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8 August, 2003

Guitar Face

What is guitar face?

Guitar face is a horribly disfiguring condition effecting tens of thousands of guitar players around the world. Blues players, particularly electric blues players, seem to suffer the most horrendous effects.

Keith Richards has a bad case of guitar face.

Posted on 8 August, 2003

Last Words

What happens before a plane crashes? Here's a collection of Last Words -- cockpit voice recordings, transcripts, and air traffic control tapes.

Posted on 8 August, 2003

Software Harms Hardware?

Here's a Microsoft ad that appears in Israeli newspapers. The image shows a computer in the trash -- implying that improper OS installation will destroy your computer.

Translated copy:

Have you bought a computer? Good. You probably know that a computer contains tens of electronic elements connected to the different devices. They are all dependent of each other and their "well being" depends on the OS. If you have let your friend install the OS for you, not always will you be able to know if the hard drive, the mother board, the modem, the display adapter, and all the rest of the important elements are functioning. So in order to avoid repair and unnecessary expenses, ask for a legal copy of Windows XP while purchasing a computer with the label : Installed by a certified Microsoft vendor.

(via Joho the Blog)

Posted on 8 August, 2003

The Mathematics of Marriage

From BBC News: Calculating the perfect marriage.

Professor James Murray from the University of Washington believes he has formulated a model which can predict the chances of staying with a chosen partner. He claims data from a couple's conversations, converted into algebra, is 94% accurate in determining how long a couple will remain wed.

Too bad this formula wasn't invented about 20 years ago. It could have saved me lots of grief.

Posted on 8 August, 2003

The New Shape of Junk Mail

This Washington Times article talks about a new form of U.S. mail that starts on Monday.

Coming soon to mailboxes: advertising shaped like a sports car or a stop sign, a hula doll or hamburger. Indeed, almost anything an artist can conceive. Customized MarketMail debuts Monday, offering advertisers a chance to send material that really shows their products to buyers.

I can't wait.

Posted on 8 August, 2003

George W. Bush, Aviator

You'll probably want to pick up a George W. Bush action figure, which depicts him as an Elite Force Aviator.

BBI proudly introduces the latest issue in its Elite Force series of authentic military 12- inch figures, President George W. Bush in naval aviator flight uniform. Exacting in detail and fully equipped with authentic gear, this limited-edition action figure is a meticulous 1:6 scale recreation of the Commander-in-Chief's appearance during his historic Aircraft Carrier landing

Posted on 8 August, 2003

Robomower

For $700, you can get a robot to mow your lawn.

Friendly Robotics introduced the RL500 Robomower in June of 2000 to the U.S. consumer market - and the robotic lawn mower, 'Robomower', has been successful entry into the lawn and garden market, liberating many of us from that mundane, time consuming chore of cutting grass and allowing you to spend your valuable time doing what you would rather do.

Personally, I like to mow the lawn. A robot vacuum cleaner, on the other hand, makes perfect sense.

Posted on 8 August, 2003

Following the Spam Trail

A very interesting article at MSNBC: Who profits from spam? Surprise

The truth about spam is this: While the dirty work is done by secretive, faceless computer jockeys who are constantly evading authorities, lots of companies with names you know profit, at least tangentially, from their efforts.

Posted on 8 August, 2003

Camera Oddities

Cam's a camera collector.

My name's Cam, and I've been collecting old and unusual cameras since about 1967. However, you won't find many of them here!

Like most camera collectors, over the years, I've tended to pick up decorative items related to my collection, things like china figurines, toys, cartoon characters with cameras, even camera related clothing items. That's the collection you'll find here.

Shown here is a Squirt Pix -- an automatic water-shooting camera.

(via Sublimate)

Posted on 8 August, 2003

Butter Hog

From Ananova: Woman Makes Harley Davidson From Butter.

Norma "Duffy" Lyon from Des Moines is creating a full-scale butter V-Rod to celebrate Harley-Davidson's 100th anniversary.

Posted on 8 August, 2003

The Future of Music

The future of music is Eigenradio -- statistically optimal music since 2003.

Eigenradio makes its optimal music by analyzing in real time dozens of radio stations at once. When our bank of computers has heard enough music, it will go to work on making more just like it. Since we listen to so much music all the time, Eigenradio is always on and always live. What you hear on Eigenradio is the best of the New Music, distilled and de-correlated. One song on Eigenradio is worth at least twenty songs on old radio.

If you don't understand, check out the flowchart.

(via Muxway)

Posted on 8 August, 2003