53R1A75

This is a long time coming and a really late post. I apologize. I got so busy surfing, I forgot why I was surfing – to editorialize my little slice of the web. So here’s three gems from this morning’s surf.

CNET has a decent article about search engine privacy. There’s plenty of interesting survey data linked to in the article. Search engines are basically reacting to the insane security breach AOL had last year when users could pull up all the search terms that went through AOL at a certain point in time. These privacy issues are also being addressed because, as the article points out, search histories are beginning to be used for criminal convictions.

Have you ever sealed a bacon and an egg in a sealed environment and let them rot? I haven’t. That’s why I like the internet. I can learn from other people’s experiences in a fraction of the time. Great pictures included.

Companies like FOX have equal access to wikis. Surprise? Not really. Changing articles to reflect their company in a more flattering light? Priceless. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were entire PR armies bent specifically to monitor and edit wiki articles to serve a corporation’s pleasure.

this is quite possibly the most interesting and hopeful thing i have ever read about man-in-space-exploration. a private (from what i can tell) company bigelow is sending up a series of inflated satellites that will eventually be manned, probably as early as the 2010′s. their next version of ship will have an environment management system onboard to test out livable conditions for crew. i’m really excited by this.

filesharing ring!? those criminals. they’re destroying the moral fabric of british society! scoundrels! bbc reporting on a raid on a honeywell plant for illegal filesharing. screw that why don’t they solve some murders and bust some criminals who actually harm other people. once you’ve got the crime rate low enough that people don’t have to lock their doors at night, then maybe it would be appropriate to waste man hours on this crap. and don’t think for a second that i don’t feel the same way about america. the RIAA and MPAA can bite me. they’re rampant crybabies unable to adapt to a changing marketplace so screw off.

the headline from digg for this article read something like “the end of internet shopping”. i didn’t waste my time reading the comment drivel, so i’m not sure where they’re connecting the dots on this one, but basically the supreme court has just overturned a ruling that has supported the sherman anti-trust act for nearly a hundred years. i’ll hold my tongue until i can see how this plays out.

where should you buy a new iphone today? NOWHERE. just wait you morons.

new on the “projects i’d like to do, but probably never will” list is this multitouch system that uses a projector and a video camera.

insane comic on a dog pondering the end of the earth/universe. cool visuals of the earth.

learn useful latin for things like “what does i.e. mean?”

WHAT THE HECK IS EMAIL??!?!?!? i have no clue. i’m clueless. i’m speechless. this is awesome. the guy’s totally freaking out. i’m totally freaking out. that mail hasn’t combusted yet. but my face has.

Bebo vs. Facebook vs. Myspace: bbc reporting that myspace is loosing ground to the two. God I hope so. Myspace is so UGLY. Personally, I like virb.

CNSnews (who I’m not too familiar with) is reporting on a bill meant to stop idiots Feinstein and Edwards (and others) from reviving the fairness doctrine. Screw that… why stop there? WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE ELIMINATE THE REST OF THE BACKWARDS, SOCIALIST ALPHABET SOUP LEFT OVER FROM THE DEPRESSION. Thanks for representing me, you bastards of human life.

A pretty comprehensive grid of iPhone rankings from valleywag. I probably won’t be getting one. My dream is an FOS platform phone that I can skype with. I’m dying to ditch cellphone providers and their abusive contract practices.

I didn’t even know about these songs until guitar hero. I grew up under a rock.

Neat article about an experiment in WWII that gifted sailors with infrared visibility through their diet. I smell an “Infrared Pill”, it would sell like hotcakes. At least I would buy a bottle.

Manhunt and GTA are both works of entertainment and arguably, works of art. Therefore, I must have manhunt 2. And you can’t argue that this isn’t just a big PR ploy. They’ve got the M rated version ready and waiting. They just love all this free press. DON’T MESS WITH FREE MARKET, ESRB.

I must not really have a good grasp of business and entrepreneurship because what this guy is doing, while totally understandable and feasible, just blows my mind. On my list of things to check out: Entropia.

Don’t go to work!

This is an insanely long article on global cooling. You know what I think? (not like you really care what I think, but I’m telling you anyways) I think that global warming and global cooling is just about as honest and truthful as healthy eating and dieting tips from food vendors. The more confused about the subject, the more money you will spend/waste in order to “fix” the problem. Also one of the over-arching issues at work that has always bugged me, is the insane amount of pride involved in the science community. My favorite quote from the article:

Climate stability has never been a feature of planet Earth. The only constant about climate is change; it changes continually and, at times, quite rapidly.

Now don’t get me wrong. I like the earth and I think we should keep it in good condition. But seriously, there are agendas at work here on both sides so there’s no point in being totally insane about the topic. Simply keep in mind the well being of what is around you and the well being of future generations.

For my brother, I hope this cheers you up. It’s old school cartoon styles of those funny cat pictures you love.

I’m gonna make one of these like the millennium falcon.

And then sneak around and scare people in one of these.

it seems like web-based-operating-systems (webOS, webtops) are beginning to become more popular. two posts from frantic industries lists 20 webOS’s and what they do/what to look for. personally i remember i had hosted eyeOS some time ago and i used goowy back when it was in its infancy. neither were particularly helpful, though the idea of hosting eyeos still appeals to me somehow.

Cultural lesson for the Chinese enthusiast. My friend at work says they also burn

not just money, we burn other stuff like, house, passport, maids, food, etc….

But, she says it’s not really a party for her family. They gather at a gravesite with the family and have a nice picnic.

Are we really this ignorant of the international scientific community? I mean… WHY HASN’T REST OF THE WORLD SUBMITTED TO OUR AUTHORITY!

Another government switching to Open Source. I just hope this doesn’t lead to the abuse of a system that really can benefit people.

ABC News (reputable?) is reporting on a video from a Pakistani reporter showing a “graduation” of suicide bombers who will go out into the world and wreak havoc on the world (as some would assume). !@#$%^#@#$%^&* is all i can think to say about that.

Don’t steal social security numbers. Don’t accidentally give them away either.

From one of my random “car” subscriptions: How to Buy a used Car. (Girlfriend, you better read this!

a wal-mart ethics fiasco? they have ethics?

a fun little flash game teaching kids – and politicians – how to gerrymander. maybe some kid will have the sense to make a libertarian district or fifty.

i like british news, it’s witty and informative, and specifically not american news. so when they say their people have a problem with liver disease, that doesn’t include me right? i did a quick tally of drinks this week:

• Monday: beer at guitar hero night ~ 1 drink
• Tuesday: Dinner with Sarah ~ 2 drinks
• Wednesday: I really don’t remember what I did on wed. but I’m pretty sure I didn’t drink anything ~ 0 drinks
• Thursday: Bowling ~ 1 drink
• Friday: Father’s Day ~ 2 drinks
• Saturday: Sarah’s parents were in town ~ 4 drinks
• Sunday: apres driving range nightcap ~ 2 drinks

So tally tally tally and bam! 12 drinks in a week. Am I damaging my liver. I don’t know. Does anyone know?

and finally, quite possibly more interestingly, Isaac Newton throws in his opinion on the end of days. note that the title of the article says that the world will definitely end in 2060 according to Mr. Newton. THAT’S NOT WHAT HIS LETTER SAYS AT ALL YOU TARDS. their own article clearly states

“It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner,” Newton wrote. However, he added, “This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail.”

I guess all that matters is that you get people to read your stupid site. GREAT JORB. meh.

Some sci-fi must sees. Why? Just because some guy on the internet says they’re better than star wars. PFFT.

Interesting article in the uk publication Daily Mail about the physical boundaries given to children. I remember when I was eight I was not allowed to go past the Beans house. Somehow I managed to find woods to play in though.

A mom in Virginia gets time for hosting a sweet sixteen for her son and providing the booze. The funniest part of the article:

Eckert recently helped launch an awareness campaign in the county called Parents Who Host Lose the Most.

Thank-you babysitting socialist pigs!

War Profiteers: Business as usual.

Awesome entry from wired about a G.I.’s guide to Iraq in 1943 and the G.I.’s guide to Iraq presently. Definitely worth checking out.

A blog of -hilarious- bad spock drawings. via kottke

We should just set a distance from the sun and say, “If you’re past this point, you aren’t a planet.” I know pluto is crying right now. via kottke

From the MAD SCIENTIST files, a man is trying to send information back in time using quantum mechanics. Oh, how the logic of the space-time continuum makes me dizzy.

Ars Technica’s annual BYOC (Build your own computer) guide. GOD BOX GO!

welcome to another edition. this will be a mixed bag, but i’ll sort by source.

From some publication on the Left Coast in LA, word is out that Mr. Wizard died yesterday. I hate admitting this, but for some reason when I watched this on NICK as a kid, I always thought Mr. Wizard was Patrick Stewart. TRAVESTY OF TRAVESTIES.

Next up, from the pages of make!

Surreal Wallpaper! Queue jokes about eating shrooms without all the hassle. But I’m intrigued. Maybe I’ll find a great little room of my own just for putting up this paper.

In early alpha, Wii Media Center X. I’m pretty excited to toy around with this one so I can stop using my XBOX for media. But that’s Bias, since the XBOX hates on my network at home.

A spanish blog noticed a small picture “hidden” on the Windows Vista Business CD. Conspiracy? I think so. God I despise M$, not that this really has anything to do with them. I just thought I’d let you know.

And now from the top lists of Reddit

Straight dope’s response to: Can you open the hatch of a commercial airliner in midflight? BUT WHAT ABOUT IN THE MOVIES?

I would include a more in depth explanation of my beliefs, but I don’t think that this blog is the correct venue for this. Suffice to say that I completely disagree with the idea of “God Said Pi=3” and another article on the same topic, sited by the other. Why don’t you site the Missler/Numerology explanation of the original Hebrew manuscripts that was given in the comments section? And finally in answer to Mr. Dutch’s Question: Your humility. In your presentation of pi, you pridefully assume that you know more than God. This hubris causes you to assume that your interpretation of the Word of God is absolute and final. And with that I will always disagree.

And back to our regular programming. I hope google really isn’t evil. Now that they are moving into universities their market will expand a great deal, as will their access to more information. While I applaud the business of their movements, I am still concerned.

Ninja? In Italy? Who is Russian? Oh the cultural hilarity that ensues.

And now, my new RSS subscription filed under fun: The Fake Steve Jobs Blog!

Great question about light bulbs on MAKE. I’m not very well versed in most of the physics behind lighting electronics, and typically just ignore that little print on my bulbs and lamps. I assume, well, it’s ok because 1) someone sold it to me, it must be pretty OK and 2) I haven’t had a fire yet. The comments are the most helpful part of the post.

I don’t know who this bing guy is on cnn money, but this article was pretty funny. Find out what your dream bu77$1T job is.

I’ve never read freakonomics, but somehow I get their blog feed, presumably some sort of marketing scheme. At any rate, I came across this article today about an interesting poverty solution (I’m not convinced about the effectiveness of it) and a lamed reference to an abortion “victory.” I particularly like the comment about paying people to act middle class.

Nice write up on the new LOTR MMORPG from yahoo. Screen shots included. I am planning on getting into this game late summer. I can’t wait.

Interesting reddit post about a photo and caption from Katrina. Race plays a big role, but some of the agenda-ists are crying foul illegitimately. There is a snopes write up that seems to dispel the race card.

Interesting article and awesome pictures of plastered ant colonies.

And we’re back after a grueling weekend.

Interesting, common sense blog article on Free and Open Sourced Software (FOSS). While this article is probably a little oversimplified, I’m always interested in the benefits/drawback of free software that you can reprogram yourself (if you’ve got the programming resources).

A new virus was discovered in Australia after three patients received transplants and subsequently died. Their organs were from the same donor. Somewhat gruesome, but the doctors seem upbeat simply on the fact that they were able to detect and will be able to test it further.

Mac’s are hack-proof… sort of. I didn’t see any specifics on the rules that were laxed to make this possible. I find it interesting that he spent 9 hours programming the site to exploit the security hole. Intense.

I’m not totally versed in N. Korean culture. But this UK Times article about a man not selling them anymore giant rabbits for consumption is just cool. (That they are using rabbits as food, not that he’s not selling to N. Korea anymore). Because rabbits reproduce so quickly, this seems like a great way to relieve some food shortage issues.

The Twinky vs. the Carrot? A great article on obesity, caloric pricing, the Farm Bill and politics. Via Megnut.

Some phenomenal hand-made electronica instruments. I really need to try my hand at some of this. Sigh. Via Made.

A free and open sourced bass synth modeled after the Roland TB-303. (NOT A CLONE, mind you). Another musical project endeavor. Sigh, sigh.

Article from BBC on sleep and how much you should be getting. 8 hours isn’t really standard, the article says about 7.25 is OK. I think I need like 9, because I’m always tired at work. There’s just not enough time in the day for sleep.

The leader, Boris Yeltsin, is dead. His career seems to be marked with varying highs and lows. He seemingly ushered both democracy and economic decline into Russia.

Japanese like the wii so much they’re making cell phones with motion-based games. I just wish that instead of having their own games, they could connect to the wii and be used to some capacity. A NINE+ BUTTON CONTROLLER WITH MOTION! overkill? nahhh