Internet Memes

Jenny hadn't seen the Weezer Pork and Beans video, and watching it sent us on an internet meme-fest, reviewing all the referenced videos. I was surprised/saddened that the Back Dorm Boys weren't represented. After Gary Brolsma, they might be my favorite YouTube sensation.

Feymann

Feymann has so many incredible stories.

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feymann is a classic, but here is a web post. He lived many lives. The only problem with his writings is he set the bar so high for the rest of us.

DF

Five Daily Show segments

The Daily Show makes M and me laugh.

5. Conan fight, the culmination of a week of trash talking on the
daily show, the colbert report, and conan o'brien during the writer's
strike, when they are desperately trying to fill airtime.

4. John Oliver.

3. Kristen Schaal, that made us laugh most recently.

2. Aasif Mandvi in his breakout role (according to us).

And of course,

1. the master of ceremonies.

Lightning and rightness

I found it amusing that it is lightning awareness week because I actually know someone who would care. A quote from the National Weather Service:

In 2007, 45 people were struck and killed by lighting in the U.S.; hundreds of others were injured. Of the victims who were killed by lightning:

• 98% were outside
• 89% were male

M has always decided to get away from lightning by remaining indoors. I have sometimes claimed it's not such a big deal. It turns out my chance of dying is higher.

The best news is, M gets to be right, which most people enjoy greatly.

Luddite alert

I wish to claim my first-class luddite status in the telepatch.

I just ordered DTV converter box coupons from the U.S. gub'ment. They claim it's going to be mailed (!) July 11, and take 2-9 days to arrive. Whoa, speed demons.

The coupon is to hook up my "new" (analog) TV from 1994 (discarded by Riedl). Actually, it's going to hook up the VCR from 1994 (which we bought!), that hooks up to the TV from 1994. We just got rid of JJ's 1983 basement special this past year.

I wonder if DTV will allow me to get channel 2 (public television).

M claims Scott probably had a digital t.v. years ago.

Dan

Underhanded contest

Saw a link on slashdot today to The Underhanded C Contest, which I'd missed in its earlier versions. Kind of an amusing premise, likely more so for someone like myself whose first big projects were in C and who's enjoyed the Obfuscated C Code Contest in the past. I even picked up on the core of the 2007 winner's trick (the bogus prototype for a system call: hello, stack clobbering!), but was too lazy to work through its implications.

I know I'm just forwarding a link already in another blog, but I do like the droll style of the fellow who set up the contest. From its FAQ:

---

Won't this contest have a bad influence on our youth?

I don't see why: all I'm doing is inviting people to write malicious software in exchange for money.

Besides, it's not even money. It's a gift certificate for a store that lets you buy innocent things like caffeine pills, knives, butane torches and lasers.

Nice article on Lawrence Lessig in the Nation

I'm excited by Lessig's new project, Change Congress, but will admit to some skepticism about its prospects for bringing about the ambitious reform it aims for. That said, I was struck by the following quote from Mr. Lessig in a recent article in the Nation:

We have an opportunity--and it won't last long--to take advantage of the uncertainty that Congress has about how the Net actually works. They don't get it right now. And while they've learned how to ignore 1,000 e-mails, they haven't quite figured out what to do about fifty blogs talking about various legislation or meet-up events. So there's an opportunity to leverage the technology and the irrational insecurity of members of Congress, who look at any objectively insignificant resistance as something to be dealt with immediately.

I think he's exactly right, in the way the Lessig so often is. We are in the middle of an epochal shift in the way the information and opinion is created and disseminated. The clumsy on-line presence of most politicians (e.g. both McCain and Clinton), provides ample evidence that they do not grok the net in any meaningful way. Not yet.

So perhaps we do have a window of opportunity to change the fabric of our politics for the better. It is a narrow window to be sure, so we'd best press our advantage while we have it.

A number of talks have been posted on blip at: http://change-congress.blip.tv. If you haven't heard one of his Change Congress lectures, you should check them out. I personally find Lessig to be the most effective speaker I've ever heard when it comes complex abstract subjects like this one.