May 15, 2002
Yoda was awesome.
Yoda was awesome. What are your thoughts on the movie?
"This is a war, and we are soldiers."
"This is a war, and we are soldiers."
The first teaser for "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions" has hit the web (QT only). Is this the movie that is going to break the Spider-Man/Star Wars Episode 2 records? Do the fans want/need a sequel? Can they possibly top the "cool fight scene" quotient of the last movie?
The first teaser for "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions" has hit the web (QT only). Is this the movie that is going to break the Spider-Man/Star Wars Episode 2 records? Do the fans want/need a sequel? Can they possibly top the "cool fight scene" quotient of the last movie?
Ahhhhh….road trips, a time to relax and enjoy the scenery….right?
Not for the participants of the Gumball Rally which just finished its inaugural race on U.S. soil. (More inside)
Ten tons of missing cyanide
Ten tons of missing cyanide since Wednesday, 113 miles north of Mexico City... no big deal, right?
Mining Artifacts
Mining Artifacts
"This site is dedicated to those who daily faced the danger, uncertainty, darkness, dampness, heat and cold of underground mining, those who were drawn to toil in the depths of the earth."
simply massive collection of mining paraphernalia and images. a veritable gold mine (sorry) of cool stuff!
"This site is dedicated to those who daily faced the danger, uncertainty, darkness, dampness, heat and cold of underground mining, those who were drawn to toil in the depths of the earth."
simply massive collection of mining paraphernalia and images. a veritable gold mine (sorry) of cool stuff!
Fun with Fingerprint Readers.
Fun with Fingerprint Readers. A Japanese cryptoanalyst recently found that he could reliably fool biometric fingerprint scanners using only gelatin like that found in gummy bears. Not only could he create a fake finger using the original, he was also successful in fooling the scanners based on a gelatin mold of a fingerprint lifted from a piece of glass.
Billy Bragg is releasing a new single next week,
Billy Bragg is releasing a new single next week, and he'd like it to be number 1 in the charts just in time for the big celebration of the Queen's Jubilee. Profits go to charity, and a thumb in the eye goes to the royalists.
President Bush was told that Osama bin Laden might be plotting to hijack U.S. passenger planes well before September 11th.
President Bush was told that Osama bin Laden might be plotting to hijack U.S. passenger planes well before September 11th. The warning was never made public. AP reported earlier this month that FBI headquarters did not act on a memo last July from its Arizona office warning there were a large number of Arabs seeking pilot, security and airport operations training. Said a spokeman for Sen. Bob Graham, Senate Intelligence Committee chair: "It represents a failure to connect the dots."
New Hope? Cancerous cells isolated by freezing, then killed with drugs. From the Independentco.uk (via New Scientist)
The Christian Right and Israel
The Christian Right and Israel is the topic of this interesting article from the editor of The New Republic, who sees the Christian conservatives' interest in Israel as less than persuasive, as it relies on Biblical legitimacy and not Democratic legitimacy. From the article: "for Christian conservatives like Armey and Parshall, Israel's interests cannot be defined pragmatically, because Israel's primary function is to clarify a larger worldview. Whether or not most evangelicals truly believe Israel's wars will usher in the Messianic Age, they are theologically conditioned to see its struggle as Manichaean".
Colorado boys punished by school administrators for pretending index fingers are guns.
Colorado boys punished by school administrators for pretending index fingers are guns. The boys were shooting at imaginary aliens. One administrator says they "demonstrated a level of aggression" that violates the school's zero-tolerance policy toward violence.
Boycott France?
Boycott France? An American Jewish Congress trade ad placed in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter compares anti-Semitic violence to that experienced during WWII. Some groups are also calling for a boycott of the Cannes Film Festival. Woody Allen doesn't agree. Can the actions of an idiotic minority really justify a boycott?
Anti-Immigrant feelings sweep Europe
Anti-Immigrant feelings sweep Europe As economies tighten, populations build, hostility to "outsiders" seems to happen everywhere, but as E.O. Wilson noted a few years back, there is bound to be people from third-world nations seeking better lives by moving to nations perceived as better off.
We are told that inexpensive labor is a boon. But is this all that matters?
Coke Owns Jesus.
Coke Owns Jesus. Take this, all of you, and drink from it. This is my soft drink, which I offer up to you...
[via ktheory.]
[via ktheory.]
Spitballs
Spitballs It's always fun until someone loses an eye and you get charged with battery causing serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, assault by force likely to produce great bodily injury and mayhem and are found guilty of two of the charges [via ObscureStore].
What's that about "tragedy plus time"
What's that about "tragedy plus time" Comedy that is....
Another one for the NZers
Big Wigs at Napster Resign
Big Wigs at Napster Resign And here I thought they were dead long ago.
Three propositions:
- Like everything else cultural, language goes through phases and fads, and what seemed one week like a fresh, inventive phrase quickly becomes debased through misuse and overuse.
- Tracking such things, and commenting on them, is fun, and it's nice to have a corpus of examples to draw on to make your point. It might be fun to take Metafilter as a starting place. You could even build a site around it.
- Those smaller fish that swim around with sharks are called remoras.
Copy protection of music CDs is morally wrong, and as Americans we can and must assert our rights to Fair Use of the media we have purchased. But I give it to the Germans: they have figured out a way to defeat Cactus DATA Shield 100/200 and KeyAudio. [translated from German by Google]
$cientology pays up for once.
$cientology pays up for once. Lawrence Wollersheim won a case in 1986 against Co$ regarding abusive treatment, but it's taken 16 years for him to get paid. "Show me the money," indeed. (more inside)
For The Discerning, Segway-Hating Man About Town:
For The Discerning, Segway-Hating Man About Town: Hammacher-Schlemmer's fantastic Unexpected catalogue is full of classy transportation devices, among countless other fascinating products, with prices to suit all pockets. The Two-Person Submarine is a snip at $62,900 but claustrophic types are well catered for too. There's the Zem 4-person bicycle for $6,499.95; the One Person Helium Balloon for 20K, the popular All-Terrain 2-Person Hovercraft; the very European Vespa motorbike; the extremely enticing Danish Police Runabout at only $5,999.95; the sexy little Amphibious Car for $9,995.95 and many, many more outlandish and distinctive vehicles, from 7 Person tricycles(for you, 16K)to a wooden '54 wooden Mercedes 300SL. For more sedentary gentlefolk, there are Feline Drinking Fountains, Impervious Unbreakable Chip Trays and, for only 25 bucks, a Barbershop Hot Lather Machine. Fancy anything, Madam or Sir?
BBC funds ad-free, porn-free search engine.
BBC funds ad-free, porn-free search engine. Fueled by UK television license fees and Google search technology, the engine doesn't kick out results from paying advertisers. News article here.
Jerrold Schwartz, who pleaded guilty to sodomizing a Boy Scout, is free on bail and allowed to continue running his tour business for Scouts and students this summer. His company, Adventure Trails Inc., runs summer camps in Colorado, and winter and year-around camps in the Northeast.
Vanilla Coke
Vanilla Coke came out today. Anyone tried it? What's the verdict (besides anti-corporation rants)? This person was underwhelmed.
A heavy turnout has been reported in the Dutch general election. More on the current situation there: "A Dutch Radical's Message to Europe". This was published yesterday and was written by a Dutch reporter for the NYT (so I guess you can find it there too, but why go there if you don't really have to?).
Born to Run?
Born to Run? A group of New Jersey political activists announced a plan to draft Bruce Springsteen to run for the U.S. Senate "as a true representative of the state". But there is a big problem: no one has talked to the Boss about the idea.
"Senator Springsteen": how does that sound?
Windows XP Pro for $40!
Windows XP Pro for $40! Microsoft is running a special offer where 'partners' can buy Windows XP for >85% off the retail price (free baseball too); all that's (realistically) needed is a .NET passport account. Since the MeFites had such fun buying cameras, I figured I'd throw this out for discussion; it does seem to involve a wee bit of misrepresentation to take advantage of.
Yale corrects the legislative mistakes of its presidential alumnus.
Yale corrects the legislative mistakes of its presidential alumnus. If the joint that you got caught smoking in high school bars you from Federal aid, they'll match it dollar for dollar.
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Critics. Begun, this Clone War has.
From Chicago Sun-Times, NY Times (registration required), LA Times and Washington Post.
Of course it's just a coincidence, but ...
Of course it's just a coincidence, but ... I didn't know that this particular bit of pop culture had already been discussed on Fark, but it certainly freaked me out when one of the guys at the bar showed it to me last night. (and wait! There's even more to the conspiracy ...)
They might actually be, you know, be useful.
They might actually be, you know, be useful. This year, a student in Nebraska won $1000 for finding the worst example of overuse of the phrase 'you know,' by an athlete who said it 30 times in a 135 second interview. But are they really that terrible? Known as discourse markers, phrases such as 'you know' and 'I mean' are thought to be essential in conveying information in conversation and helping us understand each other. Discourse markers also exist in many other languages and possibly even ancient languages.
Now what?
Now what? MS is following Sony's lead by dropping the XBox's price to $199 USD. I don't know about you, but I -was- going to get a PS2. Now I'm not so sure.
Lying with video.
Lying with video. Researchers at MIT have created videos of people uttering sentences they never said that consistently fool viewers and are accepted by them as real. Once upon a time, it was a lot harder to be false with film, but whether the medium will be in any way trustworthy going forward seems doubtful. What will it mean when you can't even believe your own eyes?
In 1999, India and Pakistan were closer to nuclear war
In 1999, India and Pakistan were closer to nuclear war than was commonly known, according to Clinton's former chief adviser on South Asia. On Monday, the Defense Department's policy chief said that "there is a risk of war" that is "very large." On Tuesday, militants attacked an army camp in Indian Kashmir and killed 30 people, including 11 women and 10 children. All this makes me very nervous. Is it just me? And adding a touch of the bizarre, India is officially researching arcane, 2300 year-old military technology that it believes will give its military a greater advantage.
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