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Wednesday, May 31, 2006Left Behind: The Video Game Putting the fun back into fundamentalism.
Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is "to conduct physical and spiritual warfare"; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice. You have never felt so powerful, so driven by a purpose: you are 13 years old. You are playing a real-time strategy video game whose creators are linked to the empire of mega-church pastor Rick Warren, best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life.
(via Backwards City)Left Behind: The Video GamePutting the fun back into fundamentalism.
Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is "to conduct physical and spiritual warfare"; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice. You have never felt so powerful, so driven by a purpose: you are 13 years old. You are playing a real-time strategy video game whose creators are linked to the empire of mega-church pastor Rick Warren, best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life.
(via Backwards City)Bootleg Snakes on a Plane TrailerSomebody uploaded a bootleg of the Snakes on a Plane Trailer to YouTube. Bootleg Snakes on a Plane TrailerSomebody uploaded a bootleg of the Snakes on a Plane Trailer to YouTube. Water Over a Bridge
This is a channel-bridge over the River Elbe and joins the former East and West Germany, as part of the unification project. It is located in the city of Magdeburg, near Berlin. The photo was taken on the day of inauguration.
(via Digg)Water Over a Bridge
This is a channel-bridge over the River Elbe and joins the former East and West Germany, as part of the unification project. It is located in the city of Magdeburg, near Berlin. The photo was taken on the day of inauguration.
(via Digg)How To Set Up an Offshore Bank AccountFrom Ask Men:
If you’re a U.S. citizen, it’s not illegal per se to open an offshore account. If the underlying reason, however, for setting up the account is an illegal act, you might be keeping your money safe, but you could still be in hot water. For example, if you’re accused of tax evasion and you’ve sent the funds abroad, you could still face criminal charges here. The offshore bank account, however, may remain free from the long arm of the law.
(via Geekpress)How To Set Up an Offshore Bank AccountFrom Ask Men:
If you’re a U.S. citizen, it’s not illegal per se to open an offshore account. If the underlying reason, however, for setting up the account is an illegal act, you might be keeping your money safe, but you could still be in hot water. For example, if you’re accused of tax evasion and you’ve sent the funds abroad, you could still face criminal charges here. The offshore bank account, however, may remain free from the long arm of the law.
(via Geekpress)Tuesday, May 30, 2006Pyramid Cam
The camera is located at the SIAG Pyramids Hotel in Giza, about 1.5 kilometers ENE of the Pyramids Plateau. It is placed at the highest point in the area and is over 200 feet above street level. This affords us the best possible view of the Pyramids looking from east to west into the sunset. If we were any closer, it would be difficult to take in the entire plateau in one image. If we were farther away, images would be degraded as a result of the intervening haze.
(via The Bog Brush)Pyramid Cam
The camera is located at the SIAG Pyramids Hotel in Giza, about 1.5 kilometers ENE of the Pyramids Plateau. It is placed at the highest point in the area and is over 200 feet above street level. This affords us the best possible view of the Pyramids looking from east to west into the sunset. If we were any closer, it would be difficult to take in the entire plateau in one image. If we were farther away, images would be degraded as a result of the intervening haze.
(via The Bog Brush)Monday, May 29, 2006Ghost Ship With 11 Petrified Corpses Washes Up in Barbados From The Guardian:
The white ghost ship rolled in the Atlantic swell as the rescue boats approached it 70 nautical miles off Ragged Point, one of the most easterly places on the Caribbean island of Barbados.
The yacht was unmarked, 6 metres (20ft) long, and when Barbadian coastguard officers boarded it, they made a gruesome find. The boat's phantom crew was made up of the desiccated corpses of 11 young men, huddled in two separate piles in the small cabin. Dressed in shorts and colourful jerseys, they had been partially petrified by the salt water, sun and sea breezes of the Atlantic Ocean. They appeared to have come from far away. Ghost Ship With 11 Petrified Corpses Washes Up in BarbadosFrom The Guardian:
The white ghost ship rolled in the Atlantic swell as the rescue boats approached it 70 nautical miles off Ragged Point, one of the most easterly places on the Caribbean island of Barbados.
The yacht was unmarked, 6 metres (20ft) long, and when Barbadian coastguard officers boarded it, they made a gruesome find. The boat's phantom crew was made up of the desiccated corpses of 11 young men, huddled in two separate piles in the small cabin. Dressed in shorts and colourful jerseys, they had been partially petrified by the salt water, sun and sea breezes of the Atlantic Ocean. They appeared to have come from far away. Impeachment?I wish this guy was a bit more clear on how he feels about the Bush administration.
I don’t know about you guys, but I am so sick and tired of these lying, thieving, holier-than-thou, rightwing, cruel, crude, rude, gauche, coarse, crass, cocky, corrupt, dishonest, debauched, degenerate, dissolute, swaggering, lawyer shooting, bullhorn shouting, infra-structure destroying, buck passing, hysterical, criminal, history defying, finger pointing, puppy stomping, roommate appointing, pretzel choking, collateral damaging, aspersion casting, wedding party bombing, clearcutting, torturing, jobs outsourcing, torture out-sourcing, election fixing, women’s rights eradicating, Medicare cutting, uncouth, spiteful, boorish, vengeful, jingoistic, homophobic, xenophobic, xylophonic, racist, sexist, ageist, fascist, cashist, audaciously stupid, brazenly selfish, lethally ignorant, journalist purchasing, genocide ignoring, corporation kissing, poverty inducing, crooked, coercive, autocratic, primitive, uppity, high-handed, domineering.....
(Thanks PVC)Impeachment?I wish this guy was a bit more clear on how he feels about the Bush administration.
I don’t know about you guys, but I am so sick and tired of these lying, thieving, holier-than-thou, rightwing, cruel, crude, rude, gauche, coarse, crass, cocky, corrupt, dishonest, debauched, degenerate, dissolute, swaggering, lawyer shooting, bullhorn shouting, infra-structure destroying, buck passing, hysterical, criminal, history defying, finger pointing, puppy stomping, roommate appointing, pretzel choking, collateral damaging, aspersion casting, wedding party bombing, clearcutting, torturing, jobs outsourcing, torture out-sourcing, election fixing, women’s rights eradicating, Medicare cutting, uncouth, spiteful, boorish, vengeful, jingoistic, homophobic, xenophobic, xylophonic, racist, sexist, ageist, fascist, cashist, audaciously stupid, brazenly selfish, lethally ignorant, journalist purchasing, genocide ignoring, corporation kissing, poverty inducing, crooked, coercive, autocratic, primitive, uppity, high-handed, domineering.....
(Thanks PVC)Sunday, May 28, 2006Pope asks why God was silent at AuschwitzFrom Yahoo! News:
Rain fell sporadically over Auschwitz until the main ceremony, when the skies cleared and a rainbow appeared.
Hmmmm, yes, I wonder..........Benedict said it was almost impossible, particularly for a German Pope, to speak at such a horrible place. "The place where we are standing is a place of memory and at the same time, it is the place of the Shoah," he said. "In a place like this, words fail. In the end, there can only be a dread silence, a silence which is a heartfelt cry to God -- Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?" "Where was God in those days? Why was he silent? How could he permit this endless slaughter, this triumph of evil?" Pope asks why God was silent at AuschwitzFrom Yahoo! News:
Rain fell sporadically over Auschwitz until the main ceremony, when the skies cleared and a rainbow appeared.
Hmmmm, yes, I wonder..........Benedict said it was almost impossible, particularly for a German Pope, to speak at such a horrible place. "The place where we are standing is a place of memory and at the same time, it is the place of the Shoah," he said. "In a place like this, words fail. In the end, there can only be a dread silence, a silence which is a heartfelt cry to God -- Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?" "Where was God in those days? Why was he silent? How could he permit this endless slaughter, this triumph of evil?" Top 10 Signs of the Impending U.S. Police StateSigh.
From secret detention centers to warrantless wiretapping, Bush and Co. give free rein to their totalitarian impulses.
Top 10 Signs of the Impending U.S. Police StateSigh.
From secret detention centers to warrantless wiretapping, Bush and Co. give free rein to their totalitarian impulses.
Vasili Alexandrovich ArkhipovAnother Russian who saved the world.
Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov was a Soviet naval officer. On October 27, 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a group of 11 United States Navy destroyers headed by the aircraft carrier USS Randolph entrapped a nuclear-armed Soviet Foxtrot class submarine B-59 near Cuba and started dropping depth charges. Allegedly, the captain of the submarine, Valentin Grigorievitch Savitsky, believing that a war might already have started, prepared to launch a retaliatory nuclear-tipped torpedo.
(Thanks PVC)Three officers on board the submarine - Savitsky, Political Officer Ivan Semonovich Maslennikov, and Commander Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov - were entitled to launch the torpedo if they agreed unanimously in favour of doing so. An argument broke out between the three, in which only Arkhipov was against making the attack, eventually persuading Savitsky to surface the submarine and await orders from Moscow. The nuclear war which presumably would have ensued was thus averted. Vasili Alexandrovich ArkhipovAnother Russian who saved the world.
Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov was a Soviet naval officer. On October 27, 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a group of 11 United States Navy destroyers headed by the aircraft carrier USS Randolph entrapped a nuclear-armed Soviet Foxtrot class submarine B-59 near Cuba and started dropping depth charges. Allegedly, the captain of the submarine, Valentin Grigorievitch Savitsky, believing that a war might already have started, prepared to launch a retaliatory nuclear-tipped torpedo.
(Thanks PVC)Three officers on board the submarine - Savitsky, Political Officer Ivan Semonovich Maslennikov, and Commander Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov - were entitled to launch the torpedo if they agreed unanimously in favour of doing so. An argument broke out between the three, in which only Arkhipov was against making the attack, eventually persuading Savitsky to surface the submarine and await orders from Moscow. The nuclear war which presumably would have ensued was thus averted. The 25 Worst Tech Products of All TimeI would have placed Real Player above AOL. The reasoning is that I can avoid AOL but every once in a while I have to use Real Player.(Thanks PVC) The 25 Worst Tech Products of All TimeI would have placed Real Player above AOL. The reasoning is that I can avoid AOL but every once in a while I have to use Real Player.(Thanks PVC) Tennessee Police Caught Torturing Drug SuspectI could only listen to a few minutes of this before turning it off in disgust.
When Tennessee law enforcement officials showed up at the home of Lester Siler, who they suspected of drug use, they asked Lester's wife and son to leave. They didn't know that Lester's wife had turned on a tape recorder in the kitchen. When Lester exercised his constitutional right not to sign a consent to search his house, these officers spent the next two hours torturing him. They beat him with bats and guns, held loaded guns to his head, threatened to shoot him, dunked his head in the toilet, burned him with lighters, attached his testicles to a battery charger, threatened to cut off his fingers, and threatened to "go get" his wife and take his child away from him. Then they arrested him for "evading arrest".
Here is a news story from WBIR.com about the eventual arrest and conviction of the officers.(via Monkeyfilter) Tennessee Police Caught Torturing Drug SuspectI could only listen to a few minutes of this before turning it off in disgust.
When Tennessee law enforcement officials showed up at the home of Lester Siler, who they suspected of drug use, they asked Lester's wife and son to leave. They didn't know that Lester's wife had turned on a tape recorder in the kitchen. When Lester exercised his constitutional right not to sign a consent to search his house, these officers spent the next two hours torturing him. They beat him with bats and guns, held loaded guns to his head, threatened to shoot him, dunked his head in the toilet, burned him with lighters, attached his testicles to a battery charger, threatened to cut off his fingers, and threatened to "go get" his wife and take his child away from him. Then they arrested him for "evading arrest".
Here is a news story from WBIR.com about the eventual arrest and conviction of the officers.(via Monkeyfilter) Thursday, May 25, 2006Closed for the Weekend I'm taking a few days off for my birthday tomorrow (32!) and Memorial day so I'll see everybody sometime next week. Closed for the WeekendI'm taking a few days off for my birthday tomorrow (32!) and Memorial day so I'll see everybody sometime next week. Levitating the Pentagon I thought I was done posting for the weekend until PVC sent me this link dealing with hippies trying to levitate the pentagon during a peace rally.
After the speeches, about 50,000 people set off for the Pentagon. It took them about an hour and a half to walk two miles across the Memorial Bridge and down a service road to the north parking lot where a second rally was scheduled.
At the other end a group of hippies was trying to exorcize the Pentagon. The brainchild of Abbie Hoffman, the plan was for people to sing and chant until it levitated and turned orange, driving out the evil spirits and ending the war in Viet Nam. The Pentagon didn't move.
(Thanks PVC!)Levitating the PentagonI thought I was done posting for the weekend until PVC sent me this link dealing with hippies trying to levitate the pentagon during a peace rally.
After the speeches, about 50,000 people set off for the Pentagon. It took them about an hour and a half to walk two miles across the Memorial Bridge and down a service road to the north parking lot where a second rally was scheduled.
At the other end a group of hippies was trying to exorcize the Pentagon. The brainchild of Abbie Hoffman, the plan was for people to sing and chant until it levitated and turned orange, driving out the evil spirits and ending the war in Viet Nam. The Pentagon didn't move.
(Thanks PVC!)Congress Bars Military Funeral Protesters From Yahoo! News:
WASHINGTON - Demonstrators would be barred from disrupting military funerals at national cemeteries under legislation approved by Congress and sent to the White House Wednesday
The most challenging part about freedom of speech is giving voice to people whose opinions you might find deplorable or even just down right sickening. Phelps and his clan of inbred mutant ninja turtles, otherwise known as the Westboro Baptist Church, are a textbook example of this. I disagree with everything that his group stands for, but I disagree with the government banning him from demonstrating even more.The measure, passed by voice vote in the House hours after the Senate passed an amended version, specifically targets a Kansas church group that has staged protests at military funerals around the country, claiming that the deaths were a sign of God's anger at U.S. tolerance of homosexuals. The act "will protect the sanctity of all 122 of our national cemeteries as shrines to their gallant dead," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said prior to the Senate vote. "It's a sad but necessary measure to protect what should be recognized by all reasonable people as a solemn, private and deeply sacred occasion," he said. I'm curious as to what others think on this issue. Congress Bars Military Funeral ProtestersFrom Yahoo! News:
WASHINGTON - Demonstrators would be barred from disrupting military funerals at national cemeteries under legislation approved by Congress and sent to the White House Wednesday
The most challenging part about freedom of speech is giving voice to people whose opinions you might find deplorable or even just down right sickening. Phelps and his clan of inbred mutant ninja turtles, otherwise known as the Westboro Baptist Church, are a textbook example of this. I disagree with everything that his group stands for, but I disagree with the government banning him from demonstrating even more.The measure, passed by voice vote in the House hours after the Senate passed an amended version, specifically targets a Kansas church group that has staged protests at military funerals around the country, claiming that the deaths were a sign of God's anger at U.S. tolerance of homosexuals. The act "will protect the sanctity of all 122 of our national cemeteries as shrines to their gallant dead," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said prior to the Senate vote. "It's a sad but necessary measure to protect what should be recognized by all reasonable people as a solemn, private and deeply sacred occasion," he said. I'm curious as to what others think on this issue. Wednesday, May 24, 2006Tom DeLay Turns to Conservative Broadcaster for Defense
Although somebody may want to tell him that Colbert is lampooning conservative broadcasters.
A good sign that Tom DeLay doesn’t have the facts on his side: the top source for his latest defense against his critics is Stephen Colbert.
This morning, DeLay’s legal defense fund sent out a mass email criticizing the movie “The Big Buy: Tom DeLay’s Stolen Congress,” by “Outfoxed” creator Robert Greenwald. The email features a “one-pager on the truth behind Liberal Hollywood’s the Big Buy,” and the lead item is Colbert’s interview with Greenwald on Comedy Central (where Colbert plays a faux-conservative, O’Reilly-esque character). Tom DeLay Turns to Conservative Broadcaster for Defense
Although somebody may want to tell him that Colbert is lampooning conservative broadcasters.
A good sign that Tom DeLay doesn’t have the facts on his side: the top source for his latest defense against his critics is Stephen Colbert.
This morning, DeLay’s legal defense fund sent out a mass email criticizing the movie “The Big Buy: Tom DeLay’s Stolen Congress,” by “Outfoxed” creator Robert Greenwald. The email features a “one-pager on the truth behind Liberal Hollywood’s the Big Buy,” and the lead item is Colbert’s interview with Greenwald on Comedy Central (where Colbert plays a faux-conservative, O’Reilly-esque character). Tuesday, May 23, 2006Suicide Notes
These suicide notes were gathered at the coroners' offices by a suicidologist/psychiatrist who asked to be anonymous. He edited identifying details out of the compiled manuscript, and we changed the names. But the text of each letter plus the age and sex given are real. All these people did kill themselves. Were they ambivalent about it? About half the hundred or so letters we saw seemed to have some element of doubt.
Here is a heart wrenching one from a 40 year old married man to his son:
Jimmy!
(via del.icio.us/punktab)Remember what I told you and always respect, protect and obey your mother and always remember that I love you so much. I am going to leave you forever because I am too sick to go on. God bless you my Son and when your time comes to go to Heaven you will find your ole Pappy waiting for you. Daddy Suicide Notes
These suicide notes were gathered at the coroners' offices by a suicidologist/psychiatrist who asked to be anonymous. He edited identifying details out of the compiled manuscript, and we changed the names. But the text of each letter plus the age and sex given are real. All these people did kill themselves. Were they ambivalent about it? About half the hundred or so letters we saw seemed to have some element of doubt.
Here is a heart wrenching one from a 40 year old married man to his son:
Jimmy!
(via del.icio.us/punktab)Remember what I told you and always respect, protect and obey your mother and always remember that I love you so much. I am going to leave you forever because I am too sick to go on. God bless you my Son and when your time comes to go to Heaven you will find your ole Pappy waiting for you. Daddy So I Nearly Got Killed Today Holy shit!
My neighbor accidentally put a .44 Magnum round though my wall. It missed my head by three inches. It started in his bathroom, went through the mirror, went through the closet on the other side, blew through that closet door, traveled across his hallway, blew through our common wall, richocheted upward off my computer desk, and lodged in the doorframe.
(via Metafilter)So I Nearly Got Killed TodayHoly shit!
My neighbor accidentally put a .44 Magnum round though my wall. It missed my head by three inches. It started in his bathroom, went through the mirror, went through the closet on the other side, blew through that closet door, traveled across his hallway, blew through our common wall, richocheted upward off my computer desk, and lodged in the doorframe.
(via Metafilter)Top 50 Places to Have a Beer in AmericaI can't stand the stuff so this link is entirely for my beer drinking readers. Savages.Top 50 Places to Have a Beer in AmericaI can't stand the stuff so this link is entirely for my beer drinking readers. Savages.American GulagThe Agitator takes a look at the new data released about the increasing prison population and posts some stats about the War on Drugs.
According to new data from the U.S. Department of Justice, one in 136 Americans is behind bars today, including an astounding 12 percent of all black men between the ages of 25 and 29. The United States represents 4.6 percent of the world's population, but houses nearly 23 percent of humanity's prison population. Certainly, part of this is likely due to politicians' unfortunate habit of addressing every social problem with a new law, but much of it is due to our ever-more-draconian drug laws. A few more statistics to chew on from the latest edition of Drug War Facts, published by Common Sense for Drug Policy:
American GulagThe Agitator takes a look at the new data released about the increasing prison population and posts some stats about the War on Drugs.
According to new data from the U.S. Department of Justice, one in 136 Americans is behind bars today, including an astounding 12 percent of all black men between the ages of 25 and 29. The United States represents 4.6 percent of the world's population, but houses nearly 23 percent of humanity's prison population. Certainly, part of this is likely due to politicians' unfortunate habit of addressing every social problem with a new law, but much of it is due to our ever-more-draconian drug laws. A few more statistics to chew on from the latest edition of Drug War Facts, published by Common Sense for Drug Policy:
Laser Scissors
Laser Scissors You can cut a straight line! Just aim the pin-point laser and follow the line. No marking, no crooked cuts. Metal, 8 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 1".
(via Make:Blog)Laser Scissors
Laser Scissors You can cut a straight line! Just aim the pin-point laser and follow the line. No marking, no crooked cuts. Metal, 8 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 1".
(via Make:Blog)List of Fictional ExpletivesWikipedia's list of fictional expletives, mostly from sci-fi/fantasy works.List of Fictional ExpletivesWikipedia's list of fictional expletives, mostly from sci-fi/fantasy works.Monday, May 22, 2006Arthur C. Clarke's Extraterrestrial RelaysI've heard about Clarke's paper a million times but have never actually seen it nor read it until now.
Here is the fac-simile of the paper published by Arthur C. Clarke where he lay down the principles of the satellite communication with satellites in geostationary orbits. (Wireless World, October 1945, pages 305-308)
Arthur C. Clarke's Extraterrestrial RelaysI've heard about Clarke's paper a million times but have never actually seen it nor read it until now.
Here is the fac-simile of the paper published by Arthur C. Clarke where he lay down the principles of the satellite communication with satellites in geostationary orbits. (Wireless World, October 1945, pages 305-308)
B25 Airplane Pulled Out From Lake Murray
Recently, there has been some big hype going on in the small county of Lexington. Lake Murray is home to the island called "Bomb Island" where the air force used to do test bombing runs and assorted other activities, leaving many pieces of history to be found.. Like this B25(EDIT: thanks for the clear up) bomber. A private collector organized this retrieval of the plane and plans on preserving it at a state university or something like that.
(via Digg)B25 Airplane Pulled Out From Lake Murray
Recently, there has been some big hype going on in the small county of Lexington. Lake Murray is home to the island called "Bomb Island" where the air force used to do test bombing runs and assorted other activities, leaving many pieces of history to be found.. Like this B25(EDIT: thanks for the clear up) bomber. A private collector organized this retrieval of the plane and plans on preserving it at a state university or something like that.
(via Digg)Sunday, May 21, 2006Mister Rogers Testifying Before Congress in 1969
Fascinating clip.
This is an video clip of the exchange between Mr. Rogers and Senator Pastore, head of the hearing. Senator Pastore starts out very abrasive and by the time Mr. Rogers is done talking, Senator Pastore's inner child has heard Mr. Rogers and agreed with him.
Mister Rogers Testifying Before Congress in 1969
Fascinating clip.
This is an video clip of the exchange between Mr. Rogers and Senator Pastore, head of the hearing. Senator Pastore starts out very abrasive and by the time Mr. Rogers is done talking, Senator Pastore's inner child has heard Mr. Rogers and agreed with him.
Five Minute Exposure of Shuttle Launch Click for high res.
OV-105 Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour from Pad 39B on mission STS-97. This is a five minute exposure taken from the Causeway (about 7 miles away from the pad). Taken with a borrowed all-manual Nikomat camera, 24 mm lens, f/16, Kodak Royal Gold 100 film. When the exposure was stopped in this shot, the shuttle was approximately 229 statute miles downrange.
(via Digg)Five Minute Exposure of Shuttle LaunchClick for high res.
OV-105 Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour from Pad 39B on mission STS-97. This is a five minute exposure taken from the Causeway (about 7 miles away from the pad). Taken with a borrowed all-manual Nikomat camera, 24 mm lens, f/16, Kodak Royal Gold 100 film. When the exposure was stopped in this shot, the shuttle was approximately 229 statute miles downrange.
(via Digg)Catching Number 714
From CNN/SI:
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Tyler Snyder caught Barry Bonds' 714th homer on the fly Saturday, snagging it cleanly with his glove. The people around the 19-year-old Athletics fan cheered wildly, with nobody assaulting or gouging him.
Bonds got a standing ovation from the Bay Area's forgiving faithful -- and then Snyder got to speak the minds of millions of baseball lovers who see Bonds as the game's greatest antihero. "I hate that guy," Snyder told reporters before he was whisked away. "I don't really care for the guy."... ...There's not much sentimentality around this quest -- and it sure has a money-colored tint. The ball still was in Snyder's glove when the holder of Bonds' latest horsehide lottery ticket said he definitely would sell the ball. When asked if he would consider giving it to Bonds, Snyder declined with a mild expletive. Catching Number 714
From CNN/SI:
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Tyler Snyder caught Barry Bonds' 714th homer on the fly Saturday, snagging it cleanly with his glove. The people around the 19-year-old Athletics fan cheered wildly, with nobody assaulting or gouging him.
Bonds got a standing ovation from the Bay Area's forgiving faithful -- and then Snyder got to speak the minds of millions of baseball lovers who see Bonds as the game's greatest antihero. "I hate that guy," Snyder told reporters before he was whisked away. "I don't really care for the guy."... ...There's not much sentimentality around this quest -- and it sure has a money-colored tint. The ball still was in Snyder's glove when the holder of Bonds' latest horsehide lottery ticket said he definitely would sell the ball. When asked if he would consider giving it to Bonds, Snyder declined with a mild expletive. Building a Cruise Ship in Your Backyard This guy built a replica of the Majesty of the Seas at 1/8th scale in his backyard. (via Make:Blog) Building a Cruise Ship in Your BackyardThis guy built a replica of the Majesty of the Seas at 1/8th scale in his backyard. (via Make:Blog) Unrealized Soviet Architectural Projects From the 1930s to 1950s Pictured above from Unrealized Moscow is the Palace of Soviets:
The competition for the Palace of Soviets in Moscow was one of the most extensive and impressive of this century. The idea of constructing a building which could be a symbol of the "imminent triumph of communism" in the capital of the world's first state of workers and peasants was mooted in the 1920s. The chosen location was the site of the demolished Church of Christ the Saviour. The competition was launched in 1931 and carried out in stages.
(via Boing Boing)Unrealized Soviet Architectural Projects From the 1930s to 1950sPictured above from Unrealized Moscow is the Palace of Soviets:
The competition for the Palace of Soviets in Moscow was one of the most extensive and impressive of this century. The idea of constructing a building which could be a symbol of the "imminent triumph of communism" in the capital of the world's first state of workers and peasants was mooted in the 1920s. The chosen location was the site of the demolished Church of Christ the Saviour. The competition was launched in 1931 and carried out in stages.
(via Boing Boing)Friday, May 19, 200610 Things I Hate About CommandmentsI've been seeing this around the net all day and I finally clicked on it. Cute. 10 Things I Hate About CommandmentsI've been seeing this around the net all day and I finally clicked on it. Cute. What Do You Mean They Blew Up the Death Star?Darth Vader calling to tell the emperor that the Death Star was destroyed. Very funny from Robot Chicken. This sounds like something Seth MacFarlane would write. What Do You Mean They Blew Up the Death Star?Darth Vader calling to tell the emperor that the Death Star was destroyed. Very funny from Robot Chicken. This sounds like something Seth MacFarlane would write. Does Viagra Keep Flowers From Wilting?
Viagra (sildenafil citrate) has a firmly established ability to keep the male organ erect. But you might be surprised to learn that it has also been used in the laboratory to keep cut flowers from going limp. With Mother’s Day coming up, we decided to test this out for ourselves and find out if the same pill that keeps Dad’s woody from wilting can keep Mom’s mums looking perky. We also compared two other chemical additives recommended by household hints sites for keeping flowers fresh – vodka and Sprite.
Does Viagra Keep Flowers From Wilting?
Viagra (sildenafil citrate) has a firmly established ability to keep the male organ erect. But you might be surprised to learn that it has also been used in the laboratory to keep cut flowers from going limp. With Mother’s Day coming up, we decided to test this out for ourselves and find out if the same pill that keeps Dad’s woody from wilting can keep Mom’s mums looking perky. We also compared two other chemical additives recommended by household hints sites for keeping flowers fresh – vodka and Sprite.
Results of Google Video vs. YouTube PollOn Tuesday I ran a poll to see which video site people preferred. Here are the results. Results of Google Video vs. YouTube PollOn Tuesday I ran a poll to see which video site people preferred. Here are the results.How To Make a Yellow Jacket Trap
My grandpa turned me onto this sure-fire yellow jacket eliminator about 50 years ago when I was just a youngster. I've observed its efficiency in removing all the yellow jackets from our campsite in a matter of a single day and before the week was over the entire campground was free of these hostile pests that make camping and other outdoor activities miserable. This method is NON-TOXIC and for the most part pet and wildlife friendly due to the harmless components that are used to build the "system."
(via Make:Blog)How To Make a Yellow Jacket Trap
My grandpa turned me onto this sure-fire yellow jacket eliminator about 50 years ago when I was just a youngster. I've observed its efficiency in removing all the yellow jackets from our campsite in a matter of a single day and before the week was over the entire campground was free of these hostile pests that make camping and other outdoor activities miserable. This method is NON-TOXIC and for the most part pet and wildlife friendly due to the harmless components that are used to build the "system."
(via Make:Blog)Bruce Schneier on PrivacyFrom Wired:
The most common retort against privacy advocates -- by those in favor of ID checks, cameras, databases, data mining and other wholesale surveillance measures -- is this line: "If you aren't doing anything wrong, what do you have to hide?"
Some clever answers: "If I'm not doing anything wrong, then you have no cause to watch me." "Because the government gets to define what's wrong, and they keep changing the definition." "Because you might do something wrong with my information." My problem with quips like these -- as right as they are -- is that they accept the premise that privacy is about hiding a wrong. It's not. Privacy is an inherent human right, and a requirement for maintaining the human condition with dignity and respect. Two proverbs say it best: Quis custodiet custodes ipsos? ("Who watches the watchers?") and "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Bruce Schneier on PrivacyFrom Wired:
The most common retort against privacy advocates -- by those in favor of ID checks, cameras, databases, data mining and other wholesale surveillance measures -- is this line: "If you aren't doing anything wrong, what do you have to hide?"
Some clever answers: "If I'm not doing anything wrong, then you have no cause to watch me." "Because the government gets to define what's wrong, and they keep changing the definition." "Because you might do something wrong with my information." My problem with quips like these -- as right as they are -- is that they accept the premise that privacy is about hiding a wrong. It's not. Privacy is an inherent human right, and a requirement for maintaining the human condition with dignity and respect. Two proverbs say it best: Quis custodiet custodes ipsos? ("Who watches the watchers?") and "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Does Wal-Mart Increase Poverty Rates?
A new study claims that Wal-Mart raises poverty rates in the counties where its stores are located.
(Thanks PVC)A study published in the latest issue of Social Science Quarterly is the first to examine the effect of Wal-Mart stores on poverty rates. The study found that nationwide an estimated 20,000 families have fallen below the official poverty line as a result of the chain’s expansion. During the last decade, dependence on the food stamp program nationwide increased by 8 percent, while in counties with Wal-Mart stores the increase was almost twice as large at 15.3 percent. "After controlling for other factors determining changes in the poverty rate over time, we find that both counties with more initial Wal-Mart stores and with more additions of stores between 1987 and 1998 experienced greater increases (or smaller decreases) in family poverty rates during the 1990’s economic boom period," Stephan Goetz a Professor of Agricultural and Regional Economics at The Pennsylvania State University states. Although Wal-Mart employs many people living in its communities, for most, the hours worked and the wages paid do not help these families transition out of poverty. Does Wal-Mart Increase Poverty Rates?
A new study claims that Wal-Mart raises poverty rates in the counties where its stores are located.
(Thanks PVC)A study published in the latest issue of Social Science Quarterly is the first to examine the effect of Wal-Mart stores on poverty rates. The study found that nationwide an estimated 20,000 families have fallen below the official poverty line as a result of the chain’s expansion. During the last decade, dependence on the food stamp program nationwide increased by 8 percent, while in counties with Wal-Mart stores the increase was almost twice as large at 15.3 percent. "After controlling for other factors determining changes in the poverty rate over time, we find that both counties with more initial Wal-Mart stores and with more additions of stores between 1987 and 1998 experienced greater increases (or smaller decreases) in family poverty rates during the 1990’s economic boom period," Stephan Goetz a Professor of Agricultural and Regional Economics at The Pennsylvania State University states. Although Wal-Mart employs many people living in its communities, for most, the hours worked and the wages paid do not help these families transition out of poverty. Thursday, May 18, 2006An Apology From a Bush VoterOne down, 62,040,609 to go.
There’s nothing harder in public life than admitting you’re wrong. By the way, admitting you’re wrong can be even tougher in private life. If you don’t believe me, just ask Bill Clinton or Charlie Sheen. But when you go out on the limb in public, it’s out there where everyone can see it, or in my case, hear it.
So, I’m saying today, I was wrong to have voted for George W. Bush. In historic terms, I believe George W. Bush is the worst two-term President in the history of the country. Worse than Grant. I also believe a case can be made that he’s the worst President, period. An Apology From a Bush VoterOne down, 62,040,609 to go.
There’s nothing harder in public life than admitting you’re wrong. By the way, admitting you’re wrong can be even tougher in private life. If you don’t believe me, just ask Bill Clinton or Charlie Sheen. But when you go out on the limb in public, it’s out there where everyone can see it, or in my case, hear it.
So, I’m saying today, I was wrong to have voted for George W. Bush. In historic terms, I believe George W. Bush is the worst two-term President in the history of the country. Worse than Grant. I also believe a case can be made that he’s the worst President, period. Frank R. Paul Gallery A pioneer in science fiction art.
Paul's impact on other people, and in fact on the entire history of science fiction, is also undeniable. At a time when most Americans didn't even have a telephone, he was painting space stations, robots and aliens from other planets. In an era when Lindbergh made headlines by flying across the Atlantic, Paul envisioned starships plowing across the galaxy. Indeed, he was the guest of honor at the first world science fiction convention, and he was the first person to ever make a living drawing spaceships. What could be cooler than that? The first science fiction image Arthur C. Clarke ever saw was a Frank R. Paul painting. Same for Forrest J. Ackerman and Ray Bradbury. Indeed, his work has inspired countless multitudes to write and dream and explore.
Frank R. Paul GalleryA pioneer in science fiction art.
Paul's impact on other people, and in fact on the entire history of science fiction, is also undeniable. At a time when most Americans didn't even have a telephone, he was painting space stations, robots and aliens from other planets. In an era when Lindbergh made headlines by flying across the Atlantic, Paul envisioned starships plowing across the galaxy. Indeed, he was the guest of honor at the first world science fiction convention, and he was the first person to ever make a living drawing spaceships. What could be cooler than that? The first science fiction image Arthur C. Clarke ever saw was a Frank R. Paul painting. Same for Forrest J. Ackerman and Ray Bradbury. Indeed, his work has inspired countless multitudes to write and dream and explore.
One Sheet Boat Plans
"One sheet boats" are simple boats made basically of a single sheet of plywood. These boats are typically easy, quick and cheap to build, so they are very suitable for first boatbuilding projects. On the other hand, their use is limited to protected waters only.
One Sheet Boat Plans
"One sheet boats" are simple boats made basically of a single sheet of plywood. These boats are typically easy, quick and cheap to build, so they are very suitable for first boatbuilding projects. On the other hand, their use is limited to protected waters only.
Lawmaker: Marines killed Iraqis ‘in cold blood’
Winning their hearts and minds.
WASHINGTON - A Pentagon probe into the death of Iraqi civilians last November in the Iraqi city of Haditha will show that U.S. Marines "killed innocent civilians in cold blood," a U.S. lawmaker said Wednesday.
From the beginning, Iraqis in the town of Haditha said U.S. Marines deliberately killed 15 unarmed Iraqi civilians, including seven women and three children. One young Iraqi girl said the Marines killed six members of her family, including her parents. “The Americans came into the room where my father was praying,” she said, “and shot him.” On Wednesday, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said the accounts are true. Military officials told NBC News that the Marine Corps' own evidence appears to show Murtha is right. Lawmaker: Marines killed Iraqis ‘in cold blood’
Winning their hearts and minds.
WASHINGTON - A Pentagon probe into the death of Iraqi civilians last November in the Iraqi city of Haditha will show that U.S. Marines "killed innocent civilians in cold blood," a U.S. lawmaker said Wednesday.
From the beginning, Iraqis in the town of Haditha said U.S. Marines deliberately killed 15 unarmed Iraqi civilians, including seven women and three children. One young Iraqi girl said the Marines killed six members of her family, including her parents. “The Americans came into the room where my father was praying,” she said, “and shot him.” On Wednesday, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said the accounts are true. Military officials told NBC News that the Marine Corps' own evidence appears to show Murtha is right. Is Bush a LunaticMolly Ivins on the Decider's waning sanity:
I hate to raise such an ugly possibility, but have you considered lunacy as an explanation? Craziness would make a certain amount of sense.
(via J-Walk)I mean, you announce you are going to militarize the Mexican border, but you assure the president of Mexico you are not militarizing the border. You announce you are sending the National Guard, but then you assure everyone it's not very many soldiers and just for a little while. Militarizing the border is a totally terrible idea. Do we have a State Department? Are they sentient? How much do you want to infuriate Mexico when it's sitting on quite a bit of oil? Bush knows what the most likely outcome of this move will be. He was governor during the political firestorm that ensued when a Marine taking part in anti-drug patrols on the border shot and killed Esequiel Hernandez, an innocent goat-herder from Redford, Texas. That's the definition of crazy -- repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Is Bush a LunaticMolly Ivins on the Decider's waning sanity:
I hate to raise such an ugly possibility, but have you considered lunacy as an explanation? Craziness would make a certain amount of sense.
(via J-Walk)I mean, you announce you are going to militarize the Mexican border, but you assure the president of Mexico you are not militarizing the border. You announce you are sending the National Guard, but then you assure everyone it's not very many soldiers and just for a little while. Militarizing the border is a totally terrible idea. Do we have a State Department? Are they sentient? How much do you want to infuriate Mexico when it's sitting on quite a bit of oil? Bush knows what the most likely outcome of this move will be. He was governor during the political firestorm that ensued when a Marine taking part in anti-drug patrols on the border shot and killed Esequiel Hernandez, an innocent goat-herder from Redford, Texas. That's the definition of crazy -- repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting a different result. How Celebrities Go BankruptA pretty good article from Legalzoom on celebrities and their loose wallets:
Being a financial tamer sounds easier than it actually is. One Hollywood financial advisor, Scott Feinstein, told the New York Times about a call he received from a client in his mid-twenties who wanted to buy a $35,000 watch. "I said ‘What time does it say?' and he said, ‘Ten minutes after 3.'" Feinstein recalled. "I told him, ‘Mine says 10 after 3 too, and it cost me 60 bucks. Put the watch down.'"
(via My2SecondShelfLife)How Celebrities Go BankruptA pretty good article from Legalzoom on celebrities and their loose wallets:
Being a financial tamer sounds easier than it actually is. One Hollywood financial advisor, Scott Feinstein, told the New York Times about a call he received from a client in his mid-twenties who wanted to buy a $35,000 watch. "I said ‘What time does it say?' and he said, ‘Ten minutes after 3.'" Feinstein recalled. "I told him, ‘Mine says 10 after 3 too, and it cost me 60 bucks. Put the watch down.'"
(via My2SecondShelfLife)Google Map Satellite Tracker Most people who track satellites use Heavens Above or J-Track but there is now a cool google maps mod to track them. (via Bad Astronomy Blog) Google Map Satellite TrackerMost people who track satellites use Heavens Above or J-Track but there is now a cool google maps mod to track them. (via Bad Astronomy Blog) Everything About that Foot Measuring Doodad Who knew that it was called a Brannock Foot-Measuring Device? (via del.icio.us/wcitymike) Everything About that Foot Measuring DoodadWho knew that it was called a Brannock Foot-Measuring Device? (via del.icio.us/wcitymike) Historical Sounds in MP3 FormatFrom an 1890 PT Barnum commercial to Apollo 13's "Houston we have a problem", this site has some wonderful mp3s of historical moments.(Thanks PVC) Historical Sounds in MP3 FormatFrom an 1890 PT Barnum commercial to Apollo 13's "Houston we have a problem", this site has some wonderful mp3s of historical moments.(Thanks PVC) Wednesday, May 17, 2006Doctor Who Wiki
The TARDIS Index File is a collaborative project to create the most definitive, accurate, and
accessible encyclopedia and reference database for everything related to Doctor Who.
Doctor Who Wiki
The TARDIS Index File is a collaborative project to create the most definitive, accurate, and
accessible encyclopedia and reference database for everything related to Doctor Who.
Stalin World
You may have thought Disneyland and Stalin-era mass deportations had nothing in common. They do now—thanks to
enterprising Lithuanian Viliumas Malinauskas. The 60-year-old canned mushroom mogul recently opened an odd-ball park that mimics a Soviet prison camp. The facility—part amusement park, part open air museum—is circled by barbed wire and guard towers, and dotted with some 65 bronze and granite statues of former Soviet leaders Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin, and assorted communist VIPs.
This site has visited the park and has taken some pictures of it.Organizers say it’s the first and only Soviet theme park in the world. Officially, the 30-hectare complex is called the Soviet Sculpture Garden at Grutas Park. But residents of the nearby village of Grutas have dubbed it Stalin World—a name that’s stuck. Stalin World
You may have thought Disneyland and Stalin-era mass deportations had nothing in common. They do now—thanks to
enterprising Lithuanian Viliumas Malinauskas. The 60-year-old canned mushroom mogul recently opened an odd-ball park that mimics a Soviet prison camp. The facility—part amusement park, part open air museum—is circled by barbed wire and guard towers, and dotted with some 65 bronze and granite statues of former Soviet leaders Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin, and assorted communist VIPs.
This site has visited the park and has taken some pictures of it.Organizers say it’s the first and only Soviet theme park in the world. Officially, the 30-hectare complex is called the Soviet Sculpture Garden at Grutas Park. But residents of the nearby village of Grutas have dubbed it Stalin World—a name that’s stuck. Alberto's " unclear" about how his grandparents got here Hmmmmmmmmmmm.
GONZALES: Well, three of my grandparents were born in Mexico. They came to Texas. My parents -- both of my parents were born in Texas, extremely poor. My mother...
BLITZER: But when they came to Texas, were they legally documented, were they unlegally documented? GONZALES: You know, it's unclear. It's unclear. And I've looked at this issue, I've talked to my parents about it, and it's just not clear. Alberto's " unclear" about how his grandparents got hereHmmmmmmmmmmm.
GONZALES: Well, three of my grandparents were born in Mexico. They came to Texas. My parents -- both of my parents were born in Texas, extremely poor. My mother...
BLITZER: But when they came to Texas, were they legally documented, were they unlegally documented? GONZALES: You know, it's unclear. It's unclear. And I've looked at this issue, I've talked to my parents about it, and it's just not clear. Ian McKellen: Bible Should Have 'Fiction' Disclaimer Amen Gandalf.
If "The Da Vinci Code" was already feeding the flames of controversy with its challenge to the basic tenets of Christianity, actor Ian McKellen managed to pour a refinery tank's worth of gasoline on the fire on this morning's 'Today' show, asserting that the Bible should carry a disclaimer saying that it is "fiction."
Ian McKellen: Bible Should Have 'Fiction' DisclaimerAmen Gandalf.
If "The Da Vinci Code" was already feeding the flames of controversy with its challenge to the basic tenets of Christianity, actor Ian McKellen managed to pour a refinery tank's worth of gasoline on the fire on this morning's 'Today' show, asserting that the Bible should carry a disclaimer saying that it is "fiction."
Daily Dose of Ingersoll Nothing is more gratifying to a religionist than to destroy his enemies at the command of God. Religious persecution springs from a due admixture of love towards God and hatred towards man. --Robert Green Ingersoll, "The Gods" (1872) Daily Dose of IngersollNothing is more gratifying to a religionist than to destroy his enemies at the command of God. Religious persecution springs from a due admixture of love towards God and hatred towards man. --Robert Green Ingersoll, "The Gods" (1872) World Trade Center Trailer You can view the trailer for Oliver Stone's WTC starring Nicholas Cage here. Just in time too. I had forgotten what had happened way back in 2001. World Trade Center TrailerYou can view the trailer for Oliver Stone's WTC starring Nicholas Cage here. Just in time too. I had forgotten what had happened way back in 2001. Forest Grove
These people filmed an adaptation of John Cheever's sort story, The Swimmer, using still photography and models of a fictitious community named Forest Grove Estates.
Forest Grove was inspired by a trip to Texas. During the initial approach into the San Antonio airport, the view from the sky was of hundreds of new homes winding their way around cul de sacs. In some areas the homes were not even finished and the cul de sac sat empty, surrounded by dirt. In other areas each new home was dotted with its own glistening blue swimming pool, like markers on a map. The image brought to mind John Cheever’s short story The Swimmer. But it wasn’t until Maya visited an exclusive, high security, gated community that same weekend that the story came together.
(via We Make Money Not Art)To emphasize the spatial experience of living in a gated community the set for the story is an architect's model of Forest Grove. The model is approximately 8ft. x 12ft. and includes 36 houses, 12 swimming pools, a community center, and a guards station, as well as the single road that leads out of the community and straight to the shopping mall. Still photographs were taken of miniature styrene plastic people enacting the scenes and then edited/animated (with the use of Flash) to create a complete story which is accessible online. Forest Grove
These people filmed an adaptation of John Cheever's sort story, The Swimmer, using still photography and models of a fictitious community named Forest Grove Estates.
Forest Grove was inspired by a trip to Texas. During the initial approach into the San Antonio airport, the view from the sky was of hundreds of new homes winding their way around cul de sacs. In some areas the homes were not even finished and the cul de sac sat empty, surrounded by dirt. In other areas each new home was dotted with its own glistening blue swimming pool, like markers on a map. The image brought to mind John Cheever’s short story The Swimmer. But it wasn’t until Maya visited an exclusive, high security, gated community that same weekend that the story came together.
(via We Make Money Not Art)To emphasize the spatial experience of living in a gated community the set for the story is an architect's model of Forest Grove. The model is approximately 8ft. x 12ft. and includes 36 houses, 12 swimming pools, a community center, and a guards station, as well as the single road that leads out of the community and straight to the shopping mall. Still photographs were taken of miniature styrene plastic people enacting the scenes and then edited/animated (with the use of Flash) to create a complete story which is accessible online. Beating Traffic
This guy analyzed a year's worth of commuting data to see how he could minimize the time he spent driving to and from work.
Tired of the typically inefficient and contradictory workplace chatter on the subject and feeling the pull of a slight worksheet obsession, I set out to statistically analyze my commute in order to determine how I might minimize my time behind the wheel. If there was a way to figure out how to give myself an advantage over the almost 900,000 other Houstonian workers out there (who average a 26.1 minute commute),7 math and a smidgeon of obsessive compulsive disorder had to be essential ingredients. At the very least, I would be able to ascertain just how much of my commute time was up to me - and how much depended on a "higher power" (e.g., weather, school districts, wrecks, etc.).
Beating Traffic
This guy analyzed a year's worth of commuting data to see how he could minimize the time he spent driving to and from work.
Tired of the typically inefficient and contradictory workplace chatter on the subject and feeling the pull of a slight worksheet obsession, I set out to statistically analyze my commute in order to determine how I might minimize my time behind the wheel. If there was a way to figure out how to give myself an advantage over the almost 900,000 other Houstonian workers out there (who average a 26.1 minute commute),7 math and a smidgeon of obsessive compulsive disorder had to be essential ingredients. At the very least, I would be able to ascertain just how much of my commute time was up to me - and how much depended on a "higher power" (e.g., weather, school districts, wrecks, etc.).
Religious Affiliation of History's 100 Most Influential PeopleFrom Adherents.com:
The following list of influential figures from world history comes from Michael H. Hart's book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History. In the book, Hart provides brief biographies of each of the individuals, as well as reasons for their ranking.
(via Kottke)Adherents.com takes no position regarding the validity of Hart's rankings. Certainly ranking the relative historical influence of individuals is a subjective process. We welcome and will by happy to post comments from readers suggesting alternative rankings or names of influential individuals who should be included in the "Top 100." (Please send suggestions to webmaster3@adherents.com). This list of names and their ranks are solely the work of Michael H. Hart. The columns "Religious Affiliation" and "Influence" are the work of Adherents.com. We will readily modify notes if there are any inaccuracies. Religious Affiliation of History's 100 Most Influential PeopleFrom Adherents.com:
The following list of influential figures from world history comes from Michael H. Hart's book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History. In the book, Hart provides brief biographies of each of the individuals, as well as reasons for their ranking.
(via Kottke)Adherents.com takes no position regarding the validity of Hart's rankings. Certainly ranking the relative historical influence of individuals is a subjective process. We welcome and will by happy to post comments from readers suggesting alternative rankings or names of influential individuals who should be included in the "Top 100." (Please send suggestions to webmaster3@adherents.com). This list of names and their ranks are solely the work of Michael H. Hart. The columns "Religious Affiliation" and "Influence" are the work of Adherents.com. We will readily modify notes if there are any inaccuracies. Animal Sounds in Different Languages
In different languages what do we say to mimic animal sounds? Below is the world's biggest multilingual list. A guiding principle behind this list is to visualise a comic book, in your language, and imagine what would be written in the text balloon coming from the mouth of an animal. For languages that use a different alphabet, I have tried to transliterate the word into the English alphabet for ease of comparison.
Animal Sounds in Different Languages
In different languages what do we say to mimic animal sounds? Below is the world's biggest multilingual list. A guiding principle behind this list is to visualise a comic book, in your language, and imagine what would be written in the text balloon coming from the mouth of an animal. For languages that use a different alphabet, I have tried to transliterate the word into the English alphabet for ease of comparison.
Super Soaker Mods
When one's quest for power can't find ends in modifying, there always is one more option, building your own water gun! This way you can tailor it to your own specifications and get exactly what you want. Typically made from PVC, homemades are the future of powerful water weapons. We've got you covered here at SSCentral, step-by-step guides loaded with pictures and detailed statistics of each gun. Remember, always use any powerful water gun with caution, and read the Legal Info page.
Pictured above is the "Havoc" which is supposedly capable of shooting a water balloon about 100 yards.(via Make:Blog) Super Soaker Mods
When one's quest for power can't find ends in modifying, there always is one more option, building your own water gun! This way you can tailor it to your own specifications and get exactly what you want. Typically made from PVC, homemades are the future of powerful water weapons. We've got you covered here at SSCentral, step-by-step guides loaded with pictures and detailed statistics of each gun. Remember, always use any powerful water gun with caution, and read the Legal Info page.
Pictured above is the "Havoc" which is supposedly capable of shooting a water balloon about 100 yards.(via Make:Blog) The Other Hawai'i
The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands coral reef ecosystem extends approximately 1,250 miles and
encompasses an area of 131,800 square miles. The region hosts more than 7,000 species, including marine mammals, fishes, sea turtles, birds and invertebrates.
(via Plep)At least one quarter of them are found nowhere else. As part of its educational mission, the voyaging canoe Hokule'a will sail among the islands and atolls this month, taking part in restoration and transmitting news and information about the trip to Hawai'i's school children. Hokule'a's journey will be conducted in much the same way as its earlier voyages – with daily Web site updates and radio links to schools and museums. The canoe will use modern Dacron sails instead of traditional sails. And during part of the voyage, particularly around the dangerous sealanes near the Maro Reef, traditional wayfinding will give way to modern navigation instruments. The Other Hawai'i
The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands coral reef ecosystem extends approximately 1,250 miles and
encompasses an area of 131,800 square miles. The region hosts more than 7,000 species, including marine mammals, fishes, sea turtles, birds and invertebrates.
(via Plep)At least one quarter of them are found nowhere else. As part of its educational mission, the voyaging canoe Hokule'a will sail among the islands and atolls this month, taking part in restoration and transmitting news and information about the trip to Hawai'i's school children. Hokule'a's journey will be conducted in much the same way as its earlier voyages – with daily Web site updates and radio links to schools and museums. The canoe will use modern Dacron sails instead of traditional sails. And during part of the voyage, particularly around the dangerous sealanes near the Maro Reef, traditional wayfinding will give way to modern navigation instruments. The Galileo Project
The Galileo Project is a source of information on the life and work of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). Our aim is to provide hypertextual information about Galileo and the science of his time to viewers of all ages and levels of expertise. What you read and see here is a beginning -- we will continue to add and update information as it becomes available. We solicit contributions from our colleagues in the history of science and comments on how we can improve the project from everyone, particularly suggestions on how to make this tool more useful in primary and secondary education.
The Galileo Project
The Galileo Project is a source of information on the life and work of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). Our aim is to provide hypertextual information about Galileo and the science of his time to viewers of all ages and levels of expertise. What you read and see here is a beginning -- we will continue to add and update information as it becomes available. We solicit contributions from our colleagues in the history of science and comments on how we can improve the project from everyone, particularly suggestions on how to make this tool more useful in primary and secondary education.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006Tuesday BluesBillie Holiday - Fine and Mellow (1957)
Reunited after many years with tenor saxophonist Lester Young, Billie's visual reaction to his moving solo remains as eloquent as anything she ever sang; a touching finale to their historic musical partnership. Introduced by Robert Herridge (producer/host of CBS' "The Sound of Jazz"), this is perhaps the single most famous "live jazz" performance in TV history. Other members of the all-star band seen here: Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Gerry Mulligan, Roy Eldridge, Doc Cheatham, Vic Dickenson, Danny Barker, Milt Hinton, Mal Waldron..."We shall not see their likes again."
Tuesday BluesBillie Holiday - Fine and Mellow (1957)
Reunited after many years with tenor saxophonist Lester Young, Billie's visual reaction to his moving solo remains as eloquent as anything she ever sang; a touching finale to their historic musical partnership. Introduced by Robert Herridge (producer/host of CBS' "The Sound of Jazz"), this is perhaps the single most famous "live jazz" performance in TV history. Other members of the all-star band seen here: Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Gerry Mulligan, Roy Eldridge, Doc Cheatham, Vic Dickenson, Danny Barker, Milt Hinton, Mal Waldron..."We shall not see their likes again."
List of Most Sexually Active PopesI (heart) Wikipedia for their list pages.
Since the 13th century, a discipline of the Catholic Church has required priests in Latin Rite (i.e. Western) Catholic jurisdictions and bishops in both Latin Rite and Eastern Rite jurisdictions to be celibate. (In this context, celibate is not synonymous with sexually abstinent; celibate means not married.) The discipline of celibacy is not considered one of the infallible immutable dogmas, and so exceptions are occasionally allowed (see clerical celibacy — for example, in some cases a married Protestant minister who becomes a Catholic may be ordained to the priesthood). In particular, present-day church law allows the College of Cardinals to elect a married man to the papacy. In the Eastern Rite Church, married men are routinely ordained to the priesthood, but not to the episcopate. According to the Gospels, Saint Peter was married. According to the tradition of the Catholic Church, and supported by the archaeological evidence of his tomb on Vatican Hill, St. Peter founded the Christian community in Rome and became its bishop.
Some popes were sexually active before their election as pope; and it has sometimes been claimed that other Popes were sexually active during their papacies. List of Most Sexually Active PopesI (heart) Wikipedia for their list pages.
Since the 13th century, a discipline of the Catholic Church has required priests in Latin Rite (i.e. Western) Catholic jurisdictions and bishops in both Latin Rite and Eastern Rite jurisdictions to be celibate. (In this context, celibate is not synonymous with sexually abstinent; celibate means not married.) The discipline of celibacy is not considered one of the infallible immutable dogmas, and so exceptions are occasionally allowed (see clerical celibacy — for example, in some cases a married Protestant minister who becomes a Catholic may be ordained to the priesthood). In particular, present-day church law allows the College of Cardinals to elect a married man to the papacy. In the Eastern Rite Church, married men are routinely ordained to the priesthood, but not to the episcopate. According to the Gospels, Saint Peter was married. According to the tradition of the Catholic Church, and supported by the archaeological evidence of his tomb on Vatican Hill, St. Peter founded the Christian community in Rome and became its bishop.
Some popes were sexually active before their election as pope; and it has sometimes been claimed that other Popes were sexually active during their papacies. Space Burial From Wikipedia:
Space burial is a burial procedure where a small sample of the cremated ashes of the deceased in a lipstick-sized capsule are launched into space using a rocket. As of 2004, samples of about 150 people have been "buried" in space.
And a short list of famous people who have been "buried" in space.Space BurialFrom Wikipedia:
Space burial is a burial procedure where a small sample of the cremated ashes of the deceased in a lipstick-sized capsule are launched into space using a rocket. As of 2004, samples of about 150 people have been "buried" in space.
And a short list of famous people who have been "buried" in space.Britney Spears Gives Up Kabbalah to Worship Baby*Giggling*
Britney Spears posted a surprising message on her Web site on May 12. “I no longer study Kaballah [sic], my baby is my religion,” reads the brief note featured on the “Love B” section of her site devoted to the singer’s stream of consciousness. There was no indication whether Spears was referring to her 8-month-old son, Sean, or the baby she is currently pregnant with, or Kevin Federline.
Britney Spears Gives Up Kabbalah to Worship Baby*Giggling*
Britney Spears posted a surprising message on her Web site on May 12. “I no longer study Kaballah [sic], my baby is my religion,” reads the brief note featured on the “Love B” section of her site devoted to the singer’s stream of consciousness. There was no indication whether Spears was referring to her 8-month-old son, Sean, or the baby she is currently pregnant with, or Kevin Federline.
Google Video vs. YouTubeJust a quick poll to see what video hosting site people prefer. Feel free to use the comments to give reasons or suggest a different site.Google Video vs. YouTubeJust a quick poll to see what video hosting site people prefer. Feel free to use the comments to give reasons or suggest a different site.O.J. Simpson's Juiced
OJ Simpson is taking a little time off from hunting for the real killers on every golf course he can find to do a candid camera type show for pay per view called Juiced.
LOS ANGELES -- In a scene from his new candid-camera program "Juiced," O.J. Simpson pulls a prank involving the infamous white Bronco, drawing criticism from the family of a man he was accused of killing.
As part of the pay-per-view show, Simpson pretends to sell the Bronco at a used car lot and boasts to a prospective buyer that he made the vehicle famous, according to a segment aired Thursday on "Inside Edition." "It was good for me _ it helped me get away," Simpson said, referring to the slow-speed, televised police chase that preceded his 1994 arrest on charges of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Goldman's father, Fred, told "Inside Edition" he found Simpson's comment "morally reprehensible." O.J. Simpson's Juiced
OJ Simpson is taking a little time off from hunting for the real killers on every golf course he can find to do a candid camera type show for pay per view called Juiced.
LOS ANGELES -- In a scene from his new candid-camera program "Juiced," O.J. Simpson pulls a prank involving the infamous white Bronco, drawing criticism from the family of a man he was accused of killing.
As part of the pay-per-view show, Simpson pretends to sell the Bronco at a used car lot and boasts to a prospective buyer that he made the vehicle famous, according to a segment aired Thursday on "Inside Edition." "It was good for me _ it helped me get away," Simpson said, referring to the slow-speed, televised police chase that preceded his 1994 arrest on charges of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Goldman's father, Fred, told "Inside Edition" he found Simpson's comment "morally reprehensible." The Lynching of Jesse Washington From NPR:
On Monday, a small interracial organization will meet on the steps of the Waco Texas courthouse to read a resolution condemning and apologizing for the lynching of 17-year-old Jesse Washington.
(Thanks Anonymous)Washington’s lynching 90 years ago was so astonishingly brutal that the incident became known nationally as the "Waco Horror." The Waco Interracial Coalition is forcing Waco to confront some of its painful history and there are many in this city of 200,000 who have no interest in apologizing for something that happened 90 years ago. "It's a very ugly part of history," says Ray Meadows, a Waco county commissioner. "I regret that it happened, but as far as me coming out to apologize…I didn't have anything to do with it." A Murder, Followed by a Lynching Around sundown of May 8, 1916, Lucy Fryer, the wife of a well regarded cotton farmer, was found bludgeoned to death in the doorway of her seed house. Jesse Washington, who was illiterate and branded "feeble-minded", confessed to the murder. Soon after a jury found him guilty, a crowd of 2,000 men seized Washington, chained him, beat him and dragged him to the town square, where he was burned. His fingers were amputated for souvenirs and his fingernails taken for keepsakes. Finally all that was left was a charred torso, but Washington’s body parts were put in a bag so they could be dragged through downtown. The Lynching of Jesse WashingtonFrom NPR:
On Monday, a small interracial organization will meet on the steps of the Waco Texas courthouse to read a resolution condemning and apologizing for the lynching of 17-year-old Jesse Washington.
(Thanks Anonymous)Washington’s lynching 90 years ago was so astonishingly brutal that the incident became known nationally as the "Waco Horror." The Waco Interracial Coalition is forcing Waco to confront some of its painful history and there are many in this city of 200,000 who have no interest in apologizing for something that happened 90 years ago. "It's a very ugly part of history," says Ray Meadows, a Waco county commissioner. "I regret that it happened, but as far as me coming out to apologize…I didn't have anything to do with it." A Murder, Followed by a Lynching Around sundown of May 8, 1916, Lucy Fryer, the wife of a well regarded cotton farmer, was found bludgeoned to death in the doorway of her seed house. Jesse Washington, who was illiterate and branded "feeble-minded", confessed to the murder. Soon after a jury found him guilty, a crowd of 2,000 men seized Washington, chained him, beat him and dragged him to the town square, where he was burned. His fingers were amputated for souvenirs and his fingernails taken for keepsakes. Finally all that was left was a charred torso, but Washington’s body parts were put in a bag so they could be dragged through downtown. Monday, May 15, 2006Mary ToftsFrom Wikipedia:
Mary Tofts was a maidservant from Godalming, England who in 1726 became the subject of considerable controversy due to a hoax where she was alleged by her doctors to have given birth to at least 16 rabbits...
...Sir Richard Manningham eventually exposed the rabbit birthings as a hoax, but not before many of London's most eminent doctors had been thoroughly taken in by it. Tofts had apparently manually inserted dead rabbits into her birth canal, and then allowed them to be removed as if she were giving birth. Perhaps for cultural reasons, many doctors were hesitant to believe she had done this, preferring to believe that the rabbits had inexplicably originated inside her. In the aftermath of the hoax the medical profession received a great deal of public mockery for its gullibility. Mary ToftsFrom Wikipedia:
Mary Tofts was a maidservant from Godalming, England who in 1726 became the subject of considerable controversy due to a hoax where she was alleged by her doctors to have given birth to at least 16 rabbits...
...Sir Richard Manningham eventually exposed the rabbit birthings as a hoax, but not before many of London's most eminent doctors had been thoroughly taken in by it. Tofts had apparently manually inserted dead rabbits into her birth canal, and then allowed them to be removed as if she were giving birth. Perhaps for cultural reasons, many doctors were hesitant to believe she had done this, preferring to believe that the rabbits had inexplicably originated inside her. In the aftermath of the hoax the medical profession received a great deal of public mockery for its gullibility. Employee Loyalty = Stockholm SyndromeAmen.
The path of an individual employee within a large company seems to take one of two possible roads; apathy or loyalty.
The apathetic employee really loathes the company but isn’t motivated enough to leave. Instead, they spend their time doing just enough to not get fired. This backfires on some, of course. Working as hard as you can to do as little as you can without crossing over into dangerous water isn’t that easy for some to do. Those who don’t walk a fine enough line will eventually find themselves applying at another company to begin the cycle again. The folks who made the film “Office Space” really hit the nail on the head when describing this type of employee. The loyal employee is the one with which I am the most intrigued. This brings us back to my wife (and the point of me writing this in the first place). As I mentioned earlier, my wife is very loyal to the bank. She, for instance, is always trying to “do what’s right for the bank”; a little phrase they like to throw around with reckless abandon at her shop. For me and many others this sounds just as cliche as saying things like, “we value the customer”, “service with a smile”, and “your satisfaction is our first priority”. What kills me about my wife, however, is that actually believes it when she says it. I know. I’ve known her long enough to discern truth from lip service. She wants to do what is right for the bank because she really likes her job, likes her company, likes her co-workers (most of them), and likes her boss. There are times when that’s not true, of course, but she has been at the same place for fifteen years so I’m thinking that it’s true more often than not. Employee Loyalty = Stockholm SyndromeAmen.
The path of an individual employee within a large company seems to take one of two possible roads; apathy or loyalty.
The apathetic employee really loathes the company but isn’t motivated enough to leave. Instead, they spend their time doing just enough to not get fired. This backfires on some, of course. Working as hard as you can to do as little as you can without crossing over into dangerous water isn’t that easy for some to do. Those who don’t walk a fine enough line will eventually find themselves applying at another company to begin the cycle again. The folks who made the film “Office Space” really hit the nail on the head when describing this type of employee. The loyal employee is the one with which I am the most intrigued. This brings us back to my wife (and the point of me writing this in the first place). As I mentioned earlier, my wife is very loyal to the bank. She, for instance, is always trying to “do what’s right for the bank”; a little phrase they like to throw around with reckless abandon at her shop. For me and many others this sounds just as cliche as saying things like, “we value the customer”, “service with a smile”, and “your satisfaction is our first priority”. What kills me about my wife, however, is that actually believes it when she says it. I know. I’ve known her long enough to discern truth from lip service. She wants to do what is right for the bank because she really likes her job, likes her company, likes her co-workers (most of them), and likes her boss. There are times when that’s not true, of course, but she has been at the same place for fifteen years so I’m thinking that it’s true more often than not. Federal Source to ABC News: We Know Who You're CallingFrom the ABC News Blog:
A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we call in an effort to root out confidential sources.
"It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick," the source told us in an in-person conversation. ABC News does not know how the government determined who we are calling, or whether our phone records were provided to the government as part of the recently-disclosed NSA collection of domestic phone calls. Other sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation. Federal Source to ABC News: We Know Who You're CallingFrom the ABC News Blog:
A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we call in an effort to root out confidential sources.
"It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick," the source told us in an in-person conversation. ABC News does not know how the government determined who we are calling, or whether our phone records were provided to the government as part of the recently-disclosed NSA collection of domestic phone calls. Other sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation. Venturing into Enemy Territory
A Red Sox fan with a video camera makes his way through the Yankee Stadium bleachers, and the Yankee fans show him no mercy.
Actually it seems like the sox fan got off easy. (Turn your speakers down if you're at work)Venturing into Enemy Territory
A Red Sox fan with a video camera makes his way through the Yankee Stadium bleachers, and the Yankee fans show him no mercy.
Actually it seems like the sox fan got off easy. (Turn your speakers down if you're at work)Sunday, May 14, 2006The Iridium Flare Tracker Project A project designed for the 2004 Burning Man Festival using lasers to point out Iridium flares.
To design and implement a system to point out Iridium satellite flares as they happen. The system will use a bright DPSS laser beam to identify the point in the sky where the next flare is supposed to show up. A large (2'x11') LED clock will serve as an 'attractor' for folks walking by as well as give an accurate countdown to the viewing time.
And for those who don't know what is an Iridium flare, go here.
The Iridium Flare Tracker ProjectA project designed for the 2004 Burning Man Festival using lasers to point out Iridium flares.
To design and implement a system to point out Iridium satellite flares as they happen. The system will use a bright DPSS laser beam to identify the point in the sky where the next flare is supposed to show up. A large (2'x11') LED clock will serve as an 'attractor' for folks walking by as well as give an accurate countdown to the viewing time.
And for those who don't know what is an Iridium flare, go here.
Soccer Ball Shaped Houses
Is your present house OK? Is it strong enough to endure a great earthquake or flood to be caused by global warming? Barier offers a safe, living space, a multi-functional, elegant and playful space, emphasizing each individual personality.
(via Ursi's Blog)Barier is a soccer ball-shaped house developed by us (international patent pending). A soccer ball with which you played in your childhood gets bigger like a dream ball and appears as a place to live in. It floats on the sea and can be a rescue ship. We believe it will be a gift to those who never give up a dream. Soccer Ball Shaped Houses
Is your present house OK? Is it strong enough to endure a great earthquake or flood to be caused by global warming? Barier offers a safe, living space, a multi-functional, elegant and playful space, emphasizing each individual personality.
(via Ursi's Blog)Barier is a soccer ball-shaped house developed by us (international patent pending). A soccer ball with which you played in your childhood gets bigger like a dream ball and appears as a place to live in. It floats on the sea and can be a rescue ship. We believe it will be a gift to those who never give up a dream. President Al GoreGore was on SNL last night and opened it while addressing the nation as if he had won the presidency in 2000. Crooks and Liars has video of it if the YouTube link goes down. The funniest part was when he said W was in charge of cleaning up the steroid problem in baseball: "But I have faith in baseball commissioner George W. Bush when he says, "We will find the steroid users if we have to tap every phone in America!" President Al GoreGore was on SNL last night and opened it while addressing the nation as if he had won the presidency in 2000. Crooks and Liars has video of it if the YouTube link goes down. The funniest part was when he said W was in charge of cleaning up the steroid problem in baseball: "But I have faith in baseball commissioner George W. Bush when he says, "We will find the steroid users if we have to tap every phone in America!" Saturday, May 13, 2006Rove Indicted?
Truthout is reporting that Karl Rove has been indicted and the official announcement will come this week. I'll wait for the official word before I do a jig.
Saturday 13 May 2006
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald spent more than half a day Friday at the offices of Patton Boggs, the law firm representing Karl Rove. During the course of that meeting, Fitzgerald served attorneys for former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove with an indictment charging the embattled White House official with perjury and lying to investigators related to his role in the CIA leak case, and instructed one of the attorneys to tell Rove that he has 24 hours to get his affairs in order, high level sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said Saturday morning. Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney, did not return a call for comment. Sources said Fitzgerald was in Washington, DC, Friday and met with Luskin for about 15 hours to go over the charges against Rove, which include perjury and lying to investigators about how and when Rove discovered that Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert CIA operative and whether he shared that information with reporters, sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said. It was still unknown Saturday whether Fitzgerald charged Rove with a more serious obstruction of justice charge. Sources close to the case said Friday that it appeared very likely that an obstruction charge against Rove would be included with charges of perjury and lying to investigators. Rove Indicted?
Truthout is reporting that Karl Rove has been indicted and the official announcement will come this week. I'll wait for the official word before I do a jig.
Saturday 13 May 2006
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald spent more than half a day Friday at the offices of Patton Boggs, the law firm representing Karl Rove. During the course of that meeting, Fitzgerald served attorneys for former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove with an indictment charging the embattled White House official with perjury and lying to investigators related to his role in the CIA leak case, and instructed one of the attorneys to tell Rove that he has 24 hours to get his affairs in order, high level sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said Saturday morning. Robert Luskin, Rove's attorney, did not return a call for comment. Sources said Fitzgerald was in Washington, DC, Friday and met with Luskin for about 15 hours to go over the charges against Rove, which include perjury and lying to investigators about how and when Rove discovered that Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert CIA operative and whether he shared that information with reporters, sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said. It was still unknown Saturday whether Fitzgerald charged Rove with a more serious obstruction of justice charge. Sources close to the case said Friday that it appeared very likely that an obstruction charge against Rove would be included with charges of perjury and lying to investigators. Orwellian Pizza
This made the rounds a while back but I thought that with the NSA's massive phone records database that just became public that it might be a good time to revisit it.
The government and corporations are aggressively collecting information about your personal life and your habits. They want to track your purchases, your medical records, and even your relationships. The Bush Administration's policies, coupled with invasive new technologies, could eliminate your right to privacy completely. Please help us protect our privacy rights and prevent the Total Surveillance Society.
Orwellian Pizza
This made the rounds a while back but I thought that with the NSA's massive phone records database that just became public that it might be a good time to revisit it.
The government and corporations are aggressively collecting information about your personal life and your habits. They want to track your purchases, your medical records, and even your relationships. The Bush Administration's policies, coupled with invasive new technologies, could eliminate your right to privacy completely. Please help us protect our privacy rights and prevent the Total Surveillance Society.
Poll: Clinton Outperformed BushIt's a shutout with Clinton even beating Bush on who was the most honest while in office. Ouch.
(CNN) -- In a new poll comparing President Bush's job performance with that of his predecessor, a strong majority of respondents said President Clinton outperformed Bush on a host of issues.
The poll of 1,021 adult Americans was conducted May 5-7 by Opinion Research Corp. for CNN. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Respondents favored Clinton by greater than 2-to-1 margins when asked who did a better job at handling the economy (63 percent Clinton, 26 percent Bush) and solving the problems of ordinary Americans (62 percent Clinton, 25 percent Bush). On foreign affairs, the margin was 56 percent to 32 percent in Clinton's favor; on taxes, it was 51 percent to 35 percent for Clinton; and on handling natural disasters, it was 51 percent to 30 percent, also favoring Clinton. Moreover, 59 percent said Bush has done more to divide the country, while only 27 percent said Clinton had. When asked which man was more honest as president, poll respondents were more evenly divided, with the numbers -- 46 percent Clinton to 41 percent Bush -- falling within the poll's margin of error. The same was true for a question on handling national security: 46 percent said Clinton performed better; 42 percent picked Bush. Poll: Clinton Outperformed BushIt's a shutout with Clinton even beating Bush on who was the most honest while in office. Ouch.
(CNN) -- In a new poll comparing President Bush's job performance with that of his predecessor, a strong majority of respondents said President Clinton outperformed Bush on a host of issues.
The poll of 1,021 adult Americans was conducted May 5-7 by Opinion Research Corp. for CNN. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Respondents favored Clinton by greater than 2-to-1 margins when asked who did a better job at handling the economy (63 percent Clinton, 26 percent Bush) and solving the problems of ordinary Americans (62 percent Clinton, 25 percent Bush). On foreign affairs, the margin was 56 percent to 32 percent in Clinton's favor; on taxes, it was 51 percent to 35 percent for Clinton; and on handling natural disasters, it was 51 percent to 30 percent, also favoring Clinton. Moreover, 59 percent said Bush has done more to divide the country, while only 27 percent said Clinton had. When asked which man was more honest as president, poll respondents were more evenly divided, with the numbers -- 46 percent Clinton to 41 percent Bush -- falling within the poll's margin of error. The same was true for a question on handling national security: 46 percent said Clinton performed better; 42 percent picked Bush. Racist of the Day Wow, this guy makes yesterday's racist of the day, John Gibson, look like a cuddly lil kitten.
(Cayce) - Inside the walls of Brookland-Cayce High School, you expect students to be treated equally. But a viewer tip led News19 online where a teacher's comments left us asking questions.
Googling his name brings up several posts on a site called American Renaissance News from someone called Dr. Winson McCuen from "Occupied South Carolina". I'm not sure if it's the same guy so take this as you will.
"These sorts of things are going to upset people, but the truth can be very upsetting," said Brookland-Cayce High School teacher Winston McCuen. That truth, at least according to McCuen, is that black people are inferior to whites. "Intellectually, yes they are," said McCuen. "This has been confirmed over and over, and this is a generalization. Again, there are some blacks who are more intelligent than individual whites. But as a rule, that is true. I-Q tests prove it over, and over and over." News19's J.R. Berry asked McCuen, "Do you think slavery in America was a good thing? "Yes," said McCuen. "In America there was a rational assessment saying listen, if we give these people freedom right as they are and you have to go back to see how they were, you can't assume they were like us.
Then of course, there is the deeper reason why the Confederate flag offends some blacks, all liberals, and many who now call themselves “conservative.” The flag is a hated reminder of God’s hierarchical, anti-egalitarian creation. Flying in the face of a prideful and self-deluded modern world, the Confederate flag is an standing rebuke to all upstart presumption, to egalitarian envy, and to an all-too-common hatred of human excellence. But the Confederate flag is hated, above all, because it recalls to our attention the obvious Divinely-created differences between the white and black races – differences rife with implications that Western man suicidally seeks to deny.
I would quote more but I am allergic to bullshit and am breaking out in hives. Racist of the DayWow, this guy makes yesterday's racist of the day, John Gibson, look like a cuddly lil kitten.
(Cayce) - Inside the walls of Brookland-Cayce High School, you expect students to be treated equally. But a viewer tip led News19 online where a teacher's comments left us asking questions.
Googling his name brings up several posts on a site called American Renaissance News from someone called Dr. Winson McCuen from "Occupied South Carolina". I'm not sure if it's the same guy so take this as you will.
"These sorts of things are going to upset people, but the truth can be very upsetting," said Brookland-Cayce High School teacher Winston McCuen. That truth, at least according to McCuen, is that black people are inferior to whites. "Intellectually, yes they are," said McCuen. "This has been confirmed over and over, and this is a generalization. Again, there are some blacks who are more intelligent than individual whites. But as a rule, that is true. I-Q tests prove it over, and over and over." News19's J.R. Berry asked McCuen, "Do you think slavery in America was a good thing? "Yes," said McCuen. "In America there was a rational assessment saying listen, if we give these people freedom right as they are and you have to go back to see how they were, you can't assume they were like us.
Then of course, there is the deeper reason why the Confederate flag offends some blacks, all liberals, and many who now call themselves “conservative.” The flag is a hated reminder of God’s hierarchical, anti-egalitarian creation. Flying in the face of a prideful and self-deluded modern world, the Confederate flag is an standing rebuke to all upstart presumption, to egalitarian envy, and to an all-too-common hatred of human excellence. But the Confederate flag is hated, above all, because it recalls to our attention the obvious Divinely-created differences between the white and black races – differences rife with implications that Western man suicidally seeks to deny.
I would quote more but I am allergic to bullshit and am breaking out in hives. Friday, May 12, 2006Friday Night Racism
I'm proud to present the racist of the day award to John Gibson. Congratulations!
Summary: On The Big Story, John Gibson urged viewers to "[d]o your duty. Make more babies," because he had found out, from a recently released report, that nearly half of all children under the age of five in the United States are minorities. Gibson added: "You know what that means? Twenty-five years and the majority of the population is Hispanic." Gibson later repeated: "To put it bluntly, we need more babies."
Friday Night Racism
I'm proud to present the racist of the day award to John Gibson. Congratulations!
Summary: On The Big Story, John Gibson urged viewers to "[d]o your duty. Make more babies," because he had found out, from a recently released report, that nearly half of all children under the age of five in the United States are minorities. Gibson added: "You know what that means? Twenty-five years and the majority of the population is Hispanic." Gibson later repeated: "To put it bluntly, we need more babies."
Jimmy Page at 14I guess it's going to be a Zep themed day. This video at YouTube has a 14 year old Jimmy Page playing in a skiffle band on a tv show. Jimmy Page at 14I guess it's going to be a Zep themed day. This video at YouTube has a 14 year old Jimmy Page playing in a skiffle band on a tv show. An Analysis of the Soyuz 1 Flight
On Wednesday, 19 April 1967, Reuters reported that rumours about a sensational new Soviet space shot in the next few days were circulating in Moscow (5). On Saturday, 22 April 1967, well-informed sources in Moscow told western newsmen in Moscow that two space ships with a total of 5-6 cosmonauts would be launched starting the following day. The sources also indicated some cosmonauts would switch ships in flight and land in a different craft from the one they were launched in. Vladimir Komarov was named commander of the group of two space ships(6). Valery Bykovsky was rumoured to be involved in the new flight because of his recent absence from official functions in Moscow. We now know that these rumours were essentially true. If all had gone well, Soyuz-2 would have been launched at 0010 UT on 24 April with Bykovsky, Yelisyev, and Khrunov on board.
An Analysis of the Soyuz 1 Flight
On Wednesday, 19 April 1967, Reuters reported that rumours about a sensational new Soviet space shot in the next few days were circulating in Moscow (5). On Saturday, 22 April 1967, well-informed sources in Moscow told western newsmen in Moscow that two space ships with a total of 5-6 cosmonauts would be launched starting the following day. The sources also indicated some cosmonauts would switch ships in flight and land in a different craft from the one they were launched in. Vladimir Komarov was named commander of the group of two space ships(6). Valery Bykovsky was rumoured to be involved in the new flight because of his recent absence from official functions in Moscow. We now know that these rumours were essentially true. If all had gone well, Soyuz-2 would have been launched at 0010 UT on 24 April with Bykovsky, Yelisyev, and Khrunov on board.
Thursday, May 11, 2006Historical ParallelsThe Critic finds a great historical parallel between the NSA and phone records and the precursor to the NSA called The Black Chamber:
In light of recent news regarding AT&T and other telcoms providing all your phone records to the NSA, I read this passage tonight from James Bamford's enlightening (and rather terrifying) 1982 expose of the National Security Agency, The Puzzle Palace, and was rather stunned. It describes the precursor to the NSA, Herbert Osborne Yardley's Black Chamber, an organization devoted to deciphering telegraph communications as part of the war effort, an organization that was part State Department and part War Department:
"With the end of the war [WWI] came another problem: the Radio Communication Act of 1912 was again in effect. This act provided that the government would guarantee the secrecy of communications: No person or persons engaged in or having knowledge of the operation of any station or stations shall divulge or publish the contents of any messages transmitted or received by such station, except to the person or persons to whom the same may be directed, or their authorized agent, or to another station employed to forward such message to its destination, unless legally required to do so by the court of competent jurisdiction or other competent authority. Historical ParallelsThe Critic finds a great historical parallel between the NSA and phone records and the precursor to the NSA called The Black Chamber:
In light of recent news regarding AT&T and other telcoms providing all your phone records to the NSA, I read this passage tonight from James Bamford's enlightening (and rather terrifying) 1982 expose of the National Security Agency, The Puzzle Palace, and was rather stunned. It describes the precursor to the NSA, Herbert Osborne Yardley's Black Chamber, an organization devoted to deciphering telegraph communications as part of the war effort, an organization that was part State Department and part War Department:
"With the end of the war [WWI] came another problem: the Radio Communication Act of 1912 was again in effect. This act provided that the government would guarantee the secrecy of communications: No person or persons engaged in or having knowledge of the operation of any station or stations shall divulge or publish the contents of any messages transmitted or received by such station, except to the person or persons to whom the same may be directed, or their authorized agent, or to another station employed to forward such message to its destination, unless legally required to do so by the court of competent jurisdiction or other competent authority. Bush's Approval Rating Down to 29%
The Decider busts through the 30 percent mark.
President Bush’s job-approval rating has fallen to its lowest mark of his presidency, according to a new Harris Interactive poll. Of 1,003 U.S. adults surveyed in a telephone poll, 29% think Mr. Bush is doing an “excellent or pretty good” job as president, down from 35% in April and significantly lower than 43% in January.
How low do you think he'll go?Roughly one-quarter of U.S. adults say “things in the country are going in the right direction,” while 69% say “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track.” This trend has declined every month since January, when 33% said the nation was heading in the right direction. Iraq remains a key concern for the general public, as 28% of Americans said they consider Iraq to be one of the top two most important issues the government should address, up from 23% in April. The immigration debate also prompted 16% of Americans to consider it a top issue, down from 19% last month, but still sharply higher from 4% in March. Bush's Approval Rating Down to 29%
The Decider busts through the 30 percent mark.
President Bush’s job-approval rating has fallen to its lowest mark of his presidency, according to a new Harris Interactive poll. Of 1,003 U.S. adults surveyed in a telephone poll, 29% think Mr. Bush is doing an “excellent or pretty good” job as president, down from 35% in April and significantly lower than 43% in January.
How low do you think he'll go?Roughly one-quarter of U.S. adults say “things in the country are going in the right direction,” while 69% say “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track.” This trend has declined every month since January, when 33% said the nation was heading in the right direction. Iraq remains a key concern for the general public, as 28% of Americans said they consider Iraq to be one of the top two most important issues the government should address, up from 23% in April. The immigration debate also prompted 16% of Americans to consider it a top issue, down from 19% last month, but still sharply higher from 4% in March. The Article Every American Should ReadIf you haven't seen the USA Today article on the NSA's database tracking your phone activity, go read it now.
The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews. "It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added. For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made — across town or across the country — to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others. The three telecommunications companies are working under contract with the NSA, which launched the program in 2001 shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the sources said. The program is aimed at identifying and tracking suspected terrorists, they said. The sources would talk only under a guarantee of anonymity because the NSA program is secret. Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, nominated Monday by President Bush to become the director of the CIA, headed the NSA from March 1999 to April 2005. In that post, Hayden would have overseen the agency's domestic call-tracking program. Hayden declined to comment about the program. The Article Every American Should ReadIf you haven't seen the USA Today article on the NSA's database tracking your phone activity, go read it now.
The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews. "It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added. For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made — across town or across the country — to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others. The three telecommunications companies are working under contract with the NSA, which launched the program in 2001 shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the sources said. The program is aimed at identifying and tracking suspected terrorists, they said. The sources would talk only under a guarantee of anonymity because the NSA program is secret. Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, nominated Monday by President Bush to become the director of the CIA, headed the NSA from March 1999 to April 2005. In that post, Hayden would have overseen the agency's domestic call-tracking program. Hayden declined to comment about the program. Stairways to HeavenWFMU's Beware of the Blog has collected about 70 mp3s of different versions of Stairway to Heaven by different bands.
Here are 68 73 versions of the song that doesn't remain the same, depending on whether it's the the Australian music hall version, the Gilligan's Island version, the backwards version, the backwards splice-and-dice quarter note version, the glass harmonica version, the Doors version, the reggae version and on and on (all MP3s). Much of this came from former FMU DJ KBC's CD of the same name, which took much of it's content from this 1992 LP.
Stairways to HeavenWFMU's Beware of the Blog has collected about 70 mp3s of different versions of Stairway to Heaven by different bands.
Here are 68 73 versions of the song that doesn't remain the same, depending on whether it's the the Australian music hall version, the Gilligan's Island version, the backwards version, the backwards splice-and-dice quarter note version, the glass harmonica version, the Doors version, the reggae version and on and on (all MP3s). Much of this came from former FMU DJ KBC's CD of the same name, which took much of it's content from this 1992 LP.
Book Banned by the US GovernmentHmmm.
LAS VEGAS, NV -- Irwin Schiff is a well known author with over 500,000 books in print about the economy and the income tax. He is also now amongst the few who have had a book banned by the U.S. Government. On March 19, 2003, Federal Judge Lloyd George ordered Schiff to stop selling his book "The Federal Mafia" which has been in print for over 13 years. According to Schiff the Federal Government is using the American people's preoccupation with the war in Iraq as an opportunity to squelch freedom here at home.
Here's the article from the Las Vegas Review Journal. It still seems to be available through Amazon.Mr Schiff says, "The 1st Amendment is designed so people can have opinions different from the government and there is no legal basis whatsoever for banning my book. Its all contrived, it's bull***t. The government is banning the book because the information is accurate and correct." With the exception of the Las Vegas Review Journal, there has been very limited press about this book banning. Mr. Schiff attributes this to the timing of the government's actions. This site has a pretty nice history of banned books in the U.S. Book Banned by the US GovernmentHmmm.
LAS VEGAS, NV -- Irwin Schiff is a well known author with over 500,000 books in print about the economy and the income tax. He is also now amongst the few who have had a book banned by the U.S. Government. On March 19, 2003, Federal Judge Lloyd George ordered Schiff to stop selling his book "The Federal Mafia" which has been in print for over 13 years. According to Schiff the Federal Government is using the American people's preoccupation with the war in Iraq as an opportunity to squelch freedom here at home.
Here's the article from the Las Vegas Review Journal. It still seems to be available through Amazon.Mr Schiff says, "The 1st Amendment is designed so people can have opinions different from the government and there is no legal basis whatsoever for banning my book. Its all contrived, it's bull***t. The government is banning the book because the information is accurate and correct." With the exception of the Las Vegas Review Journal, there has been very limited press about this book banning. Mr. Schiff attributes this to the timing of the government's actions. This site has a pretty nice history of banned books in the U.S. The Torino Impact Hazard Scale Assessing Asteroid And Comet Impact Hazard Predictions In The 21st Century The Near Earth Object Program maintains a listing of current NEO's with potential Torino values. The Torino Impact Hazard ScaleAssessing Asteroid And Comet Impact Hazard Predictions In The 21st Century The Near Earth Object Program maintains a listing of current NEO's with potential Torino values. Jet Turbine Powered Bike
A bicycle powered by what looks like to be 2 Jetcat model aircraft jet turbines.
Jet Turbine Powered Bike
A bicycle powered by what looks like to be 2 Jetcat model aircraft jet turbines.
Mirage I didn't know a mirage could be captured on film.
Thousands of tourists and local residents witnessed a mirage of high clarity lasting for four hours off the shore of Penglai City in east China's Shandong Province on Sunday.
(via Bifurcated Rivets)Mists rising on the shore created an image of a city, with modern high-rise buildings, broad city streets and bustling cars as well as crowds of people all clearly visible. The city of Penglai had been soaked by two days of rain before the rare weather phenomenon occurred. MirageI didn't know a mirage could be captured on film.
Thousands of tourists and local residents witnessed a mirage of high clarity lasting for four hours off the shore of Penglai City in east China's Shandong Province on Sunday.
(via Bifurcated Rivets)Mists rising on the shore created an image of a city, with modern high-rise buildings, broad city streets and bustling cars as well as crowds of people all clearly visible. The city of Penglai had been soaked by two days of rain before the rare weather phenomenon occurred. Hunger Striking Because of the Da Vinci CodeKilling yourself because you don't like a movie seems like a perfectly sane and rational idea to me.
MUMBAI (AFP) - A Catholic group called on Christians to starve themselves to death in protest at the release of "The Da Vinci Code" at cinemas in India as others burned copies of the novel.
(via J-Walk)The Catholic Secular Forum said it hoped thousand of people would attend a protest Wednesday in Mumbai to burn effigies of Dan Brown, the author of the best-selling novel. "It's to show the extent that our feelings have been hurt," said the group's general secretary Joseph Dias, speaking of the "fast unto death" call if the government fails to take action. He denied the hunger strike was irresponsible. "It's a more Christian way of doing things rather than pulling down things and tearing them up," he said. Hunger Striking Because of the Da Vinci CodeKilling yourself because you don't like a movie seems like a perfectly sane and rational idea to me.
MUMBAI (AFP) - A Catholic group called on Christians to starve themselves to death in protest at the release of "The Da Vinci Code" at cinemas in India as others burned copies of the novel.
(via J-Walk)The Catholic Secular Forum said it hoped thousand of people would attend a protest Wednesday in Mumbai to burn effigies of Dan Brown, the author of the best-selling novel. "It's to show the extent that our feelings have been hurt," said the group's general secretary Joseph Dias, speaking of the "fast unto death" call if the government fails to take action. He denied the hunger strike was irresponsible. "It's a more Christian way of doing things rather than pulling down things and tearing them up," he said. Wednesday, May 10, 2006Spot a Bug, Go to JailFrom Wired News:
A new federal prosecution again raises the issue of whether computer security experts must fear prison time for investigating and reporting vulnerabilities.
On April 28, 2006, Eric McCarty was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. McCarty is a professional computer security consultant who noticed that there was a problem with the way the University of Southern California had constructed its web page for online applications. A database programming error allowed outsiders to obtain applicants' personal information, including Social Security numbers. For proof, the man copied seven applicants' personal records and anonymously sent them to a reporter for SecurityFocus. The journalist notified the school, the school fixed the problem, and the reporter wrote an article about it. The incident might have ended there, but didn't. The school went through its server logs and easily traced the activity back to McCarty, who had made no attempt to hide his tracks. The FBI interviewed McCarty, who explained everything to the agents. Then the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles charged the security expert with violating 18 U.S.C. 1030, the federal computer crime law. Spot a Bug, Go to JailFrom Wired News:
A new federal prosecution again raises the issue of whether computer security experts must fear prison time for investigating and reporting vulnerabilities.
On April 28, 2006, Eric McCarty was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. McCarty is a professional computer security consultant who noticed that there was a problem with the way the University of Southern California had constructed its web page for online applications. A database programming error allowed outsiders to obtain applicants' personal information, including Social Security numbers. For proof, the man copied seven applicants' personal records and anonymously sent them to a reporter for SecurityFocus. The journalist notified the school, the school fixed the problem, and the reporter wrote an article about it. The incident might have ended there, but didn't. The school went through its server logs and easily traced the activity back to McCarty, who had made no attempt to hide his tracks. The FBI interviewed McCarty, who explained everything to the agents. Then the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles charged the security expert with violating 18 U.S.C. 1030, the federal computer crime law. Man Who Bought MIG on Ebay Wants RefundSeems he didn't check to see if it could be shipped to China.
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese businessman who bought a Russian fighter jet online wants his money back after finding it could not be shipped to China, state media reported on Tuesday.
Zhang Cheng, a Beijing businessman, bid $24,730 and paid a $2,000 deposit for the former Czech air force plane on Chinese-based eBay, Xinhua news agency said. But legal experts informed Zhang that the MiG-21, located in Idaho in the United States, was "almost impossible to ship back," Xinhua said, quoting the Beijing Times. Moreover, the seller had clearly confined the destination of the plane to the United States and Canada, Xinhua quoted a member of eBay's public relations staff as saying. Man Who Bought MIG on Ebay Wants RefundSeems he didn't check to see if it could be shipped to China.
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese businessman who bought a Russian fighter jet online wants his money back after finding it could not be shipped to China, state media reported on Tuesday.
Zhang Cheng, a Beijing businessman, bid $24,730 and paid a $2,000 deposit for the former Czech air force plane on Chinese-based eBay, Xinhua news agency said. But legal experts informed Zhang that the MiG-21, located in Idaho in the United States, was "almost impossible to ship back," Xinhua said, quoting the Beijing Times. Moreover, the seller had clearly confined the destination of the plane to the United States and Canada, Xinhua quoted a member of eBay's public relations staff as saying. Home Made Biosphere
Biologists call the Earth's environment and all organisms the Earth's biosphere. But biosphere is also the name of a man-made and sealed environment, which simulates the earth's biosphere. This could for example be in a bottle, or a greenhouse. Another (maybe more correct) name for such an artificial biosphere is ecosphere, or closed ecosystem.
(via Make:Blog)You could of course buy one of these and watch it, but it is much more fun (and cheaper!) to make your own biosphere. Making a perfect biosphere is very complicated, because the cycle of nutrients has to be balanced for your biosphere to be stable. For example: animals breath oxygen and produce CO2, plants produce oxygen (in the sun) and use CO2. In theory they could keep each other in balance. But there is more: the nitrogen cycle also has to be balanced. Animals and plants contain amounts of nitrogen. If they die and are not decomposed, then nitrogen will be removed from the cycle (because it stays in the dead organisms), and eventually there will not be enough nitrogen left for the living organisms. These are the two most obvious and important cycles of nutrients, but there are more, like the cycles of various minerals etc. Home Made Biosphere
Biologists call the Earth's environment and all organisms the Earth's biosphere. But biosphere is also the name of a man-made and sealed environment, which simulates the earth's biosphere. This could for example be in a bottle, or a greenhouse. Another (maybe more correct) name for such an artificial biosphere is ecosphere, or closed ecosystem.
(via Make:Blog)You could of course buy one of these and watch it, but it is much more fun (and cheaper!) to make your own biosphere. Making a perfect biosphere is very complicated, because the cycle of nutrients has to be balanced for your biosphere to be stable. For example: animals breath oxygen and produce CO2, plants produce oxygen (in the sun) and use CO2. In theory they could keep each other in balance. But there is more: the nitrogen cycle also has to be balanced. Animals and plants contain amounts of nitrogen. If they die and are not decomposed, then nitrogen will be removed from the cycle (because it stays in the dead organisms), and eventually there will not be enough nitrogen left for the living organisms. These are the two most obvious and important cycles of nutrients, but there are more, like the cycles of various minerals etc. Elevator HackingA few tricks that may or may not work.
Elevator HackingA few tricks that may or may not work.
Tuesday, May 9, 2006Astronomical Toilet Paper Go ahead, make the joke you're dying to crack in the comments.
The Astronomical Toilet Paper (ATP) is a novel tool for popularization of astronomy.
When you look up to the sky, you can feel the expansiveness of the universe. Astronomy is a backyard matter in itself. This close relation, however, sometimes makes you be oblivious to the fascinating aspect of astronomy. With the ATP, we can bring fruits of astronomy in dairy scenes of the public. The ATP is the first product of the TENPLA Project, a community of students, astronomers, and staffs of science museums and planetariums in Japan for popularization of astronomy. Astronomical Toilet PaperGo ahead, make the joke you're dying to crack in the comments.
The Astronomical Toilet Paper (ATP) is a novel tool for popularization of astronomy.
When you look up to the sky, you can feel the expansiveness of the universe. Astronomy is a backyard matter in itself. This close relation, however, sometimes makes you be oblivious to the fascinating aspect of astronomy. With the ATP, we can bring fruits of astronomy in dairy scenes of the public. The ATP is the first product of the TENPLA Project, a community of students, astronomers, and staffs of science museums and planetariums in Japan for popularization of astronomy. Rat Snake vs. Feeder MouseI could never own a snake and feed it live mice. But yet I can't stop posting videos of mice being eaten.
Sarah the Vietnamese blue beauty rat snake feeds on a feeder mouse. :40 includes only the strike and wrap-up. If live animal feedings bother you, kindly click elsewhere.
(via Begging to Differ)Rat Snake vs. Feeder MouseI could never own a snake and feed it live mice. But yet I can't stop posting videos of mice being eaten.
Sarah the Vietnamese blue beauty rat snake feeds on a feeder mouse. :40 includes only the strike and wrap-up. If live animal feedings bother you, kindly click elsewhere.
(via Begging to Differ)German 'Robin Hoods' Give Poor a Taste of the High LifeFrom Scotsman.com
A GANG of anarchist Robin Hood-style thieves, who dress as superheroes and steal expensive food from exclusive restaurants and delicatessens to give to the poor, are being hunted by police in the German city of Hamburg.
(via Boing Boing)The gang members seemingly take delight in injecting humour into their raids, which rely on sheer numbers and the confusion caused by their presence. After they plundered Kobe beef fillets, champagne and smoked salmon from a gourmet store on the exclusive Elbastrasse, they presented the cashier with a bouquet of flowers before making their getaway. The latest robbery is part of a pattern over the past several months, suggesting that the thieves deliberately set out to highlight what they perceive as the inequality inherent in German society. However, the authorities do not agree. Bodo Franz, a police spokesman, said: "They get off feeling they are just like Robin Hood. There are about 30 in the group. But whatever their motives, they are thieves, plain and simple." Carsten Sievers, the manager of a luxury supermarket in the wealthy Blankenese area of Hamburg, recently watched the robbers run off with trolleys full of expensive foodstuffs, including Kobe beef which, at more than £100 a pound, is always on their illicit shopping list. In another recent swoop, the gang emptied a groaning buffet table in a top restaurant into sacks, while one of their number held up a sign saying. "The fat years are over" - the title of a hit film currently doing the rounds in Germany. German 'Robin Hoods' Give Poor a Taste of the High LifeFrom Scotsman.com
A GANG of anarchist Robin Hood-style thieves, who dress as superheroes and steal expensive food from exclusive restaurants and delicatessens to give to the poor, are being hunted by police in the German city of Hamburg.
(via Boing Boing)The gang members seemingly take delight in injecting humour into their raids, which rely on sheer numbers and the confusion caused by their presence. After they plundered Kobe beef fillets, champagne and smoked salmon from a gourmet store on the exclusive Elbastrasse, they presented the cashier with a bouquet of flowers before making their getaway. The latest robbery is part of a pattern over the past several months, suggesting that the thieves deliberately set out to highlight what they perceive as the inequality inherent in German society. However, the authorities do not agree. Bodo Franz, a police spokesman, said: "They get off feeling they are just like Robin Hood. There are about 30 in the group. But whatever their motives, they are thieves, plain and simple." Carsten Sievers, the manager of a luxury supermarket in the wealthy Blankenese area of Hamburg, recently watched the robbers run off with trolleys full of expensive foodstuffs, including Kobe beef which, at more than £100 a pound, is always on their illicit shopping list. In another recent swoop, the gang emptied a groaning buffet table in a top restaurant into sacks, while one of their number held up a sign saying. "The fat years are over" - the title of a hit film currently doing the rounds in Germany. The Circular Kitchen
The circular kitchen is a new approach to kitchen design based on the changing needs of apartment dwellers and modern lifestyle. After centuries of conventional kitchen design, the self-contained circular kitchen challenges many of the notions of a normal kitchen, treating it more as an appliance than a dedicated, inflexible room.
The Circular Kitchen
The circular kitchen is a new approach to kitchen design based on the changing needs of apartment dwellers and modern lifestyle. After centuries of conventional kitchen design, the self-contained circular kitchen challenges many of the notions of a normal kitchen, treating it more as an appliance than a dedicated, inflexible room.
Creating a Mandala Sand Painting 
A series of photos showing the creation and then destruction of a mandala sand painting. (via the Kircher Society) Creating a Mandala Sand Painting
A series of photos showing the creation and then destruction of a mandala sand painting. (via the Kircher Society) FedEx Thunderstorm Deviations
A FAA Radar track sequence of a bank of FedEx aircraft getting into Memphis as thunderstorms pass over the airport.
(via Kottke)FedEx Thunderstorm Deviations
A FAA Radar track sequence of a bank of FedEx aircraft getting into Memphis as thunderstorms pass over the airport.
(via Kottke)Space Colony Art from the 1970s
A couple of space colony summer studies were conducted at NASA Ames in the 1970s. Colonies housing about 10,000 people were designed. A number of artistic renderings of the concepts were made. These have been converted to jpegs and are available as thumbnails, quarter page, full screen and publication quality images.
Space Colony Art from the 1970s
A couple of space colony summer studies were conducted at NASA Ames in the 1970s. Colonies housing about 10,000 people were designed. A number of artistic renderings of the concepts were made. These have been converted to jpegs and are available as thumbnails, quarter page, full screen and publication quality images.
Feedback from James Joyce's Submission of Ulysses to his Creative Writing WorkshopFrom McSweeney's:
Think you accidentally stapled in something from your playwriting workshop for Ch. 15.
(via Backwards City)Feedback from James Joyce's Submission of Ulysses to his Creative Writing WorkshopFrom McSweeney's:
Think you accidentally stapled in something from your playwriting workshop for Ch. 15.
(via Backwards City)Back upMy hosting company Dreamhost is really starting to test my patience. It took them the entire morning to resolve a server issue. I'm spending more time talking to their tech support than blogging lately. Anybody have a hosting company they swear by?Back upMy hosting company Dreamhost is really starting to test my patience. It took them the entire morning to resolve a server issue. I'm spending more time talking to their tech support than blogging lately. Anybody have a hosting company they swear by?Monday, May 8, 2006Witold Pilecki Absolutely fascinating.
Witold Pilecki (May 13, 1901 – May 25, 1948) was a soldier of the Second Polish Republic, founder of the resistance movement Secret Polish Army (Tajna Armia Polska) and member of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa). During World War II he was the only known person to volunteer to be imprisoned at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. While there, he organized inmate resistance, and as early as 1940 informed the Western Allies of Nazi Germany's camp atrocities. He escaped from Auschwitz in 1943 and took part in the Warsaw Uprising (August–October 1944). Pilecki was executed in 1948 by communist authorities.
Be sure to read it through the section called The Auschwitz Campaign: 945 days:
In 1940 Pilecki presented to his superiors a plan to penetrate Germany's Auschwitz Concentration Camp at Oświęcim (the Polish name of the locality), gather intelligence on the camp from the inside, and organize inmate resistance. Until then little had been known about the Germans' running of the camp, and it was thought to be an internment camp or large prison rather than a death camp. His superiors approved the plan and provided him a false identity card in the name of "Tomasz Serafiński." On September 19, 1940, he deliberately went out on a street in a Warsaw street roundup (łapanka), and was caught by the Germans along with some 2,000 innocent civilians (among them, Władysław Bartoszewski). After two days of torture in Wehrmacht barracks, the survivors were sent to Auschwitz. Pilecki was tattooed on his forearm with the number 4859.
(Thanks Markus. Wonderful link.)At Auschwitz, while working in various kommandos and surviving pneumonia, Pilecki organized an underground Union of Military Organizations (Związek Organizacji Wojskowych, ZOW). ZOW's tasks were to improve inmates' morale, provide them news from outside, distribute extra food and clothing to members, set up intelligence networks, and train detachments to take over the camp in the event of a relief attack by the Home Army, arms airdrops, or an airborne landing by the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, based in Britain... ...By 1943, however, he realized that no such plans existed. Meanwhile the Gestapo redoubled its efforts to ferret out ZOW members. Pilecki decided to break out of the camp, with the hope of personally convincing Home Army leaders that a rescue attempt was a valid option. When he was assigned to a night shift at a camp bakery outside the fence, he and two comrades overpowered a guard, cut the phone line and escaped on the night of April 26–April 27, 1943, taking along documents stolen from the Germans. In the event of capture, they were prepared to swallow cyanide to prevent the Germans learning the extent of their knowledge. After several days, with the help of local civilians, they made good their escape from the area and contacted Home Army units. Pilecki submitted another detailed report on conditions at Auschwitz. Witold PileckiAbsolutely fascinating.
Witold Pilecki (May 13, 1901 – May 25, 1948) was a soldier of the Second Polish Republic, founder of the resistance movement Secret Polish Army (Tajna Armia Polska) and member of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa). During World War II he was the only known person to volunteer to be imprisoned at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. While there, he organized inmate resistance, and as early as 1940 informed the Western Allies of Nazi Germany's camp atrocities. He escaped from Auschwitz in 1943 and took part in the Warsaw Uprising (August–October 1944). Pilecki was executed in 1948 by communist authorities.
Be sure to read it through the section called The Auschwitz Campaign: 945 days:
In 1940 Pilecki presented to his superiors a plan to penetrate Germany's Auschwitz Concentration Camp at Oświęcim (the Polish name of the locality), gather intelligence on the camp from the inside, and organize inmate resistance. Until then little had been known about the Germans' running of the camp, and it was thought to be an internment camp or large prison rather than a death camp. His superiors approved the plan and provided him a false identity card in the name of "Tomasz Serafiński." On September 19, 1940, he deliberately went out on a street in a Warsaw street roundup (łapanka), and was caught by the Germans along with some 2,000 innocent civilians (among them, Władysław Bartoszewski). After two days of torture in Wehrmacht barracks, the survivors were sent to Auschwitz. Pilecki was tattooed on his forearm with the number 4859.
(Thanks Markus. Wonderful link.)At Auschwitz, while working in various kommandos and surviving pneumonia, Pilecki organized an underground Union of Military Organizations (Związek Organizacji Wojskowych, ZOW). ZOW's tasks were to improve inmates' morale, provide them news from outside, distribute extra food and clothing to members, set up intelligence networks, and train detachments to take over the camp in the event of a relief attack by the Home Army, arms airdrops, or an airborne landing by the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, based in Britain... ...By 1943, however, he realized that no such plans existed. Meanwhile the Gestapo redoubled its efforts to ferret out ZOW members. Pilecki decided to break out of the camp, with the hope of personally convincing Home Army leaders that a rescue attempt was a valid option. When he was assigned to a night shift at a camp bakery outside the fence, he and two comrades overpowered a guard, cut the phone line and escaped on the night of April 26–April 27, 1943, taking along documents stolen from the Germans. In the event of capture, they were prepared to swallow cyanide to prevent the Germans learning the extent of their knowledge. After several days, with the help of local civilians, they made good their escape from the area and contacted Home Army units. Pilecki submitted another detailed report on conditions at Auschwitz. Superman leaves Physics 140 class at University of Michigan
Some student at our school (University of Michigan) dressed up as Superman, went into a class, answered his ringing ... all » cell phone, tore off his clothes to reveal his uniform, and ran out of the room.
Superman leaves Physics 140 class at University of Michigan
Some student at our school (University of Michigan) dressed up as Superman, went into a class, answered his ringing ... all » cell phone, tore off his clothes to reveal his uniform, and ran out of the room.
Fatal HilarityCan you die from laughing too hard?
According to an urban legend, there have been at least two documented instances in which people have died apparently of laughter, one in 1975 and another in 2003 [1].
On 24 March 1975 Alex Mitchell, a 50-year-old bricklayer from King's Lynn, England, literally died laughing while watching an episode of The Goodies. According to his wife, who was a witness, Mitchell was unable to stop laughing whilst watching a sketch in the episode "Kung Fu Kapers" in which Tim Brooke-Taylor, dressed as a kilted Scotsman, used a set of bagpipes to defend himself from a psychopathic black pudding in a demonstration of the Scottish martial art of "Hoots-Toot-ochaye". After twenty-five minutes of continuous laughter Mitchell finally slumped on the sofa and expired due to heart attack. His widow later sent the Goodies a letter thanking them for making Mitchell's final moments so pleasant. In Bangkok in 2003, a newspaper reports that an Ice cream driver died while laughing in his sleep. He continued to laugh for two minutes, after which his wife attempted to wake him up. The autopsy showed that he suffered a heart attack, resulting in his death. Fatal HilarityCan you die from laughing too hard?
According to an urban legend, there have been at least two documented instances in which people have died apparently of laughter, one in 1975 and another in 2003 [1].
On 24 March 1975 Alex Mitchell, a 50-year-old bricklayer from King's Lynn, England, literally died laughing while watching an episode of The Goodies. According to his wife, who was a witness, Mitchell was unable to stop laughing whilst watching a sketch in the episode "Kung Fu Kapers" in which Tim Brooke-Taylor, dressed as a kilted Scotsman, used a set of bagpipes to defend himself from a psychopathic black pudding in a demonstration of the Scottish martial art of "Hoots-Toot-ochaye". After twenty-five minutes of continuous laughter Mitchell finally slumped on the sofa and expired due to heart attack. His widow later sent the Goodies a letter thanking them for making Mitchell's final moments so pleasant. In Bangkok in 2003, a newspaper reports that an Ice cream driver died while laughing in his sleep. He continued to laugh for two minutes, after which his wife attempted to wake him up. The autopsy showed that he suffered a heart attack, resulting in his death. The C-Meter Finally you can audit yourself in the privacy of your own home.
The C-meter is a computer based version of the E-meter designed for use by Scientologists outside the "orthodox" Church of Scientology.
The meter uses an advanced high speed low noise 24 bit analog/digital converter to sample the readings from the preclear 300 times a second ensuring a smooth display with no necessity for resetting the tone arm. The display includes a full screen width TA position bar and a graphical display of needle reactions for up to 30 seconds. The C-MeterFinally you can audit yourself in the privacy of your own home.
The C-meter is a computer based version of the E-meter designed for use by Scientologists outside the "orthodox" Church of Scientology.
The meter uses an advanced high speed low noise 24 bit analog/digital converter to sample the readings from the preclear 300 times a second ensuring a smooth display with no necessity for resetting the tone arm. The display includes a full screen width TA position bar and a graphical display of needle reactions for up to 30 seconds. Pimp My Snack I have linked to projects from Pimp My Snack in the past but it deserves a link of its own.
PimpMySnack is a custom, banging, A1 Tip Top, jamming club fare. It's a sandwich of fun on ecstacy bread wrapped up in a big bag like disco fudge. It doesn't get any better than this.
We take Snacks to their limit, and show what they're capable of with a little ingenuity, a little cash, and a lot of imagination. Pimp My SnackI have linked to projects from Pimp My Snack in the past but it deserves a link of its own.
PimpMySnack is a custom, banging, A1 Tip Top, jamming club fare. It's a sandwich of fun on ecstacy bread wrapped up in a big bag like disco fudge. It doesn't get any better than this.
We take Snacks to their limit, and show what they're capable of with a little ingenuity, a little cash, and a lot of imagination. Chinese Town With a 98% Divorce RateFrom the LA Times:
RENHE, China — Farmer Yan Shihai was happily married for more than 30 years. Then late last year, seemingly out of the blue, the 57-year-old grandfather and his loving wife got a divorce.
(via The Huffington Post)Within months, all three of his adult children and their spouses also split up. So did almost every other married person in Yan's village of 4,000 — an astounding 98% of Renhe's married couples officially parted, according to the local government. It was as if a spell had been cast over this once-quiet rural community in the Chinese heartland. Everybody suddenly seemed to have fallen out of love. The oldest among them were in their 90s and barely able to move. The youngest had just tied the knot. Some had babies. But instead of tension or tears, the couples waiting in line at the local registry to end their marriages were practically jolly. They believed they were taking advantage of a legal loophole that allowed them to get an extra apartment. In a country where the government has seized farm after farm to feed a building boom, the villagers figured that if they were going to lose the land that had supported them for generations, they should at least try to get a better deal. Chinese Town With a 98% Divorce RateFrom the LA Times:
RENHE, China — Farmer Yan Shihai was happily married for more than 30 years. Then late last year, seemingly out of the blue, the 57-year-old grandfather and his loving wife got a divorce.
(via The Huffington Post)Within months, all three of his adult children and their spouses also split up. So did almost every other married person in Yan's village of 4,000 — an astounding 98% of Renhe's married couples officially parted, according to the local government. It was as if a spell had been cast over this once-quiet rural community in the Chinese heartland. Everybody suddenly seemed to have fallen out of love. The oldest among them were in their 90s and barely able to move. The youngest had just tied the knot. Some had babies. But instead of tension or tears, the couples waiting in line at the local registry to end their marriages were practically jolly. They believed they were taking advantage of a legal loophole that allowed them to get an extra apartment. In a country where the government has seized farm after farm to feed a building boom, the villagers figured that if they were going to lose the land that had supported them for generations, they should at least try to get a better deal. The Billion-Dollar Space Pen
Everybody has heard of the infamous Space Pen.
Space has its urban legends of course, and the Million Dollar Space Pen is one of the more enduring ones. It is neither as outlandish nor as unbelievable as the story about faking the Moon landings, and even though it seems more credible than a massive government conspiracy, it is probable that fewer people have heard it. The story goes like this: in the 1960s, NASA astronauts discovered that their pens did not work in zero gravity. So like good engineers, they went to work and designed a wonder pen. It worked upside down. It worked in vacuum. It worked in zero gravity. It even worked underwater! And it only cost a million dollars! The crafty Russians used a pencil. This story, like most modern urban legends, has proliferated on the Internet, but it has also been passed by word of mouth. The Billion-Dollar Space Pen
Everybody has heard of the infamous Space Pen.
Space has its urban legends of course, and the Million Dollar Space Pen is one of the more enduring ones. It is neither as outlandish nor as unbelievable as the story about faking the Moon landings, and even though it seems more credible than a massive government conspiracy, it is probable that fewer people have heard it. The story goes like this: in the 1960s, NASA astronauts discovered that their pens did not work in zero gravity. So like good engineers, they went to work and designed a wonder pen. It worked upside down. It worked in vacuum. It worked in zero gravity. It even worked underwater! And it only cost a million dollars! The crafty Russians used a pencil. This story, like most modern urban legends, has proliferated on the Internet, but it has also been passed by word of mouth. The Diffusion of Wal-Mart
The University of Minnesota's Thomas Holmes Movie of Wal-Mart Store Openings, illustrating each store opening in the United States from 1962 to 2004.
(via Robot Wisdom)The Diffusion of Wal-Mart
The University of Minnesota's Thomas Holmes Movie of Wal-Mart Store Openings, illustrating each store opening in the United States from 1962 to 2004.
(via Robot Wisdom)1971 FBI Memo Concerning an Episode of Laugh-In
From a recently declassified FBI memo concerning a March 8, 1971, episode of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, a television show broadcast by NBC. At director J. Edgar Hoover’s request, a recording of the show was filed in the FBI’s Crime Research Section. Hoover’s Counter Intelligence Program, designed to “disrupt” groups and “neutralize” individuals deemed to be threats to domestic security, conducted more than 2,000 operations between 1956 and 1971, when it was officially discontinued after being exposed in the press. Originally from Harper's Magazine, March 2006.
(via Robot Wisdom)1971 FBI Memo Concerning an Episode of Laugh-In
From a recently declassified FBI memo concerning a March 8, 1971, episode of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, a television show broadcast by NBC. At director J. Edgar Hoover’s request, a recording of the show was filed in the FBI’s Crime Research Section. Hoover’s Counter Intelligence Program, designed to “disrupt” groups and “neutralize” individuals deemed to be threats to domestic security, conducted more than 2,000 operations between 1956 and 1971, when it was officially discontinued after being exposed in the press. Originally from Harper's Magazine, March 2006.
(via Robot Wisdom)Your Normal Day
Have you ever wondered about what you do on a normal day? Well all those things probably are pretty boring for you. But how different do you think your normal boring day is if you compare it to someone elses? Lets see how different peoples lives are on a normal day. All these photos are taken every hour of one normal day by different people all around the world. More info inside about how you can be a part of this project.
(via Bifurcated Rivets)Your Normal Day
Have you ever wondered about what you do on a normal day? Well all those things probably are pretty boring for you. But how different do you think your normal boring day is if you compare it to someone elses? Lets see how different peoples lives are on a normal day. All these photos are taken every hour of one normal day by different people all around the world. More info inside about how you can be a part of this project.
(via Bifurcated Rivets)Dazed and ConfusedAn early vid of Zep with Jimmy Page before he started playing his signature Les Paul. It's so refreshing to see them in footage that doesn't come from The Song Remains the Same. (via Jaf Project) Dazed and ConfusedAn early vid of Zep with Jimmy Page before he started playing his signature Les Paul. It's so refreshing to see them in footage that doesn't come from The Song Remains the Same. (via Jaf Project) Sunday, May 7, 2006List of Children Raised by Wild AnimalsFrom Feralchildren.com:
These are children who have supposedly been raised by animals: there are monkey boys, wolf girls, gazelle boys and even an ostrich boy. Click on the child's name to read more about that child. The information available varies greatly from child to child. Where the name is in bold, there is a considerable amount of information here.
List of Children Raised by Wild AnimalsFrom Feralchildren.com:
These are children who have supposedly been raised by animals: there are monkey boys, wolf girls, gazelle boys and even an ostrich boy. Click on the child's name to read more about that child. The information available varies greatly from child to child. Where the name is in bold, there is a considerable amount of information here.
8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, Kansas - 1895
This is the eighth-grade final exam* from 1895 from Salina, Kansas. It was taken
from the original document on file at the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society
and Library in Salina, Kansas and reprinted by the Salina Journal.
This is the arithmetic section of the test:
Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
Update:1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic. 2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold? 3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts. per bu, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare? 4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals? 5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton. 6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent. 7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $.20 per inch? 8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent. 9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods? 10.Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt. Snopes has this as false. (Thanks Brendan) 8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, Kansas - 1895
This is the eighth-grade final exam* from 1895 from Salina, Kansas. It was taken
from the original document on file at the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society
and Library in Salina, Kansas and reprinted by the Salina Journal.
This is the arithmetic section of the test:
Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
Update:1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic. 2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold? 3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts. per bu, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare? 4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals? 5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton. 6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent. 7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $.20 per inch? 8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent. 9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods? 10.Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt. Snopes has this as false. (Thanks Brendan) Cartrivision, the First VCR
The year was 1972. This is the first VCR made in the U.S.A. for consumers. The product flopped horribly ~ of course. Shown in the photos above, is a beautiful example of an end table model. These were large machines and had they had to blend in with the living room decor. The Cartrivision VCR was typically intended to be built into a console style 25" color TV, a popular screen size at that time. Sets like that were produced by Sears, Montgomery Wards, Curtis Mathes, just to name a few. The third photo is of the interior front of the mechanism.
Related:Very few Cartrivision VCRs were sold new. Thousands were sold surplus through outlets like Olsen Electroncis or private clubs. Initially they were sold here in the San Jose / south bay area (Silicon Valley, where else?). Steve Wozniak had one, as well as the fellows who founded Newtek, makers of the Video Toaster! I wonder if they still have their Cartrivision VCRs? The Cartivision Site Cartrivision - The First VCR with Prerecorded Tapes Cartrivision, the First VCR
The year was 1972. This is the first VCR made in the U.S.A. for consumers. The product flopped horribly ~ of course. Shown in the photos above, is a beautiful example of an end table model. These were large machines and had they had to blend in with the living room decor. The Cartrivision VCR was typically intended to be built into a console style 25" color TV, a popular screen size at that time. Sets like that were produced by Sears, Montgomery Wards, Curtis Mathes, just to name a few. The third photo is of the interior front of the mechanism.
Related:Very few Cartrivision VCRs were sold new. Thousands were sold surplus through outlets like Olsen Electroncis or private clubs. Initially they were sold here in the San Jose / south bay area (Silicon Valley, where else?). Steve Wozniak had one, as well as the fellows who founded Newtek, makers of the Video Toaster! I wonder if they still have their Cartrivision VCRs? The Cartivision Site Cartrivision - The First VCR with Prerecorded Tapes The Most Complex Chinese Character in Current Usage And it happens to be a type of noodle according to Wikipedia. The Most Complex Chinese Character in Current UsageAnd it happens to be a type of noodle according to Wikipedia. Project Gutenberg Audio eBooksThe Critic writes:
It's something near and dear to my heart, audiobooks provided for free from project gutenberg. Some of decent amateur recordings by people, some are group efforts by people all tackling parts of a big work, and some are (horrible of all horribles) mp3s of audiobooks read by computers. This last category is what is widely available to a lot of blind people who order books from the Library of Congress (at least that last trivia bit is my surmise from what the project's site had implied). There are also a variety of links there to other for free audiobook sites. Worth a gander.
I didn't know that Project Gutenberg also made audio eBooks available. Project Gutenberg Audio eBooksThe Critic writes:
It's something near and dear to my heart, audiobooks provided for free from project gutenberg. Some of decent amateur recordings by people, some are group efforts by people all tackling parts of a big work, and some are (horrible of all horribles) mp3s of audiobooks read by computers. This last category is what is widely available to a lot of blind people who order books from the Library of Congress (at least that last trivia bit is my surmise from what the project's site had implied). There are also a variety of links there to other for free audiobook sites. Worth a gander.
I didn't know that Project Gutenberg also made audio eBooks available. Cardinal Urges Legal Action Against Da Vinci CodeUm guys, the keyword here is FICTION. But enough about the bible..
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - In the latest Vatican broadside against "The Da Vinci Code", a leading cardinal says Christians should respond to the book and film with legal action because both offend Christ and the Church he founded.
BTW, I got the impression while reading the DV Code that somewhere during writing it, Dan Brown thought it would make a pretty good movie and started adding in all these cliched chase scenes. I kept expecting to see notes like:Cardinal Francis Arinze, a Nigerian who was considered a candidate for pope last year, made his strong comments in a documentary called "The Da Vinci Code-A Masterful Deception." Arinze's appeal came some 10 days after another Vatican cardinal called for a boycott of the film. Both cardinals asserted that other religions would never stand for offences against their beliefs and that Christians should get tough. FADE IN:But then it has sold something like 40 million copies so what do I know. Cardinal Urges Legal Action Against Da Vinci CodeUm guys, the keyword here is FICTION. But enough about the bible..
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - In the latest Vatican broadside against "The Da Vinci Code", a leading cardinal says Christians should respond to the book and film with legal action because both offend Christ and the Church he founded.
BTW, I got the impression while reading the DV Code that somewhere during writing it, Dan Brown thought it would make a pretty good movie and started adding in all these cliched chase scenes. I kept expecting to see notes like:Cardinal Francis Arinze, a Nigerian who was considered a candidate for pope last year, made his strong comments in a documentary called "The Da Vinci Code-A Masterful Deception." Arinze's appeal came some 10 days after another Vatican cardinal called for a boycott of the film. Both cardinals asserted that other religions would never stand for offences against their beliefs and that Christians should get tough. FADE IN:But then it has sold something like 40 million copies so what do I know. American Indians of the Pacific Northwest
This digital collection integrates over 2,300 photographs and 7,700 pages of text relating to the American Indians in two cultural areas of the Pacific Northwest, the Northwest Coast and Plateau. These resources illustrate many aspects of life and work, including housing, clothing, crafts, transportation, education, and employment. The materials are drawn from the extensive collections of the University of Washington Libraries, the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture (formerly the Cheney Cowles Museum/Eastern Washington State Historical Society), and the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle.
(via Linkfilter)American Indians of the Pacific Northwest
This digital collection integrates over 2,300 photographs and 7,700 pages of text relating to the American Indians in two cultural areas of the Pacific Northwest, the Northwest Coast and Plateau. These resources illustrate many aspects of life and work, including housing, clothing, crafts, transportation, education, and employment. The materials are drawn from the extensive collections of the University of Washington Libraries, the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture (formerly the Cheney Cowles Museum/Eastern Washington State Historical Society), and the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle.
(via Linkfilter)Instapundit and the Wrongness SingularityHA!
So in fact, Reynolds has managed to fit five units of wrongness into only four declarative statements! This is the hackular equivalent of crossing the Chandrasekhar Limit, at which point your blog cannot help but collapse in on itself. It is unknown at this point whether the resulting end state will be an intermediate neutron-blog phase, or whether the collapse will proceed all the way to a singularity surrounded by a black hole event horizon. We may have to wait for the neutrino signal to be sure.
Instapundit and the Wrongness SingularityHA!
So in fact, Reynolds has managed to fit five units of wrongness into only four declarative statements! This is the hackular equivalent of crossing the Chandrasekhar Limit, at which point your blog cannot help but collapse in on itself. It is unknown at this point whether the resulting end state will be an intermediate neutron-blog phase, or whether the collapse will proceed all the way to a singularity surrounded by a black hole event horizon. We may have to wait for the neutrino signal to be sure.
The Enterprise vs. The Death Star
 I think I'll file this debate under the Geek category. (for the record, I'm voting for the Death Star. I'm not even sure the Enterprise could take on an Imperial Shuttle.)
It has come to our attention that there apparently was (and possibly still is) a debate over which would win the machino-et-machino match-up: Death Star vs. Enterprise. Newsgroup chatter be damned!! Let's decide this for real, folks! Steve, Enterprise, led by Kirk and Co. (of course) up against the Death Star (with Darth Vader, no Emperor) - who controls the universe at battle's end?
(via Linkfilter)STEVE: You're joking, right? How could an argument as one-sided as this ever linger over the (supposedly) intelligent memebers of the internet community? I'm so shocked I don't even know where to begin... I guess I'll start off with the obvious. The death star can pulverize a PLANET! Even with Scotty "givin' her all she's got," there's no way the Enterprise could withstand even one hit by that thing. And that's just the main gun. There are also thousands of smaller surface weapons, each of which would cause Kirk & Co. to go flying over the bridge railing if they hit the Enterprise. And of course, hitting the Enterprise wouldn't be difficult at all considering it's as manuverable as an ocean liner. Also, did I mention Tie-fighters? Swarms of them would descend on the Enterprise and blast it into smithereens. Also, did I mention the tractor beam? It would grab onto the Enterprise and hold it still while the main gun is warmed up... The Enterprise vs. The Death Star
I think I'll file this debate under the Geek category. (for the record, I'm voting for the Death Star. I'm not even sure the Enterprise could take on an Imperial Shuttle.)
It has come to our attention that there apparently was (and possibly still is) a debate over which would win the machino-et-machino match-up: Death Star vs. Enterprise. Newsgroup chatter be damned!! Let's decide this for real, folks! Steve, Enterprise, led by Kirk and Co. (of course) up against the Death Star (with Darth Vader, no Emperor) - who controls the universe at battle's end?
(via Linkfilter)STEVE: You're joking, right? How could an argument as one-sided as this ever linger over the (supposedly) intelligent memebers of the internet community? I'm so shocked I don't even know where to begin... I guess I'll start off with the obvious. The death star can pulverize a PLANET! Even with Scotty "givin' her all she's got," there's no way the Enterprise could withstand even one hit by that thing. And that's just the main gun. There are also thousands of smaller surface weapons, each of which would cause Kirk & Co. to go flying over the bridge railing if they hit the Enterprise. And of course, hitting the Enterprise wouldn't be difficult at all considering it's as manuverable as an ocean liner. Also, did I mention Tie-fighters? Swarms of them would descend on the Enterprise and blast it into smithereens. Also, did I mention the tractor beam? It would grab onto the Enterprise and hold it still while the main gun is warmed up... Pictures of a Laser Test Facility
Some great high res photos of a facility in New Mexico which the NY Times claims to be testing how to take down enemy satellites with ground based freakin laser beams.
The Bush administration is seeking to develop a powerful ground-based laser weapon that would use beams of concentrated light to destroy enemy satellites in orbit.
The largely secret project, parts of which have been made public through Air Force budget documents submitted to Congress in February, is part of a wide-ranging effort to develop space weapons, both defensive and offensive. No treaty or law forbids such work. The laser research was described by federal officials who would speak only on the condition of anonymity because of the topic's political sensitivity. The White House has recently sought to play down the issue of space arms, fearing it could become an election-year liability. 
Related: Wikipedia's entry on the Starfire Optical Range. (via Monkeyfilter) Pictures of a Laser Test Facility
Some great high res photos of a facility in New Mexico which the NY Times claims to be testing how to take down enemy satellites with ground based freakin laser beams.
The Bush administration is seeking to develop a powerful ground-based laser weapon that would use beams of concentrated light to destroy enemy satellites in orbit.
The largely secret project, parts of which have been made public through Air Force budget documents submitted to Congress in February, is part of a wide-ranging effort to develop space weapons, both defensive and offensive. No treaty or law forbids such work. The laser research was described by federal officials who would speak only on the condition of anonymity because of the topic's political sensitivity. The White House has recently sought to play down the issue of space arms, fearing it could become an election-year liability.
Related: Wikipedia's entry on the Starfire Optical Range. (via Monkeyfilter) The Oozinator by HasbroEh, I'm going to label this children's ad as NSFW. And yes, it's a real product. From Hasbro's website:
Sneak up on your opponents with a surprise bio-ooze attack! Just when they think you’re coming at ‘em with water, blast ‘em with a shot of icky bio-ooze! Shoot out globs of gooey bio-ooze and then drench ‘em with water! It’s a double blast attack that’ll keep your opponents on their toes and running during every water fight. With the OOZINATOR blaster you don’t just get soaked, you get drenched!
The Oozinator by HasbroEh, I'm going to label this children's ad as NSFW. And yes, it's a real product. From Hasbro's website:
Sneak up on your opponents with a surprise bio-ooze attack! Just when they think you’re coming at ‘em with water, blast ‘em with a shot of icky bio-ooze! Shoot out globs of gooey bio-ooze and then drench ‘em with water! It’s a double blast attack that’ll keep your opponents on their toes and running during every water fight. With the OOZINATOR blaster you don’t just get soaked, you get drenched!
Saturday, May 6, 2006They Are Made Out of MeatNice short. Update: This was originally a short story written by Terry Bisson and published in a 1991 issue of OMNI and can be read online here. They Are Made Out of MeatNice short. Update: This was originally a short story written by Terry Bisson and published in a 1991 issue of OMNI and can be read online here. Network TV Logos Over the Years
This page consists of the many icons from the major US TV Networks. The Big 3 networks, ABC, CBS and NBC, are listed below. The additional page after them features the 5 other networks and their affiliates. And now we present to you the vintage signature idents from TV's golden past.
(via Linkfilter)Network TV Logos Over the Years
This page consists of the many icons from the major US TV Networks. The Big 3 networks, ABC, CBS and NBC, are listed below. The additional page after them features the 5 other networks and their affiliates. And now we present to you the vintage signature idents from TV's golden past.
(via Linkfilter)Antichrist to be Revealed on June 6 Good news everybody. 6/6/06 should be the day when the antichrist will be revealed.
In order for Antichrist to come on June 6 2006 6/6/06, a series of events must happen between Jan 06 and June 06. Here are these events and how they raise the probabilities of Antichrist revealed on June 6, 2006 (6/6/06)
(via Bifurcated Rivets)Antichrist to be Revealed on June 6Good news everybody. 6/6/06 should be the day when the antichrist will be revealed.
In order for Antichrist to come on June 6 2006 6/6/06, a series of events must happen between Jan 06 and June 06. Here are these events and how they raise the probabilities of Antichrist revealed on June 6, 2006 (6/6/06)
(via Bifurcated Rivets)Stellarium
Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.
(Thanks PVC)Stellarium
Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.
(Thanks PVC)Smedley Butler
Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940), nicknamed "The Fighting Quaker" and "Old Gimlet Eye," was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps and, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. Butler was awarded the Medal of Honor twice during his career, one of only 19 people to be so doubly decorated. He was noted for his outspoken non-interventionist views and his book War is a Racket, one of the first works describing the military-industrial complex. After retiring from service, Butler became a popular speaker at meetings organized by veterans, communists, pacifists and church groups in the 1930s. Butler came forward to the U.S. Congress in 1934 to report that a proposed coup had been plotted by wealthy industrialists to overthrow the government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
(Thanks Duane)Smedley Butler
Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940), nicknamed "The Fighting Quaker" and "Old Gimlet Eye," was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps and, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. Butler was awarded the Medal of Honor twice during his career, one of only 19 people to be so doubly decorated. He was noted for his outspoken non-interventionist views and his book War is a Racket, one of the first works describing the military-industrial complex. After retiring from service, Butler became a popular speaker at meetings organized by veterans, communists, pacifists and church groups in the 1930s. Butler came forward to the U.S. Congress in 1934 to report that a proposed coup had been plotted by wealthy industrialists to overthrow the government of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
(Thanks Duane)The White House PutschWikipedia's entry on the plot to overthrow FDR.
The Business Plot, The Plot Against FDR, or The White House Putsch, was an alleged conspiracy to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 by a retired general backed by big money interests. The allegations of the plot came to light when retired Marine Corps General Smedley Butler testified that one Gerald MacGuire told Butler that he had been selected to lead the plot. Butler testified before the McCormack-Dickstein Committee in 1934 [1]. In his testimony, Butler claimed that a group of several men had approached him as part of a plot to overthrow Roosevelt in a military coup. MacGuire vehemently denied any such plot. In their final report, the Congressional committee supported Butler's allegations on the existence of the plot, [2] but no prosecutions or further investigations followed, and the matter was mostly forgotten.
The White House PutschWikipedia's entry on the plot to overthrow FDR.
The Business Plot, The Plot Against FDR, or The White House Putsch, was an alleged conspiracy to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 by a retired general backed by big money interests. The allegations of the plot came to light when retired Marine Corps General Smedley Butler testified that one Gerald MacGuire told Butler that he had been selected to lead the plot. Butler testified before the McCormack-Dickstein Committee in 1934 [1]. In his testimony, Butler claimed that a group of several men had approached him as part of a plot to overthrow Roosevelt in a military coup. MacGuire vehemently denied any such plot. In their final report, the Congressional committee supported Butler's allegations on the existence of the plot, [2] but no prosecutions or further investigations followed, and the matter was mostly forgotten.
Chronicles of the Chronically (and Voluntarily) Bedridden Christy suggested this blog yesterday about a volunteer in a NASA sponsored study.
i'm currently participating in the NASA-sponsored bedrest study at the Cleveland Clinic. these are the chronicles of three full months of bedrest, in addition to the craziness leading up to it, and the who knows what afterwards. edit: this is now a team blog with more than one bedrest subject (or potential bedrest subject) adding entries!
(Thanks Christy, awesome suggestion)Chronicles of the Chronically (and Voluntarily) BedriddenChristy suggested this blog yesterday about a volunteer in a NASA sponsored study.
i'm currently participating in the NASA-sponsored bedrest study at the Cleveland Clinic. these are the chronicles of three full months of bedrest, in addition to the craziness leading up to it, and the who knows what afterwards. edit: this is now a team blog with more than one bedrest subject (or potential bedrest subject) adding entries!
(Thanks Christy, awesome suggestion)ThanksThanks to everyone who commented on what their favorite blogs were in yesterday's post. There were some wonderful suggestions to some blogs I have never heard of before. I'm closing comments on that post before the spammers find it but you can find the list here if you are looking for some new blogs to subscribe to.ThanksThanks to everyone who commented on what their favorite blogs were in yesterday's post. There were some wonderful suggestions to some blogs I have never heard of before. I'm closing comments on that post before the spammers find it but you can find the list here if you are looking for some new blogs to subscribe to.Friday, May 5, 2006Daily Dose of IngersollWe are told that the universe was designed and created, and that it is absurd to suppose that matter has existed from eternity, but that it is perfectly self-evident that a god has. --Robert Green Ingersoll, "The Gods" (1872) Daily Dose of IngersollWe are told that the universe was designed and created, and that it is absurd to suppose that matter has existed from eternity, but that it is perfectly self-evident that a god has. --Robert Green Ingersoll, "The Gods" (1872) Tom Cruise DancingSomewhere in a galaxy far, far away, Lord Xenu is laughing his ass off. (via Shakespeare's Sister) Tom Cruise DancingSomewhere in a galaxy far, far away, Lord Xenu is laughing his ass off. (via Shakespeare's Sister) Interview with Ray McGovern Crooks and Liars has video of Paula Zahn interviewing Ray McGovern, the man who debated Rumsfeld yesterday.
Zahn: There was a point where it appeared as though you were going to get kicked out ... Donald Rumsfeld encouraged whoever I think had their hands on you at the time to let you stay there. Does he get any credit for that today?
MCGOVERN: At first, I thought, well, that was rather gracious. But, then I got to thinking, I was not abusing the privilege. I was simply asking pointed questions. And for the national TV audience to see me carted away for asking Rumsfeld to explain what any objective observer would call a lie, that wouldn't have been good P.R. So, yes, I'm glad he let me stay. But I think it was for self- interested reasons. Interview with Ray McGovernCrooks and Liars has video of Paula Zahn interviewing Ray McGovern, the man who debated Rumsfeld yesterday.
Zahn: There was a point where it appeared as though you were going to get kicked out ... Donald Rumsfeld encouraged whoever I think had their hands on you at the time to let you stay there. Does he get any credit for that today?
MCGOVERN: At first, I thought, well, that was rather gracious. But, then I got to thinking, I was not abusing the privilege. I was simply asking pointed questions. And for the national TV audience to see me carted away for asking Rumsfeld to explain what any objective observer would call a lie, that wouldn't have been good P.R. So, yes, I'm glad he let me stay. But I think it was for self- interested reasons. Your Favorite BlogsIt's kind of a slow Friday here for me so I thought I would ask all the cynical readers out there what are some of your favorite blogs. (And yes, I'm partially asking because I am having trouble finding any good links today and am looking for new blogs to mine links from.)Your Favorite BlogsIt's kind of a slow Friday here for me so I thought I would ask all the cynical readers out there what are some of your favorite blogs. (And yes, I'm partially asking because I am having trouble finding any good links today and am looking for new blogs to mine links from.)Camera on Bush Watching Colbert's Audition TapeABC News kept a camera on Bush during Colbert's pre-taped Press Secretary Audition which is up on YouTube (for the moment at least). It is most compelling around the 3 minute mark when W is looking mightily uncomfortable as you hear Helen Thomas pound Colbert on why we invaded Iraq. I only wish the camera had been trained on Bush during the rest of the routine. (via Screenhead) Camera on Bush Watching Colbert's Audition TapeABC News kept a camera on Bush during Colbert's pre-taped Press Secretary Audition which is up on YouTube (for the moment at least). It is most compelling around the 3 minute mark when W is looking mightily uncomfortable as you hear Helen Thomas pound Colbert on why we invaded Iraq. I only wish the camera had been trained on Bush during the rest of the routine. (via Screenhead) Bill Gates: I don't want to be world's richest manWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
In news that will either gladden or enrage non-billionaires everywhere, Bill Gates has revealed that he would rather not be the world's richest man.
And this site has a series of photos of his very modest cottage."I wish I wasn't ... There's nothing good that comes out of that," the co-founder of Microsoft told a conference of online advertising executives in Redmond, Washington, where the software company has its headquarters. "You get more visibility as a result of it." 
Poor billionaire bastard. Bill Gates: I don't want to be world's richest manWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
In news that will either gladden or enrage non-billionaires everywhere, Bill Gates has revealed that he would rather not be the world's richest man.
And this site has a series of photos of his very modest cottage."I wish I wasn't ... There's nothing good that comes out of that," the co-founder of Microsoft told a conference of online advertising executives in Redmond, Washington, where the software company has its headquarters. "You get more visibility as a result of it."
Poor billionaire bastard. Thursday, May 4, 2006Why Slot Machines Are More Difficult to Rig Than Voting Machines
But Freeman has assembled comparisons that suggest Americans protect their vices more than they guard their rights, according to data he presented at an October meeting of the American Statistical Association in Philadelphia.
(via Digg)Why Slot Machines Are More Difficult to Rig Than Voting Machines
But Freeman has assembled comparisons that suggest Americans protect their vices more than they guard their rights, according to data he presented at an October meeting of the American Statistical Association in Philadelphia.
(via Digg)The Top Ten Weirdest, Creepiest, Freakiest Childrens' Television Shows
This is a list of the top ten children’s television shows currently being aired on US television that give me the willies. This is my opinion, and my opinion alone. The list doesn't include old shows, but if it did many of these would probably remain on the list.
The Top Ten Weirdest, Creepiest, Freakiest Childrens' Television Shows
This is a list of the top ten children’s television shows currently being aired on US television that give me the willies. This is my opinion, and my opinion alone. The list doesn't include old shows, but if it did many of these would probably remain on the list.
Spoon-bending: How Uri Geller really does it!
The one thing Uri Geller is known for is his spoon-bending trick. Even though he has given it up, it still is his tour-de-force. No cutlery is safe, when Uri's in town!
The following images is from a short video clip, where Uri Geller shows his skills to a small group of people. This video clip was part of a feature on the British TV show "Noel's House Party", 1996. Spoon-bending: How Uri Geller really does it!
The one thing Uri Geller is known for is his spoon-bending trick. Even though he has given it up, it still is his tour-de-force. No cutlery is safe, when Uri's in town!
The following images is from a short video clip, where Uri Geller shows his skills to a small group of people. This video clip was part of a feature on the British TV show "Noel's House Party", 1996. National Day of PrayerGood news everybody, George W. Bush has proclaimed May 4th 2006 as the National Day of Prayer:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 4, 2006, as a National Day of Prayer. I ask the citizens of our Nation to give thanks, each according to his or her own faith, for the freedoms and blessings we have received and for God's continued guidance and protection. I urge all Americans to join in observing this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.
This is horrible news for patients with heart problems.(via J-Walk) National Day of PrayerGood news everybody, George W. Bush has proclaimed May 4th 2006 as the National Day of Prayer:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 4, 2006, as a National Day of Prayer. I ask the citizens of our Nation to give thanks, each according to his or her own faith, for the freedoms and blessings we have received and for God's continued guidance and protection. I urge all Americans to join in observing this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.
This is horrible news for patients with heart problems.(via J-Walk) Wednesday, May 3, 2006The Montana Sedition Project
Imagine going down to your local brewpub or coffee shop. You meet some friends. The talk turns to the war. You criticize the President and his wealthy supporters. Next thing you know, a couple of husky fellows at the next table grab you, hustle you out the door and down to the local police station. You are arrested on a charge of sedition. Within months you are indicted, tried and convicted. The judge sentences you to 5-10 years in prison — and off you go! Think this could never happen? Well, it happened not that long ago — during World War I — to scores of ordinary people in Montana. They discovered very painfully that their free speech rights had been stripped away by the state legislature.
(via Linkfilter)This site is about the 76 men and three women convicted of the crime of sedition in Montana in 1918 and 1919. The law they ran afoul of was possibly the harshest anti-speech law passed by any state in the history of the United States. Forty of those men — and one woman — served prison terms at the state penitentiary in Deer Lodge under sentences of up to 20 years. They were sent there for simply expressing their opinions — about President Wilson, about America's entry into World War I, about the armed forces, or about some other government agency. One man was sentenced to 7 - 20 years for saying the wartime food regulations were a "big joke." Others were convicted but only fined. A handful were found not guilty. The Montana Sedition Project
Imagine going down to your local brewpub or coffee shop. You meet some friends. The talk turns to the war. You criticize the President and his wealthy supporters. Next thing you know, a couple of husky fellows at the next table grab you, hustle you out the door and down to the local police station. You are arrested on a charge of sedition. Within months you are indicted, tried and convicted. The judge sentences you to 5-10 years in prison — and off you go! Think this could never happen? Well, it happened not that long ago — during World War I — to scores of ordinary people in Montana. They discovered very painfully that their free speech rights had been stripped away by the state legislature.
(via Linkfilter)This site is about the 76 men and three women convicted of the crime of sedition in Montana in 1918 and 1919. The law they ran afoul of was possibly the harshest anti-speech law passed by any state in the history of the United States. Forty of those men — and one woman — served prison terms at the state penitentiary in Deer Lodge under sentences of up to 20 years. They were sent there for simply expressing their opinions — about President Wilson, about America's entry into World War I, about the armed forces, or about some other government agency. One man was sentenced to 7 - 20 years for saying the wartime food regulations were a "big joke." Others were convicted but only fined. A handful were found not guilty. Gandhi's HypocrisyHmmm.
In August 1942, Gandhi and his wife, Kasturba, among others, were imprisoned by the British in Aga Khan Palace near Poona. Kasturba had poor circulation, and she'd weathered several heart attacks. While detained in the palace, she developed bronchial pneumonia. One of her four sons, Devadas, wanted her to take penicillin. Gandhi refused. He was okay with her receiving traditional remedies, such as water from the Ganges, but he refused her any medicines, including this newfangled antibiotic, saying that the Almighty would have to heal her.
The Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi quotes him on February 19, 1944: "If God wills it, He will pull her through." Gandhi: A Life adds this wisdom from the Mahatma: "You cannot cure your mother now, no matter what wonder drugs you may muster. She is in God's hands now." Three days later, Devadas was still pushing for the penicillin, but Gandhi shot back: "Why don't you trust God?" Kasturba died that day. The next night, Gandhi cried out: "But how God tested MY faith!" He told one of Kasturba's doctors that the antibiotic wouldn't have saved her and that allowing her to have it "would have meant the bankruptcy of MY faith." (Emphasis mine.) But Gandhi's faith wasn't much of an obstacle a short time later when it was his ass on the line. A mere six weeks after Kasturba died, Gandhi was flattened by malaria. He stuck to an all-liquid diet as his doctors tried to convince him to take quinine. But Gandhi refused and died of the disease, right? No, actually, after three weeks of deterioration, he took the diabolical drug and quickly recovered. The stuff about trusting God's will and testing faith only applied when his wife's life hung in the balance. When he needed a drug to stave off the Grim Reaper, down the hatch it went. Gandhi's HypocrisyHmmm.
In August 1942, Gandhi and his wife, Kasturba, among others, were imprisoned by the British in Aga Khan Palace near Poona. Kasturba had poor circulation, and she'd weathered several heart attacks. While detained in the palace, she developed bronchial pneumonia. One of her four sons, Devadas, wanted her to take penicillin. Gandhi refused. He was okay with her receiving traditional remedies, such as water from the Ganges, but he refused her any medicines, including this newfangled antibiotic, saying that the Almighty would have to heal her.
The Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi quotes him on February 19, 1944: "If God wills it, He will pull her through." Gandhi: A Life adds this wisdom from the Mahatma: "You cannot cure your mother now, no matter what wonder drugs you may muster. She is in God's hands now." Three days later, Devadas was still pushing for the penicillin, but Gandhi shot back: "Why don't you trust God?" Kasturba died that day. The next night, Gandhi cried out: "But how God tested MY faith!" He told one of Kasturba's doctors that the antibiotic wouldn't have saved her and that allowing her to have it "would have meant the bankruptcy of MY faith." (Emphasis mine.) But Gandhi's faith wasn't much of an obstacle a short time later when it was his ass on the line. A mere six weeks after Kasturba died, Gandhi was flattened by malaria. He stuck to an all-liquid diet as his doctors tried to convince him to take quinine. But Gandhi refused and died of the disease, right? No, actually, after three weeks of deterioration, he took the diabolical drug and quickly recovered. The stuff about trusting God's will and testing faith only applied when his wife's life hung in the balance. When he needed a drug to stave off the Grim Reaper, down the hatch it went. Daily Dose of IngersollMan must learn to rely upon himself. Reading bibles will not protect him from the blasts of winter, but houses, fires. and clothing will. To prevent famine, one plow is worth a million sermons, and even patent medicines will cure more diseases than all the prayers uttered since the beginning of the world. --Robert Green Ingersoll, "The Gods" (1872) Daily Dose of IngersollMan must learn to rely upon himself. Reading bibles will not protect him from the blasts of winter, but houses, fires. and clothing will. To prevent famine, one plow is worth a million sermons, and even patent medicines will cure more diseases than all the prayers uttered since the beginning of the world. --Robert Green Ingersoll, "The Gods" (1872) Swarm Sketch
SwarmSketch is an ongoing online canvas that explores the possibilities of distributed design by the masses. Each week it randomly chooses a popular search term which becomes the sketch subject for the week. In this way, the collective is sketching what the collective thought was important each week. (Due to increased traffic sketches are currently being updated after about 1000 lines)
Each user can contribute a small amount of line per visit, then they are given the opportunity to vote on the opacity of lines submitted by other users. Swarm Sketch
SwarmSketch is an ongoing online canvas that explores the possibilities of distributed design by the masses. Each week it randomly chooses a popular search term which becomes the sketch subject for the week. In this way, the collective is sketching what the collective thought was important each week. (Due to increased traffic sketches are currently being updated after about 1000 lines)
Each user can contribute a small amount of line per visit, then they are given the opportunity to vote on the opacity of lines submitted by other users. Richard Feynman and The Connection MachineLong but good article originally published in a 1989 issue of Physics Today
Nobel prize winner physicist Richard Feynman played a critical role in developing the first parallel-processing computer and finding innovative uses for it in numerical computing and building neural networks as well as physical simulation with cellular-automata (such as turbulent fluid flow), working with Stephen Wolfram.
Richard Feynman and The Connection MachineLong but good article originally published in a 1989 issue of Physics Today
Nobel prize winner physicist Richard Feynman played a critical role in developing the first parallel-processing computer and finding innovative uses for it in numerical computing and building neural networks as well as physical simulation with cellular-automata (such as turbulent fluid flow), working with Stephen Wolfram.
Fourthmeal Because Americans don't get enough food during the rest of the day.
It was probably inevitable that a fourth meal would be added to the day and I am not surprised that a fast food restaurant is the one trying to do it. Taco Bell has recently unveiled their concept of Fourthmeal, the meal between dinner and breakfast. I am not sure what happened to the "midnight snack," but it seems likely that the word "snack" must not have been encouraging people to buy enough late-night tacos.
FourthmealBecause Americans don't get enough food during the rest of the day.
It was probably inevitable that a fourth meal would be added to the day and I am not surprised that a fast food restaurant is the one trying to do it. Taco Bell has recently unveiled their concept of Fourthmeal, the meal between dinner and breakfast. I am not sure what happened to the "midnight snack," but it seems likely that the word "snack" must not have been encouraging people to buy enough late-night tacos.
Butterfly Alphabet
For over 24 years the Smithsonian naturalist, lecturer and photographer, Kjell ("Shell") Sandved traveled the world over, photographing all the letters & numbers from the wings of butterflies without harming any.
(via Kircher Society)Butterfly Alphabet
For over 24 years the Smithsonian naturalist, lecturer and photographer, Kjell ("Shell") Sandved traveled the world over, photographing all the letters & numbers from the wings of butterflies without harming any.
(via Kircher Society)Chinese Man Buys MiG Through eBay From BBC News:
A Chinese businessman has bought an old MiG-21f fighter jet for nearly $25,000 (£14,000) on eBay to decorate his office, a Chinese newspaper reports.
Zhang Cheng bought the Soviet-made jet from a seller in the United States, where it is said to be in excellent condition though last flown in 1995. "I have the buying power and my company has an empty space where I can display the plane," he told the Beijing News. But it was not immediately clear if Mr Zhang needed a permit to import it. Chinese Man Buys MiG Through eBayFrom BBC News:
A Chinese businessman has bought an old MiG-21f fighter jet for nearly $25,000 (£14,000) on eBay to decorate his office, a Chinese newspaper reports.
Zhang Cheng bought the Soviet-made jet from a seller in the United States, where it is said to be in excellent condition though last flown in 1995. "I have the buying power and my company has an empty space where I can display the plane," he told the Beijing News. But it was not immediately clear if Mr Zhang needed a permit to import it. Tuesday, May 2, 2006Dumb Flight Surgeon TricksA website dedicated to some opinions from flight surgeons during the early days of the manned space program. Here are a few of my favorites:
Dumb Flight Surgeon TricksA website dedicated to some opinions from flight surgeons during the early days of the manned space program. Here are a few of my favorites:
A Brief History of the "Clenched Fist" Image
A persistent symbol of resistance and unity, the clenched fist (or raised fist) is part of the broader genre of “hand” symbols that include the peace “V,” the forward-thrust-fist, and the clasped hands. The clenched fist usually appears in full frontal display showing all fingers and is occasionally integrated with other images such as a peace symbol or tool.
The human hand has been used in art from the very beginnings, with some stunning examples in Neolithic cave paintings. Early examples of the fist in graphic art can be found at least as far back as 1917 [1], with another example from Mexico in 1948 [2].Fists, in some form, were used in numerous political graphic genres, including the French and Soviet revolutions and the United States Communist Party. However, these all followed an iconographic convention. The fist was always part of something - holding a tool or other symbol, part of an arm or human figure, or shown in action (smashing, etc.). But graphic artists from the New Left changed that in 1968, with an entirely new treatment. This "new" fist stood out with its stark simplicity, coupled with an popularly understood meaning of rebellion and militance. A Brief History of the "Clenched Fist" Image
A persistent symbol of resistance and unity, the clenched fist (or raised fist) is part of the broader genre of “hand” symbols that include the peace “V,” the forward-thrust-fist, and the clasped hands. The clenched fist usually appears in full frontal display showing all fingers and is occasionally integrated with other images such as a peace symbol or tool.
The human hand has been used in art from the very beginnings, with some stunning examples in Neolithic cave paintings. Early examples of the fist in graphic art can be found at least as far back as 1917 [1], with another example from Mexico in 1948 [2].Fists, in some form, were used in numerous political graphic genres, including the French and Soviet revolutions and the United States Communist Party. However, these all followed an iconographic convention. The fist was always part of something - holding a tool or other symbol, part of an arm or human figure, or shown in action (smashing, etc.). But graphic artists from the New Left changed that in 1968, with an entirely new treatment. This "new" fist stood out with its stark simplicity, coupled with an popularly understood meaning of rebellion and militance. All Four Stanzas of the National AnthemThis is a wonderfully written essay by Isaac Asimov on the history of the anthem along with three stanzas which most people probably have never heard of before.(Thanks Tim, great find) All Four Stanzas of the National AnthemThis is a wonderfully written essay by Isaac Asimov on the history of the anthem along with three stanzas which most people probably have never heard of before.(Thanks Tim, great find) The 1919 Edition of La Bandera de las Estrellas Better known as "The Star Spangled Banner" for anglocentric monolinguists. Boing Boing also found a link to four other Spanish versions of the anthem here at the State Department's website. Think Progress has a post about how Bush may have been against the idea of the anthem being sung in Spanish last week, however he had no qualms about Jon Secada performing it in Spanish during his campaign and inaugaration back in 2001. The 1919 Edition of La Bandera de las EstrellasBetter known as "The Star Spangled Banner" for anglocentric monolinguists. Boing Boing also found a link to four other Spanish versions of the anthem here at the State Department's website. Think Progress has a post about how Bush may have been against the idea of the anthem being sung in Spanish last week, however he had no qualms about Jon Secada performing it in Spanish during his campaign and inaugaration back in 2001. Longest Attack of HiccupsPoor bastard:
Charles Osborne (1894–1991) of Anthon, Iowa, USA, started hiccupping in 1922 while attempting to weigh a hog before slaughtering it. He was unable to find a cure, and continued hiccupping until February 1990, a total of 68 year!
Osborne led a normal life in which he had two wives and fathered eight children. The only discomfort from his hiccuping, he claimed, was the constant risk of losing his false teeth! During the first few decades, he hiccupped up to 40 times a minute, slowing to 20 a minute in later years. He finally stopped in 1990 – after an estimated 430 million spasms – and died the following year. Longest Attack of HiccupsPoor bastard:
Charles Osborne (1894–1991) of Anthon, Iowa, USA, started hiccupping in 1922 while attempting to weigh a hog before slaughtering it. He was unable to find a cure, and continued hiccupping until February 1990, a total of 68 year!
Osborne led a normal life in which he had two wives and fathered eight children. The only discomfort from his hiccuping, he claimed, was the constant risk of losing his false teeth! During the first few decades, he hiccupped up to 40 times a minute, slowing to 20 a minute in later years. He finally stopped in 1990 – after an estimated 430 million spasms – and died the following year. Daily Dose of IngersollWe cannot depend on what are called "inspired books," or the religions of the world. These religions are based on the supernatural, and according to them we are under obligation to worship and obey some supernatural being, or beings. All these religions are inconsistent with intellectual liberty. They are the enemies of thought, of investigation, of mental honesty. They destroy the manliness of man. They promise eternal rewards for belief, for credulity, for what they call faith. These religions teach the slave virtues. They make inanimate things holy, and falsehoods sacred. They create artificial crimes. To eat meat on Friday, to enjoy yourself on Sunday, to eat on fast-days, to be happy in Lent, to dispute a priest, to ask for evidence, to deny a creed, to express your sincere thought, all these acts are sins, crimes against some god, To give your honest opinion about Jehovah, Mohammed or Christ, is far worse than to maliciously slander your neighbor. To question or doubt miracles. is far worse than to deny known facts. Only the obedient, the credulous, the cringers, the kneelers, the meek, the unquestioning, the true believers, are regarded as moral, as virtuous. It is not enough to be honest, generous and useful; not enough to be governed by evidence, by facts. In addition to this, you must believe. These things are the foes of morality. They subvert all natural conceptions of virtue. --Robert Green Ingersoll, "What Would You Substitute For The Bible As A Moral Guide?" Daily Dose of IngersollWe cannot depend on what are called "inspired books," or the religions of the world. These religions are based on the supernatural, and according to them we are under obligation to worship and obey some supernatural being, or beings. All these religions are inconsistent with intellectual liberty. They are the enemies of thought, of investigation, of mental honesty. They destroy the manliness of man. They promise eternal rewards for belief, for credulity, for what they call faith. These religions teach the slave virtues. They make inanimate things holy, and falsehoods sacred. They create artificial crimes. To eat meat on Friday, to enjoy yourself on Sunday, to eat on fast-days, to be happy in Lent, to dispute a priest, to ask for evidence, to deny a creed, to express your sincere thought, all these acts are sins, crimes against some god, To give your honest opinion about Jehovah, Mohammed or Christ, is far worse than to maliciously slander your neighbor. To question or doubt miracles. is far worse than to deny known facts. Only the obedient, the credulous, the cringers, the kneelers, the meek, the unquestioning, the true believers, are regarded as moral, as virtuous. It is not enough to be honest, generous and useful; not enough to be governed by evidence, by facts. In addition to this, you must believe. These things are the foes of morality. They subvert all natural conceptions of virtue. --Robert Green Ingersoll, "What Would You Substitute For The Bible As A Moral Guide?" Bed Books
The patent pending sideways text layout of Bed Books affords total comfort and eliminates the back and neck strain associated with the contorted body positions normally required for reading conventional books while lying down, and usually propped up, in bed.
(via Strange New Products)Bed Books
The patent pending sideways text layout of Bed Books affords total comfort and eliminates the back and neck strain associated with the contorted body positions normally required for reading conventional books while lying down, and usually propped up, in bed.
(via Strange New Products)Comments DisabledI just received an email from my hosting company saying that they needed to disable my mt-comments.cgi because it was being exploited. I need to check into the problem and see exactly what is going on but won't have time until later tonight. The comments will be closed until I can sort this out.Update: Comments should be up and running again. I changed the name of mt-comments.cgi since most exploits look for that filename in the mt directory. Comments DisabledI just received an email from my hosting company saying that they needed to disable my mt-comments.cgi because it was being exploited. I need to check into the problem and see exactly what is going on but won't have time until later tonight. The comments will be closed until I can sort this out.Update: Comments should be up and running again. I changed the name of mt-comments.cgi since most exploits look for that filename in the mt directory. The Cellular Squirrel
Current mobile communication devices do not grab our attention in a socially appropriate way. They could be disrespectful of ongoing social activity such as an important meeting or private dinner. To improve on this, I have built the Cellular Squirrel, a system where the agent that controls my cellphone is embodied in a small portable animatronic device, as a personal 'companion' for the user. This embodiment is able to use the same subtle but still public non-verbal cues to get our attention and interrupt us like humans would do (like eye gaze and small gestures), instead of ringing or vibration.
The Cellular Squirrel
Current mobile communication devices do not grab our attention in a socially appropriate way. They could be disrespectful of ongoing social activity such as an important meeting or private dinner. To improve on this, I have built the Cellular Squirrel, a system where the agent that controls my cellphone is embodied in a small portable animatronic device, as a personal 'companion' for the user. This embodiment is able to use the same subtle but still public non-verbal cues to get our attention and interrupt us like humans would do (like eye gaze and small gestures), instead of ringing or vibration.
How to Make Radiographs on Polaroid Film This is an extremely dangerous hack.
These pictures were taken with an 80KV dental x-ray machine on Polaroid 600 color film. The neat discovery is not that you can buy x-ray machines off eBay. The neat discovery is that you can use Polaroid film to image x-rays!
(via Kottke)I have some sheets of phosphorescent plastic (plastic embedded with rare-earth minerals that glow green or blue when hit by x-rays). I used these sheets to detect the presence and the path of the x-rays while the machine was operating. At first I tried to expose undeveloped Polaroid film to x-rays, but then I had to deal with the problem of developing the film in total darkness. Polaroid is very fast, light sensitive film. In the first picture (picture 0) you can see that the picture is almost totally white due to some exposure to light. Polaroids are developed by squeezing the film through two metal rollers. This causes a paste packet to burst open and flow between the layers of film. The film development stops automatically after a few minutes. How to Make Radiographs on Polaroid FilmThis is an extremely dangerous hack.
These pictures were taken with an 80KV dental x-ray machine on Polaroid 600 color film. The neat discovery is not that you can buy x-ray machines off eBay. The neat discovery is that you can use Polaroid film to image x-rays!
(via Kottke)I have some sheets of phosphorescent plastic (plastic embedded with rare-earth minerals that glow green or blue when hit by x-rays). I used these sheets to detect the presence and the path of the x-rays while the machine was operating. At first I tried to expose undeveloped Polaroid film to x-rays, but then I had to deal with the problem of developing the film in total darkness. Polaroid is very fast, light sensitive film. In the first picture (picture 0) you can see that the picture is almost totally white due to some exposure to light. Polaroids are developed by squeezing the film through two metal rollers. This causes a paste packet to burst open and flow between the layers of film. The film development stops automatically after a few minutes. Is Lost a Repeat?If you want to quickly check if the latest episode of Lost will be a repeat or not, you can check Islostarepeat.com.(via Screenhead) Is Lost a Repeat?If you want to quickly check if the latest episode of Lost will be a repeat or not, you can check Islostarepeat.com.(via Screenhead) Monday, May 1, 2006Ballooning Nazi Zombies Trailer
Hapless writes:
I was at a film fest and this preview comes on and it looked amazing. I guess these guys are having a hard time getting the funds to complete the movie, and it is sad to me that the internet can build buzz (as much as I am part of it) for Snakes on a (Got-Damn) Plane, and this film may never see the light of day. And it is Ballooning Nazi Zombies. Do you NEED anything else?
The link to the trailer is here (direct to .mov) and it does look exceedingly stylish. (Thanks Hapless) Ballooning Nazi Zombies Trailer
Hapless writes:
I was at a film fest and this preview comes on and it looked amazing. I guess these guys are having a hard time getting the funds to complete the movie, and it is sad to me that the internet can build buzz (as much as I am part of it) for Snakes on a (Got-Damn) Plane, and this film may never see the light of day. And it is Ballooning Nazi Zombies. Do you NEED anything else?
The link to the trailer is here (direct to .mov) and it does look exceedingly stylish. (Thanks Hapless) Medical Experiments of the Holocaust and Nazi MedicineFrom Wikipedia and Remember.org:
Auschwitz concentration camp, Dr. Josef Mengele carried out medical experiments of this kind. These included placing subjects in pressure chambers, testing various drugs on them, freezing them to death, and various other usually fatal traumas. Of particular interest to Mengele were twins, gypsies, dwarves, and infants; beginning in 1943, twins were selected and placed in special barracks.
Almost all of Mengele's experiments were of dubious scientific value, including attempts to change eye color by injecting chemicals into children's eyes, various amputations and other brutal surgeries, and in at least one case attempting to create artificial conjoined twins by sewing the veins in two twins together; this operation was not successful and only caused the hands of the children to become badly infected. Medical Experiments of the Holocaust and Nazi MedicineFrom Wikipedia and Remember.org:
Auschwitz concentration camp, Dr. Josef Mengele carried out medical experiments of this kind. These included placing subjects in pressure chambers, testing various drugs on them, freezing them to death, and various other usually fatal traumas. Of particular interest to Mengele were twins, gypsies, dwarves, and infants; beginning in 1943, twins were selected and placed in special barracks.
Almost all of Mengele's experiments were of dubious scientific value, including attempts to change eye color by injecting chemicals into children's eyes, various amputations and other brutal surgeries, and in at least one case attempting to create artificial conjoined twins by sewing the veins in two twins together; this operation was not successful and only caused the hands of the children to become badly infected. Buy a Lost in Space Robot A steal at $24,500.00.
Irwin Allen's hit TV series, "Lost in Space", had captured the imagination of future "space colonists" across America. Every boy dreamed of being William Robinson... and why not? Never before had "Space" been so cool.
(Thanks Tim)It is now 40 years later and we still dream of having our very own Robot! It is with this same enthusiasm that B9Creations is excited to announce our production and sale of Full Size, Limited Edition, Fully Licensed Replicas of this amazing TV Icon! Buy a Lost in Space RobotA steal at $24,500.00.
Irwin Allen's hit TV series, "Lost in Space", had captured the imagination of future "space colonists" across America. Every boy dreamed of being William Robinson... and why not? Never before had "Space" been so cool.
(Thanks Tim)It is now 40 years later and we still dream of having our very own Robot! It is with this same enthusiasm that B9Creations is excited to announce our production and sale of Full Size, Limited Edition, Fully Licensed Replicas of this amazing TV Icon! Improv Everywhere's Best Buy Mission
The idea for this mission was submitted by a stranger via email. Agent Slavinsky wrote in to suggest I get either a large group of people in blue polo shirts and khakis to enter a Best Buy or a group in red polo shirts and khakis to enter a Target. Wearing clothing almost identical to the store's uniform, the agents would not claim to work at the store but would be friendly and helpful if anyone had a question. There aren't any Targets in Manhattan, so I decided to go with the two-story Best Buy on 23rd Street.
Improv Everywhere's Best Buy Mission
The idea for this mission was submitted by a stranger via email. Agent Slavinsky wrote in to suggest I get either a large group of people in blue polo shirts and khakis to enter a Best Buy or a group in red polo shirts and khakis to enter a Target. Wearing clothing almost identical to the store's uniform, the agents would not claim to work at the store but would be friendly and helpful if anyone had a question. There aren't any Targets in Manhattan, so I decided to go with the two-story Best Buy on 23rd Street.
The Saddest Thing I Own
A blog where people upload a picture and story of their possessions that brings out feelings of sorrow.
There are some things that we own that are just so sad. You know what we mean. Sad. It seems likely that these sad things illuminate our vulnerable places, one way or another.
(via Eyebeam reBlog)The Saddest Thing I Own invites people everywhere to share the saddest thing they own. What are these sad things? What makes things sad? Do things start off sad? Do some sad things begin as happy things that then become sad? Are some things only sad because for some sad reason we kept them? Are some things just plain sad no matter what? This is what we want to know. The Saddest Thing I Own
A blog where people upload a picture and story of their possessions that brings out feelings of sorrow.
There are some things that we own that are just so sad. You know what we mean. Sad. It seems likely that these sad things illuminate our vulnerable places, one way or another.
(via Eyebeam reBlog)The Saddest Thing I Own invites people everywhere to share the saddest thing they own. What are these sad things? What makes things sad? Do things start off sad? Do some sad things begin as happy things that then become sad? Are some things only sad because for some sad reason we kept them? Are some things just plain sad no matter what? This is what we want to know. Daily Dose of IngersollThe ancient Hebrews believed that this earth was the center of the universe, and that the sun, moon and stars were specks in the sky. With this the Bible agrees. They thought the earth was flat, with four corners; that the sky, the firmament, was solid -- the floor of Jehovah's house. The Bible teaches the same. They imagined that the sun journeyed about the earth, and that by stopping the sun the day could be lengthened. The Bible agrees with this. They believed that Adam and Eve were the first man and woman; that they had been created but a few years before, and that they, the Hebrews, were their direct descendants. This the Bible teaches. If anything is, or can be, certain, the writers of the Bible were mistaken about creation, astronomy, geology; about the causes of phenomena, the origin of evil and the cause of death. Now, it must be admitted that if an infinite Being is the author of the Bible, he knew all sciences, all facts, and could not have made a mistake. If, then, there are mistakes, misconceptions, false theories, ignorant myths and blunders in the Bible, it must have been written by finite beings; that is to say, by ignorant and mistaken men. --Robert Green Ingersoll, "About the Holy Bible" (1894) Daily Dose of IngersollThe ancient Hebrews believed that this earth was the center of the universe, and that the sun, moon and stars were specks in the sky. With this the Bible agrees. They thought the earth was flat, with four corners; that the sky, the firmament, was solid -- the floor of Jehovah's house. The Bible teaches the same. They imagined that the sun journeyed about the earth, and that by stopping the sun the day could be lengthened. The Bible agrees with this. They believed that Adam and Eve were the first man and woman; that they had been created but a few years before, and that they, the Hebrews, were their direct descendants. This the Bible teaches. If anything is, or can be, certain, the writers of the Bible were mistaken about creation, astronomy, geology; about the causes of phenomena, the origin of evil and the cause of death. Now, it must be admitted that if an infinite Being is the author of the Bible, he knew all sciences, all facts, and could not have made a mistake. If, then, there are mistakes, misconceptions, false theories, ignorant myths and blunders in the Bible, it must have been written by finite beings; that is to say, by ignorant and mistaken men. --Robert Green Ingersoll, "About the Holy Bible" (1894) The Evolution of the Netflix Envelope I just started Netflix a few months ago so it is fascinating to see how they got to where they are now.
SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) - When the DVD first came out, Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings had a key insight:
The plastic disc's light weight and small size would make it cheap and easy to send through the mail, letting him create a cross between Blockbuster (Research) and Amazon.com (Research). By taking advantage of the U.S. Postal Service, it could send rental DVDs to customers through the mail - and accept returns the same way. But before Netflix (Research) became a dotcom darling with millions of subscribers, it had to figure out the details of how to mail DVDs cheaply and economically. Learning the ins and outs of the post office's operations was key: Every ounce of weight in the mailer added to postage costs - but if the mailer was too flimsy, DVDs broke in the mail. The Evolution of the Netflix EnvelopeI just started Netflix a few months ago so it is fascinating to see how they got to where they are now.
SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) - When the DVD first came out, Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings had a key insight:
The plastic disc's light weight and small size would make it cheap and easy to send through the mail, letting him create a cross between Blockbuster (Research) and Amazon.com (Research). By taking advantage of the U.S. Postal Service, it could send rental DVDs to customers through the mail - and accept returns the same way. But before Netflix (Research) became a dotcom darling with millions of subscribers, it had to figure out the details of how to mail DVDs cheaply and economically. Learning the ins and outs of the post office's operations was key: Every ounce of weight in the mailer added to postage costs - but if the mailer was too flimsy, DVDs broke in the mail. More Colbert
Crooks and Liars has the video clip of Stephen Colbert on 60 Minutes last night. And if that doesn't quench your thirst for all things Colbert, Onegoodmove has a clip of him mopping the floor with Bill Kristol's pasty white ass. More Colbert
Crooks and Liars has the video clip of Stephen Colbert on 60 Minutes last night. And if that doesn't quench your thirst for all things Colbert, Onegoodmove has a clip of him mopping the floor with Bill Kristol's pasty white ass. The Very Latest SOHO Images A gallery of the latest images from SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory). The Very Latest SOHO ImagesA gallery of the latest images from SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory). Bush Challenges Hundreds of LawsFrom Boston.com:
WASHINGTON -- President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.
Article Tools
Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research. Bush Challenges Hundreds of LawsFrom Boston.com:
WASHINGTON -- President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.
Article Tools
Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research. Building the Reeses Mothership
In true ‘oholic’ fashion, I cleaned out the local store of all its chocolate once the easter shut-down was over, and rushed home to attempt the mother of all reeses peanut butter cups.
(via Jaf Project)Building the Reeses Mothership
In true ‘oholic’ fashion, I cleaned out the local store of all its chocolate once the easter shut-down was over, and rushed home to attempt the mother of all reeses peanut butter cups.
(via Jaf Project)Civil War Letters of the Christie Family
In 1861, two brothers, having just purchased a farm in Southern Minnesota, enlisted in the First Minnesota Battery of Light Artillery. Although neither expected a long tour of duty, William and Thomas Christie served in the First Minnesota Battery through June 1865. Their younger brother, Alexander, enlisted in an infantry regiment in fall 1864.
All three brothers were excellent writers, and each wrote extensively while in the Army. Their letters, full of revealing observations on war, society, and contemporary politics, are contained within the James C. Christie and family papers at the Minnesota Historical Society. Civil War Letters of the Christie Family
In 1861, two brothers, having just purchased a farm in Southern Minnesota, enlisted in the First Minnesota Battery of Light Artillery. Although neither expected a long tour of duty, William and Thomas Christie served in the First Minnesota Battery through June 1865. Their younger brother, Alexander, enlisted in an infantry regiment in fall 1864.
All three brothers were excellent writers, and each wrote extensively while in the Army. Their letters, full of revealing observations on war, society, and contemporary politics, are contained within the James C. Christie and family papers at the Minnesota Historical Society. Followup on the Bosnian Pyramids
The world's oldest and largest pyramid found in Bosnia? It sounds incredible. The story has swept the media, from the Associated Press and the BBC, from papers and websites in the U.S. to those in India and Australia. Too bad that it is not a credible story at all. In fact, it is impossible. Who is the "archaeologist" who has taken the media for a ride? Why did the media not check the story more carefully? ARCHAEOLOGY will address these questions in depth in our next issue, July/August, but for now let's at least put the lie to the claims emanating from Visoko, the town 20 miles northwest of Sarajevo where the "Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun" is located.
Semir (Sam) Osmanagic, a Houston-based Bosnian-American contractor first saw the hills he believes to be pyramids last spring. He is now digging the largest of them and plans to continue the work through November, promoting it as the largest archaeological project underway in Europe. (His call for volunteers even slipped into the Archaeological Institute of America's online listing of excavation opportunities briefly before being yanked.) He claims it is one of five pyramids in the area (along with what he calls the pyramids of the Moon, Earth, and Dragon, plus another that hasn't been named in any account I've seen). These, he says, resemble the 1,800-year-old pyramids at Teotihuacan, just north of Mexico City. Osmanagic maintains that the largest is bigger than the pyramid of Khufu at Giza, and that the Bosnian pyramids date to 12,000 B.C. Followup on the Bosnian Pyramids
The world's oldest and largest pyramid found in Bosnia? It sounds incredible. The story has swept the media, from the Associated Press and the BBC, from papers and websites in the U.S. to those in India and Australia. Too bad that it is not a credible story at all. In fact, it is impossible. Who is the "archaeologist" who has taken the media for a ride? Why did the media not check the story more carefully? ARCHAEOLOGY will address these questions in depth in our next issue, July/August, but for now let's at least put the lie to the claims emanating from Visoko, the town 20 miles northwest of Sarajevo where the "Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun" is located.
Semir (Sam) Osmanagic, a Houston-based Bosnian-American contractor first saw the hills he believes to be pyramids last spring. He is now digging the largest of them and plans to continue the work through November, promoting it as the largest archaeological project underway in Europe. (His call for volunteers even slipped into the Archaeological Institute of America's online listing of excavation opportunities briefly before being yanked.) He claims it is one of five pyramids in the area (along with what he calls the pyramids of the Moon, Earth, and Dragon, plus another that hasn't been named in any account I've seen). These, he says, resemble the 1,800-year-old pyramids at Teotihuacan, just north of Mexico City. Osmanagic maintains that the largest is bigger than the pyramid of Khufu at Giza, and that the Bosnian pyramids date to 12,000 B.C. 12 British Books That Changed the WorldHere are a few from the list:
12 British Books That Changed the WorldHere are a few from the list:
Operation Wetback
The resulting Operation Wetback, a national reaction against illegal immigration, began in Texas in mid-July 1954. Headed by the commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization Service, Gen. Joseph May Swing, the United States Border Patrol aided by municipal, county, state, and federal authorities, as well as the military, began a quasimilitary operation of search and seizure of all illegal immigrants. Fanning out from the lower Rio Grande valley, Operation Wetback moved northward. Illegal aliens were repatriated initially through Presidio because the Mexican city across the border, Ojinaga, had rail connections to the interior of Mexico by which workers could be quickly moved on to Durango. A major concern of the operation was to discourage reentry by moving the workers far into the interior. Others were to be sent through El Paso. On July 15, the first day of the operation, 4,800 aliens were apprehended. Thereafter the daily totals dwindled to an average of about 1,100 a day. The forces used by the government were actually relatively small, perhaps no more than 700 men, but were exaggerated by border patrol officials who hoped to scare illegal workers into flight back to Mexico.
Operation Wetback
The resulting Operation Wetback, a national reaction against illegal immigration, began in Texas in mid-July 1954. Headed by the commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization Service, Gen. Joseph May Swing, the United States Border Patrol aided by municipal, county, state, and federal authorities, as well as the military, began a quasimilitary operation of search and seizure of all illegal immigrants. Fanning out from the lower Rio Grande valley, Operation Wetback moved northward. Illegal aliens were repatriated initially through Presidio because the Mexican city across the border, Ojinaga, had rail connections to the interior of Mexico by which workers could be quickly moved on to Durango. A major concern of the operation was to discourage reentry by moving the workers far into the interior. Others were to be sent through El Paso. On July 15, the first day of the operation, 4,800 aliens were apprehended. Thereafter the daily totals dwindled to an average of about 1,100 a day. The forces used by the government were actually relatively small, perhaps no more than 700 men, but were exaggerated by border patrol officials who hoped to scare illegal workers into flight back to Mexico.
The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2006Interesting list but annoying since every synopsis of a restaurant links to a pdf.(via Monkeyfilter) The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2006Interesting list but annoying since every synopsis of a restaurant links to a pdf.(via Monkeyfilter) Thank You Stephen Colbert You can stop by this site to send a quick thank you to the bravest "reporter" in Washington D.C., Mr. Stephen Colbert. Thank You Stephen ColbertYou can stop by this site to send a quick thank you to the bravest "reporter" in Washington D.C., Mr. Stephen Colbert. Colbert at the White House Correspondent's Dinner
Most people probably have seen this by now from a blog whose database was working yesterday but if you haven't yet, Crooks and Liars has the video or you can view it at YouTube in three parts. Gutsy performance. Colbert at the White House Correspondent's Dinner
Most people probably have seen this by now from a blog whose database was working yesterday but if you haven't yet, Crooks and Liars has the video or you can view it at YouTube in three parts. Gutsy performance. Technical ProblemsI apologize to anybody who had problems trying to comment yesterday. There was a problem with the database connecting to the server so I couldn't even do a post saying that there were difficulties. Everything seems to be up and running now.Technical ProblemsI apologize to anybody who had problems trying to comment yesterday. There was a problem with the database connecting to the server so I couldn't even do a post saying that there were difficulties. Everything seems to be up and running now. |
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