« Previous Day | Main | Next Day »

3 November, 2004

Weird Headline

Here's an odd headline at Computer Business Review: Father of Microsoft products caught slaying own children.

One of the leading lights behind Microsoft Corp's Internet Explorer browser, Access database and XML strategy yesterday questioned the ability of his former employer, along with other ISVs, to quickly update packaged software.

Posted on 3 November, 2004

Eclipse Time-Lapse

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is worth a look.

The Earth's rotation, multiple exposures, and digital enhancements are used to create a time-lapse effect that dramatizes how the Moon looked as it faded out and re-appeared during the three hour lunar eclipse. As the Earth's shadow engulfed the Moon, the lunar images became less and less bright, practically disappearing during totality.

Posted on 3 November, 2004

Four More Years?

Well, it's not official yet, but it seems as if the Presidential election is a done deal. George W stays put. The only difference this time is that he doesn't need to worry as much about approval ratings and public opinion polls.

You can bet that the neo-cons at the Project for the New American Century are happy campers. Their plan for world domination will continue for a least for more years. If you're not familiar with this organization, check out the Wikipedia article on the PNAC. And here are bios of some of the key players who are actually running the country.

Some might take the view that it doesn't really matter who wins the election. See Bush or Kerry? No Difference.

A myth equal to the fable of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction is gaining strength on both sides of the Atlantic. It is that John Kerry offers a world-view different from that of George W Bush. Watch this big lie grow as Kerry is crowned the Democratic candidate and the "anyone but Bush" movement becomes a liberal cause celebre.

And this article certainly makes some interesting points: Elections Are A Scam.

As in every election we're now being bombarded with propaganda about how "your vote makes a difference" and associated nonsense. According to the official version ordinary citizens control the state by voting for candidates in elections. The President and other politicians are supposedly servants of "the people" and the government an instrument of the general populace.

This version is a myth. It does not matter who is elected because the way the system is set up all elected representatives must do what big business and the state bureaucracy want, not what "the people" want. Elected representatives are figureheads. Politicians' rhetoric may change depending on who is elected, but they all have to implement the same policies given the same situation. Elections are a scam whose function is to create the illusion that "the people" control the government, not the elite, and to neutralize resistance movements. All voting does is strengthen the state and ruling class, it is not an effective means to change government policy.

For those of us who like to poke fun at old George W, there's sure to be a plethora a good material.

Update: Comments are now disabled for this item. Thanks to some morons who feel the need to use obscenities and start arguments.

Posted on 3 November, 2004

Implosions

Watch buildings go down at Implosion World.

Welcome to the explosive demolition industry's worldwide source for news and information on building implosions, blowdowns and all other types of structural blasting projects.

Implosionworld.com publishes news, feature articles and non-proprietary technical information. In addition, there's the award-winning photography captured by Protec Documentation Services as well as many outside contributors.

Posted on 3 November, 2004

Musipedia

Inspired by Wikipedia, it's called Musipedia: The Open Music Encyclopedia.

Every entry can be edited by anybody. An entry can contain a bit of sheet music, a MIDI file, textual information about the work and the composer, and last but not least the Parsons Code, a rough description of the melodic contour, to make the encyclopedia searchable by melody.

Parsons Code?

Musipedia uses the "Melodyhound" melody search engine. You can find and identify a tune even if the melody is all you know. You can whistle or sing it to the computer or directly use the Parsons code. To "name that tune", you don't need to know the key signature, exact rhythm, or intervals.

Here's what the Parsons Code looks like for "Yankee Doodle Dandy":

Posted on 3 November, 2004

Steinitz Skulls

Welcome to Steinitz Skulls...

Buying, Selling, and Trading Only "AUTHENTIC" Steinitz Homo superus Skulls Since 1995!

Now, I know what your thinking: "I purchased a Homo superus skull before and it radiated no residual energy field!" I ask you, did you purchase an "AUTHENTIC" Steinitz Homo superus skull from Steinitz Skulls, OR was it a cheap, fabricated imitation sold by some johnny come lately hominid skull dealer?

�Perhaps this chart will clear things up.

Posted on 3 November, 2004

Sacred Text

Here's the Internet Sacred Text Archive.

This site is a freely available archive of electronic texts about religion, mythology, legends and folklore, and occult and esoteric topics. Texts are presented in English translation and, in some cases, in the original language.

This site has no particular agenda other than promoting religious tolerance and scholarship.

(via Plep)

Posted on 3 November, 2004

Middle Class Museum

From The Onion: National Museum of the Middle Class Opens in Schaumburg, IL.

"The splendid and intriguing middle class may be gone, but it will never be forgotten," said Harold Greeley, curator of the exhibit titled "Where The Streets Had Trees' Names." "From their weekend barbecues at homes with backyards to their outdated belief in social mobility, the middle class will forever be remembered as an important part of American history."

"Unlike members of the lower class, middle-class people earned enough money in five days to take two days off to 'hang out,'" said Benson Watercross, who took a private jet from his home in Aspen to visit the museum. "Their adequate wages provided a level of comfort and stability, and allowed them to enjoy diversions or purchase goods, thereby briefly escaping the mundanity."

Posted on 3 November, 2004

Texas Prison Tattoos

Photos by Andrew Lichtenstein: Texas Prison Tattoos.

Within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's expanding prison system tattoos are taken seriously by the inmates and their guards alike. Tattoos obtained while locked up in prison have special significance back on the streets. Texas convicts like other prisoners in the U.S. are racially divided but they share an affection for tattoos that identify home towns.

Many of the gangs that are present in prisons across the nation have close regional geographic affiliations. A declaration of allegiance to one town or another can certainly provoke a gang fight and may cost an inmate his life.

Posted on 3 November, 2004

Submit A T-Shirt

At I Love Your T-Shirt, it works like this: People submit photos of their favorite t-shirt, then others look at the photos.

The t-shirt below, I assume, is not the result of a run-in with a seagull.

Posted on 3 November, 2004

Play With A Spider

User your mouse to interact with a spider that crawls around on your monitor.

Posted on 3 November, 2004

Soundscape FM

Not music, sounds: Soundscape FM.

Is a collaborative sound work which takes place during the Garage Festival in Stralsund, Germany from 23 July to 14 August. It takes the form of an FM radio broadcast, combined with a user-uploadable database filled with field recordings taken from all over the world.

In this way, the local radio is made an interface to the global as the residents and visitors in Stralsund suddenly have the chance to immerse themselves in an Amazonian rainforest, a Baltic ice-flow or a Vietnamese street market--sometimes mixed together into one acoustic environment.

Posted on 3 November, 2004