Noooooo!!!! Have we we learned nothing?
Interests collage
21-Aug-06
In case of zombies…
19-Aug-06
Via
Animator vs. Animated
19-Aug-06
Animator vs. Animated.
Via .
Where the Hell is Matt?
19-Aug-06
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNF_P281Uu4
Via Mighty Girl
Man, I'm jealous of this guy.
Evil genius? Apply within.
15-Aug-06
Marketocracy is hiring–see the official job description below the cut.
Unofficially, we really want someone who blew everyone else away in his/her programming classes. Someone who lives and breathes computers, who programs in assembly for fun, but is still socialized enough to communicate well with the rest of the staff. A WebObjects guru would be ideal (the hire would initially be expected to maintain and/or expand upon our existing code base of WebObjects 4.5/Objective C code). This is the code base behind our financial simulation site, Marketocracy.com. However, as Apple no longer supports WebObjects/Objective-C, we will likely be gradually moving to another platform (probably Ruby on Rails).
So why work here?
* Change the world and get rich doing so. We're the only mutual fund company in the world who selects fund managers via a long term stock market competition. And mutual funds, once established, tend to be highly profitable.
* Variety. The company is small — under 15 employees. Therefore, the hire would have the opportunity to do a wide variety of tasks.
* Cool co-workers. I like and respect most of the people I work with.
* Good work environment. The hire would be expected to live near our San Mateo, CA or Raleigh, NC office. Aside from this limitation, the company is very flexible about working arrangements–most employees frequently work from home, and set their own hours.
Downsides? There are none! Our management team always communicates very well with the staff, and has never made a single boneheaded decision. Angel investor money flows like milk from a mother's bosom. We laugh at the notion that the teat might be taken away before we're profitable. Hahahahaha! AHHHAAHHAAHHahahahaa! AAHHHAHaahhaAAHHHAAAAHHHAAA!
Compensation? Really, what is money? Isn't the joy of the work most important? But if you must know, you money-grubbing capitalist, we expect to pay $80 – $100 K.
So if you, or someone you know is an evil genius, and you would like to apply for this job, let me know.
Chris
DESCRIPTION
Web Developer Requirements
Job Purpose:
Enhances user capabilities and satisfaction by planning, developing, and testing web-based applications.
Duties:
* Confirms site objectives by analyzing and validating user requirements; identifying new features and functionality and the streamlining and upgrading of existing features.
* Plans Web applications by evaluating user specifications; analyzing existing and proposed systems; creating requirements documents including set-up, scripts, hardware, network, database development, security, server management, and installation; identifying constraints and technical issues; preparing systems development life cycle plan.
* Develops Web applications by studying existing technology architecture; analyzing browser compatibility techniques; evaluating solution alternatives; developing prototypes; building n-tier, scalable, and multimedia applications; programming objects, events, functions, error trapping, data verification, animations, interactions, and dynamic updating; designing, installing, and configuring databases; completing documentation.
* Develops user interfaces by preparing a workflow chart and diagram based on subject matter, human factors, and logic; writing queries involving table alterations, views, selects, inner and outer joins, and optimized queries.
* Integrates applications by studying and establishing connectivity with network systems, databases, search engines, and information servers.
* Confirms Web applications by planning and conducting tests; modifying program sequence and/or debugging codes; resolving problems.
* Maintains team accomplishments by communicating essential information; coordinating actions; obtaining expert input; reviewing open issues and action items; contributing information to team meetings and reports.
* Reduces costs and improves serviceability by preparing reusable component design.
* Updates job knowledge by researching new web technologies; participating in educational opportunities; reading professional publications; maintaining personal networks; participating in professional organizations.
* Accomplishes organization goals by accepting ownership for accomplishing new and different requests; exploring opportunities to add value to job accomplishments.
REQUIREMENTS
Skills/Qualifications:
Analyzing Information, Problem Solving, Verbal Communication, Customer Focus, Customer Service, Web User Interface Design, Functional and Technical Skills, Problem Solving, Quality Focus, Web Programming Skills, Written Communication
* 5+ years as a web site architect
* Experienced with development & deployment of scalable, available web services
o on Mac OS X systems
o XCode ObjC/C++ IDE
o WebObjects w/Objective C and/or Java
o Apache 1.2 or Apache 2.0
o Web application server
* proficient with UI development for web applications
o HTML, DHTML, Javascript, AJAX
* proficient with Mac OS X systems management
* proficient with Unix scripting tools
o Perl 5
o Python
o Ruby (+ on Rails)
Oleg Volk is having a sale!
13-Aug-06
Oleg Volk is having a sale! All prints 30-40% off.
As many of you may know, Oleg is a brilliant propagandist for the right to keep and bear arms:
Some of you might recognize the model for some of the prints. (Tasteful, yet NSFW).
[EDIT: Apparently the model isn't who I thought she was. ]
Ken Schoolhand's nice analysis of Walter Williams immigration hypocrisy:
WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men Are Created Equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness [emphasis added].
Observe that the document says “all men are created equal.” It doesn't say, “Only those born within the thirteen colonies have rights.” It says all men are “endowed” with the “unalienable Rights” to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
It isn't only libertarians who espouse this, but most Americans every Fourth of July. If most of us truly mean these words, then are not those born in Mexico endowed with these same unalienable rights that, well, all men are? Since when did the U.S. Founders say that one only had these rights if one happened to be born within U.S. borders? Thomas Paine was not born in the United States; did he not have rights then?
Contrary to what Dr. Williams says, you do not need to have any immigration quotas or regulations to determine the number of immigrants that come onto your private property. On your private property, you can invite or not invite as many immigrants as you want. That does not give you the right to demand, with all the force of law (backed by the government's guns), that your neighbor be prevented from inviting as many immigrants as he wants onto his own private property.
Dr. Williams said himself that nobody has the right to dictate what you peacefully do with other consenting adults on your own private property. The logical conclusion to draw from this is that Dr. Williams has no business sending armed men after me or my guests if I invite dozens of Mexicans into my home every year when we commit no trespasses upon others.
Dr. Williams wrote in 2002 that “in the house, restaurant, airplane or workplace that I own, another doesn't have the right to prohibit smoking. If you don't like the fact that smoking is permitted in my restaurant, you can go elsewhere. Similarly, I can do the same if you don't permit smoking.”
Paraphrasing Dr. Williams, “in the house, restaurant, airplane or workplace — like a strawberry field! — that I own, another doesn't have the right to prohibit my having peaceful Mexican aliens over as my guests or employees. If you dno't like the fact that Mexicans are allowed to work at my business, you can shop elsewhere. Similarly, I can avoid associating with you if you don't permit Mexicans onto your property.
The International Berlin Wall
13-Aug-06
“We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
“
Ronald Reagan, Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate
West Berlin, Germany
June 12, 1987
At the end of WWII, the Soviet Union controlled (either directly or indirectly via puppet governments) many of the countries in Eastern and Central Europe: Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania.
Yet, for some time after the war, travel between the Eastern Bloc and the West was relatively free. For example, between 1949 and 1961 approximately 2.5 million people crossed from east Germany (German Democratic Republic, GDR) to west Germany (Federal Republic of Germany, FRG) via the still open border with West Berlin.
However, many of the Eastern Bloc countries suffered an increasingly large “brain drain”. The most skilled citizens — engineers, doctors, scientists — fled the communist states for a higher standard of living and increased freedom in the West.
In order to prevent this loss, the communists gradually clamped down on emigration. Exit visas were rarely granted, and those who tried to leave without a visa were, if captured, imprisoned or executed. Thus, an “Iron Curtain” descended around the countries in the Eastern Bloc.
The Berlin Wall was just one part of the GDR's swatch of the “Iron Curtain”, an 858 mile divide that stretched across Germany, dividing East and West. Over the years, dozens of people were shot as they attempted to cross the wall's 'dead zone'. And millions of people who might otherwise have been able to flee the poverty and fear of communist rule, were instead forced to be unwilling slaves. As a result, the Wall became emblematic of the horror of the communist state.
However, due to increasing dissatisfaction, and the reforms implemented by Gorbachev, the Soviet state collapsed. And on November 9, 1989, Reagan's words became reality. As the word that travel restrictions between East and West Germany were lifted, thousands of Berliners from both sides crossed the border, dancing in the streets. The Berlin Wall fell.
Yet what if the Berlin Wall had been built, not by the East German government, but the West German? Would it have been any less repellent?
And, what if, instead of acting alone, the U.S. and Great Britain had joined in with West Germany to help secure the border? Would the number of governments involved change the totalitarian nature of the wall?
After all, from the perspective of the East Germans, what difference would it have made? Whether the wall was built and operated by their own government, or external governments, the practical effects would've been the same: no freedom to move, work, make friends, find lovers, or buy property outside of East Germany. They would've still been subject to the predation of the East German police state.
`I liked the idea of freedom, and that made me an it antisocial element,” Melster recalled as he led visitors along the same dimly lit corridors through which he was frog-marched as a terrified teenager. He passed rows of solid cell doors to the monotone chamber — looking like the lair of the blandest of bureaucrats, with its wooden-veneer desk, clunky telephone, and metal file cabinet — where he was grilled 10 hours a day for five months before being sent to another prison.
“At first you think, `I'll tell them nothing,' ” Melster said. “In the end, you tell them everything. Whatever they want to know, you tell.”
Melster's life has never quite gotten back on track. He's nervous. He chain-smokes. His voice is flat, affectless.
“Was I beaten? No, I was never beaten. I have no scars to show,” Melster said.
“Stasi torture was psychological. It was sleep deprivation and disorientation,” he said. “It was intimidation through insinuation — the guard who would start screaming and touching his weapon, as if you were just seconds away from a bullet. The interrogator whose hints of `worse to come' were somehow more terrible than an actual fist to the face.
“It was months of never seeing another human, except for guards and interrogators. It was never hearing your own name, only your cell number,” he said. “It was being stripped of your humanity, layer by layer.”
6.8 million people are estimated to have died in Soviet forced labor camps and prisons from 1954 – 1987.
Yet, that is exactly what governments did then, and what they do now. During WWII
For example, in the U.S. the number of legal immigrants from any single country is capped at 25,620/year.
Opponents of immigration often say that they're not opposed to immigration, they're opposed to “illegal immigration”.
http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2006/05/29/german_film_prompts_open_debate_on_stasi/?page=3
Terrorists
12-Aug-06
Via BoingBoing:
