Exceed RC F-4E Phantom 4-Channel RC Jet w/ Brushless & LiPo Setup 64mm EDF RTF Radio Controlled Jet - POWERFUL & FAST / 70 MPH

Exceed RC F-4E Phantom 4-Channel RC Jet w/ Brushless & LiPo Setup 64mm EDF RTF Radio Controlled Jet - POWERFUL & FAST / 70 MPH: "The F-4E Phantom EDF RC Jet is the latest creation from Exceed RC and there IS a difference as to who designs these, this F4-E jet just has the magic touch, and it shows in the scale accuracy of the overall plane, and also in a lot of thoughtful little details and engineering that really make it stand out from the competition.
It's beautiful! Small, and very high performance..."

YouTube - Sugar Loaf -- Bossa Nova guitar lesson

YouTube - Sugar Loaf -- Bossa Nova guitar lesson: "Best fomat I have seen while searching for leasons to learn bossa nova. Thanks for posting."

YouTube - Principles of economics, translated

YouTube - Principles of economics, translated: "'Mankiw's 10 principles of economics, translated for the uninitiated', by Yoram Bauman, http://www.standupeconomist.com . Presented at the AAAS humor session, February 16, 2007."

Greg Mankiw's Blog: How do the right and left differ?

Greg Mankiw's Blog: How do the right and left differ?: "The conclusion of today's ec 10 lecture:

In today's lecture, I have discussed a number of reasons that right-leaning and left-leaning economists differ in their policy views, even though they share an intellectual framework for analysis. Here is a summary."

What are the best programming articles? - Stack Overflow

What are the best programming articles? - Stack Overflow: "Part of being a good software developer is keeping current with what people are saying in the community. There are many good articles out there on the internet about the wide subject of computer programming. What articles have you found worth your time?"

CodeGuru: Un-Dynamics of Software Development, or, Don't Bite the Flip Bozo

CodeGuru: Un-Dynamics of Software Development, or, Don't Bite the Flip Bozo:
"# Don't say anything.
# Begin your statements with yeah, no a lot so that it sounds like you are being agreeable even when you disagree.
# Deliver the no at the end of the sentence. This is a technique that Jerry Hirschberg says the Japanese practice to great effect.
# Act like you are thinking about someone's bad idea before telling him or her it is crap. The crappier the idea, the longer you should wait before responding; hopefully, they will discover the inferior quality of the idea before you have to say anything.
# If you need a friend, get a dog."

A List Apart: Articles: CSS Sprites: Image Slicing’s Kiss of Death

A List Apart: Articles: CSS Sprites: Image Slicing’s Kiss of Death: "Everything old is new again, and though the rise of 3D games has made sprite maps obsolete, the concurrent rise of mobile devices with 2D gaming capabilities have brought them back into vogue. And now, with a bit of math and a lot of CSS, we’re going to take the basic concept and apply it to the world of web design."

Library of Free Data Models from DatabaseAnswers.org

Library of Free Data Models from DatabaseAnswers.org: "Here are more than 500 very useful 'Kick-Start' Data Models that I have created since I started 5 years ago."

Top 10 Ways You Know You Live With An Animator � Jacquie Gouveia

Top 10 Ways You Know You Live With An Animator � Jacquie Gouveia: "4. They strongly believe (and you must agree) Wall-E should be nominated and win an Oscar for Best Film. In fact, the academy shouldn’t even waste there time nominating any other films, why bother?"

How to use Japanese style toilet

How to use Japanese style toilet

inter-Face: Dominique

inter-Face: Dominique
creepy!

Typing Errors: The standard typewriter keyboard is Exhibit A in the hottest new case against markets. But the evidence has been cooked. - Reason Magazine

Typing Errors: The standard typewriter keyboard is Exhibit A in the hottest new case against markets. But the evidence has been cooked. - Reason Magazine: "These fictions may ordinarily be little more than curiosities or mere affronts to our concern for the truth. But our concern here is with one such story that is put forward as part of a case against the effectiveness of free markets and individual choice. This story has consequences."

Simple Homemade Sauerkraut Recipe

Simple Homemade Sauerkraut Recipe:

"2 large heads of cabbage (about 5 pounds)
2 to 3 tbsp noniodized salt

Grate 1 cabbage and place in a crock or plastic bucket. Sprinkle half the salt over the cabbage. Grate the second cabbage, then add it to the crock along with the rest of the salt. Crush the mixture with your hands until liquid comes out of the cabbage freely. Place a plate on top of the cabbage, then a weight on top of the plate. Cover the container and check after 2 days. Scoop the scum off the top, repack and check every 3 days. After 2 weeks, sample the kraut to see if it tastes ready to eat. The flavor will continue to mature for the next several weeks. Canning or refrigerating the sauerkraut will extend its shelf life. Yields about 2 quarts."

Omnivoracious: Ranking the Classics: Weeks Four and Five of the 60 in 60

Omnivoracious: Ranking the Classics: Weeks Four and Five of the 60 in 60: "Those Amazon readers who have followed my prior posts on the subject know that I've started in on what has been called by at least one friend 'foolish' and by another 'the endeavor of a madman': reading the 60 books in Penguin's Great Ideas series, one a day, and writing about each on my personal blog. Penguin's own blog questioned my sanity. Yet, I have persevered to the end of the fifth week, and my 60 in 60 audacity has been rewarded by attention from, among others, the Guardian (as book site of the week) and the Harvard University Press, which urged its readers to emulate my craziness. Still, I have made one change for my own peace of mind: between each set of 20, I get three days off to recuperate."

マンホールの蓋 | Ittemia前線

マンホールの蓋 | Ittemia前線
Japanese manhole cover mashup.

'American Dunkirk' - TCS Daily

'American Dunkirk' - TCS Daily: "In fact, one barely-reported story from September 11 illustrates this better than any other - the improvised navy that evacuated roughly a million people by boat from Lower Manhattan, in an operation that some have called an American Dunkirk. Ferries, commercial boats, and pleasure craft spontaneously assembled to carry people away from the scene of the attack, and to return with needed supplies:"

How Many Passengers Can Cram Into a Rickety Bread Loaf? - New York Times

How Many Passengers Can Cram Into a Rickety Bread Loaf? - New York Times: "An odd-looking contraption, shaped like a loaf of Wonder Bread, unexplained indentations and all, Mr. Shao's van appears ready to leave the living at any moment. It's just 4 years old, he says, though it looks 40.

In Beijing slang, these vehicles are called ''bread-loaf taxis.''"

History of the Beijing Cab at China Car Times

History of the Beijing Cab at China Car Times: "The Mian Di was one of the first mass available taxis, these were first used from 1984 onwards. These were painted a tasteful yellow color (The Chinese referred to them as ‘Yellow Bugs’) and could easily seat 8 people in their restricted areas. From ‘84 to ‘98, these ‘massive on the inside, small on the outside‘ vans were cruising the streets of the capital, for 10rmb you could go 10km, not a bad price. Drivers loved the Mian Di as it could carry plenty, either people or cargo, it was highly effecient thanks to its tiny engines which were usually 800cc to 1.3l at the most."

Concurring Opinions

Concurring Opinions:
"A Guide to Grading Exams
posted by Daniel J. Solove

It's that time of year again. Students have taken their finals, and now it is time to grade them. It is something professors have been looking forward to all semester. Exactness in grading is a well-honed skill, taking considerable expertise and years of practice to master. The purpose of this post is to serve as a guide to young professors about how to perfect their grading skills and as a way for students to learn the mysterious science of how their grades are determined.

Grading begins with the stack of exams, shown in Figure 1 below."

Boston.com - Ideas - Globe

Boston.com - Ideas - Globe: "Hack your brain
How to hallucinate with ping-pong balls and a radio"

Op-Ed Contributor - Wedgwood Is Going Bankrupt Because It Forgot the Lessons of Its Founder - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Contributor - Wedgwood Is Going Bankrupt Because It Forgot the Lessons of Its Founder - NYTimes.com: "Josiah was an unlikely hero. He was the 13th child of an impoverished potter; a childhood case of smallpox left Josiah with a bad leg that was later amputated, making it impossible for him to turn a potter’s wheel. But if he could not physically throw a pot, he could — and did — find new ways to get goods to market. He threw himself into various schemes to improve roads and canals. And, more fundamentally, he developed new ways of selling. Most, if not all, of the common techniques in 20th-century sales — direct mail, money-back guarantees, traveling salesmen, self-service, free delivery, buy one get one free, illustrated catalogues — came from Josiah Wedgwood."

Bacon Explosion: The BBQ Sausage Recipe of all Recipes

Bacon Explosion: The BBQ Sausage Recipe of all Recipes:
"Behold, BACON EXPLOSION!!! Here’s what you’ll need…
2 pounds thick cut bacon
2 pounds Italian sausage
1 jar of your favorite barbeque sauce
1 jar of your favorite barbeque rub"

tiltshiftmaker.com - Transform your photos into tilt-shift miniatures

tiltshiftmaker.com - Transform your photos into tilt-shift miniatures: "Tilt-shift miniature style photos are pictures of real-life scenes that are manipulated to look like model photographs.

Now you can easily transform your existing digital camera photos into tilt-shift miniatures using tiltshiftmaker.com."

AMC � The Prisoner 1960s Video Player

AMC � The Prisoner 1960s Video Player

Mind - Some Protect the Ego by Working on Their Excuses Early - NYTimes.com

Mind - Some Protect the Ego by Working on Their Excuses Early - NYTimes.com: "Psychologists have studied this sort of behavior since at least 1978, when Steven Berglas and Edward E. Jones used the phrase “self-handicapping” to describe students in a study who chose to take a drug that they were told would inhibit their performance on an exam (the drug was actually inert).

The urge goes well beyond a mere lowering of expectations, and it has more to do with protecting self-image than with psychological conflicts rooted in early development, in the Freudian sense. Recent research has helped clarify not just who is prone to self-handicapping but also its consequences — and its possible benefits."

Musical Offering, BWV 1079 (Bach, Johann Sebastian) - IMSLP

Musical Offering, BWV 1079 (Bach, Johann Sebastian) - IMSLP: "Complete score plus appendixes"

Feature Column from the AMS

Feature Column from the AMS: "Johann Sebastian Bach's Musical Offering contains ten canons. In each of these canons a musical line is played twice (or four times in Canon 10). The second version is always transformed with respect to the first by shifting in time, but it may also be shifted in pitch, turned upside-down, stretched, or played backwards. Each of these transformations occurs in the mathematics of elementary functions; they are examples of how new functions can be made out of old and of how a function can be tailored to fit a new situation. We will look at some simple transformations and see how they are exemplified in the first five of the Musical Offering canons."

larips.com

larips.com :
"I believe that Johann Sebastian Bach notated a specific method of keyboard tuning. He did not express it in our normally-expected formats of theory, or numbers. Rather, he drew a diagram for a practical hands-on sequence to adjust the tuning pins, working entirely by ear.

He also demanded and exhibited a system of this enharmonic flexibility through the music in Das Wohltemperirte Clavier, presenting his tuning challenge (and giving the solution!) where most of the preludes and fugues each require the smooth handling of more than 12 notes. For example, his D major prelude and fugue use all of Bb, F, C, G, D, A, E, B, F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, and E# in the same piece: 14 notes. Some of the other pieces require 13, 15, 17, or 25!"

Your idea sucks, now go do it�anyway - Blog - Startups Marketing Geekery

Your idea sucks, now go do it�anyway - Blog - Startups Marketing Geekery: "'My idea isn't good enough yet' explained a friend who is thinking of starting his own company. He was waiting for the idea to be completely fleshed our before taking the leap.

Here's a newsflash: Your idea probably sucks, and it doesn't matter because your business will probably turn out to be something completely different."

Asus Eee PC: How to Upgrade the Memory - Internet Business Blog

Asus Eee PC: How to Upgrade the Memory - Internet Business Blog: "I don’t know about a picture painting a thousand words, but I found this video showing the Eee PC memory upgrade process to be very useful and I see little point in writing a detailed post explaining how to do it, but I will add that I also removed the Eee’s battery before starting the memory upgrade and that you can confirm you’ve installed the memory correctly by the following"

bookoutlines / Predictably Irrational

bookoutlines / Predictably Irrational: "Predictably Irrational
The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, book by Dan Ariely"

RLC: Don’t Use These Expressions In My Vicinity Or I Won’t Be Responsible

RLC: Don’t Use These Expressions In My Vicinity Or I Won’t Be Responsible: "5. Luminous or astonishing as descriptions of same. These two have been hobbyhorses of mine for twenty years -- which shows how lame the critics are who still use them. I was delighted to see Joe Queenan strike them down in the NYT a couple of months ago."

gist: 41337 — GitHub

gist: 41337 — GitHub: "lsv() - a variable listing utility for python"

Make Your Own Calvin Mask! | The Scriptorium Daily: Middlebrow

Make Your Own Calvin Mask! | The Scriptorium Daily: Middlebrow: "I didn’t realize until today that the Calvin cut-out mask was also available on the web so that everybody can make their own Unintentionally Terrifying Calvin mask to celebrate John Calvin’s upcoming 500th birthday (July 10, 2009)."

Southern Comfort: Why chili con carne is almost a religion in some parts of the world | Mail Online

Southern Comfort: Why chili con carne is almost a religion in some parts of the world | Mail Online: "There are as many theories as to the dish’s origins as there are variations of ingredients. The only certainty is that chilli con carne is not Mexican. Sure, there are lots of similar beef and chilli stews, birria for example – but this is a North American dish."

Washington Times - STAYING TOGETHER: Resist the urge to trash husbands

Washington Times - STAYING TOGETHER: Resist the urge to trash husbands: "I honestly don't think women spend much time thinking about how they treat their husbands.

Women don't seem to realize that the more you complain about your husband, the more fuel it adds to the fire. In other words, it doesn't make you want to go home and be more loving toward your husband"

What If New York Goes Bust? - The Daily Beast

What If New York Goes Bust? - The Daily Beast: "The Alice in Wonderland absurdity of the current budget debates was nicely illustrated by the president of the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten. She was quoted without irony in The New York Times saying, 'We understand there will be cuts. The real question, will there be cuts, not just cuts against growth, but real cuts that will turn back the clock.'"

A Reporter at Large: Atomic John: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

A Reporter at Large: Atomic John: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker: "In the decades since the Second World War, dozens of historians have attempted to divine the precise mechanics of the Hiroshima bomb, nicknamed Little Boy, and of the bomb that fell three days later on Nagasaki, known as Fat Man. The most prominent is Richard Rhodes, who won a Pulitzer Prize, in 1988, for his dazzling and meticulous book “The Making of the Atomic Bomb.” But the most accurate account of the bomb’s inner workings—an unnervingly detailed reconstruction, based on old photographs and documents—has been written by a sixty-one-year-old truck driver from Waukesha, Wisconsin, named John Coster-Mullen, who was once a commercial photographer, and has never received a college degree."

XHeli.com

XHeli.com - #1 Lowest Prices for RC Helicopters: "Welcome to XHeli.com, the internet's #1 online shop specializing in all kinds of radio controlled helicopters for both beginners and experienced hobbyists with the best price and best possible service online. We carry the most plug-n-play ready-to-fly (RTF) radio controlled RC helicopters in the United States."

The Quivering Upper Lip by Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal Autumn 2008

The Quivering Upper Lip by Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal Autumn 2008: "What, exactly, were the qualities that my mother had so admired? Above all, there was the people’s manner. The British seemed to her self-contained, self-controlled, law-abiding yet tolerant of others no matter how eccentric, and with a deeply ironic view of life that encouraged them to laugh at themselves and to appreciate their own unimportance in the scheme of things. If Horace Walpole was right—that the world is a comedy to those who think and a tragedy to those who feel—the English were the most thoughtful people in the world. They were polite and considerate, not pushy or boastful; the self-confident took care not to humiliate the shy or timid; and even the most accomplished was aware that his achievements were a drop in the ocean of possibility, and might have been much greater if he had tried harder or been more talented."

Recipe - Egg Nog

Recipe - Eggnog
* 4 (6) eggs
* 1/3 cup (1 cup) plus 1 tsp (1 Tbsp) sugar
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 1 tsp ground nutmeg
* 3 oz bourbon or brandy (3/4 cup brandy + 1/3 cup dark rum)
* 1 cup (2 cups) whipping cream
* 2 cups milk

Separate eggs. Beat yolks 2-3 min until light. Add sugar and beat until creamy. Stir in everything but egg whites. Beat egg whites to soft peaks, add sugar, beat to stiff peaks. Stir in egg whites. Bourbon can be reserved. For bodacious rich eggnog, use measures in parentheses.

Literature and Latte - Scrivener

Literature and Latte - Scrivener: "Scrivener is a word processor and project management tool created specifically for writers of long texts such as novels and research papers. It won't try to tell you how to write - it just makes all the tools you have scattered around your desk available in one application."

ENANITOS VERDES - TAN SOLO UN INSTANTE LYRICS on SongLyrics.com

ENANITOS VERDES - TAN SOLO UN INSTANTE LYRICS on SongLyrics.com: "Enanitos Verdes
Miscellaneous
Tan Solo Un Instante
Pensaba en los buenos momentos que tuve junto a ti
y cada ma�ana despierto, pero t�no est�s aqu�.

Quisiera saber si al menos, t�me extra�as as�.
Parece que la nostalgia se ha apoderado de m�.

Me dicen que s�lo de ti yo recuerdo lo bueno, lo bueno.
Pero francamente no creo que haya algo mal en t�.

Por qu�cometemos errores? ser�que nos gusta sufrir?
Ser�que nos gusta arriesgarnos y en el riesgo ser feliz.

[ Enanitos Verdes Lyrics are found on www.songlyrics.com ]
Pudimos hacer tantas cosas... hasta el mundo cambiar
pero no pudimos siquiera cambiar nuestra historia personal.

Me dicen que s�lo de ti yo recuerdo lo bueno, lo bueno.
Pero francamente no creo que haya algo mal en ti.

Quisiera volver en el tiempo tan s�lo un instante y mirarte
Quisiera volver en el tiempo, el tiempo en que fui feliz.

Me dicen que s�lo de ti yo recuerdo lo bueno, lo bueno.
Pero francamente no creo que haya algo mal en ti.

Quisiera volver en el tiempo tan s�lo un instante y mirarte
Quisiera volver en el tiempo, el tiempo en que fui feliz."

Peppino D'Agostino's Minestrone Music Page

Peppino D'Agostino's Minestrone Music Page: "Peppino's guitar techniques cover a variety of styles--contemporary acoustic, classical, open tunings, and percussive techniques. In performance, you are just as likely to see him playing an egg shaker or a maraca with his right hand and getting notes from his guitar with various left handed tricks he's developed over the years. Peppino says, 'With solo guitar, in my opinion, you really can express all that a guitar can express: bass line, midrange--you're a mini orchestra.' When asked to give his music an appropriate label he had this to say: 'Ten years ago, it was called 'New Age'. Ten years from now, who knows? Maybe 'Minestrone Music'.'"

YouTube - Penn Says: A Gift of a Bible

YouTube - Penn Says: A Gift of a Bible: "A guest to the live Penn & Teller show gives a surprisingly wonderful gift to Penn."

� Blog Archive � Building a “boon companion.”

� Blog Archive � Building a “boon companion.”: "While I’m fascinated with the idea of having a chair like Gould’s, I’m not an idiot. $1557 is a massive chunk of change for a simple chair."

Woot : Savage Sounds of the Woot Podcast!

Woot : Savage Sounds of the Woot Podcast!: "Super Bowl, schmuper bowl—we spent most of the weekend combing through our archives looking for forgotten treasures. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t rewarding, and it wasn’t even very much fun.

But from literally hundreds of recordings, finally we selected a few that might stand up to a second listen.

So, just as we promised last week, here’s a plumber’s dozen of the least-terrible Woot podcasts for your listening pleasure. We’ve also provided album cover art below, in case your fancy newfangled mp3 player supports it."

Disney Celebration

TECH ENTERPRISES INC.: TECH STAIN REMOVER�, FINAL ANSWER� CARPET CLEANER, JEWELER'S SECRET� AND SCOOPICK™

TECH ENTERPRISES INC.: TECH STAIN REMOVER, FINAL ANSWER CARPET CLEANER, JEWELER'S SECRET AND SCOOPICK™: "TECH Enterprises, Inc. has been making the best household cleaners for over 30 years. All TECH products are manufactured to the highest quality standards. Not only do our products do the job but they do the job safely, even around children and pets! Can your stain remover or carpet cleaner do that?

Ask yourself, do I really need to keep all those toxic chemicals around my children and in my house? The answer is NO!! Now - 'IT'S TIME FOR TECH.'"

Eli Bendersky’s website � Blog Archive � Writing a game in Python with Pygame. Part I

Eli Bendersky’s website � Blog Archive � Writing a game in Python with Pygame. Part I: "There are quite a lot of Pygame tutorials on the web, but most of them are basic. Even the Pygame book stays at an introductory level. In order to proceed to a higher level of mastery, I’ve decided to write a tutorial of my own, hoping that it will provide the next logical step for persons wanting to use Pygame."

Nice Translator - The fast, easy to use online translator

Nice Translator - The fast, easy to use online translator: "NiceTranslator is a fast, easy to use online translator designed with simplicity and functionality in mind."

Python Master Classes-In Downtown Chicago

Python Master Classes-In Downtown Chicago: "The future is parallel. This one-of-kind workshop, designed for more experienced Python programmers, provides an in-depth examination of concurrent programming idioms and standard library modules. The aim of this workshop is to go far beyond the information found in the manual and to gain a deeper understanding of how different approaches work, their performance characteristics, limitations, and types of real-world problems for which they are suited."

Ian Bicking: a blog :: lxml: an underappreciated web scraping library

Ian Bicking: a blog :: lxml: an underappreciated web scraping library: "One you have lxml installed, you have a great parser (which happens to be super-fast and that is not a tradeoff). You get a fairly familiar API based on ElementTree, which though a little strange feeling at first, offers a compact and canonical representation of a document tree, compared to more traditional representations."

Daily Routines

Daily Routines: "How writers, artists, and other interesting people organize their days."

50 Most Beautiful Icon Sets Created in 2008 | Noupe

50 Most Beautiful Icon Sets Created in 2008 | Noupe: "Icons is everywhere on the web. In most modern designs it is used to not only complete our design but also to attract the user’s eye. Designers use Icons to create breath-taking designs and decorate their desktop as well. Today we’re going to take a look at 50 most beautiful icon sets we’ve found over the year 2008."

United States Patent: 7463264

United States Patent: 7463264:
"Method and system for distributed serverless file management

A method for serverless data management includes receiving an asset identifier in a first system, receiving data associated with the asset identifier in the first system, determining a resource in a storage network for storage of the asset data, in response to a path algorithm and the asset identifier, wherein the determination is made substantially free of interaction with the storage network, storing the asset data on the resource, creating a link between the asset identifier and the resource in the first system, receiving the asset identifier in a second system, determining the storage resource where the asset data is stored, in response to the path algorithm and the asset identifier, wherein the determination is made substantially free of interaction with the storage network and the first system, and creating a link between the asset identifier and the resource in the second computer system."

ChristmasCarolMusic.org - free Christmas carol sheet music - Coventry Carol

ChristmasCarolMusic.org - free Christmas carol sheet music - Coventry Carol: "SATB voices"

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 New York Times Crossword Puzzle

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 New York Times Crossword Puzzle: "Author: Rob Cook / Will Shortz"

XWord Info — All about the New York Times Crossword Puzzle

XWord Info — All about the New York Times Crossword Puzzle: "XWord Info contains data about NYT puzzles dating back to November, 1993, covering the entire time that Will Shortz has been Puzzle Editor. The links below will be of most interest to constructors and serious solvers but occasional dabblers will be entertained too. Explore around and you'll no doubt see crosswords in a whole new light."

Wal-Mart Way in Disaster Preparedness/Response: Policy Implications

Wal-Mart Way in Disaster Preparedness/Response: Policy Implications: "Is centrally directed emergency response and recovery from a natural disaster the only viable option anymore? This belief “seems to be faulty,” judging from the poor response from the federal government and the comparatively effective response from private retailers after Hurricane Katrina, argues economist Steven Horwitz, Ph.D. “Big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart were extraordinarily successful in providing help to damaged communities in the days, weeks, and months after the storm,” he declared."

r4ph431: Bacon and Cheese Roll

r4ph431: Bacon and Cheese Roll: "Bacon and Cheese Roll"

In Defense of Teasing - NYTimes.com

In Defense of Teasing - NYTimes.com: "Very often, though, we do not want our words to be taken too literally. When we speak in ways that risk offense, for example when we criticize a friend, we may add intentional vagueness or unnecessary circumlocutions. Say a friend proves to be too confrontational at a dinner party. To encourage greater civility, we might resort to indirect hints (“Say, did you read the latest by the Dalai Lama?”) or metaphor (“I guess sometimes you just need to blow off some steam”). These linguistic acts establish a new channel of communication — off-record communication — signaling that what is being said has an alternate meaning."

Apple Computer: The (Very) Early Years - Computer Shopper

Apple Computer: The (Very) Early Years - Computer Shopper: "Stan Veit, Editor in Chief Emeritus of Computer Shopper, was the Editor in Chief of Computer Shopper magazine from 1983 to 1988, and Editor in Chief/Publisher from 1988 to 1990. Well before that, he was intimately connected to the personal computer revolution, a pioneer in the computer retail business who dealt with many of the industry's movers and shakers (as well as many now-forgotten luminaries). Here, in the first in a series, he relates his experiences with two Steves, founders of a certain well-known computer behemoth..."

Our Vision for Generation 4 Modular Data Centers - One way of Getting it just right . . . � LooseBolts

Our Vision for Generation 4 Modular Data Centers - One way of Getting it just right . . . - LooseBolts: "Our “Gen 4” modular data centers will take the flexibility of containerized servers—like those in our Chicago data center—and apply it across the entire facility. So what do we mean by modular? Think of it like “building blocks”, where the data center will be composed of modular units of prefabricated mechanical, electrical, security components, etc., in addition to containerized servers."

Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper

Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper: "Philosophical writing is different from the writing you'll be asked to do in other courses. Most of the strategies described below will also serve you well when writing for other courses, but don't automatically assume that they all will. Nor should you assume that every writing guideline you've been given by other teachers is important when you're writing a philosophy paper. Some of those guidelines are routinely violated in good philosophical prose (e.g., see the guidelines on grammar, below)."

Internet Archive: Details: Hygiene for the worker

Internet Archive: Details: Hygiene for the worker:

"Hygiene for the worker ([c1912])
Author: Tolman, William Howe, 1861-; Guthrie, Adelaide Wood
Subject: Hygiene; Occupations -- Diseases and hygiene
Publisher: New York, American book company"

Play Auditorium

Play Auditorium: "Auditorium is about the process of discovery and play. There are no right or wrong answers; there are many ways to solve every puzzle. To get started, fill up the first audio level. We hope you enjoy the demo of Auditorium."

Tor.com / Science fiction and fantasy / Stories / The Film-makers of Mars by Geoff Ryman

Tor.com / Science fiction and fantasy / Stories / The Film-makers of Mars by Geoff Ryman: "Eight reels of a film about Santa Claus from 1909. Filmed in Lapland. And forty reels of a film it says was produced by Edgar Rice Burroughs. In 1911?"

Oracle JOB cheatsheet

begin
dbms_scheduler.create_job(
job_name => 'DEMO_JOB_SCHEDULE'
,job_type => 'PLSQL_BLOCK'
,job_action => 'begin insert into jobtest(ztime) values(systimestamp); end; '
,start_date => trunc(sysdate, 'CC')
,repeat_interval => 'FREQ=MINUTELY'
,enabled => TRUE
,comments => 'Demo for job schedule.');
end;

begin
DBMS_SCHEDULER.DROP_JOB('DEMO_JOB_SCHEDULE');
end;

-- show all jobs

select *
from dba_scheduler_jobs
where owner='MHTEST';


-- job history

select log_date
, job_name
, status
from dba_scheduler_job_log
where owner='MHTEST';

-- running jobs

select job_name
, session_id
, running_instance
, elapsed_time
, cpu_used
from dba_scheduler_running_jobs

Skytopia: World's most unanswered music questions

Skytopia: World's most unanswered music questions: "Over time, I have gathered together many questions about the fundamental nature of music, and decided to create and maintain this page to bring light to them. Answers to some of them may already exist in books and papers, although I suspect that most of them have yet to be answered properly. In fact some of the questions may not have been asked at all!"

The Shakespeare Chronicles

The Shakespeare Chronicles: "When spineless literature professor Stanley Quandary starts having peculiar dreams, his life turns in a bold new direction. The dreams harbor an academic discovery that will rock Western civilization: the truth about who wrote Shakespeare. Duke University law professor James Boyle portrays the centuries old Shakespeare authorship debate in all its wacky complexity in his debut work of fiction, The Shakespeare Chronicles"

Trygve's homepage.

Trygve's homepage.: "This marks the fulfillment of the BabyUML goals and marks the beginning of a new project, BabyIDE. The new project could well be very large and take many years. I am in my 78th year. My great great grandfather planted an apple tree when he was 93. He was very particular about the kind of apples he wanted. His family pointed out that it would be 10 years before this particular kind would give its first fruit. My great great grandfather could not see the relevance of this argument. So I follow a family tradition when I dig into yet another new project. I will post intermediate and incomplete results as they appear. Just in case."

Trygve/MVC

Trygve/MVC: "I made the first implementation and wrote the original MVC note at Xerox PARC in 1978. The note defines four terms; Model, View, Controller and Editor . The Editor is an ephemeral component that the View creates on demand as an interface between the View and the input devices such as mouse and keyboard."

Trygve 1975

Trygve 1975: "MODELS - VIEWS - CONTROLLERS
Xerox PARC technical note December 1979"

E.W.Dijkstra Archive: The strengths of the academic enterprise (EWD 1175)

E.W.Dijkstra Archive: The strengths of the academic enterprise (EWD 1175): "My third remark introduces you to the Buxton Index, so named after its inventor, Professor John Buxton, at the time at Warwick University. The Buxton Index of an entity, i.e. person or organization, is defined as the length of the period, measured in years, over which the entity makes its plans. For the little grocery shop around the corner it is about 1/2,for the true Christian it is infinity, and for most other entities it is in between: about 4 for the average politician who aims at his re-election, slightly more for most industries, but much less for the managers who have to write quarterly reports. The Buxton Index is an important concept because close co-operation between entities with very different Buxton Indices invariably fails and leads to moral complaints about the partner. The party with the smaller Buxton Index is accused of being superficial and short-sighted, while the party with the larger Buxton Index is accused of neglect of duty, of backing out of its responsibility, of freewheeling, etc.. In addition, each party accuses the other one of being stupid. The great advantage of the Buxton Index is that, as a simple numerical notion, it is morally neutral and lifts the difference above the plane of moral concerns. The Buxton Index is important to bear in mind when considering academic/industrial co-operation."

Ranch Bean Dip - Allrecipes

Ranch Bean Dip - Allrecipes: "INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 1 (16 ounce) can refried beans
* 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
* 1 (1 ounce) package ranch dressing mix
* 1 cup sour cream

* add to recipe box Add to Recipe Box
My folders:
* add to shopping list Add to Shopping List
* add a personal note Add a Personal Note

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small saucepan, combine beans, cheese, ranch dressing mix, and sour cream. Heat the mixture over a medium heat, stir until the ingredients are well blended and warm."

Zesty Bean Dip - Allrecipes

Zesty Bean Dip - Allrecipes:
"INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 1 (16 ounce) can refried beans
* 1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
* 1 tomato, chopped
* 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

* add to recipe box Add to Recipe Box
My folders:
* add to shopping list Add to Shopping List
* add a personal note Add a Personal Note

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, mix refried beans, taco seasoning mix and tomato. Allow the mixture to simmer approximately 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Spoon the mixture into a medium serving bowl. Top with Cheddar cheese and serve warm."

Perspectives - Facebook: Needle in a Haystack: Efficient Storage of Billions of Photos

Perspectives - Facebook: Needle in a Haystack: Efficient Storage of Billions of Photos: "An excellent talk that I really enjoyed. I used to lead a much smaller service that also used a lot of NetApp storage and I recognized many of the problems Jason mentioned. Throughout the introductory part of the talk I found myself thinking they need to move to a cheap, directly attached blob store. And that’s essentially the topic of remainder of the talk. Jason presented Haystack, the Facebook solution to the problem of a filesystem not working terribly well for their high volume blob storage needs."

Dean Kamen's Water Purifier - Biography of Dean Kamen - Esquire

Dean Kamen's Water Purifier - Biography of Dean Kamen - Esquire: "The inventor of the Segway and more now has an idea worth tens of millions of lives. But no one cares. Tracking Lord Dumpling's genius on his seceded island of geekery."

UNIVAC MAGNETIC TAPE

UNIVAC MAGNETIC TAPE: "One inch of magnetic tape, the input medium for Remington Rand UNIVAC, holds even more information than a punched card. One reel holds 1,400,000 numbers or letters. Two 4-drawer tabulat-ing-card files, storing more than 20,000 cards, are compressed into a single eight-inch reel."

Texas Embassy cantina - London

Texas Embassy cantina - London: "The building now housing the Texas Embassy is the former home of the famous White Star shipping line, owners of the Titanic. When the Titanic sank it was to this very building friends and relatives came to view the lists of survivors. An actual black and white photo of this time is hanging on the wall to the right of the main exit from the Cantina.
But our story really begins back in the early 1800's, in a vast and lawless wilderness ruled by Mexico. Bold Americans and Europeans settled the land and called their home TEXAS."

Anarchy at Sea - William Langewiesche

Anarchy at Sea - William Langewiesche: "The sea is a domain increasingly beyond government control, vast and wild,
where laws of nations mean little and secretive shipowners do as they please -
and where the resilient pathogens of piracy and terrorism flourish."

iSerenity - Environments

iSerenity - Environments: "iSerenity Environments

Choose a sound and image experience to relax or work by.

Six new environments to enjoy. Some of the old favorites are now down towards the bottom as the newcomers get top billing. We even have included Typewriters the Sequel, (carriage returns included). Feedback is always welcome and don't forget to tell your friends about iserenity."

pldoc: Utility for generating PL/SQL code documentation

pldoc: Utility for generating PL/SQL code documentation:
"pldoc is an open-source utility for generating HTML documentation of code written in Oracle PL/SQL."

Malcolm Gladwell asks is there such a thing as pure genius? | Books | The Guardian

Malcolm Gladwell asks is there such a thing as pure genius? | Books | The Guardian: "The curious thing about Ericsson's study is that he and his colleagues couldn't find any 'naturals' - musicians who could float effortlessly to the top while practising a fraction of the time that their peers did. Nor could they find 'grinds', people who worked harder than everyone else and yet just didn't have what it takes to break into the top ranks. Their research suggested that once you have enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That's it. What's more, the people at the very top don't just work much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder."

Malcolm Gladwell asks is there such a thing as pure genius? | Books | The Guardian

Malcolm Gladwell asks is there such a thing as pure genius? | Books | The Guardian: "'In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice-skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals,' writes the neurologist Daniel Levitin, 'this number comes up again and again. Ten thousand hours is equivalent to roughly three hours a day, or 20 hours a week, of practice over 10 years... No one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.'"

Timeline twins, music and movies

Timeline twins, music and movies: "Watching Star Wars today is like watching It's a Wonderful Life (1946) in 1977. It's a Wonderful Life was nominated for an Oscar the following year along with Ethel Barrymore (b. 1879) and Lilian Gish (b. 1893)."

Seven Crown Resorts Houseboat Rentals Lake Mead, Lake Shasta, Lake Mohave, California Delta

Seven Crown Resorts Houseboat Rentals Lake Mead, Lake Shasta, Lake Mohave, California Delta: "Available at:
Lake Mead - Echo Bay
Lake Mohave - Lake Mohave Resort
California Delta - Paradise Point"

Ideas

Ideas:
"There are basically three ways of judging sources of information.
One is internal evidence--does the author sound like a competent, well informed person who takes reasonable care to make sure that what he says is true?
A second is external evidence about the information--does it fit other things I have reason to believe are true?
A third is authority--do I have good reason to believe that the source of the information is reliable?"

Gems of Python - Eric Florenzano's Website

Gems of Python - Eric Florenzano's Website

Jac: What are the scariest pieces of classical music?

Jac: What are the scariest pieces of classical music?: "That's the question for today, since this Music Friday happens to fall on Halloween."

download free mp3s of ambient music & new age music soundscapes from the UKs deep sky divers

download free mp3s of ambient music & new age music soundscapes from the UKs deep sky divers: "Here you can purchase digital downloads of deep sky divers CDs and individual tracks. There are also links to some sites where you can download free deep sky divers MP3s.

deep sky divers music is now available from many online sources, either legally or illegally. We are truly independent musicians trying to create unique and worthwhile music without industry support, and we need all the help we can get. By downloading our music from preferred sources (see below), you would be helping and supporting our efforts in the best way possible..."

Processing 1.0 (BETA)

Processing 1.0 (BETA): "Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interactions. It is used by students, artists, designers, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. It is created to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context and to serve as a software sketchbook and professional production tool. Processing is an alternative to proprietary software tools in the same domain.

Processing is an open project initiated by Ben Fry and Casey Reas. It evolved from ideas explored in the Aesthetics and Computation Group at the MIT Media Lab."

Never Give In, Never, Never, Never - The Churchill Centre

Never Give In, Never, Never, Never - The Churchill Centre: "this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy"

FWWeekly: Feature: SAXE MANIAC

FWWeekly: Feature: SAXE MANIAC: "He may have given away as much as $6 million, a figure arrived at by adding the amounts of cash, pledges, and the estimated increased value of donated artworks during the last 40 years, but even he’s not sure. “I’ve forgotten some,” he said. “And I haven’t kept the best records,” like the cost of the 1983 Chevrolet pick-up that stayed behind at Happy Hills.

What makes Saxe unique in the annals of philanthropy, said Ruth Brock, a UTA business librarian and his companion of 30 years, is that almost all of the money he’s donated has come from his professor’s salary, boosted one time only by a half-million-dollar inheritance from his frugal, working-class mother. “And he got rid of that as fast as he could,” Brock said."

Game Theory — Open Yale Courses

Game Theory — Open Yale Courses: "This course is an introduction to game theory and strategic thinking. Ideas such as dominance, backward induction, Nash equilibrium, evolutionary stability, commitment, credibility, asymmetric information, adverse selection, and signaling are discussed and applied to games played in class and to examples drawn from economics, politics, the movies, and elsewhere."

'Round the Chuckbox: Grilled Hot Mexican Beef Sandwich Santa Fe

'Round the Chuckbox: Grilled Hot Mexican Beef Sandwich Santa Fe: "The sandwich was a hit Saturday at the engine house of the El Dorado Western Railway. I served it with old fashion navy bean soup and cole slaw.

GRILLED HOT MEXICAN SANDWICH SANTA FE

This sandwich is a great way to use leftover roast beef. Santa Fe cooks toasted open faced sandwiches under a red-hot broiler. I adapted the sandwich to engine house cooking by toasting it in a cast iron skillet. I added sliced tomatoes and changed the hot chilies to fresh (from fresh, parboiled)."

University of California: StatFinder

University of California: StatFinder: "Table 16-2007. Fall applicants, fall admits, fall enrollees, admit rate and fall applicant yield rate: first-time freshmen, by high school GPA, universitywide and by campus: Fall 2007"

App Engine Recipe - XML RPC server using Google App Engine

App Engine Recipe - XML RPC server using Google App Engine: "XML RPC server is a very popular way of exposing an API to your website. XML RPC server can run standalone. On a past website project I got it running inside Apache so that it could run alongside the main website. (For XMLRPC server in Apache - check my post http://jyro.blogspot.com/2007/11/xml-rpc-server-inside-apache-modpython.html)

Implementing the XML RPC server is very easy.

First download Julien Oster's standalone XML RPC server from http://www.julien-oster.de/projects/xmlrpcserver/

It is a single xmlrpcserver.py file that you will find inside a tar.gz archive. Just copy the file to your Google App engine project."

SQL University.net : Free Sample Lectures

SQL University.net : Free Sample Lectures: "These are free extracts of SQL University.net courses covering a variety of topics."