Everything isn't Under Control

Friday, October 14, 2005

Simpsons re-done for middle eastern viewers crappy. One of the basic needs of humor is some kind of freedom to knock around the sacred cows, not bow down to them.

"Omar Shamshoon," as he is called on the show, looks like the same Homer Simpson, but he has given up beer and bacon, which are both against Islam, and he no longer hangs out at "seedy bars with bums and lowlifes." In Arabia, Homer's beer is soda, and his hot dogs are barbequed Egyptian beef sausages. And the donut-shaped snacks he gobbles are the traditional Arab cookies called kahk.

@ 04:18 PM CST [Link]

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Mike Archer's clone. This is a pretty interesting story. Prof Archer was the head of the Australian Museum and was the driving force behind its plans to clone the Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger.) After he left that position the current head claimed the DNA was too deteriorated and cancelled the project. Now Prof Archer is the dean of science at the University of New South Wales and has restarted the program with the help of US scientists. Not sure where this is going, as cloning from ancient DNA is a non-trivial problem, but I wish his team the best of luck.

The tasmanian tiger was sent into extinction by bounties put on its head by the government and arguably that goverment should be doing whatever it can to bring it back.

tasmanian-fetus (16k image)

@ 02:09 AM CST [Link]

Spyware install ruled illegal in Chicago. Now this is a good start.

First, the court found that this type of trespass cause action does not require loss of personal property. Instead, "interference" is sufficient. The court then took the leap to hold that interference with the use of a home computer is enough to maintain a claim for trespass to chattels.
Because the plaintiff's complaint alleged that computer use had been hindered, slowed down and bombarded with pop-up advertisements, enough interference had been asserted for the case to proceed on this cause of action.
In sum, and in the words of the court: "Simply put, plaintiff alleges that Spyware interfered with and damaged his personal property, namely his computer and Internet connection, by over-burdening their resources and diminishing their functioning. Accordingly, the court denies (the) motion to dismiss (the) trespass to chattels cause of action."

@ 01:37 AM CST [Link]

MI6 has a posse. I mean, a website. This is the britist intelligence organization the fictional James Bond worked for.

@ 01:35 AM CST [Link]

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

More cat and girl conspiracy theories. Also, Mr Wiggles dropped by the NY Press.

@ 07:50 AM CST [Link]

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Great gallery of early Beatles photographs. They went from all leather to all business in one year.

beatles-leather-to-suits (39k image)

@ 12:20 AM CST [Link]

Monday, October 10, 2005

What to do with that old XT in the basement.

turntable_pc (6k image)

@ 06:48 PM CST [Link]

Howto lower your Comcast cable modem bill. Normally Comcast cable in Chicago is 60 dollars a month, which is pretty expensive compared to DSL. Here's how I keep the prices down:

1. Call billing and tell them you've seen some ads for DSL that were very cheap and are thinking of switching.
2. Listen to them try to sell you more services. Ignore them.
3. Ask to be transfered to promotions (they might do this during step two.)
4. Talk to the promotions person. Tell them the same thing. They will then offer you a 34 dollar per deal for 6 months. (Actually you can get it down to 31 dollars if you own your own cable modem.)
5. After 6 months, pay the normal 60 dollars a month for a couple months and go back to step one.

I've tried this with a couple accounts and it always works. They never call my bluff and let me switch to DSL.

@ 06:43 PM CST [Link]

Cat and girl on conspiracy theories.

@ 06:39 PM CST [Link]

One gig flash drive 50 dollars at newegg. Wow, this is pretty sweet. Im sure its going to sell out in a few hours.

@ 06:38 PM CST [Link]

Paper-thin plasma speaker. With custom skin no less.

plasma-speaker (34k image)

@ 06:37 PM CST [Link]

175 yo Tortoise may be Darwin's. How odd. Oldest living thing may have once belonged to the father of evolution.

Is she really Darwin’s tortoise? The theory rests on claims that she was one of four giant tortoises known to have been collected by Darwin’s expedition to the Galapagos in 1835. The four were loaded onto the Beagle, reaching Plymouth in October 1836, where they swiftly took sick.
Two were dead by the following spring. According to biographies offered by Harriet’s successive Australian keepers, she was one of the other two, shipped down under in 1841 by John Wickham, a shipmate of Darwin from the Beagle.

@ 06:34 PM CST [Link]

Sunday, October 9, 2005

Conservative books for kids. Creepy stuff. Gotta get 'em while theyre young.

Written by Katharine DeBrecht, a mother of three, it tells the story of two young brothers who try to make money from a lemonade stall but are thwarted at every turn by left-wing politicians who threaten to put them out of business.
Several of the characters in the book are instantly recognisable, including "Congresswoman Clunkton" who tells the boys to reduce the amount of sugar in their lemonade and forces them to add broccoli to every glass.

@ 05:57 PM CST [Link]