02.25.03
For Example In Other Words
For the record:
“i.e.” in a text means “in other words”
“e.g.” in a text means “for example”
Thank you, and good night.
02.23.03
Lucky Hamsters
Take a look at this! These hampsters were *really* lucky.
Lucky Hamsters (335k MPEG movie)
I can’t believe that college students would do this to these poor hamsters! They barely make it out… alive.
02.20.03
NewtonScript Backgrounder
Oo! NewtonScript History as told by the guys who made it! http://wsmith.best.vwh.net/Self-intro.html
Nummy!
I love reading about background histories of computer projects. In fact I’ve been reading this piece on WindowsNT history. However, take it with a HUGE grain of salt. Notice how the IBM relationship is totally glossed over, and how there are no mentions of infighting or VMS concepts.
02.19.03
Hindenburg Facts
From a UCLA reseacher on the cause of the Hindenburg disaster.
Furthermore, the substance used to coat the cotton skin — a process known as “doping” which makes the fabric taut and more durable — was extremely flammable. A combination of iron oxide, cellulose acetate and aluminum powder, “the total mixture might well serve as a respectable rocket propellant,” Van Vorst said.
Additionally, the manner in which the skin was attached to the airframe allowed a large electrostatic charge to build up on its surface. When it finally discharged, it did so with disastrous results.”
I saw this on a PBS show once, but had forgotten the compostion of the doping agent. I needed that in a recent converstation. Hopefully putting this here will help me remember: iron oxide, cellulose acetate and aluminum powder.
02.18.03
Client Rant
Some of our clients seem to have access to a steady supply of high quality Crack.
02.17.03
Choosing a Domain Name
Things to keep in mind when choosing a domain name:
- shortest number of characters
- easy to remember and recognize when communicated over the phone
- easy/standardized acronyms or abbreviations
- both .com and .org are available
- no hyphens
There should be weights that go with each of these as well.
Barometric Pressure and Oceans
If the ocean levels rise, like they might in the future due to global warming, will barometric pressue increase or decrease significantly?
After all the atmosphere sits on top of the ocean and the land. If the ocean were to rise, then the bottom of the barometric pressue would also rise, right? But then again, because the rising would occur over the face of a sphere, the atmostphere would be pushed out over a greater surface area, therefore the PSI of the atmosphere would be spread out, lowering the effectie barometric pressure… Hmmmm.
Idea Publishing
I was reading this at Ben’s log and thought, yeah.
I’ve often seen where someone has made a big splash news-wise after publishing something that I thought was common knowledge. I guess publishing ideas works best with a shotgun style method. You publish *all* of your ideas and see if one sticks.
I’ve got a new article that I’m gathering materials for that I might send into alistapart, or evolt or something. We’ll see.
02.09.03
Columbia Aftermath
For me, the Astronaut dream never really died. It’s gotten pushed aside on long occasions, but if I ever really sit down and think, if I could have any job… working in near-zero-g is where I would be.
Challenger freaked everyone out, because we’d been invincible in space. The Soviets were the ones who had lost people, but never NASA. I remember the precise moment and location that I was sitting when I heard about it. Mrs. Morgan’s Communications IV class, 6th grade, in the left most row, 4 seats from the front.
—
Columbia has come at a bad time. We’re in the midst of an economy that everyone knows is bad but the government is lying about, a war on terror that’s more akin to shadow boxing and accomplishing goals that have nothing to do with Freedom or justice, while the law enforcement is grabbing more and more power to track down criminals and terrorists, but without realizing the amount of freedom they are taking away without any over sight.
NASA’s public profile has been one of the few things that looked shiny and pretty from the outside, and gave us the hint of looking at something beyond military dominance and big brotherism.
The set back that Columbia represents is excruciating for a country that’s breaking up and diving into the ground by leaders we don’t trust.
02.05.03
Exploits Via Kevin
From Kevin Mitnick’s Interview on SlashDot:
“On one occasion, I was challenged by a friend of mine to get his Sprint Foncard number. He said he would buy me dinner if I could get it. I couldn’t pass up a good meal so I phoned customer service and pretended to be from the IT department. I asked the rep if she was having any difficulties with her computer. She wasn’t. I asked her the name of the system she uses to access customer accounts, to verify I was working with the right service center. She gave it to me. Immediately thereafter, I called back and got a new service rep. I told her my computer was down and I was trying to bring up a customer account. She brought it up on her terminal. I asked her for the customer’s Foncard number? She started asking me a million questions? What was your name again? Who do you work for? What address are you at? You get the idea. Since I did not exercise any due diligence in my research, I just made up names and locations. It didn’t work. She told me she was going to report my call to security!
“Since I had her name, I briefed a friend of mine on the situation and asked him to pose as the “security investigator” so he could take a report. He called back customer service and was transferred to the woman. The “security investigator” said he received a report that unauthorized people were calling to obtain proprietary customer information. After getting the details of the “suspicious” call, the investigator asked what information the caller was after. She said the customer’s Foncard number. The “investigator” asked for the number. She gave it to him. Whoops! Case closed!”