11.9.06

5 years gone

I re-read my postings from five years ago. I haven't changed my mind.

6.7.06

There's a 46% Chance your State's Official Dance is the "Square Dance"

According to Wikipedia 22 of the 30 U. S. states that have enacted an Official State Dance have chosen to honor the "Square Dance". Exceptions to the rule include California (West Coast Swing), Hawai'i (Hula), North Caroline (Clogging), Pennsylvania and Wisconsin (Polka), South Carolina (the Shag), Texas (Texas Two-Step), and Vermont (The Justin).

Most of the Square Dancin' states have adopted it as the "Official Folk Dance" or "Official American Folk Dance", leaving room for the Macarena to be named "Official Ethnic Dance", the Lambada to be the "Official Dirty Dance" and the Robot to be the "Official Break Dance", but none so far have acted on those opportunities. South Carolina has covered all the bases by partnering the Shag with their Official State Waltz, the Richardson Waltz AND also giving into the Square Dance lobby by naming it the Official American Folk Dance of the state.

28.3.06

Ignore this announcement

I've started a new website called bhamwiki.com

It's like Wikipedia for Birmingham.

27.2.06

OakMtn.400UC.05.04.jpg
OakMtn.400UC.05.04.jpg,
originally uploaded by T3XA5.
Oak Mountain, by Dan.

22.2.06

large magic city logo
large magic city logo,
originally uploaded by Dystopos.
The Magic City Flickr Group

Stop by and see Birmingham through the lenses of its flickrites.

15.2.06

Alter Your Environment

By peppering nearby metal surfaces with self-contained LED's

(via Gizmodo, via BoingBoing)

7.2.06

It's too late

Animal-Man Hybrids in the Department of Homeland Security
Alberto Gonzales, imbecile?

In defending the Bush administration's argument that a state of [undeclared, perpetual] war gives the President the authority to ignore the laws of the United States [which he has sworn, on a Bible, to uphold] had this to say regarding precedent:

"President Washington, President Lincoln, President Wilson, President Roosevelt have all authorized electronic surveillance on a far broader scale."

A few pertinent dates:
1789-1797: Presidency of George Washington (no wars)
1792: Invention of "semaphore" signalling code in France
1832: First electromagnetic telegraph
1844: first telegram sent
1861-1865: Presidency of Abraham Lincoln (U.S. Civil War, ended with surrender of Confederacy)
1866: transatlantic telegraph cable completed
1898: first successful wireless telegraph
1906: first radio broadcast of sound
1913-1921: presidency of Woodrow Wilson (World War I, ended with surrender of Central Powers)
1933-1945: presidency of Franklin Roosevelt (World War II, ended with surrender of Axis powers and Japan)
1950s: first direct-dial mobile radiophones
1965: e-mail first used on mainframe computers
1969: first ARPANET link created
1973: first modern mobile phone call
1978: Carter signs the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, requiring a warrant to conduct electronic surveillance of US citizens
1983: first TCP/IP wide area network
1993: first search engine (Lycos)

(Editorial)

27.1.06

History of the World Wide Web, Appendix G

"Google does not censor results for any search term. The order and content of our results are completely automated; we do not manipulate our search results by hand. We believe strongly in allowing the democracy of the web to determine the inclusion and ranking of sites in our search results."

Well. No more.

-Entry at Google Blogoscoped.

26.1.06

Hi, I'm a Dinosaur. I lived in the Garden of Eden

"creationists have been buying roadside dinosaur parks around the country and turning them into anti-evolution museums."

- article at Reason Online.

18.1.06

The Google Robot FAQ: (Last update: November 1st, 2030)

Q. A Google Robot was unwilling to help me find my lost car keys. Why?

A. As trying to locate your keys may involve a violation of your privacy, only subscribers of the My Public Life™ program may use this feature.

6.1.06

Nixtamalize This

Nixtamalization on Wikipedia.

4.1.06

Save 5% of the Planet. Pump some BioWillie

Can't wait to get on the road again? Get yourself some of Willie Nelson's Biodiesel (made from Diesel fuel with a splash of veggie oil grown by America's struggling family-agribusinesses) and go places you've never been and see things you may never see again.