documents could be used by terrorists. The Federal Aviation Administration has removed data from its web site on enforcement actions. Yesterday's lead article in the SF Chronicle in the Bay Area section talked about the Coast Guard officers who are riding shotgun on the tankers, barges and other large ships coming and going from the SF Bay. It is really hard to think of everything that a terrorist could use, both in terms of information and materials, isn't it?
Posted by John at 02:50 AM | Comments (0)
CNN has an excellent map
CNN has an excellent map of Afghanistan that shows the flight of the refugees, which countries they have gone to and when, and showing where the refugee camps are set up. Pakistan is definitely bearing the brunt of this mass exodus.
Posted by John at 02:47 AM | Comments (0)
Deus Meus! Securis in capite
Deus Meus! Securis in capite meo est. File under useful phrases. Isn't the Internet wonderful?
Posted by John at 02:33 AM | Comments (0)
Build-A-Bot. Does what it says,
Build-A-Bot. Does what it says, says what it does. I'm not sure exactly why you would find a game like this, even though it is something of a learning game, on the BBC's web site, but hey, there it is. Pretty interesting, and should get dramatically better over time, as they plan to add more robots each month.
Posted by John at 02:32 AM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2001
And another one for the
And another one for the games roster, Mario Brothers for the PC, with extra levels. Dude, that is, like, sooo 1985.
Posted by John at 09:37 PM | Comments (0)
Chicken Wings are not for
Chicken Wings are not for flying. Very cute Flash game where you get to rescue the falling baby chicks by throwing them umbrellas, so they can float down safely, Mary Poppins-style. This reminds me of the first hand-held computer game I ever had, a little credit-card sized game where the firemen were throwing babies out of a burning building and you had to catch them in your net and "bounce" them to safety. That was so addictive. If I could find it again, I would buy a case to give out at parties and Christmas.
Posted by John at 09:34 PM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2001
Must see TV! Sunday night
| Must see TV! Sunday night is a killer, with Gilligan's Island Redux at 8pm on CBS and the Discovery Channel Special on the new Harley-Davidson, the V-Rod, at 9pm. |
It's like two hours of guy-heaven... slap-stick humor with cute girls in bikinis and radios made from coconut shells, followed by sexy, mean, chromed-up racing machines. The remote control is mine Sunday night!
OK, I had to put the lyrics up. And here's the song.
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
a tale of a fateful trip.
That started from this tropic port,
aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailin' man,
the skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day,
for a three hour tour, a three hour tour………
The weather started getting rough,
the tiny ship was tossed.
If not for the courage of the fearless crew,
the Minnow would be lost; the Minnow would be lost.
The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle,
with Gilligan, the Skipper too,
the Millionaire, and his Wife,
the Movie Star, the Professor and Mary Ann,
here on Gilligan's Isle.
Posted by John at 11:43 PM | Comments (0)
The force wasn't with them.
The force wasn't with them. All the people who wrote in "Jedi knight" as their response to the "religion" question on the British census form, in hopes of having it added as a selection on the new forms due out in 2011, are out of luck. They are destined to remain categorized as "Other."
Posted by John at 11:18 PM | Comments (0)
OK, take a breather from
OK, take a breather from the terrorism. We already know which robot you are (see post below). Which Star Wars character are you? I so wanted this to come out with me as Chewbacca. But it didn't. I mean, I took the test really fast and on the "think with your stomach" question I probably should have marked it higher, maybe that would have changed the results. Of course, these tests don't really mean anything. Oh, alright ... I'm Princess Leia [hangs head in shame].
Posted by John at 11:12 PM | Comments (0)
I saw on MetaFilter yesterday
I saw on MetaFilter yesterday that Osama is offering a $50,000 reward for any US soldier captured alive. I guess the rewards his soldiers are supposed to be earning in heaven aren't enough. Then he raised it to $100,000. But the US is offering $7,000,000 for Osama's capture. You want to start a bidding war with the biggest capitalist country on the planet? "I'll see your hundred thousand, and raise you six million, nine hundred thousand." If the stakes go any higher, I may have to go get him myself.
Posted by John at 10:57 PM | Comments (0)
For the past several months,
For the past several months, the British army and navy have been conducting joint exercises in the sultanate of Oman. The operation is called Swift Sword II, and by happy coincidence, it happens to put 23,000 British soldiers in the vicinity of Afghanistan. Now, they're ready to unleash the Gurkhas. If you don't know the Gurkhas, read on.
One rifleman told a reporter from The Mirror, "The attack on America was very sad and many lives were lost. It was terrible to watch on television. So I would love to go to Afghanistan to fight." He went on to say, "From what I have read, the Taliban are bad people, so the fight would be very just. I would even ask to go first." A British officer said, "for them, it is like playing in the World Cup."
Meanwhile, Pakistanis are starting to freak out about the war next door. Unable to control terrorism in their own country for the past 10 years, they know Pakistan could be next on the list of countries targeted for Bush's campaign against terror. And with internal disputes over which side they should be on, they aren't happy about it. They've already petitioned the Taliban to turn over bin Laden. Now, they're starting to talk about going in and getting him.
I'll say this for Osama bin Laden. The guy sure can make some kick-ass enemies.
Posted by John at 10:39 PM | Comments (0)
So, how's Osama doing these
So, how's Osama doing these days? Well, his heart rate seems a little high... Brought to you by the fine folks at CheneyHeartWatch.com (although they have lost the UberVP's signal due to his being whisked away to a "secure, undisclosed location").
Posted by John at 10:29 PM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2001
And will somebody please tell
 | And will somebody please tell me what is going on at the CIA? This logo is on this page on the CIA servers, a page entitled "Terrorist-Busters." Have the intelligence agencies gone insane? |
Posted by John at 11:22 PM | Comments (0)
Oh, goody. We now have
Oh, goody. We now have a very general, vague, unspecific warning that something, possibly nothing, may or may not happen somewhere in, over or under the U.S. or internationally to U.S. interests from, for, with or by terrorists who may or may not now or at some time in the past have been associated with Bin Laden and/or the other terrorists involved in the bombings of 9/11, sometime over the next several days. Ummm, OK, what now?
1. Don't ride on airplanes when 2 or more really somber looking Arab gentlemen get on board.
2. Don't open any packages that you aren't expecting.
3. Drink only bottled water.
4. If you hear something ticking and you can't find it, run away.
5. Rat out suspicious looking people to the Feds right away.
Did I miss anything?
My own theory is that this is pretty much all the information they got, but they got it from a uniquely reliable source. They really believe something is likely to happen. So... if it does, and it later came out that the government had this warning and didn't tell people, it would be a political disaster. Hence, the press release. It's basically high-level butt-covering.
Here's the full Department of Justice press release. It should be noted that, although it has now been moved to a different location on the FBI public servers, this document was originally named "skyfall.html." No kidding. Make of it what you will.
Posted by John at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)
OK, define terrorism. 50 words
OK, define terrorism. 50 words or less, you have 20 minutes. Begin.
Posted by John at 04:44 PM | Comments (0)
Buck Wolf of ABCNews writes
Buck Wolf of ABCNews writes about Osama Bin Muppet in the Wolf Files. Apparently, the picture was "...downloaded, printed by a poster shop in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, and distributed to demonstrators who were angry over the U.S.-led attacks on Afghanistan. Mostafa Kamal, production manager of Azad Products, told The Associated Press he had gotten the images off the Internet. 'We did not give the pictures a second look or realize what they signified until you pointed it out to us,' he said."
Meanwhile, the FBI released their "Most Wanted Terrorists" list, and somebody -- of course -- photoshopped Bert into it. And the "Sesame Street" execs are fuming. OK, we're done. This topic is now officially dead.
Posted by John at 04:30 PM | Comments (0)
FBI says it is highly
FBI says it is highly likely that only 6 of the 19 terrorists on board the planes 9/11 knew they were going on a suicide mission.
Posted by John at 04:05 PM | Comments (0)
Palestinian Authority TV’s Children’s Club,
Palestinian Authority TV’s Children’s Club, a prime time kids show similar to “Sesame Street”, carries a slightly different message to youth in Palestine. Video here. [via memepool] It is absolutely chilling to see this beautiful little girl, maybe 5 or 6 years old, singing:
Oh, my sister,
Sing constantly
About my life
As a suicide warrior
Each and every part
of your soil
I have drenched with
All my blood
And we shall march as
Warriors of Jihad
The linked movie is about Palestinian attitudes in general, and particularly toward Israel, but I'm afraid that little girl is going to haunt me. I can't reconcile bringing children up immersed in hatred with my ideals of parenting, or with my mental picture of what a "happy childhood" is like. Maybe my values are just too Westernized to comprehend it. I can *understand* it intellectually, but in my heart it makes me sick.
Posted by John at 10:19 AM | Comments (0)
The five major news agencies
The five major news agencies agreed to abide by a White House request to voluntarily withhold any parts of Bin Laden's taped press releases that might be considered "inflammatory." This is a mistake, the first serious step "over the line" that Bush has made in managing this war on terrorism. I don't need or want the government editing my news so that I don't get "upset." I don't want the news media managing the news content any more than they already are. They should just be reporting facts, and people should be making decisions based on those facts. I have to admit that I was uncomfortable with the basically unrestricted media access that Bin Laden had earlier this week, when his tape was played, in full, over and over again. But any restraint that needs to be exercised should be done by the media in the interests of keeping the news moving along. Bin Laden sound bites. The government should not even be making such requests.
Posted by John at 09:23 AM | Comments (0)
CNN has more pictures of
CNN has more pictures of U.S. Air Force magic. "OK, kiddies, now we're going to make this terrorist training camp disappear!"
Posted by John at 01:11 AM | Comments (0)
I was talking to Julie
I was talking to Julie this morning about one of the kids "bombing" a test at school, and she asked me, "Is that good or bad?" I said, "Bad, of course. You know, you bomb a test, that means either flunking it or close to it." She said, "No, not any more, like 'it's the bomb' or 'we bombed that hill' on skateboards. Bombing is a good thing."
She stopped, and we looked at each other, both coming to the realization that certain phrases are already in the process of changing their meanings. Then I saw this article. The article identifies a short list of "changed words." It's eerie how the feelings or emotions or mental pictures or word associations that are evoked by these words have changed since the attacks of 9/11:
Crusade Enemy Evil Dead or Alive
Smoke Them Out Infinite Justice Retaliate Survivor
War Terrorist Cowardly Hero Enduring Freedom
Homeland Security Attacks Tragedy
Posted by John at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
October 10, 2001
And the Nobel Prize in
And the Nobel Prize in Economics goes to....
The Used Car Dealer Distrust Theory!
Posted by John at 11:46 PM | Comments (0)
Wired magazine picked up the
Wired magazine picked up the Osama Bert Laden story today. And Reuters confirmed that yes, that's Bert. And that Dutch site linked below cropped the photo to cut Bert out. But that's OK; I archived the page and fixed the link below to go to the archive.
Posted by John at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
Terrorist Training Camp in Afghanistan,
Terrorist Training Camp in Afghanistan, before and after. Now you see it, now you don't! The US Air Force is magic!
Posted by John at 12:40 AM | Comments (0)
It's not "Man Bites Dog",
It's not "Man Bites Dog", but it's close. Just a little something to brighten your day.
Posted by John at 12:38 AM | Comments (0)
Oh man. Back-to-back. Florida declared
Oh man. Back-to-back. Florida declared anthrax-free. Government building in Ohio closed due to anthrax threat. I have a feeling that this is going to get very weird, very fast.
Posted by John at 12:34 AM | Comments (0)
Osama Bert Laden! This is
Osama Bert Laden! This is the funniest thing I've seen in months. You'll immediately recognize the poster of Osama that all the nutcases have been waving around on the news, but look closely behind his left ear. The language on this site looks like German(?) so I have no idea what it says... maybe it's talking about Osama being a "puppet dictator." I don't know. And yes, this is real. You can also see it here. The photo in the article was sourced as ANP, which is basically the Dutch equivalent of the Associated Press. It looks like it was simply downloaded from this site and added in with other photos to make the poster. Fun with Photoshop in the ANP press room? Dissidents in the Taliban marketing machine? I saw this meme on MetaFilter, but there are earlier references; to give proper credit the earliest I've seen is Dawn Gilpin's weblog from 10/6. Simply hilarious.
This post was brought to you by the letter "G".
Posted by John at 12:20 AM | Comments (0)
October 09, 2001
What kind of robot are
 | What kind of robot are you? [via MeFi] Take a little quiz and find out. I'm Roy Batty from Blade Runner. |
Posted by John at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)
Man, armed with knife and
Man, armed with knife and gun, gets into a fight with police officer in a Maryland subway station. A jar of some unknown substance falls and breaks. People nearby get sick. This story hasn't gotten much exposure yet, but it may become big. Very scary times.
UPDATE 7:30pm -- Cleaning fluid. Let's hope.
Posted by John at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)
October 08, 2001
Freezing the bank accounts of
Freezing the bank accounts of terrorists like Bin Laden isn't likely to cut them off from their money. This NYTimes article probes the hawala, the informal Arab money transfer (and money laundering) network that last year moved an estimated $2-5 billion into and out of Pakistan last year, more money than through the country's banking system. [via rebecca's pocket] The US Treasury Department identified hawala as the primary means of money laundering from drug trafficking and other crimes in the Middle East. It's very secretive. Records of transactions are kept just until the deal is completed, then destroyed.
Posted by John at 05:41 PM | Comments (0)
Overheard by Julie in the
Overheard by Julie in the grocery store: "We ought to capture Bin Laden, give him a sex change operation, and send him back. See how he likes it." My first thought was, man, would that be an ugly woman.
Posted by John at 02:37 PM | Comments (0)
Rush Limbaugh, radio personality and
Rush Limbaugh, radio personality and icon of the right-wing conservative faction, announced today on his show that over the course of the past three months he's gone almost completely deaf. Much as I despise his rhetoric and his tactics, I find myself agreeing with most of his basic positions. And I wouldn't wish deafness on anybody. I would miss the voices of my family, their laughter. I would miss music.
Posted by John at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)
Behind Enemy Lines [via memepool]
Behind Enemy Lines [via memepool] is a fascinating story. Ever wonder what would happen if one of those e-mail spammers ran into the wrong guy?
Posted by John at 03:00 AM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2001
If you liked Bridgebuilder (now
If you liked Bridgebuilder (now Pontifex - see entry below fom 10/3), or you like web-based building games, you'll like Gears. Just from the name, you can guess how it works... Read the rules first, otherwise it's frustrating (things like gears only work at right angles, you have to use all the pieces, etc.). Fun!
Posted by John at 02:37 AM | Comments (0)
Ghost sites has a movie
Ghost sites has a movie that's just logos of dead dotcoms. Awful soundtrack, but fascinating to watch them scroll by.
Posted by John at 02:00 AM | Comments (0)
While most of the current
While most of the current US media attention is focused on the Middle East, it's always a good idea to get information from alternative sources. The US media has its own biases, and if nothing else reading foreign-based news reports will give you a better perspective of what the rest of the world is thinking. Earlier I had linked Debka.com, although noting its strong pro-Israeli bias and tendency to cite unsubstantiated "facts", warnings I have since heard reiterated elsewhere. Other resources culled from various places include:
MERIA - The Middle East Review of International Affairs
Ha'Aretz - Israeli newspaper covering Middle East (esp. Op-Ed section)
Israel Insider
The Electronic Intifada for the Palestinian voice
Arab News from Saudi Arabia
Terrorism Research Center includes daily news
SuperOpenDirectory, a broad assortment of English-language news sources in the form of a list compiled by Dave Winer at Scripting.com. This is particularly helpful when you are looking for a particular country's or region's point of view on an issue.
The truth is out there, as Mulder and Scully like to say. You'll usually find it somewhere between the political hard-lines and several layers beneath the big money. It takes some digging. Take 15 minutes and browse these sites every day or two, and you'll be better informed than 99% of the general population.
Posted by John at 01:38 AM | Comments (0)
October 06, 2001
Earlier this evening Colin, age
Earlier this evening Colin, age 8, was sitting at the computer. "Whatcha doing?," I asked. "I'm checking out Flash; this is really cool," he replied. [How cute] I thought, which just goes to show that this old dog never, ever learns anything no matter how many times I get my nose whacked with the rolled up newspaper. His older brother, Travis, has been learning Flash and has made a few web sites for himself and the church youth group, and Colin like younger brothers everywhere needs to know whatever his older brothers know.
So, an hour later, Julie, Travis and I are downstairs watching a movie (Croupier, 2.5 stars) and Colin comes down the stairs. "Travis, I need some help," he says. "Colin," I say, putting on my best Dad understands but this is one of those 'you'll have to wait until you get older things' voice, "I know you're studying the Flash tutorial but it's a complex programming language and you haven't even learned HTML yet, so Flash is going to be really, really hard for you. Maybe you should wait on trying to learn it until you've learned some other things about basic web design. If you really want help with it, maybe Trav can help you tomorrow." [Put it off. Maybe he'll forget about it.]
Colin's an easy-going guy, "OK," he says, "but Trav, I have one quick question. I've already created an animation with a 20-degree arc that rotates as it travels around the screen perimeter, but the motion TWEEN stops halfway through and I can't get it to loop."
There comes - hopefully - a time in every man's life when he has to step up and admit that his kids are outgrowing him. That's the way it's supposed to happen. That's why we work so hard at teaching them to think, and giving them the values that are the rebar in the foundation of their personalities. You just don't expect to have to deal with it when they're 8.
There's also a huge ego deflation that occurs when you're no longer the go-to guy on certain matters. I'm so used to the kids asking, "How do you know this stuff?," and my patent reply, "I'm a dad; it's my job." Travis answered his question in less than 30 seconds.
I think I'll go out to the garage and hammer something now.
Posted by John at 11:22 PM | Comments (0)
I'm still, slowly but surely,
I'm still, slowly but surely, scanning in all the pictures from our trip to Africa. Last Saturday I shot a roll of film at Colin's and Matt's soccer games, and got the slides back from the developer yesterday. So rather than fall further behind with the rest of our pictures, I scanned those in and spent last night working on a photo album to display them on the web. Once I get it just right, this will be the template for the Africa photos as well. One thing is painfully clear -- a lack of any formal classes in HTML, Flash, Javascript, CSS and web-based database functionality makes this a lot harder than it needs to be. Here's what I have so far; feedback would be appreciated. Yawn. G'night.
Posted by John at 03:41 AM | Comments (0)
October 05, 2001
It's one of those good
It's one of those good news/bad news kind of things. The good news is that, after doing some more research, Julie has decided that we don't need to boycott chocolate. As a result, the kids have decided not to move out. Turns out that various experts, including childrens' advocacy groups like UNICEF, say that the main reason child slavery has become such an issue is the 80% drop in cocoa prices on the world markets over the past 5 years. Boycotting chocolate would reduce the demand, driving prices lower, and encouraging farmers in West Africa to utilize more slave labor to stay competitive. Instead, apparently, what we should be doing is eating as much chocolate as we can stand. Still, the 4-year timetable to get the growers in compliance with minimal standards of humanitarian treatment for their workers is lame, and letters need to be written. Want to write one? Try Nestle (feedback form), Hershey (email), Mars (feedback form) and Kraft. Or your Senators, Representatives, or even the President.
The bad news is that movie theatre popcorn, in particular the artificial butter they use, can cause lung disease. Not eating it necessarily, but breathing it. While this doesn't appear to be a danger to most people, as exposure to large vats of artificial butter is -- hopefully -- not a common risk, it is still utterly depressing. I mean, come on, movie theatre popcorn?
Posted by John at 11:42 AM | Comments (0)
Want to take out your
Want to take out your frustrations on your virtual enemies? Nuke 'em with Map Blaster. This little tool -- from PBS of all places -- allows you to detonate varying sizes of ordinance at locations you specify, and maps the blast radius as well as the fallout. Kind of queasy-scary fun. Saw this link in a discussion thread on MetaFilter, which also called my attention to two great map resources, the University of Texas Library and the David Rumsey Collection. I like to post stuff like that, because at some point in the future I'm going to need a good map, and now I can just hit the Search button over on the left and type "map" and I'm back here. It's like leaving myself a note.
Posted by John at 01:06 AM | Comments (0)
Robert Fisk, writing in the
Robert Fisk, writing in the Argument section of the Independent, provides a good overview of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan, our potential allies and foot-soldiers in the war on terrorism. It's a scary proposition. Sort of like bringing in the Mafia to get rid of the drug dealers. These are tough decisions that will bear long-term consequences, both for the Middle East and for the U.S. as a player in the international arena.
Posted by John at 12:48 AM | Comments (0)
October 04, 2001
Meyerweb.com has a couple of
Meyerweb.com has a couple of really funny pieces that I've seen before elsewhere, but I think these have been polished up and improved. Witness Murphy's Laws of Combat Operations ("After the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend") and Lieutenant Data on Windows 95 ("Shields up, Data!", yells Picard. "I'm sorry, Captain, but I am still attempting to complete your last instruction").
Posted by John at 11:19 PM | Comments (0)
I am coming to understand
I am coming to understand that almost anything can be funny if set to rhymes a la Dr. Seuss. Here's the OJ trial as told by Dr. Seuss (excerpt):
Did you hit her from above?
Did you drop this bloody glove?
I did not hit her from above.
I cannot even wear that glove.
Posted by John at 02:29 PM | Comments (0)
Some minor design changes early
Some minor design changes early this morning. Still tweaking.
Posted by John at 02:16 AM | Comments (0)
October 03, 2001
What wouldn't you do to
What wouldn't you do to break a world record in a major sporting event? How about drinking juice made from giant killer hornets? I have no special reason for linking this story other than it so freaky weird that I couldn't get it out of my head all day. Yuck. Psychological phenomenon to investigate: Internet as catharsis.
Posted by John at 08:07 PM | Comments (0)
The new sequel to Bridgebuilder
The new sequel to Bridgebuilder is out. I guess they weren't able to resolve the name conflict, because it's now called Pontifex. New features include a very nifty 3D view, different construction materials, and the "Test" process now runs the train over the bridge in both directions for a total of 4 passes. So some of my previous designs, in which the bridge collapsed as the train passed but still allowed it to make the crossing, aren't going to work any more. There is a free "demo" version you can download (less than 1MB), but I don't know how many levels it allows you to play. Yet.
Posted by John at 01:14 PM | Comments (0)
Don't you just love those
Don't you just love those songs that you can sing along with on the radio, even though you don't really know the words? You know every syllable, every sound, even how the singer pauses and breathes during the song, but the lyrics have never made sense to you. Those songs are special. They are, by definition, so good that you've listened to them a hundred times or more, and so catchy that you want to sing along. A couple of my favorites in that class are Long Cool Woman by the Hollies, and Louie, Louie by The Kingsmen. [Music history note: The latter's lyrics are so slurred that back in 1963 parents were up in arms because kids were saying the lyrics were "dirty" and this could only be revealed by playing the 45RPM record at 33 1/3. The FBI even got involved, and collected over 50 different versions of the lyrics. The governor of Indiana banned it. Iggy Pop does this song with one version of the dirty lyrics.] Some would argue, perhaps, that looking up the lyrics could somehow ruin those songs, but it is usually very satisfying to understand the words after years of singing nonsense (but with perfect pitch and timing, of course). Thus, my version:
Ayfane liyelkurwl away onee
eektatsh ahip ohcons talee
ale wine sip wine all alowe
eenever acow aamay gitome
can finally be rendered into something more understandable:
A fine little girl, she waits for me.
Me catch the ship across the sea.
I sailed the ship all alone.
I never think I'll make it home.
Although I would still argue that if you're singing along, the first version will get you closer to harmony with The Kingsmen.
Ran into a bit of a puzzler today, though. I was listening (and yes, singing along) to a song on the radio in my car and as soon as I got home I went and looked up the lyrics. But... they still made no sense. Say this out loud, and I'll bet you know the song. Click on it if you want to see all the lyrics. Monkey pack him rizla pon the sweet dep line. Help.
Posted by John at 02:01 AM | Comments (0)
Bugs Bunny in The Matwix.
Bugs Bunny in The Matwix.
Posted by John at 01:51 AM | Comments (0)
Julie bought a pumpkin over
Julie bought a pumpkin over the weekend. It's sitting by the front door, and late at night I can hear it moaning, "Cut me, carve me." Sick pumpkin. Anyway, the reason I mention it, it occurred to me that another thing we can thank Osama Piñata for is that Halloween is going to be a lot less fun this year. Heightened paranoia about the stuff in the pillow cases that the kids come home with, and much tamer House of Horrors attractions.
Posted by John at 01:33 AM | Comments (0)
Cars.com features Car Talk, and
Cars.com features Car Talk, and Tom and Ray weighed in today with their lists - nominated and voted for by readers - of the top 5 Ultimate Guy Cars and the top 5 Ultimate Chick Cars. I think their picks are pretty much dead on. (Just FYI, Cars.com is much superior to Auto.com, which had a feature story today that the Pontiac Aztek came in first in new car buyer satisfaction in the entry-level SUV class, according to the latest J.D. Power & Associates poll. Bleah.)
Posted by John at 01:27 AM | Comments (0)
October 02, 2001
The nation's chocolate makers announced
The nation's chocolate makers announced yesterday that they were taking responsibility for the use of child slave labor in West African countries in the production of chocolate. While that sounds like a good thing on the face of it, it has to be noted that the original story based on research by Knight-Ridder broke in June, and it has taken them 4 months to decide that child slave labor is a bad thing. The resolution calls for an end to "the worst forms of child labor" by 2005. I guess 4 years to end the very worst abuses is OK... as long as the "best" forms of child labor are allowed to continue. Or something. When I read this story and understand the casual, callous abuse of children going on behind the scenes with the tacit acceptance of the large chocolate companies, and then see the lackadaisical timetable implemented to address the problem, it makes my M&Ms taste ... funny. Julie wants to boycott chocolate now; I've created a monster.
Posted by John at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)
October 01, 2001
Today, the Supreme Court refused
Today, the Supreme Court refused to reconsider hearing the libel case filed against TIME magazine by the Church of Scientology, after the magazine ran a lengthy profile article on the group characterizing it as a greedy cult. The May 1991 article entitled, "Scientology: The Cult of Greed,'' said Scientology is "really a ruthless global scam.'' It is amazing, and amazingly depressing, to see the lengths to which these fanatics will go in attempting to convert people to their twisted belief system, up to and including very sophisticated brainwashing. Forget free choice. People have complained for years that anyone electing to leave the cult is subjected to continual harassment on a scale that is astonishing. It is good to see this major case resolved with a verdict against them by our nation's highest court.
Posted by John at 02:53 PM | Comments (0)
Quantum computing and teleportation are
Quantum computing and teleportation are one step closer to reality [via MeFi]. Scientists at the University of Aarhus in Denmark have entangled about a trillion caesium atoms, which handily beats the previous record of, um, four. Entanglement is a property of photons on the quantum - subatomic - level that forces one of a linked pair of photons to react to changes made in the other. Simultaneously. Even though they are physically separated. Einstein described it as "spooky action at a distance."
Posted by John at 02:37 PM | Comments (0)
The Jerusalem Archaeological Park web
The Jerusalem Archaeological Park web site has some of the best Flash animation I've seen, integrating photos with text and other graphics to create timelines, exhibits and virtual reconstructions. Worth exploring. The virtual reconstruction model with 360-degree views of the ancient city conveys the scope and majesty of the ancient city, as it might have been, better than any illustration.
Posted by John at 12:02 AM | Comments (0)
