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CRAZIEST = 311 points Scrabble can seriously affect your mental health. [Flash]
Just One Question... "How many times have you been arrested, Mr. President?"
$1002.21 Bounty to the first person to ask George W. Bush this question in a public forum. [PayPal donations accepted to increase the bounty]
$1002.21 Bounty to the first person to ask George W. Bush this question in a public forum. [PayPal donations accepted to increase the bounty]
"After his capture he admitted being an al Qaeda member and agreed to send e-mails to his contacts," a Pakistani intelligence source told Reuters. "He sent encoded e-mails and received encoded replies. He's a great hacker and even the U.S. agents said he was a computer whiz."
In its haste to get a scary headline the weekend after the Democratic Convention, did the Bush Administration deliberately blow the cover of one of its best informants within al-Qaeda?
Neverland : The testimony that Michael Jackson paid between $15 and $40 million to suppress.
One sunny day, Bill Beaty was walking through a car park when he noticed a black car that appeared to have a series of interesting spots and highlights on its hood. On closer inspection, he also noticed several hand prints which had a curious property: they didn't appear to be on the surface of the paintwork at all but instead looked as though they were floating several inches below the surface. In some cases they even looked like they were floating above the surface. After thinking about this he came to realize that he looking at a kind of holographic effect but this kind of hologram didn't require all the usual paraphernalia nor was it caused by light wave interference. It was a kind of holography that could be used to draw pictures in 3D by hand. (More inside...)
In 1900 a sponge diver called Elias Stadiatos discovered the wreck of an ancient merchant ship off the tiny island of Antikythera near Crete. The corbita, dating from the first century B.C., was heavily laden with treasure of all kinds, original bronze life-size statues, marble reproductions of older works, jewelry, wine, fine furniture and one immensely complicated scientific instrument.
The Antikythera mechanism was originally housed in a wooden box about the size of a shoebox with dials on the outside and a complex clockwork assembly of gears inscribed and configured to produce solar and lunar positions in synchronization with the calendar year. By rotating a handle on its side, its owner could read on its front and back dials the progressions of the lunar and synodic months over four-year cycles. The device has been estimated to be accurate to 1 part in 40,000. (more inside...)
Apologies in advance to Matt but I'm curious why my human cloning story got pulled. Is it because it was a double post? Or is because it has been conclusively debunked? Or did it cross some other line?
Bye Bye, Tuvalu...
"In 1998, BAS predicted the demise of more ice shelves around the Antarctic Peninsula. Since then warming on the peninsula has continued and we watched as piece-by-piece Larsen B has retreated. We knew what was left would collapse eventually, but the speed of it is staggering. Hard to believe that 500 billion tonnes of ice sheet has disintegrated in less than a month."
speccy piccy this.(link via Ethel)
"In 1998, BAS predicted the demise of more ice shelves around the Antarctic Peninsula. Since then warming on the peninsula has continued and we watched as piece-by-piece Larsen B has retreated. We knew what was left would collapse eventually, but the speed of it is staggering. Hard to believe that 500 billion tonnes of ice sheet has disintegrated in less than a month."
speccy piccy this.(link via Ethel)
So now the Al Qaeda prisoners in Cuba want human rights. Ha! Tell that to the victims of WTC etc etc
"DO NOT USE wire stories which lead with civilian casualties from the U.S. war on Afghanistan. They should be mentioned further down in the story. If the story needs rewriting to play down the civilian casualties, DO IT. The only exception is if the U.S. hits an orphanage, school or similar facility and kills scores or hundreds of children...Failure to follow any of these or other standing rules could put your job in jeopardy."
from a memo re war coverage by Ray Glenn the chief copy editor of the Panama City News Herald in Florida.
Good to see that the media is doing its bit for the war effort.
from a memo re war coverage by Ray Glenn the chief copy editor of the Panama City News Herald in Florida.
Good to see that the media is doing its bit for the war effort.
Software projects are notorious for time and budget overruns (examples that come to mind include Mozilla and the Denver Airport baggage system). There are a large number of design methods, development processes, and programming methodologies that claim or hint at objective estimation of development schedules, project complexity, and programmer productivity. Unfortunately, they're all bunk.
"The creation of genuinely new software has far more in common with developing a new theory of physics than it does with producing cars or watches on an assembly line."
Programmers, try telling that one to your next customer.
"The creation of genuinely new software has far more in common with developing a new theory of physics than it does with producing cars or watches on an assembly line."
Programmers, try telling that one to your next customer.
How to anonymously get root access on a quarter million machines overnight In the past 24 hours the CodeRed II worm has been infecting IIS web servers with a speed equal to or greater than that of the original CodeRed. The original CodeRed infected what is thought to be all vulnerable machines, approximately 250,000 hosts, in under 24 hours.
While CodeRed I was relatively harmless, CodeRed II installs a full Administrator-access back door shell that can be accessed via HTTP. This creates a very interesting situation, and with the techniques discussed in this paper opens a new potential door for mass system cracking.
Meat from genetically modified pigs was stolen from a lab, turned into sausages and eaten by atleast nine people. It may be the first time people in the US have eaten GM meat.
Apparently they "tasted real good".
Apparently they "tasted real good".
Megawati is in, but Abdurrahman Wahid is not out...yet. News from the world's fourth most populous nation.
With two bombs planted in churches in Jakarta this week injuring 60 people and Wahid likening his struggle with parliament to a "jihad"...I have to confess that my, er, decison to take the family to Bali next month is looking a tad iffy at the moment.
With two bombs planted in churches in Jakarta this week injuring 60 people and Wahid likening his struggle with parliament to a "jihad"...I have to confess that my, er, decison to take the family to Bali next month is looking a tad iffy at the moment.
MetaTalk isn't as good as it was in the old days.
Unstable genes make normal clones unlikely. Dolly the sheep celebrated her fifth birthday yesterday. Most cloned animals aren't so lucky: they rarely reach adulthood, or even birth. Another reason why cloning humans might not be a good idea, "one can't expect to have normal clones - even if they appear healthy, they may have abnormal gene expression."
Ho Hum, just the remains of another four thousand year old city discovered on the ocean floor. This one is Harrapan of the Indus Valley which was home to the largest of the four ancient urban civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China. The ruins extend for 9 kilometers and located around 40 metres below the water surface. "Due to geological processes and tectonic events, the entire [Gulf of] Cambay was faulted — taking down with it the then existing part of the river sections and the metropolis"
"Several months ago I wrote a letter to WisDOT requesting your agency consider recalling the vanity license plate IH8GOP that I noticed on a vehicle in the Columbus area.
My reason for requesting the recall of this plate is that the message is obscene to those of us who are members of the Republican Party (GOP) and who subscribe to the conservative principles of the party.
I never received a response to my letter..."
Political correctness, Hate Speech, Free Speech and the problem of vanity plates at Wisconsin's Department of Transportation.
Political correctness, Hate Speech, Free Speech and the problem of vanity plates at Wisconsin's Department of Transportation.
Obesity is caused by a virus and it could be contagious!
Yet another excuse to give fat people a hard time.
Yet another excuse to give fat people a hard time.
These guys cool and trap anti-electrons (positrons) and at the same time cool and trap anti-protons. Why? Because they want to make cold anti-hydrogen and compare its properties with ordinary hydrogen. Pretty cool all round, really.
"Any difference between antimatter and matter would be extremely interesting since we do not yet understand why we have a universe made of matter. We would expect that the big bang that originated our universe would create equal amounts of antimatter and matter, which would then annihilate, leaving nothing. The great mystery is why enough matter was left over that we and our matter universe could exist."
"Any difference between antimatter and matter would be extremely interesting since we do not yet understand why we have a universe made of matter. We would expect that the big bang that originated our universe would create equal amounts of antimatter and matter, which would then annihilate, leaving nothing. The great mystery is why enough matter was left over that we and our matter universe could exist."
Queen Nefertiti found in the attic. Well, not exactly but the mummy of Nefertiti, the most famous queen of ancient Egypt except for Cleopatra, has been found kicking around in a museum unrecognized for a hundred years. Also, you can own your own Nefertiti for only $39.99 (gold costs a lttle more).
From its origins as
Stalinist rhetoric in the 30's, to ironic Left-wing jibe in the 70's, to
Iconoclastic taunt in the 80's, to the Conservative pejorative of today, has the
term Political
Correctness had its day? It's probably just me but it seems to be used
far more frequently by people who are in positions of power or by those more in
tune with society's mainstream orthodoxy than by those who aren't. Of
course, no one ever calls themselves politically correct. What do you
think, what does the p.c. term mean to you?
Memes are past their prime.
Richard Dawkins first coined the term meme towards the end of his 1976 book The Selfish Gene initially as an instructive analogy and a way of illustrating the concept of replicators. Memes were just like genes but they replicated themselves through minds and culture rather than cells and bodies. Of course, the meme, like any good self-replicating idea, caught on and spread like wildfire and has been used to illuminate studies into subjects as diverse as the memetics of music and the memetics of suicide. There is an alternate view however that sees the grand project of memetics as completely misguided.
Richard Dawkins first coined the term meme towards the end of his 1976 book The Selfish Gene initially as an instructive analogy and a way of illustrating the concept of replicators. Memes were just like genes but they replicated themselves through minds and culture rather than cells and bodies. Of course, the meme, like any good self-replicating idea, caught on and spread like wildfire and has been used to illuminate studies into subjects as diverse as the memetics of music and the memetics of suicide. There is an alternate view however that sees the grand project of memetics as completely misguided.
So, after being out of the saddle for so many years, apparently all George needed was a good editor.
Presenting: Episode I.I : The Phantom Edit
link via Ghost in the Machine
Presenting: Episode I.I : The Phantom Edit
link via Ghost in the Machine
FRANCISCO VARELA (1946 - 2001)* One of the more quietly influential thinkers of our times. A neuroscientist turned immunologist whose formulation of the theory of autopoiesis (with Humberto Maturana) has challenged conventional thinking in areas as diverse as Artificial Intelligence, Ecology and AIDS research.
The mathematics of self-reference involves creating formalisms to reflect the strange situation in which something produces A, which produces B, which produces A. That was 1974. Today, many colleagues call such ideas part of complexity theory.
On 28th of May, Varela's own autopoiesis ceased.
*pointer via fmh
The mathematics of self-reference involves creating formalisms to reflect the strange situation in which something produces A, which produces B, which produces A. That was 1974. Today, many colleagues call such ideas part of complexity theory.
On 28th of May, Varela's own autopoiesis ceased.
*pointer via fmh
Ever wondered why the Buddha wears a toga?
Understanding the origins and symbolism behind images of the Buddha.
Understanding the origins and symbolism behind images of the Buddha.
NASA releases new high resolution images of the "Face on Mars" digitally enhanced to make it it look like an ordinary mesa rock formation.
Of course, we know better...
Of course, we know better...
Marxist Literary Critics Are Following Me!
"Several months ago I was approached by an individual who I have reason to believe belonged to a covert organization involving politics, illegal weapons, etc., who put great pressure on me to place coded information in future novels 'to be read by the right people here and there,' as he phrased it. I refused to do it."
How Philip K. Dick betrayed his academic admirers to the FBI.
"Several months ago I was approached by an individual who I have reason to believe belonged to a covert organization involving politics, illegal weapons, etc., who put great pressure on me to place coded information in future novels 'to be read by the right people here and there,' as he phrased it. I refused to do it."
How Philip K. Dick betrayed his academic admirers to the FBI.
A story that only gets stranger and sadder. A gold-masked mummy, whose sensational discovery last year sparked an ownership row between Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, has turned out not only to be a modern fake but also the apparent victim in a macabre murder mystery.
dack kills his blog
". I want to spend more time making short films, playing golf, and reading books. But what I really want to do is make computers, and specifically the Web, a much smaller part of my life."
I guess there's no enjoyment left in poking fun at dot.com vanity in this day and age...
". I want to spend more time making short films, playing golf, and reading books. But what I really want to do is make computers, and specifically the Web, a much smaller part of my life."
I guess there's no enjoyment left in poking fun at dot.com vanity in this day and age...
Mail Expire is a temporary mail forwarding service.
It's free and takes about 30 seconds to set up a bogus email address that will expire after a period of time (the default interval is 12 hours). It's great for signing up to those FREE!! trial Internet services without automatically becoming an "asset" of some database marketing (read: spam) crowd. Because it's your inbox.
Oh yeah, please use this power for good. Don't use it to sign up to Metafilter or anything, I'm sure Matt will ban it anyway.
It's free and takes about 30 seconds to set up a bogus email address that will expire after a period of time (the default interval is 12 hours). It's great for signing up to those FREE!! trial Internet services without automatically becoming an "asset" of some database marketing (read: spam) crowd. Because it's your inbox.
Oh yeah, please use this power for good. Don't use it to sign up to Metafilter or anything, I'm sure Matt will ban it anyway.
Fun with microwave ovens including how to make cost effective decoy radar systems for confusing NATO bombers.
Pyramids as old as the ones in Egypt found in Peru. Actually, they're more like ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamia but hell anyway they're just as old as their Middle Eastern counterparts. Here's a bit more on the Americas' oldest city.
The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy: An Interactive Study Since the development of carbonated beverage in 1886, one of linguistic geography's most important and least investigated phenomena has been the sharp regional divisions in the use of the terms "pop" and "soda."
IF THE VIKINGS HAD FOUNDED New York (and they damn well nearly did), they probably would have called it New Jorvik after their own city of Jorvik (now called York) on the coast of Britain. Despite their reputation as marauders, Viking York was a densely populated and bustling port city which boasted a skyline of high rise buildings. It was the New York of it's day and here's a sense of what it was like.
Bad day for double posts. I mean, I know the threads each has slightly different takes but were so many really needed?
You can forget about the The Ancient Underwater Pyramids of Japan now, divers find a real 4,000 year old city underwater and off the coast of Lebanon. The city of Yamuta was once an important timber trading port but as the coastline gradually disappeared, the city was engulfed by the Mediterranean Sea. The city was last mentioned in 1370 BC. With lots of interesting new underwater finds in the news recently, underwater archaeology really is opening up new frontiers.
Screen your thoughts for $35
"About 8 thought screens were made in early 1999 using a metalized plastic which is used in static shielding bags. Six users reported success but two users were overcome by telepathic commands, removed the helmets and were taken.
"In late 1999 and early 2000, nine new thought screens were made using Velostat shielding. All abductees wearing this helmet have not been taken while they were wearing it."
"About 8 thought screens were made in early 1999 using a metalized plastic which is used in static shielding bags. Six users reported success but two users were overcome by telepathic commands, removed the helmets and were taken.
"In late 1999 and early 2000, nine new thought screens were made using Velostat shielding. All abductees wearing this helmet have not been taken while they were wearing it."
"The marbles belong to the British Museum ... which does not intend to return any part of the collection to its country of origin," PM Tony Blair ruling out the return to Greece of the so-called "Elgin" marbles, the stone carvings that were unceremoniously hacked off the Parthenon by the Earl of Elgin and carted back to Britain. Nearly 200 years later and despite years of Greek protest, the British Museum is not budging and has maintained thoughout that it has been protecting these antiquities from almost certain destruction (although their own record in this regard has not been great). Should museums today be returning treasures that have were obtained though such looting?
Exploring the Black Sea with robotic submersibles. The Black Sea is the largest body of anoxic water in the world. A remarkable thing happens in such waters: wood, cloth, food, and other organic materials do not decay and disappear — ships that went to the bottom hundreds or thousands of years ago still rest on the seafloor in almost the same condition as when they sailed the surface. The trick is getting down into the depths to find them.
The Earthquake as Artist
"A shop in Port Townsend, Washington had a sand pendulum going when last week's earthquake struck. One usually thinks of earthquakes as resulting in a net increase in entropy, but in this instance the outcome was something akin to fine art". via TBTF
"A shop in Port Townsend, Washington had a sand pendulum going when last week's earthquake struck. One usually thinks of earthquakes as resulting in a net increase in entropy, but in this instance the outcome was something akin to fine art". via TBTF