Thursday, September 29, 2005
Ski jump yesterday in San Francisco (vid) Apparently Fillmore street has the same angle as a regulation ski jump. SFGate article.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Given the current leadership situation, maybe a UFO invasion and takeover wouldn't be so bad after all.
Making beavertail snowshoes. From a dvd ad page, but has interesting photos. I've gotta wonder what your stride would look like in shoes this wide.
Some guy built a composite racing bike in his garage. From Sheldon Brown's Harris cyclery bike site. If you have even the faintest interest in working on bicycles of any type, Sheldon's site has consistently been the best resource on the web for years.
Monday, September 26, 2005
You can be sure that if there's a no-bid, gift contract to be had, the GOP-stacked insiders are going to be all over it. (NYTimes).
I have some ideas as to what these no-bid negotiations might look like:
Administration Contracts Manager: I'm going to need an estimate on your guaranteed contract to do flood cleanup. Keep in mind that you'll have no competition whatsoever, your estimate won't be vetted or even questioned by anybody in the administration under penalty of career-ending repriasals and retaliation, and the budget is a half-billion, with likely increases.
Haliburton VP: Wow: What a co-inky-dink! Our estimate is exactly a half-billion! Increases, of course, will be likely. We're going to need that 'no questions' part in writing.
Administration Contracts Manager: Excellent! The deal is yours! We'll start you off with the usual retainer. Put it on your books. Will I see you at Cheney's fall quail massacre on Saturday?
Haliburton VP: (shaking hands) Have I ever missed one? Ha ha ha!
"Bills have come in for deals that apparently were clinched with a handshake, with no documentation to back them up, said Mr. Skinner, who declined to provide details."
I have some ideas as to what these no-bid negotiations might look like:
Administration Contracts Manager: I'm going to need an estimate on your guaranteed contract to do flood cleanup. Keep in mind that you'll have no competition whatsoever, your estimate won't be vetted or even questioned by anybody in the administration under penalty of career-ending repriasals and retaliation, and the budget is a half-billion, with likely increases.
Haliburton VP: Wow: What a co-inky-dink! Our estimate is exactly a half-billion! Increases, of course, will be likely. We're going to need that 'no questions' part in writing.
Administration Contracts Manager: Excellent! The deal is yours! We'll start you off with the usual retainer. Put it on your books. Will I see you at Cheney's fall quail massacre on Saturday?
Haliburton VP: (shaking hands) Have I ever missed one? Ha ha ha!
"Bills have come in for deals that apparently were clinched with a handshake, with no documentation to back them up, said Mr. Skinner, who declined to provide details."
Get a phone call from Brian Wilson.
The Daily Jive is nuts and/or bananas about Brian Wilson. If you donate a hundred bucks to hurricane relief, he'll give you a call to answer a question or say hi.
The Daily Jive is nuts and/or bananas about Brian Wilson. If you donate a hundred bucks to hurricane relief, he'll give you a call to answer a question or say hi.
Saturday, September 24, 2005
"If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason."
A deep thought from Jack Handy. From this enormous page of quotes from all over the damn place. Kill some time, timekiller.
A deep thought from Jack Handy. From this enormous page of quotes from all over the damn place. Kill some time, timekiller.
Friday, September 23, 2005
An amazing CGI video of a drummer performing every beat of Rush's YYZ. Regardless of how you feel about prog-rock, this is pretty cool.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Popstarfeet - where fans take pictures of pop idols. feet only. I'm sure I linked to another pop star feet photo page a couple of years ago, but I'm sure as hell not going to dig the link up. Some of these guys are still rocking velcro which is a way of saying "I'm not fond of unnecessary displays of fine motor skills".
Stylus lists the top 10 most disturbing band fan fiction Stories.
I'm convinced that the whole idea of fan fiction is disturbing, so the crop gets creamed in a showdown like this, you know there's some bona fide craziness in here.
I'm convinced that the whole idea of fan fiction is disturbing, so the crop gets creamed in a showdown like this, you know there's some bona fide craziness in here.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Wherefore art thou, banana? (via metafilter)
A global effort is now under way to save the fruit—an effort defined by two opposing visions of how best to address the looming crisis. On one side are traditional banana growers, like Aguilar, who raise experimental breeds in the fields, trying to create a replacement plant that looks and tastes so similar to the Cavendish that consumers won’t notice the difference. On the other side are bioengineers like Rony Swennen, who, armed with a largely decoded banana genome, are manipulating the plant’s chromosomes, sometimes crossing them with DNA from other species, with the goal of inventing a tougher Cavendish that will resist Panama disease and other ailments.
A global effort is now under way to save the fruit—an effort defined by two opposing visions of how best to address the looming crisis. On one side are traditional banana growers, like Aguilar, who raise experimental breeds in the fields, trying to create a replacement plant that looks and tastes so similar to the Cavendish that consumers won’t notice the difference. On the other side are bioengineers like Rony Swennen, who, armed with a largely decoded banana genome, are manipulating the plant’s chromosomes, sometimes crossing them with DNA from other species, with the goal of inventing a tougher Cavendish that will resist Panama disease and other ailments.