digital retrograde

September, 2006 [Reset]

9/30/2006 10:55 AM

Photo

http://www.coolstuffbeingmade.com/
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/02/technology/02netflix.html?ex=1159934400&en=27352b34c58c12be&ei=5087%0A
http://veratech.aero/phantom.html
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?feed=FT&Date=20061008&ID=6085419

9/28/2006 11:56 AM

The Langley Tease

Someone FOIA'ed a bunch of NSA periodicals and managed to get an amusing list of article titles.

I'd really like to read "Obscenities in COMINT: A Need for Cognitive Knowledge", or maybe "A Cryptologic Fairy Tale". (Though in reality, who could resist "Boners Wanted" or "GEE WHIZZER"?) But phooie, I don't work for NSA or have plans to. I saw "Enemy of the State", I know what those guys are up to.

If you're really dying to read one, though, a sample FOIA request is included on the page.

One of these articles HAS been declassified: "Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence". It's not quite what you think: Learn about radioglyphs and how to speak "pure Veneran".

9/27/2006 11:46 AM

Requiem for a Face

APOD has been posting a slew of new Cydonia pictures, including a good look at the bad side of the Face On Mars. So it's an undistinguished pile of cold, clumpy rocks like we all suspected. Thanks alot, JPL, for killing the Romance. Now I'll have to daydream about alien monuments on planets where your probes AREN'T nosing around.

It got me to wondering how my favorite crazy, Richard C. Hoagland, is supposed to make a living now?

9/26/2006 11:07 AM

Science

Jerry Falwell and Think Progress commentors simultaneously making jackasses of themselves.

9/26/2006 10:51 AM

Musings

135 of them

Upon hearing that I'd seen "Miami Vice", a friend dropped this tasty factoid: The budget for the film? $150 million. The annual budget for the entire Miami-Dade police department? $100 million! The things you could say cultural values and spending priorities if you were so inclined.

I had to check it out for myself. It took a little digging, but the final score is $135 million for the film, $148 million for the annual budget of the MDPD. (Page 7 of 8).

Not quite as round as the first figure, but still nice and close. It got me to wondering what other apples and oranges comparisons might be amusing? What else can you get for $135 mil?

Well, you can get a 56,000 square foot mansion in Aspen. A 1907 Gustav Klimt portrait. If you're lucky you can hit a lottery jackpot for that amount. If you're Germany you might make $135 million euros for hosting the World Cup. (Just ignore exchange rates.)

Or, for that princely sum you can buy one F-22 Raptor:

They are awfully pretty.

9/24/2006 10:29 AM

Movies

This is the official end of the sailing trip pictures; I might post the remainder to flickr when the opportunity presents.

Betsy B's got a new Blog. pOST MOR PICTURE!

9/23/2006 11:21 AM

Photo

9/20/2006 10:13 AM

Photo

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/9363363/inside_scientology
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/17/flying_toilet_terror_labs/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/19/AR2006091901779.html

9/19/2006 12:01 PM

Cake and Eat It

I appreciate the stab at tax reform, but Al Gore's latest proposal leaves a little to be desired:

For the last fourteen years, I have advocated the elimination of all payroll taxes — including those for social security and unemployment compensation — and the replacement of that revenue in the form of pollution taxes — principally on CO2. The overall level of taxation would remain exactly the same. It would be, in other words, a revenue neutral tax swap. But, instead of discouraging businesses from hiring more employees, it would discourage business from producing more pollution.

Winners: White collar workers. Financial services. Farmers might make out okay if it were strickly a CO2 tax. Not so hot if it were to include, say, methane emissions.

Losers: Blue collar workers. Manufacturing. "Make a run for the border" might be a catchy descriptor. Permanently diminishing tax revenues.

Plus: The "electranet". How very "Web 2.0".

9/18/2006 10:25 AM

Musings

Actual Spa-m-ail

Dear Friend,
You sit, immersed in thought. The spark of inspiration you're looking for is just not there...

Suddenly, throuhg the darkness comes a blazing shaft of color. It pours from the depths of a cave somewhere in the back of your mind. And from that cave comes a host of majestic and magical dragons, each bearing a glistening spark of imagination, illuminating your soul and bringing clarity and brilliance to your thoughts...

Wow. If it were only that easy (and exciting), right? But you'll be surprised at how inspirational The Dragons of the Crystal Cave can be when you see them up close and in person. Because, thanks to this Ashton-Drake exclusive ornament collection, these dragons can do more than just exist in your imagination.

As nice as these would compliment my Dragonforce CD collection, I think I'm going to pass. (How in the world did I end up on this mailing list?)

9/18/2006 7:20 AM

Movies

Craptacular

Diagnosis: Emulsion (stress) fracture of the trapezoid bone in the right wrist.

Treatment: Arm splint followed by plaster cast for two weeks when swelling goes down.

I fell on it while playing softball. It sucks to type.

Seriously, though, I'm going to have to learn how to take pictures one handed if I want catch any more of these.

9/15/2006 10:10 AM

Life

9/12/2006 12:08 PM

Photo

Totally unrelated: The sordid real-life history of MySpace.

Plus: Steve Irwin Revenge Killings. I can only imagine the heart-warming stories behind these.

9/12/2006 10:41 AM

Photo

Abaft!

Everyone survived the sailing trip this weekend, I'll post more pictures later. But first, I have to get over the strange feeling that the Earth is rocking beneath my feet.

9/10/2006 11:40 AM

Photo

Aye aye, cap'n

I'll be out again this weekend, this time trolling the shores of Lake Superior through the fog and cold. Remember the Edmund Fitzgerald!

9/8/2006 3:27 AM

Life

(Me: I know they're dark, I'll fix them later.)

9/6/2006 11:54 AM

Photo

For Computer Programmers

Quotations:

Theory is when you know something, but it doesn't work. Practice is when something works, but you don't know why.

Programmers combine theory and practice: Nothing works and they don't know why.

The Six Phases of a Project:

Enthusiasm

Disillusionment

Panic

Search for the Guilty

Punishment of the Innocent

Praise for non-participants

Sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.

(What's up with that?: FF users see the bullets outside of the blockquote div. I don't get it.)

9/5/2006 12:01 PM

Life

Check the windmills in the last shot.

9/5/2006 10:46 AM

Photo

Crikey!

9/5/2006 10:22 AM

Musings

Mothman's.. Backside

So, I lied about being AFK. But at least I'm bringing you this:

ouch the Mothman's Butt

When in Point Pleasant, West Virginia... you must see The Mothman.

9/2/2006 12:22 PM

Musings

Happy End of Summer

Will be AFK for the weekend.

9/1/2006 9:55 AM

Musings

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