Nerf-Coated World

January 31, 2005

Again with the tired

There are two kinds of people who read this blog: A) The people from all over the world who've searched for stuff on Google, or clicked on a link on someone else's much better blog, and found their way here and read my weirdness and sometimes-interesting commentary, and B) My friends, who read it to catch up with what's going on in my life, and who put up with my commentary because they know I like it when they read my stuff.

This is another post for the B-crowd. Sorry A-team, hit the showers.

Speaking of showers, I'm about to take one and go to bed. In the last two days, I've worked about 23 hours, and I'm exhausted.

And in a brazen moment of sheer willpower, I actually dragged my butt to the gym after work tonight. This, after leaving my keys on my desk -- after being the last one to leave tonight -- and banging on the doors for 20 minutes to get the attention of the cleaning staff so they could let me back in so I could drive home.

Had I not been so determined to finally get my butt back in the gym and get back into the habit of staying fit and healthy, I might have packed it in and declared that it wasn't meant to be.

But screw that. I put on 30 pounds over the last six months, since I started working at this law firm. I had been in the habit of staying in shape.

So maybe I'll be able to get my butt in there again tomorrow morning for cardio. If not, I'll be doing it late. Again. I will say though: having my work, my home, and my gym all within a 2-mile radius really helps.

Posted by Matt at 10:23 PM

January 30, 2005

Looooong day

It's almost 10:00 and I'm still at the office. It's been almost 12 hours since I got here.

The good news though is that the reason for this long weekend of working is that my company has moved to a new building -- and that new building is so close to my apartment that you can literally see it out the nearest window. Whereas it used to take me about half an hour to get to work -- even in good traffic -- it now takes a little less than 5 minutes, from closing my garage door to signing in at the front desk. So basically, it's worth it.

I will be sleeping in tomorrow. Because after working a 12-hour day (which could end up being a 13- or 14-hour one, depending on when we can wrap this baby up), I think coming in at 10:00 the next day is a pretty reasonable suggestion.

Posted by Matt at 9:59 PM

January 29, 2005

Cool optical illusion

This optical illusion is pretty cool -- if you stare at the picture long enough, you actually see a giraffe. You have to relax and let your eyes go out of focus a little, but it's a neat effect.

Here's the link again: Giraffe optical illusion.

Posted by Matt at 4:43 PM

January 28, 2005

Your funny link of the day

It's Nick Burns, your company computer guy!

Posted by Matt at 9:52 AM

Golden moments

Sometimes I buy CDs and never listen to them. I have to conclude from this fact that I'm spoiled.

So anyways, after being completely brain-drained from HTML/CSS coding today, I decided to play a little Medal of Honor. For those who've never played the game, it's a first-person shooter set in World War II. Lots of bullets. Lots of grenades. Lots of shouting in German and Cockney.

Well, back to the original point, see, I had set Windows Media Player to a-playin' The Best of James Taylor, one of the aforementioned CDs that I had bought and never listened to. (In all fairness to the "spoiled" conclusion, though, I did buy this one half-off at Cheapo's, the last real used-CD store in Austin.

So as I'm running around shooting a machine gun, deathmatch-style, against 8 or 9 other nerds doing the same thing, a little ditty called Golden Moments comes on. And it's perhaps the most non-combat-appropriate song I've ever heard.

And I had that rare, strange feeling that the song was perfectly familiar -- as if I knew the lyrics and music in each upcoming verse, before they were played. Yet I have no recollection of ever having heard this tune in my life.

Music gets burned into specific moments in my life. If I hear Seal's Waiting for You, I immediately think November 2003, and I'm entering onto Highway 360, heading south, from the 2222 intersection. I had the song up loud on my MP3 player -- and while I shouldn't have been driving with headphones, I was, and there was something really liberating about listening to that song and singing that day.

If I hear Weird Al's Good Old Days, I think of a stretch of road somewhere around Kerrville, Texas, at about 2:00 on a Tuesday afternoon in June of 1988. We were taking my brother to a weeklong summer camp, and I listened to that song again and again on my Walkman. There was something very tranquil and warm about the world I was in that day. I remember details from that short trip that really amaze me; it was over 15 years ago, but I still remember the color of the grass and the smell of the air, and that a vinyl banner was stretched across the main road in town -- and that I was listening to that album again and again in the back seat of my mom's Suburban.

Lady in Red will always be the last song of our first (and only) eighth grade dance. I worked up the nerve to ask Thayer Walker to dance with me. I can still remember the texture of the fabric of her dress on the tips of my fingertips.

This song recalled the same familiarity but with no solid memory to attach it to. It was like a moment in my life had been captured and marked by the music, but then the memory was lost and only the song and its vague ties to a forgotten story or feeling were all that remained.

I don't think my parents were big James Taylor fans, but I suppose it's possible that I heard this song long before my brain could even form a record of my life. Maybe all there was to it was a shapeless state of contentment and warmth.

Now if all my golden moments
Could be rolled into one
They would shine just like the sun
For a summer day
And after it was over
We could have it back again
With credit to the editor
For striking out the rain (very clean)
And all it really needed
Was the proper point of view

No one's gonna bring me down

No one's gonna stop me now

Next-morning-update: Boy, staying up until 2 am really amplifies my natural tendency to ramble.

Posted by Matt at 1:30 AM

January 27, 2005

Tethered to the computer

I can spank the monkey at 150mph.

Yes, it sounds painful, but it's oh so much fun.

Update: 193mph.

Update: 228mph! And it plays Good Times!

Update: 435mph! But that's after figuring out how to cheat.

Posted by Matt at 2:04 PM

January 24, 2005

This is not an entry in my blog

Because I frankly haven't had much time to post in the last few days. It was a minor miracle I posted twice on Saturday.

This is a busy busy week.

I'm working on a new design for the company I work for -- and I think I'm not crowing too loudly when I say it's the most professional-looking site I've ever done.

I've also been working hard on The Robert Ellis Patterson gallery website. It's about 94% finished as is, but I still have one major feature to complete, a few minor bells & whistles and some general polish to administer. I do get to be a bit perfectionistic, as I see everything I do as an extension of myself.

Meanwhile, I have two clients that I'll be starting work for early next week. I say "clients" because I'm working for them, but given the fact that they're paying me in barter and/or candy checks, I do acknowledge the loose usage of the word.

It has also come to my attention as of 2 minutes ago that the aforementioned site doesn't load right in Mac/IE. Oh, accursed Mac/IE. Whatever will I do with ye?

Speaking of Macs, I think I'm going to chip in the $500 for this new Mac mini. My 20" monitor can handle multiple inputs, and I already have a Mac keyboard and mouse -- and considering its total footprint is only 6" x 6", I can just set it on top of my Dell and not miss any space on my desktop. I have to hand it to Apple for lowering the price on these guys so that more people can afford 'em. Apple does well when it puts affordability high on the priority list.

So things are good. I'm glad to be working hard and to have the creative juices flowing. All's good in the personal life too, thanks for prying. Everything's just working lately, and I'm going to work hard across the board to keep it that way.

Posted by Matt at 3:20 PM

January 22, 2005

Bill Gates... so sexy

Here he is, age 30, seductively hawking Windows 1.0.

(You may have to scroll down a bit; it looks like their HTML is messed up in IE.)

Some Windows history, purely for the geekily-inclined who read me blog.

Posted by Matt at 5:44 PM

A man who needs a healthy dose of perspective...

...preferably in the form of a 2x4 across the back of the skull:

The Rev. John R. Odams, pastor of Pilgrim Church, United Church of Christ, in Boston's Dorchester section, said he wasn't worried [about the the dirty bomb threat to Boston].

"Emotional terrorism is probably a greater threat to us," he said as he waited for a train. "We need to look at the bigger picture.

"It seems there are so many other dangers in our society that end up getting ignored — housing, homelessness, poverty — that are in some ways more threatening," Odams said. (Emphasis added.)

Emotional Terrorism.

Emotional terrorism is a greater threat than a dirty bomb going off in Boston? Really? How? Because people will die of anxiety? Heart attacks? Because they can't handle the fact that there are, in fact terrorists, who are plotting to take out as many of us as they can?

I discovered this week that there are real live actual people who don't think Al Qaeda actually exists. One of my coworkers said this in the middle of a debate we were having.

I asked him, who do you think took out the twin towers? He responded, "Who benefitted the most?" I said, "What, Israel?"

He says, "All I'm saying is that Halliburton stood to gain millions from an invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. They used this fear to get people's minds off the economy and steal the 2002 and 2004 elections. If 'Al Qaeda' hadn't attacked, you wouldn't see George Bush being inaugurated tomorrow."

Sure. But don't ever get him to admit that he thinks BushCheneyHalliburtonSatan organized it. Because, shit, that would cause his head to explode from officially going off the deep end into the abyss of frickin' psyhosis.

Emotional terrorism is a greater threat than actual terrorism. Tell that to the 3000 people who were vaporized and/or crushed and/or burned alive in one square New York block that day. Tell it to their families.

Emotional terrorism. Something that obviously affects these moonbat idiots in greater number than it could ever affect the rest of us. The rest of us, in the reality-based community, that is.

Try the kool-aid, guys. It can't be any worse than the stuff you're taking now.

Oh, right. Hat-tip-thingy to Ace.

Posted by Matt at 5:21 PM

January 21, 2005

Good advice

Paul Graham wrote a speech for high school students that he ended up not being allowed to give. It's a speech I know I wish I'd heard when I was 17. It's just plain good advice on life.

Thanks to Glenn for the link.

Posted by Matt at 4:51 PM

January 20, 2005

Beyond comprehension

Remember the tsunami?

226,000.

Posted by Matt at 2:06 AM

January 19, 2005

Funny headlines

A CNN headline that's beyond parody: Poll: Nation split on Bush as uniter or divider.

Just in case CNN comes to its senses and removes this ridiculous headline, here's a screengrab, taken at about 6:30 this evening:

Posted by Matt at 6:30 PM

The business of trial law

There's an interesting discussion on tort reform going on over at Strange Women Lying In Ponds.

I'm more of a Moral Argument kind of guy. Sway me with an appeal to principle, to my sense of right and wrong. I'll just admit it: I'm not a skilled businessman. So it's not surprising that I hadn't considered things from a business perspective:

Let's say that you have an award after trial of $1 million. The plaintiff's lawyer might easily have about $100k in costs sunk into that, so those costs come off the top right away, reducing the total award to $900k. The attorney takes (typically after trial) 40% of that, reducing the plaintiff's collection to about $540k. But then an insurer might have the right to collect $200k from the plaintiff by right of subrogation, thus reducing the plaintiff's take to $340k.

So, assuming your numbers are ballpark accurate, what you are telling me is that the attorney is being paid $460,000 on costs of $100,000? That equates to a profit margin of 360%.....just a RIDICULOUSLY high number.

But it makes sense. It is a huge risk to invest a couple million dollars into a case on contingency -- but that really should be considered in the overall cost of doing business.

Would attorneys be so zealous to pursue the manufacturers of asbestos and Vioxx if the case for injustice had to be built at great expense, and at a potential payout of only, say, 50%? Would it harm people who had really been hurt?

I think there's a lot of hysteria coming from the trial attorneys on this, and it's easy to understand why, even if you only take into consideration their personal investment in the system as it stands today. But it's also hard to ignore the fact that insurance rates are rising geometrically, and we need to get to the lab to start working on a solution.

Posted by Matt at 10:51 AM

Addin' to the blogroll

I've decided that I like Dave from Garfield Ridge.

I advise checking out his site.

I think you should take my advice.

I think you should STOP READING AND TAKE MY ADVICE RIGHT NOW, YOU TWO-BIT PUNK-ASS CHUMP.

Okay, thanks.

Posted by Matt at 10:40 AM

On heroism, and the word hero

I'd never heard the story of Rafael Peralta. And it's disgraceful that so few of us have.

Could the meaning of the word hero be more diluted?

A check on Google News turns up about 13,800 stories that use the word hero, as of this writing. Let's go down the list to see how it is used:

'Abuse' soldier 'obeyed orders' -- A UK soldier accused of abusing civilians in Iraq is a war hero who had been obeying orders, a court martial has been told.

Hoggard the reluctant hero -- Overseas players developed in county cricket used to be a perennial whinge whenever the Test team were knocked over by the West Indies in the Eighties. But what of a Yorkshireman honing his craft in South Africa and then coming back to demolish the national team at the Wanderers – charges England's latest hero, Matthew Hoggard, is guilty of on both counts.

North Middlesex teacher named 'Unsung Hero' -- TOWNSEND -- North Middlesex Regional High School Principal James O'Shea was notified that Julia Bressler, a teacher at the high school, was nominated as an "Unsung Hero" in the Saint Michael's College's teacher recognition program.

I'm not trying to be snarky. (I'll leave that to Ace or Jeff.) But I think it's sad that our media has polluted the language with so much meaningless chaff that there is no distinction between a man like Rafael Peralta and a) an embarrassingly abusive prison guard, b) a particularly skilled cricket bowler, and c) a teacher who "provide[d] [her] students with the academic skills and moral support necessary to be successful in post-secondary pursuits."

Abusive prison guards as heroes? Right. Even in the most favorable light -- assuming the man is, at worst, guilty of taking things too far with a terrorist scumbag -- he's a man doing what needs to be done. And a cricket player? Sure, I say let's celebrate our sports stars. How about champion? (Incidentally, I think champion is a fine word that should be used far more often. "Clearly superior or having the attibutes of a winner." Yup. It's a good one.)

And look, it's nothing off the teacher. I'm sure she's great. But is "hero" really the most apt moniker for this kind of honor?

I've been lucky enough to have some fantastic teachers in my life -- but I also think they would all bristle at the label of "hero". My freshman geometry teacher in high school was one of the most enthusiastic, brilliant teachers I've ever had. She escaped South Vietnam with her father -- who, we gathered, had been a high-ranking military figure in the South Vietnamese army -- and immigrated to the US, not knowing a word of English, but eventually getting her master's and landing a job at a great private school in Houston, Texas, where she was respected, admired, and honored year after year because her ability to hold her students to a high standard and keep them interested in math at an age where the teenage mind is naturally inclined to keep algebra and geometry as far from the forefront of the mind as possible.

She probably would be mortified to be called a hero. Although she would have enough grace to understand what you meant and not make you feel bad about it. And then encourage you to go to the thesaurus and find another word. And then you'd probably feel ashamed about the fact that a woman who didn't speak a word of English until she was fourteen was schooling you in the vocabulary of your native tongue.

Call her excellent. Or accomplished. Masterful. Even superior. But hero? It's almost an insult to the word itself, to use it so clumsily as to completely miss its meaning. And how much more wonderful would it be to the teacher, to be told that she's so well respected and skilled that she deserves an honor that expresses that praise?

I suppose we're so inured to the idea that anyone is superior, that we wouldn't fathom stratifying people like that. Or maybe it's that we don't really want to think about what we're saying.

I think we have to face a sad fact: the word hero has been hijacked. Its reputation is unassailably positive, so elevated in its status, yet its usage is so common and threadbare, so vague and ill-defined, that its descriptors have to do little to justify its use. Hero has become the perfect word for a society that pays its members praise without having to invest any thought into what it is actually praising people for.

Meanwhile, we'll just have to keep studying this great language of ours to find better ways of expressing just what true heroism is -- like the story of Rafael Peralta, so that his death will be understood, felt and appreciated for the brave act that it was.

Posted by Matt at 9:18 AM

January 18, 2005

A diversion

Some fantastic video games!

I really get a kick out of HallRunner. And Pigs On Head brings back the memories. I actually had several of these back around 1989. It was the closest thing I had to having an original niche in the tortured world of ROBS middle school.

I highly doubt any of my fellow alums sit back thinking "Matt always had those cool pocket video games." You know. For the record.

Posted by Matt at 11:59 PM

January 17, 2005

Dancin' Daniel

This is probably the happiest guy to win on The Price Is Right, ever.

Even if he looks a little silly, you know it's probably the best day of his life.

Posted by Matt at 3:13 PM

Teen girl squad!!

Aw, peas!

Posted by Matt at 12:03 PM

January 16, 2005

Uh... ouch

Some toothache.

Posted by Matt at 11:33 PM

January 15, 2005

Continuing the silly links...

Beat kittens.

Posted by Matt at 12:21 PM

January 14, 2005

Linkin' in

Spiffy! I just noticed that WOAI Radio in San Antonio linked to my blog last week.

Thanks, CyberBob!

Posted by Matt at 4:56 PM

Badgers dancin'

This is awesome. Yes, I fully realize it isn't Christmas.

And hey! Football! (Er... make that soccer.)

And---ahhh!!! Mushrooms! Snakes!

Posted by Matt at 1:03 PM

January 13, 2005

Ah, balance

It's nice when the few Republicans in Hollywood decide to say what they think. It's a rarity, sure, but so memorable and fun when they actually do it.

Who wants to bet Michael Moore actually does show up at Dirty Harry's house with a camera, just to piss him off?

Posted by Matt at 5:08 PM

January 12, 2005

Music recommendation

Zero 7: Simple Things

I really don't have the writing skills to pay homage to this album. I can try. The band's sound is nearly indescribable to me, not having a super-rich vocabulary of bands and styles to compare it to. The feel is definitely influenced by 70's lounge music -- think jazz flute, vibraphones, rich bass -- and yet it's got a healthy sample of modern synth and some really great rhythm that you would never mistake it for being a relic of a dated era.

This album just defines Groove. The instrumental Red Dust is as close to the quintessence of smooth-but-cool as I could ever imagine. And Sia's vocals are simply rich and wonderful. In the Waiting Line is mesmerizing; Destiny is chilling and warmly satisfying.

And I'm just simply amazed at Likufanele , probably the most surprising of all. The interlaced melodies of an African folk song are woven together with the modern sounds of a piano, flugelhorn and keyboards, on top of an addictive backing beat -- the result of which is a full six minutes of blissful musical tension that forces me to put the song on "repeat" just so I can more fully appreciate the richness of its musical texture each time I hear it. The piece has so much going on that it's impossible to absorb in one listening.

As a whole, Simple Things is a unique, satisfying album with several outstanding tracks that work together as an integrated work. If you get the chance to check it out, do.

I-must-be-in-tune-with-the-universe update: Though I had never heard any of the songs off this album until just recently, one found me today at lunch, playing over the speakers at the restaurant. The music and lyrics were especially well suited for what I happened to be pondering at that moment.

Crazy coincidence? Or a message from Fate? God trying to score my day with a meaningful soundtrack? Who knows. But I'm glad for it.

Free music update: You can get a full MP3 of Destiny for free from Amazon.

Posted by Matt at 11:52 PM

This is pretty cool

A computer -- built into a pen:

The pen comes with several onboard applications, like games, an alarm clock, and a note pad... you can do stuff like make a calculator (touch your pen to the handwritten digits to make calculations, and the pen will actually use its speech synthesizer to read out the answer); a piano keyboard (it plays by tapping the pen on different "keys"), or write out a word in English and have it translated into Spanish.

Posted by Matt at 12:39 PM

January 11, 2005

Workin' on the portfolio

I'm putting together my portfolio for grad school -- which has been kind of a challenge, since I haven't kept one updated through the years. It's like what they say you're supposed to do with your resume -- update it every few months. Thus, when you need it, you don't have to sift through years' worth of work and assemble it all at once.

I've been discovering all kinds of fun things from my artistic past. I'll share some of 'em here as I whip 'em up.

For those not familiar with Austin architecture, this is the reference.

Posted by Matt at 10:51 PM

The Monty Hall Question

In case you missed it, one corner of the blogosphere's been buzzin' about the Monty Hall Puzzle. It's a pretty simple question really:

Suppose you're on the game show Let's Make a Deal. Monty's called on you and he's got a proposition for you. He shows you three doors, Door #1, Door #2, and Door #3. Behind one of those doors is a million dollars -- but behind the other two are nothing.

He asks you to choose a door. You pick one. But then Monty makes the deal a little more interesting: he opens up one of the remaining doors -- one that does not have the million dollars behind it -- and asks you: Last chance, do you want to change your selection?

Assuming they don't move the prizes around, is there any benefit to changing your selection?

The answer probably isn't what you think it is. And I think I've got a pretty good explanation of why. (It's even got pictures!)

Well it turns out that it's actually better to switch doors. How is that possible? I'll try to explain without resorting to too much math.

I propose three scenarios. Let's see what happens in each one and look at the results.

Scenario 1:

In this scenario, you've chosen Door #1 (as noted by the blue arrow), and the money happens to be behind the door you've chosen. (And for all intents and purposes, the door numbers really don't matter -- but we'll call them Doors #1, #2 & #3, to make things simpler.)

So Monty opens up one of the other two doors, say, Door #3 (noted by the red X). Two possibilities: you switch, or you don't.

Switch: NO PRIZE
Stay: WINNER!

Scenario 2:

We're going to stick with the same door, but in this situation, the money's behind Door #2. So this time Monty's got to open up Door #3. Two possibilities: you switch, or you don't.

Switch: WINNER!
Stay: NO PRIZE

Scenario 3:

We still stick with the same door, but this time the money's behind Door #3. Monty's got to open up the other door -- Door #2. Two possibilities: you switch, or you don't.

Switch: WINNER!
Stay: NO PRIZE

In two out of three of these situations, if you switch, you win. If you stay put, you only win one out of three times.

Crazy. It looks like it's a straight 50/50 shot, but you would never know that your odds actually improve by switching doors if you didn't map out the possibilities. The lesson seems to be: don't be so sure you know what you think you know unless you've really done your homework.

Posted by Matt at 10:18 PM

Virtuosity

This chick's got chops.

Posted by Matt at 9:17 PM

Ridiculous!

Guy: Boss?

Boss: Come on in, what's going on?

Guy: I've got an idea for a new product.

Boss: Sure, shoot.

Guy: I was thinking, you know, we make a lot of great DVDs. And people, you know, they really like, you know, package deals. You know, like box sets. So I was thinking, and I thought, why don't we make a box set of all our titles.

Boss: I don't get it. We make box sets -- how is that a new idea?

Guy: No, sir, I mean, a box set of all our titles.

Boss: Goldmine.

H/T: Bob

Posted by Matt at 3:31 PM

January 10, 2005

Rathergate

I'm rather fatigued from all this Rathergate stuff.

I'm actually pretty surprised that anyone got fired. Despite the fact that the memos were the most ridiculous forgeries (cached here) ever concocted by a mentally unstable washout with an axe to grind against the Prez.

Not that I don't think it's a good thing that those folks are losing their jobs. They deserve to. Hell, I really didn't expect anyone to get fired. Maybe Mapes' personal assistant.

CBS did the right thing.

But I really don't think this event will Change the Landscape of the American Media Machine. Maybe it'll make some execs and producers think twice about its sources before going with a story. Let's hope. But I'm not sold on the idea that this will fundamentally change anything. Cynical? Nah. Just realistic. I'm actually pretty happy CBS did what it did. I just have very low expectations of people in the media that are pretty deeply ingrained due to my own personal experience with them.

I think the coolest thing to come out of Rathergate is the fact that pajamahadeen has not only entered the national lexicon, it's entered with a bang and a flourish.

So anyway, if you care, TKS is bloggin' like a maniac on the subject.

Posted by Matt at 2:27 PM

The Nerfy Awards

For best usage of the word svelte: Ace.

What are the Nerfy Awards? Eh, just an excuse to write this post.

Posted by Matt at 2:19 PM

Most creative word of the 2004: Pajamahadeen

The Linguistic Society of America has decided on the Words of 2004. Among the winners:

Most Creative: pajamahadeen: bloggers who challenge and fact-check traditional media.

And it's also pretty cool that the extended AP story doesn't even bother to explain what blogs are. It just assumes the reader knows. I guess once Time starts naming Blog of the Year alongside their traditional Person of the Year, the floodgates of national awareness have been breached.

Posted by Matt at 7:48 AM

January 8, 2005

Checkin' in

Just a brief entry to say I ain't postin' today. Nope. Not gonna do it. Not even if you put a gun to my head. Well maybe if you put a gun to my head. I'll be out -- maybe even 'til Monday! -- and there ain't nothin' you can do about it.

If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.

-- Epictetus

Posted by Matt at 4:26 PM

January 7, 2005

Reminder: the terrorists are the bad guys

Sometimes you do have to wonder just how Forbesed* up our leaders' perspective is. And sadly, not that many people are taking notice.

Deacon thinks it is politically foolish for the Democrats to posture themselves as the party that is solicitous for the welfare of captured terrorists. I'm not sure I agree. I do think that the Democrats' treatment of Gonzales would have damaged them if more people had seen it, but the news accounts, as noted above, generally made the hearing sound as though Gonzales was repentant. The actual transcript, however shows that Gonzales performed well, as in this exchange with Senator Lindsay Graham:

GONZALES: Senator, there is a lot to respond to in your statement. I would respectfully disagree with your statement that we're becoming more like our enemy. We are nothing like our enemy, Senator. While we are struggling, mightily, trying to find out what happened at Abu Ghraib, they are beheading people like Danny Pearl and Nick Berg. We are nothing like our enemies, Senator.

Obviously, some of them do.

Forbesed: adj. - synonym for f*cked (up), also screwed (up).

Etymology: Engl., 21^st C., reference to American Presidential candidate John Forbes Kerry, whose usage of the word "f*cking" in an interview with a popular music magazine drew pointed criticism, that his usage of the word would demean the stature office that he aspired to attain. Ex.: "John F. Kerry really Forbesed himself when he dropped the F-word in an interview with Rolling Stone."

Posted by Matt at 3:41 PM

Tsunami: before and after

Words can't convey the totality of the devastation. But these satellite photos leave me with my jaw on the floor.

H/T: Ace.

Posted by Matt at 10:48 AM

The 100 oldest dot-coms

1.  	15-Mar-1985	SYMBOLICS.COM
11=  	19-Mar-1986	IBM.COM
13=  	25-Mar-1986	INTEL.COM
20=  	05-Aug-1986	GE.COM
40=  	05-Nov-1986	ALCOA.COM
64.  	19-Feb-1987	APPLE.COM

Posted by Matt at 9:48 AM

Search engine fun

It's cool to see how people are finding Nerf-Coated World. I'm surprised how many are finding it through the search engines -- and even more surprised at what people are searching for.

Pop culture:
Ashlee Simpson: "Ashlee Simpson" audience boo (#7), Ashlee Simpson booed excuse (#7)
Punky Brewster's Dog's Name (#5)

Politics:
Bush's plan for Iraq (#8)
richest senators (#2)

Other bloggers:
Stephen Den Beste (#5!)
Dave Barry writes (#10)

Random:
odd headlines (#5)

And evidently people have found my site through other terms that I can't replicate. My favorites are "four signs of the apocalpyse" and "love haiku". Blogging's fun.

Posted by Matt at 9:41 AM

January 6, 2005

Networks, Wikipedia and objectivity

If I were Glenn Reynolds, I'd be a little miffed at this entry in Wikipedia.

The non-hierarchical nature of Wikipedia -- and really, of the Internet in general -- has its drawbacks at times. But I don't think this annoyance -- where there are no editors or centralized moderation structure -- is necessarily a flaw in the concept. Rather, I think it's more a flaw in the pervasive ideology that there is no objectivity, no truth -- that it is impossible to report facts without bias. There's a reason for those exercises we used to have in English class, where you have to evaluate whether a statement is fact or opinion -- because effective communication is dependent on being able to determine the difference.

If the network doesn't understand that sites like Wikipedia are supposed to be a repository of facts, and the members of the network don't police the community to ensure that those differences are respected, then it will deteriorate into a useless resource.

Posted by Matt at 4:28 PM

My sofa's name is Fred

You've got to love Ikea, if for no other reason than that they certainly mix it up when it comes to their product names. It's just a wild weird wonderland of willy-nilly naming.

Bookcases named Billy. Corkscrews named Groggy.

Computer desks named... well, check the link.

At least once in America, a young couple on a trip to the local Ikea will see this desk, test it out, measure it, imagine how it would look in their apartment... and then be turned immediately away from it, knowing that they could never perch on its built-in stool without its unfortunate and ill-considered name flashing across their minds.

Nod of appreciation: Lileks.

Posted by Matt at 2:21 PM

Update yer bookmarks

Yup. I've switched the URL over. If you've been getting here via matthowell.com/blog, you'll notice that whatever you type in will just be directed to nerfcoatedworld.com.

Ooh, and notice the fun little icon. I mean, fun. Am I right?

Since we're on the subject of site updates, I might as well add that I have managed to fend off the Spam Mafia. Whereas they were once posting about 500 daily unsolicited ads for Viagra and porn (and sometimes both!), it's now down to zero. Oh, I'm sure they'll pop back up. But for now, this particular game of Whack-A-Mole was won by yours truly. And I got lots of tickets doing it, too, which I plan to exhange for the paddle-ball game and the slap-bracelet I saw in the display case under the register.

Posted by Matt at 10:20 AM

January 5, 2005

Multiple choice quiz

1. Please complete the following sentence:

Bryan Baskin has returned _________________.

  A) , and he's chopped off part of his thumb
  B) after building a toy chest for his daughter Abby
  C) an overdue copy of One Fine Day, starring George Clooney and Michelle Pfieffer, to the local Blockbuster
  D) A and B
  E) Who the hell is Bryan Baskin?

Please take out a number two pencil, and submit your answer in the comments section. ...And begin.

Bonus (2 points): Based on photos of Bryan and his daughter Abigail, please interpret: just how beautiful must Bryan's wife April be? Discuss.

Update: Bob "Mr. Moog" Collins has also returned from his winter slumber/hibernation. Bob needs permalinks. Ian, if you need help installing Movable Type or something, let me know.

Posted by Matt at 1:36 AM

January 4, 2005

Poor Ashlee

What a horrible, nerve-wracking experience that must have been.

I don't know if anyone else will pick this up, but when Ashlee Simpson finished her song at the end of the Orange Bowl halftime show, they booed. I mean, really booed. Not an isolated pocket of "boo" or "woo" or a random confluence of sound waves that resembled a chorus of "oohs", but a full-out, concerted, unified team effort uniting the Sooner fans and the Trojan faithful in one common point of agreement: Ashlee Simpson needs to seriously consider either a) keeping her singing in the studio, or b) hanging up her singing hat, and getting more use out of her reciting-lines-on-TV-and-looking-pretty hat.

I'm just afraid she doesn't get it. She croaked. I mean, literally croaked. Squeaked. Again and again. I wasn't really surprised when I heard the Wave of Boo coming from that stadium. And it's not like this is the first time she's gagged in a gig with a live national audience. Last time she said it was because of a sore throat; I wonder how (or if) this one will play out.

Look, I know it must be hard growing up in the shadow of the person named #1 in Maxim's Hot 100. Jessica's pretty. She's successful. She's got a hit TV show. And she can sing. And somehow she's avoided horribly embarassing incidents on live TV.

And I really don't want to dog on the girl. She's incredibly successful on her own, without having to be compared to her sister. But she really needs to fix the screeching. Because it was pretty bad.

Update: Yup, looks like I heard what I thought I heard. Video here.

Posted by Matt at 9:52 PM

Spammer ordered to quit serving up junk

If we still had the stocks, I wouldn't mind seeing this guy writhe around in them for a few days:

Stanford Wallace and his companies, SmartBot.net Inc. of Richboro, Pennsylvania, and Seismic Entertainment Productions Inc. of Rochester, New York, are required by the agreement to send online ads only to people who visit their Web sites.

The government says Wallace used spyware to infiltrate computers, overwhelming them with ads and other programs. Then, he tried to sell programs he claimed would fix the problems. The government said the remedies do not work.

I'm sure the slashdot folks will be thrilled at another chance to rip on Microsoft -- if they made a better OS with better security, there wouldn't be these problems! -- but give me a break. These guys take advantage of the older folks who don't know how to combat this stuff. And there's just no excuse for that.

Posted by Matt at 5:26 PM

An animated explanation of how tsunamis do their thing

If you've got the nerd tendencies like me (and come on, you're surfing the Internet, so you must be at least partially of the nerd-tendency persuasion), you'll probably be interested in this animated diagram of how tsunamis form.

"Hundreds of cubic kilomters" of water. Some concepts are so big that the tiny human cerebellum -- powerful though it is -- couldn't possibly begin to wrap itself around.

Posted by Matt at 1:41 PM

I need more hard disk space

This is one big download.

Posted by Matt at 1:08 PM

Build your own South Park character. Why not?

September 2009

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