done as a roller coaster. Very clever (and scary!)
Link
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Train Sets New French Speed Record
ABOARD TRAIN V150, France (April 3) - A French train with a 25,000-horsepower engine and special wheels broke the world speed record Tuesday for conventional rail trains, reaching 357.2 mph as it zipped through the countryside to the applause of spectators.
the secret? It's powered by fear of the Germans.
the secret? It's powered by fear of the Germans.
Rolling WIth The Big Boys
I had to calculate the amount of revenue pull-through for a stack of products for some Capital Markets solutions I am proposing we build. It's important to the sales teams for them to know how much of their quota they will satisfy by selling the solution, and important to the product teams as they want to make sure that their products are being correctly untilized. E.g. a sale of one product results in 16 Windows server licences, 10 copies of office, 10 copies of MSDN, 16 copies of MOM/SMS etc. As a result, it's a fairly complex calculation with a surprisingly high number of opinionated stakeholders, and I have to do it for 4 products.
Below is the exact email I sent to the person who is in charge of coordinating this exercise:
Took a look at the product pull through and talked a bit with the product teams to get an idea of the pull through. There has been much lively debate about how to count CCE revenue in the taxonomy but that’s really just change compared to everything else. I also looked at how Digipede and some of our other partners count this, but that seems to over count a number of products not listed here and undercounted some of the server revenue.
So I just rolled 3d6+3.
Claw, Claw, Bite FTW!
I finished days ahead of the others :)
Below is the exact email I sent to the person who is in charge of coordinating this exercise:
Took a look at the product pull through and talked a bit with the product teams to get an idea of the pull through. There has been much lively debate about how to count CCE revenue in the taxonomy but that’s really just change compared to everything else. I also looked at how Digipede and some of our other partners count this, but that seems to over count a number of products not listed here and undercounted some of the server revenue.
So I just rolled 3d6+3.
Claw, Claw, Bite FTW!
I finished days ahead of the others :)
Kites and Pakistan
Yeah, the Pakistanis *really* know how to Par-Tey!
"At least 11 people have died and more than 100 injured at an annual kite flying festival in eastern Pakistan…. The deaths and injuries were caused by stray bullets, sharpened kite-strings, electrocution and people falling off rooftops
The festival is regularly marred by casualties caused by sharp kite strings or celebratory gunshots fired into the air…Kite flyers often use strings made of wire or coated with ground glass to try to cross and cut a rival's string or damage the other kite, often after betting on the outcome…. He also said that a 16-year-old girl and a school boy, 12, died after their throats were slashed by metal kite strings in separate incidents.
A 13-year-old boy fell to his death from the roof of his home as he tried to catch a stray kite, and a 35-year-old woman fell off the roof of her home trying to stop her son from running after a stray kite."
The goons , of course, are on the case!
"At least 11 people have died and more than 100 injured at an annual kite flying festival in eastern Pakistan…. The deaths and injuries were caused by stray bullets, sharpened kite-strings, electrocution and people falling off rooftops
The festival is regularly marred by casualties caused by sharp kite strings or celebratory gunshots fired into the air…Kite flyers often use strings made of wire or coated with ground glass to try to cross and cut a rival's string or damage the other kite, often after betting on the outcome…. He also said that a 16-year-old girl and a school boy, 12, died after their throats were slashed by metal kite strings in separate incidents.
A 13-year-old boy fell to his death from the roof of his home as he tried to catch a stray kite, and a 35-year-old woman fell off the roof of her home trying to stop her son from running after a stray kite."
The goons , of course, are on the case!
Maybe It's a Good Thing the 70s are gone after all
Shatner vs. Borgnine!
Key scenes: Early in the film, Shatner challenges Borgnine to an epic faith-off in which Shatner prays to his god and Borgnine worships his satanic majesty. God totally gets served.
Plot: Back in old-timey days, Satanic minister Ernest Borgnine swears vengeance when the wife of his disciple William Shatner rats Borgnine out to the town holy man. Three centuries later, Shatner's descendents are bedeviled by a Borgnine-led cabal of Satan worshippers out to retrieve a book pledging various souls to Satan. Shatner travels to a spooky ghost town to confront Borgnine, but ends up among the hooded, chanting, pentagram-happy damned. Shatner's brother (Tom Skerritt), an ESP expert, investigates his brother's mysterious disappearance by going undercover as one of Satan's minions. He seemingly succeeds in smashing Borgnine's ring of satanic evil, but Borgnine gets the last laugh when he uses his dark powers to possess Skerritt's wife.
Actually, I remember this movie. It was during the whole series of "Omen" rip-offs.
also, somehow I missed this movie in my formative years:
Plot: Mother Goose (played by Hal Smith, a.k.a. Otis from The Andy Griffith Show) gets put on trial for obscenity. When she takes the stand, she says, "I guess I'd better start at the fucking beginning. Um, I mean, 'Once upon a time…'" Then she proceeds to tell the real stories of Jack and the beanstalk, Cinderella, and Little Red Riding Hood, in X-rated detail, aided by a group of Disney animators moonlighting from their day jobs.
Key scenes: The movie shoots most of its figurative load in the first segment, which has a breast-obsessed Jack trading his cow to a flasher in a trenchcoat for a sack of beans, which he later ejaculates on, causing an enormous phallic beanstalk to erupt out of the ground. He climbs the stalk to an erotic fairyland in the clouds, where plates of food have sex with each other while a magic harp plays. Inspired by the music, Jack attempts to get it on with the giant's wife, but when her husband comes home, he has to hide inside her vagina, and avoid the thrusting of the giant's penis. Um… trippy?
Otis played Mother Goose? Holy Dr. Girlfriend!
Key scenes: Early in the film, Shatner challenges Borgnine to an epic faith-off in which Shatner prays to his god and Borgnine worships his satanic majesty. God totally gets served.
Plot: Back in old-timey days, Satanic minister Ernest Borgnine swears vengeance when the wife of his disciple William Shatner rats Borgnine out to the town holy man. Three centuries later, Shatner's descendents are bedeviled by a Borgnine-led cabal of Satan worshippers out to retrieve a book pledging various souls to Satan. Shatner travels to a spooky ghost town to confront Borgnine, but ends up among the hooded, chanting, pentagram-happy damned. Shatner's brother (Tom Skerritt), an ESP expert, investigates his brother's mysterious disappearance by going undercover as one of Satan's minions. He seemingly succeeds in smashing Borgnine's ring of satanic evil, but Borgnine gets the last laugh when he uses his dark powers to possess Skerritt's wife.
Actually, I remember this movie. It was during the whole series of "Omen" rip-offs.
also, somehow I missed this movie in my formative years:
Plot: Mother Goose (played by Hal Smith, a.k.a. Otis from The Andy Griffith Show) gets put on trial for obscenity. When she takes the stand, she says, "I guess I'd better start at the fucking beginning. Um, I mean, 'Once upon a time…'" Then she proceeds to tell the real stories of Jack and the beanstalk, Cinderella, and Little Red Riding Hood, in X-rated detail, aided by a group of Disney animators moonlighting from their day jobs.
Key scenes: The movie shoots most of its figurative load in the first segment, which has a breast-obsessed Jack trading his cow to a flasher in a trenchcoat for a sack of beans, which he later ejaculates on, causing an enormous phallic beanstalk to erupt out of the ground. He climbs the stalk to an erotic fairyland in the clouds, where plates of food have sex with each other while a magic harp plays. Inspired by the music, Jack attempts to get it on with the giant's wife, but when her husband comes home, he has to hide inside her vagina, and avoid the thrusting of the giant's penis. Um… trippy?
Otis played Mother Goose? Holy Dr. Girlfriend!
Damned with Faint Priase
At work yesterday I was talking to a colleague about an assignment which was coming in a little late. He assured me that, while late, I was actually way ahead because the other folks workng on this had even started yet, leading me to exclaim, "Woohoo! I am in last place in the race to the bottom!"
...
Well *I* thought it was funny!
...
Well *I* thought it was funny!
Monday, April 02, 2007
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Curses! I Didn't Count on Them Having a Teleporter!
Tetsubo takes Marvel's Civil War art and re-writes the dialog. It's pretty funny!
Friday, March 30, 2007
Opposite Day
In early 2001, at the start of the Bush Administration, there was a policy in place to distinguish itself from teh Clinton Administration, "Whatever they did, do the opposite". I'm being more than comic here, it really was phrased that way by Bush himself (as reported by Colin Powell). The problem with it was, of course, not *everything* Clinton did was wrong and there are not always 2 polar choices.
I didn't realize until today though that this policy actually had a name: The Costanza Doctrine.
I didn't realize until today though that this policy actually had a name: The Costanza Doctrine.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Support the Troops!
Fighting in an unpopular war, in a coalition lead by a country without a clear strategy, a soldier is captured and an Armchair General who has never seen the business end of an enemy rifle or served a single active duty hour, offers aid and comfort:
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q…
I think the Iranians gravely miscalculated by making that female British soldier appear on TV dressed in a Shiite black headscarf and white robe to deliver an apology that was obviously dictated and almost certainly coerced. The British are going to go ballistic over this.
I’m not saying that I could never be coerced into denouncing the US on a foreign state’s TV broadcast (I’m absolutely sure that there are levels of torture that would make it happen), but I sure as hell would be pretty bruised and bloodied before I turned traitor.
Do the British not have a Creed of the Fighting Man, like we do?
I am, frankly, nauseated by this sentiment.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q…
I think the Iranians gravely miscalculated by making that female British soldier appear on TV dressed in a Shiite black headscarf and white robe to deliver an apology that was obviously dictated and almost certainly coerced. The British are going to go ballistic over this.
I’m not saying that I could never be coerced into denouncing the US on a foreign state’s TV broadcast (I’m absolutely sure that there are levels of torture that would make it happen), but I sure as hell would be pretty bruised and bloodied before I turned traitor.
Do the British not have a Creed of the Fighting Man, like we do?
I am, frankly, nauseated by this sentiment.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
The 11 Least Interesting Words in the English Language
Let me tell you about the dream I had last night…
Unless you’re House MD..
Unless you’re House MD..
Results of a Typical Phone Conversation Between my Son and I
From today's call, a letter to the programming deparment of the SciFi channel:
Dear Scifi:
I have a suggestion for a possible spinoff of both Stargate SG-1 or Atlantis, and Battlestar: Galactica. Once Season 4 ends, many have speculated that the series will as well. My suggestion takes the setting of the Battlestar armada at Earth and merges it with the universe of Stargate. The series could be tentatively called BattleStargate and be set in either the Atlantis Pegasus galaxy or the Milky Way galaxy of SG-1. The SG teams could be merged with the Viper pilots with Lee and that guy from Farscape both heading a SG team. A third spinoff is possible with President Rosalyn running for President of the United States (with some help from SG-1). That spinoff could be called A Caprican in the White House. Starring Karl Rove as Giaus Baltar...
What think?
Dear Scifi:
I have a suggestion for a possible spinoff of both Stargate SG-1 or Atlantis, and Battlestar: Galactica. Once Season 4 ends, many have speculated that the series will as well. My suggestion takes the setting of the Battlestar armada at Earth and merges it with the universe of Stargate. The series could be tentatively called BattleStargate and be set in either the Atlantis Pegasus galaxy or the Milky Way galaxy of SG-1. The SG teams could be merged with the Viper pilots with Lee and that guy from Farscape both heading a SG team. A third spinoff is possible with President Rosalyn running for President of the United States (with some help from SG-1). That spinoff could be called A Caprican in the White House. Starring Karl Rove as Giaus Baltar...
What think?
Hilarious!
Why peanut butter is the atheists nightmare!
Wow. Let's just say the authors don't have a really strong grasp of how big and old the universe appears to be. Most of the other errors come out from there.
To it's credit, it's short, punchy and memorable in a way that cosmology almost never is.
Thanks Brian!
Wow. Let's just say the authors don't have a really strong grasp of how big and old the universe appears to be. Most of the other errors come out from there.
To it's credit, it's short, punchy and memorable in a way that cosmology almost never is.
Thanks Brian!
Hexagonal Structure on Saturn
Saturn's north pole is sporting a strange hexagonal structure.
I've never seen anything quite like it. I could imagine (and this would be going out on a limb) that there are six deep convection structures surrounding it, producing a stable area at the pole, but that would be a wild-assed guess.
Pretty cool though!
I've never seen anything quite like it. I could imagine (and this would be going out on a limb) that there are six deep convection structures surrounding it, producing a stable area at the pole, but that would be a wild-assed guess.
Pretty cool though!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
2nd Amendment
So my son Geoff often criticizes me for defending the Bill of Rights "except for the second amendment". You know, the one about keeping the King of England out of your face. I freely admit my support for it hasn't been as strong as for the First, but having read the Federalist 8, I believe I have a better feeling for the whole purpose and structure of it than I think most folks do.
That said, like nuclear power, I learned to support it when I took away the irrational emotion and looked at it logically. I disagree with TJIC's extreme "Might makes Right" position, but I do believe that people can responsibly use guns in society. I also believe people should be free not to use them and that both sets should enjoy the same freedom from fear and crime provided by concentrating the source of sanctioned violence with the police. The police force also can and should be a source of good in society.
Why the preamble? Because I was surprised (and more than a little disappointed) at the Republican reaction to Jim Webb's aid carrying a gun. Far more so than the democrats, the GOP has supported people's right to carry a gun, so I was shocked at their eagerness to jump on this guy simply because he's a democrat with a gun. I know I shouldn't have been, there is seemingly no principle at all underlying the modern republicans except the quest for power, but this was one of the few things I thought they had right.
That said, like nuclear power, I learned to support it when I took away the irrational emotion and looked at it logically. I disagree with TJIC's extreme "Might makes Right" position, but I do believe that people can responsibly use guns in society. I also believe people should be free not to use them and that both sets should enjoy the same freedom from fear and crime provided by concentrating the source of sanctioned violence with the police. The police force also can and should be a source of good in society.
Why the preamble? Because I was surprised (and more than a little disappointed) at the Republican reaction to Jim Webb's aid carrying a gun. Far more so than the democrats, the GOP has supported people's right to carry a gun, so I was shocked at their eagerness to jump on this guy simply because he's a democrat with a gun. I know I shouldn't have been, there is seemingly no principle at all underlying the modern republicans except the quest for power, but this was one of the few things I thought they had right.
Monday, March 26, 2007
A Group of Rational Decision Makers
From this:
Our ability to duck that which is not yet coming is one of the brain's most stunning innovations, and we wouldn't have dental floss or 401(k) plans without it. But this innovation is in the early stages of development. The application that allows us to respond to visible baseballs is ancient and reliable, but the add-on utility that allows us to respond to threats that loom in an unseen future is still in beta testing. [8]
A lot of what I write in the following sections are examples of these newer parts of the brain getting things wrong.
And it's not just risks. People are not computers. We don't evaluate security trade-offs mathematically, by examining the relative probabilities of different events. Instead, we have shortcuts, rules of thumb, stereotypes, and biases -- generally known as "heuristics." These heuristics affect how we think about risks, how we evaluate the probability of future events, how we consider costs, and how we make trade-offs. We have ways of generating close-to-optimal answers quickly with limited cognitive capabilities. Don Norman's wonderful essay, "Being Analog," provides a great background for all this.[9]
This is a pretty good analysis of the neuropsychology that goes into making security (and to a greater degree economic) decisions. Worth a read.
I'm blogging a lot today for some reason. I must be a little bored.
And I haven't even gotten to the analysis of the polyamoury problems in tjicistan!
Our ability to duck that which is not yet coming is one of the brain's most stunning innovations, and we wouldn't have dental floss or 401(k) plans without it. But this innovation is in the early stages of development. The application that allows us to respond to visible baseballs is ancient and reliable, but the add-on utility that allows us to respond to threats that loom in an unseen future is still in beta testing. [8]
A lot of what I write in the following sections are examples of these newer parts of the brain getting things wrong.
And it's not just risks. People are not computers. We don't evaluate security trade-offs mathematically, by examining the relative probabilities of different events. Instead, we have shortcuts, rules of thumb, stereotypes, and biases -- generally known as "heuristics." These heuristics affect how we think about risks, how we evaluate the probability of future events, how we consider costs, and how we make trade-offs. We have ways of generating close-to-optimal answers quickly with limited cognitive capabilities. Don Norman's wonderful essay, "Being Analog," provides a great background for all this.[9]
This is a pretty good analysis of the neuropsychology that goes into making security (and to a greater degree economic) decisions. Worth a read.
I'm blogging a lot today for some reason. I must be a little bored.
And I haven't even gotten to the analysis of the polyamoury problems in tjicistan!
Bomb or Not a Bomb?
This is pretty good! Not sure how I'd have classified the One Ring, or a bowl of Chili...
Also, from Cryptogram this month:
Is everything a bomb these days? In New Mexico, a bomb squad blew up two CD players, duct-taped to the bottoms of church pews, that played pornographic messages during Mass. This is a pretty funny high school prank and I hope the kids that did it get suitably punished. But they're not terrorists. And I have a hard time believing that the police actually thought CD players were bombs. http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/22/... Meanwhile, the British Police Force blew up a tape dispenser left outside a police station in Northern Ireland. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6387857.stm
And not to be outdone, the Dutch police mistook one of their own transmitters for a bomb. At least they didn't blow anything up. http://www.playfuls.com/... Okay, everyone. We need some ideas, here. If we're going to think everything weird is a bomb, then the false alarms are going to kill any hope of security. http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/02/...
If you're having trouble identifying bombs, this quiz should help. http://www.bombornot.com And here's a relevant cartoon. http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/...
The Boston police blew up a traffic counter. I'm beginning to think that something is seriously wrong with the police chain of command in Boston. Boston PD: Putting the "error" in "terror." http://www.boingboing.net/2007/02/28/...http://wbztv.com/local/local_story_059122735.html http://www3.whdh.com:80/news/articles/local/BO44642/http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/03/...
Also, from Cryptogram this month:
Is everything a bomb these days? In New Mexico, a bomb squad blew up two CD players, duct-taped to the bottoms of church pews, that played pornographic messages during Mass. This is a pretty funny high school prank and I hope the kids that did it get suitably punished. But they're not terrorists. And I have a hard time believing that the police actually thought CD players were bombs. http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/22/... Meanwhile, the British Police Force blew up a tape dispenser left outside a police station in Northern Ireland. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6387857.stm
And not to be outdone, the Dutch police mistook one of their own transmitters for a bomb. At least they didn't blow anything up. http://www.playfuls.com/... Okay, everyone. We need some ideas, here. If we're going to think everything weird is a bomb, then the false alarms are going to kill any hope of security. http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/02/...
If you're having trouble identifying bombs, this quiz should help. http://www.bombornot.com And here's a relevant cartoon. http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/...
The Boston police blew up a traffic counter. I'm beginning to think that something is seriously wrong with the police chain of command in Boston. Boston PD: Putting the "error" in "terror." http://www.boingboing.net/2007/02/28/...http://wbztv.com/local/local_story_059122735.html http://www3.whdh.com:80/news/articles/local/BO44642/http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/03/...
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