Category: Interesting Reads

Hand-shadows (free) ebook

(via MAKE ezine blog)

Perfect for those of you with children of your own.  Here is a Project Gutenberg provided e-book (that means you can legally download it for free in the US and possibly elsewhere) to guide you on making shadow critters.  Originally published in 1859, the book was released for free by the Gutenberg project in 2004.  Along with a brief bit of text, the book is mostly a series of images showing the hand positioning and resulting shadow for a number of different critters/shadows.
Just an aside on the project – I notice that the uncompressed HTML file is 24K, but the zip compressed HTML file is 633K.

[tags]Shadows, Project Gutenberg[/tags]

How not to remove a tick

A recent Snopes posting debunks the myth of removing ticks via cotton ball covered with liquid soap (and other invalid methods), So if you now know how not to remove a tick, would you want to know how (and why) you should remove it?

First, the spurious email whcih lead to the Snopes posting:

A School Nurse has written the info below — good enough to share — And it really works!!”I had a pediatrician tell me what she believes is the best way to remove a tick. This is great, because it works in those places where it’s some times difficult to get to with tweezers: between toes, in the middle of a head full of dark hair, etc.

Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball and swab it for a few seconds (15-20), the tick will come out on it’s own and be stuck to the cotton ball when you lift it away.

This technique has worked every time I’ve used it (and that was frequently), and it’s much less traumatic for the patient and easier for me.

Unless someone is allergic to soap, I can’t see that this would be damaging in any way. I even had my doctor’s wife call me for advice because she had one stuck to her back and she couldn’t reach it with tweezers. She used this method and immediately called me back to say, ‘It worked!'”

And now some information from the article on how/why you should remove a tick:

However, those in the know about tick removal warn against these home remedies. Countermeasures of such nature do little to encourage a tick to detach from skin and in fact may make matters worse by stimulating the creature to release additional saliva or regurgitate its gut contents, acts that increase the chance of its transmitting a pathogen to its host.. . .

As to how to remove a tick:

  • With tweezers, grasp the parasite close to the skin and pull it straight out.
  • If you must use your fingers rather than tweezers for this operation, cover them with a tissue during the procedure and wash them after the tick has been dispatched.
  • Do not twist or jerk the tick; this could cause the creature’s head to separate from its body, leaving its mouthparts lodged in your skin.
  • Wash the bite with antiseptic and place the tick inside a plastic container marked with the date in case it is later needed for verification of illness.
  • Nail polish and petroleum jelly are not good ideas for tick removal because the tick has enough air to complete its feeding before dropping off.

Also in the article are tips for avoiding ticks and reminders to check yourself, your children, and your pets after going someplace you might be exposed to ticks.

[tags]Snopes, Ticks[/tags]

North Korea test fires at least 3 long-range missiles

(via boingboing)
This doesn’t sound good. Reports carried on CNN and Reuters today indicate that North Korea has test fired several long range missles this morning. The different reports indicate anywhere from 4 to 10 missiles were test fired. The upside is, the one missile with the range to reach the US failed to launch and fly successfully. The bad news is North Korea has already been warned that missile test firing would be considered an act of aggression.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — North Korea test-fired a long-range missile and five shorter-range rockets early Wednesday, but the closely watched long-range test failed within a minute, U.S. officials said.

That’s the good side I mentioned.

The tests began shortly after 3:30 a.m. local time (2:30 p.m. Tuesday ET) and lasted for about five hours.

The Taepodong-2 missile, which some analysts believed capable of hitting the western United States, failed after about 40 seconds, U.S. officials said.

U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley described the missile launches as “provocative behavior,” but said they posted no immediate threat to the United States.

And there’s the bad side. More, from the Reuter’s report.

On Monday, the North’s main news agency quoted an unidentified newspaper analyst as saying Pyongyang was prepared to answer a U.S. military attack with ”a relentless annihilating strike and a nuclear war.”

And here is what concerns me most. We have an enemy nation which we know for a fact has weapons capable of truly threatening the US. We have a President who has repeatedly stated he will protect the nation against any real threat, even going to war against one which may or may not have had provably threatening weapons technology depending on which intelligence report you believe. For two years I’ve been saying if his convictions are indeed real and his claims of protecting the nation are true, we will end up in a war with North Korea. Now we have a visible act of aggression which has occurred after the country was warned that missile firing would be viewed as an act of aggression.

So, if the President really is at war with Iraq because it was necessary to protect the US, then the President will have to prepare for war with North Korea. North Korea is currently provably more threatening to the US than Iraq was according to the intelligence we had at the time Mr. Bush started the war. That’s my view – if Bush is really serious about protecting us and that’s why he went to war in Iraq, then he must be making preparations for war with North Korea – the greater threat from North Korea is provably true, not just my view.

And honestly, I want to be wrong about President Bush, because I don’t want to believe he’s as bad a President as I’ve been saying since he was first elected. I’d much rather be a kooky conspiracy theorist (alhtough I don’t try to convince anyone of my beliefs, which separates me from my such kooks) and find out that Mr. Bush is as sincere and honest as he claims. I’d rather I (and the rest of the country) find out he’s a good President who has not appeared good because of how bad things were when he took charge. But I’m still waiting for the proof of his sincerity and how wrong I am.

Let’s see how we handle this, though.  Maybe I can be proven wrong about President Bush and we can avoid another war.
[tags]North Korea, War, Missile test firing[/tags]

10 manliest games of all time

(via 4ColorRebellion)

In a recent required reading post, the folks at 4 Color Rebellion linked readers up to a listing of the 10 manliest games of all time.  While what 10 games are manliest really isn’t worth knowing, the reasons behind the games making the list is sometimes worth checking out.  Here are a couple that caught my eye.

#3: Custer’s Revenge
System: Atari 2600
Developer: Mystique
Year of Release: 1982

Had Custer’s Revenge come out in the robot-heavy early 1990’s it probably would have been called “Rape Simulator 2000”. That’s right, this is the only game in the history of the interactive entertainment (to my knowledge) where the goal is to rape a helpless woman! While we don’t condone rape here at Arthur’s Hall, it suddenly becomes pretty damn harmless (not to mention hilarious) once you put it in the context of a Atari 2600 video game that was released over 20 years ago.

The gameplay is simple… you are a naked and horny General Custer with a big fat 4-bit boner. On the far right of the screen is a naked Indian maiden tied to a stake. The goal is to have sex with her as much as possible without getting hit by the arrows falling from the sky. The action button is the “rape button” and can be pressed once you work your way over to the maiden to ravage her. If you rape her for two long, you will no doubt be hit by the falling arrows. It’s best to move away and wait for an opening to rape her some more. You are awarded points for every thrust of course.

Yes, this is sick and depraved, and whoever programmed this game should probably be sent to prison. Still, who else would have had the balls to make a game like this? The whole concept is just insane. Custer’s Revenge just might be the most politically incorrect thing I’ve ever witnessed, and that makes it manly as hell.

Yup.  Sick and depraved.  I’ve never even played the game, but the description sure makes it sound tasteless.  Fortunately, the video quality of the 2600 wasn’t enough to really show this disturbing game in its full, um, glory.

#6: Ikaruga
System: Multi System (Arcade, Dreamcast, Gamecube)
Developer: Treasure
Year of Release: 2000, 2002, 2003

There is something really primeval and manly about those old-school space shooters. I’m talking about great games like R-Type, Gradius, and Sidearms. They were simple, impossibly difficult, and quite demanding when it came to old-fashioned pattern memorization… a very manly trait indeed.

Ikaruga is quite likely the greatest space shooter ever designed. It is impossibly hard, dense, and one of the greatest and most meticulously designed video games ever created. Ikaruga takes the ideas of decades of vertical and horizontally scrolling space shooters, improves on them, and then turns them on their head.

There is more to this game’s description.  Just in case you aren’t familiar with Ikaruga, know that it is considered one of the hardest old-style scrolling shooters ever made.  I’ve looked for this game, but never found it at a price I could afford.  Sadly, it wasn’t highly available in the US.

One final note about the article – Contra is listed as the #1 manliest game ever.  I won’t argue yes or no on this, but I will mention that the latest Official XBox Magazine includes the news that Contra will be available for the XBox360 in the near future.  I don’t have the magazine in front of me now to check the details (and I skipped reading it initially except for the headline), but I’m guessing it’s an XBox Live title, and probably available in classic (i.e., original) mode and some enhanced graphics mode.  So if you missed it first time around, you should have a chance soon to play this great game.

[tags]Manly, Gaming[/tags]

More potential problems for Sony/PS3?

I have not seen Blu-Ray nor HD-DVD videos, so I have nothing to say yes or no to this, but Robert Scoble is seeing techies suggest HD-DVD as the better format. What he has seen in the AVSForum apparently is making it to bigger tech news sites now. I should point out that at least a couple of comments in response to Scoble’s post suggest “WTF? Are you on crack” response from proclaimed techies. I’m just pointing out that if what Scoble says is true, then Sony may have just found an added hurdle to getting the PS3 as game console and center-of-your-AV-world device accepted.

I was hanging out on the AVSForum the other day and saw several posts from people who said that in their comparisons HD-DVD is far superior to BlueRay tests.

Today those posts are getting reported in CentreDaily.

See how the grassroots could be changing popular opinion?

And a snip of the Centredaily article:

Based on the first round of reports, the HD-DVD format is garnering praise, but Blu-ray is garnering almost universal scorn from reviewers and enthusiasts alike. Reviewer Evan Powell, of projectorcentral.com, commented of Blu-ray: “The image quality does not measure up to what we would expect from a high-definition source, and it certainly falls short of the hype.”

At the AVS Forum, home-theater buffs had even harsher reactions. A sampling of their comments: “There’s no getting around the fact that, at this time, BD is not as good as HD-DVD”; “I watched one and a half movies when I realized that they look horrible. … needs to go to the scrap heap”; “This has to count as one of the greatest AV disappointments I can remember!”; “I took it back after two days. … I just couldn’t justify keeping the Samsung when I considered what I’m getting from the Toshiba at half the price”; and “Too much money, too little performance. It went back!” You can read these and more comments under the Blu-ray player and HD-DVD player forums at www.avsforum.com.

[tags]Robert Scoble, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, PS3[/tags]

Massive (well, massive-ish) list of freeware utilities

(via Freeware wiki)
Here is a list of 450+ freeware utilities to solve many of your pressing (and not so pressing) software vexations. Everything from anti-spyware/anti-virus to audio/video tools to office work to programming tools and plenty more.

protect the computer against viruses : AVG Free

password protect a text file : Steganos LockNote

view images in an album folder : Irfanview

see 3d space simulation : Celestia

That’s just a tiny sample of the variety of freeware you can see on the page.

[tags]Freeware, Utilities[/tags]

US updates Iraq “Most-Wanted” list – no playing cards this time

CNN has a story about the US making a new Iraq’s most wanted list.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Iraq unveiled a list of the country’s most-wanted fugitives Sunday, including Saddam Hussein’s wife and daughter.

Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri tops the list, which Iraqi officials said contains 41 names.

Al-Duri was deputy commander of Iraq’s armed forces under Hussein and was No. 6 on the U.S. military’s list of 55 most-wanted Iraqi officials that was released in 2003. He is the highest- ranking figure from that U.S. list not to have been captured or killed.

At only 41 people now, this isn’t enough to make a new deck-of-cards. But now we get Hussein’s wife and daughter in the list.

Hussein’s daughter and first wife — Raghad Saddam Hussein and Sajidah Khairallah Tilfah Hussein — are Nos. 16 and 17, respectively.

Raghad Hussein lives in Jordan, where she and her sister were granted asylum. She has been helping orchestrate her father’s defense as he faces war crimes charges in an Iraqi court.

I don’t see an easy way around that Jordanian asylum thing, though. That lady might be tough to get.

[tags]Iraq, Most Wanted, Hussein[/tags]

Senator opposed to free speech

(via Dan Gillmor’s blog)

In a move sure to confound many, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has taken the side of those who wish to institute a ban on flag-burning in America.  Understand that I think burning the flag is a stupid thing.  However, like many others, I believe that it is an act which is protected as free speech.  I don’t have to agree with what someone does to feel they should have the freedom to do it.  In the case of flag-burning, I don’t agree with the people who do it, but I do believe those people should have the right to burn the flag.  Of course, I can particularly see the irony here of people protesting America by taking part in an act which is not widely protected outside of America.  And I would have no qualms telling those people they are free to go live elsewhere.

Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today spoke on the floor of the United States Senate in support of the flag protection amendment. In her remarks, Senator Feinstein expressed her belief that the current debate on this amendment is about conduct, not speech, and that the flag protection amendment itself is content neutral. She also argued that she believes the American flag is a monument to the spirit and values of this country, and should be protected as such. The following are her remarks, as delivered:

[tags]Flag burning, Free Speech, Dianne Feinstein[/tags]

Senator “gets it” – geeks everywhere shocked?

ArsTechnica has the details on this one. The article talks more about the network neutrality debate that has been popping up in Congress recently. In particular, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) has stated he intends to stand in the way of a current proposed communications bill if an amendment guaranteeing network neutrality is not included.

Next up for the telecom bill is consideration by the full Senate… maybe. Net neutrality proponent Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) announced via e-mail yesterday that he has placed a “hold” on the legislation, due to its lack of an “effective policy” on net neutrality. “The days of unfettered, unlimited and free access to any site on the world wide web, what I call net neutrality, are being threatened,” said Sen. Wyden. “Those who own the pipes, the giant cable and phone companies, want to discriminate on which sites you can access.”

Without such an amendment, we face a very near-future likelihood in which telecommunication providers can easily limit how accessible web sites and services are to consumers by requiring payment from service and content providers for assured bandwidth and/or latency guarantees. This would mean, for example, that your Vonage phone connection would be of poor to unusable quality unless Vonage paid the baby balls and cable company providers. VOIP consumers could then choose to use an unreliable service like Vonage or a more reliable and more expensive service from their internet provider. Read the above-linked Wikipedia article for a better explanation of why network neutrality is a “good thing.” Wyden has tried unsuccessfully to get such an amendment added before. Here’s hoping this go around is more successful.
As something of an aside, check out the extra unusual move of a Senator not caving to the entertainment industry:

Other amendments may also be tacked onto or removed from the bill, with Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) on record as saying he may try to strip the broadcast flag from the legislation.

[tags]Network neutrality, Broadcast flag[/tags]

Avoid grammatical errors when blogging

(via Blogging Pro)
I make mistakes all the time – grammatical, factual, and spelling mistakes at least. And I’m guessing a lot of other people do (and that’s guessing as in – I read other sites enough to know that many people are even worse than I am). In an attempt to help bloggers (and others) reduce or avoid making so many grammatical errors, ZDNet has published an article entitled “10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid” for your edification. As the host of Blogging Pro said, I don’t think these mistakes necessarily make you look stupid, but they can make you look careless, poorly educated, or something along those lines. And for bloggers, those kinds of impressions will typically lead to fewer return visitors.

#3: They’re for their for there

No: The managers are in they’re weekly planning meeting.

Yes: The managers are in their weekly planning meeting.

No: The techs have to check there cell phones at the door, and their not happy about it.

Yes: The techs have to check their cell phones at the door, and they’re not happy about it.

OK, I admit that #3 there is a big annoyance for me. Of all the mistakes I make, mixing up they’re, there, and their is rarely one of them. But when I see others mix them up, it does disrupt my reading of what they’ve written.

#8 Lay for lie

No: I got dizzy and had to lay down.

Yes: I got dizzy and had to lie down.

Yes: Just lay those books over there.

Ooops. I frequently screw up on #8. I’m trying, but man, do I ever mix those two up. Sorry about that, folks.

[tags]Grammar, Writing errors[/tags]

Harsh penalties on tax evaders

Here’s a story from CNN that should just make you feel warm inside. An Argentinian man, accused of tax evasion, has been hit hard by his country’s government in an attempt to collect back taxes. Just 2 days before Argentina is due to play Germany in the World Cup semi-finals, tax officials took away the man’s large screen plasma TV. That’s a heavy penalty in a soccer-obsessed country.

It was the latest move in a “shock” campaign by Santiago Montoya, the top tax man in Buenos Aires province, the country’s biggest, to curb rampant tax evasion in Argentina.

Tax officials carted off the new big-screen television from a man who owes some 6,100 pesos ($2,000) in back taxes.

“We’ve taken the plasma as a guarantee against the debt he owes,” said Juan Manuel Prada, a provincial tax official.

[tags]Tax evasion, Soccer, World Cup, Argentina[/tags]