August 27, 2005
You still can't shoot the dog
Duck Doom Deluxe is a version of the old NES Duck Hunt game skinned to use the FPS gun/hand graphics from the original Doom. Windows only, apologies...
GeoVlogging
The Mirror World...a virtual tour through Seattle, WA, augmented with clips from Google Earth/Maps. [note: Quicktime]
For the minimalist in you.
Some cool little tube amps. The world's smallest production tube amp and world's Smallest Vacuum Tube hi-fi stereo amplifier. These are too cool.
Matter Eater Lad / He constructed a factory / Just because he was hungry
David Segal, former pop music critic for the Washington Post, reflects on his career reviewing concerts and why most concerts leave much to be desired.
Katrina targets New Orleans.
Katrina targets New Orleans. Mandatory evacuations have been declared, and contraflow evacuation routes are in effect near New Orleans, as Hurricane Katrina, a very wet, drenching hurricane, approaches the city from the Gulf of Mexico, where it is gaining in size and strength, with an estimated 45% chance of making landfall as a category 4 or 5 hurricane. The computer models suggest that New Orleans will sustain a direct hit from Katrina, which could be "The Big One" warned about by experts, capable of flooding the city, polluting it with industrial waste, and even flooding the pump stations, leaving it incapable of pumping out the water. The hurricane is predicted to make landfall early Monday near Port Fourchon, which handles approximately 13% of U.S. oil imports, and 27% of U.S. domestic production.
Pro-War Protesters?
Are the counter protests today pro-war or something else? Photos coming into the news wires show a mixture of devout Bush loyalty, people erecting giant Ten Commandments and traitor paranoia... and not to forget.. supporting the troops.
So is this just a misfire of people who simply hate protestors or do they believe in something besides waving the flag?
"I am an old man now... and it is time for me to tell these things."
In the First Person "provides in-depth indexing of more than 2,500 collections of oral history in English from around the world. With future releases, the index will broaden to identify other first-person content, including letters, diaries, memoirs, and autobiographies, and other personal narratives... It allows for keyword searching of more than 260,000 pages of full-text by more than 9,000 individuals from all walks of life." You could start with the places or Historical Events listings, or just pick a keyword and dive in. (The post title is from the first interview in the collection, from July 1930, with He Dog, who was born in the same year as Crazy Horse: "We grew up together in the same band, played
together, courted the girls together and fought together.") Via wood s lot.
Is Sarbanes-Oxley Working?
Focus and anger already shifting away from 'Big Business' again... Thanks to scandals such as Enron, new laws such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act were passed to improve 'corporate responsibility' and 'accuracy'. Is it working?
Most businesses are calling foul saying that the law is actually an expensive and worthless record keeping exercise. IT departments seem to agree . And then there is that whole password issue.
The news isn't all bad . And, a cottage industry has popped up to fill the void of non-compliance. But, as the cost keeps rising and the return on investment isn't clearly defined, can this law survive?
Cosmic Dancer
Did the Devil bury dinosaur bones to trick people? No longer the Devil's handiwork, dinosaurs are being embraced by Christians, who have reclaimed them for Jesus.
Toonguru
An ad stressing the importance of good translation, and various other animations, ads and announcements.
Flash, in Russian, but generally funny & self-explanatory.
Thune is Saved!
Robert Novak gets it wrong again. Predicting that Ellsworth Air Force Base in North Dakota would fall victim to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BARC) thus damaging the political career of Republican John Thune, Novak argued that the White House was "ignoring Thune" contradicting "the image of a White House that puts politics first. Instead, the Bush team looked like tone-deaf, old-fashioned Republicans interested more in going by the book than winning elections." Thune promised that only a Republican senator could save Ellsworth, South Dakota's largest employer, from closure. That promise played a prominent role in his campaign. In defeating senate minority leader Tom Daschle, Thune's victory marked the first time since 1952 that a party leader in the senate was defeated. When Ellsworth was nevertheless put on the list for closure, Thune's politcal future appeared doomed. As promised, Thune went into action. Yesterday, Thune announced Ellsworth is saved! Contrary to Novak's opinion, the image of a White House that puts politics first is as strong as ever.
There She Is, Again!
Cake Dance The course of true love ne'er did run smooth, particularly for Cat and Bunny (a sequel to this).
The Story of the 27th Amendment
The Forgotten Amendment: The story of the 27th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. Back in 1982, while doing research for a government class, UT Austin student Gregory Watson stumbled across an unratified constitutional amendment from 1789. Noticing that the amendment had had no time limit for ratification, Mr. Watson embarked upon a campaign to amend the U. S. Constitution.
Sadly, Watson only earned a "C" on his paper for government class, in which he'd argued the amendment was still viable.
Calling all animals
Ideophones are words that are usually spoken but not written and are often onomatopoeic, including (but not limited to) the calls—often reduplicated—with which we beckon domestic animals, kindred to our animal imitations. In the States there are many more pig calls beyond soo-ee. Maxim Gorky wrote that the sound tse tse is used to call pigs in Russia. In Spanish coch is used.
Americans use pipi and biddy to call chickens and turkeys. In Ambon Malay chickens are called with kurrrrr or pan kur. In Kiswahili you call chickens with gurúgurúgurúgurú, call dogs with aháháhá, and straying cattle with ishiyeeyeeeeee or ngoyéeeeee. In Sweden, they call cattle with a loud, high-pitched kulning (akin to yodeling). Cervantes wrote that they use tus tus to call dogs in Spain. One source says in Coolderry, Ireland, they use gen-gen to call pigs to ford, puddly pudde to call ducks, peopeo to call horses, and geg geg to call geese. In Iceland, kibbakibb is used to call sheep. In the Hiligaynon language of the Philippines, they call cats with míming. In the parish of Nantcwnlle in Wales they have their own set of calls.
bad cop--no highball
Cops who break the law. Should a police chief be able to fire a cop for breaking the law? Not according to the cop's union.
I ♥ NY neighborhoods.
Panoramic Louvre Museum Photos
The Louvre 360 by Virtual Sweden(?) has panoramic photos of the museum. Press 'SHIFT' to zoom in, 'CTRL' to zoom out. Panorama-o-Rama.
All Pencils. All the Time.
Let S be the set of all sets that don't contain themselves. Does S contain itself?
This link, which you are no longer looking at, will take you to a pretty cool essay.
The beat goes on...
So named as they drive everything out of their path
Driver ants. Also known as siafu, the ants form colonies of up to 22 million individuals. When on the move, the workers travel in narrow ant highways which are surrounded by the larger soldier ants. Males are also known as sausage flies and are the largest ants found on earth.
Snakes On A Plane. There is nothing else to say.
Snakes On A Plane. Perhaps this explains why the majority of big-budget Hollywood movies in the past several years have been remakes of cult classics or popular television shows. If nothing else, we'll have a hip new catchphrase.
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