December, 5, 2001 archives
people who chatter away on cellphones are acting like apes. it is "the human equivalent of social grooming among chimpanzees and gorillas."
most minnesotans oppose public ballpark financing. 58% are strongly opposed. good for them! i wonder whether the metrodome has paid back its public financing yet.
woohoo, i sold a book (effective c++) through half.com! profit after shipping: about $15. (minus, of course, the original cost of the book.) the thing is going by slow boat across the country, though, so it may be a while before i joined the hallowed halls of "seller with feedback".
the best part of this story about the purchase and eventual sale of webring.org is how the service didn't just get shut down. if he plays his cards right, i have no doubt that tim killeen (the engineer who bought it from yahoo) will be able to turn it into something that pays its own way, and even puts a few bucks in his pocket, without requiring a full-time commitment. (via boing boing.)
this automatic soy milk maker looks pretty sweet. sort of like a coffee machine for soy milk. (and apparently you can use it to make rice milk and other such things, too.) i may just have to add this to the old wishlist. (via randomwalks.)
girls suck is a great multi-person diary whose topic you can surmise from the name. i really like the design, and the content is funny, too. an entry i liked: "There's not a fine line, but rather a fine rake between a girl flirting with you and a girl being nice. Don't step on it." it makes me think of the the simpsons 'cape feare' episode. (via evhead.)
best tomato sauce ever. i stumbled onto the secret. but i think i can also do better. i wish i knew more about wine other than it usually comes in red or white. (no, the secret is not wine, but it helps.) i also wish i had a cool hand-blender. (no, the secret is not blending, but it helps.)
synchronicity. an article in the la times about wishlists. i think the only way the author could have branded herself as more of a yuppie would be to talk about wanting a bmw. (why do we insist on giving gifts when so many of us are so bad at it? i think part of the problem is the schedule — great gifts echo some chord that was already struck, and life plays all year, not just in the few weeks before birthdays and holidays.)
scientists have identified a single enzyme that may be related to potbellies. i wonder if there's a connection between this and the obesity virus.
this thread on ask slashdot about getting introverts to party is interesting, particularly this post about what introvert really means in the briggs-meyers sense. (like all slashdot threads, it is only even worth looking at with the comment filter set at +2 or higher.)
seven arrested for sale of weapons-grade uranium in russia. yikes. (just one kilogram, which is apparently not enough to make a nuclear weapon, but still scary.)
dave's three parts for a bug report are remarkably similar to the first section of what i wrote for bugs.php.net, minus the too-cute example. (not that i'm saying dave stole it from me. we either both learned the same thing the hard way, or picked it up somewhere else.)