If outsourcing to india was the tech industry circling the bowl, I think the fact that students are shunning computer studies means it's about to be flushed.
Way to go, corporate America. Nice job of looking at the big picture.
[via Fuck That Job!]
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
"U.S. adolescents who pledge not to have sex until they are married have about the same rate of sexually transmitted diseases as other teenagers and they often fail to keep their pledge, according to a study... The study, funded largely by the National Institutes of Health, found that these teenagers were also less likely to use condoms when they did have sex because they had not paid attention to sex education. Because of their ignorance about sexually transmitted diseases, 'pledgers' were also less likely to seek medical help if they contracted one of the diseases... The study found that pledging did succeed in delaying sex, reducing the number of partners and led to earlier marriages but it did not reduce the rate of sexually transmitted diseases." — Yahoo.com (US)] (read more)
[via PervScan]
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Tune in Tomorrow!
UPDATE: Listen Today : we are playing Off the Hook and the Hour of Slack. Leave your comments on this story to let us know if you want us to keep it or dump it!
Hey guys... just a reminder... tune in to my radio show tomorrow from 2pm-4pm EST... I'm auditioning a couple other talk shows I'm wanting to bring to schedule.
I welcome comments here on the shows ... if they are to your liking comment on them!
/rizzn
Nano-engineered intelligent flagellum?
Here's a comment from "Intelligent Design" advocate William A. Dembski in Christianity Today that would boil the corpuscles off of any red-blooded Darwinian nanoscientist:
- "Now, with intelligent design, you can look at certain biological structures. We're arguing that they are intelligently caused. The most popular one that's been investigated is the bacterial flagellum. It's a little bi-directional motor-driven propeller on the backs of certain bacteria, marvel of nano-engineering, and so we've started to analyze systems like that and argue for their intelligent design." More here
[via Howard Lovy's NanoBot]
Monday, March 29, 2004
Demo of Free Software Voter-Verifiable Voting
Lulu_of_the_Lotus-Ea writes "The Open Voting Consortium (OVC) is holding a demonstration of its Free Software voting system in Santa Clara, California on April 1, 2004 (yeah, I know the date, but it's not a joke). An announcement on the OVC homepage has further details. The Sourceforge hosted EVM2003 project of the OVC has produced touchscreen and vision-impared interface voting systems that produce visually inspectable (or machine-aided audio verification) paper ballots. As well, OVC will demonstrate systems for reconcilliation and reporting of precint results, and provide handouts and a presentation explaining the virtues of a publicly inspectible system with a tamper-proof paper trail."
Note:
It would be great if this works, given that electronic voting has encountered so many problems before."
[via LawMeme]
InfoCom's games (like Zork) were some of the first conversational interface games. Now that they're in public domain, they've been made them into AIM bots. Isn't this just full circle? It reminds me that I always used to install (harmless)... (read more)
[via Lair of the Toadking]
Proxity Developing VSTOL Type UAV
New Orleans - Mar 10, 2004
On Alert Systems, Inc., subsidiary of Proxity Digital Networks, Inc. has formed a new operating subsidiary, Cyber Aerospace Corp. The new subsidiary is currently developing vertical take off and landing (VSTOL) versions of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that perform specialized missions.
New Orleans - Mar 10, 2004On Alert Systems, Inc., subsidiary of Proxity Digital Networks, Inc. has formed a new operating subsidiary, Cyber Aerospace Corp. The new subsidiary is currently developing vertical take off and landing (VSTOL) versions of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that perform specialized missions.
Cyber Aerospace's first generation models are called individual unmanned air scouts (IUAS). When fully developed, Proxity notes that their Cyber Aerospace IUAS will operate in multiple settings including congested urban and jungle environments, where it is unsafe for conventional UAVs, as well as in desert and mountainous terrain.
IUAS will perform traditional UAV surveillance, border patrol, and wide area search and sensing missions but unlike other UAVs, the IUAS are designed to be amphibious, capable of taking off and landing on land or water. IUAS could operate new and innovative clandestine reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition and perform hunter killer missions.
As "sleepers", IUAS would fly to a location, land and use their own power to operate surveillance monitoring activities. In battlefield situations, this may be a great key to the surprise of enemy elements. With the vertical takeoff and landing (VSTOL) capabilities of a helicopter, IUAS would be able to launch and return without a runway, enabling deployment from small, concealed locations, naval ships, and building rooftops.
When fully developed the IUAS should have the high-speed forward flight of a fixed wing airplane, thus long-range over-the-horizon operations would be remotely piloted or flown autonomously. With the ability to monitor pipelines, power plants and strategic targets, IUAS could potentially give Homeland Security forces a 24/7 real-time picture.
The IUAS is being designed with an open access airframe fuselage that can be rapidly field-configured with a wide array of cameras, sensors, weapons, and instruments. Their multi-use platforms have applications for Military Warfighters, Homeland Defense, Firefighting, Security, Surveillance and First Response teams.
Proxity Digital CEO Billy Robinson stated, "Two versions of IUAS are planned: a micro and a mini. The micro will be hand-carried into battle by a warfighter or into a civilian situation by a SWAT team member. Estimated to weigh 10 lbs., it is a 30 in. X 40 in. Vehicle that will hold a camera and 2 lb. Payload, explosives or sensing devices.
The mini is being designed to be a 60 in. X 70 in. Vehicle with real time communication and a 30lb# payload of equipment or explosives. Both units are estimated to be priced low: approximately $25,000 for the micro and about $75,000 for the mini. And may be scaled for special operations assignments. We anticipate proof of concept to be confirmed in 30-60 days."
[via SpaceWar.com: UAV News]
Soldier Ashamed by Donkey Sex
"An Afghan soldier was detained by police after being caught having sex with a donkey in southeastern Afghanistan, a police officer said today. The soldier was discovered with the donkey in an abandoned house in a small village... 'He was... (read more)
"An Afghan soldier was detained by police after being caught having sex with a donkey in southeastern Afghanistan, a police officer said today. The soldier was discovered with the donkey in an abandoned house in a small village... 'He was... (read more)
[via PervScan]
[rizzn's note: this just goes to further prove my point... fundamentalist Arabs simply need to get laid more often.]
#cammafia on irc.cam-mafia.com today
<Maxican> fags
<pheydal> haha
* pheydal hugs max anyways
* McEric considers a ban :)
<McEric> Lisa almost got me kicked off of AOL for saying that :(
<riz> for consideringa ban?
<riz> damn thought police.
<pheydal> fags
<riz> oh
<riz> ;)
<Maxican> haha
<Maxican> i remember that ;/
<Maxican> tos
<Maxican> pos
<Maxican> aol = fags
<pheydal> haha
* pheydal hugs max anyways
* McEric considers a ban :)
<McEric> Lisa almost got me kicked off of AOL for saying that :(
<riz> for consideringa ban?
<riz> damn thought police.
<pheydal> fags
<riz> oh
<riz> ;)
<Maxican> haha
<Maxican> i remember that ;/
<Maxican> tos
<Maxican> pos
<Maxican> aol = fags
Astrology is bullshit. Astrology is bullshit. Astrology is bullshit.
Self healing? Self healing was perfected by Rambo in Rambo: First Blood when he stitched his arm shut after he cracked a kid's back while jumping off a cliff (and the only reason his arm split open was because he's so tough he wanted to make the bad guys think they had a chance, but yeah right.. it was like Rambo sent them all Christmas cards, but instead of cards it was murder).
[Read More]
Sunday, March 28, 2004
Time for the BIG show again.
The Mark and Darrell Show is about to go on the air... 8pm EST to MIDNIGHT. Tune in!
Music from tonight's music segment can be found in the following spots:
Evolution Control Committee
Machinae Supremacy
DJ Benny Benassi
Richard Cheese
Dr. Anthony Evans
Piolet
Stay tuned to this spot... as the show goes on, we'll post all hyperlinks here.
If you are Up, Awake, And Alive and ONLINE...
You should be listening to my CD Rock Block Blue Plate Special thingy this morning. Click here and select a stream type. (Starts at 12:00 Noon EST)
Wacky Error Messages on SprintPCS.com
-- Unfortunately, Microsoft has added a clever new
-- "feature" to Internet Explorer. If the text in
-- an error's message is "too small", specifically
-- less than 512 bytes, Internet Explorer returns
-- its own error message. Yes, you can turn that
-- off, but *surprise* it's pretty tricky to find
-- buried as a switch called "smart error
-- messages" That means, of course, that many of
-- Resin's error messages are censored by default.
-- And, of course, you'll be shocked to learn that
-- IIS always returns error messages that are long
-- enough to make Internet Explorer happy. The
-- workaround is pretty simple: pad the error
-- message with a big comment to push it over the
-- five hundred and twelve byte minimum. Of course,
-- that's exactly what you're reading right now.
-- "feature" to Internet Explorer. If the text in
-- an error's message is "too small", specifically
-- less than 512 bytes, Internet Explorer returns
-- its own error message. Yes, you can turn that
-- off, but *surprise* it's pretty tricky to find
-- buried as a switch called "smart error
-- messages" That means, of course, that many of
-- Resin's error messages are censored by default.
-- And, of course, you'll be shocked to learn that
-- IIS always returns error messages that are long
-- enough to make Internet Explorer happy. The
-- workaround is pretty simple: pad the error
-- message with a big comment to push it over the
-- five hundred and twelve byte minimum. Of course,
-- that's exactly what you're reading right now.
Friday, March 26, 2004
Quick Question
Rizzn: hey... can I ask you something albert?
zxcvbgfdsa12345: mark
Rizzn: how did you come up with your screen name?
Rizzn: did you just bang your head on the keyboard or something?
zxcvbgfdsa12345: yeah i think so
zxcvbgfdsa12345: mark
Rizzn: okay
zxcvbgfdsa12345: mark
Rizzn: how did you come up with your screen name?
Rizzn: did you just bang your head on the keyboard or something?
zxcvbgfdsa12345: yeah i think so
zxcvbgfdsa12345: mark
Rizzn: okay
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Upped Contract
I just paid my bill with EHOSTPROS just a moment ago... so let's hope my domain name comes up again. Lord almighty. It sux having a website down like this.
Monday, March 22, 2004
US To Deploy Unmanned Drones In Skies Over Mexican Border
 smile you're on UAV television |
The United States plans to deploy unmanned planes, or drones, into the skies over the border between Arizona and Mexico to guard against potential terrorist activities and clamp down on illegal border crossings, a top US security official said.
The drones will be flown remotely above the border under the ABC (Arizona Border Control) program in a bid to beef up border security, explained Asa Hutchinson, Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security at the US Department of Homeland Security.
"This landmark program supports the priority mission of Homeland Security agencies to detect and deter terrorist activities and cross-border illegal trafficking of people and drugs," Hutchinson said in a statement.
Drones such as the "Predator" were used by the CIA in the war that ousted the Taliban from Afghanistan, they have also been used by the US military in the Balkans.
Hutchinson said the drones, or UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), would give extra eyes to the Tucson Sector border patrol in the southern state of Arizona which has recently seen its manpower increased by 200 to a total 2,000 officers.
Additional border patrol helicopters will compliment the drones in their missions, he added.
[via SpaceWar.com: UAV News]
Scientists are looking to cram more information in a given area by finding ways to store the 1s and 0s of computer information in single molecules. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have taken a step in this direction by synthesizing an organic material, spreading it into a molecule-thick layer, and recording marks as small as 1.1 nanometers in the medium. The presence of a mark can represent a 1 and the absence of a mark, 0. Each mark is about the size of a row of 11 hydrogen atoms. The 1.1-nanometer marks, spaced 1.5 nanometers apart, would yield a data storage density of more than 10 trillion bits per square centimeter, according to the researchers. Ten trillion bits is the equivalent of 266 DVDs worth of data. The researchers previously had recorded marks as small as 0.6 nanometers in an organic thin film, but that material wasn't as readily controlled or as stable as the current material, according to the researchers. The researchers' new material is stable in air, and has a higher melting point -- 172 Celsius -- than the researchers' previous recording medium. It will be one or two decades before the material can be used in practical storage devices, according to the researchers. The work appeared in the November 17, 2003 issue of Advanced Materials.
Mark and Darrell Show Update
It was a smashing success last night. No serious technical difficulties, and I didn't feel like the show was completely boring, and callers called in, and I got a great deal of positive feedback.
What?! You missed the show? Doofus.
Click Here for the Archived Copy of the show. You can stream it or listen to it. You may have to register a username with AcidPlanet for that, but they don't spam you so don't worry.
No less than four people have written me and called me and walked in my office today apologising for missing the show last night. Given that fact, I'd say that our listenership was pretty good, as we surpassed last week's numbers.
It could have been due to this great article Buzz wrote about us for Cam-Mafia's home page.
At any rate, that's all the self-congratulating I can stand for this morning. Talk to you later.
Sunday, March 21, 2004
Woman Says 'I Don't' At NBA Game
NBC10.com - News - Woman Says 'I Don't' At NBA Game
At a recent Indiana Pacers-Washington Wizards game, a woman's reaction to a man's marriage proposal stuns an expectant crowd.The apparent proposal came at the end of a halftime contest on the Wizards home court Saturday night.
The woman was blindfolded, sent out on the court, and told if she could find a local bank's mascot, she would win free Wizards tickets. As the crowd yelled "hot" and "cold," the woman roamed the court for about 10 seconds.
Then, as she found and touched the bank mascot, she was told she won the contest. However, the public address announcer said there was a surprise. The man appeared from the bank mascot's costume, grabbed a microphone and then got down on one knee. As he began to speak to the woman, shepaused and grabbed her face in shock.
Then, as the crowd expected the man to pop question, the woman turned away from the man, and sprinted full speed across the basketball court.
After running up a tunnel, she was stopped by a security guard.
There was no indication on the broadcast whether the proposal was legitimate or not.
But the stunt surprised the groaning crowd as a message saying, "She said No!" appeared on the arena's scoreboard.
Thursday, March 18, 2004
#cammafia on irc.cam-mafia.com
* Envy shoots self
<BUZZ> girls 18-23 should all be mistresse to self emplyed business owners
<riz> W3RD!
<BUZZ> See????? Riz thnks so too
<riz> can we make this a law?
<BUZZ> Done!
<BUZZ> If George Dumbya can take Howie off the air for bashing him, the mistress thing can be law
<riz> i hear that.
<Envy> I should make a really vulgar site
<Envy> To even out all teh cutsie sites out there. :o
<BUZZ> girls 18-23 should all be mistresse to self emplyed business owners
<riz> W3RD!
<BUZZ> See????? Riz thnks so too
<riz> can we make this a law?
<BUZZ> Done!
<BUZZ> If George Dumbya can take Howie off the air for bashing him, the mistress thing can be law
<riz> i hear that.
<Envy> I should make a really vulgar site
<Envy> To even out all teh cutsie sites out there. :o
#cammafia on irc.cam-mafia.com
<pheydal> three + four = seven
<Slutbot> 0
<riz> three + five = seven
<Slutbot> 0
<pheydal> 3 +4
<McEric> 2 + 2
<Slutbot> 4
* pheydal hugs slutbot
<riz> 2+2
<pheydal> soooo clever!!
* Nixxi stabs riz - what was that?
<McEric> gotta put spaces between the sign
<Nixxi> ahhh i have this song, i forgot i had it
<riz> 2 + 2 + 3
<McEric> 55 * 55
<Slutbot> 4
<Slutbot> 3025
<Menace> 6 * 6
<Slutbot> 36
<Menace> woot!
<riz> wow. rock on.
* Nixxi dances
<McEric> 68 + 1
<Slutbot> 69
<riz> i'm going to post this chat segment on my site.
<riz> out of context of course.
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
I am posting this because I know it will annoy a certain somebody out of her mind.
[Rizzn's Note: slimee still reads my site on a regular basis. i just found her site today because I was searching thru my site logs, and she linked to me like a moron. she wouldn't give me this URL when we went out. don't know why. don't care. anyways, when I found she posted about me and is so annoyed by every posting I do about her, I couldn't refrain from annoying her further. :)]
ok, sooooo much has gone on!!! updating necessary!!!
rizzn, who has despicable stuff written about me on his wannabe blog has written yet more!!! it all started again because i objected to his keeping
[okay... i probably earned that one. some of the stuff I wrote probably qualifies as despicable. But wannabe blog? You know I get way more traffic than you could dream of.]
my full name posted (hes been openly slandering me since its been over, and now id rather not be associated with him), and asked him, via a very
[slander, once again, dear moron, is when it's not true. I haven't posted an untrue thing about you on this site. plus, it's written. so it's not technically slander even if it was untrue. lay off the dead languages and concentrate on English.]
nice private email, to remove it. once again, he freaked, revealing that
[no, actually, i didn't freak. I posted it to my website to show how much of a spiteful little girl you were being, with a point by point reply that incidently was much shorter than your original letter.]
he is sub-human. he went totally overboard, polluting the internet with
[sub-human? woman, please.]
rambling crapola about who knows what (i didnt even read it, because it was too cumbersome and ridiculous). however the kinds of things i understand he wrote werent only unfair, but untrue. i have no idea what the guy believes to be reality... just so you know, its all wacked, twisted, and/or made up.
[woman, nothing here is wack, twisted, or made up. in fact, most of the stuff on my website about you is from your own mouth, or fingertips]
maybe rejection just makes people nasty. bleh.
[being violently insulted and verbally assaulted makes people nasty. there's a difference.]
the guy is a freak and a drama-queen. he really needs to be put back on the meds his parents put him on a few years ago. he has become the
[what meds did my parents put me on a few years back? how does that have to do with anything going on here?]
laughing stock of my friends... i feel a little bad for him...that he is so
[I guess it is only fair that I'm the laughing stock of all your friends. You are the butt of every other joke my friends made for a good few weeks there. Now, we only remember you for the idiotic things you and your friends said on my website and in conversations I've relayed to them.
Our favorite thing to make fun of you for is when you tried to refute valid points I made by replying: "Is that what they taught you in God-School?" We really like making fun of people we think are mentally deficient by calling them Slimee Dittoheads, because as bad as your logic and use of grammar is, your ditto heads are even worse at it.]
frustrated, so naive, and so lame... and that fact that he gets so upset he reveals that he is a prenatured ecrackulator on his own website is preeeeeetty bad. hehe
[no, actually, that was you and your dittoheads that made that allegation. my reply, if you recall, was you had no complaints the first month we were together when we were still having sex (around six times a day).]
he needs to grow up.
[I don't need to grow up. You need to stop surfing my website if it causes you so much pain. I shouldn't be a concern in your life.]
anyways, i shouldnt get flustered. all i really want is for everybody to be as cool as possible. maybe someday the jerk will see everything i did for him, how much i cared, and that i never really was his enemy. perhaps
[The situation I was in with you was a typical abusive situation, Laura. You maintained a position of power by "granting" me essential items, while trying to set up a situation where I would forever be subservient to you. "Get a job, but not one that you enjoy or could make a lot of money at... just get one with my parents because it'll give you just enough money to live," and "Don't take a temporary dwelling with someone else, take one of my parent's apartments so I can keep my thumb on you."
Don't act like you were in love for me and cared for me when all you wanted was to satisfy your own sense of domination. I ceased being someone you loved and cared for when you started viewing me as someone to dominate. I was the fool for letting that happen. You are the fool for believing your own propaganda.]
the price of being friends is too high for some of us to pay, right? even
[I can't be friends with someone who continually shows me flaunts to me her disrespect. Give up on that one.]
now, i dont wish him any harm... ...just that maybe he drops dead :D
[Um, you do know I could construe that as a death threat. Y'see, I was very careful in what I wrote on my site, not to state anything untrue. You obviously have no catch between your brain and your fingertips that keeps you from getting yourself in trouble.
Nice to know what your true feelings are. My suggestion is that you keep your feelings bottled up inside if you wish I should die, or at least don't put them on the internet -- unless you want to go to jail.]
Monday, March 15, 2004
Cam Mafia Stuff
For those of you who were interested in my equipment and how I was doing the call-in segment of my show.... see the following illustrations:
This is the right side of my desk. Here you see
my bendable mic stand with uni-directional mike
and screen. Also one of my creative labs speakers.
Not pictured: the subwoofer. it rocks the house.
The left side of my desk containing my
stupid four channel mixer. I bought it for
ten bucks. That black mass there inbetween
the keyboard and the mixing board is the
boundary microphone - $39.99 from Radio Shack.
It's in the mic section. Also, to the left is our 16 line
Meridian phone system. The speakerphone
works wonders, and it conferences and all sorts
of other goodies.
Dead Milkmen Free : very sad news
[rizzn's note: the following is quoted from deadmilkmen.com]
This morning Dave Blood is no longer with us.
David is my brother. Since the breakup of the band David has never really found his niche in life.
My brother was a smart clever and talented person. Inner peace has seemed to elude him for the last many years.
Sometime last night David chose to end his life.
He left a note that I don't know all of what it said,he was not elaborate-but he said he just could not stand to go on any longer.
Our mother passed away at the end of January and maybe David just had had enough.
There will be a memorial service in a few weeks. I will try to remember to come to this board and post it.It will be in the Delaware County area.
Please pray for the respose of my bother's soul; that he now has the peace that seemed to elude him most of his life.
I want to say that one of the shiniest parts of David's life was being a Dead Milkman and having that claim to fame.And the fans who appreciated the talent and time that went into making the band rise above the ordinary-thank you all for making my brother feel and know that he was indeed somebody.
David did leave specific instructions that donations and any forthcoming royalties be directed to a charity he chose.There is some legal legwork to gettting this set up and it will take a bit of time to get this accomplished.
The information about this will get posted when it is ready and available.
I will make sure that Dean gets that information and maybe he can do a sticky on it.
David also designated 4 certain people to plan his memorial service and they are doing that as we speak. I live in Texas and so this is being taken care of by the ones he chose-my younger brothers,and two longtime friends of his. The time and place will be announced on here-I am sure Dean will do the honors of posting it-I will make sure all the information gets to you all.
Thank you for the great outpouring of love.
Thank you for sharing some truly beautiful stories about my brother.
I want to believe that David can see and feel it all from where he is.
Kathy
Sunday, March 14, 2004
Good Broadcast (the Mark and Darrell Show)
The first episode of the Mark and Darrell Show went off without (too many) hitches. You probably missed it. That's okay. So the frirst 15 minutes were spent trying to find the password. The second 15 minutes were spent getting my crap together as far as mic levels. Then I played 15 minutes straight music with no talk. THEN Darrell called in and the show got underway with a quickness.
We even took some phone calls. Everything went swimmingly. It's only unfortunate that it wasn't longer. I think I'm going to try to jockey for a bit longer of a slot. Once Darrell and I got our momentum going, we had to call it a day.
And I need to compose an ending theme.
That's all for now.
Oh, one more thing. TUNE IN NEXT WEEK! STAY TOONED To the SITE for TIMES!
(right now, the next scheduled appearance of the show is Wednesday from 2pm - 4pm).
(the link to the station is on the right)
/rizzn
Friday, March 12, 2004
Okay People, Listen Up!
Alright, everyone... I want you to listen to me.
Literally.
Haww haww. Now seriously, the "Mark and Darrell Show" is back on the air. For real this time. The show is now officially picked up by cam-mafia radio. Good times, yes?
Here's the deal. We need to flood them with new listeners. So everyone tune in! 12 Noon to 2 PM on Sunday. Do it! Click on that link or the link over to the right under "cam-mafia links."
That's that. Tune in. It's a mandate.
If I can figure out the phone system, you'll be able to call into the show, too (presuming I get a producer in time, preferably someone who can figure out the phone system).
/rizzn
Thursday, March 11, 2004
ew. ew ew ew.
#cammafia on irc.cam-mafia.com:6667
<theHORSE> i'm too lazy to get a boner
<hexmast-r> thats a tru horse cock
<theHORSE> i just milk my prostate instead
<hexmast-r> ah gross
on yim
fuzzonwall: the world is falling apart
Rizzn: howso?
Rizzn: i thought i used krazy glue
Bombings on Madrid Trains Kill 190
Bombings on Madrid Trains Kill 190
MADRID (Reuters) - Simultaneous bomb blasts ripped through four packed commuter trains in Madrid on Thursday, killing 190 people and injuring 1,247 in Europe's bloodiest attack for more than 15 years.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the 10 rush-hour blasts three days before Spain votes in a general election, but Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's center-right government blamed the Basque separatist group ETA.
An Interior Ministry source said the type of explosive was one commonly used by ETA. But the attack triggered fears in world financial markets that Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda could be behind it.
Officials brushed aside suggestions that Muslim militants angry at Spain's support for the U.S.-led war in Iraq could have planted the bombs, which tore people including a baby to shreds and left pools of blood on wrecked trains, tracks and buildings.
"It is absolutely clear that the terrorist organization ETA was seeking an attack with wide repercussions," Interior Minister Angel Acebes told a news conference.
U.S. intelligence agencies said it was too early to say who was responsible, but saw the hallmarks of both ETA and al Qaeda.
"There are characteristics of each. You have multiple attacks, multiple explosions in different locations in a short period of time which is very al Qaeda-ish," said one U.S. official, who declined to be identified.
"The train was cut open like a can of tuna," ambulance driver Enrique Sanchez told reporters at the huge Atocha station in central Madrid. "We didn't know who to treat first. There was a lot of blood, a lot of blood."
"TORN TO BITS"
Passenger Ana Maria Mayor's voice cracked as she told reporters: "I saw a baby torn to bits."
The other blasts occurred at El Pozo station in southern Madrid and at Santa Eugenia in the southeast of the capital.
A somber Aznar called on Spaniards, who have protested in their hundreds of thousands against past attacks by ETA, to take to the streets on Friday and vowed the government would arrest the "criminals" behind the bombings.
The radical Basque party Batasuna, accused by the government of being an integral part of ETA, said it "absolutely rejected" the attack and was convinced ETA was not responsible.
ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna) has killed around 850 people since 1968 in its fight for a separate Basque homeland in northwest Spain and southwest France, and has been branded a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union.
Late last month, police arrested two suspected ETA members heading for Madrid with a van containing 500 kg (1,100 lb) of explosives, averting a possible attack.
If the Basque group was responsible for Thursday's bombings, it would be its deadliest attack, far exceeding the 21 people it killed in a supermarket blast in Barcelona in 1987.
It was the biggest death toll in an attack in Europe since December 1988, when a bomb exploded on board a Pan American Boeing 747, bringing it down on the Scottish town of Lockerbie. In all, 270 people died.
Aznar called an emergency cabinet meeting and his conservative Popular Party suspended its election campaign, which had focused on a tougher stance against ETA.
Many political analysts said that if ETA was responsible for the attack it would favor the Popular Party in the election because of its hard line against the group.
"If, however, the rumors about al Qaeda gain credence, then things would be perceived in a very different way," said pollster Julian Santamaria. Aznar defied main opposition parties and huge public anti-war sentiment to back the Iraq war.
President Bush joined other leaders in condemning the bombings.
European shares suffered their worst fall of 2004 as the attack spooked investors already worried about economic recovery. U.S. stocks and the dollar fell after the bombings and mixed economic data.
Some experts on ETA said the bombings did not fit the group's usual profile for attacks. ETA has frequently warned in advance of its attacks.
Last month ETA declared a cease-fire limited to the northeastern region of Catalonia.
In October, two audio tapes purportedly from bin Laden said the al Qaeda had the "right to respond at any suitable time and place" against countries backing Washington over Iraq.
(Additional reporting by Marta Calleja, Elisabeth O'Leary and Julia Hayley)
Testing BlogJet
I have installed an interesting application - BlogJet. It's a cool Windows client for my blog tool (as well as for other tools). Get your copy here: http://blogjet.com
"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." -- Pablo Picasso
Wed Mar 10, 5:16 PM ET
MOSCOW - Orion, the Big Dipper and Andromeda could be joined in the heavens by ads for soft drinks and cigarettes if a Russian inventor's device catches on.
Alexander Lavrynov, a spacecraft designer, said he has patented a device for putting advertising into space that would be seen from Earth, Interfax news agency reported Wednesday.
"Space commercials could embrace huge areas and a colossal number of consumers," he said. "This would literally be intercontinental coverage."
He said the satellites would be visible in the night sky by employing sunlight reflectors, with multiple satellites linked together to create a message large enough to be seen.
"People would be able to see writing in the skies from the Earth no worse than they see the stars," he said.
we can all continue to go about our daily lives now with this mystery solved
A doctor known for his expertise in breast cancer and plastic surgury has recently announced in an article that Hyolee's breasts must be real. He has not actually worked on her but given his background, few argue against his statement. There have been several rumors that Hyolee underwent extensive plastic surgery such as her eyes, cheeks, hips, and especially her breasts. This doctor has come out saying that from his observations, he has no reason to believe that Hyolee has had any sort of implants. He cites several reasons why she could be so well developed relative to the existing trend. He cites that only about 30-40% of Korean women develop to the stage that Hyolee currently is in but that percentage is now slowly increasing in Korea. Many women these days are much more well nourished than years before so people are growing more in general such as height as well as breast size. Vitamins are more prominent. Also, the doctor mentioned that sexuality is becoming more of an open subject especially with the prominent presence of the internet. Because of this, he says that women are becoming more sexually aware and active thus increasing hormone activity leading to greater development. I don't know, personally, if that has anything to do with it, but it's a funny idea. Hyolee also appeared on several radio shows where the main subject matter has been her sexy appearance and how natural she is. She has denied all rumors and questions about her breasts stating that diet and exercise were the main reasons for her voloptuous figure. Hyolee also stated that rumors still continually plague her but that is the price for her public exposure.
credits: bjunkyard + Mocha Boba
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
I'm a Pu-Si-KickAccording to emode.com's ESP test, when it comes to psychic abilities, I have an unusually strong talent in the area of Remote Viewing
This means I have an uncanny ability to travel great distances with my mind, to vmytually any location, and actually get a true glimpse at what is located there. The best conditions for traveling space with my mind, or remotely viewing another location, are silence and a calm state of mind. Even without these conditions, I managed to show considerable talent in this area, which is called remote viewing. This skill is phenomenally valuable and has been used by institutions such as the government to help in covert operations designed to retrieve information about the whereabouts of a criminal or to learn about the operations of another country. But mostly this can help in practical, everyday ways, such as instinctively grabbing an umbrella before making a trip to the next town over even though I had no way of knowing that it was raining there.
wo0t!
Monday, March 8, 2004
1. I always wanted to have someone to hold,
someone to love. And now that you've come into my life...
(Inside card) - I've changed my mind.
2. I must admit, you brought religion into my life...
(Inside card) - I never believed in Hell until I met you.
3. As the days go by, I think how lucky I am....
(Inside card) - That you're not here to ruin it for me.
4. Congratulations on your promotion. Before you go....
(Inside card) - Will you take the knife from my back? You'll probably need it again.
5. Someday I hope to marry...
(Inside card) - Someone other than you.
6. Happy Birthday! You look great for your age....
(Inside card) - Almost lifelike!
7. When we were together, you said you'd die for me...
(Inside card) - Now we've broken up, I think it's time to keep your promise.
8. We've been friends for a very long time...
(Inside card) - What do you say we stop?
9. I'm so miserable without you...
(Inside card) - It's almost like you're still here.
10. Congratulations on your new bundle of joy....
(Inside card) - Did you ever find out who the father was?
11. You are such a good friend. If we were on a sinking ship and
there was only one life jacket...
(Inside card) - I'd miss you terribly and think of you often.
12. Your friends and I wanted to do something special for your
birthday...
(Inside card) - So we're having you put to sleep.
13. Happy Birthday, Uncle Dad!
(Available only in Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas)
14. Looking back over the years we've been together, I can't help
but wonder...
(Inside card) - What was I thinking?
15. Congratulations on your wedding day!...
(Inside card) - Too bad no one likes your husband.
I did a browse on people in my area. Guess who the first person to show up was?
Against my better judgement, I decided to browse a little. Her first testimonial on the page currently is by a tGirl named Michelle. It goes a little something like:
After all night in my bed with you I just wonder what's next?
Hmmmm, minds will wonder, people might talk, all unknowing this thruth will keep them thinking never knowing the reality but that's what's makes this all the more interesting.
Now with the way testimonials work, they have to be approved by the page owner, so she must have approved that being put up there.
I swear to all that is holy, if she or one of her ditto-heads EVER asks me again to take embarrassing things about her off my web page I will laugh my ass off...
Because a disgruntled ex-boyfriend posting conversations about a breakup will prevent you from getting a good job if found, but publishing love notes from transexuals won't.
'nuff said.
/rizzn
Stern Believes Radio Reign Coming to End
NEW YORK - Shock jock and self-proclaimed "King of All Media'' Howard Stern believes his reign on the radio is coming to an end. "The show is over,'' he announced Friday morning on his nationally syndicated radio program. "It's over.''
It's not - at least not yet. But Stern predicted that a Federal Communications Communication crackdown on indecency on the airwaves will force his salacious show off the dial.
"I'm guessing that sometime next week will be my last show on this station,'' said Stern, adding that he expected the FCC to hit him with a whopping indecency fine. "There's a cultural war going on. The religious right is winning. We're losing.''
A telephone call to Infinity Broadcasting, which syndicates Stern's show, was not returned Saturday to discuss Stern's comments.
On Friday, Stern devoted the first 2 1/2 hours of his show to his anticipated demise, a change of pace from the usual fare of naked women and toilet humor.
Clear Channel Communications yanked Stern from stations in San Diego, Pittsburgh, Rochester, N.Y., Louisville, Ky., and Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Fla. on Feb. 25. The company said the suspension would last until the Stern show met its programming guidelines.
"This time they have to fire me,'' Stern said. "I'm through. I'm a dead man walking.''
On Thursday, Clear Channel paid a record $755,000 fine levied last month by the FCC for indecent material aired by several of its stations.
Sunday, March 7, 2004
Friday, March 5, 2004
rizzn.com v6.0 [duh]
Cale's Immaturity Dojo - More fun than a kick in the crotch [the tagline is absolutely right!]
home.earthlink.net/~jenolen/ [a site that used to house the Monkey-Thon]
www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=ghostplanet&home [very interesting. rizzn.com in 1998 used to belong to this webring]
nobody home right now [the graphic on this site is from a spaceghost episode where they had to blink out for a second]
the Negapage [the site of a former listmate of mine (I have no idea if she still remembers me or not) from the Ghost Planet Mailing list. Funny thing is, she doesn't mention me on her site. I don't mention her on my site]
ThoughtViper [another gplister, also known as Bill the Splut. Same thing, no reciprical links]
In fact, the weird thing is that I believe this is the first time I've even mentioned space ghost on this website. at least in it's current incarnation. how is my site getting cross referenced with this obscure SG references? Bizarre, I tell you. BIZARRE!
/rizzn
I made partner in the software company. This is good.
We recieve payment next Wednesday on the first batch of new clients. This is good.
I'll be able to afford a new car (which I DESPARATELY need). This is good.
Good week, yes?
Wednesday, March 3, 2004
w00t!
I'm actually going out tonight. Pre-celebration celebration. Pay attention, there will likely be some pictures posted.
Ashoura Day
Shiite Muslim child Mahmoud Slieman after his mother cut him with a sword during the annual ritual to mark Ashoura Day in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh, Tuesday March 2, 2004. Ashoura day marks the Shiite Muslim's commemoration of the 7th century killing of their most revered Saint Imam Hussein. Al Hussein was a grandson of Islam's prophet Mohammed and is a symbol of martyrdom for Shiites. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Home Robot 4 U
The Japan Times Online: "A venture business in Tokyo said Tuesday it will market at the end of 2004 a doll-size humanoid robot for roughly 500,000 yen as one of the first humanoid robots to be offered to general consumers.
A ZMP Inc. employee demonstrates nuvo, a humanoid robot, during a news conference in Tokyo.
The 39-cm-tall, 2.5-kg robot, named nuvo, will come in the wake of the releases of consumer-oriented robot dogs such as Sony Corp.'s AIBO.
ZMP Inc., which developed nuvo, said it started accepting orders Tuesday from research institutes for a 3 million yen model developed for them, and will sell a mass-production model for general consumers.
Nuvo, which can walk, stand up and react to human speech, also features remote control technology used in NTT DoCoMo Inc.'s FOMA mobile phones.
If consumers want to use the robot as a house-sitter, they can program its camera to photograph their homes and send the images to a mobile phone, said ZMP, which calls itself the world's first venture specializing in humanoid robot development.
ZMP said the robot wears special shoes that were developed in a tieup with sporting goods maker Mizuno Corp. The shoes act as shock absorbers, it said.
Previously released humanoid robots such as ASIMO, developed by Honda Motor Co., and Sony's QRIO, have been used in publicity events and are not sold to general consumers."
A ZMP Inc. employee demonstrates nuvo, a humanoid robot, during a news conference in Tokyo.
The 39-cm-tall, 2.5-kg robot, named nuvo, will come in the wake of the releases of consumer-oriented robot dogs such as Sony Corp.'s AIBO.
ZMP Inc., which developed nuvo, said it started accepting orders Tuesday from research institutes for a 3 million yen model developed for them, and will sell a mass-production model for general consumers.
Nuvo, which can walk, stand up and react to human speech, also features remote control technology used in NTT DoCoMo Inc.'s FOMA mobile phones.
If consumers want to use the robot as a house-sitter, they can program its camera to photograph their homes and send the images to a mobile phone, said ZMP, which calls itself the world's first venture specializing in humanoid robot development.
ZMP said the robot wears special shoes that were developed in a tieup with sporting goods maker Mizuno Corp. The shoes act as shock absorbers, it said.
Previously released humanoid robots such as ASIMO, developed by Honda Motor Co., and Sony's QRIO, have been used in publicity events and are not sold to general consumers."
Tuesday, March 2, 2004
RFID Tags in New US Notes Explode When You Try to Microwave Them
Dave and I have brainstormed the fact that most items can be 'microwaved' to fry the 'rfid' chip, thus elimination of tracking by our government.
So we chose to 'microwave' our cash, over $1000 in twenties in a stack, not spread out on a carasoul. Do you know what exploded on American money?? The right eye of Andrew Jackson on the new twenty, every bill was uniform in it's burning... Isnt that interesting?
What we resent is the fact that the government or a corporation can track our 'cash'. Credit purchases and check purchases have been tracked for years, but cash was not traceble until now...
[via PrisonPlanet.com]
Monday, March 1, 2004
Can Porn Pass the Turing Test?
Can Porn Pass the Turing Test?
» From the Cybersex Department
"At first glance spam, pornographic text messages and video games are not contributing much to human development. But a good case can be made for regarding all three as some of the smartest artificial intelligences around. Some may even have beaten the legendary 'Turing Test' by convincing thousands of people that they are human... But the best candidate for passing the Turing test is the Natachata program that conducts smutty conversations via text messages. Regular users of pornographic SMS chat may be shocked to find out that they are swapping dirty talk with machines rather than young women and men. But it's a fair bet that they are because the Natachata chatbot, written by former rocket scientist Simon Luttrell, is so widely used by porn chat merchants... 'Most people do not realise it's a computer and are quite happy chatting with it,' said Mr Luttrell... Some users work out it is a machine, he said, and never come back. But, worryingly, some like the fact that it is a machine. 'There is about 5% who realise it is a computer and use it even more because of that,' said Mr Luttrell." — BBC (UK)
It's no revelation to say that the Information Age could also be called The Age When Sex Became Technology. Contemporary technologies have opened up new venues for erotic activity — is sex fundamentally just another form of information? — and conversely lust has fueled some of the most innovative uses of new technology. Accordingly, should it be any surprise if the Turing test, the benchmark established by mathematician Alan Turing to determine if a computer possessed "human" intelligence, should finally be conquered by some kind of sex machine? Will the hallmark of Artificial Intelligence be dirty talk?
The article makes the claim that porn spam poses a challenge to the Turing test. When a clever subject header gets you to open an email, the argument goes, has the computer-generated spam not tricked you into thinking that it is human? This hardly seems true, for several reasons. First, most people learn to recognize spam headers for what they are (is anyone really fooled by "V|i_a|g-a|r_a?"). Second, though most spam is sent by software programs, many of the headers are composed by humans (precisely in an attempt to get you to read it). Third, the Turing test stipulates that a machine only passes the test by fooling a (real) person into thinking that it (the machine) is a human during the course of a conversation — and spam hardly amounts to a conversation. You can't interact with somebody who hides behind a million email addresses they buy on CD-ROM for $29.99.
But what about this bot that does porn chat? Apparently it is as convincing as it is clever. It compares your dirty talk to a large database of sexy sentences and works out the right response. It also incorporates a random delay into its responses, so that you don't get the feeling you're being talked up by a stock ticker. The article quotes "Barry" asking the bot if it's a virgin, and the bot responds "As far as you're concerned, barry, I always will be." Pretty good — but does it really pass the Turing test?
The funny thing about dirty talk, of course, is that it represents an extremely small subset of the possibilities of human conversation. A database of a hundred thousand sentences probably contains just about everything that can be said in ninety-nine percent of porn chat. What are you wearing, how old are you, where are you based, what do you look like, what gets you off, etc — it's not a huge programming task to cover this finite case of scenarios. However, once you move outside this restricted subset of possibilities, could such a bot really fool a human? It hardly seems likely, since it would require a database the scope of the entire internet (and then some) to anticipate the variegated types of conversation two people could have. A real conversation might bounce from necrophilia to biotech futures, trial litigation to Chaucer, bone spurs to local politics — and how could you humanly account for all that in a database?
If anything, the relative success of this bot during porn chat suggests not that the software is so intelligent but that its (human) interlocuter is, at least temporarily — dumb. What dumbs us down more than lust? Given the lowering of intelligence that accompanies the ascendance of the libido, a dog could probably pass the Turing test with a sufficiently horny man.
[via PervScan]
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