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Planet Dave! Thursday, June 17, 2004
Terry Jones: This won't hurt much
Will sent me this little extrapolation on a theme from the Python Terry Jones.
Your Retro Tech of the Day
To be truly honest, before today I didn't even know what a Rolleiflex was. But now I want one. Well, the smaller digital version, at least.
Daily Show On Dubbya's Bogus Terror Report
According to a report issued by the State Department, 2003 had the fewest acts of terrorism since 1969. This is a clear indication that the Bush Administration is doing a terrific job in its War On Terror. At least, it would if the report wasn't a load of bullshit. 2003 was actually one of the bloodiest ever, as far as terrorism goes. Turns out the report omits a bit of terrorism, including three huge bombings in Saudi Arabia and Turkey. You see, these happened in November, after the report had gone to the printers. As Jon Stewart put it, "Apparently our government is run by the same people who put out your high school yearbook."
Japanese Balloon Battle
/. has a post about Japanese balloon attacks on North America. It's an interesting article, but the author seems to be making the point that the government may be making the terrorism situation more dangerous by keeping secrets from the American people. Call me cynical, but I'm getting a little desensitized to the "be afraid" propaganda that we've been fed for the last few years. When I see that the Office of Homeland Security has elevated the terror alert level, I figure it's 'cause Dubbya wants something. (People will give/tolerate a lot more from a president if they're scared.)
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
The Life of Birds
I gotta watch more TV. The Life of Birds looks like a really cool show. (I didn't even know David Attenborough was still alive!) You've got to read about how birds use intersection traffic to break open nuts.
DirecTV Extortion Program stopped by EFF
From /., "After several years of an Organized Extortion program DirecTV has been stopped by the EFF. As many of you may know DirecTV has been suing people who purchased card programers even if they had legitimate reasons for them. Many have settled to avoid legal issues. The problem was they had to prove innocence instead of DirecTV proving guilt. The only thing that DirecTV did was say they purchased the card programmer from a site that sold Satellite pirating equipment. Even though there are legitimate uses. Thanks to the EFF for stopping this horrible miscarriage of the legal system."
Newspaper Registration
The thing that most suprised me about the ridiculous newspaper registration requirements is the amount of people who answer those things honestly. I usually just make stuff up, but I'm going to have to start using BugMeNot.
Monday, June 14, 2004
Google-Sponsored 2004 US Puzzle Championship
From /., "On the NPR Weekend Edition Sunday puzzle segment this past weekend, Will Shortz mentioned the 2004 US Puzzle Championship, sponsored by Google. Registration closes on Thursday 17 June, and the competition is conducted online on Saturday 19 June. "The top two US contestants will be selected to join the US Team at the World Puzzle Championship in Opatija, Croatia. Prizes will be awards to the top US contestants." (This was mentioned on Slashdot last year as well.) I'll be away from my internet connection over the weekend, but perhaps others from the Slashdot crowd can compete. Check the practice test to see if it's your cup of tea."
Inside a Shoulder During Surgery
Ok, this footage of a Shoulder Surgery (Orthoscopic) looks really cool. Even if I'm too squeamish to watch all of it.
Man wins person-v-horse race for first time in 25 years
From Boing Boing, "There's a Welsh town that hosts an annual 22-mile human-verus-horse footrace, with a £1000 cumulative prize for any human beats the horse that's gone unclaimed for 25 years -- until now."
Shields Up
From the Telegraph, "The ubiquitous RPG-7 anti-tank grenade launcher can be picked up for a mere $10 in most of the world's trouble spots but is capable of destroying a tank and killing its crew. When the grenade hits the tank, its "shaped-charge" warhead fires a jet of hot copper into the target at around 1,000mph. This is capable of penetrating more than a foot of conventional solid steel armour." The Brits have developed a really cool electrical defense against this type of attack. From /., "The new electric armour is made up of a highly-charged capacitor that is connected to two separate metal plates on the tank's exterior. When an RPG warhead fires its jet of molten copper, it penetrates both the outer plate and the insulation of the inner plate. This makes a connection and thousands of amps of electricity vaporises most of the molten copper. The rest of the copper is dispersed harmlessly against the vehicle's hull." The capacitor is fed by the tank's electrical system. And while charging, it doesn't draw any more current than a starter motor.
Remembering Pioneer 10
/. has a cool little write-up about Pioneer 10. Twenty one years ago yesterday, it became the first human built object to leave the solar system. /.'s got a few links with a lot of information. Go check it out.
Phoebe Pictures Released
From /., "NASA has begun to release some pictures from Cassini's Phoebe flyby last Friday. If you look at the thumbnail of this image or if you look at the right of these images, you can see a group of craters that look like a skull just south of the equator and something that looks like George Washington (wearing his wig) near the north pole. Come up with some good names for features, and you can submit your ideas to the IAU. There's a process for naming a newly discovered crater, fossa, or sulcus. By the way, the naming convention for Phoebe is people associated with Phoebe or the Greek islands."
Cybernetic Critters
The latest Photoshop Contest is pretty cool. I got a kick out of the circular saw mantis.
Friday, June 11, 2004
Ashcroft Blows Off Congress
I think the title of this post says it all: Daily Show clip: Stewart, Durbin, and Biden tear Ashcroft a new one. It's a clip from the Daily Show, truly one of the finest new sources on TV.
An Interview With America
From the J-Walk Blog, "This is an interesting way to present the results from opinion polls: Voice of a Superpower."
Bill Gates plays Petals Around the Rose
Ok, this has been making the rounds online. It's a story of Bill Gates playing the infamous game of Petals Around the Rose. I've seen this game before, and for the record, I got it on the second roll. But I don't think I was told about every answer being an even number. That might've thrown me off.
Weird Cross-Over of the Day
What do you get when you cross Reservoir Dogs with Star Wars? Why, Imperial Dogs, of course! Brought to you by Studio Creations, creators of Trooper Clerks.
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Testing ISP Censorship
From /., "As part of a research project, Christian Ahlert ran an interesting experiment. He posted John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, which is clearly in the public domain, on different ISPs. He then sent the ISPs phony copyright violation notices. The results are troubling, with ISPs 'acting as judge, jury and private investigator at the same time.'"
Realistic Human Graphics Look Creepy
From /., "A really interesting read on Slate about how realistic human faces in games and on robots and so on, are not necessarily the way to go -- the brain isn't fooled, it attaches itself easier to Snoopy-like simplicity... Or Lara Croft attributes, but I'm not sure that's the brain talking."
Tokyoplastic
I think I've posted this site before, but the author has a new creation worth checking out. The second Japanese link is to Drum Machine, which has graced PlanetDave with its presence before. The third link is to his new creation, Music Box. If those leave you jonesing for more Flash artistry, check out the first link, which is his old web site.
Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Bush-League Lysenkoism -- The White House bends science to its will
Got this article from Marty. Quoth Scientific American, "Starting in the 1930s, the Soviets spurned genetics in favor of Lysenkoism, a fraudulent theory of heredity inspired by Communist ideology. Doing so crippled agriculture in the U.S.S.R. for decades. You would think that bad precedent would have taught President George W. Bush something. But perhaps he is no better at history than at science."
Rovers May Survive Martian Winter
From /., "According to this article on Yahoo News, Mars rover engineers are beginning to consider the possibility that the rovers may be able to survive the oncoming Martian winter in a hibernation mode, and then return to activity when spring returns to the red planet. The article ends with a quote from Steve Squires speculating that, 'we're looking at the final demise of these vehicles perhaps as late as the onset of our second winter on Mars.'"
Paintball - the Boardgame!
For truly die-hard paintball fans, there is Paintcheck - The paintball game. ... And I honestly can't come up with a decent joke about this. I feel so inadequate.
Mod Your Cooper Mini: Build a Robot!
Here's an interesting site. This guy's got a bunch of notes and test documentation for his ex-car robot. Probably the most impressive is the video where the robot obeys the first law and prevents a human from driving into a wall.
October Surprise!
Well, it's an election year. And the way Bush is going, he's going to need an extra little something to win the election. October Surprise is already trying to determine what it'll be. 38.1% of the 3400 polled think Osama bin Laden will turn up a month or two before the election. Other theories include a spectacular terrorist attack on American soil (hey, it worked for him once, why not again?) and the use of Diebold voting machines.
Awesome Wrapping Paper
Ok, next time I give a gift, I might have to wrap it in this stuff. Although according to Boing Boing, having something wrapped in biohazzard warnings is not a particulary good idea. In addition to wrapping paper that site has an amusing collection of T-shirts, if you're ok with offensive stuff. I have to admit, I got a laugh out of this one.
Current Update of the Eruption of Kilauea
Tired of being behind the curve on Hawaiian volcanology? Well despair no longer! Check out the latest news, photos, and GPS readings from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory!
Image Generators
From J-Walk Blog, "Here's a whole bunch of image generators. Enter some text, and it will appear in a photo."
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
Excellent Amazon Items
Jamie sent me this list of the weirdest things available through Amazon. He suggested this one as the best of all.
Deathmatch Super Mario Brothers!
Yes, you read that right. Super Mario War is multiplayer version of Super Mario Brothers. The object is (of course) to stomp your enemy without getting stomped. I didn't see any mushrooms. I hope those are in the next version.
Making Records from CDs
Here's another use for those writable CDs that you keep screwing up. (If you've already got enough coasters.) Make records out of them! This nifty little gadget also works on other things. You can make a record with ramen lids and (get this!) the shiny side of a post card! If you and a friend get one, you could mail each other post card records! I know, I know, the magic would probably wear off after the first one. But it's still cool!
Harnessing Kid Energy
People sometimes talk about harnessing the energy of wild kids, but nobody actually does anything about it. Until now, that is. In South Africa, people sometimes have to walk for miles to get water and carry it back. But in a few places, there are now merry-go-rounds for kids. Each merry-go-rounds is also a water pump that fills a tank while the kids play. When I mention genius, this is what I'm talking about.
Monday, June 07, 2004
Lakeshore Band on NBC
My high school band marched in Washington D.C. on Memorial Day. As if that weren't cool enough, they also made the NBC news. (Thanks Brad, for the news and the video.)
Keeping up with Jamie
Since last time, Jamie has sent me Punishment Via eBay, Bush vs. Umbrella, and Bulletproof Bulldozer Mayhem. He mentioned that whole situation sounded like something you'd see in an episode of the A-Team. (I also noticed a story on that over at CNN.) He also graced my inbox with Assualt by Chalupa and Lessons Learned in the Millitary.
Kick Ass Political Statement
Steve's friend Mark was over last week, and he was wearing one of the coolest T-shirts I've ever seen.
Ant City
Ever kill ants with a magnifying glass? That would make you a sadistic bastard. But if it's instead antlike people and a giant magnifying glass, that's just funny. (Watch out for the tanker truck.)
Silicon Art
From J-Walk Blog, "Chipworks is a company that analyzes semiconductor circuitry. Sometimes they find some interesting stuff: Silicon Art." Heh, hardware Easter eggs.
Compendium of Lost Words
Ok, I found out where they get most of the words for the National Spelling Bee. Right here.
The Mathematics of Futurama
From /., "Did you know that the writers of Futurama have a collective set of degrees that would rival most think tanks? Here is a hilarious site on the mathematics of Futurama -- specifically this article (pdf). The same authors have also researched the mathematics of the Simpsons, mentioned on Slashdot long ago."
First All-Artificial Feature Film Released
From /., "Machinima.com have just released the DVD version of Killer Robot, award-winning filmmaker Peter Rasmussen's buddy movie about two mining robots who set out to protect their "meat-sack" masters from a master mining robot gone insane. The twist here is not only that it's Machinima, made in 3D Game Studio, but that even the actor's voices are computer-generated using programs like Festival, making this possibly the world's first all-artificial movie."
LA to Oregon at Mach 9
From /., "Last April I hooked up a video camera to my front bumper and drove from Los Angeles to Oregon. The video is finally done; it's sped up 95x which makes the trip a mere 6 minutes long. To do the recording I hooked up a VCR inside the car and recorded in real time, then captured the entire thing to the hard drive and changed the framerate of the avi. The camera and VCR only cost about $50 total, which makes for a fairly affordable hobby/art project."
Watching Paint Dry
That may look like a static picture of a painted wall, but it's actually a video feed. Wow. Anyone want to place any bets on how soon this'll be on prime time?
Mechanical Computing
From /., "Tim Robinson has built a computer capable of solving polynomial equations -- using Meccano. His difference engine (mirror) uses a similar approach to Babbage's design. He's also created a differential analyzer (mirror) complete with a GUI. Both could be scaled up indefinitely to handle larger problems. 'Computing by steam' is possible." Wow. Life imitates SciFi. (Any of you read the Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson?)
Cassini Alters Path. Phoebe Now In Sight!
From /., "This week the Cassini-Huygens Spacecraft finally entered the Saturn system and made its first main-engine burn in five years in preparation of for the Phoebe flyby. This long journey has been one filled with much promise and peril. Launched in 1997, Cassini is expected to have a rendezvous with the moon Phoebe on June 11. For those of us who are lazy, that's just a tad under two weeks away. After the Phoebe flyby, it's on to the ringed planet, with an anticipated July 1 ground orbit insertion. The ESA's Huygens probe will descend into the atmosphere of Titan a few months after Cassini is inserted into orbit. This mission promises to be one that brings a very psychedelic and beautiful area of our solar system into clearer focus. This multinational mission is one the most ambitious scientific explorations yet undertaken and promises some truly otherworldly images in the near future. With 31 moons/natural satellites thus far discovered orbiting Saturn, there should be a lot to keep us occupied. Anyone else excited about the journey to a ringed world? Lets all enjoy this ride. It promises to be a unique one as much as for the scenery as for the science. Informal discussion regarding the Cassini-Huygens mission can be found at #cassini on irc.freenode.net."
Massive Multiplayer ... Thumbwrestling?
From /., "A game for children modified for geeks: The austrian art (or something like that) group monochrom has made the worlds probably first massive multiplayer thumbwrestling performance in the viennese Museumsquartier. They've got some photos and explanation of several network structures (even includes a Death Star Reactor - i wonder how many things like that could be done - new kind of simple origami?). A network game in the 50s? Beware: requires real social interaction!"
Network Visualisation Gets One Step Closer to Neuromancer's Matrix
From /., "This month's Communications of the ACM (does not seem to have a link to online text) has an article about The Spinning Cube of Potential Doom, a security visualization tool that I first saw at SC2003. The cube displays data from Bro along 3 axes and creates interesting visual results (port scans, barber poles, lawnmower). This definitely makes patterns in all that 'boring log data' jump out. This is a very interesting development, the ability to monitor in real time and replay historical security related information. Definitely a step towards the new types of tools we will need to secure hosts and networks." One more reason for me to get off my ass and put a Linux machine on La Hacienda's network.
Friday, June 04, 2004
Major Terrorist Attack Coming Sometime This Year Somewhere In The U.S. Killing An Unknown Number Of People
The Daily Farce has this important terrorism alert. It actually looks a lot like what we're being told by Ashcroft.
Monster Origami
Alright, this stuff is a lot cooler than the hot dog origami from last time. Paper Gamera!
Crash Testing: MINI Cooper vs Ford F150
I know, I know, an F150 doesn't need a crumple zone. The other car is the crumple zone. Well, the majority of accidents only involve one car. Now take a look at these crash test photos and tell me which car you'd rather be in.
How Widescreen Won
I remember a time when it was hard to find video rentals in widescreen. If you wanted to buy a movie, your only option was to get it with the ends chopped off. (Pan and Scan, or fullscreen.) Well that's all changed. It's about time. I shudder to think that the American public might actually be getting less stupid.
My Hero, by Jack Handey
I think I've posted this before, but if you haven't read Jack Handey's My Hero, go give it a read. (Yes, it's the Deep Thoughts guy.)
A Complete Map To Springfield
From /., "If you even needed to know the names of the roads Homer Simpson takes to work, you can find out at Guide to Springfield, USA. On the site you'll find a complete map and guide to all springfield location. The map was put together mostly by watching (and rewatching) Simpson's episodes. The map is even listed in Harvard Map Collection!"
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Space and Politics
I've got a few things on the queue from Marty. One is a page with some amusing ads for Diebold voting machines. He also sent me this CNN article about the first private space craft scheduled for a trip out of the atmosphere on the 21st of this month. I hope they stream it on the web. I want to watch. Wait a minute, 6:30AM? I hope they record it.
Latest From Jamie
First up, there's the Serial Mooner. I actually did a spite take all over my keyboard about half way through this article. Also from Jamie, More Election Good- er, Badness, and a Garfield comic randomizer.
Near! ... Far!
Two very cool photos of Saturn, one from the Hubble, and one from Cassini. (Which is almost there.)
Chihuahuas Are Actually Not Rodents
Just in case there was any confusion. While you're there, check out their Random Story link.
'Pirate Act' Would Shift Copyright Civil Suits To DoJ
From /., "News.com.com has a story about the new so-called Pirate Act, which seeks to allow federal prosecuters to file civil suits against file swappers. These lawsuits can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars, and if you guessed that the RIAA is lobbying for it, you're right. What's scary is how fast and how quiet its march through the legislative process has been. In '97, the No Electronic Theft Act allowed for criminal lawsuits, but none have been filed, so isn't it clear that the Justice Department has better stuff to deal with?" Aren't the feds supposed to be fighting terrorism? Maybe Dubbya's definition of a terrorist is expanding to include dorm room mp3 swappers.
Clear Channel Limits Live CDs
It's not enough that there are lawsuits flying around because of the free music advertising known as peer to peer mp3 sharing. Now Clear Channel has gotten into the fray demanding a cut from the sales of live concert CDs.
Work Safe Art: Clothed Nudes
If you'd like your kids to see classic art, but only want them to see G rated stuff, then this Photoshop contest is for you. And if you'd like to participate in some of these contests, here's a few tutorials to get you started.
4km WiFi Range w/ $5 DIY Antenna
From /., "This industrious fellow in New Zealand made his own WiFi antenna using a USB WiFi adapter and a Chinese 'spider skimmer mesh scoop.' He got about 17 dB signal improvement for about US $5 in materials." /. also points out two mirrors of the site, here and here.
Blimps... In... Space...
From /., "MSNBC reports a California company with an alternate launch site in Texas, JP Aerospace, is on their third test of a blimp system specifically designed to fly to space. Blimps. To Space. At payload costs around a dollar a ton to LEO."
New Spam Trends
This article is interesting the same way a train wreck is interesting. "Financial spam is close to overtaking pharmaceutical spam as the most common form of junk e-mail, according to figures compiled by Clearswift, Ltd., a UK-based anti-spam software company with U.S. headquarters in San Ramon." I see porn spam is down.
First-Ever Private Spaceport Nears Final Approval
From /., "According to the article on Space.com, the Federal Aviation Administration is nearing the final stages of certifying the Mojave Airport as the first-ever private spaceport. Both Scaled Composites and XCOR Aerospace (the two leading competitors in the X-Prize competition) currently fly out of Mojave Airport. The approval of a commercial spaceport will certainly facilitate the creation of even more private-sector space technologies."
Half-Life Inspired Case Mod
Ok, I realize that a large portion of my audience isn't as impressed by case mods as I am. But this one is an unparalleled work of art.