November 2008
149 posts
“A goal is a dream with a deadline”
– Napoleon Hill
“An old superstition maintains that naming a child after a living relative is bad...”
– JewFAQ
WatchA collection of the dumber accidents in life…
… all caught on video to give us a good laugh.
Bright Child v. Gifted Learner →
Knows the answers Asks the questions
Is interested Is highly curious
Is attentive Is mentally and physically involved
Has good ideas Has wild, silly ideas
Works hard ...
LastFM Video Advertisements
The (recent?) inclusion of video advertisements in lastfm radio is really a downhill move on the part of lastfm. In the middle of a song, I will be reading a bio description, or comments, or simply passing over the page and the advertisement for last.fm/presents activates whenever my mouse passes over it. I’ve found no way to stop it mid-video, or turn the sound off, or shut it off...
Flash on websites
One more reason I hate flash: everytime I upload a video to vimeo through their flash uploader, it crashes firefox. I’ve read that this is a problem with flash uploaders in general. I hate flash. But, at least for vimeo, there is an alternative solution. You can upload without flash at http://vimeo.com/upload/video/basic.
Malaysian Islamic Body Bans Yoga →
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysia’s top Islamic body, fresh from banning tomboys, issued an edict Saturday that prohibits Muslims from practicing yoga, saying that elements of Hinduism in the ancient Indian exercise could corrupt them.
“When I give, I give myself”
– Walt Whitman
“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you...”
– Warren Buffet (via arcktip:kari-shma)
“I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn’t learn something from him.”
– Galileo (via arcktip)
Thanksgiving Divorce
A man in Phoenix calls his son in New York two days before Thanksgiving and says, “I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing; forty-five years of misery is enough.”
“Pop, what are you talking about?” the son screams.
“We can’t stand the sight of each other any longer,” the father says, “We’re sick of...
“Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at the blank sheet of paper until...”
– Gene Fowler
Can We Stop Pretending California is 'Green,' Now? →
With half the state yet again in flames, I find myself of two minds with respect to the residents of California. On the one hand, my heart aches or this latest crop of Californians to lose their homes in this month’s out-of-control brush fires. On the other hand, it amazes me that, despite seeing these same fires every few months, so many Americans continue to cling to the fantasy that...
The Power of William Penn
ARCKTIP at PHILALOG.com writes:
Hey all, I’m not sure how many of you are aware of this little fact … but it sure is a sweet one. After the Philadelphia Phillies won the 1980 World Series the city of Philadelphia finally allowed the most venerated zoning code in the city to change. What was this code? Why does it matter? Well, there used to be a rule in Philadelphia that no building...
“Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends. Angry Customers Tell 3,000”
– Pete Blackshaw
“all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
– George Orwell, Animal Farm
“Four Core Rules for Functioning Within the SWAT Laboratory
1. No one actually...”
– Joseph Kopena, in a message distributed to the swat-core mailing list
US Withdrawal Timeline Approved in Iraq →
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s cabinet on Sunday overwhelmingly approved a proposed security agreement that calls for a full withdrawal of American forces from the country by the end of 2011. The cabinet’s decision brings a final date for the departure of American troops a significant step closer after more than five and a half years of war.
…
Several political analysts suggested that Iranian opposition...
Benefits of Green Building
arcktip:
The built environment has a profound impact on our natural environment, economy, health, and productivity. In the United States alone, buildings account for: • 72% of electricity consumption, • 39% of energy use, • 38% of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, • 40% of raw materials use, • 30% of waste output (136 million tons annually), and • 14% of potable water...
“be a spouse who is willing to give your spouse the freedom to fail and the...”
– Betsy Hart, in the Chicago Sun-Times on November 14, 2008
“Steady movement is more important than speed, much of the time. So long as...”
– Corwin, Prince of Amber
“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in...”
– Oscar Wilde
Q: "What is the burning question on the mind of every dyslexic existentialist?"
A: "Is there a dog?"
The future of the Web: Why we need something new,... →
Semantics. It’s the new word of the Web. We’re experiencing a cultural, social revolution with this technology and we’re totally and utterly unprepared for it. “Web 2.0”, they call it. Since 2004, it has become the buzzword, and, in essence, the next bubble. Businesses support it. Consumers support it. Governments are beginning to support it. And yet we’re...
How To Become A Coding Guru →
Each programming language has its own pros and cons. Some are low level and some are upper level scripting languages that sit on top of them. Each has a purpose and often some better suited to a task than others. But which ever language you favour or specialize in, there is most likely a community to help with issues or problems you may have.
Each individual coder, regardless of their experience,...
A Little Gun Control History
Disclaimer: I do not claim these as my own beliefs, or historical facts, or anything more than an chain letter I received in my email containing an interesting thought-puzzle.
In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. >From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. ...
Robert's Rules of Order →
Twitter, Last.FM, and the Social Web
Although I had known in the power of online networking theory, one day recently I twittered about the social power of last.fm and within minutes, a friend of a friend had added me directly as a contact. Ahh the power of social networking.
“The world is barren enough… with so much hate in the world, so much...”
– Keith Olbermann in it’s “About The Human Heart”, a special comment on Prop 8 regarding the passage and banning of gay marriage laws.
Gun sales surge after Obama's election →
According to FBI figures for the week of November 3 to 9, the bureau received more than 374,000 requests for background checks on gun purchasers — a nearly 49 percent increase over the same period in 2007. Conatser said his store, Virginia Arms Company, has run out of some models — such as the AR-15 rifle, the civilian version of the military’s M-16 — and is running low on...
Divorced Man Sells His Life on eBay →
Questions for the Great Answers
A: To be or not to be. Q: What is the square root of 4b^2?
Thoughts on Addicts →
From John Pigate —
Why is it that we alcoholics and addicts seem to be such great, emotive, supportive, nurturing, intelligent, warm, caring, loving, lovable people and yet flawed so fundamentally? And in our need–the depth of understanding between us reaches into me and it seems to me that addicts are really the “seekers” in a world gone mad. We seek to make sense of the world through...
The 20 All-Time Greatest Photo Bombers →
Don’t ask, just click. You won’t regret it, I promise.
