Friday, December 31, 2004

Getting Things Done! :: MarkTAW.com: "Don't 'Live' At The Office
When I was doing the 9 - 5 thing, I installed Instant Messenger on my computer because I was looking for a distraction from work. I surfed the web and browsed forums. Now that I leave when I want to, I don't bother with this stuff. I have my cell phone, and it has Instant Messenger & SMS/Text Messaging on it, so you can reach me if you want to just about any way you choose - IM or phone - but I'm not encouraged to sit there and chat away all day. The faster I work, the sooner I get to go home, or see my friends, so I don't want to be distracted from work."
Getting Things Done! :: MarkTAW.com: "Perhaps that same pressure causes you to focus only on things you can do, and not make the item some sort of pie in the sky item that you may eventually cross off. There's a big difference between 'Redesign Main Site' and 'Download All Files For Main Site' in terms of which is an action I can take now, and which is a goal that has quite a few steps that need to be taken to finish. Somehow, writing it down makes me distinguish between the two more than typing it out. Probably because I know I can't add sub-bullets or edit it. What I write down I have to be able to check off.
You also can't carry your computer to the meeting, and re-typing notes from the meeting is just a waste. Data entry into a PDA is too limited, you're always trying to find shortcuts to writing things and that's just not right, you need to be verbose at times. You can also draw pictures as needed to clarify things, using your notebook for things other than just to-do list."
Getting Things Done! :: MarkTAW.com: "When I was young there were a few blizzards. Real snow storms with 3 or more feet of snow. I didn't go to school, and I played in the snow occasionally, but mostly I stayed in. There was no where to go. It was bliss. It's hard to describe the feeling, but the joy of knowing that you're exactly where you should be is very soothing.
Normally at work we're distracted, fidgeting and looking for something to do. You could go to the snack machine, bathroom, for a cigarette, talk to your coworker, etc. It's these infinite little possibilities that strangle our productivity. Our sense of place. Knowing that you are where you're supposed to be, and there's nowhere else to be is a powerful thing.
Write Everything Down. In One Notebook.
This is a practice I picked up at my first job. I was responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars of production at the factory, and making sure everything was there in time install in major building projects. Needless to say, I had to keep meticulous notes, and I had to be sure everything I said would be done actually got done."
Adium X(tras) :: Sound Sets :: Tokyo Train Station: "A soundset released to commemorate 2000 downloads for C Major and it's long-standing position as #1 Most Popular! Thank you all so much.

Tokyo Train Station is a remake of Electric Dream, designed for users who enjoy the simplicity of Electric Dream but dislike its dreamy and uncanny capability of lulling them to sleep.

This is a collection of 5 mutated synthesizer runs for the following events: Buddy LogOn, Buddy LogOff, New Message Received, Message Sent, Message Received.

Though the sounds play the same musical notes, they have all been remade so that they are less mellow and 'dreamy.' The 'log-on' and 'log-off' sounds have been significantly redesigned so they are much shorter and much less dreamier than it's predecessor, Electric Dream."
Replacing A Toilet Wax Bowl Ring: "The last step for a toilet installation is to apply a bead of Kitchen-and-Bath silicone caulk between the toilet and the floor. This will help hold the toilet from moving. But... I don't caulk at the back of the toilet. If a leak ever develops, water will have a chance of leaking out and being detected."

Thursday, December 30, 2004

cheap soundproofing materials?: "One material I've heard of automotive people using to quiet and insulate the cockpit of their car is the stuff you can find at Home Depot in the roofing department that comes in rolls, is adhesive-backed and looks like tar paper. It seems to me that if it can keep a big-block V8's noise under control it should be able to work in a budget studio application."
Sound Proofing: "Sound Proofing starts with some means of damping. A number of products are available for this, and they all have various degrees of effectiveness. The best results are always obtained from using a combination of these products. There are mats, sprays, foams, and insulation available from a number of manufacturers

Mats are usually either Styrene-Butyadine-Rubber or asphaltic sheets backed with an adhesive of some type (although other materials are used in some cases). Installing mats in your vehicle is a simple way to reduce vibration, and is effective as well. The way mats work is that they are used to cover panels. The material they are made of absorbs vibrations in the panels, and turns them into heat, or it may simply lower the resonant frequency of the panel. Mats can also be placed between panels to reduce the amount of vibration between the two panels when they are in close contact. Many times, the mats will also have a metal foil backing to improve the heat resistance of the matting (thus allowing you to use it in an engine compartment). The matting also adds weight to a panel, reducing it's tendency to vibrate in the first place. Some of the more popular mats are Dynamat and Road Kill, but there are alternatives. One of those alternatives is a material known as Ice-Guard. Ice Guard is normally used as a roofing material, but is essentially the same material as commercial mats, except that it incorporates an asphalt material for water proofing. Ice-Guard is much cheaper than the other commercial mats, up to 80% less. It has to be bought in large amounts, however, and minimum purchases are usually 80 to 100 dollars for an entire car, compared to $400 using Dynamat or Road Kill. Ice-Guard also has to be aired out for a couple of days after installation before you can put your interior back in, and it is recommended that"
43 Folders: A Year of Getting Things Done: Part 1, The Good Stuff: "GTD has helped me develop my own idea of what a project really is:
It has more than one physical action.
Its projected outcome is valuable, desirable, and well articulated (even if it needs to change or adapt as the project?s constraints evolve).
Everyone involved in the project understands and agrees on the project?s value and desirable outcome (or, failing at that, they at least understand what their role in its envisionable success must be).
It?s something to which I?ve made some kind of commitment?either a public commitment to others or even just a mental obligation I?ve made with myself. This is something in the world that I agree deserves my time and attention to the exclusion of other things"

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Development of the Handlebar Stem Clamp: "www.eBiciBikes.com). In this case study I would like to indicate how we have been using a combination of these various design methods to develop one small component of the eBici bike - the clamp that connects the handlebar stem to the steer tube of the front fork. The bike is being built in eCycle in PA, and its current hardware"

Monday, December 27, 2004

: "Usernamecraniac
Customer ID132807
First NameMark
Last NameCrane
OrganizationUtah Valley State College
Address2172 white pine road
Cityeagle mountain
Stateut
Zip/Postal Code84043-4290
CountryUSA"
Cracked block, anybody seen this before?[200/85]: "Cracked block....JB Weld type....If you can get to the damaged area...there are two products I have used on industrial engines very successfully...each is a cold paste applied polymeric type poduct...not cheap but it works when done correctly..look for THORTEX (try www.thortex.com) or BELZONA ( not sure of their web)...cost several hundred dollars for the kit....but well worth it...in any repair (weld, filling, etc.) the crack must be terminated (drill a hole at each end of crack as well as each turn or split off of crack) to prevent 'crack creep'...'V' out crack between drilled holes...clean and decrease the repair area with a good decreaser (usually comes with kit) which leaves no residue...the secret here is CLEAN...mix the two part paste, wet out the area with the paste and smear it on.....let cure or help it along with a hair dryer....if you get the kit follow instruction to a 'T'...I have done off road vehicle engines as well as large truck engines (diesel and gas) and auto engines...either product is not for use in high heat areas (exhaust flanges, pipes, headers, combustion chambers, etc.) Takes a good days work (and then some) to do the job. Hope this helps...and have a Merry !!"

Saturday, December 25, 2004

Fixing Common Telescope Problems: "Improving a Department Store Telescope"
Excelsis Ratings/Reviews: "The best way to orient yourself is to start memorizing constellations. Constellations are your landmarks of the sky and will allow you to readily find things. Start with easily recognizable ones like the Big Dipper and move outward from there. In the northern hemisphere, one of the most useful constellations to know is the Little Dipper, located right next to the Big Dipper, because it contains the north star (aka. Polaris). Unforunately, the southern hemisphere doesn't have a 'south star' convenient. The location of these 'celestial poles' is important, not only to get your bearings straight, but it is also a very common process to point your telescope at them in a process called 'polar alignment'. Once you get your bearings straight (which ways are North, South, East and West), you're ready to begin using your star map."
Scientifics? 60mm Telescope - Science Gifts - Edmund Scientifics
The New Yorker Prada's top saleswoman.

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Merry Christmas From James!!!
Graphing Calculator Downloads
The Graphing Calculator Story: "I asked my friend Greg Robbins to help me. His contract in another division at Apple had just ended, so he told his manager that he would start reporting to me. She didn't ask who I was and let him keep his office and badge. In turn, I told people that I was reporting to him. Since that left no managers in the loop, we had no meetings and could be extremely productive. We worked twelve hours a day, seven days a week. Greg had unlimited energy and a perfectionist's attention to detail. He usually stayed behind closed doors programming all day, while I spent much of my time talking with other engineers. Since I had asked him to help as a personal favor, I had to keep pace with him. Thanks to an uncurtained east-facing window in my bedroom, I woke with the dawn and usually arrived ten minutes before Greg did. He would think I had been working for hours and feel obliged to work late to stay on par. I in turn felt obliged to stay as late as he did. This feedback loop created an ever-increasing spiral of productivity."

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Af fatal :: The Daily Herald, Provo Utah: "Phillips had a history of seizures, police learned, but they won't know for sure if Phillips suffered a seizure prior to the accident until extensive medical testing is completed. Drugs and alcohol were not a factor in the accident.

As a commercial vehicle operator, Phillips had to be seizure-free for 12 months. Phillips had been seizure-free for a long enough time that he qualified for the necessary medical card and was cleared to drive. To obtain a class D operator's license, the license used by regular drivers, one must be seizure free for six months."
Blogger Help : What is BlogThis! ?

Monday, December 20, 2004

Fast Company | The Accidental Guru: "Gladwell's real gift is packaging these ideas in a way that makes them palatable. '[He] acts almost like a translator between the scholarly world and the practical world,' says Frank Flynn, an associate professor of organizational behavior at Columbia Business School, who uses many of Gladwell's articles in his MBA classes. Gladwell deflects the charge that he's just a savvy marketer of ideas, standing by his earnest intentions to help frame people's thinking. 'When I was writing The Tipping Point , I realized that in order for people to talk about something . . . they need some way to describe and name things,' he says. 'So I always like to try to come up with simple, sort of catchy ways of capturing complex ideas.'"
How to fix a dim iMac CRT: "2. Badly Adjusted Cathode Ray Tube: The second major cause of unsatisfactory screen performance is a maladjusted CRT. Symptoms are usually less severe than with bad firmware, but are highly annoying nonetheless. They include fuzzy, out of focus areas on the screen (sometimes the at center but not the sides, or vice versa), excessively dark screens, or excessively bright, washed out screens. You may notice, while watching a DVD, that parts of a scene that should be in shadow, but still clear, are instead completely black. Or you may notice that even with the monitor brightness set to the max, digital photos appear dark and underexposed on the iMac screen, but not on other computers. Brightness (voltage) and focus are adjusted via two screws on the high voltage flyback transformer on the left side of the iMac, just below the edge of the upper plastic shell. The adjustment is not difficult, but should be performed with extreme caution. Even when the monitor is powered off and unplugged, it still holds enough charge to kill you instantly. IF YOU ARE UNCLEAR OR UNCERTAIN OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING, STOP! TAKE IT TO A CERTIFIED APPLE REPAIR TECHNICIAN."

Saturday, December 18, 2004

The New York Times > National > A.C.L.U.'s Search for Data on Donors Stirs Privacy Fears
Ask MetaFilter | Community Weblog: "Without knowing your exact figures it is hard to say.

You may want to consider the fees associated with refinancing- Lenders policy, Title search, origination, underwriting, tax service, recording, etc. (These can add up quick.) If you paid your principal down by what it will cost to refinance, you may have the 20%.

Depending on how long you have had your current loan and what property values are doing in your area, it may be better to just get a new appraisal reflecting 20% equity. If the 'comps' in your area have gone up since your last appraisal or if the appraiser can find some better comps then you may have the equity you need. One of the best ways to make your appraisal go up is by adding heated and cooled square footage to your house. You can close in a garage or porch or sun room for more living space and add the value you need."

Friday, December 17, 2004

eBay item 7121676423 (Ends Dec-21-04 17:38:29 PST) - NEW 14ft Trampoline Enclosure Safety Net
:: rogerebert.com :: (xhtml): "Then I spoke with Alison Kitch, Daryl's law professor at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., who said: 'He got thrown out for doing what the honors book says you will be thrown out for: He lied. If he had only told his professor he missed class because he met a young woman on a train and spent two days with her in Atlanta, he might have gotten a bad grade, but he wouldn't have been thrown out of school.'"
:: rogerebert.com :: reviews: "Perhaps tragedy is in the family tree; I assume they are descended from the French poet Charles Baudelaire, whose poems about sex and death 'became a by-word for unwholesomeness,' according to Wikipedia.com."
:: rogerebert.com :: essays: "She agreed with Rosenberg about Eastwood's discipline as a director. 'He gets everything he wants, and doesn't waste one additional moment. Our longest day was 12 hours, and that included moving the company to another location. Sometimes we would finish the day's shots before lunch and he'd tell us to go home and he'd see us tomorrow. He was like one of the crew. He stood in line for lunch like everybody else. He'd never think of cutting in, which is the director's right. He was always on the set, never in his trailer."
:: rogerebert.com :: essays: "As for Eastwood: 'There is a quiet presence about him that's not arrogant or egotistical, it's just that he's been around and knows what he wants. His belief in you makes you believe in yourself, which makes you follow your instincts. Then you watch the finished film and you realize his fingerprints are all over it. You were being guided so subtly and simply, you never felt like anything was being forced on you. You felt like everything was your idea. It was the best experience I've had in my career so far.'"

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Smell and Taste Disorders: A Primary Care Approach - January 15, 2000 - American Academy of Family Physicians: "Selected Medications that Reportedly Alter Smell and Taste "
Walmart.com - JumpKing 14-foot Trampoline: "More springs mean higher bounces. This 14-foot Jumpking trampoline features a grand total of 96 springs -- giving you the best bounce for your buck. Heavy-duty, polypropylene Permatron trampoline fabric resists fading. And the sturdy, 16-gauge galvanized steel frame sustains years of wear and tear. "
eBay item 6730581430 (Ends Dec-23-04 15:40:29 PST) - NEW INTEL *Very QUIET 1U CPU Fan Heatsink 370 7 A: "It also fits Other CPUs and Processors for Socket 7, 370, and A / 462."

Monday, December 13, 2004

A reply to FARMS
cars.com: 1991 Toyota Supra Turbo: "Additional Selling Points: My dad owned the car for 10 years, keeping the car covered and in the garage. He would take it out in good weather for infrequent rides. He put 37,000 miles on it in 10 years. I have had it for 2 years, putting on about 19,000 miles. It has had regular oil changes and is in great condition."

Saturday, December 11, 2004

Salt Lake Tribune - Salt Lake Tribune Home Page: "UVSC lost roughly $200,000 in donations - and a promised million-dollar art collection - since Moore's appearance. Garcia says that should not surprise anyone.
'Grambling University would not invite David Duke to speak without having donors pull away,' he said.
Before he graduates at the end of the school year, Garcia vows to work with regents, school administrators and the community to make UVSC's student government more open and accountable."
The Prophet of Immortality - Popular Science
ABC News: Doctors: Yushchenko Poisoned With Dioxin: " Dioxin poisoning caused the mysterious illness of Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko, doctors said Saturday.

Tests run over the past 24 hours provided conclusive evidence of the poisoning, Dr. Michael Zimpfer, director of Vienna's private Rudolfinerhaus clinic said.

'There is no doubt about the fact that Mr. Yushchenko's disease has been caused by a case of poisoning by dioxin,' Zimpfer said."

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Low Intro APR Cards : Credit Card Center - Yahoo! Finance
Will The TV Guardian Work With My DVD Player?: "Will The TV Guardian Work With My DVD Player?
"
FARK.com: (1219854) Man convicted of rigging his car to spray chemicals from the trunk. Claims it was for de-icing the wheels: "I've found at night that if I cycle the ignition on my Harley, the flames out the pipes generally work well to repel any BMWs tailgating me.

If you're in a stick shift car, downshifting to slow down's fun with tailgater's too, cause they get really close, panic, mash the brakes. Or tap you, which startles them too.

Other fun things include filling the rear wiper tank with brake fluid and aiming it out back, to nail tailgating cars. paint remover, acetone, etc is useful here too, but brake fluid has the 'I didn't know where it went' factor helping it.

A friend of mine had a Jeep Grand (? It's a tiny shiatbox) Cherokee that was one better - the rear window tended to pop out really easy. That sure worked on tailgaters. Though you had to then stop, fetch the window, and punch it back in..."

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

RedbackSystems - MozNGW: Cross Platform Client for GroupWise: "Mozilla for GroupWise will finally be released on the 20th December 2004. Those of you who have already subscribed to the beta list will receive a mail a week or so before. It is now also the first application to have begun implementing our XULU Framework. Many thanks to the hundreds and hundreds of you that have been sending us emails of encouragement, we hope you'll find the wait worth it.
"

Monday, December 06, 2004

Zen and the Art of Motorcycling Librarians
Graphics from the command line: "charcoal"
USA Linux Users Group :: Using Image Magick - scripts: "What is it?

DBP (David's Batch Processor) is a simple batch processor for the Gimp. I got tired of people asking on Gimp newsgroups and mailing lists, 'How can I resize a directory full of images', and even more tired of the standard reply, 'Use ImageMagick'. DBP allows users to do common processing tasks on multiple images, without leaving Gimp or having to learn a scripting language. DBP is licensed under the GPL. "
Slashdot | Portable Firefox and Thunderbird
Forbes.com:: "'These findings are expected,' said Gerald McEwen, vice president for science at the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association. 'MIT is a biocide. The purpose of it is to kill bacteria. You would expect it to be detrimental to any type of cells.'

McEwen said that direct exposure to high concentrations of MIT will be irritating to the skin, because it can damage skin cells. However, he doesn't believe that MIT poses any dangers to consumers in the low concentrations found in household products.

'The ability of MIT to cause neurotoxicity has been studied,' McEwen said. In animals exposed to MIT, there has been no hint of neuro-damage, because MIT affects only the cells it touches and there is no way for it to get into the bloodstream and go to the brain, he said."
Forbes.com:: "Whether long-term exposure to products containing MIT is dangerous is not known, Aizenman said. 'Can I say that these products are safe to use? No,' he said. 'Can I say that these products are unsafe to use? No.'"
Batch Processing in Adobe Photoshop
Headline news from Sky News - Witness the event: "CHICKMOBILE CONCEPT CAR"
VideoHelp.com Forum Archive - Video Capturing in Linux: "here my command for capturing with streamer to svcd:

streamer -n ntsc -b 24 -p 2 -j 90 -t 65:00 -s 480x480 -r 25 -o stargate.avi -f mjpeg -C /dev/dsp -F stereo -c /dev/video0
"
VideoHelp.com Forum Archive - Video Capturing in Linux: "To get best performance, recompile MPlayer with --disable-runtime-cpudetection.
"
LinuxQuestions.org - capture video for linux - where Linux users come for help: "To capture the stream:

code:
mencoder -tv driver=v4l:device=/dev/video1:width=352:height=288 -vf pp=li -oac=lavc -ovc=lavc -o ~/capture.avi tv://"

Sunday, December 05, 2004

General FAQ: "Why is the text on your site so narrow? It wastes screen space.

The aim of web design is not to use all available screen space. It is legibility. Text is most legible with at most 60-70 characters per line. On computer screens, you don't want to go much over 60."
What You Can't Say: "In 1989 some clever researchers tracked the eye movements of radiologists as they scanned chest images for signs of lung cancer. [3] They found that even when the radiologists missed a cancerous lesion, their eyes had usually paused at the site of it. Part of their brain knew there was something there; it just didn't percolate all the way up into conscious knowledge. I think many interesting heretical thoughts are already mostly formed in our minds. If we turn off our self-censorship temporarily, those will be the first to emerge."
What the Bubble Got Right: "And what would be wrong would be that how one presented oneself counted more than the quality of one's ideas. That's the problem with formality. Dressing up is not so much bad in itself. The problem is the receptor it binds to: dressing up is inevitably a substitute for good ideas. It is no coincidence that technically inept business types are known as 'suits.'

Nerds don't just happen to dress informally. They do it too consistently. Consciously or not, they dress informally as a prophylactic measure against stupidity."
Essays

Saturday, December 04, 2004

Knife Outlet: Dovo Klipette: "Innovative tool for cutting ear and nose hair quickly and easily. Just insert and twist."
Ask MetaFilter | Community Weblog: "There go my plans to ever move to the the UK. If corndogs are wrong, then I never want to be right."
Walmart.com - Bushnell 16 x 50mm Powerview Wide-Angle Binoculars: "Bushnell 16 x 50mm Powerview Wide-Angle Binoculars"
Walmart.com - Bushnell 16 x 50mm Powerview Wide-Angle Binoculars: "Bushnell 16 x 50mm Powerview Wide-Angle Binoculars"
Amazon.com: Camera & Photo: Bushnell Powerview 16x50 Wide Angle Binocular: "Bushnell Powerview 16x50 Wide Angle Binocular"
Cloudy Nights Binoculars star counts
Citi

Our credit card company gave us our minimum monthly payment. Disturbingly, they gave us the wrong amount, so that our debt was slightly increasing each month. They need to change their name from Zion's Bank to Satan's Bank.

Friday, December 03, 2004

ImageMagick Win2K Binaries
Image Manipulation and batch conversion using ImageMagick for Linux: "In this case only one image will be resized. To repeat this operation to all other images I will use a 'for' loop (bash):

$ for i in *; do convert -sample 60% '$i' 'new_$i'; done



Next, we will 'paste' these images in a 128x128pixel canvas, using composite.


First, we will need a image with this dimensions. We can use the convert itself to create it, like this:

$ convert -size 128x128 xc:white canvas.png
"
defective yeti: "America's Next Couch Potato

I'm going to make a million dollars selling mirrors to idiots and telling them they are ultra-thin flatscreen TVs that only receive reality shows about lazy people."
Image Manipulation and batch conversion using ImageMagick for Linux: "convert -transparent white image.gif image-transparent.gif"

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Google Groups : rec.audio.car: ">Dynamat is probably about as cost
>effective as you can get for sound deadening material,
"
Tactical Gear | Covert | Law Enforcement | Military | Anti-Terrorist | Self Defense

Black Star Ops was conceived in the first few months following the terrorist attacks on 9-11.

Urban Tactical Gear products were developed through our research into what is available in tactical clothing options, and particularly that most tactical gear looked like tactical gear. We added the perfect twist for government, police and security agencies … the ability to wear tactical gear while blending into the crowd.


Wheeeee!
Barking in Dogs
Warrants and Missing Premises: "Background Premises and Warrants"
Tom's Hardware Guide PCs & HowTo: Supersize Your TV for $300: Build Your Own XGA Projector! - Step By Step: Removing The TFT Panel

Monday, November 29, 2004

Cheese 'can be as addictive as morphine': "An American doctor has claimed that cheese can be as addictive as morphine.

Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine, says cheese is addictive because it contains small amounts of morphine from cows' liver.

In his book - Breaking the Food Seduction: The Hidden Reasons Behind Food Cravings and Seven Steps to End them Naturally - he explains why people are hooked on products like cheese, meat, sugar and chocolate.

He says: 'There's a biochemical reason many of us feel we can't live without our daily fix.

'Cheese, for example, contains high levels of casein, a protein that breaks apart during digestion to produce morphine-like opiate compounds, called casomorphins.

'These opiates are believed to be responsible for the mother-infant bond that occurs during nursing. It's no surprise many of us feel bonded to the refrigerator.'

"
Top News Article | Reuters.com: "CHICAGO (Reuters) - Brain scans of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder show abnormalities in the fiber pathways along which brain signals pass, scientists said on Monday.

The finding indicates the disorder may be more than just a chemical imbalance, they added.

Using an imaging technique called diffusion tensor imaging, researchers found subtle anatomical differences in children diagnosed with ADHD that may affect communication between key areas of the brain -- the frontal cortex, basal ganglia, brain stem and cerebellum."

Friday, November 26, 2004

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Two more top spies quit troubled CIA: "According to a former CIA official quoted in Newsweek magazine, he tried to lean on the agency to declassify information that he could use to 'embarrass the Democrats'.
Much of Mr Goss's career has been accidental. He is the scion of a wealthy Connecticut family and joined the CIA after Yale in 1960, when he fell into a cross-purposes conversation with a recruiter at a jobs fair.
He thought the man was a representative from his father's metal company, telling him he had just stopped by to say hello to his dad's friends. The recruiter assumed he was the son of a senior agency official.
In his job interview for the clandestine service, the jacket of the CIA director, Allen Dulles, caught fire. Assuming it must be a test, Mr Goss said nothing but stared at the smoke rising. No doubt impressed by his cool, Dulles hired him. "

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

ABC News: Versions Differ in Wis. Hunter Shootings: "There have been previous clashes between Southeast Asian and white hunters in the region. Hunters have complained the Hmong do not understand the concept of private property and hunt wherever they want. The tension once led to a fistfight in Minnesota, and a Hmong bow hunter in Wisconsin this fall reported having at least two white hunters point guns at him. "

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

A View to a Kill - JFK Reloaded is just plain creepy. By Clive?Thompson: "When I finally managed to kill JFK and watched his head blow open while he flopped forward like a rag doll, I was genuinely horrified. The game wants you to think about what's happening as a mere physics experiment, but you can't, nor would you want to. Because it's focused solely on the narrow question of whether you can replicate Oswald's shots, it doesn't try to achieve the sort of catharsis that is supposed to come from wrenching art. When the ballistics reports told me, for example, that one of my shots hit JFK in the right shoulder, exited his chest, bounced off his right fingers, and ricocheted through the limo until it hit Connally in the shin, I wasn't really thinking about how if I just aimed a little higher, then I could've gotten closer to 1,000 points."
:: rogerebert.com :: reviews: "As for 'P.S.' and the new F. Scott (Topher Grace), there's little doubt in the mind of Louise Harrington (Laura Linney) about what she should do, which is to take him home in the middle of the afternoon so they can have safe sex immediately. That she is a Columbia University admissions officer and he is a student applying for admission creates an ethical conflict, but should ethics stand in the way of earthshaking metaphysical lust? We would all agree that ethics certainly should not, although of course if a 39-year-old male admissions officer were to sleep with a 20-year-old female applicant, castration would be too good for the fiend."

Saturday, November 20, 2004

:: rogerebert.com :: (xhtml): "'But to the guy who's killed, try telling him about heroism and courage. Get him to listen after he's dead. Even World War II, with all its idealism, basically there was a lot of hypocrisy. Because basically what the rich were saying was, 'We loaned a lot of money to Europe that we're never going to get back if Hitler wins.' That was a valid enough reason for fighting the war."

Friday, November 19, 2004

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Friday, November 12, 2004

FARK.com: (1211014) Dave Matthews offers $100,000 to people he pooped on: "I work for the company that does the live sound for DMB. All the buses were parked at the venue at the time of the dumping. They've been saying this the whole time. I don't know why it keeps coming up.

2004-11-12 01:06:05 AM Eidolon

I met Dave Matthews at a wedding a few years ago. When the cajun fiddler found out who Dave was he pulled some bacon fat out of his pocket, cut him off a slice and Dave actually ate it. Helluva nice guy.

2004-11-12 01:07:12 AM Mr. Programmer [TotalFark]

Whats funny is i used to have DMB.. whenever a video would come on or their song was on the radio id change the channel.. i didnt do that for any other band, i HATED them.. i would hang up on people at work if the hold music was a DMB song, etc.. but my friend who was a DMB nut sent me a few songs and told me to listen to them.. so i did.. and i hated them.. but then a few months later i was hearing parts in my head so i listened again and started to like it, now i have all the albums and some live concerts and dvds and i love most of the songs.. i also like daves solo album (some devil). give them/him a chance!"

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Thesis/Dissertation Final Oral Examination Schedule -- University of Louisville
Salt Lake Tribune - Salt Lake Tribune Home Page: "Arafat tolerated the bombers, Kader says, because 'stopping them would have required a bloody civil war and he wasn't willing to do that.' "
Salt Lake Tribune - Salt Lake Tribune Home Page: "For no apparent reason, Arafat sometimes would order everyone in the room to switch chairs. He did that just before his near-fatal 1992 plane crash in the Libyan desert, one of the pilots told Ritchie. Had he been in his original seat, Arafat would certainly have been killed."

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

eBay - , Historical Memorabilia and Collectibles items at low prices cub scout uniforms on ebay.
JSTOR: Journal of Higher Education: Vol. 64, No. 1, p. [19]
COUNTERPRODUCTIVE EFFORT IN THE WRITING PROCESS
A Whole Lotta Nothing: Persuaders: "Like Douglas Rushkoff's last piece, Merchants of Cool, The Persuaders scared the living bejesus out of me. After the fog of advertising consumed our lives, they went emotional on us, and then they ingrained advertising into everything we watch, read, and consume. Now they're focus grouping us to the point where their messages reach our subconscious.

The political stuff at the end was especially disheartening, on both sides of the fence. It was like George Lakoff's language research combined with psychology that approaches hypnotism, all used to push people to support political positions that ran counter to common sense."

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

AntennaWeb
stevenberlinjohnson.com: "First, if Bush does win, I really don't want to hear a lot of carping about how Kerry was a terrible candidate and blew an easy win. The fact that Kerry is leading by a hair on November 1st is pretty amazing in itself. You cannot underestimate the unique power of the White House in this post 9/11 period; I cringed every time Bush described himself as a 'war president' but they had him saying those words because they know they have an hypnotic power over people. It is no easy feat to take on a likable guy who cuts taxes and is engaged in a battle to defeat the forces of darkness before they kill you and your family. Even if the guy has been a miserable failure when it comes to actually doing his job. "
WSJ.com - Analyzing Customers, Best Buy Decides Not All Are Welcome: "The devils are its worst customers. They buy products, apply for rebates, return the purchases, then buy them back at returned-merchandise discounts. They load up on 'loss leaders,' severely discounted merchandise designed to boost store traffic, then flip the goods at a profit on eBay. They slap down rock-bottom price quotes from Web sites and demand that Best Buy make good on its lowest-price pledge. 'They can wreak enormous economic havoc,' says Mr. Anderson."
Adding Additional Sound Samples to GarageBand: "Since these .exs files appear to be identical to those used by GarageBand's 'big brother' Logic, I wanted to see if I could come up with a way to use additional samples. Please note, I think the samples that come with GarageBand are generally pretty good to very good, but I'm always looking to make a cool toy even cooler. "

Monday, November 08, 2004

Plastic: Just Another Stolen Election?: "Two things: A bias in the actual polling. The pollsters have said that 59% of the people being asked were women, largely because of them time of day when the polls were being done.

Second: Early voting. Early voting was the rage this year. Some places had up to 45% of their voting done through early voting. None of the early voters are included in the exit polls.

I don't see how the results of the exit polls could be accurate, when they didn't poll a significant part of the electorate, and mispolled the part they did by asking too many women. "
jwz - election rigging: "There would be no issue at all if the fucking Democrats could pick someone even half likable to run.

Kerry was very much a 'hold your nose and pull the lever' person - he was greasy, evasive and lacked even the most basic of personalities. When they picked him over people like Dean or even Edwards I figured they were planning to lose anyway and didn't want to waste a good candidate against Bush.

The mistake they made in that strategy was Bush falling on his face and making it possible to actually win. I think if they'd had someone like Dean in there, the Dems would have won."
stateIQ-income: "How State IQ relates to income and politics"
dada_send.pl - Discussion Lists: "dada_send.pl - Discussion Lists"
Democratic Underground Forums - Proving a fix is actually very simple and quick, so here it is:: "The assertion by pundits/Bushies that exit polling was 'way off', and thus, exit polls, which showed an easy Kerry victory in both Ohio and Florida, were incorrecty skewed and did not represent the electorate, is completely bogus.

This is disproved in minutes by simply noting the entire rest of the suite of exit polls conducted by AP and distributed to the news media. View here:

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/presiden... /
"
Voting Irregularities

Sunday, November 07, 2004

macosxhints - Sync your iCal events without using external servers
Herald Sun: Don't whine, says Clinton [08nov04]: "Mr Clinton attributed the loss to a failure to combat how Republicans portrayed Democrats to small-town America. 'If we let people believe that our party doesn't believe in faith and family, doesn't believe in work and freedom, that's our fault,' he said.

Democrats 'need a clear national message, and they have to do this without one big advantage the Republicans have, which is they won't have a theological message that basically paints the other guy as evil,' he said. - NEW YORK POST"
Election Fallout / Faith in democracy, not government: "Thus, concern for two Americas is not discernable in John Edwards' multimillion-dollar legal fees, the Kerry jet, or Soros Inc.'s global financial speculation. It is easy for a Noam Chomsky or Michael Moore to trash Halliburton, but Red America wonders about the source of university contracts that subsidize privileged professors' sermons or why corporate recording, cinema and advertising conglomerates that enrich celebrities are exempt from Hollywood's Pavlovian censure of big business. That the man who nearly destroyed the small depositors of Great Britain also fueled MoveOn.org seemed to say it all."

Saturday, November 06, 2004

:: rogerebert.com :: (xhtml): "The method of the film is crucial to its success. 'Tarnation' is famous for having been made for $218 on a Macintosh and edited with the free iMovie software that came with the computer. Of course hundreds of thousands were later spent to clear music rights, improve the soundtrack and make a theatrical print (which was invited to play at Cannes). Caouette's use of iMovie is virtuoso, with overlapping wipes, dissolves, saturation, split screens, multiple panes, graphics, and complex montages. There is a danger with such programs that filmmakers will use every bell and whistle just because it is available, but 'Tarnation' uses its jagged style without abusing it."

Friday, November 05, 2004

Ask MetaFilter | Community Weblog: "Well konolia, it's like this. Your basic difference between jews, protestants and mormons is that jews don't recognize jesus, protestants don't recognize the pope, and mormons don't recognize each other in liquor stores.

A mormon I once told that to said that sometimes one even fails to recognize family members in liquor stores."

Thursday, November 04, 2004

Waxy.org: Daily Log: Greg Knauss on the Political Divide: "There is a divide in this country today, miles wide and fathoms deep. It has cleaved our great nation, and has only grown — and will only continue to grow. But it's not a left/right split, or Democrat/Republican one. It's lunatic/non-lunatic.

Our culture has been swept along in a tide of emotionally-resonant, steadfastly anti-rational entertainment, and politics is at the head of the wave. The course of our country, the future of our people, is being determined by lizard-brain responses to images designed to trigger sub-rational responses.

Michael Moore and Ann Coulter aren't opposed to each other, they are each other: determined propagandists, using the language and mediums best suited to strike at the emotional core of their audiences. They do not work from a common set of facts, and would ignore them even if they existed. When they speak well, they're Henry V on St. Crispin's Day. When they speak poorly, they're a spittle-flecked wacko with an 'End of the World is Nigh' sign. But that's just a matter of presentation: they're all lunatics, asking us to stop thinking and start feeling. And to start feeling what they want us to feel.
"
Democratic Underground Forums - Kerry winning Exit Polls - FRAUD LOOKS PROBABLE: "Kerry is well ahead in exit polls, but still losing the counts. WTH is going on?"
TomPaine.com - Kerry Won. . .: "I know you don't want to hear it. You can't face one more hung chad.  But I don't have a choice. As a journalist examining that messy sausage called American democracy, it's my job to tell you who got the most votes in the deciding states. Tuesday, in Ohio and New Mexico, it was John Kerry.


Most voters in Ohio thought they were voting for Kerry. CNN's exit poll showed Kerry beating Bush among Ohio women by 53 percent to 47 percent.  Kerry also defeated Bush among Ohio's male voters 51 percent to 49 percent. Unless a third gender voted in Ohio, Kerry took the state.


So what's going on here? Answer: the exit polls are accurate. Pollsters ask, 'Who did you vote for?' Unfortunately, they don't ask the crucial, question, 'Was your vote counted?' The voters don't know.


Here's why. Although the exit polls show that most voters in Ohio punched cards for Kerry-Edwards, thousands of these votes were simply not recorded. This was predictable and it was predicted. [See TomPaine.com, 'An Election Spoiled Rotten,'  November 1.]


Once again, at the heart of the Ohio uncounted vote game are, I'm sorry to report, hanging chads and pregnant chads, plus some other ballot tricks old and new.


The election in Ohio was not decided by the voters but by something called 'spoilage.' Typically in the United States, about 3 percent of the vote is voided, just thrown away, not recorded. When the bobble-head boobs on the tube tell you Ohio or any state was won by 51 percent to 49 percent, don't you believe it ... it has never happened in the United States, because the total never reaches a neat 100 percent. The television totals simply subtract out the spoiled vote."

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Apple's X11 vs. XDarwin | MacMegasite: "enerally when you have probelms installing the binary fink packages, the solution is to run:
'sudo apt-get -f install'
with no packages specified.
Then try installing again."
Re: epiphany

Fixing fink with xcode tools 1.5, which I just installed to try and fix fink. Sigh.

Monday, November 01, 2004

Q
The New Yorker: "In most industries, companies that treat their customers poorly end up losing them. But insurance brokers, lawyers, and stock advisers are rarely held to the same standard. Deluded by the cult of expertise, principals are remarkably hesitant to fire agents. (Marsh says that the scandal hasn’t cost it many clients.) In some fields—medicine, for example—such deference may make sense. In others, it does not. Sometimes agents are just glorified middlemen, and the best response if they misbehave is not to regulate or supervise them but simply to get rid of them. Now that the Internet and cheap software enable buyers and sellers to find each other with great ease, why take a chance on a broker who may be ripping you off? If the middleman offend thee, cut him out."
The Linux Cookbook: Tips and Techniques for Everyday Use - Analyzing Text

Thursday, October 28, 2004

Technical Writing, Fall 2004
FARK.com: (1187328) Neighbor foils armed apartment invasion with samurai sword: "For what it's worth I would stay away from Kendo as it's a 'sportified' version of real Samurai sword fighting. Here in Seattle there's a great style that's taught, Ishi yami ryu or something like that. Basically you remove all rules that kendo has (you can stike/cut your oppoent anywhere). Pretty badass stuff.

And what Nanookanano said, the Paul Chen swords are really good for the money. Don't buy any that are drop forged or made with stainless steel. Just because steel is good for making knives doesn't make it good for swords."
Rating iTunes Tracks from the Keyboard (Jeremy Zawodny's blog)
Easy Programming Languages TESOL SIG

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

The macosxhints Forums - *If you want to use Fink with Apple X11*: "If you want to use 'Fink' to install applications to use with Apple X11, as it is not clearly explained at Apple X11 web page, it's very important you do the following:

1.-Make sure you download and install 'BOTH', X11 Public Beta (41.4 MB) and the Mac OS X Public Beta SDK. (3.8MB)

You can find links to download both packages in the same page.

If you can't find the download link for the Mac OS X Public Beta SDK (3.8MB), just look at the bottom of the page and you will see in the right corner a box titled 'Developer's Kit'

Do not download the 'common toolkits' from OpenDarwin, they will likely interact poorly with Fink's installation.


Apple X11 for MacOS X:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/x11/"
Google Search:

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

mixing a 14 E string with a light gauge set? - Acoustic Guitar Forum: "Won't hurt things at all. I mix gauges all the time. On my 28 0-42 I string with extra light on the top 4 strings E-G. On the 5th & 6th strings I go with 016 5th 0126th.

"
WPDOS - WordPerfect for the Macintosh: "on adding folder items to TheFolder after receiving FilesToPrint
repeat with TheFile in FilesToPrint
tell application 'Printer Setup Utility'
open {alias (TheFile as string)}
repeat while (busy status of (info for TheFile))
delay 1
end repeat
tell application 'Finder' to delete TheFile
end repeat
end adding folder items to"
cars.com: Search Results

Saturday, October 23, 2004

Salt Lake Tribune - Utah: "Instead of calling Utah County Happy Valley, maybe people should refer to it as Healthy Valley - especially for women.
A new report in Self magazine concluded the Provo-Orem area is the fourth-healthiest place for women out of the country's 200 largest metropolitan areas. The Salt Lake City-Ogden area didn't fare as well, but still landed in the top 50 at No. 38."
Fast Dear Tune up: "The next thing I did was worked on the crown a little. First, insert a pellet into the muzzle with the skirt facing out. Backwards if you will. Push it just past the opening. The logic here is to prevent any steel particles from getting down into the barrel. Then take a brass Phillips Head screw with a head just a little larger that the bore, being sure that the slots do not come in contact with the rifling, and chuck it into a variable speed drill. In my case, I went to the auto parts store and bought 2 grades of valve grinding compound, medium and polishing. I first used the medium grade applying a slow even pressure on the muzzle. Important; take care to keep the drill as straight as possible. I then did the same with the polishing compound. Now take a small piece of 600 grit wet/dry emery cloth and make it into a cone small enough to insert into the muzzle. It needs only go in a short distance, and then twist it back and forth lightly to clean off any edges. Now to check for any burring that may be present, take a Q-Tip and insert it into the barrel and withdraw it. If you "
Fast Dear Tune up: "The next thing I did was worked on the crown a little. First, insert a pellet into the muzzle with the skirt facing out. Backwards if you will. Push it just past the opening. The logic here is to prevent any steel particles from getting down into the barrel. Then take a brass Phillips Head screw with a head just a little larger that the bore, being sure that the slots do not come in contact with the rifling, and chuck it into a variable speed drill. In my case, I went to the auto parts store and bought 2 grades of valve grinding compound, medium and polishing. I first used the medium grade applying a slow even pressure on the muzzle. Important; take care to keep the drill as straight as possible. I then did the same with the polishing compound. Now take a small piece of 600 grit wet/dry emery cloth and make it into a cone small enough to insert into the muzzle. It needs only go in a short distance, and then twist it back and forth lightly to clean off any edges. Now to check for any burring that may be present, take a Q-Tip and insert it into the barrel and withdraw it. If you "
Fast Dear Tune up: "The next thing I did was worked on the crown a little. First, insert a pellet into the muzzle with the skirt facing out. Backwards if you will. Push it just past the opening. The logic here is to prevent any steel particles from getting down into the barrel. Then take a brass Phillips Head screw with a head just a little larger that the bore, being sure that the slots do not come in contact with the rifling, and chuck it into a variable speed drill. In my case, I went to the auto parts store and bought 2 grades of valve grinding compound, medium and polishing. I first used the medium grade applying a slow even pressure on the muzzle. Important; take care to keep the drill as straight as possible. I then did the same with the polishing compound. Now take a small piece of 600 grit wet/dry emery cloth and make it into a cone small enough to insert into the muzzle. It needs only go in a short distance, and then twist it back and forth lightly to clean off any edges. Now to check for any burring that may be present, take a Q-Tip and insert it into the barrel and withdraw it. If you "

Friday, October 22, 2004

Replacing A Toilet Wax Bowl Ring

An excellent piece of technical writing.
The Sect of Homokaasu - The Rasterbator
Salt Lake Tribune - Salt Lake Tribune Home Page: "Lying on his back about 25 feet away, Krogh said he was blinded by the flaming fuselage above him and transfixed by the

Advertisement

waning screams of those trapped inside.
''I didn't know anybody else had survived,'' Krogh said. ''I was sure that no one had.''
Then Krogh saw a body tumble to the ground from the aircraft doorway. "

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Can't start server: Bind on TCP/IP port: Address already in use
MySQL Manual | A.2.3 Client does not support authentication protocol: "You must recompile mod_php when upgrading from 4.0 to 4.1 to use the new 4.1 client.
"
MySQL Manual | 5.5.9 Password Hashing in MySQL 4.1
SourceForge.net: "s your installation of PHP compiled with Oracle8 support enabled? If you get a binary version for Windows, it typically is. Many versions for Linux do not come with Oracle support built-in... in which case you would have to recompile PHP with Oracle8 support enabled.
"
Entropy.ch Discussion Forums :: View topic - Running PHP 4.* & PHP 5.*
PHP Help Forums -> *SOLVED* Problems Connecting to MySql
Larry Ullman's Book Forums :: MySQL: Visual QuickStart Guide
MacZealots.com - Tutorials - Installing Drupal on Mac OS X 10.3
Salon | The Data Artist, page 2: "It could be, too, that the big publishers unfairly pegged Tufte as a bit of a crank. His writing sometimes exhibits a curled-lip testiness toward its targets, and he's unafraid to wield the knife of the polemical critic. He declares, for instance, that a ludicrously overwrought chart of 1970s college enrollment from American Education magazine 'may well be the worst graphic ever to find its way into print,' or that a bar-style listing in a small-aircraft flight guide is 'perhaps the worst index ever designed, a rare perfect failure.' "
Edward Tufte Book Review: "Lessons for data analysts from the Challenger disaster"

This is very good.
Edward Tufte: Ask E.T. forum: "What is striking about the Boeing analysis is the absence of context and predictive scenarios."
Edward Tufte Tears Into a PowerPoint Slide (Signal vs. Noise): "I went to that link this morning and found it incredibly interesting.

However, upon returning this afternoon, I noticed that a few responses at the bottom have now been deleted. It was a post and a few replies critiquing Tufte's approach. It wasn't flaming by any means. The poster had a few good points and stated their case politely, and someone rebutted them quite nicely.

Anyways, they're gone now. Dammit. Once I see that going on, I loose all respect for the site/person.

Still, good read."
Edward Tufte Tears Into a PowerPoint Slide (Signal vs. Noise): "As a Boeing engineer I am quite embarrassed by the slides and appalled at how the information was presented. I am also not very surprised. I have seen quite a few crappy presentations. Fortunately the audience is usually experienced enough to pick it apart and draw out the useful information. It is impossible to tell just from the slides what the full dynamic was during the briefing where this was presented. That's assuming it was actually presented and not just emailed."
Wired 11.09: PowerPoint Is Evil: "Imagine a widely used and expensive prescription drug that promised to make us beautiful but didn't."

Monday, October 18, 2004

Ask MetaFilter | Community Weblog: "How do I properly socialize a dog-aggressive dog?"
Ask MetaFilter | Community Weblog: "I am using Ical on my Imac and Ibook. I need to Isynchronize them without using Webdav or .mac. Given that the files generated by Ical are straight text, and complient with the IETF spec., is there some simple, smart way to do this?"

Sunday, October 17, 2004

Amazon.com: Books: Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher (Jossey Bass Higher and Adult Education Series): "

Quantity:
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.


37 used & new from $26.25
Have one to sell?

Don't have one?
We'll set one up for you.
Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher (Jossey Bass Higher and Adult Education Series)"
: "Regarding other schools of thought, make sure students know just enough to be able to point out the 'fatal flaws' in each, and so can be good foot soldiers in the crusade for your own approach. A useful phrase is 'why do you want to waste your time reading that?'"

Saturday, October 16, 2004

FARK.com: (1170246) Video from yesterday's John Stewart appearance on CNN's Crossfire where he calls the guy with the bowtie a dick (among other things). Don't miss, it's hilarious: "I really really hope that bashturn is right about this being a watershed moment. Stewart went on there and give a stinging indictment of not only the media, but the American people as well.
The media over hypes everything-why do you think polls are so important? B/c they change, unlike issues. But guess which actually matter? That's right, issues. And what are the polls based on? That's right, issues. And what could change the polls? That's right, reporting the issues. And that's just one example.
America is a great place, and a great system when the people are running the show. The problem is that the people aren't really running the show anymore. The parties, corporations and the media are. And anyone that's blindly loyal to a party is both contributing to the problem and a moron. That includes anyone that didn't actually put any thought into this election, aka 80% of the voters (the 40% guaranteed to vote Bush and the 40% guaranteed to vote Kerry). It's really depressing when you think about it.
"
iCal weblog: "
How to move your iCal files to another folder and maybe let several people write to one calendar"
Makers Of Energy Bars And Protein Bars Don’t Want you to Know!: "Energy Bars-Unbaked


By: American Running Association Running and Fitness



1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup oat bran

1/2 cup vanilla protein power

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 cup raisins or dried fruit of your choice/chopped

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup light Karo syrup

Honey can be substituted for Karo. Carob chips for chocolare chips. All these things can be found at any health food store, and in most of the Super Size Super Markets that now have sections for the dried organic food stuff."
Recumbent bicycle Fairing construction: "I didn't weigh the fairing, but I suspect it weighs about 8 pounds (4 kg). It increases my time-trial-on-level-ground speed from about 23 to 29 mph (37 to 46 kph). It really rockets downhills; I can get it going 35 mph (56 kph) down modest hills very easily. The fairing was made to meet the requirements for the modified class of the HPV races I go to and so was not optomized for street use. None the less, the bicycle is still (barely) streetable. Cross winds are not a problem because the fairing gives a little when hit by sideways gusts. It will get pushed around a bit but this is not a problem until I'm going over 25 mph (40 kph) and the winds are gusting over 25 mph (40 kph). I do have problems at stop lights because the fairing restricts my foot and so makes releasing from my clipless pedals more difficult. It also makes it more difficult for me to put my hand down on the ground (the prefered method on a low-racer). A door could easily be built to eliminate the latter problem and I'll probably add one at a later date.
"
Horizon Information Portal: "Rude / Ed Haynes."

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Welcome to Pegleg Paintball: "1036 South State St.
Orem, UT

Phone
801-764-0919"

Contact Curtis Updike
Stonyman's site - 13xx Aftermarket Components: "Crosman 13XX Airguns

I've owned a Crosman 1322 or 1377 off and on for about 7 years now. These are extremely accurate, very fun pistols. They are also as powerful or more powerful than many of the air rifles on the market today. One of the best things about owning one is tinkering with it.

Here's a photo of my 1322. It started out life as a 1377c. I converted it to .22, installed the DAQ breech (see below), and generally tweaked and tuned it to my satisfaction. It is extremely accurate.

A fellow named Mikhail used to run a site called The Air Pit. He's shut down his site, but when it was up, he wrote the definitive web page on tuning the 13xx airguns. I nabbed a copy for my own reference, and put into a PDF file, that you can download here: 13xx_HotRod.pdf.
Mikhail, if you want this taken down, you have only to ask."
Stonyman's site - 13xx Aftermarket Components: "Crosman 13XX Airguns

I've owned a Crosman 1322 or 1377 off and on for about 7 years now. These are extremely accurate, very fun pistols. They are also as powerful or more powerful than many of the air rifles on the market today. One of the best things about owning one is tinkering with it.

Here's a photo of my 1322. It started out life as a 1377c. I converted it to .22, installed the DAQ breech (see below), and generally tweaked and tuned it to my satisfaction. It is extremely accurate.

A fellow named Mikhail used to run a site called The Air Pit. He's shut down his site, but when it was up, he wrote the definitive web page on tuning the 13xx airguns. I nabbed a copy for my own reference, and put into a PDF file, that you can download here: 13xx_HotRod.pdf.
Mikhail, if you want this taken down, you have only to ask."

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Battlezone 2 Community Project :: Index
Rendezvous: "- Any host can respond to any mDNS query with whatever data it thinks
is appropriate. This seems to require a trusted network, since
otherwise it appears to not have any security against disinformation
(i.e. spoofing) attacks. However, it also opens the possibility of
using a semi-centralized mDNS server to provide Rendezvous-related
mDNS records for non-Rendezvous-aware hosts."

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Oct. 13 is mail-in voter registration deadline :: North County Newspapers, Utah: "Oct. 13 is mail-in voter registration deadline

North County Newspapers


The last day to complete voter registration by mail is less than two weeks away in order to be able to vote for the general election on Nov. 2. Mail-in registration must be sent by Oct. 13.
A registration form can be printed off from the Utah County Web site www.co.utah.ut.us by linking to the voter registration site. Forms are also available in the Questdex and Phone Directories Company phone books.
A copy of the voter's picture identification and driver license number must be included with the mailed-in voter registration. Completed forms should be mailed to the Utah County Administration Building, 100 E. Center St., Rm. 3100, Provo 84606.
Voters may register in person at the Utah County elections office up to eight days before the election. Satellite voter registration is scheduled for Oct. 22 and Oct. 25. Time and places will be announced at a later date.
Those who wish to check their voter registration status, precinct and voter location will find it on the county Web site.Voters must register anytime they move, change their name or change their party affiliaton. The voter information phone number is 851-8128."
Salt Lake Tribune - Salt Lake Tribune Home Page: "When Hannity challenged any liberals in the arena to stand up, only a smattering obliged. That was too many for Hannity who quipped, ''There is the surest sign that our educational system is failing.''
Saying he didn't need notes since his speeches are ''from the heart,'' the radio and television host used few gimmicks save one. Hannity called a student vowing to vote for Kerry on stage to articulate the candidate's ''consistent position on Iraq.'' As the student stumbled through an explanation, the crowd hissed.
Hannity, clearly enjoying the conservative crowd, repeatedly said he does not hate liberals, but disagrees with them. ''You can move into our neighborhood if you like, if you can afford it,'' he told one of the crowd's few critics."
VNC
VNC

Sunday, October 10, 2004

Airgun Journal Directory: "MARKSMAN 72"
Airgun Forum: "I knew my post would sir up some activity. I keep my 1377 under the passenger's seat of my car. Rabbits and squirells close to my work. I get an extra opportunity to put meat on the table that way. With LHP's 7.9 grain 8 pumps = 465 fps, 10 pumps = 538 fps, 12 pumps = 573 fps. I use 6 pumps for target and 8 for hunting 10 to 15 yards. Still accurate enough for head shots at that range. It also fits neatly in a backpack for hiking or camping. It's a balanced 'hand rifle' with a 5 minute trigger mod. Ric"

Friday, October 08, 2004

BSA AR 2-7x32mm Scopes at Airgun Express: "A complete rifle sighting outfit that includes scope, light and laser makes taking pesky varmints in any light easier. This combination comes fully assembled and ready to mount to any air rifle that has a 11mm dovetail rail or 11mmdovetailed receiver. *The rings included will not work on RWS rifles or other rifles with factory indicated barrel droop. Kit includes a 4 x 32mm air rifle scope, ultra bright flashlight mounted side by side with a laser on either side of the scope. "

Thursday, October 07, 2004

Fast Dear Tune up: "Now let?s take a look at the trigger paying particular attention to the sear. This is an area of concern because of the inherent trigger pull problem with the Fast Deer. It will not cure everything but it will surely help. Use a small wire brush (or a Dremel Tool with a wire brush if you have one) and clean off as much of the black chemical surface (it appears that not all of the trigger assy?s have this coating) on the sear face. Now, with a whet stone (or a jewelers file) and /or 600 grit wet/dry paper polish the sear face smooth. Take care not to create any beveled edges and that all edges are sharp and square. Next, wash out the trigger housing with mineral spirits or paint thinner to remove all of the gunk inside. Do a thorough job here using a small paint brush to work around inside it as best as possible. Don?t leave any brush bristles behind. Then, if available, blow out thoroughly with compressed air. If not, using a clean cloth, pat dry and set aside to dry for awhile by evaporation. (With care, it can be dried out with a hair drier) "

Monday, October 04, 2004

Amazon.com: DVD: Brainy Baby - Spanish (2002): "I thought this video was pretty good -- a little dry. My kids like the Sesame Street Fiesta one better and also the Global Village Kids Sing and Learn CD -- which isn't a video but a CD with bilingual nursery rhymes. They dance to the music, they pick up Spanish words and phrases and I think it's better for them than staring at a tv screen all day. Still, this DVD is worth the money since there's not a whole lot else out there for parents who want to introduce their kids to Spanish and it did keep my two kids (4 & 6) attention!
"
Barclay Blocks - How to Make Blocks: "People sometimes ask, 'How can I make my own set of blocks?' A serviceable set of blocks can be made at home by a practiced woodworker from SPF stock available at the local lumber store. Here's how.

Buy Stock

The way to make blocks is simple: carefully make about 150 linear feet of the four sizes of S4S molding and chop it into blocks of the requisite length.

If you value your fingers, forget the idea of using all that lovely scrap you've been saving.

Buy about nine 2 by 4 by 8's and about four 1 by 4 by 8's from the lumber store. Shop for lumber that is as straight as possible and relatively free of knots. Fir is the hardest of these woods, Spruce is the lightest. Northern White Pine is available in some areas, Lodgepole Pine in others. Southern Yellow Pine is very good if it is reasonably free from pitch inclusions. Western Red Cedar and its cousins are not good. They are too light and tend to splinter.

Needless to say, you shouldn't buy treated lumber unless the kids have become a bother. Be cautious about imported lumber. European Beech and Birch is supposed to be checked for radioactivity left over from Chernobyl, but who knows? Rubberwood is universally soaked in Boric Acid which is potentially hazardous to young children.

Regular construction lumber is usually very wet even if it says 'kiln dried.' If blocks are made out of it the blocks will shrink - not uniformly, but more in some directions than in others. For t"

Sunday, October 03, 2004

Television Antenna Frequently Asked Questions: "Q:What kind of preamp should I get?

A:You should get the type of preamp that comes in two pieces. One is the actual preamp and mounts up on the pole with the antenna. The other is the power supply and mounts inside out of the weather. The idea here is to amplify the signal as close to the antenna as possible so that you are not amplifying noise picked up by the downlead. There are many different types of preamp available. Some are for VHF only, some UHF only, some VHF and UHF, and in differing amounts of gain from 6 or 7 db to 30 db. Some have FM traps built in to prevent interference from strong local FM stations. There are even single channel preamps designed to be used with channel cut antennas. Those are usually for cable TV headends.

In multiple antenna situations you should use only one preamp. Combine the antenna leads before the preamp. There are techniques for combining signals from multiple preamps but that is well beyond the scope of an FAQ list. Also, keep in mind that UHF frequencies are attenuated much more quickly than VHF."

Thursday, September 16, 2004

core lists -- sidekicks
Graphic novels for kids, sorted by age.

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Ask MetaFilter | Community Weblog: "When I was about 10, I managed to find a little box filled with baby teeth in my parents' bedroom. I told my mother that I'd found it, and that I now knew that she was the tooth fairy and, I assumed, Santa too. She came clean.


Only later, during the trial, did I discover where those teeth really came from..."
The Bush Files (washingtonpost.com): "Here's the full text of the Cheney interview, in which the vide president credits blogs with having a better appreciation of punctuation than a certain wire service."

Thursday, September 09, 2004

FARK.com: (1116157) IBM began selling proportional width typewriters in 1941 -- plenty of time for Bush's 1972 guard unit: "I have been a professional typist for 33 years - I still am and I make very big bucks. I spent several years typing on an IBM Executive Proportional Spacing typewriter (the hardest to learn typewriter ever invented). It worked like this - each character had a number of 'spaces' assigned to it - an m had 5, and i had one. If you made an error on an m, you had to backspace 5 times, insert your white out, and restrike, etc.). There was a 'superscript' key on that typewriter, I remember it well, because I was typing ICC Trucking Transportation Tariffs at the time (you talk about a biatch of of job).

It was a typewriter that placed a very high premium on accuracy.
"
43 Folders: Getting started with ?Getting Things Done?

Saturday, September 04, 2004

An actually useful wiki | A Whole Lotta Nothing: "An actually useful wiki

Merlin showed me Instiki and it looks great, works intuitively (using various text plugins instead of just typical wiki stuff), and the desktop Mac OS X one is the easiest to install wiki I've used. You download the disk image, double-click, and it's running locally, accessible from the menu bar at all times."

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

Utah County Park Details: "Located near a bend in the Jordan River near the Salt Lake County line%2C Indian Ford Park is still under development. Indian Ford takes its name from historical accounts that claim this narrow area in the Jordan served as a crossing point for local Native American tribes. During the dredging of the Jordan River in the 1980%27s%2C a large boulder was removed from this location and sits today at the entrance to Utah County%27s Inlet Park. When developed%2C Indian Ford will offer picnic tables and other amenities. For now%2C it serves as a crossing point on the river for the Jordan River Parkway."
Boing%20Boing%3A%20A%20Directory%20of%20Wonderful%20Things: "Yesterday%20I%20was%20at%20Best%20Buy%2C%20and%20I%20noticed%20that%2040-hour%20TiVos%20were%20on%20sale%20for%20%2450%20after%20rebate.%20I%20bought%20one%20and%20set%20it%20up.%20What%20a%20difference%21%20If%20TiVo%20were%20a%20beverage%2C%20it%27d%20be%20a%20tall%20glass%20of%20Jamaican%20ginger%20beer%20with%20chipped%20ice%20and%20a%20lime%20wedge%2C%20while%20the%20Explorer%20800%20would%20be%20a%20paper%20cup%20of%20warm%20fake%20lemonade%20stirred%20with%20the%20finger%20of%20a%20nose-picking%20six-year-old."

Friday, August 13, 2004

Intex inflatable kayaks from the Intex inflatable boat collection:

Only $40.

"The Challanger K2 Kayak
Low profile for lakes and mild rivers!
Responsive design, easy to paddle!
Big, comfortable cockpit for easy entry and exit!
Two spray decks with inflatable support beam!
Rugged SUPER-TOUGH* Vinyl Construction!
Two adjustable seats with backrests
Inflatable I-Beam floor for comfort and rigidity!
Two Quick-fill, fast-deflate Boston valves on main hull chamber
11 Seperate air chambers!
U.S. Coast Guard ID
RWTUV Approved
Repair Patch Included
"

Saturday, August 07, 2004

HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE / *** (R): "Danny Leiner, who directed this film, began his career with 'Dude, Where's My Car?' I inexplicably missed that movie, but I laughed often enough during the screening of 'Harold & Kumar' that afterward I told Dann Gire, distinguished president of the Chicago Film Critics' Assn., that I thought maybe I should rent 'Dude' and check it out. Dann cautioned me that he did not think it was all that urgent. Still another reason our leader's photograph should be displayed in every government office and classroom."

Wednesday, August 04, 2004

Garden State - Zach Braff Blog

Sleep well all you people who say nice things and make me feel like I've actually done something meaningful and make me happy to have taken the risk even though I waited on tables and people were mean to me and I had to sometimes do awful things when I worked as a PA on music videos like mop up vomit.

Yahoo! News - Bush Says She Discussed Gesture With Jenna
: "Her advice to her daughter? 'Maybe you should work on your issues of impulsiveness or something,' she recalled.



Bush wouldn't offer similar advice to John Kerry (news - web sites)'s wife, who has told an insistent reporter to 'shove it' and responded to Bush supporters' chants of 'Four more years!' by saying 'They want four more years of hell.'"
ESPN.com - GEN - OTL: LeMond levels more criticism at Lance: "'He basically said 'I could find 10 people that will say you took EPO,' ' LeMond said. 'He basically said, 'You know, come on, everybody's done it,' basically kind of like 'hey everybody, EPO's fairly common.' '
LeMond also claims that Armstrong's camp threatened his business interests.
'The week after, I got multiple people that were on Lance ... Lance's camp, basically saying 'you better be quiet,' and I was quiet for three years,' LeMond said. 'I have a business ... I have bikes that are sold ... and I was told that my sales might not be doing too well if ... just the publicity, the negative publicity.'"

Saturday, July 31, 2004

Thursday, July 29, 2004

If it had not been for 15 minutes...Epilogue: "These measures were entirely appropriate. Unbeknownst to us, the STASI had taken the unprecedented step of offering a bounty on our heads. I imagine more so on the capture or execution of Werner Stiller, but we were in danger nonetheless. Many years later I was told that the STASI in 1980 had been mistakenly under the impression that a family in Bavaria was us. They've sent a hit team of three agents across the border. In order to verify the discovery, individual team members visited this unsuspecting family on two seperate occasions. The first came disguised as a delivery driver, the second visit came as a gas meter reader. After that the team was pretty sure they had found us and connverged on the house. All three of them with guns drawn entered the home of their suspects. I don't know the exact details, but somehow the wife of the poor fellow under attack had enough presence of mind to call from the kitchen to the entrance way 'Honey I've called the cops - they will be here in 2 minutes.' And that was apperantly enough to spook the hit team into abandoning their plan. "
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources: "Location: Near Saratoga Springs resort. From I-15 take Lehi exit 282 (Lehi Roller Mills) and head west on main street through town. Main street will bend at the Maverick and become state road 73. Continue for another 3 miles to the intersection of SR 73 and 68. Turn left and proceed south approximately 2 miles. Turn left on 6800 N and go to stop sign. Turn left - Inlet Park is 1/4 mile from stop sign."
Google Search: jordan river utah : "Anyway, the thread on unique river hazards made me think of the time some friends and I tried to paddle the
Jordan River from its source in Utah Lake to the first major obstacle in the Jordan River Narrows in the south
end of the Salt Lake valley. I know the Jordan used to be a beautiful little stream, tree lined, home to
birds and fish and all sorts of nice clean critters. I know 'cause I'm an archivist and see photographs and
read accounts of what it used to be like. Well now its source, Utah Lake, is full of heavy metals from fifty
years of steel production and 100 years of agricultural chemicals and 150 years of sewage from Ovum, I mean
Orem, and Provo, Utah. The river as it goes through the Salt Lake valley has been a dumping ground for a
century and a half, and now instead of trees it has bridge abutments and old rebar, instead of nice fish it
has big greasy mutated carp that feed on offal from the meat packing plant, dead animals that people throw in
it, and the occasional poor transient who drinks too much thunderbird, falls in the river and dies. Ah, parts
of it are still pretty, but just when you think it's pretty nice you come around a corner and face a rapid
made entirely of shopping carts that hooligans have thrown in the river, or a bunch of kids giving you gang
signs and holding cans of spray paint. Just glad it wasn't guns."

Sunday, July 25, 2004

Nerd. | Metafilter: "Ken Jennings doesn't drink, because he's Mormon. I know him personally, because Ken used to play quiz bowl for Brigham Young University and I played on the Berkeley quiz bowl team against him a couple of times. His skill in knowing when to buzz in is almost definitely developed from his years in quiz bowl. Ken is notable not only for his winning streak, but because he's the first Quiz Bowl contestant I'm aware of to get on Jeopardy after they allowed you stay on for more than 5 days. I know some other quiz bowl players who've also auditioned to be on Jeopardy, but they can't get on the show, because they all know Ken and Jeopardy's own rules prohibit them from coming on the show while Ken is a contestant. If some other ex-quiz bowl player comes on the show after Ken leaves, you might see a similar winning streak."