300 Trailer – PG version
30-Mar-07
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNqiSkd1M6k
Via
Chapel-Oak of Allouville-Bellefosse
30-Mar-07
Chapel-Oak of Allouville-Bellefosse, originally uploaded by crasch.
Via Neatorama.
“The Chêne-Chapelle (Chapel-Oak) of Allouville-Bellefosse is the most famous tree in France – actually, it’s more than just a tree: it’s a building and a religious monument all in one.
In 1669, l’Abbe du Detroit and du Cerceau decided to build a chapel in (at that time) a 500 years old or so oak (Quercus robur) tree made hollow by a lightning bolt. The priests built a small altar to the Virgin Mary. Later on, a second chapel and a staircase were added.
Now, parts of the tree are dead, the crown keeps becoming smaller and smaller every year, and parts of the tree’s bark, which fell off due to old age, are covered by protective oak shingles. Poles and cables support the aging tree, which in fact, may not live much longer. As a symbol, however, it seems that the Chapel-Oak of Allouville-Bellefosse may live on forever.”
Russian Gangster Cabin
30-Mar-07
Russian Gangster Cabin, originally uploaded by crasch.
Via
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/03/07/whouse07.xml
Gangster who built world's tallest log cabin
By Adrian Blomfield in Arkhangelsk
Last Updated: 10:42am GMT 07/03/2007
# In pictures: The house a gangster built
For the one-time gangster who built it, it is nothing less than “the eighth wonder of the world”. The less charitably disposed dismiss it as a glorified barn, fire hazard and eyesore.
But on one thing everyone agrees: Nikolai Sutyagin's home is certainly different.
Dominating the skyline of Arkhangelsk, a city in Russia's far north-west, it is believed to be the world's tallest wooden house, soaring 13 floors to reach 144ft – about half the size of the tower of Big Ben.
The house that Sutyagin built is also crumbling, incomplete and under threat of demolition from city authorities determined to end the former convict's eccentric 15-year project.
When Sutyagin began work on his dacha in 1992, he claims he was only intending to build a two-storey house – larger than those of his neighbours to reflect his position as the city's richest man, but certainly not a contender for the Guinness Book of Records.
However, convinced by a trip to see wooden houses in Japan and Norway, he concluded that he had not used roof space efficiently enough and decided to keep building.
“First I added three floors but then the house looked ungainly, like a mushroom,” he said. “So I added another and it still didn't look right so I kept going. What you see today is a happy accident.”
There were other motives too. Having grown up in a Soviet communal flat, Sutyagin said he felt lonely living by himself.
Not only would his house make a perfect love nest for his molls, it could also accommodate the 18 executives at his construction company.
He even built a five-storey bath house in the garden, complete with rooms where he and his colleagues could have a little bit of privacy with their girlfriends. But Sutyagin was never to complete his dream. In 1998 he was handed a four-year prison sentence, his third jail term, on racketeering charges. He says he was set up.
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While in prison, he claims his rivals destroyed his equipment, stole his money and threw his five cars into the Dvina river – a similar fate to that which befell many of Russia's rich in the chaotic years of the 1990s.
“When I went to prison I was a millionaire,” he said. “Now I'm penniless.” Sutyagin, 60, lives in four poorly heated rooms at the bottom of his wooden skyscraper with his 32-year-old wife Lena.
What is left of his fantasy is slowly decaying around him. Even so, it remains a remarkable architectural feat – especially given the fact that Sutyagin built much of it himself – that defies easy description.
A whimsical jumble of planking, from a distance it bears a resemblance to a Japanese pagoda, but draw closer and it seems more like a mix between a Brobdignagian tree house and the lair of a wicked fairytale character.
Not everyone sees it like that, though. Neighbours consider it a monstrosity and the city authorities, pointing to bylaws that say no wooden structure should be higher than two floors, warn that fire could cause the whole suburb to go up in flames. They have begun action to pull it down.
Sutyagin vows to win and has erected a roof around the second floor that he says allows him to claim that everything above is purely decorative.
Meanwhile, he spends his time taking visitors on death-defying tours that involve criss-crossing rotting planking and climbing icy ladders.
A man who thinks he has six children but cannot be sure, Sutyaging kept up a commentary on the adventures he anticipated if his skyscraper had been completed.
“This would have been a great room for making love,” he said, balancing on a plank he has just thrown over a chasm in the floor.
“This one would have been even better,” he said, two floors higher. “Look at that view.”
Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright
Drive-by installs
30-Mar-07
Via
Microsoft Announces New Vulnerability Affecting Cursors and Icons
A new vulnerability affecting animated cursor and icons in Windows that has been announced. No patch exists for the vulnerability and exploit code has been released and there are reports of some malware exploiting this problem. Furthermore, Microsoft has acknowledged the issue raising the potential for an increase in exploitation.
According to McAfee, IE version 6 and version 7 running on fully patched versions of Windows XP SP2 are vulnerable. Windows version 2000 SP4 and Server 2003 (non & SP1) are also reportedly vulnerable. Vista is also reported to be vulnerable but only witnessed as a denial-of-service at this point.
Computers can be infected by simply visiting a website containing a malicious .ANI file or HTML email message with one placed on it. In the past, malicious websites have used this type of vulnerability to silently install malware onto an unsuspecting visitor. These are also known as “drive-by” installs.
Man, I'm glad I'm on a Mac. With Apple's move to an Intel platform, there's no reason to stay with Windows any more. Many Windows apps are native to Macs already. But if not, now you can run most of them at near-native speeds using Boot Camp or Parallels.
If you must use Windows, at least switch to Firefox and Thunderbird.
Quill pens
30-Mar-07
Quill pens, originally uploaded by crasch.
Via
I'd love to try this someday
30-Mar-07
I'd love to try this someday, originally uploaded by crasch.
Via
"I can see my nose!"
30-Mar-07
"I can see my nose!", originally uploaded by crasch.
Via
GEEK: How do I request timed user input?
29-Mar-07
Suppose you want to write a Python program that solicits input from a the user, but goes ahead anyway with a default value if they don't respond in say, 5 seconds. The following snippet of code implements such a thing:
#!/usr/bin/env python
import select
import sys
def tester():
while True:
print """Continue? (type "Y" to continue, or "Q" to quit)"""
r, w, e = select.select( [sys.stdin], [], [], 5.0)
if r == []:
answer = "Y"
else:
answer = sys.stdin.readline().strip().upper()
print "answer: %s" % answer
if answer == "Q" or answer == "QUIT":
print "Okay, fine. Be that way."
sys.exit(0)
if answer == "N" or answer == "NO":
print "Wah! Parting is such sweet sorrow."
sys.exit(0)
if answer != "Y" and answer != "YES":
print "Watchoo talkin' bout, Willis?"
else:
print "And so our journey continues. Yay!"
tester()
(Use raw_input() if you don't need a timeout.)
Brainy Babes
29-Mar-07
Celebrity babes with high IQ's via Newmark's Door
Other People's Money
29-Mar-07
Danny Devito's speech to stockholders from the film Other People's Money
Via Newmark's Door.