Posts

Corporate data theft doesn't require computers... but you already knew that, right? Well, IBM knows that most people don't, so they employ this guy to gain access to computer rooms - just by walking in. I've long since discovered that the best way to get somewhere is just to look like you're supposed to be going where you're going.

More flash fun: I'm A Cow. Be warned, this one may squick some people and it's definitely not for the kids; although I actually think the funniest bit is at the start (the cow dancing happily in the field).

You know the terrorists have achieved their goal of causing terror when...... A traveller at Philadelphia International Airport was recently barred from flying because of a book in their bag.

Don't think I blogged this when I saw it a while back, but the american suck countdown made me laugh my proverbial arse off. While we're at the flash fun, this sage advice on drinking is pretty amusing too.

Then of course there's "dear god no" rumour that Anna Kournikova may be cast as the next Bond Girl. Not sure if it's true, but the thought on what her Bond girl name would be is amusing. Frankly it's been a few movies since they got the Bond Girl casting right - think of a classic Bond Girl like Ursula Andress in Dr No; then think of Denise "Plastic Girl" Richards in The World is Not Enough. Not much in common, really. They may be more capable and 'empowered', but the American idea of "attitude" (atta-tood) just doesn't work (ie. being a bitch does not make you a strong woman).

From the "where there's a will" files.... A Nepalese village school has clawed its way into the computer world, building computers in wooden boxes using donated parts. They are run using electricity generated by two hydro-generators in a nearby stream.

"If you can joke, you know you are free." - Dutch Internet User ... quoted in this MSNBC piece on the anti-Bin Laden jokes circulating around the 'net; like this banana song filksong. It's a good question - bad taste, or therapeutic comedy? How are you supposed to deal with life after terrorism anyway? It's not like anyone's ever going to feel the same again, after watching the footage of passenger jets slamming into the World Trade Centre.

Ahhhhhh, LEGO. The toy to which I devoted endless hours of my childhood... and apparently every other geek in the world did too! :) Slashdot seems to have kicked off a serious discussion about the effect LEGO had on them; and where the ultimate freeform toy is going in this technological new age. Hemos believes it gave him a conceptual preparation for programming; and if you look up the Toys category on Slashdot, you could be forgiven for thinking it was the LEGO category. In any case, it's seeing some monster discussion threads.

Woah, according to this Navy facts page, it costs US$600,000 a pop for every Tomahawk® missile. Geez. You'd want to be sure you hit something... "Yeehaw Billy Bob, there she goes..." "Oh man, we've missed the air base..." "Damnit. Ahh hell, whack that factory - we gotta hit *something*..." Oh wait, that was dangerously close to a topical joke....

Survey type thing... Ethical Philosophy Selector. Which philosophers are you most closely aligned with?

Interesting-looking paper... have just skimmed a few pages at this stage... The Graphical User Interface. Time for a Paradigm Shift?

Meanwhile... the Kursk salvage team has managed to raise the sub from the seafloor. Now they're planning - basically - to strap the sucker to the bottom of a huge ship and take it back to port. The way people have developed ocean salvage and heavy lifting techniques impresses me - I would have baulked at the sheer scale and fact that it's all going on while afloat. These guys must have just looked at the technical issues and thought "...we're going to need a bigger boat...". Engineers of the world just don't get the cool points they deserve :) It's not glamourous but it's pretty impressive.

One of the best vitriolic welcome to the internet pieces I've read in a long, long time. I think this should be given to every new user when they sign up with an ISP. But that's just me :) A taste: "Welcome to the Internet. No one here likes you. We're going to offend, insult, abuse, and belittle the living hell out of you. And when you rail against us with "FUCK YOU YOU GEEK WIMP SKATER GOTH LOSER PUNK FAG BITCH!1!!", we smile to ourselves. We laugh at you because you don't get it. Then we turn up the heat, hoping to draw more entertainment from your irrational fuming." Harsh, but oh so true.

I'm impressed with this one... building a cardboard school.

Fading Ad Campaign - photos of fading ads, logos and murals around New York City. Brisbane has quite a few fading ads of its own, for instance the "Moreton Rubber" (I think it's Moreton..?) painted on the side of a building near the Gabba.

Random blog: Blather. "Because it's easier than thinking for yourself.". Not sure if I just like it for the tone of the posts, or the links to other sites ;) ...for instance, little.yellow.different - "I'm a 24 year old recently laid off, recently re-hired web developer living in the San Francisco Bay Area. I'm Chinese and I live with two Mexicans. Do you know what they call that in Hollywood? A sitcom." Although the same author wrote this arresting piece on dealing with a sister who's seriously mentally ill.