brucecumming.com: 08/01/2002

Friday, August 30, 2002

SKEETERBITES.COM -- Nationwide Mosquito Alert Forecast Information provided by Cutter(R)

We've teamed up with environmental scientists to develop the SkeeterMeter(TM), a mosquito forecast modeling system. By using local air temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, and drought/soil conditions, we can forecast mosquito activity throughout the U.S. This valuable information will help you limit your exposure to these nasty flying pests. The convenient 3-week forecast is updated weekly and predicts your probability of being bitten.

YIL | 50 Most Incredibly Useful Sites

YIL | Feature

This is it: our annual list of sites that fulfill the Web's true promise. They may not make you rich overnight, but they will make your day that much more livable. They may be large or small, well-known or brand-new, but every one of these sites and services will actually get something done for you.

EPN World Reporter: Top Blogs

Invisible-web.net - Searchable databases and specialized search engines

Invisible-web.net - Searchable databases and specialized search engines from the side bar on :: wood zilla lot :: .

A List Apart: 10 Tips on Writing the Living Web

Writing for the Living Web is a tremendous challenge. Here are ten tips that can help.

Wednesday, August 28, 2002

Removed the Underlining of Hyperlinks

Learning more about CSS everyday.

Monday, August 26, 2002

The New Republic Online: First Serve

Just becuase you haven't served in the military, doens't mean you can't be part of debate over a war with Iraq. From the New Republic Online: First Serve via InstaPundit.com. (Free registration required.)

In fact, over and over during the '90s, the generals with firsthand battlefield experience guessed wrong--and the civilians without it guessed it right--about what would happen when the United States went to war. Before the Gulf war, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell--who had spent his life in uniform--said war with Iraq would prove too costly. He was overridden by Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, who once infamously told a reporter that he "had other priorities in the '60s than military service." In 1992 Powell wrote a New York Times op-ed warning against U.S. military intervention in Bosnia--intervention that (in tandem with a Croat ground assault) eventually forced the Serbs into a peace deal. And in 1999 the Joint Chiefs of Staff leaked to the press their opposition to U.S. war in Kosovo--a war that drove Slobodan Milosevic from Kosovo without a single American combat casualty.

ERP Effort Sinks Agilent Revenue - Computerworld

According to one analyst, ERP disasters are often caused by the user company itself. Joshua Greenbaum, an analyst at Enterprise Applications Consulting in Daly City, Calif., said 99% of such rollout fiascoes are caused by "management's inability to spec out their own requirements and the implementor's inability to implement those specs."

Thursday, August 22, 2002

Random Thought:

Zydeco music is the exact opposite of Goth music.

$662 million, 10-year plan to make bay a ferry capital

From SFGate: $662 million, 10-year plan to make bay a ferry capital / Proposal would add 7 routes and use less-polluting vessels

If state lawmakers approve the $662 million, 10-year plan -- and Bay Area voters and elected officials agree to fund it through a combination of increased bridge toll revenues, sales taxes and local contributions -- 44 ferries could be plying the bay by 2015. That would make it the world's largest ferry fleet, outpacing Sydney, which operates 32 boats.

Wednesday, August 21, 2002

666 in Barcodes - a hidden mark of the beast?

I found this at work today while checking the FAQ of a Barcode/MICR font company. A customer purchased one of their fonts, and needed to make it work with one of our software applications. In the FAQ I found: 666 in Barcodes - a hidden mark of the beast?.

Is this really a question they are frequently asked? I have been working in the barcode software industry for almost ten years, and have never been asked about "666" in barcodes.

Yahoo - Salon Receives Extension From NASDAQ

Yahoo - Salon Receives Extension From NASDAQ

I like Salon, I hope they survive.

Weblogs of the stars / Hollywood personalities share their innermost thoughts, interesting or not, on the Internet

From sfgate.com: Weblogs of the stars / Hollywood personalities share their innermost thoughts, interesting or not, on the Internet

Are the Digits of Pi Random?

From Chris Prillo:

Tuesday, August 20, 2002

GlobalSecurity.org

Need to add this to the Defense/Forieng Policy Section: GlobalSecurity.org

More changes...

Added metacritic.com to the Popular Culture Section. (Thank you rebecca.) Split "My Links" Section off from "My Site".

Tarot and Tim Powers

A story about Tarot from kuro5hin.org. I was never really interested in Tarot until I read Last Call, by Tim Powers.

Monday, August 19, 2002

More Home Page Updates

Moved the "email me" link to the top. Changed email address. Hid email address from spambots.

Also added "random blog" link (thanks to philringnalda.com) and did some general cleanup.

TECHNOREALISM

From rebecca's pocket:

TECHNOREALISM

In this heady age of rapid technological change, we all struggle to maintain our bearings. The developments that unfold each day in communications and computing can be thrilling and disorienting. One understandable reaction is to wonder: Are these changes good or bad? Should we welcome or fear them?

Sustainable Cities and Campus Communities: Envision and Planning Sustainable Communities

From rebecca's pocket:

Sustainable Cities and Campus Communities: Envision and Planning Sustainable Communities

Impetus for change in suburban growth patterns is growing. A grassroots interest in change has been slowly building as more people become dissatisfied with existence in the typical modern city. Patterns in home-buying, trends in real estate values, and public surveys show that a growing number of people are interested in alternatives to "traditional" suburban housing tracts (ESI Corp 1995, Guillory 1998, Lerner and Poole 1999). The literature in architecture and planning now discusses how to create built environments that enhance people's lives while protecting the natural environment. And solid research has uncovered economic drawbacks to sprawl and even to growth in general – as well as positive economic benefits for open space.

Sunday, August 18, 2002

Military computers' data exposed - Tech News - CNET.com

Tens of thousands of U.S. military and government computers containing sensitive information are easily accessible over the Internet, a computer security firm that cracked the networks said on Friday.

Do not put two spaces after a period when writing on a computer!

This is the first in an occasional series on writing and language.

University of Minnesota Style Manual

Another holdover from typewriter text that should be avoided is using two spaces after a period. Most typefaces on computers today use variable fonts, in which each letter and mark take up just the space they need in contrast to the equal spacing of letters on a typewriter. Although typewriter users customarily inserted two spaces after a period, professional typesetters insert only one space after a period, because the variable font makes two spaces unnecessary and creates too large a gap.

Saturday, August 17, 2002

USATODAY.com - Hiring for tech jobs fails to pick up, slowing recovery

SAN FRANCISCO — Technology employment, expected to be growing by now, is failing to do so — further hampering the already soft economic recovery.
More than 243,000 jobs have been cut this year in telecom, computers and e-commerce, says outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas.

More Changes to 100 Pixels Sidebar

Added:

Bubble Chamber - Science News

ROTTEN TOMATOES - Movie News and Reviews

TV Barn - Television News and Reviews

1stHeadlines - Headline Portal

Changed:

"entertainment" section renamed to "popular culture"

"alt.news" section split from "news" section

Updated:

List of Lists - Updated URL

Moved:

"Radio Streams" section moved to my "links" page.

Removed:

Drudge Report

Ain't It Cool News

DVD Talk

Best Net Info

CDC West Nile Virus Home Page - Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases (DVBID)

From Science Blog:

CDC West Nile Virus Home Page - Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases (DVBID)

New Scientist - "E-bomb" may see first combat use in Iraq

From Science Blog:

New Scientist

Weapons designed to attack electronic systems and not people could see their first combat use in any military attack on Iraq.

Friday, August 16, 2002

The Secret Behind a Burger Cult

From metafilter:

The Secret Behind a Burger Cult

The In-N-Out menu offers four items: hamburger, cheeseburger, Double-Double burger and fries. (That Double Double, at 670 calories and 41 grams of fat, is basically a coronary thrombosis on a gently toasted bun.)

Thursday, August 15, 2002

Best History Websites

Best of History Web Sites is an award-winning portal created for students, history educators, and general history enthusiasts. Here you'll find sites, rated for usefulness and accuracy, that will help you study or teach a wide variety of topics and periods in History.

PocketKnife Peek

From Chris Pirillo - C:\PIRILLO.EXE:

PocketKnife Peek

PocketKnife Peek is an Outlook add-in for screening your e-mail as plain text before opening it in Outlook. The add-in can be used to view all Outlook message formats, but is aimed particularly at averting the threats lurking in HTML mail.

Tuesday, August 13, 2002

Updates and Fixes

Updated the blogrolling code. The new code is much cleaner, and has more features. Hold your mouse over a blog to see one of them.

Fixed the Seti@Home Link.

Saturday, August 10, 2002

Additions and Subtractions:

The following links have been added to the "100 Pixels" sidebar:

purportal.com

Daily Rotation

Pop Culture Junk

Internet Archive

The following links have been removed:

fraud.org

newsbytes.com

startribune.com HealthScience

Taking advantage of a unique research opportunity brought about by the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on America, when all commercial air traffic in the country stood still for three days, scientists have uncovered the first clear evidence of the effects of jet contrails on climate.

Friday, August 09, 2002

Yahoo! News - Aquarium Visitors Fall Into Shark Tank

Thursday, August 08, 2002

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Crows prove they are no birdbrains

British zoologists were astonished when a captive crow - Betty - fashioned a hook out of wire to reach food.
It is the first time any animal has been found to make a new tool for a specific task, say Oxford University researchers.
They believe the bird shows some understanding of cause and effect.

PCWorld.com - Tracking Terrorists the Las Vegas Way

LAS VEGAS--It might not seem that gambling sharks and Al Qaeda terrorists have much in common. But a firm here that helps casinos catch cheaters is now using its software to help the government track people suspected of being terrorists.

At the Coffee Shop, It's Always a Tall Order (washingtonpost.com)

Wednesday, August 07, 2002

About Freebies - more than just another freebies site

Sunday, August 04, 2002

Searching for the Perfect Boba

Tired of Starbucks? I am. ... In case you haven't noticed, there's a big drink craze going on right now, and it's sweeping across Southern California from West Los Angeles to the Asian communities of San Gabriel and Alhambra down to Orange County. Fueling this craze are tapioca ball drinks, a.k.a. "boba."

American Memory from the Library of Congress

Home Page: American Memory from the Library of Congress

American Memory is a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections.

Is this your CD collection?

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Stuart Jeffries: Is this your CD collection?

You like to think that you are cool. And, hey, let's not be snobbish - maybe you are. You wouldn't have any rubbish like Sting or Dire Straits in your CD collection. Enya? Clannad? ... And you know that you are culturally aware. After all, you got Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections for Christmas. You haven't read it yet, but still. You're pretty sure you got Mulholland Drive the second time around, and Monsoon Wedding was just lovely, wasn't it?

One Hundred Albums You Should Remove from Your Collection Immediately

Jaguaro.org Features