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November 30, 2002
A neat little java motorcycle
A neat little java motorcycle racing game for your Saturday enjoyment. After I killed the poor stunt rider at least 10 times and even managed to break the bike in two, this one went right to the "Best Of" game page. It also recevied the Nick Parker Seal of Approval, when I showed it to him and 15 minutes later had to kick him off the computer so I could get back to my much more important business. Harrumph.
Posted by John at 01:31 AM | Comments (0)
November 28, 2002
OK, I'm getting confused. Maybe,
OK, I'm getting confused. Maybe, you observe, not all that unusual an occurance for me, but this time I think there's a good reason. First off, you've got a Christian web site with multiple links to anti-abortion articles and a strong pro-America (not to mention anti-Muslim) theme going on and there are four lead articles in the Commentary section. Two of them are titled, "Capricious Disregard - The point at which the law ended and tyranny began" and "The Road to Tyranny - When it becomes hazardous to speak truth, few are willing". Meanwhile, outgoing House majority leader Dick Armey is quoted as characterizing the Bush government as "out of control". So, the religious right and the conservative Republican leadership are ganging up against Bush now? Who woke them up?
Maybe it just finally got too hard to ignore recent headlines flashing by, like "Secret Court OKs Broad Wiretap Powers" and "Feds Open 'Total' Tech Spy System".
I saw this coming just a couple of months after the 9/11 attacks, and have been watching developments with some trepidation ever since. I am not pleased that my fears are being manifested. Plus, that DARPA logo over on the right just freaks me out.
Posted by John at 01:42 AM | Comments (0)
November 27, 2002
The U.S. National Library of
The U.S. National Library of Medicine has put up several interesting web sites, featuring archived prints and drawings from their own basement, as well as from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services, all amazing resource collections. One of the most interesting is Dream Anatomy. The images are fascinating, repellant, interesting and even, occasionally, beautiful. The artists' use of anatomy in these drawings is both a showcase for their own knowledge of how our bodies work and a statement of who we are under the skin, as it were. Click around. Enjoy.
Posted by John at 03:07 PM | Comments (0)
Let's see... 60 hectares is
Let's see... 60 hectares is 60 X 2.47 = 148.2 acres, which is 148.2 X 4840 = 717,288 sq. yards, which would be a square nearly 1/2 mile on each side, an area larger than 100 football fields. That's a big spider web.
Hmmm, on revisiting this link today - Thursday - they've changed the article. It used to say "60 hectares" and now it says "60 acres", which is as you can see from the math above, about a 60% reduction in size... But now the article has a few links to pictures, too.
Posted by John at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)
Worthy of note: National Geographic
Worthy of note: National Geographic has put their photo archives up on the web. There's no way to scroll through pictures, probably because there are too many, but you can use the search engine and input terms like "Galapagos" and get tons of great photos. Requires free registration, but if you're wary of email spam you can use a fake email address (it isn't one of those that emails you your password).
Posted by John at 12:28 PM | Comments (0)
November 26, 2002
Two Microsoft engineers authored a
Two Microsoft engineers authored a paper for a workshop on Digital Rights Management, and their conclusion is that the RIAA is screwed. Commenting on the flood of copy protection schemes promulgated by the recording industry in their desparate attempt to squeeze every nickel out of the music-loving public (and incapacitate our computer-based CD- and DVD readers in the process), the authors say
In addition to severe commercial and social problems, these schemes suffer from several technical deficiencies, which, in the presence of an effective darknet, lead to their complete collapse. We conclude that such schemes are doomed to failure.I never would have thought I would find myself agreeing with a couple of Microsoft engineers. And although they take great pains to point out that these are their personal opinions and not those of Microsoft, I'm still betting the MSFT lawyers have that document pulled, so the cached copy is here.
I love the term Darknet. Although it does have negative, illegal overtones, which I think are inappropriate. And I wish I could find a good P2P client like Kazaa or Gnutella that didn't come with a boatload of spyware apps. Thank goodness for AdAware.
I don't download music without paying for it, but I certainly resent being restricted from copying my own CDs, or listening to them in my computer's CD-drive while I work, or even ripping them into MP3's I can play on the stereo in my car. Darknet shall prevail!
Posted by John at 12:30 AM | Comments (0)
Kollaboration Freestyle is a competition
Kollaboration Freestyle is a competition for Korean-American kids, busting some dance moves in this video clip like you've never seen before [link via MeFi]. Near the end, the tall guy in the orange sweatshirt drops this strobe light move that is absolutely freaky. I predict after I show this to the kids they will be spending hours trying to master that one. It's better than the moonwalk. I feel very old.
Posted by John at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
November 24, 2002
Julie and I saw "Die
Julie and I saw "Die Another Day" tonight, the latest James Bond flick, and it was pretty good. Highs and lows, a very mixed bag. Seems like the Vin Diesel movie released this summer, "XXX", raised the stunts-and-special-effects bar for the producers of this movie, and there was more action in this movie than in any two previous Bond films put together. But Pierce Brosnan is getting a little long in the tooth for the Bond role, and he doesn't age well, unlike that pinnacle of Bond-ness, Sean Connery. Halle Berry stole the show as the gorgeous American NSA agent who eventually helps Bond out. But the lack of a menacing and powerful arch-villain really dampened the perceived threat. No Jaws or OddJob here, these guys couldn't scare a rabbit. The opening credits were impressive with women of fire and ice, set to Madonna's rendition of the title song in an extended music video. But the movie scored a paltry 2 on the gizmometer. I liked the disappearing car and the mini-airplanes, but the rest of the gadgets were pretty mundane. Still, overall I give it a "7", it was a very fun movie.
Posted by John at 12:24 AM | Comments (0)
November 23, 2002
Bah. Now I'm getting java
Bah. Now I'm getting java codes errors when accessing the archive pages. Just click "no" until the popup screen goes away. I'll get it fixed. Thanks, Julian, for the heads up.
Posted by John at 02:23 PM | Comments (0)
November 17, 2002
Absent awhile, traveling every week.
Absent awhile, traveling every week. In the past six weeks, I have been to Chicago, St. Louis, New York, Toronto, London, Madrid, Paris, Frankfurt and Geneva. It has frankly been a bit much. I'm really looking forward to several days off around Thanksgiving, and the entire week of Christmas. It's become something of a trend, with companies trying to cut costs, these "forced vacations" where the company shuts down for an entire week around the major holidays, figuring there isn't going to be much business done anyway. I love the concept of a forced vacation. "No... please don't throw me in the briar patch!" I don't love the fact that I don't get paid for those days off nearly as much, but at the moment, even that's OK. I need the break.
I just came back today to share with you a picture of a sunspot. Quite amazing.
Posted by John at 01:00 AM | Comments (0)
November 09, 2002
Someone at the office was
Someone at the office was talking about "professionalism" today, and it reminded me of a great quote. It's an interesting quote, because if you were to measure the subjective distance between the quality of the quote and the quality of the movie, this one would definitely rank at the top. It's a really great quote from a really terrible movie.
"You could drop this guy off at the Arctic Circle wearing a pair of bikini underwear, without his toothbrush, and tomorrow afternoon he's going to show up at your poolside with a million dollar smile and a fistful of pesos. This guy's a professional, you got me?"-- R. Lee Ermey as "Stone" describing Forrest Taft (Steven Seagal) in the movie On Deadly Ground. This was Seagal's directoral debut. It won the 1995 Razzi Awards for Worst Director, Worst Actor and Worst Actress, and was nominated for Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay and Worst Original Song. It should have won those, too. But that's still a great quote...
Posted by John at 01:26 AM | Comments (0)
