January 2005 Archives

The movie industry's efforts against pirating link via

Legal experts say there is no law against using feces as a flag stand and the federal constitution is vague on the issue link1 link2 via

Japanese curry rankings link

World's smallest die? link

Dess a vacuum up as a bunny link via

Chocolate sushi link via

Mirror image Garfield link via

Advertising on plants now! link1 link2 link3 via

How to build an Apollo Guidance Computer link via

Flikr coincidence (read the comments to find out more) link via

Visual Yellow Pages link, they actually have Rio! via

How Not to Write FORTRAN in Any Language link via

Researchers map the sexual network of an entire high school link1 link2 via

Hand drawn credit card statements (pretty OCD) link via

Hands on Katamari Damacy 2 link via

Hello Kitty sushi link via

Blind painter paints as well as a sighted person link via

The Collier Classification System for Very Small Objects link via

Monkeys will pay for Monkey porn link via

GI Joe has been captured? link via

Sanyo asks workers to buy goods to ease loss link via

Xbox inside a Millenium Falcon link via

Williamsburg doesn't need a space elevator link via

The wisdom of Warren Buffet link via

Model makers turn to selling no royalty items such as Nazi German aircraft link via

Amazon offers unlimited two-day shipping for $79 a year link via

Printed sushi link via

Today, in an odd coincidence, I recieved a bunch of items. They are: a 21" P202 monitor, a docking station for my new T41p thinkpad and version 9.0 of Slickedit! Oh, and today was payday also...

I was at a gas station last night filling up my inefficent beast and saw this. I was amused. Now you don't even have to figure out if you are 18 or 21 anymore. Just look at this calendar!

I tried a free form attempt at making sourdoug bread. I used some new techniques.

More follows:

Round Rock has a Roundabout intersection. As far as I know, it is the only one of its kind in the city. Some people would have you believe that roundabouts are better than sliced bread, but this is only marketing B. S.. What about my personal experiences? If no one is around, I love it. You don't have to stop like you would at a stop sign and I don't mind driving 270 degrees around the circle to do a left turn. However, it is a problem when other people are around.

Most people seem to not know how to drive in one. They do not realize that they have the right of way when inside the roundabout and the traffic waiting to enter the roundabout must yield to them and that it is a one-way only road. Take a look at the picture. The sign on the left tells you which direction to go (counter-clockwise) and the sign on the right tells you that you must yield to other cars. Simple, right? No! They always seem to get this wrong and treat each exit of the roundabout as a stop sign. I don't mind this much. Eventually, people figure out that traffic is waiting for them to clear the roundabout and they move on.

Today, I experienced the worst thing about unexperienced drivers. And that is people trying to make a left turn in the roundabout. As I was aproaching the roundabout, I saw someone perform a left turn by driving in the wrong direction (clockwise -- what seems quick and short to them). I didn't think anything about it. I entered the roundabout to do a right turn. As I was inside the roundabout, someone traveling in the opposite direction pulled in front of me to do another illegal left hand turn. The road only has room for one car and that car was now blocking me. I probably could have handled it more politely, but I honked my horn to indicate that they should stop driving because we are about to collide and gestured that they were going in the wrong direction. Fortunately, they backed up and turned right to allow me to clear.

So my question is, shouldn't Round Rock as a city educate people before they install something new that involves minimally trained, clueless morons driving in steel-boxed death-traps?

For work, I was asked to help port a project to Linux. This involved working on a computer behind a firewall. I am sure that every one is familiar with ssh. For those of you who are not, ssh is a program that encrypts a telnet session. And telnet is a program that allows someone to log into a computer remotely. So, to access the computer, all I would need to do is to ssh into it. Unfortunately, it was not that easy.

More follows:

Zelda tattoo link via

The Polar Express: A Virtual Train Wreck link via

JibJab's Second Term link via

JavaScript: The World's Most Misunderstood Programming Language link via

HP to region code cartridges link via

EULA enforceability link via

When journalists finally get involved and help out in the stories they report link via

VW suicide bomber link via

High step warnings in many languages link via

Wear it, Bitch! link via

We are the least representative of the people in the world link via

Ukrainian hasn't slept in 20 years link via

Toilet training elephants link via

Twinkie Sushi link via

The forgotten Huygens experiment (18 man years wasted) link via

On this inauguration day, some quotes link via

Portable rotary cell phone link via

Bunny suicides link via

Using a tortilla as a breadboard link via

Wow, I have done 12 Sametime chat sessions this week. Actually, now that I think about it, it was 14. I closed 2 of the sessions. But wait, there is more. Another person just sametimed me! Gah! This is getting too cluttered!

Ahhh, I should visit there someday. Today, it was the deciding factor in Paris Paris. I went from a tie for first with Ed to a solo victory! Woo Woo!

I feel like I am in Tokyo...

Typewritter art link via

An argument for patent reform link via

Is Heaven populated chiefly by the souls of embryos? link via

Hiccup 101 link via

The Georgia Guidestones link via

Safecracking for the computer scientist link via

President Bush donates $10,000 of his personal $26 million fortune to tsunami relief-related program activities link via

Forehead ad blocker link via

Hello Kitty Ferrari link1 link2 via

Teen Bill Gates link via

Prank call to Dell link via

Global dimming link via

Katamari Damacy cosplay link via

A world of invisibilia (technically NSFW) link via

Person hacks Playstation controller to a parallel port to programmatically determine cheat codes link via

Mississippi observes both Dr. Martin Luther King and Robert E. Lee link via

Plastics made from Orange peels and carbon dioxide link via

Postal experiments link via

Hong Kong highrises link via

TV executives don't care that they are hurting PVR users link via

Keychain plants (so cool!) link via

Fridgy - A small, light, soft, folding portable refrigirator link via

Well, William's posts on cooking has inspired me! I love making my version of garlic spread. It is easy to make. It lasts for a while in the fridge. And it tastes excellent on freshly made bread!

Instructions follow:

IBM made the news again today. IBM decided to up the stakes in the Open Source movement and release 500 of their patents to implementors of open source projects. You can read more about it here. What made it even more cool and personal is that they included one of my patents (US06295538 Method and apparatus for creating metadata streams with embedded device information).

By shining a flashing light at a vibrating string you can clearly see whether the string is in tune with the light source link

Thieves take woman's brain remote control link

Learning a language while playing the Sims link

Mel Gibbs: "The Patriot Act will put both of you (Neuharth and Mitchell) on trial for treason and convict and execute both of you as traitors for running these stories in a time of war and it should be done on TV for other communist traitors like you two to know we mean business. This is war and you should be put in prison NOW for talking like this. Who the hell do you people think you are? You give aid and comfort to our enemies and aid them in murdering our proud soldiers. You people are a disgrace to America. Your families should be put in prison with you, then be made to leave and move to the Middle East ...This is a great Christian nation and god wants us to lead the world out of darkness with great leaders like President George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Communists like Al and Greg will soon be in prison and on death row for your ugly papers. We won the election and now you are mad. We own America and all the rights, you people are trash, go back to Russia and Africa and take your friends with before we put you on death row after a fair trial." What is with people these days?! link

I am Military Intelligence link

Money wallet link

Inside a Sumo stable (start at the bottom and work your way backwards) link

What do you believe in even though you can't prove it? link

How to turn a T-shirt into underwear link

Karakuri automatons link

Champagne chairs link

The Einstein Flip link

On Christmas Eve 2004, the Russian Strategic Missile Force test fired an advanced SS-27 ICBM. This test probably invalidated the entire premise and technology used in the National Missile Defense link

Parking garages link

Camera mail link

Kanzeni Marin Nitsuite (Its not obvious on the page that you should click on watch this movie) link

The BitTorrent effect link

There are more frequent flier miles than dollars link via

Once a year at August 15th, a strange mix of Yakuza, Right Wing Groups and War Veterans commemorate the anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender link via

Handmade sushi pillows link via

SD card with USB interface link via

Online facial analyzer link via

$2,900 flashlight link via

Retro future (pagina is page) link via

Amazing wedding cakes link1 link2 via

Rewritting the Notes formula engine link via

Message board for a call girl ring link via

Almost everything that enters the chamber is instantly atomized to micron sizes link via

Someone walks every street in Manhattan link via

2004 was an interesting weather year. It was slightly cooler. It was very wet (3rd wettest). And we had snow!

Austin definitely has its problems with weather. It is too hot and too dry during summer (100+ degrees, 30+ days without rain). And there are ozone action days and overcast days. It seems that, for 80% of the days in the year, Austin will hit 70 degrees Farenheit. The worst part about the weather is the flash flooding, hail, high winds, and tornadoes.

I have a pet. Well, let's see. I feed it (lately every 2 or 3 weeks). I walk it (or at least I knead it). I eat it. What? Oh yeah, it is a sourdough culture. I should work with it more often.