The most valuable supply of worthlessness on the web
Anything that catches my fancy as a topic I want to cover. Truly random crap.
I’m sure someone will get offended by this. But for everyone else, here is a list of rejected Christmas carol ideas for the disturbed, as sent to me by someone at work:
From a cow-orker.
[tags]As with the Force – duct tape keeps the world working, Duct-tape babysitting[/tags]
It turns out that most of us have been wrong in debating whether or not global warming or global climate change is a problem. Regardless of the fact or fiction behind these ideas, the simple fix if there is a problem is to use secret alien technologies that world governments are hiding from us.
A former Canadian defense minister is demanding governments worldwide disclose and use secret alien technologies obtained in alleged UFO crashes to stem climate change, a local paper said Wednesday.
“I would like to see what (alien) technology there might be that could eliminate the burning of fossil fuels within a generation … that could be a way to save our planet,” Paul Hellyer, 83, told the Ottawa Citizen.
Alien spacecrafts would have traveled vast distances to reach Earth, and so must be equipped with advanced propulsion systems or used exceptional fuels, he told the newspaper.
I have an additional theory on global climate issues. If President Bush would stop using his secret weather control machine to cause such extreme weather changes, we would all live better lives. Stop secret weather control experiments Mr. Bush!!! Man, the HTML sarcasm tag doesn’t work right.
[tags]Former Canadian defense minister offers solution for global warming, Aliens (outer space – not other countries’ citizens) can provide climate change solution[/tags]
During jury selection, perhaps it would be wise not to do this:
A lawyer who was stabbed by his client during jury selection in the man’s rape trial will be asked to step down from the case.
Superior Court Judge Charles Grabau said Wednesday he will ask attorney John Courtney to withdraw from the trial of Che Sosa, who allegedly stabbed Courtney with a sharp, makeshift weapon made out of Plexiglas Tuesday.
To me, the most surprising thing is that a lawyer would have to be asked to stop representing some scumbag that just stabbed him. But then, he is a lawyer. (via Fark)
[tags]Rapist stabs own lawyer during jury selection[/tags]
Slowly but surely, other countries’ governmental leaders are realizing that the secrecy and anti-Islamic behavior of many of the worlds leading governments are in part responsible for the growth of world-wide terrorism. From Canada’s Security Intelligence Service head:
Canada’s spy master, of all people, is warning that excessive government secrecy and draconian counterterrorism measures will only play into the hands of terrorists.
“The response to the terrorist threat, whether now or in the future, should follow the long-standing principle of ‘in all things moderation,’ ” Jim Judd, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said in a recent Toronto speech.
He admitted officials do not yet fully understand a crucial element in combating terrorism — the process of radicalization that can lead individuals, especially young Muslims raised in Canada and other democracies, to embrace terrorism.
Continue reading “Leading governments are fueling terrorism”
I don’t know my color codes well enough to do this. But I have known geeks who are so focused on their current project that I could see one of them doing something like this.
[tags]Color code phone number, Geeks + resistors = phone numbers, Geek phone numbers FTW!!!1![/tags]
I’ve been a reader of the Anandtech forums for far longer than is reasonable. I typically lose interest in such communities and move on to others way sooner than I have this forum. While browsing the forums last night, I ran across this thread on freeware security tools. Given that Anand’s site is so techie oriented, the forums are loaded with very knowledgeable techs. This thread shows that, and has a lot of great information on choosing and using anti-virus, firewall, anti-spyware, and other security tools. If you aren’t set up with malware protection on your system, consider choosing a recommended product from each category in this thread.
For even more security information and guidance from the Anandtech forums, look at this consolidated malware solution thread. It greatly expands on the information from the above-linked free security tools thread. In fact, this 2nd thread is the discussion responsible for the 1st thread. And these folks really know their stuff.
[tags]Anandtech forumites recommend freeware anti-malware[/tags]
Several months back, I read the free version of Cory’s “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom” and enjoyed it enough to buy the book. Since Cory is one of the strongest proponents of release-your-writings-for-free-and-people-will-buy-them publishing, I tend to support his crazy idea and buy his books after reading them. For those that are interested in this book and want to decide if try-and-buy works for you, a new method of reading the book, >serialized email distribution, is now available. Just click the word “Link” below.
The folks at DailyLit have just converted my novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom to an email-based serial. Sign up for the free service, specify how often you’d like a little chunk emailed to you, and then sit back and read by email, on your schedule. Link (Thanks, Albert!)
[tags]Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Commercial book readable via serialized email, Another way to get Cory Doctorow’s writings for free (legally!)[/tags]
Oh, the things I have seen. I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
Errrr, wait. That’s not right. Sorry – had a moment where I think I called upon the spirit of Roy Batty.
What I meant was, I’ve seen a lot of cool stuff posted on the web. And it’s not always posted on the more visited or more “cool” sites. So here we’ll take a peek at one of the cooler things I’ve seen online that wasn’t posted on absolutely every major geek site out there (sure, a lot of them covered it, but one or two had to have missed it). Check out this home built Gaussian pistol (also known as a rail gun – at least to gamers).
Man, that looks like a cool project. (via DIYlive)
[tags]Gaussian pistol, Handheld rail gun, Do it yourself, DIY[/tags]
I haven’t posted one of these in a while, but I still read XKCD every few days to see the latest comics there. I usually get a good laugh out of them. But when I see the really good ones, I have to share. I used to believe this would happen, and I bet most other kids did, too.
[tags]XKCD, Swingset physics, Weightlessnes to a child[/tags]
From a friend. I love this definition.
[tags]Interobanged, What’s that word mean?[/tags]
Recent research in Japan has produced a more powerful blue-violet diode laser which will make for faster next-generation disc burning.
Japanese Nichia Corp. has developed a blue-violet semiconductor laser diode, featuring a power high enough for burning Blu-Ray and HD DVD media at high speeds.
Nichia’s new laser diode is able to emit pulsed light at 320mW, while it offers a stable operation of 1,000 hours, according to the company. The diode could be used for optical discs including Blu-ray and HD DVD, allowing 10X speed recording with a double-layer disc and 2X speed recording with a four-layer disc. Currently blue-violet semiconductor laser diodes offer a pulsed output of 130 mW.
Production on this new laser is expected to begin in early 2008. Along with the improved lasers, however, improved disc materials will be needed to get the expected speed improvement. (via Electronista)
[tags]Lasers get more frikkin’ power, More powerful blue-violet diode laser for more burning speed[/tags]