The most valuable supply of worthlessness on the web
(via Neatorama)
I’ve been playing with the animated planet verson of this puzzler. The author at Neatorama who pointed this out mentioned that it crashed his FireFox browser several times. I did not try this in FireFox, opting to just use IE in case there were problems. It also requires Shockwave (in fact, my system required that I update my Shockwave install).
[tags]Animated puzzles, Animated Jigsaw[/tags]
[tags]Eye Candy, Jessica Alba[/tags]
(via Kotaku) — The classic shooter, miniaturized – Coded in only 5K of Javascript 
On this day in 1868, the French astronomer Pierre Jules César Janssen discovered Helium. Ever since, ordinary people have been talking with funny voices and laughing while destroying their esouphagus.
In 1862, impressed and fascinated by the spectroscopic work of Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen, Janssen began his studies of the solar spectrum. His first important contribution was to demonstrate that some of the dark lines observed in the solar spectrum were caused by water vapor in the Earth’s atmosphere. He made lasting contributions in solar spectroscopy, in particular in the observation of solar prominences. Following his observations of the 1868 solar eclipse in India, he suggested that some of the unknown spectral lines observed above the solar limb were due to a hitherto unknown chemical element. J. Norman Lockyer independently and simultaneously arrived at same conclusion, and both men are now credited with the discovery of Helium.
I’m guessing it was a few years later that Helium was put in to balloons for all the spoken zaniness we’ve come to love Helium for, but noting the existance of this element in space was the important first step.
[tags]Pierre Jules César Janssen, Helium[/tags]
(via LifeHacker)
Attention all ADD sufferers!
Damn it – I said attention. Focus!!! Eyes on me.
Now, go to David Cheong’s weblog and learn 18 ways to focus better at work. This is good information for everyone, but especially for people like me who have the attention span of a rabid monkey after eating a bag of sugar, 29 packs of kool-aid, and 2 pints of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Here are a couple to whet your appetite.
1. Write out a daily task list and plan your day. There’s nothing like a task list sitting next to you to keep you focused. When you have a list of the things you need to accomplish in a day, having that close to you constantly reminding you of what needs to be done is a great way of keeping on track.
5. Do not check personal email in the morning. Checking personal emails can be very distracting even with filters setup. This is especially true when your friends send you links to interesting articles, jokes or videos on YouTube. If you’re not careful, you can get side tracked for hours. Instead of checking your personal email as soon as you get in, try starting work straight away. This will build up some momentum as you ease into your work day. You should check your personal email only after you have a few tasks completed or underway. Also, if you don’t want to perpetuate a particular distracting email thread, just don’t reply to it until after work.
[tags]Focus at work, Limit interruptions and distractions at work[/tags]
I missed this way back when, but recently stumbled on it and thought it was pretty cool. Earlier this year, InformationWeek ran an article on how to boot Windows XP from a USB key drive. This OS feat is possible thanks to Bart Lagerweij’s BartPE, a recent update to USB handling in Windows 2003 that also benefits XP, and work done by other software authors to fix remaining issues.
Before we get too far, it’s worth noting that there are some kinds of boot-from-USB problems that software fixes can’t cure. For example, not all PCs (especially older ones) support boot-from-USB in the first place: If the system doesn’t allow it, it’s game over. (If your PC supports boot-from USB, it’ll be an option in the BIOS setup tool.) There can be compatibility issues with USB 1.0 and 2.0 hardware, and with “High Speed” versus “Full Speed” or “Low Speed” support. And so on.
. . .
Booting XP From A USB Drive, Step By Step
First, if you haven’t already, grab a free copy of BartPE. You’ll find all the information you need on getting and using this tool in “A Must-Have Repair And Recovery Tool.” and at Bart’s site.Next, you need new versions of two files from Microsoft: “setupldr.bin” and “ramdisk.sys”. These new files are part of the Windows Server 2003 SP1 pack, which you can download from Microsoft no matter what operating system you’re running. So, if you’re not running Server 2003, it’s not a problem.
Here’s what to do:
For the guide with step-by-step instructions and occasional screen captures, hit the story on Information Week‘s web site.
[tags]Boot Windows XP off a USB key, XP on USB key[/tags]
This is an old advertisement. Most folks who visit this site will have seen this before. But for reasons of nostalgia, I felt the need to post it anyway once I saw it at Modern Mechanix.
X-RAY SPECS ONLY $1.00
An Hilarious Optical Illusion
Scientific optical principle really works. Imagineâ€â€you put on the “X-Ray†Specs and hold your hand in front of you. You seem to be able to look right through the flesh and see the bones underneath. Look at your friend. Is that really his body you “see†under his clothes? Loads of laughs and fun at parties. Send only $1 plus 25c shipping charges. Money Back Guarantee. HONOR HOUSE PRODUCTS CORP., Lynbrook, N.Y. Dept. 97XR02
[tags]Modern Mechanix, X-Ray specs, Ancient ads[/tags]
I know I just don’t let this drop. It’s a matter I find very important. If you are scared to live a normal life, the terrorists have succeeded in terrorizing you. That’s all those people are trying to do. They are more concerned about the terror than the body count. Here’s a write-up from Kung Fu Monkey saying that in more depth and with more style than I have been able to say it.
No false bravado and it’s not that I don’t take terrorism seriously. I do, which I why I voted for the guy who believed in securing our ports and fighting terrorism with criminal investigation methods — which is, if we may remind everybody, how this particular plot was busted.
I am just not going to wet my pants every time some guys get arrested in a terror plot. I will do my best to stay informed. I will support the necessary law enforcement agencies. I will take whatever reasonable precautions seem, um, reasonable. But I will not be terrorized. I assume that the terror-ists would like me to be terror-ized, as that is what is says on their nametag, rather than, say, wanting me to surrender to ennui or negative body image, and they’re just coming the long way around.
[tags]Aren’t you afraid?, Terrorists seek to terrorize – duh![/tags]
Not only do we find interesting ancient articles over at Modern Mechanix, we also get humorous commentary. I’ll skip much of the commentary, but point out that this December 1953 Mechanix Illustrated article gets rightly ridiculed over the implied idea that large numbers of humans will simultaneously get mutated with the same beneficial changes which will result in massively oversized brains inside hairless heads:
How Nuclear Radiation Can Change Our Race
An atomic war could produce an entirely new species of man. Would he be friendâ€â€or foe?
By O. O. Binder
“Now hear this, Earth! I am Mutant Man, Homo Superior! I have been created by radiation forces out of the loins of you, the human race, after your great and terrible Atom War. Yes, I am a step above and beyond you and I am now your master for better or for worse. You created me in your blind, savage, senseless war of atomic radiation. You have only yourselves to blame if I turn out to be your Frankenstein Monster!â€Â
WILL this voice someday thunder ominously over the world from a Mutant Man, not a human being, but as far beyond us as we are beyond the ape man? Will a new race, spawned out of the hellish radiation of a world-wide Atomic War, go on to challenge mankind’s supremacy on Earth?
Shrug this off if you can or laugh at it as fanciful Sunday supplement pseudo-science. But first, examine a few cold hard facts that stare us straight in the face today, showing that atomic radiation has changed us physically.
[tags]Modern Mechanix, How radiation will change our race, Homo-superior, Radiation = t3h win[/tags]
A coworker was talking about fear of clowns today. I remembered reading something recently about some famous people who admitted to having a fear of clowns. I was trying to track down some names of said famous people when I found this freaky image:
You know, this would explain that fear some folks have. That’s just not right.
[tags]Coulrophobia, Fear of clowns, Freaky clown baby[/tags]
Today in history – August 16 obituaries: Babe Ruth (1948), Confederate General John Chambliss (1864), The King – Elvis Presley (1977).
