December 2001

• December 24th was World Sousveillance Day. Dangit, that sounds like a good social-hack to surveillance cameras. Then again, I suppose any day would work. [daypop]
• I didn't get a Dollar Shirt for Christmas. Boo.
• D'Ohh! I didn't find out about the Belly Button Light until it was too late to give it to anyone for Christmas. Maybe someone'll get lucky on Valentine's Day. [cam]
• BoinkMail looks like another source of fun gifts. [cam]
• Horny Bloggers Day sounds like a heckuva holiday that I missed. [daypop]
• Porno paymaster CCBill hacked hard. About ten thousand porn-sites have leaked credit-card information. And CCBill knew about it back in March, but the news just came out in December. Meanwhile, as of December 21, it doesn't appear the credit-card harvest has been used, so there might be time to cancel your card if you're at risk.
• Sex, Alcohol and High-fat Food may help people live longer. Why wasn't I informed of this earlier? [flutterby]
• Boos disappear from concert rebroadcast. VH1 is owned by Viacom, the parent of Simon & Schuster, who paid zillions for Hillary's book. Hmm. [fark!]
• O'Reilly Network Editors' Picks: The Best of 2001 points to quite a few good articles. Worth checking out when you get a few spare minutes. [scripting]
• Colorgenics will tell you all about yourself based on what colors you like. [flutterby]

Weather in Minneapolis for December 31, 2001     December 31 in History

• But first something non-humorous. I'm switching to using the new code I've got on my server that uses the Suggest a Pick form. I still have to do more hand-editing than I'd like, but some picks will have attributions in brackets saying where I found the link. I hadn't planned on making the switch-over until next year (all of two days from now), but I need to start using the new system to figure out what else I need to add. We'll see how it goes.
• A few day's after George W. Bush's inauguration, a man came up to the uniformed Marine on duty at the White House and said "I'd like to see President Clinton."
  
  The Marine politely answered "Sir, Mr. Clinton is no longer president".
  
  The man said, "Oh, O.K." and walked away.
  
  The next day the Marine was again on duty and the same man approached and again asked to see President Clinton. The Marine again answered, "Sir, Mr. Clinton is no longer president."
  
  Again the man answered, "Oh, O.K." and walked away.
  
  The next day the same man approached the same Marine and again asked to see President Clinton. The Marine, a little annoyed, said "Sir, I've told you, Mr. Clinton is no longer president. Don't you understand that?"
  
  "Yes, I do" said the man, "But I just enjoy hearing it."
  
  The Marine smiled and said, "See you tomorrow."
  
  
• The 8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter has been floating around via email. I figured I'd point to the original source. And I do kinda remember rules like these.
• The Top Ten Really Mean Put-Downs have some really mean ones in there, all right. It made me laugh. [doc]
• PowerPoint actually being put to good use to complain about a hotel. The link's been everywhere, and I'm finally catching up.
• Maybe it's just me, but I'm finding the fact that little.yellow.different is written by a diminutive, Asian, homosexual fairly clever. [weblogs]
• CIA using Mariah Carey film in Interrogations. Human rights groups say it borders on torture. [instapundit]

Weather in Minneapolis for December 30, 2001     December 30 in History

• I fixed up a bunch of problems in my 1999 Vacation section yesterday.
• Fifty-two things they do better in America. Includes such treasures as: "Big things with wings that kill America's enemies from 50,000 ft."
• Do you love America? Do you?
• Does Welfare Cause Terrorism?
• The FBI's House Calls - chilling effect again.
• Imagine a World Without Guns and be afraid.
• Property owners, government face off over land rights.
• They've surrendered, let's attack is Ann Coulter's take on France and terrorism. Tee-hee! It's not too often I giggle most of my way through an article. Remember how when we bombed Libya in 1986 and accidentally got the French Embassy? A good start. I bet we could get some help from the Israelis, even.
• Hear about the Swedish man expelled from 14 countries for postering? The EU apparently doesn't think much of free speech.
• Jailed Writer's Prison Time Is Study in Ethics. She's not a "journalist" but is still keeping the sources she's using in her upcoming book confidential. So she's spent the past five months in the clink.
• Sure, we're tolerant, to a point . . . Those Californians. They're willing to forgive Johnny Taliban, but a Republican? No way, he's going to burn in hell. At least there's one columnist honest enough to admit it might be a problem.
• Big Countries, Big Conflict, Puny Coverage analyzes the developing war between India and Pakistan. It's not likely to be pretty. But the page loads incredibly slowly, and you may want to turn off java before clicking that link.

Weather in Minneapolis for December 28, 2001     December 28 in History

• Court Affirms right to link, specificly that of 2600 to point a domain at Ford's website. It seems to mean that linking is just fine, after all. Common sense prevails? There's a Christmas miracle.
• The Carpetbaggers Go Home starts off by saying that the Internet is unsuitable for commerce. It's almost reliable enough, which is why it looked so good for all those dotcoms. The real problem? Most companies still don't get the 'net.
• Meta-Level Compilation is a cool way to find bugs in code. Want more tools!
• The Geek Syndrome talks of autism and Asperger's syndrome, which are on the rise in the US, but most noticeable in Silicon Valley. In an earlier age, these men would have been monks, developing new ink for printing presses. Suddenly they're reproducing at a much higher rate. I remember linking to something about Asperger's before, but the concentration in Silicon Valley is new, I think.
• Yet Another Weblog News System (YAWNS). I don't actually care about the code, but the name amused me.
• The Weblog Review, strangely enough, reviews weblogs. Who'd 'a' thunk?
• Construction of a Tesla coil. High voltage can be your friend.
• Brainy B.I.O-Bugs look awfully cool. And they're analog.

Weather in Minneapolis for December 26, 2001     December 26 in History

• Over the weekend I put together some code so I can add a new link more easily. And so can you. If things go as planned, I'll be using that method exclusively in 2002. Between now and then I'm trying to clear the backlog of links I've got built up in Frontier.
• Santa Falls Foul of Anti-Terrorism Laws. He's got a beard, was behaving suspiciously, and probably belonged to some sort of underground cell.
• Foaming Over Guinness in a Bottle. It doesn't work well at all if you pour it into a glass, but it seems to be only slightly awful if you drink from the bottle. And they spent $13.5M in research on it. Sheesh.
• Tijuana Flats Hottest 15 Sauces. If you need some spice in your life.
• Debate brewing over safety of 'energy drinks'. Yeah. A vodka and Red Bull is about as smart of an idea as a Rum & Jolt.
• Guide to Springfield, USA is mapping Springfield. Things are always moving around in the Simpsons episodes, so I suspect accuracy is impossible. That won't stop people from trying, though.
• If you think your commute is bad... Moscow drivers stuck in 16-hour traffic jam.
• It's official. My What am I, Chopped Liver? Award has been awarded.

Weather in Minneapolis for December 24, 2001     December 24 in History

• Google News Headlines are another fine way to catch up on what's going on in the world. And a really cool thing for Google to be doing. Google Rocks!
• Is it time to start shorting the stock of the record companies? Music industry off tune, Universal to release copy-protected CD in U.S., Music So Nice, You May Pay Twice are countered by Don't steal music, pretty please and Concerts to raise money to fight record companies. Even the musicians have had enough.
• Brad asks, "Do you think it would be wrong to sleep with your gynecologist?" Heh!
• The moral minefield of a boy's dying wish to get some.
• USDA won't close plants that fail salmonella tests. Hey, I guess it's okay for them to sell tainted meat now. ULCH!
• Hopes for a white Christmas are fading fast here in Minnesota. Monday it was in the 40s again, and it was near that all week. Twin Cities 'normal' temperature to change - warmer by half a degree. And the ground is warm enough, that even if we get some snow, it probably won't last.
• The Star Tribune's "The State We're In" series is pretty good. Sadly, they don't have a URL for the series so I've got to point you to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 individually.
• Merriam Park's Hidden Lock and Dam talks about a dam that isn't there anymore. But the remains are historically interesting, and maybe someday we'll get better access to 'em. There's a fair number of folks in Minneapolis working on that.
• I added Roasting Rub (spices to put on a roast beast) to Dave's Recipes.
• Mike at Keep Trying is giving out the "What am I, Chopped Liver?" awards. I nominated myself for "Least satisfying after getting there via a google search" since I just don't have the pictures of Rockbitch, Osama bin Laden, or Salmonella (a recent entry on the search list) that people seem to crave.

Weather in Minneapolis for December 21, 2001     December 21 in History

• I changed a lot of software here over the weekend. I'll probably be playing with the colors and layout for a while, too. Bear with me. Shoot me an email if there's something you particularly like. And I'll try and get the search working soon, but I'm still trying to decide what the best solution is.
• Owen Briggs' Design Rant talks about why you should be using CSS to design web pages.
• A court has decided hyperlinks to banned material are illegal, at least if what you're pointing to is DeCSS.
• How I Dealt with Identity Theft has some good resources at the end. Worth bookmarking, just in case.
• Teen Girls More Likely to Be Cyber-Schizoid? Heck, if you add in all the guys pretending to be teenage girls, that probably covers something like 90% of everyone in chat rooms.
• E-mail volume expected to soar and most of it's spam. Bleh. Good think there are some solutions for Stopping Spam and Malware with Open Source.
• How to speak like a cyber freak - a tutorial on l33t. In case you felt the need.

Weather in Minneapolis for December 17, 2001     December 17 in History

• I've moved Dave's Picks to my new template-based software. Hopefully you won't notice any problems, but I've broken the search, and there are probably a few other things that aren't working exactly right. I'll be fixing as many of them as I can over the weekend. There are more details in the About Dave's Picks page.

Weather in Minneapolis for December 15, 2001     December 15 in History

• 20 Year Usenet Archive now Available. Now you can go back and look for your first Usenet postings. And cringe. But they don't seem to have full coverage of the alt groups yet.
• Speaking of blasts from the past... The ETA Saga (1/38619) (Rob Peglar) covers the demise of ETA Systems. I worked there for my first five years in the computer business, and it's an interesting look back. Failure due to bad management. I've seen it at every company I've worked for. The only one that bounced back was Apple, and that was a near thing.
• Interesting. Looking at my referrer logs, Rockbitch has passed bin Laden in the things people are searching for here. But in both cases, people are looking for pictures of them, which I just don't have. So sorry. The most popular pictures are still of Como Zoo, but the Federal Reserve is creeping up in the search-requests list.
• California candidate spams voters. ...politicians in general have a slower learning curve because they aren't using the technology themselves very much. If there's any justice in the world, this spammer will get buried in the election. And maybe someone who actually knows how to use a pute will run for office.
• Russian Hacker Charges Dropped. Programmer, not hacker, Wired. But anyway, Dmitri Sklyarov can go home. And the president of ElcomSoft will stand trial. Most likely, the case will be quietly negotiated away, and the DMCA won't be challenged in a meaningful way.
• In some cases, Online journalists enjoy First Amendment protection. What's not clear from the story (or, I suspect, the case) is what bar you have to clear to be considered an online journalist, as opposed to a geek with a website. I think the real answer might be that everyone should enjoy First Amendment protection, whether a "journalist" or not.
• Crappie Days is a story about ice-fishing. With the warm fall we've had, it doesn't seem like ice-fishing season yet, but soon....
• Cyclist's death was murder, says jury. There's more (from Chicago Critical Mass) at McBride Trial Coverage. And More on the Fitzpatrick trial and conviction. Road-rage, BAD. Folks who try to use vehicles as weapons, no matter what the target, should be treated as if they'd pulled a gun. Cars are deadly weapons. But most bikers have problems, too. Wrong Way Cycling is a bad idea that I see every day in Dinkytown. There are other Cycling Types and Codes of Behavior that don't work very well, either.

Weather in Minneapolis for December 14, 2001     December 14 in History

• James Lileks Bleat 12/10/2001 talks about the American kid who went to Afghanistan to shoot at Americans. There's a name for making war on your own country: treason.
• Senators Slip In Pay Hike. Hey, look! A war! Let's vote ourselves a raise. Here's how they voted on the Amendment. Nay votes are for a raise. For Minnesotans: Wellstone, Nay. Dayton: Yea. The interesting thing here is that the vote was on whether the amendment (to pass up the pay raise) was germane or not. If the Senate used this criterion more often, there'd be a lot fewer bad laws passed. Members of Congress set for $4,900 raise is CNN's take on it.
• How does The New Mac User differ from the Old Mac User? The new one doesn't have a ton of money invested in current Mac OS software that still doesn't run on X.
• Bruce Sterling: Geeks and Spooks talks about the struggle between the two tribes concerned with crypto in the US, why the crypto-revolution is over, and what we need to do to escape the stagnant pool we find ourselves in today.
• Stuck at an airport? Get loaded! The number of passengers is down 28 percent from last year, but drink sales have remained steady. Well, what else are you going to do when they make you wait extra hours at the airport?

Weather in Minneapolis for December 10, 2001     December 10 in History

• I've updated my Downtown Minneapolis pictures.
• If it's listed on Fat Chuck's Corrupt CD List, it's probably not a good present to buy for the geek in your life this year.
• Passenger on Flight 93 Inspires Neil Young Song. Be forwarned, the link will do a popup ad if you've got Javascript on. But the story's cool.
• Molly Ivins' Is Ashcroft safe and sane? It doesn't seem like it. Yep, if we had a constitution largely rewritten by John Ashcroft, as opposed the one we're stuck with by such picayune minds as Madison, Washington, Franklin, Hamilton, etc., we'd be a lot safer today. Check out her Loopholes in civil liberties column, too. Good stuff. Ex-FBI Officials Criticize Tactics on Terrorism is one of the things she refers to. Ashcroft: Critics are aiding the enemy is the latest insanity. I wonder how long it will be before the Shrub cuts this madman loose.
• Neal Boortz on the Patriot Act. I strongly suspected few congress-critters actually read the thing. And yes, it's pretty darned spooky.
• i-SEE provides Routes of Least Surveillance. Except for the part where the camera angles and range isn't taken into account. Another nearly-cool privacy tool.
• MN company out to make tracks to aid troops. The company, Mattracks is from northern Minnesota, and developed the tracks for driving 4WD pickups in the snow. Seems like just the sort of thing that might be useful in Afghanistan.
• I've had enough of The Invention That Runs On Hype. Sort of like geodesic domes. And I still have people telling me the initial leak about this mutant offspring of a lawnmower and a floor-polisher was unintentional.

Weather in Minneapolis for December 7, 2001     December 7 in History

• Excite@Home turns off Internet service to ATT customers and some of the mailing lists I'm on have gotten much quieter. And the bondholders are going to find themselves with a company that's worth even less than the $307million AT&T offered to pay.
• Plotting Along with mass-market novels. Where are the good writers?
• Bank Error in Your Favor, Collect $250,000! It seems almost too good to be true.
• Boom Box talks about the TiVo and Replay. It's a good, if somewhat long article. And it's from over three months ago. Sometimes it takes me a while to find things.
• The Little Engine That Could Be. When can I get one for my laptop? When will it not set my pants on fire?
• The value and empowerment of common citizens in an age of danger. Big government agencies can't react quickly. People, acting more or less on their own, can. Which is why moving to a police state (as we seem to be doing) is exactly the wrong approach to dealing with terroristic threats. The more totalitarian the government becomes, the more the terrorists win.
• And for a bit of humor, 40 Things Never Said By Southerners.

Weather in Minneapolis for December 3, 2001     December 3 in History