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Monday, June 24, 2002
Someday, I want to build a computer that looks like this. Also, not protecting whistleblowers in the new Homeland Security office doesn't seem like a hot civil rights idea, if you ask me. And are we living in some sort of comic book world? Hello? Spidergoats? Egads.
Friday, June 21, 2002
Being this funny ought to be illegal. I almost hurt myself laughing so hard. Also, blue laser CD's 3cm across (and standard size) seem cool, but they'd better not replace the current music CD format, or I'm going to be highly annoyed. On the other hand, I'll probably be pretty jazzed if the ancient, alledgedly alien-built pyramid in China actually was. Meanwhile, there's a pretty good (albeit long-ish) article on the trouble the catholic church finds itself in, and how what happened in Ireland might indicate the future of the church in the States. Also, someone put together a website about the Turn Your Back on Bush movement at OSU and claims that the OSU administration has out-and-out lied about the graduation event.
Late addition: Website authors, attention please -- you can use this clever little php-driven engine to publish a on your webpage without exposing yourself to the thousands -- nay, millions -- of webpage address-harvesting spambots out there. There's also a story up about it over at A List Apart. Go forth and embed thy javascript!
Thursday, June 20, 2002
For fellow Buffy fans, series creator Joss Whedon has shared some interesting tidbits about the upcoming season here and here.
Oh, by the by -- does this indefinite lockup stuff bother anyone else?
Got a few more movie reviews posted. Finally. Gave up on writing a long review on everything I saw, and I figure this way more of them will get done. I also took a break this afternoon to get some of the pix up from the McCormick's Creek hike that Dave and I took last Saturday. Some cool creatures were found, check them out on the photo page.
By the way, I finally got web hit statistics tracking enabled on this site, and I'm seeing some unexpected visitors here and there, like from Japan, China, Germany, and more. I'm curious as to how you folks (those of you whom I don't already know) are winding up here -- if you've got a minute, and let me know.
Linky, Linky: Southwest will start charging "large people" for two seats starting June 26, there's an interesting op-ed piece on the current problems with our patent system over at Forbes, another interesting bit on electronic music over at Salon, and now, it seems, we're on the cusp(id?) of getting wireless phones implanted in our teeth. Oh, and it turns out that piracy isn't affecting recording industry revenues after all.
More Linky Linky: Kudos and thanks to my pal Dave for finding this neat QuickTime/RealPlayer video on the evolutionary arms race between species, particularly between the most poisonous newt in the world and the common garter snake. The son of the father-son team is apparently in the Biology department here at IU. Neat! (FYI: Broadband probably helpful.) Also, we were just missed by an asteroid the size of a soccer field last Friday, and no one knew ahead of time. (Two other articles on the event available at Sky & Telescope and Cosmiverse.) Other science news: stem cells show even more promise (good thing we didn't put a kibosh on research in that area), the pill does not cause weight gain, global warming is going to lead to a surge in disease (fun!), and the "last mile problem" might be overcome with infra-red lasers. Oh, and the color of money is about to change. Will someone please notify Paul Newman and Tom Cruise?
Wednesday, June 19, 2002
As both an English major who had to deal with grammar on a constant basis in college (usually ignoring it best I could muster) and as a professional geek, I was amused by this treatise on (and collection of) hacker jargon. And while we're on the topic of things geek, hopefully you're familiar with Kuro5hin and know what a great site it is. If you've ever visited there, you probably appreciated the good articles, the community, the distinct lack of banner ads, etc. I think it's one of the web's best communities. However, they were apparently very close to closing the doors due to lack of funding. In a couple of days worth of membership drive, however, they have started to turn it around. And today, they're giving away 3 months of membership, no matter how many months you pay for, even one. So if you've ever spent time there and enjoyed it, I would encourage you to drop on over and get a membership or make a donation. They're worth it. If you'd like to read about the whole event, start here and then check the updates on the front page. You might have to be patient, though -- the blogrolling going on with this is causing their servers some fair amount of grief here and there. :-)
And to be true to form and completely exploit the other half of that "while we're on the topic" segue... On things briefly amusing, I recommend this story over at The Register about a guy named James Woodcock that can't register for an MS Passport account because of his last name. It's good for a laugh, at least when you stop to consider that this is the same Microsoft that doesn't mind resetting all of your Hotmail user prefs so that you can receive more "HORNY TEEN SLUTS FROLICK WITH BARNYARD ANIMALS" emails. *sigh*
I'm glad to find out that my earlier link to the OSU graduation event was just, as the saying goes, one side of the story. And while I'm not terribly inclined to believe that any administration's spin can be taken on face value as more truthful than the report of its students, I figure the truth does lie somewhere in the middle. Thanks go to my friend Dave who sent me the followup story at the Columbus Dispatch.
Also, while I'm posting here, I'll point you toward this Scientific American article rebutting Creationist nonsense posing as arguments for the whole "intelligent design" thing that's being pushed into Ohio schools right now. A good read, to be sure, even for those of us who remember biology class.
Oh, and this story (courtesy my pal Miguel) over at the Onion made me laugh out loud a few times. Except I'm puzzled -- don't they usually write satire? Also, if you're a technology geek like me, you'll appreciate this Fortune magazine story on the Coolest Tech Companies in 2002. Neat stuff.
Tuesday, June 18, 2002
Dear me, I laughed out loud when I read this. And if you're a web developer and you haven't read that Zeldman and his trusty gang are back with phase two, you should definitely read up on that and watch this space.
This story over at the Weekly Standard alarms and disturbs me more than anything else I've read of late. Conversely, while anyone who knows me could probably tell you that I'm not the world's biggest fan of organized religion, here's some folks doing some darn fine work. (I'd like to trade my debt for some singing, dancing, and clapping, too.)
Also, I picked up a great link from a wonderful blog I found today (thanks Rebecca), and while I don't know the author of the document, his cohabitation survey seems like it's chock-full of good questions we should all discuss with people who we're either going to live with or consider marrying. At the very least, it ought to be good for some rewarding conversations.
Monday, June 17, 2002
Meetup looks promising. It'll be interesting to see if it works even in smaller cities and college towns like my own, or whether major metropolises like New York, Chicago, etc. continue to be the only locations you see people signed up. Speaking of signing up for something, chalk me up for this little document. About damn time, if you'll pardon my expression. I can't believe some of the legislation the Bush administration and the post-9/11 congress has been passing. And while we're on the topic of the government, did you know that Pat Buchanon was Deep Throat?
Also, I've found some wonderful new blogs out there with this handy blog gallery, complete with pictures. Useful. Fun. You should try it out, too.
How's this for stupidity? Arresting two guys because they're dressed in funny clothes? If we're going start that kind of thing, can someone arrange for some squads to go out and round up all the people wearing shorts, black dress socks, and tennis shoes? 'Cause that's bothering me a whole lot more than guys in their pajamas, lemme tell ya. Of course, to be a male pig for just 5 seconds here, this is a fashion trend I probably won't mind in the least...
Oh, and oops, I forgot this item earlier. Last night after mentioning my occasional odd nocturnal experiences, I did a little Googling, and found out what I experienced is called Sleep Paralysis, obviously enough. And it sounds like it's not uncommon. More interesting was finding out that it's often experienced side-by-side with narcolepsy, a condition that my father experienced for a bit in his college days, and is believed to run in families. Weird. I'll definitely have to read more on the topic.
I also ran across a couple of other things: some recent IBM research leads to postage-stamp-sized storage, and I finally found a good summary over at LawMeme on why Jamie Kellner, chariman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting, is an insane and scary man -- here are some insanely stupid remarks he made (like how people who skip commercials are stealing TV programming) and some extrapolations of where this kind of attitude could take us ...definitely a worthwhile read.
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