Monday, April 22, 2002

Where’s the Boeing 2

Stanley at Puppet Press Journal said the boeing stuff has already been explained - that this is old hat. He said he thought it was done on Metafilter, but, as is typical, I can't get on to MeFi when I really want to.

Google linked to the thread on kuro5shin, but there was no satisfactory explanation - just a lot of patronizing hot air.

MSNBC ran an article with a series of five photos taken from a Pentagon camera. The article says it shows the plane hitting the ground and then the building and erupting into a fireball. But I'm not sure I can see the plane.

Stanley says they recovered the black boxes from the plane. I don't find this convincing. All I want is to see or read is something that convinces me that the plane did hit the Pentagon. You know, like forensic-type evidence. The prosecution's case, as it were.
posted by lee on 04/22/02 at 11:40 AM
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Herblock exhibition

Herb Block was one of the best cartoonists ever. This is a great place to spend some time. It's a shame he's not around to chronicle the lunacies of the current administration. Herblock's History (Political Cartoons from the Crash to the Millennium): Library of Congress Exhibition
posted by lee on 04/22/02 at 12:35 PM
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Tuesday, April 23, 2002

Just what it says it is

Digital Sushi. What's even more interesting is that there is a sushi webring.
posted by lee on 04/23/02 at 07:19 AM
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Thursday, April 25, 2002

for spam fans everywhere

The Spam Letters

Warning: recent mentions in the mass media means this site is getting heavy traffic. Be patient.
posted by lee on 04/25/02 at 12:28 PM
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whatever they want it to be

alicubi journal :: home
posted by lee on 04/25/02 at 12:48 PM
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Friday, April 26, 2002

TextArc - the question I have is, “Why?”

DO NOT go here unless you have a high-speed connection. TextArc.org Home

This makes patterns of all the words in a document. W. Bradford Paley, the creator of this, um, applet? said "I am trying to create an agar in which meaning will grow." (Which means nothing.) It supposedly "turns a linear narrative into an interactive map in which the relationships between words that may be pages apart can be perceived at a glance." Yeah, sure it does.

This is a work of art - and an impressive bit of software creation. Monkeys typing.
posted by lee on 04/26/02 at 07:02 AM
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lies lies and damn lies

Whopper of the Week: Donald Rumsfeld - How were things in Tora Bora? By Timothy Noah

So what if it's in what's left of Slate?
posted by lee on 04/26/02 at 09:15 AM
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Saturday, April 27, 2002

become an eco-geek

AirHead!. Find out what you can do.
posted by lee on 04/27/02 at 08:30 AM
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Sunday, April 28, 2002

stupid things men say

"We need a new toaster."

"Why?" Stanley asked.

"Here, let me show you." I hold up two pieces of toast, each carbon black on one site, bread white on the other.

"How did this happen?"

Like I stood there with a lighter and carefully burned one side each of two pieces of bread. The toaster, mind you, is almost 20 years old. How did this happen indeed ...

But at least he let me throw away the old one rather than squirreling it away in one of his black holes containing "stuff I might need some day."

He thinks I sabotaged it, maybe not seriously thinking it but the question lurks on the fringes of his mind. Of course, he thinks I sabotaged the 16-year-old Chevy Nova so we could get a new car. He accused me of putting sugar in the gas tank. Again, only fractionally serious about it. It never occured to me to put sugar in the gas tank - if I had known that's all it would've taken to get a new car, I would've done it a long, long time ago.

A trip to Wal-Mart today made very clear to me, yet again, why I prefer to shop online. The Norwalk, CT Wal-Mart employees are certainly nothing like those cheerful souls seen in their tv ads. no sirree. We just have to figure out their Quiet Time - you know, when there are almost no customers.

Stanley has long made it a practice to go to Stew Leonard's (a local dairy/supermarket) about 15 minutes before closing. "They treat you like royalty if you go then," says Stanley. And they do, too - you can give them your list as you walk in the door and have it all packed by the time you reach the checkout counter - they'd probably pack the car too, if they weren't so busy trying to close so they could go home.
posted by lee on 04/28/02 at 03:04 PM
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Monday, April 29, 2002

web watchdog

Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, launched Consumer WebWatch, a service designed to rate websites. Consumer
WebWatch plans to develop specific guidelines to suit the different online
sectors that it will cover and offer information to help consumers protect themselves and help Web site developers improve their consumer protections.
Consumer WebWatch

Here is an example WebWatch guidelines:

CONSUMER WEBWATCH GUIDELINES

We believe Web sites will promote Web credibility if they adopt these basic policies:

1 Identity:
Web sites should clearly disclose the physical location where they are produced, including an address, a telephone number or e-mail address.

Sites should clearly disclose their ownership, private or public, naming their parent company.

Sites should clearly disclose their purpose and mission.

2 Advertising and Sponsorships:
Sites should clearly distinguish advertising from news and information, using labels or other visual means. This includes "in-house" advertising or cross-corporate ad sponsorships. Search engines, shopping tools and portals should clearly disclose paid result-placement advertising, so consumers may distinguish between objective search results and paid ads.

Sites should clearly disclose relevant business relationships, including sponsored links to other sites. For example: A site that directs a reader to another site to buy a book should clearly disclose any financial relationship between the two sites.

Sites should identify sponsors. The site's sponsorship policies should be clearly noted in accompanying text or on an "About Us" or "Site Center" page.

3 Customer Service:
Sites engaged in consumer transactions should clearly disclose relevant financial relationships with other sites, particularly when these relationships affect the cost to a consumer.

Sites should clearly disclose all fees charged, including service, transaction and handling fees, and shipping costs. This information should be disclosed before the ordering process begins.

Sites should clearly state and enforce policies for returning unwanted items or canceling transactions or reservations.

4 Corrections:
Sites should diligently seek to correct false, misleading or incorrect information.

Sites should prominently display a page or section of the site where incorrect information is corrected or clarified.

Sites should strive to mark content with its published date when failing to do so could mislead consumers.

Sites should clearly state their policy on a consumer's rights if a purchase is made based on incorrect information on the site.

5 Privacy:
Site privacy policies should be easy to find and clearly, simply stated.

Sites should clearly disclose how personal data from site visitors and customers will be used. Personal data includes name, address, phone number and credit card number.

Sites should disclose whether they use browser-tracking mechanisms such as "cookies," and other technologies such as Web beacons, bugs and robots.

Sites should explain how data collected from them will be used.

Sites should notify customers of changes to privacy policies, and provide an easy opt-out alternative.
posted by lee on 04/29/02 at 10:18 AM
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