This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.                             the guys: philogynist jaime tony - the gals:raymi raspil

        20051226   

Michael considered fate at 19:21   |   Permalink   |   Post a Comment
Tis the season, so have at these awesome pics of snowflakes:


Michael considered fate at 19:16   |   Permalink   |   Post a Comment

Michael considered fate at 18:03   |   Permalink   |   Post a Comment
As with most news items that make big splashes, the Sony rootkit debacle is sort of dying down - especially in mainstream media - but us bloggers are still piping away, pointing out that Sony is still selling their crap CDs:
I just got back from the Sony Style store in the Westchester mall, (White Plains, NY) and I saw that the had many CDs in the shelves that had the XCP rootkits.
I asked the manager about this and they said they were, and I quote, “still allowed to sell them”.
This despite the claims on Sony's website:
“SONY BMG is working with its retail partners to withdraw compact discs with XCP software from distribution and retail chains. It has asked retailers to cease sale of those discs and to return them to SONY BMG. This withdrawal program has been and is being widely communicated.”
I felt it worthwhile to play my part in this little war between consumers and consumees (can I say that?)

        20051222   

Michael considered fate at 09:11   |   Permalink   |   Post a Comment
Whose giving how much to charity these days?

The hub-bub may currently be about the "extreme generosity" of our pals Bill and Melinda Gates (having won persons of the year from Time magazine and all) but they've given roughly $28 Billion in their lifetime - only 50% of their net worth. William (co-founder of BEA Systems) and Claudia Coleman have given some $254 million in their lifetime - while admittedly much less than $28 billion, it's a whopping 339% of their current net worth. That's the equivalent of Billy forking over $190 billion.. that is to say: a lot of money.

        20051221   

Michael considered fate at 15:20   |   Permalink   |   Post a Comment
VW fan or not, you gotta admit they threw together a helluva clean (and majestically pretty, for a Phactory) Phaeton assembly plant:

Phaeton Phactory

Michael considered fate at 11:01   |   Permalink   |   Post a Comment
I'm surprised I didn't catch this yesterday, but for those who haven't either yet:

A Federal U.S. District Judge has ruled against intelligent design in the Dover, PA case. This is good news for anyone who enjoys at least a modicum of real-world, measurable indicators of the possibility of truth in their scientific theories:
Said the judge: "It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy."

The problem, as you might see, is that this case was probably clearly decided due to the fact that those pushing intelligent design in the Dover school district were shown to be making the decision based on religious beliefs, not on scientific grounds. I fear that in future cases in this country - which will inevitably pop up here and there - a more solid defense could potentially hide the religious aspects enough to win. This is not to say that anyone (that is, any federal judge) has any doubt as to the religious connections that ID has, but what we implicitly know and what we must explicitly show (i.e. burden of proof) are two different things. Bummer.

Michael considered fate at 10:21   |   Permalink   |   Post a Comment
I'm back at home, back at work, with my ass back in the saddle, and so you'd think I'd be feeling the love juices flowing out of my chubby little chicken-greased fingers going tap-tap-tappity on the keyboard filling pages of caffeine-induced nightmare-prose but alas, alack, the drain has been pulled and out the bottom the oil of my impetus, the improvisational energy, the inspiration of this idiot; it's gone, runneth over - and out - ten-four, good buddy: the rabbit is in the hole - I repeat, the rabbit is in the hole - hibernation - cold wind blowing across the desolate plain of morbid christmas-time thoughts, skeletal fantasy images of old kris kringle (that fat bastard in a red used-car-man suit) spewing technobabble-on, and on, and on - with his sack full of PDAs and MP3 players that will change the world and save us damned: almighty! and me, here, not a finger-lickin' goddamn ounce of comment left in my body (as skeletal in all my meatyness as old Saint Nick himself) not an ounce of energy left in these bones for circuits, silicon, or chips (and dips in the support department) no, not a single joule calorie or watt of what I need to keep these pages full, just the slow sinnkk-slide-tap of heavy fingers weighing down the keys - through the power of inevitability and infinite eventuality - those chubby little digits sinking on the keypad like a dinosaur into a tar pit; molasses-fueled action like the matrix filmed in a giant holiday-spread gravy boat, last minute sales buffeting me from all directions just as a midnight wind pushes a drunkard around on his walk home, roughly, like thugs in an alleyway, back and forth into eachothers arms - hot potatoe with the wino - this is the end of the metaphor: analogy? we don't have time for no stinkin' analogies, we must busy ourselves in wrapping up our consumerism in pretty boxes with ribbons and bows lest we disappoint our fatherly figures making law up in the big house whose diverting, self-averting eyes are (guiltily) turned away from our upturned and expectant faces, open (empty) arms ready for the great big M&M rainbow handout from the sky - we should really be worried about them, oh father - oh brother (roll your eyes, it's cute when they don't listen remember?) - we should be concerned that they're busy stealing analog behind our backs and thinking, sister? you ain't seen nothing yet. No, but I saw it coming. Quick, get me some eggnog.

        20051219   

Michael considered fate at 10:24   |   Permalink   |   Post a Comment
Blow wind blow.
Snow bitch, snow.
Ain't no way I'm finding myself outta here.

In the woods.
In this world.
Ain't no how I'm finding my way outta here.

Covered in snow.
Listenin' to the wind blow.
Ain't my luck, fortune, or fame to get myself out from here.

        20051206   

Michael considered fate at 16:54   |   Permalink   |   Post a Comment
Following along with yesterdays odd WWII equipment diagrams, today we have some creepy old propaganda posters from the same era. My favourite:


        20051205   

Michael considered fate at 16:27   |   Permalink   |   Post a Comment
Bored? Trying to procrasterbate? Want something interesting to twiddle your brain-bits for a few while you work up the courage to actually get some real work done? Me too. You've come to the right place.

Well, CNN has jumped on the bandwagon with their new pipeline service. They'll be offering 4 live newscast video feeds online with one newscaster exclusively assigned to this service each day. Free 14-day trial or you're welcome to pay the variable pricing scheme of: $0.99 / day - $2.95 / month - 24.95 / year. Personally, I like my news delivered in the print and audio variety but $2.95 sounds very reasonable for a months worth of Wolf Blitzer, hyuck.

Meanwhile, what little I've heard about the Lost and Desperate Housewive's $0.99 shows on the Apple iTunes music store is that they look great on the video iPod but if you want to watch them with any sort of decent size on your computer, they're going to look like crap. No surprise there but a bummer nonetheless. I'm sure there is a CTO somewhere heralding this as a great idea because it makes it look like they're embracing new technology but they can still save TV, in the end, by offering lower-quality elsewhere. Whatever. Get over yourselves.

And... dog's laugh?
Researchers at the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service in Washington state say .. the long, loud pant is the sound of a dog laughing, and it has a direct impact on the behavior of other dogs.

"What we found is that it had a calming or soothing effect on the dogs," said Patricia Simonet, an animal behaviorist.


For my own personal reference: Caffeine Content of Beverages, Foods, & Medications. Good to know what's really the best bang for the buck when you're looking for a particularly caffeine-heavy soft drink. Plus, a recent study by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease:
..suggests that coffee and tea may reduce the risk of serious liver damage in people who drink too much alcohol, are overweight or have too much iron in the blood.

The study of nearly 10,000 people showed that those who drank more than two cups of coffee or tea per day developed chronic liver disease at half the rate of those who drank less than one cup each day.


And finally, Unusual Technical Images of Equipment used in World War II. The title basically speaks for itself.


        20051201   

Michael considered fate at 18:56   |   Permalink   |   Post a Comment
Crab Nebula, anyone?

Following link for High Res Hubble pic.



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Check out heroecs, the robotics team competition website of my old supervisor's daughter. Fun stuff!
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