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Archives for February 2004
Still Pining
I don’t know what to do. It’s been almost three years and Basie is still depressed about losing his cush dotcom gig. He gets nostalgic whenever he sits in my chair. Then he starts drinking.
Their Real Passion
My wife teaches at an all-girls Catholic school in Virginia. The following story is true, but the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
[Scene opens with two sixth grade girls standing next to each other at
their lockers. One girl is putting books in her backpack and the other girl
is looking in a mirror on her locker door putting on chapstick.]
Backpack girl: So, you saw The Passion last night, right?
Chapstick girl: Right. With my parents.
BPG: You have to tell me, was Jesus hot?
CSG: Um (she bites her lip as she pauses to think) no, not really. (she
turns and faces her friend) But one of the apostles, now HE was HOT!
Spare Bay?
And just when I was trying to decide what to do with that spare drive bay on the front of my PC: a cigarette lighter.
Now I just need to figure out where to put the tail fins?
The First Step In Security
Yet another Microsoft ad with an airbrushed Apple Powerbook surfaced today. Won’t they ever learn?
The ad, oddly enough, is for security offerings that “better protect your infrastructure and applications from security threats.” Maybe Microsoft is finally admitting that avoiding their products is a good first step towards secure computing.
Best Amazon List
This is the funniest thing I’ve seen all year. Enjoy.
Hacking Pepsi’s iTunes Promotion
The friendly folks over at MacMerc.com have posted instructions for gaming Pepsi’s free music download promotion.
Have fun kids.
Pretty Good Year for Philatelists
Looks like I will soon be hoarding the following stamps, which are scheduled for release this year:
Rule of Thumb
Heard a great Vladamir Nabokov quote on NPR today:
Portraits of the head of the government should not exceed a postage stamp in size.
More Shameless Self-Promotion
I’m quoted in a story on blogging in the Business section of today’s Washington Post.
It’s definitely a community. You would tend to think that a technology like this would make it easier for people to avoid personal interaction, but it’s just actually the opposite.
The Ban the Ban blog (which I designed) is also mentioned in the article, in addition to my personal blog.
I thought the story was pretty good, but I would like to make two things very clear:
- I am a former non-policy Cato employee and nothing I have ever said or written should be associated with the Cato Institute.
- The “Cato Blog Mafia” is not an official organization–and, as such, has no “members.” And I certainly did not come up with the name.
I was quite amused to see a quote from Alexis Rice in the story. She was on the same floor in my freshman dorm (Thurston) at GWU. I remember setting up her first web page back in ‘97.
Pardon Me?
It occurred to me a few weeks ago that several of my recent observations might somehow be related:
- I’m always either turning up the volume on the television or hitting the eight-second rewind button on the TiVo to catch something I missed.
- I find myself saying “Pardon me?” extremely frequently.
- My wife often tells me I’m being loud and obnoxious–sometimes when I haven’t even been drinking.
So I went and had my hearing checked by an audiologist. The image below is a summary of my hearing sensitivity at various frequencies for each ear. Anything below the blue line would be evidence of hearing loss.
So it seems that everything’s cool and my wife’s right. I am just loud and obnoxious.
The audiologist did, however, convince me that it would be a pretty good idea to wear earplugs when I’m playing with the the band. She fitted me for a pair of Sensaphonics ER-25s, which are much more comfortable than the one-size-fits-all variety I used for a while back in high school. The really nice thing about them is that the attenuators inside reduce all frequencies relatively evenly, so you don’t lose the brightness.
I suppose I shouldn’t worry so much. By the time I actually do go deaf I’m sure it won’t be a big deal. Can you imagine what cochlear implants will be like 30 years from now?
Late last night I had an idea. Wouldn’t it be great if I could create a ranked list of sites based on the collective tastes of my friends and friends of those friends? So I wrote a quick-and-dirty script to spider all the links on my blog to three levels out and write all the link URLs to a database table along with some metadata on each URL (parent URL, domain, etc.). The resulting table had over 200,000 rows. I then ran a SQL query on the table to return the 100 URLs that were most frequently linked to from outside their own domain. The resulting list shows each URL and the number of external links in the network that referenced the URL. 1. [movabletype.org][1] - 159 2. [blogger.com][2] - 80 3. [instapundit.com][3] - 74 4. [theagitator.com][4] - 70 5. [volokh.com][5] - 59 6. [andrewsullivan.com][6] - 55 7. [juliansanchez.com/notes.html][7] - 54 8. [boingboing.net][8] - 52 9. [kottke.org][9] - 52 10. [willwilkinson.net/flybottle][10] - 49 11. [highclearing.com][11] - 46 12. [reason.com/hitandrun][12] - 45 13. [talkingpointsmemo.com][13] - 45 14. [janegalt.net][14] - 43 15. [reason.com][15] - 39 16. [slashdot.org][16] - 39 17. [matthewyglesias.com][17] - 36 18. [aldaily.com][18] - 35 19. [samizdata.net/blog][19] - 35 20. [eve-tushnet.blogspot.com][20] - 34 21. [nationalreview.com/thecorner/corner.asp][21] - 34 22. [dashes.com/anil][22] - 33 23. [genehealy.com][23] - 33 24. [crookedtimber.org][24] - 32 25. [oxblog.blogspot.com][25] - 32 26. [drudgereport.com][26] - 31 27. [j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type][27] - 31 28. [vodkapundit.com][28] - 31 29. [atrios.blogspot.com][29] - 30 30. [kausfiles.com][30] - 30 31. [lileks.com/bleats][31] - 30 32. [mattwelch.com/warblog.html][32] - 30 33. [nytimes.com][33] - 30 34. [dynamist.com/weblog][34] - 29 35. [cato.org][35] - 28 36. [denbeste.nu][36] - 28 37. [doc.weblogs.com][37] - 28 38. [calpundit.com][38] - 27 39. [nielsenhayden.com/electrolite][39] - 27 40. [creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0][40] - 26 41. [metafilter.com][41] - 26 42. [nationalreview.com][42] - 26 43. [techcentralstation.com][43] - 26 44. [theonion.com][44] - 26 45. [windsofchange.net][45] - 26 46. [nickdenton.org][46] - 25 47. [validator.w3.org/check/referer][47] - 25 48. [washingtonpost.com][48] - 25 49. [brinklindsey.com][49] - 24 50. [colbycosh.com][50] - 24 51. [jessewalker.blogspot.com][51] - 24 52. [megnut.com][52] - 24 53. [appellateblog.blogspot.com][53] - 23 54. [danieldrezner.com/blog][54] - 23 55. [gawker.com][55] - 23 56. [google.com][56] - 23 57. [pejmanesque.com][57] - 23 58. [rightwingnews.com][58] - 23 59. [salon.com][59] - 22 60. [tomgpalmer.com][60] - 22 61. [buzzmachine.com][61] - 21 62. [deanesmay.com][62] - 21 63. [diveintomark.org][63] - 21 64. [obernews.typepad.com][64] - 21 65. [site-essential.com][65] - 21 66. [tacitus.org][66] - 21 67. [talkleft.com][67] - 21 68. [a.wholelottanothing.org][68] - 20 69. [kenlayne.com][69] - 20 70. [nataliesolent.blogspot.com][70] - 20 71. [oliverwillis.com][71] - 20 72. [s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/subst/fx/help/how-we-know.html][72] - 20 73. [wired.com][73] - 20 74. [wonkette.com][74] - 20 75. [aintnobaddude.com][75] - 19 76. [amygdalagf.blogspot.com][76] - 19 77. [andrewdavidchamberlain.com][77] - 19 78. [blogwise.com][78] - 19 79. [dailykos.com][79] - 19 80. [joannejacobs.com][80] - 19 81. [news.google.com][81] - 19 82. [orkut.com][82] - 19 83. [pjdoland.com/revolution][83] - 19 84. [scripting.com][84] - 19 85. [timblair.spleenville.com][85] - 19 86. [volokh.blogspot.com][86] - 19 87. [2blowhards.com][87] - 18 88. [amitai-notes.com/blog][88] - 18 89. [asmallvictory.net][89] - 18 90. [balloon-juice.com][90] - 18 91. [caseylartigue.blogspot.com][91] - 18 92. [cyberlaw.stanford.edu/lessig/blog][92] - 18 93. [evhead.com][93] - 18 94. [interglobal.org/weblog][94] - 18 95. [marginalrevolution.com][95] - 18 96. [markarkleiman.com][96] - 18 97. [nowarblog.org][97] - 18 98. [scrappleface.com][98] - 18 99. [themorningnews.org][99] - 18 100. [typepad.com][100] - 18 [1]: http://movabletype.org [2]: http://blogger.com [3]: http://instapundit.com [4]: http://theagitator.com [5]: http://volokh.com [6]: http://andrewsullivan.com [7]: http://juliansanchez.com/notes.html [8]: http://boingboing.net [9]: http://kottke.org [10]: http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle [11]: http://highclearing.com [12]: http://reason.com/hitandrun [13]: http://talkingpointsmemo.com [14]: http://janegalt.net [15]: http://reason.com [16]: http://slashdot.org [17]: http://matthewyglesias.com [18]: http://aldaily.com [19]: http://samizdata.net/blog [20]: http://eve-tushnet.blogspot.com [21]: http://nationalreview.com/thecorner/corner.asp [22]: http://dashes.com/anil [23]: http://genehealy.com [24]: http://crookedtimber.org [25]: http://oxblog.blogspot.com [26]: http://drudgereport.com [27]: http://j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type [28]: http://vodkapundit.com [29]: http://atrios.blogspot.com [30]: http://kausfiles.com [31]: http://lileks.com/bleats [32]: http://mattwelch.com/warblog.html [33]: http://nytimes.com [34]: http://dynamist.com/weblog [35]: http://cato.org [36]: http://denbeste.nu [37]: http://doc.weblogs.com [38]: http://calpundit.com [39]: http://nielsenhayden.com/electrolite [40]: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0 [41]: http://metafilter.com [42]: http://nationalreview.com [43]: http://techcentralstation.com [44]: http://theonion.com [45]: http://windsofchange.net [46]: http://nickdenton.org [47]: http://validator.w3.org/check/referer [48]: http://washingtonpost.com [49]: http://brinklindsey.com [50]: http://colbycosh.com [51]: http://jessewalker.blogspot.com [52]: http://megnut.com [53]: http://appellateblog.blogspot.com [54]: http://danieldrezner.com/blog [55]: http://gawker.com [56]: http://google.com [57]: http://pejmanesque.com [58]: http://rightwingnews.com [59]: http://salon.com [60]: http://tomgpalmer.com [61]: http://buzzmachine.com [62]: http://deanesmay.com [63]: http://diveintomark.org [64]: http://obernews.typepad.com [65]: http://site-essential.com [66]: http://tacitus.org [67]: http://talkleft.com [68]: http://a.wholelottanothing.org [69]: http://kenlayne.com [70]: http://nataliesolent.blogspot.com [71]: http://oliverwillis.com [72]: http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/subst/fx/help/how-we-know.html [73]: http://wired.com [74]: http://wonkette.com [75]: http://aintnobaddude.com [76]: http://amygdalagf.blogspot.com [77]: http://andrewdavidchamberlain.com [78]: http://blogwise.com [79]: http://dailykos.com [80]: http://joannejacobs.com [81]: http://news.google.com [82]: http://orkut.com [83]: http://pjdoland.com/revolution [84]: http://scripting.com [85]: http://timblair.spleenville.com [86]: http://volokh.blogspot.com [87]: http://2blowhards.com [88]: http://amitai-notes.com/blog [89]: http://asmallvictory.net [90]: http://balloon-juice.com [91]: http://caseylartigue.blogspot.com [92]: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/lessig/blog [93]: http://evhead.com [94]: http://interglobal.org/weblog [95]: http://marginalrevolution.com [96]: http://markarkleiman.com [97]: http://nowarblog.org [98]: http://scrappleface.com [99]: http://themorningnews.org [100]: http://typepad.com
