] Microsoft Internet Explorer is continuing to lose share
] in the browser market, as its much-smaller competitors
] chisel at its dominant position, new Web site visitor
] data shows.

[ Thank fucking god. Maybe someday i'll be able to implement a site according to web standards and have it actually work. -k]

Internet Explorer Loses More Market Share

As many of you know, modern color copiers/Photoshop detect currency and refuse to scan/open such images. There has been some work in reverse-engineering what algorithms are used to determine what is currency. I am very much interested in expanding this work towards the end of creating false positives. [Think like a T-shirt that when worn would make you difficult to photograph, or artists discreetly embedding such watermarks inside photos that they dont want photoshopp'ed, etc.]

Consider this a call for any comments/knowledge relating to this issue.

Also see: http://www.wildspark.com/eurionize/
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/archives/000497.html

[ Very interesting thought. I'm afraid I don't have any expertise to assist, but I'll bump this thread at least... -k]

Photoshop Currency Detection

] For the first time, MIT researchers have incorporated a
] plant's ability to convert sunlight to energy into a
] solid-state electronic %u201Cspinach sandwich%u201D
] device that may one day power laptops and cell phones.
]

[ Cool science... -k]

PhysOrg: Spinach May Soon Power Mobile Devices

] LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- If Doreen Seelig pocketed
] all the money she has spent on classroom supplies over 35
] years as a teacher -- the printer cartridges, the paper,
] the pencils and the paperback books lent to her Venice
] High School students -- she figures she would have a new
] car by now.
]
] Now, as the new school year gets under way, the burden on
] Seelig and other teachers around the country is even
] heavier.
]
] Because of a budget crunch, California has suspended a
] tax credit that reimbursed teachers up to $1,500 for
] classroom supplies. Meanwhile, a $250 federal tax
] deduction for teachers that helped defray out-of-pocket
] spending expired this year.

I. Hate. [expletive]. [expletive]. [expletive]. President Bush.

What good is No Child Left Behind since children can't possibly get "ahead" without any books or pencils?

CNN.com - Teachers lose tax breaks for class expenses - Sep 16, 2004

] The truth is, Undecideds, you're getting on our nerves.
] We Decideds hate all the attention you're getting and
] that you're jerking us around. Anyone who can't make up
] his or her mind at this point in the campaign should
] forget about the election entirely, buy a pint of ice
] cream and get into bed.

[ Larry David's not my favorite guy, but he makes a point. -k]

Are You Undecided? Or Not?

] Senator Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican described the
] rebuilding effort in Iraq as "beyond pitiful".
]
] "It's beyond embarrassing, it's now in the zone of
] dangerous," he said.

BBC NEWS | Business | Iraq rebuilding efforts 'pitiful'

] I am writing to encourage the Committee on Standards of
] Official Conduct to create an investigative subcommittee
] to examine the conduct of Representative Dennis Hastert
] under House Rule 43, clause 1: "A Member, officer, or
] employee of the House of Representatives shall conduct
] himself at all times in a manner which shall reflect
] creditably on the House of Representatives."
]
] ...
]
] Representative Hastert has had numerous opportunities
] to apologize for and retract his remarks. He was explicitly
] given the opportunity to clarify his remarks during the
] August 29th interview, and he chose instead to repeat the
] innuendo. Not only has he declined to apologize, he has
] made new, false accusations.
]
] Such conduct brings discredit on the House. It is
] inconsistent with basic notions of fair play and open
] debate that are the basis of our Constitutional system...
]
] Members of both political parties have recently decried
] “the politics of personal destruction.” It is time for the
] Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to formally
] declare that smear tactics and innuendo are discrediting
] our political process and the House of Representatives as an
] institution by taking appropriate action to investigate and
] censure Representative Hastert for these outrageous remarks.
]
] Sincerely,
]
] George Soros

[ Soros is not fucking around. Not that i expect anything to happen, but still. -k]

TPM : Soros' Letter to the House CSOC

] The word is out and about now that the CBS Bush National
] Guard memos are not forgeries but rather recreations of
] actual documents authored by Lt. Col. Killian.
]
] That theory gains credence from the fact that Killian's
] secretary has now said that though she believes these
] memos are not real that their contents reflect real
] documents that once existed in Killian's personal file
] -- ones she herself typed.
]
] There's a word, though, for these sorts of recreations,
] if that's what they are: forgeries.
]
] There's no sense or possibility of getting around that.
]
] The late news that two of CBS's own experts had questions
] about the authenticity of these documents is really all
] you need to know to see that this piece never should have
] run as it did. At a minimum, when the original story ran,
] CBS should have shared with viewers the questions their
] own experts were apparently raising about the documents'
] authenticity.

[ Good job CBS. Really, fine job. Any vestige of actual utility that may have come out of Bush's still probable lack of service is gone now. This kills any attention people may have paid to a legitimate story.

And, on the record, i retract my criticism of Kerry's response to the initial stories on these documents. He either knew they were highly likely to be bullshit, or his play-it-safe tactic simply paid off, but either way he was right not to get himself tied into this debacle.

"Journalists." -k]

TPM : Bush Nat'l Guard Docs

] Your brand new U-Lock is not safe. Please read this RIGHT
] NOW.

This forum (and the .mov http://thirdrate.com/misc/krypto.mov) shows you that you can pick one of the new Bike U-locks w/ a bic pen.

Yet another video: http://www.engadget.com/common/videos/pt/lock.wmv

[ Hah! I used to have one of those Kryptonite locks. Maybe that's how my bike got ganked freshman year. -k]

Your brand new U-Lock is not safe. Please read this RIGHT NOW.

] Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow is a nearly
] picture-perfect blend of stylistic sense and
] sensibilities of the bygone era of movie serials.

When I first saw this I was really suprised by the strangeness of it's vision. Its really what someone in the 30s might have imagined the future would be like. I was worried, based I guess on the way it was marketed, that it might be an interesting world filled with recycled hollywood crap, but it turns out the critics seem to like it. It might not suck...

[ Yeah, my mixed feelings are trending positive lately... i think i'll see this one in the theater. -k]

CityBeat Film Reviews: Sky Captain