March 2000 Archives
March 31
I can't tell if this is an April Fool's parody of a certain someone or not, but have a great weekend! I'm still digging!
Yikes! Seems like Pimp War is a rip-off of Whore House, which has been around awhile, and is in its 9th season. The only problem? Whore House requires an invitation to play, whereas Pimp War is pretty much open to all, at least until the Beta is over.
However, Whore House has a lot more options, (Infect, Arson, Pimp Unions, discpline whores, gambling, the ability to sell stuff, crack houses, paying off cops, and the ability to earn free turns.) I can see Pimp War getting to that level, but it isn't just that intricate yet.
For all the early adopters out there, here's the early Netscape 6 beta
For all the early adopters out there, here's the early Netscape 6 beta which is 16 Mb and runs on Win32 systems. The real beta should be out April 5th, and I hear it will be around 5 Mb.
A rapping rabbi? (requires Shockwave)
thou shalt migrate over to askjesus.com.
Uncorruptable, Unimpeachable, Unelectable...
Uncorruptable, Unimpeachable, Unelectable... Finally, an appropriate outlet for my L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg worship.
This is one of the funniest office pranks
This is one of the funniest office pranks I've seen in a while. A few months ago, I proposed filling a coworker's office with ballons, but the packing peanuts are much better (and funnier). [stolen from brig]
News of the Wonka remake. I think Nick Cage would suck as Wonka, but Dustin Hoffman...that's interesting.
Looks innocuous, doesn't it?
Looks innocuous, doesn't it? It's actually the Hello Kitty vibrator^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hmassager. I've been told that Sanrio makes products to help little girls through all stages of growth up to adulthood. Now I believe it.
Code Rush Documentary
Code Rush Documentary Did anyone get to watch the Netscape documentary on PBS. In my area, it aired at 2am. I fell asleep trying to catch it...
March 30
Big changes
Big changes are coming for the Mac web scene. Find out on April 1st, The Anniversary.
The web is not a publication.
The web is not a publication. Web sites are not paper. Yet the current thinking of web design is that of the magazine, newspaper, book, or catalog. Visually, aesthetically, legally, the web is treated as a physical page upon which text and images are written.
The Shredder presents this global structure as a
chaotic, irrational, raucous collage. By altering the HTML code before the
browser reads it, the Shredder appropriates the data of the web,
transforming it into a parallel web. Content become abstraction. Text
becomes graphics. Information becomes art.
The IE 5 for Mac cartoons
The IE 5 for Mac cartoons actually showcase some of the better flash animation I've seen on the web. Imagine that, a fun Microsoft PR site. If you're in hell right now, I'd unpack that snow shovel.
Why There's No Microsoft/DOJ Settlement Yet...
Why There's No Microsoft/DOJ Settlement Yet... by L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg of the BrunchBunch, creator of the CYBORG Name Thingy and quickly becoming one of my Web Idols...
Let's stop fighting among ourselves and start abusing OldMedia people for a change
Let's stop fighting among ourselves and start abusing OldMedia people for a change
Amazing discovery #1: There is a difference between people who become journalists and people who don't!
Amazing discovery #2: Journalists who work for big media companies that make a lot of money are themselves making a lot of money!
Amazing discovery #3: Some newspeople get off on feeling morally superior to other newspeople!
from Romenesko's Poynter Media Gossip News Thingy
Amazing discovery #1: There is a difference between people who become journalists and people who don't!
Amazing discovery #2: Journalists who work for big media companies that make a lot of money are themselves making a lot of money!
Amazing discovery #3: Some newspeople get off on feeling morally superior to other newspeople!
from Romenesko's Poynter Media Gossip News Thingy
Laying the smack down on some hoe
Laying the smack down on some hoe has never been funner. Playing this turn-based game is even more enjoyable by the "real-time" aspect. You can be notified via ICQ when you are being attacked, and likewise for your victims. If you are bored at work, this game can ease your pain.
Bored at work?
Bored at work? Or maybe just tired of playing the game on your snazzy Nokia Cell.. needless to say I find time to play this every day. All praise "The Snake Game". The only downside which makes Nokia's cellphone far superior, is unless you have a laptop and perhaps a wireless NIC at work, it is probably impossible to play the game while you sit in the bathroom.
Who wants to be a President?, round 2!
Kids returning from Spring Break
Kids returning from Spring Break felt the spirit fall on them! Is this a case of feeling the spirit of the lord or feeling the effects of Spring Break partying?
Parker Posey - Pussycat
Parker Posey - Pussycat
She's going to be Alexandra in the live action Josey and the Pussycats with Rachel Leigh Cook. I'm not sure how I feel about a live action JatP, but Parker Posey is a fun choice.
She's going to be Alexandra in the live action Josey and the Pussycats with Rachel Leigh Cook. I'm not sure how I feel about a live action JatP, but Parker Posey is a fun choice.
Sick of your Wu-Name?
Sick of your Wu-Name? I was never fond of 'Ol` Filthy, Sweaty Bastard' anyhow. Now you can get Your Own Cyborg Name. And Oh BOY!, is "S.I.K.K.: Synthetic Individual Keen on Killing" a much slicker name! watch out now.
Tornado Pictures
Tornado Pictures On Tuesday March 28th at 6:11 P.M. a tornado pummeled downtown Ft. Worth
leaving glass, office furniture, insulation, paperwork, and various other
materials littering a 12 block area of the city. The downtown streets were covered in
shattered glass from the many High-Rise building that were struck by the violent winds
and flying debris. I took some pictures from a 26th floor office window 1 block away
from the epicenter of the storms wrath. At the top of picture 3
you can see the Cash America building that they keep showing on the news - I don't have a
Telephoto lens or it would be a better pic, DOH! You can also see clean up crews
on the roofs of the buildings picking up debris.One of the windows I took the pictures
through was cracked by flying debris, you can see it in picture 2,3, and 6. PICTURES: 1 2
3 4 5 6
Saatchi and Saatchi are once again accepting submissions for their innovation in communication awards.
Saatchi and Saatchi are once again accepting submissions for their innovation in communication awards. The deadline is approaching, and your idea better be revolutionary. Look at some of the past winners (I'd add a direct link here, but it's all flash), there are some amazing innovations there. The site is a little overboard on the flash, I know they won an award for their previous contest site, but the current one is hard to navigate, slow to load, and offers no non-flash alternative. Odd that they want to enhance communication, but their site is kind of hostile to that ideal.
March 29
Yay! The flag burning amendment is dead
Yay! The flag burning amendment is dead , at least for another year. What offends me most is: why did 63 Senators vote for this? Second most: do these people actually believe themselves when they preach that people have fought and died for the flag? I *hope* that no soldiers have fought for the flag, per se; I would hope that our military fights for the ideals of which the flag is a nice, abstract representation.
I've put up a short page with links to the official Congressional Record transcripts of the debate, for those who are interested. (It gives me reading for my plane ride tomorrow, if I can avoid the calling of my Sims family.)
I've put up a short page with links to the official Congressional Record transcripts of the debate, for those who are interested. (It gives me reading for my plane ride tomorrow, if I can avoid the calling of my Sims family.)
New planets! Saturn-sized, even!
Observe a startup.
Observe a startup. Some startups use a combination of openness and secrecy and while they're getting their act together. REMO (a quirky independent retailer who used to run a popular shop font in my hometown of Sydney) is letting the whole world see everything while they make the transformation to a web-only up-market general store for the whole world.
For the woman who has everything!
For the woman who has everything! And I mean EVERYTHING. Lara Croft, anyone?
A Federal Judge OKs deep linking
A Federal Judge OKs deep linking to commercial websites. I'm very happy to see this, since hypertext and hyperlinks are the basis of the web. Hell yeah!
jon kats on "geek profiling":
jon kats on "geek profiling": "W.A.V.E joins new sofware "security" programs ... being tested in public schools in America to compile and computerize information on students believed to be dangerous or potentially violent. This new rat-on-kids industry is an offshoot of the Geek Profiling anti-Net hysteria that broke out all across the United States after the Columbine High School killings, whose first anniversary is fast approaching. Despite the fact that horrific incidents like Columbine are extremely rare, and that the FBI and Justice Department have both reported that youth violence has dropped to its lowest levels in more than half a century, the belief persists in much of America that technologies like the Internet (and activities like computer gaming) are turning otherwise healthy school children into mass murderers."
Damn Supreme Court. Just when you thought this was a free country, now they're telling strippers to keep their G-strings on.
For those of you that don't want to wade through the previous discussion - I'll summarize. "It's all good."
derek's redesign
derek's redesign is up. comments? [i think it looks lovely]
A grunge museum?
A grunge museum? Another great idea from Microsoft. But at least Britney Spears is around to produce some innovative ideas for her music videos.
Everyone screams for ice cream!
Everyone screams for ice cream! I found out that Edy's owns the icrecream.com domain. It's actually quite a nice site, and if anything, it has the certain level of childood simplicity one associates with ice cream. I especially like the taster and was honestly disappointed that his tour schedule isn't posted.
Maybe not as dynamic as Ben And Jerry's, but appropriately sweet.
Maybe not as dynamic as Ben And Jerry's, but appropriately sweet.
March 28
Now this is something I just don't get.
Now this is something I just don't get. Getting worked up because some people are posting longer entries? Can someone explain this to me? So Ben Brown mentioned that he prefers longer posts, and a few people responded to the idea favorably. But then there's backlash to this idea? Can someone please explain to me how someone writing long posts is somehow wrong? Is anyone holding a gun to your head making you read anything on the web? If Ben Brown's posts are too long, don't read them. If Jack's or Brig's are too long, don't read them. If I'm wrong here, please set me straight. I must not have read the weblog rulebook that states posts should be short and snarky, if anyone has a hyperlink to said rule book, please post that too.
Cyber Patrol hacker sells out for one dollar
Cyber Patrol hacker sells out for one dollar < I made my political point and just don't want further annoyance... ...Mattel initiated legal action in e-mail subpoenas in mid-March and Skala and Jansson removed cphack from their sites, but not before urging computer activists to copy and distribute it.... ...Nevertheless, some mirror site operators think open source software protections make the issue moot. The court cannot impose an Internet ban because cphack was released under the GNU General Public License... > perhaps you've seen this--the final decision will be interesting with repect to free speech and the GNU GPL. something to watch anyhow.
They say the virgin mary, I say it's a smudge.
They say the virgin mary, I say it's a smudge. I'm pretty tired of seeing this Elian story go on and on, and apparently most people that read CNN think so too. It's funny, if a news story lasts more than a month, I can't even remember why I cared either way in the first place (see OJ, Iran-Contra Hearings, anything to do with Columnbine).
The Washington State Anti-Spam law found unconstitutional
The Washington State Anti-Spam law found unconstitutional because the person named in the suit was in Oregon, and the law can't be enforced across state boundries. Damn. As if your location means anything on the internet. What a lame ruling.
Harry Knowles takes on the Oscars
Harry Knowles takes on the Oscars in a surreal chat session with himself. Some great lines: "Angelina has a freaky boyfriend." "Dude, that guy was spazzing out." "DEAR GOD, DON'T TORTURE US WITH A BAD STREISAND MEMORY." But my favorite is Harry letting out his inner queen: "NOBODY SINGS THAT SONG BUT DOROTHY!!!"
A dating PDA -
A dating PDA - I guess this is one tech solution to Kaya's idea of plumage to attract a potential mate. Related story at Wired News. I just wish they didn't look so ugly.....
2 kids were killed
2 kids were killed in a bus accident when it was hit by a train. Ouch! Didn't the driver see the tracks, or anything?
March 27
Not that I'm into that sort of thing, but PillReports - apparently a spinoff of BlueLight (wonder how much KMart offered for that one) - offers moderated discussion about Ecstacy, so you might be able to get some idea of what that pill you just paid $20 for is likely to do to you. Things there aren't verified by actual lab tests like they are at DanceSafe, but it's better than being completely uninformed.
POW!
POW!
I found this while looking for something to illustrate the wrong way to pronounce Derek's name. I can't decide if Adam West is lampooning himself (in current Shatner style), or if he is still hanging onto his Glory Days with Julie Newmar... but I'm not sure it matters.
I found this while looking for something to illustrate the wrong way to pronounce Derek's name. I can't decide if Adam West is lampooning himself (in current Shatner style), or if he is still hanging onto his Glory Days with Julie Newmar... but I'm not sure it matters.
The MySiteTM
The MySiteTM feature at RichInStyle.com is really cool. It's also free. Customize away.
MySite is a trademark of RichInStyle.com
MySite is a trademark of RichInStyle.com
Dear Lord, please forgive me for my shameless promotion of my friends' project, but I do hope all the metausers will enjoy the glory that is Georgy Bush. I know I did, but I am biased. ;)
NBC
NBC isn't to happy with 2600 Magazine registering the domain www.fucknbc.com. They have threatened legal action against 2600.
Is this fair, or is it another example of Big Business wanting to control other people's opinions and expressions?
The AntiChrist is a Vegetarian?
The AntiChrist is a Vegetarian? Is he? This person seems to think so. He does a wonderful spoof site of Jesus was a Vegetarian, one of PETA's pet sites.
BARF
BARF - Yes this is completely useless, but it is just too much fun. My favorite topics? "New To Barf" and "kitty stomach problems and BARF".
Need an earworm?
Need an earworm? Don't even consider clicking this link if you don't.
You know you've always wanted to be a Juke Box Hero. It takes a little more than that one guitar, though, and you can do it yourself
Is Halcyon
March 26
If you have to hack,
If you have to hack, then hack the best. Why steal silver when you can steal platinum?
Blame Phil Collins?
Blame Phil Collins?
We knew Blame Canada wouldn't win, and to be fair, Phil probably deserved it - my real question is "what did you think of the 'Blame Canada' production number?" It was the only reason I watched tonight (not being a big awards show guy), and I'm just curious to hear what other people thought of it. Did Robin Williams wreck it? What about the mounties chorus-line? Did anyone else think he was going to do the entire song with the tape over his mouth?
My only other Oscar observation: Angelina Jolie seemed thrilled and suprised to get Best Supporting Actress. Do you think that she would have gone with the Elvira look if she expected to win?
We knew Blame Canada wouldn't win, and to be fair, Phil probably deserved it - my real question is "what did you think of the 'Blame Canada' production number?" It was the only reason I watched tonight (not being a big awards show guy), and I'm just curious to hear what other people thought of it. Did Robin Williams wreck it? What about the mounties chorus-line? Did anyone else think he was going to do the entire song with the tape over his mouth?
My only other Oscar observation: Angelina Jolie seemed thrilled and suprised to get Best Supporting Actress. Do you think that she would have gone with the Elvira look if she expected to win?
Hey Mac users, want to beat the rush and get IE 5.0 final early?
Hey Mac users, want to beat the rush and get IE 5.0 final early? Follow the link to Nick Finck's Digital Web magazine site for the download URL. From the looks of Microsoft's Mac site, it won't be out until tomorrow.
“Baby Was Taped to Day-Care Wall, Officials Say”
“Baby Was Taped to Day-Care Wall, Officials Say”
“The director allegedly fastened the baby to a wall because she thought it would be funny. . . .”
“The director allegedly fastened the baby to a wall because she thought it would be funny. . . .”
Everyone wants to be l33t.
Everyone wants to be l33t. Now it's even easier with this handy guide.
This will definitely hurt you.
Watch the Kingdome Fall.....must hurry
Watch the Kingdome Fall.....must hurry I know some have posted it here before, but watching a stadium crumble starting at 11 a.m Eastern time would be something to tune into. This is the ESPN link that requires Real Player
I'm sure many of you have already seen this or are already familliar with it, but this article talks about bandwidth that really puts the pedal to the metal!
Amazing.
Amazing.
March 25
One of my favorite web sites of all time is back online!
One of my favorite web sites of all time is back online! I thought it gone forever! With battles such as Enterprise versus DeathStar, and Ewoks versus Gremlins, how can you go wrong?
Or the one I always wanted to see: Lara Croft versus Duke Nukem!
Bored? Maybe this little doo-hickey will entertain you for some time. It sure did for me.
The Mini Automobile Website Made Project Cool Sightings. . .
The Mini Automobile Website Made Project Cool Sightings. . . Many of you may have already seen this but, it looks like we had it here first again. While I was taken, as were many of us, with the Mini website and all of it's coolness... I didn't think I'd see it in the "Sightings" section of Project Cool. It seems to be today's pick.
I read this and felt like crying.
I read this and felt like crying. That good little girl -- only two years old, yet she cared for the baby until help came. She even changed its diapers.
And her reward is to find out that her daddy is dead and won't ever be coming home again. Life's a bitch sometimes.
And her reward is to find out that her daddy is dead and won't ever be coming home again. Life's a bitch sometimes.
Ummm. What the hell is this?
Another Penatagon report
Another Penatagon report indicates that there is no forseeable relief for gays in the military? When 85% of respondents (of the 71,500 U.S. military service personnel polled worldwide) state that they believe that anti-gay words and behavior is tolerated and 80% claim that they've heard an offensive remark (in the ranks) about homosexuals in the past year, is another onslaught of talking heads and pointless summits the answer? will it take another barry winchell to shake this administration into real action?
Help for Online Diarists
Help for Online Diarists "Whiny, pretentious, or boring. Take your pick."
Pike is an outliner
Pike is an outliner that's been custom-fitted to plug into Manila sites. You can create and edit stories. You can use it to edit your home page. And you can also use it to edit the myriad of templates that define how a Manila site is rendered. It's both a writing and design tool. Free public beta.
Now you can impress your S.O. with your vast knowledge of sexual positions. For the exceptionally adventurous, you can do it froogy style, or learn how to give a proper spanking.
“Why has my sex life been so much more satisfying since I started using Penguins?”
“Why has my sex life been so much more satisfying since I started using Penguins?”
“Another very common question. We think the reason your sex life improved is because of the way you are using them…”
Mmm…a great source of caffeine if you hate coffee and soda—they're sugarless, too!
“Another very common question. We think the reason your sex life improved is because of the way you are using them…”
Mmm…a great source of caffeine if you hate coffee and soda—they're sugarless, too!
March 24
So I just got a bizarre e-mail from a "Yustas Kotz-Gottlieb." Has anyone ever got one? I'll post the entire text as a comment. It appears to be an atrocious, perhaps Mad Lib-generated essay on an imaginary painting. Based on an AltaVista search for "Jaisini," I've concluded that this person posts the essay (and others) on random guestbooks and e-mails it to random people (like me). This is the closest I can find to a cogent explanation, but I'm still bumfuzzled as to the point. Fake essays as performance art? It's like McSweeney's, as guest-edited by Kafka.
What with HTML mail
What with HTML mail having the ability to do evil things to you, it was beginning to look like the "Good Times" virus wasn't so much of a hoax after all. But now, it turns out you can get something a lot worse in your email.
Maybe I should learn VB or whatever's required to make a browser widget that blinks whenever I'm at a site owned by AOL/TimeWarner. There are tons of them, and I bet the thing would be blinking all the time, what with all the wholly owned subsidiaries of this and that. Of course, it would be built on an open architecture, so we could add Microsoft (where's their list?), and anyone else that needs watching.
Call me Ishmael.
Call me Ishmael. Now all I need is a group of blind followers.
It's a chopper, baby.
Metafilter is going down at 12 noon, PST (about 3 hours from now), and should be back up around 8pm. I just signed up this machine at TZO.com, so this site should be reachable at http://metafilter.tzo.com/ once I get it back up. TZO is actually a cool service, I've been running it for almost a year on my home cable modem, which changes IP addresses once a month or so (but thanks to TZO, I can always find it).
I make this hompage as business card he said...
I make this hompage as business card he said...
The more I look at it, the more I'm puzzled...
Is this er... site...
a) a very clumsy but very sincere homepage, made by someone whos has a lot to learn or...
b) a very well-done, veru tongue in cheek fake website made by someone who clearly had a lot of fun polishing this extreme pastiche...
Anyway, expect a lot of pop-up windows and have one of these airline vomit bag handy in case of a sudden sea sickness
They'll auction almost anything on the web nowadays...
March 23
If you're in or around LA this weekend, you might want to check out all the academy award nominated documentary films being screened at the Director's Guild theater.
IMDB follows Microsoft's lead: every new version makes it harder and harder to see the actual content you're looking for. I figure two more times around and they'll be down to three words per page that aren't navigation.
Get in line...FREE DOMAINS at registerfree.com starts in 8 minutes...
You know you want
It's over folks. I guess we can all go home now.
Oh, great. Now I'm never gonna get my work done.
This site is your worst nightmare.
This site is your worst nightmare. Book of Blunders is a collection of failures, painful mistakes, and glorious moments of stupidity. C'mon people, let's hear your biggest faux-pas. Mine's there already.
Man there's a lotta links today. I'd like to add one, and continue the profanity thing. Everyone say "fuck" one more time. And now, "ass." That's also a good word. Both are used liberally at BlowTheDotOutYourAss.com, which appears to be some kind of guerrilla advertising group, similar to that whole Andre thing. They provide templates for printing out stickers that say things like ButIdon'tNeedMyToothpastDelivered.com, and IJustHadARectalExamOnline.com. Good fun for the whole family.
Radiskull wants to fuck Blue Velvet...?
Radiskull wants to fuck Blue Velvet...? Director David Lynch will be doing a series of Flash movies for Shockwave.com in return for some shares in the company. It's a strange world...
Win an eco-friendly car.
Stock up!
Stock up! and call your congressman, because it may be a while.
Feed has a thought provoking Daily.
Feed has a thought provoking Daily. I haven't been following this controversy very closely, but the article is interesting. The focus is not on the anti-gay sentiments of Dr. Laura (and subsequent backpeddling thereof), but rather the implications of the mutability of the digital medium.
The pets.com sock puppet can now sit on your desktop
The pets.com sock puppet can now sit on your desktop and dispense oscar cattiness that Joan Rivers would envy (windows only though). He's on my desktop until the big event. [thanks Leonard]
I.AM/BALD
It wasn't a question of if, but when.
It wasn't a question of if, but when. There's now a hacked version of napster that allows trading warez and videos (I bet every college student on a T1 is going apeshit right now).
Tim Burton to Remake Planet of the Apes
Tim Burton to remake Planet of the Apes. How bizarre and cool.
This is a great little story,
This is a great little story, and one I can relate to. I've had several friends that I could have mistaken for long lost twins.
Chu-Chu! Banzai Shock On!
Chu-Chu! Banzai Shock On! It was Dreamcast game you were sick to death of hearing about, now it's the Shockwave game you can't quit playing. TSUBABABABA!
See, this is why I'm not a cat person.
These wonderful human beings posted 213 of 243 full Simpsons episodes, but FOX is taking legal action now to shut the site down. So if you have a favorite, grab it now.
I've always wanted to make my own cow.
The latest TV craze
The latest TV craze to hit Europe is coming to the UK. After the ratings success of Shipwrecked (18 volunteers living on an island) we have a kind of Truman Show but with volunteers.
March 22
Warner-Lambert Withdraws Diabetes Pill Rezulin
Warner-Lambert Withdraws Diabetes Pill Rezulin
Imagine how it feels hearing this news about six hours after my doctor told me "After looking at your latest liver test, you'd better stop taking the Rezulin, and come in for more tests."
For the record, I was aware of the potential risks before I & my doc started it, and have been doing regular liver tests all along; before my last test, I had noted to doc that I was getting more symptoms of out-of-control diabetes, even though frequent monitoring showed the blood sugar numbers were always IN control, and I was ready to ask for a change to one of the newer drugs... when my latest refill runs out. I'd always assumed that by the time the FDA acts on it it'll be too late, and I am very interested in the official FDA non-position on the safety of the newer drugs...
Imagine how it feels hearing this news about six hours after my doctor told me "After looking at your latest liver test, you'd better stop taking the Rezulin, and come in for more tests."
For the record, I was aware of the potential risks before I & my doc started it, and have been doing regular liver tests all along; before my last test, I had noted to doc that I was getting more symptoms of out-of-control diabetes, even though frequent monitoring showed the blood sugar numbers were always IN control, and I was ready to ask for a change to one of the newer drugs... when my latest refill runs out. I'd always assumed that by the time the FDA acts on it it'll be too late, and I am very interested in the official FDA non-position on the safety of the newer drugs...
Forget about privacy on the net.
Forget about privacy on the net. If you thought that being tracked by Doubleclick was a grosse invasion of privacy, imagine what it would be like if your employer was given open access to your home computer.
Blogs in the News:
Blogs in the News: Tom Negrino of Backup Brain wrote a feature on searching for Macworld's May issue. Part of the feature was a sidebar on where to go to find things on the web, including the Eatonweb Weblog Portal with a description of what blogs are for the uninitiated.
Thong-Th-Thong-Thong-Thong-Thong
Thong-Th-Thong-Thong-Thong-Thong Love it? Hate it?
My dreams have been crushed...
My dreams have been crushed... The Diablo II beta selection is over and the results have been posted. A couple people were from towns near mine, but nope, no luck with me...
Capitol Idea:
Capitol Idea: Matt believes "all government capitols look phallic to somehow signify that the most important 'man'
lives here." Having lived in the shadow of Florida's capitol for a few years, I have a better theory. These buildings are phallic because government's primary function is to screw people.
Cruel and unusual?
Cruel and unusual? You be the judge.
Microsoft Windows for LinuxTM
Microsoft Windows for LinuxTM This site also features Microsoft Linux Certification. It's funny, laugh.
I don't know why, but I can't get enough of Brazillian music
I don't know why, but I can't get enough of Brazillian music (realvideo stream). Not that I can understand a word of it, but damn that's smooth. Note to self: buy more Gilberto Gil records. This person thinks this disc is one of his best, and you can even download digital versions of it from cdnow, although I wonder why each cut is $2.49. Why on earth should digital music cost more? There's no shipping, no customer service hassles, no media to stock in a warehouse. Make the entire disc $5 in digital format, and I'll buy his entire collection (and save from adding to my already loaded down cd rack at home).
Dubya is all talk, yes indeed. Did I mention that I hate my governor?
And in other news, Indiana University announced today that they're developing jointly with Napster a solution to the congestion problem the MP3-sharing program can cause (which has led to Napster being blocked by campuses nationwide). Access to Napster will be reinstated on campus for a two-week period starting March 25 to test this new method. This new method will soon be made available for web developers at http://bestpath.iu.edu. Yippee. I get to download *NSync tunes again.
The Supreme Court ruled today that university student fees may go to controversial groups in order to create a "marketplace of ideas". As a member of a university student funding board (and as a member of "controversial" student groups, i.e. GLBT groups), I've been eagerly awaiting this ruling all semester. The case began in 1996 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where three students challenged the use of mandatory student fees to fund campus organizations that they had politically and idealogically objections to. For the full text of the Supremem Court decision, visit campusspeech.org.
eHolster!
eHolster! I don't need the whole harness action (although there's a "lets play geek-spy" little kid inside me that wants it), but the cross draw eBeltSnap would totally work for me.
[props to Laurel from windowseat for the link]
[props to Laurel from windowseat for the link]
Speaking of Prozac...
Speaking of Prozac... Did Prozac and Ritalin cause the Columbine disaster? Are these drugs causing kids to kill? The people of "A White Rose" seem to think so. You be the judge.
can states have a foreign policy?
can states have a foreign policy? the Supreme Court today will review whether state and local governments can protest human rights in other nations by restricting purchases from companies that operate in those countries. the court will decide whether states, by restricting purchases, are making foreign trade policy, which, under the Constitution, is the duty of the federal government.
Medicate 'em!
Medicate 'em! No time to bond with your children. Work leave you drained and the kids just will not listen? Let Prozac help. The kids, not you.
An informed view of prop twenty-two.
An informed view of prop twenty-two. This may be a bit belated, but it's astonishing that someone could come up with a comparison like this and actually believe that it had any worth in judgment or persuasion.
Why the Future Doesn't Need Us
Why the Future Doesn't Need Us is the cover story in this month's 'Wired'. It was written by Bill Joy, chief scientist at Sun. In it he makes a very convincing case for strict regulation of genetics, nanotech, and robotics, given that any of these could cause the extinction of the human species in the next 30 years. What do you think?
Mmmm...javalicious
March 21
Erotic Origami
Erotic origami. Can you handle it?
The gnarly clock
The gnarly clock Here is a sweet clock, which is fun to play with Check it out!
now that's just sikk.
Mmmmmmmmmmmm..... meat.
When the phone drops into the lion's cage,
When the phone drops into the lion's cage, it's gone man. Just forget about that phone, even if it came with a great 10-cents-a-minute deal.
Thank God.
I have seen the future of advertising, and it is PP * blog. My ultra-top-secret advertising scheme is finally let out of the box. Okay, so it might not be the future of advertising, but it IS a sleezy scheme on my part to help get both me AND you more visibility in the weblog dept.
I check out Kottke's webcam occasionally,
I check out Kottke's webcam occasionally, and every once in a while there's something amusing. I have no idea what's going on here, but I'll guess either a) email came in describing Jason's new raise, or b) some girl from SXSW emailed him professing her undying love. Caption Contest! What do you think's happening in this shot?
Offshore pharmacy sites
Offshore pharmacy sites selling prescription drugs to US customers were shut down this week. I wonder if the cat is already out of the bag on this one, will there ever be a way to regulate prescription drug traffic on the web? There's no worldwide organization to watch over things like this, nor are there laws that every country can agree on. Something tells me that getting steroids and "date rape" pills online is going to be a problem that's never going away.
Finally. A contest I could actually win.
a newly released u.n. population study
a newly released u.n. population study suggests that because the birth rates in wealthy countries is low and declining, the worker-retired ratio will not be able to support current social programs. "The report found that Japan would need 10 million immigrants every year for the next 50 years to maintain the current working-age to retirement-age ratio. Without migration, figures show it would be necessary to raise the retirement age to 77 to maintain the ratio."
Napster
Napster Is this the best thing ever? What's the future of this software?
Hepburn fans against Jennifer Love Hewitt. They're right -- Jen is no Audrey.
March 20
Tired of The Media not getting your story right?
Tired of The Media not getting your story right?
Looking for a way to make sure your feelings are respected and your point of view is aired?
It's easy! Just kill four people and take three more hostage. (from Romanesko's Media News)
Looking for a way to make sure your feelings are respected and your point of view is aired?
It's easy! Just kill four people and take three more hostage. (from Romanesko's Media News)
Have Tom Green's rather transparent efforts to become the Andy Kaufman of the 21st Century gone too far?
Webloggers, fuck you.
And the oscar for best salvage man goes to...
And the oscar for best salvage man goes to... That didn't take very long. There's not much you can do with highly publicized, stolen goods, especially when they're barely worth more than scrap metal when melted down.
Remember Gabocorp?
Remember Gabocorp? Hailed as the king of flash, one-man company Gabocorp's site carried a 'back early 2000' message for most of 1999.
But what's happening now? ('There is no entry in Apache for the Account you are looking for...' @ 4.50 GMT +1)
Kit Williams
Kit Williams gained a great deal of fame through publishing a puzzle book called Masquerade. He has produced some fine artwork besides (I was actually looking for a particular painting of a Morris Mini to supplement veruca's link). In addition to paintings, he has a fascination with clocks and mechanical devices.
Get the petition. They need one million signatures before April 20 to get it back on the November ballot. If you're in California, print out the petition and start drumming up support today. It's not so often you get a second chance like this. Show the country that California does indeed, rock.
March 19
McCainiacs? At least they're loyal.
Diablo II Beta Testers Wanted
Oooh! Blizzard will be taking applications for beta testers of Diablo II all day Monday, March 20.
Mr. Bean's Car
Mr. Bean's Car To all the die hard Mr. Bean fans, here is a site from the people at Craigs Auto, just print it out then cut away!
Also here is a another site with some great sound clips and a movie for Mr. Bean
March 18
Smithereens?
Smithereens? On whose blog did I find a link last week about Pat DiNizio, late of the Smithereens, (a) running for New York senate and (b) whoring himself out to anyone who wants him to perform in their living room, assuming you find 100 people paying $25 each and hand over 80% of that cash to Pat?
As I now know all too well, browsers, including (in this case) MSIE 4 for Windows, do a lousy job of remembering all the pages you've visited, forcing us to resort to the hackneyed "Did anybody read that article, and if so where?" technique straight out of a Howard Hawks film. Any help appreciated.
The most fun I've had with an applet, ever.
The most fun I've had with an applet, ever. [From Eatonweb.] This just isn't getting linked to enough, so I had to post it somewhere else. Make sure you read the bit in the instructions about muscles, otherwise you won't get very far. If only there was a way to save configurations . . .
One of the worst economic miscalculations of all time ends
One of the worst economic miscalculations of all time ends not with a bang, but with a whimper. Over 5 BILLION dollars was poured into Iridium (and $2 billion of that came from Motorola), and most of it is going to burn up in the atmosphere over the next two years as they deorbit their 60 satellites. (They have to bring them down so that they aren't a traffic hazard.)
Next time someone tries to tell you that capitalism can do no wrong, ask them about Iridium.
Next time someone tries to tell you that capitalism can do no wrong, ask them about Iridium.
The United Killers of Benetton
The United Killers of Benetton It seems that the italian clothing company Benetton recently used death row inmates in a rather distasteful ad campaign that featured death row inmates and thier clothing. Check it out. Quite a groundswell of protest is mounting against this. The matter seems to be equally offending to both pro and anti death sentence folks.
Everyone's favorite search engine Google has opened their GoogleStore. They've got shirts, mugs, and bags, some with the "I'm feeling lucky" slogan, but the strangest thing for sale? That'd have to be the Exercise Ball, which I suspect secretly carries Happy Fun Ball-style disclaimers. When not in use, Google Exercise Ball should be returned to its special container
and kept under refrigeration. Do not taunt Google Exercise Ball. [thanks RasterWeb]
March 17
This juxtaposition
I hadn't seen the Mission Impossible 2 trailers
I hadn't seen the Mission Impossible 2 trailers until just a few mintues ago. My first question is "when did Tom Cruise become a James Bond clone?" Is Mission Impossible going to become a series? I'd pay to see more episodes, if John Woo directs them...
Soulbath.com
Soulbath.com . I'm glad I came across this, I needed a good scrubing. The ambient soundtrack helps sooth the anger over being sober at 3pm on St. Paddy's Day.
Wired News Redesign:
Wired News Redesign: What do you think to the WiredNews new-look? They've returned to using more black and a chunkier navigation bar. I thought there really was nothing wrong with the old version (and the improvements are indeed a step backwards) ?
Somebody stole the Oscars (TM AMPAS)!
Hey, throw the high school honor students out on the streets. Then they can join there peers in public mayhem (via obscurestore)
Is it just me, or does zero tolerance in the schools make less and less sense every waking moment?
Lá fhéile Pádraig!
Good ole Jack Cheevers.
Excelsior True Believers!
Excelsior True Believers! I have to hand it to that old bastard. Marvel's been a bit late in the game and they're still rather overboard design-wise, but Stan Lee's little hole in the wall on the 'Net ain't none too shabby. 7th Portal is just as cheesy as Stan Lee's always been, and just as heartwarming for an old comic bum like me. Anyone else like 7th Portal? Or am I the only one who has a copy of "Contest of Champions" 1-3?
March 16
Google reminds me of elementary school in a way. Every time there was a holiday, Ms. Capp would put up colorful decorations on the walls, windows, and doors of our classroom. Perhaps my 3rd grade teacher took a job as a designer at Google, because they're continuing the tradition just as she would have.
TheStinkers.com
Jesse
Thanks memepool!
March 15
it's all about the love.
it's all about the love. congrats matt!
If you've loved reading Greg Knauss' posts at Kottke.org
If you've loved reading Greg Knauss' posts at Kottke.org over the last few days, and you're begging for more of Greg's goodness, check out the Entirely Other Day archive. The EOD site has always been one of my favorites, even though Greg ceased publication in early 1998. The archives are hysterical, god I wish he still wrote regularly.
I'm risking redundancy, but what the hell. If you haven't visited the community of thoughtful hedonists, do so NOW. I'm thoroughly enjoying myself.
What do you get when you cross
What do you get when you cross Google with DMOZ? I don't exactly know, but it's been done by some mad scientists at AOL/Netscape/Time/Warner/Turner/Nullsoft/HBO/EMI/DC/etcetra........
And you thought it was safe to go back on the web when Yahoo and eBay cut off their merger talks.
And you thought it was safe to go back on the web when Yahoo and eBay cut off their merger talks.
I saw her,
I saw her, Meg saw her, and now chickclick has a whole page devoted to someone else who saw (and talked) to her.
Swanky
Swanky finally relaunches after months of teaser homepages and t-shirt offers. Don't expect the old Swanky though: they admit "we might as well be selling vacuum cleaners, it is that different. "
Freeserve relaunched today:
Freeserve relaunched today: Considering that the vast majority of UK internet users have this set as their homepage, what's your opinion on the new-look Freeserve homepage. (it's like MSN - no?)
Worried about nutrition?
Worried about nutrition? Then you should be very scared if you eat at:
Even Subway which sells its food as healthy (low fat) contains more sodium than canned soup.
Eggs!
Eggs! 30 days until hatching!
The Keirsey Temperament Sorter II
The Keirsey Temperament Sorter II is a 70-question online questionnaire which amazed me a bit in finding where I stand. Give it a shot.
March 14
While everyone else was busy compiling SXSW photo albums, I was compiling My Perfect Storybook Childhood - Uncensored. Beware of really white kid.
Lance wrote a great fantasy piece that he makes ammends for here,
Lance wrote a great fantasy piece that he makes ammends for here, but his loss is our gain. He's started a new Reality list, which, if you were lucky enough to be on the old Reality list that Alexis Massie used to run, you'll remember it being a string of fantastic journeys cooked up in several writers' imaginations. Somehow I know the new list will be just as good.
First it was safety scissors. Now we can all sleep safer knowing we are safe from dangerous words.
Weren't schools rewarding honor students at some point, or is my memory bad? (via obscurestore)
Here in Seattle, we have a thing for big, ugly buildings. Sports fans, in particular, have a thing for building expensive, retractable roofed stadiums. So in order to make room for another one, the city is imploding the Kingdome.
Bad news for Martini Design, seeing as how they're located across the street. Or good news, maybe, since they're probably getting a lot of trafic from their implosion site, with the streaming webcam, and the Flash game, "The Imploder." I still haven't been able to tear the thing down without taking a few innocent buildings down with it.
Bad news for Martini Design, seeing as how they're located across the street. Or good news, maybe, since they're probably getting a lot of trafic from their implosion site, with the streaming webcam, and the Flash game, "The Imploder." I still haven't been able to tear the thing down without taking a few innocent buildings down with it.
Worth has a great story on how easy it would be for Goto.com to exploit its paying customers. (There may be some registration issues with this link; if it fails, go to the Worth home page and click on "The Easy Way to Get Rich Click.")
Isn't Fox supposed to be the enemy of fan sites (Simpsons, X-Files, Buffy) all over the web??
Then what are they doing supporting a site that's promoting one of its lowest-rated shows????
The producer of Get Real had previously done a half-hour comedy called Parker Lewis Can't Lose that, IMHO, was worth saving...
Then what are they doing supporting a site that's promoting one of its lowest-rated shows????
The producer of Get Real had previously done a half-hour comedy called Parker Lewis Can't Lose that, IMHO, was worth saving...
Oh, shit.
Blame Dubya.
Ten days after George W. Bush is pranked into mistaking the Prime Minister of Canada for a dish made from french fries and gravy, 60 percent of Canadians want their real PM to resign. Never underestimate the power of the Shrub.
Ten days after George W. Bush is pranked into mistaking the Prime Minister of Canada for a dish made from french fries and gravy, 60 percent of Canadians want their real PM to resign. Never underestimate the power of the Shrub.
Microsoft issues the PR equivalent of a neener-neener-neener at RealNetworks.
Microsoft issues the PR equivalent of a neener-neener-neener at RealNetworks.
And shares of RealNetworks fell about 12 percent on the neener.
And shares of RealNetworks fell about 12 percent on the neener.
A poll on same-sex marriage at ivillage.com. I'm always shocked by how many people oppose it! What's wrong with this country?
I asked him for a match, and he said <BLANK>.
I asked him for a match, and he said <BLANK>.
This just brings back so very many memories... which is probably an indication that I spent too much time watching tv as a kid.
This just brings back so very many memories... which is probably an indication that I spent too much time watching tv as a kid.
Finally,
Finally, for the man who still has everything.
Jason
Jason has been nominated for a Webbie Award in the Personal site category. Other than that, I was not impressed with the nominees.
Not Quite fast enough.
I sent the weblogbiosphere link to Matt's cellphone, so that he could include this important milestone in the sxswweblogpaneldiscussion, but he'd already turned it off. Oh well... so much for wireless contributions to the greater body of weblogknowledge.
I sent the weblogbiosphere link to Matt's cellphone, so that he could include this important milestone in the sxswweblogpaneldiscussion, but he'd already turned it off. Oh well... so much for wireless contributions to the greater body of weblogknowledge.
Our own CUJoe's current PhotoOp
Our own CUJoe's current PhotoOp reminded me that I always forget the name of the units for measure hot pepper spiciness: Scovilles. For some reason this name won't stick in my brain. I always look it up here. Take time to worship.
Got Beer?
Got Beer? Well, this is the most offensively stupid article I've seen in quite some time. [stolen from Ars] People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is promoting the benefits of drinking beer instead of milk. Of course, there isn't one word about impairment of motor functions, alcoholism, or liver damage.
Get to Circuit City
Internet snacks
Internet snacks have been here for a while. It's when reality starts to look a little too much like parody when I get scared. At least they have their demographic pegged.
March 13
RIDING THE BULLET by Stephen King
RIDING THE BULLET by Stephen King E-books are here to stay or lastest of the internet crazes?
Stephen King is letting his lastest book all 1600 word or 66 pages of it out for a small $2.50 from Simonsay.com
Paperless world, mmm...
How without a laptop or you going to be able to read this in the bath tub or "reading room"?
Try also the Stephenking.com For more information on the great writer's life and future.
Anyone interested in UK version of SXSW?
Anyone interested in UK version of SXSW? With all the talk of SXSW in the USA right now, are there people out there (like me) who think it'd be great to have a UK (or maybe European) meet ?
Hometown girl makes good! Your favorite palegirl and mine is contributing-producing the first piece on the next episode of This American Life.
Think of it as the flip side to almost.org...
Think of it as the flip side to almost.org...
An "internet-based romance community": releases the results of its survey of what women are willing to do on the first (or second) date... or at least what the 10-12 women desperate enough to go to this website would do.
An "internet-based romance community": releases the results of its survey of what women are willing to do on the first (or second) date... or at least what the 10-12 women desperate enough to go to this website would do.
And then, suddenly, I was in love with Jason....
And then, suddenly, I was in love with Jason....
Maybe it's just telling about where I am on along my own E1 vector - but that little storylet just spoke directly to my soul.
Maybe it's just telling about where I am on along my own E1 vector - but that little storylet just spoke directly to my soul.
Napigator
Napigator -Your Navigator to internet audio- Napigator lets you see real-time server statistics and ping times. Allowing you to make the decision of which server you connect to based upon the number of users, files, gigabytes, and network lag.
Me linking to Matt's weblog where he's telling you about himself shooting Jesse shooting the bloggers walking and then telling you about it through a weblog.
Me linking to Matt's weblog where he's telling you about himself shooting Jesse shooting the bloggers walking and then telling you about it through a weblog. This is the whole reason I'm here.
...
That's pretty sad, isn't it?
...
That's pretty sad, isn't it?
Recently updated Japanese Engrish!
There's always room for Jell-O!
There's always room for Jell-O! Most people don't know that Tom Lehrer is the co-inventor of the vodka Jell-O shot
March 12
Did Al Gore get his middle name from
Did Al Gore get his middle name from Armand Hammer? Pretty intriguing article, imo.
Xena, Warrior Milkmaid!
Xena, Warrior Milkmaid! (Few things on the web are this strange... Definitely someone's 15 minutes of fame)
Ever
At least he's clean.
Blogger: The relaunch verdict?
Blogger: The relaunch verdict? Blogger.com relauched their site with a funky new look and still more kewl features, do they still rock?
I had teething troubles in getting the remote editing to work. But after all that, it now works and in my opinion of course Blogger still rocks!
March 11
Tonight's SXSW web award event
Tonight's SXSW web award event was a fun one. And unlike that lame primary election last week, pretty much all my favorites won in their respective categories. Ironminds won the Best Current Events site (odd category for them, but there's great writing there that deserves recognition), ArtandCulture.com won an award, Chickenhead won for humor, and a couple of webloggers got some well-deserved awards as well.
Here's
Here's a worthy way to spend your time: wait around on this site and see if it's true that an infinite number of monkeys typing on an infinite number of keyboards would produce Shakespeare's complete works. But don't get too excited if you start seeing "To," "Be," "or," "Not," "to," and "Be" in suspiciously close proximity: it's rigged.
almost.org
almost.org , featuring "tales of near-sex experiences", is now live (after much thematically-appropriate hinting and teasing from Don). I have a suspicion this is a site that won't ever be wanting for content.
Can you help a brother out with a little money laundering?
Can you help a brother out with a little money laundering?
So, I was thinking about this otherwise unremarkable spam while cleaning out my inbox when it dawned on me how familiar it was. I have seen this letter (with slight modifications to suit the contemporary political news from Nigeria) three times in my life. The first one I remember was over 10 years ago (on oniony paper, soft brown fibery envelope, red mock-official stamp). And I was wondering: how many of you have seen a postal version of this letter? Did I just fluke out, or is this letter so common that it is some obscure junk mail counterpart to Coca-cola, Princess Diana & Baywatch? I kind of like to think of it as the fraudspam equivalent of the nervous Don Knotts.
So, I was thinking about this otherwise unremarkable spam while cleaning out my inbox when it dawned on me how familiar it was. I have seen this letter (with slight modifications to suit the contemporary political news from Nigeria) three times in my life. The first one I remember was over 10 years ago (on oniony paper, soft brown fibery envelope, red mock-official stamp). And I was wondering: how many of you have seen a postal version of this letter? Did I just fluke out, or is this letter so common that it is some obscure junk mail counterpart to Coca-cola, Princess Diana & Baywatch? I kind of like to think of it as the fraudspam equivalent of the nervous Don Knotts.
Girl expelled for safety scissors.
Girl expelled for safety scissors. Thank God she didn't bring waxy crayons, or [gasp] a pencil sharpener!
March 10
Internet decency commission has no money.
Internet decency commission has no money. Seems Congress neglected to include any funding when it was set up. How serious were they about this, anyway?
Not very, it seems. The commission is operating on an extension. It was supposed to report last October, but they never bothered nominating any members for it until two days before the previous deadline.
Not very, it seems. The commission is operating on an extension. It was supposed to report last October, but they never bothered nominating any members for it until two days before the previous deadline.
The new MSN logo
The new MSN logo (the butterfly) is quite attractive.
It's been pointed out a lot lately (especially after Prop 22) that gays are the one minority that it is still safe to discriminate against. I agree, except that they are not the only ones.
And yes, I must admit, I resemble that remark.
And yes, I must admit, I resemble that remark.
Epinions looks like they are ready to start kicking ass and taking names. They've got themselves a new logo (which I dig) and some television commercials that they will soon be airing nationally. If you do nothing else today, look at the Breast Pump one. (thanks to ariana for finding this)
I'm no longer offended by products being marketed specifically to the Boomers,
I'm no longer offended by products being marketed specifically to the Boomers, but the majority of the cartoons being run on Cartoon Network's new channel "Boomerang" totally antedate even the more generous boomer demographic. Hong Kong Phooey? Inch High Private Eye? Those both ran during *my* last seasons of Saturday Morning Cartoondom, and I hung on longer than most of my peers.
Whither art thou, Channel X?
Whither art thou, Channel X?
Note to Plinth: According to The Dead People Server,
Note to Plinth: According to The Dead People Server, jokes about Elvis sightings just aren't funny anymore. Whole websites about dead people on the other hand... THAT's comedy!
[dead people also available in handy palm pilot size]
[dead people also available in handy palm pilot size]
Now I know what to do
March 9
Everybody can be a rock star
Everybody can be a rock star First there were guitarists, then there were people playing the keyboards. Now with your keyboard you can play the guitar. Don't forget to thank the Rockschool when you pick up that Grammy.
Foolish mortals we, who had thought that the whole Mahir thing had run its course. We were wrong.
Mr Methane is the world's only performing flatulist.
Mr Methane is the world's only performing flatulist. His site is ... well, you just have to see his site.
[blame riothero, he made me remember this. ]
[blame riothero, he made me remember this. ]
This really hurt me,
This really hurt me, but it's all worth it for the Panda joke (#316). In fact, you really only need to read the first two sentences for it to be funny. Well, it made me laugh, anyway.
amazon.com calls for patent reform.
amazon.com calls for patent reform. interesting open letter from bezos on the subject. of course, they're going to continue to use their patents as they can and see fit until the government forces them to do otherwise... (background)
I have to say, the smurfalizer
I have to say, the smurfalizer is the smurfiest site I've smurfed all day. I wonder if I can find the Taxi Driver script online, just to see "Did you smurf my wife? What? How can you ask me something like that? You heard me! Did you smurf my wife!?!"
I just don't understand soccer.
I just don't understand soccer.
From the moment at which Dragoon did not press in the land deer, and one put in a defense in very passive zone, the party was totally of ADET.
[thanks Heather!]
From the moment at which Dragoon did not press in the land deer, and one put in a defense in very passive zone, the party was totally of ADET.
[thanks Heather!]
Cure for Carpal tunnel Syndrom enters clinical trial
Cure for Carpal tunnel Syndrom enters clinical trial For all you folks that spend most of your lives at the keyboard salvation may be here soon.
The Playstation 2,
The Playstation 2, just like the G4 is considered a Supercomputer too. It's nice to know that hostile nations won't rip apart the system after they get gunned down in Metal Gear Solid.
Ever wonder what to do about all of that money you embezzeled? Now you know.
Tell the <bleep>ing producers that they can <bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep> and <bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeep> my <bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep> right now!
Tell the <bleep>ing producers that they can <bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep> and <bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeep> my <bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep> right now! Will "Blame Canada" finally make for an entertaining Oscars show or will the <bleeep>ing <bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep> just like they always do?
Sometimes I like to surf for keywords from Simpson's quotes. "Remember, your job and the future of your family hinges on your successful completion of Nuclear Physics 101. Oh, and one more thing: you must find the jade monkey before the next full moon."
There's a place in the world for things like this.
There's a place in the world for things like this. I'm not sure where, but there is a place.
There's something poetic about Japanese game shows
There's something poetic about Japanese game shows with overdubbed comments in German. Something very petically meta about the whole thing. I thought tv about tv was great, but foreign tv about foreign tv is better. This came from stile project (warning: not for the faint-hearted, think twice before surfing at work).
A Webring for WebLoggers
A Webring for WebLoggers by Jish for all of us. Lets face it, we all like having traffic to our sites, makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I joined and got plenty more hits on my site than I was getting before, its worth the time.
Show an R-rated film to kids, go to jail.
Show an R-rated film to kids, go to jail. Of course Channel 2 selects the raciest scene for their screengrab in the story, talk about your unbiased news reporting...
This one is for all of you who've gotten sick of the "Who Wants to Be a _______" mania or, worse, have the meme so entrenched in your psyches: Why not come out of the closet for cash and fabulous prizes? (Pointed out by schlyer of NeoFlux)
March 8
This iMac would be cool in 10 or 15 years.
This iMac would be cool in 10 or 15 years. Too bad nobody bidded on it.
e-publishing-wise, THIS is scary!
Mark your calendars: April 7th, 8th, and 9th.
Mark your calendars: April 7th, 8th, and 9th. Gas prices are getting too astronomically high up here in Alaska, which is retarded since most oil in the U.S. comes from Alaska (actually I don't know about "most", but I know "alot"), and I know that they're getting outrageous in the rest of the world too, so stage a "GAS OUT" (I hope you didn't get this emailed to you already... It actually was a spam I got. But it's a worthy spam if there ever was one) on those dates, to lower the prices. BUY NO GAS ON THOSE DATES! (Oh yeah, um... sorry I linked to my web site. I would've linked to another person's web site if I could find one that had information on the national gas out day, but I couldn't. Plus, my site wasn't getting enough traffic. Maybe if you guys would link to me for once. Sheesh :)
american prospect's demo[graph]ics: Whenever there's a dollop of election news that might tip the scales between liberalism and conservatism they plot the progress on an (admittedly unscientific) graph. Since TAP Online is unabashedly liberal, the line will edge up when candidates with liberal ideas score points (or conservatives stumble). When the conservatives strike a chord (or liberals get flummoxed), the line will point down. This feature is intended as a quirky measure of political strategy.
the annual 8 day orange throwing festival in italy is ending today. [BBC News real video report] -- great footage, they explain the bizarre tradition, show it, and show the aftermath [which includes some bloody injuries] -- if you saw a segment about this on bbc world news last week, this is the same.
Is Webloglog
Is Webloglog trying to snake m3tacubed's niche? Will I be forced to create a site that cherrypicks the best links from sites like weblognation just to stay ahead of the crowd at staying away from the content? Meta-Meta-Meta-Comedy is hard enough, I'm afraid that if I go one more level out I'll end up screwing up time-space continuum... Tacky-on.net? No? Trust me, you loved it next month.
The Corporatization of Weblogs Has Begun, it is decreed
The Corporatization of Weblogs Has Begun, it is decreed The current Editor & Publisher introduces blogging to its newspaper-editor audience and points out two blogs actually written by newspaper columnists. I do indeed agree that Weblogging is a viable new medium of expression for dead-tree media, and agree even more strongly that special-interest journalistic blogs are in desperate need. (I'm planning one myself, and wouldn't it be great to read dueling blogs on the same topic from rival newspapers?) I just worry that the column will have an illocutionary effect, i.e., it will cause something to happen just by uttering words, rather like "I now pronounce you married." In this case the words I worry about are "The corporatization of Weblogs has begun." I can hear Rushkoff griping about the good old days already. And I'd gripe along with him.
Three words: jjg is back
I'll believe this
I'll believe this when DoubleClick changes their darn policy. Sure, they've also recently said they'll postpone their new identifying database. How about to "never"?
Why, yes, I like being stupid,
Why, yes, I like being stupid, but now I don't have to be. How silly of me to have failed to recognize that the earth is a Time Cube, with four simultaneous days. (But if God were queer, I'd think this whole gay marriage rights mess would never have happened...)
Star Politics?
Star Politics? Wait until three months, when dubba-u releases the special edition, and edits out all the right ring courting he did.
March 7
Ouch! That must hurt,
Ouch! That must hurt, getting smacked in the noggin with a rose petal and all.
Noooooooooooooooooo!
Noooooooooooooooooo! Prop 22 looks to be passing in a landslide. I thought we were better than this (the Vote2000 site is a great resource though).
Oh. My. God. Microsoft continues to amaze me and all its users with increasingly alarming security vulnerabilities. The Office 2000 Clipart Gallery (clipart for chrissakes!!!) can compromise any Win95/98/NT/2000 machine with something as simple as an email message read in Outlook. Here's Microsoft's take on it, and their patch.
What a downer.
What a downer. Oh well, that was a fun 6 years or so.
I hope all the Californians that are reading this today have voted. There's a great site at CalVoter.org that features a page listing all the top financial backers of the propositions. There are some curious contributors in there, like why are oil companies and public utilities behind the "try gang kids as adults and put them in real prisions" prop? There's a few dot com millionaires on the No on 22 campaign, and obviously a lot of tobacco companies want to see the cigarette tax repealed.
Clerks: The Animated Series
Clerks: The Animated Series is coming to ABC in May (here's a preview in quicktime format). How far will ABC let slacking, smoking, cursing vandals go? Are they gunning for SouthPark? I can't imagine a watered-down version of Clerks being very funny at all, the whole point of Clerks the movie was the absurdity of the dialogue and jokes. Don't get me wrong, I used to be an über Kevin Smith fan, but I just can't imagine enjoying a kid-friendly version of the New Jersey universe.
March 6
Looks like Haptek
Looks like Haptek is going to give Ananova a run for her money. Haptek is working on a virtual newscaster. The difference is Ananova get's built on the server and streamed like a tv show. Haptek renders the character on your machine. Which is better? We'll see.
Vaccine linked to Autism?
Vaccine linked to Autism? Something every parent should know. I don't know if it's true or not, I mean it's not proven, but it is kind of scary.
Oh my, talk about your imperfect applications of technology. I'm searching for an image of one of those "Hello my name is..." badges for a little joke, so I tried out Lycos' image search engine. After about five pages into the search for images containing "hello", a porn image would pop up on almost every search page. "Hello" is a generic term, so there's pictures of babies and kids right next to some gnarly stuff. Here's an example of a kid and a hello kitty image juxtaposed between some interesting images. Here's another: doll, doll, people screwing each other's brains out, hello kitty mouse....
Live Motion BETA
Live Motion BETA by Adobe is open to the public. Looks like a nice tool.
Dilberito
One of the holy grails of the infosaturated overworking computer professionals like myself is a single food capable of giving all the nutrients you'd need for a meal, and be as easy as possible to prepare and eat. Some friends used to call this dream creation "food paste" or "foodstuff capsules" or most simply "fuel." I never thought my Jetsonian dream would ever come true, but now there's the Dilberito, with 100% of 23 vitamins and Jamba Juice's Smoothies. Why do I mention Jamba? Because I saw this poster in the SFO airport last night, and they even go so far as to answer the question "can I get too much Jamba?"
Did anyone catch the post-TV GUIDE AWARDS
Did anyone catch the post-TV GUIDE AWARDS interview with Amy Brenneman? This morning on the news they showed her talking about how she reads all the comments from the website, and how she is obsessively drawn to the 10% or so that are negative. Then she laughed, held up her award, and said "Screw You!" to the people who said negative things about her - only she didn't say "screw"... You seldom see people getting bleeped in non-music award show interviews.
He has more flair than Ralph Nader
He has more flair than Ralph Nader and he advocates lowering the voting age to five. How could you object to Jello Biafra for President?
Scary calculation of the day: I spend about $750/mo. on rent in LA, and while I was checking the price range on apartments in San Francisco, what I wanted was about $2500 per month. So in LA, I spend $9,000 per year on rent (actually it's half that, since I split it with my girlfriend), but in SF, it'd be $30,000 (!!!). For that cost, I could pay for a house in just a handful of years in any other state. Maybe Salon is right, or maybe they aren't.
History lesson time.
History lesson time. With all the Amazon patent hubbub, I thought it'd be nice to remind people that the same thing happened in the beginning of the automobile industry. (6th paragraph)
Let's hope history repeats itself again, and a few large corporations are put in cha . . oh wait.
Good God, does the Fuji Film website suck.
Good God, does the Fuji Film website suck. I run tall windows on my monitors, typically 700-800 pixels wide, but around a thousand pixels long, and over half my screen is blank on the Fuji site. Why on earth did they force everything to 500 pixels or so of height? I've never seen a consumer site like this do that before. The other peeve is I bought their smart media floppy adapter, and I wanted to know if there were new Windows2000 drivers for it (it came with Win9x drivers on one disk, and NT drivers on the other). Their support area only lists phone numbers of service centers, no mention of software driver downloads or knowledge bases, or even a FAQ about products. This company does *not* get the web, wake up Fuji Film, it's the 21st century now.
Big Ben passes this one on to me: New Yorker inane ad of the week. "It's worth it just for the modified 'monocled man' drawing," he says. And he is correct.
March 5
Finally, a site
Finally, a site that lets you send dog shit anonymously to anyone in the world, wrapped up in elegant packaging with a nice label affixed to it with the greeting of your choice. I'll be ordering the PooPoo Grande.
Move Our Money is an amazing organization (and site)
Move Our Money is an amazing organization (and site) that seeks to raise awareness of our continued military spending in the US. The site is interesting, especially the running tally at the top left showing how many dollars have been funneled to the pentagon during your session, and a chart that should amaze and possibly anger you. Good use of sideways scrolling there...
SiegeSoft
SiegeSoft is a company that makes an anonymous web browser for surfing sites without getting any cookies, without recording your IP address, and without leaving a trace of where you went on your browser. I don't know how much use this would be (besides, say, looking at porn sites at work or something), but the most amazing part of this is the programming was done by 15-year old and 16-year old kids, who are now worth at least $750,000.
I was thinking buying some new URLs, and I was suprised to see WebDork.com was not only taken, but the owner has a kind of cool site up. Hmm...I wonder if HTMLackey.com or SlaveToTheWeb.com is taken? If you're looking for good unused domains, check Grant's Domain Name of the Week page.
Folks, this one's not a joke.
Folks, this one's not a joke. The major software publishers are trying to make an end-run around the copyright laws. If this passes anywhere we're all potentially going to be bound by it. All they have to do is stick a clause in the license that says "This shall be governed by the laws of the state of Virginia."
They're also trying to make an end-run around the First Amendment. If this passes it will be illegal for you to write a review about any software package, or to reveal any information about bugs you find.
Finally, they're trying to make an end-run around property law. If it passes, you won't own the software you purchase, you'll be leasing it, and you won't be protected by state laws on commercial purchase.
They're also trying to make an end-run around the First Amendment. If this passes it will be illegal for you to write a review about any software package, or to reveal any information about bugs you find.
Finally, they're trying to make an end-run around property law. If it passes, you won't own the software you purchase, you'll be leasing it, and you won't be protected by state laws on commercial purchase.
March 4
Cat Detecto Software?
Cat Detecto Software? It's software that detects cat-typing then blocks keyboard input while emitting "a sound that annoys cats." I wonder if this could be modified to prevent co-workers from using my computer to browse porn while I'm at lunch...
One of the things I like best about the internet is the inherent asynchronousness of communication. I could never come up with a witty comeback about string theory off the top of my head.
Of course, before I was on the internet, I never had a reason to make a witty comeback about string theory...
[special thanks to Matt for his dictionary.com bookmarklet]
I bought 3 Quick Picks for the Lottery
I bought 3 Quick Picks for the Lottery this week, thinking that if there were any balance in the universe I'd be due for a big payoff...
If SuperLotto was High/Low, I'd have nailed it. I got one number. ONE. 5 number for lotto x 3 quick picks = 15 potential correct numbers. I got ONE.
On the upside, I'm still due. Touch me now, I'm jam packed full of luck potentiality...
March 3
A visual treat
A visual treat I thought was worth sharing. Presently I find myself partial to black and white. Found via coolstop, and if you're looking for something else great to pass the time this weekend try Run Lola Run--a great show.
Tim O'reilly weighs in
Tim O'reilly weighs in on Amazon.com's patent on one-click shopping and the movement to boycott Amazon.
MetaTalk is now live.
MetaTalk is now live. I've been talking about it for a while, and now it's here. The addition of it and the Changelog does crowd up the menus a bit more, but a redesign is in the works so consider this a temporary inconvenience
The Fox Family Channel
The Fox Family Channel is going to debut a Hello Kitty cartoon this weekend. Will it be cool in that kitschy girly-pop Sanrio sort of way, or will it just blow major chunks? The only person I know who really really loves Hello Kitty is Leslie, and I'm not even sure she has a tv.
Variety
Variety Should be posting the story any time now - Angelina Jolie just signed to do Tomb Raider. For all of you guys who have been waiting to put a human face to your digital fantasy, there it is.
[via KROQ Radio]
Holy Schnikies! Broadband video that doesn't look too bad.
Holy Schnikies! Broadband video that doesn't look too bad. I don't know what they're using for the tech behind this (besides some shockwave 7 and a plugin of their own design), but the video is compression-free and clear (well, if you ignore the stupid scanlines). If you're on a fast line, by all means check it out, pretty amazing stuff (now they just need to stream some good content, like the simpsons :).
Harry Potter and the Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Harry Potter and the Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Via obscurestore. I think it bears repeating. Also, I'm hoping to spark Eggers-related conversation and link-posting. My obsession knows no bounds. Oh, and -- what was this all about, again? -- the book's good, too.
Nannybots and mailing lists don't mix
Nannybots and mailing lists don't mix - especially nannybots that have gone insane!
Derision 2000 (Y2Komedy Department)
Derision 2000 (Y2Komedy Department)
The best thing about this satiric "secret memo" from the Dubya campaign is the date at the top of it: February 29, 1990. A Slate story, so obviously written with MS Word...
The best thing about this satiric "secret memo" from the Dubya campaign is the date at the top of it: February 29, 1990. A Slate story, so obviously written with MS Word...
I found these FUTURE JOES
I found these FUTURE JOES (GI Joe 2010 series) while following a link from Rebecca Blood's site for the Navajo Code Talker GI Joes. Perhaps it's showing my age, but I really want one. Of course, I also want some of the Nisei soldiers so that I can reenact those POW camp scenarios that I used to subject my GI Joe to as a kid. I know where the bodies are buried.
Hey, how come The Grim Reaper Site didn't have questions about GI Joe?
Was your GI Joe a) home on leave when you were concieved b) 12" c) 12" with lifelike hair and beard and realistic scar d) 12" with Kung Fu Grip e) really an Action Man f) a little pussy 3" action figure g) $50 and from the "Collectible Collection"? h) dolls are for girls.
Slashdot has an interview up with Chris Lehmann,
Slashdot has an interview up with Chris Lehmann, a good friend of mine that teaches High School in New York. Chris somehow has managed to marry hyper-energy, geekiness, and a Stand By Me teaching attitude to make Beacon a great example of how public school can still work. Chris rocks. You should tell him so.
5k gets wired
5k gets wired the .ultimate design kontest gets notived by wired.
the result is a comment by a despaired jason...
Hey, man, don't be too sad, there is far too much good webdesigners that will compete already :)
i just can't think of the shame i would have experienced after watching veen's, jason's, alice's... or granp-pa Zeldie's entries.
What makes me wonder is :: can k10k's team win ? i'm curious to see what they can do with accessibilty and low-fat in mind, it would definitely bury the 'ala affair' that made some hot-talks weeks ago in some dark areas of the web.
another interrogation, will judges be cruel enougth to view them through some funky toy...
the result is a comment by a despaired jason...
Hey, man, don't be too sad, there is far too much good webdesigners that will compete already :)
i just can't think of the shame i would have experienced after watching veen's, jason's, alice's... or granp-pa Zeldie's entries.
What makes me wonder is :: can k10k's team win ? i'm curious to see what they can do with accessibilty and low-fat in mind, it would definitely bury the 'ala affair' that made some hot-talks weeks ago in some dark areas of the web.
another interrogation, will judges be cruel enougth to view them through some funky toy...
Camille Paglia
Camille Paglia in full flow at Salon:
"In the three weeks since my last column, Hillary Rodham Clinton has been up hill and down dale, beating the bushes in upstate New York to try to convince someone somewhere that she is a woman of substance rather than a raisin-eyed, carrot-nosed, twig-armed, straw-stuffed mannequin trundled in on a go-cart by the mentally bereft powerbrokers of the state Democratic Party."
March 2
The new google bookmarklets are amazingly simple and useful. I've been wanting to do something like this for a while, and after seeing them, I decided to rework the code to make the web-based spellchecker I always wanted. If you bookmark this:
Dictionary.com bookmarklet, highlight a word on a web page, and hit the bookmark for it, it will load that word into dictionary.com's site. It's IE-only, but I'll redo the Netscape one too.
Sad but True.
Sad but True. For me its a toss up between Hessian #5's vulnerable charm, and Hessian #6's straight-forward honesty.
While we're still mulling over possible country-wide internet taxes in the states, the European Union is proposing a digital sales tax on any downloads of music, software, or videos from outside the Europe. It's just a proposal though, we'll have to wait and see if it actually goes through.
Irony King and Staggering Genius Dave Eggers
Irony King and Staggering Genius Dave Eggers after reading from his book to a banjo and spoons accompaniment, talking about elephant art, and having panties thrown at him [no, I am not joking, though I suspect a publicity stunt by our local hipster newspaper] revealed what some may have already known: that he is the voice behind McSweeneys favorite, Lucy Thomas!
The Trib article says he's buried the link to her articles, but I've tracked it down in all its resplendent glory.
Quitting? Again?
Quitting? Again? Here's an interesting interview with Robert Smith, full of contradictions as usual. The most interesting part is the supposed trilogy of Pornography, Disintegration, and their newest album, Bloodflowers.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the web.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the web. Now it turns out that the damned ad companies can inadvertantly learn a LOT about you that you didn't realize you were telling them.
You know, I'm really glad I use AtGuard and have closed off DoubleClick and FocaLink and all those other guys in my firewall by blocking their IPs. (It's now part of the Norton Internet Security 2000 package, and I recommend it highly.)
From me, they learn nothing because they never even see the requests.
Silly Putty turns 50.
Silly Putty turns 50. I suspect I'm older than most of you, and I grew up with Silly Putty, "The toy with only one moving part".
Indie Planet
Indie Planet 's design is impressive, though a little overbearing and CPU-intensive (and somehow, "next page" takes me to the "top of the page"). Its humor section features some McSweeney's writers, including Neal Pollack, who I learned to love from his work at the Chicago Reader.
The site launches next week, and I'm not sure who is behind or what exactly its motives are. Its manifesto says it's all about "freethinking individuals," but since creating a "storefront" is giving the same weight as creating a "home page," I guess it's more about "selling" "stuff." How indie.
The site launches next week, and I'm not sure who is behind or what exactly its motives are. Its manifesto says it's all about "freethinking individuals," but since creating a "storefront" is giving the same weight as creating a "home page," I guess it's more about "selling" "stuff." How indie.
March 1
Phallic sandstorm leaving Europe, headed for US.
Phallic sandstorm leaving Europe, headed for US. More news at 11.
Stickin' it to the man
Stickin' it to the man has just been made easier, thanks to the wonderful Internet. This PR dude's site TellThemNow.com is basically going to act as an anonymous gateway to industry movers and shakers... letting you tell them exactly how you feel. Kickass. Someone tell Ev to get his Dell gripe ready. :)
You couldn't plan a funnier headline than this.
You couldn't plan a funnier headline than this. This is another keeper quote "[one of the employees] said she resented being treated like a sexual object." Treated like a sexual object in a strip club? Who would have thought that'd happen? I'm sorry, I'm all for worker's rights, but in a strip club? You gotta draw the line somewhere.
Not even canines
Not even canines are safe from road rage. God I hate San Jose. Even if the guy's from Virginia, there's just something about this place that turns people into monsters, and not the good kind like mummies and werewolves.
Much in the spirit of the ASCII Star Wars site, Neale over at wetlog has unveiled an short ASCII version of American Beauty (when is the academy going to finally recognize the brilliant work of ASCII illustrators everywhere?). He's also running a contest for players of The Sims. I've been thinking about getting this game since I first saw it, but Neale's contest is enough to push me over the edge and actually buy it. I'd like to try getting my Sims to perform either Magnolia or The Ice Storm.
I think ICANN, I think ICANN...
I think ICANN, I think ICANN...
I'm one of 2600 North Americanskis to apply for an "@large" membership in the first 5 days (but they're using snail mail to send me a PIN number I need to access memberstuff in addition to a password they e-mailed me... )
Will joining give me a chance to get my voice heard? Or a feeling of webgeek belonging? Or just something to put on the resume to impress the internet-clueless?
Is this an example of (cliche #1)"keeping your friends close and your enemies closer"? Or (cliche #2) "I wouldn't want to join any club that would have me as a member"? Do I have any idea what I'm talking about?
I'm one of 2600 North Americanskis to apply for an "@large" membership in the first 5 days (but they're using snail mail to send me a PIN number I need to access memberstuff in addition to a password they e-mailed me... )
Will joining give me a chance to get my voice heard? Or a feeling of webgeek belonging? Or just something to put on the resume to impress the internet-clueless?
Is this an example of (cliche #1)"keeping your friends close and your enemies closer"? Or (cliche #2) "I wouldn't want to join any club that would have me as a member"? Do I have any idea what I'm talking about?
Whoa! Computer consultants working hourly or as temp workers in California are now required by law to be paid overtime when working more than 8 hours per day. This is good news for workers, but I'm sure businesses will find a loophole soon.
What can you do with 5120 bytes?
What can you do with 5120 bytes? syllage.com is giving away 5120 pennies for the most clever, original and functional answer. (And hey, some of those judges sure look familiar.)