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November 30, 2001
Beetle Buggin'. Zoom around the
Beetle Buggin'. Zoom around the desk, dodging among the office supplies and collect the sheets of HP printer paper. From Hewlett Packard, of course. Nifty and fun, but not good enough for the A List.
Posted by John at 03:12 PM | Comments (0)
Our wonderful Social Security Administration
Our wonderful Social Security Administration has been busy applying your tax dollars to valuable research, such as distribution of names [via MeFi]. "John" has been on a pretty consistent slide, from #1 at the turn of the century to its current slot at #13. Believe or not, among our family members, "Julie" is the most uncommon name for bambinos with 2000 birth years. Matthew, on the other hand, is going to have a lot of company.
Year 2000 Rankings: John= 13, Julie=194,
Travis=117, Nicholas=6, Matthew=3, Colin=118.
Posted by John at 01:19 PM | Comments (0)
Well, our state government here
Well, our state government here in California has been diligently protecting our rights and our privacy again. This time, they've sold 24 million names and birthdates to a genealogy web site. Rootsweb.com is a great site, and offers a lot of valuable information for free if you're trying to do a little digging in the family history. Now, they also offer a valuable source of free information if you want to get a fake birth certificate, or steal someone's identity!
Posted by John at 12:56 PM | Comments (0)
Something in the way she
Something in the way she moves
Attracts me like no other lover
Something in the way she woos me...
I don't want to leave her now
You know I believe and how.
-- George Harrison, born February 25, 1943, died November 29, 2001, a gentle soul who will be missed.
Posted by John at 03:48 AM | Comments (0)
I use links lists to
I use links lists to get news summaries quickly, and I'm thinking about starting to put together some web pages that do it for me. For example, here's one on cloning that has both news stories and links resources. Good idea? Bad idea? What do you think? Email me.
Posted by John at 03:30 AM | Comments (0)
The Christian Science Monitor has
The Christian Science Monitor has started a Daily Update on the war against terrorism. They not only do an excellent job of compiling the top stories, but it's also one of the most thoughtful and thought-provoking sites out there. Mary Baker Eddy, the newspaper's founder, wrote this in 1883:
"Looking over the newspapers of the day, one naturally reflects that it is dangerous to live, so loaded with disease seems the very air. These descriptions carry fears to many minds, to be depicted in some future time upon the body. A periodical of our own will counteract to some extent this public nuisance; for through our paper we shall be able to reach many homes with healing, purifying thought."
Posted by John at 03:07 AM | Comments (0)
November 29, 2001
The Insurance Institute for Highway
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave a big thumbs-down in their crash tests on the Ford Explorer and Jeep Liberty today. Assessing the damage after four measly little 5 mph crashes, these two gas-guzzlers averaged about $1,400 in damage in each crash. The Chevy Trailblazer and Dodge Ram 1500 fared better, both under $1,000, and won "acceptable" and "marginal" ratings respectively. We have an SUV, and you definitely get the feeling that it's more indestructable than most of the cars on the road, but that's mostly an illusion. Plus they're more expensive to fix when they break. Plus they roll over easily. Oh, and the gas. But they sure look better than a Dodge Caravan, and with four kids that's the only other option. Two words for that: Un. Acceptable.
Posted by John at 01:38 PM | Comments (0)
If you've ever wondered exactly
If you've ever wondered exactly how the MRE's are dropped to the Afghan refugees, the Washington Post has a diagram of how the C-17 airplanes are packed [via Michelle]. Ever eaten one? It wouldn't pass muster as restaurant fare, but they aren't bad.
Posted by John at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)
So I redesigned the site
So I redesigned the site without using ASP. A temporary solution. The whole thing could simply explode at any minute as my programming skills are, well, somewhat limited. Cough, cough.
Posted by John at 02:02 AM | Comments (0)
November 28, 2001
Well... I guess they turned
Well... I guess they turned ASP back on. Keelhauling came up. But, since they STILL haven't called or emailed me, I have no idea how long it will remain up. So, I'm going to leave the URL pointed to the stripped down, HTML-only version. However, as you can see, the "stripped down" HTML-only version is now vastly improved.
Posted by John at 01:35 PM | Comments (0)
Arrgggh! Well, I've had it.
Arrgggh! Well, I've had it. The idiots at www.neteze.com, my erstwhile web hosting service (and my dialup service for those painful times when the cable modem goes down) have screwed me again. They've had DNS propagation problems that have rendered my web site invisible to me repeatedly over the course of the last few months, and last night they turned off Active Server Pages without any warning to me whatsoever. So... my apologies for Keelhauling's absence. As a short term solution I pointed the keelhauling domain name directly to this weblog page which is simple HTML. That makes all the nifty sidebar graphics and links unavailable for now, but c'est la vie. I'm setting up my own server.
Posted by John at 01:06 PM | Comments (0)
Oh yeah, you know what
Oh yeah, you know what the absolutely weirdest thing of all about going down to L.A. for Thanksgiving was? Gas -- premium gas -- was only $1.39 a gallon. I want to know how come it's like $2.19 in San Francisco? Ten hours drive in a tanker truck hauling 9,000 gallons less than 500 miles? If I could pick up $0.80 a gallon price differential on 9,000 gallons for 8 hours of work, I'd do it. That's almost $1,000 an hour.
Posted by John at 12:37 AM | Comments (0)
While we're mentioning lists... TIME
While we're mentioning lists... TIME magazine has the best inventions of 2001 up for your review. EZ-Rocket and the Flying Boat go right on to my "if I had a billion dollars" list. A motorized surfboard would be a rad way to spend a Saturday, although $6K is a tad steep for something I would almost certainly demolish on the first day. Nicholas, our resident skateboarder, would love to ollie this new Streetcarver board off the loading docks down at the grocery store -- the shock absorbers would help. The self-cleaning windows win the award from me for practicality (down with housework!), and the mashed potato machine looks like a sure bet (although I would have to conduct a taste test before buying yet another bulky appliance which has to either consume counter space or be hauled out of the pantry every time you want to use it). All in all, an excellent compilation of inventions, many of which I hadn't seen before.
Posted by John at 12:16 AM | Comments (0)
November 27, 2001
By now, you've seen the
By now, you've seen the news that scientists at Advanced Cell Technology Inc. of Worcester, Massachusetts, have successfully cloned human embryos. The purpose in performing this feat was allegedly to pave the way for harvesting of stem cells. In reality, the purpose was to get Advanced Cell Technology into the history books, and presumably to generate interest in the company pre-IPO. It is a sad commentary on the state of science. I am especially unhappy that this happened in the U.S., and I personally hope the harshest sanctions the U.S. government can muster are brought to bear. This is not a trivial issue, and it was not the duty of this company or these reprehensible scientists to force the issue. Knowing the furor this would create, knowing that the ethical issues surrounding human cloning have yet to be resolved, the company proceeded anyway. Arguments about the ethics of embyonic cell cloning aside, I would like to go on record as saying this company sucks.
Posted by John at 11:28 PM | Comments (0)
Google is not affiliated with
Google is not affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its content.
Despite the fact that I am now keelhauling. Yessiree, if you google keelhauling, that's me, number one AND number two listed. I feel so... honored. Hehe.
Posted by John at 09:48 PM | Comments (0)
Africa pictures are up! Been
Africa pictures are up!
Been away for few days, visiting with family down in Newport Beach for Thanksgiving, and the days before that were consumed with trying to get the 726 photos of our trip to Africa scanned so I could take them with me. Julie did 2/3 of the grunt work, scanning the photos in and checking the color balance. On our African trip in August, we went to Malawi where we stayed with friends and saw some native dances, to Victoria Falls and then on to two game camps in the Okavango Delta. Hopefully, I'll get the pictures put in chronological order and add some captions soon.
I've got an account with AT&T/@Home that includes 10MB of disk space for "your web site" (ha!) and I figured I ought to use it, so I put the Africa pictures on the @Home servers. 10meg doesn't go very far, especially when you have a slide scanner that is capable of rendering a single slide in such incredible detail it creates a 35MB TIFF file. I had to lower the resolution on the pictures, reduce the size of the thumbnail photos and cut the number of pictures from 726 to 255. Even so, I'm using 9.5MB of the alloted 10. I need to take the time to set up my own server...
Posted by John at 09:01 AM | Comments (0)
Want to lose weight quickly
Want to lose weight quickly after that Thanksgiving feast? Go to India, where gravity is about 1% less than in the U.S. The study of gravity, particularly the precision measurements we are now capable of performing, is the subject of the GRACE mission which stands for Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment. Fascinating article and nifty gravimetric mapping on the JPL/NASA web site.
Posted by John at 08:56 AM | Comments (0)
One key part of the
One key part of the so-called "hidden" Internet is the corporate Intranet, pages visible only to employees or specially permissioned customers of a company. The design of Intranet sites doesn't get a whole lot of attention, since not that many people see them (relatively speaking, of course). Jakob Nielson's useit.com web site has a list of the 10 Best Intranet Sites of 2001 [via Blogdex] (slideshow included).
Posted by John at 08:48 AM | Comments (0)
I simply can't say it
I simply can't say it any better: The annual pre-Christmas swine slaughter in a southwestern Hungarian village came to a shocking end on Saturday after one man died of electrocution while trying to stun a pig, whose owner then died of heart attack. If it's not the sharks, it's the ducks, and the pigs.
Posted by John at 08:42 AM | Comments (0)
November 20, 2001
The moral of the story
The moral of the story is, if you want to go 55 mph on a jet ski, even a duck can kill you.
Posted by John at 04:58 PM | Comments (0)
November 19, 2001
Now I don't remember where
Now I don't remember where I saw it first... I think it was MeFi, but anyway, here are the best fridge magnets ever. If you're looking for a few little stocking stuffers to throw in the gift basket, here you go!
Posted by John at 11:08 PM | Comments (0)
British nationals who fought for
British nationals who fought for the Taliban will face immediate arrest as they arrive back in Britain. Hey, welcome back!
Posted by John at 10:44 PM | Comments (0)
A link to this coded
A link to this coded letter from a prison inmate [via Memepool] led to an interesting piece on the cryptographic writings of Edgar Allen Poe. (The convicted felon spent four years designing a code for his letter, which basically translates to "chuck the tools over the wall on Tuesday", and was cracked by four police officers in less than an hour.)
Posted by John at 10:42 PM | Comments (0)
Seems that now that we've
Seems that now that we've kicked the Taliban out of Kandahar, another group has moved in... the Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan are leading the charge to execute Afghan Taliban members they suspect might not fight to death. Non-Pashtun Islamics in Afghanistan are banned from their own buildings, but only where the Pakistani Talibun holding the buildings are ethnic Pashtuns. It's getting messy quickly, and it's no longer clear who the bad guys are, or if there are any good guys at all. This piece from the Asia Times provides more insight than I've seen from any U.S. media. We got into the middle of this centuries-old feud pretty quickly; I wonder if we can get out at all.
KARACHI - With the dramatic political
and military changes in
Afghanistan over the past few
days it is becoming evident that a
new war is beginning in which
Afghanistan will be divided among
Pastun and non-Pastun warlords,
with the Taliban fighting a
guerrilla war against the latter,
and against any foreign troops
that might join them.
Posted by John at 03:29 PM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2001
The Leonids rocked! 2:00am-3:00am we
The Leonids rocked! 2:00am-3:00am we had shooting stars in the clear San Francisco night sky at about the rate of one every 15-20 seconds. At least once a minute, one would jet across the sky that was brighter than any star and traverse an arc of 10-30 degrees. Simply beautiful.
Posted by John at 02:43 AM | Comments (0)
I mentioned The Debka Files
I mentioned The Debka Files here awhile ago, as a good alternative source of news, albeit a blatently biased one. I saw a story there about a month ago about Chinese troops of Arab descent being sent in to fight with the Taliban, but still haven't seen any verification on it. That's pretty typical of Debka - you have to take it all with the proverbial grain of salt. This site, copvcia, takes Debka to task on that very issue. I agree with them, but still, Debka continues to break more middle eastern war stories than all the major news conglomerates combined.
Meanwhile, you see all these news reports, and sometimes you have to wonder, "what does it mean?" Maybe it's economics, or domestic politics, or foreign affairs or military strategy -- no one can be an expert on all of these and sometimes it's good to have an expert interpretation. That's what Stratfor (short for STRATegic FORcasting) does. Stratfor's origin was in the Center for Geopolitical Studies formed at LSU in 1994. A group of the founding employees spun off into the private sector in 1996, forming a private intelligence company that provided consulting for businesses needing strategic analyses and forecasting of international events. Excellent commentary and analysis on the free part of their web site. Add it to your favorites.
Posted by John at 02:39 AM | Comments (0)
OK, so we went to
OK, so we went to the Friday afternoon showing of Harry Potter, the first showing in Marin county. I went to the theatre about noon to get tickets for the show, which was at 5:10pm. Then I went to the theatre again at about 3:45pm to get in line and reserve good seats for my wife and our two youngest. There's something to like for everyone in the movie. Even if you (like me) haven't read a single Harry Potter book, you can't help but be impressed with the castles and the English shoppes and the grounds and the libraraies and the dining hall. This was obviously a big ticket production. It was a little freaky to notice as I stood in line outside waiting for the doors to open at 4:30 that there were at least a dozen little kids -- like 4-8 year olds -- wearing round lensed glasses. And not the fake props, either. The movie has a built-in fan base by virtue of the fact that Harry wears glasses. This is vindication for every little four-eyed yard ape around the country.
The story line was pretty routine, the acting almost painfully bland, and the jokes mostly unfunny. (That's the worst cameo appearance by John Cleese I've ever seen.) The audience insisted upon giving away the story, as 5-year-old munchkins couldn't resist shouting out what was about to happen. However, and this is an important caveat, for my kids, who have read all the HP books, those shortcomings didn't matter. They appreciated the fact that the movie did, in fact, follow the story line of the book pretty closely. They were somewhat surprised (as we all were the first time it happened to us) that the characters didn't look like what they had pictured, but they were OK with that. Overall, they loved the movie. I appreciated the beautiful scenery, the amazing cinematography, and the special effects. The three-headed dog was incredible, and the scene where the mail gets delivered by hundred of owls flying around the dining hall still has me wondering how they did it.
I've seen lots of reviews already, and it's kind of surprising how much the movie is judged according to people's expectations. The reviews run the gamut, but by far the most amusing I've seen is from the ChildCare Action Project (CAP): Christian Analysis of American Culture: "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: presenting evil as something to admire and emulate". These people are way too uptight, and don't seem to have learned a lesson even our youngest child has mastered: the movies are make-believe. They're just for fun. They're not real. Relax your death grip on your children's psyche and let them breathe, maybe even have a little fun! It scares me that there are people out there like this raising children.
Posted by John at 01:50 AM | Comments (0)
November 15, 2001
You would think that with
You would think that with the National Guard staffing the airports, sky marshals on the planes, and increased attention at security checkpoints, that airport and airline weirdness would be in decline. But then, you probably wouldn't put 44 birds in your pants, either. Even so, you could always be threatened by an angry drunken midget.
Posted by John at 02:38 PM | Comments (0)
54 years after their discovery,
54 years after their discovery, publication of the Dead Sea Scrolls is finally complete. The complete collection, comprised of over 900 scrolls and commentaries on more than 15,000 leather and papyrus documents found near the Dead Sea, are now available in 28 large volumes, with 2 more slated for release early next year. The volumes of scrolls, translated from writings in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin dating from 250 B.C. to 70 A.D., were published by Oxford University Press under the title ''Discoveries in the Judean Desert.'' Kudos to the Israeli Antiquities Authority for getting the scrolls and commentaries out of the hands of the scholars who were prohibiting access, and moving the project forward. [Hint: the one to get is the introductory volume, to be published early next year with a history of the project and a list of all the texts in the various volumes.]
Posted by John at 02:33 PM | Comments (0)
"The face of terror is
"The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace."
-- George W. Bush at Islamic Center of Washington, D.C. (09-17-01)
FYI, the word "Islam" means submission.
Posted by John at 01:28 PM | Comments (0)
THE WAY OF THE HUMMINGBIRD
THE WAY OF THE HUMMINGBIRD
I was outside this morning, looking out over San Francisco bay. The rain of the past few days had abated, and the air was heavy with its memory, but clear as glass. No fog, no haze, no smog, I could see houses in Alameda across the water, makes and models of cars as they proceeded across the Richmond-San Rafael bridge. Suddenly, and I mean instantly, out of nowhere, there was a buzz right next to my head. I flinched and jerked back, like you do when you're dive-bombed by a bumblebee. But this was no bee, or wasp, or yellowjacket. Their buzzes are bright and high-pitched, and they register as "bug" on the internal radar system even before your eye can find them. This was a basso profundo buzz, really more of a "thrum."
Then I saw it, a hummingbird, about five feet off the ground and ten feet away from me. She, I say, picking a pronoun randomly because, as you will see, I had a closer encounter with her than would be justified by a casual "it", eyed me, and I eyed her. Motionless, she was blur of motion as she maintained her hovering position and checked me out. I realized she must have passed within a foot or two of my head, causing my startled reaction, but now the only motion I displayed was the involuntary smile at her amazing aerobatics. She... I want to say she "flew", but it was more like she teleported... too fast for my eye to follow, and halved the distance between us. She hovered there for several seconds, decided I was no threat, and *pop* she was suddenly two feet away from my face.
I watched her for at least ten very long, very slow, very this-is-special-pay-attention-you're-going-to-want-to-remember-this seconds. She turned her head from side to side, looking me over. From the neck up, she was perfectly still. I could see individual feathers on her head, and the long, graceful curve of her dark beak ending in a needle-sharp point. Her colors were amazing. From the neck down, she was simply a blur. Her wings described perfect arcs around her tiny body, but they moved so rapidly that I could see right through them. I could see the plants in Julie's garden right through the space where her body was supposed to be. Her neck just ... disappeared ... faded out, into the blur of motion that held her aloft. The only hint I had that she even had a body was the slight darkening inside the circle described by her wings. And the thrumming.
I want to be like her. The maelstrom of daily events swirls around us, the hectic pace of voicemails and emails and snailmails and meetings and people lined up outside my door is unrelenting. I want to be so centered, so focused, that my head is perfectly still. I want to be able to calmly look out from inside that blur of motion and evaluate the landscape. I want to be so good at managing the flow that I don't even have to think about it. Put the chaos on autopilot, and focus my attention on the things that matter.
It's a good trick, if you can manage it.
Posted by John at 01:38 AM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2001
Now there's a service that
Now there's a service that will let you send out up to 60 emails, after you're dead [via Memepool]. With varying levels of service from $26/yr to $42/yr, you can also attach pictures or even video. This is so sad. The purveyors of this service are worried that people will think it's morose or depressing, that people don't want to think about death. Instead, I think about how impersonal it is to get a memorial email. People, if you have something to say to your friends or relatives, spouses, parents or children, then please go tell them. Now! Assuming this is important - either to you or to them - go see them if you can, call them if you can't. Don't write an email; that's too impersonal. And certainly not an email to be delivered after your death; that's just pitiful.
There are so many ways this can go wrong. "Honey, you know I love you. I've left $100,000 in small bills in my toolbox in the garage." You think the people setting up this site can't read your email? What if one someone else sees the email before you do? What if your spouse changes ISPs? Topping off the level of uncertainty is the fact that they're using your Social Security number to determine whether you're dead or not. Of course, the government never mistakes... "Boss, something I always wanted to tell you when I was alive, you cheap, conniving, rat..." Boy, that could mess up your career if it arrived a little prematurely.
Posted by John at 10:25 PM | Comments (0)
Oooo... the kids are gonna
Oooo... the kids are gonna love this one. Alan Taylor, whose site www.kokogiak.com is also the source of the very nifty MegaPenny Project (which answers the burning question, what would a trillion pennies look like?), has a new project online, the MegaFauna Project [via MeFi-Projects]. He's compiled data and illustrations on all the weird prehistoric animals, parsed into interesting groups such as "Interesting Names", "Woolly and Huge", and "Strange and/or Massive."
Posted by John at 02:36 PM | Comments (0)
The vectorlounge Flash skeleton is
The vectorlounge Flash skeleton is cool. When I was a kid we had to build them out of construction paper and the little brass clasps that fold out. Kids these days are so spoiled. Why, when I was your age I had to walk three miles through the snow to school, and then three miles back, uphill both ways, and when I got home from school blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blahblah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah turnips twice a day and what's more we liked it! Not like these soft kids today with their damn video games and the skateboarding.
Posted by John at 12:32 AM | Comments (0)
We talk about having "blue
We talk about having "blue moods"...being "green with envy", "seeing red"... or even "seeing the world through rose colored glasses". It's an undisputed fact that colors influence our moods, so isn't it logical to assume that our color choices reflect our current emotional state? At least that's the theory behind Colorgenics. Take the quick little quiz and see what your choices reveal about you. And if you choose to proceed and call the "psychic hotline" number at the end, I hereby disavow any responsibility for any emotional trauma or monetary damages you sustain, you idiot.
Posted by John at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)
November 13, 2001
Perseus is an evolving digital
Perseus is an evolving digital library of ancient manuscripts and works of art, created at Tufts University [via Memepool]. It features a broad range of learning tools, from translations of Greek and Roman texts, to automatically created maps and timelines. An awesome research tool for students, and a great place to spend an hour if you're bored.
Posted by John at 11:08 PM | Comments (0)
U.S. sky marshals were called
U.S. sky marshals were called into action yesterday for the first time, on a flight into National airport in DC. [via MeFi] It was a false alarm, but just reading about it makes your hair stand up. I've got to think the newly designated sky marshals are generally a nervous crew as they settle into their roles, and getting them all excited is not a good idea.
Posted by John at 10:47 PM | Comments (0)
Al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite news
Al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite news station which has been broadcasting Bin Laden's tapes, had their office in Kabul destroyed today by a US missile that, um, missed its intended target. No, really.
Posted by John at 10:35 PM | Comments (0)
You want to know what
You want to know what I think the real reason the Taliban fled Kabul is? Wayne Newton is headed for the Middle East where he and almost a dozen other entertainers will do 14 shows for US troops in seven days starting tomorrow. This news clip has video [~shudder~].
Posted by John at 10:26 PM | Comments (0)
I am proud to be
I am proud to be an American, but sometimes my fellow countrymen make me very, very ashamed. Although, if they were to actually take Sylvester Stallone and drop him off in the Afghanistan desert, I'd pay $8 to see that movie.
Posted by John at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)
I did enjoy hearing that
I did enjoy hearing that when the Taliban cleared out of Kabul, "Men shaved off beards... and the sounds of music returned..." Barber shops doing booming business. While the Pakistanis are up in arms about the Northern Alliance troops moving into Kabul, I was also encouraged to hear (1) that they are requesting United Nations observers to come in and help establish a broad-based system of government, and (2) the eight relief workers were seen being taken from Kabul by the Taliban. They aren't free yet, but at least we know they are alive. Lastly, news that the local population rose up in revolt against the Taliban and took over four eastern provinces, leaving the Taliban in control of less than 20% of the country. Which prompted the Taliban to issue an order to their troops to stop running away. No fat lady singing yet, but good progress all the same.
Posted by John at 10:15 PM | Comments (0)
Ricochet Robot is a problem-solving
Ricochet Robot is a problem-solving game that is deceptively difficult. You're given a board, 16x16, and two robots that can only move in straight lines. Your goal is to get one of the robots to the designated target in the fewest number of moves. For today's puzzle, I'm stuck at 14 moves.
Posted by John at 09:55 PM | Comments (0)
Proving once again that truth
 | Proving once again that truth is stranger than fiction, a new book entitled, "Keep Your Mouth Shut and Your Arms Open: Observations from the Rabbinic Trenches", by Adam Plony, was published last week. What makes it strange is that Adam Plony is a pseudonym for Fred J. Neulander, the rabbi accused of hiring hit men to kill his wife, Carol, in 1994. |
Neulander, 60, is currently on trial for offering two hitmen $30,000 to kill his wife. He could receive the death penalty if convicted. The jury, six men and six women convened in Camden, NJ, deliberated for 37 hours before adjourning for the long weekend. A verdict could come today as the trial resumes. The publisher claims that she did not know Neulander was currently on trial for capital murder, adding that his authorial debut still "stands up on its own and is an interesting look at the day-to-day issues faced by rabbis and other clergymen." On its own, this book might be a moderate success, as words of wisdom from spiritual leaders are selling well in these post-911 days. The funny thing about this is that book sales could actually skyrocket if a guilty verdict is returned. The market for books by murderers among morbid curiosity seekers and for fans of true crime novels is pretty strong, too. It would actually be a kind of poetic justice if the book were a huge success and the first royalty check for $10 million or so came in right about the time they trotted the guy off to prison. The book is also available over the Internet if you just can't wait. | |
Posted by John at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)
We know the meltdown in
We know the meltdown in the Information Technology sector, precipitated and aggravated by the crash in dotcom valuations 18 months ago, has been severe. But... how severe? Well, the answer, according to the 12th District of the Federal Reserve Board (which encompasses the 9 westernmost states), is that it depends on where you are. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area (which includes Silicon Valley), IT employment accounts for 11% of jobs and 32% of payroll. Employment growth here dropped from 4.7% in 2000 to -2.6% in the four months ending in August, more than 7 percentage points. As of August, the Bay Area had lost jobs for six consecutive months. The Bay Area has lost more than 30,000 jobs in the past five months, and it's already spilled over into other sectors including manufacturing, retail and entertainment. Employers everywhere have scaled back.
Posted by John at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)
rm -rf /bin/laden is already
rm -rf /bin/laden is already a t-shirt. Unbelievable.
Posted by John at 12:07 AM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2001
Well, the final results are
Well, the final results are in, the ballots counted and re-counted, double-bubbles, hanging chads and swinging doors resolved, mail-ins from US servicemen, imprisoned felons and dead people all reconciled.
From CNN: Florida recount study: Bush still wins.
From the Drudge Report: Gore Topped Bush if All Under/Over Votes Counted.
From the NY Times: Justices Did Not Cast the Deciding Vote; Bush Wins.
From the LA Times: An exhaustive ballot review indicates more people tried to vote for Gore.
I am just so glad that we've finally reached a definitive answer and we can put it behind us. If you want to know more about the methodology behind the recount, the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), the independent research agency contracted to perform the recount and analysis, has a pretty comprehensive web site, including the raw data, so you can do your own statistical analysis and reach your own conclusions.
About the only conclusion I can reach is that some people are too stupid to be allowed to vote. If I didn't completely punch through a ballot card or didn't completely fill in the little oval, and someone came to me and said, "We're not going to count your vote because you didn't vote correctly", I would have to respond with "D'oh!" and slap myself on the forehead. I wouldn't expect my vote to be counted. Interestingly, NORC distances themselves from the "who really won" debate by focusing their analytical attention on the different ways people managed to screw up their votes. The outcome of this analysis, presumably, will be more idiot-proof voting machines.
Posted by John at 11:49 PM | Comments (0)
Having fun exchanging emails with
Having fun exchanging emails with my brother, wherein we express our mutual disgust at the left-wing liberals, media, peaceniks and residents of Berkeley. He sent me an email on Friday asking the question, "Can you imagine if we had approached WWII with this attitude? Well, not all Germans are Nazis, and only the Nazis are bad, so let's only kill Germans who are members of the Nazi party." David is prescient. Saturday, the same question turned up in the Op-Ed pages of the online Wall StreetJournal, and they ran with it, mock headlines and all. Funny, sad, funny, troubling, funny, disheartening, funny.
Posted by John at 11:05 PM | Comments (0)
November 11, 2001
THIS is a Volkswagon??
Posted by John at 01:40 AM | Comments (0)
November 10, 2001
Bin Laden says, "I did
Bin Laden says, "I did it." Among the things mentioned in the article are a direct quote from OBL, "...we are terrorists. Yes, we kill their innocents". And "the World Trade Centre's twin towers were a 'legitimate target'." And yes, "The killing of at least 4,537 people was justified because they were 'not civilians' but were working for the American system." This should take the wind out of the sails of the pacificists who decry our military action against Afghanistan. I hope this steels our nation's resolve to rid the world of this fanatical killer.
Posted by John at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)
Sir Nigel Rodley, the U.N.'s
Sir Nigel Rodley, the U.N.'s "special rapporteur on torture", is stepping down -- or at least sideways -- next week, as he will join the U.N. Human Rights Committee on Monday. He had a few parting remarks for us in the U.S.:
"I haven't received any specific allegations at this stage, but I am worried as to whether people in detention have had any access to the outside world, especially legal advice which is a very important protection against the temptation of authorities to resort to torture or similar ill-treatment in interrogation. I am also worried that the United States ... may be tempted to send back people to their own country of origin whose governments might not be as scrupulous. Once we go down that road, we will be saying that the values of the international community are no better than the travesty of values that the terrorists themselves purport to espouse."
Thank you very much, Sir Nigel you pompous ass. If you ever needed proof that the U.N. is a complete joke as an arbiter of international behavior, not to mention being about as useful as tits on a bull, Sir Nigel will be happy to accommodate you.
Posted by John at 10:09 PM | Comments (0)
Snoop Doggy Dog has a
Snoop Doggy Dog has a snoop doggy blog. "It's true, I got busted for pot possession in Ohio yesterday..."
Posted by John at 02:30 AM | Comments (0)
Another nifty piece from
 | Another nifty piece from Scientific American. Imaging Study Produces Genetic Brain Maps. Complete with pictures, like this one! By comparing MRI scans of sets of twins, researchers are homing in on which areas of brain function are most "hardwired" by genetic encoding. So far, language and cognition are showing up as the areas where genetic heritage plays the strongest role. Which explains which I can't learn a foreign language. Promising research work, complete with pictures, like this one! |
Posted by John at 12:47 AM | Comments (0)
November 09, 2001
"What's coming on Nov. 18th
"What's coming on Nov. 18th could be the biggest event since 1966." That is, if you're into meteor showers. The Leonid meteor storms happen when Earth passes through clouds of dusty debris shed by comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. That comet comes close to the Sun every 33 years, and each time it gets mauled by the Sun's gravity and leaves clouds of comet material. In 1966 we passed through material that was left by the comet in 1333. Being so old, most of the smaller dust particles had blown away and the bigger meteroids make the most spectacular fireballs when they enter Earth's atmosphere. In 1966 skywatchers in North America were treated to a show featuring over 100,000 shooting stars per hour. Each year, as the Earth circles the sun we approach those dust clouds left by the comet, but as they are relatively narrow, most years we miss them entirely. This year, meteor rates in some places could climb as high as 8,000 per hour -- not quite as intense as in 1966, but still a pretty spectacular show.
Having done this before, I recommend you:
(1) get some high speed (ASA 1600) film for your camera and take a few nighttime shots before next Sunday to practice. You probably need a cable release for the shutter so you can hold it open remotely;
(2) get in your car and get away from the city. Go somewhere far enough from the large population centers so that the ambient light is effectively zero. I've spent some time on ships at night, and you can routinely see shooting stars, but here, close to San Francisco, I never see them.
Local times in the US:
East Coast, Sunday Nov. 18th 4:00-6:00am expect 800-4000 shooting stars per hour
West Coast, Sunday Nov. 18th 3:00-7:00am expect 100-1000 shooting stars per hour
Posted by John at 11:25 PM | Comments (0)
Remember, kids, drugs and web
Remember, kids, drugs and web design don't mix.
Posted by John at 07:58 PM | Comments (0)
Feds OK monitoring attorney-client calls.
Feds OK monitoring attorney-client calls. Attorney-client privilege is, apparently, a thing of the past. As with most of these new initiatives that encroach upon our privacy rights as citizens, I'm ambivalent. Since I don't need to say anything to an attorney that I wouldn't want the government to hear about, I have no personal stake in this. And I want the terrorists caught. It seems our assumptions and expectations need to be examined. You're using public airwaves when you talk on the phone, so why should you have an expectation of privacy? And yet, this is just... so... big brotherish. It's not that I don't have an opinion. I just feel strongly both ways.
Posted by John at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)
November 08, 2001
Scott Adams has been working
Scott Adams has been working on a new Dilbert spinoff comic strip about a boy from Elbonia called "Plop." He describes it as "an engineered comic strip devoid of any artistic integrity whatsoever." Unfortunately, it looks like he's not going forward with it at this time, mainly because all the characters look like the Taliban. So, visit the site, read the 20 samples he has posted, and if you like them, email Scott and tell him not to let the terrorists win!
Posted by John at 09:35 PM | Comments (0)
Who's the most important person
Who's the most important person on the planet?
Posted by John at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)
News Flash: Coming to the
News Flash: Coming to the Winter Olympic Games in 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah is going to require getting on an airplane if you live in France. French skiers surrender.
Posted by John at 09:40 AM | Comments (0)
This is your brain. This
This is your brain. This is your brain when you smoke a scorpion. Any questions?
Posted by John at 09:35 AM | Comments (0)
From the "That Wasn't In
From the "That Wasn't In My Job Description" files, a reporter takes 50,000 volts from a police Taser, just to, you know, see what it's like. Random stupidity probably not worth mentioning, except this one's got video.
Posted by John at 09:34 AM | Comments (0)
If you're monitoring the incursion
If you're monitoring the incursion of the federal government into your personal privacy rights, as you should be, privacydigest.com is a good site to stay abreast of developments. They have a bit of an alarmist perspective in their interpretation of current news articles and events, but that's inevitable when you're trying to exercise "eternal vigilence." Sometimes alarmism is appropriate, as in the case of yesterday's LA Times story about 62 children whose psychological tests and diagnoses were inadvertantly posted on the web by the University of Montana.
Posted by John at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)
It’s the end of the
It’s the end of the soccer season – playoff time – and between them Colin and Matt have six games scheduled for this weekend. I love watching the guys play soccer, but I sure am glad Travis and Nick aren’t doing soccer this year.
Posted by John at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)
The buzz going around is
The buzz going around is that if you listen carefully to Britney Spear’s Slave 4 U, you can hear her whispering “I want to have sex with you”. Rumor also has it that if you hit yourself on the head repeatedly with a ball-peen hammer, you’ll win ten dollars. Some hidden treasures are just not worth the trouble.
Posted by John at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)
November 07, 2001
The Taliban is inviting us
The Taliban is inviting us to come on over and fight hand-to-hand. When I saw this I immediately thought of the movies. Raiders Of The Lost Ark came first, when Indiana Jones saw the crowd part and this tall Arabian swordsman guy came out with the big scimitar and started swinging it back and forth and Indy just pulled his revolver and shot the poor fool dead. That thought was followed by the final showdown in The Adventures Of Ford Fairlane where Andrew Dice Clay and Robert Englund were facing off, where the Diceman says "You and me, mano y mano!" and the bad buy throws down his big, ugly knife and says "I’ll kill you with my bare hands!" and the Diceman goes off on him about dropping his knife, and what does ‘mano y mano’ mean? And then the Diceman draws his pistol and shoots him. Hehe.
Posted by John at 02:16 AM | Comments (0)
Nancy Oden, Idiot Green Party
Nancy Oden, Idiot Green Party Member; Member SEAC; Alleged vandal leader; Tree-hugging wacko; Anti-American.
Nancy's getting some press because she was not allowed to board a flight last week. Of course the Greens are jumping all over it as "trampling the Bill of Rights." While I'm concerned about that issue, in this instance I'm convinced she absolutely not only deserved it, but should have been arrested.
She positions herself as an "activist" (although the Greens characterize her as a "long time organic farmer"!), but she's really an insurrectionist. There is a substantial difference between the two. Officials at Bangor International Airport tell a different version of the story, including the fact that she "failed to cooperate with required passenger screening protocols." Now she's embellishing the story further, referring to "National Guard all puffed up and ready to shoot anyone at a moments notice," and referring to one of the guardsmen saying, "I hurt little Musillini's feelings, as this one was a black."
Back in 1999 Nancy, also a member of RAGE (Northeast Resistance Against Genetic Engineering), was investigated in connection with the destruction of a cornfield belonging to the University of Maine, where the corn was genetically modifed to improve resistance to damage from herbicides. In response, she said that while she did not destroy the plants, she commended those who did. "I'm glad they did it,'' Oden said during an interview at the Bangor Daily News offices. "It may not have been legal, but it was the moral thing to do.'' In an email sent to other activists Oden gave explicit directions to the location of the cornfield and advised activists to wear "a mask to avoid the toxic pollen, and gloves to avoid toxins throughout the plant'' if they had physical contact with the plants.
She was on her way to speak at a bio-terrorism conference in Chicago. Among the agenda topics were: *Advanced tree climbing *Advanced Blockade techniques * Action-Oriented Mediawork and * Advanced Action Planning and Strategy.
We haven't yet reached the stage of societal enlightenment where stupidity is a crime punishable by jail time, but we can at least impose travel restrictions on the most egregious offenders.
Pacifists are among the most immoral of men. They make no distinction between aggression and defense. Therefore, pacifism is one of the greatest allies an aggressor can have.
-- Patrick Henry
And in related news, PETA says they'll stop harassing the weiner-mobile if Oscar Meyer will introduce a veggie dog.
Posted by John at 01:52 AM | Comments (0)
Kudos to Julie for outsmarting
Kudos to Julie for outsmarting the "idiot-proof" locking mechanism on our car. The only way to lock the car from the outside without going around and doing it one door at a time is to use the remote lock button, which is built into the key. Theoretically, it should be impossible to lock your keys in the car. Well... Julie put Maggie in the car to take her for a walk down by the bay [note this is a zoomable, pannable picture of the path down by Blackie's Pasture, very cool]. When she got to the parking lot at Blackie's Pasture, she went to the back of the car to put the harness on Maggie (Julie is such a softie that she dislikes the "choke-chain", and would rather use the harness, a nifty device that wraps around the dog's front legs so that when the dog pulls too hard on the leash it causes the dog's legs to be pulled backwards, which is uncomfortable). She set the car key down on the ledge where the back door closes. (She had her sunglasses in her hand and unconsciously thought they were her keys, or so she says...) So, she got the dog hooked up and shut the door. On the key. Here's the beautiful part. As the door closed, it managed to push in the "Lock" button on the key, simultaneously (1) trapping the key inside the car, (2) locking all the doors, (3) setting the alarm, and (4) crushing the key. The planned walk along the bayshore became a walk back to the house, fortunately only a mile or so away. I drove her back and we used my key to unlock the car and retrieve her key, which although it had come disassembled, was salvagable, so no harm done. At least until dinner time, when Travis commented. "See, Mom? It wasn't idiot-proof, it was just idiot-resistant."
Posted by John at 12:32 AM | Comments (0)
November 06, 2001
Rally Trophy, from JoWooD Productions,
Rally Trophy, from JoWooD Productions, is a challenging racing game and the first rally simulation with historical elements. There are eleven shining old classics to drive in total, all of which have been modeled in great detail. There are already numerous alternate cars and tracks available for download.
It also has a spinoff game, Flash Trophy, which is pretty much the same game as the previously linked Bilbenan, but (1) it's in English, and (2) it has a slightly larger "field" within which to build your racecourse. HO-scale racing is fun fun fun.
Posted by John at 11:31 PM | Comments (0)
You can always tell the
You can always tell the holiday season has arrived when the smells from the kitchen start getting yummier and yummier. This site entitled Jam and Jelly Making in Nepal [via Michelle] looks pretty comprehensive, but I wonder why you have to go to Nepal to make jelly. I'll show it to Julie, who has made jelly for us before, but not right now because she's experimenting with chocolate desserts and I don't want to distract her.
Posted by John at 06:27 PM | Comments (0)
November 05, 2001
Once in a blue moon,
Once in a blue moon, or once in a coon's age? Which do you think is less frequent? Halloween this year was a blue moon (at least on Pacific time). The moon cycles through its phases in 29 1/2 days, so every once in awhile you can get two full moons in the same calendar month. When that happens, the second full moon is called a blue moon. Blue moons average 2.7 years apart, although purists would argue that's a more modern interpretation. Raccoons, on the other hand, have a life expectancy of 3-4 years in the wild, and have lived up to 13 years in captivity.
Posted by John at 10:38 PM | Comments (0)
Colonel David H Hackworth, America's
Colonel David H Hackworth, America's most decorated soldier, on America's crack troops: "...a bunch of kids that are better qualified to play computer games than they are to fight in that kind of terrain." Last August, Hackworth made a prediction. He described a potential terrorist gas attack at the Indianapolis sports arena, killing 4,000. Hackworth set the date at June 4 2005; the terrorist responsible? Osama bin Laden. Rumsfeld is slowly coming to realize the difficult nature of this war. In other news, France surrenders. Again.
Posted by John at 04:16 PM | Comments (0)
Monsters, Inc. had a monster
Monsters, Inc. had a monster first three days indeed, grossing about $63.5 million from 3,237 theaters across the United States and Canada since Friday. That makes it Disney's largest opening ever, the largest opening ever for an animated movie, and #5 on the all-time list. We saw it yesterday, and it was very entertaining. The monsters live in a hidden, parallel world where the energy source is the screams of little children. The humor and the dialog were definitely aimed at the 5-10 year old set, not as sophisticated as Shrek (did I really just say that?), which remains my favorite kids' movie of the year so far (pending Harry Potter) but Monsters was lots of slapstick fun. The scenes simulating a roller coaster-like ride through the warehouse where they store all the closet doors of all the little children were awesome. Pixar animation is magical. The marketing blitz for this film is already underway big time. Check out the Doritos 3-D Monster Colorz, corn chips that turn your tongue "monster blue." Even though the premise sounds like it might freak some little kids out, the ending pretty much assures that won't happen. Can't say more without giving stuff away, suffice it to say that everything works out fine in the end. BTW, the Star Wars: Attack of the Clones trailer was a huge disappointment. Good creepy soundtrack, but just some disjointed imagery from the movie, not enough to get any sense of what's going on. Way overblown.
Posted by John at 02:48 AM | Comments (0)
While we're on a musical
While we're on a musical theme here, Paul Dunne is working on a book on the history of Ireland as seen through the songs of its people, entitled A History of Ireland in Song. This is the first cut of his book, available only online (as yet).
Posted by John at 01:49 AM | Comments (0)
If you're into music, and
If you're into music, and haven't snooped around the shareware libraries for awhile, you should. This is the lesson I learned yesterday. I was looking for a program that would do musical notation for Matt. He's composing some songs, and laboriously writing them out on musical notepaper he's drawn by hand. In my explorations, I found:
PrintMusic 2000! It create musical scores fast with easy templates, automatic printout of parts, MIDI playback (as you compose!) and transposition. It handles up to 24 staves, so you can compose a full-blown symphony. It transposes at the touch of a button. This is the one I got for Matt.
Photoscore. It interfaces with your scanner. You scan in the music, and it reads it, much like OCR (optical character recognition) software does for text. I tested it on some complex choir music, and it was very accurate. Then it will play it back using the MIDI interface on your computer.
NoteChaser. Download the song from your CD, and it transcribes it. I haven't tested this one yet, but you can bet I will. This could create hours - days - weeks - of fun on all the musical instruments we have around here!
Posted by John at 01:30 AM | Comments (0)
November 04, 2001
While much ink has been
While much ink has been devoted to the peaceful tenets of the Muslim faith, evidence is mounting that -- a least for a substantial number of Muslims -- it is a facade that hides a violent hatred of the West, and of America in particular. As the winds of war blow more strongly, the Muslims are hoisting the Jolly Roger in increasing numbers. Most recently, a survey of Muslims of Britain shows that 40% believe Bin Laden has just cause for starting his war on America, and a similar percentage say they support fellow Muslims who leave Britain to fight alongside the Taliban. Hey, I support them, too! I'll even buy them a shirt.
On a separate but related note, here's a profile on an American Muslim who's headed back home to Pakistan to fight for the Taliban. His mother was one of those who was led to safety from the World Trade Center wreckage by the firefighters and police. As the Roman Seneca said, "Ignis aurum probat, miseria fortes homines." Fire proves gold, difficult times prove men. Have a nice trip, Mohammad!
Posted by John at 11:56 PM | Comments (0)
November 03, 2001
Windows XP by the numbers,
Windows XP by the numbers, from Infoworld. Independent speed tests versus Windows 2000 on a variety of tasks.
Posted by John at 05:33 AM | Comments (0)
One Central Park is the
One Central Park is the new target landmark development queued up for Central Park in New York City. Featuring twin towers. I wonder who would want to live there. I wonder if the drop in demand after the events of 9/11 have forced them to reevaluate the revenue model for that project.
Posted by John at 05:22 AM | Comments (0)
November 02, 2001
A company called MetalStorm has
A company called MetalStorm has developed technology allowing rates of fire on their guns of over 1,000,000 rounds per minute. The bullets are stacked in the barrel, separated by propellant, so there are no shell casings to eject. The firing is controlled electronically, so it's 100% solid state - no moving parts. Their web site is hosed by too much traffic at the moment. When things calm down, go and click on the tab that says "Videos" and watch some of the movies.
Posted by John at 05:11 PM | Comments (0)
Daniel Radcliffe, the 12-year-old British
Daniel Radcliffe, the 12-year-old British kid starring as Harry Potter in the upcoming movie, had his voice change during the movie shooting. The final scenes were shot using the stunt voice of 13-year-old Joe Sowerbutts, who is also the voice of Harry on Playstation and Nintendo games. Do you get the feeling Joe may have lost to Daniel in the contest for the leading role in the movie because of his name? Somehow "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, starring Joe Sowerbutts" loses some of the magic.
Posted by John at 04:21 PM | Comments (0)
Lockheed Martin has won the
Lockheed Martin has won the competition to build the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), a stealthy, supersonic, multirole fighter that is simply amazingly cool. I would add it my list of things that I would buy if I had $1,000,000,000, but, um... I wouldn't be able to afford it. Three videos on the lockheedmartin.com web site. One shows the plane in flight and includes a full vertical landing sequence. The second one shows the full flap and thruster range of motion and an excellent close-up of a vertical takeoff. The third is a small piece of the second one, but without the Musak background - just thrusters blasting.
Posted by John at 04:19 PM | Comments (0)
California courts to movie industry:
California courts to movie industry: "Programming code is a form of speech. We have laws protecting free speech. Web sites can freely distribute code such as DeCSS for carcking the copy protection scheme on DVDs. Tough noogies!" Fantasic news. Get those DVD-burners cranked up. Now if we can just get a similar decision handed down against the RIAA...
Posted by John at 03:42 PM | Comments (0)
We have the first picture
We have the first picture back from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. The satellite was successfully inserted in orbit at 7:55pm Tuesday night, and has been aerobraking, brushing against the upper atmosphere to slow it down. It will require 380 orbits at successively lower levels, over the course of 78 days, Nifty movie on that process here. Together with its sister ship, the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), we should get a pretty comprehensive view of the Red Planet. The MGS has already sent back some stellar (ha!) photos, including one of the "face." I am amazed that we have been able to do this, and can't wait to see more pictures.
In other, unrelated astronomical news, scientists fiddling with the universe have officially - and independently - concluded that 90% of everything is nothing. So-called "dark matter", which is sort of equivalent to the well-known "fudge factor" introduced when your science experiment doesn't go as planned and you need to make the results match the theory, is assigned the responsibility for balancing the big-bang equation. This is really interesting stuff. Fun to watch these scientists get all excited when their fudge factors agree, although that could also indicate that they're both measuring incorrectly, or both operating from the same set of incorrect assumptions. Also, I didn't know that it was dark for the first 300,000 years after the big bang. Sort of lends credence to the whole "Let there be light!" scenario, eh?
Posted by John at 03:31 PM | Comments (0)
The boxfish is a highly
 |  | The boxfish is a highly toxic little fish that excretes a toxin that attacks the nervous system when it is provoked or anxious. A boxfish in a British aquarium was so stressed out they were afraid it was going to kill itself. So they gave it a playmate. True love was born. |
Posted by John at 03:06 PM | Comments (0)
Mom! MMMooooommmm! A moose stole
Mom! MMMooooommmm! A moose stole my swingset! The things these kids come up with.... Of course, that's better than, "Mom, a moose ran me over on my way home!"
Posted by John at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)
November 01, 2001
First there was the little
First there was the little cafe on the edge of town, right outside Fort Bragg, with the unfortunate name of Osama's Place. Now there's the guy with the vanity license plates that read, "Anthrax." He was just a fan of the rock band, you see... I bet he's getting a lot more attention than he bargained for now. As much as I have faith in my fellow man, I would worry that the car would get vandalized every single day.
Posted by John at 08:42 AM | Comments (0)
