Merry Chrissstmasss
December 24, 2008 – 12:21 pm
links for 2008-12-10
December 10, 2008 – 10:59 amGive Up and Use Tables
"We've scientifically determined the max amount of time that you should need to make a layout work in CSS: 47 minutes. When your time is up, we'll even give you the table code you need. Take 3 minutes to build a table. Bill the client for an hour. Done."
reCAPTCHA: Stop Spam, Read Books
This is an interesting idea: Digitize books by filling out CAPTCHAs (those cryptic words you have to type in to prove you are a human being)
"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more… from FOD Team, Jack Black, Craig Robinson, John C Reilly, and Rashida Jones
Very funny. And Jack Black is the bestest Jesus ever.
Redneck Cars: A Gallery | www.holytaco.com
My favorite is the car fitted with semi exhaust pipes.
How to bend SQL to the whims of geekery
December 10, 2008 – 6:25 amThis is even geekier than plotting the Mandelbrot set on a TI-85:
T-SQL is a database-centric programming language for Microsoft SQL Server. It is used primarily for data processing, not for such geekery as drawing fractals. So, my hat’s off to the creative re-imagining of this previously dull language.
The black art of online ad placement
November 19, 2008 – 11:00 amThis YouTube clip of a CBS News story of the 8-year old boy accused of murdering his father and another man had a disturbing embedded advertisement:
Such a horrible, horrible news story. There is a lot of speculation about whether or not the boy actually killed his OOOH look, a cute bunny!!
At least it wasn’t this bunny.
links for 2008-11-14
November 14, 2008 – 8:55 am
Take Stanford’s iPhone Programming Class For Free - I would love to take this class. The internet-connected iPhone’s multi-touch interface and powerful multimedia features provide an amazing playground for programmers, if you can stomach Apple’s strong-armed policies on application distribution in the App Store. (BTW here is a site that tracks activity of iPhone apps in the App Store, and posts information about apps that aren’t yet available in the App Store: apptism.com).
bitalizer - bending bits into structure - Upload a file, and this site will turn its binary contents into a simple set of rules governing an interesting image rendering process.
Bitalizer v1.1 - shell32.dll from Brian Reavis on Vimeo.
A visualization of the bits that make up the common “shell32.dll” library file found on Windows machines.
The Pomegranate Phone - A really well-done marketing campaign for a new touch-screen GPS-enabled smartphone that also makes coffee, projects video, instantly translates your voice into other languages, has a built-in shaver, and works as a harmonica. And doesn’t really exist. Instead, it is an elaborate ad campaign created by the Nova Scotia government to generate interest for the Canadian province. The little videos included in the ad are a good touch.
Child’s Play Charity - Donate games to sick children - For my birthday, Chris and Angel donated video games in my name to a Roanoke hospital using this site. Terrific idea!
As real as it gets - This is what Photoshop would look like if it were made out of the physical world.
Frequently Forgotten Fundamental Facts about Software Engineering - A coworker sent me this great list. It was originally published in 2001 and its tenets remain true today.
In closing, a silicon haiku from our IRC robot:
like stars winking out
the woman has lost her screen
opening your toad
“I’m the founder of Capitalism, and I support this message.”
November 2, 2008 – 8:04 amWe are led to believe by McCain and Palin that “spreading the wealth” is the same thing as socialism. What Would Adam Smith Do?
The principle that Obama evinced, which most economists would regard as unexceptionable, can be traced to Adam Smith. In “The Wealth of Nations” (1776), his seminal treatise on capitalism, Smith wrote:
The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor. . . . The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess. . . . It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.
- Adam Smith, quoted in the New Yorker, October 27 2008
Do you pal around with Adam Smith the socialist?
links for 2008-10-30
October 30, 2008 – 1:24 pmMTV Music - huge archive of linkable and embeddable music videos. Finally! MTV does something music-related!
Roanoke Robotics Society and Club - We actually have a Robotics club in little ol’ Roanoke? Very surprising! In fact, they are hosting a robotics competition event at our science museum this Saturday. We’re definitely taking Iris to this!
Terrorist ‘tweets’? US Army warns of Twitter dangers - Microblogging: A platform for Jihadists?
Paris Hilton In Space - “Paris Hilton will be among the passengers on Richard Branson’s first Virgin spaceflight.” OK, this article just made space less cool. We send enough junk into space as it is.
Sarah Palin Cabbage Patch dolls. *Wink*
Fake flier circulating in Hampton Roads, Virginia
October 28, 2008 – 9:12 amA fake flier is circulating in Hampton Roads, Virginia. It encourages Republicans to vote on November 4 and Democrats to vote on November 5:
It’s amazing what people will try to do to mess with the election.
links for 2008-10-24
October 24, 2008 – 2:10 pmMy del.icio.us auto-posting doodad no longer works. Automation has failed me. *Cry*.
So, here are some hand-cranked, slow-cooked links for today.
X-rays detected from Scotch tape. Incredible. Maybe somebody will exploit this to take a peek inside of Christmas presents.
How the Weird Mars Science Laboratory Floating Sky Crane Works. Very cool video showing the landing procedure of an upcoming Mars mission. GET YOUR ASS TO MARS!
ALIPR - Automatic Photo Tagging and Visual Image Search. Free photo auto-tagging service. I had very mixed results on the few tests I attempted.
Cockroach inspired robot from CWRU’s biorobotics lab. More roachbots are coming. And your sprays will not help you.
Housing prices infographic.
The bursting housing bubble is painfully clear in this graph. I’ve heard some projections that the retraction in housing prices won’t bottom out until 2011.
R-obama-noke
October 18, 2008 – 5:29 amObama held a rally here in little ol’ Roanoke on Friday. He is the first major-party presidential candidate since JFK in 1960 to visit Roanoke. So, Kathryn and I took the day off and waited in the cold, wet line with our friend Kelly to witness this historic event. Here is a video showing highlights of our day:
WARNING: The video shows an anti-abortion truck that was parked near the line. Plastered on all sides of the truck is a gruesome image of an aborted fetus, accompanied by the message “Abortion is an ObamaNation”. We’ve seen similar images and statements proudly held by protesters hanging out near the Planned Parenthood facility in town. I was hoping to see more protesters at the rally, but the best we got was two zealots holding signs with biblical quotes, and some McCain/Palin supporters dressed as Joe the Plumber, who we didn’t see but found out about later via CNN:
Despite the cold rain, everybody was in good spirits. When we got inside and Obama finally reached the stage, the crowd went wild. He spoke with his usual eloquence, hitting many of his usual stump speech points. Including his crowd-pleasing pie story. I think the only big new point he made was his accusation that McCain wants to cut Medicare, an accusation based on a Wall Street Journal article.
It was very interesting to experience the Obama visit in person. Kelly thought the crowds swarming around Obama looked like a school of fish, all changing direction simultaneously during a feeding frenzy. We all marveled at the amount of logistical planning, endurance, expense, and show business required by presidential campaigns. And it’s all going to end two weeks from Tuesday. GO VOTE!
(We also took a few photos during Friday’s rally.)