J-Walk Blog: January 12, 2004 Archives

12 January, 2004

Good Blog Names Redux

I did this a few months ago (see this), and now I'm doing it again...

I browsed through the Weblogs site (which lists updated blogs), and made a list of some good blog names. Not all of these are good blogs, but each has a name that made me check it out.

I've come to the conclusion that most blogs don't have a good name -- including the one you're reading right now.

Posted on 12 January, 2004

Verifying My Identity

Every few weeks, I'll get an email like this:

I'm protecting myself from receiving junk mail. Just this once, click the link below so I can receive your emails. You won't have to do this again.

You are receiving this message in response to your email to ____, a Spam Arrest customer. Spam Arrest requests that senders verify themselves before their email is delivered. When you click the above link, you will be taken to a page with a graphic on it. Simply read the word in the graphic, type it into the form, and you're verified. You will only need to do this once per Spam Arrest customer.

So far, every single one of these has been generated by a reply that I made to someone who emailed me first. I have never gone through the trouble of going to the Spam Arrest site (or similar "white list" sites) to verify myself. And I never will.

The Spam Arrest customer may as well send me a message like this:

I'm much too busy to go through the trouble of deleting my spam. I'd much rather pass the work on to other people, like you.

Posted on 12 January, 2004

Worst Verse

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Truly Awful poetry from the Internet.

The internet is a collection of the intellectual efforts of millions of people. It is a mirror of our cultures, societies and beliefs. It is the ultimate expression of the breadth and depth of humanity.

It is also filled with godawfully crappy poetry.

The poems are categorized, and are also annotated.

Posted on 12 January, 2004

Ansel Adams' Manzanar Photos

From the Library of Congress: Ansel Adams' Manzanar Photographs.

In 1943, Ansel Adams (1902-1984), America's best-known photographer, documented the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California and the Japanese Americans interned there during World War II.

Adams's Manzanar work is a departure from his signature style of landscape photography. Although a majority of the photographs are portraits, the images also include views of daily life, agricultural scenes, and sports and leisure activities.

The photos are available in a variety of graphic formats, including huge uncompressed archival TIFF files.

Shown here is a farmer with cabbages.

Posted on 12 January, 2004

An Amusing Amazon Search

No telling how long this will work, but...

Go to amazon.com, and type "old fart" in the search box. You'll get a very weird photo of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Apparently, it's his birthday.

(via Joho The Blog)

Posted on 12 January, 2004

Color-Coding Airline Passengers

From the Washington Post: U.S. to Push Airlines for Passenger Records.

Despite stiff resistance from airlines and privacy advocates, the U.S. government plans to push ahead this year with a vast computerized system to probe the backgrounds of all passengers boarding flights in the United States.

The government will compel airlines and airline reservations companies to hand over all passenger records for scrutiny by U.S. officials, after failing to win cooperation in the program's testing phase. The order could be issued as soon as next month. Under the system, all travelers passing through a U.S. airport are to be scored with a number and a color that ranks their perceived threat to the aircraft.

That's right. Every passenger will be assigned a color:

A "red" rating means a passenger will be prohibited from boarding. "Yellow" indicates that a passenger will receive additional scrutiny at the checkpoint and a "green" rating paves the way for a standard trip through security.

I anticipate mass confusion, as people confuse this absurd color-coding system with the equally absurd national terrorism threat color-coding system.

Posted on 12 January, 2004

Tom Swift Dust Jackets

A growing collection of Tom Swift dust jackets.

Here's how it works: I'll scan the dust jackets that I have & post them here. You are free to download them at will. I ask that in return, you scan in any dust jackets you have that are either missing from this set, or better than the image I have.

Posted on 12 January, 2004

Bad Movies?

Learn about bad movies at The Agony Booth.

The Agony Booth is an ongoing inquisition into some of the worst movies humanity has to offer, and is not for the weak of spirit or the easily disheartened. However, if you think you have the fortitude to completely immerse yourself in a truly awful film, withstanding in-depth commentary and analysis, then the Agony Booth is the place for you.

Posted on 12 January, 2004

The Hunderwasser House

Photos of the Hunderwasser House in Vienna.

Here's more about the guy who created it.

Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser is an Austrian artist and architectural creator, known for his eccentric designs. Born in Vienna (Austria) on December 15th, 1928 as Friedrich Stowasser he attended the Motessori School in 1936. During the persecution of the Third Reich he lost all relatives of his Jewish mother in the Nazi concentration camps. In 1949, as a reaction to the state world around him, he changed his name to Friedrich Hundertwasser, derived from a translation of the Slavic "Sto".

Posted on 12 January, 2004

The Internet Sucks

Steve Ross says: The Internet Sucks.

It sucks now more than it did five years ago.

Five years ago we had Netscape and Internet Explorer. They sucked. Now, we have Internet Explorer. That sucks more.

Five years ago we had RealAudio. It sucked. Now we have MusicNet. It sucks more.

Five years ago we had MP3 (we even had it until a few months ago). It really sucked (especially over a 28.8 modem). Now we have Windows Media, and a dozen other locked in formats. They suck more.

Five years ago we had thousands of .coms. They sucked. Now we have one .Net. It sucks more.

I can't say that I disagree. And I'll even go out on a limb and state that it will continue to suck for a long, long time.

Posted on 12 January, 2004

My One And Only Recording

Yesterday, quite by accident, I discovered an old song that I recorded about 6-7 years ago. This was back in the days when I was really into creating music with synthesizers and MIDI.

For the sequencing and recording I used Cakewalk software, which was installed on an old cast-off computer. The system was not connected to the Net, had a very small hard drive, and didn't even have a CD-ROM drive. So my back-up options were limited. Eventually, that computer died, along with all of the music that I created.

But somehow, this one song survived. If I recall, I used some software that could split a large file to multiple floppy discs, and then re-create it. I moved this song to another computer, and burned it to a CD, along with some other MP3s that I downloaded from Napster. And for some reason, I played that CD yesterday and discovered the lost song.

If anyone is interested, here's the song (MP3 format, 2.5Mb). The sound quality and mix are not very good. I think this was my first attempt at creating an MP3 file.

I used three synths for the sounds: A Roland JV-80, a Korg Wavestation, and an Alesis SR-16 (drums). The only "real" instrument is the 30-second guitar solo towards the end. In fact, that guitar solo (and the concurrent key change) is probably the only part of the song that borders on being even slightly interesting.

Believe it or not, I actually created some pretty decent songs in those days. Unfortunately, the only remaining song is not in that category. So feel free to make fun of it all you like. After listening to it again, I'm thinking that I subconsciously stole the melody from Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender." I expect to hear from their lawyers any day now.

By the way, the JV-80 is the only synth that I still own (and it's now listed at the Vintage Synth site!). All of the other equipment is long gone, and I'm well past the MIDI music phase of my life.

If nothing else, this demonstrates that the technology exists (even 6-7 years ago) for a rank amateur with absolutely no musical training to record music (using the term loosely) at home.

Posted on 12 January, 2004

For Potential Space Travelers

Potential space travelers take note: 10 Things You Should Know Before You Go into Space. For example:

The surface temperature on Venus is extremely hot--about 462�C (864�F); hot enough to melt lead. To put this in perspective: lead melts at 328�C (662�F).

So bring some sensible clothes.

Posted on 12 January, 2004

Maggot Art

Check out some maggot art.

Maggot Art is a fantastic new teaching tool for use in the elementary school setting. Children get hands-on experience with insects that most people find truly disgusting -- maggots -- while creating a beautiful piece of artwork to share with others.

We use only non-toxic water-based paints to make Maggot Art. The maggots are not harmed by this paint, and they are released as adults after they have completed their development. In addition to cleaning the maggots before use, we handle them with forceps so you will not have to worry about contamination.

The maggot art shown here is called "Tightrope Warriers," by Charlotte Wacker. The names of the maggots were not provided.

Posted on 12 January, 2004

Saddam Sand

Is anyone really gullible enough to send this guy $25 for some sand from Saddam Hussein's hideout?

saddamsand.com has produced a limited edition commemorative presentation encompassing a small sample of sandy earth excavated from the hole that was Saddam's last hiding place. Only 1,000 of these historical and unique pieces will be produced. Each is mounted on a smart wooden base, complete with a brass plaque and inscription stating:

GENUINE EARTH FROM AL-DAWR, IRAQ. TAKEN FROM
THE HOLE USED AS A FINAL HIDING PLACE BY FORMER
IRAQI PRESIDENT SADDAM HUSSEIN

Posted on 12 January, 2004

From The Internet Archives

I spent some time at the Internet Archives over the weekend. The amount of material there is simply astounding. Just a few examples:

Duck and Cover: A Federal Civil Defense film from the '50's, featuring Bert the Turtle. Although they used to show this for school kids, I don't think I've ever seen it (or maybe I've repressed all memories of it).
Net Labels: More than 1,000 free music downloads from various small labels.
Sherlock Holmes Audio: Several dozen Sherlock Holmes episodes in MP3 format. Unfortunately, they are not labeled, so you don't know what you've got until you play it.
First 100,000 Prime Numbers: Yes folks, all 100,000 of them for your reading pleasure.

Posted on 12 January, 2004

An Umbrella For Your Dog

I'm getting to the point where something like pet umbrellas doesn't even surprise me.

The Pet umbrella keeps your pet dry and comfortable in rain, sleet or snow. Pet Umbrella is also available with its matching People Umbrella.

This site has lots of other weird pet items such as boots and a car hammock.

Posted on 12 January, 2004

Musician Jokes

A collection of musician jokes, sorted by instrument. For example:

Q: What do you say to a banjo player in a three-piece suit?

A: "Will the defendant please rise?"

But no ukulele jokes...

Posted on 12 January, 2004

Fax.com Update

From Wired: Fax.com Still Dodging Legal Slaps.

Federal regulators slapped junk-fax blaster Fax.com with a $5.3 million fine earlier this week, but the government may find that collecting the money will be as difficult as getting off Fax.com's spam list.

Just ask Covington & Burling, a law firm that won a $2.3 judgment against the junk marketer in April 2003, but has not received a penny yet, according to attorney Jason Levine.

Posted on 12 January, 2004

John's Transformation

What happens when a guy decides to start exercising and eating better? Sometimes, it works.

View a weekly photo of John's transformation.

(via The Presurfer)

Posted on 12 January, 2004