Punchy
Posted 9:43 AM

Saw Punch Drunk Love. It's a complex, sparse, fierce and eccentric film that's really worth watching.

During the movie the person behind me kept kicking my chair. I kicked back by sort of rocking my chair into his leg over and over. Then he had the nerve to ask me to stop. I said, "Are you being an asshole on purpose or don't you have control over your foot?". We shot insults in loud whispers back and forth for a bit, and then we settled down. After the movie was over I got up and glared at him saying, "Sorry about that". He nodded. To his girlfriend, "I had a hard day, sorry for taking it out on him." She also nodded. Somehow that made me feel satisfied without having to kick his teeth in. I'm kindof proud of my anger management.

Hey, and it's not too late to register to vote.

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Got the vote, got the sniper
Posted 11:05 PM

Saw a lot of bad french films recently, each more protracted, pointless and moody than the next - none of them worth mentioning. Simply avoid French for the next month.

On the upside, saw Secretary a painfully funny, witty and wise film. A must see. The Man From Elysian Fields was cool - except for the happy ending. MkJ brought a *lot* to his part. Also saw Spirited Away which was linear and simple, as expected, but creative and suprisingly engaging.

I am so dying to get away for a short trip. But I don't want to spend a lot. So I looked into courier flights. Anyway, here's a list of all the courier ops running in New York that I could find - maybe someone can use them. $100 round trip to Morocco sounds like an adventure.

Full WTC set:
Aug 12, 2002, Aug 16, 2002, Aug 30, 2002, Sep 11, 2002, Sep 23, 2002, Oct 24, 2002 + bonus : my lung-damaging office exodus.

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Oingo
Posted 7:04 PM

I managed to contract a painful but curable STD. The antibiotics are giving me stomach cramps. I left out some details, you can use your imagination.

Anyway. To keep myself off the streets, where I'm bound to get in trouble again, I signed up for Odigo. It's supposed to consolidate my AIM and Yahoo IM accounts. It was easy to set up and the integrated AOL/ICQ support worked right away. Yahoo IM support is flaky and the Odigo network is slow. I don't recommend it. If there's anyone who knows of an IM consolidator that works, let me know.

On the upside I met a hot-chick that lives nearby using the Odigo peoplefinder thing.

#!/bin/perl
while (1) {`make -f stupid.mistakes`};

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Some notes on AI
Posted 11:01 AM

Started a fun thread on genetic engineering at KurzweilAI.com. Some violent, fearful anti-technology person started replying to me, calling me an idiot in each reply. Joy!

It's come to my attention (can't explain how or why) that hackers are trying to break in to some servers because they think these servers are running terrorist websites. This is not a game. What all these hackers don't realize is they are not hurting the terrorists, they are just slowing down U.S. investigations.

If you think you're hacking a terrorist site, find out if it's on a U.S. or U.K. webhost. If it is, then:
- it's a misinformation site deliberately hosted by the U.S.
- it's a non-terrorist info site that has been sanctioned by our government
- it's a site that's being used to monitor, track and log terrorist activity.

Indonesian sites are a big exception to this rule. They are often real terrorist sites.

If you think you found a new site, just alert the FBI and/or the SSECB (+1 202-435-5850) and let them deal with it. Believe me, they are lot better at it than most people think.

Labels: science

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Posted 10:52 AM

When I first started this blog, I mixed news with science with stuff in my personal life, links to places in town, etc. Recently, I've been avoiding the personal part. Just so you know, it's because my personal life is extremely interesting right now. It's so interesting that I can't possibly speak about it. All the places I've been are secret places, and all the people I meet wear black.

Really.

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Posted 5:21 AM

Just used Amazing Mail to send a real postcard (not a crappy e-card) to support the Snopes TV show.

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Accelerating China
Posted 4:26 AM

Regarding the law of accelerating returns.

Genetic engineering for increased intelligence is possible today, and has been for several years. It has reached only ethical barriers. This is a normal hurdle with any major technology change. This will be the foundation of the information processing boom of the near future.

Researchers found that GE engineered "smart" mice had an increased sensitivity to chronic pain - and they thought that this was a "problem" with the procedure. They failed, however, to remeber that smarter people are also more sensitive to chronic pain and abuse. This is a natural consequence of increased intelligence and memory, not some genetic misstep. One solution that intelligent people have found to reduce the debilitating effects of chronic abuse is imbibing every day, killing brain cells, until they're stupid enough to be happy.

Nevertheless, GE will probably be used to increase intelligence within the next 5 years. Countries, such as China, who have less of a cultural barrier to the idea of genetic modification will be the early beneficiaries of this paradigm shift, and may become world leaders in science as a result.

Labels: science

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