http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/08/29/google_watch/index1.html?x
it'd be nice to know if google had a "freshness" adjustment to its ranking algorithm as well. interesting article on SEO, page rank, conspiracies, etc
Thursday, August 29, 2002
it'd be nice to know if google had a "freshness" adjustment to its ranking algorithm as well. interesting article on SEO, page rank, conspiracies, etc
on education... the way around this appears to be to convince a future employer to make a certain degree (i.e., the one you want) a "working condition fringe benefit" of your job. in such cases, the employer provided assitance is NOT considered part of your income for tax purposes.
example:
1. company A offers worker X $100k/yr to be the Director of BlahBlah
2. worker X neogitates (e.g.) a (reduced?) salary + $30k/yr in education assitance, with a MSEE "work condition"
conceivably, this could also push worker X into a salary range where s/he could claim Hope/Life-Long credits
now, the question is... can companies deduct any portion of the $s they spend on fringe benefits/employee education (and if so what %). obviously, if these are discounted dollars for the company, they are more easily had in larger amounts.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf
once again, living in a HIGH COST area (and, as a result, having a higher income) once again bites me in the ass
- taxes should be adjusted based on COLA
- restrictions on deductions should be adjusted based on COLA
frankly, i don't see why ANYONE, regardless of income, shouldn't be eligible to receive the life-long learning credit -- more educated citizens = higher productivity = more GD(N)P
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020829/ap_wo_en_po/japan_pearl_harbor_submarine_2
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020829/ap_on_re_us/pearl_harbor_submarine_5
we may have fired the first shot, but that doesn't mean we started the war!
the japanese aircraft used in the attack on pearl harbor were launched far longer then an hour before they started straffing and bombing our ships, sailors and civilians. to suggest that they wouldn't have attacked (as many of them didn't have the fuel to return "home") is rediculous... just as it is to state that we "started" the war... fuck, we avoided that war for YEARS.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=528&ncid=528&e=2&u=/ap/20020822/ap_on_hi_te/computer_security_2
san diego firm raided by fbi after announcing it had breached, army, navy and nasa computer systems
mixed feelings on this... we can't allow people to willy-nilly break into confidential systems w/o fear of retribution... however, the fact that they were doing it to call attention to HUGE holes can't be overlooked. gov't and industry MUST find a way to EMBRACE and LEVERAGE the hacker community, as they CLEARLY are inept at securing their systems on their own. and ultimately, that's potentially a FAR more dangerous thing for ALL of us.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nf/20020829/bs_nf/19227
RIAA hacked... growing ill-will toward MPAA... two words: fuck yea
http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020902/story.html
"After 30 years of seemingly solid advice aimed at lowering dietary fat, Americans have grown collectively fatter than ever. Today more than 60% of adults in the U.S. are classified as overweight or obese. So many children have become so heavy that pediatricians are now facing an epidemic of Type 2 diabetes and hypertension—diseases that are closely associated with overweight and that were unheard of among youngsters just a generation ago."
carbs kill
seperate thought... interviewing at yahoo... *fingers crossed*
Sunday, August 25, 2002
alrighty then, now it gets real
with exactly 1 mth to go before my gmat test date, i've actually /started/ studying
i took a short diagnostic test, which returned a 570 score (yuck!) which is at the 76% percentile
as expected, i was much stronger on the english side than the math side
on a positive note re: math, many of the mistakes i made were due to a failure to COMPLETELY READ the question, or more specifically, the answer that the question was asking for
on a downside, because i missed quite a few of the "easy" questions (the diagonostic was adaptive, just like the real gmat-cat), i never did any of the "hard(er)" questions. gulp
my goal is a 650 score on sept 25th, with a stretch goal of a 700
oh shit, Cheaters went Springer
they just caught a girl's boyfriend cheating on her with a drag queen, lol
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
and uh, maybe one of these (bad assss!)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000065CE5/qid=1029894956/sr=8-4/ref=sr_8_4/002-2876934-7640034?s=electronics
edit: while still badass, it's interesting to note that no one has yet built a heart rate monitor solely as a wrist watch... given that the wrist-strap , by it's very name, fits over your wrist, this is a little surprising... hmph...
deeje posted an interesting article on the addictive nature of sugar (carbs in general, really)
while i don't fully concur w/ the articles final statements, it's good to see the light click on for someone else w.r.t. the poisonous diet the FDA currently recommends
on that note... after a couple weeks back in the gym (after a lazy lapse of a month off) the scale now reads 170
i ran into the gym coordinator @ my apt complex today, who agreed to do a skin-fold caliper test (body fat measurement) for me. unfortunately , this relatively accurate test (+/- 2%) put me at 17.5% (still considered "good") vs. the fairly unbelievable 12% that the quick 'n dirty online calculator (http://www.atozfitness.com/AtoZ_Body_Fat_Percent.htm) i've been using estimated (lol, i wish!)
she only sampled twice and did it in a bit of a hurry, so for the sake of argument, i'm going to call it 17% even ;)
so, to get to my goal of 10%, i'm looking at roughly another 10 lbs. fwiw, she said i had the genetics to have killer abs! (heh)
note to self: add heart rate monitor and tanita scale to my "shit to buy when i have a job again" list
perhaps for the first time in my life i'll actually get to see them?!?! we'll see...
after, shit, a decade w/o doing it...
there is something REALLY viscerally satisfying about eating a turkey leg
yes, i know i'm weird, but it's true!
Monday, August 19, 2002
OMG the market is behaving completely irrationally! Happy to see NFLX rally over the last week, but DJI at 9k? I think I'm going to end my pronostication; facts are obviously not at work in the current market.
From Arizona, the land of forest fires, comes this:
Little Girl's Firetruck
A fire fighter is working on the engine outside the station when he notices
a little girl next door in a little red wagon with little ladders hung off
the side and a garden hose tightly coiled in the middle.
The girl is wearing a fire fighter's helmet and has the wagon tied to a dog
and cat. The fire fighter walks over to take a closer look. "That sure is
a nice fire truck," the fire fighter says with admiration.
"Thanks," the girl says. The fire fighter looks a little closer and notices
the girl has tied the wagon to the dog's collar and to the cat's testicles.
"Little Partner," the fire fighter says, "I don't want to tell you how to
run your fire truck, but if you were to tie that rope around the cat's
collar, I think you could go faster."
The little girl replied, "You're probably right, but then I wouldn't have a
siren."
BTW, yes Deeje, you are a big man, damn it! ;) Perhaps a big man trapped in a normal man's body, but a big man nonetheless!
Deeje posted two interesting items in his blog today
#1 Possible Apple iPhone:
Yes, it likely will happen. Why? Because MSFT has been developing one for the past two years. Like MSFT, Apple /must/ proliferate its OS onto all appropriate devices. Cellphones/PDAs are an obvious form-factor, esp for a company w/ a solid reputation for industrial design and a growing reputation for integration
#2 Does Dave Winer Get it:
Sometimes before we do, sometimes clearly not. Here's a counter proposal to NOT seeking patents (which is about the worst idea I've ever heard) -- Open Source Patents. Form a governing body, perhaps "USOpenSourcePatents.org". Allow devs to patent their inventions and sell them to USOSP for $1.00. Allow USOSP, with the appropriate licensing/contract structure, to license the patents out to all takers... or trade rights for usage for other key patents held my the big corporate meanies (MSFT, SUN, IBM, et al.)
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-954291.html?tag=fd_top
is gateway really going after apple, or just the consumer market as a whole?
Saturday, August 17, 2002
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1280634
GPS + Micro Telephone Chip, once again folks = Mark of the Beast, not a "Digital Angel"
Things have been crazy busy here, but in a good way.
Want to write a little bit about a few aspects of my recent trip down to LA, starting with the "1st LA MtG Invitational" ;)
Participants were Opie & Diana Simons, and uh, me
We played with the following restrictions:
- Invasion and Odysee blocks only
- No buying individual cards for deck building
- Photocopying permitted (hell, encouraged)
- All photocopies/proxies need to be in sleeves; if any cards are in sleeves, all must be in sleeves
- All other std rules (60 cards, max of 4 per named card, etc)
We also played a very soft house rule of "two free muligans" (basically allowing up to three draws of seven cards)
Observations & Comments
I'll start with me, since that's probably the easiest... I played a deck I've dubbed NecraMonger. It's a synergistic multi-color deck featuring: (relative) speed/drawing, creature, direct and in-direct dmg, healing and regeneration. I built the deck entirely from cards I already owned and made EXTENSIVE use of photocopying. I photocopied about 180 cards total (not unique), including lands, then winnowed down to my deck + sideboard. (I'm being a lil vague about my deck since I haven't played it against Deeje yet and want it to be at least somewhat of a challenge for him.)
PHOTOCOPYING IS THE BOMB. Diana was fortunate to be asleep up at Yosemite when I was ranting to Deeje & Opie about the cost of MtG and the building of a MtG caste built on player income vs. skill. Just as it is UNREASONABLE for MLB players to earn $10M+ a year, it's rediculous that a quality T2 (that's CURRENT CARDS!) deck can run north of $400.00. I will be playing photocopied decks going forward. Total cost to build NecraMonger + sideboard? $1.98. Real card value... unknown, but I'm guessing $250-$300.
Overall, the deck worked fairly well, though it has some serious holes that need work (there are a bunch of Judgement cards that would definitely help matters). What this deck lacks in flexibility it makes up for in consistency (all due to photocopying). I lost two games all weekend, only one due to mana issues. I won one game (the first game vs. Diana) that I probably shouldn't have. I believe I won all of my games vs. Opie in 10 turns or less; Diana's deck went long vs. mine several times.
On the consistency front, while much is owed to photocopying, an equal amount it due to my finally being a bit more cautious with land allocation. I read an interesting article on land proportions (http://www.mtgnews.com/story/1008/1/1/1/) while I was thinking about how I wanted to build the deck. While I didn't do the specific math, I definitely kept the principles in mind. The deck was further balanced when Diana and I "traded" (proxies) one of her multi-colored lands for one of my healing mechanisms. Her card was exactly what I had been looking for.
Alright, next up is Diana. Daaaaamn, she's moving up fast! Diana built a very compelling 3 color deck that gave my deck (and me
Playing Diana is interesting. There's no smack-talk, and not much to read -- I wouldn't want to play high-stakes poker with her, lol. This fits the deck she played well; with no obvious tells, you really have no clue if she's going to take the dmg you're throwing at her or instant your critters out of existence. It was also interesting to see her switch-up her mana usage to mirror mine; during the first few rounds of our first game, she played her sorceries/critters ahead of combat. Once she noticed that I generally played those after combat (leaving my mana free for fast effects during combat) she switched to mirror... or I imagined the whole thing, lol. As I said, hard to tell with her.
As for downsides... Diana ran only 19 lands plus some fix up cards (lay of the land, etc). She also had a few killer cards of which she appearantly only had one or two in the deck. I suppose this was part of the reason why her deck was so flexible/surprising (higher card variety), but it also made it more inconsistent. I suppose in some ways that's an inevitable tradeoff, though perhaps Wishes are meant to give players the best of both worlds??!!??
And finally, Opie. Opie built FOUR DECKS. Unfortunately I didn't get to play any of them multiple times to get a true read of their potential. I was disappointed to see him play a TogDigger deck (and was probably a little overly vocal about it), though, like deeje's GrinderDigger, it was well built and effective... I suppose that's the reason it's become an Archetype within the Odysee block. I would much rather see him (and all of us) be Rouges (http://www.mtgnews.com/story/1026/1/1/1/).
I don't remember the rest of what Opie played with enough detail (shoulda taken notes) due to the variety. I know he played a mono-green fast-mana (lots of critter generated mana) deck that I was probably very lucky to beat before he got close to playing Panub or Crush of Wyrm's. He also played a two color Red deck (RB??). Bless him for trying that, but Red pre-Judgement is probably the weakest color with all this graveyard, pumpable, phantom, etc shit running around. (My hastily built RB Odysee-only deck is now a thing of distant memories, and if anything, probably only HELPED deeje tune his GrinderDigger deck. Perhaps in the next block.)
On the other hand, Opie is Opie, which has always meant a killer attitude no matter the situation... and more and more (MtG specific) means a damn good player. Opie hands down got the "Play of the week" with a killer combo. I forget the card names (shameful), but basically, he used a "gain control of target critter till end of turn" (when he had 0 and i had 2 critters) comboed with a "each player sacrifices a creature" card. UGH!!! Talk about a flexible, extremely mana efficient way to restore balance to the table. It hurt like hell, but I couldn't help but give him a high-five, lol.
I'm seriously looking forward to my next visit & a chance to play some more. Now we just need to get deeje looped in!
Friday, August 16, 2002
KimU just sent me the following VERY USEFUL info. Link and text published below for the lazy. ;)
---
http://www.examiner.com/news/default.jsp?story=n.parkingticket.0814w
Publication date: 08/14/2002
Metering out justice
BY DAVID KIEFER
Of The Examiner Staff
Glen Bolofsky may be able to help you if --
- The only parking you can find is on the sidewalk.
- Fire hydrants are your friend.
- City tow is on your speed dial.
- You exchange Christmas cards with the meter maid.
Bolofsky may be sitting behind a desk in Paramus, N.J., but he's
costing San Francisco millions -- and proud of it.
His brainchild is parkingticket.com, a Web site that guarantees
dismissal or reduction of parking tickets, or your money back.
If you get a parking ticket in San Francisco, New York, or
Washington, D.C., you can type the information on the Web site, and
Bolofsky may get you off the hook. He claims a 70 percent success
rate.
Clients fight tickets without leaving their homes. They don't
have to face a judge, and judges don't have to deal with irate
citizens.
It's all taken care of via the information superhighway. Any goof
on the ticket -- most often in the make of the car or the
registration expiration date -- is enough to get it thrown out.
It's no wonder that Bolofsky is quickly becoming the scourge of
budget bean counters.
"Judges love us," Bolofsky said. "Budgeters hate us."
Bolofsky, author of "Cheap Parking in New York City," began his
crusade more than 20 years ago when he grew tired of moving his car
on street cleaning days. He assembled a 10-person staff that includes
a retired judge, police officer and parking agent.
Bolofsky has created business in San Francisco without any
marketing or advertising push. Word of mouth and national media
exposure in the Wall Street Journal and on MSNBC has been enough.
A representative from the City Treasurer's office said she was
not aware of the Web site, and calls to the Department of Parking and
Traffic were not returned.
If they're not aware yet, they soon will be.
San Francisco collects $3 million to $4 million per year on
parking violations, and Bolofsky said he gets 1,000 tickets a week
from The City.
If that's correct, San Francisco would lose $1 million annually,
perhaps one-third of its projected collection. That's a lot of trees
that won't get planted.
"We're absolutely in the business of depriving them from
much-needed funding," he said.
The reason? If cities feel the pinch, they will do more to solve
the parking crunch, or channel their priorities elsewhere.
"My goal is to put myself out of business," he said. "That's what
I call a lifetime achievement."
Thursday, August 15, 2002
http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/08/15/attacks.suit/index.html
9/11 families sue terrorists for $116 TRILLION... hmmm...
Wednesday, August 14, 2002
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-949812.html?tag=fd_top
Bill Joy, Sun co-founder, speaks out about Open Source licensing issues
Monday, August 12, 2002
Wednesday, August 07, 2002
might i say, kinkos rocks
went today to make some MTG photocopies... they now have the copiers hooked up to card readers that take: your credit or debit card, or a kinko's card (refillable card using cash)
nice!
they also have they coolest paper cutters ever!
smart company
(all this at the mt. view location)
OMG, there are all sorts of new OREOS out there!
- peanut butter & chocolate
- oreo "cookie barz"
- and appearantly regular oreos w/ poprocks in the cream
YUM! MUST TRY THEM ALL
Tuesday, August 06, 2002
american idol, fox and coca-cola just insulted the fuck out of everyone watching
they staged the singers trying to play a trumpet
all of them sucked (they're singers)
then, one of the "cool" girls took a swig of coke... wa la, she could play... in front of a big ol glowing coke logo behind here... seguing into a coke commercial
pathetic
more shorts covering today... i still see another trip to 7500 in our future, if not lower. beware real estate; by the time the herd knows, it's usually too late.
Sunday, August 04, 2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19191-2002Jul30.html
stolen from SRA... "VC Investment in Second Quarter At Its Lowest in Four Years
VentureReporter.net Tuesday, July 30, 2002, 2:09 PM ET
Venture capital investments in the second quarter of this year fell to the lowest level in nearly four years, according to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association, reports Washington Post.
The $5.7 billion of venture capital invested in the second quarter represented the industry's lowest three-month volume since the quarter ended in September 1998. The money, disbursed to 819 companies nationwide, fell 53 percent from the same time last year when VCs doled out $12 billion to 1,376 companies, the survey said.
Two-thirds of the venture capital invested in the second quarter went into later-stage companies. Sectorwise, about $1.5 billion went into companies making biotechnology and medical device products, the survey found. That represented roughly one-fourth of the second quarter's total venture capital investments--the highest percentage earmarked for the life sciences sector in five years."
http://www.business2.com/articles/web/0,1653,42595,FF.html
"to the best of my knowledge" amounts to a hill of beans... but the majority of the people in the u.s. will be fooled by it and milked of their hard earned savings yet again
Saturday, August 03, 2002
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/aug2002/nf2002082_1932.htm
slowly but surely, the true state of u.s. companies and the u.s. economy are coming out. good summary article on the TRUTH.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-948202.html?tag=fd_top
more delays for Danger... i've lost my enthusiasm
Friday, August 02, 2002
An old lady dies and goes to heaven. She is chatting to St.Peter at the Pearly Gates when all of a sudden she hears the most awful bloodcurdling screams. "Don't worry about that," says St. Peter, "it's only someone having the holes bored on their shoulder blades for the wings."
The old lady looks a little uncomfortable but carries on with the conversation. Ten minutes later, there are more bloodcurdling screams. "Oh my goodness," says the old lady, "now what is happening?"
"Not to worry," says St.Peter, "they are just having their head drilled to fit the halo."
"I can't do this," says the old lady, "I'm off down to hell."
"You can't go there," says St. Peter, "You'll be raped and sodomized."
"Yes" says the old lady, "but I've already got the holes for that"
Thursday, August 01, 2002
so are we saying that we're going to invade any country who we don't consider a friend who develops nuclear or biological weapons? or just iraq?
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/08/01/bootlegs/index.html?x
"It's about demolishing the myth that there has to be a special class of creators, and flattening out the creative curve so we can all contribute to our creative environment,"
PORTUGAL
Women strip for 'satellite mammogram'
Posted Thu, 27 Jun 2002
Four Portuguese women, who followed instructions to strip naked to their waist and stand at their window or on their balcony so they could have a mammogram by satellite, have complained to police, local press reported Thursday.
The four, aged between 19 to 45 and living in the Algarve region in southern Portugal, contacted police during the last week, the newspaper Publico reported.
The women said they were contacted by phone by a woman identifying herself as a doctor who proposed a revolutionary method to examine their breasts — a mammogram by satellite.
They were told to strip naked to the waist and stand either at their window or on the balcony in the direction of the "satellite".
The women were told the consultation would be free on the condition that they follow instructions. All believed what they were told and one even completely undressed, police said.
The "mammogram" results were communicated by telephone but this time the doctor vividly described her sexual desires, the women told police.
Paid Content Spending Rises 155 Percent in Q1; Money Spent On Content Totals $675 Million in 2001
VentureReporter.net Thursday, August 01, 2002, 1:41 PM ET
by Rafat Ali
The learning curve for online user's willingness to pay for content is on the rise, though there is still a long ride uphill, as evidenced from the latest study released by the Online Publishers Association.
The study, conducted by online research firm comScore Networks, found that U.S. consumers spent $675 million for online content last year, a 92 percent increase over 2000 spending levels. Of course, that total spend is only 9.37 percent of the total online ad spend last year, estimated to be about $7.2 billion by the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Compare this to the newspaper ad versus circulation revenues ratio, typically 3:1, and the picture for online content becomes clear: it is still in the early stages of acceptance.
However, the industry growth seems to be accelerating, as consumer spent rose 155 percent for the first quarter this year to $300 million, compared to the year-ago quarter. Also, as a percent of the total Internet population, consumers of paid content increased from 5.3 percent (5.3 million people) in the first quarter of 2001 to 9.2 percent (12.4 million people) in the first quarter of 2002.
Among the sector wise spend, the business-related content is the top-spending category ($214.3 million), followed by entertainment content ($112 million) and online personals ($72 million). All three account for about 59 percent of total content spending online. General news is the fifth biggest category with about $51.8 million in online consumer spend. The online greeting cards category had a strong $6.8 million consumer spend in 2001, buoyed by the fact that AmericanGreetings.com and BlueMountain.com introduced a subscription model fourth quarter last year.
Online Content Spending By Category (in $ millions)
Business Content $214.3
Entertainment/Lifestyles $112.0
Personals/Dating $72.0
Research $57.9
General News $51.8
Games $46.5
Community Directories $46.1
Credit Help $32.4
Personal Growth $24.7
Sports $10.0
Greeting Cards $6.8
Monthly or annual subscriptions are the dominant pricing model for online content sites, accounting for 85 percent of sales last year. Single purchases accounted for only 15 percent of sales, less that 2 percent (less than $2 million) of which was made up of micropayments of under $5 value. Out of those annual subscribers, the renewal rate among them averaged at 72 percent. Meanwhile, the conversion rate for online content sites--moving the users from free trails to paid subscriptions--averaged at 17.4 percent, a figure which shows a lot of room for improvement.
The total amount being spent per consumer is also on the rise: The average spending per consumer increased 46 percent (to $24.13) in the first quarter of this year, compared to the year-ago quarter. The average price for annual subscriptions was $49.69 last year, while the monthly subscriptions average price was $8.46. The average price for single content items purchased online was $17.89 last year.
All pricing models experienced rapid growth in the five measured quarters, suggesting that there is still room for publishers to experiment with pricing models, according to the study.
Of course, mirroring the trend in online advertising industry, the biggest sites garner the largest share of consumer content spend online. About 85 percent of the money spent for online content goes to about 50 sites. Among the top paid content revenues garners for 2001 were Real.com, with its RealOne SuperPass multi-media subscription service; WSJ.com; online dating site Match.com; portal giant Yahoo.com; and consumer goods research site ConsumerReports.org. Among the other sites in the top ten include genealogy site Ancestry.com, WeightWatchers.com and personal research site 1800USSearch.com.
