Flutterby™! From 2001-02-01 to 2001-02-27

Lego Porn shamelessly stolen from the prolific Todd Belton at Mouth Organ

[ related topics: Web development Erotic Sexual Culture ]

The recent email issues have prompted a few of you to track down my other domains, one of which is gamahuche.com, which I eventually want to turn into an update-tracker/news-searcher, subtitled "sucking the web". Occasionally I wonder about the etymology, so after checking and finding that the folks at Take Our Word haven't answered my question I plugged "gamahuche" into Google and found the Logos Universal Conjugator treatment of "gamahuche" (in French), complete with a few uses of "gamahuche" in context which can be run through the Babelfish Translator for outrageously funny results: and, while its nose shakes the hole of my bottom, its language is inserted in my idiot. Curved on it by my attitude, I then the gamahucher in the same way: I do it; my fingers tickle its bottom, and five ejaculations of continuation prove to me that the need that it announced was not illusory.

[ related topics: Language ]

Via Robot Wisdom, Utah Legislature desginates Jell-O as state snack. Words fail me.

[ related topics: Jorn Barger Web development ]

The chowderheads at Geoworks are at it again and this time they are claiming ownership of wireless browsing!!! yeah

and Al Gore should have a patent on the internet...

[ related topics: Intellectual Property Politics Wireless ]

Saw Best In Show last night with some of the Scotch Night crowd. If you go expecting a plot, you'll be disappointed. If you go for some loosely coupled mood pieces, it's very funny.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama ]

Via the ATMP mailing list via a Loving More mailing list, an interesting note sent to swing clubs by NASCA legal counsel Dick Williams on concerns NASCA has over potential abuses of the Mann Act and other federal statutes by the Bush administration.

[ related topics: Politics Web development ]

Pyra is no more. Blogger will stay around as long as Evan Williams can afford to keep it running. Todd and I have been talking funding structure with a lot of people on both ends of the spectrum recently, and it seems like there's a need for capital in the "just want to make a comfortable living and do something cool" space, not the "need to grow fast and hard and fleece pension managers with a big IPO" space, but as long as the big capital markets are artificially protected I don't see that happening.

Via Need To Know, paper models of the International Space Station, complete with files to print and build your own.

[ related topics: Web development ]

I wish the pictures were better: Canadian students hang VW from the Golden Gate bridge.

A Salon article on teen pop is fairly unremarkable except for the picture of Britney Spears that leads it off. Did they caption that right? She looks like a trailer trash grandmother.

[ related topics: Web development ]

OMG (O my Gawd) I am failing in love with a trailer trash sport. I saw the SF Demons defeat the el lay team. It was an amazingly great game. Of course it's fun to see almost any game at Pac Bell Park but I think the XFL may actually make it as another football league. The beer was cold, the cheerleaders slutty and hits hard. It was a sunday like god inteded it to be...

[ related topics: Religion Politics Games ]

Wow, am I sick. Sick enough that I'm going to the doctor, something I never do. So 'til this haze of congestion and medicine lifts, y'all are going to have to put up with stuff like this: Via Borklog, some pictures of happy faces on Mars.

[ related topics: Weblogs ]

I was looking for the website for Crime Scene Clean-up, a company specializing in, well, cleaning up a crime scene. I found Cadaver, Inc., Fast and Affordable Corpse Disposal while I was looking for it.

Attention: Although no date is set as of yet, Cadaver Inc. will be broadcasting a live murder scene clean-up and corpse removal in early 2001 on our website. More details soon.

I fear the end times are truely near.

Book Review: Araceli the Refugee is a novel on the plight of a young woman fleeing from war in El Salvador in the early '80s. Written by a former INS officer turned immigration lawyer, it's a good read on how mindless adherence to policies create evil, and the difference between the people and the governments who purport to represent them.

[ related topics: Web development Books ]

This sucks. Sleeping in short bursts. Heart rate above 90. Constricted airway. Coughing fits with occasional vomiting. Taking Amoxicillin, but I don't have any real symptoms of bacterial infection; no phlegm or excessive mucus, just slight throat spotting. At least today's tests seem to rule out an asthmatic or allergic reaction, just a nasty virus that's got me knocked flat on my tuchus, and me wondering what the hell I've done to my body to make my immune system hate me this way.

One of the few advantages of being sick is that when I'm barely coherent I feel less guilty about catching up on reading. Working my way through A. J. Leibling's The Press right now. He's the guy who said "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one" (in Do you belong in journalism? May 14, 1960). Don't know if I'll finish it, or I might just start skimming lightly, but the perspective of a newspaper lover watching the consolidation and trend towards single paper cities is interesting. As much as I think Drudge is a shoddy purveyor of half-truth and rumour, the forum he gives for journalists to make end-runs around their editors is extremely important as media consolidation continues.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Privacy ]

Via the Daily Illuminator, apparently anti-missile systems are a factory option on Gulfstream jets. An extra $3M gets you a tail mounted device to confuse and deter heat seeking missiles. No word on whether it's a lifetime warranty...

Backwater Florida county imposes morals on couple. The settlement drops obsenity charges against a couple, in exchange: the Robinsons will not take part in any "sexually connected" businesses in Polk, Highlands or Hardee counties for the next four years and will pay the sheriff's office $2,000

[ related topics: Web development Erotic Sexual Culture ]

I've been wanting to comment on the Doc Searles exchange with Jay on Linus owning Linux but haven't known if I'm just pissy 'cause I'm sick. Yes, Doc, we like it that way. As a counter-example, the lack of a similar guiding vision and personality is probably strongly related to why I don't run Gnome, nobody's saying "why do we need that? Throw it out!". Jay also linked a history of Unix that I think puts in perspective some of my tiffs with Dave Winer, the Unix guys were clear from the very beginning that they wanted to build individual programs that operated on generic open data, not better ways to control large applications that only understood their own data. The difference between the data as data and the data as the application seems, in my cold and cough induced haze, to be at the heart of the differences between the GUI and the Un*x ways of thinking.

[ related topics: Free Software Interactive Drama Web development Psychology, Psychiatry and Personality Weblogs Dave Winer ]

After the recent layoffs, Amazon rips off Pay Pal's business model, then Amazon charges publishers for book recommendations. Hmmm... Given that the publishers my local bookstore can't get are happy to sell to me over the 'net, I wonder if the real revolution is going to be fewer middle-men siphoning off money?

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Web development Books ]

Todd took a break from fighting with Kannel and Gnokii to pass me this awesome overview of GSM

[ related topics: Web development ]

Oh. My. This just came across the squidlist. There's an exhibit called Roses by a group called Sunbrothers. I believe that these are the same folks who did the roses at Burning Man.

February 10th @ 6pm

2323 A Magnolia Street

Oakland, CA 94607

If you're in the bay area, go!

[ related topics: Burning Man Interactive Drama ]

One of my "wow, this changes everything!" experiences must've been back in '94, when Aaron Spink and Robert Wilson had beat enough TCP/IP into me that we were finally pinging through the first fractional T-1 we'd bought from Sprint Link, and we had an open house at Chattanooga On-line (the networking bits of which are now highertech.net). Some kid, lost to history, came in and downloaded some Nine Inch Nails WAV files from IUMA. This was not music I associated with Chattanooga, and it was a great example that expressed some of the change I knew we were bringing. I've watched MP3.com and Napster come through as shadows of the excitement I felt that night, so there's a little nostalgic tear when IUMA goes away, and once again it's a reminder that "first to market" doesn't mean much. It's also telling that in their recent struggles, "Caught in those layoffs were all eight IUMA staffers". That was one of the other promises of that era, that a few folks with a dream could make a difference.

[ related topics: Web development Music ]

Gulp. Think the database is upgraded with no data loss. If you find anything missing, either post a comment or email webmaster.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama ]

Fun account of clerking an adult bookstore, and no this doesn't seem one of those nicely lit non-cruising places like Good Vibrations.

[ related topics: Good Vibrations Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Fluffy description of a woman overcoming her fears and having nude photos taken at 61. Good emphasis on how this helped her self image.

[ related topics: Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Hunh, it looks like heavy-handed legal tactics don't always work. From Politech comes this account: Egghead critic wins court fight to keep eggheadsucks.com

Additionally - they advise clients to buy their negative domains, but failed to follow their own advice. Consequently, I now own FenwickSucks and also FenwickAndWestSucks which are up and running.

This fellow may be setting himself up for a big fall from these lawyers but he is laughing pretty hard now.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Implant causes female Orgasm . I dunno, I guess it's more practical than breast implants but would you really want to have surgery for this?

[ related topics: Web development ]

Your tax dollars at work: FBI investigates BonsaiKitten.com.

[ related topics: Politics Web development ]

So I went to the Sunbrothers show last night thinking "maybe they'll have some work for sale, but I really can't afford it right now...". Well, they were making offers I couldn't refuse, and I pick up my very own solar rose bush (two blooms, red to blue through purple) on Tuesday.

[ related topics: Politics ]

Yup Masturbation is a "Gateway Sin". First your choking your monkey next thing you know it's sheep and bank robbery. It says so at Americans For Purity site. I'm writting them a nasty letter right after I shave my palms

[ related topics: Politics Sexual Culture ]

Anyone else out there playing with the Opera for Linux betas? b5 was decent, although it crashed occasionally, but b6 seems to have some really bizarre quirks that I can't believe they'd have released with. Anyone else out there using it so I can compare notes and see if it's just my machine?

[ related topics: Free Software ]

What's up with this weather? Skyline drive is closed for plowing, and they're snowboarding on Mount Tam.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Howl! Via Backup Brain, Jesus Christ Superstore. Including the God Almighty action figure: "includes Kingdom-Come Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle wearing Hallowed cloak of invulnerability".

[ related topics: Religion Humor ]

I've mentioned The Road To Xenu here before, good reading for anyone interested in cults like Scientology(and I'm a little concerned about a friend of mine who's involved with a certain Yoga sect, but that's her call...), but here's yet another tale of a Scientology defector trying to extricate herself

You know you've really made it when they name a virus after you. Yup another stoooopid VBS virus is making the rounds as the Anna Kournikova virus.

So after waiting forever for XLibris to ship a copy to my local bookstore, I found Strange Bedfellows at Good Vibrations. Debra, ya done good. As befits a bunch of short stories on sex and politics, most of them are about power dynamics, several of them are about hypocritical politicians, all of them are quite entertaining and well written and edited, and a few are quite hot (It's that personal taste thing, I'm sure that what I find quite hot y'all 'd find tame, and verse-vicea). Strange Bedfellows is a very fun romp through erotic politics. Recommended.

[ related topics: Politics Good Vibrations Erotic Sexual Culture ]

I have a new answer for anyone who asks "How do I get a job at Pixar?". Via Bradlands, ya do like Victor Navone, teach yourself character animation and make a movie. Specifically, check out the "Alien Song" one. Yes, it's a one-gag short, but the animation is also damned good.

[ related topics: Pixar Animation ]

Almost missed this cool piece of history. looks like this probe was using metric instead of the mars mix & match method. Let's wish them luck on the Valentine's day launch...

[ related topics: Web development ]

QOTD: Cameron Barrett on Windows XP: "...Apple's MacOS X, but with a FisherPrice bent..." What amazes me about Windows' new look is how they put even more of that extraneous "use it once" visual crap of Windows ME that my non-geek friends are going to be whining to me to help them figure out how to turn off.

[ related topics: Cameron Barrett Apple Computer Quotes Microsoft ]

So, they arrest the author of the Anna Kournikova virus while Bill Gates goes free? Excuse me? This is akin to arresting the driver of a car with sabotaged brakes while rewarding the saboteur. There ain't no justice.

So after getting cable modem at home, I'm at the office downloading a file at 30k/sec and wondering "why is this so slow?" Brad had some great observations on "the future" related to this.

In line with those expectations of the future (ie: my previous entry), I'm hearing a lot about how "the new economy is over" recently. Hogwash. Think back 6 years. Life has changed a hell of a lot. What we've done is disheartened the leeches, the liberal arts majors who thought they could make productive-person wages and the like. Time to roll up our sleeves and get back to work.

I've seen a couple of people experimenting with ways to read and display RSS feeds recently. RSS is a simple XML file format that allows a headline link and a small description. I don't get much of the appeal, but the big thing that's hitting me is that the reason RSS is so popular is that so many websites suck, and this is the easiest way to get the headlines and data from those websites without having to wade through the grossness that their designers have foisted on us.

[ related topics: Web development Content Management ]

Want: Belgian police are seizing an unauthorized Tintin in Thailand book:

Belgian police said Wednesday they had seized more than 600 copies of an unauthorized book titled "Tintin in Thailand" that depicted the cartoon character and his friends in homosexual bars in a country known for its sex tourism.

[ related topics: Books Erotic Sexual Culture ]

So Todd, on that network bet, many places don't even have enough bandwidth to keep SMS messages flowing: Romantic Valentines crash Thailand's mobile phone system. And if you're ever awash in a leaky boat in heavy seas in the third world, don't forget your cell phone: SMS SOS saves British tourist on foundering Indonesian boat:

A quick-thinking British tourist adrift on a floundering ship in heavy seas off Indonesia was rescued after sending an SOS mobile phone text message to her boyfriend -- who was drinking in a pub in England.

[ related topics: Wireless ]

Via F2 (which you should go to because it's really good!), Woman has Nokia 8850 surgically removed from bottom. "Doctors at Taipei Medical University hospital said she had been playing sex games with her boyfriend", but maybe she just made that up to keep from admitting something really embarassing, like she answered the phone in a restaurant and the other patrons responded appropriately...

[ related topics: Wireless Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Given Dan and Todd's recent interest in SMS I thought I'd pass on the news that Great Britain cellular networks are now charging each other a three pence per message charge for SMS messages passing between the networks.

While these charges will roughly cancel each other out in respect of text messages sent by the mobile networks' own subscribers, it spells doom for the wealth of web portals that offer free internet-to-SMS text messaging services.

Normally I ignore the rantings of deluded liars, but in this case it's Microsoft's operating systems chief Jim Alchin claiming that "Open source is an intellectual-property destroyer". Uh. Yeah. Today's User Friendly is dead-on.

[ related topics: Free Software Humor Web development Microsoft ]

After years of studies showing that DARE (don't actually follow that link, it makes sleazy porn sites seem user friendly...) is ineffective at best, and in many cases is actually linked to increased drug use among children who participate, DARE is changing to the political whims of the moment, it's hard to tell from this article but it sounds like they're going to attack the violence straw man instead.

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

Hey, I'm gonna wander down to the Alternative Press Expo tomorrow. Anyone wanna try to meet up there?

[ related topics: Web development ]

Zeldman: Intel and Microsoft need to sell more stuff. It's "designers" like him that make RSS and other alternatives to HTML so attractive.

[ related topics: Web development Content Management Microsoft Web Standards Project - WaSP ]

Welp, Shrub is playing with his new toys. I gotta admit it's great distraction from the ecconomy (Probably Dick's idea).

[ related topics: Web development ]

Hey, do you run a web log with a discussion forum? Wanna share readers? I've slapped together some info about Flutterby entries. The data is at http://www.flutterby.com/discuss.rdf . I'd love to incorporate similar feeds here to provide links to similar discussions and notes on other sites.

[ related topics: Content Management Weblogs ]

So you think that Napster and all those other file sharing networks only affects the entertainment industry, eh? Napster and its ilk could never have an effect on, oh, say, the sporting goods industry. Could it? Well consider Napster Fabbing. You need a new wet suit? Just open up Fabster, search for a 3D model of the wet suit your looking for, download the file, drop some rubber pellets in your fabber and Presto!, out comes your wetsuit. Imagine the possibilities as nanotechnology matures.

William H. Masters dead at 85. He was a sexuality researcher, and co-author, with Virginia Johnson, of the 1966 book Human Sexual Response.

[ related topics: Books Erotic Sexual Culture ]

Larry Wall is one of my more favorite people. Here is a recent interview about Perl 6 and the state of the onion.

Via Scripting News: David Siegel asks "How would you like to visit the Louvre with images turned off?" I wouldn't. But I'm quite happy that it doesn't have Las Vegas style blinking lights. And, true to form, his article has broken links. [Dan Hartung points out that this is a 1997 article]

[ related topics: Dave Winer ]

Jamie Zawinski is someone I would most likely throw a coffee mug at but I respect his view and expertise on language. Here is his rant on java...

[ related topics: Web development ]

Now if Perl or Java don't do it for you. You might look at Ruby as a possibility. I looked at it and decided it was like Python to me. Very cool but I can do the same in Perl better and faster. Don't get me wrong Ruby seems to have whipupitude also but less so. I'm not so sure about single inheratence either but it might be for you.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama ]

After spending the day learning way too much about Tcl, ODBC, and PostgreSQL and how they work together, something relaxing: The PL/SQL to PL/PgSQL HOWTO for tips on porting Oracle stored procedures to PostgreSQL.

My house has a full-time server. Beyond the obvious stuff you'd want a server to handle, it gives me a way to get to my data from anywhere and handles automated backups from the office and the web server. Especially in light of the current power crisis I've felt pretty guilty about it and keep talking about ways to build an ultra-low power box running an ARM chip or somesuch. Well, I did some searching about today, and a few sources claim an idle Celeron 533 draws about 1.5 watts, so short of smart fans and maybe some intelligence about drive power-downs (I don't, right now, because I've lost too many drives prematurely that way) I'd be much better off spending that money I'd blow on embedded hardware on smarter lighting strategies.

If you're of roughly my age then names like Milo and Opus and Steve Dallas carry special meaning to you. Via /., PvP interviews Berke Breathed, part 2 is on In2It although I can't find an archive URL there.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama ]

Mike passes along the The top ten reasons Eternal Damnation is better than Windows Software Development

[ related topics: Web development Microsoft ]

A clarification on my Zeldman and Siegel bashing. If Zeldman were calling for the adoption of HTML4 and for the rest of us to autodetect people using Netscape 4.x browsers and tell them to turn JavaScript off, I'd be singing his praises. Upgrading browsers is not the right way to solve the problem. Upgrading the mindset of the designers and the publishers is.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Wes Felter mentioned the 128k Ricochet. My slow Ricochet experience was in-line with Doc Searle's Ricochet experience, what with real bandwidth available pretty much anywhere right now I'd be much better off buying my favorite coffee shop DSL or cable modem and an 802.11 hub than upgrading my Ricochet connection, so back to them it goes.

[ related topics: Wireless ]

A few more days of work and I should have the Flutterby code revamped and code to have separate diary entries on line in a different place. 'Til then, the Feb 9 and Feb 11 entries from Debra Hyde's diary gave me some insights that I found worthwhile.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture ]

Arrgh! The insanity continues: Boston Globe Online reports Few limits on who buys knives online

The largely unregulated world of online knife sales was thrown into the spotlight yesterday when prosecutors said that either Robert Tulloch, 17, or James Parker, 16, bought a military-style knife on the Internet - and allegedly used it in the slaying of two Dartmouth College professors.

Will someone tell me what they think is so complicated about a knife that would prevent someone from just making one? It doesn't take much to figure out how to put a sharp edge on a piece of metal or even a piece of plastic.

Via Edgecase, language learning more pattern based than currently trendy:

"The thinking for years had been that something as complex as language could not be acquired with fairly simple learning mechanisms that rely on word frequency, associations between adjacent words, and other statistical phenomena," says Rebecca Gomez, a presenter at the panel and an assistant professor of psychology in The Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at The Johns Hopkins University. "But we now have new methods for assessing learning in infants, and we've been able to demonstrate that this type of learning is in fact very strong."

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

I knew his association with NA was going to be strained. PGP Creator Bolts to Hush

Phil Zimmermann, the legendary creator of e-mail and file-encryption program PGP (Pretty Good Privacy), will become the chief cryptographer for Web-based e-mail company Hush Communications.

I hope ya'll realize that with Hush Communications being based in Dublin the US has lost any and all control over the export of his code to wherever he wishes to do business.

[ related topics: Web development Privacy ]

Go Rich Bailey! The Chattanooga PR machine rolls over the media with a very nice bit on Chattanooga on yesterday's Morning Edition.

Cam has some thoughts on the Web Standards Browser Upgrade Initiative titled It's All About Your Audience. I disagree a little; it's also about leaving your options open and not dead-ending future development.

[ related topics: Cameron Barrett Web development Web Standards Project - WaSP ]

Rather than take out my frustrations with web designers on the big names, I decided to take a break and shoot a few fish in a barrel. The whole "why these people really deserve ridicule" story will remain untold because some mailing lists are private, but here's my look at the Chattanooga Spirit website.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Argh. In putting the finishing touches on my CGI app framework I'm trying to support modern HTML DTDs, and I've discovered that Perl doesn't really have a good way to deal with the "special" and "symbol" entity lists. Using HTML::Entities to encode and decode doesn't always return the string to its original form, and since that's what HTML::Parser is using this presents a problem. Anyone had experience with this?

[ related topics: Web development ]

QOTD: Spaz Williams is a fairly well known animator and digital effects artist. This week's Pacific Sun has a bit on him, with some comments about why he's not working on feature films any more.

"People come up to me and say I just bought my 7-year-old a Macintosh. I tell them to bury it in the backyard and buy your child a bloock of wood. It's a destructive medium, a window into a reality that doesn't exist.

[ related topics: Quotes ]

Lest you think that the new boss is any different from the old boss, the DOJ files a brief suporting the MPAA in the DeCSS case against 2600.

[ related topics: Web development ]

OMG read this before it gets yanked from the Microsoft site...

[ related topics: Humor Microsoft ]

OMG a great spoofed link from Microsoft customer support. Microsoft Customer Care

[ related topics: Microsoft ]

WEP is vulerable so you can no longer rely on the encryption of the 802.11b signal. The solution may be Tunneling SSH

[ related topics: Wireless ]

Dave Winer recently posted a list of 16 categories where commercial software beats open source. I emailed him a note, he asked if I'd post it so he could comment in public, so here's my notes on more on the 16 categories. Update: Dave has responded, I think we've many of the same concerns.

[ related topics: Free Software Dave Winer ]

Dave Winer proposes that independent bookstores need 802.11b. Especially here in Northern California, as housing density approaches that of Tokyo we will be spending more of our time in public spaces, and the public spaces that manage to charge us effectively for that will be the winners. Bookstores and coffee shops, managed correctly, could do that.

[ related topics: Wireless Dave Winer ]

Via Cocky Bastard, the David Eggers clarification on the piece about him in the New York Times. I'm not a great fan of Mr. Eggers, I think that as an artist he's a good writer but a lousy, self-absorbed, and often boring storyteller, but this is yet another great example of why we should not trust these "journalistic" institutions that as a culture we seem to praise.

[ related topics: Web development ]

So there was the original Wassup commercial, the Superfriends Wassup parody, when I saw the What Are You Doing? commercial it kinda fell flat. Probably 'cause Prehensile Tales did the gay Superfriends Wassup long before it.

[ related topics: Web development Sexual Culture ]

Leo once recounted a meeting with Disney execs when he was producering Toy Story Animated StoryBook. There was a suggestion made, a suggestion that everyone thought was really compelling and would improve the product, and one of the Disney guys said "but that's not something our company does". And it was important because it showed just how clearly the Disney corporate culture is distinct, and the employees are aware that the value of Disney the trademark is that corporate culture. There's a reason they fired Harlan Ellison. This morning Dave Winer talks about workflow, and why his system doesn't implement it. I like his reasons, but I think about the checks and balances Leo talked about Disney implementing and I realize that those things exist for a reason, and there are times when I wish I had an editor even for Flutterby.

[ related topics: Pixar Dave Winer ]

So yesterday I got a call from Charlene who's house-sitting for Jean, saying "Help!". Ended up that Jean had some construction going on at her house that was stopped (that's a long painful story) that was tarped over for the winter. Well, one of these tarps tore kinda loose, filled up with water, and yesterday came down in a way that made Charlene think there was an earthquake. So apologies for not making Sam's party, I was removing water from places it shouldn't have been.

[ related topics: Dan's Life ]

Via Scripting News. Oh. My. I let this slip under my radar the first time, but a couple of other people linked to it. If you haven't yet read it, go now and read Jonathen Lebed: Stock Manipulator, S.E.C. Nemesis -- and 15.

That's the trouble with 14-year-old boys -- from the point of view of the social order. They haven't yet learned the more sophisticated forms of dishonesty. It can take years of slogging to learn how to feign respect for hollow authority.

[ related topics: Politics Dave Winer ]

Saw Chocolat last night. Enjoyed it, but it was also disappointing. That director should be forcibly restrained from making more films 'til he understands composition, the mishmash of accents was distracting, and the screen play needed a bit more polish, although it could be argued that many of the rough edges were after-the-fact hacks making up for lack of directorial skill.

Flutterby turns 3! It was about this time in 1998 that I funneled the very first Flutterby posts into Newwwsboy.

[ related topics: Web development Content Management ]

Stolen from Camworld a really great 404 page based on Marvin the paranoid android of Douglas Adams fame.

[ related topics: Cameron Barrett ]

Gary passes along Buggy Balls, just in case those fuzzy dice aren't working for you any more.

[ related topics: Web development ]

Marylaine talks about the Game of the Name in the current edition of My Word's Worth.

So this iSyndicate URL points to this CBS Marketwatch URL which says: "We have worked hard to upgrade the #1 financial news and information site for you. As a result, the page you are looking for may have moved or changed. We think you'll agree that the best just got better!" Oh yeah, 404s, especially when they don't return the standard HTTP 404 error code, are always better than actual content. Duh!

/. deconstructs the RIAA whining about the fall of CD sales. Another example of the AP shilling a point of view without fact checking:

And CD singles account for how much of the RIAA's profits?

Not quite one percent.

Yes, that's right: they lost 36% of 1% of their profits.

And the news media is reporting it as a 39% loss.

[ related topics: Music ]

Well John updated his .plan file(posted as a reply) and I know which 3D card I'm going to buy when they come out.

[ related topics: Games ]

At the behest of a friend I've been reading Jay Wiseman's Erotic Bondage Handbook, an interesting intro to some possibilities of rope. My grandfather was into macramé to help his arthritis and my parents sailed; so the knots in this book are all old hat, but the applications are mostly new. Anyway, via Pursed Lips, Nawa Shibari looks like some people into fairly advanced rope work. Warning: Part of the difficulty of mixing ropes and human restraints is not hurting anyone. As anyone who's ever used a swiss seat climbing harness can tell you, holding a human off the ground without doing bad things to circulation is pretty tough. Don't go look at some of the suspension work in Nawa Shibari and try to duplicate it without a really good background in the basics.

[ related topics: Books Erotic ]

Via /., Claude Shannon dead at 84.

David Steinberg reviews Hannibal.

[ related topics: Sexual Culture ]

Via Robot Wisdom, an exploration of the myth of Ada Lovelace as programmer.

[ related topics: Jorn Barger Books ]