Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade RickRoll
November 28, 2008
Pepper
November 28, 2008
Please Vote For My Photo!!!
November 24, 2008
Please Vote For My Photo!!!, originally uploaded by William WM.
Pretty, pretty please, vote for my photo on the PCPhoto “This Is My World” contest! You can vote via the following link:
www.pcphotomag.com/myworld/gallery-fin-lg.php?gal=Finalis…
Thank you! =D
Seattle
November 24, 2008
A/UX Penelope
November 22, 2008
Very cool informational site about the pre-OSX version of Apple Unix (A/UX). Totally piques my obscure hardware/software interest. 
From the author’s site:
Between the years 1987 and 1995, Apple Computers, Inc. developed a distribution of System V Unix for the Motorola 680×0-based Macintosh. Much of the initial porting work was performed by UniSoft Corporation, with the project being gradually handed over to Apple Engineers. (UniSoft ported several versions of Unix to Motorola 680×0-based platforms, including the early Sun workstations.)
Apple’s Unix (A/UX) was based on AT&T System V Release 2.2, as the industry had not yet “standardized” on SVR4. However, later versions of the operating system included features from SVR3, and SVR4, as well as BSD Unix 4.2 and 4.3 - TCP/IP networking, streams, Fast File System, job control, lpr, NFS, NIS (Yellow Pages), SCCS, and sendmail. It was a full-featured Unix OS. All of these features, along with a development package (fortran and C) and the X11R4 environment, were included in the base package. Note that these were costly add-ons in many contemporary Unix distributions such as Xenix and SCO Unix.
On top of this solid Unix foundation sat a Macintosh Finder - A full System 7 graphical environment that allowed the system to run both Unix and Macintosh programs, while providing a user-friendly interface. (Sound’s vaguely familiar, doesn’t it?) I’ve included some screenshots to satisfy the curiosity of casual visitors, and to whet the appetite of those who might install the operating system…
René Magritte’s 110th Birthday
November 21, 2008
René Magritte’s 110th Birthday - Courtesy of Succession René Magritte / ARS, NY
Best T-SQL Ever! (The T-SQL Mandelbrot)
November 20, 2008
This is just pure awesome, from a geek standpoint. Thanks to The Daily WTF and Graeme Job for sharing this wonderful little jewel of code and making my day just a bit more interesting.
Here’s the quote from The Daily WTF:
“So I was bored at work one day,” Graeme Job explains, “and wondered, what’s the most useless thing I could do with my time without actually doing anything. Then it hit me. I could use T-SQL to generate… Mandelbrot.”
Graeme continued, “Following is a single T-SQL SELECT statement that generates a text-representation of a Mandelbrot Set. The results are best viewed in text-mode.”
You can grab the code from The Daily WTF, and run it via SQL Server Management Studio. Of course, I tried it myself, and got this result:
(via http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Stupid-Coding-Tricks-The-TSQL-Madlebrot.aspx)
Gmail Themes!
November 20, 2008
Cool stuff! I noticed when I logged in to Gmail today that it looked a little different, and found a notice above my e-mail list that directed me to the Themes page where I could choose a new theme. Examples below:
And, here’s the scoop from the Official Gmail Blog:
Gmail fans have been building unofficial extensions to spice up their inboxes for a while, but up til now themes haven’t been an integral part of Gmail. We wanted to go beyond simple color customization, so out of the 30 odd themes we’re launching today, there’s a shiny theme with chrome styling, another one that turns your inbox into a retro notepad, nature themes that change scenery over time, weather driven themes that can rain on your mailbox, and fun characters to keep you in good company. There’s even an old school ascii theme (Terminal) which was the result of a bet between two engineers — it’s not exactly practical, but it’s great for testing out your geek cred. We’ve also done a minor facelift to Gmail’s default look to make it crisper and cleaner — you might notice a few colors and pixels shifted around here and there.
Bubble Wrap
November 19, 2008
This seems like it should be huge news, but I actually had to dig a bit to find details on this story. It seems to be quite widely reported in the UK, but not so much in the US…
Claudia Castillo gets windpipe tailor-made from her own stem cells
A woman has been given a new section of windpipe created from her own stem cells in an operation that could revolutionise surgery.
Claudia Castillo, 30, who lives in Barcelona, has become the first person to be given a whole organ tailor-made for her in laboratories across Europe.
A graft from a donor was used, but because it has been imbued with Ms Castillo’s own cells, there is no sign that her body will reject the organ.
via Claudia Castillo gets windpipe tailor-made from her own stem cells - Times Online
Here’s a thumbnail of a PDF illustration from Times Online on how the procedure was performed:
And here are some related links:
- BBC News: ‘I was scared, but it went well’
- Telegraph.co.uk: Transplant of windpipe grown from stem cells heralds new era in medicine
- theAge.com.au:Transplant using trachea grown from patient’s own stem cells a world first
- guardian.co.uk: ‘My unique chance’: How Claudia Castillo’s landmark operation changed her life
- Fareastgizmos.com: Claudia Castillo is the first person in the world to undergo a whole organ transplant grown from her own stem cells
Quality control sticker? (PASSED)
November 19, 2008
I’ve always wondered what that sticker meant…
Hiro Matsu , Aug 09, 2006; 08:17 a.m.
Anyone recognize this sticker? Thanks.
James Lai , Aug 09, 2006; 08:44 a.m.
Yes, it is a quality control sticker from the Japan Camera Inspection Institute. The JCII was set up by the Japanese government and camera industry to ensure the quality of camera equipment exported from Japan. I don’t think they’ve put those stickers on cameras for several years now, and in the later years there were plenty of knock-off stickers floating around.
District B13 Sequel!
November 19, 2008
Awe-some. District B13 (Banlieue-13 was the original French title) was the movie that got me hooked on Parkour in the first place and now they’re making a sequel!
Here’s a translation of the synopsis I found via Quiet Earth:
“District 13, two years later. The government has changed, not the rest … The wall of isolation - ever higher, ever greater and Beyond - has spread around towns ghettos and gangs that have proliferated further increased their influence. The traffic is now divided among five ethnic neighborhoods, each headed by a fearsome gang leader. More than ever determined to “settle the problem,” the secret services voluntarily fire to the powder. Damien, a cop expert in martial arts, and Leito, able to sneak in every corner of the suburbs, make new team. Their goal: to save the city from chaos. Their program: Muscle and fighting for race-defying the laws of gravity.”
If you haven’t seen it yet, you should definitely check out the original. Excellent action flick. If you’re not convinced, just check out this YouTube clip…
Intersect
November 17, 2008
Open Camera RAW Files in Paint.NET!
November 17, 2008
Excellent collection of file type handlers and effects plugins for Paint.NET. Not the fastest ever at loading camera RAW images (takes about 5-8 seconds to load a CR2 from my Canon 30D), but it’s definitely helpful.
According to the website, it supports the following image types:
| *.dcr | DCR | Digital Camera RAW Images |
| *.dng | DNG | Digital Camera RAW Images |
| *.eff | EFF | Digital Camera RAW Images |
| *.mrw | MRW | Digital Camera RAW Images |
| *.nef | NEF | Digital Camera RAW Images |
| *.orf | ORF | Digital Camera RAW Images |
| *.pef | PEF | Digital Camera RAW Images |
| *.raf | RAF | Digital Camera RAW Images |
| *.srf | SRF | Digital Camera RAW Images |
| *.X3F | X3F | Digital Camera RAW Images |
| *.crw | CRW | Digital Camera RAW Images |
| *.cr2 | CR2 | Digital Camera RAW Images |
WordPress 2.7 Trailer!
November 8, 2008
done
![pdx [portland]](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1046/3168818707_570cff7348_t.jpg "pdx [portland]")
