Vimperator!

Vi keybindings! For Firefox and Thunderbird! I just got them, and now have a ton of reading to do, but this would have a hard time being more promising.

Math is hard

They can't even get the name of their lackeys right. It's Opinion Dynamics, and they're not a polling agency so much as an opinion-altering mercenary group, who appear to have issues editing English.

They also don't seem to know what they do. Under Services, Opinion Dynamics says they perform "market research" using "methods that they use":

As a consulting firm specializing in market research, over 80% of our projects involve primary quantitative or qualitative market research. Our quantitative techniques include: telephone surveys, Internet surveys, mail surveys, on-site intercepts, and in-home visits. Our qualitative techniques include: focus groups (including in-person, online, and via telephone), in-depth interviewing, and all other methods currently in use.

Under Issues & Campaigns are actions such as:

Oregon Genetically Modified Food Labeling
A successfully [sic] 2002 campaign to defeat a ban to require labeling of all genetically modified foods. We worked on behalf of a coalition of farmers, grocers and food manufacturers for whom the proposed bill would have created an excessive cost burden, given the lack of such a requirement throughout the rest of the country.

Dubai implosion beginning?

This situation is interesting.

I have been raving for a while now (in person, to people who will suffer my ravings) that all of the insane building in Dubai was going to implode one day. I don't know a lot about economics, but I subscribe to the radical notion that "bust" follows "boom". Dubai has to be the single largest boom town ever created by man, so when it goes bust, I predicted it would become the largest ghost town on the planet.

But, because I don't know much about economics or finance, I wasn't sure how it would happen, or when.

It appears that time may be now, and the cause our old friend leverage. As this thing unravels, I'll be unsurprised to learn (and by that I mean "Shocked and outraged by this unprecedented betrayal!") of Dubai World's off-the-books debt obligations. Banks are freaking out about getting back what their owed now, but I submit that they have no idea what their exposure actually is - and won't until the implosion is well underway.

So, on my "ghost town" outcome prediction - any bets how this thing actually ends? I'm not sure the UAE will let that actually happen, but I don't know what their options will be. I guess that depends on finding out just how bad the situation really is.

My favorite exchange from Bilski v. Kappos so far...

From Ars Technica's coverage:

Justice Roberts asked about another hypothetical software case: whether you could patent the process of using a calculator to compute "the historical averages of oil consumption over a certain period and divide it by 2." Stewart responded by drawing a distinction between a calculator with "preexisting functionality" to "crunch numbers" and a computer that "will be programmed with new software" and "given functionality it didn't have before." We'll let readers judge for themselves whether this distinction makes any sense.

I think this is precisely the problem with software patents, and I'm thrilled it was actually brought up.

A more complete treatment of this topic is here.

Thanks, Windows 7!

That's a damn handy calendar!

West Virginia is for Lovers

Meet "Old Sparky"... You know what? I can't even parody this site. Go read this tourism pitch for the West Virginia State Penitentiary. Then come back here to see if you can make a funny post about it. I'll wait.

I may have found a slice of sanity

I'm ridiculously sensitive to noise of any sort. This can cause friction with others who like to do things in places that my condition will not allow (at least not without making me so surly that I'm no fun to be with).

I think I might have found a solution: The ETY ER*20s.

They're earplugs that attenuate sound evenly across the frequencies of audible sound. Regular earplugs damp noise aggressively at the upper frequencies. This is great when you want to hear nothing (like heavy machinery), but not so great when you're at a concert (or a coffee shop), because they essentially render you deaf.

Putting a pair of ER*20's in your ears is like turning down the world's volume knob by 20db. It's like saying "Shhhhh" to everything. Which is what I want!

Musicians use them to protect their hearing while retaining their ability to play in tune. I'll see if they increase my ability to do stuff with people I like where they like to go.

No delete?

Wow, this is the awesome. I posted something, then decided I didn't want it (video player isn't the right aspect ratio for the source). But... there's no "delete post" link in evidence anywhere. I can delete content, but not the post itself? FTW.