Category: Random

Ev and Biz handle Dowd just fine. It’s not that she doesn’t get it, it’s that she’s afraid of it.

“First, on the most obvious level, Twitter needs to be differentiated from what people write on Twitter.”

Second, the comparison I often make here is with ball-point pens.
Imagine a world where everyone uses typewriters: they write novels, manifestos, historical surveys, and so on, but they do it all using typewriters. Now the ball-point pen comes along. People use it to write down grocery lists and street addresses and recipes and love notes. What is this awful new technology? the literary users of typewriters say. Ball-point pens are the death of humanism.

Twitter, like blogging, is what you make of it. It can only “destroy civilization” if you pay attention to the noise. Look for the meat.

BREAKING NEWS: American adults suck at science

Ripping a ten song CD could end up costing you up to $1.5 million if the RIAA and Rep. Conyers (D-MI) have their way.

Global Warming’s greatest threat: ZOMBIES!

Microsoft vs. Yahoo! – Earlier this week Microsoft announced an aggressive buyout bid of Yahoo! valued at $44 billion.  CNet News has put the two companies Web 2.0 properties side by side to see which products might win out in a merger.

iPhone Vs. Semi: a draw?

Can a Jedi lightsaber cut through Superman?

Warner Music’s business plan – Step 1: Report Loss. Step 3: Give Bonus.

Books that make you dumb.

News Corp. might be looking to merge with Yahoo! too.

TMZ is reporting that the medical examiner has ruled that Heath Ledger’s death was caused by “acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine.”

Spice Gun NOT for hunting Spice Girls – BAM!  You just shot some flavor into that dish!

YouTube banned Santeri Ojala’s account earlier this week after copyright infringement complaints.  His videos mash guitar rockin’ footage with his purposefully bad playing skills with pretty funny results.  Never fear, though, WIRED has the videos here.

Charles Fawcett passed away on February 3rd at the age of 92:

When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939 Fawcett joined the Polish army but had been in barracks for only a week before escaping from the advancing Nazis and hitchhiking back to Paris. When the French rejected his application to enlist, Fawcett joined the Section Volontaire des Américains – the ambulance corps.

He was sharing a studio with another young American, Bill Holland, whose mother was a German aristocrat. One of Holland’s relatives, General Otto von Stülpnagel, had been appointed commander-in-chief of occupied France, and when Holland introduced Fawcett to senior German officers he was able to pass important information to the French Resistance.

In Paris Fawcett also took part in the rescue of a group of British prisoners-of-war who had been placed under French guard in a hospital ward by the Germans. By impersonating a German ambulance crew, Fawcett and a comrade marched in at 4am and ordered the French nurses to usher the PoWs out into the yard. “Gentlemen,” he announced as he drove them away, “consider yourself liberated.”

“You’re a Yank,” said a British voice.

“Never,” came Fawcett’s lilting southern burr, “confuse a Virginian with a Yankee.”

Fascinating life.  (h/t Kottke)

Recommended Reading: Harry Frankfurt’s “On Bullshit”

All the web designing cheat sheets you might ever need.  (via Kottke)

All natural male enhancement, mail fraud, bank fraud and money laundering in one little pill thanks to Enzyte.

Immigration becomes less and less an issue every day.  A report by the Public Policy Institute of California says that foreign-born folks aren’t more likely to beat you up.  In fact, it looks like the opposite.  (h/t Doug)

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

Roger Clemens was totally at that bitchin’ party Jose Canseco threw and he is so busted.  Because, you know, the government doesn’t have better things to do.

Is suburbia the next slum?

Friday Five

1. What do you most want to be remembered for? Up to this point? Probably just being a good guy and all. I haven’t really done anything signifigant besides that. Eventually I want to be remembered for doing lots of things to help other people, whether it’s through whatever career I choose or politics if I decide to go head first into that.

2. What quotation best fits your outlook on life? “I didn’t do it.”

3. What single achievement are you most proud of in the past year? I got back into school.

4. What about the past ten years? I survived.

5. If you were asked to give a child a single piece of advice to guide them through life, what would you say? Be good.

So I picked up my first bottle of Vanilla Coke today and I’m still not sure what to make of it. Is it good? Kinda. The closest I can come to describing it is it’s like drinking the left over Coke of a Coke Float. Or, really, its more like the foam from a Coke Float, just a hint of Vanilla that grows the more you drink it and eventually can get overpowering. At first it’s a slight Vanilla, but the more you drink, the stronger it gets, almost to the point of too sweet. I’m not sure I can finish my bottle here.

I can see kids digging it, all 28 grams of sugar per serving (which a 20 oz bottle has 2.5 of) but I’m not sure adult taste buds can take it.

Would I recommend buying it? Sure, why not, give it a try, but I probably won’t get more than this one bottle myself, it’s just not my bag.

Amount the United States spent in 1949 on international aid and diplomacy : $66,400,000,000

Amount the United States plans to spend on this in 2002 : $23,800,000,000

Total voting population of a Denton, Texas, tax district when a development plan was approved there in 1996 : 1

Weeks before the vote that the resident was moved there by Dell Computer so that he could approve the plan : 5

Number of years a sheep can remember another sheep’s face : 2

More from Harper’s

Targeted Serendipity Weblogs aren’t just glorified pages of links and rambling personal sites; they are an antidote to mass media. According to the author of “The Weblog Handbook,” Rebecca Blood, they are also bringing creative expression to everyday people when they need it most.

And have I linked to Microcontent News yet? I’m gonna add a perma-link too.

At Airport Gate, a Cyborg Unplugged Steve Mann, an engineering professor at the University of Toronto, has lived as a cyborg for more than 20 years, wearing a web of wires, computers and electronic sensors that are designed to augment his memory, enhance his vision and keep tabs on his vital signs. Although his wearable computer system sometimes elicited stares, he never encountered any problems going through the security gates at airports.

The Incredible Rubberband Machine Gun! It’s the only fully automatic machine gun that’s legal in all 50 states! This beauty is a fully functional machine gun with TWELVE rotating barrels and a live action trigger. Loads 12 bands per barrel for a whopping 144 rubber bands that shoot off as fast as you can turn the handle! Great fun for kids of all ages. MORE than just an amazing machine, this is a true work of art.