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July 31, 2003
It's "Breakout" in a circle.
It's "Breakout" in a circle. PlasticBalls go round and round, while you try and keep them from draining down the hole in the center. Nifty! Fast paced and fun new spin on a great classic game.
Posted by John at 03:44 PM | Comments (0)
On Southern Honour
A great article here from Paul Robinson, assistant director of the Centre for Security Studies at the University of Hull. He draws some interesting historical insights from a University of Michigan study where researchers went to college campuses all over the USA and bumped into students in the halls, muttering "asshole", and then monitoring reactions. As you might expect if you know the South at all, Southerners reacted with the most anger and hostility.
Paul suggests it has pretty much always been that way, and it all comes back to the concept of honour. He draws analogies between the current US policy in the middle east and the Civil War.
Thus, one secessionist commented in 1860 that if one sees a sleeping, curled-up rattlesnake, one doesn’t wait until it wakes and unwraps itself before killing it: precisely the logic of the 2002 US national security strategy.
I think his analysis is on target, right up to the very end, where he blows it. He ends with the paragraph:
As the ancient Greeks knew, the pursuit of honour often leads people to attack others, to drive them down, in order to inflate themselves. The Greeks called such behaviour hubris, and believed that hubris inevitably resulted in disaster. It certainly did for the Confederacy.
But hubris is overbearing pride. It is pride externalized and proactive in its oppression, not simply a heightened awareness of potential insult. I don't think that hubris is at all where the Southern sense of honour resides, although the author may have been aiming his arrows at the Bush administration rather than the administration of Robert E. Lee.
Posted by John at 01:45 PM | Comments (0)
Speaking of oxymorons
A disposable digital camera? Two megapixels, no LCD, $11. Marketing through Ritz Camera stores, it's known as the Dakota. Of course, you know it's going to cost you another $11 to get single prints and a CD of your files, because there's almost certainly no built in link for PC download (is that what makes it disposable?). And anyway, isn't the LCD screen to preview your digital prints the whole reason to go digital? What's the advantage of this over a disposable film camera?
Posted by John at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)
July 30, 2003
Logical oxymorons
This is the most comprehensive list of oxymorons I've seen. It is somewhat surprising how many of them we use in our daily dialogs without even realizing it. Some of them are tongue-in-cheek digs ("Microsoft Works", "Amtrak schedule"), and some clearly unintentional ("Dodge Ram", "Aunt Jemima Light"), but most will garner a chuckle or two.
Posted by John at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)
Your daily keelhauling...
Today's keelhauling is quite straightforward: you suck.
Posted by John at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)
Any technology that gets my drink refilled is good technology
It is such a little thing; yet doing it right or wrong can easily make the difference between economic success or failure. What is it? Why, it's getting your glass refilled in the bar or restaurant, of course. Your problem is that you don't have one of these high-tech glasses that can *electronically* yell at the bartender, "Hey, bub, what's a guy gotta do to get a drink in this joint?"
Posted by John at 12:22 AM | Comments (0)
Visit the EFF.
If you don't know the Electronic Frontier Foundation, maybe you should. They have all your P2P music sharing news, from an analysis of how best to avoid getting sued by the RIAA to how to check the RIAA database to see if your online name has been subpoenaed.
Posted by John at 12:15 AM | Comments (0)
July 28, 2003
No Hunting Allowed!
Did you catch the "Hunting for Bambi" stories that were making the rounds? I almost mentioned it here, but the 'ol BS meter was in the red. I do admit to emailing the stories around to few friends, though. Turns out it was all a hoax.
Posted by John at 04:49 PM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2003
Notify me!
If you use AOL Instant Messenger, you can now click the link on the right to be notified whenever there is a change to this site. Lucky you!
7/30 update: Apparently the AIM button for updates works by monitoring changes to a website through weblogs.com; since Blogger doesn't automatically ping weblogs.com when there's a update and I'm not sure how to make it do so, the updates aren't coming through. So, for now, bye bye update link.
Posted by John at 01:44 AM | Comments (0)
July 26, 2003
Something's Fishy
It's so simple. Just eat the little fish, and don't get eaten by the bigger fish. This game is therapeutic; it's the raw survivalism of the jungle and all the cruelty of nature set against a tranquil background of gently floating fish, with soothing music. No "Jaws" theme music, though, which I was kind of hoping for as my fishy grew bigger and bigger and bigger...
Posted by John at 03:11 AM | Comments (0)
Anomylous Motion Illusions
Do not drink before viewing. Even sober, these images feel like they're sucking my eyeballs out.
Posted by John at 02:09 AM | Comments (0)
It's like flicking a booger at spam...
Hey, it's their words, not mine! And to make matters worse, since this site is powered by Blogger, when I tried to pop over to Blogger to write this entry, I typed www.booger.com. (Site not found, thank goodness!)
Anyway, this is really cool - the Mailinator! Nothing to download, no messy forms to fill out, no signup, no waiting and it's free! You know how sometimes you go to a site and it has a registration process that requires your email? ("Caution", they warn, this must be a valid email account to complete your registration. Click here to find out why. Duh.) So you give them your yahoo or your hotmail or whatever other email you've set up explicitly for the purpose of giving to people that you don't ever want to receive communication from, and you're done.
Except. Except that if you don't clean out that free mailbox every so oftem, it fills up, and then your "confirmation email" from the site that wanted you to register isn't going to be there. So you clean out your inbox and start the process all over again...
Well, NO MORE!!! Give them any name @mailinator.com and then go check the mailinator.com web site and see what their email says, and you never have to use that email address again! Next time, just make up another name (or use the same one again) @mailinator.com and then go check it when needed. Very clever!
"Forget giving out your real email address. Forget giving out your information. Forget spam."
Posted by John at 01:47 AM | Comments (1)
July 25, 2003
Leave the converter at home
This is a smart product; I'll trade the AC converter for a cable anytime. This particular cable lets you recharge your cell phone through your USB connection. Now why can't the cell phone manufacturers just include a little foldout USB connector so we can eliminate the cable as well? It might not be all that convenient for home use, but every time I'm on the road I have my laptop set up, with that empty USB port just begging for something useful to do...
Posted by John at 09:34 PM | Comments (0)
July 23, 2003
Hey, is this thing ON?
Idiot California state assembly members (a.k.a. Democrats) talk about extending the state's budget crisis through delaying tactics in the legislature, just to put pressure on the Republicans. With the microphone on.
Posted by John at 04:13 PM | Comments (0)
101 Amazing Facts about Earth
If this were a test, I would have flunked. We live on a sphere of extremes and oddities. Ice is a mineral? 326 million cubic miles of water on Earth? Who knew? I would have gotten question number 95 right, though, since we vacationed there last week:
95. What is the largest alpine lake in North America?
Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada border has a
105,000-acre surface, holds 39 trillion gallons of water,
and is almost 1,600 feet (488 meters) deep.
They say it contains enough water to cover the entire state of California to a depth of 14 inches. I find that hard to believe, but am too lazy to do the math.
Posted by John at 03:23 PM | Comments (0)
July 21, 2003
Browser Options
Tim Bray's BrowserDream editorial piece points out that with no IE7 on the horizon, The Door is Ajar. Conceptually, I'm 100% on board with supporting competitive products to Microsoft's product suite, particularly where the functionality is demonstrably superior. The main reason I haven't already made the switch is simple inertia. It takes some time and effort to learn a new system, and the return on the investment of my time has to be high enough. It's getting there very quickly.
Posted by John at 10:34 PM | Comments (0)
July 19, 2003
The British viewpoint
From The Spectator, an article entitled No Flies on Bush, linked here just because I liked it. Puts the "Bush lied!" diatribes in perspective.
Posted by John at 01:52 AM | Comments (0)
Dockers "nanotechnology"
I love these articles where they call the company on their stupid advertising claims. Like Docker's new pants with "Stain Defender" technology "use nanotechnology to enhance the ability to repel stains". Popular Science did an article titled "Little Robots in Your Pants" which was picked up by CNN. Frankly, it makes the Levi Strauss & Co. customer service rep look like an idiot, and by extension, the company as well. The story has gotten a lot of internet play in recent days. But Levi Strauss is a San Francisco company, and here they tend to give it a more credible spin.
Technically, I guess, "nano" is a measurement term, meaning 1 billionth of some base unit of measure (e.g. nanometer, nanosecond). The units of measurement are therefore quite small. A nanometer, for example, is about the width of 5-10 atoms. The second half of nanotechnology is the word technology, generally defined as the scientific method as applied to commercial ends. Nanotechnology therefore means the manipulation of exceptionally small things (atomic scale) toward a commercial goal. It's an exciting field, both because of the commercial potential for self-healing machinery and manipulation of human genetic structures by micro-machines, and also because of the gut-wrenching fear such potentialities induce.
We play a little game around our house during movies, especially science fiction or heavy special effects movies, where we have an ongoing contest to see who can sound the "bad science" alarm first. Whether it's the "sound" from a spacecraft exploding in airless space nearby, or the lack of inertia in a zero-g spaceflight impact, the kids are into it and it frequently turns into a "Mystery Science 3000" parallel dialog highlighting the onscreen stupidity. Hence my sympathy with the goals of the author of the article first mentioned above.
However, on balance, I'd say Levi's claims were within the bounds of the generally accepted use of the term nanotechnology, even if their customer service reps don't know it. By manipulating the architecture and chemistry of proprietary structures of their fabrics at the nano-meter dimension, Levi Strauss & Co. is utilizing nanotechnology. The company they license from, Nano~Tex, currently markets four different products to companies such as Levi Dockers, GAP, Savane, and Eddie Bauer. Blood, oil, grease, and liquid cannot penetrate the 10 nanometer nanowhiskers that prevent these large molecules (even cigarette smoke) from penetrating the cloth. It's the real deal, even if it's not like the Borg nanoprobes from Star Trek: Next Generation. Popular Science took a cheap shot.
Posted by John at 01:32 AM | Comments (0)
Friendster conquers the world?
Members hit 1,000,000 this week, and membership is growing at 20% per week. At that rate, they'll have the entire population of the Earth in less than 1 year. Friendster is the social network aiming to link people with people through networks of friends and common interests. According to the Wired article, it's also entering the common vocabulary (much as google did), as a description for a person who is known through the network.
I don't know, but I don't think this is going to interest me much. I don't need new friends that badly. I need to pay more attention to the ones I have.
Plus, I joined Ryze networks a couple of years ago, and dropped it when it became too social, and not focused enough on business. Who's got time for that?
Posted by John at 12:44 AM | Comments (0)
The 2003 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest results are in
If you already know, you'll want to go directly to the results. If you don't know, you'll want to find out about this annual contest here.
Posted by John at 12:33 AM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2003
How not to be a sharecropper
The analogy of creating programs for particular operating systems or applications with being a sharecropper is a good one. XML, J2EE, Java, Linux, GNU ... open source and standards-based, the path to freedom.
Posted by John at 01:54 AM | Comments (0)
You could put your eye out with that thing
Simon Field, owner of the Fun Science Web Ring, has a new site, SciToys.com featuring fun science toys you can build with your kids. Included in the list are Film Can Cannon kits and parts, Piezoelectric Ignitors, Cannon fuel, Magnetic Levitation kits, Gauss Rifle kits, a Plastic hydrogen bomb and Lasers. I also like the project entitled, "Fun with high voltage". These are the kinds of things kids really want to build, and the only reason they'll ever enjoy science during the grade school years anyway.
The diagram of the gauss rifle is exactly what I descibed to my kids a few weeks ago at the dinner table. The one I built at MIT back in 1977 was about four feet long, used neodymium magnets, and the ball bearing punched a hole in the dorm room wall.
Posted by John at 01:46 AM | Comments (0)
July 13, 2003
Today's bon mot
It was originally:
"Up and down the City road
In and out the Eagle
That's the way the money goes
Pop goes the weasel"
Posted by John at 01:14 AM | Comments (0)
Smacking the sausage, flaming ducks and more...
By now you've probably seen the news that Pittsburgh Pirates player Randall Simon was arrested and fined $432 for nailing the Italian Sausage mascot with a bat during the Milwaukee Brewers' human sausage race, knocking the woman in the costume to the ground. (She settled for an apology and the bat, signed by Simon.) CNN / Sports Illustrated has a nice article with a history of mascot mishaps. Fun read.
Posted by John at 01:11 AM | Comments (0)
How low can you go?
According to Gary Busey, rock bottom is when you're snorting cocaine off your dog. I'll take his word for it. Although, from the looks of things, Nick Nolte could give Gary some pointers. I think maybe having a picture like that out there on the Internet beats the canine nose candy.
Posted by John at 12:58 AM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2003
More phrases for the new millenium
Back in December I linked a bunch of "NEW WORDS FOR THE 2003 WORKPLACE" (last post on the archive page). Doug Copeland has assembled all the little neo-logisms from Generation X in one handy website that makes an amusing read.
Posted by John at 07:22 AM | Comments (0)
Ping pong of the gods
Several weeks ago I saw this movie of a ping pong match between two young men that contains some of the most amazing slams and returns I've ever seen. It is definitely worth downloading and watching the clip if you haven't seen it.
It, however, in no way prepared me for Matrix Ping Pong, as demonstrated on stage. This is the funniest, cleverest little skit I've seen in a long time.
Posted by John at 05:11 AM | Comments (0)
July 11, 2003
Pranks can be art, too
Like turning a giant black cube on a New York city streetcorner into a giant Rubik's Cube in the middle of the night. Very well done!
Posted by John at 06:56 PM | Comments (0)
July 10, 2003
Phun with Photoshop
At Worth1000, they do some of the best photo manipulation I've seen. They host ongoing creative competitions and photoshop contests, and already have over 1,200 galleries of 40,000 original images online.
The Scary Signs Contest is definitely worth checking out as is Decorating Martha Stewart's jail cell. The Coolest Toy Ever contest, just started, looks promising as well.
New contests all the time, so check back frequently.
Posted by John at 12:18 AM | Comments (0)
July 09, 2003
Vote the candidate? Or the issues?
If you're interested in which candidate best matches your position on major issues, SelectSmart.com is here to help.
Posted by John at 11:49 PM | Comments (0)
Saddam's latest tape - version control
It is interesting to compare the expurgated version of Saddam's speech found in the US media with translations found elsewhere, for instance in Australian media:
The US Version
The Australian Version
Notice how the Australian version seems to emphasize Saddam's desire to position himself as the voice of the region, the front man for anti-American resistance, and the principal figurehead for Islam. The secularism and socialism that are so clear in the American version are completely absent. Translation differences, or American spin-doctoring? It seems likely to me that Saddam is going to continue to be a thorn in the US side, and the American goverment is going to great pains to try and downplay that aspect of his ongoing campaign. That's fine and good, but only as long as it doesn't create a false sense of accomplishment or complacency about perceptions of Americans in the middle east.
Posted by John at 11:29 PM | Comments (0)
July 08, 2003
How to Scar Your Children for Life
With the ever-encroaching governmental regulation on how we parent, coach, teach and counsel our children, I'm sure many parents are wondering how in the world they are ever supposed to damage those little psyches enough to pass on the legacy of emotional scarring they inherited from their parents. Generations of tradition are rapidly disappearing down the drain, as parents are scared to discipline their children for fear of being hauled into court on child abuse charges, losing the litte tykes to social services, or having to sit through the indignity of an emancipation hearing. Well, good news, parents! While it may be unacceptable to flog them or send them to bed without dinner, you can always haul them down to the tattoo parlor and have the lesson explicitly engraved on their rebellious little bodies.
Posted by John at 11:55 PM | Comments (0)
The Seven Wonders of the World
How many can you name? Or are you too smart to be fooled by that trick question? Because, of course, there are many lists.
Take the traditional Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Although we think of them as a single list today, there were actually a number of lists put together by various ancient Greeks. Antipater of Sidon and Philon of Byzantium drew up two of the most well-known lists. Many of the lists agreed on six of the seven items. The seventh place on some lists was awarded to the Walls of the City of Babylon. On others, the Palace of Cyrus, king of Persia. Finally, toward the 6th century A.D., the final item became the Lighthouse at Alexandria. No Great Wall of China, no Stonehenge -- the Greeks did not know about such things.
Great Pyramid of Giza
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Colossus of Rhodes
Lighthouse of Alexandria
Then, of course, there are the Seven Natural Wonders of the World:
Grand Canyon
Mount Everest
Harbor at Rio de Janeiro
Northern Lights
Paricutin Volcano
Great Barrier Reef
Victoria Falls
More recently, the American Society of Civil Engineers has come up with a list of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World:
Channel Tunnel
CN Tower
Empire State Building
Golden Gate Bridge
Itaipu Dam
Delta Works
Panama Canal
All of which is interesting, if a bit dated. Which begs the question, what belongs on today's list of the Seven Wonders of the World? Cast your vote at 7NewWonders. Over 13 million votes have been cast, only 814 days left to vote!
Posted by John at 07:06 AM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2003
When Being Color-Blind Doesn't Matter
When you have to pick the color you think is "Labrador Sands" or "Mosaic Scroll", "Javan Dream" or "Aegean Cruise", I don't think your innate color sense is going to help you all that much. I may be color-blind, but I got 4 out of 10 on my second try, and I'm so confident that I won't improve on that I'm not even going to try any more.
Posted by John at 04:22 PM | Comments (0)
Tired of Reality TV? Welcome to Reality Web Programming
Meet eight good people. Taxpayers, volunteers, voters, wives, mothers, fathers, sons. All college-educated with solid work backgrounds and excellent references. All among the long term unemployed. Welcome to the new reality.
Posted by John at 04:07 PM | Comments (0)
July 06, 2003
The Symmetry of Accountability
In response to the government's Total Information Awareness campaign, the ubiquitous video cameras, the satellites that can track every car in a city, the Carnivore program and so on and on... we now have Government Information Awareness.
Mission
___________
To empower citizens by providing a single, comprehensive, easy-to-use repository of information on individuals, organizations, and corporations related to the government of the United States of America.
Posted by John at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)
July 02, 2003
National Do Not Call Registry
Since you asked, here's the link.
Posted by John at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)
When Worst Case Scenarios Go Badly Wrong
You're probably familiar with the Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook; it's been a best seller and a popular gift for the past year or two. It covers interesting and hopefully not useful things like what to do if your parachute doesn't open, your car is sinking, an alligator is in the water with you, and so on.
Are you aware that it has morphed into a complete series? That it is also an interesting web site, complete with quizzes and tutorials?
And now, in case you fail one of those real world worst case scenario tests, here is the Emergency War Surgery handbook, Second United States Revision of The Emergency War Surgery NATO Handbook. How to treat burns from explosives, or amputate the occasional limb. This is a good one to print out and keep in the bunker with the canned goods.
Posted by John at 11:12 PM | Comments (0)
The Anti-Anti-American
This article appeared in the SF Chronicle over the weekend: 10 things to celebrate: why I'm an anti-anti-American. Nothing in here you don't know already, but we're lucky to live here and it's good to be reminded of that every once in awhile.
I happen to agree with the author's opening statement, "America is under attack as never before". I think it's beyond just "America" that is under attack. I would add American ideals of justice, the sanctity of marriage, the role of the parent, personal responsibility, religious freedom, the importance of the family... Our nation is under seige, both from within and without.
Posted by John at 11:01 PM | Comments (0)
New Business Models from Technology
Bitpass.com is making micropayments work. Here's a real world example: Scott McCloud's new comic strip, The Right Number, will cost you 25˘ and for that tiny payment you can read it up to 32 times over a six month period.
I'm still working on the mechanics of leasing domain names. Seems to me that the next iteration beyond buying them up and waiting for the price to be bid up is to own the domain, but lease it out, preferably to multiple parties for special purposes, like www.newbabypics.com or something. Hmmmm...
Posted by John at 10:46 PM | Comments (0)
Caution: Beer may lead to fun
As my dad used to say, "Oh, my aching back." Certain advocacy groups are offended at beer commercials, with their depiction of loud music, sexy people and fun parties. Someone's underwear is teensy bit too tight, you know? Apparently, people should only have fun by getting offended at people having fun.
"Sex seems to be on everyone's mind in the beer business these days," says George Hacker, director of the Alcohol Policies Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "It's the particular portrayal of essentially drunken, riotous behavior by young people that is so problematic."
Hey, it's a free market. If they're so offended why don't they start a brewery and advertise with commercials showing sober, sedate, ugly, old people drinking beer, and put those whippersnappers right out of business?
Posted by John at 12:36 AM | Comments (0)
July 01, 2003
Ignore the "Don't Loot The Ammo Dump" sign at your own risk
This one should go right to The Darwin Awards. After all, "The Darwin Awards honor those who improve our gene pool... by removing themselves from it." Thank you, boys.
On the other hand, and at the other extreme, over here in the good 'ol US of A, we sue McDonald's when the coffee is too hot, or sue Wal-Mart when the stack of dog bowls falls over. Too bad there's not a genetic solution to that problem as well.
Posted by John at 11:24 PM | Comments (0)
Hey buddy, can ya spare 50˘ for a phone call?
In just four days, over 10 million Americans have registered with the national Do Not Call registry. Here's an article with a different slant on the story: the telemarketing industry predicts two million jobs will be slashed because of the registry. While I wouldn't wish loss of a job on anyone, singling out telemarketers for your sympathy seems a tad ridiculous, especially when they're forecasting the problem - it hasn't actually arrived yet. When the telemarketers do get fired, they'll just have to go get in line behind the former software industry employees, telecommunications, hoteliers, airline flight attendents and pilots, teachers, civil servants, consultants, police, firemen, bankers, brokers.....
Posted by John at 11:10 PM | Comments (0)
