7610

Happy New Year!

Here I am at home waiting for 2 cabs. Lotta people here. Happy New Year!

Tsunami Relief

While most of us are getting ready to continue celebrating the holidays, some of the people in the world are worrying about loved ones, in need or the worst has happened. There was an earthquake in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004 that caused deadly tsunamis that have killed thousands of people, and the death toll is predicted to rise above 100,000. The energy released by this earthquake is thought to have been enough to cause the earth to wobble, and possibly increase the length of the day by decreasing the time that it takes for the earth to rotate. This is the largest recorded earthquake since 1960.

Please give to a charitable cause during these holidays. The American Red Cross is always accepting donations, as is UNICEF and many other organizations. Please beware of fraudulent charities. Check http://www.charitywatch.org. If you have any doubt, please give directly to organizations and either do research or well known organizations. Also, I heard on the news that cash is the best to give since blankets, water, etc. can't cover things like staff airplane tickets. The American Red Cross has many ways to donate including the CoinStar machine at your local grocer.

If you've got an Amazon account, you can click below.

Warez Guy Gets Pwn3d

Jathan Desir of the University of Iowa, has been charged by the FBI and the DoD's Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section with felony counts of copyright infringement and conspiracy. This is the first conviction since the launch of the multinational Operation Fastlink.

From Slashdot:

"...'Operation Fastlink,' which targeted the underground community's hierarchy with [FBI] agents conducting more than 120 searches within 24 hours in 27 states and 11 foreign countries. At the time, authorities identified nearly 100 people as leaders or high-ranking members of international piracy groups." Sounds like somebody's in deep doo doo."

Everyone's heard about the peer to peer sharing networks such as Kazaa, Napster, WinMX, etc. These peer to peer companies create software that allows for peer to peer sharing of essentially anything including software, music, videos, and other types of media.

Although Napster has gone to a pay-for-download service following it's lawsuit by the RIAA, it used to be the de-facto standard for filesharing.

All of these lawsuits filed by the RIAA have brought personal privacy rights to the forefront of computer concerns. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has an section of it's website set up to address these privacy concerns. They've even got a petition that you can sign to be sent to Congress voicing your concern regarding the RIAA's tactics.

The RIAA has filed suits against people from college students to 5 year olds, and even a 65 year old woman. On the other hand, the RIAA has been sued by a company called Altnet due to patent infringements.

Many of the copyright laws that are enforced now were written well before the Internet explosion that gave rise to P2P sharing.

Desir is the first of thousands that have been identified Operation Fastlink's 120 searches within 24 hours in 27 states and 11 foreign countries.

Home from the Holidays

I'm back in DC. Memories from this Christmas:
Skiing at Swain, pictures with Calgary Gallo, (more photos coming soon), Seeing one of my ex-girlfriends, Glo watching , Jelly-belly jelly beans, Linda doing the airplane, after Christmas shopping, and many more. Perhaps I'll post some more here.

Snowball fight

What good is a winter without a snowball fight? This one unfortunately is you chuqing snowballs at a building in Glasgow. Now with sound! And music.

All flash designers, if they're going to put something to music, should allow for a mute button, or a reduction of volume. Something like this from Santoriello Studios. I really like the volume feature.

Interesting Read

This looks like an interesting read. 188 pages by author Bill Quinn, available for pre-order at Walmart. The title of the piece is How Walmart Is Destroying America And The World: And What You Can Do About It. Once again, available at Walmart.

Mario, The Communist

Mario, of Nintendo fame, has recently been exposed as a Communist. The similarities are very striking, and you may want to think for yourself. Mario is no longer an Italian plumber from New York, he is subtle communist propoganda.

Merry Christmas from James

Seems like one of those ads that's in the same line as the home made iPod ad, but here's a Christmas card from James. Enjoy.

Bling Bling Wink

There is a new kind of jewelry (new to me at least), in which you can get jewelry implanted on your freakin eyeball. Although they claim that it does not interfere with ocular functions, only a few people are going to be able to see it anyway right? Unless of course, you make an LED Eyebling. Have fun.

Let Them Starve

Dear Impoverished Families,
This year, while President Bush has confirmed his political capital, the Bush administration will not being making it's promised $100M in donations to charities like Save the Children, Catholic Relief Fund, helping families like yours get out of poverty. Sorry, but we won the election, and we need to spend more money on other things, like war, so we can't help all y'all.

Happy Holidays,

The Bush Administration

Lonely Whale

I've always had a love for animals. I think it probably started when I was very young, and when I went to get a tonsillectomy and my parents bought me a baby animals book. I very clearly remember reading that book, and having it for quite some time. My parents then got me a subscription to Zoobooks and I was a subscriber for about 4 years up until I began getting duplicates and having had memorized almost all of the details in each one, it was just a matter of looking at pictures.

That's probably the reason that this story and also the one in the New York Times caught my attention. The "52 hertz whale" (aptly named for the frequency at which it calls out) has been tracked for about 12 years now. The species is unknown since the blue whale calls out between 15-20 hertz, and the next largest baleen whale is the Fin Whale calls out around 20 hertz.

This particular whale's species is unknown since it's never been seen. The NOAA and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute have been tracking this whale since 1992. The 52 hertz whale was first noticed by researcher William Watkins who passed away in September.

It's calls, first detected in 1989, go unanswered, possibly indicating either that it's deaf, a hybrid of two species, a lone member of a species, or possibly has a birth defect. The latter is unlikely since it's survived for at least 12 years.

Indeed, this story is incredibly sad yet fascinating.

More Blurspotting

A few months ago, I noticed that there was a feral kitty that had been hanging around my house. This kitty knows when I get home, and consistently mews for food when I'm walking in or out the back door. I took some pictures when she came into my house and kind of let Blur introduce himself. They're at the end of the Blur Photo album.

Surf's Up in HI

Apparently, the Surf's Up in Hawaii for the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau Big Wave Event 2004. Freakin HUGE waves. HUGE.

Top Urban Legends of 2004

This is a link of the top 10 urban myths and hoaxes of 2004 based on reader interest, longevity, page views and email submissions. Actually, the only one that I've heard about is the Bill Gates giving away his fortune one. Although I think that one is old. The rest are pretty interesting though. For all the top urban legends and debunking them, check out Snopes.com.

Possibly my last time in NYC this year

It's great to be back in New York City. I haven't been here since August 6, 2004. I was here for Bowers's Bachelor Party. I got in around 8:00 PM, and then headed down to Chelsea Piers to meet Snowdog and Helen at the Infinity Info holiday party. That was pretty fun, then we headed to Dream Lounge in midtown. That was pretty fun too. I met a bunch of people (all good democrats), and then we went to the Dive Bar and had a drink. Now it's like 4:03 AM, and I'm writing this blog entry, when I should actually be sleeping. Whatever. Sleep is for real working people.

Do You Feel Powerless?

This week, I bought a CyberPower AC Mobile Power Adapter. This allows me to run my laptop while I'm using either my Delorme Earthmate GPS while I'm wardriving or just going somewhere. I can also charge my cell phone, or pretty much anything else that I need to plug in. I know, it seems like a commercial or something, but bear with me.

Enter a new breakthrough invention from researchers in France, the Netherlands, and Portugal. Wearable cheap solar panels promise to end the reliance on wall power. Ahh alternative energy. Bring it.

So Stupid a Man

I actually wish this guy died, because he would have won a Darwin Award. Basically, this guy was wearing a Osama Bin Laden Mask and jumping out a passing cars brandishing a pellet gun. Obviously a joke, but he got shot two times in the stomach by a taxi driver.

Nokia 7280 Wins Fortune Design Award 2004

The Nokia 7280 has won a design award for 2004 from Fortune Magazine. Link is here. I still want one.

Linux Beats Windows AGAIN

A new report by Cybersource claims that for a 250-seat company, Linux has a lower total cost of ownership than Windows.

High points:

• Linux needed 82 percent fewer staff resources.
  
• Costs which arose when systems need to be pre-emptively rebooted or crashed, resulting in unscheduled downtime, were not taken into account. "All our research indicates that Linux rarely if ever suffers such problems and open source platforms on the whole are extremely robust," Zymaris said.
  
• "Finally, because Microsoft has claimed that introducing Linux into an environment will lead to increased reliance on external consultants, we have tripled the amount budgeted for such requirements on the Linux models," he said.
  

Plain Freakin Awesome

The history and future history of amazon, google, microsoft, friendster. This is so awesome. Googlezon.

Which OS are you?

BBSpot has a survey that you take, 2 pages, very quick, that will tell you which OS you are. I'm OS X.

Which OS are You?

Computer Rage

If you've got what some people call "computer rage", you can check this page for some ideas. My personal favorite is the extreme key press. There are even videos to boot.

Here's a link to the man behind the site, UMD's own Kent Norman, a cognitive psychologist who directs the Laboratory for Automation Psychology and Decision Processes.

Obviously, to the generation of dot commers, it immediately reminds us of the scene from Office Space. What a great movie.

print.google.com

University of Michigan and Google are teaming up to put 7 million of the university's books into the public domain. Yes, this is the largest digital scanning project ever undertaken, and is exepected to take about 6 years. Google has a new digitizing that cuts down the time that it takes from about 1,600 years to 6. Details are scant on this new technology, but I'm sure more details will follow.

Google also plans to scan parts of other research libraries, including those at Harvard, Stanford, Oxford University in England and the New York Public Library, although on a much smaller scale.

Apparently, copyrighted material will be summarized, and in order to read the entire text, there will be links to the publisher or relevant library.

Full story here. University of Michigan's press release is here.

Microwave Popcorn, Hold the Butter (Flavoring)

The butter flavoring in microwave popcorn was the subject in this trial, where Samantha Taffner filed a lawsuit against International Flavors and Fragrances and Bush Boake Allen. Apparently, there is a chemical in the butter flavoring called diacetyl that Ms. Taffner claims reduced her lung capacity by 28%. The chemical diacetyl has been linked to cases of bronchiolitis obliterans, or chronic scarring of the airways.

In another test, one of four rats died after being exposed for six hours to vapors from heated artificial butter flavoring containing diacetyl.

More risks here.

Reservists Court Martialed for Scrounging

6 Reservists have been court-martialed and sentenced to serve six month sentences each for reportedly scrounging parts from abandoned Army vehicles in Kuwait for a mission they had in Iraq. The vehicles had been abandoned, so these reservists took two tractor-trailers and parts from a 5-ton truck so that they could deliver the fuel to US forces in Iraq.

Here is the link to that story. Without any more information, I'm on the side of the soldiers, although I will say that I don't understand why they would try to remove identification markings.

They were charged with charged with theft, destruction of Army property and conspiracy to cover up their crimes. Apparently, after the mission was complete, they tried to cover up/erase the identification markings on the parts.

Last week, Rumsfeld was grilled by troops regarding the lack of armor for equipment. He responded by saying:

"It's essentially a matter of physics. It isn't a matter of money, it isn't a matter on the part of the Army of desire. It's a matter of production and capability of doing it."

Guacamole and Guadalupe

Here are pics of a bunch of us that went out for Laura Peña, Jen Johnson, Victoria Lai, and Christy Agner had a party at Habana Village in NW Washington DC last night, and it was a very good time. The pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy.

Chicken Genome Mapped

The Red Jungle Fowl (Gallus gallus), left, has had it's genome mapped. This is the first bird that has ever had it's DNA sequenced. From this information, scientists have concluded that the most recent common ancenstor was some 310 million years ago (some reptile).

The Red Jungle Fowl is complete, and there are many other organisms have already had their DNA sequenced, but there are others that are currently being sequenced including the dog, fruitfly, pig and even E. Coli.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can read the Primer on Molecular Genetics from the U.S. Department of Energy.

New Google Feature! Google Suggest

More Google functionality here.

Maine Lobster Festival

I've always loved eating lobster. While it's probably not my favorite dish, it's up there. One of my ex-girlfriends used to live in Boston, and when I used to visit her, we would take road trips up to Kittery, Maine. There we'd do some shopping and then buy like four "chickens" (one pound lobster) and then go back to her place and steam them and eat em.

I haven't had lobster in a while, so maybe I'll go ahead and get a few this weekend or next week sometime. This year, I'd really like to go to the Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland, ME. It runs from August 3-7, 2005. Depending on what I'm doing professionally at that time, I'm definitely going to try to go.

PETA has an article on lobsterlib.com from the August 2004 issue of Gourmet magazine that features David Foster Wallace's take on boiling a live lobster and how cruel and wrong that is. He explores this issue both scientifically and with a little bit of a moral guilt trip. It's really a fascinating article that is worth reading. The full article is available here or locally here [4.0M pdf] (yep, that's right 4.0M).

Slam: This World

I've never heard of these guys, but here is a video of a guy as a disc jockey using a Betamax deck as his turntable/mixing board. My favorite part is when he does the bitch slap dance.

The song is actually pretty good. I might buy the record from Soma Records. Or I'll just buy a Betamax.

Ever wonder what Tweety's skeleton looks like?

Michael Paulus has created a series of drawings, on exhibit at Stumptown Coffee/Belmont in Portland, Oregon, that show the skeletal structure of 22 cartoon characters, past and present. My favorite is Marvin the Martian.

Happy Chanukah, Outkast Style

All right here.

What Causes Thunder? Fat People... Doing Jumping Jacks

The Weekly World News reports that after a 15 year study, scientists have discovered that thunder is not a naturally occuring phenomenon, but in fact, it's caused by fat people doing jumping jacks.

"For generations, scientists believed that thunder was a booming or crashing noise caused by air expanding along the path of a bolt of lightning. "We now know that to be false," asserts Dr. Vigo Salandry, Director of the National Weather Research Institute, located just outside Washington, D.C."

The proof is in the pudding. This is unmistakably an undisputable scientific discovery, and Benjamin Franklin was wrong about the cause of thunder. Among other news, the same scientists "hope to have equally exciting news once [we] complete our current studies of angels' dandruff causing snow, and farting from Mexican food causing lightning."

This still does not explain however, the lack of earth shaking thunderstorms in the Los Angeles/Beverly Hills area, where Richard Simmons teaches an aerobics class to overweight people at SLIMMONS in Beverly Hills, CA.

OPEC Concerned About Oversupply

OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is heading into it's final meeting of the year this Friday. Among the concerns of OPEC leaders is the fact that there is likely to be a surplus in crude oil come the beginning of the year. Saudi Arabia is the top oil-producing nation in OPEC, and the oil minister of Saudi Arabia, Ali Naimi, is questioning whether OPEC should rein in their supply to keep prices up.

"The OPEC basket is still $33, the winter has not even started in the (U.S.) northeast," Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told a small group of reporters.

...

"The winter is coming, our (target price) band is still $22-$28, so why should we do anything ?" said Naimi. U.S. crude, higher in value than OPEC's basket, was down another 57 cents at $40.89 a barrel on Wednesday.

Full story here.

Holy Crap! I want one!

Nokia is coming out with what spokesperson Keith Nowak calls an "evening phone." Basically, it's a cell phone that you would use when you go out, or for the metrosexual. Functionally, the 7200 Series are Worldwide GSM phones, and will be available starting Q1 of 2005.

c|net has a video of the Keith Nowak showing off the new line.

I personally like the 7280 (right). Wish list anyone?

Sex Ed BBC style

The British have always been a little "odd" according to American standards. This stereotype is further perpetuated by the two following "educational" flash clips.

The boy's version is called "Willy Wonky" and the girl's version is called "Funny Flaps".

Too funny. If you click on some of the links provided, you'll also discover that the penis is also known as "dangly bits" and the vagina is also known as the "honey pot".

Go Engerland!

Better Than Free Cell

If you think you know your U.S. States, and where they are, try playing this game. The first time I played, I got:

Average Score: 90%
Average Error: 20 miles
Time: 408 Seconds

PSA: Wiki This!

The WikiMediaFoundation has launched a "Wikified" news service. It is available in both English and German right now, with other languages to follow soon.

Wikinews aims to be to news media what Wikipedia is to encyclopedias: a free, comprehensive and, eventually, reliable source of information, collaboratively created by volunteers around the planet. Wikinews explicitly allows original reporting, making it somewhat similar to Indymedia, while adhering to a strict Neutral Point of View policy.

I've just learned how to type in Wiki. It's relatively easy. Just type a word in WikiWord syntax, and then save, and then click on it, and the page is automatically created!

Blur Lives Strong

My cat Blur loves to eat rubber bands. I've got a Lance Armstrong Foundation Live Strong Bracelet that Blur just chewed through. Luckily, I've got a few extras.

There are a few more pics at the end of this photo album.

I also took a few pictures of Blur next to my laptop so people could see just really how big he is. Blurby's huge.

Master Slave

Reuters reports that the Global Language Monitor has labeled the tech term: Master/Slave as the most politically incorrect phrase.

Also on the list this year were "Red Sox lover," to use in place of "Yankee hater," "progressive" for classical liberal, "incurious" rather than more impolite invectives for President Bush, "insurgents" instead of terrorists in Iraq, "baristas" for waiters, and "first year student" rather than freshman.

Full story here.

Weather SOAP style

Wired reports that the NOAA has recently provided an XML API for weather data.

Maybe I should learn SOAP so I can write a weather applet. Then again, maybe not.

Shop D

If you support the party of the people. Shop where the corporations suppport what you support. It covers everything from Computer Hardware to Grocery Stores and Gas Stations. And guess what color Microsoft is...

Check it out here.

New Way to Find Land Mines

The Belgian research organization Apopo has discovered (or rather) invented a new way of finding land mines. They train Giant African Pouched Rats (also known as Gambian Pouched Rats) to be able to find landmines.

You can even have a Giant African Pouched Rat as a pet!

Residual Explosive Scent Tracing (REST) is one method that Apopo has created where a filter is applied to an area and air is sucked up from the area. The rats can detect where landmines are. This entire thing is quite interesting.

Visit Apopo to learn more.

Power is back

Today at around 3:16, my house lost power. Apparently, a line was cut on the hill. Me and 3,599 others on the Hill lost power according to this article. Power came back on at 8:36 PM. Roughly...

DC Nationals Official Site

Baseball is coming to DC, and RFK Stadium is just a few blocks from where I live. I'm not too sure about the logo for the team, but they do have an Official Site.

In case you've been living under a rock, the Montreal Expos are moving to DC.

Letter To Bush Regarding Religion

Unknown source (I got it in an email):

Dear President Bush:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's law. I have learned a great deal from you and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly state it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them:

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not to Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev. 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev. 1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states that he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?

6. A friend of mine feels that, even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev. 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there "degrees" of abomination?

7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them (Lev. 24:10-16)? Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws (Lev. 20:14)?

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

My Sister in DC

My little sister just got in from Tallahassee, and we went directly to the Hotel Rouge in Dupont. Pretty hip rooms.

The weirdest thing I saw in the room was an "Intamacy Kit". I'm sure she won't be using it tonight. She's got an 8:30 meeting with Mike DeFrino, of Kimpton Hotels. If you've never visited a Kimpton Hotel, you should. It's an experience.

7610 - Meaning

Ok, so Chris Casey asked me today what 7610 meant, and I realized that there is was no explanation of it on this site. So...

7610. From 1999 through 2001, I lived in New York City, and used to go to a bar called the Coliseum. It is (still) located on 58th and 8th in Manhattan. I used to have many of the songs memorized in that jukebox. 7610 was one of them. Specifically, Pearl Jam's Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town from the Vs album.

I used to have a TON of songs memorized by number, but it's been a few years. Here are some more:

5101: Smack My Bitch Up, Prodigy, Fat of the Land
1310: The Sweetest Thing, U2, The Best of 1990 - 2000 & B Sides
8003: Jungle Boogie, Pulp Fiction Soundtrack
6306: Santeria, Sublime, Sublime,
6303: Wrong Way, Sublime, Sublime
9404: Flagpole Sitta, Harvey Danger, Now! That's What I call Music Volume 1
9414: Sex and Candy, Marcy Playground, Now! That's What I call Music Volume 1
7507: Can't Always Get What You Want, Rolling Stones, LivePoint
5404: The Tracks of My Tears, Smokey Robinson/Miracles, Big Chill Soundtrack
5201: Right Here, Right Now, Fat Boy Slim, You've Come A Long Way Baby

Fyodor and FBI Subpoenas

Fyodor of Insecure.org and nmap fame has been served with subpoenas from the FBI for his download logs. This is interesting as it calls into the light the issue that most people should know that all of your network traffic is logged at some level somewhere. Be careful what you do!

Full story here.

Mickeys is Closed Now

Mickey's patio is now closed. Mickey's is where I had Chuq o de Mayo Parte Quattro. I took lots of pictures, and they are here.

A ton of people showed up and helped close Mickeys. It was a great time and a great way to close up the place.