Drew Curtis' FARK.com -- This week's archives: "William Shatner to record an album with Henry Rollins. And the sun became black as sackcloth, and the moon became as blood"

Script to Implement Red-Eye Removal Technique: "Listing 1. red-eye.scm

To use the script, simply select a few pixels in the red region of one pupil (i.e., draw a small outline with the rectangle selection tool), then run the script (RC/Script-Fu/Selection/Red Eye). Fill in the parameters, which correspond with the ones described above, and click OK. If the result is not satisfactory, click Undo (Ctrl Z) and retry the script with different values. Repeat with the other pupil. A second script included in the file (Script-Fu/Selection/Red Eye Desaturate) uses the red channel desaturate technique, and thus does not require Channel Mixer if you don't have it installed."

Ask MetaFilter | Community Weblog: "A cheap version of the little 'chinese' balls that many guitarists diddle with for hand strength: film canisters. Take two canisters in you hand (kodak film if you've got small hands) and roll them over each other inside a ring made of your thumb and each of your fingers. It's great to keep your attention while driving."

Music industry piracy subpoenas illegal - (United Press International): "'We are not unsympathetic either to the RIAA's concern regarding the widespread infringement of its members' copyrights, or to the need for legal tools to protect those rights,' the court wrote.
'It is not the province of the courts, however, to rewrite (copyright law) in order to make it fit a new and unforeseen Internet architecture, no matter how damaging that development has been to the music industry.'
The decision did not address the legality of the lawsuits that have already been filed against hundreds of individual computer users."

Correspondences - News By the People For People: Who captured Saddam Hussein?: "Well, the cat is out of the bag so to speak. Saddam Hussein was captured by Kurds, not US forces. Here is the story as best I can determine by looking through a number of articles (see full list at end of this post).
Hussein was betrayed to the Kurds by a member of the al-Jabour tribe because Hussein's son Uday had raped a daughter of the tribe. Saddam had previously paid 7 million pounds in blood money to the tribe with the warning that he would wipe out the entire tribe if it ever came out. (Sify report)
He was then handed over to the Kurdish Patriotic Front who negotiated a deal with US forces for political power before drugging and abandoning Hussein for pickup. Ultimately he ended up in the hands of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by Jalal Talabani (Aljazeera)
Hussein could not escape the hole in which he was recovered because the entrance had been sealed."

PAYCHECK / ** (R): "OK, so the idea is for Michael and Rachel to stop Allcom before it can destroy the world. Destruction is likely, it's explained, because if world leaders could foresee that their enemies planned to use weapons of mass destruction, they would launch a pre-emptive strike to respond to the attack before it takes place. Those wacky sci-fi guys! Their way to derail this scenario, of course, involves a long motorcycle chase sequence and a martial-arts battle."

Mechwarrior 4 trial download (69mb)

Think Secret - Mini iPods, major iLife update focus of upcoming Expo keynote: "Reliable sources inside and outside of Apple have confirmed Apple will announce the new pocket-size iPods in a number of capacities and in various colors, including stripes. Capacities will be 2 and 4GB -- meaning users could store some 400 and 800 songs, respectively. Prices will start at around $100US, Think Secret has learned. It is not known if the new product line will be available immediately after introduction."

: "Alright, this baby is a classic. everyone knows that. It is also an old design so I would not expect it to preform like a truely modern air rifle. These expectations were fullfilled when I tested the Silver Streak. It is a pneumatic and pretty tough to pump, but still within reason.The pump lever is long which gives the needed leverage. The gun is brass and walnut and thus hefty. It looks great"

The Gratis Gamer

Google Search: mechwar freeware

Funagain Games: Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot card game (blue starter deck plus yellow booster deck)

sfbg.com

Cheap eats restaurant reviews

Crosman Airgun Forum: "with some polishing compound and a dremel polish all the contact surfaces from the trigger blade to the hammer, then replace the sear spring with a century or dynaline 9/32' x 1 1/8' x 0.028' spring.

if the trigger pull is still too high, order a trigger shoe."

Ask MetaFilter | Community Weblog

Select a Mirror

Google Search: frank wang california: "Frank Wang, (510) 523-2231, 2163 Lincoln Ave, Alameda, CA 94501 Yahoo! Maps MapQuest
Frank Wang, (626) 443-3987, 3815 Baldwin Ave, El Monte, CA 91731 "

Google Search: mark voigtlaender washington: "Mark and Lara Voigtlaender, (509) 464-3266, 5705 W Dorothy Ct, Spokane, WA 99208 "

Google Search: james beddoes utah: "James M Beddoes, (801) 501-8402, 9199 Peruvian Dr, Sandy, UT 84093 "

Google Search: duane griffin utah: "Duane and Heather Griffin, (801) 379-0605, 284 S 1680 W, Provo, UT 84601"

Google Search: kevin klundt utah: "Kevin and Becky Klundt, (801) 568-1846, 1420 W 8700 S, West Jordan, UT 84088"

Gawker : Peter Jennings: Out of the Loop?: "George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson were doing the live coverage on ABC when Saddam Hussein was busted in his little hidey-hole. Peter Jennings was claimed to be shooting a documentary with the police in Los Angeles, and therefore unavailable, but maybe he just needs a new beeper. A reader claims, that's 'total crap. My boyfriend was standing in the security line of LAX at around 4:30 AM, bullshitting with Peter.' They recall a conversation with Mr. Jennings as this:
BF 'So, big news today, huh.'

PJ 'How do you mean?'
BF 'You know, that they caught Saddam.'
PJ 'I'm sorry - What did you just say?'
BF 'I just heard it on NPR. They caught Saddam Hussein.'
PJ looks around stunned.
PJ 'Excuse me.'

Peter proceeded to flip the f*ck out - he leapt out of the security line, turned on his cell and started dialing/screaming."

Strom's Skeleton - The late segregationist's black daughter. By Diane McWhorter: "Strom's Skeleton
The late segregationist's black daughter.
By Diane McWhorter
Posted Tuesday, July 1, 2003, at 12:11 PM PT





Thurmond: curiouser and curiouser
In all the words spent on Strom Thurmond's life and times since his death last week, I have seen no acknowledgment of the most interesting of his sundry racial legacies. She is Essie Mae Washington Williams, a widowed former school teacher in her 70s, living in Los Angeles. Presumably she did not show up for any of the obsequies even though Strom Thurmond was almost certainly her father. Williams is black.

Jack Bass and Marilyn W. Thompson present persuasive evidence in their 1998 biography, Ol' Strom, that Thurmond sired a daughter in 1925 with a black house servant named Essie 'Tunch' Butler, with whom he reputedly had an extended relationship. Though 'Black Baby of Professional Racist' would seem to sail over the man-bites-dog bar of what is news, the story has never really gotten traction. The particulars of this family saga simply do not fit into the 'redemption narrative' Americans tend to impose on our more regrettable bygones: Better that ol' Strom 'transformed' from the Negro-baiting Dixiecrat presidential candidate of 1948 to One of the First Southern Senators To Hire a Black Aide in 1971."

Montreal Gazette - Story - canada.com network: "'So each of these computerized soldiers is assessing the environment around them, drawing on a repertoire of military moves that have been taught them through motion capture - determining how they will combat the enemy, step over the terrain, deal with obstacles in front of them through their own intelligence - and there's 200,000 of them doing that.'

Basically, all the necessary information for decision-making was fed into this network of computers without determining for them whether they would win or lose.

But this attempt to ensure that they acted spontaneously almost sabotaged the the battleground sequences.

'For the first two years, the biggest problem we had was soldiers fleeing the field of battle,' Taylor said.

'We could not make their computers stupid enough to not run away.'
"

Democrats Go Off the Cliff

Eagle Mountain City: City Council: "In 1986, Mr. Madsen received his first invitation to travel to Central America; by 1988 he was involved in that region full time. Mr. Madsen traveled extensively in Central America during these Cold War years, working in the field - often in harms way -- and in Washington, to support freedom fighters and to bring down tyrannical socialist governments in the region. "

dooce: " It was on this second night that both of our hands started to bleed and the dog, high on chemical fumes, started barking in Russian. In a delirious moment before we fell into bed that second night I half-heartedly suggested that we leave a small square of solvent on the floor overnight, just to see what would happen, even though the directions on the side of the can say DO NOT LEAVE OVERNIGHT. When we woke the next morning we found that the solvent had turned the asphalt adhesive crust into butter, and that instead of five more days of scraping we were only going to have to do a couple hours of half-assed wiping, and then we both started crying: I love you, wood floors. I love you, wood floors."

dooce: "I had no idea the actual physical toll this project would take on my already ravaged and swollen body, or that I would become so desperate as to end up on my sliver-infested knees promising the Mormon God that if he would just make it end already I would stop telling my sister’s children that sacrament bread is laced with arsenic"

The New Yorker: Fact: "The problem with the way the U.S. has been fighting the Baathist leadership, he said, is �(a) we�ve got no intelligence, and (b) we�re too squeamish to operate in this part of the world.� Referring to the American retaliation against a suspected mortar site, the former official said, �Instead of destroying an empty soccer field, why not impress me by sneaking in a sniper team and killing them while they�re setting up a mortar? We do need a more unconventional response, but it�s going to be messy.�"

The New Yorker: Fact: "A new Special Forces group, designated Task Force 121, has been assembled from Army Delta Force members, Navy seals, and C.I.A. paramilitary operatives, with many additional personnel ordered to report by January. Its highest priority is the neutralization of the Baathist insurgents, by capture or assassination. "

The New Yorker: The Talk of the Town: "Other politicians have also failed to grasp the seriousness of the food-allergy issue. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is a board member of F.A.I., said that he had written to Jimmy Carter after Carter sent a letter to the airlines in defense of packaged peanuts as an in-flight snack. "

I wouldn't be real comfortable driving around with a TV sitting
unattached on top of the folded down seat, but our our TV/VCR unit
wedges nicely on the floor between the front seats. We keep a book
under the front edge to angle the screen up for better viewing and to
provide circulation under the unit. The only direction it would move
in an accident--if at all--is forward, at floor level. Safety is
absolutely a valid concern.

ongoing ? On Search: Robots: "All obvious stuff, now; but at that point maybe 100 people in the world had had that bomb go off in their head. I was so excited that I was physically shaking on and off for the next couple of days. I sold my CEO on the idea and spent six months writing the software, and in April 1995 the Open Text Index of the Web launched, and in January 1996 we did an IPO on NASDAQ, and Open Text is now a big, successful, profitable company (but no longer a search company)."

The Psychology of Shooting - 8/98: "to achieve great PERFORMANCE, one must not 'think' at all!!' What this means is that you must be extremely analytical and cognitive in the effort of learning and perfecting the skill of shooting in order to come up with a good technique. But, when actually performing, you must let the mind/body combination operate on the subconscious level, and so do what it was trained to do without the interference of the conscious mind. And, all effort and focus is to be on execution of the act of firing a shot or a series in perfect conformance with the model you derived from all that cognition and rehearsal - not what the results of this execution might yield. "

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Inaugural Speeches from Our Action Heroes: "He-Man
Although I realize that I was not elected by a majority, I pledge to represent the interests of all. I have also retained many of my father's advisers to guide my way.
I will cut taxes, balance the budget, and rid the world of Skeletor. Skeletor is evil. Skeletor does not believe in free trade. Perhaps my words are too moralistic, too black and white. But look at him—his face is a skull! He sits on a throne made of bones. This is an evil man, working in evil times. And I know, from various intelligence sources, including my trusted aide Man-at-Arms and my Security Adviser Generic-Noun-Name, that Skeletor has been working on a new weapon: a weapon that could destroy the nation. You in the media don't believe me. Some have cynically reported that I am using fear to gain votes. If any members of the press corps wish to find out what Skeletor is up to, they can take a trip to Castle Grayskull, expenses paid from my Mattel stock options. Any takers? I didn't think so. "

moovl: built with Processing

Wow!

Beyond the Beyond: "In November 1999, as Milosevic is still in power,
Suba falls asleep in his Brazilian home studio,
drops a lit cigarette, and then gallantly dies of
smoke inhalation while trying to rescue Bebel
Gilberto's original tapes from the rising flames! "

Works in the public domain in Australia fifty years after the author's death

DVD Ripping on OS X: "Appleguru's quick but very usable DVD Rip Tutorial:"

Amazon.com: Books: Houdini's Box : The Art of Escape: "'We cannot describe ourselves without also describing what we need to escape from, and what we believe we need to escape to,' argues psychoanalyst Phillips"

Fun Supply's Talon ( Gunpower Stealth ) Forum: "A Mars bar brought home from work is far more meaningful to women than a diamond ring.

Women like small details and men think that making a big splash is better. It is not in their eyes. Be romantic, be gentle and be kind.

When she notices what is going on, you simply tell her that you are learning from a bunch of airgunners.

She will never object to another airgun."

Crosman Airgun Forum: "I found, what turned out to be, the perfect match to the Sherwin paint. It is called

U-Fix-It
Satin Finish Paint
For Exterior Trim.

$7.99 a can.
P/N 47-1023-0

This stuff should be tough as nails, as it is for exterior automotive trim, which can take quite a beating from handling and weather. "

Tribe.net: Tribe Discussion: boingboing: "I read Ann Landers* with a cynical but devoted eye for many years, and I can attest without hesitation that the most useful thing she ever wrote was this piece of advice: 'If you want to get someone to talk, ask them about themselves'. "

Street Tech :: hardware beyond the hype: "Going to the Moon is a fool's errand. In peacetime the space program gives the nation direction and provides money for industrial and technological innovation that spurs achievements in a wide selection of sectors. In war time, and when the country is in deep financial trouble, proposing to go to the moon is an obvious ploy to turn attention away from our problems and turn them towards easier successes. It worked for Kennedy, but that was a different time. We were in a cold war, and funding the space race was a way to make ourselves look like a peaceful nation while channeling money into technology that would benefit both civilian space tech and military tech as well. But this isn't the 60's and Bush isn't Kennedy. Not by a moon-shot."

Entertainment Story - canada.com network: "The samurai, who have protected the Emperor for centuries, are obsolete in this new scheme, and Algren finds himself suppressing 'another tribal uprising,' as he puts it in his journal (he journals to relax, and also to provide more Moses voice-over). Yet, when finally face to face with the great Samurai leader, Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe), Algren discovers not a savage, but a holy man. Watanabe is a star in Japan, and with his trash-pail-sized skull, he is charismatic as hell, looming over Cruise, The Littlest Samurai. In more ways than one, Algren comes to look up to his Buddhist friend who can appreciate pink flower blossoms as well as he can slice a man's head off with a wrist-flick."

Entertainment Story - canada.com network: "The man may be good with a sword, but his arsenal of weaponry really starts with that tightly held muscular jaw, the slight flinch, the eye water. All these tics are Cruise's way of communicating with us, as a monkey might, that he just wants to be a decent man, goddammit."

XS-B3-1 AK47 air rifle: "Weight, total
Length, total
Barrel length
Action
Stock
Pull
Grip
Sight
Safety
Base
Trigger
Cocking effort
Piston seal
Metal finish
Accuracy
Recommended pellets
7.25 lb.
35' stock open 24' stock closed
14 inches
Side lever-cocking, single-shot action.
Metal folding AK style.
12.25'
Pistol grip
Hooded adjustable front. Rear adj. for elevation.
Manual trigger safety.
scope rail
Non adjustable
20 pounds
Leather
Blued
1' or less @30 yd.
Chinese 7.6 gr. flathead match for .177
Daisy Maxspeed for .22"

24" Barrel .22 cal. -- PyramydAir.com: "The new 24-inch barrel from AirForce, maker of the Talon and Talon SS air rifles, has added a 24-inch Lothar Walther barrel to their line. The new barrel can be fitted to either rifle in about five minutes and immediately changes the nature of the rifle. It takes the .22-caliber Talon SS from 26 foot-pounds maximum to over 42 foot-pounds, depending on what pellet is used. The new barrel is a premium choked Lothar Walther airgun barrel that delivers extreme accuracy with quality pellets like JSB and H&N. By adding the new barrel to a standard SS, the shooter gains an entirely new air rifle suitable for hunting larger airgun game like woodchucks and raccoons at much longer ranges than most air rifles are capable of."

Reviewing Toolbar - Microsoft Word Forums - WordForums.com // Microsoft Word Forum // Free Microsoft Word Help and Support: "Sub ReviewDisable()
System.Cursor = wdCursorIBeam
If MsgBox('Click Yes to disable Reviewing toolbar.' & vbCr & _
'Click No to re-enable.', vbYesNo, 'Disable Reviewing
toolbar') = vbYes Then
CommandBars('Reviewing').Enabled = False
Else
CommandBars('Reviewing').Enabled = True
End If
End Sub

Copy and paste it into the Immediate Windows of the Visual Basic (Macro)
Editor."

Shared Governance at UC: "Shared Governance at UC: An Historical Review

John A. Douglass
University of California - Santa Barbara
10.23.95

Two major features in the historical development of the University of California distinguished it from other major public research universities. The first is the university's unusual status as a constitutionally designated public trust -- a designation shared by only five other major public universities. The second is the University of California's tradition of shared-governance: the concept that faculty should share in the responsibility for guiding the operation and management of the university, while preserving the authority of the university's governing board, the Regents, to ultimately set policy. Both of these organizational features of California's land-grant university, combined with a massive investment by tax payers to expand enrollment and academic programs, has resulted in a university enterprise of international distinction and vital service to the people of California. As in so many other aspects of the university's operation, the concept of shared governance has evolved over time, often in reaction to significant internal and external challenges, and revolving around the development of the Academic Senate. Reflecting the dynamics of decision making within a growing and multi-campus university, the root of the contemporary notion of shared governance has emerged not only from the formal delegation of authority to the Senate, but also from informal modes of involving faculty in the management of the nation's largest land-grant university. The following briefly outlines four periods in the evolution of shared governance in the University of California. The intent is to provide context to the contemporary debate among faculty, Regents, students and administrators, regarding the role of faculty in university governance and management.
"

Short Stories by Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game: "'If that's true, sir, then at least we all know that Ender is making it possible for the others of his age to be playing in the park.'

'And Jesus died to save all men, of course.' Graff sat up and looked at Anderson almost sadly. 'But we're the ones,' Graff said, 'we're the ones who are driving in the nails.' "

Chicago Sun-Times - Entertainment: "I feel liberated in films where I have absolutely no idea what will happen next. Lena and Barry are odd enough that anything could happen in their relationship. A face-to-face meeting with the Utah porn king (Anderson regular Philip Seymour Hoffman) and another meeting with the four blond brothers are equally unpredictable. And always there is Barry's quick, terrifying anger, a time bomb ticking away beneath every scene."

A Whole Lotta Features: "Make no mistake, last month PVRblog made a lot of money from Adsense. When was the last time you heard someone say they received a check for advertising on their hobby site that could be used to purchase a fully loaded Aeron chair? Sounds like something you might have heard in 1998, no? Well it's true today, and I hope a lot more people meet with the same success.
"

MSN Money - 9 ways to look rich but live cheap

Digital FM Transmitter

New look at dark accusations: "Besides the pictures, Dworin was suspicious of the setup he found in Jackson’s bedroom.
Dworin: “You had to approach the bedroom by a hallway. And in going down this hallway, it sets off an alarm in Jackson’s bedroom.”
Mankiewicz: “Which suggests what to you?”
Dworin: “To me, it suggested that it was a warning in case something was occurring that was improper, that that activity would stop.”"

Squirrel_Fishing: "Kentucky has a two week spring squirrel season, immediately following the first breeding season, around the first of June. This is a great time to hunt from a boat since there are many young squirrels who have never been hunted, and they are not the least cautious of a boat cruising up and down the shore."

Disturbing.

Educational Technology Email Lists

The Guts of a New Machine: "What I had been hoping to do was catch a glimpse of what's there when you pull back all those layers -- when you penetrate the aura, strip off the surface, clear away the guts. What's under there is innovation, but where does it come from? I had given up on getting an answer to this question when I made a jokey observation that before long somebody would probably start making white headphones so that people carrying knockoffs and tape players could fool the world into thinking they had trendy iPods.

Jobs shook his head. ''But then you meet the girl, and she says, 'Let me see what's on your iPod.' You pull out a tape player, and she walks away.'' This was an unanticipated, and surprisingly persuasive, response. That's thinking long-term, I said. ''No,'' said Steve Jobs. ''That's being an optimist.'' "

Norinco KL-3B .177 Caliber Air Rifles reviews: "My KL-3B is still shooting great without any tear-down to date. The chronies taken back in March of this year were:

High = 770.9 fps
Low = 731.3 fps
Avg = 751.5 fps "

Crosman Airgun Forum: "I got tired of my scope slopping from side to side. I took the mounts off and filed a groove with a triangular file where the wear line was on the top shoulder. Then I went to Sears and bought 2 6-32 button-head cap screws and a 6-32 tap. I redrilled and tapped the mounts, and now they're rock solid. Filing a groove enables the soft alumium to really bite the barrel, and the bigger screws can take more torque without stripping the heads. Cheap, easy, and all hand tools!"

Chinese airgun forum: "1377
4 pumps = 410 fps
6 = 485
8 = 525
10 = 560
12 = 582

HB 17
6 pumps = 400 fps
8 = 438
10 = 470

B5-10
4 pumps = 578 fps
6 = 660
7 = 682
8 = 706

I didn't go beyond 8 pumps on the B5-10 due to 'neighborhood constraints' on a Sunday afternoon as it was getting late (and loud)."

HumbleBee Electric Radio Control Helicopter RTF (FREE SHIPPING!!): "Wireless - Free flying helicopter for only 49.95!

Our HumbleBee remote-controlled electric helicopter features an on-board computer chip that manages its flight characteristics."

Mac1 Airgun Distributors: "The primary customer for this gun is the 12 ft. lb. UK consumer. It must get a gob of shots at that power level. We have taken the all corks pulled model and tamed it back to a reasonable performance level so it has lots of power but is not unnecessarily wasteful & loud. The best compromise for maximum useable power and shots. We can put a stack of washers in the hammer spring pre load area so the customer can play with different power levels and charging pressures at will. It is a cinch to take apart and try different setups. Easy to tune and simple to make barrels for. "

SNM-Discount Rifle Scopes,Binocular Deals,Cheap Night Vision: "The BSA Laser Sight is unbeatable for shooting from medium to close range. It mounts on most firearms and comes with a .22 air rifle base & a wvr-style mounting bases.The laser beam that is projected onto your target looks like a small red dot. The BSA Laser Sight has two switches, one on top of the body and the other is a momentary pressure sensitive switch and wire that mounts on the gun. It is also adjustable for windage and elevation. "

The Seattle Times: Recipe: Cornbread-Sausage Stuffing with Apples: "Recipe: Cornbread-Sausage Stuffing with Apples"

Search for K&N Products 1988 VOLKSWAGEN Golf

DR. SEUSS' THE CAT IN THE HAT / ** (PG) : "What happens then? Is Joan fired? Is the house perhaps magically repaired? I would be happy to tell you, but I had better not give away the ending; there may be unfortunate readers who have not read The Cat in the Hat, or had it read to them, or even had it summarized for them by a trusted adviser."

Ear Plugs, ear phones and white noise machines for everyone, Earplugs for Musicians and Swimming!

[Mailman-Developers] mailman on OS X 10.2: "I finally had time to install 2.1b3+ on OS X 10.2

Install was fairly straightforward.

Here is the script of what I had to do to install. It assumes a generic
10.2 system with a working sendmail.



My current mm_cfg.py is here:



I'm leaving the beast fairly generic until I figure out how 2.1 works
and what I want to tweak....

So far, looks pretty solid. Kewl."

[Mailman-Developers] mailman on OS X 10.2: "I finally had time to install 2.1b3+ on OS X 10.2

Install was fairly straightforward.

Here is the script of what I had to do to install. It assumes a generic
10.2 system with a working sendmail.



My current mm_cfg.py is here:



I'm leaving the beast fairly generic until I figure out how 2.1 works
and what I want to tweak....

So far, looks pretty solid. Kewl."

EMUtah.com maps

American Studies Electronic Crossroads

HTML: MiniChapter 1: The Basics

kuro5hin.org || Uberman's sleep schedule

Hacking Garmin eTrex GPS receiver

PC to Garmin (eType)

Film Threat - Reviews: "Indeed, The Phantom Menace seems like a triumph of character development in comparison to 'Revolutions.' And probably the saddest thing about these two 'Matrix' sequels is that there's far more imagination and personality afforded to the Warchowski's concepts in The Animatrix. Perhaps 'Revolutions' would have worked in anime, but not when you want flesh and blood from the people you've grown to care about. And the directors who handle humanity with the precision of a computer animator. "

42/0 : How to get a news feed into your WebCT course

Las Vegas Mercury: Film: One for all: "She's not alone: In Wachowski World, characters may only be recognizable for so long before morphing into someone, or something, else (in Revolutions, Neo becomes two other entities--three if you count a flash of light). But for the Wachowskis--who have already said there won't be a Matrix 4--the problem lies less in deciding what to do with their Christ-like creation than in coaxing audiences back into theaters after the overstuffed, confusing and inhuman Reloaded. In the end, simplicity won out; and while Revolutions is nowhere near the standard of the magical first film, it supplies some of what Reloaded lacked (consistency, spectacle rooted in humanity) and avoids many of that film's miscalculations, particularly a mind-numbing busyness and emotional frigidity. "

Why is Reloaded taking such a beating? I had no problem with it, as long as I treated it as a really good rental and not a religion.

Google Search: matrix revolutions script: " KEANU REEVES
Why am I here?

THE EXPLAINER
Many years ago, shortly before the
success of Speed, you sold your soul
to the devil in exchange for a
promise of notoriety that your
piss-poor acting skills do not
deserve. This series is the
actualization of this promise."

Chicago Sun-Times - Entertainment: "That will not prevent fanboys from analyzing the philosophy of 'The Matrix Reloaded' in endless Web postings. Part of the fun is becoming an expert in the deep meaning of shallow pop mythology; there is something refreshingly ironic about becoming an authority on the transient extrusions of mass culture, and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) now joins Obi-Wan Kenobi as the Plato of our age"

FARK.com: Comments Thingee (710350): "Do people really think the Hilton girls are hot? They look like bronzed, leather versions of people."

THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS / *** (R)

Usability Assignment--someone using a product and describing their experience.

FARK.com: Comments Thingee (709525): "I stick to my biased, arrogant opinion that people who 'don't get' the dialogue/story that concerns, the Oracle, The Architect, Smith, etc. (everything that doesn't involve getting kicked in the face) are just too slow to appreciate the concepts, and blame the film for revealing the limits of their imagination. I LOVE those 'boring' elements because I had to see the film 3 times to really dig what The Architect was going on about. It's just typical of Pop America that a creative work comes along, and rather than just short-stroking the nacho disposal units, um, viewers, it challenges them to think and chew at the same time, and gets called 'boring'. The backlash is as pathetic as it it predictable. That's why most stuff just SUCKS. Nobody wants to stretch their skull to accomodate something they aren't already totally familiar with. Music, film, TV,...I'd mention literature, but if half of you finish reading this post, you'll have read 300% as much as the average American sees in a month.
Maybe you guys should just go watch Fear Factor."

uni: the simple things that time reveals

"Hunter Of The Past"

This is Carleton - Researchers find cyber-slacking abounds

gladwell dot com--choking: "Stress wipes out short-term memory. People with lots of experience tend not to panic, because when the stress suppresses their short- term memory they still have some residue of experience to draw on. But what did a novice like Morphew have? I searched my mind for what I could do. And nothing came to mind."

gladwell dot com--choking: "There was a moment, in the third and deciding set of the 1993 Wimbledon final, when Jana Novotna seemed invincible. She was leading 4-1 and serving at 40-30, meaning that she was one point from winning the game, and just five points from the most coveted championship in tennis. She had just hit a backhand to her opponent, Steffi Graf, that skimmed the net and landed so abruptly on the far side of the court that Graf could only watch, in flat- footed frustration. The stands at Center Court were packed. The Duke and Duchess of Kent were in their customary place in the royal box. Novotna was in white, poised and confident, her blond hair held back with a headband--and then something happened. She served the ball straight into the net. "

THE HUMAN STAIN / ***1/2 (R): "The story involves two different kinds of passing: crossing the race line, and the class line. Which is more difficult? Consider that Coleman and Faunia must deal with each other despite their lack of common references, education, background, assumptions, manners of speech, tastes and instincts. To cross the race line involves deep psychological anguish, as you betray yourself and your past, but in the routine of daily existence it is perhaps easier than crossing the class line. You can talk and think just the way you do now. It was different 50 or 100 years ago, but today most of us find it more difficult to deal in depth with someone of another class than with someone of another race. (I am not forgetting that to cross from white to black would be much more difficult, because you'd take on the impact of racism.)"

Gizmodo : Pioneer's DVD recorders with TiVo: "we think Pioneer's new line of TiVo digital video recorders with built-in DVD recorders is finally out. They're not cheap, but both the DVR-810H (pictured at right) and the DVR-57H will let you do one thing that isn't possible with any other TiVo: save TV shows to a DVD-R for archiving or giving to a friend. The DVR-810H has an 80GB hard drive and can store up to 80 hours of programming, while the DVR-57H has a 120GB hard drive. "

Army Times - News - Special Reports: "Shortly before dawn on Aug. 28, an M1A1 Abrams tank on routine patrol in Baghdad “was hit by something” that crippled the 69-ton behemoth.
Army officials still are puzzling over what that “something” was.
According to an unclassified Army report, the mystery projectile punched through the vehicle’s skirt and drilled a pencil-sized hole through the hull. The hole was so small that “my little finger will not go into it,” the report’s author noted.
The “something” continued into the crew compartment, where it passed through the gunner’s seatback, grazed the kidney area of the gunner’s flak jacket and finally came to rest after boring a hole 1½ to 2 inches deep in the hull on the far side of the tank.
As it passed through the interior, it hit enough critical components to knock the tank out of action. That made the tank one of only two Abrams disabled by enemy fire during the Iraq war and one of only a handful of “mobility kills” since they first rumbled onto the scene 20 years ago. The other Abrams knocked out this year in Iraq was hit by an RPG-7, a rocket-propelled grenade.
Experts believe whatever it is that knocked out the tank in August was not an RPG-7 but most likely something new — and that worries tank drivers."

Steve Earle vs. Bill O'Reilly | Metafilter: "After September 11, [Artemis label boss] Danny Goldberg suggested I write a political record. I was happy that he said that, but thought, 'Nah, I’ll write more chick songs, because it prevents my audience from getting exponentially hairier and uglier as time goes on.'"

Guardian Unlimited | Online | At home with the Führer: "This took the whole story to a new level. IPC was no longer dealing with an irritating bloke with a blog, and it was no longer a simple matter of copyright. It was the subject of a full-on assault from the US Holocaust lobby. I was glad someone other than David Irving was now demanding it. After weeks of silence and guarded statements to journalists, IPC was prodded into action. I received an email from IPC, who forwarded me a statement it had sent to the Wyman Institute. It conceded that 'after extensive research ... there is no way of ascertaining where copyright ownership lies after 65 years. Therefore, it is not in our gift to either agree or withdraw use of these images and words.' "

The Onion | Dolphins Evolve Opposable Thumbs: 'Oh, Shit,' Says Humanity: "It is unknown what precipitated the dolphins' sudden development of opposable thumbs. Some dolphin behaviorists believe that the gentle marine mammal, pushed to the brink by humanity's reckless pollution and exploitation of the sea, tapped into some previously unmined mental powers to spontaneously generate a thumb-like appendage. However, given that 95 percent of the world's dolphin experts have committed suicide since learning of the development, the full story may never be known.

'You must believe, sleek ocean masters, that many of us homo sapiens weep with shame and disgust over the degradation to which our species has subjected our All-Mother, the Great World-Sea,' read the suicide note of Dr. Richard Morse, a Brisbane, Australia, delphinologist and regular contributor to Marine Mammal Science. 'If you are reading this, I estimate that it is the day we know as August 31, 2000. Please be decent and kind masters to our poor ape-race. Oh, God, I'm so sorry about the tracking collars.'"

XScreenSaver on MacOS

Blogger Forum - Blogging help, tips and Blogger support

Norinco KL-3B .177 Caliber Air Rifles reviews: "Another area of the KL-3B that, for the most part, gets ignored is its lack of a crown on the barrel. It comes with a 'pseudo' target crown but is merely a counterbore and does require some chamfering to improve accuracy. I used a small ball-bearing that I soldered to the head of a socket head cap screw, chucked that into a handdrill and used a fine grit grinding compound (400 grit Clover compound) to rework the muzzle end. You only need to 'break' the sharp edge by about .020' or so then do a bluing retouch on that polished surface.

Future questions/comments can be sent to me at:

blklion@delphiforums.com

--- bill "

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED / ***1/2 (Not rated): "Why was Chavez not our friend? It all comes down to oil, as it so often does these days. Venezuela is the fourth largest oil-producing nation in the world, and much of its oil comes to the United States. Its price has been guaranteed by the cooperation of the nation's ruling class. Chavez was elected primarily by the poor. He asked a simple question: Since the oil wells have always been nationalized and the oil belongs to the state, why do the profits flow directly to the richest, whitest 20 percent of the population, while being denied to the poorer, darker 80 percent? His plan was to distribute the profits equally among all Venezuelans."

abc7.com: Robert Blake Murder Case: "The key evidence against Caldwell was a written list that included such items as shovels, a sledge, duct tape, lye, pool acid and the notation: 'Get blank gun ready.' His attorneys had argued those were typical handyman items. "

die puny humans: "The best restaurants in any town are the ones that are open 24 hours. It doesn't matter if the restaurant is clean or attractive, if the food is good or even edible. What makes 24-hour places special is that whatever is going on inside them at any moment--eating, crashing from a night high and wild, a secret lovers' rendezvous, a drug deal, a traveler getting her bearings in a new town-- will continue to go on there until the place burns down or goes out of business.



These places sell time, not food. All 24-hour restaurants are social neutral zones, outside the normal boundaries of time and space, which exist for most of us in neatly packaged eight-hour segments: one for sleep, one for work and one for life. These diners are the alien bases in our midst. Area 51 with curly fries and a Coke."

When I wrote my comments, I had only skimmed through parts of the book: "Russo attempts to explain the violent backward motion of Kennedy's head and upper body with the jet-effect theory (p. 298). This theory says the right-frontal explosion that we see in the Zapruder film pushed Kennedy violently backward and to the left. This is most unlikely. Dr. Larry Sturdivan, a wound ballistics expert, testified to the HSCA that this right-frontal explosion would have produced little motion, and that what small amount of movement it might have generated would have pushed Kennedy straight to the left, not backward and to the left. Several other scholars have rejected the jet-effect theory, including two physicists. Proponents of the single-shooter scenario have long had trouble explaining why Kennedy's upper body moves violently backward if he was supposedly shot only from behind. Another theory offered to explain this apparent contradiction is that Kennedy's backward motion resulted from a neuromuscular reaction. This was the theory that Dr. Sturdivan offered to the HSCA as his explanation for Kennedy's rapid backward movement. But this theory is just as problematic and implausible as the jet-effect theory. I asked Dr. Robert Zacharko, a Canadian professor of neuroscience, about the neuromuscular-reaction theory. He said it was absurd and that those who advance it don't understand neuromuscular reactions or how the brain works. I've seen war films and execution films that show men being shot in the head. In those films (at least in all the ones I've seen) the victims always go limp immediately, and their heads move in the same direction as the bullet. The most logical explanation for Kennedy's fierce backward movement, assuming the existing Zapruder film is pristine, is that it was caused by a shot from the front. Dr. Michael Kurtz:"

When I wrote my comments, I had only skimmed through parts of the book: "Russo attempts to explain the violent backward motion of Kennedy's head and upper body with the jet-effect theory (p. 298). This theory says the right-frontal explosion that we see in the Zapruder film pushed Kennedy violently backward and to the left. This is most unlikely. Dr. Larry Sturdivan, a wound ballistics expert, testified to the HSCA that this right-frontal explosion would have produced little motion, and that what small amount of movement it might have generated would have pushed Kennedy straight to the left, not backward and to the left. Several other scholars have rejected the jet-effect theory, including two physicists. Proponents of the single-shooter scenario have long had trouble explaining why Kennedy's upper body moves violently backward if he was supposedly shot only from behind. Another theory offered to explain this apparent contradiction is that Kennedy's backward motion resulted from a neuromuscular reaction. This was the theory that Dr. Sturdivan offered to the HSCA as his explanation for Kennedy's rapid backward movement. But this theory is just as problematic and implausible as the jet-effect theory. I asked Dr. Robert Zacharko, a Canadian professor of neuroscience, about the neuromuscular-reaction theory. He said it was absurd and that those who advance it don't understand neuromuscular reactions or how the brain works. I've seen war films and execution films that show men being shot in the head. In those films (at least in all the ones I've seen) the victims always go limp immediately, and their heads move in the same direction as the bullet. The most logical explanation for Kennedy's fierce backward movement, assuming the existing Zapruder film is pristine, is that it was caused by a shot from the front. Dr. Michael Kurtz:"

Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things

Chinese Airgun Only Forum: "Also take off the sling hardware and the back butt of the stock before using the paint stripper."

The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century :: Main Page: "during my last trip there, I met some new hires, and they saw themselves as a kind of software X-Men, fighting to save a world that hates and fears them"

misbehaving.net

XS-B3-1 tuning: "RESULTS:
Before: 14.3 Premiers averaged 425 fps and 1-inch at 30 feet. Hobbies got 487 average (slightly better groups).
After (with a 7-inch stub) 14.3 Premiers average 457 with one inch groups. Hobbies got 509 average.
BUT, with RWS Meisterkugelns at 13.1 grains, I averaged 495.9 (3 shots, SD of 1.4)and got a 3-shot group of 0.45 inch (red-dot sight). I now have an accurate, quiet 7.1 foot pound springer that is only 18 inches long, 27 with the stock opened. Built like a tank, too.
"

Google Search:: "In the April 1994 issue of 'The Airgun Letter,' we provided plans for making
a silent pellet trap. Basically, you stack two courses of bricks of Duct Seal
in a metal-backed wooden frame. Duct Seal is also known as 'thumb gum.' You
may have to check hardware/home supply stores to find it. You'll pay about
$1.75-$2.25 per pound. We bought 12 pounds for our silent pellet trap and
got a nice discount for buying in bulk.

Incidentally, our silent pellet trap design was only recommended for pellet
guns up to the 15 ft-lb level."

Google Search:: "In the April 1994 issue of 'The Airgun Letter,' we provided plans for making
a silent pellet trap. Basically, you stack two courses of bricks of Duct Seal
in a metal-backed wooden frame. Duct Seal is also known as 'thumb gum.' You
may have to check hardware/home supply stores to find it. You'll pay about
$1.75-$2.25 per pound. We bought 12 pounds for our silent pellet trap and
got a nice discount for buying in bulk.

Incidentally, our silent pellet trap design was only recommended for pellet
guns up to the 15 ft-lb level."

BakerWorld's Air Gun Fun for ALL: "Take an old stainless steel spoon, pound it flat with a hammer and anvil, bend the handle to form a loop, and use a piece of thick wire (like that used for dog runs) by bending and shaping it to hold the spoon. You may need to experiment with the length of the spoon handle for optimal spinning. Bending the wire in an M shape with the spoon in the middle will keep the spoon from sliding around on the wire.
AirMojo "

Apple's Latest 0.1 Adds a Lot: "In terms of pure productivity power, Panther's most important perk is a new anti-window-clutter feature called Exposé. When you press a certain keystroke (of your choosing), all windows in all programs visibly shrink and array themselves across the screen like non-overlapping tiles. You just click the one you want to bring it forward at full size. This visual method of plucking a window from a haystack is so brilliant and addictive, you'll wind up using it dozens of times a day. Exposé is the biggest graphical breakthrough that operating systems have achieved in years."

Niagara Nutcase | Metafilter: "Grew up in the town next to Niagara Falls. My favourite story is the one about the kayaker from TN who thought he could build up enough speed to shoot out of the water's drag at the falls. He thought that he woud make it if he could land the kayak in such a way that the force of impact would be distributed along the reinforced hull. They found his arm."

New York Post Online Edition: news: "The thrill seeker, who took the leap Monday, faces a psychiatric exam and the prospect of a $10,000 fine."

JACK THE PELICAN PRESENTS | David Shapiro: "The trajectory of Shapiro's preoccupation with food can be traced to his lifelike heads cast in tofu, shown at Liebman Magnan in 1999. Parallel diaristic concerns are evident in such earlier works as Nickel Bags (Lavanderia Fundacio, Barcelona, 2000), an ongoing visual diary of small found objects."

No Media Kings

die puny humans:: "When they're not around, I put the TV on. Purely out of curiosity, you understand. Up here, we can snatch some forty thousand channels out of the air. Most of them, of course, are still showing CSI and LAW AND ORDER. There are twelve different channels showing LAW AND ORDER 24 hours a day. In some countries, Jerry Orbach has become a cargo-cult figure. They don't understand the language or much of the situations. They comprehend only that Jerry Orbach is immortal. They watch and divine from the show that he outlives the young gods who are selected to be his assistants. Criminals fall. DAs change. Assistants fade away. Jerry Orbach is forever. Jerry Orbach is, in fact, some kind of avenging God-King who will hunt and incarcerate Scum until the end of time."

Google Search: hacking deep freeze: "If you CAN boot to a:\ then you can delete persi0.sys and replace it
with your own copy containing a known password. From my experience,
the persi0.sys filez from the trial versions work to replace the one's
from regular installations. persi0.sys also runs in Ring 0 and cannot
be deleted while DeepFreeze is running. Not with a process killer, not
with DOS, not with Process Explorer. If you ever figure it out, post
it for all to see and congratulate you!"

Octave: Duplicators Microboards Orbit Ii 50-Disc, Autoloading Cd Duplicator 48x

OregonLive.com's Printer-Friendly Page: "The leaders we conservatives have trusted have taken advantage of our trust to line the pockets of the wealthy and powerful, and it's time we rose up and drove out these greedy liars. They've hijacked and distorted our belief system for their own gain, and in doing so are destroying our credibility."

TiVo time warp (kottke.org): "'No, no, don't answer it!' I yelled. 'It's your parents! They're calling from the future!'"

Doug Henning and the Giggling Guru; Notes of a Fringe-Watcher (Skeptical Inquirer / May 1995): "Amazingly, TMers are greatly entranced by lotus hopping. Last October a demonstration was held at the University of Toronto. Three Vedic 'flyers' giggled while they bounced on their bums for five minutes, looking (said one observer) like legless frogs. I was told by Charles Reynolds, who for many years designed Doug's stage illusions, that during one of Henning's TV rehearsals he periodically halted all activity so those present could meditate and send him powerful vibes while he tried vainly to float. He actually believed he might be able to demonstrate levitation on his forthcoming show!"

Proposal Submission Page

Computers and Writing 2004: "(This year, for the first time, Computers and Writing is offering presenters the option of sending in a completed manuscript in advance of the conference; the manuscripts will then be published and sent to participants before they arrive.)"

Plastic: Kill Bill : "Uma has NASTY looking toes. Couldnt they have used a foot stunt double?"

His name is Steve | Metafilter: "I'm a die-hard, genetic Red Sox Fan

That's OK. I believe you should have all the same rights as a normal human.
posted by jonmc at 5:17 PM MST on October 15
"

The Observer | Magazine | Getting over Google grief: "Living


Getting over Google grief

The web has made it easier than ever to find out what's happened to old friends. But how do you feel when you discover that they've died? Michele Kirsch goes sentimental surfing

Sunday October 12, 2003
The Observer

There is a little-explored downside to to the websites and search engines targeted at the pathologically nostalgic. What if you find out, through Friends Reunited or Google, that the person who was one of your very best buddies from 1978 to 1985 actually dropped dead, unbeknown to you, three years ago? Do you go through a form of cyber mourning, a sort of half-arsed process of bereavement whereby instead of experiencing the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance), you cut to the chase, get depressed for a while and then forget it?"

20 Great Google Secrets: "Extended Googling"

SecurityFocus HOME News: Guilty Plea in Kinko's Keystroke Caper: "For nearly two years ending last December, Jiang's makeshift surveillance net raked in over 450 online banking passwords and user names from hapless Kinko's customers, according to the plea. He would use victims' financial information to open new accounts under their names, and then siphon money from their legitimate accounts into the new, fraudulent ones.

According to court records, the caper began unraveling last October, when Jiang had the bad luck to use a stolen GoToMyPC account to remotely control a victim's home computer while the victim was sitting in front of it. The victim, unnamed in court filings, watched as the PC's cursor began moving of its own accord, riffling through files, opening a browser window, and then establishing an account with online money transfer site Neteller.com under the victim's name. The victim had logged into the machine through GoToMyPC from a Kinko's on Seventh Avenue a few days earlier.

GoToMyPC's access logs captured Jiang's IP address, and after a brief investigation, the U.S. Secret Service raided the apartment Jiang shared with his mother in Queens. They seized books on hacking, a laptop computer and four desktop machines from Jiang's bedroom. Under questioning, Jiang, admitted sniffing passwords and usernames from Kinko's machines and selling them over the Internet, according to a Secret Service affidavit filed in the case. "

University of Nevada, Las Vegas - Library /All Locations: "Computers and technical communication : pedagogical and programmatic perspectives / edited by Stuart A. Selber
Publ info Greenwich, Conn. : Ablex Pub. Corp., c1997
LOCATION CALL # STATUS
UNLV Book Stacks T10.5 .C593 1997 NOT CHCKD OUT
Foreword
Introduction 1
1 Hypertext Spheres of Influence in Technical Communication Instructional Contexts / Stuart A. Selber 17
2 Legal Realities and Ethical Hyperrealities: A Critical Approach Toward Cyberwriting / James E. Porter 45
3 Visual Literacy in the Computer Age: A Complex Perceptual Landscape / Lee Brasseur 75
4 Wild Technologies: Computer Use and Social Possibility / Johndan Johnson-Eilola 97
5 Teaching and Learning Communities: Locating Literacy, Agency, and Authority in a Digital Domain / Billie J. Wahlstrom 129
6 Distance Learning Via the World Wide Web: Information, Engagement, and Community / Ann Hill Duin, Ray Archee 149
7 Shaping Technologies: The Complexity of Electronic Collaborative Interaction / Rebecca E. Burnett, David Clark 171
8 Learning Up Close and at a Distance / Nancy Allen, Gregory A. Wickliff 201
9 Technologies and Tensions: Designing Online Environments for Teaching Technical Communication / Brad Mehlenbacher 219
10 Forces of Conservatism and Change in Computer-Supported Communication Facilities: Programmatic and Institutional Responses to Change / Richard J. Selfe, Cynthia L. Selfe"

How to use liposuction to repair Adobe Reader 6: "On my tests, I decided to use the 'lowest of the low-end' system: my Thinkpad 380ed with a Pentium I-MMX class CPU. Before the liposuction, Adobe Reader 6 took 41 seconds to load (without any PDF file), after the fat-removal procedure, it took 20 seconds. On high-end systems, however, the results are more dramatic: Kelly claims Adobe Reader 6 took over 20 seconds to load on a 1.8 Ghz. Pentium 4 system, and just under two seconds after the procedure."

Daisy.com » Daisy.com » Frequestly Asked Questions (F.A.Q.):: "Where do we send a gun for service?
Call our Customer Service Department at (800) 713-2479. Most models currently in production may be returned for repair or replacement with a similar model by Daisy. There will be a charge for out-of-warranty guns. Do not ship a gun without calling for details.

We may recommend that you send your out-of-warranty gun ot one of our qualified independant gunsmiths. Do not ship a gun without calling for details."

Blue and Orange: "Technically I'm not an alumnus of Dartmouth College because I didn't actually graduate. But you wouldn't know that, given that I somehow have an alumni email account, and they harass me for money all the time. But despite my lack of love for the Dartmouth administration, who are apathetic, selfish people, and the deans, who are weak-willed cowards, I do love the place itself and especially my fraternity, Sigma Nu"

ESL Articles: "Bardovi-Harlig, Kathleen, and Beverly S. Hartford. 'Congruence in Native and Nonnative Conversations: Status Balance in the Academic Advising Session.'
Bardovi-Harlig, Kathleen, and Beverly S. Hartford. 'The Language of Comembership.'
Berry, David W. 'Silences in the Writing Center: Avoiding Babble for ESL Students.'
Cogie, Jane, Kim Strain and Sharon Lorinskas.'Avoiding the Proofreading Trap: The Value of the Error Correction Process.'
Ferris, Dana R. 'Rhetorical Strategies in Student Persuasive Writing: Differences between Native and Non-Native English Speakers.'
Ferris, Dana R. 'Student Reactions to Teacher Response in Multiple-Draft Composition Classrooms.'
Gumperz, J. J. 'Interethnic Communication.'
Hartford, Beverly S., and Kathleen Bardovi-Harlig. 'Closing the Conversation: Evidence from the Academic Advising Session.'
He, Tung-hsien (Tony). 'Genres and Strategies: How Skilled and Unskilled ESL Writers Compose.'
Janopoulos, Michael. 'University Faculty Tolerance of NS and NNS Writing Errors: A Comparison.'
Kaplan, Robert B. 'Contrastive Rhetoric and the Teaching of Composition.'
Kaplan, Robert B. 'Cultural Thought Patterns in Inter- Cultural Communication.'
Kroll, Barry, and John C. Schafer. 'Error-Analysis and the Teaching of Composition.'
Leki, Ilona. 'Coping Strategies of ESL Students in Writing Tasks Across the Curriculum.'
Masiello, Lea. 'Diversity in Language and Writing.'
Matalene, Carolyn. 'Contrastive Rhetoric: An American Writing Teacher in China.'
Matsuda, Paul Kei. 'Composition Studies and ESL Writing: A Disciplinary Division of Labor.'
Powers, Judith K. 'Rethinking Writing Center Conferencing Strategies for the ESL Writer.' "

Google Search:: "Hi I am new to air gun shooing, (I have used shot guns for many years) Please can someone answer a few questions. 1/ Can I target shoot in my back garden? there are no houses, just a barn and fields behind my garden fence. (I live in the UK) 2/ Is there a web site where I can down load a target to print off for practice shooting? 3/ Should I use steel or thick plywood (or something else) behind the target? Cheers"

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Martial arts expert kills two raiders: "The butchery, worthy of a Quentin Tarantino film, began shortly before midnight on Friday when the four men knocked at the apartment of a Chinese hairdresser in the centre of Empoli.
The hairdresser, her assistant and 'the doctor', who operated from the same premises, were reportedly overpowered and tied up before the group, all thought to be in their 20s and 30s, ransacked the apartment.
Disappointed by their meagre booty, the attackers allegedly threatened to rape the two women unless they told them where the rest of their money was hidden.
At this point the doctor managed to free himself, seize a knife from one of the aggressors and deliver a series of lethal stab wounds.
Investigators found the body of one man, who had been stabbed in the heart, sprawled on the staircase and another man bleeding to death in the street from a wound to his leg. A third man is recovering in hospital from a punctured lung.
The doctor was found crouching in the entrance to the building with cuts to his shoulder, face and hands.
Investigators are trying to determine whether he inflicted the injuries while defending himself inside the apartment, or hunted down the burglars after they had fled. "

The Rock Salt - forumcation

Massive slimey conspiracies!

New Scientist: "Following its success with Operation Flashpoint, Codemasters is also using Fade with a new snooker game. Copies play normally for a while, but after a predetermined number of potshots, gravity is progressively turned off so the balls start behaving oddly and end up floating over the table."

Esquire:Feature Story:70th ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: The Greatest Stories Ever Told: "The rest was agony. At the meeting that followed, consensus was impossible. A clear half dozen or so pieces did emerge, though, that seemed to possess the best combination of literary style and exacting reportage, timely urgency and enduring relevance, indelible impact on journalism and the world at large. Each of them could easily be declared, without fear of overstatement, the best Esquire story ever published. These were:"

Air Arms 410E Air Rifles reviews: "I bought a 410E last year from Pomona Steve. He talked me into the power mod and 4 spare magazines - that way I can figure out when my air is out after 50 shots in .22. I've been shooting this gun everyday ever since it arrived and have left all my other hobbies high and dry. I only shoot maybe 200-300 rounds on some days but when the starlings are out I can shoot 1000-1500 rounds in one afternoon without breaking a sweat. I put up quite a suet feed station and sit on my balcony all day long and drop starlings from a rest - 30-70 yards in my backyard. I haven't had a single issue with my 410E or even a worn oring (which I know is comming soon cause I've got about 8000-9000 rounds through my gun) since I got it and I think its the greatest value going!! Great design!!"

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience | Metafilter

Happiness studies.

Rush Limbaugh Checks Into Rehab | Metafilter: "'What this says to me,' he told his listeners that day, 'is that too many whites are getting away with drug use. Too many whites are getting away with drug sales. Too many whites are getting away with trafficking in this stuff. The answer to this disparity is not to start letting people out of jail because we're not putting others in jail who are breaking the law. The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river, too.'"

Rush Limbaugh on drug abuse.

EServer TC Library: Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing

Nice bib. of single sourcing articles.

Lifetime Achivement Award: "It was natural for Dr. Beeman to draw on his decades of experience as a technical writer and science professor to start what amounted to an educational writing campaign. Editors always need articles and illustrations, so he started writing articles about adult airguns, providing ready-made color photographs for gun magazine covers, preparing the big Airgun Digest book, stimulating gun writers to write about adult airguns, and producing Beeman's own national airgun newsletters and a catalog. The Beeman 'catalog' intentionally was big and technical; really an educational introduction and guide. At that time, a simple catalog of these special airguns would not have meant much. Most of the readers literally would not have understood the products."

Airgun Silencers: "Because of the past indifference of most law enforcement activity to airguns, many airgunners tend to think of themselves and their guns as invisible. You never know when your airgun may be subject to very rigid examination. What will happen when focus is placed on your silencer-equipped, 'deadly force' airgun when it is found in your car after an accident or during an unexpected roadblock? An actual example: We have a very WASP neighbor who was strolling, post 9/11, down our very remote country road with his wife, and his Beeman R1 air rifle. Evidently in response to a hysterical 'man with a gun' call from one of the very few passing motorists, he suddenly was facing a sheriff's helicopter and roadblocks in each direction by four patrol cars and a bullhorn order to 'lay down your weapon and spread your arms and legs on the ground'. It so happened that his wife was a trauma and stress psychologist for that Sheriff's Department. She smoothed the situation over so that he managed to get his gun back, IF he would return it to his home immediately. Do you think that a silencer on his 'deadly weapon' would have enhanced his situation?"

Kairosnews | A Weblog for Discussing Rhetoric, Technology and Pedagogy: "We don't hear much about the 'electric light revolution' anymore, but that doesn't mean we've all returned to candles."

Top 10 Software Titles Every Home PC Needs?

mysqld ended Can't get mysql running: "Marc Liyanage's 'Cleanup Instructions for old MySQL versions' fixed the trouble. He's got a little shell script that deletes all the old MySQL files that might mess things up. "

Find Toys, Video Games, Collectibles, Software and More at KBtoys.com: "Plaintiff alleges that Defendants implemented a pricing scheme that utilizes two different prices which are placed in near proximity of one another on price tags, on shelf tags, on in-store signs and in retail and online advertisements. One price, a comparative or 'reference' price, is printed in black ink and then crossed out in red ink. A lower, second price, which the consumer must pay to purchase the product, is displayed in simulated handwritten red ink. Plaintiff alleges that the comparative or 'reference' price for the product is not the prevailing market price for the product and that little or no actual sales were ever consummated or expected at this price. Rather, Plaintiff alleges that it is a fictitious amount used to make the actual purchase price for the product appear as a bargain and as a reduction from the comparative price. Plaintiff contends that Defendants' alleged conduct violates the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act ('Consumer Fraud Act') and the Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act ('Uniform Act'), as well as similar consumer protection statutes in other states, and constitutes unjust enrichment. Plaintiff is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, an award of attorneys' fees and expenses for bringing the Action and a permanent injunction to prevent Defendants from continuing to use the alleged wrongful pricing scheme.

"

The Salt Lake Tribune -- Two conference goers arrested in run-ins: "Josh Peters, who describes himself as agnostic, said he spent the weekend in front of the conference center with friends Adam Welling, Sean Johnsen and Ryan Roylance because he doesn't like the street preachers insulting Mormons.
'It's just plain disrespectful,' he said. 'So I came out to protest them by making fun of them. That's pretty much my plan.'
'Amen to that,' said Welling, who carried a 'What Would Jesus Protest?' sign.
They tried to drown out street preachers' shouts of 'You people are following the false religion' with 'I'm louder so I must be right.' "

The Salt Lake Tribune -- Two conference goers arrested in run-ins: " Devin Allen was protesting against the LDS faith with about a half dozen other street preachers. He had been sneezing into the garments, wearing them around his neck and placing them on his buttocks while the conference crowd watched.
Mormons consider the garments sacred.
'I was talking to the Mormon missionaries, trying to educate them, and then a man grabbed my arm and then he grabbed [the garment],' Allen said . 'I wasn't going to try to hit him back because I am a man of God.'"

The New Yorker: Online Only: "TO: Malcolm Gladwell
FROM: James Surowiecki

Did the New Economy ever exist? Asked that way, the question practically demands a negative response. (I think it's the 'ever' that makes it sound so improbable, like 'Did aliens ever visit Earth to help build the pyramids?') But I'll resist the temptation. I think that the New Economy not only existed but continues to exist, even in the midst of the current downturn."

New York Daily News - Home - 'Don't kill cat' - Roy: "Montecore is known to his handlers as one of the most cooperative animals. But Friday night, he wouldn't walk in the right direction, so Horn whacked him five times on the cheek with his microphone.

The tiger apparently didn't like it - and bit Horn's arm and lunged for his neck.

'Horn looked like a rag doll in the tiger's mouth,' said audience member Kirk Baser of Pennsylvania."

The Rise of ``Worse is Better'': "The Rise of ``Worse is Better''"

3D17.org: "People often talk to communities, but how do communities talk back? 3D17.org aims to answer that question by allowing a large number of people to collaboratively create some text, be it a letter, fax, or email. Have you ever thought what kind of letter the combined intelligence of 1,000 people might produce to support your opinion? 3D17 will answer that question.

1. Create a new document by clicking on New in the menu to the left
2. Choose a short title for the document (this will appear in its web address), a proper title, and some initial text.
3. Once you have created the story you will be able to refer other people to it.
4. Refer others in your group to this URL where they can view the document you just created.
5. Let them make amendments which they can then vote on to determine which make it into the document"

Adjusting the Daystate trigger: "WARNING!!! ROUNDING OFF THE EDGES OF ANY PART OF THE SEAR OR SEAR LEVER, MAY CAUSE THE TRIGGER NOT TO ENGAGE!!!! These part will then have to be replaced, and they are not cheap. I strongly recommend that you try the moly, and then try adjusting the sear engagement, before trying to polish, or stone the sear or sear lever."

Google Search: golf shifter cassette trick: "Q: How can I improve shift effort/meshing of my gears? First gear feels like
there is something blocking it?
A: First check out the linkage adjustments, regrease where needed, and older
cars, possibly replace the old linkages/bushings. A special spacer tool is
needed for one of the adjustments (A1 & A2) which happens to be exactly the
same size as the skinny side of an audio cassette. Other special tools may
be needed.

The end of the shift lever has a ball on it that fits into a cup.
The cup wears and allows the ball to ride lower and lower. Pretty soon,
the ball, with shifter attatched, is riding so low that you don't need
to push down to bypass the reverse lock out.
All you need to do is replace the ball and cup. While you're in there,
replace theshifter bushings for the feedthrough.
See the Bentley manual for an excellent description.
BTW, you'll most likely have to drop the exhaust to get at the parts.
I have done this operation several times on various models, and can
honestly say that it can be done in about 2 hours or less if you
have a torch to remove the old exhaust clamps.

Also check out whether the motor/transmission mounts are ok, misalignment
will cause shifting problems as will a dragging clutch.
If your shifting effort is hard/stiff on cold days & grinds in 1st & 2nd,
but easier once warmed up you may want to change to a synthetic
transmission fluid (see performance FAQ).

Also see the G60_Xmission_Mods, faq.vw.perf, Solid_Shifter for adding a
counter weigh"

FARK.com: Comments Thingee (673267): "We used to do crazy stuff like this back when I was a kid. Only diff. is we didn't use scuba gear.

Cliff Jumping, Bridge jumping, Light house jumping, Jumping off roof of moving car on bridge into water, etc. This was back in the late 70's early 80's when a jackass was simply a jackass.

We were caving once along a bluff and I fell 30 feet through a narrow hole and landed in 3 ft of water.

Today I wear saftey googles even when vaccuming."

Enabling MySQL (Unix on OS X): "Configuration File
The MySQL server is in /usr/share/mysql. Inside are four configuration files: my-huge.cnf, my-large.cnf, my-medium.cnf, and my-small.cnf. Look at them and they will tell you which one is appropriate for your server, based mostly on how much RAM you have. For example, if you have 1 GB of RAM, use my-huge.cnf.
The configuration files all say that they need to be in /etc/mf.cnf. I don’t know if this is true or a typo; all other references I’ve seen, and the way I have always done it before, is to put the configuration file in /etc/my.cnf, and that works here. From the command line, type:
sudo cp /usr/share/mysql/my-huge.cnf /etc/my.cnf"

halvorsen.org - halvard halvorsen's weblog

Ten Technologies That Deserve to Die: "Lose your American internal visa (formerly known as a "

Wired News: Rappers in Disharmony on P2P: "'As an artist representing an 80-year period of black musicianship, I never felt that my copyrights were protected anyway,' Chuck D said. 'I've been spending most of my career ducking lawyers, accountants and business executives who have basically been more blasphemous than file sharers and P2P. I trust the consumer more than I trust the people who have been at the helm of these companies.
'The record industry is hypocritical and the domination has to be shared. P2P to me means 'power to the people,'' Chuck D said. 'And let's get this to a balance, and that's what we're talking about.' "

The White House, Congress and the CIA (washingtonpost.com): "Because of the huge reduction in the tax rates of the rich, the middle class taxpayers get stuck with more of the bulk of the 87 billion dollar bill from this bogus war, and lots of that money will go right into the pockets of those who bankrolled the Republican's political campaigns."

New passing lane to improve safety near Lehi :: The Daily Herald :: Your town. Your neighbors. Your newspaper.: "SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Cars crept past the Four Corners development Tuesday as workers in bright, orange vests placed concrete barriers on the shoulder of State Road 73.
The two-lane road that serves as the main thoroughfare between Lehi and Cedar Valley could be more congested than usual for the next few months as Utah Department of Transportation adds a one-mile long westbound passing lane between the junction of Redwood Road and the gravel pit two miles to the west.
But UDOT officials hope once the construction is done, the road will be safer to travel, said Geoffrey Dupaix, UDOT spokesperson.
Also included in the project will be about a one-mile turning lane along S.R. 73 between 800 West and Redwood Road. The total cost of the project will be about $800,000, Dupaix said.
Construction will be from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and will continue through the middle of November.
Part of the problem with traffic in the area has included large trucks, many times carrying loads of gravel, traveling up the about five percent-grade hill with no way to let other cars pass, Dupaix said.
'The purpose of a passing lane is to allow the slower moving vehicles to move to the right so the remaining traffic can pass. It's meant to improve the safety of the roadway,' he said.
With an asphalt plant and several gravel pits in the area, along with a large number of trucks carrying gravel and construction material for development of subdivisions and businesses in the city, the number of trucks on the road can be dangerous without a way for cars to pass, said Saratoga Springs Mayor Timothy Parker.
'Trucks are heavy and will not be able to"

The Surprising Benefits of Being Unemployed: "I actually thought – and this is really silly when you consider that I've been working in the FEH for nigh on to a thousand years and so should know better – that companies feel the same sense of obligation and duty toward their employees that they insist their employees should feel toward them. If you contribute to your company's success and help it to advance its interests and financial health, often making sacrifices of your own time to do so, then your company will reciprocate by making sacrifices in bad times to take care of you by not depriving you of your paycheck and benefits. That's the way I thought it worked.
Where in the world did I get that idea? Now I finally understand – and I'm so much the better man and citizen for the understanding – that the true, indeed the only, obligation any company's top management has is to its Board of Directors and major shareholders. And of course to the continued employment of its top managers. My appreciation for the wonderfulness of the FEH can only be deepened by this knowledge, even if I am now forced to gaze upon that wonderfulness from a cold and comfortless place outside the warmth and safety of its shelter. "

local6.com - News - Woman Gets $100,000 After Being Locked In Storage Unit: "On Nov. 7, 2001, while on a security check, the facility's manager found Hudson's storage unit unlocked and partially open, and locked it, Mantiply said.
Two months later, on Jan. 9, 2002, a customer using a nearby unit heard sounds coming from unit 611. It was Hudson, who apparently had survived on juice and canned foods, but lost 65 pounds while in the unit.
Dr. William Asher, testifying for Hudson, said he studied Hudson's case after her time in the hospital.
Her condition when discovered in the unit, Asher said, was of 'advanced starvation, unusual to find in medical circumstances in America today.'
Hudson was vague about why she was in the storage unit so late on Nov. 7, and denied she heard the metal door close. Parkway's attorney, Burt Taylor, suggested she was sleeping and, furthermore, that she had been living in the unit. She denied Taylor's supposition. "

reviewjournal.com -- News: Property sales out of this world: "Back in 1980, Hope was an unemployed ventriloquist facing a divorce and bankruptcy. He had not worked for a year.
That Nov. 22, he was driving his brother's car in Concord, Calif., bemoaning his status in life and thinking that he could be wealthy if he owned a lot of land.
'I looked out of the windshield and saw the moon and said, 'There is a lot of property.' '
In a flash, he remembered something he learned 12 years earlier while taking a political science class at an Oregon college.
His professor discussed the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, signed by all members of the United Nations. Hope remembered that all governments agreed no nation would have sovereignty or control over any of the celestial bodies. "

I'm particularly unsurprised that this man attended an Oregon college. Anyway, he's filthy rich so there you go.

The Regex Coach 0.5.4 - VersionTracker: "The Regex Coach is a graphical application for Linux and Windows which can be used to experiment with (Perl-compatible) regular expressions interactively. It has the following features:
It shows whether a regular expression matches a particular target string.
It can also show which parts of the target string correspond to captured register groups or to arbitrary parts of the regular expression.
It can 'walk' through the target string one match at a time.
It can simulate Perl's split and s/// (substitution) operators.
It tries to describe the regular expression in plain English.
It can show a graphical representation of the regular expression's parse tree.
It can single-step through the matching process as performed by the regex engine.
Everything happens in 'real time', i.e. as soon as you make a change somewhere in the application all other parts are instantly updated. "

Overcoming Writers Block: "Ooof, the nastiest till last eh? All that work and it's still not right. OK, well, for me, some physical exercise to give my brain a break and take my mind off it, followed by, yep you guessed it, a large shot of caffeine and 2 hours at least away from any distraction. (My wife knows the look ;) )
My other trick for this sort of stuff is deep relaxation - I use self hypnosis techniques. It is increadible how your brain can 'take off' after 20 minutes of proper relaxation. Incidentally, it's well documented why as well. The brain needs about 20 minutes of 'rest' every 1.5 to 2 hours (See 'The 20 Minute Break by Ernest Rossi') "

Hypnosis for Writers: "End procrastination
The hypnotic approach to ending procrastination is similar to that for conquering Writer's Block: a combination of rooting out the cause and positive post-hypnotic suggestions. Just as the knowledgeable hypnotherapist talks about 'discomfort' rather than 'pain', you would feed yourself images and words about 'doing it now', 'writing immediately', 'enjoying the process of writing'. You would not give yourself suggestions which include the actual word 'procrastination.' The point is to avoid negative reinforcement.
A useful aid to bucking procrastination is the Psychovisual Therapy video 'Positivity', which puts you into a light hypnotic trance and subliminally offers your subconscious mind encouraging messages about letting go of negativity and taking positive action."

WEEBLOG: Blog teach-in Part I: The Teaching Technical Writing Students: "I decided to begin the class by talking about the Teaching for Technical Writing student experience, since it's the class I was actually in, and I'm extremely interested in the dynamics of the class. "

Jon Krakauer

Ripping DVDs on Mac OS X

How to be a Programmer Robert L. Read, PhD
1709 Norris Dr.
Austin, TX, 78704
USA
read@hire.com

How to be a Programmer Robert L. Read, PhD
1709 Norris Dr.
Austin, TX, 78704
USA
read@hire.com

"I Am Not For World Empire"

If America grows into the modern equivalent of the Roman Empire, then it will be necessary to rear whole generations who can serve in the military in all parts of the world. It will put a new emphasis again upon education. Americans, who are famous for their inability to speak foreign languages, will suddenly be encouraged and over-encouraged to become linguists in order to handle the overseas tasks of empire. The seriousness of purpose will be back in American life. These are, I suspect, their arguments. They are not mine. I am not for World Empire. I can foresee endless disasters coming out of that.