Links posted in June 2006
June 30, 2006
Pitagora Suicchi (Pythagaras Switch)
June 29, 2006
June 28, 2006
Was anyone else aware that A&E was televising a Rock-Paper-Scissors World Championship? According to the video clip, one guy doing this---makes wanking motion with one hand---will win $50,000 and a place in history. I can't believe that with that kind of scratch on the line wiepooh's $4.99 Half-Price Books Super Buy doesn't excite him all that much. I think he just isn't trying.
Fake Name Generator - do you love anonymity so much you have a whole domain set up for that purpose? Well, then enjoy the fake name generator. My friend Nicholas E. Morris of 394 Beal Road in Santa Fe Springs, CA and his mother (Mrs. Kennedy) enjoy it so much they're planning to use their visa card #4716 5883 3471 4459 (exp 9/2008) to buy bulk fake identities on Nick's birthday (December 6, 1973). [more inside]
Downtime earlier - a scary moment as AE disappeared but was (apparently) seamlessly restored from backup. We hope that any interim visitors enjoyed the recommendations for beryllium, molybdenum and alkaline earth metals. [more inside]
June 27, 2006
Deconstructing Astronomy's Holy Grail (PDF), in which the Annals of Improbable Research attempts to find out how and/or why several astronomy articles and papers per year suggest that their particular problem is the "Holy Grail" of astronomy.
Kevin Smith's Clerks 2 "drops" on July 21st and the trailers are already online. You're probably right to be suspicious about whether he's just returning to the well for a quick cash-in especially considering that he promised to retire Jay and Silent Bob after the last movie. On the other hand, Harvey Weinstein thinks the Kansas City test screening numbers are through the roof (and KC isn't supposed to even be the "target audience"). If you feel like giving View Askew twice as much money this summer, download the director commentary track from iTunes and take your iPod with you to the theater.
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List of Problems Solved by MacGyver: major contributions from Patty and Selma Bouvier.
June 25, 2006
A scale model of the hydrogen atom This guy has put together a scaled image showing how much space an electron and proton take up within the hydrogen atom, and how much empty space there is. I'm guessing that they're doing this by taking their E&M cross sections, dividing by pi and taking a square root to get a radius, 'cause I'm a little unsure on how else to make any sense of an "electron radius", but still, interesting to think about
June 24, 2006
Steve jobs introducing the first iPod mp3 player in 2001. Very interesting watch because he was dead on...
June 23, 2006
Moyers new program (Faith and Reason) looks great. He looks at the difficulties of having rational discourse about emotional topics, the juncture of religion and rationality, and hopefully has some wisdom for bringing the two together.
June 22, 2006
Regular readers of Deadspin are certainly familiar with a certain catchphrase, that started out as a joke, then became a t-shirt, and then became annoyingly repetitive .
Now, however, it's become something different altogether, as the phrase has now appeared on MTV's TRL
Perhaps now it may be laid to rest, and at least one annoying ESPN commentator may get a tiny bit of commeuppance.
June 21, 2006
Net Neutrality Vote taking place tomorrow. Call KBH and let her know ya care.
If you're a history or political science nerd, you might enjoy this interesting breakdown of how the Confederate States of America's Constitution was different (and not!) from the US Constitution. It doesn't help much for people that argue the Civil War was all about States' Rights.
Mad Props to Todd... for having his cartoons printed in APS news. [more inside]
June 20, 2006
Here's a grade A web find: a breakdown of how they animated Marlon Brando into the new Superman movie. (Big-o quicktime file) The step by step process shows how they go from original footage from the first Superman movie to having him say entirely different things for this one. (from waxy and mefi and aicn)
Tough day in Round Rock, weather-wise...
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June 19, 2006
Probably one of the coolest USB flash drives yet. The teddy bear looks extra cool when plugged in...
Security experts have long warned that misallocation of security resources is itself a security threat. Effort and aggravation incurred by scanning my sneakers for explosives comes at the cost of instead, say, interviewing passengers to uncover unusual behavior. So-called movie-plot threats invite misallocation towards overly-specific targets when broad analysis is called for. Paradoxically, the end result is often to simply shift the risk elsewhere -- if we "spend billions defending our subways, and the terrorists bomb a bus, we've wasted our money." Earlier this year, Bruce Schneier announced the Movie Plot Threat Contest:
If we're going to worry about unlikely attacks, why can't they be exciting and innovative ones? If Americans are going to be scared, shouldn't they be scared of things that are really scary? "Blowing up the Super Bowl" is a movie plot to be sure, but it's not a very good movie. Let's kick this up a notch. It is in this spirit I announce the (possibly First) Movie-Plot Threat Contest. Entrants are invited to submit the most unlikely, yet still plausible, terrorist attack scenarios they can come up with.
Read about the contest, then see the winning entry.
So I've heard great things about the goole calendar feature so I setup one that we could all use to schedule group activities. I tend to believe most people will poopoo the idea but it would be a nice place to post when we're going to lunch, exmfc times, ulitimate frisbee games, etc. Try it out or not...
I think it's interesting when a doctor suggests it's alright to murder researchers(scroll to middle of page) who use animals in their studies. Meet Jerry Vlasak, a UT alumnus and current spokesperson for various militant environmental groups. 60minutes did a story on this discusting human being last week. Good thing his medical licence was recently renewed. [more inside]
June 15, 2006
Austin ranks seventh in the 100 Sweatiest cities in America survey. Certainly interesting, but more intriguing is the last paragraph which makes it look to me like El Paso is both 10th and 17th. Obviously the methodology is clean.
Amazon.com now selling groceries online. And yes flip, you can use your amazon prime membership on these orders!
June 14, 2006
Snooty Sayings here... Yes you too can sound all classical and educated with this simple listing of Latin quotes, phrases, mottos and sayings!!
Do you like hot sauce? Then maybe you'll enjoy the Hot Sauce Blog. Complete with reviews and recipes.
June 12, 2006
Bill Frisell is playing at the Continental Club on Thursday, June 15. [more inside]
Some reports from the lastest What's New:
Man, after lowering himself into lions' den at a zoo proclaiming that God will save him from the lions, is promptly killed.
The "Gospel According to the Flying Spaghetti Monster" is now on sale.
June 11, 2006
All my recent posts must mean I'm avoiding working on my diss.
World Maps with something you won't find on google earth
the atheist's nightmare a well-made banana
June 10, 2006
Excellent introduction to Go. For a complete novice like myself this was a great introduction.
June 09, 2006
Having trouble deciding who to root for in games during this World Cup? Are Brazil, England, and Germany good guys (because they win and have stars) or bad guys (because they always win)? Boston.com tries to relate each country to a US sports team equivalent to give you some idea. [deadspin]
June 08, 2006
Bus Uncle Recording of an irate man on a bus in hong kong. Deep personal issues are explored. Is Bus Uncle the wampeter? [more inside]
June 07, 2006
Hippocritikally speaking. Do hippoes have double standards?
June 06, 2006
If steroids are cheating, why isn't LASIK? - I was skeptical from the title but people really are getting eye surgery to help them see the ball or the field that much better, even if their vision wasn't medically bad to begin with.
Google is rolling out a web-based spreadsheet with shared editing and embedded chat. [more inside]
June 05, 2006
We all know mrflip has a sweet ride. I think I may have found the perfect car for natedogg, though. An awesome car from the 80s with a movie theater built right in! Doc would be proud.
June 04, 2006
Seriously, Ben should go to hell and get me something while he's there. If I were in michagan next week I'd go to hell with him. I really hope he goes to hell.
Tour de France mapped in Google Earth - for best effect, crank up your elevation scaling to about 2. [more inside]
June 03, 2006
By far the most impressive mentos and diet coke displays. Note that this is a digg repost but it's really cool and defenitely worth another look. They used 101 2 liter bottles of diet coke to put on a display worthy of a blue man group performance.
Behold! The largest natural occuring crystals. Too bad it's deep in the heart of mexico and about 150 degrees inside with 100% humidity. Check out the pictures, crystals as large as pine trees (scroll down).
The greater internet f***wad theorem, Chinese style!! Though this could actually be a problem, considerign that it's spreading over into the real world. The writer draws a comparison to the Cultural Revolution.
June 02, 2006
The Pirate Bay taken down - site notice promises it will be back up RSN. Meanwhile, reminisce with this Wayback Archive of their Responses to Legal Threats. [more inside]
A new alternative to LN2. For all your nasty clean up problems....
June 01, 2006
Many of you know that the most fun part of X-Men Legends on the XBox is being the Juggernaut [bitch!], especially since he cannot be blocked by walls. If you've now seen the X-Men 3 movie, you (along with the rest of the blogosphere) might be wondering if Brett Ratner watches viral videos.