I totally want one.
I have absolutely no use for it, but I want one anyway.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
*sound of brain shutting down*
I think this is the most mind-boggling sentence I've ever read in a technical paper:
"Hey...how can we send a radio signal to someone without anyone being able to track where it came from?"
"We could...umm...well, we could bounce the signal off of ionized particles created when balls of space rocks obliterate themselves in our atmosphere in a blaze of lethal glory?"
".......uh, Jones? Have you been smoking, injecting, or otherwise absorbing some kind of substance I should know about? I've been going to Starbucks a lot of years now, and I'm here to tell you that people don't come up with that shit off a cup of coffee..."
One technology that is emerging from the military world is meteor burst communication, which uses the transient radio paths provided by ionised trails of meteors entering the atmosphere to send data packets between a mobile station and a base [83].Jesus. Fucking. Christ. How...? What? How the _fuck_ did someone come up with that?
"Hey...how can we send a radio signal to someone without anyone being able to track where it came from?"
"We could...umm...well, we could bounce the signal off of ionized particles created when balls of space rocks obliterate themselves in our atmosphere in a blaze of lethal glory?"
".......uh, Jones? Have you been smoking, injecting, or otherwise absorbing some kind of substance I should know about? I've been going to Starbucks a lot of years now, and I'm here to tell you that people don't come up with that shit off a cup of coffee..."
A brave new world of data mining
I just got the following message on Friendster:
-----
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Christ...now they're tailoring spam message using personal information from my profile? Good god...
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| From: | |
| Date: | Saturday, October 28, 2006 4:15 PM |
| Subject: | hey Nick |
| Message: | How's it goin? I'm Kristy, I just moved right near San Mateo and I wanna meet a nice guy around here :). I moved here a couple of weeks ago for work and now that I'm here I have nobody to hang out with! I read your profile... You're cute and I liked what you had to say :). I'm 22/F/single and I'm lookin for a guy who is a little bit older or more mature than me. You say you're 26 and you're cute so I guess you're qualified :) My friend Jen from back home suggested I tried using friendster to meet people in my area. I just signed up and my profile sux hehe. I do have a blog/profile page at GirlyDiaries.com ... I have alot of photos and stuff up if you wanna see me. I left you a personal msg on my homepage and I took a new pic for you today. Come check me out when you have a chance, k? Lookin forward to seeyin ya, Kristy |
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Christ...now they're tailoring spam message using personal information from my profile? Good god...
Saturday, October 28, 2006
The Nintendo blowjob
No, not that kind of blowjob.
Anyone else out there have any clever tricks for getting your old NES games to work?
Anyone else out there have any clever tricks for getting your old NES games to work?
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Stephen Colbert is a genius
Watching Colbert interview Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda while having them bake an apple pie is simply genius. There is no other word for it.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Robot Chicken and the Five Stages of Grief
I'm not 100% sure why, but even after multiple viewings, Robot Chicken's giraffe sketch still cracks me up. Particularly "anger" and "grief."
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Shedding my last vestiges of Microsoft
They did it.
So I bought one.
I have a shiny new 15" macbook pro core 2 duo in processing, soon to arrive in my eagerly awaiting arms.
So I bought one.
I have a shiny new 15" macbook pro core 2 duo in processing, soon to arrive in my eagerly awaiting arms.
Get to fuckin'! It's for your health.
Sex is good for you! (like we didn't know that)
...
- Better teeth: Seminal plasma contains zinc, calcium and other minerals shown to retard tooth decay. Since this is a family Web site, we will omit discussion of the mineral delivery system. Suffice it to say that it could be a far richer, more complex and more satisfying experience than squeezing a tube of Crest--even Tartar Control Crest. Researchers have noted, parenthetically, that sexual etiquette usually demands the brushing of one's teeth before and/or after intimacy, which, by itself, would help promote better oral hygiene.
...
Monday, October 23, 2006
Fashion designers are nuts
I think this fashion designer went on rather an extended acid trip and subjected several emaciated women to the results of it.
Fast forward to about minute 9 to start seeing some really bizarre shit.
Fast forward to about minute 9 to start seeing some really bizarre shit.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Stewart on Bush's hypocrisy
There are too many good bits on Daily Show to repost here, but this one seems especially poignant...
Pics
I finally got around to finding a site to upload all my pictures. A goodly number of them now live at http://picasaweb.google.com/halcyonic, and any future pics will probably go there as well.
Not all my pics are there, but maybe the last 6 months or so should be there.
Not all my pics are there, but maybe the last 6 months or so should be there.
Friday, October 20, 2006
Another sign of the apocalypse
No, it's not a joke. The Boy Scouts really did just create an anti-piracy merit badge. I shit you not.
Yet another reason not to join that goody-two-shoes, homophobic institution...
Yet another reason not to join that goody-two-shoes, homophobic institution...
Proximity to fame
Look! A NYT article on Chuck Thacker! I sat across the hall from him at MSR and asked him lots of annoying, stupid questions! I'm famous by proxy!
Bacteria fed by...radioactivity?
I think it's fairly clear that, in light of North Korea's latest action, this particular bacterium is destined to take over the earth.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Disney...after dark
Perhaps the funniest thing I have ever seen...I just hope it stays up for a while.
A wee bit unsportsman-like
The order was a bit weird, but they're all funny. I think my favorite is the minor-leaguer...
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Soul Kerfuffle: The View From the Top
Soul Kerfuffle: The View From the Top
A truly frightening memoir of a former WoW addict. The funny thing is that I went through a brief such period at the beginning of high school (became a guild leader, spent way too much time online, eventually quit because it was taking up too much of my life, etc...shut up, you already knew I was a giant nerd). Fortunately I wasn't old enough for it to really screw up my life. I managed to do that in other, more creative ways. :)
A truly frightening memoir of a former WoW addict. The funny thing is that I went through a brief such period at the beginning of high school (became a guild leader, spent way too much time online, eventually quit because it was taking up too much of my life, etc...shut up, you already knew I was a giant nerd). Fortunately I wasn't old enough for it to really screw up my life. I managed to do that in other, more creative ways. :)
Monday, October 16, 2006
The 10 dumbest Congresspeople
Another one of those circumstances where I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
There are, actually, a few Democrats on the list. But the Republicans definitely take the cake, and moreover they happily reign supreme in the top four slots.
There are, actually, a few Democrats on the list. But the Republicans definitely take the cake, and moreover they happily reign supreme in the top four slots.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Sexy soccer
This is just funny. It's really not as sexy as it should be. I actually was having trouble figuring out why. I think it's because they're terrible, and because they're terrible and flailing around, they lose their kind of...I don't know...mystique. They're sexy when posed because they have these perfect bodies, and the clothes are designed to accentuate that. But when they scamper around, it becomes apparently how ridiculous the clothes are, and the girls just look stupid.
I think the funniest thing is that the guys seem to almost be paying more attention to the soccer than the girls. They're less drooling than getting frustrated by how badly the play is. :)
Oh, and just to warn you, the end borders on soft core porn (there are brief naked boobies). Oh, you gotta love the half-naked locker room girl-on-girl massages at the end...
I think the funniest thing is that the guys seem to almost be paying more attention to the soccer than the girls. They're less drooling than getting frustrated by how badly the play is. :)
Oh, and just to warn you, the end borders on soft core porn (there are brief naked boobies). Oh, you gotta love the half-naked locker room girl-on-girl massages at the end...
The rise and fall of Friendster
A really interesting article on the rise and fall of Friendster.
Friendster really is dead at this point, sadly. As the article repeatedly points out, the thing most directly responsible for Friendster's death was its failure to deal with technical problems. Anybody who used the site a few years ago knows that the thing just ground to a halt for a good several months. It became unusable. So people left.
What I didn't know was that part of the reason that the technical problems weren't fixed was that the idiot boards the VCs put together were too busy trying to think up grand new features and figuring out how to compete with Yahoo and Google (what???), all the while failing to pay attention to the fact that the site was, you know, dead.
To me, this is a cautionary tale about how arrogant VC can really fuck things up if you're not careful. Granted, Abrams also sounds like kind of a douche, but I think that's largely secondary here.
As an aside, I can't believe Google bought YouTube for a billion dollars. A fucking billion dollars. For a company that isn't even turning a goddamn profit. And doesn't really have a business model. And would have been sued for copyright infringment long ago if it actually had any money. You'll notice that Google has a bunch of money. I would not expect the not being sued thing to last very much longer...
Friendster really is dead at this point, sadly. As the article repeatedly points out, the thing most directly responsible for Friendster's death was its failure to deal with technical problems. Anybody who used the site a few years ago knows that the thing just ground to a halt for a good several months. It became unusable. So people left.
What I didn't know was that part of the reason that the technical problems weren't fixed was that the idiot boards the VCs put together were too busy trying to think up grand new features and figuring out how to compete with Yahoo and Google (what???), all the while failing to pay attention to the fact that the site was, you know, dead.
To me, this is a cautionary tale about how arrogant VC can really fuck things up if you're not careful. Granted, Abrams also sounds like kind of a douche, but I think that's largely secondary here.
As an aside, I can't believe Google bought YouTube for a billion dollars. A fucking billion dollars. For a company that isn't even turning a goddamn profit. And doesn't really have a business model. And would have been sued for copyright infringment long ago if it actually had any money. You'll notice that Google has a bunch of money. I would not expect the not being sued thing to last very much longer...
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Am I as fit as a Navy SEAL?
No. No, I'm not. Not even close. I don't even think I finished reading the description because it was too tiring.
World's worst hacker
Okay, quick background for the non-nerds out there: there's one critical piece of information you need to know about the IRC transcript of a "discussion" with the world's worst hacker, and that is that the ip address 127.0.0.1 will always connect you to your own computer (it's a loopback address).
With that in mind, I give you the world's worst hacker.
With that in mind, I give you the world's worst hacker.
The story of Graphing Calculator
The story behind the Mac OS 9 "Graphing Calculator" program is quite simply fascinating. Quick exerpt:
People around the Apple campus saw us all the time and assumed we belonged. Few asked who we were or what we were doing.When someone did ask me, I never lied, but relied on the power of corporate apathy. The conversations usually went like this:
Q: Do you work here?
A: No.
Q: You mean you're a contractor?
A: Actually, no.
Q: But then who's paying you?
A: No one.
Q: How do you live?
A: I live simply.
Q: (Incredulously) What are you doing here?!
Friday, October 13, 2006
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
McCain behaving like a Republican
Sometimes I forget that although McCain is nowhere as near as bad as GW and his crew, he's still kind of an opportunistic ass sometimes.
The power of search
Some of the shit that shows up in Google Code searches is really entertaining, even to non-coders.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
...and Rumsfeld may be the biggest douchebag of them all
God, Rumsfeld is such a fucking prick. First we have the asshole shaking hands with Saddam Hussein, now we have him selling fucking nuclear reactors to North Korea.
It continues to blow my mind that _anyone_ still approves of this administration.
It continues to blow my mind that _anyone_ still approves of this administration.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Babies _are_ useful!
Wow...clearly I've been too harsh on babies as being useless and annoying. Turns out they're just annoying.
This isn't exactly the sound track I had in mind
This of course begs the question of what the soundtrack actually is...
An article and a test
Good article on the Colbert phenomenon.
As an aside, take this quick quiz from said article: which ones did Colbert say, and which ones did Coulter say? (answers in the article)
As an aside, take this quick quiz from said article: which ones did Colbert say, and which ones did Coulter say? (answers in the article)
1. “Even Islamic terrorists don’t hate America like liberals do. They don’t have the energy. If they had that much energy, they’d have indoor plumbing by now.”
2. “There’s nothing wrong with being gay. I have plenty of friends who are going to hell.”
3. “I just think Rosa Parks was overrated. Last time I checked, she got famous for breaking the law.”
4. “Being nice to people is, in fact, one of the incidental tenets of Christianity, as opposed to other religions whose tenets are more along the lines of ‘Kill everyone who doesn’t smell bad and answer to the name Muhammad.’ ”
5. “I believe that everyone has the right to their own religion, be you Hindu, Muslim, or Jewish. I believe there are infinite paths to accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior.”
6. “[North Korea] is a major threat. I just think it would be fun to nuke them and have it be a warning to the rest of the world.”
7. “Isn’t an agnostic just an atheist without balls?”
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Modern darwinism
Just in case you haven't seen it, I direct you to iamfacingforeclosure.com.
The stupidity is _stunning_. I'm currently rooting for the lenders, quite frankly.
Also, consider browsing the comments. Some of them are hilarious.
The stupidity is _stunning_. I'm currently rooting for the lenders, quite frankly.
Also, consider browsing the comments. Some of them are hilarious.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Tierney quote on natural selection
Thought this was worth sharing:
Girls, keep re-reading that last paragraph until it sinks in. It is to my continued frustration that women don't seem to accept this.
Women tells researchers they’re more likely to marry a man who takes risks to help others, like rescuing a baby in a burning building. There’s some evidence they admire guys who try edgy sports like bungee jumping, but there’s also evidence they frown on risk-taking just for the thrill of it. They especially don’t want to marry guys who jeopardize their health with frat-boy stunts like binge drinking. That would cover the beer-chugging scene in the “Jackass” movie, and presumably most of the other stunts too.So the Jackass phenomenon doesn’t seem to be a case of runaway sexual selection. It looks more like runaway nonselection, as the anthropologist Lionel Tiger dubs the process. The men have become so determined to outdo each other that they don’t care if they’re endangering themselves and grossing out potential mates in the process.
It’s the same runaway process that causes women to endanger their health by starving themselves to look like fashion models. Extreme thinness is a status symbol to other women, not men. Men prefer women who are normal weight or plump, but the stick figures on the fashion runways aren’t trying to appeal to a male audience. Like the guys on “Jackass,” they’ve lost sight of the other sex because they’re so busy trying to impress their own.
Girls, keep re-reading that last paragraph until it sinks in. It is to my continued frustration that women don't seem to accept this.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Woz
Wozniac is currently presenting in the atrium of the UW computer science building.
I don't really have anything to say about this other than the fact he is a giant, giant nerd. It's clear why Jobs was the public face of Apple. And in all these years, it's clear he's only acquired a marginal amount more of social aptitude.
In his defense, I think he comes from a different world. The beginning of personal computers was created by serious, hardcore nerds playing with circuits, and they were driven by competitive engineer egos. These were people in basements soldering hardware, and it kind of explains where the loner, social outcast nerd culture came from.
I respect that, but I also feel that that same culture that generated PC innovation is now the biggest impediment to progress. We now live in a world where performance is no longer the most important aspect of computing; it's usability and reliability. It's much more important that your computer work reliably and do what you want it to than it is that it do it as fast as humanly possible. Similarly, we now live in a ubiquitously connected world. The most important use of computers is in connecting people and enabling cooperative task accomplishment. Designing those systems involves much more understanding of _people_ than designing the Apple II did.
I admire and respect what people like Woz did to create the discipline I now work in, but I don't want the next generation of engineers to follow the same model of development.
I don't really have anything to say about this other than the fact he is a giant, giant nerd. It's clear why Jobs was the public face of Apple. And in all these years, it's clear he's only acquired a marginal amount more of social aptitude.
In his defense, I think he comes from a different world. The beginning of personal computers was created by serious, hardcore nerds playing with circuits, and they were driven by competitive engineer egos. These were people in basements soldering hardware, and it kind of explains where the loner, social outcast nerd culture came from.
I respect that, but I also feel that that same culture that generated PC innovation is now the biggest impediment to progress. We now live in a world where performance is no longer the most important aspect of computing; it's usability and reliability. It's much more important that your computer work reliably and do what you want it to than it is that it do it as fast as humanly possible. Similarly, we now live in a ubiquitously connected world. The most important use of computers is in connecting people and enabling cooperative task accomplishment. Designing those systems involves much more understanding of _people_ than designing the Apple II did.
I admire and respect what people like Woz did to create the discipline I now work in, but I don't want the next generation of engineers to follow the same model of development.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
*contented sigh*
Oh, how I missed you Jon Stewart. Getting to finally see you again inspires deep feelings that, frankly, I don't think I'm quite ready to deal with...
Also, Daily Show just showed a clip from Fox News that was in turn showing a clip of boy-fondler Mark Foley where the information bar identified him as "(D - FL)."
Wow.
I knew Fox News was partisan, but...wow. That's just a whole new level of douchebaggery.
Also, Daily Show just showed a clip from Fox News that was in turn showing a clip of boy-fondler Mark Foley where the information bar identified him as "(D - FL)."
Wow.
I knew Fox News was partisan, but...wow. That's just a whole new level of douchebaggery.
From the Star Trek rumor mill
Thank. Fucking. God.
They need to have booted everyone associated with Star Trek about 10 years and, oh, 4 movies ago. Star Trek 6 was the last half decent one.
They need to have booted everyone associated with Star Trek about 10 years and, oh, 4 movies ago. Star Trek 6 was the last half decent one.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Hastert is also still a douche
Now, now, Mr. Hastert...the man did proposition underage male interns. That's not so much "out to get you" as deeply disturbing and wrong.
How much is Wyle E. Coyote getting in consulting fees?
I think someone in the Air Force is watching too many Looney Tunes.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
A quick thought
At what point will CS nerds realize that black leather trench coats are and never were cool, and that they might as well wrap themselves in a big bullseye that screams, "NERD!!!"?
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