Star Wars Kid

“What the heck is Jakob Nielsen doing goofing around with a lightsaber? Or is he conducting a useability [sic] study of it, perhaps?” filmgoerjuan —Star Wars KidMetaFilter) Be sure you watch the original first, and then the remix. Similar:Slow flyby of a scout shop. Starfield backdrop; particle-based engine exhaust; hull uses a…More progress as I…

Inflatable Church

“Thanks to the forthcoming changes to the law on marriage, you will soon be able to ‘tie the knot’ wherever you wish……….YOU decide, we will provide a church for you !!” —Inflatable ChurchInflatableChurch.com) Words fail me. Similar:On Stephen Hawking, Vader and Being More Machine Than HumanIn one version of Hawking’s eulogistic s…CybercultureGoogle's AI could probably…

Roper Geographic Survey 2002

First, take the survey; then read the results. —Roper Geographic Survey 2002National Geographic) An intersting tidbit: “Americans who reported that they accessed the Internet within the last 30 days scored 65 percent higher than those who did not.” Similar:Fire Chief Grants Fireman 3-Day Extension On Difficult Fire Shortly before leaving work Monday, …AmusingA Christmas Carol…

Lawmakers: It's Open Season on Spam

“The first federal antispam bill was introduced in 1997, and after six years of closed-door wrangling and repeated delays, Congress still has not acted. But consumer outrage and complaints from legitimate businesses have been keeping pace with the growth of bulk e-mail. Now it’s open season on spam in Washington.”Dellan McCullagh —Lawmakers: It’s Open Season…

What's Education Really For?

“One could spend less time and money and gain employable skills in other ways. Too many people who do not really value learning or respect academic accomplishments are in college classrooms, and this cheapens the experience for everyone…. [O]nly go to college if you really want to become an educated person.|That means learning to use…

The Grammar of Sound

“Say you were trying to find instances of when Bill Gates testified between May 15 and June 1. Using existing tools like full-text search engines, natural language query or speech recognition, you’d have to transcribe the audio into a text file, then index it with a lexicon of terms that included ‘Gates.’ Such an undertaking…

Hector the Hectopus

“I bet Hector would be more fun if we dipped him in gasoline. But, most toys are…….” Chad —Hector the Hectopus (Catch.com) My (completely pointless and out-of-date) Rainbow Hector Weblog has been metablogged by Catch.com. I don’t know why, and the Catch.com folks don’t seem to know either. Life goes on, and Hector keeps smiling.…

Spam Sent by Fraud is Made a Felony

“Virginia enacted a law Tuesday imposing harsh felony penalties for sending such messages to computer users through deceptive means….Public outrage at spam is causing states and Congress to start looking at stronger measures against it. The Internet industry estimates that spam represents nearly half of all e-mail sent. And a new report by the Federal…