Guess and Check

I saw a few TV commercials this evening that I found interesting. None of them explained anything about the product being advertised, but they all ended with text on the screen that read “No matter what happens, don’t flinch. To be continued.” So of course, I looked it up. What I found was this: Buddy Lee – Don’t Flinch.

The two I saw tonight were “Appliances” and “Centerfold”. They seem to be some sort of preview for the other ones: “Pretty Woman”, “Gawkers”, and “Hello”. What’s really interesting is the link to a fake weblog for the ninety foot babe. They even had her post about the upcoming commercials.

It really looks like they put some effort into this. I’m guessing that at least one person had a great time thinking all this up. Whoever did the weblog must have had fun too. And it’s just one error away from being valid XHTML 1.0.

I hear that Ken Jennings finally lost a game. It was taped this past Tuesday, September 7th.

It reportedly was the seventy-fifth game he played. I know tonight’s show is going to be his forty-second win, so it looks like we are several few weeks away.

Here’s to Ken and the two and a half million dollars he’ll have in late October. Good job.

Here’s a great article: Inside Al-Qaeda’s Hard Drive

Alan Cullison, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, discovered two Al Qaeda computers during the time he spent in Afghanistan. This article details some of his findings and really gives some amazing insight into what was going on in the minds of some of Al Qaeda’s members.

Here’s an interesting headline: Knightley signs autographs in the nude.

Whoa. I like this true professional.

Okay, I think I know what Bush was trying to say, but what he actually said is still funny. And make sure you watch the movie (.mov).

Yesterday, I read a Slashdot article on Katie Jones and the trouble she’d been having with Penguin Putnam.

Here’s a summary of the story: Katie Tarbox was a victim of an online sexual predator. She wrote a book about it in 2000. After trying the name “girl.com” (no go, it was a hardcore porn site), the book was named “Katie.Com” by Putnam. Now, katie.com is registered to Katie Jones and has been since 1996. Tarbox’s lawyer was demanding that Jones turn over the domain name.

This morning, Ms. Jones was interviewed by GrepLaw. Interesting to note that all the negative reviews that the Slashdot faithful added to the book’s Amazon.com listing were removed. Three hours and six minutes later, Slashdot posted that the book had been renamed.

Pretty cool, huh?

Capitol Hill Blue: Bush Using Drugs to Control Depression, Erratic Behavior.

President George W. Bush is taking powerful anti-depressant drugs to
control his erratic behavior, depression and paranoia, Capitol Hill Blue has learned.

It gets worse… (Note: contains some profanity.)
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CNN Report: Afghanistan could implode. Yeah, this doesn’t sound good at all.

Kerry gave his acceptance speech tonight. I didn’t catch it. I did hear some bits of it this afternoon on the radio though. Hey, curious about those rumors on his medals? Here’s the real scoop.

Oh, and I’m looking forward to September 14th. And sometime during the middle of August. Mmm…

Here’s something interesting: Twelve-Year-Old Girl Wows Convention Delegates. The best part is when she gets on Cheney’s case:

“When our vice president had a disagreement with a Democratic senator, he used a really bad word,” Ilana said. “If I said that word, I would be put in a timeout. I think he should be put in a timeout.”

It seems that this girl founded kidsforkerry.org. Wow.

One minute of why I respect soldiers: Ambush.wmv.

Note: Contains some foul language. And some war.

The September 11th Commission issued their final report (pdf) yesterday. Quite a read.

One interesting thing is the transcript of the cockpit recorder on United Airlines Flight 93. It’s on pages 13-14 in the full report. For a partial transcript, see this Reuters article.

Hands down, those passengers are heros.

NASA just released some digitized photos from the Apollo 11 mission. Check them out. Amazing stuff.

Also cool: these Saturn images. They just keep getting cooler and cooler.

But alas, things don’t look that good for NASA’s budget. Bah.

Wikipedia‘s article on Barbara and Jenna Bush lists their date of birth as November 25, 1981. That would make them twenty-two years old.

Then why is Jenna acting like she’s five?

A while back, Jordan had posted about photographer’s rights. A great find.

That printout would have come in handy for this guy. But don’t forget about that recent US Supreme Court Decision.

So this morning at work we had our monthly safety meeting. I get to the conference room early, and sit down near the back next to the only other person there, a gentleman by the name of Igor Palley. Now, this dude is smart. He was just named “Inventor of the Year” by the New Jersey Research and Development Council for inventing SpectraShield (pdf), a high-strength organic fiber for protective clothing and body armor. He’s got a sheet of paper in front of him and he is just going to town on the thing, filling it will cool looking math.

So anyway, people start to filter in and the group starts talking about Ken Jennings. One person brings up the recent New York Times article on him titled “O.K., Alex, Smart Nerds for $1 Million”. Another talks about the great service he is doing for nerds around the country. A really good conversation.
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“You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.” — Lyndon B. Johnson

Senate Joint Resolution 40 and House Joint Resolution 56.

I can’t see any benefits.

Well, I updated to Firefox 0.9.1 a few hours ago. I had been using 0.8 since mid-June and had been waiting on 0.9 for a little while. It only took me eleven minutes from arriving to the FireFox page until browsing readiness. That includes reading the release notes, backing up 0.8, downloading, installing, getting the Qute theme, and installing all my extensions.

I chuckle over an article I saw recently. It seems The Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team recommends not using Internet Explorer because of recent vulnerabilities being exposed.

Heh heh.

Well, it’s a good thing this girl wasn’t driving and talking on her cell phone. The thing caught fire in her back pocket.

Today was the first day of New Jersey’s new ban on handheld cell phones while driving. During my drive home from work today, I noticed the driver in front of me using on of those hands-free headsets to talk. It didn’t seem to make a difference in his case, as he was all over the place, kind of making these jerky moves from one side of his lane to the other. But of course, I could be wrong. He might not have been driving erratically because of his distracting phone call. He could have been inebriated or something.