My favorite quote from this story about the discovery of a new particle is from Marcello Giorgi, from the University of Pisa, Italy, who leads the BaBar collaboration:
"We have discovered a new charm particle in an experiment designed to probe the difference between matter and antimatter using bottom quarks."I'll just nod sagely. As usual, though, I love science stories that mention antimatter.
There's a page with the Big Mac Index listed all the time. It does a good job with the currency variations, but not so good a job with the Big Mac price variations.
About 30 copies of a single two page resume ended up in the recycle bin today. Along with a string of past jobs involving food service (some for as little as 3 months) and jobs that have the distinct flavor of charity, are some gems that are sure to get this resume noticed:
VOLUNTEER Penile Mission - Seattle, WA
and
EMPLOYMENT
STRENGTHS
* Attendance
* Punctuality
* Productivity
* Liablity
* Willingness to Learn
The Economist has released its annual Big Mac Index, which is a surprisingly reliable indicator of currency under- or over-valuation for having such high entertainment value.
The Soda Pop Stop stocks a staggering array of soda, and even includes an ingredient list.
Spammers are apparently using trojan horses to get more hosts through which to deliver their shit. I first observed what looked like distributed spam attacks early this year, but I couldn't find any reference to malware being used to recruit hosts to the effort. I now feel vindicated. For what that's worth.
Feeding America: the Historic American Cookbook Project
from The Golden Compass:
"Why en't you cold, Serafina Pekkala?"
"We feel cold, but we don't mind it, because we will not come to
harm. And if we wrapped up against the cold, we wouldn't feel other
things, like the bright tingle of the stars, or the music of the
Aurora, or best of all the silky feeling of moonlight on our skin.
It's worth being cold for that."
Along with all you voyageurs re-enactors, let's add some Elizabethans! It should be quite a party.
fatherdan at memepool seems to be a thoughtful person. I'd like to link directly to his bit about Tim Robbins's speech at the National Press Club, but I don't see a way to do it. It was posted to Commentary on 17 April.
Cisco has prepared a draft of "lawful interception" capability, to be offered as an option on "any product that a service provider is likely to purchase[.]" I'm given to understand that their Catalyst products already supply monitoring capability, but for all I know that's an ad-hoc capability that's been hacked together by service providers. To my mild surprise, I buy the argument that if Cisco doesn't supply the capability, somebody else will, and it might end up casting a wider net. It just underscores that if you care about the privacy of your data, don't send it in the clear across the wire. And if what you're doing is likely to attract the attention of anybody serious, don't send anything across any wires (or over the air) at all. Or at least no wires or air that can be traced to you.
Here's a more detailed idea of the Sampo, from Rune X of the Kalevala:
On the third night Ilmarinen,
Bending low to view his metals,
On the bottom of the furnace,
Sees the magic Sampo rising,
Sees the lid in many colors.
Quick the artist of Wainola
Forges with the tongs and anvil,
Knocking with a heavy hammer,
Forges skilfully the Sampo;
On one side the flour is grinding,
On another salt is making,
On a third is money forging,
And the lid is many-colored.
Well the Sampo grinds when finished,
To and fro the lid in rocking,
Grinds one measure at the day-break,
Grinds a measure fit for eating,
Grinds a second for the market,
Grinds a third one for the store-house.
A co-worker just forwarded me this article about a machine that will turn just about anything into oil and other useful products. It's like a cross between a Sampo and a Mr. Fusion. It sounds unbelievably promising.
Update: the article above now requires payment to read, but Discover magazine published an update in July 2004 that (as of January 2005) is free to read.
My favorite surplus catalogs are also online: American Science and Surplus and IMEX.
Yahoo was all hacked this morning, so when you looked for the main US page, up came a page for a web security company. Unless it was a joke (hard to figure out when these things are, since I apparently have a very different sense of humor than your run-of-the-mill script kiddie or hackin' geezer), why would this be a good way to promote your company? Sure, you get a lot of eyes on your page, but you also are immediately associated with the very jerks you're looking to protect people from.
I'm sure this avian flu thing will burn itself out without jumping the species barrier (oops, too late) and killing us all. No need to panic.
My first thought on seeing this story about a suspicious powder (later determined not to be BoTox or plague) shutting down a Tacoma postal processing facility: "Shit, that better not slow down my Netflix shipments."
This is Adbuster's TV Turnoff Week (no, I won't link to them, find it yourself). I, as you might suspect, disapprove of TV Turnoff Week. I think that most people have the needed critical faculties to know that TV is pretend and have the digits needed to turn almost any appliance on and off at will. Forced Perspective now challenges you to watch a program that you wouldn't normally watch and rent a stack of movies you've been meaning to see.
And if we start taking lifestyle direction from people in British Columbia, we will all be dead from sunblock poisoning and stupid car accidents within a month.
Have you ever wanted to be a hardy Canadian explorer/fur trader or just look like one? Me neither. But just in case...
The Media Lab's European outpost does work in "human connectedness," which starts with the premise "Humans have a biological need for contact with other humans," and intends "partly to develop technologies and experiences that allow us to build, maintain, and enhance the kinds of relationships we are used to having in new ways." My initial reaction to some of their work was that it seems an awful lot like stalking to have a flower by your computer that opens up when your girlfriend is on-line. But maybe it's only stalking if the person it opens for isn't your girlfriend. But still, a deep interest in what she's doing at every moment seems like it could easily cross a line.
The other device highlighted in the article, created by BTexact, reminds me of a sales "tickle file," to ensure that a salescreature doesn't let contacts get stale.
Ultimately, I guess I'm just leery of technological responses to a biological need.
Microsoft has developed some probably interesting techniques for 3d reconstruction from 2d images. The BBC article has an interesting emphasis: "A virtual world that allows people to walk alongside the apostles or Christ himself has been created by researchers." Granted the Christ reference appears to have come from one of the MS researchers, but why not "a virtual world that allows people to walk through Guernica or The Garden of Earthly Delights"? Construction of further interesting tours is left as an exercise for the reader.
On a more technical note, I wonder how well they do with forced perspective-style tricks in paintings (if I get any time to find pertinent links, I'll link to them): stuff that looks right, but when examined closely indicates that the figure's legs are drastically different sizes or similar chicanery.
A list of what Google employees are being served while they toil away. I don't actually work 60+ hours a week, but could someone please cook me super-nice meals and deliver them to me at work? I think I really do deserve it.
Worth downloading if only to see what informative uses Flash can be put to, a diagram of retractable urinals. Or browse the Grauniad's other informative and sometimes goofy Interactive Guides.
Since the first time I heard about those decks of Iraqi villain cards, I've wanted one. Apparently I'm not alone, but if anybody can get one to me (preferably genuine), I'll be eternally in your debt.
I heard a rumor in my misspent youth that the major tobacco companies had registered trademarks such as "Acapulco Gold" and "Maui Wowie" in anticipation of the legalization of pot. For some reason, I recently remembered that rumor, and figured the gummint is sufficiently technologically advanced that I could find out, and indeed they are. The reefer vendors would have to fight with Classic Marketing over Acapulco Gold (registered as a tequila brand), and some enterprising dude who doesn't appear to be a major tobacco company has filed for Maui Wowie as a brand of smoking paraphernalia.
Harry Houdini not only hated spiritualists, he also had magnificent taste in stationery.
(Later note: I can't make this stupid link work. Try searching here for "houdini letterhead" and see all of the ones he had- I had chosen to highlight the most colorful one.)
I'm giving another shot at putting a usable mailto: link in my author information. According to this paper, using html character entities should prevent the address from being harvested. The fact that it's in a mailto: may make the strategy not work as well, but that's what disposable addresses are for.
As has been strongly suspected for a while, SARS is a new cold mutation. So now all we have to do is develop a vaccine against colds.
I just noticed that greymatter seems to want the timezone configured manually; or maybe I should have just made it PT. Sorry about the last week and a half's times being mis-labelled. We're thinking of going to Movable Type, anyway; it seems like having the blog software ask the server what the time and zone are shouldn't be too much to hope for.
(later) I guess I'll just go to PT, since it applies the label to everything on the mainpage (and presumably to every article that gets rebuilt). Argh.
(and later still) The GM FAQ says "The board is not designed to handle the changeovers between standard and daylight time so during summer months the time may be an hour different from the real local time." As much contempt as I have for Daylight Saving Time, I have more for software that doesn't implement it correctly.
I really like the American Memory exhibit "Architecture and Interior Design for the 20th Century: Photographs by Samuel Gottscho and William Schleisner". Because the photographs, taken between 1935 and 1955, are intended only to illustrate architectural form and detail they are mostly empty of people. The result is a wonderful assortment of empty landscapes. I've just started reading a book on everyday life in 18th century Japan, the everyday life of the people who weren't rulers, warriors or landlords. They didn't leave behind any works of literature or even diaries (most couldn't write), they just went about their lives, leaving behind broken pottery, worn tools, and empty buildings. What will you leave behind?
Welcome, all visitors from yoyology.com and howdy to fellow librarian Karl! Since the library world is small and incestuous, you must all promise not to get me fired for my various glib comments! If you break your promise, may you never again score free stuff from the vendor booths at library conferences. (Speaking of which, I got a little toy VW Beetle from BigChalk once, which has nothing at all to do with how impressed I am [very] with the insane variety of full text sources in their eLibrary product. I mean, Beef magazine? How cool!)
The headline "Fantasy games 'not for geeks'" entirely misses the point the article actually makes: geeks are getting older and many of them have jobs that pay well. And, yes, many of them still play silly games.
Some Dutch commies seem to have a quite a nice assortment of digital exhibits, some with English info as well. All in all a pretty nice web site!
In an entirely foreseen development, Israel is using our actions in Iraq as ammunition in the struggle to keep the Palestinians homeless (for 50 points, how long has Israel been in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions?). Also, while we're surveying the potential for WWIII, Turkey is sending in troops to ensure that the Kurds get the hell out of Kirkuk, lest the Kurds start thinking they might get a place to live.
On the other hand, it looks like the Serbian authorities did a good job of keeping the Prime Minister's assassination from being the beginning of something bigger.
It looks like I won't get a chance to fly the Concorde. From what I've heard, it's pretty sweet, but I can't make myself believe it's worth full-fare. Here's a little more recent info.
Privacy International has issued some Stupid Security Awards. I've seen only the summary at the BBC.
In what, as far as I know, is the first "success" for the DMCA, a guy selling mod chips for XBOX has been sentenced to five months of jail followed by five more months of house arrest and fined $28,500.
The King County Library System will no longer be holding their twice-yearly mega-sales of surplus books, but instead will be selling them through a jobber that will sell them on Amazon. Their first jobber was Sweethome, in Texas, but their warehouse was vandalized, wrecking great quantities of books. The second and current jobber is bLogistics in Colorado. They, too, were beset by woe (collapsing shelves) delaying immediate profit. But with a startlingly large amount of effort on my part, I've figured out a way to see listings of what bLogistics is selling on Amazon. I don't know if they're selling books for anyone else (I hope not, since it sounds like they can hardly handle the volume from KCLS), but here's an idea of what's for sale from their warehouse.
Correction! The books are actually listed through a "storefront."
The NY Times shows every sign of having turned off the ability to get to their content without going through their registration process, even when you get there via Google News. Updates as conditions change, assuming I notice.
Most frequently linked from the NYT, Common Dreams also has this article about librarians ensuring that they don't have any information they don't need. I also enjoy the "Fair Use" notice at the bottom of the page.
Kawaii! It's Astro-Boy's birthday, and many small cute people are dressing up!
An interesting article Craig points out there, though when they said "nearly all the mainland churches in America oppose this war," perhaps they mean mainline. Unless the Puerto Ricans have something else to add...
Even worse than simply an idiot puppet, W may believe he is a man on a mission from his god.
Have yourself a virtual shopping spree in any Washington State Liquor Store.
Headline from the Eastside Journal in 1941, "Agent Explains Care of Chickens After Blackout."
Microscopic daggers on fabric can kill microbes! You'll notice that it only works with natural fibers, this may influence uniform fashions.
Premise: you're interested in Bollywood films on DVD, but you don't know where to start.
Solution: a list of Indian films from your local library on DVD, ranked in order of the length of the waiting list, since presumably this is a rough indicator of popularity.
All titles are on DVD, and (probably) from 2002
Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas 143
Mujhse dosti karoge! 116
Kabhi khushi kabhie gham-- 110
Ek chhotisi love story 107
Raaz 85
Badhaai ho Badhaai 80
Bas itna sa khwaab hai 76
Company 70
Pyaar ishq aur mohabbat 67
Kasoor 65
Om jai jagadish 56
Jodi no. 1 43
Jis Desh mein Ganga Reehta hai 30
Abhay 23
An excellent example of a visual display of information that is immediately clear is again provided by The Economist. Just think how much less obvious this information would be as a list of percentages.
Yes, this is exactly my kind of thing: Snackspot.
There's been a lot of linkage to summaries and discussions of this New Yorker article about how SecDef Rumsfeld is a stupid, petty dictator who over-ruled his top planners at every turn when they told him he needed more troops on the ground. Most discouraging feature of the article for me: frequent comparisons to Viet Nam. When I was a cog in the Military-Industrial Complex, I heard many times that we needed to stop planning to fight the last war, since the next war was invariably different. We have demonstrated yet again that even when we are fighting the last war, it's different, and assuming it would be the same has bitten us hard on the ass:
The immediate goal, [a former intelligence official] added, was for the Army and Marine forces “to hold tight and hope that the Republican Guard divisions get chewed up” by bombing. The planner agreed, saying, “The only way out now is back, and to hope for some kind of a miracle—that the Republican Guards commit themselves,” and thus become vulnerable to American air strikes.“Hope,” a retired four-star general subsequently told me, “is not a course of action.”
The article is interesting, if discouraging, reading.
Lest we forget, SARS is still out there, and it's apparently more contagious than we thought. Two suspected cases in King County and, according to the CDC, one in Alabama, though their Public Health website's news releases seem most concerned with Smallpox vaccinations.