SkyscraperPage
KFG points out SkyscraperPage.com... checking out the diagram for New York's tallest buildings is a learning experience, and the Shanghai diagram makes my pictures from April in Shanghai all the more interesting.
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June 29, 2002
June 28, 2002
Michael Stipe's Revenge
I've been ripping my CD collection again... trying to get some more value out of what's been sitting in a milk crate at home. And damnit, I really like R.E.M., or at least their album Automatic for the People (1992). So sue me.
June 27, 2002
Trackback Loop?
Odd... using trackback, you can create loops. [Karlo.Org -- Tom Karlo] :: Trackback and MT 2.2
Just my silly way of testing that things are working. Of course, I've realized now that it's really heard to get to the individual entries on this site (at least until they age some.) Going to have to fix that soon.
Trackback and MT 2.2
MoveableType 2.2 has been released (and this site has upgraded already.) It's got an amazing new feature, TrackBack, that basically allows your site to automatically link back to people who have written about a post (from right within that post!) Pretty wizzy... everyone's just figuring it out right now, but it's going to be popular fast, I expect.
June 26, 2002
VerisignOFF
Merlin D. Mann (Ever wonder what his real name is?) of KungFuGrippe is working on VerisignOff.com, a site that teaches people how they can switch their domain registrations away from Verisign, and over to other registrars where they'll get better service and lower prices.
Myself, I've switched all the domains I care about to Dotster. So far, service has been great, and I've been paying one third of what Verisign charged me annually. I'll be sending step-by-step instructions on switching to Dotster (it's easy) to Merlin for inclusion in his site.
June 24, 2002
Out on the River
This city boy had a ball whitewater rafting in Eastern Pennsylvania down the Lehigh River. After the compulsory deliverance jokes we had a really nice day of floating and the occasional rapids, with a picnic lunch on the banks at mid-day. The digital camera begged out (something about seasickness and not knowing how to swim) so I plunked down $9 for a waterproof disposable... I should have a photo or two tomorrow when one photographer posts his shots online, and my own in a week or two.
June 19, 2002
RSS Blogroll
If I end up with any more RSS-subscribed content on this site, I'm going to get to the point where I don't actually have to write anything anymore. I've switched the right-hand column list of "other reading" over to a customized feed from Blogrolling.Com. Sure, all of the content there is mine (unlike the Blogdex section above it, where all of the content is, well, everyone's.)
The list of top blogs right now on Blogrolling is a little depressing. I like Lockergnome-writer Chris Pirillo as much as anyone, but I'm not sure I'm thrilled that he's the biggest common link between the cultural context of 900-odd bloggers participating in that system. Running down the top 5-10 from there isn't much of a thrill either.
Thanks (again) to Merlin Mann at kungfugrippe for this tidbit of sidebar goodness... ended up on his site by accident while trying to fix a spam problem, via Ben Trott's (maker of Moveable Type) weblog. These are narrow circles we travel in. I'm sure if I'd made a left turn, I would have ended up in the somewhat more peace-loving neighborhood near the intersection of Kottke and Megnut streets.
If I steal anything more from Merlin, I'm going to have to start just mirroring his web site. The only thing that keeps me from "liberating" his new 3-column layout is a general lack of time and unwillingness to wade around in CSS at the moment.
June 17, 2002
My Dog has Aim
My sister's dog Petey has AIM... you can reach him at "Petey Karlo".
June 14, 2002
Bejing Evening News Retraction
According to The L.A. Times, the Bejing Evening News finally retracted a story it stole last week from The Onion about the U.S. Congress threatening to move out of the capitol, but it's apparent they still don't quite understand things. As part of the retraction, they took a shot at the satire rag for being, well, not entirely accurate.
From the Times:
"Some small American newspapers frequently fabricate offbeat news to trick people into noticing them, with the aim of making money," the paper said. "This is what the Onion does."
It cited a recent Onion article about the U.S. government issuing life jackets to all Americans for some unexplained reason. "According to congressional workers, the Onion is a publication that never ceases making up false reports," the Evening News said.
June 13, 2002
XP Themes
So I complained the other day about Microsoft's inability to create decent themes... seems like someone agreed. TGTSoft's XP Style application basically grafts onto the semi-comatose Microsoft XP themes system and breathes new life into it, allowing user-contributed skins that work as well as the original XP GUI, without the speed hit of other skinning utilities. Works really nicely... $20 for the full item, but a 30-day trial is free.
June 10, 2002
KDE 3 Style
Given some of the amazing desktop themes coming out for KDE 3.0, I'm wondering if it's time to go back to a dual-boot system on my home machine. I alredy had Linux Red Hat 7.3 on my laptop last week but I ended up using that drive for something else. As Apple and Linux continue to produce increasingly aesthetic windowing interfaces, it's amazing (and appalling) to me that Microsoft still can't get decent themes for Windows. They made a half-hearted attempt in XP, but then failed to really support it at all (besides releasing a really weak "olive" variant of the standard blue or silver default looks.)
[Added June 12, 2002] If you want an aqua-style theme like above, visit this site to get a theme module for KDE that has coded support for it.
Monday Funnies
Several amusing things going on this morning:
The Bejing Evening News has egg on its face after
reprinting (without credit) a satire article from The Onion as real news. Sadly enough, so far it hasn't chosen to retract the story and tell its readers that the U.S. Congress is not, in fact, demanding a capitol with retracting dome (for good weather days.)
The original Onion Story
The Bejing Evening News site (I'd link to the story if I could read Chinese.)
In unrelated news, God now has his own blog. You have to wonder though, wouldn't the Devil be more amusing, long term?
June 5, 2002
Linux Router Project
Future project: disk-less Smoothwall Linux router
I'm putting this entry in partially so I don't forget it myself, but also because it may be of interest to a lot of other people.
For about $150, it's possible to assemble a number of components into a very advanced firewall for your house, one that allows for multiple security areas, VPN access, web proxying, and support for dynamic IP services (like no-ip.com, which I use to maintain the karlo.org domain.)
The critical parts:
- Smoothwall Linux (Free, but a donation is suggested.)
- VIA Eden low-power, miniature all-in-one computer ($90)
- Compact Flash to IDE adapter ($20)
- 32 or 64 MB Compact Flash ($30, but I own one)
- Ethernet Card ($15, but again I have one around)
Why replace my trusty Linksys BEF4 router with a computer? This option provides better security, with far more features. Also, given that much of my house operates off a wireless network, having a more configurable router will allow me to reduce the security risks associated with wireless networks.
For now though it's just an idea... I have a Boundless Webplayer sitting at my place that I need to work on rebuilding first... I guess I could use it for the above, but it seems a waste of the Webplayer's 10" LCD screen.
June 3, 2002
Reuters Violates DMCA
Newsforge reports that Reuters last week violated the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) by publishing an article on how to disable Sony's music CD copyprotection using a magic marker. The story was widely republished in mainstream forums including CNN.
Given that hacking site 2600 has been taken to court simply for linking to information about DeCSS (a scheme used by Linux users primarily for watching legally purchased DVDs) under the DMCA, the Reuters article, which actually contained instructions for disabling Sony's copy protection, may be an interesting test of the DMCA vs. first-amendment rights. According to the DMCA, not only is illegal to violate copyright protection, but it is verboten to explain to others how to disable or compromise copy-protection, or even to let them know where that information resides.
That may seem minor, but it's striking when you realize that simply by linking to the Reuters story on Yahoo! I'm also therefore violating the DMCA and opening myself to potential litigation from Sony. So much for the right to report on current events.
From Reuters: "Monday, Reuters obtained an ordinary copy of Celine Dion (news - web sites)'s newest release "A New Day Has Come," which comes embedded with Sony's "Key2Audio" technology.
After an initial attempt to play the disc on a PC resulted in failure, the edge of the shiny side of the disc was blackened out with a felt tip marker. The second attempt with the marked-up CD played and copied to the hard drive without a hitch.
Internet postings claim that tape or even a sticky note can also be used to cover the security track, typically located on the outer rim of the disc. And there are suggestions that copy protection schemes used by other music labels can also be circumvented in a similar way. "
In case you're curious, this tiny program from two MIT students is all that's needed to decode a DVD in Linux for watching. (As I remember it, the DVD consortium claimed that the encryption scheme was "unbreakable.")
#!/usr/bin/perl # 472-byte qrpff, Keith Winstein and Marc Horowitz
# MPEG 2 PS VOB file -> descrambled output on stdout.
# usage: perl -I
# where k1..k5 are the title key bytes in least to most-significant order
s''$/=\2048;while(<>){G=29;R=142;if((@a=unqT="C*",_)[20]&48){D=89;_=unqb24,qT,@
b=map{ord qB8,unqb8,qT,_^$a[--D]}@INC;s/...$/1$&/;Q=unqV,qb25,_;H=73;O=$b[4]<<9
|256|$b[3];Q=Q>>8^(P=(E=255)&(Q>>12^Q>>4^Q/8^Q))<<17,O=O>>8^(E&(F=(S=O>>14&7^O)
^S*8^S<<6))<<9,_=(map{U=_%16orE^=R^=110&(S=(unqT,"\xb\ntd\xbz\x14d")[_/16%8]);E
^=(72,@z=(64,72,G^=12*(U-2?0:S&17)),H^=_%64?12:0,@z)[_%8]}(16..271))[_]^((D>>=8
)+=P+(~F&E))for@a[128..$#a]}print+qT,@a}';s/[D-HO-U_]/\$$&/g;s/q/pack+/g;eval
June 1, 2002
Movie Lines I Want to Hear
If you could have the actor of your choice say one line in a movie, what would it be?
e.g.:
"I'm gonna beat you 'till the candy comes out... M--- F----" -- Samuel Jackson, Star Wars Episode III
"We're in Korea? Oh, damn..." -- Scooby Doo