del.icio.us links for 2006-01-31

• A List Apart: Articles: In Search of the Holy Grail: Three columns. One fixed-width sidebar for your navigation, another for, say, your Google Ads or your Flickr photos—and, as in a fancy truffle, a liquid center for the real substance. (css design html layout)
• Boing Boing: Flying windmills -- power from the sky: Where's the best place for a windmill? Up in the jet stream. 2.81 MW flying or floating (tethered) at 15-30K ft altitiude, and a cost of $0.014/kWhr. Boing Boing has a nicer picture than the original article. (boingboing cool energy environment news weird)
• Boing Boing: StarForce threatens to sue me for criticizing its products: Threatening Boing Boing and Cory Doctorow over being critical about your malware product is probably not a good plan. In fact, it's an invitation to a legal ass-kicking. (boingboing copyright law)
• The F-Word: The F-word in this case is "food", though the chef, Gordon Ramsey, is well-known for swearing all the fucking time. I'd pick him to win a fantasy fist-fight with Jamie Oliver. (food funny tv uk weird)
• CNN.com - Dominatrix acquitted in client's death - Jan 31, 2006: Prosecutors said she confessed to police, but the alleged confession was not taped. Investigators testified they did not save their notes. And no body or physical evidence was ever found. The prosecutor wore a bondage mask during closing arguments. (crime massachusetts murder news sex us weird)
• Sploid: 'I've lived off roadkill for the last 30 years': With rising concerns about how animals are treated by agribusiness, Arthur Boyt has found the perfect source for meat, the roads of England. Boyt has been invited to appear on BBC 4's The F Word with Gordon Ramsay to prepare a three-course meal for 60. (animal food news sploid uk weird)
• Sploid: Pagan scouts!: A scouting group for pagan kids is spreading through North America, but Christians say the nature-worshipping youngsters are only earning a merit badge in Satanism. (funny news religion sploid weird)
• Sploid: 'Attorney General's pants are on fire!': Sen. Russell Feingold is accusing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales of lying during his confirmation hearing last year. Feingold's letter (PDF) is worh reading. (bush congress crime evil liberty nsa privacy security surveillance us)
• "Reply-To" Munging Considered Harmful: An Earnest Plea to Mailing List Administrators -- This is old, but some people have failed to learn the lesson. (email rant reference usability)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-30

• CNN.com - FEMA failed to accept Katrina help, documents say - Jan 30, 2006: Federal emergency officials failed to accept offers of possibly life-saving aid from the Department of Interior immediately after Hurricane Katrina, according to documents obtained by CNN. (fema katrina news politics us)
• Sploid: Bloodthirsty USA threatens tiny Norway: While a nervous world awaits a U.S. attack on Iran, the White House may be actually planning a bloody hit on the tiny Scandinavian kingdom of Norway, the world's third-largest exporter of oil, and a population of only 4.6 million. (news norway oil politics sploid us)
• Sploid: Ukraine vampire caught bleeding kids again: The notorious vampire woman of Odessa has been arrested again ... and this time, cops say she's working for a powerful Satanic cult called "Red Dragon." (news sploid ukraine vampire weird)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-29

• Censored News Stories of 2005: Top 10 Project Censored News Stories: White House Erodes Open Government, Media Coverage on Iraq: Fallujah and the Civilian Death Toll, Distorted Election Coverage, Surveillance Society Quietly Moves In, U.S. Uses Tsunami to Military Advantage in Southeast Asia, The Real Oil for Food Scam, a (censorship environment evil iraq news politics us)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-27

• Scammer pays FedEx to send him a box of Rottweiler excrement: A guy was selling his used video camera on Amazon, and some small-time sleazeball sent the seller a bogus sale confirmation email that appeared to originate from amazon.com. Instead of receiving a valuable video camera, the scammer ended up paying shippin (boingboing crime dog funny shit)
• CNN.com - Federal appeals court upholds airport identification policy - Jan 27, 2006: An appeals court on Thursday dismissed a legal challenge to federal airport regulations requiring passengers to show identification before they board planes. The review was done in private for security reasons. (airline law liberty politics privacy security us)
• C++ vs Java vs Python vs Ruby : a first impression: Side-by-side comparison of some object-oriented programming in C++, Java, Python, and Ruby. Perl and PHP not included because they suck. (c++ java object programming python ruby)
• Sploid: Cops bust hog-dog fight ring: Police in Florida have broken up a massive hog dogging ring operating in Seminole. The barbaric "sport" pits a de-husked boar against one or more dogs in a 25-foot by 25-foot pen until one is triumphant. (crime dog evil florida news pig sploid us weird)
• Sploid: Homeland Security addicted to porn: The terror bureaucracy’s internal computer network logged a staggering 65 million security alerts in just 90 days, but it can't tell the difference between "oral sex" and "behavioral". What is known for sure is that porn alarms are going off at an explo (dhs funny network news politics security surveillance terrorism us)
• Sploid: Nation of witches: Unlike skeptics of the paranormal, fundamentalist Christians literally believe in witchcraft, demonology, magic, possession and monsters. The result is that even "born again" kids are studying pagan mysticism. Blame Harry Potter, Buffy, Underworld, Doom.. (funny irony news religion sploid us weird)
• Sploid: Congressman changes (his) history!: In July of last year the staff of U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan of Massachusetts literally re-wrote history for their boss on Wikipedia. In fact abuse of editing privileges got so bad on the Hill last fall that Wikipedia blocked some House IPs from posting. (censorship congress history news politics sploid us weird)
• Report: Lab Monkeys 96 Percent More Likely To Use Cocaine Than Those In Wild: (humor news psychology science theonion)
• YouTube - Proper Breast Touching Technique: The japanese equivalent of Fonzie demonstrates the proper way to fondle a lady's boobies. [LEVEL 69] (boobs funny howto japan nsfw video weird)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-26

• Davos Dispatches: Brin defends Google's China move - Jan. 25, 2006: Interview with Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and his explanation of why Google has elected to implement Chinese censorship rules. (censorship china google liberty news)
• What Google censors in China | CNET News.com: Google's new China search engine not only censors many Web sites that question the Chinese government, but it goes further than similar services from Microsoft and Yahoo by targeting teen pregnancy, homosexuality, dating, beer and jokes. (beer censorship china declan evil gay google humor liberty politics religion)
• Quick Online Tips: Complete Digg Tools Collection: an attempt to combine all Digg related tools in one place. (digg firefox howto mozilla reference tool)
• Georgia coach Richt gets $16 million deal: Georgia coach Mark Richt received a new eight-year, $16 million contract Wednesday that gives the two-time Southeastern Conference champion a $500,000 a year raise. Richt can also earn up to $400,000 in bonuses if he meets various incentives. (athensga football georgia news sports uga us)
• Daily Kos: Administration flipflop on domestic surveillance: Four years ago, top Bush administration lawyers told Congress they opposed lowering the legal standard for intercepting the phone calls of foreigners who were in the United States, even while the administration secretly adopted a lower standard on its own (bush congress crime liberty nsa politics privacy security surveillance terrorism us)
• Tax Holiday: How the nonsensically named American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 allowed Ford to slash jobs while reaping huge job-creation tax benefits. (bush news politics sploid tax us)
• Voters support Hamas: "A political party, in order to be viable, is one that professes peace, in my judgment, in order that it will keep the peace," Bush said yesterday. Oh well, so much for the GOP then, and it's war on (terrorism|drugs|civil liberties|.*)+ (bush politics us)
• Sploid: British doubt Darwin: Over 2,000 were asked their view of the origin of life. Only 48% rallied behind Darwin. 22% named creationism and 17% opted for the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Nearly one in six had not been sober long enough to give the question sufficient consideration. (creationism evolution fsm funny news religion science sploid uk)
• Sploid: Fox News is leftist!: From Bill O'Reilly's pinko lies about global warming to Shepard Smith's lovefest with poor blacks in New Orleans, hardcore conservatives see growing evidence that their beloved Fox News has become just another America-bashing part of the mainstream media. (media news sploid us)
• Sploid: Cross-dressing killer is a lady wrestler!: The cross-dressing murderer who terrorized Mexico City’s old ladies for three long years is actually a female wrestling star. Only a week ago, police were still convinced that Mataviejitas was a man in drag. (crime mexico murder news sploid weird)
• Analysis: White House Tries to Spin Spying: I know what I'd be doing if I were a known al Qaeda agent in Pakistan: Making lots of cryptic prank phone calls to random people in the U.S. When I ran an anonymous remailer, we all assumed the NSA was intercepting everything, legal or not. Unless they ar (bush crime liberty politics security surveillance terrorism us)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-25

• Supreme Ethics Problem?: At the historic swearing-in of John Roberts as the 17th chief justice of the United States last September, every member of the Supreme Court, except Antonin Scalia, was in attendance. Scalia was playing tennis during a trip to a legal seminar sponsored by (law politics scotus us)
• Defense Tech: These Cameras Don't Forget a Face: Surveillance companies, using networks of cheap Web-connected cameras and powerful new video-analysis software, are starting to turn the Hollywood model into reality. Faces and license plates can now be spotted, in almost real time... (news sploid surveillance us video web)
• IMPEACHING FEDERAL JUDGES: A COVENANTAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL RESPONSE TO JUDICIAL TYRANNY: Supreme Court Justices "shall hold their offices during good Behaviour," which means they can be impeached. In 1804, Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Chase was impeached but acquitted. Only three fed judges in recent history (Reagan era), for crimin (crime history impeachment law politics scotus us)
• How to wrapping Shimojima,.co.ltd.: Diagonal wrapping technique from Japan. Uses one piece of tape at the end, and even that looks optional. (art howto japan weird)
• Sploid: Jacko living life as a lady Muslim!: Now Jacko has been spotted walking around Bahrain covered from head to toe in the traditional dress of conservative Bahraini women. (bahrain news sploid transvestite weird)
• Sploid: Public speaking stressing you out? Get laid!: Having sex is good way to calm nerves before giving a speech or presentation, but it has to be full sexual intercourse to get the best results. Masturbation and oral not as good, and abstainence resulted in highest blood pressure response to stress. (biology news presentation psychology science sex sploid weird)
• Sploid: Pork soup starving France's Muslims: Soup Nazis: The unrest in France's Muslim population exploded across the country last fall. Now, in what can only be read as the ultimate act of passive aggression, small groups aligned with France's extreme right are serving pork soup to the homeless. (france news pig politics religion sploid weird)
• Nation's Snowmen March Against Global Warming | The Onion - America's Finest News Source: The protest was largely peaceful, disrupted only by a disturbing incident in which one distraught snowman hurled himself into the reflecting pool of the National Mall. He was rushed to a local meat locker where he was pronounced melted on arrival. (environment humor news politics protest theonion us)
• Second-Graders Wow Audience With School Production Of Equus | The Onion - America's Finest News Source: "Once they stopped screaming about horses getting their eyes gouged out and realized that it was just a launching point for more complex ideas about alienation from the modern world, they rolled up their sleeves and dug right in." (horse humor news theonion us)
• I Enjoy The Occasional Tranq Dart | The Onion - America's Finest News Source: "I'm a regular lowland gorilla like anybody else. And sometimes, at the end of a particularly frantic and rampaging day, I need a little something to take the edge off." (gorilla humor rant theonion)
• Contempt for Congress: If ever there was a perfect illustration of the Bush administration's attitude toward Congress, it came precisely one hour, six minutes and 20 seconds into Monday's Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on mine safety. (bush congress politics rant us)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-24

• The BEAST 50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2005: The worst of 2005, and You are on it. (evil humor politics rant)
• Impeachment hearings: The White House prepares for the worst: The Bush administration is bracing for impeachment hearings in Congress starting in February, focusing on the secret electronic surveillance program and whether Mr. Bush violated the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. (bush congress evil fisa impeachment news nsa politics sploid surveillance us)
• CW network to replace WB, UPN in September - Jan. 24, 2006: Warner Brothers and CBS Corp. announced plans Tuesday for the creation of a new broadcast television network, called CW, that would replace the WB and UPN networks in the fall of this year. (media news tv us)
• SEC. 605. THE UNIFORMED DIVISION, UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE.: Part of PATRIOT Act renewal. New federal cops are coming your way from the Department of Homeland Security. (bush evil news politics us)
• Watch out, Oprah! Here comes Osama bin Laden's Book Club: William Blum's "Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower" was ranked 209,000 on Amazon.com's sales list before bin Laden mentioned it in an audiotape released on Thursday. By Friday, the book was No. 30 on the Amazon.com list. (news terrorism weird)
• Unfathomed Dangers in PATRIOT Act Reauthorization - by Paul Craig Roberts: A provision in the "PATRIOT Act" creates a new federal police force with the power to violate the Bill of Rights: "There is hereby created and established a permanent police force, to be known as the 'United States Secret Service Uniformed Division.'" (bush evil politics us)
• 2006 Withholding Calculator: Accurately compute the amount of money you need to give the Infernal Revenue Service in advance. (reference tax tool)
• Sploid: Alistair Cooke's bones give you syphilis?: Imagine receiving a letter telling you that the syphilis you've been battling may have come from a stolen bone that surgeons implanted in your back. (crime evil health news sploid us)
• Sploid: Study shows Left and Right equally dense: Both liberals and conservatives refused to view rationally information that didn't jibe with their personal biases. The parts of their brain that feel negativity shut down. Instead they received a rush similar to that of a junkie getting a fix. (news politics psychology sploid us weird)
• Sploid: Aussie whale puke worth $300K: An Australian couple has hit the jackpot with their find over 30 pounds of whale vomit, valued at $295,000, a.k.a. the chunder from down under. (australia news sploid vomit weird whale)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-23

• FAQ: What does the Google subpoena mean? | CNET News.com: Preparing to defend a controversial Internet pornography law in court, the Justice Department has demanded search logs from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and America Online. (declan google law liberty politics privacy security us web)
• CNN.com - Egg joy for parents of stolen penguin - Jan 23, 2006: The parents of a baby penguin, whose theft from a British zoo just before Christmas attracted worldwide attention, have produced a new egg. Toga, who could only survive a matter of days without his parents, was never found. (crime evil news penguin uk weird)
• Sushi Eating HOWTO: This document provides a simple guide to eating sushi. Its target audience are non-Japanese people who enjoy sushi but aren't familiar with the customs and traditions that make for an outstanding experience. (culture dining food howto japan reference social sushi)
• Freedom to Tinker » Blog Archive » Analog Hole Bill Would Impose a Secret Law: "In other words, I can know the contents of the bill Congress is debating, but only if I pay $10k to a private party, and only if I promise not to tell anybody what is in the bill or engage in public debate about it." (copyright drm evil law politics us)
• FireBug - JoeHewitt.com: FireBug is a new tool for Firefox that aids with debugging Javascript, DHTML, and Ajax. It is like a combination of the Javascript Console, DOM Inspector, and a command line Javascript interpreter. (ajax bugs css dom extension firefox javascript mozilla programming tool xml)
• Sploid: 'Evict Souter' moves forward: Outraged by the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling in Kelo, granting municipalities the power to seize land for use in commercial projects, a group in New Hampshire are continuing their efforts to seize the vacation home of Justice David Souter. (law liberty newhampshire news scotus sploid us weird)
• DRM is a complete lie: When a DRM peddler blathers about how it is necessary to protect content, rest assured, they are lying to you. The funny thing is, DRM has absolutely nothing to do with protecting content.from you; they are protecting it from other DRM peddlers. (copyright drm evil law music rant riaa)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-21

• TaraBaker.com: A site dedicated to Tara Louise Baker, her short life, and the ongoing investigation of her tragic murder (5 years and counting). (athenga crime evil ga murder us)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-20

• Let the Good Times Roll by Guy Kawasaki: How to Get a Standing Ovation: Guy's take on how to give a good speech. (howto presentation reference)
• Doctors claim suspended animation success: US doctors have developed a method of inducing hypothermia to shut down the body's functions for up to three hours. In tests, they reduced the body temperature of injured pigs from 37C to 10C before operating on them and then reviving them. (biology health news pig science us)
• Boost socket performance on Linux: This article explores four ways to use the Sockets API to squeeze the greatest performance out your application and to tune the GNU/Linux® environment to achieve the best results. (ethernet howto internet linux network programming)
• Dealing with a debt collector: If you're being hounded by bill collectors, you're not alone. The debt collection industry is a large and growing business. Don't be intimidated.The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act protects you if your creditor has given your account to a third-party c (howto reference)
• Boing Boing: The beef over raw pet food: One approach is known as BARF, which can either stand for "Biologically Appropriate Raw Foods" or "Bones and Raw Food." (animal boingboing dog food news rabbit weird)
• Sploid: College grads dumb, but believe in demons: Many college students nearing graduation are so dumb they have trouble reading credit card offers or calculating the price of food in a supermarket, and seniors and grad students were more likely than freshmen to believe in the paranormal. (education news sploid us weird)

Mess with the Feds

Hello to all my fans in Domestic Surveillance, and at Google.

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-19

• Olduvai George » Blog Archive » I’m A Professional, Don’t try this at Home: Some very useful tips on how to build up a drawing in Photoshop. It also looks very applicable to the GIMP. [via Drawn] (art cool gimp howto illustration photoshop)
• Sorry, Dogs Don't Do Subways - Why canine sniffers won't make mass transit safer. By Amanda Schaffer: There's nothing wrong with using dogs to walk the subways to deter crime and make people feel better. But their noses can't be relied on there. If dogs are so fallible in loud, crowded places, why was the new TSA program conceived at all? (dog politics schneier terrorism tsa us)
• Sploid: Japanese fishing beset by sea monsters: The massive Echizen kurage jellyfish, some weighing more than 400 pounds, have been terrorizing the fishing industry off the coast of Japan since July. (environment food japan news sploid weird)
• Sploid: Kublai Khan discovered America: The chief proponent of the theory that famed Muslim sailor Zheng He first mapped America now says the Mongol king Kublai Khan probably had the Americas explored even earlier, in the 13th Century. (china history news sploid us weird)
• Sploid: Millionaire alien: Prince Mongo is 333 years old and was born on the planet Zambodia. He lives in a waterfront mansion in Florida filled with his strange art. Mongo only goes barefoot and generally dresses in old t-shirts and shorts. (alien florida news sploid us weird)
• The Onion Radio News: The Onion Radio News is a daily podcast featuring a short news clip from The Onion's award-winning 24-hour radio news network. Server doesn't set Content-Type correctly, but this is an RSS feed. (audio humor mp3 news rss theonion)
• johndoro.com » Blog Archive » How to beat a speeding ticket: "I never admitted or denied speeding, I just asked to prove it was me." (howto law reference)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-18

• SANS - Internet Storm Center - Cooperative Cyber Threat Monitor And Alert System: Lists the current top 20 target ports in descending order of number of targets, according to ISC reports. (network reference security tool)
• Challenger buff bares it all inside auto show: Show officials are trying to learn who sneaked a tipsy blond woman onto the Cobo Center show floor about 2:30 a.m. Monday to pose nude atop the new Dodge Challenger. "We want people to love these cars but not in that way." Sadly, the story only has a pict (car dodge funny news weird)
• gapingvoid: top ten reasons why nobody reads your blog: "If you weren't so stupid I could explain to you how stupid you are!!" (blogging humor rant)
• War's stunning price tag: White House economic advisor Lawrence Lindsey was effectively fired for suggesting that the war might cost up to $200 billion, rather than the $60 billion claimed by the president's budget office. Current (Jan 2006) estimate: $1-2 trillion. (bush iraq news war)
• Sploid: Chupacabra shot dead: A pair of East Texas brothers went hunting for the mystery beast seen around the woods and came back with a dead Chupacabra. (chupacabra news sploid texas us weird)
• U.S. Holds Going-Out-Of-Business Sale | The Onion - America's Finest News Source: The Washington-based government, which hasn't shown a profit in five years and carries the highest debt in its history, was ultimately driven out of business by costly overhead and cheap foreign competitors. (bush humor politics theonion us)
• Maverick Hunter's 'Human Beings As Prey' Plan Not As Challenging As Expected | The Onion - America's Finest News Source: Von Urwitz said three vacationers brazenly approached him with strange questions. "They asked about grand prizes and something they called an 'immunity challenge,'" von Urwitz said. "I had my men slit their throats." (evil humor news theonion)
• Linux Distribution Chooser: Questionnaire to help you decide what Linux distribution to use. Seems reasonably well-done, and the questionnaire itself is an interesting bit of web design. (design linux tool web)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-17

• Oregon's Right-to-Die Law Upheld by Supreme Court: The Supreme Court (6-3) sided with Oregon in upholding the nation's only physician-assisted suicide law, holding that the federal government did not have the authority to prosecute physicians. Now, apply this logic to abortion... (liberty news oregon politics scotus us)
• Minnesota's vampiric gubernatorial (and future presidential) candidate: I will impale Bush: Johnathon "The Impaler" Sharkey says, "When I become president, Bush will be charged, tried, and if convicted of murder, I will impale Bush at the White House..." Dislikes: God, terrorists, Christians. Likes: Jesus, impaling people, drinking blood, Satan. (bush evil minnesota news politics religion terrorism us vampire weird)
• “Alien” Embryo Removed From 35-Year-Old Man’s Back: A 35-year-old tractor operator, Igor Namyatov, has undergone surgery to be relieved of what had initially been diagnosed as a tumor, but turned out to be the embryo of his unborn twin brother. Life imitates South Park, or maybe the Venture Brothers. (alien biology news russia science weird)
• Aerobie® AeroPress(TM) Coffee & Espresso Maker: Water and grounds are mixed together for ten seconds. Then gentle air pressure pushes the mix through a micro-filter in 20 seconds. The total brewing time of only 30 seconds results in exceptionally smooth flavor. [via digg] (coffee cool food tool)
• CNN.com - Court: State can let beaten girl die - Jan 17, 2006: An 11-year-old girl is in a permanent vegetative state after being kicked and beaten with a baseball bat by her stepfather who wants to keep her on life support so he isn't charged with her murder. Ironic touch: Photo of girl wearing prisoner costume. (crime evil irony massachusetts news photo us weird)
• CNN.com - Astronaut questions shuttle safety in book - Jan 17, 2006: Shuttle "most dangerous manned spacecraft ever flown, by anybody." On application to astronaut corps: "I was determined when the NASA proctologist looked up my ass, he would see pipes so dazzling he would ask the nurse to get his sunglasses." (funny nasa news space us weird)
• Dragon Labs | Octopus Engine: The Octopus Engine attempts to unify techniques for rounded corners, drop shadows, custom borders and faux columns, all in one pretty package. It’s an all-in-one, one in all approach, encompassing whatever effects one needs. (css design framework howto html javascript)
• Woman pleaded: I want hitman to kill me: A 53-year-old woman was so depressed and desperate to end her life that she agreed to pay a friend to arrange for a hitman to kill her, but the friend failed to keep his side of the bargain and she shopped him to the police. (crime news uk weird)
• LinuxKungFu - ipkungfu: ipkungfu is a bash script for Linux which builds firewalls using iptables. (linux network security)
• Sploid: Study proves meetings suck: Psychologists have finally proven what regular people have known forever: Meetings are soul-sucking, spirit-crushing wastes of time. (meetings productivity psychology science sploid sucks)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-14

• Sploid: JUDAS REDEEMED: For 2,000 long years, the disciple Judas got a bum rap for allegedly selling out his top man Jesus. But publishers are now releasing the Gospel of Judas, and supporters of the slandered disciple of Christ are hoping their guy finally gets some credit. (history news religion sploid weird)
• Polyphasic Sleep: Instead of sleeping for about 8 hrs/night like a normal person, try taking six 30-min naps a day. You'll save 35 hrs/week, if you don't go insane first. (health howto productivity psychology reference science sleep social weird)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-13

• The First One (Webserver): This NeXT workstation (a NeXTcube) was used by Tim Berners-Lee as the first Web server on the World Wide Web. In the future, post-apocolyptic geeks will worship this as their god, and it will grant them magical powers. (history internet photo web)
• CNN.com - Robertson apologizes to Sharon's son - Jan 13, 2006: Pat Robertson apologized for saying that the major stroke suffered by Israeli P.M. Sharon was divine retribution after Israel threatened to exclude Robertson from a proposed $50 million Christian heritage site in northern Israel. He's still an asshole (evil news religion weird)
• CNN.com - Starbucks 'bomb' was only a flashlight - Jan 13, 2006: What authorities thought was a bomb in a Starbucks coffee shop turned out to be a flashlight casing, police said Thursday. A forensic analysis "revealed the absence of any explosive material," a police statement said. (bomb california coffee funny news sanfrancisco security terrorism us weird)
• CNN.com - Bush, Merkel united on Iran's nuclear threat - Jan 13, 2006: I always heard that *two* nuclear bombs made you great threat, and that *one* only made you a great target. (bush iran news nuke politics)
• HOOTERS 2006 calendar!!!: 12 months of hot chicks (calendar funny photo)
• Soul Shine Magazine : Drive By Truckers Bring New Album in Spring: They’ll be letting fans get a sneak peek at A Blessing and A Curse from January 19th to 21st at the 40-Watt Club in their hometown of Athens, Georgia. (athensga country georgia music news rock us)
• Sploid: SUCK IT, COLUMBUS!: Another great fraud of American History is about to go down the toilet, because a stunning view of the world from 1418 shows the great Chinese Muslim sailor Zheng He explored the Americas nearly a century before Columbus. (china history iran sploid)
• The Impeachment of George W. Bush: Coming Spring 2007 (if not sooner). A few months ago, I thought it would be hard to make an impeachment case, and he was merely incompetent. With the secret wiretap revelations, it looks like a slam-dunk, though probably not until the next Congress. (bush cia congress crime evil fisa impeachment law liberty nsa politics rant torture us war)
• Sci-Fi channel to show new Doctor Who in US | The Register: The BBC has sold last year's season of the revived Doctor Who to the Sci-Fi Channel, paving the way for the Doctor's new adventures to be broadcast in the US. (cool drwho scifi tv uk us weird)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-12

• AJAX Login System using XMLHttpRequest | evolt.org: Implements an MD5 MAC (like APOP), but in principle any sort of shared secret scheme could be used. I suppose even public key encryption would be possible. (ajax authentication cryptography howto javascript md5 reference security web web2.0)
• Rockin' Rollen Stewart Exhibit: Remember the guy with the rainbow wig and "JOHN 3:16" sign who was on all sorts of televised sporting events? Ever wonder what happenede to him? Would you believe serving three life sentences in prison? (boingboing religion sports weird)
• KODESEX: Coded Wearable Clothing and Apparel for Sexual Compatibility: kodesex™ may look innocently like funky art on your gear, but these pix speak volumes about the wearer. [via Sex Drive Daily] (fashion funny sex weird)
• Toxic waste creates hermaphrodite Arctic polar bears: About one in 50 female bears on Svalbard has both male and female sex organs, a phenomenon scientists link directly to the effects of pollution. (animal arctic bear ecology environment hermaphrodite news weird)
• Chuck Norris Facts: If you can see Chuck Norris, he can see you. If you can't see Chuck Norris, you may be only seconds away from death. (chucknorris humor weird)
• Jonathon "The Impaler" Sharkey for Governor of Minnesota - 2006: In the upcoming Minnesota gubernatorial election, vote for a *real* bloodsucker: Jonathon “The Impaler” Sharkey, Ph.D., L.D.D.D., U.S. Army veteran, Sanguinarian Vampyre and Hecate Witch. (Magikal Path name: Lord Ares.) Seriously. (minnesota politics religion us vampire weird)
• Sploid: THE BLACK KLANSMAN: He was an uneducated cop who lived in the American West. He followed orders. And he was loyal. It's no wonder he was chosen to run the Colorado Springs chapter of the KKK. But Ron Stallworth had to bow out, due to being black. (black colorado evil funny history news us weird)
• 'Impaler' sinks his teeth into governor's race: Self-styled "vampyre" Jonathon Sharkey is running for governor on a platform that includes impaling terrorists. (funny minnesota politics us vampire weird)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-11

• iSpecies - a species search engine: iSpecies is a test of E O Wilson's idea of a web page for each species. The data displayed are generated "on the fly" by querying other data sources. (animal biology database ecology evolution mashup reference science search web2.0 xml xslt)
• Quick Vibrating Lockpick - Overview: Automatic lockpicker made from an Oral-B Humming Bird vibrating power flosser. (hardware howto security tool)
• Wolf Information - Wolves - The Searching Wolf: Likely more than you ever wanted to know about wolves. (photo reference wolf)
• Sploid: THE PARROT AND THE PEDOPHILE: Paul James Stewart Scott knew exactly what he wanted out of life: He wanted to die -- preferably while having sex with 8-year-old kids. In a pinch, he would just die with his wife. Only then could he leave his small fortune to his parrot, Greeny. (colorado crime news parrot sex sploid suicide us weird)
• Tips for getting to sleep faster & sleeping better: (howto productivity reference)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-10

• Regarding the recent attacks on eBaumsworld.com...: For the last 36-48 hours, ebaumsworld.com has been the victim of a global cyber-terrorism attack allegedly conducted by an alliance of webmasters and their followers who disagree with our company's editorial process... (crime evil liberty terrorism)
• Lindsay Lohan Doesn't Change Facial Expressions: Really, she doesn't. eBaum's World says their are receiving "cyber-terrorism" attacks (includeing DoS) over this picture. (funny photo)
• :: Reviews : Switching to Windows: Not as easy as you think: Windows is hard. (funny linux microsoft rant)
• The Bureaucrat in Your Shower - Mises Institute: You mean they regulate how much my shower sprays? Yes indeed they do. Government believes that it has an interest in your shower? Yes it does. (liberty rant)
• Bush using a little-noticed strategy to alter the balance of power: Reagan adopted the strategy and used signing statements to challenge 71 legislative provisions, according to Kelley's tally. George H.W. Bush challenged 146 laws; Clinton challenged 105. The current president has lodged more than 500 challenges so far. (bush congress politics us)
• ongoing · Don’t Invent XML Languages: Tim Bray: The X in XML stands for “Extensible”; one big selling point is that you can invent your own XML languages to help you solve your own problems. But I’ve become convinced, over the last couple of years, that you shouldn’t. Unless you reall (atom design programming web xhtml xml)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-09

• Create an e-annoyance, go to jail | Perspectives | CNET News.com: Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime. (declan evil internet law liberty news us)
• Detroit 2006: Dodge Challenger Concept unveiled | Leftlane News - Car News For Enthusiasts: After numerous rumors and leaks, DaimlerChrysler today officially announced the new Dodge Challenger Concept, on display this week at the Detroit auto show. The car features a 425 horsepower 6.1L Hemi... (car cool dodge news)
• Robot Parts & Electronics - Build a Robot with The Robot MarketPlace: Everything you need to build your own army of killer robots and complete your plans for global domination. Batteries not included. Wait, they have batteries too. (hardware parts robot)
• t r u t h o u t - Frank Rich | The Wiretappers That Couldn't Shoot Straight: If fictional terrorists concocted by Hollywood can figure out that the National Security Agency is listening to their every call, guess what? Real-life terrorists know this, too. (bush evil nsa politics rant us war)

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-06

• Farcical Pestilence: Microsoft genetically-modifies Tux: I noticed a recent Microsoft ad with a very familiar looking chicken. In fact, he looks a lot like a certain well-known penguin. (art linux microsoft)
• CNN.com - NSA: Amanpour, other CNN reporters not targeted for surveillance - Jan 6, 2006: A senior U.S. intelligence official told CNN on Thursday that the National Security Agency did not target CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour or any other CNN journalist for surveillance. (liberty media nsa surveillance)
• STSC CrossTalk - Correctness by Construction: A Manifesto for High-Integrity Software - Dec 2005: High-integrity software systems are often so large that conventional development processes cannot get anywhere near achieving tolerable defect rates. This article presents an approach that has delivered software with very low defect rates cost-effectively (bugs design howto programming reference security software)
• The Australian: Dog saves Taiwanese newborn [January 06, 2006]: A woman gave birth to a baby boy into the toilet and managed to cut the umbilical cord with a small pair of scissors before collapsing on the floor. Her faithful dog snatched up the infant in her mouth and rescued him from drowning. (dog news sploid taiwan weird)
• The Left Coaster: King-George-gate: Myths v. Realities: Justifications for Bush's secret warrantless wiretapping debunked. (bush congress crime evil fisa nsa politics us)

Microsoft genetically-modifies Tux

I noticed a recent Microsoft ad with a very familiar looking chicken. In fact, he looks a lot like a certain well-known penguin.

(linux art microsoft)

New asshole splogger trick

The trick is to have some Javascript that does a redirect to the spammer's main site. The blog content itself is not important, because it immediately goes somewhere else. I don't want to link to the site directly, but the URL is http://flower-distributor.blogspot.com/. The redirect ultimately goes to http://www.webs-search.com/; naturally the WHOIS data for the domain is bogus.

You may want to try it with Javascript enabled and disabled to see what's going on. I would flag this one in a millisecond if I could.

Gag, I hit the Next Blog button and got another one from the same spammer at http://mature-women-panties.blogspot.com/.

del.icio.us links for 2006-01-05

• Tarantula in OAP home 'for weeks': A tarantula-like spider which has been biting an elderly man in his sleep has been in his house for several weeks, according to the RSPCA. The 76-year-old man first noticed a large spider running out of a box of bananas he bought some weeks ago. (news spider sploid tarantula uk weird)
• Okla. pastor arrested on lewdness charge: A pastor who has spoken out against homosexuality was arrested after propositioning a male undercover police officer outside a hotel, authorities said. (funny gay news oklahoma religion sploid us weird)
• Bush could bypass new torture ban - The Boston Globe: When President Bush last week signed the bill outlawing the torture of detainees, he quietly reserved the right to bypass the law under his powers as commander in chief. (bush cia congress evil news politics torture us)
• Chron.com | Robertson Links Sharon's Stroke to Wrath: Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for "dividing God's land." What an asshole. I guess religion really does give you brain damage after all. (evil news religion weird)
• Tough Love: Norris Fans Board the Chuck Wagon: Chuck Norris does not fade away. By all rights he should have, by now. But Chuck Norris, or maybe just Chuck Mania, endures. (chucknorris funny news weird)