Thursday, July 31, 2003
WhitespaceA programming language that consists entirely of nothing but white space (ie. spaces, tabs and line breaks). God knows how it works: when you look at the 'source', all you see (naturally) is white space. The interpreter was written by someone who shouldn't have stayed up so late, Edwin Brady, and the language was designed by two people who shouldn't have had so much to drink, Edwin Brady and Chris Morris. Nice one guys. ;) (via #!/usr/bin/girl) # |
Drunk Driver avoid charges because he was too drunk
An Oslo man has had his drunken driving case thrown out of court because overeager police didn't wait until he sobered up to question him. Brilliant. The cops got a confession out of him that, yes indeed, he was completely shit-faced in control of a vehicle (he registered a 2.59, incredibly enough 2.0 is when most people show signs of alcohol poisoning). However, this was the only evidence presented in court, and the fact that he was so pissed made his confession unreliable, so the judge threw the case out. Ahaha. Too drunk to reliably confess to being too drunk? Sounds like something out of Catch 22. # | Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Amazon Indie 100Interesting to see the Amazon Indie Top 100 as published by RIAA Radar (a site dedicated to distinguishing just which artists aren't and are affiliated with the "big bad" American Recording Institute). Indie, in this case, is pretty well defined: non-RIAA affiliated. There's a pretty well established anti-RIAA movement that has sprung up in reponse to the RIAA's heavy-handed approach to issues like file-sharing and price-fixing. The indie list gives people the opportunity to restrict their buying to non-RIAA associated artists. Anyway, interesting to see who's popping up in the 'indie' charts... Some 'proper' indie artists, Mogwai, Interpol & Super Furry Animals to name but three, but also the last people you'd think of as 'go-it-aloners': Hall & Oates, David Lee Roth, and, at #1 even, Cheap Trick! Good on 'em. # |
Fifteen ways to leave your lover
Ouch. Daniel Day Lewis informed his then-pregnant(!) partner, Isabelle Adjani, by fax that he was leaving her. And whaddya know? Julia Roberts really was a runaway bride! She left the United States for Ireland days before her planned marriage to Kiefer Sutherland. And another 13 classic break-ups documented by the Guardian here. # | Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Peters accused of taxi fracasA senior police source last night called Mr Peters 'the MP for Courtenay Place'. aahahahaha. brilliant. A cop with an excellent sense of humour. # |
More on BuyMusic.com
More user verdicts on the BuyMusic.com site. Verdict: crap. And not only that, check out what ScriptyGoddess found in their Privacy Policy. Except as otherwise limited in this Policy, we may disclose, sell, trade, or rent your Personally Identifiable Information to others without your consent. Breaking Windows has a great rundown on the limitations of the tunes you download, among them...
And that's just the first five points. Click through to see the whole lot. # | Monday, July 28, 2003
8 Questions That Freak Men OutOhohoho. Yes they do...
Actually, that last one doesn't bother me, but only 'cos I know I'm a waif. (probably via Fark) # | Sunday, July 27, 2003
The NewsBBC News takes me by surprise sometimes, especially when I think the world is against NZ in the news stakes. The Beeb does care. Their 27-Jul-2003 0800UTC News had our very own Helen Clark giving the North Koreans a bit of a ticking off about those naughty old nuclear weapons (glad she didn't use the ol' "weapons of mass destruction" spiel). Can't find hide nor hair of that being a top feature of any of the online news sites, even the BBC's own, where it appears about half way down the story. It was a good speech, given in the usual deeper than John Wayne-drawl. I can't find the transcript, but the NZ Herald did quote this one line... "They want this shadow gone." Ahaha. Nice one. (And even on the Herald and Stuff it took some digging to find the stories.) Anyway, that thought was sparked off by the other big headlines, "Lawlessness in Liberia!", and "Freedom-Fighters in the Phillipines", which are a rash over the Google News Pages, in contrast to the total non-appearance of the Solomon Islands peace-keeping mission by ANZAC troops and police (to put an end to the lawlessness and "freedom fighting" that have become popular pursuits of portions of the population). Lady Archer defending the honour of her man rates higher in the Google news ranking system. Ah well. Anyway, back to BBC News, where they then lead the sports section with the All Blacks thumping of the Aussies (see previous post), and showed the sublime highlights package of every try (and late hit - Wendel, appalling) in the game. Brilliant. Again, doesn't even rate a mention in the International Edition of Google's top sports news stories. Not that it takes an inch away from my enjoyment of the game. Brilliant. # |  Australia v. All Blacks50-21 Aussie Stadium, Sydney, Australia Sat Jul 26, 2003 Go Joe! Go Joe! Ahhh, a legend is made. Such pace, such grace, such exquisite dives into the corner to dot the ball down ... just so. Enjoyed that, immensely. # | Friday, July 25, 2003
10 most dangerous foods to eat on the roadMaybe they really mean the top 10 dangerous foods to eat while driving - I imagine eating anything on the road is dangerous, either in a 'get hit by a car' kinda way, or 'contract some heinous disease' kinda way. Anyway, here they are, US bias and all... 1. Coffee. It always finds a way out of the cup. 2. Hot soup. Many people drink it like coffee. Same effects. 3. Tacos. "A food that can disassemble itself without much help, leaving your car looking like a salad bar," says Hagerty. 4. Chili. Dangerous drips and slops down the front of clothing. 5. Hamburgers. Grease, ketchup, mustard on your hands, your clothes and the steering wheel. 6. Barbecue. Spicey and dicey. There is the temptation to lick your fingers. More grease on the steering wheel. 7. Fried chicken. Ditto. Grease coats everything you touch. 8. Jelly or cream-filled doughnuts. Dangers relate to oozing while cruising. Raspberry jelly stains difficult to remove. 9. Soft drinks. Prone to spills and sudden fizzing if car makes sudden movements. Cola fizz in the nose is perilous while driving. 10. Chocolate. Tempting but treacherous. Try to clean it off the steering wheel and you're likely to end up swerving. Personally, from my experiences, you can add kebabs to that list, and straight-out-of-the-oven pizza. Man, when that mozzarella slides off the base, onto your chin and then plummets into your lap, you've gotta take action with both hands... (via Fark) # |
Virtual Bubblewrap
Easier to pop, and a fresh sheet is only a click away. Hours of fun. (via MetaFilter) # | Thursday, July 24, 2003
 Spongebob Adult CostumeOooo, this is too cool. Even if Milo and Cosmo can't be bothered with Spongebob, I totally rate him as a cartoon character. So, anyone who wants to buy me this fantastic costume can be my friend for life. Bwahahahaha! # |
Dead Man's Switch
Well, whaddya know. The problem outlined in my previous post: Dead Men Tell No Passwords, has obviously been pondered by smarter and more productive minds than my own. It turns out that software exists that, should a certain switch not be reset by the user within a given period, will assume the owner's demise and send off emails to designated people to notify them of crucial information they may need to deal with things after the funeral. It can also do web-postings, and encrypt 'sensitive' files. But, as one user found out, use with caution... "I went on vacation, and forgot all about the switch," said Kenny LaGuardia, a Web designer from Los Angeles. "When I returned home, the program had posted, 'So I guess I'm dead' messages to all the newslists I subscribe to, and destroyed all my adult entertainment files." Ahahaha. "Adult entertainment files." # |
Dead Men Tell No Passwords
"The man in charge of archiving and maintaining electronic copies of Norway's most important historical documents is dead and so is access to those archives. So the director of the Norwegian cultural center is pleading for hackers to help him crack the center's password-protected database. " This is something that's often worried me: if I ever got hit by a bus, my insane number of passwords and login names would die with me, bringing down not only all my personal and semi-hobby websites, but probably a couple of high-profile commercial sites as well. Not that it'd take anyone long to figure out what they were I suppose. If they could be bothered, which, in the case of the personal sites (even my beloved NoiZyland), they probably wouldn't. Not that I care, I'd be dead, after all. (via J-Walk) # |
Kick Me
Good article in the Guardian by James Woolsey, former Director of the CIA about America's role in the Middle East, and the fact it should "make no apology for its robust response in the 'war on terrorism'." Nice overview on the US intelligence's take on just what they're dealing with, as well: Fascists ('proper' fascists he's at pains to point out), and Islamist totalitarian movements "masquerading as portions of a religion." This is my favourite quote though... "I cannot speak for Britain or other countries but in the case of America, for something like a quarter of a century, for all practical purposes we hung a 'kick me' sign on our backs in the Middle East. First, we convinced many people there that we did not give a damn about the people in the region and that we cared principally about its oil; that it was a filling station for our large sport utility vehicles. Secondly, we convinced them that we were a wealthy, feckless country that would not fight. " # |
Sci-Fi Spam
I haven't got this one yet, but my favourite blogging accordion player has become the recipient on the latest form of 'please help me' spam emails. Not from a Nigerian oil exec, or wealthy Iraqi looking for someone to 'liberate' some money (with your money, of course), but a time traveller.... Hello, I'm a time traveler stuck here in 2003. Since nobody here seems to be able to get me what I need (safely here to me), I will have to build a simple time travel circut to get where I need myself. I am going to need an easy to follow picture diagram for a simple time travel circut, which can be built out of (readily available) parts here in 2003. Please email me any schematics you have. I will pay good money for anything you send me I can use Or if you have the rechargeable AMD dimensional warp generator wrist watch unit available, and are 100% certain you have a (secure) means of delivering it to me please also reply. Send a separate email to me at: info@federalfundingprogram.com. Do not reply back directly to this email as it will only be bounced back to you. Thank You As Accordion Guy himself rightly points out. What's the point? Internet notoriety, I suppose (and I'm playing right into their hands...) # | Wednesday, July 23, 2003
ISO standard cup of teaWhaddya know? My hot beverage of choice is an ISO standard. I used to be ISO 2, but the teeth, you know? # |
BuyMusic.com
Well, the first serious PC-based contender for Apples iTunes system has arrived, with the launch of BuyMusic.com. Any good? The folks over at MeFi seem pretty nonplussed (emusic seems to be the choice of download music site for that mob -- I must give it a go), having discovered a bunch of limitations, quirks, and outright bugs in the way the site operates. One thing I found instantly was that it's pretty Opera-unfriendly. The search engine refuses to work with my browser of choice -- a backwards slash '\' instead of a '/' in the search engines form URL confusing the browser to jump to a non-existent server. And, this is quite odd, when I did manage to find some NZ-based tunes (Pacifier's debut album), clicking through to the album details gets me a 'No results found for your search' page in Opera, but does work in IE. Go figure. General consenus seems to be that when the PC-version of iTunes rolls out, it's going to be a winner. Time will tell, but I suspect once Microsoft sort out their notoriously bad rights management and interface issues, they may be able to swamp iTunes with sheer weight of numbers. # | Friday, July 18, 2003
Man Dies Rolling Off Roof in His SleepTragic. You have to wonder if he was having a horrible falling dream as he fell. I hate those dreams. And they've gotta be worse when they're real. # |
Man sentenced to read "To Kill a Mockingbird."
There's a 'novel' form of justice. Or, as they say in the news item "Chester County Judge Juan R. Sanchez more or less threw the book at a defendant yesterday." Nice idea though, getting crims to do a spot of reading and book report for their 'punishment'. # | Tuesday, July 15, 2003
 Action librarian figure!Oh, I want one. With a real 'shush!' action-arm movement and all. Amongst all the levity of the story behind a librarian action figure getting produced, the article itself has some nice pearls of wisdom on just why librarians are worthy of superhero status... "The role of a librarian is to make sense of the world of information. If that's not a qualification for superhero-dom, what is?" Seattle City Librarian Deborah Jacobs, Pearl's boss, said anyone who doesn't view a librarian as a potent force doesn't understand the job. "Ideas are more powerful than bombs," she said. "Information is the way to take over the world." Mwahhahhah! Yes, becoming a professional librarian was all part of my master plan for world domination. Now, where did I put my cardy...? # | Monday, July 14, 2003
Football was the winner on the day"The Rwandans held on for a 1-0 victory. Back home they went bonkers. Never had the country erupted with such joy: certainly not, at any rate, since 1994, when Hutu madmen, incited by their government, massacred 800,000 people in 100 days - a rate of killing that exceeded the industrialised slaughter by the Nazis; as many people were murdered every day before lunch as died in the World Trade Centre. And almost all of them chopped to pieces with machetes." Yes. But the game had seemed destined to go the path of violence. In the first leg of the tie, Rwandan goalkeeper Mohammud Mossi ("a flamboyant and fully paid-up member of the gratuitously acrobatic school of goalkeeping"), made several miraculous saves that had the highly superstitious Ugandans wondering if the shot-stopper was using juju, either on his gloves, or dug into the grass behind the goal. He didn't help matters in the return leg, when he held up his gloved hands to his opponents and declared: 'I've got electric juju today. It's so strong you can't see it.' Nutter. And, naturally, after a couple of spectaucular saves early on in the game had given the crowd and players ample evidence that juju was indeed being used... "One Ugandan player charged at Mossi and tried to tear off his gloves. Another started digging behind the Rwandan goal line with his hands, frenetically searching for the offending juju. That was it. Mayhem. The mother and father of all punch-ups. Blood-spattered shirts all round. One Ugandan player got off the bench and hit a Rwandan, Jimmy Gatete, over the head with his boot. Blood poured down Gatete's shirt from a gash on his brow. Then the police entered the fray. Not to stop the players from fighting, but to pile into the plucky Rwandans, who forgot where they were, ignored the baying crowd, and were giving as good as they got." The game was finally restarted, with the result going the Rwandans way (Mossi's juju keeping the ball from his team's net, despite the assault). And now, it seems, Rwandan football is healing the wounds of that violence-ravaged country... "Only football could have had such a huge impact on the vastly ambitious national task of reconciliation, of restoring to health the world's most sad and damaged land. Football in Rwanda is joy, it is consolation, it is balm. It is, as Nelson Mandela has said, a force that mobilises the sentiments of a people in a way that nothing else can. " This after a game that involved an all-in brawl, accusations of witch-craft and sorcery, and police brutality on a visiting national soccer squad. Things are certainly a bit different in Africa. # |  Anatomically correct Hulk dollYes, it's true, or as true as anything reported in the Sun might be... "SHOCKED six-year-old Leah Lowland checked out a mystery bulge on her Incredible Hulk doll — and uncovered a giant green WILLY." Ahaha. Brilliant. Hopefully the company that makes the dolls will also get a merchandising contract for Peter Jackson's upcoming King Kong film... # |
20 Lies about the Iraq War
Good summing up of the false reasons behind the US invasion of Iraq (link via Mefi) update: And a right-wing shoot-down of each of those 20 points... update #2: and more - an analysis of Bush's 'facts' that the US used to justify war. # | Friday, July 11, 2003
Junior Fight ClubThe First Rule of Junior Fight Club: Don't Tell Your Parents. Actually, I saw that posted yesterday somewhere (MeFi?) and have 'sampled' it. # |
::: NaDa :::
Brilliant. The ultimate cross-platfrom app. Most products we see on the market want to increase our productivity, organize our screen joyfully or make wonders with our sound card, but NaDa™ does nothing. This is a revolutionary whole new approach, a concept far beyond what you usually expect from the software industry. Download it and forget it. # |
JS Online: Pirates player hit with disorderly conduct in mascot incident
Brewers fan Teresa Krebs said, 'This is a big sausage town.' Well, obviously. You can even see the big sausages via the link there (realvideo). There were four 10 foot high sausages charging around the outside of the baseball diamond at Milwaukee Brewers' ballpark (apparently it's a popular between innings crowd anti-boredom device) when Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Randall Simon took a swipe at one of them, sending the sausage (and the woman contained within), tumbling to the ground (and bringing down another sausage with her). In further news... The team planned to continue the sausage races in their current form. Brewers spokesman Jon Greenberg said the sausages were scheduled to compete against Pittsburgh's racing pierogies at a series Aug. 15-17 in Pittsburgh and at a series Aug. 22-24 at Milwaukee. A pierogi is a type of stuffed dumpling. # | Tuesday, July 08, 2003
US complains about brothel called The White HouseBut it's a legal business! What are they going to do next? Demand the renaming of the White House restaurant in Wellington? And it's not like they've had any success in shutting down the infamous WhiteHouse.com website, is it? # |
Like Fleetwood Mac, only not.
NZ band Voom's website has been out of action for a while now, and someone over at nzmusic.com asked the innoncent question: "where is it?" Here's the answer... I can tell you what the problem is - I own the domain voom.co.nz and built the site but felt the need to take it down after Buzz decided to f**k my wife - somehow I just did'nt [sic] think that was appropriate behaviour for a best friend of 20 years - what do you think? [posted by: macmacaskill] Ouch. This is the same Voom who have the moderately unhinged Dan Manetto playing bass (or drums), for them -- another nzmusic.com regular who goes by the handles danthetto (his 'real' persona), and lena o (his alter-ego: a raving mad, trollish, handicapped female octogenarian musical obscurist who delights in baiting and admonishing other users for their non-existent grasp of music aesthetics and knowledge). Might make a pitch to TVNZ to get the TV-movie made... # | Monday, July 07, 2003
Mountain Man beats Man MountainWell, the Gulf Daily News called Mark Philippoussis 'Man Mountain' anyway - I figure Federer is from Switzerland, they have mountains there... Anyway, with the exception of last year, there hasn't been such a dismantling of an opponent in a Wimbeldon final since another antipodean got trounced by a tennis superstar back in 1983. Despite the efforts of the crowd to get some excitement going, Federer just cooly served and returned his way to victory, letting Philippoussis make most of the mistakes. Highlight, or lowlight I suppose, for me was the Indian-accented commentator who insisted on stating the blindingly obvious: "Ah, Philippoussis won't want a double fault here." "The crowd oooohs." "An ace!" Yes, yes, we understand, we heard, we saw! # |
I had that haircut once. Oh, hold on...
Nice. The latest Star Wars film, which will end up being the prequel to the original Stars War flick (A New Hope), is going to (apparently) have the stars done up in seventies style hair-dos that will make the jump from the 2003 digital #3 to the 1978 film & models #4 a little more seamless. Probably still be crap though. # |
Just don't drink it
A post by Cory Doctorow over at BoingBoing states that, "By volume, the ink in your inkjet cartridges costs seven times more than vintage champagne." So, yes, if you've ever wondered why printers themselves were so cheap, it's because the people that make them make insane profits when you go to stock up on the hardware's consumable bits. See also: razors, electric toothbrushes. # | Tuesday, July 01, 2003
Battleground God Congratulations!You have been awarded the TPM medal of distinction! This is our second highest award for outstanding service on the intellectual battleground. The fact that you progressed through this activity without being hit and biting very few bullets suggests that your beliefs about God are internally consistent and well thought out. Good to know I can still hold my own on the 'intellectual battleground'. # | |
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