Category: Random

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?

Some scientists may have figured out what exactly the appendix does other than get infected and try to kill you:

It produces and protects good germs for your gut.

That’s the theory from surgeons and immunologists at Duke University Medical School, published online in a scientific journal this week.

For generations the appendix has been dismissed as superfluous. Doctors figured it had no function. Surgeons removed them routinely. People live fine without them.

And when infected the appendix can turn deadly. It gets inflamed quickly and some people die if it isn’t removed in time. Two years ago, 321,000 Americans were hospitalized with appendicitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The function of the appendix seems related to the massive amount of bacteria populating the human digestive system, according to the study in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. There are more bacteria than human cells in the typical body. Most are good and help digest food.

But sometimes the flora of bacteria in the intestines die or are purged. Diseases such as cholera or amoebic dysentery would clear the gut of useful bacteria. The appendix’s job is to reboot the digestive system in that case.

CBS: Gauging The Internet’s Political Power
In 1972, computers and campaigns were just getting acquainted. Fundraising appeals using direct mail lists were considered revolutionary – and helpful to a young Karl Rove working on the Nixon re-election campaign.”Young people have got to reach other young people,” Rove told CBS News at the time, “and that is what we are seeking to do.”The merger of politics and technology was so new the Nixon campaign felt its use of computers should be shielded from the public.

Time: Why Facebook Is The Future
Many view the web as a current generation thing, a way to engage teens and twenty-somethings, while aiming for anything beyond that has proven all but impossible. Facebook is slowly but surely pulling it off, broadening its market into demographics that matter most to politicos and campaigns focused on using new means to target traditional voters.

Orgeon Hill now has a neighborhood blog. Any bets on how long before VCU tries to take it over?

Last week I got a Wii. My arm is just now getting used to the whole moving-while-playing-a-video-game thing. Good times.

Three years ago I used TypingTest and found I could type 78 words per minute with 95% accuracy. Today I took the test again and still type 78 words per minute but now with 96% accuracy. Go improvement!

On Wednesday, May 2nd Banditos will host Style Weekly’s annual music issue release party. I’m trying to find some times and something to link to with a bit more meat to it, but right now I’m planning on making it out there. Anyone else thinking about going?

When we see personal attacks, we need to speak out. We need to tell the commentors and the people in the chat rooms that these statements are NOT okay. We can disagree with ideas, but attacking people personally is NOT okay. If you have a ‘friend’ who is engaging in this type of activity, you have to tell that person it is NOT okay. What is not okay in ‘real life’ is not okay in virtual life. If the virtual space is truly that democratic, of-the-people, world changing, Read/Write wonder that we proclaim it to be, we need to clean it up.

– The Unsinkable Kathy Sierra – Miss Rogue 3/27/07

Here’s a nifty little thing from the online IM service Meebo. It allows visitors to J’s Notes chit chat with me if I’m logged into Meebo. I’m just going to toss it into a post for now and maybe I’ll be on while someone’s visiting and this puppy will get a test run. If it’s dandy it might fine a permanant home on the side somewhere, who knows.

The Nanci Raygun is closing it’s doors August 31st:

DUE TO AN INABILITY FROM OUR LANDLORD TO MAINTAIN HIS MAINTANCE RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE LEASE, THE NANCI RAYGUN WILL BE CLOSING ON AUG 31. WE APPOLOGIZE FOR ANY INCONVIENCE THIS WILL CAUSE FOR THE BANDS AND PATRONS. ALL OF THE SHOWS LISTED IN AUG WILL STILL CONTINUE AS SCHEDULED. PLEASE BE PATIENT, AS WE MAY RE-OPEN IN A FEW MONTHS. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT OVER THE YEARS. THANKS YOU FOR THE GOOD TIMES, NANCI RAYGUN STAFF

Drats.