Friday, December 31, 2004
Banished Words 2005
Please refrain from using the follwing terms: POCKETS OF RESISTANCE, CARBS, YOU’RE FIRED!, SALE EVENT, etc.
firsthand
Via Boing Boing:
"This is Pearl. I am currently in Bangkok waiting for a flight I have cajoled my way onto. I am one of the survivors. With only scratches, briuses and infections I am fine. Everything I own (almost - a small plastic jesus doll made it through!) is gone. My house was wiped out, as were 3000 hotel rooms, around 600 other resident/vacation homes and almost all the business' in the area.Our house was 150 feet from the beach, that is THE hardest hit beach in Thailand. As water rushed into our house and then ripped open the second story wall, I leapt off our second story roof and swam and swam and swam, riding the wave deep into the jungle, as it destroyed building after building, ripping up trees and spinning diesel trucks into the air. All this with me in the center of it clinging to anything that floats and swimming to avoid the standing buildings or trees that crushed and impaled many others. The wave deposited me, a small swedish girl and a 60 foot poilice cruiser (medium sized steel patrol boat - around 20 tons) 1 kilometer from the beach - in the jungle.
For the next 5 hours i set up a triage center and cared for dead and dying foreigners. Finally we got helicopters in, and I made my way back towards the main town. I found Karin (my girlfriend) and collapsed. We had both assumed each other dead as the destruction was so massive. She had climbed a coconut tree, wrapped her arms and legs and held on. The water kept pullng the tree and her under, but it and she survived. That day I saw around 100 bodies. The next day, another 200, and the day we left there were cattle trucks full of rotting corpses being taken to Phuket.
After days of no news, dwindling food and water - a group of divers virtually kidnapped a driver to take us away. Every few hours someone had created a rumor that another wave was coming, or there was a gas explosion, or the Muslim rebels were attacking. None were true, but it caused massive panic and killed many more people. We were already under massive psychological strain, and this just made it insane. We ran.
My town is gone. There are probably 2% of the original buildings in a recognizable form. I am very lucky to even be making my way home. The U.S. goverment offered me a phone call, a toothbrush, a paperback book and a temporary passport. No hotel, no food, no flight home. I was told that I could take out a loan if I could list three people who would vouch for me at home. The process would only take a few days. I was alone, injured (superficially - but I sure did look bad), no possesions, no money and my government offered me a book.
I don't know who or what to acknowledge for my presence. That will take a lot of soul-searching. I am certainly among the luckiest people in Thailand right now. According to local news it looks like my town had a SURVIVAL rate of 60%. Please think of what you value. Look around, have you given a hug to someone recently? Anyone? If everything you had were taken away, who would you turn too? In the end it is each other, not the things, that make the world spin. I won't ever forget that.
Thursday, December 30, 2004
figures
Proof that sometimes animals are smarter than we are: "Sri Lankan wildlife officials are stunned -- the worst tsunami in memory has killed around 22,000 people along the Indian Ocean island's coast, but they can't find any dead animals."
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Monday, December 27, 2004
victory
Christmas in Cancun
Hey folks--The pictures from our trip to Mexico are online. Click on the phot and check out all the photos under the "cancun" tag. Most of them came out nicely, and a few give some idea of what a great place the Mayan Riviera is. A more detailed account of the trip will follow.
(If you want to download any of these, click on any photo, then click the small "All Sizes" button to the left, and you will be given size options.)
feliz navidad
Sorry the blog has been rather defunct of late, muchachos. The Crook family has been in Mexico for Christmas, soaking up the winter sun on the white beaches of the mayan riviera. As soon as I can get an image size reducer on my computer I'll post the pictures, of which there are mucho. It was a blast. I'm now in Atlanta working on a brief I have due for a moot court competition in February, so the postings should resume forthwith. Asta luego..
Saturday, December 18, 2004
Friday, December 17, 2004
it's friday
The Captions Game:
"Dammit! I asked for the EXTRA LARGE spaghetti, meatballs, fried ham, chives and ice cream on a slab of roast beef. This place never gets my order right."
"Dammit! I asked for the EXTRA LARGE spaghetti, meatballs, fried ham, chives and ice cream on a slab of roast beef. This place never gets my order right."
"attempts to ban their creation would be fruitless"
TinyP2P is a peer-to-peer file sharing application using only fifteen lines of code.
(thanks, Jim)
(thanks, Jim)
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Where d'you get those peepers?
Richard Dawkins, Oxford professor and scientist, outspoken Darwin apologist, takes on several pernicious creationist claims. My favorite part:
"It now appears that the shattering enormity of geological time is a steam hammer to crack a peanut. "
"It now appears that the shattering enormity of geological time is a steam hammer to crack a peanut. "
The viaduct of Millau
Great photos of the tallest bridge in the world. Apparently the French are good for something...just kidding! sheesh!
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
The new game: Drunk Jenga
"The rules are as follows":
1) Get a friend very drunk.
2) Balance as many things as you can on them without waking them up.
3) Take photographic evidence.
4) Remove all the items, thus leaving the victim unaware that anything has happened.
5) Create a website. Sit back and watch friend turn red.
1) Get a friend very drunk.
2) Balance as many things as you can on them without waking them up.
3) Take photographic evidence.
4) Remove all the items, thus leaving the victim unaware that anything has happened.
5) Create a website. Sit back and watch friend turn red.
exactly
Words that should be in the dictionary:
Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
Giraffiti (n): Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
Hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness.
Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
Giraffiti (n): Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
Hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness.
Sunday, December 12, 2004
spam poetry
I just received this. Fascinating.
accident lying sometimes left. stretch obliged taught criticism studied possible, prairie please whose guess, lost minute wind busy laughing, anybody dining stairs entirely ah girl? indeed island meet things going! type considered slipped true laughing. seat consider turned definitely generally below consequence! restaurant otherwise ashamed another all makes went serious none. cried wished form wanted grandma who rich! stairs cousin daughter if appearance smooth horse! spent think stopping safety listened creature relief nine occurring! dark fire read liked persons regular both home heart sir" finally work whose talking hello proceeded throw temper. chapter really till order same seen. nothing two write hung accidentally years,
What?
accident lying sometimes left. stretch obliged taught criticism studied possible, prairie please whose guess, lost minute wind busy laughing, anybody dining stairs entirely ah girl? indeed island meet things going! type considered slipped true laughing. seat consider turned definitely generally below consequence! restaurant otherwise ashamed another all makes went serious none. cried wished form wanted grandma who rich! stairs cousin daughter if appearance smooth horse! spent think stopping safety listened creature relief nine occurring! dark fire read liked persons regular both home heart sir" finally work whose talking hello proceeded throw temper. chapter really till order same seen. nothing two write hung accidentally years,
What?
hah
This is great--it's a chew toy with a large tongue attached to it, so you dog looks like Scooby Doo when he/she chews on it.
Saturday, December 11, 2004
the Onion once again
Son, We Need To Talk About This Supreme Court Obsession Of Yours.
I just about fell out of my chair laughing at this one.
I just about fell out of my chair laughing at this one.
vee dubya
In light of Nate’s good-humored yet caustic remarks regarding my fondness for Volkswagen microbuses, I feel compelled to explain my regard for what I consider a really good idea. Now, I do not include myself in the jamband hippiness demographic anymore, thank goodness. I parted ways with the unwashed brethren a long time ago. Heck, I haven’t even seen a live music act in years, not counting that classical guitar troupe I caught in Toledo last year (although I am seeing Sector Nine on New Years). Anyway, let me stress that aside from the unfortunate hippy connotation, the microbus is a GOOD IDEA. Why? Well, once you strip all the Grateful Dead stickers off and install a working muffler, the microbus represents a way of traveling in delightfully stark contrast to the current consumerist orgy symbolized by the Hummer. Think about it: the microbus is about community and family. The whole idea is about traveling around together with a group of people, in a vehicle designed to allow them to go anywhere they want without depending on the availability of expensive hotels and restaurants. This is simply a good thing, and it represents an approach to traveling that should be encouraged. The image of the treehugger-hippie van with smoke pouring from it is a fading cliché. But the image of the lone soccer mom cruising around the grocery store parking lot in a Hummer that gets 7 miles to the gallon is all too common. The entire SUV trend represents a devotion to excess which, in light of our current conflict in the middle east and our near-total dependence on foreign oil, should be appalling. Need I mention this? It is true that Volkswagen is wise to not introduce a new microbus to a market currently obsessed with pointlessly huge, fuel-inefficient luxury vehicles driven not by families but by lone commuters, grocery moms and single guys with penis envy. But it is also true that world oil reserves are dwindling, and in order to free ourselves from dependence on non-renewable resources we should be encouraging a market of alternate fuels and hybrid or electric cars. Meanwhile, we could just as easily pile into a microbus.
But all this aside, I just like cruising around in ‘em. Especially with my John Lennon sunglasses on.
Friday, December 10, 2004
Thursday, December 09, 2004
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Saturday, December 04, 2004
new
Try out Pure JPEG. "PureJPEG is an easy to use, high performance utility to remove unnecessary data from images you email or post on the net, without affecting the image quality whatsoever (no decompression/recompression is performed in the filtration)."
Friday, December 03, 2004
Thursday, December 02, 2004
we are all here
I'm on map kick today. I did a random del.icio.us search for GIS, or Geographical Information Sytems, and I found this list. Looking for an aerial map of the U.S.? Check out windowseat.
Window Seat decodes the sights to be seen on any flight across North America. Broken down by region, this handy little softcover book features 70 aerial photographs; a fold-out map of North America showing major flight paths; profiles of each region covering its landforms, waterways, and cities; tips on spotting major and not-so-major sights; and straightforward, friendly text on cloud shapes, weather patterns, the continent's history, and more.
you are right here
Since all of you have been flooding my inbox with requests for the exact latitude and longitude of your street address, or any address for that matter, I submit to you geocoder.
of course
Mary Pat is a Indianian, although she insists she's a Hoosier. I am am Alabaman, although I insist I'm a Southerner.
multi-flash imaging with a non-photorealistic camera
This multi-flash camera is interesting: Non-photorealistic imaging is an easy way to convey ideas/images and has myriad applications for technical and medical imaging. Remember the MTV A-Ha video for "Take on Me" back in the 80's? This camera does that.
