] What is this cloud thing? Well...photos are posted here
] on this site randomly distributed over time from several
] users scattered all over the world (mostly Europe). A
] cloud here is defined to simply be a meltdown of these
] images into one single image - an image that obviously
] becomes more and more chaotic over time.

Oddly enough it is much more than just a random collage. It really tells quite a story, albeit non-linear.

Peffisaur - A Multiuser MMS Weblog Community

1. Almost nobody, looking at a computer system for the first time, has the slightest idea what it will do or how it should work. What people call an "intuitive interface" is generally one which becomes obvious as soon as it is demonstrated. But before the demo there was no intuition of what it would be like. Therefore the real first sense of "intuitive" is retroactively obvious.
2. Well-designed interactive software gradually unfolds itself, as in the game of Pac-Man, which has many features you don't know about at first. The best term I've heard for this is self-revealing (term coined by Klavs Landberg).

Can't recommend this highly enough. A bit crabby but what a clear thinker,

If you haven't read Ted Nelson you're not really a hacker.

"In 1977, Gunther von Hagens invented the plastination technique which marked the beginning of a second anatomical revolution. Andreas Vesalius who created precise anatomical drawings as early as in 1543 was the pioneer of modern anatomy. Since then human corpses have slowly disappeared again from the human eye with the establishment of medical schools. A taboo emerged.

Gunther von Hagens’ plastinated bodies obviously touch upon this taboo and trigger controversial reactions throughout the world. The high number of visitors, however, proves the general population’s need to learn more about the structure and functions of their bodies."

This is in LA 'till January. I can't wait to see it. My kids are giving it a pass.

Display of Placticized and Dissected Corpses

] Carrie Fisher, Princess Leia in the original trilogy, has
] said that "When George was directing, he'd only say
] two things: 'faster' or 'more intense.'" Fire Lucas
] as director, who has no sense of control over his
] storyline, encourages flat and affectless acting, and
] shellacs every scene with such a frenzy of special
] effects that they assault your senses like a strobe
] light.

Amen brother. That "running through the fields love montage" in Episode II was of 1pm-on-a-Sunday-TBS-made-for-TV shit.

Lucas is sinking some of my favorite childhood memories with the crap he's been filming. I have a feeling I'm only going to show my kids Starwars 4-6, and any kids at school who tell them there are 3 more Starwars movies are just lying like the time they said Santa wasn't real.

MSNBC - Can Star Wars: Episode III be saved?

It is not thought to display an unbiased view of the news; on the contrary, it is thought to ironically accentuate the bias of it.

newsmap

"The Visual Thesaurus takes a unique, and remarkably beautiful, approach to presenting the results of a word lookup."

A visualized networking of words.

Limited trial usage.

Visual Thesaurus

] Despite statements to the contrary, quiet preparations
] for the return of the draft have been under way for some
] time. The Selective Service System's Annual Performance
] Plan for Fiscal Year 2004 - despite a ton of
] obfuscatory jargon, acronyms, and bureaucrat-speak -
] can't quite manage to bury all of its bombshells.

] Strategic Objective 1.2 of the 2004 plan commits the
] Selective Service System to being fully operational
] within 75 days of "an authorized return to conscription."
] Strategic Objective 1.3 then commits them to "be
] operationally ready to furnish untrained manpower within
] DOD timelines."

...

] The 2004 plan commits the SSS to report to the president
] on March 31st, 2005, that the system is ready for
] activation with 75 days. If they manage the task, then
] the first lottery could happen as early as June 15th,
] 2005.

A mother of two sons breathes deeply.

AlterNet: The Coming Draft

Yeah, well, you know, chocolate!

Most People will give up passwords for a Candy bar

"A scientific breakthrough! Thanks to certain, newfound processes of complex chemical and psychological analysis, a means has at last been established to isolate and quantify the 'nerd content' of one's blood. Looking for proof of your nerdy savoir-faire? Assurance that you're mitichlorian-free, and really do still have a chance with the opposite sex? All you have to do is take this simple test. "

28%, but I confess to most of that by chance.

Now on this:
http://www.innergeek.us/geek.html

I hit 32% but it is far softer.

You?

Geek Tests

In a letter mailed on Friday to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Scalia, calling the organization's concern "well justified," wrote: "You are correct that the action was not taken at my direction. I was as upset as you were."

Justice Scalia said in the letter to the Reporters Committee that the controversy had caused him to revise his policy "so as to permit recording for use of the print media" to "promote accurate reporting." He indicated he would continue to ban the recording of his speeches by the broadcast press.

Justice Scalia indicated he would continue to ban the recording of his speeches by the broadcast press.

"The electronic media have in the past respected my First Amendment right not to speak on radio or television when I do not wish to do so," he wrote, "and I am sure that courtesy will continue."

Barbara Cochran, president of the Radio-Television News Directors Association, objected to that distinction in a letter to Justice Scalia yesterday. "There is no legal basis for such discrimination," she wrote. "To exclude television cameras and audio recording is the equivalent of taking away pencil and paper from print reporters."

Scalia Apologizes for Seizure of Recordings