J-Walk Blog: September 29, 2003 Archives

29 September, 2003

The Beatbox

Wow, this guy is impressive. A human beatbox. Drum machine not required.

Update: Rob Sama sent me a link to another human beatbox. This one is actually a sequencer (programmed in Flash) so you control the sound.

Posted on 29 September, 2003

Phone Booth

Last night we watched Joel Schumacher's Phone Booth.

I had never even heard of this film, but it was an enjoyable 75 minutes. I even watched most of the director's commentary. I learned that it was filmed in only 10 days, and all of the scenes were shot in sequential order.

And I only noticed one of the goofs at the IMDB.

Posted on 29 September, 2003

The Journals Of John Copeland

John Copeland's Journals, full of images (not text).

John is an artist, but he needs to learn a few things about Web design. For example, there is no reason to use a graphic to display text information. It looks ugly, it can't be resized, and people can't copy/paste it if they want to give you a free plug.

Posted on 29 September, 2003

Spy On Your Mate

Now you can buy your own spyware -- a product called Lover Spy.

It is designed to spy and monitor EVERYTHING there is to monitor on a computer, and report back to the spy all the recorded information, via e-mail. The idea is to install this program on your lover's computer so you can check up on them. To do so, we have revolutionized the computer spy world.

In related news from Yahoo (I mean Yahoo!): E-Spying on Your Lover Could Be Illegal.

Computer security experts said the Lover Spy service and software appeared to violate U.S. law, but also said the surveillance program pointed to an increasingly common way for hackers to seize control of computers.

(via Jeroen's Semi-Blog)

Posted on 29 September, 2003

Botanical Record Breakers

Find some interesting trivia about the plant world at Botanical Record Breakers.

For example, I learned this:

But the undisputed world's smallest flowering plants belong to the genus Wolffia, minute rootless plants that float at the surface of quiet streams and ponds.

Shown here is a bunch of these plants in a thimble.

Posted on 29 September, 2003

Another Color Toy

Last month I mentioned a site called QuickColor, which provides a way to find six colors that go well together -- useful for Web site designers.

Here's another color toy at the defencemechanism.com site.

Posted on 29 September, 2003

City Lights in Billings?

This morning I noticed a new site listed in my referral logs: a blog called City Lights, by Ed Kemmick. Ed is a reporter (or something) for the Billings Gazette. I guess blogs at newspaper sites is a new trend. Or maybe it's an old trend and I haven't been paying attention.

Ed's blog is fairly new, and reading it (and visiting his links) brings back a few memories of Montana, where I spent about seven great years.

I was surprised to see that the only blog listed in his "links" section is the J-Walk Blog. He's also a blues fan, and he wears a baseball cap in his blog photo -- so he can't be all bad.

So welcome to the exciting and profitable world of blogging, Ed.

Posted on 29 September, 2003

Beating A Spammer, And Losing

From Wired: Spam: This Time It's Personal.

Markley isn't a spammer, he's a graphic artist. He was the victim of a con artist who sent thousands of spam messages carefully crafted to appear as if they had originated from Markley's domain. The scam almost cost Markley his business, his reputation, his website and his sanity.

It turns out that the culprit was well-known spammer Eddy Marin.

Markley then tracked down and contacted Marin's ISP of the moment, WCG.net, and told the tech support staff what had been happening. Within a few hours, Marin's account had been canceled.

And that's pretty much how it ends. Markley's site is still down, and Eddy Marin has a new ISP so he can do it again and again and again.

Posted on 29 September, 2003

The White House For Kids

The White House parody site has a whole section for kids.

Welcome to The White House for Kids! Here, President George W. Bush and First Lady Mrs. George W. Bush are tickled pink to provide boys and girls like you with all manner of fun, informative, and strictly non-partisan games and activities. So dig in, and have a good time!

Don't overlook the "Pre-Pubescent Patriots" section.

Posted on 29 September, 2003

The Leg Lamp

I think I've seen the movie "A Christmas Story" at least a dozen time. One of my favorite parts is when the leg lamp arrives. Now you can get your very own leg lamp.

This clever leg lamp will get more attention than anything you've ever had...for gifts, bars, dens, fraternity houses, playrooms. The leg of this lifesize Leg Lamp is one of a kind. Including the shade it stands 40 inches high.

The light illuminating the leg from inside can be turned on simultaneously with the light under the shade or separately, with your choice of stocking, shoe and lampshade it can be "Customized to fit any decor."

Posted on 29 September, 2003

P2P Telephony

I've been hearing a lot about Skype, but I haven't tried it.

Skype is the next phenomenon from the people who brought you KaZaA. Just like KaZaA, Skype uses P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to connect you to other users - not to share files this time, but to talk for free with your friends.

The technology is extremely advanced - but super simple to use... You'll be making perfect quality free phone calls to your friends in no time! Just tell them to get Skype as well, if they don't already have it.

Posted on 29 September, 2003

The Honeywell Kitchen Computer

Too bad Honeywell no longer makes its Kitchen Computer.

This computer was marketed for the wealthy and savvy housewife. It appeared on the cover of a Neiman-Marcus catalog in 1965. Basically, you could program recipes into the computer and it would store them for you.

However, it was $10,000 in 1965, and you needed about two weeks' worth of programming to operate it. So, with the purchase, you received some built-in recipes, two weeks' worth of programming, a cookbook, and an apron.

Here's a link to a full-page magazine ad with the headline, "If she can only cook as well as Honeywell can compute."

Posted on 29 September, 2003

How Spam Works

From How Stuff Works: How Spam Works.

Nothing new here, but it's a nice overview of the spam industry.

Posted on 29 September, 2003