Saturday, November 29, 2003 - "Cuidado - Laser en Uso"
| > Science/Tech/Geek |
- Ion engines look like the next big thing, at least until they come up with a working version of something fission/fusion-powered or prove the solar sail concept. [Details]
- Timberlake, Spears, Aguilera and co. could soon be out of a job. [Details]
- Slashdotters going at eachothers' throats over music tastes. Classic. [Details]
- The world has gone mad, or The Register is having a laugh. Neither would particularly surprise me. [Details]
- "Burn 'em" is right. [Details]
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| > Stuff |
- That Nike "Keep The Ball Alive" advert is very, very cool. [Details]
- Snow White -> Little Mermaid -> Matrix -> Holy Grail. Go read "The Da Vinci Code".
- Aah, the wonders of genetic alteration. No, wait... [Display]
- Does the idiocy of political correctness know no bounds? No, people are too stupid. [Details]
- People are stupid, but at least there are other, less stupid people to make fun of them. [Details]
- Some people are good examples of political correctness and extreme stupidity being combined, to highly amusing effect. [Details]
- [Display] vs [Display]
- What would we do if we had to bury all our nuclear waste in one vast area and ensure that nobody went near it for the next ten thousand years? A very interesting study, and a little surreal. At least have a look at the pictures further down. [Details]
- Gravy in a bottle! Mmmm... [Details]
- Don't they realise that Counterstrike et al came before Sept 11th and the war on terror? [Details]
- Like a support group combined with a quotefile. Without the patronising smiles and nods. [Details]
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Posted by Stormcaller at 4:50 PM GMT [Link]
Wednesday, November 26, 2003 - "See, in matrix three, neo turns into a beautiful ACK no! Mercy! Not the aol! And with the hurting, the modems..."
| > Matrix |
- Whoops! After all the threats last week, I forgot to give the links! So here they are. [Details] [Details]
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| > articles? |
- So, Iraq. You remember it, right? [Details]
- Information as the fundamental building block of existence. [Details]
- Riiight, let's all trade one crisis for another, shall we. Housing. Infinite migration is indeed a good thing - once you've invented arcologies. Yeesh, you'd think these idiot poltiicans had never played sim anything. [Details]
- Cartooooooooooooons! [Details]
- Die, CCTV - DIE! [Details]
- MMORPG - you remember that, right? [Details]
- sensible christmas present. [Details]
- Our government will refrain from idiotic and contradictory legislation. It will all shoot itself in the head forthwith. No? Damn, you musta already seen the movie. [Details]
- It's.. camel-man! Maybe they oughta just dissect mister blaine. [Details]
- Cool, best paid job I can reasonably attain is as a US airline pilot. Flood 'em with H1Bs while they last! :) [Details]
- Strange societies in Sheffield. [Details]
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| > Tech |
- Oi, teacher, leave those url's alone. [Details]
- A gui, a gui, my kingdom for a gun to shoot the next person who writes a gui for a one dimensional code editor. [Details]
- Unicode. You may hate it, but it's not all that hard really. [Details]
- This may be of use to those of you hurting under ntl (and others) loss of connection recently. (FYI: Major transatlantic cable is down and much of France is out too) [Details]
- Iprouting for, um, experts. [Details]
- So, what is cross site scripting, anyhow? [Details]
- Given how many of my bugs have slipped through crosscheck into the main line, this may be just what we need. [Details]
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| > comics |
- 2600. I would pay money for this game. [Display]
- Shallow. Knights and Dragons and Dragons who are knights. Nifty. [Display]
- Catharsis. Noooooooooooooooooo! It's not true! [Display]
- Elf Only Inn. IRC is back! [Display]
- Pantheon. Sacrilicious! Also, accidentaly topical. [Display]
- Dragon-Tails. You, um, probably don't want to read most of my links then. [Display]
- The grand Blue door. It's big, and it's got blue doors in it. [Display]
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| > humour |
- Well, this almost makes the film worth seeing. The other film! Stormy, put down the bat! [Details]
- Ah, audiophiles - how we mock thee [Details]
- An important improvement in direct marketing techniques [Details]
- An even more important improvement in direct marketing techniques [Details]
- Um, this is a joke, right? I mean, BT are a joke... [Details]
- Strange straws [Details]
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Posted by Vitenka at 6:27 PM GMT [Link]
Saturday, November 22, 2003 - "When all else fails... Shrug."
Vitenka's been in Taipei for the last couple of weeks, which is why you haven't had any Wednesday posts for a bit. He left me a whole load of links to post when left, despite neglecting to actually tell me about them until he returned, so a few of his (including his Comic Of The Day section) have been merged into this post.
| > Science/Tech |
- Last week China came out with a four step plan for exploration of the Moon. This week the American govenment's scientists released a twenty year roadmap for science research and facilities. The only relevant question is, of course, who has the bigger penis? [Details]
- Hubble not a part of that plan, it would seem. Poor thing. [Details]
- Hooray for maths. I think they forgot proof by excessive violence, though. [Details]
- For their next trick: a frisbee catching machine. [Details]
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| > Geek |
- "Farscape" is back, with a new four-hour miniseries! After a few weeks of rumours, it's finally been, if not actually confirmed by Henson... ratified. It only took the fans a year! [Details]
- Dispelling the image of Tony Montana with his archaic calculating/accounting machine, the Mafia finally start using technology. In-tar-net? [Details]
- Not exactly news, but something you need to be reminded of. [Details]
- I matter. [Details]
- So do these people. [Details]
- These people, however, are morons. [Details]
- Record companies in "if you can't beat them, join them" shocker? No, just being hypocrits again. [Details]
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| > Comics (Vitenka) |
- I'm feeling infinite today. So have a countable number of comics.
- Damn. Apparantly Ozy and Millie isn't for me. [Display]
- Blade kitten. Sweet, violent, well drawn. Oh, and it's called kitten, so its link is inevitable (Meester anderson) [Display]
- Dragon Tales: It's a programmer joke, but it's funny in an indirect way. [Display]
- Dance for the stars: Very cutesy, slightly off balance but in places fun [Display]
- Penny Arcade: A penny arcade about online gaming? They still do those? [Display]
- Catharsis: Cruelty to dragons. [Display]
- Half Park: A somewhat predictable set of jokes, once you've heard the title [Display]
- Polymer City Chronicles: Talkin 'bout da puff. [Display]
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| > Stuff |
- Woo! England win the Rugby World Cup!
- Create your very own custom hero, from a surprisingly vast set of choices. [Destroy]
- I've finally come across a website that lists all the UK telephone charge groups and phone number prefixes, along with associated costs etc. Most useful! [Details]
- "Battle Packman 2: Terminator" - worth the link just for the name. [Details]
- But... what happened to tin? It's a conspiracy! Everyone knows only tin works! [Details]
- Not entirely sure what this Martin bloke has to do with it, but a decent primer on why trade protection is generally a bad thing. Uh, but supporting agriculture with grants is good, ok? [Details]
- Someone buy this for MC for Christmas! [Details]
- Create your own Bayeux tapestry story. Lovely. [Destroy]
- The inevitable link to rathergood.com's latest. Actually rather nice... [Destroy]
- Close your eyes and click just to the right of this sentence -> [Destroy]
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Posted by Stormcaller at 3:34 PM GMT [Link]
Saturday, November 15, 2003 - "Socially acceptable annihilation."
| > Science/Tech |
- Looks like NASA is going to be eating China's dust. They've set our four scientific goals for missions to the moon in the next few years. [Details]
- ...Unless India gets there first, of course. [Details]
- These aren't the droids you're looking for. [Details]
- I've been watching the string theory series on Channel Four. Well-explained with some excellent graphics, though, as NTK points out, the American presenter looks and sounds like Data from Star Trek. The website is also great - not only are there articles, interactive bits and demonstrations, but you can download the whole three-part series for free. [Details]
- Also on PBS's "Nova" science programme is a show about the Earth's magnetic field. I saw a programme on this a few months ago - I linked an article on "Magnetic Flip" back in May. It's not a science subject that's obvious to consider, but it's actually a rather intriguing topic. [Details]
- Plastic can do everything now. I predict the extinction of metal by 2050. [Details]
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| > Geek |
- Gah - some bastard let me use their 20gig iPod the other day. Now I might have to buy one. Bloody £300!
- Evil EUCD. Therefore, by extension, evil EU. Why is "burn them!" not a socially acceptable solution anymore? [Details]
- Some Swiss university student is doing a survey for a study on teamwork in online gaming. Care to help him out? [Details]
- Best geeky job advert ever? [Details]
- Moral justification for the killings in "The Matrix". As if we need anything more than "because this is a film, and guns are cool". [Details]
- Pretty new Shadowness, again! [Display]
- Seeing "k3wl" on news.bbc.co.uk is just... wrong. [Details]
- ThinkGeek are running a compo to win a $1500 worth of geeky goodness. However, for every one of you lot who enters my chance of winning decreases ever so slightly, so I'm going to increase the effort it takes you to enter the competition by a click by just linking to the front page. Bwahaha! [Details]
- Shiny! No, wait - not shiny. Acrylic. [Details]
- For all the bad PR they get in the media and from the tech world, Microsoft donate a lot of time and money to good causes. [Details]
- Codehax types: diagram for you. [Details]
- It's a Stuff thing really, but you have to be a Nintendo geek to recognise any of these game music tracks. Annoyingly, you can't see what the music really was if you didn't get the answer - I just want to be able to hear the music from all the games I haven't played for years. [Destroy]
- Twelve-year-olds have just found a new way to annoy everyone. Goodie. [Details]
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| > Stuff |
- "Farscape" rumours have been running wild all over the place this week. The Jim Henson Company, who create the show and own the rights to it, were ready to make an announcement on Wednesday but cancelled a major press conference at short notice. Other clues and slips from a few of the cast, and reports of requests for various props and crew members, have only fuelled the speculation. Are we really about to see the return of "Farscape"? [Details]
- Party games for sadists. [Details] [Details]
- I added this URL then forgot what it was. Update: Oh - something lame. Shrug. [Details]
- Oz noticed the fantastic category match for this on Google. Don't actually go to the site, of course. [Details]
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Posted by Stormcaller at 5:48 PM GMT [Link]
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - "Revolutions in more than technology, budget, cast, [...]?"
On the subject of "Matrix: Revolutions": I've not seen it yet, but I've scored ten prime-position, prime-time (Saturday night, day after release) tickets for the film on IMAX. It didn't come out concurrently at my local IMAX, the BFI in Waterloo in London, but at least I didn't have to wait as long as last time - it's only three weeks.
I've been preparing myself for the conclusion of the series - there's so much potential for brilliance, and to conclude the trilogy in such a way that the whole story, rather than just the first film, goes down as an instant classic. Well, despite me ignoring most trailers, reviews, comments and all plot details, nobody seems to be sure. One opinion advocated by some of those that loved it goes that you shouldn't see "Revolutions" until you've not only seen the other two films but also seen all of "The Animatrix" and played through the whole "Enter The Matrix" game (hell - even read the comics) to get the whole back story. For example: We're told very little about the Kid in "Reloaded", but there's an entire "Animatrix" short dedicated to his story. I have, and I have (and yes, I have, a bit).
I have made up my mind that I'm going to damn well love every minute of the film and be totally shocked and awed. Hence the anti-spoiler thing - I might well be let down, given the conflicting word-of-mouth I've heard, but I'd rather let the Wachowskis do that than some chap's offhand comment. Roll on the 29th...
Posted by Stormcaller at 10:11 PM GMT [Link]
Sunday, November 9, 2003 - "Rounded up and sent hurtling into the sun."
| > Science/Tech |
- All these solar flares have caused some lovely aurorae in unusual parts of the world. I've not seen it myself, but I've noticed the sky being a lot brighter in the middle of the night a couple of times, with an orange glow. [Display] [Display]
- As Voyager I approaches the edge of the solar system and prepares to break through the barrier into interstellar space, here's a bit of an explanation with nice animations of what exactly is happening. [Details]
- That Channel Four programme on string theory was pretty good, if a little overdone on the effects and with a cheesy American host. It's a short series, with shows coming up on time travel, mars exploration and the ISS. [Details]
- I've been looking for a portable MP3 player - evidently small, light, fairly high capacity and decent sound quality for under $100 is unrealistic. Azrael dug up this lovely little thing, which is not an MP3 player but looks excellent anyway. [Details]
- ...Maybe this one will do. It's not the best, and only has 128mb storage, but it's just sixty quid. [Details]
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| > Geek |
- Could this be the next big thing in filesharing? Well, obviously not - the ignorant masses will continue using KaZaA until someone finds a way to kill it. Nonetheless, eetee claims to be completely anonymous, with no way of associating files, users and IP addresses. It also has a reasonably cute logo mascot thing, which always helps. [Details]
- We knew all along that if buying and downloading music legally started to not-suck it would become hugely popular. Just look! [Details]
- BBC Radio 4 are making a new version of the "Hitchhiker's Guide". Not quite sure why - the original radio series was (and remains) fantastic - but it can't be a bad thing. Douglas Adams himself will be posthumously playing Agrajag! [Details]
- Gamer.tv are running a sexiest gamer competition. Quite silly and unoriginal, really, but... shrug. [Details]
- Business strategy can be a lot like Doom sometimes. [Details]
- Looks good and all, but I don't have a Java phone and they are too expensive so I don't really care. [Details]
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| > Stuff |
- An academic (though occasionally a little tongue-in-cheek) thesis on the usage of the three main swear words. [Details]
- Anyone else like the band "The Darkness"? You won't after watching this. [Destroy]
- An excellent (if a little... uh, risque?) viral marketing campaign for a condom company. [Details]
- The Commie scum are recruiting sheep now! [Details]
- Monkeys bad! [Details]
- Clippy jokes never get old. [Display]
- Aeroplane risotto. [Details]
- Spinny, floaty flying thing. [Details]
- Ugh - smarmy Americans. [Details]
- Intricate Etch-A-Sketch art - who'da thunk it? [Details]
- Toastie! [Details]
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Ok, so I missed Saturday by three quarters of an hour. Deal with it. Lovely Lunar eclipse, though. Tried to take some photos - my digital camera has a fireworks setting, with infinity focus, slow shutter speed, high contrast/saturation which seemed appropriate - but London is too bright and my hands are obviously not steady enough.
Posted by Stormcaller at 2:39 AM GMT [Link]
Wednesday, November 5, 2003 - "My half brother just died. I never even saw him."
| > Programming |
- Kinda a programmy theme today. Blame stormies '12 days of coding' [Details]
- Computer users are stupid. They don't understand metaphor. They won't be happy until we have true AI. So, damnit, invent true AI. [Details]
- Write good! [Details]
- Yeah, we've been dreaming about this for several decades now. [Details]
- Memo to self. Write a tract I've been thinking about for a while about the actual cost of open source as an innovation retardant. [Details]
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| > Stuff |
- Dungeons and Dragons. TV cartoon series. Lost final script. [Details]
- Oh, I don't know... because it's stupid? [Details]
- So. Where is all this stupid wifi stuff happening? [Details]
- You know, having seen the full quote, I think I begin to se why the "Jews rule the world" theory is so popular. c'mon, cut him some slack. And germany? Grow out of your shame already. [Details]
- I point out that, actually, the girls should be arrested for the worse crime of actual physical violence. [Details]
- More doctor who [Destroy]
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| > Humour |
- Choose your own headline. Fine german craftsmanship, or improved traffic calming systems? [Details]
- Well, why not? It's one of the best things about the mafia, and now the country is trying to seem legit and all... [Details]
- I can't tell whether the bbc is taking the piss or not. On balance, I think it probably is. [Details]
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| > Gaming |
- Whilst we wait for hl2, lets imagine what ,might have been [Details]
- Do not taunt the happy fun ball. [Destroy]
- Golf. How dull. [Destroy]
- It's far simpler than this. We only bother to remember the tiny percentage of games that were good enough to make the cut. We forget the average ones. So in our minds we see many good games. On the shelves, we see many bad games. [Details]
- Humm. Now either this is why the ngage isn't selling, or, better headline, even for a penny I won't buy it. [Details]
- Galaxians! [Download]
- By the makers of, and sounding very like, Star Wars. [Details]
- A game studio closes down, and we begin to see why most games aim at teenage boys with no minds. [Details]
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| > Comics |
- You Damn Kid: Not the usual method. [Display]
- Mixed Myth: Haloween is a good time for wecomics. Unless you like plot. [Display]
- Clan bob: People didn't like this new movie thing I keep hearing about. [Display]
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Posted by Vitenka at 7:15 PM GMT [Link]
Saturday, November 1, 2003 - "Let them be as chaff before the wind - shiny!"
| > Science/Tech |
- International Space Station photos and videos. Some great stuff here - lots of spectacular pictures of the Earth. Take a look at the crew imagery. [Display]
- Star Trek nerds + advanced physics laboratories and equipment = silly experiments on models of Enterprise. No surprise, really. Slashdot linked this earlier in the week. [Details]
- A nice idea which'll doubtless be a big tourist attraction if it's prominently placed. Why Vienna, though? [Details]
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| > Geek |
- "The Matrix: Revolutions" opens all over the world on the 5th November. It'll be showing at the IMAX cinema in London from 28th November - tickets on sale from Friday 7th. [Details]
- I stumbled across this very interesting little snippet while looking for the Kazaa Lite K++ website on Google. "In response to a complaint we received under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 6 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint for these removed results." Interesting. Evil, too. I don't get the impression that Google is happy with it, but they've been forced to conform with this or face legal action. I wonder if this will become more or less prevalent or accepted when Google becomes a publicly-trading company and has to answer to shareholders. Depends on what kinds of people and organisations buy shares in the company, I guess - and you can guess it's going to be the big evil techglomerates. [Details]
- A Kazaa-Lite fork? Hmm, no. Digging reveals unprofessional Yahoo and MSN email addresses, no obvious information, a dodgy-looking webmaster affiliate program and something called "Kazaa VIP" - plus it's all a pay service. What evilness is this!? [Details]
- Good on them - another group of CompSci students con the US government out of a few hundred thousand dollars. [Details]
- Almost as good as these guys who managed to get Microsoft to fund a way to broadcast music for free to the whole of MIT - legally (ish)! [Details]
- Apparently George Lucas is doing yet another new version of the original "Star Wars" trilogy. Most of the changes look quite good actually, unlike some of the ones he's made previously. He's planning to make the first three films tie in a bit more with the prequels - adding a bit of "Duel Of The Fates" here, fixing some lightsaber technicalities there, improving the ewoks a little so they're a little more menacing. The full list is about a third down on this page (the big block of text). Could this be the first sign of a DVD box set? [Details]
- I dislike kids. Especially spoilt American ones. [Details]
- Microsoft wanted to buy Google. No surprises there, but it's not likely. Then again... [Details]
- Little Lego snowdude frozen inside your mouse. We've all seen this before, but someone tends to mention it every few months and it's always worth a link. [Display]
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| > Stuff |
- MC Escher is turning over in his upside-down, stuck-to-the-wall, gravity-defying grave. [Display]
- Presumably the same Thinking Putty that ThinkGeek sells and I own some of. [Details]
- Pfft, it's all done with mirrors. [Destroy]
- I'd love to visit Middle Ear... uh, New Zealand. One day. After Japan. [Details]
- Agreed - why the hell would anyone pay more than a dollar or two for these beanie baby things? [Details]
- Did you see this on TV? Incredible! As Vitenka put it, it's Lawyer Season again! [Details]
- No wonder Italy is in such a state. [Details]
- Some stupid javascript thing. I assume so, anyway - it crashed my browser before I could check. Maybe I need a [Lame] button. [Destroy]
- We all know that America is obsessed with litigation but this is just absurd. [Details]
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Subject: Well, if we're talking about chaff from aircraft, anyway...
Posted by Stormcaller at 6:47 PM GMT [Link]
![Clan [WoF]](/images/wof.gif){kind=small}
