May 13, 2002
The 2002 contest for The 5k Award has announced a call for entries. The 5k is a contest for, basically, making the coolest thing you can on the web in 5,120 bytes. The first contest was interesting and rewarding, but the second one disappointed, when some truly impressive entries were completely ignored in favor of poor attempts at humor. Here's to hoping the entries will be at least as good as 2001, and the judging will be much better. The deadline for entries is June 16.
Californians, did you feel the quake?
Californians, did you feel the quake? This 5.2 quake was near the surface which, according to the San Francisco local news, allowed it to travel farther than usual. Did you feel it? If so, where? Did it create any problems? Was anyone at the Sharks game?
Bored at work? Need a new hobby? Want to impress others with your skillful, delicate hands? Try some pen spinning. Here's a site dedicated to nothing but the art of the spin. There are even videos. Idle hands are the devil's playground.
More songs from Eugene, the marvelous crooning child.
More songs from Eugene, the marvelous crooning child. Flash with sound.
Scotland to approve same-sex weddings
Scotland to approve same-sex weddings The symbolic registrations don't have "the same basis and rights in law as traditional marriages," but the country does give some tangible benefits to same-sex partners. Compare with the longer list offered to mixed-sex unmarried couples.
Interested in video game emulators?
Interested in video game emulators? Yearning for the games of yesteryear? There is probably an emulator for any 'classic' game that you could wish to play. General arcade emulators, SNES, NES, Genesis, Atari 2600, et al. For the truly curious, listen to the story of the emulator that almost was, Silhouette, the emulator Nintendo almost released.
I've been looking for a historical whois lookup: something that would allow you to see earlier versions of a whois record for a particular domain name. Well, Cool Whois isn't it, but...
Verisign sued for false advertising.
Verisign sued for false advertising. Domain registrar VeriSign has been mailing out thousands of "domain name expiration" notices that imply that domain-name owners could lose control of their name if they don't return the form (as noted previously on MeFi), and BulkRegister has filed suit in federal court. No lawsuits on that that other matter yet, but is the fall of Verisign impending?
djc steps down from evolt.org
djc steps down from evolt.org After years of insanely large amounts of contributions that sustained the community, Daniel J. Cody (djc) decides he needs to move on to other things. Who will pick up the slack? I guess we'll see.
Revelations regarding Venezualen Coup
Revelations regarding Venezualen Coup Greg Palast, who's been at the front of this story ever since predicting it, gives enlightening details behind the events of Apil. It barely had anything to do with the protests and riots - Chavez was tipped off by an OPEC minister days before the coup was launched. He hid loyal soldiers in the Presidential palace and once Carmona was installed he became as much a hostage as Chavez. Chavez also says he has photos, videos and the names of American officers who entered the coup plotters' headquarters.
China has no respect for international law.
China has no respect for international law. In case you hadn't heard, China broke into the Japanese Consulate and forcibly removed five North Koreans seeking asylum. Since when can Chinese Police just waltz into the Japanese Consulate and drag people out? Not only does this demonstrate China's blatant disregard for the sovereignty of another country, it demonstrates how closely they share values with the Impregnable Fortress.
TiVo fanatics will know the name of TiVolutionary (Richard Bulwinkle), the official TiVo evangelist who helped create one of the most enthusiastic (independent) user communities ever at AVS Forums. Well, he's either quit or been fired.
Gene Amole died
Gene Amole died yesterday. You may remember him from this thread. Read his final column. Have a tissue handy.
A Weblog Foundation proposal
A Weblog Foundation proposal aninteresting proposal via http://aintnobaddude.blogspot.com/ to help sustain blogging as an important aspect of media and online community. Any ideas for or against this proposal?
Have you ever wanted to try painting a portrait of Pappa Hemingway or Joey Ramone using poppy seed, grits, brome grass, millet, lentils, and white rice? Do you have the patience to recreate Van Gogh's Starry Night in cream of wheat and split peas? Crop art showcases artists who use only harvested natural materials to create their art. Via Coudal.
In an 8-1 ruling with Justice Stevens dissenting,
In an 8-1 ruling with Justice Stevens dissenting, the U.S. Supreme Court has partially upheld the Child Online Protection Act against objections that by relying on community standards it was unconstitutionally overbroad in violation of the First Amendment. COPA is the 1998 federal law making it illegal to make pornography available to children on the Internet. Passed in the wake of the Court's 1997 ruling striking down the Communications Decency Act but never enforced because of various court injunctions, COPA is still undergoing other lower-court challenges whose merits today's ruling does not address.
ORIGINAL SIN: How prices of initial public offerings were manipulated by Goldman Sachs through the illegal practice of "Laddering"
ORIGINAL SIN: How prices of initial public offerings were manipulated by Goldman Sachs through the illegal practice of "Laddering" Isn't that enronic!
The Strolling of the Heifers.
The Strolling of the Heifers. It's not exactly the running of the bulls, but Brattleboro, Vermont's "three-day festival about cows, small towns, small farms and the myriad things that make rural life special" hopes to support the local farming community, which has been badly squeezed since the expiration of the Northeast Dairy Compact. It features (among other things) a milking contest between U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, U.S. Senator James Jeffords, and U.S. Congressman Bernie Sanders.
Is It Racism If You Admit You're A Racist But Decry Racist Behaviour?
Is It Racism If You Admit You're A Racist But Decry Racist Behaviour? Geoffrey Sampson, Professor of Natural Language Computing at the University of Sussex in the UK is likely to be sacked from the Conservative Party for his defense of "racialism" as a legitimate human emotion. In an interview on this morninn's BBC Radio 4's "Today" programme, he said recognising people's racial prejudices is a scientific fact has nothing to do with espousing discriminatory behaviour. The Observer coyly shrank from linking Sampson's offending article but it wasn't difficult to find: here it is. Judge for yourselves.[My two cents and a question for UK Mefis: as a conservative, I'm quite impressed with Ian Duncan-Smith's(the new Tory leader's)efforts to dissociate himself from the Tory Party's reactionary bastions(e.g.The Monday Club) and attitudes. Is it just a pose, electioneering or is there something to it?]
Mother jailed for girls' truancy
Mother jailed for girls' truancy A question for our British gang, is truancy such a problem in the UK now that this is really necessary? When I went to school in England, lo those mumblemumble years ago, I don't remember it being this bad. For the rest of the world, do you think truancy in your country would justify locking up the primary caregiver or is this punishing the wrong person? Can parents be held responsible for everything a child does? And better said, should they? When should we grant children the priviledges and penalties of their own autonomous actions?
Very high level of PCBs in whale raises alarms.
Very high level of PCBs in whale raises alarms. "The orca found dead on the Olympic Peninsula earlier this year carried a level of contaminants that was among the highest -- if not the highest -- ever measured in killer whales, laboratory tests show".
If that is the case with free ranging whales then I shudder to think what similar measurements on city dwelling humans will reveal. Does anyone know of similar contaminant research on humans? (via Baloney.com)
There goes the rest of the week.
There goes the rest of the week. The 100 best online games. Ever.
This
This is the winner of the Star Wars Fan Film Awards (as chosen by George Lucas). Did he get it right? Should it have gone to the very cool Gangsta Rap? Or one of the other finalists?
Vintage Luggage Labels
Vintage Luggage Labels
"The luggage label evolved in the latter part of the 19th century and was born out of the hey-day of world travel - a period when travel was the exclusive realm of the wealthy and the privileged... During this time, travel was predominantly for leisure and the great ships and trains reigned supreme... Later, they became fashionable objects of conspicuous consumption - identifying the owner as a well-traveled and possibly cultured person of means."
"The luggage label evolved in the latter part of the 19th century and was born out of the hey-day of world travel - a period when travel was the exclusive realm of the wealthy and the privileged... During this time, travel was predominantly for leisure and the great ships and trains reigned supreme... Later, they became fashionable objects of conspicuous consumption - identifying the owner as a well-traveled and possibly cultured person of means."
"Terrorists plan July 4th attack in US" - claim
"Terrorists plan July 4th attack in US" - claim
There are claims that terrorists linked to the al-Qaeda network are planning an attack on a US nuclear power plant to coincide with Independence Day celebrations.
There are claims that terrorists linked to the al-Qaeda network are planning an attack on a US nuclear power plant to coincide with Independence Day celebrations.
"Only in the case of war, a recession, or a national emergency",
"Only in the case of war, a recession, or a national emergency", Bush promised during his 2000 campaign, would he ever enter deficit spending. He now repeatedly and rather mordidly jokes that he never imagined that he'd hit the "trifecta" by getting all three- perhaps to explain why we are now experiencing a $100 billion dollar deficit this year. One tiny problem: Bush never made this supposed campaign promise despite frequently claiming just such as thing, as Jonathan Chait of TNR notes in his recent column. These "special conditions" for deficit spending and depleting the Social Security surplus were spun out of thin air just last summer, and modified post- 9/11, as a necessary escape clause when the budget crunch hit.
« Previous day | Next day »