Archive for December 21st, 2011

NFS: Not For Storage

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

The Unix-Haters Handbook (which I am proud to say I own a physical copy of) is now available for free download.

(Hattip: Unix tool tip.)

Posted in Books, Geek, linux | 2 Comments »

Is this a dagger that I see before me?

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

The Transportation Security Administration says officers found two throwing daggers hidden in a hollowed-out book at a checkpoint at Reagan-Washington National Airport.

I’m linking to the HouChron and not the WP because the HouChron story contains an illustration of the daggers and the book. (“Chapter 2: Ninja Equipment”?)

The daggers measured just over a half-foot long

Or, as we in the civilized world call it, “six inches”. About the length of a ballpoint pen.

Posted in Clippings | Comments Closed

The awesome power of the Internet.

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

I went over to ask a cow orker a question, and he had this up on his monitor. And I said “What?!”

List of animals with fraudulent diplomas.

So it isn’t quite “A Short, Incomplete, and Somewhat Random List of People Who Have Had Their Heads Impaled on a Spike on London Bridge“, but still fun.

Posted in Clippings | Comments Closed

But hey! At least the trains ran on time!

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

Havel’s anti-communist critique contained little if any acknowledgement of the positive achievements of the regimes of eastern Europe in the fields of employment, welfare provision, education and women’s rights. Or the fact that communism, for all its faults, was still a system which put the economic needs of the majority first.

(By way of Balko, who calls this “The most vile thing you’ll read today.” It is still early, but we feel that we’re going to have a hard time arguing with that.)

(Obligatory.)

(And by the way, the whole “trains ran on time” thing? Not so much.)

Posted in Clippings, Politics | Comments Closed

Important medical news.

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

…51-year-old woman in the state died after she was infected with the “brain-eating” amoeba Naegleria fowleri, which enters the body through the nose and sometimes causes devastating meningitis. Apparently, the amoeba lurked in tap water the woman used in her neti pot, a pitcher-like device used to rinse nasal passages.

This is why I only use single-malt scotch in my Neti pot. (Mixing it with Mountain Dew is optional.)

Posted in Clippings, Neuroscience, Safety, Sarcasm | 2 Comments »

The OSU Sanction.

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

No postseason play in 2012, loss of nine scholarships over the next three years, and probation through 2014.

Tressel, who was forced to resign on May 30, was separately issued a show-cause penalty. If any NCAA school wants to hire him in the next five years, it must first persuade the NCAA why it wants to hire a known rules violator and agree to certain restrictions.

(I really liked The Eiger Sanction when I was a kid, mostly for the mountain climbing. I was a little young to get the more subtle jokes, like the character named Yurasis Dragon.)

(And I’m more than a little surprised that there’s been no FARK link yet.)

Posted in Books, Clippings, Sports | Comments Closed

Quote of the day.

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

I tucked it in there with the dishes following the well-known scientific principle of “why the hell not?”

Indeed. In our studies of the history of technology, we have found that much scientific and technical advancement is motivated by that same principle.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Closed

Grand juries gone wild! On the next TMZ!

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

We have previously covered the grand jury investigation into the Harris County DA’s Office. We have not posted on this in a while, mostly because up until the past few days, there was not much going on.

The latest development is that prosecutor Rachel Palmer was summoned to appear before the grand jury and refused to answer questions.

This Lisa Falkenberg column contains a good summary of the most recent developments. And The Hon. Murray Newman is still all over this as well.

Posted in Clippings, HCDA, Law | 1 Comment »