Flutterby™! From 1999-07-01 to 1999-07-23

QOTD:

Newsgroups: alt.binaries.warez.protocol-droids.c3
From: Anakin Skywalker <anakin@training.jedi.org> 
Subject: CA|\| NE1 0N Th]5 BB0ARD T3Ll M3 H0w 2 GeT KeWL S]Th P0WeRZ!?!?!??!? 

--- henke at kharendaen.krall.org (paraphrased by Peter da Silva)

[ related topics: Quotes ]

Keevah passes along Articles & Essays by Wm. J. Beck III. I haven't got to reading much of it yet, she recommended The Dark Thread which was a bit slow at times but worth reading, not because I agree with all of it but because it made me think. Good notes on where to draw lines.

[ related topics: Web development ]

QOTD (on being "a proper landowning capeetaleest peegdog"):

"First Up Against The Wall When The Revolution Comes! Woohoo! So long as they promise to use latex gloves, I'm happy. :)"

--- Thorfy

[ related topics: Quotes ]

Salon reports that vegetarians may have lower sex drives due to a lack of zinc in their diets. Although the "nutrtionist" quoted running the study seems to have some biases. I say there's only one way to find out, and it involves a statistically valid sample from both populations...

[ related topics: Web development Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Australia's luckiest man, although I'm sure that with a little work you could come up with similar sets of circumstances for someone in almost any country. It's amazing how the human mind looks for patterns.

Bumper sticker of the day:

Blasphemy is a victimless crime

Keith Knight confronts the Star Wars freaks.

"There were times I thought I was watching A Bug's Life there was so much computer animation."

[ related topics: Pixar Humor Web development Star Wars Animation ]

Interesting accident report about a midair collision attributed to the human factors of using GPS. Essentially, if pilots just plug in the longitude and lattitude of two airports, planes flying from one to the other will now be within 300 feet of a straight line between the two airports and so are much more likely to be close enough to each other to cause a problem.

The correct use of GPS decreases the average displacement of an aircraft from the centre line of its desired track; consequently, if separation procedures fail, the probability of a mid-air collision will increase (see LP 95/95). This increased risk of collision applies to both IFR and VFR aircraft in all types of operations.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Web development ]

The state of California will happily sell your salary information. First they asked for information to track the "deadbeat dads", and I didn't speak up because I wasn't one...

[ related topics: Web development ]

Brad exposes Anheuser-Busch's pandering to the gay market.

[ related topics: Web development Sexual Culture ]

The overclocking wars continue. While the systems I've pointed to before go to -40, here's a two stage cooling system to get a PC to -60C, a refrigration system cooling Peltier coolers. "Next stage will be to cascade the peltiers to see if -80C can be achieved."

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Web development ]

All Gore in 2000. To go along with GW Bush in 2000. I suppose making a sex and violence connection between Bush and Gore would be a little too tacky? I thought so.

[ related topics: Politics Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Elements 118 and 116 (118's immediate decay product) discovered.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Salon has a neat article about the decline of chick flicks:

"What the modern movies lack -- and what the older movies, even the ones with the happiest endings, always at least suggest -- is the sense that romance is always about risk and adventure."

[ related topics: Web development ]

Salon also has Keith Knight's take on Tarzan.

[ related topics: Humor Web development ]

Via Uncle Aussie comes this article about transmitting clandestine messages in DNA. It also uses some marker information so the actual message is buried in huge amounts of noise, which is good to keep crypto attacks less effective.

The researchers proved the DNA microdot works by pasting the tiny dots over the full stops in a typed letter, posting it and then analysing the dots when it arrived back. The message was received, loud and clear.

From Salon, a poorly written article on experiencing an isolation tank (poorly written because the author uses "you" to describe his experiences) that still makes it sound like an appealing way to spend a couple of hours:

An apple is a universe. And if you can't see that now, pay a visit to the void.

[ related topics: Apple Computer Interactive Drama Web development ]

Debra rants about Phantom Menace merchandising. I may have to make my own run over to Good Vibrations in the near future:

I'm tempted to stage a silent protest over this one item. I'm thinking I'll buy one of the Jar Jar masks, stuff it, then run to a nearby bondage shop and get a blindfold and ball gag for it.

[ related topics: Good Vibrations Star Wars Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Okay, I think Gore is a wooden loser who will run rampant over our freedoms and tax us into the ground. But that guy is nothing compared to Bush. This is the reason campaign finance laws are bad.

[ related topics: Language Politics Web development Books ]

Via Rebecca's Pocket: That great lover of freedom, Bob Barr of Georgia, is trying to kick Wiccans out of the military. Leave the killing for the Christians.

David Oringsderff, a 30-year Army veteran and founder of Sacred Well, the Open Circle's sponsoring congregation, tried to explain the contradiction. Christians, he pointed out, also believe thou shalt not kill. In his view, the wiccans are at least more honest: They believe everything they do comes back at them threefold, so they prepare to pay a price. "We accept responsibility for our actions and don't have the devil to blame things on," Oringsderff said.

[ related topics: Web development Privacy ]

Rephrasings of Clarke's Law from the Scary Devil Monastery:

"Any technology, insufficiently understood, is indistinguishable from magic."

-- Firebeard

"Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."

-- Eric the Read

DigiBio appears to be homeopathy repackaged. They say things like: "A molecular signal can be efficiently represented by a spectrum of frequencies between 20Hz and 20,000 Hz, the same range as the human voice or music" which, given the issues of noise and amplification, sounds pretty improbable unless those voices in my head are real.

[ related topics: Music ]

In the new Comes Naturally David Steinberg looks at the new erotic photography collection Naked Libido, and has some interesting comments on photography critique as well.

[ related topics: Web development Photography Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Immediately obvious or not? Patent 5,443,036: Method of exercising a cat is waving a laser pointer around:

A method for inducing cats to exercise consists of directing a beam of invisible light produced by a hand-held laser apparatus onto the floor or wall or other opaque surface in the vicinity of the cat, then moving the laser so as to cause the bright pattern of light to move in an irregular way fascinating to cats, and to any other animal with a chase instinct.

[ related topics: Intellectual Property ]

Susie Bright on how to ruin your sex life.

[ related topics: Web development Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Via FactoVision, the PlayStation II is a supercomputer under U.S. export law and so cannot be shipped to China.

[ related topics: Language Web development Books ]

QOTD:

"Usenet: wisdom in homeopathic doses."

-- Paul Martin

[ related topics: Quotes ]

Salon asks what might happen when political ad writers do consumer products.

[ related topics: Politics Web development ]

One to watch: Titanic vs The Phantom Menace. Not enough real data here to show anything yet, but the graph of weekly revenues from each should be fun once we get more than 3 weeks out.

[ related topics: Web development Star Wars ]

The printer goes to 400DPI, but I'm having a little trouble getting it to do what I want in some modes, and I don't currently have the optics to support that for images large enough to look good in a cafe. Maybe for some pictures for my walls. Look out, Christopher Burkett, in another two decades digital technology and my slowly growing skill may yet approach... well... probably not.

Two bumper stickers that made me think this morning. The first was "live better/work union". Well, given my experience with unions, and that I live in Marin, I'm -><- this close to making a "live better/hire scab" one. The second said "Try God". Oh, believe me, I do. Intentionally. All the time. No response yet, but I'll keep goading.

[ related topics: Religion ]

Via Rebecca's Pocket comes this sad tale of a woman who claimed her lover was her husband for the sake of getting insurance coverage for a penile implant, but didn't get to the bills fast enough to hide them from her husband. Whoopsie.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Dairy whip can be tax deductible in New Zealand, at least if your business is sex. Similarly condoms, lubricants, lingerie and such. New Zealand laws are strict enough to allow disclosure of such things to the tax authorities without getting into trouble with the "vice" folks.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Politics Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Via the Daily Illuminator, the British Ministry of Defense is looking at a "phaser" design.

"The freeze ray works by zapping its victim with an electric current. It uses an ultraviolet laser to create a beam of light particles, called photons. These ionise a path through the air so that it can conduct electricity as if it were a wire leading to the target up to 100 metres away."

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Web development Cool Science ]

No body piercings or tattoos for Barbie. Wonder if there's something about Ken they've been hiding from us too?

"Mattel, the maker, said yesterday that it had stopped making the Butterfly Art Barbie, which had a butterfly tattoo on her ankle, and Chelsie, a supposedly British Barbie with a nose stud."

[ related topics: Butterflies Interactive Drama Web development ]

I don't know why I'm linking to this article on S/M as therapy, except that as we realize that most of conventional therapy is a bad scam to separate insurance comapanies from their money we're going to have to start looking at methods that really work, and the things that have real effects and are catalysts for real change are scary and very intense, and by their nature non-conventional.

[ related topics: Web development Psychology, Psychiatry and Personality ]

Everybody's reporting this article as James Gosling claiming Unix is immune to virii. By the article's words he's saying that Unix and its variants are less susceptible, but certainly not immune. And Gosling isn't stupid enough to have forgotten about the Morris Internet Worm exploit to the sendmail buffer overflow. The issue is when you write an operating system that invites attacks; Unix at least thinks about such things on the front end.

Via Stuffed Dog, a report that Divx is dead. Circuit City will take a $114 million charge related to closing out the business.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Keith Knight on parking.

[ related topics: Humor Web development ]

Wow. I've discovered the Fujix printer. I'm currently running some pretty darned awesome looking 10"x16" (11x17 paper) 200DPI prints from 3k by 2k PhotoCD scans sharpened a bit and a little color correction done in ImageMagick, and they're gorgeous. Hopefully they'll be up in the City Cafe in San Rafael during July and August, along with Dan Herman, who's got some gorgeous pictures from Patagonia, and the black and white work of Phil Beffrey. The three images I'm moderately satisfied with so far are kind of dark and moody, and the slides themselves look almost painterly. Now I'm trying to come up with 3 more in the opposite mood (green, nature, and upbeat). Alas, many of my more recent images aren't yet scanned (I'd have loved to have some Oregon waterfalls...), I'm working on a tight deadline, and I'm trying to stay away from the soppy Yosemite shots.

All right, can we just stop with the Bob Dole and impotence jokes? From Salon People today comes this totally unwarranted snipe over Jerry Falwell calling Elizabeth Dole "a lovely lady" in the context of the 2000 elections: "Hey, that's a stronger endorsement than Liddy got from her hubby, Floppy Bob." (bold in the original). Now I'm no fan of "bought Bob" and his record as a politician, but medical condition jokes just aren't that funny. I suppose gimp jokes are next.

[ related topics: Politics Web development ]

Cinetransformer gives you the comfort of a Dolby ProLogic© equipped air conditioned movie theatre anywhere. Large expanding trucks (see the animated GIF) built to provide movie theatres to rural Mexico, complete with their own generators and restrooms.

[ related topics: Web development Animation ]

Via Robot Wisdom, some primate researchers think that chimps have culture. If they start saying "yeehaw", drinking Budweiser, and driving pickup truc... wait a minute... nevermind.

[ related topics: Jorn Barger Interactive Drama Web development ]

Microsoft is trying to redefine "established behavior" for bug reporting. After Microsoft dragged their feet for a week on a bug in IIS that lets users run arbitrary code on servers, Firas Bushnaq, CEO of Eeye, publicised the bug and released it with an exploit. That sounds like any BugTraq posting to me. Those poor MS dudes are doing some serious damage control and backpedalling...

[ related topics: Business Web development Microsoft ]

Frank passes along the USGS mak of recent earthquates in LA. 3 miles south of the convention center, wonder what this is going to do to SIGGRAPH...

[ related topics: Ziffle Web development Games ]

Oh yeah, Phrontisterion was Aristophanes name for the school of Socrates in The Clouds. Oh yeah, I've got at least one message (I haven't even begun to wade through this weekend's backlog) suggesting that it was Mae West and not Tallulah Bankhead. Bankhead may have been the "pure as the driven slush" comment, or I may just be digging myself in deeper. I'll see if I can find a reference once I catch up on my sleep. On that note, I just got back from the first Phrontisterion, full reports will be forthcoming. An enlightening weekend talking about the future of interactive story, drama and fiction. Lots of interesting people. Got me back into the thinking about story mode, and in a week or three I might try reviving the idrama mailing list. Time to brush up on the McKee.

[ related topics: Children and growing up Interactive Drama Games ]

A Salon interview with Spencer Tunick, a photographer who does images of naked people in outdoor urban settings, abouthis work and his recent arrest in New York.

[ related topics: Web development ]

A while back Mouthorgan mentioned a book called Lip Service that advertised itself as an intelligent erotic romance novel. Well, I got it, and I disagree. It's mildly erotic, but lacks a really motivated plot and has shallow characterization. If anyone wants my copy, drop me an e-mail. But it was self-published by a in an attempt to break open a new genre. Anyway, it's been picked up by a mainstream publisher.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Books Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Todd checked in with the name of that group of Australian bagpipers: Brother. Aaaand, while I'm talking about that, I've set up the facilities for a few folks to write guest rants for Flutterby, hopefully Todd will provide a different perspective on the computing and interactive industry (and whatever else he finds interesting), and maybe we can get Steve, who's working this summer as an outside agitator in the Minneapolis school board race, to provide some balance from a Berkeley radical point of view. Of course when "balance" means views that disparate usually the center gets overburdened and breaks. We can hope.

[ related topics: Children and growing up ]

This last weekend I'd been talking about how romance novels (and other genres, that was just the example I was using) use the shotgun approach to afflict their heroines with every imagineable problem in order to find a couple of things in the reader's past which would make that protagonist more empathizeable. I wonder if perhaps some of the large scale myths of oppression that we play out in this society are instilled by popular culture like that? Errrr... make that "I wonder to what extent...".

[ related topics: Interactive Drama ]

Via JJG, an article on how easy it is to implant memories, even to the point that one in four will falsely remember an incident as having happened to them one week after reading a one page story about that incident.

"And, surprisingly, the effect was stronger when people read stories about children of the opposite sex. Sanders said she had been expecting more false memories when women read stories about girls, and men read about boys, but the opposite was true. So far, she says, she has no theories as to why that happened."

[ related topics: Children and growing up Web development Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Brad on The Death of Camp. Maybe this means that we can finally drive the nail in that smug post-modern attitude that everything's already been done ironic detachment and parody are the only novelty? This paragraph's about a response to a pride parade:

"It's pretty amazing," Warren said, "and all these people sure are enjoying themselves. But I just feel like I'm watching the funeral procession at the death of subtlety."

While I'm making random unconnected observations: Perhaps politics by heredity, as in England, isn't all that bad. At least that gives a fairly random sample of intelligence and ability, whereas elections like we've got clearly favor the schmoozers with no actual productive abilities (otherwise they'd be in business).

[ related topics: Politics ]

QOTD (though I know others have opined similarly):

Children are a renewable resource, after all.

--- Marshall McGowan

[ related topics: Children and growing up Quotes ]

The new Clean Sheets includes Hanne Blank on multiple male orgasm, some fiction from David Steinberg, and some new poetry.

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture ]

QOTD, in reference to "I can't believe it's not butter" and "Bugger me, it's margerine":

I'm still pondering whether i should pre-emptively register "I can't believe it's not Jesus" as a name for a low-calorie communion wafer, so i get in there before the church...

And after that, "Christ Lite" non-alcoholic communion wine...

Tanuki in the Scary Devil Monastery.

[ related topics: Religion Quotes Humor Web development ]

Since this seems to be making the rounds, here's an undoubtedly apocryphal note from the Australian DSTO's Land Operations/Simulation division on the hazards of adapting entertainment technology to military simulation. Watch out for them 'roos.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Back in March I wrote a piece about Annabel Chong's attempt to set a record for having sex with 251 men in 10 hours. I didn't think highly of it. In Nerve Magazine Leif Ueland writes about a similar situation, one which reinforces my disdain not for the attempt, but for the whole impersonality and motivations that drive it. But then I suppose I'm not really a goal driven person.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture ]

/. has a great review of Cryptonomicon. Says everything I can think of about the book better than I can write a review.

[ related topics: Books ]

Keith Knight and his pet rat.

[ related topics: Humor Web development ]

When playing with rocket powered vehicles you know you've hit on something cool when the tires squeal because they're not accelerating fast enough to keep up with the motorcycle. Written by someone whose native language is not English:

"...in the back of the neck we wear a special body parachute like the one Arvil wears in this picture, this parachute has an harness that is connected to the handle bar of the bike and in case of separation the parachute opens braking the pilot body in his sliding path."

[ related topics: Web development ]

Everyone's linking to Steve Wozniak's comments on Pirates of Silicon Valley, but it's been severely /.ed and so I haven't gotten there to read it yet. I did read a mirror site. The comments are a bit unsatisfying and a little more self-aggrandizing than I'd expect from Woz (not that self-aggrandizing from Woz isn't total humility on anyone else's measure). I didn't see the original, but I heard a whole lot of "If I were one of the people portrayed, I wouldn't be happy". Woz is saying basically that they took some liberties with the places, but the character of the people involved came through.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Web development ]

Just in case you needed a little nudge to read the Nerve interview with Grace Quek/Annabel Chong, a pull quote:

All my life I've wanted to get out of Singapore and to be not a Singaporean. It's the idea of how far I can run away from home. [snip] And that segues into control, the idea of taking control, because running away from home is very much a form, no matter how misguided, of taking back control of the things that maybe felt out of control in the past.

Following up to my link to my Annabel Chong comments and Nerve's article, Nerve today has an Amy Goodman interview of Annabel Chong. Interesting perspective, my original essay was written from the CNN and similar reports, this interview talks about issues like condoms and disease transmission and such. Once again a sharp reminder that my perception of an event is shaped by those who report it.

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Star wars fans: POF Too: "Purists should be forewarned that the following images graphically depict POF2 action figures and vehicles in manners that many would consider blasphemy."

[ related topics: Star Wars ]

Brad has a good piece on Armistead Maupin.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Don't panic, we've been assured that the computer experts working on government projects have many advanced degrees. This is what happens when you hire simply based on credentials, rather than actually looking at qualifications and skills. And I guess it's no secret that the primary employer of this nature would be the public sector:

"Despite the loopholes in state law, investigators from the Louisiana attorney general's office, along with federal investigators continue to investigate the lucrative scam. One investigator estimated that La Salle has issued 40,000 or more diplomas, with the majority going to government employees."

This is one well hung squirrel.

In the "And this person is in education?" department, here's a sad tale of a Bronx 8^th grade graduation ceremony with a completely illiterate program. The principal attempted to pass the buck with this bizarrely twisted statement:

"I am not aware of who did this," said Martin. "I did not peruse it. I do not coordinate everything that takes place in the school. I am not conversant with that document. It stands to reason that nothing like this would be done intentional."

[ related topics: Children and growing up ]

Well, Elizabeth Dole just lost my vote by coming out against parental responsibility.

If you're considering @Home or interested in the future of comunnication, rather than just broadcast, check out yesterday's entries in Hack the Planet.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama ]

Devin L. Granger on what Yoda meant to say:

"Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to using Windows NT for mission-critical applications."

[ related topics: Microsoft ]

Susie Bright on Marylin Chambers (Thanks, Jorn of Robot Wisdom, I tried searching Salon today for the article I knew must be there, and didn't find it).

[ related topics: Jorn Barger Web development Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Via /., a great analysis on why the Mindcraft Microsoft/Linux pissing contest is irrelevant:

"Let's be clear about this: if you have only 5 T1 lines or less, a single CPU Linux box with 256 MB RAM will wait on your internet connection and not be able to serve up to its full potential."

[ related topics: Free Software Interactive Drama Web development Microsoft ]

Cleft deodorant "is the only deodorant currently on the market that stops anal odors where they begin: AT THE ANAL CLEFT!"

[ related topics: Web development ]

Todd (Thanks for the Birthday present!) passes along this article on a little hopping robot built to explore an asteroid a kilometer in diameter.

[ related topics: Web development ]

What happens if you take the premise of the Mindcraft survey, web serving as a measure of machine speed, but use premises that make more sense, a set of benchmarks looking at NT, Linux and OS/X for more realistic web serving tasks:

"When calling CGI scripts, Windows NT is no match for Linux. As the load is not confined to kernel mode in this case, Linux can benefit from additional CPUs."

[ related topics: Free Software Interactive Drama Microsoft ]

Big Brother is watching you, but you already knew that. It's just nice to see mainstream publications like the Washington Post acknowledge that.

I can't talk about Toy Story 2, but Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool can.

[ related topics: Pixar Business Animation ]

David Steinberg's new Comes Naturally column touches on teenage homosexuality and pop culture, and how we're moving towards acceptance on some fronts and not on others.

[ related topics: Web development Sexual Culture ]

Aaron reminds me that there's some new Weird Al material out. Crank up those MPEG players.

Clean Sheets this week tackles sex and aging.

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Rebecca's Pocket points me toward this note on Brazil's hottest children's star, Tiazinha, a dominatrix as well as a singer:

"It felt great!" panted chubby 12-year-old Murillo Soares Maia, a faithful fan of Tiazinha's TV show for adolescents, unfazed but for a red blotch on his thigh after participating in this stop of her live tour. "I can die now. I've just been hot-waxed by the coolest person on Earth."

[ related topics: Children and growing up Web development Technology and Culture ]

_Keith Knight catches up with old friends _ (http://www.salonmagazine.com/c.../knig/1999/06/30/knig/index.html).

[ related topics: Humor Web development ]

Can anyone out there give me a little background and information on Verrier Elwin? Apparently he published from the mid 50s through the 70s on the Mishmi and Muria tribes in India.

Mouthorgan this morning looks at the flap over the new Yahoo/Geocities terms of service agreement, and ends up talking about the role of the ISP in general. Most of it doesn't interest me because I looked at the Geocities business model ages ago and realized that what they were saying didn't quite wash, and if I cared about my content then giving it to them wasn't a reasonable solution.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Sexual Culture ]

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Walter Gibson's original Shadow adventures in PDF format.

[ related topics: Web development ]

http://www.idiotwatchers.com/

Kiki is building the Firefall fountain for Burning Man. It's cool to scoop out some of the burning water/fuel mixture and pour it from hand to hand while it's flaming.

[ related topics: Burning Man ]

The web is one sick, twisted, perverse place. Kiki passes along nude carrots and furniture porn.

[ related topics: Web development Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Oh the places we 'bloggers toil for the rest of you... Occasionally someone will post some really fantastic work to alt.sex.stories. That this happens on Usenet is a miracle, that it happens in the spam laden alt.sex heierarchy doubly so. But a guy named Al Steiner is writing a tale of a 30 year old who ends up a teenager again, kicked back to high school in the '80s with a chance to make a different set of choices. Good read, not just for the prurient parts but because he's also telling an interesting tale.

• Doing It All Over: Chapter 1 (1/3)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 1 (2/3)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 1 (3/3)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 2 (1/3)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 2 (2/3)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 2 (3/3)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 3 (1/3)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 3 (2/3)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 3 (3/3)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 4 (1/3)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 4 (2/3)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 4 (3/3)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 5 (1/2)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 5 (2/2)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 6 (1/3)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 6 (2/3)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 6 (3/3)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 7 (1/3)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 7 (2/3)
• Doing It All Over: Chapter 7 (3/3)

[ related topics: Children and growing up Erotic Sexual Culture ]

The Linux Printing HOWTO Support Database lets you search for Linux/Ghostscript supported printers.

[ related topics: Free Software ]

The Society for the Prevention of Childbirth, "a collective of unabashed misanthropes", is yet another negative population growth organization.

I think I may have to make a field trip to Faerie Queene Chocolates:

Located in the heart of San Francisco's Castro District, our goal is to present you with some of the world's finest handmade confections both imported and made in our kitchen. Whether you are a chocolate novice or an established connoisseur, we hope that you will find something from our selections, to tempt your palate.

Wow. The world's smallest web server, so far as I can tell. I haven't priced out his particular parts, but this means that for somewhere under $10 you can add a TCP/IP stack to anything.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Via FactoVision (and /., and everyone else by now), to go along with that comment about MoCap sex, comes computer models of women.

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Digital Discipline: Gear for the Twisted Pair is one of those "why didn't I think of that" experiences. Or maybe I did and just dismissed the idea. Their products include the DS-6, "A single, six-stranded flat braid for when you need maximum throughput. One look and the recipient will know you're serious about your bandwidth", and the "Cat5 o' Eight Tails".

[ related topics: Web development ]

Via Robot Wisdom some interesting and occasionally risqué Flash animations.

[ related topics: Jorn Barger ]

If you're interested in digital imaging and digital cameras, Imaging Resource has great side by side comparisons, including the ability to pull up two images of a genre made by different cameras, and lots of reviews.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Photography ]

A new NETFUTURE has notes on Lusseyran's And There Was Light, but I'm having trouble getting into it.

[ related topics: Web development Technology and Culture ]

My rant on JFK got Dan Hartung to encourage me to reread Kennedy's inaugural speech (from the Columbia University archive of inaugural speeches). It still scares me, but putting it in historical context is interesting, of course world affairs have changed dramatically since then but I think most of my friends, on both sides of the political spectrum, would at best sit politely on their hands through it.

[ related topics: Politics Web development ]

Excerpted roughly from a press release:

11th Annual Digital Be-In Implores the ''Digerati'' to Take a Stand Against the War on Drugs

[snip]

The DrugPeace Channel will begin operations on January 9, 1999. The Drug Peace Campaign is based in San Francisco: DPC, PO Box 78067, San Francisco, CA 94107, 415-971-3573, Julia Carter, Director. Be-In 11 Event Sponsors include Mind Books and the Drug Policy Foundation, and Associate Sponsors Alexa Internet, NORML, MAPS, DRCNet, California Institute of Integral Studies, Psychedelic Island Views, The Sacred Dance Society, SF Bay Guardian, Japan's Zavtone Magazine, A&R Partners and Graham Technology Solutions.

The Digital Be-In has been produced for over a decade in San Francisco by Verbum, Inc., an early multimedia developer which published one of the first multimedia CD-ROMs in 1991 and many educational products for creative professionals working on computers.

See the events pages at http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/globalcoalition/ http://www.legalize.org/events/

[ related topics: Drugs Books Music ]

As a little counter to yesterday's link about the control of sex being the key to a thriving society, in Salon, an article about a contraceptive that made the Cyrenean's rich.

[ related topics: Web development Erotic Sexual Culture ]

The French are revolting. Ummm... Errr... Well... rebelling against the location of the prime meridian through Greenwich by planting trees in a line through Paris to make a meridian visible from space.

For the record, I'd like to recant a brash statement. A while back I made a prediction that Internet sales would stabilize because only catalog shoppers would buy from catalogs, whether electronic or paper. Several recent anecdotes have convinced me thatI was wrong. Everything is a commodity, consumers don't care all that much about actually getting their fingers on product, and delivery services are going to start building regional warehouses for drop shipping to undercut FedEx.

Andrew Einhorn makes pictures of smiling naked women in Nerve Magazine.

[ related topics: Erotic ]

A little late, but revisiting The Declaration of Independence is usually a worthwhile thing.

[ related topics: Web development ]

If you're going to Burning Man, may I suggest participating in The Possible Selves Conglomerate?

[ related topics: Burning Man Interactive Drama Web development ]

Ya know, before reading the Christian Analysis of American Culture review of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, I hadn't felt a great need to go see the movie. Now I want to.

[ related topics: Religion ]

QOTD:

"And it's medical equipment, so the blood comes right off.

--- Mike Sugimoto

[ related topics: Quotes ]

In Salon, David Steinberg rhapsodizes on the joys of transporting sex toys through airport security.

"I watch her [the security guard's] face as she digs through the cuffs, the latex straps, the blindfold, the zip-lock bag with condoms, rubber gloves and lube, the zip-lock bag with cock rings, the zip-lock bag with miscellaneous tit clamps, butt plug and so forth, Mark Chester's wonderful Spandex full-body bondage bag, the elegant soft leather scratch gloves with the sharp metal points scattered all over the palm and fingers. Her face stays 100 percent deadpan throughout, an impressive show of professionalism."

[ related topics: Web development Erotic Sexual Culture Personal Lubricant ]

The Daily Illuminator (which I check semi-weekly) reminds me that I heard a squib on the radio about David Sutch, aka Screaming Lord Sutch, founder of the Monster Raving Loony Party in Britain and poser of the question "Why is there only one Monopolies Commission?" has died. Is there a US version of the Monster Raving Loony Party? If so, I may need to change my affiliation.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama ]

Scary Devil Monastery QOTD:

"So, uhh, what's the difference between a field circus engineer and a psychotic pelican? One will break your equipment and hit you with an enormous bill, and the other one smells of fish."

--- Malcolm Ray

[ related topics: Quotes ]

Catch this one today, 'cause LA Times articles don't hang around. Via just about everybody, why web banner advertising will go away.

Kevin McSpadden, director of electronic commerce and retail marketing at Levi Strauss Direct, said Internet ads for the Web store, which included sponsorships of several online music sites, were not cost-effective.

"We were spending anywhere from $56 to $120 per paying customer to get them to come by," McSpadden said. "From a business and e-commerce standpoint, it doesn't pay out."

[ related topics: Web development Music ]

California's going to make a license plate with Ronald Reagan on it. But note the numerology in the last paragraph... Coincidence? I think not.

Via Bifurcated Rivets, USPS on how to ship a hippo and a Dallas News story on how this came about.

[ related topics: Web development Weblogs ]

Just in order to stave off the e-mails telling me I missed it, via /. there's a report of a 100-200Kb third party kernel that will run NT binaries. I don't buy it as viable. For one thing the kernel is a tiny part of NT, much like the problem with running Alpha Unix binaries under Alpha Linux, the licensing for the libraries is the hard part to work out.

[ related topics: Free Software Business Microsoft ]

Yet another web Magic 8 ball? Not really, this one uses Lego Mindstorms and a real 8 ball.

Rebecca's Pocket points to a great article on ads to raise testicular cancer awareness.

From Salon, an interview with Coming Soon director Colette Berson on how a movie with no nudity can get an NC-17 rating by suggesting that women can find sex pleasurable. Well, it's a little deeper than that. Referring to the Adam Sandler "Big Daddy" publicity posters:

I thought, can you ever see the publicity for a movie of two women squatting? Nobody would think that was funny. They would think it was gross and weird. In my movie, the double standard is that girls are actively seeking out an orgasm and empowering themselves by it.

And:

Almost any time a girl orgasmed, the board wanted me to cut the scene by 75 percent, even though she was 18. I was told specifically that the board has a problem with young girls' orgasms.

Well shoot, no wonder nobody's making porn in which women are enjoying themselves, all the porn consumers are raised on MPAA approved tripe. The interview is well worth the read.

[ related topics: Web development Erotic Sexual Culture ]

A special investigation: Why West Coast pizza tastes like crap. Well, for one thing they're obviously not talking about Zachary's in Berkeley or Mauro's in San Anselmo. Must be a Seattle thing.

[ related topics: Web development San Anselmo ]

In Gamasutra there's a postmortem of the game Thief that's worth reading if you're into some notes from genre pushing games.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Games ]

Susie Bright offers 11 ways for men to not get laid.

[ related topics: Web development Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Steven Knight, professor of English literature at Cardiff University, has concluded that Robin Hood was gay and preferred "Merrie Men".

[ related topics: Sexual Culture ]

Normally I shy away from Mother Jones and similar ilk that tend to get a little too far out when playing "outrage", but this note on chopsticks was worth a sad little sigh.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Groaner from my sister:

Mahatma Gandhi was a great and spiritual man who spent his life walking the length of India and fasting. As a result, he was thin and frail with roughened feet and bad breath caused by the fasting. In fact, he was often referred to as a super callused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis.

[ related topics: Religion ]

Robot Wisdom points to a great Jon Carroll essay on the culture war between the stupid and the smart. Interestingly, Jorn also points to the text version of that Jon Carroll essay that's presumably used as the template from which article.cgi creates the HTML version. Curious, I'm going to have to go poking about for other examples of formatting.

[ related topics: Jorn Barger Web development ]

Via Robot Wisdom, a great comparison of NT and Linux from a small business owner's perspective. A small business owner who "could barely do HTML and had never dreamt of being my own sysadmin" starts with NT and moves to Linux because of ease of use and price of administration:

"I wouldn't know one way or the other, except to say Microsoft support costs $195 per incident on top of the $895 software price, while Red Hat gives you 30-90 days of support included with the $79.95 you pay for the software."

[ related topics: Jorn Barger Free Software Web development Microsoft ]

Gratuitous Terry Pratchett quote (from the book I was reading last night, I think it was "Guards, Guards!"):

"An appointment is an engagement to see someone, while a morningstar is a large lump of metal used for viciously crushing skulls. It is important not to confuse the two, isn't it, Mr. --?"

[ related topics: Quotes Humor Books Terry Pratchett ]

Question: If Louis Freeh and Janet Reno are stupid enough to believe that any encryption that might make life difficult for law enforcement hasn't already been exported, why are we paying their salaries? Anyway, they're opposing a bill to loosen export restrictions which has broad support.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama ]

Keith Knight ponders his responsibilities to the little ones.

[ related topics: Humor Web development ]

Ouch! Revisiting the Titanic vs Phantom Menace website shows Phantom Menace dropping fast, looking like it'll just kiss $400M, mainly on the basis of the opening two weekends.

[ related topics: Web development Star Wars ]

Since the NEA v. Finley decision requires the National Endowment for the Arts to consider "general standards of decency and respect for the diverse beliefs and values of the American public" is there really any point to funding the it any more? Just asking.

I love the platform of The Reform Silly Party of Florida. Their stance on the prohibition of teen smoking gives a hint:

"Absolutely not! If we prohibit teenagers from smoking, what will they do after they have sex?"

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Web development Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Gratuitous H.L. Mencken quote:

"Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule--and both commonly succeed, and are right... The United States has never developed an aristocracy really disinterested or an intelligentsia really intelligent. Its history is simply a record of vacillations between two gangs of frauds."

[ related topics: Web development ]

QOTD:

I'm sure there's a line in here like, "A woman without a man is like a computer without Windows(tm)," just waiting to get out.

(On the premise that, somewhere, there is a fish that needs a bicycle.)

-- Graham Reed in the Scary Devil Monastery

[ related topics: Quotes Microsoft ]

On Alice (Yes, I do listen to teenybopper radio sometimes) this morning there was a report that the sex scene between Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham-Carter in Fight Club will be shot "with white dots all over their bodies" and "the computer will put in stuff later", which sounds to me like they're doing motion capture. Who wants to be the first to do furry porno?

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Where were you, January 28, 1986 at 11:38?

At 73.124 seconds, a circumferential white vapor pattern was observed blooming from the side of the External Tank bottom dome. This was the beginning of the structural failure of hydrogen tank that culminated in the entire aft dome dropping away. This released massive amounts of liquid hydrogen from the tank and created a sudden forward thrust of about 2.8 million pounds, pushing the hydrogen tank upward into the intertank structure.

[ related topics: Web development ]

How apropos. I was rereading some Terry Pratchett before dozing off last night. Today /. has a review of The Science of Discworld. While I think I'm fairly up on consumer level "how the universe works" sorts of things this still looks like it might be a fun read. Of course we have to wait for those mouth-breathing U.S. publishers to get off their fat duffs and import his work, so don't hold your breath (I'm assuming most of my readers are USAnians, any exceptions?), but we can hope.

[ related topics: Books Terry Pratchett ]

There's a new Need To Know up for this week, the sarcastic Brits take on DEFCON (The good folks at L0PHT are apparently powering down some motherboards via their ethernet controllers(!?!)), a suggestion that Microsoft may have some competent programmers, and more.

[ related topics: Microsoft ]

Yet another World's Smallest Web Server.

Well, Eyes Wide Shut looks like a bomb. Well, okay, it's got two sexy Scientologists naked, and that counts for something, but the reviews are all trying too hard to not damage the memory of Kubrick. The Nerve review refers to it as a "spank movie", while the Salon review calls it determinedly anti-erotic, and Tom Shales on NPR this morning was doing his best not to pan it. It sounds like if you want moralizing you can get it elsewhere better, and if you want a stroke movie you can get it elsewhere better.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Web development Erotic ]

Help! If you're interested in interactive drama and/or storytelling, I'm the main course in the August 19^th NBMA meeting, and I need some people to act as panelists for different viewpoints on the subject. Please e-mail me!

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Games ]

I figure it's only a matter of time before PBS and Fox merge, witness the current 4 part PBS series Savage Seas.

I must be really young. I was working outside yesterday and heard the neighbor's TV playing news reports about the missing plane of a magazine editor who held the post solely because he inherited lots of money. What is the fascination with the Kennedys? I don't get it.

[ related topics: Technology and Culture ]

A bunch of people have forwarded me the story about the Brookhaven National Labs accelerator that may or may not destroy the solar system. Two things come to mind: First is that these same fears existed with the early experiments with nuclear energy and fission weapons, and probably again with fusion weapons. Second is that if one is passionate about one's work, there's really no check against doing such an experiment, it's not like anyone's gonna be around to censure if the results are bad...

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Web development ]

QOTD:

If you build a server that monkeys can run, then monkeys will run it. I noticed this with several other organizations. You would think companies with thousands of employees could afford to hire a non-monkey to run their servers...

--- Joel Maslak on the real reasons NT has problems in server environments, in the Scary Devil Monastery.

[ related topics: Quotes Interactive Drama Microsoft ]

I'm generally not much of a fan of his, but_David Horowitz's latest Salon column_ (http://www.salonmagazine.com/n...1999/07/19/south_park/index.html) takes on the V-chip versus freedom of speech by way of South Park. I saw South Park on Friday evening. It is not a children's movie. But I've never seen South Park marketed to children, ever since Spirit of Christmas it's been clear that this is adult humor. And in the movie moreso than the few TV episodes that I've seen the language is used for deliberate effect. The movie is very much about the same people who are trying to target it shirking responsibility when it comes to their kids, and I think it's right on on many levels. Yes, it is truly subversive and anti-religion. That's why kids like it, they haven't been brainwashed yet.

[ related topics: Religion Children and growing up Humor Web development Privacy Technology and Culture ]

Back when I used to get one of the SF papers I enjoyed a regular column of the observations of a taxi driver. Well, the latest installment of the night cabbie offers a snapshot view of the city. The beggars unloading their wheelchairs at 4 AM as they go to work, the best French restaurants.

Well, I'm the new maintainer of the San Francisco Society for Human Sexuality web pages, and I need ideas. I'm wondering about a general "upcoming events" page that captures a more participatory flavor than the calendar in Spectator Magazine, and I think Reka's going to continue to maintain her sex studies list independently, I'll probably just link to that, but if anyone has suggestions or contributions, please tell me!

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Interesting Salon article about gay porn acting as a sideline. I don't know what it portends, but apparently the influx of those who want to act in porn for kicks is driving down the price paid for performers.

[ related topics: Web development Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Scary Devil Monastery QOTD:

Emergency medicine: It's like sysadminning, but with better LARTs and more blood.

--- Mike Sugimoto

A long time ago, I decided not to pursue a career in medicine because I didn't like people. Now I see that's not a disqualifier. Think of the years I've wasted.

--- Brian Kantor

[ related topics: Quotes ]

After printing for the exhibit at City Cafe I realized that there was more detail in 35mm film than my optics were getting me, so I just splurged on two sweet new lenses (or at least sweet mechanically, I actually haven't made any images with them yet) for my Canon EOS bag, the 17-35/2.8L, which I need to drag down to the Golden Gate bridge for a few glorious wide sunrises, especially while there's some morning cloud cover, and the 70-200/2.8L which should be a really nice portraiture lens (as long as I tone down contrast a bit when I print). Even through the viewfinder the difference between these lenses and consumer lenses is clear, auto-focus is amazingly fast and the image is nice and bright. Of course they're bloody huge, next purchase will probably need to be a beefier tripod and a bigger ball head.

[ related topics: Web development ]

I've used Discreet and Confidential Color for printing photos that the subjects felt were better not processed at a local lab and gotten good enough results that were I not printing digitally I'd be sending my landscape print jobs to them as well. The guy who runs it does a monthly article on photography with nude or scantily clad models which I generally don't keep up with because his technique is a little too "glamour" for my tastes. However, this month's article has a few neat ideas for nude images which don't reveal the model's identity.

[ related topics: Photography Erotic Sexual Culture ]

"There's rich, there's filthy rich -- and then there's Woodside." starts David A. Kaplan's "The Silicon Boys". In the world of Po Bronson playing the media like a fiddle this looks like it might be one worth reading, at least by way of the Chronicle article on The Silicon Boys and how it portrays Woodside.

[ related topics: Books ]

I'm becoming less of an anti-Flash bigot. Here's a reasonable use for Flash.

Interesting uses for Back Orifice? How about being on MTV's "Road Rules" and reading the producer's notes on your fellow cast members?

[ related topics: Web development ]

Keith Knight on working the late night shift.

[ related topics: Humor Web development ]

For those of you who have been following my quadricycle tribulations and can't wait for photos of my creation, the folks at Just Two Bikes have a much more elegant and better engineered version of what I've built. But the concept's the same.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Via Lemon Yellow, a fascinating tale of forgery in the modern art world. And you know, I kind of have trouble feeling sorry for the victims. They were buying a name, not beauty, leaching off the dead rather than supporting the living:

Modern art, in particular, seems especially vulnerable to fraud. Its abstractions are sometimes difficult to understand or grasp, and a modern painting is often loved less because of its intrinsic quality -- its beauty, as conventionally understood -- than because of the identity of the painter, its mark of social status.

[ related topics: Language Web development Books ]

A new installment of David Steinberg's Comes Naturally, a eulogy for James Broughton.

[ related topics: Web development Sexual Culture ]

Need To Know should appear sometime today.

Via Robot Wisdom, another example of the MPAA double standard on male/female sex scenes, this time in the movie But I'm a Cheerleader.

[ related topics: Jorn Barger Erotic Sexual Culture ]

And last Saturday I missed Susie Bright's latest article, about a visit to LA:

This is the city where I lost my virginity -- a strange phrase because I really felt like I'd found something that I'd wanted very badly.

[ related topics: Web development Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Salon Magazine has an article about hiking up Half Dome with a 12 and an 8 year old. Catherine and I did it in a day in '97. I think he captures the what, but I don't think he captures the why, I completely sympathize with his bailing on the first ascent, it's really easy to talk yourself into believing the weather's going to turn with that much exposure.

[ related topics: Web development Dan's Life ]

Some interesting self portraits by Andreas Rentsch in Nerve Magazine. Long exposures painted with a flashlight. My laptop screen sucks for viewing images, I hope they have as much promise as they show from here. Speaking of which, unfortunately I know a little bit too much to write this (ie: I'd run afoul of intellectual property issues), but the web needs a good image viewing system. At the very least something that offered gamma control, white point probably isn't all that important, especially on an emmissive display, but a little color balance and matching would be good.

[ related topics: Erotic ]

Two blatant rip-offs from Robot Wisdom: First, Stone of Parker and Stone of South Park fame on the MPAA, and for Rick, the similarities between falling in love and obsessive compulsive disorder, serotonin levels are amazingly similar:

Without intense emotion, he said no-one in their "right" mind would fall in love and have children.

But the study found the first flush of love does not last as emotions settle down.

[ related topics: Jorn Barger Children and growing up Psychology, Psychiatry and Personality ]

Salon has predictions for the new year:

In March, the iMac II will feature a fancier case but will leave out the keyboard. "The mouse is a superior input device -- keyboards are a tired old 19th century technology," Apple interim CEO Steve Jobs will explain.

[ related topics: Apple Computer Web development ]