The Iron Yuppie

Black hole projects

I love this. Currently I have on my door this which I feel is pretty accurate for most enormous projects. My two problems with the above list are 1) that there is no way to determine which diamond in the rough is actually a superstar project which actually will end up working (though these are few and far between) and 2) people will think that only MS suffers these enormous black hole projects. While I concur, they have plenty, it's also because they just have an enormous amount of developers, so odds favor that they will have more. Whether or not they have more per capita remains to be seen.

The New York Times > Science > PlayStation 2 Shortage Frustrates More Than Buyers

This could be the turning point for this generation of consoles. No one knows when the next version of the Xbox or Playstation is coming out, but this Christmas, it's going to be Xbox or nothing. I am really really surprised about this since they suffered the exact same shortages in 2000 when the PS2 came out and they've screwed up again. Of course, this time they have both Nintendo and Microsoft breathing down their necks. Honestly, I am very surprised it even matters. Yes, the new PS2 is thinner, but it's the exact same machine... I would have assumed that everyone in the world who wanted a PS2 would have already had one. I guess not!

Google Suggest

WOW! This is so great. This is beyond great. I'm using this as my sole search engine page from now on until someone beats it. I LOVE search as you type!

Ladies and Gentleman, I bring you the Viking Range of mixers (MoCo Loco: DSM7). Great design, but SO much power. 980 watts and 7 quart bowl? I think you could grind up your murder victims afterwards and make a nice gazpacho. Do not buy this if you need a mixer. You do not need it. I promise you. It's a work of art, sure, and you can buy it for yourself as an accessory, but it's not valuable as a mixer. Trust me.

Okay, We Lost Ohio. The Question Is, Why? (washingtonpost.com)

I found this kind of amusing. They look at every possible aspect of why the Democrats lost Ohio, and basically the reason was that the Democrat's message was not good enough. This is the one hope the Democrats have for winning next time. Message counts! Whether or not the Republicans painted an accurate picture of the Democrats (my opinion is they both tried smearing, but the Republicans were just much better at it), the Republican message resonated more thoroughly and won them the election. Rather than saying the message changed people's minds, however, I believe it was 9/11 and the incidents thereafter which changed people's minds, and the Republicans crafted a much more straightforward platform about what to do about that, though I fully believe that if Gore had been elected and faced 9/11, he would have had similar policies in place (except possibly Iraq) and would have been just as effective leading with the "I have stopped terrorism" message. Whether or not this leads to the disbanding of 527 organizations is fairly open. Certainly, they must transform into smear machines rather than just get-out-the-vote machines. Because, like it or not, message matters.

Password imperfect - page 2 | Tech News on ZDNet

This just in... 'abc123' is no longer a good password. Actually, the interesting part of this article is that 'B91(87Ate@' probably isn't a good password any more either. Two factor will only work if it's super easy to do... I do not want to have to scan my thumb 15 times to try and log in when I forgot to print something before a meeting. I use two factor from home right now, and it's not bad, but it's still much slower than just a password. Ah the price of security.

"Detoxification" Schemes

In relation to the earlier comment about toxins, this was a fairly interesting page summing up the variety of different detoxification schemes. I actually like fasting (once a year anyway); it puts me in a very different state of mind during (which I suppose is basically attributed to starvation). However, I have never felt healthier before, during or after the fast, and I suppose this is why. Logically, I did think that the human digestive system was much more like a system of pipes where there could be eddys or currents that would trap stuff for an extended period of time, but I suppose, thinking about it now, that's pretty much absurd. The body is an exceptionally well designed machine and to think that it would carry around "5 lbs. of undigested red meat" or "gum you swallowed when you were 10" is fairly absurd. That does not really explain why, though, we carry around filth in our lungs for our entire lives if we smoke (nasty picture). What's up with that?

Yahoo! News - "Cars" Garaged Until 2006

I hope they're able to make this something interesting. I'd hate for Pixar to ruin its record, especially since the movies that it puts out are always among the best of the year.

TOXMAP - All Facilities

Well this is fairly depressing. Check out how you are being exposed to toxins in your area. And these are just the ones that report!

I believe that environmental concerns are certainly one of our top issues because I believe that evolution has given us bodies that are designed for a certain kind of environment and when we alter that substantially, our bodies do not really know what to do (my other top issue is oil which I feel undermines our economy, foreign policy, environment and is a general choke point for everything we do). The interesting thing about this map is that I'm not very concerned about the organizations you see there. They're reporting, and theoretically observing, local standards. The real problem comes in John Q. Public's garage. Johnny goes out and decides to paint his armoire. First, he strips the original paint, which a couple of flecks get into the lawn. Then he primes the wood and a few ounces evaporate. Finally, he paints the wood and a couple of drops roll down the driveway and into the gutter. Super super small, but if you multiply this times 1,000 people doing it a week, you have gallons and gallons of crap flowing into the system. It seems clear to me that identifying the risks at the beginning of the system, when everything is concentrated, is the only way to make substantial progress. In this case, encouraging paint companies to design environmentally friendly paint would be one way to try and eliminate the risks in the above example.

Instapundit.com -Self-defense in Britain

Fascinating aspect about the difference in burglaries between the US and England/Wales is not the use of weapons in the US. It's actually just the possible presence of weapons that deters the criminals. In the US guns cause 100 times more deaths per 100,000 people than in England and Wales. In fact, the ideal, though logically impossible situation, would be to both have guns in every home and not have any guns at all. I am pro personal ownership of guns, though I have always been very concerned with the culture of guns in the US. They seem to be nearly too ubiquitous... how else would so many people be killed every year by them? Though always hesitant to believe Michael Moore, I was fairly intrigued with the Bowling for Columbine stats regarding Canada v. the US. Canada appears to have as many or more weapons per capita than the US yet suffers less crime and less gun deaths. Exactly why this is, I have no idea. If I had one thought, I would prefer that handguns & assault weapons be limited and only rifles and shotguns to be used more broadly. I just do not see a use for private ownership of certain types of weapons. You can defend yourself pretty well in your home with a shotgun... handguns and assault weapons just seem to be recipes for disaster.