Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Kris Allen sings "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers

Probably one of my favorite songs, Kris did a great job with it. He sounded passionate and like he meant it. Good stuff.

Adam Lambert belts "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry

Adam Lambert is the man to beat. He has shown he can sing all over the map. Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music" was no exception to Adam's previous efforts... He nailed it. It was funky and the boy can sing.

Lil Rounds – Celine Dion

Lil sang a very powerful "I surrender." It should keep her in the fight for another week for sure. Cute kid moment.

Matt Giraud - The Fray

The Fray's "You Found me" will probably find Matt Giraud exactly where he was last week -- in the bottom three...

Scott Macintyre Sings Billy Joel's "I Love You Just The Way You Are"

Scott found his niche as he sang of Billy Joel's "I Love You Just The Way You Are." Sounded like the piano man to me... Judges agreed and liked his hair.

Allison Iraheta Don't Speak

Allison has an amazing voice. She had no problem with No Doubt's "Don't Speak" even while playing the guitar for the first time all season. She has a big voice for a 16 year old kid. Judges apparently didn't like her garb.

Danny Gokey sings Rascal Flatts

Danny poured his feelings into belting out "What Hurts The Most" But i think the song still fell flat (no pun intended). Judges did not agree with me... They liked it.

Megan Joy sings Bob Marley

Megan Joy is by far the most attractive American Idol contestant. She performed a groovy, albeit borderline boring, version of Bob Marley's "Turn your lights down low." She has such a unique sounding voice. I didn't think the judges would like her and I, unfortunately, was right. Megan's beauty will probably pull her thought another week.

Anoop rocks Usher's Caught Up

Anoop did a good job cover Usher's Caught Up. He still look a bit out of his element. Judges seem to agree.

April fools

Alright everyone... Be on your toes. Tomorrow is April Fools day. Traditionally a big day for the web. Google should dazzle us all. Confickr should be interesting (but I think it will be much ado about nothing -- Thanks to vigilant security folks getting the word out). You will no doubt see things about ponies, free stuff, moon trips, cars that run on water... etc. Remember, it's a joke.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Two Million Pounds Pistachio Recalled

Salmonella contamination has lead to a major recall of two million pounds of pistachios.

Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, based in Terra Bella, Calif., decided to recall its 2008 crop after one of its customers, Kraft Foods, found several types of salmonella during routine analysis of the product. Kraft Foods alerted the Food and Drug Administration of its findings on March 24.

Source: NYTimes

South Park Economic Crisis

South Park Economic Crisis episode was freaking brilliant. Once again Trey Parker and Matt Stone get it right. They are excellent storytellers portraying the madness that goes on in our society. From solving economic decisions by decapitating chickens to having kyle (as Jesus) forgiving everyone's debt (sins) by moving them to his American Express Platinum card with no limit. Very funny stuff.

Holly Madison - fell off stool

Holly Madison struggled as she fell off the stool early in her dance routine. Sadly, she was still smoother than Woz.

Rate my Professor

RateMyProfessors.com is a site in which you can rate your professor and see how your potential future professors have rated with others. I wonder if faculty members like sites such as this... Think they take a peek to see how they are doing?

Sex with Robots

This is a great article about how humanity is screwing itself. Sex with Robots examines how we are and how we will be pleasuring ourselves.

Ghost photos

These are pretty cool. I've seen some of them before. I have always thought that dark room tricks where the reason for ghost photos like these.

Brassage

The Brassage wellness bra is supposed to have "massaging" bumps sewn into the sides that "stimulate lymphatic flow," flushing those toxins away.

IRS Filing Extension

April 15th is coming up faster than you think. If you need more time to do your taxes, you can request an IRS Filing Extension which will give you up until October 15th to file your taxes. You will still have to pay the taxes that you owe now, this will just give you more time to file the paperwork.

Skype for the iPhone

Skype for the iPhone will be released Tuesday. The long-rumored, free Voice over IP (VOIP) app will be available on the Apple App store tomorrow.

Forever wild

Forever Wild animal sanctuary was the recipient of the miracle makeover.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Suntrust Bank Break-in using a backhoe

Atlanta area Greenbriar Mall Suntrust bank was broken into using a backhoe. The man apprehended when he ran into issues with the construction equipment.

Nature's Source Cleaner

Anyone tried Nature's Source Cleaner?

Diablo is a big kitty

Diablo the tiger from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is a big tiger. He was cruelly declawed. He should be much better post surgery.

Paige Hemmis - Pink Hardhat

Paige Hemmis on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has a REALLY pink hardhat.

Josephine Baker

Josephine Baker - The Jazz Age is available from FAO Schwarz.

computertan.com

Computertan.com suggested that you could get a tan by simply visiting their site... as in "through their LCD screen on their desk."

People wishing to get a tan were greeted by a message informing them of the peril of UV rays.... classic.

Jennifer Hudson of American Idol fame sets wedding date

American Idol finalist Jennifer Hudson set a wedding date to be married to her fiance David Otunga.

Dicks Sporting Goods Coupons

Here are the links to Dicks Sporting Goods Coupons.

Patti Davis Playboy

Patti Davis Playboy pictures are at lalate.com

SwapGiant

SwapGiant is a giant swap site to barter online.

Pirate Bay Torrents spreading with Facebook

Facebook users are now posting their favorite torrents. The "Share on Facebook" feature will add the torrent to the users facebook profile.

Shamrock Shuffle

Registration for the 2009 Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8K Run and 5K Fitness Walk is closed. The event has reached its 32,500 participant capacity.  It is going to be chlly.


Academic Earth

Academic Earth is like hulu for academic lectures. I am all for a free college educations. The worlds top scholars delivering lectures for free? Free online Courses from top tier educators? I'm in!

Ghostnet

Lovely, Toronto researchers discovered a large spynet that has been spying on over 103 counties. They are not sure who is in control of the network.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Topsy Turvy Tomato Planter

The easy way to grow tomatoes on your patio. Just plant it and hang it up -- on a patio, balcony, terrace or tree.

Slimed

Sandra Bullock and Hugh Jackman were slimed when revealing the kids choice for favorite book.

Asus Eee Top

The 15.6-inch touchscreen model has the standard 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB of memory, and XP installed on a 160GB drive.

2009 Kids Choice Awards

The Rock hosts the 2009 Kids Choice awards tonight...

Kids Choice Awards Winners:

Favorite Reality Show - American Idol

Favorite TV Actor - Dylan Sprouse

Favorite Cartoon - SpongeBob SquarePants

Favorite Female Athlete - Candace Parker

Favorite Book - Twilight Series

Favorite Movie - High School Musical 3

Favorite Movie Actor - Will Smith

Favorite Movie Actress - Vanessa Hudgens

Favorite Animated Movie - Madagascar 2 - Escape to Africa

Favorite Voice From An Animated Movie - Jack Black

Favorite Male Singer - Jesse McCartney

Favorite Female Singer - Miley Cyrus

Favorite Song - Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) (Beyonce)

Favorite TV Show - iCarly

Favorite Music Group - Jonas Brothers

Favorite TV Actress - Selena Gomez

Favorite Male Athlete - Peyton Manning

Favorite Video Game - Guitar Hero - World Tour

Big Geen Help Award - Leonardo Dicaprio

Florida Derby

Quality Road holds off Dunkirk to win the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park today.

Marissa Coleman leads Terps to Win NCAA Regional Semifinal

Marissa Coleman put up 42 points to lead Maryland to victory over Vanderbilt in today's Women's NCAA tournament regional semifinal college basketball game. Maryland outscored Vandy 78 - 74.

IPhones bricked after non-developers try to upgrade to 3.0 beta

Watch attempting to install iPhone OS 3.0 beta on your iPhone. Apparently you will sorely disappointed when it attempts to verify if you have an "authorized" developer device.

Full story at LAtimes.

Sports beans

Need energy when riding? I can tell you from experience that these work. My first 55 mile ride way fueled by these:



They keep your energy going!

Wine 1.1.18 release

What's new:

- RPC over HTTP support.
- Improved support for upgrades in MSI.
- Debug symbols in WineDbg on Mac OS X.
- Many Direct3D code cleanups.
- Various bug fixes.

Dollhouse

Dollhouse is a Sci-fi TV series on Fox. Fox is attempting something new with Dollhouse. It runs with fewer commericals than normal TV shows in an attempt to keep the viewer engaged.

The premise of the show is revolves around "Actives" or "Dolls". The Dolls have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas, including memory, muscle memory, skills, and language, for different assignments (referred to as engagements).

Friday, March 27, 2009

Conficker

You have to be impressed by the complexities of Conficker.  It used a three week old encryption algorithm (MD-6).  When Dr. Rivest’s group (creators of MD-6) submitted a revised version of the MD-6 algorithm, as a buffer overflow had been discovered in its implementation, Conflicker implemented the revised MD-6 algorithm.

Conficker Analysis

From this report:

"We must also acknowledge the multiple skill sets that are revealed within the evolving design and implementation of Conficker.  Those responsible for this outbreak have demonstrated Internet-wide programming skills, advanced cryptographic skills, custom dual-layer code packing and code obfuscation skills, and in-depth knowledge of Windows internals and security products.  They are among the first to introduce the Internet rendezvous point scheme, and have now integrated a sophisticated P2P protocol that does not require an embedded peer list.  They have continually seeded the Internet with new MD5 variants, and have adapted their code base to address the latest attempts to thwart Conficker.   They have infiltrated government sites, military networks, home PCs, critical infrastructure, small networks, and universities, around the world.  Perhaps an even greater threat than what they have done so far, is what they have learned and what they will build next."

Impressive stuff.


Earth Hour

Support Earth Hour by turning off your lights for one hour.

8:30pm local time 3/28/09


Free Online Courses from top universities

There are some amazing free online courses available online.

Can't afford to attend Yale, MIT, or Berkley?

You can take some of their classes for free. There are a very diverse selection of courses available. You have no excuse... Put some time aside and feed your mind.


Yale - http://oyc.yale.edu/

Yale has a wide breadth of courses available across the curriculum.


MIT - http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm

MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content.


UC Berkley - http://webcast.berkeley.edu/

Podcasts and Webcasts of UC Berkeley current and archived courses


Indian Institutes of Technology - http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=nptelhrd&view=playlists

The Indian Institutes of Technology has a vast selection of Computer Courses Available for free.

Just their computer science classes include:

Computer Science - Artificial Intelligence
Computer Science - Computer Architecture
Computer Science - Computer Graphics
Computer Science - Computer Networks
Computer Science - Computer Organization
Computer Science - Data Communication
Computer Science - Data Structures and Algorithms
Computer Science - Database Management System
Computer Science - Design & Analysis of Algorithms
Computer Science - Discrete Mathematical Structures
Computer Science - Internet Technologies
Computer Science - Introduction to Computer Graphics
Computer Science - Introduction To Problem Solving & Programming
Computer Science - Principles of Programming Languages
Computer Science - Software Engineering
Computer Science - Systems Analysis and Design

Michael Sarver - going home

Last night, Michael Sarver "Ain't too proud to beg" apparently fell on deaf ears as her was sent packing for Texas.

There was an awkward few moments as the judges, who had a final say on his last performance, appeared completely disorganized when attempting to render a decision. They had clearly not rehearsed or prepared on how to judge the singers final performance.

Finally, Simon blurted out, "A decision has to be made. I'm sorry Michael. Your going home."

Tesla Motors Model S

Tesla Motors a sweet looking sedan. The Model S seats seven and has a 300 mile range.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Windows 7 Release Candidate - Public in May

Apparently Microsoft is going to release a Windows 7 Release Candidate to the public this May. It will expire in June of 2010. More information coming as it becomes available.

Ars Technica

Wii Menu 4.0

Nintendo has updated Wii Menu.

Wii Menu 4.0 includes the following:

* The Wii console can now use SDHC (SD High Capacity) Cards with a maximum of 32GB of storage.
* The SD Card Menu, which allows you to launch titles directly from an SD or SDHC Card, is added to the Wii menu (more info).
* The Wii Shop Channel will now allow you to download titles directly to an SD or SDHC Card.
* The Wii console's Data Management menu has been enhanced to make it easier to copy and move stored items on an SD Card or the Wii console's system memory.
* The Wii User Agreement, which includes the Wii Privacy Policy, has been updated. Because the updated agreement applies to you and your use of the Wii Network Service, you should view the updated version by clicking on the Wii icon located on the lower-left portion of the Wii Channel menu, selecting Wii Settings, accessing the Internet setting, and selecting User Agreements.
* There are other behind-the-scenes enhancements to the Wii console system menu included with Wii Menu 4.0

American Idol - Sounds of Motown

I think the night was won by Allison Iraheta with her "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone". Smokey sings tonight... should be good. As well as Stevie Wonder doing a medley. We shall see who gets booted tonight.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

'Miracle fruit' turns sour things sweet

CNN ran a story about Miracle Fruit - "The small fruit has the color of a cranberry, the shape of an almond and tastes like a flavorless gummy." The Miracle Fruit is Synsepalum dulcificum.

You can experience it for yourself by getting this:

Internet privacy

Remember when Jennifer Ringley of jennicam.com was one of the few losing their privacy online.

Those days are long gone (as well as everyone's privacy) thanks to facebook, twitter, myspace, etc.

The world has changed forever.

Steve Wozniak

Steve Wozniak is a very bright guy and horrible dancer. Is this a vote for the worst scenario?

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

iDaft Console is something that my kids are going to love.
New Star Trek TV Spot!

Holy Copper And Rubber, That's A Lot Of Cable! [PIC]

Revealed: The unsung scientist who invented the 'death ray'

Shaq kills and eats Michelin Man

Ha, Men Are So Simple Minded

'Cold fusion' rebirth? New evidence for controversial energy

Fail Blog Fail

"Legz" the inspirational stunt rider

Family dog poops out $400

Corrupt cops lead NY mayor to mull 'martial law'

crossstich

Useless fact:

Did you know that crossstich is a very common misspelling for Cross stitch?

Now you do.

Free Blackberry apps

You can find free blackberry apps if you know where to look. You can find even more here.

Twitter for OS X and iphone

Lounge is a twitter client for both iPhone and Mac OS X, Lounge is perhaps the first Twitter app that works the same way on the desktop and in your pocket.

Free 3D glasses

If you ever need a pair of free 3D glasses, you can get a pair for free from 3Dglasses.net.

Free stained glass patterns

Here is an excellent list of free stained glass patterns of all types.

If you are not familiar with stained glass:

The term stained glass can refer to the material of coloured glass or the craft of working with it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term "stained glass" was applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches, cathedrals, chapels, and other significant buildings. Although traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensional structures and sculpture.

Modern vernacular usage has often extended the term "stained glass" to include domestic leadlight and objets d'art created from lead came and copper foil glasswork such as exemplified in the famous lamps of Louis Comfort Tiffany.

As a material stained glass is glass that has been coloured by adding metallic salts during its manufacture. The coloured glass is crafted into stained glass windows in which small pieces of glass are arranged to form patterns or pictures, held together (traditionally) by strips of lead and supported by a rigid frame. Painted details and yellow stain are often used to enhance the design. The term stained glass is also applied to windows in which the colours have been painted onto the glass and then fused to the glass in a kiln.

Stained glass, as an art and a craft, requires the artistic skill to conceive an appropriate and workable design, and the engineering skills to assemble the piece. A window must fit snugly into the space for which it is made, must resist wind and rain, and also, especially in the larger windows, must support its own weight. Many large windows have withstood the test of time and remained substantially intact since the late Middle Ages. In Western Europe they constitute the major form of pictorial art to have survived. In this context, the purpose of a stained glass window is not to allow those within a building to see the world outside or even primarily to admit light but rather to control it. For this reason stained glass windows have been described as 'illuminated wall decorations'.

The design of a window may be non-figurative or figurative; may incorporate narratives drawn from the Bible, history, or literature; may represent saints or patrons, or use symbolic motifs, in particular armorial. Windows within a building may be thematic, for example: within a church - episodes from the life of Christ; within a parliament building - shields of the constituencies; within a college hall - figures representing the arts and sciences; or within a home - flora, fauna, or landscape.

Develop Film with Vitiman C and coffee

Develop film with Vitamin C and instant coffee?

Apparently you can if you follow these steps. Interesting.

Seach google images by color

To start searching Google by image color, all you have to do is append &imgcolor=colorname to the URL of a Google Image Search?where colorname is replaced by one of a number of colors of your choice. So, for example, your search URLs might look like this:

http://images.google.com/images?q=cat&hl=en&imgcolor=green

Monday, March 23, 2009

peanutbutter recall update

Is your peanutbutter safe?

You can check out this website for details.

missingmoney.com

You may have money waiting for you to find. Check out missingmoney.com to find the money that is rightfully yours.


Common types of unclaimed property include:

* Bank accounts and safe deposit box contents
* Stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and dividends
* Uncashed checks and wages
* Insurance policies, CD's, trust funds
* Utility deposits, escrow accounts

Alaska Volcano

Alaska Volcano Mount Redoubt erupts.

Watch it on their the Alaska Volcano Observatory webcam.

World's Cheapest Car


Tatamotors has launches the worlds cheapest car... The Tata Nano. No word on when the Tata Touch is going to be released.

Xbox360 E74 error

The E74 error seems to be related to video problems. It's occasionally caused by a faulty AV cord, but more often than not, the solder on the ANA/HANA (in HDMI models) scaling chip has come loose. In fact, many have reported creating a temporary fix by wrapping pennies in electrical tape and weighing the ANA/HANA down. (For the record, we're not suggesting you do that.) Before the error, the system usually starts showing graphical problems like lines across the screen or snow. It's accompanied by one red light in the lower right-hand quadrant.

Apple App store is working

Apple recently announced some App Store milestones:

* 25,000 apps available for download (the actual figure is now more than 28,000)
* 800 million apps downloaded
* 17 million iPhones sold through Dec. 2008
* 13 million iPod touches (for a total installed base of more than 30 million App Store-ready devices)
* 800,000 downloads of the original SDK
* 50,000 developers ? 62% of them new to Apple
* 96% of apps submitted in February were approved ? 98% within seven days ? but still not fast enough to satisfy some developers

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Prince Lotusflow3r

Check out and sign up for what Prince has brewing. Head over to lotusflow3r.com to sign up for the latest.

The Valenzetti Equation Theory

Nice Rant (pucclear):

The Valenzetti Equation is a mathematical relationship that is used to predict the future (crudely speaking). It is a type of mathematical forecasting. The map mentions an area of the island that has ?Low Relevance to Valenzetti Research?. So, what is happening on the island and where does this equation come into play.

The DHARMA initiative was an active project with the Hanso Foundation, however it is no longer on the Hanso Foundation website. That is because the DHARMA initiative has completed. It seems that all of the active projects of the Hanso Foundation seem to focus on future betterment of everything. This is because the Hanso Foundation is using the Valenzetti Equation to predict changes in the world. The Valenzetti Equation analysis is the Mathematical Forecasting Initiative on the HF active projects.

In more general terms, the island belongs to the HF. This is why Alvar Hanso addressed the UN in 1967, so that he could present his ideas to the UN and they could decide on an isolated place in the world where this research could be performed.

The stated goal of the DHARMA initiative according to the map is the Repatriation Accelerated Deterritorialization of Polar Bears with genetic therapy and extreme climate change. In English, this basically means that the goal of the DHARMA initiative was to take polar bears out of their natural environment and see if they could basically de-evolve the polar bear back to its non-cold dependant state. Polar bears evolved from the standard brown bear (their DNA only varies by a small percent along the lines of a hundredth of a percent) due to a change in climate, so gene therapy and climate change would theoretically be able to de-evolve the polar bear back to the state of a brown bear and maybe even into a new state (one that can tolerate high temperatures).

They did this because the Valenzetti Equation predicted that the polar bears would be extinct. The results of the DHARMA initiative show that it is possible to save animals from extinction, or moreover, it is possible to change the environment dependence of an animal.

Whether this was the only goal of the DHARMA initiative is unclear, however, it appears that DHARMA is completely dismantled.

The Hanso Foundation also has the Mental Health Appeal. If you look on the bios of the executive, you will see that the man all the way on the right had cancer of some sort, and after the Hanso Foundation cured him, he was offered a job with the HF as an executive. Remember how Libby was in the mental institution? The HF cured her with this initiative, and then hired her as an executive (The Liddy chick).

The Valenzetti Equation also predicts certain diseases that would happen on the planet. This is where the Worldwide Wellness and Prevention Development Program comes into play. The sickness that Danielle and company encountered was the disease that the VE predicted and that the WWPDP spread on the island. It was done to develop a prevention of the disease when it hits the world.

The HF has a Genomic Advancement Program, which is a program that creates ways for human advancement pre-emptively or even during adulthood. This could be the drug that is being implanted in Claire, or the drug that the people who man the hatch are taking, which is a way of creating a genomic advancement research. The idea being that maybe pushing the button is a way of telling whether the advancement is working. You have two guys down in the hatch for a year and a half who have to push the button every 108 minutes for that long. Maybe the first people down there didn?t last all 540 days, so the drug was changed, and then the next group was sent in and maybe they lasted longer, but not the entire 540 days and so on.

It is possible that eventually, a pair of people lasted 540 days, and so they changed the experiment to see the results of one person: Desmond. The reason Desmond crashed isn?t revealed, but I bet when we do find out, it will be HF related. This program is also used to find cures.

The EM research project that EVERYONE talks about could actually be quite simple. It is relatively unclear what exactly is being researched, but the Valenzetti Equation most likely predicts a change in the magnetic field of the earth, and so the magnet on the island is used to change the true north of the island. I don?t know what effects of this true north shift are being analyzed, but I will get into this later.

Finally, the Life Extension Project has to do with Joop. I don?t think Joop is on the island, but he may be important. I will discuss that later.

To sum up the first part of this theory, the Island is an independent land where the HF has acquired worldwide permission to use for research related to the Valenzetti Equation. There are multiple research teams on the island as of right now and each of them are independent of the other. Remember when the producers asked ?did Ethan know Goodwin?? They are part of two different research teams. Which means that the plane was separated for a reason.

We shall start with the middle section of the plane. Part of the WWPDP is to show that people live better and fuller lives when they are isolated from complications and have only simplistic issues to deal with. Now, I understand that a plane crash on an island isn?t exactly a ?simplistic? issue, but they are living better now. They have things provided to them, simple as they may be (water, food, shelter). They also have a basic collaboration of skilled people, meaning that the skills/personalities are diverse and useful enough to create a good enough general society for the purpose of this research. The reason for this is because the Valenzetti Equation predicts a coming event that is going to cause catastrophe and the ultimate result is going to be a limited number of survivors forced to form a universal community similar to the crash.

(As a better example explanation, if there is a catastrophic natural event to happen on Earth that kills off the majority of people on the planet as well as a great deal of technology, the disorientation of the people who survive would be almost exactly the same as the disorientation of the people in the plane crash. The difference is that the plane crash is just a smaller scale example.)

The ultimate purpose of this portion is to see how well they survive and what would be needed to ultimately recreate society after a high-extinction event.

The tail section was mainly a part of the Genomic Advancement Project. This is most likely to increase the speed of mental development. Remember when we saw Alex? She seemed extremely advanced for a 16 year old girl. A more generalized explanation could be this. Let us say that the VE predicts the a catastrophic to happen 15 years from now. It would be VERY beneficial for the children as of right now to develop mentally at an accelerated rate so that when the end comes, the younger people are more advanced and helpful than they would have been otherwise. Also, they can see the effects of advancing adults as well.

Of course, Claire was an outlier. She was taken for her kid obviously as part of the GAP, which means that there may be some kind of overlapping of research teams.

Assuming Libby is actually the HF executive in charge of the Mental Health Appeal, she is probably intentionally hanging around Hurley to see if the situation on the island is helpful to Hurley?s mental health (i.e. is it making it better/)

I know my descriptions are kind of sketchy and all over the place, so to give things a bit more order, here is a timeline.

Alvar Hanso addresses the UN to gain permission and access to conduct Valenzetti research on a remote location that the general world powers would keep secret from the rest of the world.

The HF sponsors the DHARMA Initiative to use the island as a result of the prediction by the VE about the extinction of Polar Bears.

The Incident occurs. If we assume the incident was fabricated, this would indicate the beginning of the GAP experiment with genetic enhancers. If the incident was real, it may refers to two separate research teams finding each other. Mainly, the Incident is VERY ambiguous and I think that we probably wont be able to infer what exactly happened and why it was an ?incident?.

A control tower begins to broadcast the numbers, resulting in Danielle?s boat crashing on the island. The ?sickness? is a disease created by the WWPDP as a result of the VE predicting this outbreak in the future. The quarantine words are spray painted in the manned hatches so the people in them are not exposed to the sickness.

The cure for the disease is released on the island in the form of a ?field? such that it remains there. This cure may actually not just cure the disease, but other ailments as well (resulting in the cures of Locke, Rose, and Jin).

Desmond?s boat crashes on the island and he is taken to the hatch by Kelvin to predicate another experiment.

Kelvin ?dies?.

The plane crashes, initiating more research projects as described above.

Basically, the VE is used by the HF to predict coming disasters. The HF has the approval of the UN to use the island as a generalized research area. The HF also has their approval to use methods that would be considered unlawful to conduct this research (intentionally causing a plane crash, using people as lab rats etc.). The reason is because the VE predicts the end of the world and the HF wants to ensure the continuation of the human race. The numbers are probably a result of the VE or a solution of the VE or something of that sort.

Death Tunnel

Five college girls who were attending an initiation party (themed "Truth or Scare") wake up inside an abandoned sanatorium. They are told (via a speaker system within the sanatorium) that they must spend five hours inside, each on a separate floor. The girls are warned that they must survive five ghosts during the night. Each girl finds newspaper clippings from the 1930s, and they learn that the sanatorium had previously been used during the so-called "White plague," and that thousands died from the disease - while many others killed themselves in the hospital. Although this starts off as prank, both the girls and the prankster find themselves in a fight to prevent history from repeating itself. They discover that there is only one way out of the sanatorium - the tunnel underneath the hospital, nicknamed the "Death Tunnel," as it was used to transport all of the bodies out of the hospital.

Damn interesting

Damn interesting is like a trashy novel that you can't put down. What would happen if you were exposed to the ravages of space without a suit? How about the details of Project Alpha and the Spoon Benders? Check out Damn interesting for the answers of this and so much more.

Make a Daft Punk costume

Here's an instructable to build a believable Daft Punk outfit.

Daft Punk outfit intructable

Pretty cool looking in the end...

Tag Galaxy - Fun with Flickr

Tag Galaxy is fun with flickr. You can select a keyword and then you will see a solar system with the keyword at the center. Select one of the revolving planets to narrow the search. Then click on the sun to see a photo-sphere of images from flickr.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

ubuntu - ushare - xbox360

Here's how to get ushare to work with your xbox360:

This will allow you to stream video (movies) form your ubuntu box to your xbox360.


sudo apt-get ushare

sudo gedit /etc/ushare.conf

Verify (or change 3 things):

(your interface)
USHARE_IFACE=eth0

(the directory with your media)
USHARE_DIR=/home/user/media

(enable xbox support)
USHARE_ENABLE_XBOX=yes


Save the file...

We need to add -x to the ushare daemon when it is launched...
so edit:

sudo gedit /etc/rc3.d/s20ushare

Near the top, add the following line:

USHARE_OPTIONS=-x

save the file...

then bounce the service.

sudo invoke-rc.d ushare stop
sudo invoke-rc.d ushare start

(in my experience, if your use sudo invoke-rc.d ushare restart, it will respawn too quickly... you can add a sleep statement in the restart script... or just to what I did above)

Restart your xbox360... enjoy.

Princess Bride

The Princess Bride is a 1987 film, based on the 1973 novel of the same name by William Goldman, combining comedy, adventure, romance and fantasy.





The movie was directed by Rob Reiner from a screenplay by Goldman. The story is presented in the movie as a book being read by a grandfather (Peter Falk) to his sick grandson (Fred Savage), thus echoing the book's narrative style.

This film is number 50 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies" and number 88 on The American Film Institute's (AFI) "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions" listing the 100 greatest film love stories of all time.

The Simpsons

The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its eponymous family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield, and lampoons many aspects of the human condition including American culture, society, and television.

The family was conceived by Groening shortly before a pitch for a series of animated shorts with the producer James L. Brooks. Groening created a dysfunctional family and named the characters after members of his own family, substituting Bart for his own name. The shorts became a part of The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. After a three-season run, the sketch was developed into a half-hour prime time show and was an early hit for Fox, becoming the first Fox series to land in the Top 30 ratings in a season (1989–1990).

Since its debut on December 17, 1989 the show has broadcast 434 episodes and the twentieth season began airing on September 28, 2008.[1] The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film, was released in theaters worldwide on July 26 and July 27, 2007, and has grossed approximately US$526.2 million worldwide to date.

The Simpsons has won dozens of awards since it debuted as a series, including 24 Emmy Awards, 26 Annie Awards and a Peabody Award. Time magazine's December 31, 1999 issue named it the 20th century's best television series, and on January 14, 2000 the Simpson family was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Simpsons is the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program and as of 2008 is tied with Gunsmoke as the longest running American primetime entertainment series. Homer's annoyed grunt "D'oh!" has been adopted into the English lexicon, while The Simpsons has influenced many adult-oriented animated sitcoms.

Format Wars of the 20th Century and beyond

A format war describes competition between mutually incompatible proprietary formats, typically for data storage devices and recording formats for electronic media. It is often characterized by political and financial influence on content publishers by the developers of the technologies. Developing companies may be characterized as engaging in a format war if they actively oppose or avoid interoperable open industry technical standards in favor of their own.

How Google Streetview Works

Here's a great illustration on how Google Streetview works.

The article goes on to say how google has been forced to alter images amid privacy protests.

Make a Mixtape

Mixtape.me keeps the mixtape alive. Create that perfect playlist of songs to tell that special someone exactly how you feel. Share your mixtape... just like high school.

Pink Elephant

A pink baby elephant has been caught on camera in Botswana.

A wildlife cameraman took pictures of the calf when he spotted it among a herd of about 80 elephants in the Okavango Delta.

Experts believe it is probably an albino, which is an extremely rare phenomenon in African elephants.

They are unsure of its chances of long-term survival - the blazing African sunlight may cause blindness and skin problems for the calf.

Mike Holding, who spotted the baby while filming for a BBC wildlife programme, said: "We only saw it for a couple of minutes as the herd crossed the river.

Source: BBC News

Steven Seagal

Cracked.com takes a pretty accurate stab at explaining the success of Steven Seagal's career.

Bailout Bonuses

XKCD makes a very valid point. Yes, the Bonuses are bone-headed. But this illustration puts things in perspective.

XKCD Bailout Bonuses

Friday, March 20, 2009

Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch

Pub evacuated after Monty Python prop mistaken for grenade
Bomb disposal teams were called in and buildings evacuated after workmen mistook a Monty Python film prop for a hand grenade.

But after nearly an hour of analysis bomb experts realised that the cause of the scare was in fact a copy of the "Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch" used by Eric Idle to slaughter a killer rabbit in the 1975 film Monty Python And The Holy Grail.

Classic!

41 shades of blue


Google Design -

Yes, it's true that a team at Google couldn't decide between two blues, so they're testing 41 shades between each blue to see which one performs better.

41 shades of blue? Man, how did I miss -that- meeting.

also:

"I had a recent debate over whether a border should be 3, 4, or 5 pixels wide, and was asked to prove my case."

Douglas Bowman clearly has made the right decision to leave Google ....

ical - exchange sync

Sync'em has finally allowed me to synchronize my exchange calendar to my iCal calendar. Additionally, I was able to get it to sync my Exchange public calendar with my iCal program as well. So, I wind up with my Exchange public calendar being synchronized with my "work" iCal calendar and it synchronizes my individual exchange calendar to my "personal" side of my iCal calendar. Slick program.

Nintendo launching App Store for DSi

Not to be out done by apple, Nintendo is going to launch an App store for their new DSi.

More details about the app store should be forthcoming at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco next week.

Sarah Gronert Tennis Controversy

Sarah Gronert, a 22-year-old pro from Germany, finds herself under scrutiny from her opponents and their coaches, who believe that a unique gender issue from birth should make her ineligible for the woman's tour.

Three years ago, those issues almost caused Gronert, ranked No. 619 in the world, to abandon her career. Though she has since returned to competitive tennis, the dialogue that continues to surround her relates not to her ability, but to her biology.

Gronert was born with male and female genitalia. After undergoing surgery, she's now medically certified as a woman. That's not good enough for some, though.

More at Fanhouse.com

Georgia Aquarium - Manta Ray

Judging by his eyes, the manta ray at the GA Aquarium is pretty big.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Turns 40

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Turns 40 today. The wonderful children's book that teaches about life cycles. 1)Egg 2) Caterpillar (Larva) 3) Pupa (Inside of the cocoon) and 4) Adult Butterfly.

Barack Obama on Jay Leno

For the time in history, a sitting President of the United States of America has appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Obama appeared to attempt to calm the American people about the slumping economy.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Go4Launch released

Want to have you Macintosh run a shell script on boot without logging in?

Go4Launch... Easily add startup tasks to Mac OS X using launchd services! Go4Launch does all the behind-the-scenes work and creates a "template" shell script that you can modify with a single click. Add your own commands to the shell script, save, and you're done!

iPhone OS 3.0

Recently Apple release details of their upcoming update to their iPhone OS. iPhone OS 3.0 is scheduled to be released in summer 2009. More details can be found on the iPhone 3.0 preview page on Apple's website.