News and Site Updates Archive 14
An archive is thought in cold storage.
- Herbert Samuel
 |  20 June '05 - The renovations of our house on Jessie Street in Wellington
will be completed the end of July. I need to lease the house until I can move back into it. If you know of someone who might be interested, the website url is
25.Jessie.St (clever, huh?) - I would be grateful if you can help me find a good tenant...
According to Harper's Index: A British hospital apologised to plastic-surgery patients for selling their surplus skin to the Defense
Evaluation and Research Agency for chemical-weapons research. Also from Harper's: the power of the average male heart declines between the ages of 18 and 75 by 20%
[David Goldspink, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences Liverpool]. However, the average female heart declines by 0%... According to
Slate, Alaskan natives have a historically high incidence of hepatitis B as well as a high birth ratio of boys
to girls; white Alaskans had a low incidence of hepatitis B and gave birth to the standard ratio. After a universal vaccination program in Alaska, Native Alaskans' boy-girl
ratio fell almost immediately to normal while white Alaskans' ratio was unchanged. A vaccination program in Taiwan provided similar results. The incidence of
hepatitis B in the populations of China, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Bangladesh and other countries where mothers give birth to an unnaturally high number of boys show high rates
of hepatitis B.
From TradeTricks: When you want to avoid getting into an endlessly long and boring
conversation with someone at work who doesn't know when to stop talking but you must talk to him, open up your cellphone, approach his cubicle, say into the phone, "hold
on a second." Tell your talkative friend exactly what you need to tell him (he feels important because you interrupted your other conversation), motion to the phone to
disengage him from any small talk, and walk away while talking to your dial tone. A tip for listeners when a station is having a call-in contest: radio hosts prefer
winners who sound excited, so if you call a station and sound *fun*, there's a better chance of not only winning but getting on air as well - the whole "caller 9" thing is
mostly a filtering trick, allowing the host to tell boring-sounding people "you're caller number 7, sorry." Drawing a smiley face on the check increases a waitress's tips
by 18% but decreases a waiter's tips by 9%.
Wallenius Wilhelmson unveil plans to build a
solar powered ship capable of transporting 10,000 cars from
Britain to New Zealand... World's top 10 tallest buildings compared side by
side. Incredible pencil carvings. Detailed
hand-made models of trucks, cars, busses and tractors made of hardwood. A
couch made of over 6400 welded nickels - he uses pennies, too - and jars... How to make your
own root beer and
ginger ale. The
distance between any two cities in the world. The
Mandelbrot Explorer allows you to create your own fractals. The world's
most popular goals. More
folding chairs than you can imagine. How much
class do you have? An unusual
periodic chart - each chemical element contains a link to a page that explains its chemical properties,
health effects, environmental effects, application data, an image and also information of the history/inventor of each element...
Thomas Judd's memories of Operation Teapot nuclear test Yucca Flat Nevada
1955; Clark Calswell's memories of Tumbler Snapper (Charlie Shot) in 1952...
Avery Ant and his one minute rants... Gorgeous landscape
photography by Kenneth Parker. Bangkok storms and sunsets. A bad day for a
good train crew (try not to stop on a trestle when one of your cars has overheated). Were
Americans misled into a war and why
might that matter? The upcoming bird flu pandemic - a what-if
scenario. The Wheelsurf - calling all thrill seekers. One of the
best website designs I've ever seen - and the content (coffins) is a bit unusual as well... Basically,
old stuff from the 50s including sales brochures and vintage ads. Protect your privacy, save your job
with Stealth Switch, a foot-pedal-operated way to hide your computer screen in a split second. A
Quick Reference Guide to Google Advanced Operators (surprisingly useful if you use
Google a lot). And finally... If you witness a crime, it is your civic duty to report the crime to the police. When a crime is committed, you have the right
to make a "Citizen's Arrest". Thus, if YOU commit a crime, it would be extremely helpful for you to perform a Citizen's Self-Arrest.
This is the form... |
| 25 May '05 - Vicki Silvers and David Kreiner, of Central Missouri State University, studied the effects of pre-existing inappropriate highlighting
(often found in used textbooks) on reading comprehension. "Textbook highlighting is a common study strategy among college students," Silvers and Kreiner
wrote. They had students read a passage of text - some students had text highlighted appropriately, some had it highlighted inappropriately, others had no
highlighting. Silvers and Kreiner then tested how well students comprehended the text: those with inappropriate highlighting scored much lower than the
others. A second experiment showed that even when students were warned about the inappropriate highlighting, they had trouble ignoring it...
What IS that thing? Gizmos to guess about (with
answers when you give up). Print your own graph paper. Incredible
photographs showing the curious beauty and overwhelming scale of consumerism.
A trillion US dollars is roughly the size of the entire Canadian economy. The world's 6 biggest oil companies had combined 2004
revenues just shy of US$1 trillion. And if you piled a trillion dollars in $1,000 bills, the stack would be more than 109 km high...
I don't have much today because I spent most of my time putting up a new section - this one is on
history (mainly covering modern Europe). Please visit and tell me what
you think.
"Anything that cannot go on forever, will stop." - Herbert Stein |
| 29 April '05 - "Three months ago, they calculated that 365,000 Americans die of obesity every year, but that was a mistake. Now they say
it's more like 26,000. Great! Not only are we fat, but we can't do math either! We're fat and stupid!" – Jay Leno
From the book Freakomonics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner:
Consider what happened one spring evening at midnight in 1987: seven million American children suddenly disappeared. The worst kidnapping wave in
history? Hardly. It was the night of April 15, and the Internal Revenue Service had just changed a rule. Instead of merely listing each dependent
child, tax filers were now required to provide a Social Security number for each child. Suddenly, seven million children - children who had existed only as phantom
exemptions on the previous year's 1040 forms - vanished, representing about one in ten of all dependent children in the United States. From their book's website, see "What the Bagel Man Saw: An Accidental Glimpse at Human Nature" for a fascinating look into
human nature and cheating in secret...
Amazing things made with pennies... How to paint rocks... Vintage hair
styles... Skytopia: discussions of the many unanswered questions of
science... The sidewalk chalk guy... Nonplace... Have you lost your old school photographs? Good news! Try World School Photographs (via Presurfer)... Toshiba
has announced a new Lithium-Ion battery that it claims will recharge to 80% in just one minute,
60 times faster than conventional batteries. A full recharge can be achieved in 10 minutes... A product that reportedly improves your quality of life -
a watch that wakes you with an alarm at the time when you
are most nearly awake anyway. It is reported that you awaken more refreshed, fully energised. According to one user, "It is almost as if there is no lost
time, and you just want to seize the day. The product did exactly what it said it would do..."
The Dymaxion, a car designed by R Buckminster
Fuller - includes video clips or visit a page of his unique inventions... Nevada
taxidermist Jeanette Hall offers an interesting alternative to stuffing and mounting a deceased pet:
Petpillow. Each pet pillow is handmade from the fur of your pet and made into a pillow that you can display. On one side of the pillow is your pet's fur
and the other side of the pillow is your choice of fabric. These soft, huggable pillows are a great way to enjoy your cherished pet. Pillows range from $65
for a domestic cat to $150 for a horse (via BoingBoing)... An escort service
for kids: RentMySon began operation in 1998 in San Diego with 2 boys who, by the end of the school year, had gone
to over 20 local school dances and Proms. As word quickly spread of their services, so did their team of boys and the range of events they catered to...
 Most of the granite for
America's headstones comes from around Barre, Vermont. The master artisans of Barre, many Italians who immigrated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, worked
the gray granite blocks into poignant memorial designs. Hope Cemetery,
first opened in 1895, is 85-acres spread across a hillock of well-manicured grass. Despite the variety of memorial design, there is a uniformity not seen in other
cemeteries. That's because every one of the 10,000+ monuments (including chairs, beds, soccer balls and cars) is made of Barre Gray granite. Visit the site
for a few photos... The Burj Dubai tower, when completed (at a cost of US$869 million), will be the world's tallest structure. The final height of the
building is a "well-guarded secret" (thought to be 800 metres), but will "comfortably" exceed the current record holder, Taipei 101, which is 509 meters (1,671
feet). Construction is scheduled to be completed in 2008. The design of the structural concrete tower is a "Y" shape to dramatically reduce wind forces on
the tower, keep the structure simple and foster constructability. The structural system is a "buttressed" core. Each wing, with its own core and perimeter
columns, buttresses the other via a 6-sided central core, or hub. The resulting tower will be extremely stiff torsionally. Each tier of the building steps
back in a spiral stepping pattern. This causes the tower's width to change at each setback. This stepping and shaping "confuses the wind". Wind
vortices never get organised because each new tier is a different shape. There are several things to which I find I'm inordinately attracted - very
tall buildings, very
strong winds (and
here), very large dams and immense
crowds of people. I suspect it's the recognition of power in each. What are
your attractionss? Let me know, please!
URGENT! Please send 300 kilos of white mice. No time to explain. |
|
 21 Mar '05 - A brief history of Texas: First occupied
by natives of the area, France claimed rights to the region in 1685. While the French didn't settle, the Spanish did, occupying Texas in 1715. The Louisiana
Purchase brought much of the land into the US in 1803, but it was relinquished to the Spanish (still living there) in 1819. Two years later, when Mexico won its
independence, Texas became their province. Not content, the state issued a Declaration of Independence from Mexico, becoming its own nation – the Republic of Texas – in
1836. Texas ratified the Constitution and joined the US in 1845, but that wasn't the end of it. In 1861, it became part of the Confederacy, legally
disassociating itself with the Union. It was readmitted in 1870, 5 years after the Civil War ended (via mentalfloss).
Every year you gaze enviously at the lists of the richest people in world, wondering what it would be like to have that sort of
cash. Just where do you sit on one of those lists? Here’s your chance to find out. Just enter your annual income into the box and hit
"show me the money."
A bamboo bike? Voodoo display with 5 kitchen knives by designer Raffaele Iannello - also check out his
Pinocchio toilet brush, or the computer mirror by designer Luca Trazzi - although I'm not quite sure why a computer needs a
mirror... An excellent source of gamers, geeks and hackers
t-shirts. The world's most versatile computer
chair. Inflatable Clothing made from rubber latex
and shoe pumps that inflate as you walk around, allowing you to fall down with abandon and appear only marginally retarded... Custom laser technology which
projects the image of a full-size keyboard on any nearby flat surface. The IR Beam and
CMOS sensing unit allow complete detection of user finger movements and keystrokes. Old carpet recycled into objects of art (surprisingly successfully) by
Carpet Burns.
The odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime (assuming you live to be 80) are 1 in 3000; about 1/3 of all injuries occur during
work. Further, over the past 300 years, an average of between 800 - 1,000 people have been killed per year by volcanoes. Why is there colour? Believe
it or not, there are 15 reasons... Video game reviews by the Maoist Internationalist Movement - they are guaranteed to be
different... These are zinc-coated BB's stored in glass dishes, then spread on black cloth for photographing. They are a physical representation of
the Iraqi civilian casualties and the coalition casualties in the Iraq war as of 27 October
2004 - just so you have a better idea... Walking around New York City's ethnic neighbourhoods. One
of the strangest homepages I've ever seen... Apparently the personal website of the President of Syria. Looks to be the first one he's ever attempted. Must be seen to be
believed. Reminds me of the blind men and the elephant.
The Philosophy of Liberty - an
interesting flash presentation (bit long, though). Google and Good
News. Center for Inquiry: secularism, humanism and skepticism in action. And,
finally: A newly discovered life form, a type of bacteria, that froze into permafrost near Fox, Alaska some 30,000 years ago was apparently alive all that time and
started swimming as soon as it thawed, NASA has reported. The unicellular organism was discovered in 2000 but it took them 5 years to confirm that it was in fact a
new form of life... |
You cannot hope to bribe or twist,
thank God! the British journalist.
But, seeing what the man will do
unbribed, there's no occasion to.
"The Uncelestial City" - Humbert Wolfe, 1930
|  26 Feb '05 - I just looked outside and its snowing
again. It was sunny the last time I checked - I thought perhaps spring had arrived. Sigh, I read that on 14 - 15 January 1972, the temperature in Loma,
Montana, rose 103 ºF (39ºC) - from 54ºF below to 49ºF above - the greatest temperature change ever recorded anywhere during a 24-hour period. Spring could come
suddenly - it's possible. Another bit of trivia - this one about George Washington's teeth: there are four known sets of Washington's dentures. The
dentures are made from gold, ivory, lead, and human and animal teeth (horse and donkey teeth were common components). The dentures had springs to help them open
and bolts to hold them together...
 I've been playing with Photoshop. The photo
on the left is what I would look like if I hadn't needed an eyepatch. On the right is what I think I'll look like in 20 years...
View the solar system (via Metafilter)- with everything in proportion. 1 pixel = ~1,000 km; images are to scale with each other. (Page is said not
to display properly in Safari or Opera as they apparently don't support super-wide images.) Or see all solar eclipses until 2015 along with maps of where they can be best viewed. Or check out the
Tucker - the "Car of Tomorrow" was the vision of Preston Thomas Tucker (1903 - 1956) of Ypsilanti,
Michigan. 51 cars were built, of which 47 survive now. The car is called the "Tucker '48" (for its model year) - it was called the "Tucker Torpedo"
as it was being designed and promoted. It pioneered automotive features and ideas that became standard later. The original (projected) price: US$2,450 (about
US$20,000 in today's dollars). Current value: from about US$250,000 - $500,000...
Would you like to rent an inflatable church? Get married wherever you
like and they'll supply the chapel - holds 40 people comfortably and costs $5000 for one day's rental. Allergic to cats but still like them? Get a
hairless sphynx cat - the perfect solution if you would still like to have one as a
pet! They are expensive and they're funny looking - but hey - they're still cats. Or, if in your case the "patter of little feet" means a baby is on the
way, visit NameVoyager - a truly fascinating interactive portrait of America's name
choices; it begins with a "sea" of nearly 5000 names. Type a letter and zoom in to focus on how that initial has been used over the past
century. Type a few more letters, or a name. Each "stripe" in the "sea" is a timeline of a single name, the width reflecting the name's changing
popularity. Click on the stripe for a closer look. Requires Java...
 Would you like to know how to make a wallet from folded woven $1 bills? (Heck, use $20s if you're flamboyant.) Want a ski mask with personality? Take a
quiz about California (via Information Junk). Buy a new standard
keyboard (via Monkeyfilter) - tell me - do you think it stands a chance? Feeling down? Want a
laugh? Visit Engrish - I don't mean to pick on English-as-a-second-language speakers, either. Some of
the 200 available phonetic representations of the name Coca Cola in the Mandarin language actually translate into phrases such as “bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse
fastened with wax.” After much research, Coca Cola was changed phonetically into Coca Coler – which translates roughly into “to permit the mouth to be able to
laugh.” (These kinds of situations are every international marketer’s nightmare.) And finally, a truly futuristic grand piano (which costs about as much as a Tucker automobile) or even a
plastic one (which costs nearly as much). Or this one - less than $200,000 and cute... Chau (I'm learning Spanish). |
| 19 Jan '05 - My classes begin tomorrow. I've added 50 pages to this site, bringing the total to about 1,250. (It takes me 2 days just to
page through them all. To re-read them would take a couple of months full-time.) I tried to delete most of the articles that are no longer relevant - except
for the forestry trust. I'll leave those pages up forever as a monument and a warning to future forestry trust investors. |
According to UN figures, the top 5 megacities now are: the greater Tokyo area with 35.3 million people, Mexico City with 19 million, New
York-Newark 18.5 million, Bombay 18.3 million and Sao Paulo 18.3 million. Tokyo is a concern because of its history of earthquakes and the impact on the world
economy if a major quake devastates the capital. Millions are at risk and experts say a major quake is long overdue - Tokyo was flattened in 1923 by a quake and
fires. (Doomsday scenarios somehow seem more plausible these days.)
On such a serious note, you might want to check out the
Ossuary in
Sedlec where human bones become art... (Check the history of the church as
well.) You can buy a real human skull of your own in a black carrying case for a mere
$850. Buying one with few or no teeth, stains and "a little damage" (don't ask how) will save you $300... Investigate the strange story of
Napoleon's wallpaper. Or read Sun Dog, a touching story about the life and death of orphaned April, part Labrador, part mutt. And check out the
information available to passengers who are either worried about air travel or wish to know more about the
aeroplane on which they are travelling...
 More upbeat:
Bore surfing is a very thrilling and unique experience. The power and speed of the tidal bore can far exceed beach
waves. The experienced bore surfer must also develop an understanding of the wave and the river. This leads to respect for and attachment to the
bore. Knowledge of a bore's irregular form takes years of dedication and the surfer develops an intricate passion for the tides... Custom-Designed
Lifetiles murals are animated - they move as you walk past (photo at left - hit reload to make him open his
mouth 5 more times). They start at a minimum of 50 square feet in size. Depending on design and installation requirements, prices range from $700 to over
$1,500 per square foot. Beautiful landscape photography of the US - or perhaps you'd prefer a
photo tour of Libya? For those with a fast connection - a 10 meg
aerial view of Disneyland (if you care). Need
armour? Photos of various cross-species friendships, some
quite touching... Fascinating: Sometimes one driver can vastly improve traffic if he understands the concept of
traffic waves. Turbulence Chess which shows waves of influence for each move. (You just have to try it...) I believe it requires Java.
True Mirror is a non-reversing mirror - at last, you can see yourself as you really are! More
Origami - mostly animals and insects - this site shows the folding pattern to produce each one (not that it did
me much good - none are what you might call simple...) Curiosities of Biological
Nomenclature - did you know that 24 - 31% of currently accepted names eventually will prove invalid? And that you can buy the privilege of naming a newly
discovered species yourself?
Lastly: Invisible Trains - if you can, download the video and watch
the game. It had me puzzled - so simple as to border on the silly. But it isn't the game, it's the technology that's significant here. I predict that
this is the wave of the future (perhaps I should buy stock?)... AND how to measure the popularity of a
site. This site ranked about 187,000th - not such a popular site - but then I don't know what the total number is. How many websites do you think there
are in the world?
| 4 Jan '05 - I had meant to post in December but it took me too long to prepare an upload - instead, we designed our first commercial website for
Tron Construction & Engineering. What do you think? It was a gift to the
proprietor, Dennis Dyer, who is the builder responsible for remodelling our Jessie Street home in
Wellington - that invaluable piece of real estate that ties us to Wellington and will one day jerk us back from our interim residency in New Jersey. When we came
to NJ, the US dollar was worth nearly 2 NZ dollars. But by the end of this year, they may have parity - time to return. Past time, already, I
think.
 The most complete resource for maps I've ever seen - access to global, aeronoutical, digital, nautical, road,
topographic, military and thematic - and that's just for starters... Fabulous Facts about Australia
(#1 It's there and I'm here...) The Traffic Cone Preservation
Society. Banned and Challenged Books. Mr Marbles, a life-sized prop dead cat made of cotton, latex, various plastics, fake fur and insulation
foam... Custom Taxidermy, where you can buy pickled weasel head,
tarantula or scorpion - from as low as $19! Food-ad tricks - What
does a glop of Vaseline have to do with a burger commercial? How to install Windows XP
in five hours or less... A website on - sand. (I never realised how unusual sand could
be...) Weird foods from around the world - including bugs, drinks, vegetables, fish, reptiles,
amphibians, birds, mammals, minerals and other. Other?! What's left? The Midnight
Society - New Jersey's tristate area historical society of the strange and unusual...
Abuse-a-Tron. Some of the contradictions of George W Bush. And remember:
The airline industry loses an average of 7,000 bags a day...
Pets or Food™ was founded by a member of Mensa, the high IQ society; they're dedicated
to bringing consumers healthy, certified organic animals at wholesale prices. Whether you're getting a pet lizard for your son or a dozen Doberman flank steaks for a
SuperBowl party, you won't find lower priced animals anywhere else that are better suited for Pets or Food™... Or, conversely, The hidden lives of fish - A recent issue of Fish and Fisheries cited more than 500 research papers on fish
intelligence, proving that fish are smart, that they can use tools, and that they have impressive long-term memories and sophisticated social structures... And then
there's Singing horses - click on each one... via The Dull Men's Club, a place — in cyberspace — where Dull Men can share thoughts and experiences, free from pressures to be "in and
trendy," free instead to enjoy the simple, ordinary things of everyday life.
Google Job Opportunities - Google is interviewing candidates for
engineering positions at their lunar hosting and research centre opening late in the spring of 2007. This unique opportunity is available only to highly-qualified
individuals willing to relocate for an extended period, in top physical condition and capable of surviving with limited access to such modern conveniences as soy low-fat
lattes, The Sopranos and a steady supply of oxygen... One way to destroy
the earth: Hijack control of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island, New York. Use the RHIC to create and maintain a
stable strangelet. Keep it stable for as long as it takes to absorb the entire Earth into a mass of strange quarks. Keeping the strangelet stable is incredibly
difficult once it has absorbed the stabilising machinery, but creative solutions may be possible. Jesus Never Existed - Why do I bother putting this up? By now, you are either religious or you aren't. Either way,
you don't want to change your mind. (Anyway, the site is well-researched...)
The history of Daylight Saving Time from Benjamin Franklin to the
present... Daylight Saving Time is NOT observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, most of the Eastern Time Zone portion of the state of
Indiana, and the state of Arizona (but not the Navajo Indian Reservation, which does observe - Navajo Nation participates in the Daylight Saving Time policy due to its
large size and location in three states). From Random facts:
 | In Canada, every province except Saskatchewan observes DST (it remains on standard time all year long). |
| It wasn't until 1996 that Mexico adopted DST. Now all three Mexican time zones are on the same schedule as the United States. |
| In 1996, members of the European Union agreed to observe a "summer-time period" from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October. |
| In the winter months, Russia, which spans over 11 time zones, is always one hour ahead of standard time. In the summer, Russians turn their clocks ahead
one more hour. |
| Most countries near the equator don't deviate from standard time. |
| In the Southern Hemisphere, where summer arrives in what those in the Northern Hemisphere consider the winter months, DST is observed from late October to
late March. |
| Three large regions in Australia do not participate in DST: Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and Queensland stay on standard time all
year. The remaining south-central and southeastern sections of the continent (which is where Sydney and Melbourne are found) make the switch. This results
in both vertical and horizontal time zones Down Under during the summer months. |
| China, which spans five time zones, is always eight hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time and does not observe DST. |
| There is no DST period in Japan. |
|
| 30 Nov '04 - In two weeks I'll have a month-long break from school. I hope I can get my huge file of accumulated updates to this site posted
then. But for a quick dump today: Why is a "not found" error called a 404? See The History of
404 for the fascinating answer... A perhaps useful site - Vacuuming the Lungs: How to breathe
deeply when you're nervous. Did you know that an ex-emperor of Morocco holds the world's record for the number of children fathered - with (yes!) 888... A
bit late, but... Annenberg Political Fact Check: Holding Politicians Responsible says "Everyone is entitled to
his own opinion but not to his own facts" (from Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan). From their website: "We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major US
political players in the form of tv ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and
scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding... The APPC accepts NO funding from business corporations, labour unions, political parties, lobbying
organisations or individuals. It is funded primarily by an endowment from the Annenberg Foundation."
Did you know you can Experience zero gravity for as little as US$3,000? (I'd pay that
much just to reduce it by 10 or 20%.) Feel the urge to kill something? Do it from your desk on your break! Live-Shot is a real time, online hunting experience... I read where a toy factory in Beijing has invited 20 children to
become their "product advisers", trying out the latest range of toys and making useful suggestions. Is this life imitating an old Tom Hanks' movie? If you
haven't yet made his acquaintance, check out Lizard Man. (They call him
that for a reason...) Or view Gorgeous landscape photos from Brazil.
 "A flourishing human life is not a life lived with an
ageless body or an untroubled soul, but rather a life lived in rhythmed time, mindful of time’s limits, appreciative of each season and filled first of all with those
intimate human relations that are ours only because we are born, age, replace ourselves, decline, and die — and know it... Nothing hurts only if nothing matters.”
from Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Human Happiness,
report of the President's Council on Bioethics, headed by Leon R Kass, probably the most lyrical government
report ever produced... The most stunning photos of nuclear blasts ever. Or
Breaking the Gigapixal barrier - a photo made up of 196 separate photos stitched together
(do I want to know that much about anything?) Cool mural in Rotorua, New
Zealand. Another in Los Altos, both by artist John Pugh (see door at left, also a
mural). An extremely well-done British site selling expensive but trippy t-shirts. A site offering
alternative yellow ribbons. Superman flips a switch and Lois magically transforms into a
black woman for 24 hours. Yes, for real - in issue no. 106. "At the hospital
Dave needs a blood transfusion but, the hospital is out of O negative blood. Realizing that she can help, Lois states in a very shocked way "I — I'm
O-negative!" Here we see the underlying theme of the book highlighted: Underneath, we are all the same..." Whatever.
Because I care. And remember - physical, intellectual and economic equality are beyond
human remedy. So just get on with your life. |
| 16 Oct '04 - From “The Story of The Two Things” by Glen Whitman:
A few years ago, I was chatting with a stranger in a bar. When I told him I was an economist, he said, “Ah. So… what are the Two Things
about economics?”
“Huh?” I cleverly replied.
“You know, the Two Things. For every subject, there are in actuality only two things you really need to know. Everything else is the
application of those two things, or just not important.”
“Oh,” I said. “Okay, here are the Two Things about economics.
| One: Incentives matter. |
| Two: There’s no such thing as a free lunch”... |
 What else can I offer? How about the Earth Today worldmetre? It ticks away births and deaths, giving totals for today and this year. Or check out
science myths in textbooks and popular culture. Or see a collection of logical fallacies, most with excellent examples, or check out the developers of Manned & Unmanned Powered-Lift VTOL Vehicles (see their Dragonfly single person Vertical Takeoff and Landing [VTOL]
aircraft - it's cute...) or visit a site with over 200 photographs illustrating how to build
your own home...
Then there's the Antarctic English Glossary or Pepe the
two-tailed scorpion (as if one stinger weren't enough!), the best of the Hubble Space Telescope, a test for your senses, the Interface Hall of Shame (the unclear, undecipherable, unreadable, unbelievable and
consequently unbearable) or what we know about aggressive drivers and how
best to deal with them.
On the artistic side see Teddy, an amazing
sketching interface for 3-D design (try it! All that's needed is Java...) We also have the Zoom Project (a Shockwave Director file), or stunning fireplaces which are works of art. View twisted but inventive, very short and clever films, a fantastic, surreal production from Gary Jules and Michael Andrews (via
www.milkandcookies.com) or look at
American Oddities - odd buildings to be found in the US: there are buildings that looks like a basket, a bureau, a coffee pot and more (how ever did they get
financing to build them?). If you like them, you'll find more of the same in Bejing...
Now for the unusual... Check out Lab-Tested - not tested IN a lab, but BY a
lab... including the bizarre Humunga Tongue ("It's a great toy, but not for dedicated chewers like Labs. Maybe we'll try it again when he's a bit
older...). There's also Elephant Polo (Predictably, alcohol figured in Erickson's elepolo
involvement. "I met Jim ... over a few drinks in London," he says. "And I said, 'I'll bring a team.' I had 4 daughters - a mixed blessing, that - and they
played [as the Screwy Tuskers] for 4 or 5 years. Then they got married. I wanted to do something crazy." - And he DID - trust me.)
Next, outstanding photos of the largest machines I have ever seen (mobile, at that) one makes strip mines and the other carries spaceships to
be launched. And finally - I hesitate to recommend this site for fear it may be misinterpreted. It IS satire - and biting at that: Black People Love Us. |
| 1 Sep '04 - Back to school - not as much time for the Internet. Or anything else. Still, I suppose insufficient time is better than being
continually bored by life. If you find yourself temporarily bored, why not go to the world's
most annoying webpage? (Trust me, they really mean it.) Or take the
Photoshop or Photograph quiz (which proves you can no longer believe what you "see with your own eyes"). For a laugh, visit Straight Talk from White House West in Crawford, Texas (a parody). To be amazed, check out flexible rock (the mineral kind, not the noisy kind).
Need help with school? Try randomly generated
essays. Something to wear? View clothing that gives the illusion of
tattoos. Paranoid? Refer to Her Majesty's Department of Vague Paranoia for what
you need to know. Or read Third Places to see why such places are important.
Origamic Architecture consists of not just folded paper, but objects,
like greeting cards, which combine both folding and cutting. If you like it, also have a go at Origamic Architecture and Escher (the source of this photo):
For interest, see the page I put up on Maurice
McTigue. For mild amusement, observe Cows with Guns or Spamusement (poorly-drawn cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines). To really laugh, see the Winnebago Commercial outtakes. Hysterical. Warning: some indelicate language used
(lots!)
|
| 11 Aug '04 - Interior designer Jasper Sanders and architect Gavin Elliot had the idea of creating a compact apartment unit that could offer the
option of low-cost city-centre living to those otherwise priced out of the market. The concept, called Abito,
is a hyper-efficient 347 square foot apartment priced around £85,000. Each apartment features high ceilings, balcony, foldaway bed and storage wall, and a
multifunctional pod (the "central living unit") in the centre of the unit which contains storage, laundry, kitchen and bath. (Of course, Sears home kits once contained everything you needed to build a house, every piece precut [from 1906 - 1926] and cost only
a few hundred to about $5,000. Times have changed.) At the opposite extreme is a site for those interested in building, purchasing, or designing a solid
stone castle - built by structural masons with a love for castles and expert knowledge in physics, engineering,
and chemistry. While the old castles were cold, damp, and downright miserable, their castles are toasty warm, dry, and healthy to live in and will last for 100s of
years just like the old ones. They specialise in cold weather construction and difficult sites; solid stone castles, stone arched bridges, cathedrals, stone
cottages, medieval villages, timber framing, woodworking, swimming pools/moats, drawbridges, trebuchets, battlements, keeps, portcullis, towers, loopholes, fireplaces,
blueprints...
Perhaps you prefer visionary designs in
transportation engineering including automobiles, commercial aviation, hovercraft, helicopters, ships, monorail, SST, personal rapid transit, and "oddities" (as if
the rest weren't!). Or a sculpture that employs lightning as the major component - one that's 38
feet tall and is essentially a column with a sphere on the top. Concealed within the sculpture is a 130,000 watt Tesla Coil. The Tesla Coil is the largest
of its kind in the world. Lightning discharges up to 50 feet in length emanate in all directions from the top of the sphere. (This work was installed on his farm
in April 1998 outside of Auckland...)
Check out The Rise and Fall of Dorcus Menswear for Men or
the other white meat - both are part of James Lileks incredibly original site (there are far worse things you can do with a weekend than wandering around his site!); be sure to
follow the Pelfreeze link - you'll find theirs to be a stunningly curious company.
Try ghost towns by state and region in the US and Canada (often with photos). Or the
Serpent's Wall: "There is no records of who built the Serpent's Wall and when, we
only know it was built in ancient times to protect my hometown from nomadic tribes..." A fascinating account of a town in the Ukraine... Or
The Red Primer for Children - a book of cartoons by Victor Vashi - note the
"about the author" page - quite an interesting life he led...
Finally, an explanation for international paper sizes,
all too familiar instruction, Interesting flash math (1) and
(2), flags and national anthems for 192 countries, The Engines of Our Ingenuity (more knowledge on this site than in a small library), energy efficient homes, apartments, offices, schools, a funny 404 error, and if you don't really like either
US Presidential candidate. |
| 4 Jul '04 - Odd things on the web:
● Hunt Midwest SubTropolis is the largest
underground business complex in the world, created through the mining of a 270-million-year-old limestone deposit. In the mining process, limestone is removed by
the room and pillar method, leaving 25-foot square pillars on 65-foot centres 40 feet apart. The pillars’ even spacing, concrete flooring and 16-foot-high, smooth
ceilings make build-to-suit underground facilities time and cost efficient for tenants...
● The Dressman can only iron one thing: dress
shirts. But maybe this isn't so bad - while even the most experienced ironers take about 8 minutes to iron a shirt, the Dressman robot promises to do it in
seconds - well as long as it takes to button up the shirt and smooth out the wrinkles. It’s basically a mannequin that you pull a shirt over (the shirt has to be
still damp from being washed), and it inflates with air to press the shirt flat while warm air dries it.
● GPS Drawing in essence is about recording lines using one's journey as a
mark making medium. The GPS receiver automatically records the route like a geodesic pencil. (Crop circles, anyone?)
● Have you ever wondered why so many cultures have flood
legends? Perhaps you assumed it meant there had to have been a world-wide flood at some time in the past. Well, there is at least one other clever
explanation...
● For anyone who has ever considered what might lie below the 48-acre
Grand Central Station Building in NYC...
● A/W 95 Affordable Helicopter - Build your own helicopter from a kit
for a mere US$6-8 thousand (insurance extra)...
● Welcome to EUROBAD '74, an exhibition of Europe's worst interiors
of 1974... (And they're not kidding!)
● Powers of 10 [javascript] begins 10
million light years away and ends with quarks.
● Meet
Alice...
● Horseballs® are a method of therapeutic recreation which provide a physical
outlet for horses. Because of their instincts, herd mentality, and fight/flight and grazing needs, horses were always running and moving. Now they are stalled
or in paddocks and fields. They need to be stimulated in order to dispel the energy that causes them to pick up stable vices: cribbing, pawing, and weaving, not to
mention destroying screens, stalls, doors, and fences... |
| 22 Jun '04 - Notice to Unitholders:
On 17 June 2004 Donald Hugh Simcock filed in New Zealand's Supreme Court leave to appeal the judgment of the Court of
Appeal dated 19 May 2004 upholding his fraud conviction. |
| 21 Jun '04 - According to the Guinness Book of Records - 1999, the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold was auctioned at Christies, London, in
December 1985. The buyer paid £105 000 for a bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafitte claret that was engraved with the initials of Thomas Jefferson. Eleven months
after the sale, the cork dried out, slipped into the bottle and spoiled the wine, making it the most expensive bottle of vinegar ever sold.
Why not treat yourself? The Central Maritime Hotel in Dilli
Harbour, East Timor was originally a cruise liner. It has been refurbished and transformed into a 133-room deluxe hotel. Conveniently located in Dili's
central business district, it is only a 5-minute walk to Government House... Or perhaps you'd prefer a shot glass chess
set? A combination of two pursuits, the game of chess and drinking, each player fills 16 shot glasses with the beverage of his opponent's
choice. Capture an opponent's piece and you get to drink the contents of the glass. Shot glasses come in 6 different shapes and sizes to represent each
chess piece... Or buy a friend a utility kilt. Or an unbelievable carved guitar.
But why spend money when there's so much entertainment on the web for free? You might want to check out the Bizarre Architecture contest (they call it
Bizarchitecture) if you've ever dreamed of the unique and fabulous place you'd build if you won the lottery. In this contest, your task is to think of the most
creative use possible for an endless home building budget... Or visit John
Dahlsen, environmental artist - his raw materials consist of plastic bags, driftwood, fishing line and more. Or check out the novel photographs of... ice? Or the page of ASCII bicycle art.
Or stretch your mind! Learn the best way to break up a dogfight without getting
hurt. Or check out the various routes climbers have used to scale
Mt Everest. Or find out how many seconds, minutes, hours, or days you have been
alive.
Finally: the largest permanent maze is the hedge maze in Ruurlo, Netherlands, which has an area of 94,080 square feet. It was created from
beech hedges in 1891. |
| 1 Jun '04 - April Fool's Day stems from the adoption, in 1582, of a new calendar which moved New Year's Day from 1 April (following the "rebirth"
of spring) to 1 January (no good reason given that I could find). Many countries resisted the change. (England and what was to become the US held out
until 1752.) People began to make fun of those who hadn't yet heard that New Year's Day had moved - sending them on "fool's errands" or trying to trick them
into believing something else that was false. I guess that worked - only the Internal Revenue Department in New Zealand still believes the year ends
on 31 March...
Interested in light-transmitting concrete blocks? An
electric saw that can't cut you? (Be sure to watch the
video!) Cross sections of the
body? Computers as
art? What the future looked like at various times in
the past? The Dead Senator's Tertiary Homepage?
You might want to check out Confuse-a-Cat (they've been in the business of feline
bewilderment for over 30 years). Or the site that gives the world's flags letter
grades in terms of aesthetics. Or check out a lovely holiday
spot. Or visit the budget simulation site and try to see if you can do a better
job with the US budget than those responsible seem to be doing.
Finally, for those who are interested, visit Greg's Digital
Retouching Portfolio for some of the best work in the field I've seen. And check out the forgotten benefactor of humanity for a different perspective on
heroism: Norman Borlaug has saved literally millions of lives, yet hardly
anyone knows who he is... (And who has arguably killed more people
than anyone else? Probably not who you think!) |
| 19 May '04 - Notice to Unitholders:
The Court of Appeal, in its written judgment dated 19 May 2004, dismissed Donald Hugh Simcock’s appeal against conviction. Accordingly, Simcock’s
conviction on 3 counts stands. The Crown’s appeal against Simcock’s sentence of 400 hours of Community Service is to be heard at a date yet to be
determined. (Time constraints prevented the Crown’s appeal against Simcock’s sentence and Simcock’s appeal against conviction from both being heard on 25 February
2004.) Here is the judgment of Justice William Young, delivered on behalf of the Court.
More information for Unitholders will be forthcoming soon. |
| 17 Mar '04 - Have you ever wondered what the world looks like to a bee? Wished for
an easy way to move an insect outside without harming it? Wondered how a spider goes about making a web? (This site includes a speeded-up Quicktime movie of a web being
constructed - click the "web movie" tab near the top of the page.) Seen a 60-acre spider
web? If you like lighthouses, visit photographer William Britten's site. My favourites were of
Block Island in Rhode Island, Hecata Head in Oregon, and Barnegat in New Jersey.
You may prefer to read about the dangers of a Microsoft monoculture, play 20 Questions with a computer, check out some rather good optical illusions, or view stunning 3D graphics - I especially recommend his short animation,
Snakes. Last, you may be curious about what happens when you inadvertently throw dry ice in an airplane toilet...
Unitholders - check back soon - I hope to have news. |
| 1 Mar '04 - I just learned how well Peter Jackson and his films were regarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at their 76th annual awards
presentations. Finally! It couldn't happen to a more deserving person.
If you have a fast connection, please check out the excellent short animation Cane Toad: What
Happened to Baz. (As a matter of fact, one of the creators now works for Jackson's Weta Studios.) On a more serious note, you might
try Existential Risks: Analysing Human Extinction Scenarios and Related Hazards. Finally,
you might see where my head has been this week (I guarantee it isn't what you think). |
| 27 Jan '04 - Notice to Unitholders:
Rod Templeton resigned from his position as General Manager-Corporate Trust of Perpetual Trust in late December 2003 and is no longer
employed by that company. Investigation and enquiries relating to the liability of Perpetual Trust to the unitholders of Flat Rock Forests Trust for the millions of dollars
lost by the unitholders is ongoing... |
| 17 Jan '04 - I felt the "weapons of mass destruction" reason for deposing Saddam in Iraq seemed a subterfuge from the first and I resented the gross attempt at
hoodwinking. I must say, though, that Lawrence Wright's outstanding article, "The Kingdom of
Silence", in the 5 January New Yorker has made me look at Islam countries with much more critical eyes. The article is quite long, but WELL worth a read. If
the case for a regime change had been made purely on humanitarian grounds, I for one would have found it somewhat more palatable... A funny song about fighting for oil (if
such a thing could ever BE funny...) I'd Go Anywhere to Fight for Oil to Lubricate the Red, White & Blue (Warning: the MP3
is 3.5 meg!) We may argue eloquently that "honesty is the best policy." Unfortunately, the moment honesty is adopted for the sake of policy it mysteriously ceases to be
honesty (from Dorothy L Sayers). |
| 13 Jan '04 - In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in US cities to create public support for a war against
Cuba. (I thought I'd start the new year off with something important.) I have to agree with Lily Tomlin - no matter how cynical you get, it’s almost impossible to keep
up.
On a lighter note, visit the Vos House - lit completely by LEDs. Or Harvard's
dialect survey - I'm sorry it doesn't cover New Zealand, but I was rather surprised to find that I
don't have to leave US soil to feel I'm in a foreign country. Wondering what to get that special person for a birthday? Consider infectious wearables! (these are ties, scarves, boxer shorts and notecards "...sure to spark conversation, all based on
scientific images and designed to promote disease awareness...")
Finally: girls - looking for a husband? Consider Henry... |
| 21 Dec '03 - Holiday greetings! To unitholders: thanks very much for all your words of support and for your patience. Progress is being made.
I hope your holiday plans are fulfilling your expectations. I had wanted to be in New Zealand for New Year's but that didn't quite happen - maybe I'll
make it by the end of the next school term. I did get to New York, where I saw (among other things) Fresh Kills, a monstrous landfill where NY's history is "...buried in
chronological order, along with wallets, a million dollars in loose change, flushed wedding rings, and effects too voluminous to comprehend." Visit Oddball New York to find out more and for several suggestions of sites to see that are truly off the beaten path. Or try
Quirky Japan - a site dedicated to digression, kitsch, inessentiality, irreverence, irregularity, obscurity,
idiosyncrasy, eccentricity, peculiarity, individuality, and most of all, originality (I think they've succeeded in their goals!).
If you're creative and like to draw, you might want to enter the Concept Boat
Competition. The deadline is June 2004 (check out their 2003 shortlisted entrants for ideas...) and the prize is (what else?) - a new boat. For creativity of an
entirely different sort, visit The Brick Testament, where the Reverend Brendan Powell Smith is modelling major events
of both the Old and New Testaments in - well - Legos. His talent is impressive and his interest in, and respect for, his subjects is evident.
Science News' site News of the Year 2003 is an informative site that describes
the world's greatest achievements in science for the past year. (If something shows up in the next few days, I suppose it will be included in next year's list.)
Finally - it you're short on holiday gift ideas, how about a wind-up cellphone
charger? Enjoy life! |
| 30 Nov '03 - Notice to Unitholders:
Stephen Eaton has been removed from his position as Chief Executive of Perpetual Trust and is no longer employed by that company. Investigation and enquiries
relating to the liability of Perpetual Trust to the unitholders of Flat Rock Forests Trust for the millions of dollars lost by the unitholders is ongoing... |
| 23 Nov '03 - In reviewing the search keys people have used to arrive at this site, I have been struck by some very unusual ones entered by US government
employees. An employee of the Treasury came looking for "Windows NT floppy drive disappeared" (containing - what, exactly?). Human Services sought "cultural personal
values" while US Courts looked for "family values" (best to check these out?). The USDA came looking for "fowl fight"; the Dept of Transportation searched for "PSA flight 182
location now" (an air traffic controller new on the job?) and followed that with "bald tire jokes" (laughter might help). Federal Emergency Management sought "Which Hollywood
stars have done artificial insemination?" (a REAL emergency?) Justice, it seems, came looking for Dr Steven Hatfield (did he or didn't he?) and also "female executions by
hanging" and "Virginia capital punishment method" (just doing research?), followed by "dead bodies +naked +male" and "morgue +naked +splayed" (say, maybe this employee needs
counselling?). The Environmental Protection Agency wanted "Jesus in Oklahoma storm cloud" (a novel form of protection). NASA came seeking "personal flying machines",
"constructing a turboshaft engine helicopter" (can't find where they put those blueprints!) and "why does a full balloon fall instead of floating?" (not a bad thing to learn before
building that helicopter!). The Federal Aviation Administration looked for "jet belts" (a way to relieve airport congestion?). A person from the US House of
Representatives searched for "Congressman murder reelected" (do you think he's worried?) and "How to quit your job and move to Key West" (leave now!) followed by "renouncing
citizenship to avoid taxes" (maybe Key West isn't far enough?) while Customs wanted "list of machine gun dealerships in Montana" (whatever for?). The TVA looked for "3.9% of
women say they don't" (I won't ask) and information on using propanolol for stage fright. Alarmingly, the National Institute of Health sought "Burger King urine
Rochester" - and these requests covered only a small part of November and only one person's website. (When do these people find time to do their jobs??)
For more amusement, try paper airplanes, spiky bras, the world's worst album covers (on many of
the world's worst albums!) or the world beard championships home page or gallery. For enlightenment, try notable properties of specific numbers (actually an extensive and fascinating site), World Wide Words, or abandoned places (mostly Eastern Europe, mostly
large, curious buildings).
To unitholders - have a wonderful holiday season! |
| 3 Nov '03 - If you have about £8 million to spare, visit the Lee Castle site and place your bid on a
7-century-old Scottish castle - it comes with Baronial titles, 261 acres of land, all contents and 3 lodges. Oh, and 3 electric gates, a safe room, a secret room, garaging for
20 cars, and a pack of watchdogs. Or visit The Changing City to see what the past 25 years
have done for the city of Vancouver. Or take the Neocon Quiz to find out where you stand
politically (as if you don't already know). Or check out this month's Harper's Index for their
usual astonishing statistics. |
| 8 Oct '03 - Recent enquiries to the Court of Appeal have disclosed that the appeal filed by Donald Simcock against
conviction, and the appeal filed by the Crown against Simcock’s sentence, will be heard at the Court of Appeal in Wellington on Wednesday 25 February 2004. |
| 28 Sep '03 - There are still a few unitholders who have not contacted me, but for the most part the response has been excellent. Unfortunately, I
neglected to put the name of our Trust in the last newsletter which caused a few of you some consternation. Nor did I remember to include this website's URL for the
many who now have access to the internet but who didn't when this site was launched. I'm now updating the unitholder database with the current information you've
sent. Thanks.
Would you like to have some fun with focal lengths? If
you've been spending too much time at the office playing spider solitaire, maybe it's time for the telescope
game (hours of fun!) When you get tired of that, try the RSVP Dinner Party
game. Mildly amusing is the PopCap game (connect virtual fuses to launch
rockets - requires Flash). Finally, check out Icon's Story (also requires Flash).
I'll post more as soon as I hear something. |
| 21 Sep '03 - I've heard from about 50% of unitholders thus far. I really appreciate the kind comments many of you included. If you
haven't contacted me yet, please do so!
If you have Flash 5 or better, visit After Life - possibly the loveliest website I've
seen - and the creator is from New Zealand. (Be sure to click on each of the crosses which appear with the seasons.) I wish my ideas were that creative and
artistic! One of the most informational sites I've found contains maps for practically every
country and city in the world (the maps are old, but still useful). How about a site that can calculate
how many calories you burn? For a silly site, check out
Bow-Lingual, purporting to translate dog barks. If someone asks you to name the smallest country in the world,
will you say Sealand? (Maybe you should!) If you're interested, you can check out
other micronations. And finally, you might enjoy looking at the
very first edition of The Economist, published 2 September 1843... |
| 30 Aug '03 - I've finally mailed/emailed the long-promised unitholder newsletter #10. If you don't receive something in the next 10 days,
let me know.
If you're interested, here's a game that let's you construct a mobile (you have to
make it balance for the next attachable object to appear), explore Vector Park (pointless but
entertaining - especially if you continue until you reach the second scene!), or control a nuclear power
plant (not exactly my thing, but you might enjoy it). For subtle humour, see the "Next time you think, think
Fertnel" site. Example (Fontera, listen up!):
| Fertnel's continuing effort to boost profits in our Diary Division has resulted in a bevy of new consumer choices:
 | 2.5% milk |
| 3% milk |
| 3.75% milk |
| 4.2% milk |
| 6% milk |
| Blue milk |
| Clear milk |
|
Be sure to check out the postcards (a slight link problem on the site causes you to need to click the back button, then the forward button, between each
postcard).
How about a walking tractor? (If you have a fast-enough connection, be sure
to click on the two mpg files on the lower right-hand side of the page - impressive!) Or Napster's flash bio of why
their site died (click the linked numbers on the left-hand side of the page for new installments; apparently they intend to add lots more - it's amusing, but
biased). Next up: Flow by Hoogergrugge and Wiggle - well. You'll just have
to see for yourself. Click everything that's clickable for continuing action! Or an incredible video taken in 6000 feet of water, showing an undersea robot
sawing a 3mm wide slit in a pipeline; the pressure inside the pipeline is 0 pounds per square inch; the pressure outside is 2,700 psi. Then along came a crab.
Finally, some great mausoleum photos (plus I have
one or two on my website) and a downloadable clip of what New Zealand will look like in 4 million years (Wellington gets smushed, Christchurch heads south).
Did you know that if protons and neutrons were 10 cm big, quarks and electrons would be .1 mm and the atom would be 10 km - and up? |
| 15 Aug '03 - Having been found guilty of the first three counts of the indictment laid by the Serious Fraud Office, Donald Hugh Simcock was ordered to pay
$150,000 as amends pursuant to s10(3)(d) of the Sentencing Act 2002, to be paid the Public Trust. He was sentenced to the maximum non-imprisonment sentence of 400
hours of community service. Unitholders will be receiving a newsletter soon with much more detail. (You may wish to read an article on Simcock and also one on another lawyer who committed fraud for comparison.)
For non-unitholders: would you like to find your birthday in pi? (Mine
began at location 938,266.) Want to be amused? See Dork
Tower for an animation, Kevin Bacon for a game, read the worst beginning line to a novel, view a
cartoon, or pick out the island you'd like to buy (including a couple in NZ!). You can read a jaw-dropping
article about Idi Amin,
an ad for Roomba, a robot vacuum cleaner, or have hours of fun with fractals (including some that are animated) and
scribbles. Finally, if you're thinking about donating money to a charity, you may want to check out the
Charity Navigator to see just how much of your gift actually goes where you had
intended (you may be unpleasantly surprised!). |
| 9 Jul '03 - I'm sure most unitholders have by now heard the news that Donald Hugh Simcock was found guilty on three counts of fraud relating to the Flat Rock Forests
Trust. Sentencing is set down for Tuesday, 12 August 2003 at 9am. Unfortunately, I have two weeks left of summer school - I will be in a better position to write
more at that time (including the long-promised unitholder letter!). I have received preliminary information about the conviction and anticipate receiving additional
information in the coming days and weeks.
On the lighter side - are you interested in airplane homes? Some
beautiful and imaginative crop circles? A man without a brain? Stunning photos from NASA? The magnificent geology of the earth as seem from space? The earth's moving magnetic north pole? Finally, dog
talk, something completely different, a funny flash movie about dorks dating, and a short clip from Bozetti about the differences between Italians and other Europeans...
Let me hear from you! |
| 21 June '03 - I've been out of school for a month. I thought that would be enough time to upgrade this website but it now has so many pages that I
only got halfway through. Summer school begins tomorrow but lasts only a month, then I'll have another month before the fall semester begins during which time I should
be able to finish the rest. For hours of fun, try the soda straw constructor. Or the
magic cube. Or letting your computer talk to you. Are you a Google fan? Have you tried their labs or zeitgeist pages? A trivia fan? Into body modification? (Not for the
squeamish!) To unitholders - I may have news of a sort in the next couple of weeks. Check back then, please. |
| 19 May '03 - Several things... First, I have a new email address (after 9 years) as Telstra recently decided to stop supporting the netlink accounts they
bought from Victoria University. (Not only that, they apparently sold the email list, as lately I've received spam sent to a long list of netlink
customers.) Henceforth, you can reach me at ruth@chaos.net.nz - and the subject of "reaching me" brings up another issue. I
recently backed up my stats and discovered a file of emails addressed to "info@flatrock.org.nz" - some dating back more than a year - which I had never seen - apparently
the mail forwarder was not working properly. There are about 160 emails and I plan to respond to them all. If you had emailed me there and wondered why I just
ignored you, please accept my apologies. You will be hearing from me shortly!
This site now averages between 800 - 1,000 visits per day. One person in New York stayed on for 6 hours and viewed over 220 pages. (If
you are that person and are reading this, I'd just like to say thanks - you hold the visitor retention record by far.)
For a stupendous ad, see Honda's. For a scary story, try
China Threatens to Execute SARS-Spreaders - or try
Bear Bites Submarine for a laugh.
As to the forestry trust - visit the SFO's website and check for events in June to see if
anything looks like it might apply to unitholders. I WILL send out a unitholder newsletter, but I figure I may as well wait until late June so things can be wrapped up
properly and we can decide if a next step needs to be taken.
Finally, I've uploaded my first animated short (this is one of the things I've been studying in school for the past year). It's called
Prince Felix. At 28meg, it definitely requires a fast connection. I have a smaller version for dialup connections - unfortunately, since the cartoon is just over 5 minutes long, it takes about
40 minutes to download at 56k. (I hope you'll think it's worth it!) I've also uploaded Brain
Games, a series of 9 very short quizzes meant to entertain you. It's 6meg, or 20 minutes download time if you have a slow connection. Let me hear from
you! |
| 15 May '03 - I apologise for not having updated this page in a long while. Tomorrow is the last day of class. I'll add several items over the
next few days, including an update on the forestry trust. Please check back! |
| 20 Mar '03 - A group called N2H2 is a company which "suggests categories for basic Children's Internet Protection Act compliance". The US has passed a
law requiring public libraries that accept federal funding to install Internet filters intended to block pornography. How does the N2H2 rate this site? As
pornographic. If THIS site is pornographic, and if no porno sites can be viewed, and if the library is a person's main source of Internet information, then a LOT
of important information may now be unavailable to Americans. That's sad - especially for citizens of a nation now at war (another sad thing).
See The History of Britney's Breasts if you're interested
(porno? they aren't bare). Or A Particularly Relevant 404 Error. Or an interesting flash movie about excess airplanes. Or earthlights (especially if you have a fast connection). Or even
Chinese Try Mobile Death Vans.
As to the trust - I said I'd get out a newsletter, then didn't. I regret that because progress is still being made! We may, in
fact, still sue. Contact me for details (no obligation will be incurred) if you're interested. |
| 17 Jan '03 - I've added a new page, How Many Countries in the
World? (The answer isn't clear.) You might try The Wave
for a droll review of the Turkish version of Star Trek. An excerpt: "The movie goes back down to the surface of the planet where Nancy is licking the dead body of the
green-shirted crew member. It’s nice to know that the future’s idea of ceremonial burial is to leave your teammate’s corpse with a woman who licks everything, an
eccentric mad scientist, and a pervert robot wearing tiny briefs and a pinecone..." Or The Non-Work Side of the American Economic Association's Annual Meeting 5 January
2003. Excerpt: "If he'd had that diagram, it would have made things much clearer." "If he'd had that diagram, the seminar would have been over in five minutes,
and then what would he have done with the rest of his time?" "But it would have been a really impressive five minutes..." How about a frequently-updated
satellite view of the earth's cloud cover? Or a list of all file extensions (which are the 1 - 4 letters after the dot). Believe it or not, this knowledge
can be useful at times...
For unitholders only: familiarise yourselves with the name of our Inspector (see | |
