A real fan of the Golden Gate Bridge? Want to paint your kitchen the same color? Go to Sherman-Willliams and buy some paint with the “Fireweed” (SW 6328) color. And…
A real fan of the Golden Gate Bridge? Want to paint your kitchen the same color? Go to Sherman-Willliams and buy some paint with the “Fireweed” (SW 6328) color.
And now you know.
(via BoingBoing)
Haven’t we already gone through this again and again and again and again? Evidently we have to go through another “again.” At a ceremonial signing today of a bill that…
Haven’t we already gone through this again and again and again and again?
Evidently we have to go through another “again.”
At a ceremonial signing today of a bill that would place a Ten Commandments monument on the [Kentucky] Capitol grounds, Gov. Ernie Fletcher said he would be willing to consider displaying other religious artifacts if they, too, had significant impact on this country’s heritage, culture and law. Fletcher justified the controversial monument by saying it is “an integral part of our history and an integral part of our law.”
Please note to me where — except for the prohibitions on killing, bearing false witness (narrowly defined), and stealing (none of which are particularly unique to Judaic law) — the Decalogue is an “integral part” of Kentucky’s law?
House Bill 277, sponsored by Rep. Rick Nelson, D-Middlesboro, allows the return to Frankfort of a Ten Commandments monument that had been given to the state by the Fraternal Order of Eagles. The legislation also allows schools and local governments to post the Ten Commandments as part of historical displays and requires the posting of “In God We Trust” on the wall in the House of Representatives, behind the speaker’s stand. The Senate also plans to put the national motto on its wall.
Swell. “If we call it historical, it must be okay.” Reminds me of the pre-Raphaelite artists during the Victorian Age who got away with painting nudes by making it “classical.”
Fletcher did not know when the monument would be put on the Capitol grounds. David Friedman, general counsel for the Kentucky chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the state runs the risk of contempt of court if it places the monument before getting a federal injunction lifted that forbids it.
The U.S. Supreme Court last year ordered McCreary and Pulaski counties to remove Ten Commandments displays because their purpose was primarily religious. But the justices let stand a monument at the Texas Capitol, saying it was part of a secular display.
The Kentucky monument would be flanked by a marker listing its legislative and judicial history.
The Texas case, though, seemed to be decided based on the monument having been in place since 1961. The Kentucky memorial doesn’t have that same sort of history (it was donated to the state in ’71, sat at a distance until ’80. and only became controversial when it was decided to place it front-and-center at the capitol in ’00).
The Supremes have been unsympathetic to made-up historical arguments, or use of the Ten Commandments in “historic” displays that are pretty much clearly being set up to display the Decalogue. Maybe Kentucky feels the change on the SCOTUS will give them a better shot.
I hope not.
(via Les)
Calvin: An Intimate Portrait. Hi-larious. I really need to crack open the Calvin & Hobbes box set, but I’m almost daunted by it. Or unable to lift it off the…
Calvin: An Intimate Portrait. Hi-larious.
I really need to crack open the Calvin & Hobbes box set, but I’m almost daunted by it. Or unable to lift it off the ground, one or the other.
A list of ten pickup lines, guaranteed to help you ladies get guys to engage in witty conversation with you: “Hi.” (Be generally friendly and strike up conversations and you…
A list of ten pickup lines, guaranteed to help you ladies get guys to engage in witty conversation with you:
Certainly any of these would get my attention (if I was in the market — which, of course, I am not). Especially, of course, #4 …
(Warning: site protected by free but annoying MSN registration.)
(via J-Walk)
From the side of a bread truck spotted at lunch. It’s funny what you can see when you veiw these pictures way too large and up close (and better than…
From the side of a bread truck spotted at lunch. It’s funny what you can see when you veiw these pictures way too large and up close (and better than this little craptastic snapshot captures).
So, for example, driving by in your car, you probably wouldn’t notice the pink lipstick on the little girl. Lipstick which, like the teeth, bear no sign of any bread or jelly having touched them.
And those dabs of jelly on either side of the mouth? Puh-leeze. I know what a little girl that age with jam on her face looks like, and bears the same resemblance to that as chess bears a resemblance to the Battle of Agincourt.
Give me a break.
this post enabled by airblogging.com.
At least in terms of being the stereotyped “Muzak.” The syrupy orchestral “elevator music” that most people associate with the company scarcely exists anymore. Muzak sells about a hundred prepackaged…
At least in terms of being the stereotyped “Muzak.”
The syrupy orchestral “elevator music” that most people associate with the company scarcely exists anymore. Muzak sells about a hundred prepackaged programs and several hundred customized ones, and only one—“Environmental”—truly fits the stereotype. It consists of “contemporary instrumental versions of popular songs,” and it is no longer terribly popular anywhere, except in Japan. (“The Japanese think they love it, but they actually don’t,” a former Muzak executive told me. “They’ll get over it soon.”)
All of Muzak’s other programs are drawn from the company’s huge digital inventory, called the Well, which contains more than 1.5 million commercially recorded songs, representing dozens of genres and subgenres—acid jazz, heavy metal, shag, neo-soul, contemporary Italian—and is growing at the rate of twenty thousand songs a month. (Some record labels now upload new releases directly to the company, which, like a radio station, pays licensing fees for the songs it uses.)
The Well includes seven hundred and seventy-five tracks recorded by the Beatles, a hundred and thirty by Kanye West, three hundred and twenty-four by Led Zeppelin, eighty-four by Gwen Stefani, a hundred and ninety-one by 50 Cent, and nine hundred and eighty-three by Miles Davis. It also includes many covers—among them, versions of the Rolling Stones’ song “Paint It Black” by U2, Ottmar Liebert, and a late-sixties French rock band with a female vocalist (who sang it in French) and approximately five hundred versions of the Beatles’ song “Yesterday,” which, according to Guinness World Records, is the most frequently covered song in the world.
Fun article, going into the company’s history, their original pseudo-science behind play lists (and their new pseudo-science), and all sorts of stuff you probably never thought about regarding piped music.
NPR has been doing a great series of articles on the centennial of the Great 1906 Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco. Listening to the accounts this morning reminded me…
NPR has been doing a great series of articles on the centennial of the Great 1906 Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco. Listening to the accounts this morning reminded me of some family tales that Margie has told me in the past.
Her great-grandfather, R. Emmett Austin (R for Robert), went to med school at St. Louis U. (later Washington University), then served in the Spanish-American War. Afterwards, he and the family settled in San Diego.
In April 1906, he was boarding in San Francisco, and was in the second or third day of the state medical boards, so that he could get his license in the state. When the quake hit, it obviously disrupted the exams (and destroyed all the records), and the examinees were basically told, “You’re doctors now — go out and tend to the people out there.”
Evidently Margie’s family has a written account by him of making his way out of the city and the things he saw. The one image that sticks in Margie’s mind was of a woman, clearly well off by her dress, carrying a suitcase full of food.
Must make a note to get a scanned copy of the letter and get it posted online. That sort of primary material would be a really neat thing to share.
Popular Mechanics has a cover story on Pentagon budgets, weapons programs, and the internal political conflicts between the “Long Warriors” (focused on the War on Terror and the budgets and…
Popular Mechanics has a cover story on Pentagon budgets, weapons programs, and the internal political conflicts between the “Long Warriors” (focused on the War on Terror and the budgets and systems needed to support that) and the folks who expect the next conflict (or deterrance of same) to be against China, which would call for a much more traditional Cold War-style military.
The result is a lot of debate over some very keen-sounding weapons systems that may, or may not, be of any use by the time they get deployed.
The attack would come quickly, and it would be awful. Cruising far offshore, the U.S. Navy’s DD(X) destroyer launches 20 artillery shells in less than a minute. As the satellite-guided weapons fall back to Earth at 830 mph, computer algorithms alter their flight paths so that the 250-pound projectiles all strike the same patch of ground at the same time, reducing everything in the vicinity to rubble and dust. If more firepower is needed, the destroyer can unleash another 580 artillery rounds, as well as 80 Tomahawk missiles. And when the attack is over, the ship simply vanishes. On a radar screen, the DD(X)’s stealthy hull makes the 14,000-ton vessel look like just another fishing boat, casting its nets into the sea.
Just one thing is missing from this scenario: an enemy. “The DD(X) is the most revolutionary surface warship in decades,” says John Pike, director of defense think tank GlobalSecurity.org. “But I have yet to have anybody explain to me–point to a place on the map-and say what they propose to do with it.”
One result is that arguments get made for how a given weapons system can be used in either sort of theater — such arguments usually being a stretch (or, worse, leading to mid-course design revisions that leave the system not much good for any of its roles). Usually these arguments are made to justify the Big Ticket items, like the DD(X) or F-22 Raptor, which may not have an obvious application in the War on Terror.
If sending a $60 million single-engine JSF to take out Chinese radar seems excessive, using a $250 million dual-engine jet to disrupt the signals of improvised roadside explosives seems downright ridiculous-especially when Humvee-mounted jammers that cost $10,000 already do the job. Yet, this capability is one of the justifications that Lockheed officials now use for the fleet of F-22 Raptors they’re building for the Air Force at a cost of $4 billion a year. Designed to tangle with Soviet MiGs, the jet has been searching for a mission for 15 years. Retired Marine Maj. Gen. Tom Wilkerson, a former F/A-18 pilot, thinks the Raptor and the JSF are “overkill of the highest magnitude. Our fighter pilots already kick anybody’s ass. And nobody is building anything that can keep up.”
Though, of course, that sort of attitude can be dangerous, too. “Oh, our weapons systems are so good, we don’t need to develop anything new” is, history points out, a great way to tragically discover how wrong you can be. And while everyone’s talking now about the Long War, weapon systems decisions have have impacts for decades (as an example, the B-52).
Still, given a choice between getting behind a sexy new fighter, ICBM upgrade, or destroyer, vs. innovatoins in radios and body armor and Humvees, folks in the corporate world (defense or not) know what’s going to look better on a resume. Is that fighting the last war? Or getting ready for the next one?
(via GeekPress)
Unusual resume items, odd interview interactions, and all sorts of other chucklers regarding job applicants. Some interesting: A job applicant challenged the interviewer to an arm wrestle. Interviewee wore a…
Unusual resume items, odd interview interactions, and all sorts of other chucklers regarding job applicants.
Some interesting:
- A job applicant challenged the interviewer to an arm wrestle.
- Interviewee wore a Walkman, explaining that she could listen to the interviewer and the music at the same time.
- Candidate announced she hadn’t had lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and french fries in the interviewer’s office.
- Candidate said he never finished high school because he was kidnapped and kept in a closet in Mexico.
- Balding candidate excused himself and returned to the office a few minutes later wearing a headpiece.
And some … intriguing statements by interviewees.
- “I have no difficulty in starting or holding my bowel movement.”
- “At times I have the strong urge to do something harmful or shocking.”
- “I feel uneasy indoors.”
- “Sometimes I feel like smashing things.”
- “Women should not be allowed to drink in cocktail bars.”
Those actually searching for work should take note, if only as an example of what not to do (or of what is seen as notably unusual by interviewers). Also, proofread your resumes …
(via GeekPress)
One of the joys of the Internet age is that … well, folks who do goofy things can be become well known for it, and, often, with documentation. Take Jerry…
One of the joys of the Internet age is that … well, folks who do goofy things can be become well known for it, and, often, with documentation.
Take Jerry Taylor, City Manager of Tuttle, Oklahoma. He went to the city’s web site back in March and was dismayed to discover that a default Apache page for a newly-installed LINUX operating system was showing up there. Said web page explained what it was about, who to contact in case of problems, etc. Convinced the city’s site was under attack by Black Hats, he contacted the company, CentOS, that produces the OS (and who, like all Black Hats, of course, had posted their contact information on the default page).
Who gave you permission to invade my website and block me and anyone else from accessing it???
Please remove your software immediately before I report it to government officials!!
I am the City Manager of Tuttle, Oklahoma.
Hilarity ensues, as the owner of CentOS tries to explain that it’s nothing they’ve done and to get further info from Taylor, and Taylor fires back such missives as:
Get this web site off my home page!!!!!
It is blocking access to my website!!!!~!
I do not want this software!!!! This is the City of Tuttle, Oklahoma. Get rid of this software!!!!!
Second notice!
Johnny,
Unless this software is removed I will file a complaint with the FBI.
[…] I am computer literate! I have 22 years in computer systems engineering and operation. […]
Finally, CentOS managed to get the name of the hosting company for the city and passes it on to Taylor, who discovers the company had a crash on the server and had reinstalled the OS (but, evidently, not restored the web pages). All’s right with the world now — except for Jerry Taylor’s reputation, of course. Not that he’s particularly repentent about it:
Taylor said that he didn’t understand why so many people were concerned about an e-mail exchange between two people.
“This is just a bunch of freaks out there that don’t have anything better to do,” he said. “When I came in to work Monday morning, I had about 500 e-mails, plus anonymous phone calls from all the geeks out there. [CentOS is] a free operating system that this guy gives away, which tells you how much time he’s got on his hands.”
Taylor said that the mistake could have happened to anyone, and he stands by what he did. “I’m not about to follow any instructions on an unknown web page,” Taylor said. “That could put a virus on my system.”
Indeed, he blames the CentOS people for not doing the research into who hosted the website to begin with (though they’d asked for that info from Taylor), and is pleased that his threat to go to the FBI prompted CentOS to take his complaint seriously and be polite to him.
What a maroon.
Those word are from the Nicene Creed, written in AD 325 at the Council of Nicaea, edited and affirmed in Constantinople in AD 381. It’s the most ecumenical Christian theological…
Those word are from the Nicene Creed, written in AD 325 at the Council of Nicaea, edited and affirmed in Constantinople in AD 381. It’s the most ecumenical Christian theological statement (besides the Bible) around, used, formally or informally, in a multitude of Christian denominations, from the Presbyterians to the Catholics and Eastern Orthodox (and including us wacky Episcopalians).
Interestingly enough, one of the matters it raises (in that very passage) is the physical resurrection of the body, which is seen by many scholars as a key element of Christian theology — but which most Americans (religious or not) don’t actually believe in.
Only 36 percent of the 1,007 adults interviewed by the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University said “yes” to the question: “Do you believe that, after you die, your physical body will be resurrected someday?” Fifty-four percent said they do not believe, and 10 percent were undecided.
“This reflects the very low state of doctrinal preaching in our churches,” said Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and editor of the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology.
“I continually am confronted by Christians, even active members of major churches, who have never heard this taught in their local congregations,” he said. “We have a lowest-common-denominator Christianity being taught in so many denominations that has produced a people who simply do not know some of the most basic Christian truths.”
I guess you can count me in that number, since it’s not something that’s been a centerpiece of teaching or preaching at any of the churches I’ve attended. Frankly, though I’ve been aware of the concept, it’s never seemed all that significant to me (even without my own odd ideas of the Afterlife). It’s like arguing whether one gets silver or gold robes upon joining the Choir Invisible — an interesting question over a few beers, but not worth sweating, and hardly a “basic Christian truth.” I mean, did Jesus spend a lot of time teaching about the resurrection of the body?
Part of what makes reading that news story last night amusing is that, driving Katherine home from aftercare at her school yesterday, she suddenly asked me, “Do you think we get another body?”
After I managed to understand the context in which she was speaking — getting another body after we die — I told her, “Well, there are some people who believe that, after we die, we get born again as a little baby, until we learn enough to move onto something else. And some people, like at our church, believe when we die we go to Heaven, and some of them believe we have a body there, too.”
We chatted a bit more. “Do you think maybe if you’re a girl, God could give you a boy’s body, and if you’re a boy, God could give you a girl’s body?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I suppose if God wanted to. People might learn something that way. I don’t remember having another body, myself, but, then, I might not.”
“I think that would be funny.”
A bit more chit-chat, which I wrapped up with, “Some people get into big arguments about what happens after we die, and if we get a different body or the same body or things like that. But you know what I think God is most interested in?”
“What?”
“How we behave while we’re here in these bodies.”
“Uh-huh.”
My own subtle religious brainwashing at work … and I marvel at the sort of questions she’s becoming able to raise and formulate.
Since nobody seems to be able to muster the outrage sufficient to amend the constitution to change the electoral college, some states — including Colorado — are trying an end…
Since nobody seems to be able to muster the outrage sufficient to amend the constitution to change the electoral college, some states — including Colorado — are trying an end run around it.
Colorado could be in the forefront of an effort to effectively abolish the Electoral College if a bill sponsored by state Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver, becomes law.
[…] The plan would work like this: Colorado would enter into a compact with a number of other states, pledging that all its Electoral College delegates would vote for the winner of the national popular vote. The compact would take effect only if enough states signed on to have a majority in the Electoral College. The winner of the popular vote would be assured of election in the Electoral College.
It’s an interesting idea. the Constitution doesn’t actually mandate how the electors vote, or even how they are selected, just their role in actually electing the president and how many each state gets.
I’m not altogether convinced that the electoral college is the evil that some folks deem it to be. And I mistrust political solutions that rely on cooperative compacts to dictate votes. But I’d almost rather an arrangement like that than actually revise the Constitution, if it effects the same change.
Over two years since I first wrote about it, the VA is stilll shilly-shallying about approving a symbol for Wicca on its tombstones and memorials — despite having recognized symbols…
Over two years since I first wrote about it, the VA is stilll shilly-shallying about approving a symbol for Wicca on its tombstones and memorials — despite having recognized symbols for any number of Christian sects (“Aaronic Order Church”? “United Moravian Church”?), Islam, Judaims, Sufism (“Reoriented”), Mormonism, Buddhism, Eckankar, Humanism, “Soka Gakkai International,” “Izumo Taishakyo Mission of Hawaii,” Konko-Kyo, Hindiusm, Bahai, Atheism, The Native American Church of North America, Sikh, the Church of World Messianity (Izunome) … some 38 symbols in all.
So why the delay in approving the Wiccan pentacle? Ostensibly because there have been so few requests for it, and only recently did the VA not require certification from some sort of central body that the faith symbol was legitimate (now it can be a “central head or primary contact person”). More likely, I suspect, because of a certain squeamishness amongst some in the VA to recognize “witches” and to use something that looks like a “Satanic” symbol.
As I noted back then, the problem with recognizing some religious symbols is that you really have to recognize all of them, at least if you don’t want to run afoul of the First Amendment. Hopefully the “Real Soon Now” answers from the VA will turn out to be accurate.
Heavens. First it’s Erich Van Daniken’s “Ancient Astronauts” museum about to go under, and now it’s Kent Hovind’s creationist theme park. Though in Hovind’s case, it’s not dollars, it’s ……
Heavens. First it’s Erich Van Daniken’s “Ancient Astronauts” museum about to go under, and now it’s Kent Hovind’s creationist theme park. Though in Hovind’s case, it’s not dollars, it’s … well, hubris.
Escambia County authorities this week locked up a museum building at the theme park on North Palafox Street in Pensacola after Circuit Judge Michael Allen ruled the owners were in contempt of court.
Owners of the park, which shows how dinosaurs may have roamed the Earth just a few thousand years ago, did not obtain a building permit before constructing the building in 2002. They have argued in and out of court that it violates their “deeply held” religious beliefs, and that the church-run facility does not have to obtain permits.
After almost four years of litigation, the judge disagreed and said the county has the authority to close the building until the owners comply with regulations.
[…] Church leader Kent Hovind vowed to appeal the case. “We will continue our legal fight,” Hovind said Thursday.
“This is pure religious persecution,” said Glen Stoll, who works closely with Hovind on legal issues.
As one county commissioner put it, “Scripture also says ‘Render unto Caesar what Caesar demands.’ And right now, Caesar demands a building permit.” Let’s hope that Hovind & Co. are stubborn enough to go down the tubes for their “We’re too important to be worried about the law” beliefs.
(via Les)
The Christian Coalition is threatened with extinction. What could be the reason? Evil satanic atheist secularist humanist Hollywood types, turning public opinion against them? No, just the march of time…
The Christian Coalition is threatened with extinction. What could be the reason? Evil satanic atheist secularist humanist Hollywood types, turning public opinion against them? No, just the march of time and a boatload of debt.
The once-mighty Christian Coalition, founded 17 years ago by the Rev. Pat Robertson as the political fundraising and lobbying engine of the Christian right, is more than $2 million in debt, beset by creditors’ lawsuits and struggling to hold on to some of its state chapters.
[…] “The credibility is just not there like it once was,” said Stephen L. Scheffler, president of the [break-away] Iowa affiliate since 2000. “The budget has shrunk from $26 million to $1 million. There’s a trail of debt. . . . We believe, our board believes, any Christian organization has an obligation to pay its debts in a timely fashion.”
At its peak a decade ago, the Christian Coalition deployed a dozen lobbyists on Capitol Hill. Today, it has a single Washington employee who works out of his home. Its phone number with a 202 area code is automatically forwarded to a small office in Charleston, S.C.
As to the underlying reason? Too much dependence on leaders (Pat Robertson and Rex Reed) who have since moved on, if not without a certain degree of notariety; lots of accrued debt (though it’s down from $4MM in the hole in 2001); the general “success” of conservative politics since the “dark days” of the Clinton presidency; and disputes over how well the CC served the core values of its constituency, how much its spokesmen strayed from orthodoxy and unifying, vs. dividing, conservative Christian themes.
Despite Robertson’s denials, fellow conservative Christians viewed his 2001 CNN interview [supporting China’s one child policy] as a defense of forced abortions. “The Christian Coalition was already on life support. Robertson’s remarks probably mean its demise,” former Christian Coalition lobbyist Marshall Wittmann predicted at the time.
In 2003, [Robertson’s successor] Roberta Combs defied conservative orthodoxy when she campaigned in Alabama in support of a state tax increase. Leaders of the Christian Coalition’s Alabama chapter said the national organization had “dramatically departed from a 13-year traditional core values platform.”
Combs also drew charges of nepotism by hiring her daughter and son-in-law, Tracy E. Ammons, a schoolteacher who became a $6,000-a-month Senate lobbyist. When the couple divorced two years ago, he claimed that the Christian Coalition owed him $130,000 in unpaid salary.
Other, smaller organizations have arisen to fill the vacuum, but they don’t have the clout the CC once yielded.
Which is, in my opinion, a good thing.
(via Les)
Getting Error 500 glitches on the site for folks trying to file comments here. Apologies to anyone who’s run into that — I’m trying to dig into it, but my…
Getting Error 500 glitches on the site for folks trying to file comments here. Apologies to anyone who’s run into that — I’m trying to dig into it, but my opportunity here at the office is limited.
(Also noted that the Error 500 page I put together is utterly missing line breaks, which is annoying, but which I can’t do anything about here, either.)
UPDATE: Comments are being saved, but the rebuild is failing (producing a 500 error:
Premature end of script headers: /home/dave/public_html/blog/mt/mt-comments.cgi
I’ve tried recopying the script up there, to no avail. It is a puzzlement.
UPDATE: Which is why I opened a ticket with HM this morning. The answer:
This was due to a process killer we had to put in place to try and keep things under control on the server. Between you and another site, the comments were making the load continually go sky high. I suppose it’s time to separate some of you off the box. I’ve removed the process killer for now and ordered up a couple of servers – just be aware that you may get a notice that your site is being moved at some point this week.
Huh. Certainly the legit traffic here is relatively light. And since I put in TypeKey validation, I haven’t had any spam get through — but it’s altogether possible that Bad Hats are hitting the CGI script directly (though I haven’t seen error log messages on it) and causing a lot of server burden.
Anyway, stuff seems to be working okay at the moment.
Erich von Daniken’s Swiss “Mystery Park,” which expands on the themes of his 70s UFO/archaeology hits Chariots of the Gods? et al., is on the verge of bankruptcy. The park,…
Erich von Daniken’s Swiss “Mystery Park,” which expands on the themes of his 70s UFO/archaeology hits Chariots of the Gods? et al., is on the verge of bankruptcy.
The park, set up by the author of bestsellers such as “Chariots of the Gods” and “The Gods were Astronauts”, has failed to attract enough visitors and needs 4 million Swiss francs (2 million pounds) in cash to stay in business.
The park’s attractions — which showcase giant drawings in the Peruvian desert that may once have been signs for visiting spacecraft, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and more — may close forever if the group does not find the money.
Though I’m sure he could make it profitable again if he repurposed it to prove that angels visited the Earth in eras past, and relocated from Interlaken to, say, Kansas …
It’s no more visually-impaired friendly than the traditional text/numbers CAPTCHA codes (those “type in the string above” verification used in comment forms for many blogs), but the KittenAuth test is…
It’s no more visually-impaired friendly than the traditional text/numbers CAPTCHA codes (those “type in the string above” verification used in comment forms for many blogs), but the KittenAuth test is not probably harder to hack (since humans can tell the difference between a baby bunny and a kitten, but computer can’t — yet), it’s just so damned cute.
KittenAuth is a new system for human-checking that forgoes all the useless random string crap that people cannot read, and replaces the whole lot with pictures of cute animals.
The current 9*9 design displays 9 pictures and requires that the user clicks 3 pictures of kittens. The location of the kittens in the grid is random and to make things more fun the contents of the pictures changes too.
Like I said, cute!
… from that pernicious and evil corrupter of youth and destroyer of all upright values? I speak, of course, of the waltz: “The indecent foreign dance called the Waltz was…
… from that pernicious and evil corrupter of youth and destroyer of all upright values?
I speak, of course, of the waltz:
“The indecent foreign dance called the Waltz was introduced … at the English Court on Friday last … It is quite sufficient to cast one’s eyes on the voluptuous intertwining of the limbs, and close compressure of the bodies … to see that it is far indeed removed from the modest reserve which has hitherto been considered distinctive of English females. So long as this obscene display was confined to prostitutes and adulteresses, we did not think it deserving of notice; but now that it is … forced on the respectable classes of society by the evil example of their superiors, we feel it a duty to warn every parent against exposing his daughter to so fatal a contagion.”
– The Times of London, 1816
Or, perhaps, movie theaters:
“This new form of entertainment has gone far to blast maidenhood … Depraved adults with candies and pennies beguile children with the inevitable result. The Society has prosecuted many for leading girls astray through these picture shows, but GOD alone knows how many are leading dissolute lives begun at the ‘moving pictures.'”
– The Annual Report of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, 1909
Some perspective on the “Video Games are teh Evil!” meme promulgated by politicians, pundits, and concerned citizenry.
(via GeekPress)
Or, more precisely, some cool pictures of and research into shock waves, explosions, and gunshots. A real blast. (via GeekPress)…
Or, more precisely, some cool pictures of and research into shock waves, explosions, and gunshots. A real blast.
(via GeekPress)