December 26, 2002

Amazon.com, the Sleezy Casino of the Internet

I planned to write something about Christmas, I still will, because I have things to say. But not now, now I am mad and frustrated. I am mad at the fact that things and people waste my time. I would rather spend time with the people I care about than waste it with those who don’t even care if I am alive. Who am I talking about? Well, Amazon.com dear reader. Continue reading "Amazon.com, the Sleezy Casino of the Internet"

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December 24, 2002

NORAD Tracks Santa

Track Santa's flight throughout North America and the world through NORAD's Santa Tracking Radar. Little things like this make Christmas oh so much better. It all started in the 1950's with a misplaced phone advert. Here is the whole story about Why NORAD Tracks Santa:
NORAD's predecessor, Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), also situated in Colorado Springs, started the tradition after a Colorado Springs store's advertisement for children to call Santa on a special "hotline" included a misprinted telephone number. Instead of Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief's operations "hotline." The Director of Operations, Colonel Harry Shoup, received the first "Santa" call. Realizing what had happened, Colonel Shoup had his staff check radar data to see if there was any indication of Santa making his way South from the North Pole.
Merry Christmas!

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Radio Silence

Radio silence has been the result of days away from the computer, actual human contact, and trying to find time to spend time with certain people who just flew in from the west [not to mention those who are already here]. Coupled with the general holiday rush, and the added luxury of migrating [or trying to] to a new hosting service, means that updates will be few. There is a host of things going on in the world now that I could link to, but you could go here for some of that kinkage or possibly here for more. I plan on staying offline for awile, and updating infrequently until this hosting providing stuff is taken care of.

so Happy/Merry ____________ [insert holiday of choice] to all who visit!

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December 15, 2002

Words of Wisdom

they've got it
we want it
they dangle it for their own pleasure

-B

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RIAA Caught in own Spin

The Music Mafia lie in this press release about confescating "the equivalent of 421 CD-R burners" in the raid. The Register addresses this spin by reporting that only 156 CD burners were actually recovered. What was the Enron-like accounting used? The RIAA says, "There were only 156 actual burners, but some run at very high speeds: some as high as 40x. This is well above the average speed."

Nothing like spin. Hmmm, I wonder why the truth is such a hard thing to do these days. This press release, and the information previously disseminated, directly calls into question all of their figures of piracy, industry loss, and any other statistical figure. You are supposed to be the "Knights in Shining Armour," but we all know that really the RIAA is just a shell corporation funded by the Big Five to take the heat from any unfavorable action, so as to not hurt the bottom line. And did you know, that every CDR that you buy has a hidden 2% tax on it that directly goes to the RIAA regrdless of what you use the CDR for? Because with such musical talent that grace the airwaves today, the Big Five surely are concerned with musical talent? Or am I wrong?

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December 13, 2002

The Barbie Saga Continues

Zeldman links on his World Report the ongoing Librarian/Architect/policewoman Barbie saga.

UPDATE 2002.12.13 - Additional information
Here is some more background on our Barbie Drive.

Continue reading "The Barbie Saga Continues"

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Your Pallets, are they shipped on...?

We were wondering if these pallets by McMaster-Carr, were delivered to us on, well, pallets?

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Parents have no place in higher education

Profs troubled by complaining parents. Parents, get a life. If little Betty Sue and Johnny can't succeed on their own, and need you to come to the rescue, then you have taught your children an important lesson: every situation is fixable by someone else and personal accountability goes out the window. This may mean your children have the chance to fail, but there are too many in school right now who have the air of entitlement and the attitude of "survival of the minimally fit." We see it all around me, and we can't wait until there are some cages rattled to kick some butts into gear. We have had our arse kicked plenty of times in college, and I continue to have it kicked in graduate school. Like the mother who created noindoctrination.org after her son started failing literature classes and who was to blame? The parties? The girls? No, the Liberal Establishment is to blame for the erosion of society.

In our six odd years of higher education we were never indoctrinated, or even attempted to be. You just knew right off the bat the professor's political leanings, and those professors whose ideologies you couldn't figure out at the beginning, you eventually became aware of down the line. Like we have said before, of course a majority of colleges and universities are liberal. To make generalizations, those who are right leaning go into the business sector, and those who are left go into the humanities. Your mileage may vary. But remember, college is about expanding ideas, and liberating the mind, not conserving values of times long since past. Again, your mileage may vary. In our program, there are all types from right to left, and those who are right leaning, surprise, surprise, and are for the most part interested in the business and pragmatic areas. Our mileage varies. This illustrates the dangers of the straw man, it is easy to blame the other, and blame them for all of your troubles. Hitler did it, Osama bin Laden is doing it, we are doing it, and Luann Wright is doing it. Look inward for the reasons an event did not go expectedly, and you might find the reason - without exhorting to a straw man attack and hasty generalizations attack, which gives instant political currency. This currancy is gained without addressing the fundamental problem , and proper discourse is averted.

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December 12, 2002

2002.12.05 Snow Sledding

The infamous 2002.12.05 Snow Sledding PhotoPak is up for everyone's enjoyment.

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December 11, 2002

Content-less?

Well, I guess Zeldman has more content than I do, because grubbykid.com has only 33.33% content!

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December 9, 2002

Grannies Fight over Bingo

Bingo Club bans two south Wales grandmothers after a violent bust-up over a supposed "lucky chair".
Now one of the women, bingo regular Sandra Fry, 55, is bemoaning her fate: "I used to go to the club most nights and felt I knew everyone.

"Now I'm stuck in the house staring at the wallpaper. Even a murderer doesn't get life," the careworker said.
I am pretty sure the article speaks for itself.

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Thesis and Jokes

P-Word: I think that I'm going to goto the store and buy some DVDs.
The Grubbykid: Hey, P-word, I have a joke for you: Knock, Knock.
PW: Who's there?
GK: Thesis.
PW: Thesis, who?
GK: Thesis is fucking due in one day! Get to work!

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December 8, 2002

2 years already [14 in dog years]?

So Danielle left a message here, congratulating me on my 2nd year of Blogging. She likes to say, "Blogiversary" for these types of matters, we don't quite know what to make of that in our overly-caffeinated state, but it sounds pretty good. Wow, two years of this. I would write more, but I am in the middle of a charette, and my writing skills at 3 am are not that accomplished. My first real post dealt with leaving San Francisco, after living there for six months. I have other posts before that, but I misplaced them, and they probably aren't anything special anyway.

People ask me why I keep a blog/journal/whatever. My response is, "well...why not?" It is pretty interesting to look back through the haze of years, back to amnesia lane, as Robin Williams says in Dead Poets Society. The record of my life, and what I was thinking, what I was experiencing and what I was linking to triggers so much memory, that in itself is worth the doing of creating online content.

Some have inquired about the voyeuristic tendencies, why I would want to open my life up. Well...I don't have an answer to that question. I see this blog as just another communication medium, just like any other form of communication. Think of it as a continuum starting from the most to least personal: person-to- person, telephone, IM, weblog, email, phone message, and finally, no communication. With this my friends and family, not to mention strangers, can interact with me [the site] at their leisure. No one is forcing you to read this or that site, or to comment on this or that site. That is why I love this format, because those who have something to say have the ability, but those who just want to lurk, have the ability to just pass by and leer into a very small section of my life.

What people need to understand is that this blog and everything that I publish is just a very small segment of the total bandwidth of my life. It is heavily edited, and sometimes [often] very flippant. So sometimes posts are taken wrong or removed out of context, precisely because it is so easily to publish. All I ask is those who take issue with what I have to say enter into the conversation: bring some cogent thoughts, words and links to the table and lets debate. I know you all are very smart - let's elevate the discourse. Conversely, thank you for all those who have sent in links, or have been visiting without commenting. I know who you are; I have full access to the server logs. Overall, thanks for all who have come here, and those who keep returning here, all five of you.

So here is to two years. Hopefully there are many more.

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Damn Clock...

3:20 am! - Fuck you clock!
I hate you too!
The clock is your enemy!
The clock hates us - we hate it back.

- Bobo

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December 7, 2002

Record Profits at the Blast

Our Blast: $15.75

Yup that's Fifteen Dollars and Seventy-Five Cents. A new record at The Blast!

Thank you for everyone who came, and the same goes for those who didn't come - albeit in a less nice, more snarky voice.

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December 6, 2002

Beanz Meanz The Grubbykid.

And other such slogans via the The Advertising Slogan Generator.

via MeFi.

UPDATE 2002.12.06 - Additional Information
This is just way too good:

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Birthday?

So it's your Birthday? That's what I've been told. Happy Birthday S-. If I
was there, I could buy you a cake. But I'm not, so here is a picture of a cake.
Cheers!

Happy Birthday S-. Here is some cake.

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December 5, 2002

Hobbiton, it's on!!!

Do you:



  1. Like the Lord of the Rings? [movie]


  2. Like Rap?

From The Lords of the Rhymes

Yo, I'm harder than a Mithril coat
A hundred is the number of the orcs I smote
I battled Helms Deep and I took Minas Tirith
If you don't watch out, I'll make your ass dissappeareth

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December 4, 2002

Sexy, sexy design

sweetchuck dropped off some dub links to my inbox, a bit of time ago, and I have finally remembered they were there.

First up is a nifty flash clock by Yugo Nakamura. I remember vaguely seeing this a bit ago, but forgot its existence.

Second, there is the quite sexy Volkswagen Transparent Factory [flash]. You might have seen this in this month's Metropolis, but the website is pretty cool.

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You're not successful until...

J- says:

Someday I hope to have an architecture firm with a standing army.
You can't call yourself successful without a standing army.

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Padilla's rights upheld, but still detained

The article says, 'Dirty bomb' suspect can have access to attorneys - but shouldn't it read, Innocent until proven guilty Citizen of the United States right's upheld?

The fact is this is a citizen of the United States of America - born and raised here. He has been held by the military, without trial, hearing and counsel, since May - that would be 8 months. The Bush claim is that Amendment V to the US Constitution, which reads:
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
does not apply to Padilla, because he has not been charged with any crime and President Bush's decision to detain him as an enemy combatant in time of war "is a military and political judgment not subject to reassessment by the courts."

Welcome to the slippery slope. By continuing to unconstitutionally imprison Padilla, the Administration is creating a precedent where it can unilaterally imprison anyone it wants. China detains citizens for months and years without trial, and we baulk at their human rights abuse. Why is this different?

Lets review, a citizen of the United States of America is: Welcome to America, land of the [somewhat] Free.

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Parking Spots

Parking Spots, where people take photographs of toy cars next to real cars.

Come on, people take photographs of toy cars next to real cars.

That's right, people take photographs of toy cars next to real cars.

Any questions?

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Drunkonia - the most funky drunk spot on the world

Drunkonia - a repository for drunken photos and debauchery.

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December 3, 2002

Dead Grandmother/Exam Syndrome

The Dead Grandmother/Exam Syndrome and the Potential Downfall Of American Society:

It has long been theorized that the week prior to an exam is an extremely dangerous time for the relatives of college students. Ever since I began my teaching career, I heard vague comments, incomplete references and unfinished remarks, all alluding to the "Dead Grandmother Problem." Few colleagues would ever be explicit in their description of what they knew, but I quickly discovered that anyone who was involved in teaching at the college level would react to any mention of the concept. In my travels I found that a similar phenomenon is known in other countries. In England it is called the "Graveyard Grannies'' problem, in France the "Chere Grand'mere," while in Bulgaria it is inexplicably known as "The Toadstool Waxing Plan" (I may have had some problems here with the translation. Since the revolution this may have changed anyway.) Although the problem may be international in scope it is here in the USA that it reaches its culmination, so it is only fitting that the first warnings emanate here also.
- Mike Adams, Biology Department

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December 2, 2002

Who wants to marry a fake rich guy?

The brain trust at FOX have a new reality show, Joe Millionaire which has been outed by the media - Fox's Faux 'Joe' a Cheap Shot at Reality:
After months of top-secret shooting, Fox next month will take the wraps off of a reality series that poses a simple question: Who wants to marry a multimillionaire -- who's actually not even a millionaire?

"Joe" features 20 single women who fly to France in order to win the affection of a hand-some American they believe to be worth $50 million. The twist: The as- yet unidentified man is actually a construction worker with an annual income of $19,000.

"It's the gold diggers and the ditch digger," one Fox insider said.
I really want the gold digger to turn him down - or at least he can get some tail. This is must see TV.

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42 and Beowulf Clusters

I'm researching Beowulf Clusters and their off-the-shelf derivatives for thesis - I just need the space requirements, wattage [for heat given off], and etc. for space planning [that and I think having a Beowulf Cluster would be sweet] and I found this exchange on SlashDot:
miffo.swe writes:

1 NEC Earth-Simulator 35860.00
2 Hewlett-Packard 7727.00 Los Alamos

The distance from the first to the second is pretty impressive. What on earth did NEC really do over there?
gl4ss responds:

int simulate_earth()
{
sleep(years_to_ms(30000));
return 42
}

dunno what they need the computing power for..'
oh yeah, to generate the program to call that.

from this thread on linux clusters.
For those who are uninitiated to geek culture, let me translate. There is a list called the Top-500, which publishes the top 500 supercomputer clusters in the world. These are based on FLOPS - Floating-point Operations per Second - a measure of the raw computing power per second. So that explains the first post. The second is a script that tries to explain why the NEC needed the extra processing power. The joke is from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, whom inhabitants of a world create a simulation to find the ultimate meaning of life, and the answer, of course, is 42. So they build a bigger computer, called Earth, to figure out the question which 42 answers. So the script that is run just waste's the NEC's power.

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Adam's Quotes

"When you don't get it in the ass, the baby Jesus cries."
Adam Corolla - 2002.12.02

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Spock and Bilbo

Spock sings Bilbo's Praise - Leonard Nimoy, when not taking erotic photographs [salon.com - or here for the free stuff], is apparently a singer. Well, at least in the 1970's. There has been a spate of Nimoy media [yes that's his Official US Fan Club - meaning there are international fan clubs] from the last twenty years popping up now and again on the internet. It is, at once, funny and very, very freighting.

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Thus ends World AIDS Day 2002

world aids day

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December 1, 2002

MeFi Links and discussion

A very good assortment of links and personal stories over at MeFi.

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Current Research Links

For information on current research, go to the National Institutes of Health research page for the last five Fiscal Years.
For genreal information, consult the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and more specifically the Divisions of HIV/AIDS Prevention.

Interesting CDC Links

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Chicago and Aids

chicagoSmall.jpg

Click to download flyer [pdf]

According to the CDC:

  • During 2001, AIDS caused the deaths of an estimated 3 million people, including 1.1 million women and 580,000 children under 15.
  • Today, 40 million people are estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS. Of these, 37.1 million are adults. 18.5 million are women, and 3 million are children under 15.

The Top 10 Urban Centers by HIV/AIDS Cases

  1. New York City 126,237
  2. Los Angeles 43,488
  3. San Francisco 28,438
  4. Miami 25,357
  5. Washington, DC 24,844
  6. Chicago 22,703
  7. Philadelphia 20,369
  8. Houston 19,898
  9. Newark 17,796
  10. Atlanta 17,157

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Sub-Saharan Africa Statistics

Sub-Saharan Africa Statistics paint a dim future for the whole Sub-Continent. Global Policy Forum states, "The life expectancy of Africans is set to reach one of its lowest levels ever, it was revealed on Monday. By the year 2005, most Africans will die before they reach their 48th birthday, the fourth general assembly of the African Population Commission (APC) heard." The Washington Post weighs in with an informative overview of the African HIV/AIDS problem. Finally, the AIDS Foundation of South Africa has a very concise and to the point causal relations page.

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