October 30th, 2006
I think that this random page thingy may be one of the most interesting internet applications I’ve seen.
At first glance, this site; which basically sends you to the Google “I’m feeling lucky,” or top ranked site for a random word search; seems like a totally pointless and silly application. But I thought about it a little more, and it is actually quite interesting. First, it actually expands the total pointless waste of time one can make of the internet. I mean, if Digg, Slashdot, Wikipedia and YouTube weren’t solid enough time wasters, here is one that is totally random. Totally better than trying for a Googlewhack. But, if you think about it, what a fascinating way to explore the largess of the Web.
In addition, I think it might offer a way to reach out to the ‘long tail’ and really see some interesting things that one would never search Google or Wikipedia for. I did a handful or searches, and surprisingly found no porn, so this thing actually works quite well. I like it, different, automated, random, though a little blog heavy. Here is just one of my attempts.
While I generally encourage actual productivity and contributing to society, I think this silly site is an interesting experiment and a worthwhile waste of time. What I think would be really cool is a link map of what happens from the starting site. I’ve got to find or write some visualization tool for that.
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October 29th, 2006
It appears that Google Toolbar may be the culprit of my Intel Mac/FireFox issues. I began deactivating plugins until I reached a point where 15 - 20 minutes went by and no crashes. We’re at about 45 minutes now, whereas before the longest it could go was about 15 minutes.
I don’t know why this would be the case. The toolbar worked fine with FF 2.0 RC3 on the PowerBook running OS 10.4 and the PC running FF 2.0, but the Intel Mac seems to have a little issue with it - go figure. I need to spend a little more time researching, but this seems to be the issue, which will hopefully be correct soon.
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October 29th, 2006
You may have heard about the NWA boading pass generator that would allow anyone to create an almost perfect fake boarding pass. The creator, a computer security student, built this to make a point about airline security and the general weakness of it all (he did not attempt to use the fake boarding pass, just proof of concept).
Well, now we have a congressman calling for the arrest of the creator for pointing out the incredible lack of security in “airport security.” The best part is Markey’s rationale:
“There are enough loopholes at the backdoor of our passenger airplanes from not scanning cargo for bombs; we should not tolerate any new loopholes making it easier for terrorists to get into the front door of a plane.”
All right Markey, let’s shoot the messenger! Let’s go after the guys who point out the flaws and let the guys who exploit the flaws slide right by - great idea. You can contact representative Ed Markey but don’t count on any response if you’re not from Massachusetts’ 7th district. But with logic like this guy’s, who needs votes?
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October 28th, 2006
I found an interesting article through Digg regarding the latest disturbing news from the current administration. It turns out that Bush has moved to secure greater domestic military power [TowardFreedom.com]. Granted, the writeup may be a little one sided, and may push the point a little hard, but I think the facts show through - Bush has pushed aside some long standing safeguards to ensure the president does not have too much power, safeguards designed to ensure an open and free democracy. Now, the president (any president, from any party) has expanded capabilities to crush dissent and prevent, or at least discourage protest.
Personally, I find this disturbing because this country was founded on protest and dissent, these are the spirit of what makes this country great. Now, it would be alarmist to say Bush intends to use the powers in such a way - he may not, but the fact remains that the capability is now there for the president to take extreme and aggressive action against a wide variety of groups at will and without the approval of congress. This is quite disturbing. Senator Leahy, who frequently releases readable and useful versions of legislation has posted this comment on the bill and its effects and is well worth the read.
By far the most disturbing thing is the fact that this has hardly made the media and is yet another example of expanded powers being slipped in to bills with little notice to anyone. These are huge changes, and hardly anyone is aware of them! On top of that, Haliburton is the contractor on standby (at no small cost I’m sure) to build any required detention centers should there be the need to round up any group of people………hmmmmm, Haliburton again…..
Comments are open, please share your thoughts.
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October 27th, 2006
Here is a great view on the state of public funds in Minneapolis: Pissed off at society describes the sad reailty in one of the most taxed, most liberal and ‘most socialy consious’ states in the union.
Simple fact is that Minnesota isn’t that great (though not that bad, outside of the weather). The open social benefits don’t help many effectively, and the obvious things, like education and libraries, get tossed aside. Granted, these things don’t pay off at this election, or the next, but they offer a benefit 5, 10, 20 years down the road, and pay out 10:1, 100:1 or 1,000:1. It is essential to focus on causes and benefits beyond this election cycle, the next election cycle - and even the one after that. We need to start looking objectively to the future, beyond partisan politics, but to what is good for all of us - “a rising tide lifts all boats.”
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October 24th, 2006
OK, so I got a new MacBook Pro (3 days before the upgraded version. The significant upgrade I could deal with, but FireFox 2.0 crashes approximately every 30 seconds. I merely duplicated the set up I had on my G4 Powerbook in terms of plugins, which as about as stable as you ask for in a RC2. I’m beside myself and using Safari again (and missing my plugins). The primary issue is that I can’t type an URL in to the address bar and hit enter - nothing happens - nothing. Then there is the random hanging which requires a force quit - no reason at all, clicking a link can lead to a pinwheel - and not some fancy JavaScript or PDF link, just a plain old link.
But, the upgrade on the new MacBook Pro is very compelling - single core to dual core processor, double the RAM and 20% more HD capacity plus dual layer superdrive. I’m pissed because I ran to buy this machine after spending a week with little net access so I didn’t realize the upgrade was coming soon. I thought, ‘no problem, I’ll return it and get the new one - 30 day guarantee’ but not so, right on the receipt ‘if open $229′ as if they knew a new version would be coming out so soon. Despite that, 1 GB of RAM is $300, so it is entirely worth it, moreso because I don’t mind the time to reload all the software and preferences (in fact I sort of enjoy it, does that make me sad?). But I really need the additional RAM and HD space so I can run Parallels comfortably.
Anyway, I’m most upset about the instability in FireFox, and all the misspellings in this post because Safari doesn’t have a handy spell checker like FireFox. Yes, I am a little bitter.
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October 20th, 2006
Thats right, we found some Buddha in HI - and not the silly fat laughing one, but the more serious kind at the Lahaina Jodo Mission.
After this, we stopped at Kaanapali to jump in the ocean for a little while, and then on to the Maui Brewing Co, which had some really good fish, and a few good brews, none great but pretty good. Excellent service though and reasonable prices.
Categories: Delinquent Bride, Travel |
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October 20th, 2006
So, after breakfast we switched plans from visiting various beaches all along the western shore, to driving to Hana and stopping at the Hana Lava Tube”. We always make a point of visiting caves whenever possible, and we would have been hard pressed to make it if we hadn’t gone today. The road is very windy, and while only about 40 miles from Kahului it takes about 2 hours, especially with the slow people in front of you.
Turns out the cave was the fallout shelter for east Maui - here’s G falling out:
Turns out that there was only room/provisions for about 15 people - I guess there wasn’t much in east Maui worth saving. It was a little pricey, but a good time. Not as much of an adventure as our trip to Ape Cave near Mt. St. Helens (which was before the inception of this blog), but still a good time. Here is G and I in the cave:
Categories: Delinquent Bride, Travel |
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October 20th, 2006
Yes, the proper way to wake up is jump in the ocean at 0630 when it is 24C out, and the water is warmer than the air. This is very refreshing and really wakes you up. Double wake up points if the waves are big and it takes some doing to keep from being knocked down.
After this, we enjoyed breakfast at the Kihei Cafe, which is damn good for little breakfast, very casual, cheap and tasty. Highly recommended, by me and AAA.
Categories: Delinquent Bride, Travel |
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