Links posted in April 2004
April 30, 2004
Super Mario, Part IV
- Toad travels to his home in search of help for Mario's cause.
Other works by Alexander Leon.
Note: Parts I and II have already been taken off by Deviant Art, but if you are interested in watching them again you can ask me and I can e-mail them to you.
April 29, 2004
amazon.com
Long time lurker, first time poster.
My wife and I were in the music DVD section of Best Buy when we noticed this item. I was astonished to discover this "master" of 20th century music. Dylan, Jagger/Richards, Davis, Cash, . . . .
On a related note, you should also have a listen to what Bill Hicks had to say about the aforementioned "master" on his 20th century masterpiece "Rant in E-Minor."
The Myth of Iraqi Freedom. And my disappointment with our country grows and grows....
Viridian Room
From Toshimitsu Takagi, maker of Crimson Room. Best of luck.
Greatest ebay auction in years. Even got the seller some Today show time. Hurry and check it before it gets purged from the database.
Operation Take One for the Country Even if you think Bush is the devil, this is one hell of a way to support the troops!
April 27, 2004
Apple Gamer: And y'all thought that the PS2 was a sweet ass gaming system. Wait 'till you hear this dudes argument for Apple's platform! I mean it's got Zork, Breakout, *SUPER* Breakout, AND Photoshop...
Guide to Geek Girls Here is a post for Ben, et al., who want to meet some really above average women.
April 26, 2004
Hey Crackhead. - hilarious anonymous letter from a guy who had to spend half an hour writing an angry missive to a crackhead who stole the sparkplugs from his bike to use as crackpipes. He could have spent that time engineering shit instead, but now he's hella mad. You don't see him stealing calculators and slide rules from other people, do you?
You perhaps know of the esteemed Prof. Udagawa and have sought his advice in the past. But do you know Yoichi Udagawa ??
April 23, 2004
John Kerry is a douche bag but I'm voting for him anyway.com - Your source for great essays like, "How fucked we are right now" and "How fucked we're going to be if GWB is in office for four more years." Essays linked from TAMU site, so he's even a local-ish boy.
Those concrete barriers around buildings won't stop anyone that's determined. Or will they?
April 22, 2004
That's RADTASTIC!!!
World of Froud
- Soooo, for some reason or another, I was given this website by ____ because...man, I am not going to explain. Sh-it. What in the crap is this?
Well, I am not posting it because of the website itself, actually it is because I found something on the FAQ section that was quite amusing:
Where do Brian and Wendy get their ideas?
Both Brian and Wendy are inspired by the land they live in and by their experiences and interactions with faerie. Brian is deeply read in world mythology and folklore especially that of the British Isles. He enjoys reading primarily non-fiction: psychology, anthropology, sociology, metaphysics and literary criticism.
Does Brian actually believe in and see faeries?
Yes he does; his pictures are his experience of the world of faerie. But more important, he believes that you can too.
I don't know about this. The only fairy I have seen in the "Vulcan Fairy", seen in Reid & Alba's Enchanted Forest after dissapearing from Becky & Laura's Magical Realm. The "Vulcan Fairy" is hard to miss if spotted, it's feather boa and magical wand make it quite recognizable.
Orkut.com - Yet-another-friendster clone, with a twist: it's run by Google, so it's good; and it's invitation-only. If you want an invite email me or Natedogg.
April 21, 2004
Drugs: Good or Bad? - Man, I love the Onion A/V special features. I know things from the Onion aren't exactly off the beaten trail but I've gotta post anything that mentions the Avenging Disco Godfather, one of the most painful movies I've ever endured. This feature uses great movies to find out whether drugs are good or bad, their traumatic consequences, and whether recovery is possible. Avenging Disco Godfather's verdict?
Is the drug good or bad? Bad. Avenging Disco Godfather stresses the importance of "attacking the wack".
I just finished watching Pinpin Lelapin all of the way through without interruptions. That was pretty good.
Writing on the chalk board:
I promise to look at things before posting them on Alkaline Earth.
I promise to look at things before posting them on Alkaline Earth.
I promise to look at things before posting them on Alkaline Earth.
I promise to look at things before posting them on Alkaline Earth.
I promise to look at things before posting them on Alkaline Earth.
I promise to look at things before posting them on Alkaline Earth.
I promise to look at things before posting them on Alkaline Earth.
No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em - Reid put me on to this tournament, a benefit for the American Cancer Society. Watching Rounders a few dozen times should be adequate preparation, right?
Ultimate PC accessory - Even if this seems like a link too geeky to click on for anybody but Carl and me, please click on it anyway. You'll like it.
bike and chernobyl so, this was sent out on the faculty listserve, which means jave already read it, but it is interesting. read on...
April 20, 2004
I know some of you don't believe me, but I can't shake this sensation that this guy sounds just like Paul P. Maybe it's my headphones, maybe it's just my idea of what Paul does in his free time, I don't know. Here is the same guy talking about his special sausage, which is something the real Paul actually has not done around me. Trust me, it's not a vegan thing, it's just that Paul has more class. (Listen! It's when he says "No" in the sausage link, it sounds just like him! Fine, don't believe me.)
more on animal research
The atrocities of vivisection are not unfamiliar to this campus and have, for years, been a source of tension between the UT labs and those students and faculty who are opposed to such injustice. Recently, however, this new development has been patented in order to suppress the immune systems of beagles to an unnatural and perpetual state of sickliness. Not only does the university engage in unfair animal treatment but it has, as of yet, taken a further step to patent some of these detestable methods.
The American Anti-Vivisection Society "has formally filed a legal action requesting that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rescind patent no. 6,444,872 which covers live beagles and the several methods used to infect them with a fatal fungal infection in their lungs.
April 19, 2004
Food From Sweden - "Who the hell would want to eat that?" - Nathan Harrison
April 16, 2004
"Sometimes boys and girls would rather
watch TV than read. When your teachers say read, they are giving you pretty damn good advice." - President George W. Bush to a group of school children
the 10th annual TV-Turnoff Week will take place April 19-25, 2004!
The other day it came up that I was the only one who knew any version of the limerick beganning "There once was a Man from Nantucket."
Here is a clean (but funny) exchange of Nantucket limericks. The Wikipedia: Limerick includes the one I knew (with ear in place of chin) as well as this Ogden Nash gem:
There once was a miser named Clarence
Who Simonized both of his parents;
"The initial expense,"
he remarked, "is immense,
But it saves on the wearance and tearance."
Then there's the immense glory that is immortalia.com, a comprehensive collection of bawdy songs, toasts, limericks and recitations. The "Fighter Pilots" CD I got from this site includes such gems as "Last night I stayed up late" and "My God, How the Money Rolls In". Todd might like the 1867 legislator's speech about changing the name of Arkansas (warning: has embedded audio track). If you know any dirty songs the author would like you to call him and sing them. You can also legally download his full collection of music (895MB, encoded at very low bit rate) for free.
April 15, 2004
Some of you might have heard that I think I got a touch of the food poisoning wednesday night. I was thinking back to the foods that I had recently eaten, and I wondered a little about that double cheeseburger I got from McDonald's at DFW airport. Here is a commercial (10MB MPG) that shows one soon-to-be-famous actor who isn't concerned as long as they keep his hot side hot and his cool side cool.
April 14, 2004
Watching labmates work with mice that have tumors, I immediately realized that these were not spontaneously generated cancers (since there were exactly two symmetrically situated tumors per mouse). The question in my mind was: how do you give a mouse cancer? The answer is that you have to look for a special kind of mouse. (As it happens, this mouse in our lab grew tumors so fast that the centers were necrotic before they could be biopsied. The result of this is that we had to go with a slightly less immuno-deficient variety.) (also, I personally won't be doing this work, thankfully.)
Technical Virgin - a lot of you have apparently missed this long-standing testament to the power of the internet. Great parody site that offers teens a batch of alternatives to going for "the big one." Watch the videos for a real dose of hilarity (the date ideas page is also pretty good.)
April 13, 2004
Rahul Mahajan
- So, I read the following from MetaFilter:
<block>A U.S. journalist's firsthand account from inside Fallujah. Rahul Mahajan, a U.S. citizen, author, and a contributor to papers such as USA Today and the Baltimore Sun, snuck inside Fallujah yesterday with a humanitarian convoy. He reports on a city under the gun of U.S. snipers, with intentional targeting of ambulances and the death of women and children. His conclusion? That Fallujah's fighters *ARE* supported and fully representative of the people there, and that "nothing could have been easier than gaining the good-will of the people of Fallujah had the Americans not been so brutal in their dealings. Now, a tipping-point has been reached. Fallujah cannot be "saved" from its mujaheddin unless it is destroyed." So, it's not Al-Jazeera reporting on this one -- will the mainstream media touch this story?!</block>
And then my brain was like, "What in the...? Is it? Yes. It is. Fucking poop."
Tarantino's Universe -- NYT (FRR, YYY)
April 12, 2004
April 10, 2004
So my friend wrote me an email:
[begin quote]
this is what happens when you fuck one too many sheep. you start coming up with werid shit like this.
http://www.asciimation.co.nz/beer/
[end quote]
Transcript of Rice's 9/11 Commission Statement - The conversations between Commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste and Dr. Condoleezza Rice still tickle me to death.
April 08, 2004
Pinpin Lelapin - The joy of watching a movie. The joy of playing Pinpin Land while listening to Mr. Bungle. The joy of surfing a site mostly in French.
The actual winners of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize. The LA Times takes away a second-best-ever five awards this year. The most interesting thing is that the language used to award the prize is nearly as flowery as the prize-winning prose itself. I guess that's to be expected.
April 07, 2004
Why do the Pop Machines outside RLM refuse to take my Canadian Nickel??? (Or, for you frogs out there, Canadienne Nickel).
So I was at the Greenbelt this past weekend and there was a guy there with a T-Shirt on. That's normal, but the T-Shirt had a picture and a saying printed on it. Also normal. The picture was of Donald Duck. Just a normal looking Donald Duck. That's still normal. But underneath Donald the shirt said "Chick Magnet". That was not so normal. So I just had a thought "where can I get a shirt like that". So I google. And come across a book about Donald Duck. Sorta. How to Read Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology in the Disney Comic
. Wow! That's quite a title. I wonder if UT has this book....
April 06, 2004
The Viagra Experience. John Hargrave succumbs to his inbox and tries to order some Viagra online. After managing to succeed, he tries out Pfizer's claim that it "only works when the man is sexually excited" by taking it in church. I won't reveal if it worked in church or not, but I can say that it seems his wife enjoyed her afternoon.
Grad Student Pick-up Lines From PhD comics. Can be a little depressing, I know, but usually good for a laugh. The next comic is pretty good, too.
April 04, 2004
Rapping for #$%! 21 Years!! So, turns out, Too $hort of wide, long fame ("in the ghetto", etc.) has just released a new record. upon hearing this on the radio, i almost went off of the road because i remember my neighbor teaching me about him and big daddy kane and LL and other long retired people. apparently, too $hort has been rapping since around when MC Downer was first taking off, generating 2nd harmonics and shit.
April 03, 2004
Powell No Longer Sure That Iraqi Trailers Were Weapons Labs
- Top U.S. diplomat concedes presentation to U.N. may have been wrong.
No, really? Because I always thought you were telling me the truth, Colin. I mean, I didn't really believe Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld, Cheney, and that goofy Fletcher, but you...I trusted you and you just broke that trust.
It wasn't like the Administration chose you to convince the nation (and if you could, maybe the U.N., but that would have been an added bonus) that there were WMD's. It wasn't like the Administration chose you because out of the many polls taken it seemed that you were the figure in the Administration the public trusted the most. No, it couldn't have been. Noooooooo.
Sorry, I don't know why I am rambling.
April 01, 2004
Not an April Fools joke -- Set your clocks ahead this Sunday, April 4th. The Official US Time page may help. Or you can protest the whole sordid affair.
Some past hoaxes -- Hopefully it's safe at last to reveal the truth: there is no Office of Library Adjudication, nor any Pulitzer Prize in Physics. There are still plenty of cookies and milk in Todd's office (RLM 9.210), however.
Molvania, A Land Untouched By Modern Dentistry
- A travel guide.
"Intrepid travelers with no corner of the globe left to conquer could try an adventure holiday in Eastern Europe's hidden jewel -- Molvania." - Jason Hopps