Adrienne Carey Hurley

Katy sent me a link to this blog saying it has some good J-lit info. Seems way to the left, which is not my style at all, but I'll link to it here so I don't forget about it. The taser video was interesting....

Interesting News Links

Most around the world still believe in America (?)

Why the Republicans need to lose the midterms

Insourcing? - The only reason companies do this is to avoid tariffs!

The sun had sisters?

Dilbert cartoonist recovers speech

HDD Speaker

If one's into low-fi, apparently someone cooked up a way to mod an HDD voice coil into a speaker. Demented, but it comes with a video....

Munchies in Peru

News

Invention firms

Google earnings

CNN Money 25 rules to grow rich by

Internet addicts as ill as alcoholics? - Well, it's not a chemical addiction, anyway.

Wisdom of non-crowds - Yeah, crowds are dumb. Are non-crowds any better?

Samsung's hybrid HDD

Single pixel digicam - Interesting, but of questionable practicality.

Demented and Depressing Article

Scenarios of Earth without people

CNN News

Bigger families on the rise

Teaching students to fight back - Sweet!!

Scalia says Constitution silent on abortion, etc.

Sara Evans divorce - She always seemed like a good girl, but this seems too weird to just be the ex at fault!

Various Linx

These linx (bastardized plural as with "pix") are quite dated. Too busy to blog these days.

From 9/1.
How to prevent lost luggage

From 9/8.
Requirements for HD video on PCs
A distributed system where HDD servo systems are used to predict tsunamis
Xerox's reusable paper: "transient documents"
More than 2.5 billion cell phone lines in use in the world
Fastest Microsoft patch ever: 3 days ... for their DRM

From 9/14.
Next-gen DNS info on Wikipedia: Extensible Name Service ; XDI

From 9/21.
Sourced from a combination of CNN, Slashdot, and other....
Attempting to reach space on the cheap
Impressive cabling
Book that apparently has some stuff on Galois
Ansari arrives at space station
USB-rechargeable batteries
The "Methusela Foundation" has an M-Prize with regard to aging.
Strangely amusing 1st person fiction by Bruce Sterling on teenage angst in a Net world

From 9/26.
CNN special on Japan's new prime minister: article

From 10/5.

Sleeplessness and health: CNN

On Sarbanes-Oxley: Wikipedia ; sarbanes-oxley.com ; bio.org

Investment Company Act of 1940? Wikipedia

Havaria Information Service Alert Map

I received an interesting link from my uncle pointing to this alert map for the U.S. It shows seismic activity, biohazards, power outages, epidemics, storm reports, air accidents, etc. One has to wonder how they aggregate this information.

Other Random News

Aztec ruin unearthed in Mexico City

Teleportation demonstration using quantum entanglement

Hitachi Maxell develops < 0.1mm storage disc

Dual-screen Vista laptops coming

Corporate espionage howto

U.S. population nears 300 million

Top ten geek wallets

VC Blog

This was Slashdotted today, but what the hey. VC Ron Garret's blog has an entry entitled the "Top ten geek business myths". Pretty interesting read.

Pizza Research

Make Blog had a link to this guy's page on cloning a famous NY pizzeria's pies. The page is crazy—the guy did all this research on dough, preparation, baking, and all that. It rocks!! I'd like to get Sachie to try the recipe. Maybe after we move back to the U.S. I like pizza enough and am unstable enough to spend money on special pizza-only hardware as necessary. Za!!!!

Riddle & Brazil

Interesting site with information about converting business entities to LPs in Texas. I was looking for information on asset protection using a LP with a C-corporation as the general partner, which I found. There was also an interesting essay on why Congress sucks. Then there's a bit on landlord-tenant legal issues: Looks like a landlord can't claim damages from the deposit in a lot of cases, so this needs to be researched. 'Twas intriguing.

iPSP

Interesting PSP sync software for OS X.

"Power Supply Design Blog"

Pretty cool. Hasn't been updated in a while, but it looks like it has some useful information. Just what I was looking for.

These days it's hard to find a power supply that wasn't made in China, meaning most power supplies are shit. Chinese companies are notorious for using substandard components for their electronics, so it irritates me that I can't find a American or Japanese PS. I'd easily pay double or triple the price—if I could only find one. So I might have to design and build my own.

Xbox 360 Laptop

This one dude hacked a Xbox 360 into laptop form factor. That's really fucked up. I might have to buy his book.

Coroutines in C

While browsing for something, I can't recall what, I found a page on coroutines in C by a guy named Simon Tatham. The implementation uses funky macros and gotos to get things working. Ouch, that could really be offensive to some people.

Then there's the infamous "Duff's Device", which was mentioned in Bjarne Stroustrup's The C++ Programming Language book. The reason it came up in relation to coroutines is that it does indeed use the switch structure as a screwy means of goto.

Well, everyone should just give up and use state machines.

Airsoft Law

U.S. Code and Code of Federal Regulations: Online versions of the U.S.C./C.F.R. USC Title 15, Chapter 76, Section 5001 contains the text of the law regarding "imitation firearms". CFR Title 15, Part 1150 details the requirements for markings on such imitation firearms (search for 15CFR1150). The law is very specific about the color: it must be "blaze orange", as per GSA Federal Standard 595a, February, 1987, color number 12199. How about that for bureaucracy!!

MFIAP: Importers of firearms and airsoft guns. They have a highly informative FAQ on airsoft. Interestingly enough, according to this, almost all shops selling airsoft that I've seen so far are doing so illegally. It's not just about the blaze orange tip (which actually has to be of a specific color, according to U.S. Code), but also trademarks ("H&K", "Glock", etc.) and other IP related to the design of the mechanisms. Sounds like a trickier business than I thought. This is going to need a lot more research in order to do. MFI has franchising, but for ridiculous prices. I'd rather research it and do it on my own. They also list a site on the main page, Shimo Kobo, that sells pottery and such.

However, the MFI website does not seem to be entirely accurate regarding the nature of trademark violation. They state:

Possession of a counterfeit product could (according to the letter of the law) provide prosecution of felony possession for every mark on the product.

Whereas a site from the Customs and Border Protection says:

Articles bearing marks that are counterfeit or inappropriately using a federally registered trademark are subject to seizure and forfeiture.The importation of articles intended for sale or public distribution bearing counterfeit marks may subject an individual to a civil fine if the registered trademark has also been recorded with CBP. Articles bearing marks that are confusingly similar to a CBP recorded registered trademark , and restricted gray market articles (goods bearing genuine marks not intended for U.S. importation for which CBP granted gray market protection) are subject to detention and seizure.

However, travelers arriving in the United States may be permitted an exemption and allowed to import one article of each type, which must accompany the person, bearing a counterfeit, confusingly similar or restricted gray market trademark, provided that the article is for personal use and is not for sale.

Granted, this is for items physically carried back to the U.S. from overseas, but it certainly qualifies as possession, and mentions nothing of felony prosecution. If one intends to sell, the matter is different, since that is trafficking. The importer is expected to do their homework (which I'm doing). I'm not sure if this is just a scare tactic or what. Obviously personal possession of copyright or trademark violations is not a crime malum in se, and the fact that the CBP allows some counterfeits to pass is supporting evidence that MFI's information is not correct. I'm still searching the laws, however. Regarding trafficking, there are these references: USC Title 18, Part I, Chapter 113, Section 2320 and a DOJ site (also 1 and 2) on intellectual property crimes. I'd like to know about the role of intent in these matters, i.e. is it "Ignorance of the law is not an excuse"—despite that no one lawyer knows all the Federal laws, much less State laws!

Incidentally, the CBP import page appears to be extremely useful. (Perhaps I've linked to it here before, but...well...I forget.)

U.S. Toy Safety Standards: Might be useful someday.

How To Do Stuff

Amusing, like stuff out of the Anarchist's Cookbook.... How to:
Make a hollow book
Make thermite
Throw a playing card

Airsoft Games

Was recently browsing for information on airsoft games and turned up the following.

Airsoft on Wikipedia: Encyclopedic general information. Also see the article on legal issues.

AirsoftGunHelp: General info on airsoft and related gaming issues.

Airsoft Games Club: Airsoft forum...for players in the Philippines (?!).

One article talks about why airsoft is better than paintball. He's got an interesting take on things. Paintball has become a 'sanitized' sport, after all. When one has to call a gun a 'marker', then it's time to find a better crew to play with or upgrade to airsoft!

A dated CNN article regarding legislation against toy guns. Therein is this salient point:

"We don't think that the government has any business regulating toys, especially guns," said Angel Shamaya, executive director of the guns rights organization Keep and Bear Arms. "Banning toy guns is just another feel-good anti-gun maneuver, and we oppose it."

But for supporters of the ban, that's partly the point. Beyond preventing crimes committed using gun replicas, the councilmen simply want to keep guns of any sort out of the hands of youngsters. Said Vann, "If they use toy guns there's a greater chance they'll graduate to the real thing when they grow up."

The extreme-liberal lawmakers are the ones attempting to using legislation as a means of socio-cultural mind control. Such insidious self-righteous pseudo-intellectuals hate guns because they know that "right-wing crazies" want to subject them to the laws of Darwin for the evil stuff they do. I'm a 'gunner', so you know where I stand. Incidentally, that article has an error: it says "Desert Eagle .45-caliber handgun", but there is no .45 version, only .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, and .50 AE. Further, the caliber should be written ".45" or "45-caliber"—as written in the article it's redundant. At any rate, this was the information I was looking for:

In October 1992, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued regulations governing the "Marking of Toy Look-Alike and Imitation Firearms." Under the new specifications, toy guns were required to bear a solid, "blaze-orange" plug at the tip of their barrel, or be colored entirely white, bright red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink or purple.

Akiba Links

Some links I accumulated whilst in Akiba last Sunday. Ironically, I scrawled them down on an old-fashioned piece of paper. With a pencil (although a mechanical one).

武器屋: I saw an ad in the station for this place. Didn't go there, because I had to hit Eichigoya. Guns over blades. Anyway, that's apparently the bricks 'n' mortar shop for ヴァイスブラウレジデンツ, the online shop.

Targa: At Asobit City I found this tank model that I wanted. They wouldn't sell individual boxes, and later I found out why: there are seven boxes to build one model, and there are two color variations in the carton of 14. Well...it's a little spendy for a plastic tank.

BrightonNET: Checking out iPod accessories, BrightonNET's stuff seems to be some of the best, such as this aluminum jacket for the Shuffle and Japanese-style cloth (wa-gara) cases.

Abee: At some computer store in Akiba I was checking out cases. Most of them sucked, but Abee's were somewhat interesting. Not as cool as Soldam's, but given Soldam's recent financial issues, I have to be checking out alternatives. There's an English version of the site as well.

News Linkflow

This Wired News blog kicked me on this track.

TubeSock: Convert YouTube files to iPod or PSP format. Sweet! Well, $15 ain't too bad, considering the normal cost of software. But YouTube quality is usually pretty shitty. On the other hand, using this I can download Kevin's ski crash....

Bram Cohen's blog: He's an interesting character, you have to admit. I'm just jealous because he started a Net phenomenon. Here he is on ergo keyboards. Eclectic subject matter, indeed.

String theory is bullshit. I thought so.

iTunes 6 has been cracked. Sweet!! The download link is here.

Hmm, there's a link to the Crazy Frog entry on Wikipedia. Sachie's bro bought some of that on iTMS....

Ugh, nerdcore.

And last but not least, the Villain Chair. Ok, that was from an IM session.

FairUse4WM

An article on Engadget discusses FairUse4WM, a program to strip DRM from PlaysForSure Windows Media files. While I feel that license-holders are imposing draconian terms for their media, this opinion sums up the morality of the issue quite well:

I know what's wrong with the system: content providers overcharge for subpar quality content. And the peoples' response is "I'm not paying $15 for garbage."

The thing is, it is the content providers' RIGHT to determine the price they think is fair for their product. If the people don't agree, they don't have the right to just take it without paying. If the content providers give a little and say, ok, we'll sell it to you for $12 but with these restrictions, it is NOT OK for the people to say "ok" and then strip off the restrictions. Either pay the $15 for unrestricted content or realize that if it isn't worth it to you, don't just take it. Say "No, that's crap. Change your pricing scheme because I won't pay $15 for crap." If there were no piracy and no one was paying $15, don't you think the content providers would lower the price to move SOME of their product? Yes. Because that is the law of supply and demand. But if people keep going around the established means, the content providers can say "Hey, our price is at $15, but all these pirates are getting it for free! Our model is legit and these rapscallions are just criminals! Please help Mr. Congressman!"

I've said it before and I'll say it again: You have no right to be entertained. If you're not willing to pay the set price, then don't buy it.

The same thing can be said of software, and that's long been my viewpoint. The difference in the case of software is that businesses will still buy overpriced crap software, and individuals tend to prefer to use at home what they use at work. Personally, I think the price of software is outrageous, particularly since there's essentially no warranty and licensing typically restricts use to one computer. Of course, one doesn't have to buy it, but in that case the software will still sell, propped up by B2B sales.

Star Trek Inspirational Posters

These are friggin' hilarious. Had to be some benefit in squandering all those hours watching the show.

My fave? "I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am."

Ties and Pocket Squares

I often find that I have to remind myself how to tie a Windsor knot because I don't wear ties very often. Here're a couple sites with good directions: SharpMan.com and at Neckties.com.

Incidentally, my dad showed me how to tie a four-in-hand knot when I first had to wear a tie, but I found the length of the tie is typically too long and the knot too small that way. Recently I've used the Windsor knot because it's fuller, but the proportions are hard to get right and I typically have to re-tie it at least once after my first attempt at a given sitting.

I also found some rules for suiting up. It's always good to know such things.

The one thing I never learned was how to tie a "pocket square". Neckties.com had the most comprehensive collection of diagrams, but eSuit.com also had a few pictures. Seems like in Japan, no one wears pocket squares, however.

Freescale RS08

An ad for Freescale's new RS08 microcontroller popped up on some site, and it looked interesting so I clicked on it. Looks like a good tool for tinkering, like the PIC, except this is an 8-pin package. There's a $50 demo board too. Maybe I'll buy one when I get back to the U.S.

Were these stocks to own in 2006?

Yahoo Finance had an article on the "stocks to own in 2006". Did they do well so far? Need to check. I know Microsoft sucked it hard.

Aetna (AET), American Express (AXP), General Electric (GE), Granite Construction (GVA), Ingersoll Rand (IR), Medtronic (MDT), Microsoft (MSFT), UPS.

Off-Road Commode

My uncle sent me this link to a product called the "Off-Road Commode". The video is hilarious! Check it out. Some products were made to be ridiculed.

3- and 4-Way Illustrations

With the help of those posable figures for sketching, someone made a page of sexual positions for 3 and 4 person couplings. It's actually not that useful (even presuming one was in such a lucky situation) but the commentary is amusing.

Every guy wants "two chicks at the same time", but practically speaking, the woman sandwich is more plausible. As unfortunate as that is.

K Visa FAQ

This site is pretty useful in providing additional information on the visa forms. Still, there's some conflicting information, e.g. they don't say that an I-864 must be filed with the I-130, whereas the U.S. Embassy of Japan site says it must be. They also mention I-134 instead of I-864, but a page on the State Department's website says that for a K-3 visa, the I-864 is the one to use.

Anyway, the overview of the whole process was helpful in figuring out how much more work is ahead of us. And they do say that the G-325A form (four pages) should be filed. That's good to know.