SnowCraft, a snowball fight game, is the first Shockwave game I ever played. It's still cute and fun. I can't do better than a score in the 70s though. [via #!/usr/bin/girl]
Strengthcoach is a very simple golf-style game, but I got sucked in. Time two clicks on a moving bar to set the power and accuracy of your drive, and see how far you can make the ball go. I gave up once I broke 400. [via #!/usr/bin/girl]
If letter writing isn't your style, maybe you should send a powerpoint presentation next time you get bad service. These two business travelers assembled a hilarious (web-browsable) presentation on a rude hotel clerk. It starts off slow, but gets very funny. [via Rebecca's Pocket]
A new Brunching ratings is out today: rating Facial Hair. Woo!
Besides all of the other bad choices in Windows XP it also turns out Windows XP Flight Feature Flawed. I got to see a copy of XP in action today, and the default interface they give you looks like an ad for Prosac. Check also the story on Steve [the Dell kid] badly beaten at the same site.
It's a cold, rainy day here, so what better to do than find a nice university building and curl up for a nap on a radiator in the stairwell?
I believe this cat is a Cornell regular, hanging out in whatever buidings he can sneak into, getting lots of kitty love along the way. I heard that he wears a tag that says he's not lost and knows how to get home from campus, because so many people kept calling him in. I think it's nice enough people were concerned to call about him.
Some people are map people and some people aren't. If you're a map person (and from the US), you'll enjoy browsing the Color Landform Atlas of the United States. The shaded relief maps are very cool. [via Larkfarm]
Can't figure out what to get that hard to shop for person? They probably don't have a Personalized Steak Branding Iron yet!
This unique gift makes a real conversation piece. Next time you have friends over for dinner, serve them a branded steak or maybe a hamburger, and then just watch their faces come alive. These brands are authentic in every detail and are scaled down versions of regular cattle brands that have been used for hundreds of years. Your brand will be made by a skilled craftsman who has made many brands ordered by world leaders, famous personalities, and others around the world.[via Larkfarm]
Google has expanded its empire to include not just recent Usenet postings, but all Usenet postings from the past 20 years. Yes, this is the appropriate time to go back and remember all the stupid things you posted when you first discovered the internet back in college. Better yet, go check out what groups your friends used to frequent. I've got at least one friend with an embarassing Usenet history that it is time to tease them about again.... [via Pith & Vinegar]
But even if you weren't a rabid Usenet poster, if you were around during the early years, definitely browse the historic Usenet moments list of posts. Check out the announcement of GNU or Linux, or revisit the first mass spamming (yep, the Green Card spam - I'd forgotten too). A virtual walk down memory lane.
The amount of spam in my personal inbox is reaching ridiculous proportions. I didn't check mail there over the weekend, and this morning I found 52 new messages, 51 of which were spam. Curious, I ran some statistics and found the following breakdown of spam subjects:
Financial Opportunities: 21I can't believe that they get any business out of these messages. Are people that naive? A friend and I were laughing over the following spam, which has to be the least effective sales pitch I've seen in a while:
Debt Consolidation: 8
Home-based Income Opportunity: 6
Insurance: 4
Stock Alert: 3
Sex: 9
Sex Aids, for men: 4
Teen Porn: 2
Women & Animals Porn: 2
Singles Service: 1"Legitimate" Products for Sale: 9
Sketchiness: 11
Background Searches/Investigations: 3
Snoring Solution: 2
Entered To Win!: 2
Spam Lists for Sale: 1
University Degree Program: 1
Legal Services: 1
Cannabis Alternative: 1Virus Forward: 1
Complete Credit Card Processing at your fingertipsThis is just a classic of erratic capitalization, creative spelling, and non-grammar. I suspect the only thing they "gaurentee" is that your name and phone number will get sold for telemarker lists.to find out more and to apply for FREE!!
Simply send your
NAME:
AND
PHONE NUMBER:
AND BEST TIME TO CALL
Any one business big or small can accept credit cards Online bussnesses[sic], telephone businesses, Snail mail Businesses, Conventional retail businesses, ect[sic], ect[sic], ect[sic].
accepting Credit Cards is faster and more convenunt[sic] for yourself as well as your customer. Your customer get[sic] his/her product faster and you get your payment
GAURENTEED[sic].
I wish someone could clarify the carry-on rule for me, though. When I call the airline, they are still saying that two bags are fine so long as one fits under the seat in front of you, and they say the same thing when you check in, but at the gates they keep saying only one carry-on, and the editorial above made reference to a one carry-on rule. Perhaps things would go smoother if there was better, more consistent sharing of information.
Being the second person in Ithaca to have a LoTR ticket probably does knock me up one more notch on the geek scale. So be it - I'll be seeing the movie on the theater's best screen opening night with a group of friends the day after finishing the last of my semester's obligations - life is good.
Ed. Note: I have been corrected - my friend and I are at best the second and third people to have tickets to Lord of the Rings. The first person, almost certainly, is the friend who will be watching the crew screening in New Zealand with friends who worked on the movie at December 17th. Lucky bitch ;)
So, why haven't I been updating? Well, besides the Thanksgiving travelling (including the two hour wait in the security line from hell), the stomach flu, the end-of-semester class rush, the newfound research momentum, and the panic over realizing how much Christmas shopping I still have to do (all of it...), I've been spending my little spare time playing Reflections. Think The Incredible Machine, or Lemmings, but with laser beams, reflectors, and splitters. The first couple of level are easy, but they become quite challenging. I'm on level 20 out of 25 now. But, if that's not your style, Beetle Buggin' is a very cute game that's worth a look. [via #!/usr/bin/girl]
Good news: knitting is in. Not like I carry needles and yarn in my purse or anything. I still say the really cool people crochet, though. [via Breaching the Web]
There is nothing like the web for odd data collections. Case in point, this Graphical Medical History of the Presidents of the United States. It appears to be collected from citations of medical conditions without any filtering of the type of condition - it's an odd mixture of cases of throat cancer, tuberculosis, fathering an illegitimate daughter, and being able to simultaneously write Greek with one hand and Latin with the other. [via Strange Brew]
"But the computer says I'm at peace... In the better-self-knowledge-through-quizes category, check out some of these. Obviously, I needed to know which Lord of the Rings character I am (Celeborn, King of Lothlorien - woo hoo!). The Art Test [via Breaching the Web] will tell you what painting you are; I'm not sure I like my answer:
 | If I were a work of art, I would be Vincent Van Gogh's The Starry Night. I am a tiny village at peace while overhead rages the tumult of the heavens. Objects whirl and flash around me in a fevered haze only partially reflected in reality while I remain grounded and secure in my isolation. |
From what this article says, the first college for home schoolers isn't built around home schooling beliefs about education, it's built around religious beliefs and just happens to require that its students were home schooled. The article only briefly comments that not all students are home schooled for religious reasons, and then quickly returns to discussing those who are. Not all home schooled students are
"shielded from what the movement regards as the troubling "isms" of the public schools: secularism, multiculturalism, liberalism". It's something that bears repeating. [via Breaching the Web]
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