davextreme: November 2006

30 November 2006

U.S. Currency Discriminates Against Blind, Judge Rules

“Of the more than 180 countries that issue paper currency, only the United States prints bills that are identical in size and color in all their denominations.”

DC Animated Universe Wiki

For my money, the DC Animated stories are the proper versions of most of the characters.

kwc blog: Matching Donations Project

29 November 2006

Carbon content of fossil fuels and dinosaurs

How many tyrannosaurs in a gallon of gasoline?

28 November 2006

The Design of the Mac OS X Shutdown Feature

Piece on how the same feature was done in Mac OS X. I agree that there needn’t be any options at all. Either you don’t use your computer for a few minutes and it sleeps, or you hit the power button.

The Windows Shutdown crapfest

Response to “Choices = Headaches” by a member of the Vista team who worked on that menu.

Choices = Headaches

Excellent piece on how offering too many choices (here, 17 different ways to turn off your computer on Windows Vista) is worse than giving people too few choices.

27 November 2006

A broken TV tastes like eating crow

“Blogs and newspapers both love to do this: find a silly outlier story to discredit/attack/mock a new trend.”

PvP: The Series

In 2007, PvP will begin releasing animated episodes. Very cool.

26 November 2006

25 November 2006

YouTube ups CBS ratings

Should be obvious: put your shows online so people who missed them can watch them, and they will.

22 November 2006

New Mobile-Device Purchase Makes Asshole More Versatile

“McClain, a douchebag, first became familiar with the BlackBerry when they were issued to all members of his group in 2002.”

21 November 2006

Something (I think) very cool about the Wii is that it was designed to use very little power so that you can leave it on 24 hours a day, enabling it to download updates and demos when you’re not using it. According to Kotaku, the power consumption breaks down thusly:

Wii:

In Standby Mode: 10w
Idle @ Wii menu: 17w
Running a Wii Game (Test with Zelda / Trauma Center) in 480i: 17w

[…]
XBOX 360:

In Standby Mode: 2w
Idle @ Dashboard: ~140w
Running a Game: ~160w
Playing a DVD: ~110w

Allowing for 3 hours of play a day, with either console left in standby for the other 21 hours, that means the Wii uses 261 watts while the 360 uses 522 watts, or exactly twice the power the Wii uses.

Flickr: Camera Finder

See photos taken by a particular camera.

20 November 2006

Welcome to the next generation

From Kotaku: “Welcome to the next-gen […] it’s all about unfinished products and micro-transactions.”

A Weekend Full of Quality Time With PlayStation 3 - New York Times

Scathing review of the PS3 that “just isn’t that great.”

18 November 2006

Updating Twitter via iChat or AIM status message

Handy, though not too user friendly as you have to execute it via the Terminal.

17 November 2006

Twitter

DrOct and I played around with Twitter a little today. It’s a strange service. I didn’t quite understand it until using it some. The tagline on the site reads, “A global community of friends and strangers answering one simple question: What are you doing?” You sign up (for free naturally) and you’re presented a big box asking, “What are you doing?” Type something in, you’ve got a post. Nothing new there. You can befriend other members. Nothing new there, either. The fun comes in the notification system. When you make a post, all your friends get it, via their choice of text message, Google Talk/Jabber chat, or RSS.

The question, of course, is, why would I want a constant stream of updates on what my friends are doing? Probably you wouldn’t, if your friends are just sitting at work. But if they’re playing an online game I could join in on, maybe I would. If they’re out hanging out somewhere, maybe I would. If they just saw Fabio on the street, I totally want to know. The key is that it’s really easy to update (you can do it by text, or in a chat window, or on Twitter’s site), and everyone who’s your friend gets a ping immediately. You can tell everyone something all at once.

In effect what you get is an always-on, available-anywhere chat room. If you’re at your computer, you can get your Twitter stream via chat. If you’re on the road, you can get it via SMS. How useful or fun it is I guess depends on how your friends use it. I can see over-use resulting in way too many text messages. Still, it might be fun for sharing instant anecdotes. I’m not totally sold on the service, but I’ll be playing around with it for the next bunch of days. I’m twitter.com/davextreme if you want to add me.

7 more for Veronica Mars

20 episodes isn’t quite a full season, but much better than cancellation.

16 November 2006

Civil War Room 5: Tom Brevoort Talks #5

(Spoilers)

Talking Civil War, Millarworld II, &'08 with Millar

Talking Civil War, Millarworld II, & ‘08 with Millar

Quorn Turk'y Roast

For the vegetarians out there, the best fake turkey I’ve found is Quorn brand Turk’y Roast. Once you get it hot and slice it, it’s a very good approximation of the real thing, and in my book I’d much rather contribute to the slaughter of fungus than of foul. I’m going hunting tonight to try to catch one for Thanksgiving.

Sci-Fi Book List

Here’s two facts about me that, if you knew me, you might have thought weren’t true:

I’m not very well read when it comes to sci-fi and fantasy novels
I’ve never played a pen and paper role-playing game

Via kwc, here’s a list and some instructions.

This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club. Bold the ones you’ve read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put an asterisk beside the ones you loved.

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien *
The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
Dune, Frank Herbert
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
Cities in Flight, James Blish
The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card *
The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
Gateway, Frederik Pohl
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling *
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams *
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice *
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
Little, Big, John Crowley
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
On the Beach, Nevil Shute
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
Ringworld, Larry Niven
Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
Timescape, Gregory Benford
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

So yeah, 8/50. Guess I have a good list to work from once I finish what I’m reading now.

Click to call in Google Maps

Wow, that’s a strange and possibly very useful feature. I guess Google’s just trying to figure out how to spend its money now.

15 November 2006

On the Edge of Blade Runner

Good documentary about Blade Runner.

Twitter

Signed up for this a bit ago and never did much with it. An odd service that could be fun if lots of friends were on it.

Abominations

A scientific study released recently revealed that humans contain some Neanderthal DNA. Neanderthals and humans are different species, so this means there was some freaky inter-species mating going on. Slate’s Explainer column today presents an article titled, “Can humans mate with other animals?”

Now, that title’s pretty badass on its own. I mean, who *wouldn’t *want to read about that? But it’s not until the second-to-last paragraph that it truly blew my mind (emphasis added):

Neanderthals weren’t our ancestors’ only dalliance with other primates. “Pre-humans” and “pre-chimpanzees” interbred and gave birth to hybrids millions of years ago. In the 1920s, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin sent an animal-breeding expert to Africa in hopes of creating an army of half-man, half-monkey soldiers. Attempts both to inseminate women with monkey sperm and impregnate female chimpanzees with human sperm failed.

How, I ask you, how could any journalist write an article containing those words — presented as fact — and not decide to write more on the topic? Half-human, half-monkey commies don’t deserve their own article? Here’s Slate’s source, for further reading.

Imagine this little guy on the wrong side.

Monkey Soldier

'C-List Celebrity Killer' Leaves Police Enthusiastically Guessing Who's Next

‘C-List Celebrity Killer’ Leaves Police Enthusiastically Guessing Who’s Next

“Just when we thought we’d cracked the code, Molly Ringwald turned up bound and strangled in a Beverly Hills motel room.”

Can humans mate with other animals?

Make sure you read to the end for a mind-blowing historical fact.

ieCapture

I was looking for this the other day. Takes a screenshot of a webpage in Internet Explorer, for testing if you’re designing a website with a Mac.

Luise2

Crazy hotel room that’s made to look like it’s a cartoon. Click around for lots of other theme rooms.

Talking Heroes and Comics with Tim Sale

One tidbit: the paintings on the show are actually just drawings Sale does that the blow up and print onto canvas.

14 November 2006

IGN's Top 50 Lost Loose Ends

IGN’s Top 50 Lost Loose Ends

Favorite Retro Pop Songs Ruined in Commercials

Man, I hate the Maxwell House “Our House” ad.

13 November 2006

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for Wii Preview

Two page article on how the controls work. Ah anticipation.

Ars Technica iPod shuffle review

Man, these things look super cool. Too bad I have almost no use for one.

Sunday's Boondocks, on video game violence

Sunday’s Boondocks, on video game violence

Rare stamp may be sealed in Florida ballot box

A rare 1918 stamp with an upside down plane on it may have come in on an absentee ballot, but the law forbids anyone to open the ballot box for 22 months.

10 November 2006

Studio 60 Gets Full Season

In Your Hands

Pictures of things in front of the things of which they’re a picture. (via glynn)

Spider-Man 3 Trailer

09 November 2006

It's All About the Thomases

It’s All About the Thomases

The $2 bill is sweeping the nation, apparently.

Q&A with Carlton Cuse & Damon Lindelof

A few teasers about the rest of this season of Lost.

Allen to Concede Election This Afternoon

Cyber-Neologoliferation

New York Times piece on how the new version of the OED is coming along, and how it considers new words coming from the internet.

"Brooklyn Style Pizza" Meets the Real Deal

“Brooklyn Style Pizza” Meets the Real Deal

How does Domino’s new pizza compare to actual Brooklyn pizza?

Gamestop, EB Only Selling Zelda Bundled Online

“Seriously, why do you people shop at these places? Surly, often grossly misinformed employees […] plus scornful looks and venomous reprimands from the staff when I don’t pre-order a game ahead of time—it plainly sucks.”

08 November 2006

More Virtual Console games

Sweet: Dr. Mario (NES) confirmed.

[Boy on a Stick and Slither]

“Feel Good Feelings”

Video Game Sheet Music

Get the Morrison Method!

Some info on how to read Seven Soldiers.

07 November 2006

Today is the end of the electronic voting machine

Daily Kos piece on why we should move to Oregon-style vote-by-mail systems.

How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic

List of how to address various points of skepticism about global warming.

Best Served Cold

RFJ’s take on the recent Republican sex scandals.

06 November 2006

List of Firefly curse words

There was no doubt in my head that when I wanted to look this up, Wikipedia would have an entry for it.

List of fictional expletives

Linking to the “F” anchor, for “frak.”

Deceiving Pictures

Just a fun set of odd photos.

05 November 2006

Child's Play 2006

Child’s Play 2006

Donate a toy, game, or movie to a children’s hospital for kids to play while they’re stuck in recovery.

Saddam Verdict Timed Around Midterms?, Nation: Judgment Date Sounds Convenient For GOP - CBS News

03 November 2006

Voting Flyer

The number of people who don’t vote in major elections bothers me. I’ll spare the rant about that, and just provide an idea on the matter: on Monday (the day before the election) I’m going to post simple flyers in the elevators in my building telling my neighbors where to vote. I suggest that if you live in a big building that you should do the same. It isn’t hard, because everyone who lives in your building should be able to vote at the same place (assuming they’ve properly registered to vote at their current address).

People don’t vote for three basic reasons: they don’t care, they don’t know how, or they forget. You can’t do much about the first one very easily, but you can remind your neighbors when and where to vote.

A few guidelines:

Keep it simple. All we want to do is remind people to vote. At the top, put a simple header like, “Remember to Vote on Tuesday, November 7.”
Include the name of the polling place, like “Springfield Elementary” or “St. Charles Church.”
Include the address of the polling place and a simple map.
Include the times that your polling place will be open. You should be able to find this info online. (Here’s Virginia’s voting information page.)
Do not include any politics. Don’t tell people for whom to vote, and don’t busy up the page with a summary of the issues. They can look this up themselves, and the parties will probably have people handing out flyers at the polling place.

Again, the idea here is just to post a simple reminder to your neighbors, not to persuade them to vote one way or another.

Ambient Signifiers

Neat piece on how little cues and design touches can add up to influence experience.

US Presidential Speeches Tag Cloud

Drag the slider to the left or right to see what words each president used most. Guess which one President Bush uses.

Hilarious pie-chart

02 November 2006

best of craigslist : Metro and the war on fatties...

best of craigslist : Metro and the war on fatties…

Man, I never thought of these as lard guards until now.

Top 100 Hubble photographs

Images taken by the Hubble telescope.

01 November 2006

Election 2006: Senate and House Races Updated Daily

This site was a fun one to watch in 2004, though polls have lots of flaws.

TV 2006 So Far

Sweeps is not yet upon us, but the TV season is well under way, so it’s a good time to take a look at how things are shaking up.

First, word is that next year NBC is going to join the rest of the networks in cutting back their scripted series to 9:00 slots and running reality stuff at 8:00. My guess is that this is going to continue to erode the golden age we’re enjoying right now. Basically what happened I think is that the demand for higher production quality due to competition and the HDTV push caused a lot of shows to end up costing too much. A new show that no one watches still costs well over a million dollars an episode, so that’s a lot of money for a studio to hazard. Also, hits such as 24 and Lost made a huge splash, but now studios are getting sloppy and just trying knock-offs (Vanished, Kidnapped, The Nine) which aren’t faring well.

Anyway, on to the shows…

The Simpsons

Honestly I’m worried about what the movie is going to do to the franchise. For any other show, I’d much prefer it to go out when it’s at its highpoint. For The Simpsons, I simply don’t want it to ever end. I’d even be okay with them replacing the voice actors with sound-alikes, just so that there are still new episodes every Sunday for the rest of my life. Sure, we all know that it hasn’t been its funniest in years, but each episode still has enough jokes to make it worthwhile.

Desperate Housewives

Has anyone else noticed that the show went from being all spooky mystery with odd characters to a screwball comedy hour? The introduction of Kyle MacLachlan as Bree’s new man with a mysterious past has helped, but I simply don’t care about Susan’s continuing bufoonery, Mike’s coma, or really even Lynette’s inability to support her husband’s desire not to be corporate shill his whole life.

Heroes

Somehow Heroes managed to be the show that it seems like everyone is watching. Was Smallville just too early to the party with the whole “no cape, no tights” thing? I like that they’re going for this big, continuing story thing, and it’s good that they seem to have it all plotted out to the end of the season, but it’s not all sticking together, either. For example, we’ve known for two weeks now that somehow Hiro needs to save Claire’s life, yet we’ve seen her in no danger whatsoever, and she even has the show’s villain protecting her. A little dramatic irony couldn’t hurt here. Also, for a show with as many characters, I find that the only ones who interest me are Hiro and Nathan. Peter’s annoying, Claire has no personality, Niki’s only cool when she’s evil, Mohinder’s story hasn’t gone anywhere, etc.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

Oh Aaron Sorkin, how you have let me down! I like this show, yet I don’t disagree with its many critics. It is too pretentious. The show-within-a-show isn’t very funny. On the plus side, Matthew Perry has turned out to be a great actor (which I knew from his appearances on The West Wing), I really like D.L. Hugley’s character, and Nate Corrdry is wonderful. The show suffers from Sorkin’s need to make the character seem like they’re doing the most important work of their lives (as if they were working for the president of the United States of something) instead of putting on a comedy show. I have hopes that NBC will give it a shot though and not just hang it out to wither and die.

Veronica Mars

I’d like to say that this show is as good as it’s always been, but there’s an energy that’s been lost somewhere. Each episode seems to be fine, but put them together and they’re not quite as compelling. The first season’s mystery directly affected Veronica’s life. The second season’s mystery lingered on too long. This season they’ve decided to make the main mystery story shorter, which is a good call, but it doesn’t seem to be as compelling as it should be. On the plus side, the change in setting from high school to college hasn’t hurt the show at all, and that’s often a killer transition for a series.

Boston Legal

I don’t care about all about the new characters, but William Shatner and James Spader are still great. Lincoln, the creepy neighbor character from the major case of the last few episodes is a great addition to the show’s already quirky ensemble, and the recurring joke about Denny’s little person girlfriend always sidling in to hear conversations when he doesn’t know she’s in the room is funny every single time.

Lost

Sigh. The format that made the show so great seems to be working against it here. When it started, and we didn’t know anything about the characters, the flashback sequences and the slow pace made for tantalizing reveals. Now, we basically know what we need to know about them, but we’re stuck with 20 minutes of filler each week just to find out a few small facts that don’t change what we knew about them already or add anything remarkably new. Only two more episodes left before the show goes on hiatus until 2007. I’m guessing they’ve got some suitably shocking ideas ready to pounce, but I’m worried that since I’m already used to the show throwing out crazy ideas, they’ll have to be super extra crazy to really shock me.

The Office

Great as usual. I like the continued development of the Pam and Jim relationship. My guess is that they’ll be closing Jim’s branch at some point and he’ll be forced to move back.

Smallville

Wonderful so far. The introduction of Green Arrow, while a tad too gadget-heavy (a compound bow isn’t cool enough on its own? it has to fold up, too?), has nicely brought the concept of heroism to the fore. Clark’s starting to realize that he has a calling to do more with his powers than bail Lana out once a week. The rivalry between Ollie and Lex is nice, too, and I’m looking forward to finally seeing Lex snap and go all-out evil.

Battlestar Galactica

Currently my favorite show on TV. Could any other show pull of having the main characters employ suicide bombers? Crazy mix of science fiction with real world issues. Has characters with lots of depth to them. This show is just as compelling as when it started.

Others

Meerkat Manor rocks. The various CSI series continue to do what they do (for the record, my favorite is Las Vegas, then New York, then Miami). Grey’s Anatomy is still not as good as you think it is.