By Francis Scott Key, September 20, 1814:

] Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
] What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
] Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
] O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
] And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
] Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
] O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
] O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
]
] On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
] Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
] What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
] As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
] Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
] In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
] 'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
] O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
]
] And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
] That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
] A home and a country should leave us no more?
] Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep's pollution.
] No refuge could save the hireling and slave
] From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
] And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
] O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
]
] Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
] Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
] Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
] Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
] Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
] And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
] And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
] O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

The National Anthem (all verses)

] LONDON - Volkswagen and DDB London are distancing themselves
] from a hoax viral commercial for the VW Polo . . .

I'm not even sure what to say about this one. Just look at it, you'll probably be speechless too.

Small But Tough

] Deep within the cyber headquarters of the Lunctis Viribus
] Facility, the Cheif of Operations is debriefing her staff
] on a letter to the CIA intercepted by a field operative
] on location.
]
] "Rotvians," the chief somberly scrutinizes her men and
] women seated in front of a network of computer screens,
] "we are in possession of a document dated December 15,
] 1989 in which for sake of level security has been dubbed
] Non Mihi Solum. ROT's top field agent, code named Alpha
] Busillis, is uploading visuals from the site as we
] speak."
]
] Chief Dunin projects the decade-old Agency Letter on a
] massive screen, debriefing her team as they begin to take
] notes of the newly discovered material. "Your mission is
] to download the visuals from our secure network and
] interpret their meanings. This journey will be a
] difficult one, but I have utmost confidence in your
] specialized cryptanalysis training. For the next several
] weeks you will work this code, you will eat and sleep
] this code with nothing but Non Mihi Solum on your minds."

LOL! One of the members of my Kryptos group put together a very creative website which collates a lot of information about Kryptos, but also puts much of it into a fictional "wrapper" with a "Chief Dunin" who debriefs a strike team with info about Kryptos. I'm not sure whether to be flattered or horrified. ;) If nothing else though, I'm impressed with the sheer amount of work that went into it.

There are also some very snazzy Flash graphics. I may have to swipe some of it for my next Kryptos talk!

Kryptos - The Fictional Debriefing

] Because of last year's tremendous success, the Discovery
] Health Channel is going to host the challenge again next
] year. The challenge begins on Jan. 15 and will continue
] for eight weeks.
]
] You can register for the 2005 NATIONAL BODY CHALLENGE
] until Jan. 20, 2005.
 . . .
] Registration closes on Jan. 20, 2005 at 11:59 p.m. ET/PT.

I've been poking around lately checking out health clubs, reviews, membership prices, etc. etc. For myself, things have boiled down to a choice between two clubs: Bally's and 24-hour Fitness. The former because it's closer to where I live, and has yoga classes. The latter because I'm more of a 24-hour person.

24-Hour Fitness also has the advantage of "pay as you go" memberships of about $35/month. Bally's offers a lower monthly ($12/month), but in order to get to it, you have to sign a multi-year contract and "buy" a membership which can cost over a thousand dollars. As I've surfed the web and read the reviews, the #1 complaint I've heard, is about the high-pressure sales tactics at Bally's, and how many people are bullied into signing contracts that they don't entirely understand, after which they're harassed by collection agencies even if they no longer wish to go to Bally's.

There are some creative alternatives though. One of which is going on right now -- Discovery Health Channel is sponsoring, in coordination with some other national health organizations, a free "National Body Challenge". Signing up for it on the web takes a couple minutes, requires no money or credit card, and as one of the freebies, there's a 2-month "no obligation" membership to Bally's. I've signed up for it, if for no other reason than it's a 2-month free pass to a sauna and enormous whirlpool hot tub. :)

Of all the research I've done, this is the best deal around at the moment (can't beat free!), and it's only open for this week. After that, things go back to the normal "2-week free trial" system.

FYI,

Elonka :)

Discovery Health : National Body Challenge

Many years ago (1995, I think), we were brainstorming new game ideas at my office. Under the "no idea is a bad idea" principle, I came up with a suggestion of a massively multiplayer morphing artwork, where each person in the game would be in charge of the color of one pixel, and teams would compete to see who could draw certain images (a bicycle, a house, a face, etc.) the most rapidly. I sort of envisioned it like a cyberspace version of those big sports stadium events where a part of the audience would all hold up cards in sequence, to make a design.

Well, my idea was greeted with near universal derision: "Ha! That sounds totally boring, no one would ever play that," (so much for the spirit of positive-reinforcement brainstorming, heh).

Anyway, my arch-critic from back then recently sent to me this link, of a "pixelfest collaborative artwork". It's not quite the real-time dynamic team-based thing I had in mind, but it's close enough to make me smile. :)

Feel free to add your own pixel!

- Elonka

Update: To see an animation of the 7000-odd pixels that have been placed so far, check here: http://haub.net/pixelfest/ . I found it especially interesting to see how certain people tried to "grief" the image early on with four-letter words, but then the community responded by erasing words as soon as they started recognizing them. Some interesting dynamics there. :)

Experiments - Pixelfest collaborative artwork

] Episode 78 - Cryptography (original air date: 01/11/2005)

Stankdawg's web radio program -- I was co-host for this week's episode. Check the link to download the MP3. We talked about some "Cryptography 101" stuff, including a brief overview of the PhreakNIC v3.0 Code and Kryptos. We ran out of time discussing the Cyrillic Projector, but may cover it in a future show.

Thanks to SD for inviting me!

Elonka :)

Binary Revolution - The Cryptography Episode

skullaria wrote:
] I did 72% with an average of 80 miles error.
]
] What's your score?

On first try: 88%, 16 miles, 277 seconds. Those New England states always screw me up. That, and trying to exactly place Arkansas or some other inland state without any rivers or other markers for guidance. ;)

Fun test though!

RE: Test your knowledge - US geography

] President Harrison has the dual distinction among all
] the Presidents of giving the longest inaugural speech and
] of serving the shortest term of office. Known to the
] public as "Old Tippecanoe," the former general of the
] Indian campaigns delivered an hour-and-forty-five-minute
] speech in a snowstorm. The oath of office was
] administered on the East Portico of the Capitol by Chief
] Justice Roger Taney. The 68-year-old President stood
] outside for the entire proceeding, greeted crowds of
] well-wishers at the White House later that day, and
] attended several celebrations that evening. One month
] later he died of pneumonia.

I recently accomplished a longtime goal of memorizing the name of every single U.S. President, in order. #9 was William Henry Harrison, famous for having the shortest term of office of all of them, primarily because he gave the longest inauguration speech in history, in a snowstorm, while wearing neither a coat nor a hat.

As another interesting bit of trivia, there was a suspicion that he had died because of an Indian curse, since it was under his command that the great Indian leader, Tecumseh, was killed. Harrison was the first President to die in office, and starting with him, every President who was elected in a year ending with zero, died in office, until Reagan in 1980.

1840: W. Harrison (pneumonia). 1860: Lincoln (shot). 1880: Garfield (shot). 1900: McKinley (shot). 1920: Harding (natural causes, though some suspected his wife may have poisoned him). 1940: FDR (old age). 1960: Kennedy (shot). 1980: Reagan (shot, but survived). 2000: G.W. Bush (still alive, last I checked).

8 Presidents have died in office, 7 of them in the list above. Bonus points for anyone who can name the one other President that died in office. ;)

William Henry Harrison: Inaugural Address, March 4, 1841

] Drawn by the Brush: Oil Sketches by Peter Paul Rubens is
] the first exhibition in the United States to present a
] comprehensive survey of Rubens's oil sketches. Painted in
] preparation for other, larger works, including
] tapestries, altarpieces, engravings, sculptures, and
] ceiling paintings, these small, engaging sketches were
] completed entirely by the artist's own hand; they are
] thus a direct record of the artist's creative process, an
] intimate glimpse of the original spark of inspiration.
] Rubens (1577-1640) was a man of broad talents and
] interests; he was immensely successful as a diplomat,
] entrepreneur, and artist in service to powerful patrons
] across Europe. Drawn by the Brush provides today's
] viewers with a window into the fertile imagination of
] this master, revealing his artistic passion, spontaneity,
] and spirit of invention.

Rubens is my favorite painter. This exhibit is currently in Connecticut, then will be in Berkeley from March through May, and then go to its final stop in Ohio. I'm going to try and see it in Berkeley when I'm there in early March for the Game Developers Conference. If anyone would like to go with me, let me know!

Elonka :)

Drawn by the Brush: Oil Sketches by Peter Paul Rubens - The U.S. Tour

] "If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the
] attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for
] any other business. I do the very best I know how - the
] very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the
] end. If the end brings me out all right, what's said
] against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me
] out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no
] difference."
 . . .
] "Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for
] themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain
] it."
 . . .
] "Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the
] reason the Lord makes so many of them."
 . . .
] "I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming
] conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that
] of all about me seemed insufficient for that day."
 . . .
] "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy
] present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must
] rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think
] anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we
] shall save our country." Lincoln's Second Annual Message to
] Congress, December 1, 1862.
 . . .
] "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in
] the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to
] finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to
] care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow
] and his orphan - to do all which may achieve and cherish a just
] and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."
] Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865.

A Collection of Abraham Lincoln Quotes