Month: May 2004 blog archive
putting faces with the numbers - 31 May 2004

Today’s Ask Yahoo question is Where can I find a complete list of names for all the troops killed in the Iraq war? The answer was at CNN’s War in Iraq casualties page which has an overview, and views by month (2004), country, killed, wounded, race, age, and gender. It’s one thing to hear numbers […]

Categories: News
rejecting the rejection - 29 May 2004

The next time you receive a rejection letter, you may want to borrow some lines from the rejection of the rejection letter. It’s a classic. (via mezzoblue)

Categories: Humor
a collection of illusions - 28 May 2004

Here’s a large collection of illusions of all types. It’s fun to peruse them and see how wrong our initial perceptions can be. I already wrote about this illusion, but it’s mentioned again and uses a different approach to show that the squares are the same color. It’s hard to convince people that their brain […]

Categories: Entertaining
bow and arrow game - 27 May 2004

Sit back, relax, and draw blood with a bow and arrow in this simple and slightly gruesome game (Flash). If it gets boring you can add a wall and wind to the mix. When I added both I sent the arrow flying and it shot up and over the wall, then the wind blew it […]

Categories: Games
keyboard shortcuts - 26 May 2004

Keeping your hands on the keyboard can be faster than moving your hands to the mouse and back when you’re doing certain tasks on the computer. Of course there are times when the mouse is the best tool for the job, and other times when it should be used exclusively. However, I’ve witnessed numerous people […]

Categories: Useful
a new way to get DVDs - 25 May 2004

I thought about signing up for Netflix but decided I didn’t want enough movies to warrant the price. Now there’s a new service called Peerflix with a different model. Instead of borrowing, you trade, and you can keep them as long as you want. There are three steps to using the service: 1. Create a […]

Categories: Useful
opera 7.x features - 24 May 2004

I have been using Opera since 5.0 but Opera 7 has quite a few new features that I have only recently discovered. I’ve been keeping track of the coolest features I’ve found and compiled this list. I may make occasional updates as I find out about new features, but here’s what I have so far. […]

Categories: Web browsers
my switch to bloglines - 23 May 2004

Three months ago I read about RSS feeds in this article. I had heard all about them but finally decided to investigate, so when they mentioned Feedster, which I had heard about here and there, I decided to try it. It wasn’t too easy to use but I found out that my default MT template […]

Categories: Blogging
the drivers in spain - 21 May 2004

I was a pedestrian nearly the entire time I lived in Spain, and in Toledo I learned a thing or two about how to survive. The most dangerous part was when you were walking down a narrow road and a car would drive up behind you and honk. The roads in the old part of […]

Categories: Stories
do you draft? - 20 May 2004

I currently have 84 drafts of posts in Movable Type right now. There’s also another entry that is a draft that has over 100 ideas for entries that weren’t developed enough to create a draft from them. Does anyone else do this or am I alone in my draft-happy state? My basic method is this; […]

Categories: Blogging,The site
i could use a donation like this - 19 May 2004

If there is an increase in police officer candidates in Italy, I’m pretty sure this is the reason. Can you imagine driving along the highway and seeing this in your rearview mirror?

Categories: News
gmail quota = 1 terabyte - 18 May 2004

I haven’t heard about the reasoning or if it’s here to stay, but my GMail account quota just went up from 1000MB to 1000000MB, otherwise known as a terabyte. Update: The quota has been changed back to a Gigabyte. It was fun while it lasted though.

Categories: News
find out your page rank - 18 May 2004

In the past, the only way to determine a site’s Google Pagerank was to install the Google toolbar for Internet Explorer and go to the site in question. In fact, that is almost exclusively why I used Internet Explorer, until now. Proogle Prog lets you see a site’s page rank from any browser your heart […]

Categories: Search engines
transferring files - 16 May 2004

Have you ever wanted to transfer an exceptionally large file to someone? Those that have used e-mail to do it usually find that when their friend dialed up to check their e-mail it took 67 hours to download the dang thing across their 56KB connection. Send huge files by e-mail no more – now there’s […]

Categories: Useful
yahoo mail boosts to 100MB - 14 May 2004

After Google’s announcement of free online e-mail with 1000MB quota, Yahoo is offering 100MB for their free users and virtually unlimited storage for paid accounts. I wonder what gave them that idea? (Even though it’s still 10 times less than GMail) (via jeremy) Update: If you’re having problems using Yahoo Mail, try using a browser […]

Categories: News
stomping grapes on a raised platform - 13 May 2004

Matt Haughey posted one of the funniest news clips I’ve seen in a long, long time. I call it, “Ooooo, ooo, ooo, ooowww, oooo, I can’t breath!” It’s probably rude to think that’s funny, but I seriously thought the newscasters shown after the incident were going to bust up laughing. I say it’s okay to […]

Categories: Humor
opera 7.50 final release - 12 May 2004

Fresh out of the oven, Opera 7.50 is out of beta and has been officially released. I’m using it right now to post this entry. Stay tuned for a post I’ve been working on for months about lots of the features of Opera 7. I want to take a look at the new features that […]

Categories: Web browsers
the singhsons - 12 May 2004

Now presenting the Singhsons, the East Indian cousins of the Simpsons. (via Ed)

Categories: Entertaining
name statistics - 11 May 2004

At name statistics you can see how popular your first and last names are. Dan is #179 (and Daniel is #12) on the most popular male names list, but Hersam is “a very rare last name.” In other words, it’s not in their database. Having a rare last name can be nice because I don’t […]

Categories: Entertaining
guessing people’s ages - 10 May 2004

How well can you guess other people’s ages? I was within 2-3 years on most people, but way off on a few. I felt bad because I was usually too high when I was wrong. I can’t imagine a 22-year-old would like being told they look 35. You can also put up your own picture […]

Categories: Entertaining
fun with mailinator - 08 May 2004

You may have heard about Mailinator, a service used for creating temporary e-mail addresses for site registrations. The standard use case is: 1. You begin registering for a web site that wants your e-mail address. 2. You think of an e-mail address at mailinator ([email protected] for instance) 3. The web site sends out an e-mail […]

Categories: Spam
identifying logos - 08 May 2004

I’ve spent far too much time on the fast food logo game but I’m still stuck on one. It’s the red and white hot air balloon and I think I’ve seen it before, but I just can’t remember where. I got the first few without any help, but then it started getting harder and I […]

Categories: Entertaining
blooo-ip - 07 May 2004

I was in a public bathroom, minding my own business (Hah! I didn’t even mean it like that) when I heard a sound. There are many sounds you expect to hear in a bathroom, and there are some you’d rather not hear and some which are to be expected, but this sound was different. It […]

Categories: Stories
funny flash movies - 06 May 2004

I recently heard about The Shining in 30 seconds re-enacted by bunnies, done by the same people who gave us The Exorcist in 30 seconds re-enacted by bunnies. Given their track record at humor, it’s no wonder the other movies they’ve done are funny: Amy’s Diary Cartoonist’s Block Behind the Shiman Vol. 1 (It’s true, […]

Categories: Entertaining
10 mistakes writers don’t see - 05 May 2004

The top 10 mistakes writers don’t see (but can easily fix when they do) is meant primarily for authors of books, however, if you add up a person’s blog entries you’d probably have enough (or in some cases much more) for a novel. Plus, it’s useful to know the common pitfalls of writing so you […]

Categories: Language
bug me not - 04 May 2004

Next time you visit a site that asks you to enter your personal information to register with them, use a login from bugmenot.com. If you don’t find one listed, register with the site (presumably with false information), then add that login for others to use. (via snout.org)

Categories: Useful
opera 7.5 beta 1 - 04 May 2004

Opera continues to improve their browser with the latest release, Opera 7.5 Beta 1. A few of the highlights of this release include User interface redesigned Chat client RSS newsfeeds Fast full-text indexing of e-mail messages Support for spell check Graphical smileys in chat and e-mail

Categories: Web browsers
gmail at last - 04 May 2004

After a great deal of searches and requests, I finally managed to get a GMail invitation. My impression so far: it’s great. And it’s not just the 1000MB of disk space. Although that is a very nice feature, there are several others that make it far superior to my previous account, Yahoo Mail, which had […]

Categories: My Thoughts
interrogating saddam - 03 May 2004

Somehow the interrogation logs of Saddam Hussein have found their way onto the web. Here’s a sample: Interrogation commenced: 0330 hours Woke SH quite early to catch him off-guard and groggy. I asked, “What’s your first name?” and he said, “Saddam.” Again I asked, “What’s your first name?” and he said, “Saddam.” I kept asking, […]

Categories: Humor