Colleen Wants Your Danish Goodies

That's adorable.

Colleen Wants Your Danish Goodies: "

If you’re going to be at the New York comics convention February 24 -26, Colleen Doran, illustrator of ORBITER and creator of A DISTANT SOIL says:

For every person that brings a Danish Flag, button, or any product of Denmark, including a book or newspaper, I will give you a free head sketch and donate $1 to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Don’t expect fancy sketches, it’s a short weekend.

You don’t have to give me your Danish trade goods, just show Denmark some love, and I’ll show you some love, by giving you a precious pearl of a doodle (no pictures of Mohammed, please - do not ask for the Legion of Superheroes, either), and I’ll put a tip in the CBLDF’s jar.

And yes, I know the difference between the Swedish flag and the Danish flag.

If you insist on giving me Danish chocolate, I won’t object.

"

(Purportedly Via Warrenellis.com.)

Grown men in peacoats shouldn't smell like baby powder.

Apple Seeks (Poetic) Justice

This is just so damned cute.

Apple Seeks (Poetic) Justice: "

Seems
Apple has href="http://www.osx86project.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=119&Itemid=2">hidden a secret
message to OSX86 hackers to find in the 10.4.4 build of Mac OS X for Intel. And this time it's in verse!
/>Your karma check for today:
There once was a user that whined
his existing OS was so blind,
he'd
do better to pirate
an OS that ran great
but found his hardware declined.
Please don't steal Mac OS!/>Really, that's way uncool.
(C) Apple Computer, Inc.

Sure, it's not the greatest poem, but how
funny is this! I've always loved easter eggs in software and this is the best kind. The people who run OSX86 Project
site have offered up their own poetic reply to Apple. You can read it at their site.

I humbly offer up my
own poetic reply in the style of William Carlos Williams after the jump...

This Is Just to Say

I have beaten
the DRM
that was in
the Intel box

and
which
you were probably
saving
for Leopard.

Forgive me
it was auspicious
so sweet/>and so fast./>'''''''''''''''''' - not
Maxxus

Feel free to add your own Ode to Apple in the comments.

Read'|'Permalink'|'Email this'|'Linking'Blogs'|'Comments

"

(Purportedly Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog.)

This isn't PRC pscyhobabble.

Please make it stop.

Colonel Martin said the number of hunger strikers [ at Guantanamo ] peaked around Sept. 11 at 131, but added that he could not speculate about why other than to note that "hunger striking is an Al Qaeda tactic used to elicit media attention and also to bring pressure on the U.S. government."

Does Diet Have Any Effect on Health?

Studies continue to say No.

Now for some bacon, cheese, and wasabi mayo.

Yum.

Announce: OpenSSH 4.3 released

Note the BUILT IN VPN CLIENT.

This could get very very interesting...

Announce: OpenSSH 4.3 released: "OpenSSH 4.3 has just been released. It will be available from the

mirrors listed at http://www.openssh.com/ shortly.



OpenSSH is a 100% complete SSH protocol version 1.3, 1.5 and 2.0

implementation and includes sftp client and server support.



We have also recently completed another Internet SSH usage scan, the

results of which may be found at http://www.openssh.com/usage.html



Once again, we would like to thank the OpenSSH community for their

continued support of the project, especially those who contributed

code or patches, reported bugs, tested snapshots and purchased

T-shirts or posters.


Read more..."

(Purportedly Via OpenBSD Journal.)

POLITICS: Alito Helps Stall Execution

HAHAHAHAHA. Ok, I'm done now.

POLITICS: Alito Helps Stall Execution: "As one of his first actions as a Supreme Court Justice, Samuel Alito has pissed off conservative members of the court. Alito sided against conservative justices Roberts, Scalia, and Thomas by blocking the state of Missouri's request to execute an inmate despite the inmate's pending appeal.



Missouri inmate Michael Taylor, who was scheduled to be executed Wednesday, filed a last-minute appeal on the grounds that the drugs used in execution cause pain, thereby making lethal injection an unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment. The state of Missouri filed a request to allow the execution.

The court's split vote Wednesday night ended a frenzied day of filings. Missouri twice asked the justices to intervene and permit the execution, while Taylor's lawyers filed two more appeals seeking delays.



Reporters and witnesses had gathered at the state prison awaiting word from the high court on whether to go ahead with the execution.



An appeals court will now review Taylor's claim that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment, a claim also used by two Florida death-row inmates that won stays from the Supreme Court over the past week. The court has agreed to use one of the cases to clarify how inmates may bring last-minute challenges to the way they will be put to death.

I am interested to see where Alito's rulings go now that he has a lifetime appointment.

(Written by: Shalome)

"

(Purportedly Via SuicideGirls: News Wire.)

Comics for {01,02} Feb 2006: Dilbert's got my back, comparative advantage, and so on...

Comic for 02 Feb 2006: ""

(Purportedly Via Dilbert.)

Comic for 01 Feb 2006: ""

(Purportedly Via Dilbert.)

Islam vs. the Enlightenment

I whole heartedly agree.

Islam vs. the Enlightenment: "My goodness! Has Europe suddenly discovered some backbone to stand against the Islamic assault against Enlightenment thinking?

[Update: Actually, forget it. France Soir just fired their editor. Shall I get April measured for a Hijab?]"

(Purportedly Via Fraser Speirs.)

Caitlin Doing the Bird

Caitlin Doing the Bird
Originally uploaded by satmandu.

Caitlin, Yulia & I went to go see Morris Day & the Time at BAM on Saturday night.

Only Caitlin had the balls to go on stage to do the Bird.

POLITICS: Hamas Victory: It's a Good Thing

So apparently it is called "Crisis Hope Theory".

POLITICS: Hamas Victory: It's a Good Thing: "Emanuele Ottolenghi, professor of Israel studies at Oxford University, has an intriguing take on the Hamas victory in Palestinian Parliamentary elections.

Contrary to initial responses, Hamas’s projected victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections is a positive development. Not, as its apologists claim, because the proximity of power will favor a process of cooptation into parliamentary politics, and therefore strengthen the pragmatic wing of Hamas. There is no pragmatic wing in Hamas, and all differences within the movement — the armed wing and the political wing, Palestine Hamas and Hamas in Syria — are arguably tactical differences. No, the reason is, as Vladimir Ilich Lenin would put it, 'worse is better.'

This notion is what Stanley Fish once derisively termed 'crisis hope theory.' It goes like this, if things get worse, this will bring about crisis and thus, they will get better. Ottolenghi rightly notes that the elections put Hamas in 'an impossible situation,' but it is ludicrous to assume this means the end result will be any better.



This lame argument reminds me of leftists comforted by Bush's election, as this would show the limits of the Democratic Party (it has) and thus would result in a turn to the left (it hasn't). He writes:

But unless Hamas reneges on its ideology and endorses a new course, then Israel’s claim that there is no Palestinian partner is vindicated. The resulting Israeli policy of unilateralism is vindicated. Israel’s argument that the Palestinians do not want peace is vindicated. Israel’s argument that Islamists’ nuances and differences of opinion are just tactical, not strategic, is also vindicated. And the prospects of a Palestinian state will become even more remote.

He forgets to mention that Hamas might feel a bit 'vindicated' right now. Israel and Palestine can retrench further into opposition. But hey, I guess that's a good thing because 'worse is better'?

(Written by: panopiticpants)

"

(Purportedly Via SuicideGirls: News Wire.)

Waxing Off

The Karate Kid was on AMC last night.

Avigail put it best, "This means we're old."

userfriendly : 24 jan 2006 (8724)

Absofucking brilliant.

userfriendly : 24 jan 2006 (8724): ""

(Purportedly Via User Friendly the Comic Strip. by Illiad.)

Picard, Look Out!

Chaka...when the walls fell.

Picard, Look Out!: "

"

(Purportedly Via WTF? OMGZ!.)

Trader Joe's Joins Union Square Area Food Nexus

Come to meee Two Buck Chuck...

Trader Joe's Joins Union Square Area Food Nexus: "

So, Trader Joe's will make its NYC debut with a location on East 14th Street. The NY Times reported that a spokeswoman the store would open around three month, 'confirming a year's worth of reports that the national chain would join a growing list of food stores along 14th Street.' Which made Gothamist wonder about the food stores along 14th Street. The article noted Whole Foods, Garden of Eden, Balducci's and the Greenmarket, but didn't add Food Emporium, which we wouldn't really consider a food store. Is 14th Street now the center of where you can get all sorts of semi-upscale food? Or do other locations give it a run for the money, like the Upper West Side's Broadway Belles (Fairway, Citarella, Zabar's)? Or will developing areas, like Red Hook take over?

The great news is that Trader Joe's will also open a separate wine store. Let's hope for another grape surplus year! We created a Wayfaring Map of 14th Street Groceries - we did include departed Western Beef, plus the Citarella a bit south of 14th, and did not include the Food Emporium just because.

"

(Via Gothamist.)

Russian Zookeeping

Moscow is encountering near record cold.

MOSCOW (AP) -- Arctic temperatures blanketed Russia for a fourth day on Thursday, sending electricity use surging and pushing the death toll from the cold wave to at least 31 people as even hardy Russians struggled to cope with the big freeze.

Temperatures in Moscow plunged overnight to as low as minus 24, said Tatyana Pozdnyakova, a Moscow weather forecasting service official. The temperature was the lowest recorded on Jan. 19 since 1927, she said.

Seven people died of exposure in the Russian capital in the previous 24 hours, city emergency officials said, pushing the nationwide death toll from the Siberian cold wave that swept into Moscow late Monday to at least 31.

At a zoo in Lipetsk, south of Moscow, director Alexander Osipov said monkeys would be given wine three times day, ''to protect against colds,'' the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.

Electricity use surged to record levels and towns and cities struggled to keep indoor temperatures up. Children stayed home from school and drivers struggled to start cars.

But thousands of religious believers along with winter swimmers plunged into icy waters nationwide for an annual ritual marking the Russian Orthodox Christian holiday of Epiphany. Many dipped into holes cut into thick ice on rivers and ponds in the ritual that commemorates the baptism of Jesus Christ in the River Jordan.

Taking a dip at 24 below zero ''is the most intense feeling,'' one man in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg told Channel One television.

In northeast Moscow, Vladimir Grebyonkin, an avid 65-year-old winter swimmer and scientist, said the frigid temperatures gave the water special qualities.

''These waters have their own properties, their own benefits,'' he says. ''I'm not a believer (in God), but I'm believer in physics.''

Vendors at Moscow's outdoor food and clothing markets shut their booths, and exposed ATMs reportedly froze. Traffic was uncharacteristically light as drivers were reluctant to venture out or unable to start their cars.

Outside one apartment building, residents hefted car batteries back into their vehicles after taking them inside overnight to keep them warm. Others tried to jump-start their cars.

Heat was disrupted in at least two towns in the Moscow region by water main breaks, leaving dozens of homes and thousands of people shivering. A similar accident left thousands without heat in Siberia's Chita region, some 3,000 miles east of Moscow. Russian buildings frequently are heated by municipal hot water systems.

Electricity use reached a 15-year high earlier this week, power monopoly RAO Unified Energy Systems said Wednesday. The company also said Russia might reduce electricity supplies to Finland in order to ensure deliveries to St. Petersburg and the surrounding region.

Russia's state-controlled natural gas monopoly OAO Gazprom tried to maintain exports -- a sensitive issue for Europe following a New Year's interruption in supplies stemming from a dispute between Russia and Ukraine.

Slightly warmer temperatures were expected Friday, with a forecast weekend high in Moscow of about minus 4.

TECHNOLOGY: Okay, This Mac Thing has Gone Too Far

The question I want to ask is this: Are purchases of Apple Products now Tax-exempt?

TECHNOLOGY: Okay, This Mac Thing has Gone Too Far: "All right, Mac lovers. I understand. You love your precious, shiny, beautiful Apple products that work better than anything else out there (according to you). You adore Apple and everything they do. Seriously, though, this shit has got to stop. You're starting to look completely fucking insane.



When you're making 'pilgrimages' to Cupertino, home of Apple headquarters, and calling it a 'hajj to Macca,' 'touching the Mothership' and genuflecting in front of the company headquarters sign, it's time for an intervention.

'Muslims go to Mecca, we go to Macca,' said Shawn King, host of the Your Mac Life internet radio show. 'It's that touchstone thing. People want to go down and touch the mothership.'



As soon as they arrive at the campus at One Infinite Loop, everyone poses for pictures by the sign at the entrance. The grass around the sign is worn away from the hundreds of geeks who've dropped to their knees to genuflect in front of it.



'It's like a temple,' said [New York computer consultant Laurie] Duncan. 'Catholics go to the Vatican, we go there. It's an icon of our faith. It's the culture. It's the cult. It's part of who we are, and that's the church…. It's fun. There's a bit of a thrill. It's silly when you look at it.'



Duncan said it would be nice if the company had a small museum or offered a tour.



'You go to the Vatican, you get a tour,' she said. 'You don't just go to the gift shop. Steve Jobs should offer to bless your PowerBook. He could sprinkle water on your keyboard, and then you’d have to buy a new one.'

File this one under 'what the fuck?!?' You Mac people are starting to scare me.

(Written by: Shalome)

"

(Via SuicideGirls: News Wire.)

schnauz n boots

Paco is on the left, and Molly is on the right.

schnauz n boots: "

lustforliberty posted a photo:

"

(Purportedly Via lustforliberty's Photos.)

Can You Hear Me Now?

I was watching VH1 Classic & FUSE this afternoon before breakfast, and the muffled lyrics of various rockers led me to wonder how badly years of blasted classical music & autechre have destroyed my hearing. I am sure there are several metrics that can be used, among which would be ability to distinguish between similar frequencies, and the ability to hear high frequencies.

Figuring that a good first step would be to see what my hearing range tops out at, I googled for "tone generator" and found Mac & Windows software here that let me generate frequencies within the human hearing range. My speakers should at least go up to 20kHz, so I think this is a reasonable test setup.

The Human Hearing Range is supposedly from 20Hz to 20000Hz. My hearing appeared to top out at about 17.3kHz. (That's good, right?) I could feel sounds slightly higher than that, but by 18kHz, I could not feel anything at all. I am tempted to blast my speakers at just above 18kHz just to see if anybody notices. (I've also been tempted to play rodent love songs loudly, but that's another story.)

I suppose that there's a question of the ability of my speakers to produce the high frequencies, but since I could feel the tones, I assume that at least to 18kHz, my speakers do work properly.

What's the highest tone you can hear?

And no cheating!

I've been expecting this to happen for a while now...

I've been expecting this to happen for a while now...
Originally uploaded by satmandu.

Due to a derivative action no doubt...