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28 January, 2003
Super Sunday, Messy Monday
An article in the San Diego Union Tribune discusses the Super Bowl clean-up activities:
Hundreds of workers swarmed the stadium and the parking lot, picking up plastic beer cups, plastic foam food containers and chicken wings gnawed to the bone. A dashboard placard admitting a vehicle to Lot 16, invaluable only 24 hours earlier, lay face down in a puddle of guacamole.
This is the most interesting Super Bowl article I've read. Well OK, it's the only Super Bowl article I've read.
Posted on 28 January, 2003
Accessing Salon's Premium Content
salon.com
is a fine web site. Much of the content is free, but they also have a "premium"
plan that requires payment in order to access additional content. Last week,
however, they implemented a
new policy:
You can gain access to Salon [Premium] in either of two ways: You can pay our low subscription price (as little as 5 cents a day) or you can click through a multiple-screen advertisement.
Clicking through the ad gives you a Premium Day Pass, good for 18 hours.
I just tried it. It took about seven seconds to quickly click through a Flash-based car advertisement -- I think it was for Mercedes, but I'm not sure. It then deposited a cookie that gave me full access to the site.
I guess this is a good deal for people who don't want to pay, but I kind of wonder about the ultimate effectiveness for the advertiser. Does the advertiser really benefit from uninterested surfers being forced to click through their marketing material? It's almost like a minor punishment you must endure in order to gain access to what you're actually there for. The entire processes seems as if it's designed to promote negative feelings while the web surfer is clicking through an unwanted ad.
I'm not complaining. I was able to access lots of material that was previously off-limits because I'm not a subscriber. It will be interesting to see if this lasts.
Posted on 28 January, 2003
Failed Predictions
Posted on 28 January, 2003
Fixing Microsoft Keyboards
Have you bought a Microsoft keyboard lately? I have one of those new-fangled MultiMedia Keyboards. It works fine, with one exception: By default, the function keys are disabled.
On this keyboard, each of the 12 function keys have a secondary function. For
example, the F2 key is set up for "Undo" and the F5 key triggers the current
application's File - Open command. In order to restore the normal function key
functionality, you need to press the F-Lock key. And you need to do this every
time your system is restarted. Maybe I'm just dumb, but I have never
remembered to do this. Every time I reboot, it takes me a while to figure out
why the function keys don't work.
Function keys on keyboards have worked fine for a long, long time. But now, Microsoft decides that it's time to change all that. Embrace. Extend. Screw it up.
But surely Microsoft would provide a software setting to specify how you'd like your keyboard to work? Nope. The Control Panel applet lets you program the keys, but it does not allow you to specify the default state of the F-Lock key.
Fortunately, Jason Tsang has figured out a solution which involves changing registry settings to remap the keyboard so it works like it should.
Posted on 28 January, 2003
Convert Your PC to a Mac
It takes only one click. Tip: Alt+F4
Posted on 28 January, 2003
Proper Weapons Inspector Etiquette
Words of advice from The Modern Humorist.
Be aware that your Iraqi hosts may have attempted to conceal biological, chemical or nuclear weapons. Try some of these common hiding places first:
Kitchen cupboards
Rotating bookcases
Innocuous-looking steel drums labeled "Circus Peanuts"
Wall safes obscured by oil portraits of Saddam Hussein
Behind Iraqi soldiers who are whistling casually and rolling their eyes in a pantomime of innocence
(via PreSurfer)
Posted on 28 January, 2003
How to Build an Atomic Bomb
Instructions here. Step #1:
First, obtain about 50 pounds (110 kg) of weapons grade Plutonium at your local supplier. A nuclear power plant is not recommended, as large quantities of missing Plutonium tends to make plant engineers unhappy.
Posted on 28 January, 2003
Atomic Bombing: How to Protect Yourself
The
book is about 52 years old, but much of it still applies.
Radioactivity in general, and the X-ray in particular, were both discovered by the effect radiation has on photographic film. The chemicals in photographic emulsion are sensitive to electrically charged particles as well as to electromagnetic rays such as light. Thus film can be used to show -- after it has happened -- that radiation has struck. When the film is developed and evaluated by men trained in the art, blackening and fogging will give a rough measure of the amount of radiation which has fallen.
Posted on 28 January, 2003
X-Rays of Sword Swallowers
Click
here to see 'em.
Posted on 28 January, 2003
Colonel Sanders. Really Dead?
Everyone knows
that Colonel Harlan Sanders, the Kentucky Fried Chicken guy,
died in 1980.
Or did he?
Does his tombstone actually depict Burl Ives?
And does 10% of all KFC profits go to the KKK?
Posted on 28 January, 2003
More Found Stuff
We collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework, to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles- anything that gives a glimpse into someone else's life. anything goes...
(via MetaFilter)
Posted on 28 January, 2003
Today's Forecast
For Baghdad, high of 64 degrees F, with a chance of a thunderstorm and a 71% chance of invasion.
Posted on 28 January, 2003
Barbie's Day in Court
According to this article:
The
U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Monday an appeal by Mattel Inc. over its lawsuit
against MCA Records Inc. claiming the 1997 pop hit "Barbie Girl" had infringed
on the toy maker's doll trademark.
The song featured a doll-like female voice impersonating Barbie, calling herself a "blonde bimbo girl" and saying "life in plastic, it's fantastic." A male singer, who called himself Ken, exhorted Barbie to "go party." Mattel, based in El Segundo, California, argued the song, which sold more than 1.4 million copies in the United States, could confuse consumers and dilute the power of the Barbie brand.
I've never heard that song, but I can certainly see how it could confuse consumers.
Posted on 28 January, 2003