J-Walk Blog: July 15, 2003 Archives

15 July, 2003

My Creeping Fig Plant

A few years ago I planted a creeping fig near a shed in the yard. By now, one side of the shed (and the roof) is completely covered, and it's beginning to take over another side of the shed.

I examined the new growth, and was surprised by what I saw. Two "branches" are growing side-by-side, and they seem to be exact twins (click the photo below for a larger view).

Each branch has the same number of leaves, and the leaf spacing, color, and orientation are virtually identical. Even the curvatures of the branches are similar, although the lower branch has taken a recent downward turn.

Posted on 15 July, 2003

16 Page Report, Only $4,500

From Amazon, a report by IDC: U.S. SMS Forecast, 2003-2007: DO U C WUT I C?

This is a 16-page PDF download that costs $4,500. But wait! If you answer the trivia question, you can get $0.05 off!

Posted on 15 July, 2003

Inconspicuous Consumption

Here's a web site that I like: Inconspicuous Consumption.

It's about deconstructing the details of consumer culture -- details that are either so weird or obscure that we'd never see them, or so ubiquitous that we've essentially stopped seeing them. This can mean anything from a bizarre canned good, like sauerkraut juice, to a beautifully designed light-industrial object that we've always taken for granted, like the Brannock Device (that gizmo they use to measure your shoe size).

Don't overlook the archives.

Posted on 15 July, 2003

Juggling Outside The Box

This animated GIF image is one of the most creative I've seen. It's from juggler Luke Burrage.

(via Geisha asobi blog)

Posted on 15 July, 2003

Pat Robertson's Prayer Campaign

From the Guardian: Robertson Calls for Justices' Retirement.

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson urged his nationwide audience Monday to pray for God to remove three justices from the Supreme Court so they could be replaced by conservatives.

Posted on 15 July, 2003

Ben's Old Apartment

Take a photographic tour of Ben's old apartment. As you'll see, Ben is a bit of a slob. I rather doubt that he got his cleaning deposit back.

Posted on 15 July, 2003

Attracting Butterflies

If you'd like to see more butterflies around your house, try Butterfly Pee.

In the wild butterflies find their greatest source of sodium, essential minerals and vitamins from wild animal urine puddles and urine-soaked leaves. Now you can bring this natural butterfly attractant to your garden with ButterflyPee - pure urine from the wild. We have been in the urine business a long time, but we always get excited when we discover a new use for this incredibly renewable resource!

A 12-ounce bottle is $14.99.

Posted on 15 July, 2003

Deformed Frogs

In the mid 90's, they found some deformed frogs in Minnesota.

Deformed frogs have been found in Minnesota and in other parts of the country. They were being studied by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and other government agencies to determine the cause of the deformities. However, as of July 1, 2001, funding for the MPCA to work with deformed frogs was discontinued.

I guess we'll never know what happened to these critters.

Posted on 15 July, 2003

Bob Kuban and the In-Men

A few days ago I wrote about a former St. Louis radio DJ named Johnny Rabbit. Since then, I've received several emails from former St. Louis residents who thanked me for the memories.

One of them was Mark Funk, who now lives in New York. Mark also mentioned another St. Louis guy who was popular around the time of Johnny Rabbit: Bob Kuban. You may remember Bob Kuban as part of Bob Kuban and the In-Men -- a one-hit wonder known for their hit song, "Look Out For the Cheater." Incredibly, the old LP is now a CD, and it's available at Amazon.

Haven't you heard about the guy known as The Cheater
He'll take your girl and then he'll lie and he'll mistreat her
It seems every day now
You hear people say now
Look out for The Cheater
Make way for the fool-hearted clown
Look out for The Cheater
He's gonna build you up just to let you down

As luck would have it, Bob Kuban was a music instructor at the high school I attended (Bishop DuBourg). I never had a class with him, but I remember seeing him in the halls. He was a sharp dresser, and he always had a group of female students hanging around him. I suspect that the other teachers (including the nuns) didn't quite approve of his celebrity lifestyle.

Posted on 15 July, 2003

Microsoft Digital Rights Management Cracked?

From O'Reilly Network: MS DRM is pure smoke

Folks on AVSforums say they have successfully used tools from the Microsoft software development kit to rip and re-encode audio protected by Microsoft DRM in the WindowsMedia 9 format. This is only a rumor at this point -- I haven't seen the crack myself, but WM9 developers seem to be taking it as gospel.

So how does it work?

Incredibly, there was no exploit needed. These wily crackers merely had to write a program using well documented 100% aboveboard functions provided by Microsoft. It was not hard, involved no breakthroughs, did not depend on reverse engineering, and did not need a key. All they did was build the right DirectShow graph, and since DirectShow is a tool for third party software developers to build shipping software, ISVs can easily offer an all-in-one solution to strip DRM from content without fear of the DMCA.

It will be interesting to see if this rumor pans out.

Posted on 15 July, 2003

Cheap Photo Prints

Need some cheap photos to decorate your walls? Check out dpc Prints.

We feature thousands of beautiful, high-quality, affordable prints from hundreds of artists around the world. Each artist selling work here prices each of his or her pieces individually, so you can easily find the right print for the right cost. Our prints are of the highest quality and are available in sizes up to 20x30 inches.

I haven't ordered anything, but there is a huge variety of photos, and the prices are very low. For example, a 16x20 color glossy print for $18.00. But what about the quality? From their FAQ:

We print on Fugicolor Crystal Archive professional photographic paper, processed through Kodak RA-4 chemistry. The archival qualities of this process is 50+ years, before fading may occur. This is the same process that you would find at your better professional labs.

(Thanks Steven J. Paxman)

Posted on 15 July, 2003

More on the Nigerian Email Conference

Someone who goes by name of Little Miss Attila noticed my Nigerian Email Conference spoof, and indicated that a friend responded that it was "racist." Now she's soliciting opinions by email, and promises to follow up with a summary of why her friend thinks it's in poor taste.

Maybe a little background is in order...

Like most people, I've received scores of those Nigerian scam emails. I've always found them amusing, and I'm amazed at how similar they are. That got me thinking about how these con artists communicate with each other. Next thing you know, I'm writing a spoof about a conference. I spent about two hours on it, and then posted the link at my blog on 28 May.

I expected that a few hundred people might read it. I figured that most would find it funny, but I also realized that some might find it offensive. At the very least, I expected to hear from the hotel that was listed in the piece (yes, it's a real hotel in Nigeria).

Well, six weeks later, that page has been read by more than 600,000 people. It has been linked by dozens of blogs, discussion groups, Usenet groups, and passed around via email. I've received about 100 emails from people who found it humorous. I have yet to receive a single email from anyone who thought it was racist or in poor taste. I'm sure those people exist -- they just didn't bother to get in touch with me. And I still haven't heard from that hotel!

Overall, I think these types of scams are so distasteful, that even the most "politically correct" people can cast aside their beliefs and find humor in it. My intention, of course, was not to ridicule the people of Nigeria. Those who participate in these scams comprise a tiny portion of the population -- and I think many of these scam emails don't even originate from Nigeria.

But it's difficult to write good satire without offending someone.

Posted on 15 July, 2003

Postcards From Disneyland

It's no secret that Disney is not on my list of favorite corporations. But this collection of old and new Disneyland postcards is kind of cool.

Welcome to the only site on the web solely dedicated to Disneyland postcards. I have been collecting postcards from the park since the mid '80s, but only a few here and there. It wasn't until I bought the book, Disneyland: The Nickel Tour that I took up the hobby full-time. Since then, I have acquired over 500 postcards, dating from the first one ever printed, to the current ones sold today.

Unfortunately, whoever designed this site doesn't understand the concept of thumbnail images. All of the small images are actually large files, resized to make them look smaller. Consequently, the pages take a long time to load.

Posted on 15 July, 2003

An ASCII Movie

You've probably seen ASCII art. But have you ever watched an ASCII movie? It's all done with Javascript and ASCII text. It's awesome. No, it's mind-boggling!

(via Electric Venom)

Posted on 15 July, 2003

A Wordplay Blog

Here's a group blog with a twist.

Form a sentence from the acronym of the last word found on the latest post. Quirky, funny, nasty, silly, serious, whatever your post may be, the words are yours. Every correct entry gives you 1 point

(via Side Salad)

Posted on 15 July, 2003