Technology and a little Transportation
Skype is an important part of the ‘net ecology especially in parts of
the world where phone taps are ubiquitous. Various programs have been
written to allow intercepting and recording VOIP. Now the programmer
who wrote one of them has released his code to the public. Interesting
results.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/08/skype-trojan/
If you are the family IT department you should book mark this page. It
contains about half of the flow charts developed by Morris Rosenthal
for troubleshooting PC hardware. If your family is particularly hard
on laptops or particularly demanding you might want to buy the book.
http://www.fonerbooks.com/pcrepair.htm
He’s also got a set for repairing cars. All available on line.
http://www.ifitjams.com/
We often make fun of twitter and it’s users. But it has become an
important platform for development. Here’s a list of 10 mash-ups.
http://www.inspiredm.com/2009/08/31/the-most-creative-10-websites-and-apps-built-on-top-of-twitter/
The most pleasant of the batch is an animated stream search. Enter a
term in the box in the lower left hand corner. Click on the
magnifier/search icon. Rolling your mouse over the blue birds gets you
the contents of the tweet that each is carrying. (I’ve set the initial
search to moto GP.) Or you can just watch the little birds flitter
past. It’s kind of restful.
http://toriseye.quodis.com/#moto%20GP
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News and Culture
What ever your opinion of Ted Kennedy, the Big Picture’s collection of
images from his life and the tributes and memorials to his life is a
visual history of one of the most powerful families in America.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/08/senator_ted_kennedy_19322009.html
I haven’t read an adult/literary novel in ages. Writing in the WSJ,
Lev Grossman looks at why I and so many others are abandoning the
Modern Novel and what we’re reading instead.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203706604574377163804387216.html
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Images
Today is watercolor artist day.
Drawn looks at “The Art of Ponyo.” Hayao Miyazaki’s character studies
are done in watercolor.Miyazaki’s choose of medium underlies the
common look to all of Studio Ghibli’s productions.
http://drawn.ca/2009/08/28/ponyo/
This painting of the Bloor Bridge is just one Herry Afrin’s lovely
urban landscapes.
http://www.herryarifin.com/index_files/Page2313.htm
Howie Tsui’s cartoonish take on traditional Japanese painting is both
beautiful and horrifying.
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/08/31/howie-tsuis-asianwes.html
He’s not using watercolors but… Luc Grateau does speed portraits of
the denizens of the Paris Metro on metro tickets. The site includes
examples of his work and a news report on his painting. The video is
in french but you don’t need to understand the voice over to enjoy the
story.
http://viacomit.net/2009/08/30/subway-ticket-portraits-by-luc-grateau/
Awesome picture of the day. Space shuttle lift-off at night.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1458.html
New comic that I will be watching. Spacemen, robots, and gerbils! (No
feed at the moment — so I’ll put it on my watch list and let you know
when there are new installments.)
http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=comic&id=50969&page=1
Enjoy the day,