J-Walk Blog: March 31, 2003 Archives

31 March, 2003

Oops...

The ZGeek site is sometimes controversial. Now it looks like they may have gone too far. Don't overlook the "Supplementary Information" link.

Posted on 31 March, 2003

New, From Microsoft

It's the new Red, White and Blue Screen of Death.

A Microsoft spokesman announced today at Central Command in the desert of Qatar, that Microsoft recently helped the allied war effort by donating 100,000 fully licensed copies of Windows 95 to the current Iraqi regime.

Unbeknownst to the Iraqis, this "gift" from Microsoft is part of the psychological warfare and infrastructure destruction campaign of the allied forces, called Operation Red, White and Blue Screen of Death.

Posted on 31 March, 2003

Raving About PressPlay?

Robert Scoble usually has lots of intelligent things to say. But today I read something he wrote, and couldn't believe my eyes:

A few of my friends have been raving about Pressplay. For $9.95 a month you get unlimited music downloads. I just signed up. You get three days worth for free. After all, you need some tunes to accompany your .NET programming learning, right?

But did you forget to read the fine print, Robert? It's all DRM'ed crap. All of the music you download goes away as soon as you stop paying your $9.95 per month. In other words, you're just renting the music -- unless you choose to pay extra for music that you can actually keep.

There are much better ways to acquire music to accompany your programming. Try emusic. Unlimited downloads, no DRM, and you can keep it as long as you like. And you don't have to install some proprietary software in order to listen. From PressPlay's Terms of Service:

In order to access the Service, you will need to install (or activate, if pre-installed) pressplay's proprietary software application; from time to time, you may also be required to install other software made available through the Service (collectively the "pressplay Client"). You may also need to install certain third-party software.

Just for fun, compare PressPlay's 7,300-word Terms of Service with emusic's 467-word Terms of Service. Which one would you rather do business with?

Posted on 31 March, 2003

Prepare For Tomorrow

Don't get fooled again.

Check out the Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time.

Posted on 31 March, 2003

Math Terms

History-minded math nerds will love this. Find out the earliest known usage of various math-related terms.

For example, one of my favorite statistical terms, kurtosis:

KURTOSIS was used by Karl Pearson in 1905 in "Das Fehlergesetz und seine Verallgemeinerungen durch Fechner und Pearson. A Rejoinder," Biometrika, 4, 169-212, in the phrase "the degree of kurtosis." He states therein that he has used the term previously (OED2).

And what about the term null hypothesis?

NULL HYPOTHESIS is used in 1935 by Ronald Aylmer Fisher in The Design of Experiments. He writes, "We may speak of this hypothesis as the 'null hypothesis,' and it should be noted that the null hypothesis is never proved or established, but is possibly disproved, in the course of experimentation."

(via Robot Wisdom)

Posted on 31 March, 2003

Listen to Police Radio

Listen to live police radio broadcasts from several cities. I was listening to the Las Vegas feed, and heard a report of a trash fire. Very exciting!

(via Wastrel Division)

Posted on 31 March, 2003

Killer Fonts

Fonts designed to reproduce the handwriting of famous people. Categories include Killers, Presidents, Dictators, Brainiacs, Cowboys, and Notables. Here's a sample of the Helen Keller font:

(via Iconomy)

Posted on 31 March, 2003

Play Ball!

Ah, baseball... the only sport that's worth watching, in my opinion.

I live in San Diego, so I'm a Padres fan. The Padres are predicted to have their worst season in a long time. But that's OK. One thing about baseball: On any given day, any team can beat any other team.

So today at 3:00 pm, I'll be in front of the TV watching the Padres lose their first game of the season -- and probably see Barry Bonds' first (and maybe second) home run of the season.

Fortunately, the local TV play-by-play guys are very entertaining. Matt Vasgersian and Mark Grant are probably the funniest baseball announcers in the country. But, unfortunately, Rick Sutcliffe often substitutes for Mark Grant. Those are the games in which I keep the sound turned off.

Posted on 31 March, 2003

The Annual Mooning of Amtrak

Mark your calendar. The 23rd Annual Mooning of Amtrak is slated for 12 July, in southern California.

Posted on 31 March, 2003

BlogShares

BlogShares is:

BlogShares is a fantasy stock market for weblogs. Players get to invest a fictional $500, and blogs are valued by inbound links.

The J-Walk Blog is currently selling for $0.89 per share -- not even close to making the Top 100 list.

Posted on 31 March, 2003

Zoom In

Zoomable aerial photos, at space.com. You'll find several recent photos of Iraq, including downtown Baghdad and burning oil trenches.

Posted on 31 March, 2003

Best Headline of the Year

My nomination for the best headline of the year goes to ZDNet UK.

Finally, the truth!

Posted on 31 March, 2003

Dayalets

Dayalets are some type of vitamin. Here's a collection of their ads.

Nothing really prepares you for the Dayalets. As you can gather from the cover above, they were vitamins, but they were so much more. They were glimpses into the HELL that awaits people whose vitamin consumption is unbalanced or inadequate. Never has the phrase "you are what you eat" been proved so horribly. Steel yourself - and keep in mind these are designed to hang in doctor's offices and make patients WANT Dayalets.

Posted on 31 March, 2003

Napkin Folding

Learn from the pros at serviettes.info, where the slogan is:

Delight Your friends and family with a nicely folded napkin!

That would certainly delight me.

Actually, you'll learn very few napkin folding techniques unless you fork over $4.95.

Posted on 31 March, 2003

The Dullest Blog in the World

Funny concept: The Dullest Blog in the World. A typical entry:

As I was looking around my house I noticed that there were a number of empty glasses. I picked them up and took them to the kitchen, where I will wash them up at some point. This will probably happen tomorrow morning, though it could happen tomorrow afternoon or evening. I have made no definite decision at this point in time.

Posted on 31 March, 2003