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15 October, 2004

Beardsworth Photos

John Beardsworth is back from his trip to the U.S. (including Arizona), and he's posted a few photos.

I love this shot taken in Chloride, AZ,

The town of Chloride Arizona is less well known, the name deriving from the silver chloride mined there until its semi-abandonment. It looks like an arty crowd moved in and used the mine junk for garden ornaments.

Posted on 15 October, 2004

Desktop Searchers

Yesterday I installed Google Desktop. I've done dozes of test searches, and I've actually used it 4-5 times for real searches. In all cases, I was amazed at the results.  My hard drive is pretty disorganized, and I tend to use the Windows search feature quite a bit. But no more.

Ed Bott discusses some other options: Desktop search alternatives. He has good things to say about Copernic Desktop Search:

Whoa. This is good! After 30 minutes working with it I'm really impressed with its power, and I think Google has its work cut out for it, at least for information junkies like me.

And Dick Kusleika snagged a free copy of X1, and promises a report.

Posted on 15 October, 2004

Automate Excel

Mark Wielgus' Excel blog has been around since mid-August, but I just now became aware of it: Automate Excel.

Posted on 15 October, 2004

Jumping Over A Car

This short video clip made me spit coffee on my new monitor: Cunning Stunt.

Posted on 15 October, 2004

Reader-Submitted Links

I'm cleaning out my inbox again, and ran across some link suggestions from readers:

Posted on 15 October, 2004

Creation SuperLibrary

Want answers? Get 'em at the Creation SuperLibrary.

The Creation SuperLibrary is a non-profit, educational, cooperative ministry -- part of the highly popular Christian Answers Network. Information in the Creation SuperLibrary is primarily supplied by its Team Members and staff, Christian organizations generously working together to help others.

Its mission is to produce and freely provide high-quality material on Creation/Evolution for seekers and searchers.

It has an answer to the age-old question, Was Adam brown-skinned?

We can't say for sure, but I suspect Adam had a middle-brown skin color. All humans have the same skin color. We have a pigment called melanin. If we have a lot of this pigment we are very dark (even black). If we don't have much of this pigment we are very fair ('white').

In The Answers, it is explained that from two people having the right mix of dominant and recessive genes for the amount of melanin, all shades of colour in humans could arise. Thus, if Adam and Eve were both a middle-brown colour, all shades from 'black' through to 'white' could be accounted for in their children and future generations. For the same reason, Adam and Eve probably had brown eyes and dark hair.

Posted on 15 October, 2004

Bill Gates, On IE Security

From USA Today: Gates has a plan: Compu-tainment. It's an interview with Bill Gates.

Here's a quote that falls into the "I can't believe he said that" category:

Q: Speaking of security, Internet Explorer has had well-publicized holes...

Gates: Understand those are cases where you are downloading third-party software.

So, in other words, IE would be perfectly secure if people only used Microsoft software.

Posted on 15 October, 2004

Congratulations Are In Order

After today, I will have been doing this blog for two complete years. Yes, tomorrow is the 2nd anniversary of the J-Walk Blog.

When I first started, I was lucky to attract 250 visitors per day. Now, that number is around 5,000. I don't really like to dwell on the numbers, but that's just about the only way I have to gauge the "success" of this blog.

It's been fun, and it's gratifying to have a growing group of people who come here every day to join in the fun. I've made some great virtual acquaintances.

And, to answer the inevitable question, I have no plans to give it up any time in the near future.

Posted on 15 October, 2004

WWI Photos In Color

Jean-Baptiste Tournassoud's photos from World War I, in color.

(via Cynical-C Blog)

Posted on 15 October, 2004

NNDB

What is the NNDB?

NNDB is an intelligence aggregator that tracks the activities of people we have determined to be noteworthy, both living and dead. Superficially, it seems much like a "Who's Who" where a noted person's curriculum vitae is available (the usual information such as date of birth, a biography, and other essential facts.)

But it mostly exists to document the connections between people, many of which are not always obvious. A person's otherwise inexplicable behavior is often understood by examining the crowd that person has been hanging out with.

Posted on 15 October, 2004

Flash Forward

The winning entries for the Flash Film Festival. There's some very creative work here.

Of those that I looked at, I like The Halcyon Hours the best. It's the first one in the Art category.

Posted on 15 October, 2004

Floating Beds

From the Floating Bed Company: Floating beds.

It's fun, romantic, and surprisingly practical. Your home will take on a whole new dimension with a Floating Bed.

It's perfect as your main bed, guest occasional bed, sofa, or as an outdoor hammock. It's the greatest idea ever in sleep and relaxation.

That might be fun occasionally, but I don't think I'd want to sleep on it every night.

Posted on 15 October, 2004

Mechanical Placebos

A two-part question at Ask Metafilter:

Part One: I've heard people say that the "close doors" buttons in elevators don't work. They certainly don't seem to do anything in my building. Do they not work because of poor design or are they literally (purposefully) not hooked up to anything?

Part Two: Are there other examples of mechanical (or software) placebos? I've heard that the "progress bar" you see when Windows boots doesn't actually mean anything. Microsoft just discovered that people were happier if there was some sort of animation going on while their computer was starting up.

Lots of replies to this one.

Posted on 15 October, 2004

File Magazine

File Magazine: A collection of unexpected photography.

The purpose of FILE is to collect and display photographs that treat subjects in unexpected ways. Alternate takes, odd angles, unconventional observations - these are some of the ways photographs collected in FILE reinterpret traditional genres. We leave the Kodak Moments to the family album, the glossy fashion spreads to Vogue, and the photo finishes to ESPN. Rather than taking the well-trod paths, we veer to left and get a different perspective.

Shown here is Once A House, by Sam Javanrouh.

Posted on 15 October, 2004

A Podcast Directory

Here's a directory of some of the podcasts that are currently available: podfeeder.com.

Each is classified by a "show type," but that's all the descriptive information that's available. It would be nice to have some type of rating system, or a least a description.

Posted on 15 October, 2004

CAPTCHA

The CAPTCHA project:

A CAPTCHA test is a program that can generate and grade tests that most humans can pass and current computer programs can't pass.

For example, humans can read distorted text as the one shown below but current computer programs can't:

Posted on 15 October, 2004

Free Music

Check out some new music at SoundClick.

You will find well-known artists such as Janet Jackson, Sarah McLachlan, Moby, Gravediggaz, PM Dawn, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Letters To Cleo. But we also offer thousands of great unsigned bands looking for their big break.

Tune into any of hundreds of "station" and you're likely to discover some good music by artists that you've never heard of.

Posted on 15 October, 2004

Frogs And Toads Are In Trouble

Some not-so-good news: Pollution: a death sentence for frogs and toads.

A third of the world's frogs, toads and newts are on the brink of extinction thanks to pollution and loss of their habitat, a study published today warns.

Scientists say that in the space of a century, amphibian species are being wiped out at a rate that would otherwise be spread over tens of thousands of years.

Some 43% of all amphibian species are in population decline, while fewer than 1% are increasing, 27% are stable, and the rest are unknown.

Posted on 15 October, 2004

Mmmmmmm... Squirrel

From Jerry's Bait and Tackle: Our favorite squirrel recipes. Items such as squirrel pie, fried squirrel, squirrel casserole, and squirrels and rice.

Posted on 15 October, 2004

Anti-Yankee Stuff

Let the world know that you're a Yankee Hater.

Yankee-Hater.com is a t-shirt and merchandise company that is run BY baseball fans FOR baseball fans. We take the best Anti-Yankee gear and make it available to fans nation-wide. Our merchandise is of the highest quality, and we're always bringing in new items. We are based out of the Boston area where the rivalry runs deep but aim to offer merchandise to fans from coast to coast.

Stuff for boys, and stuff for girls.

Posted on 15 October, 2004