Until that day at the Rec Center.

Walt and I had just come back from our weekly new comics run, and were quietly sitting in the Rec library, bagging and boarding our books. The kids hadn’t gotten out of school yet, so it was deaf-child silent in the building, save the metal rantings of King Diamond emanating on low volume from a nearby boom-box. Then, suddenly, the stillness was shattered, as a sent-home-from-school-early Mewes kicked the Rec door open, marched into the building Groucho Marx style, and proceeded to fellate everything somewhat phallic in the room.

Walt and I watched with wonder as Mewes grabbed a pool cue and pretended to suck it off. Losing interest, he ran up to the phone on the front desk, grabbed the receiver from the cradle, and pretended to suck that off. He grabbed the flag pole and did the same. He grabbed a whiffle ball bat and did the same. This went on for twenty minutes, with seemingly no regard for our presence whatsoever. He never looked at us as if to say “Are you seeing this shit?” He never looked at us at all. He didn’t seem to care that we were even there. This wasn’t a show for our benefit. It was as if he’d been walking around Highlands moments earlier, took a gander at his watch, and was like “Wow – it’s two o’clock. I’d better get down to the Rec and suck everything off.” The kid had an agenda, and he was actively fulfilling it.

It was when he finally reached the Rec’s only video game – a standard “Asteroids” kiosk that time had forgotten – that he finally paused. Studying it momentarily and finding nothing dick-like to pretend to suck off, he seemed stymied. There was no joystick to give him purchase; just a roller ball and a fire button. Walt and I watched with great curiosity, waiting to see how he’d overcome this unforeseen obstacle.

After what felt like five minutes, Mewes shrugged, bent down to the game controls, and started working the roller ball like it was a clit - his tongue darting in and out of his mouth, lapping at the orb as he spun it with his finger.

That’s

Silent Bob Speaks... About Jay's Addiction

Of paramount importance to scaling is partitioning. Partitioning leverages "locality of reference" for both processing and data---if certain servers can be specialized to solve some subset of the bigger problem, then the essential code and data are more likely already to be in memory or close at hand on fast disk. Partitioning techniques include the "vertical" partitioning of functional tasks and the "horizontal" partitioning of data and the associated processing (more below). Partitioning is augmented by other well-honed distributed systems techniques like automated replication, data dependent routing, load balancing, and failover. Overall, these techniques have proven (e.g., Google, Yahoo!, Amazon, etc.) to scale well beyond the reach of more centralized architectures that, say, rely on stateless processing and a single very-large database.

Scaling up Zimbra

Learn to create an Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax) client-side slide show that's animated using "Ken Burns Effects." Here, you discover how to build XML data sources for Ajax, request XML data from the client, and then dynamically create and animate HTML elements with that XML.

Rich Ajax slide shows with DHTML and XML

Somewhere between theoretical constructs like finite automata and Turing machines and feature-rich programming languages like Perl and C lives a world of misfits. These so-called esoteric languages frequently employ obfuscation and fustian as central design goals; but that doesn't mean you can't do some neat (useless) things with them.

HAHAHAHAHAHA, Chef is great :)

Programming doesn't have to be easy | MetaFilter

Bally Technologies, Inc. (originally the Bally Manufacturing Corporation) is an American corporation. The company has existed for more than 70 years with a complex history of re-organizations, mergers, and divestitures; it had roots as an early and successful maker of pinball games and slot machines, and was later associated with both the health club and gambling industries.

Pinball-Slot Machines-Gyms-Casinos

wow

Bally - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Have the generals forgotten their schooling in our nation’s tradition of military subordination to civilian control? Is their true goal really to compel the resignation of the SecDef? Are they petty men working off petty grievances by thumbing their noses in public at a man they just don’t like? Are they working to get every incumbent up for election this year thrown out of office?

If your answer to any of those questions was “Yes,” then you have assumed these six generals are simple men, incapable of subtlety, whose public actions should be taken at their simple face value.
I‘m telling you this knife-fight ain’t about Iraq: it’s about Iran!

Nukes are bad, mmm-kay?

The Heart of the Matter: Iran and Iraq

In the years since it opened in 1993, KGB has become something of a New York literary institution. Writers hooked up in the publishing world read here with pleasure and without pay to an adoring public over drinks almost every Sunday evening (fiction), Monday evening (poetry), and most Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The crowd loves it. Admission is free, drinks are cheap and strong, and the level of excellence is such that KGB has been named best literary venue in New York City by New York Magazine, the Village Voice, and everyone else who bestows these awards of recognition.

This looks bad ass. Thomas Pynchon's 'Mason Dixon' release party was here. Mason Dixon being an essential influence on Stephenson's baroque trilogy. Anyone ever been? I really, really wanna go.

KGB Bar

Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya (Софья Васильевна Ковалевская) (January 15, 1850 – February 10, 1891) was the first major Russian female mathematician and a student of Karl Weierstrass in Berlin. In 1884 she was appointed professor at Stockholm University, the third woman in Europe to become a professor.

Sofia is the supposed topic of Thomas Pynchon's next book.

Sofia Kovalevskaya - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Watergate veteran and Vanity Fair contributor calls for bipartisan hearings investigating the Bush presidency. Should Republicans on the Hill take the high road and save themselves come November?

Carl Bernstein is not pulling any punches.

I was lucky enough to attend a speech by Bernstein a few weeks ago. The topic was on the use of anonymous sources, and the audience was mostly journalism students. He went into his dissatisfaction with the current administration at points, but not in any great length or depth. You could tell he had much to say on the subject, but he did not feel it was the right time to unleash. This is Carl Bernstein unleashing. There is a reason this man is one of the great heros of journalism, and it extends far beyond the work he did with Bob Woodward.

That being said, this article notes at the bottom that he has written a biography of Hillary Clinton which will be coming out next year. If I had to venture a guess, he is going to get attacked as an ideologue pining for a Clinton run in 2008. I don't think that is a fair assessment, but its likely to be widely accepted.

Bernstein: Senate Hearings on Bush, Now

An Overview of IGT and their Role in the Slot Machine Industry

International Gaming Technology is a monster of the gambling machine industry. Of course, IGT made its name in the video poker business. IGT has sold more video poker machines than all other competitors combined.

What many people might not understand is that International Gaming Technology is one of the giants of the slot machine industry, too. IGT slot machines have long been an innovator in the industry, and are found in every casino across America.

Games like "Red, White and Blue", "Double Diamond" and "The Wheel of Fortune" are IGT games you're certainly familiar with.

The Microsoft of slot machines.

IGT Slot Machines - International Gaming Technology Slots