He realizes something: The Americans must have done the impossible: broken all of their codes. That explains Midway, it explains the Bismarck Sea, Hollandia, everything. It especially explains why Yamamoto -- who ought to be sipping green tea and practicing calligraphy in a misty garden -- is, in point of fact, on fire and hurtling through the jungle at a hundred miles per hour in a chair, closely pursued by tons of flaming junk. He must get word out! The codes must all be changed! This is what he is thinking when he flies head-on into a hundred-foot-tall Octomelis sumatrana.
Given yesterday's revelation about Stevens this funny passage from the Cryptonomicon IS Apropos.
Slashdot | Call For Halt To Wikipedia Webcomic Deletions
Topic: Miscellaneous
9:54 am EDT, Oct 31, 2007
"Howard Tayler, the webcomic artist of Schlock Mercenary fame, is calling on people not to donate money during the latest Wikimedia Foundation fund-raiser. This is to protest the 'notability purges' taking place throughout Wikipedia, where articles are being removed en-masse by what many see as overzealous admins.
Apparently people around here aren't the only ones grumbling about deletionism.
Georgia Court Orders Man Freed in Sex Case - New York Times
Topic: Miscellaneous
1:49 pm EDT, Oct 26, 2007
The Georgia Supreme Court today ended the 10-year prison sentence of a man who was convicted in 2003 of having consensual oral sex with another teenager. The court said the harsh sentence violated the Constitution’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
As noteworthy kindly reminded me, earlier this year, I memed about Soul Dracula....a must for any sort of halloween activity. The video is also quite priceless. Clearly, people did a lot of drugs in the 70s.
MemeStreams is an early social networking website, online community, and blog host that was established in 2001 by Industrial Memetics,[1] and particularly prominent among computer professionals.[2][3] It was cowritten by Tom Cross and Nick Levay.[3][4] The site employs a reputation system.[5]
Someone finally made a Wikipedia article about MemeStreams. If you're bored, give it an edit...
How has the geography of religion evolved over the centuries, and where has it sparked wars? Our map gives us a brief history of the world's most well-known religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Selected periods of inter-religious bloodshed are also highlighted. Want to see 5,000 years of religion in 90 seconds? Ready, Set, Go!
BBC NEWS | Europe | Netherlands bans magic mushrooms
Topic: Miscellaneous
7:00 pm EDT, Oct 12, 2007
The Dutch government is banning the sale of all magic mushrooms after a series of high-profile incidents involving tourists who had taken them.
Between the Autobahn, "honor system" public transportation, legal drugs, and legal prostitution, certain aspects of central Europe offer a very relaxing feeling of personal freedom and responsibility. I'm just as unlikely to steal a ride on the Munich U-Bahn as I am to screw a hooker while whacked out on shrooms in Amsterdam, but there is the odd moment in life when you walk out of the wrong subway exit and its nice to know that you can go back in without repaying and without being hunted down by the police. Its nice to be treated like an adult. Its unfortunate to hear that after all these places are just as susceptible to reactionary legislation driven by media sensationalism as we are.
AN INDIAN entrepreneur has given a new twist to the concept of low-cost airlines. The passengers boarding his Airbus 300 in Delhi do not expect to go anywhere because it never takes off.
All they want is the chance to know what it is like to sit on a plane, listen to announcements and be waited on by stewardesses bustling up and down the aisle.
TOM CRUISE IS NUTS, TINY - What Would Tyler Durden Do
Topic: Miscellaneous
4:44 pm EDT, Sep 26, 2007
Star magazine, via Celebitchy, says that Tom Cruise is planning to build a ... wait for it ... wait for it ... a 10 million dollar underground bunker in Colorado to prepare for the arrival of Xenu, his alien god who is at the heart of scientology.
