January 31, 2003

LeBron fought the law, and the law won

Our favorite soon to be has-been LeBron James has been ruled ineligible for accepting gifts from promoters.
James and his mother were extremely hurt and depressed over the ruling, a source close to James' family told ESPN.com's Andy Katz.

According to the source, who spoke with LeBron and mother Gloria James, the James' feel as if they have been set up and that someone purposely wanted him to be ruled ineligible. The James' plan to meet with lawyers Friday night to ensure that they go about the appeals process correctly.
Good...you broke the rules, and now you reap the whirl-wind. And the shit about James being purposely set-up? What a bunch of shit. You know the rules, you know the consequences, now lie in your bed.

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January 30, 2003

Internet Hoax

Olsen twins at UC? Sorry, just a rumor from The Cincinnati Enquirer.

So all we have to do is make a fake website, play dumb, and let others email it around the state and country? I should go into propaganda. Two days ago, Mikey and used a CNN.com page generator to create a satirical article about the Olsen Twins attending UC in Interior Design. I guess it has been taken down - the site probably received a cease and desist order from CNN. All I have to say, this was the funniest few days here at DAAP - there were phone calls from both coasts from alumni who heard about the news.

So I guess all you have to do is to appropriate a semi-respectable website and you can get anyone to believe anything.

UPDATE - 20030130
Now the story has made the Associated Press - Ohio Colleges Deal With Olsen Twin Rumor.
The hoax is "all over the country," said Michael Pagnotta, a spokesman for the Olsens, who debuted as infants on the ABC sitcom "Full House" in 1987.

"In a way, it's flattering so many people want to believe (the twins) will be going to their school," Pagnotta said. "But at the end of the day, none of the reports are true."

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Joe Millionaire gets DRRRTY

The Smoking Gun reveals that Joe Millionaire contestent Sarah Kozer has been in numerous bondage films before selling herself to televsion. CNN hacks it up by barely reporting the facts.

This is great! I hope he picks her, so the truth can come out. I think it will go like this:
Joe: I really like you, but I want to come clean about something.
Sarah: Oh really?
Joe: Jeah, I'm not really a millionaire - I'm a construction worker.
Sarah: Wheew! That's great!
Joe: WHAT?
Sarah: Yeah, thats fine. Because I have my own secret - I've been in numerous light bondage films. So that is my secret.
Joe: I can't believe you lied to me!
Sarah: What are you talking about - your a tall, dim-witted construction worker - who also lied.
Joe: But at least I'm not in fetish films. I'm outta here.
Yeah, I think it will go something like that. It'll be great!

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January 29, 2003

Finnish version of RIAA just as bad as American version of RIAA

Fins force kindergartens to pay for singing

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DC Anti-War Protests

At D.C. protests, a few hundred thousand go missing
Put two and two together and what you get is the amazing realization that this crowd, perhaps the largest to gather in Washington in the last thirty years, has no political representation whatsoever in today's America. Almost certainly representing a vastly larger number of people in the general population, the anti-war crowd has simply been excluded from the process. The 80 nitwits at the MOVE-OUT event could reasonably claim one sympathetic U.S. Senator per demonstrator: the 200,000+ at the A.N.S.W.E.R. event couldn't claim even one between them. The only real clout it could claim was its own physical presence at that particular moment.

All of which makes sense, because from the very beginning, the character of this war has been that of a giant end run-an end run around common sense, around international law, around political reality, even around basic human logic. When you've spent half a year getting your head around the idea that a terrorist attack by Islamic fundamentalists somehow necessitates the immediate invasion of an unrelated secular dictatorship, or that opposing an offensive war is somehow evidence that one "hates America " and is a traitor, it isn't hard to see how 250,000 people in this country these days can actually, in real terms, be numerically fewer than 80.
And people were wondering why national media outlets, which are controlled by MegaNational Corporations with vested interests besides reporting the facts, are a bad idea.

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January 28, 2003

Projection of War

Gulf War 2 (aka World War 2.5)

Flash simulation of the effects of a Middle East War

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Olsen Twins set to Attend UC

Olsen Twins Set to Attend the University of Cincinnati

Man...maybe I should stay another year.

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FUD and the Slammer Worm

Why the mainstream still does not get the InterWeb
Baldwin said one way to prevent problems might be to require companies that do businesses on the Web to use a separate, yet-to-be-invented "secure Internet" and then connect to the wider Net from behind that barrier.

"Right now, you have an infrastructure that allows anyone to connect without standards," he said. "That creates a major threat. [Businesses] are exposing services on the Internet that have no business being exposed."
Bullshit. Right now, you have an infrastructure that allows anyone to connect without standards What do you call udp, or tcp? Of course there are standards, just not ones that business likes - a standard that offers the greatest interoperability and connectivity, over a whole class of machines. Connectivity that operates in many different ways, with limited control or impedence. The standards of the internet and how we all communicate through it, is useful and valid - those who do not update their boxes, or those whoe write shoddy code are to blame. Not the infrastructure. Beware those who promise "security," because it will be something that none of us will like, or want. But once enacted, you can never go back. I mean, whats wrong with SSL? As long as you have lazy and/or overworked sysadmins, exploits such as those that this worm used will persist.

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January 27, 2003

Why irony is not dead...

US buys up Iraqi oil to stave off crisis
Facing its most chronic shortage in oil stocks for 27 years, the US has this month turned to an unlikely source of help - Iraq.

Weeks before a prospective invasion of Iraq, the oil-rich state has doubled its exports of oil to America, helping US refineries cope with a debilitating strike in Venezuela.
And Krauthammer said irony was dead.

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January 24, 2003

Please gain some perspective

Karl Rove Doublespeaks about BushCo.

In a wide-ranging session with reporters, Mr. Rove suggested that the president ranked with Theodore Roosevelt as an environmentalist and predicted a close 2004 presidential race. He said the Republican Party had been strengthened by the controversy over Senator Trent Lott, and he played down his own reputation as the most powerful behind-the-scenes White House adviser, on both policy and politics, in generations.

Asked how Mr. Bush compared with Teddy Roosevelt on foreign and economic policy, Mr. Rove replied that the president is a populist.

"Give him a choice between Wall Street and Main Street and he'll choose Main Street every time," Mr. Rove said.

emphasis mine

What bunch of horseshit. You can quote me on that. Right now I cannot fathom the thinking that goes into the bullshit that Rove spews. Bush is the opposite of any environmentalist [pdf]. If this is not lying, I don't know what is.

I cannot even bear the patience to try to refute Rove's bald-faced lies and double speak.

Do they think we are all idiots? I mean, the temerity. I always get the feeling that the machine could care less what anyone but a small cadre of loyal supporters thinks. The populace be damned.

Have a good weekend. I'm out.

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January 22, 2003

Grubbykid @ the Skating Party

skating24.jpg Continue reading "Grubbykid @ the Skating Party"

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January 20, 2003

Anti-war ≠ Anti-American

Try to explain away this Mandate

Overhead Shots

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I Have A Dream

In honor of the great Martin Luther King, Jr., who not only spoke out for rights of African Americans, but for peace in general, here is the link to the transcript I Have A Dream. Additionally, for 24 hours only, here is the recording of I Have A Dream *[mp3] - all 16 minutes. This is for educational and non-commercial purposes only.

We are featuring this for 24 hours because it is still copyrighted by the King family, but we believe that this monumental speech denouncing all hate and warmongering in the world deserves to be in the public domain. We also believe that - in the current situation where those with the most to gain are manipulating the populace and sounding the drums of war - a clear and concise rebuttal to evil, war, hatred, and human greed should be freely available. Rev. King's message is the most succinct voice for peace that graced America in the last fifty years.

20030121 : UPDATE
*As promised the linke to Rev. King's speech has been removed. You can find it other ways on the internet, however.

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January 19, 2003

Homestar Runner

We have recently been very enamoured with the extreamly funny cartoon, Homestar Runner [Homestararunner.net - It's Dot.Com!] Follow our hero, Homestar Runner on his journeys. The site seems to get hit a lot, and it is often slow, but the wait is worth it.

While you are at it, check out the Strong Bad Emails especially Spring Cleaning. Deleted!

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January 18, 2003

Columbus Circle grows

A Vertical Neighborhood Takes Shape [ny times - reg req'd] - Columbus Circle is changing, for what, we don't know. We just remember seeing early designs that incorporated all sorts of crazy structural gymnastics in order to do achieve a very marginal gain.

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J Randolph's · Chicago

j_randolph.jpg Continue reading "J Randolph's · Chicago"

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DDoS of DALnet

DALnet - one of the oldest chat/p2p networks - which use IRC protocol - has been suffering through a Distributed Denial of Serrvice Attack [DDoS] for the last few months, and service this week has been spotty to non-existant. It is funny that when websites that serve little or no community value are written about, and this massive attack has gone unnoticed for the past few months!

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Mickey Speaks

Mickey Mouse Clubbed
- Disney's cartoon rodent speaks out on the Eldred decision.

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Total Information Awareness - maybe not?

Remember the Total Informaion Awareness [TIA] program [but here is the disappeared logo with the phrase "Knowledge Is Power"] [more info : 1 | 2], a research study by DARPA [the people who brought, and then abandoned the internet] run by convicted felon Adm. John Poindexter [here are satellite photos of his house and some TIA info of our own], who was convicted of conspiracy, lying to Congress, defrauding the government, and destroying evidence in the Iran Contra scandal as National Security Adviser under Ronald Reagan, but the convictions were overturned in 1990, because Congress had granted immunity in exchange for his testimony, even though the testimony he gave Congress turned out to not be true. [Source: John and Big Brother]

Wired is reporting that three separate bills banning or suspending the program have been intorduced, one by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), one by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and one by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.).

About time our elected representatives get their priorities straight and start representing the poeple of this great nation.

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January 17, 2003

Experimentals

Heavy Rotation - flash experiment site.

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Valenti and asinine propaganda

"I say to you that the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone."
- Jack Valenti, MPAA @ testimony to Congress - 1982

compare this with:

"We're fighting our own terrorist war."
- Jack Valenti, MPAA @ ny times quote

I think someone needs a reality check and get some perspective.

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Theory Trading Cards

Theory.org.uk Trading Cards feature theorists and ideas reduced to collectible [and printible] trading cards. Man does this bring the geek out in me, because I love this idea. I downloaded the set and I think I will be printing them out soon.

Special favorites [not to mention thesis precedents]:

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January 16, 2003

Sketchbook

There is a thread over at MeFi about Moleskine notebooks and sketchbooks. I personally like the Lama Li travel journal with its natural paper and elastic band, which holds the book, closed.

Continue reading "Sketchbook"

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DMCA used to foil garage doors?

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act [DMCA] of 1998 is being cited in Chamberlain v Skylink [The Complaint]. The Chamberlain Group - maker of fine access and security products - has leveled a DMCA claim against the maker of universal garage door remotes [Skylink].

I think it is safe to say that this is misappropriation of a bad law - especially after reading the complaint. Chamberlain has the gall to claim that Skylink cracked their anti-circumvention device - even though there was a single backdoor frequency that would open the door on any of their doors. This means that if you bought the garage door, lost the remote, bought or reconfigured another remote to use with your door, you would be breaking the anti-circumvention measures. You would, in fact, become guilty of a felony.

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January 15, 2003

Drunken birds fly into windows

Birds feasting on fermented berries are getting drunk and playing chicken with the glass.

I wonder hold long it takes berries to ferment?

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Eldred v. Ashcroft - Ascroft wins

Supreme Court upholds copyright extension 7-2 stating that the Congress did not abridge powers given to them by Article I, Section 8, Clause. 8 and the recent Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.

Article I, Section 8, Clause. 8 reads as follows:
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
Relevant Documents I read Justice Stevens' dissent and it is a great argument on why copyright is a limited covenant with the public granting limited monopolies for the inventor.

Discussions at

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Bullitt, then & now

Bullitt Locations in San Francisco - 1968, 1999, 2001.

See San Francisco through the eyes of the acclaimed movie, Bullitt and now, 30 years later. The chase scene summary and images are quite interesting.

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Peter Pan & the scary websites

More scary web sites:
The Home page of Randy Constan
alias Peter Pan - For best effect, go here [NSFWORL - Not Safe for Work Or Real Life]

Via Mikey & SideDown

I want to say,
  1. OH.MY.GOD.
  2. This is too funny, in a patheric sort of way
  3. Why sites like these make us laugh? Is it the sheer serious tone of the site compared with the actual content?
  4. This has to be fake
  5. Please let this be fake

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Plot Server v. The World

Does everyone remember the Barbie Voting Poll and our subsequent Barbie Drive? Well, we have been feeling guilty about what we did. Well actually, we have not felt any remorse, just a giddiness when we think about how the Drive was perpetrated. Those outside the operations team thought that we had developed some sophisticated perl script taking advantage of the lack of IP filtering and banning facilities at the polling site. How silly - why would we go through the trouble of learning perl, when there is a more elegant method to world domination. Well, we believe that it is high time to reveal the source of our success.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present The Plot Server and Socket Wrench:

The Plot Server and Socket Wrench

Plot Server v. World: Plot Server wins

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The Axle of Evil

AMERICA'S TWISTED LOVE AFFAIR WITH SOCIOPATHIC CARS - Axle of Evil by Gregg Easterbrook.
The driving metaphor has long been central to American culture. It always entailed a spiritual aspect: the hunger for autonomy, the need for solitude, the urge for power, the problem of never finding what you are looking for. But in the era of the SUV, the driving metaphor has turned simply nasty, a twisting of freedom into aggression and the unfettered satisfaction of a technologically abetted narcissism. This has terrible consequences. There is the waste of petroleum, which causes us to import too much oil from the Persian Gulf and to remain dependent on the despots in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. There are runaway greenhouse gases, which may or may not cause harm but surely cannot be good. There is the transformation of commuting and chore-running into a big nerve-wracking unpleasantness, while spoiling the fun of driving. And there are the needless deaths of our fellow citizens.

That last result of the SUV craze is what should haunt us the most. But where is the general media attention to High and Mighty, which ends with reasonable prescriptions for reform? Only auto writers and the "buff" press are paying heed, and only to attack Bradsher's disclosures for jeopardizing their sweetheart relationship with Detroit. Members of Congress, for their part, have so far responded to this extraordinary book as they have responded to the entire issue: by hiding under their desks.

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January 14, 2003

Beautiful Yoga Goddess in my class

Ahh...Craigs List

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Hey Hot Stuff

Continue reading "Hey Hot Stuff"

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Salt & Pepper during class

20030113_salt_01.jpg :: salt and pepper shakers

Continue reading "Salt & Pepper during class"

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Coyote Ugly and Friends

So does everyone remember that movie, Coyote Ugly? Well, for those of you who don't know, Coyote Ugly the movie is based on Coyote Ugly Saloon in New York City [on 1st Ave between 9th & 10th] and now in other locations. Well, our friends liked to go there - a lot. i don't know what the allure could have been. But wow...! Look what we have here - photographic evidence:


So carry on fine gentlemen, until we all can come together and encounter the fine bar-going experience that is Coyote Ugly Saloon!

20030114 - UPDATE
Mr. L informs us that Coyote Ugly Saloon was in fact, based upon Hogs & Heifers and is substantiated by an in-depth article entitled, Hogs, Heifers and Coyotes go in for a bar brawl over 'Coyote Ugly' from the Fox News Online Service [hosted at AngelFire - beware].

"It's not Coyote Ugly, it's Hogs & Heifers," Hogs owner Michelle Dell says. "It's my bar. The bar in the movie is my bar."

In other words, she's saying the movie about the big-city dive bar with the sassy, sexy barmaids who dance on bar tops, breathe fire and dress like Southern-fried Hell's Angels should give credit where credit's due: to the big-city dive bar with the sassy, sexy barmaids who dance on bar tops, breathe fire and dress like Southern-fried Hell's Angels.

And that bar, Dell says, is her Hogs & Heifers, the infamous, celebrity-favored saloon that's been a fixture in the city's meat-packing district for the last eight years. The bartenders - all women - are saucy and aggressive. Some blow fire. They've been dancing on the counter ever since the joint's first winter, when there was no heat and Dell started kicking up her heels to keep warm. The wall is covered with the bras of thousands of celebrating women who joined her over the years - including Julia Roberts and Drew Barrymore.

So there you have it - we stand corrected.

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RIAA accused of spreading malicious worm on p2p networks

/ . is running a story from The Register about a computer security firm entitled Gobbles Security [which does not have a website for somereason] which claims in this BugTraq listing to have been hired by the Recording Industry Association of America [RIAA] to design and implement a series of "antipiracy tools":
From GOBBLES BugTraq Listing:

Several months ago, GOBBLES Security was recruited by the RIAA (riaa.org) to invent, create, and finally deploy the future of antipiracy tools. We focused on creating virii/worm hybrids to infect and spread over p2p nets. Until we became RIAA contracters, the best they could do was to passively monitor traffic. Our contributions to the RIAA have given them the power to actively control the majority of hosts using these networks.

We focused our research on vulnerabilities in audio and video players. The idea was to come up with holes in various programs, so that we could spread malicious media through the p2p networks, and gain access to the host when the media was viewed.

During our research, we auditted and developed our hydra for the following media tools:
Continue reading "RIAA accused of spreading malicious worm on p2p networks"

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January 10, 2003

Some architecture links

Herself points us to an interesting architecture link site entitled, Linkscape.org.

S,M,L,XL by Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau is back in print. This news comes by the ArchiNect Forums, which we like to call the Slander Forums. We call it this because, while many posters to the forum add considerable amounts of content and information, a sizable minority forgets that the forum is a publicly accessible site, and write slanderous speech directed willy nilly. This does not mean that we do not believe that there are great discussions and information that is presented for the architecture community, but the level of name-calling and sophomoric [lets not forget slanderous] speech sometimes gets to be too much. But at least there is a forum for people to vent and discuss issues.

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January 9, 2003

New York Architecture

New York, 201 Building - An Amateur Guide to architectural New York by French tourists Alain & Chantal document and discuss 201 building in New York City. Well designed site, but I want a map to browse the city, not names. But that's it.

Via Lia

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Inside the crazy Clone Cult

Inside the crazy Clone Cult, by Mark Fiore addresses the expensive, one-size-fits all culture of the clones.

Or try Fiore's take on the Lott Debacle.

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Ari and Helen...

Holy Shit is this a great transcript of a press conversation between Ari Fleischer and Helen Thomas:
Transcript

Q At the earlier briefing, Ari, you said that the President deplored the taking of innocent lives. Does that apply to all innocent lives in the world? And I have a follow-up.

MR. FLEISCHER: I refer specifically to a horrible terrorist attack on Tel Aviv that killed scores and wounded hundreds. And the President, as he said in his statement yesterday, deplores in the strongest terms the taking of those lives and the wounding of those people, innocents in Israel.

Q My follow-up is, why does he want to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis?

MR. FLEISCHER: Helen, the question is how to protect Americans, and our allies and friends --

Q They're not attacking you.

MR. FLEISCHER: -- from a country --

Q Have they laid the glove on you or on the United States, the Iraqis, in 11 years?

MR. FLEISCHER: I guess you have forgotten about the Americans who were killed in the first Gulf War as a result of Saddam Hussein's aggression then.

Q Is this revenge, 11 years of revenge?

MR. FLEISCHER: Helen, I think you know very well that the President's position is that he wants to avert war, and that the President has asked the United Nations to go into Iraq to help with the purpose of averting war.

Q Would the President attack innocent Iraqi lives?

MR. FLEISCHER: The President wants to make certain that he can defend our country, defend our interests, defend the region, and make certain that American lives are not lost.

Q And he thinks they are a threat to us?

MR. FLEISCHER: There is no question that the President thinks that Iraq is a threat to the United States.

Q The Iraqi people?

MR. FLEISCHER: The Iraqi people are represented by their government. If there was regime change, the Iraqi --

Q So they will be vulnerable?

MR. FLEISCHER: Actually, the President has made it very clear that he has not dispute with the people of Iraq. That's why the American policy remains a policy of regime change. There is no question the people of Iraq --

Q That's a decision for them to make, isn't it? It's their country.

MR. FLEISCHER: Helen, if you think that the people of Iraq are in a position to dictate who their dictator is, I don't think that has been what history has shown.

Q I think many countries don't have -- people don't have the decision -- including us.
- Via Tom Tomorrow

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Daisy Oolong has left the building

Daisy Oolong, whose owner used to put stuff on its head, has passed on. You may have known Oolong from the unexplicable picture of a rabbit with a pancake on its head which in turn launched the MeFi thread which launched the animated gif which solidified the meme. It is surprisingly odd how a rabbit that you don't know, had only known through the web, and had been the subject of constant inside jokes, could make you a bit sad. TI think what really makes me more sad is the tragic eulogy page chronicling Oolong's death, buy Oolong's owner. The length pet owners go to care and remember thier pets still astounds me.

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The Final Countdown

No, it is not the song by the band Europe, but rather another fun toy that will sap more time away from truly boring and mundane tasks. If you look to your right dear reader, you will notice in the meta section of the side bar, under the heading of current activity, you will find a countdown clock. This great countdown clock was cribbed [because stealing is such a rough word when it is and open source script] from Mr. Noll. What is it counting down to? Why dear reader, that is when our theses are due? So if and when the countdown gets low, and you have not heard from us, take care. We are not harmed, rather we will, with a high degree of probability, be in studio trying to finish our theses. So see you in !

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January 8, 2003

Mr. Plow

No, it's not Mr. Plow but rather Snowstorm by artificial environments, where you get to try your hand at professional snow plowing.

UPDATE - 20030108 : Additional information

After getting the Mr Plow jingle stuck in my head, I had to google it, and I found the Simpsons Lyrics Archive:

Mr Plow Jingle
Call Mr Plow
That's my name
That name again
Is Mr Plow!

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January 7, 2003

Netmood & Widgets

We like web widgets, a lot. I'm telling you, anything that rates, collects cool data [noto: no personal data is ever collected, just arrival/departure times and the like] and can spit it back out into neat-o graphs is cool by us. That is why the right hand bar is full of cool stuff, like the mood-o-meter, which tracks our mood via the ever-handy Moodstats. Or our blogdex summary and the ever-present Refferer Risk. That is why when we stubled upon Netmood vis the 'K', we were like, "Dude, that rocks." [ we have been watching Beavis and Butthead too much latley]. This little widget, "...allow[s] visitors to your site to rate its content, and then tracks those ratings." I mean, how cool is that! So here it is, netmood:
I think this is a great idea, right in line with moodstats, but with other people rating you, in a less chessy way than Hot or Not [or really, Am I X or Not]. I do have some reservations, however, but lets start with the positives: The Good The Bad The Ugly Now don't get me wrong, the items that I critiqued are, in the grand scheme of things, minor. I believe that netmood is a solid idea, with community building goals in mind. As long as people don't go crazy over rankings, which they will do anyway, the spirit of congenial competition is helpful. Not to mention that netmood is a great instant gratification tool for users visiting the site and the web designer looking for affirmation or critiques. An interesting idea would be to expand on the stock metaphor, and include mutual funds, or buy, hold, or sell ratings on different sites.

I wonder though in the beginning if those already popular will have a higher rating, and those [like this site] who are way lesser known start lower. An interesting quandary is whether or not so-called "A-List" sites such as Kottke or Mathowie's are inherently better than this site or Mike's site? I guess it would take a while for things to equalize. In the end, netmood is an interesting and useful widget. But with the adoption of a standards-compliant flash movie, when additional features are added, and a wider range of Flash movies are released, I believe netmood can carve a niche in the blog world and designer world, adding a dimension to everyone's web experience. Great idea!
UPDATE- 20030108 : Additional Information

After pbump and I played some email tennis, pbump came up with some great standards-compliant flash embed code. I want to thank him for the prompt service, and the fact that he was so open to ideas. I think as this project moves around, and when more people add ideas and technical prowess to this project [not to mention pbump's own coding prowess - check out his website], the end is unimaginable.

Cheers!

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How old are your Pants...?

"Outdated pants are better than no pants at all"
-Nay-Nay

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January 6, 2003

Solar Chimneys

There is a nice discussion over at MeFi about Solar Chimneys. In particular is the planned 1-kilometer high solar tower [yes - .6 miles or 3,300 ft - 11 football fields] to be built in the Australian outback to generate energy for over 200,000 residences. This US$ 560 million project would be completed by 2006 by EnviroMission Limited - an Australian company, and would have a glass covering of 4.3 miles square, in order to help create and direct the solar gain. Here is a short video clip [quicktime ~3MB] illustrating the design.

By comparison, here are the highest structures currently in the world, and for those who like to calculate the solar gain, here are some handy solar closets and sunspaces calculations. For an illustration of what these solar chimneys would look like, check out Schlaich Bergermann und Partner (SBP) of Stuttgart, Germany Solar Chimney Proposals.

What is extremely cool about this idea is the fact that Australia is roughly the same size as the Continental United States, but with only approximately 16 million citizens - mostly on the coasts. You could place thousands of these in the outback, and it wouldn't upset anyone. As for the large area needed under glass to add and channel the solar gain, the area under the glass could be used as shelter or farm lands. You could even take the condensate from the cooling air at the top of the tower and cycle it down to the base and use it as a watering source. The sheer height is, of course, and engineering problem, and I don't know if these would be very slightly, but it would be better than a coal or nuclear power plant's exhaust tower. You could even take the condensate from the cooling air at the top of the tower and cycle it down to the base and use it as a watering source. The sheer height is, of course, and engineering problem, and I don't know if these would be very slightly, but it would be better than a coal or nuclear power plant's exhaust tower.

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OSU beats Miami, wins National Championship

So finally the OSU win over Miami on Sunday has sunk in. What was that score, again? 34-27. What was the line, you ask? Well fine viewer, the official line from Las Vegas was 13 points in Miami's favor. That means that Miami should have won by two touchdowns. Buckeye fans were confident in making Miami work hard for a win, but we all here at Grubbykid secretly thought that OSU would lose by a field goal. But the Buckeyes successfully shut down the Miami running game and short air game, while Miami made a mockery of the secondary. OSU played like a winning team, all the way through the game, while Miami just seemed flat.

Now, for all of you whiners who say that OSU won because McGahee was forced to leave the game with a seemingly career ending knee injury, well that's football. Shit happens.

For all of you out there who claim that OSU won because of the Pass Interference call in the End zone on 4th and Goal, allowing the Buckeyes to score and move the game into the 2nd OT, well you are a bunch of pansy poor losers. I don't know how many people who have claimed that one play made the difference. Look, OSU was leading the game for over three quarters, when Miami should have been dominating. OSU won by one touchdown, when they should have lost by two touchdowns, which is a point difference of 21 points! All of the Miami fans and sportscasters predicted an easy Miami victory. But, again, OSU won by a touchdown!

You like apples? How about them apples?

So enough rubbing it in your nose, see you next year. At least Michigan beat Florida, Notre Dame lost to North Carolina State, and Florida St. lost to Georgia. If Nebraska had played on the same day, and lost I would have had the perfect football day culminating with the Buckeye's win of the Fiesta Bowl and subsequent winning the National Championship.

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The Political Compass

I just recently took the The Political Compass again after reading Rebecca's shift. My score is as follows: This means I am economically Left and socially Libertarian. Compare to this chart of famous people for comparison. So I am in company with that dasterdly fiend, Ghandi. I think this is an interesting poll that I think I will try to take [if I remember] every couple of months.

Where do you score?

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January 5, 2003

Boon

boonPissing.jpg

Continue reading "Boon"

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Reality sets in the night before

I like on the schedule where they put for room number 7100D - they should really put home.
-Pretty Boy

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Discussions on Corporate Fictions

Now Corporations Claim The "Right To Lie", by Thom Hartmann discusses the legal fiction we all have created in the entity named "corporation." Now, I am not one to say that all corporations are evil, but lets face it - they are run by people, and people have a great capacity for evil. Remember, the corporation is treated like a person, mainly for any sort of contract law to be applicable. Like trying to enter into a contract with a minor, entering into a contract with a corporation would be null and void without this distinction. But in the last 50 years, the definition of the corporation has been expanded to the point of the corporation becoming a super-person. A person [legal entity] that can never die, can split itself into as many entities as it wants to and, for all intents in purposes, is omnipresent and omnipotent. Thom Hartmann speaks more eloquently on this matter:
Corporations are non-living, non-breathing, legal fictions. They feel no pain. They don't need clean water to drink, fresh air to breathe, or healthy food to consume. They can live forever. They can't be put in prison. They can change their identity or appearance in a day, change their citizenship in an hour, rip off parts of themselves and create entirely new entities. Some have compared corporations with robots, in that they are human creations that can outlive individual humans, performing their assigned tasks forever.
Continue reading "Discussions on Corporate Fictions"

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January 4, 2003

Gehry talks about the World Trade Designs

Frank Gehry has a Q & A Session [free reg. req'd] with the NYTimes and some very interesting comments by Gehry concerning the World Trade Center Design.

I don't want to come off as the white-haired wonder from California telling New Yorkers what to do. But I have a fantasy of a space that is so magnificent it would engage the world. At least five or six acres could consist of a covered space, a covered piece of grass. It could be an indoor park with a lake in it and a place where you could picnic. Imagine Central Park with a roof over it.

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Grubbykid World Domination

Help Grubbykid.com reach world domination! Every visitor who clicks on the image on this site will conquer a piece of land (2° by 2°) for Grubbykid.com!

All territory Grubbykid.com has conquered is in the same colour on the world map.

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Lots of Motherfucking Newness getting on!

So if you haven't noticed, we have finally made the switch from the Crappy Host Provider, Addr [we aren't linking to them because we don't want you to go there] to a new hosting provider, phpWebhosting, which we have nothing but acclaim and accolades to bestow upon. Not only was their customer support fast, but I can tweak every screw and nut to perfection. I'm not getting any money from them, but if you were in the market for a decent webhost, choose them. Now with that put aside, you might have noticed the new design. We are tweaking it live, and many of the older pages are not converted, but they remain where they are until we can get to them. So there you go, new host, new look, and new MySQL backend. Lots of new things.

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