December 30, 2003
Ditto
Hmmm, metamanda says:
Goonley and I are going to try to googlebomb CShell with the phrase "pervy man fancier".whatever could she be trying?
December 29, 2003
At least we know Fox News is corrupt
... unlike popular syndicate conservative columnists (Will and Buckley) who take the money and run.
- Salon.com | Joe Conason's Journal
- Op-Ed Columnist: Citizen Conrad
(via Silicon Valley - Dan Gillmor's eJournal)
December 28, 2003
Japan is still cool
Finally, an empire that a nation can build that doesn't cause death and destruction. Instead, it causes the mass proliferation of cute things.
- Japan's Empire of Cool
December 20, 2003
Gay Marriage
American Family Association has this wonderful poll on gay marriage. Lets show them what people really think.Stolen from Metamanda-tosh
December 17, 2003
Elf sex.
This came up while we were watching LOTR last night. via Metafilter, here is Tolkien's official stance on elf sex.
December 14, 2003
Ever wonder what Strom Thurmond would look like if he were a black woman?
In the ironic endings category, it turns out that Strom Thurmond probably had a daughter by a black woman. The alleged daughter is willing to submit DNA tests, but a look at her picture says it all. Her mother was a maid for Thurmond, and she would have been born when Thurmond was 29.
- Woman Claims Thurmond As Father (washingtonpost.com)
December 12, 2003
Computer security blog
ATAC: Abusable Technologies Awareness Center
BoingBoing posted a link to a computer security blog. One of the contributers cought my eye. Matt Bishop was the professor I took my last CS class. He was also the professor I talked to about leaving school just before I did.
That ATAC blog seems very interesting. This article interested me the most: Connectivity and critical systems
Followed by this one:
Face Recognition and False Positives
December 10, 2003
Beacon on the hill
Here's the choices:
1) Support a non-binding referendum in Taiwan that requests that China not point its missiles at Taiwan and renounce the use of force.
2) Support threats of force against Taiwan if such a vote does go through.
3) Make empty statements, wave hands around and publicly do nothing.
If you were a previous president, you probably would have chosen (3). Our current president, spreader of democracy that he is, chose (2).
Mr. Bush's Kowtow (washingtonpost.com)
Scientists have proven the location of the male brain
Canadien psychologists just performed a study that men, who were otherwise able to make rational choices, made irrational decisions involving money after being show pictures from Hot or Not. The degree of irrationality was correlated with the woman's ranking on Hot or Not, with the men selecting immediate rewards rather than a more favorable long-term reward. Women were unaffected when shown pictures of attractive men. Legolas disagrees.
New Scientist: Pretty women scramble men's ability to assess the future
(via Ars Technica: The PC enthusiast's resource)
December 09, 2003
Virginia?
Virginia off all places just had a 4.5 earthquake. Good thing we're safe here in California.
Temblor Felt in Washington Area (washingtonpost.com)
A commentary on the incidence of autism among engineers? An indictment of gender ratios in CS? A critique of social skills among the engineering class?
Thanks to heerforce/lederer for the great post.
December 05, 2003
Virginia, there is no Santa
You Better Watch Out: The Hazards of the Season (washingtonpost.com)
The state of Virginia this past summer adopted new fire codes that prohibit certain apartment dwellers from possessing a freshly cut Christmas tree. The rationale is that, in buildings without sprinkler systems, dried-out Christmas trees can become lethal. A fir so easily becomes a fire.
Naturally the new codes, when publicized this week, triggered widespread hysteria and protests. Some state and local fire officials responded by saying they wouldn't enforce the ban.
That would be tragic, because, in addition to building roads and schools and waging the occasional war in a distant land, the obligation of the government is to protect citizens from freak accidents that kill a handful of people every year in a country of 280 million. This new law should be the catalyst for a sweeping crackdown on all the hazards that make Christmas notorious as the season of misery and death.
Are you fit for slaughter?
Yahoo! News - 'Gentleman' Cannibal Poses Legal Dilemma
Meiwes, 42, described by his lawyer as a "gentleman of the old school," has confessed to killing a Berlin man who answered an advertisement he had posted on the Internet seeking a fit man "for slaughter."
They met in Meiwes's elegant half-timbered home in the town of Rotenburg, central Germany, in March 2001. Meiwes killed the man, named only as Bernd-Juergen B., with a kitchen knife and filmed the deed on video tape which may be shown at the trial.
Meiwes's lawyer Harald Ermel said it took the victim nearly 10 hours to bleed to death and that he had repeatedly urged Meiwes to keep on cutting him.
Meiwes cut up the body and stored parts in his freezer. "He believes he ate about 20 kilograms and there were about 10 kilograms left over," said Ermel.
"He defrosted it little by little and ate it."
It seems strange that someone would volunteer to be slaughtered and eaten. The weirder thing is people were rejected from the process.
Job Horror stories...
Sleeping on toilets, handing out frozen soup, and paying drycleaning bills for drips of coffee. If you think you have it bad just wait 'till you read these.
December 04, 2003
Moving to australia?
NEWS.com.au | Can't afford a unit? Buy a warship (December 5, 2003)
It commands 360 degree water views, has six bath and shower rooms and the potential to sleep 17 at a pinch.
Food is only a fishing line's throw away and if the neighbours get a little rowdy then simply open up the 540 horsepower motor and move on.
The cost is likely to be anything from $200,000 to $500,000.
Well Meta, its not an aircraft carrier but will it do?
December 03, 2003
Make 10G easy
CNN.com - Cops bust human kidney trafficking ring - Dec. 2, 2003
(via fark)
The headline is better than the article
CNN.com - Seven-year-old boy corrects Bush - Dec. 3, 2003
December 02, 2003
Mia noi
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Thai MPs protest mistress ban
(via Dave Barry)
Segway robots...
Pentagon Explores Using Segways in Battle
It's called the Segway Human Transporter, but the Pentagon is drafting the two-wheeled scooter as part of a plan to develop battlefield robots that think on their own and communicate with troops.
Maybe this will save Segway, the most overhyped scooter since the Razor Scooter.