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14 September, 2004

Kryptonite Bike Locks

I'll bet the suits at Kryptonite Locks are flipping out over this story, which is making the rounds today: Kryptonite Evolution 2000 U-Lock hacked by a Bic pen.

Watch the short video clip. It took about two seconds to open the lock.

Posted on 14 September, 2004

U.S. Map Scaled By Electoral Votes

Here's a U.S. map that shows the states resized so they reflect the number of electoral votes.

(via Metafilter)

Posted on 14 September, 2004

Sign Language Animations

This looks like a good site for those who want to learn sign language: ASL University.

Feel free to use this site and learn from the various lessons and resources. There is no need to register or pay unless you want documentation to fulfill high school, college, or continuing education course requirements.

If you'd just like to browse through the huge collection of animations, go here. Here's the animation for "drunk."

Posted on 14 September, 2004

Henry Anszczak, Dead At 92

News item: Seminal School-Portrait Photographer Dies At 92.

PHOENIX-Henry Anszczak, the photographer whose influential work revolutionized modern school portraiture, died Sunday at his family home in Eloy. He was 92.

According to longtime assistant Dave Olsen, Anszczak died of natural causes.

You say you've never heard of him?

"Anszczak single-handedly standardized the wallet-size," Menzies said. "It was his discovery that, in addition to a 5"x7" portrait suitable for framing, a student might like a number of smaller photos to offer to those peers with whom he or she plans to remain best friends forever."

Anszczak was the first school photographer to offer matte finish. He was the first to seat subjects on a stool, to direct them in proper placement of their hands, and to offer them the use of a black plastic comb before the photo was taken. He pioneered use of soft-focus, previously seen only in Hollywood glamour portraits, in senior-year photos. And he introduced the now-famous "fence post, wagon wheel, and bale of hay" tableau, which became an industry standard.

Posted on 14 September, 2004

World Wide Spider Webs

Samuel Zschokke's Spider Web Construction Gallery.

This page aims to present a variety of spider webs and to briefly describe how they are constructed and to show the spider itself. The thumbnail pictures in the rightmost column show the finished webs (a few more are to come!). The (colourful) thumbnail pictures in the column next to it do not show spider webs; they show the tracks of spiders during web construction.

Whenever possible, I tried to match the two pictures in each species; i.e. the picture on the left shows the construction of the web shown to the right of it. The tracks have been coloured to emphasise the different phases of web construction.

Shown here is the path made by an Argiope lobata, when constructing a web.

Don't overlook the movie.

Posted on 14 September, 2004

Some More Answers

These questions were submitted to Ask J-Walk.

Curtis: Have you ever read any Kem Nunn novels?

Not yet. But curiosity got the best of me and I just ordered a copy of Tapping The Source. I'll let you know what I think. Currently, I've been immersed in Nathan Walpow and J.A. Jance novels.

rene: Do you give away signed books or photos from time to time?

Books, yes. Photos, never.

Seth Dimbert: I teach and a fellow teacher tells me that he teaches his math students to use a TI83 calculator, and not Excel, because, "[In Excel, the] Quartile command returns incorrect answers, as documented in "statistics for Managers", Levin et al Prentice Hall". Can you explain how Excel could get something like that wrong and what - in your opinion - Microsoft should do about it?

Microsoft is well aware of the problems with Excel's statistical functions. They fixed some of them in Excel 2003, and I suspect they'll fix some more in the next version.

I think that it's probably a matter of priorities. When a new version of Office is being developed, they have thousands of feature requests and bug fixes to consider. Those that will impact the most people probably get the highest priority. But lately, it seems that their efforts have been guided more by marketing than by user needs.

Kevin: What ever happened to your idea about turning the Spreadsheet Page into a blog? I wish there was more new Excel stuff... Pretty soon Kusleika's going to beat you out as Mr. Excel!

It's on the proverbial back burner. I'll revisit that idea after I finish PUP v6. The problem is, it will be a lot of work and I'm not sure if it's worth the effort. Another consideration: There are already several good Excel blogs, so maybe another one isn't really needed.

Scott: Do you have any good resources for a beginning guitarist? I've been playing for about 4 months now, and I know the basic open chords, and I'm starting to get the hang of barre and power chords. Where can I go for more music and more information to make me a better guitarist? Do you have any guitar webpages you visit regularly?

The only guitar site that I visit on a regular basis is the Fender Discussion Page (FDP). It's an incredible resource, regardless of the brand of guitar you have. Read through the discussions and you'll find lots of good links. Unlike many guitar-related sites, the FDP discussion forums are well-moderated and you'll find very few jerks hanging out there.

Posted on 14 September, 2004

Link Popularity Check

Here's a way to get a general idea of how popular a Web site is: Link Popularity Check.

The Link Popularity analysis tool searches several search engines (AllTheWeb, AltaVista, Google/AOL, HotBot/Inktomi, MSN) to determine how many pages are linked to your web page. The more links there are, the easier you are to be found and the more traffic you will get.

I checked my two domains, with the following results:

Interestingly, the totals are almost identical: 64,309 vs. 64,403. This is pretty surprising, considering that j-walk.com has been active for much longer than j-walkblog.com.

But, upon further investigation, it seems that the numbers include internal links. So, all of the links at this blog that refer to this blog (and there are a lot of them) are included in the totals -- making this a fairly useless tool.

(via Steel White Table)

Posted on 14 September, 2004

They Got Some Crazy Little Women There

Venomous Kate, the on-again-off-again blogger, is leaving Hawaii and moving to Kansas City. And she answers the inevitable question: WHY?

I miss home. I miss the changing seasons, soft fuzzy sweaters, the smell of springtime dew, crimson autumn leaves. I miss my friends of the past 17 years. I miss trips to Grandma and Grandpa's lake house in the summer, and their visits to our house at Thanksgiving. I miss salad and soup bars in the grocery store, and being able to buy Tab soda whenever I want.

Ah, so it's Tab soda...

Posted on 14 September, 2004

The Bush Library

From The Morning News: A Tour of the George W. Bush Presidential Library.

Now that you've signed your loyalty oath, let's get started! Welcome to the George W. Bush Presidential Library's Automatic Self-Guided Audio Tour. Please note you cannot pause during the tour, turn down the volume, or ask any questions.

After passing through the Lobby of Justice, you'll start down the Corridor of Freedom. On your left, you'll see the Ground Zero Archives. Inside this room is a real section of the World Trade Center, which collapsed on September 11, 2001, after it was attacked by cowards.

Using a special chemical process, the library is able to keep this section of the World Trade Center burning and producing thick, acrid smoke forever.

Posted on 14 September, 2004

New From Christian Dior

From The Guardian: The designer iris: keep an eye on Dior.

Christian Dior, most famous for its haute couture clothes, handbags, makeup and the bestselling perfume J'adore, is to put its distinctive logo in a more unusual place: eyes.

The fashion house has come up with two sets of contact lenses, designed by John Galliano for the Dior Eyes range.

The lenses will create the illusion of either a golden or a black ring around the iris. They will also contain a miniature CD logo.

It is hoped that the lenses will be on sale in London by the end of the month.

We can only hope that they will soon be available in the U.S..

Posted on 14 September, 2004

Spam Map

From Postini: A world map that shows where spam originates. And here's a map that shows where viruses originate.

Posted on 14 September, 2004

Some Difficult Puzzles

Up for a challenge? Try Minoru Abe Puzzles.

These puzzles are kind of like the familiar "moving tile" puzzles, but with a twist: The tiles are not square. I tried several of them, and made very little progress.

Posted on 14 September, 2004

He Is Robot, He Is Proud

For electronic music fans: I Am Robot And Proud.

From a review:

Immediately you run into problems trying to decide what genre it is - because it's really too focused to be experimental, and just too plain fun to be 'intelligent'. But this particular take on robotpop sure doesn't sound to me like anyone else who actually uses that word to describe their music - fellow Canadians Solvent and Lowfish, for instance. Funny, cute little chimes combine with hi-pitched electric pianos and gentle organs, electro blips, beeps and pings to create a unique lo-fi-but-lush sound.

The songs I listened to are very mellow and extremely listenable. I just ordered one of his CDs from Darla Records.

(via Fishbucket)

Posted on 14 September, 2004

High Heel Physics

Science meets fashion: Scientists calculate how high heels can go.

Physicists at the Institute of Physics (London, UK) have devised a formula that high-heel fans can use to work out just how high they can go. Based on your shoe size, the formula tells you the maximum height of heel you can wear without toppling over or suffering agonies.

h = Q * (12+3s /8)

h is the maximum height of the heel (in cm)

Q is a sociological factor and has a value between 0 and 1 (see below to work this out)

S is the shoe size (UK ladies sizes). This factor makes sure that the base of support is just good enough for an experienced and sober, high-heel wearer not to fall over.

Posted on 14 September, 2004

Lois On The Loose

The story of a long ride: Lois On The Loose.

On April 30th 2003 I leave behind the comforts of my cosy houseboat in London and my job at the BBC to motorcycle the length of the Americas. My route takes me from the Arctic Circle in Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in Argentina, the most southerly part of the world that one can reach by road.

(via MonkeyFilter)

Posted on 14 September, 2004

Dog Costumes

If I had a dog, I would never, ever, dress him in a costume. In fact, I think there should be some kind of law.

Posted on 14 September, 2004