A weblog by Ernie French
My Homepage-startup page-my pitas interface-add entry
apathy-robotwisdom-twernt
current one-last one
My Homepage-startup page-my pitas interface-add entry
apathy-robotwisdom-twernt
current one-last one
Cruise loses faith in Scientology
This makes me happy, since I like Tom Cruise. Although it probably would have been more interesting to watch him go cultish...
Tom Cruise and his Australian actress wife Nicole Kidman quit soon after completing Eyes Wide Shut , the late director Stanley Kubrick's last film, according to reports in Hollywood.via robotwisdom
ILOVEYOU "virus"
In case you havn't noticed, iloveyou only effects people running outlook. Have you noticed that ALL the big viruses lately have effected Outlook? Isn't this a vital factor that news stories should play up?
email is text format! so how can reading a message infect you with a virus? because outlook is dumb! All it has to do is view the message in text form (no html, no javascript, no java.), and then give you the option to open or save attachments. Outlook isn't alone in sucking though; lots of other win9x clients suck as well, such as Eudora with it's hidden attachments.
The point is, this whole situation is dumb; all you have to do is run reasonable mail readers and not open attachments and you'll be fine. I'm still waiting for one news report to point out that it's all the stupidness of Outlook that's making this happen; it's not those evil hackers, they wouldn't be able to do anything if it weren't for Outlook leaving holes for them to rip open.
Molecules with Silly or Unusual Names
from memepool
Cummingtonite
This mineral must have the silliest name of them all. Its official name is magnesium iron silicate hydroxide, and it has the formula (Mg,Fe)7Si18O22(OH)2. It got its name from the locality where it was first found, Cummington, Massachusetts, USA.
Privacy concerns
Here's what I think about privacy worries:
In 20 years devices which have face recognition capabilities will be pretty cheap. The software to collate the information from thousands of these devices will be advanced and available on every warez server in whatever country is currently no-mans land. Since the price of these devices keeps going down, it'll only be a matter of time before it gets pretty easy to hook up your camera to your computer, download a program from a warez server, and have the camera track everything outside your window (say, traffic on a major highway under zoom). It won't be too hard to get it to keep track of license plates, and correlate it with a consumer database (which by this time will have good pictures of everyone in it, along with all their personal habits and buying preferences). I don't believe it's possible to stop this from happening; it's the same impossibly difficult problem as prohibition, or outlawing lying.
It's much harder than controlling the spread of nuclear weapons; the elements required are very common (cameras & software), compared to uranium, and we havn't even done a very good job of controlling nuclear weapon proliferation (despite impassioned protest).
That's why I think it's going to be impossible to avoid a total surveillance system unless there's some really big changes.
However, it's not all bad - imagine a life with no common crime; everyone's wearing a camera or two on their lapel that's constantly being monitored by some AI (and transmitted to permanent storage at a few locations, and also to a black box you have with you). If someone comes up to you, it's known; if someone snipes you, the (general) location of everyone in the area is already known, and if you combine that with all of their personalities, histories, relationships, it shouldn't be hard to find them.
But, that scenario assumes things turn out well. The bad side is that people could be forced to conform to all laws and so-called rules of society. Nobody today really expects you not to speed, and I'd bet 90% of cops drank underage. And don't even think about social rules that are broken all the time; the only people who could be in government or the priesthood would be eunuchs. Everyone's faults being exposed would hopefully get people to lighten up a bit.
And of course, there's the really bad side, which I'm afraid will actually happen. The existence of the system will be kept quiet, or at least will be too scary to think about, and it won't be used much, and nobody except the elite will really know much about it at all. We'll have the same military-industrial complex, the same perpetuation of profit margins, the same stupid scandals. Incredibly exact crackdowns on people trying to reform the system or make their own surveillance systems probably won't make the news.
Professional Minesweeper
nice clone, plus lots of absurd boards.
I feel sorry for the author... He wrote an awesome minesweeper clone, but then somebody went and hacked it and put up a serial number on astalavista.
Three incarnations: Professional:
Original windows 3.1 version (I think very nice)
windows 95/98 (uglified) version
Another fun minesweeper thing is Sweeper, a little program that runs as you run minesweeper and solves it for you. Of course, it can solve expert in 2 seconds flat. It's fun to make it try really hard boards though. Even 110 mines on an expert size level (instead of 99) greatly reduces the winning percentage.
It's interesting to see the varying levels of skill minesweeper players have
Altavista search:
word is bond 1638
Word is Bond 109
word is born 509
Word is born 299
Word is Born 60
(on altavista, a matches a or A, but A matches only A.)
I don't know what this means. I just always wondered which was correct. altavista is a phrase dictionary!
After the protest...
Pretty typical ending, with solidarity for those in jail... except for the girls taking their clothes off??
Thursday afternoon authorities attempted to take demonstrators against their will to a bond hearing, where they would be summarily released on their own recognizance, limiting the strength of the solidarity effort. The women in custody took off their clothes as an extreme measure to prevent this.
50 Years is Enough
List of demands to the World Bank and IMF. Supports openness, local participation, and debt reduction.
For more than a decade, citizens' groups in the United States, in collaboration with partner organizations in the Third World and Eastern Europe, have lobbied the IMF and the World Bank, as well as the U.S. government, for reforms in the operations and policies of these institutions. Despite these efforts and the growing chorus of criticism from the U.S. Congress, governments and U.N. agencies, the IMF and World Bank continue to resist fundamental and meaningful change.Above all, the Network calls for the full participation of affected women and men in all aspects of World Bank and IMF projects, policies and programs.
Critical IMF & World Bank article from TIME
Today, after 15 years of IMF-imposed structural adjustment, administered most effectively since 1995 under President Benjamin Mkapa, Tanzania has "made great progress in getting its macroeconomic situation in order," says James Adams, the World Bank director for the country. Inflation has fallen below 7%, and the GDP is growing 4% a year; European sedans glide through the streets of the capital, Dar es Salaam, and imported goods fill the shops.However,
With Tanzania's debt from IMF, World Bank and other loans now at $6.4 billion, the government has been spending 40% of its annual revenue on interest payments--more than it spends on health and education combined.Even the poorest families are subjected to "cost sharing"--paying fees for basic health care and even elementary school. In response, 70% of the people consult faith healers (this in a country with an HIV epidemic), and school enrollment has fallen from 93% in 1993 to 66% today. "The data are very clear," says I.F. Shao, director of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam. "A small number of people are doing very well indeed, but the vast majority are suffering more than ever.
Some random guy's journal of Jail life
it's nice to see a more detailed look at this weird society.
Someone else lit up a fat assed joint with a tell-tale smell that made me think I was back in college again. I couldn't believe someone had the gall to smoke a joint in jail. this was the first of many surprises and misconceptions to come.today I'll enlighten you with some of the more common phrases heard in our cell.
"Sissy BITCH!" (G, or Rocky) Said to the guard almost everytime one leaves the cell, except for the "cool" ones.
"Ain't NONE of them motherfuckers cool." (Rocky) Rocky's response each time someone calls one of rhe guards "cool". I have named this phrase "Rule Number One", and Rocky gladly recites it any time I ask him what rule number one is.
"I'm the COLDEST" (G) G's little way of telling us how good he is at something, usually a game. Problem is he's frequently in last or next to last place when he starts talking this shit.
The Insider
An article by the former chief economist of the World Bank severely criticing the secrecy of the IMF, and mentioning them as a cause of the Asian economic downturn of recent times.
The IMF likes to go about its business without outsiders asking too many questions. In theory, the fund supports democratic institutions in the nations it assists. In practice, it undermines the democratic process by imposing policies. Officially, of course, the IMF doesn't "impose" anything. It "negotiates" the conditions for receiving aid. But all the power in the negotiations is on one side--the IMF's--and the fund rarely allows sufficient time for broad consensus-building or even widespread consultations with either parliaments or civil society. Sometimes the IMF dispenses with the pretense of openness altogether and negotiates secret covenants.It's not fair to say that IMF economists don't care about the citizens of developing nations. But the older men who staff the fund--and they are overwhelmingly older men--act as if they are shouldering Rudyard Kipling's white man's burden. IMF experts believe they are brighter, more educated, and less politically motivated than the economists in the countries they visit. In fact, the economic leaders from those countries are pretty good--in many cases brighter or better-educated than the IMF staff, which frequently consists of third-rank students from first-rate universities.
Amazing media distortion of the DC protests
I went to DC sunday to protest the IMF and World bank loan sharking & exploitation of third world countries. This was the first big protest I went to, and now I understand why people are sick of media distortion
I don't protest helping out countries in debt; it's a good cause. What I have a problem with is the way we do it. Any help they receive depends on them implementing economic changes that we impose (since they're all so in debt already that no one else will lend to them). Some things that are typically required are:
The way we're changing them has side effects that greatly help big companies. Benefits to big European and American companies are: resource prices are kept down, labor costs are kept in the basement, and new markets are opened. Not only that, but we force them to divert money from social programs or development in order to pay off the debt. In most cases the money was lent to a dictator who has already been overthrown and who stole it all or wasted it all on the military or corruption.
Money and power always strive to intensify themselves; The first world countries have all the money and the power now, so it's only natural that we don't want third world countries to become like us; we're happy if they become consumers of our goods and culture, and if we can strip them dry of all natural resources, but economically we have no interest in them becoming competitors to us. That's why I think it's insane to let the people with money and indoctrinated in the love of money (economists) be the one who decide how to "develop" these countries.
Here is what really happened on Sunday: there were *two* protests. One was legal, and had Ralph Nader, Michael Moore, and tons of union activists speaking. The other was not legal, and consisted of civil disobedience in intersections designed to disrupt IMF and World Bank meetings. The crowd at both was rather militant with lots of Marxists and Communists and Hippies, but was totally redeemed by the presence of many religious people who want to forgive the debt. The west is so rich already; Jubilee is such a noble cause that it alone motivates these protests. Let these countries start over and not be sharecroppers for 50 more years.
Massive IMF & World Bank protest April 16
I'm going to this. See you there!
These institutions "bail out" governments with debt and credit problems, but they only provide money to governments that agree to allow corporations free access to their countries' resources and labor. They fire government employees and slash programs in health and education.As part of the huge April 16-17 Mobilization for Global Justice a permitted rally and protest will occur on April 16th 11am-5pm at the Ellipse, between the White House and the Mall.
This is an album of pictures I took through the tour of PyongYang in the spring of 1996
The building looked traditional Korean style, but the guide said proudly "It's made with concrete". What was he proud of?Cherry brossoms were so beautiful, but it only doubled our confusion.
She guided us around the anniversary tower with very moderate manner, but seemed to be armed firmly in thoughts. It was so hard to make her laugh, even just to smile slightly.
I also tried one of the North Korean cigarette, "the red star", with filter and a little mud-smelling flavor. I liked it.
Font Remix 2
Awesome artistic interpretation of chinese characters. You can do stuff with kanji fonts that you can't come close to with paltry english fonts. Also cool is the unreadable (to me) Pinponpan Hiragana chart. I'm hoping to find endless cool stuff like this when I actually go to Japan. via misterpants.
'Family Fortunes' Blunders
Funny messups from the british version of "Family Feud".
A number you have to memorise - SevenWhat's your chance of being murdered?
A famous bridge - The Bridge Over Troubled Waters
Something that flies that doesn't have an engine - A bicycle with wings
- What do you mean by keeping that much cash in your house. Not good...you are at risk from home invasion robberies.
- Appearing on TV is a good way to attract those loons you always wanted. They do need SOMEBODY to stalk...right.
- Firing emplyees always is a risk in a society where no one takes responsibility for their own actions. You suddenly become the reason (obsession) for the fired employee's bad luck. Be mindful of people following you.
- You are drinking too much in public. You cannot control ANY situation with less than optimal control of your body
State Department Travel Information
Costa Rican traffic is horrible! One thing they don't mention is that in the country no one even has a license. It's kind of a joke that you need a license to drive there. Just give the cop a $10 and you'll be fine.
Traffic laws and speed limits are often ignored; turns across one or two lanes of traffic are common, and pedestrians generally are not given the right of way. Roads are often in poor condition, and large potholes with the potential to cause significant damage to vehicles are common. All of the above, in addition to poor visibility because of heavy fog or rain, makes driving at night especially treacherous
Land Reform!
Squatters: Properties throughout the country have been invaded by organized squatter groups, against which the government has been reluctant to act. These squatter groups, often supported by politically active persons and non-governmental organizations, take advantage of legal reforms that allow people without land to gain title to unused agricultural property.Burma:
Burmese authorities require that hotels and guest houses furnish information about the identities and activities of their foreign guests. Burmese who interact with foreigners may be compelled to report on those interactions to the Burmese government.
Netscape 6(5) is out!
It's slower than 4, keyboard shortcuts are disabled or weird, and new windows pop up that almost are maximized. But it crashes less than 4.72, and the crashes don't lock up my whole computer. Nice fast crashes that are non-lethal. How nice.
Goin to Japan!
I got into the JET Program. So sometime this summer I will be going to Japan to teach English at a high school or middle school! Cool!
DSL was delayed three days (of course).
I've been playing a lot of tetrinet lately, while listening to the mountain goats or matador records best of comps. Somehow doing this cleans the thoughts; afterwards I'm bursting with ideas.
While playing, I mostly think of how to write a tetris playing ai, as well as a tetris clone that keeps a database of all positions you've ever been in and what you did (depending on current and next piece.)
Christian Comics!
The best way to minister to people! I love how it's cool that Lot offered his two virgin daughters to the masses of rapists outside his door, rather than, say, praying to god to save him some other way. The one where two kidnappers get converted by their kidnapee is hilarious.
from the treasury:
As of February 28, 1999, of the $486,291,684,565 in total currency in worldwide circulation, $322,046,548,000 is in the $100 denomination.
alt-tab will bring upI think if you do random sampling with replacement of a set with N objects, it takes N lg N tries before you have an even chance of getting them all.
an innocuous window
if the boss walks by.
Wow, someone's crazy
I found this guy on the Where's George site, where you can enter the serial # of your bills and see them tracked.
My bill & marking preferences (March, 2000):Also, in addition to having a weird collection of overlapping broken gifs, this person keeps ridiculously detailed stats on where she spends all her money.
1) I prefer to use new or very good condition bills.
2) I circle the serial number and series (black ballpoint).
3a) I stamp the front with my blue custom stamp and the back with a blue WG stamp, Or (time permitting):
3b) I stamp the front with a red or blue WG stamp, the back with my blue custom stamp, and I write "Please enter my serial number at www.wheresgeorge.com" on the front border.
What with the Golden Dollar out now, all the $1 entered are going to be useless soon...
What does this mean? why would a person do this?
I recall hearing there's about 400 billion in US cash money out there, but I'm not sure. But the likelyhood of two people entering the same bill is a similar type of problem where if you have 23 people in a room, it's 50/50 that two of them will have the same birthday.
This is probably the first time the Backstreet Boys have been deliberately used as a form of sleep-deprivation torture
Tetris in 1/2K of assembly
A nice fast and smooth version of tetris in 1/2k of 8086 assembly. Runs better in dos mode...
look under the "old hacks section".
Confused, Inconclusive and Contradictory:
An Assessment and Analysis of the American Government's "Evidence" for the Cruise Missile Attack on Sudan
After the sudan bombing, the Sudanese government invited people from the west such as Jimmy Carter to come investigate whether or not it was really a nerve-gas producing plant. Below is our ridiculous quote. I couldn't believe it, but confirmation is here and here.
The United States deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Peter Burleigh, dismissed Sudanese calls for independent verification of the site: I don't see what the purpose of the fact-finding study would be. We have credible information that fully justifies the strike we made on that one facility in Khartoum.[Note 21]
Comparison of CD prices of some online vendors
I wrote this comparing 6 vendors for TOTAL price on 9 CDs I wanted. Surprisingly towerrecords came out on top, clearly beating borders and amazon (like I'd buy from them anyway).
Risks Digest
problems caused by computers
One can only shudder in anticipation of the glorious day when nobody is even aware of this problem as DMCA and UCITA ensure that no software, anywhere, ever has any publishable defects of any kind.
DSL IS COMING!
I'm getting dsl theoretically in a couple days! work, goodbye! mp3s, hello!
