TheKolWiki. Of course there's a Wiki for KoL. You are in a maze of twisty little pages, all alike and all insane.
weird
The Kingdom of Loathing. Muahahahaa. Ahem. There's nothing that doesn't exist on the internet. And some things are very, very strange. And very, very old. And not only did I miss this very strange MMORPG (haha, no, seriously!) for ages, I also missed the Kickstarter for their CCG. And it all fits the color scheme of my blog.
Welcome to RISC OS Pi in Documentation. Ok, quite cute - RISC OS now as a system for the Raspberry Pi. On the other hand, it probably has better performance than the old Acorn machines had back then.
Google will Hausgeräte-Markt erobern. "Hey Google, is my home on fire?"
Pushing the Limits of Self-Programming Artificial Intelligence | Primary Objects. Some people really have very strange hobbies.
php.js - PHP VM with JavaScript. Simply move PHP execution to the browser. Hey, then the security vulnerabilities in PHP will only have local effects for the user and no longer for the server!
Ymacs -- An Emacs-like editor for the Web. As the title says. Emacs now also boots in the browser. However, there is still no usable editor for Emacs.
"Prince Flo, King Django & The Deadlock Doctor" by Bluekilla – laut.de – Song. Okay, yes, I was looking for ideas about problems with deadlocks and Django, and well, the title of this song sounds like it could become the theme song for my problem, but unfortunately, the Deadlock Doctor doesn't have any useful ideas either.
jlongster/dcpu-lisp. Why this is cool? Well, Notch is working on a new game - something like Elite with integrated hacking. And the hacking happens on a 16-bit CPU that is based on a 6502. And now all kinds of people are building code for this CPU. Among other things, here is a Lisp compiler.
Fliers Still Must Turn Off Devices, but Its Not Clear Why - NYTimes.com. What always amazes me about this ridiculous request to turn off electronic devices: if they were really so dangerous, why are they allowed on board? As the author correctly states in the article: the authorities panic over small bottles of hand lotion, but the electronic devices are waved through. Nevertheless, this completely ineffective request is repeated over and over again. Cargo cult security.
the "useless" language. Quite a crazy language - something like Forth, but all commands and syntax consist of single characters. There are also quite strange restrictions for function definitions (maximum 64 characters per line and only one if or while or similar in a function). Particularly fascinating is the U->C compiler written in U. The developer of the language has written an entire book about programming in U. But beware: the author's color choice is an acquired taste ...
Killer rat daubs fur with poison-arrow plant toxins. Title says it all. Gives the term "rat poison" a whole new meaning ...
Harbour Project. Someone mentioned dBase. Then I ended up at dbase.com - and then the question about Clipper arose. And then I searched for it. Why do I do such things? Why can't I control myself? And where is dBase for the cloud?
Brennender Berg – Wikipedia. Highlight of Saarland. Some have Roman settlements, large ports, huge moors or gigantic ship lifts - in Saarland, a mountain has been burning for 250 years. That's something too.
Tequila Suicide | Blogrebellen Kreuzberg. It's so stupid that it couldn't be more stupid (and only insurance agents could be so dumb to actually try it, so Ergo is almost believable). And well, at the Blogrebellen there's also a funny comic about it.
llama font - say it in llama. The Llama Font. I can't think of anything else to say about it. Someone must have painted all those llamas ...
Javascript PC Emulator - Technical Notes. Yes, a PC emulator. Based on QEmu, so quite mature code. Boots Linux in the browser. Because it can.
Baarle-Hertog. I think I just have to go there because it's so weird. A place that is partly in Belgium and the Netherlands. Sounds a bit like "The City and the City" by China Mieville.
UNO III Streetbike at Firebox.com. Transformers are here! We live in the future! I already have trouble imagining sitting on a motorized two-wheeler, so I'd rather say thank you and pass on such a vehicle - but it looks cool.
Nubrella.com. Ok, looks weird, but could be really interesting for some situations. As often as I've seen people in Münster riding bikes with umbrellas in the wind, something like this would actually improve traffic safety.
PDP-11 emulator. In JavaScript. Runs Unix System 6. Yes, just like that, with disk access and all the well-known programs from back then. Because there aren't enough strange things already.
Geotagging: Fotospot makes digital cameras GPS-capable. Rube Goldberg Geotagging. Honestly, people, if you actually need to carry around a local WLAN with a server to geotag your photos, then it doesn't matter if the server is shoved into the hot shoe of your camera - that's just silly. Just buy a camera that has on-board geotagging. Or a simple tip: with the iPhone and the built-in camera app (because of the metadata) just take a photo at every location, and then later transfer the geodata from these images to the others - there's already finished software for various systems that does this.
Real World Minecraft. Someone is building cardboard blocks in 1x1x1m according to the ideas from Minecraft and various other things around it and makes an installation out of it. Quite weird, isn't it? I wonder if the Creeper also explodes in real life?
consistency and ecosystem opportunities - Twitter API Announcements is an email where Twitter pretty much leaves all reality behind. Just to remind you: Twitter is this cute service where you can send 140-character messages - and I'm not saying that to make fun of it, it's often quite practical to search there when something is currently happening. But when I then read this bloated nonsense about "prevent diffusion of user experience" and other bullshit bingo in the email, I can only wonder what they're smoking. The real thing behind it is probably rather an attempt to close the platform to control and exploit it more - for example, the uproar about this absurd fat bar in Twitter has probably caused some panic at Twitter. Because if all users leave the official client, no one will look at the bought trends anymore ...
Strange Phenomena in iPhoto
I only use it as an image storage for creating books and syncing to my iPhone and iPad, so my iPhoto is rather unimportant for photo management. But at the moment, I have a phenomenon that is driving me crazy: I imported a CD of normal Jpegs. Then I created an album and put the pictures in it. And now iTunes always claims that this album is empty during sync. The import is also listed as a separate event in iPhoto. iTunes also claims in the sync panel that this event is empty (0 pictures). Accordingly, when syncing "All Pictures," all pictures are transferred - including these pictures. Only the albums and events that consist only of these pictures are not there. Because iTunes thinks they are empty.
What's the point of this? Does anyone out there have an idea? Googling hasn't brought up anything useful, and I've already tried various things (deleting and recreating albums, different ways of creating albums, etc.). The whole thing is quite strange. iLife is quite nice as long as it works, but when problems arise, the whole thing is nearly completely undiagnosable. Which wouldn't matter much to me if I didn't stupidly need it for syncing with my iPhone and iPad...
One reason why I prefer to stick with Lightroom, because I know where the pictures are and the databases are normal sqlite, so I can get my hands on them if necessary. And if they are in the trash, I can reconstruct everything from the pictures and sidecar files. I'll also cross Aperture off the list, its picture management sounds too much like that of iPhoto...
It's quite embarrassing when a tool from Adobe is more reliable and trustworthy than what Apple delivers. Especially since iLife is supposed to be foolproof - when problems arise and necessary troubleshooting is required, it's more of a case of "no user-serviceable parts inside".
Today I learned that there are two-legged skinks (which are actually legless reptiles) that use their front feet as shovels like a mole: Handwühlen. Just when you think nature is already weird enough, you learn a new curiosity.
Naked Password - jQuery Plugin to Encourage Stronger Passwords. Yes, that's what it says. The internet is very, very strange.
Because I wrote about Prograph: Andescotia Software seems to have a new commercial Prograph version available. The whole thing works under OSX 10.4 and there is a demo version to try out. And it's not expensive at all with 68 dollars. I think I know what I'll be playing around with tonight! And as a free download there is the book "Visual Programming With Prograph CPX". Update: the playing has been canceled, the demo does not start under Snow Leopard ... (and the traffic on their mailing list does not look like there is a big reaction to be expected). Too bad. I wrote an email, maybe something will happen yet, but it sounds very much like a dead project again. Once again.
Working Leica M8 Created Using Lego. And while we're at it, crazy cameras ...
'The Beast' Electric Bike: 50mph, $33,500. Ok, you can't really call this a bicycle anymore, it's more like an electric motorcycle-light or something. But still quite fascinating. Seems to be the week of Electro-Bikes or something: the eRockit is also a hybrid (and much cheaper than the Beast, but still very expensive)
Swordcane : The Official Web Site of Burger Knives - could I get something like this through customs? (not a serious question, I'm pretty sure that sword canes are illegal in Germany, as they are concealed weapons)
CBSC Decision | CHOZ-FM re the song “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits. Hmm. Okay, they noticed quite early that this song shouldn't be played in Canada. If I think about it, with proper implementation of these guidelines in Canada, probably only Country and Western would remain acceptable...
" ... and the fearsome Teutonic minions of the Chaos Computer Club" via The Blast Shack. Bruce Sterling on Assange and Wikileaks. Somehow, the sub-sentence threw me completely out of the reading rhythm.
Harsh criticism of French Concorde ruling. Okay, that Continental is at fault is certainly clear - after all, it was their aircraft that was poorly maintained. However, with 113 fatalities, it is probably only understandable for sarcasm-dripping cabaret artists that this company pays a fine of 200,000 euros - but 1 million euros to Air France for the image damage. It then also fits that the mechanic, who - possibly with a lack of care, but simply as a mechanic an employee - did his job and riveted a blade to the aircraft, goes to prison. Strange world.
Mono Lake bacteria build their DNA using arsenic (and no, this isn’t about aliens) | Not Exactly Rocket Science | Discover Magazine. A bit more info about our arsenic-loving newcomers. They are simply another type of extremophile, although with a truly impressive trick.
NASA’s real news: bacterium on Earth that lives off arsenic! | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine. Yo man. I welcome our arsenic-loving overlords. Or so. Life based on other building blocks is thus much more likely out there.
FrontPage - Conkeror. Well blogged as a curiosity and because such projects simply fascinate me - a browser in JavaScript with an architecture inspired by Emacs (only JavaScript instead of ELisp).
Zirkeltraining™ ★ The Range - Take A Look At Our Bag Collection. Bags of all kinds. Made from sports equipment leather, gym mats, and truck tarps. Used, of course. I refrain from public musings on whether sports equipment leather comes from old gym teachers ... (that would be in poor taste, after all)
COBOL ON COGS - I am at a loss for words ...
DOS on Dope: The last MVC web framework you'll ever need - I am scared.
emscripten - Compile LLVM bytecode to JavaScript, with loop detection etc. It's even usable to compile non-trivial C/C++ code to JavaScript. The author sees, for example, a purpose in porting existing game code to the JavaScript world, so it's quite serious. No indication whether you can boot a Linux kernel on a website with it ...
Virtual internet lady provokes espionage in the USA | tagesschau.de - somehow only one comment fits here. Facepalm. And every comment about the weakest link in the chain is simultaneously strangely fitting and inappropriate.
Emotion Markup Language (EmotionML) 1.0 - wa.., mom..., check calendar - no, it's not April 1st. facepalm.
Ben Goldacre: Predictions are fine, but there are better ways to protect a population - Italy has always been a bit odd (I mean, they have a press clown as president and this strange Catholic mini-state with a ruler who claims absolute authority). And this mini-state has a long tradition of suing (and convicting) scientists. It probably shouldn't surprise anyone if seismologists are now being put on trial for manslaughter because they didn't predict an earthquake. And this is part of the EU ...
Web.de calls Fraunhofer study "Microsoft propaganda" - it could of course also be because web.de and GMX are simply shit. But of course, a conspiracy by Microsoft and the Fraunhofer Institute against web.de and GMX is much more likely ...
World Record-Setting Kick to the Groin Raises Five Perplexing Questions - World Record - Gawker - I think removing yourself from the human gene pool by letting yourself be kicked and beaten in the jewels for years to set a record, receiving a kick with 22 mph speed and 1100 lbs of force there, would be worth a Darwin Award. And he could even pick it up himself.
5 Animals That Can Do Amazing Things ... With Their Penises | Cracked.com - what evolution comes up with to ensure the survival of a species ...
Jesus, Kirk and Vinny - about stuff like that.
michaelv.org - looks like Windows 3.1 and has a series of classic Windows programs. But everything is tinkered in JavaScript. Yes, there is a DOS prompt. And a web browser. And all sorts of other things. Just click around.