February 27, 2006
Quote of the Day
"Many people trust the government not to abuse or misuse this information. Based on experience, I don't."
-Watergate co-conspirator and Memphilter favorite John Dean on warrentless wiretapping. (via MeFi)
February 25, 2006
Pitching Tents
Had a better day than Blake Bergstrom? Here's his rather funny, teat-twinging slip up and alleged email response to a blogger's inquiry.
In the words of Roslyn Smith from Mississippi: "God Loves our wonderful imperfect selves."
Sprung from Exciting Links for Boring Days in No Particular Order.
February 24, 2006
Quote of the Day
"Cole:...I don't think people have any idea how much of a tightrope we're walking in the Gulf region. If Iraq did go to a conventional civil war; if it drew Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Turkey into it; if you have generalized guerrilla war among countries; and if they started hitting pipelines the way they're hitting pipelines in Iraq, you could really send the world into another Great Depression.
MT: We were going to ask you about the worst-case scenario.
Cole: That's the worst-case scenario. The three of us standing in a breadline."
-Juan Cole of Informed Comment fame drops some social science.
February 23, 2006
Randomness and Cumulative Selection
The Blind Watchmaker by Oxford professor Richard Dawkins is a fascinating defense and explanation of natural selection and evolution that is refreshingly readable. While this book will never silence Darwin's critics, it provides the lay person with an understanding of how evolution combines genetic randomness with cumulative natural selection to create such fantastically complex creatures like us. Dawkins invents a biomorph program that you can use to create your own complex forms that arise from the interaction of random mutation with non-random (human) selection. While you are the non-random element in the computer model, death and mate selection are the primary non-random elements in the natural world. There is also a really cool program based on the same randomness/cumulative selection model you can use to grow your own music.
Spam
Damn Spam! We have been inundated with countless comment spam here at Memphilter and so have most other blogs. Fake links to "mature older women" is not my bag. It seems relatively harmless but it is actually helping lots of real shithead scumbags make a pretty penny at blog users expense and time. This is another reason why I hate Google: once a search engine is now an advertising, page-ranking, Adsense, money-making giant that almost begs spammers to do what they do so they can get page rankings (Googlejuice). Google's business approach seems like a conflict of interest to me due to the fact that the search results you get can be manipulated, not only by spammers, but by Google itself if you're willing to pay them for it. Google is no different than when Sam Walton began Wal-Mart and everybody thought it was great but now the same people think Wal-Mart is evil. Here's another reason why I hate Google. You can get a lot of stuff from Google, but you can get a lot of stuff from a lot of search engines. Especially Dogpile which gleans Google results but avoids alot of the bullshit quantified marketing algorithms that Google has placed in it blogosphere. Search engines exist because of ads but due to the popularity of Google it is operating at a level that is effecting the foundation of information gathering and I don't like it at all. I hope Bill Gates kicks Google's ass. Beyond this diatribe I have read a lot about comment spam and think maybe these can help Memphilter combat it: Bad Behavior install or LinkSleeve which seems to be down at the moment but has some blogger PHP page which I don't understand.
February 22, 2006
Explaining Ice
So chemists and physicists don't know why ice is slippery, but they do know that what we've always been told is wrong. The latest explanation "rests on the idea that perhaps the surface of ice is simply slippery."
Also interesting is that Ice IX really exists (that's Ice IX, not Ice-Nine).
February 20, 2006
Young, Demme doing the PR thang
Neil Young and Jonathan Demme have been making the public radio PR rounds in support of the concert film Neil Young: Heart of Gold. If you haven't heard them already, through the magic of the www, you can listen to the duo interviewed on Fresh Air or Studio 360 (the transcript). Demme's previous concert work is first rate, and the venue is my personal favorite place to see a show, the Ryman Auditorium. If you can't listen to the interviews, here's the quick background.
The release dates.
February 17, 2006
Video,Video and More Video
Looking for that rare James Brown, P-Funk or Black Sabbath video? How about some WKRP footage?
Search away here
February 15, 2006
You shut down all the garbage compactors...
...In my heart!
February 10, 2006
Get Your War On The Stage
The theatrical adaptation playing in Austin.
February 09, 2006
#111: What do you call the end of a loaf of bread?
Check the results of the dialect survey.
February 07, 2006
February 06, 2006
Badass of the Day
Werner Herzog
February 05, 2006
Quote of the Day
"Beware of deals in parachutes, brain surgery and tattoos."
-Miller Cotton, a tattoo parlor owner, commenting on the case of the door-to-door tattoo salesman with the homemade gun. The guy in question appears not to be much of an artist and not well schooled in the art of sterilization. But nobody would argue that he isn't one hell of a salesman.
Posted by