retroCRUSH: The barely legal pleasure palace: “One of the great things about toys from a while back was that they were made with one thing in mind, playability.  Sure, they may have had lead paint, or would blow up in a kid’s face, but they sure were fun.  Once the Consumer Products Safety Commission got […]

Ubu Roi Day!: “Great Stories, People, Books & Events in Literary History “On this day in 1896, Alfred Jarry’s avant-garde play, Ubu Roi, opened and closed in Paris. When Ubu came on stage with a large target drawn on his belly, a toilet-brush…” (Via Words – big ones and little ones….) wooo hoooo! pataphysics lives….

Today is Human Rights Day: “December 10 is Human Rights Day, so named by the United Nations in recognition of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. Some thoughts: Don’t forget Darfur. Or Tibet. In Pakistan:…” (Via TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime.) happy human rights day, don’t be surprised if […]

WSJ.com – Trying to Remember New Passwords Isn’t As Easy as ABC123: “Before joining Fortinet, Mr. Kwan spent 15 years as an internal techie for three Silicon Valley companies. There, he repeatedly saw human nature defeat well-intentioned computer-security rules. When he was called to work on a computer and the regular user wasn’t there, Mr. […]

Yahoo! News – Paper Barred From Fort Carson Over Story : “”It’s our job to investigate issues like these and explain them to our readers, many of whom have family members serving in the military,” Moore said. “We hope Fort Carson officials reconsider their ban of The Denver Post. If they don’t, we will appeal […]

Course / Beverages / Punch Recipes: “” (Via .) punch recipes… did someone say punch recipes? and no one is citing William Juniper’s ‘the true drunkards delight’? mortal sins…. he lists Tovey’s Punch Whisky Punch Glasgow Punch Halo Punch Rum Punch Oxford Punch Milk Punch

Homemade camera kicks gigapixel ass: “Xeni Jardin: Interesting piece in the NYT about inventor Clifford Ross, and an analog camera he developed which is capable of capturing astounding detail from great distances. [The camera was] unusual enough to capture the attention of serious scientists, including the kinds who work for the government, experimenting with nuclear […]

Jon Udell on the passive-aggressive Semantic Web: “ He doesn’t call it that, but his column in InfoWorld, “Bootstrapping the Semantic Web” makes a fascinating point. At a site that aggregates info about people … I show up as executive editor of Byte Magazine and contributor to Linux Magazine. And while those were once accurate […]

It’s Wednesday: do you need an attitude adjustment?: “ “ (Via Inside the Mind of Gloria Brame.) —— sometimes people need an attitude adjustment.