Clever Nothing, site feeds, openp2p, 1000 places, common dreams, adult comics and searches

My friend Brandon started up a Fark-like message board called Clever Nothing after getting banned or something from fark.com. Heatkernel is a frequent poster there.

And in case you need an RSS or Atom XML feed of nanothoughts, the site feed link is on the sidebar. (I know all 3 readers will be dying to do this.) Also, you can add to my.yahoo.com by clicking on the banner in the sidebar.

OpenP2P.com is now linked in the sidebar too. p2p is the future, folks. I just wish I knew more about it. hence the link.

And I recently received Patricia Schultz’s 1000 Places To See Before You Die. There are way too many hotels and restaurants, but overall it has a really good assortment of interesting sights to visit. I’ll post more about it later when I get through more of it. Right now, I’d give it a B+ for the average reader and an A for travel buffs. The best thing about the book is that it introduces the casual reader to travel ideas they might not have contemplated before. e.g. Easter Island, the North Pole (which Norway technically owns), Horseback riding in Mongolia, and climbing up to super remote villages in Bhutan. Here’s an MSNBC article about it.

Here’s a pretty radical progressive site called Common Dreams that r e g a l introduced me to. Here’s an interview between Kurt Vonnegut and Kilgore Trout.

My friend Ron from high school runs a couple sites for “adults”. Here’s into certain niche markets, like Adult comic books, superheroes etc. and Adult games like strip poker, memory, breakout etc. . I told him I’d mention them, so there ya go. Try and see if you can see some boobies or what not. Speaking of breasts, I think I’ll mention that Lindsey Lohan isn’t that bad. When does Hilary Duff turn 18? (Shameless attempt at to generate site traffic.)

extra bonus: some recent searches that led to NanoThoughts:

weephun, clevernothing, peak hubbert opponent, nanothoughts, metabolite benzoyleconine, plastic operator folder, life is a rock mp3, cypherphunk, lyrics down the walls of heartache. Eventually I’ll start to blog about nanotechnology, nanograss and all things nano.

Planet Simpson, Mindball, Brainteasers, and more Prince songs

Anybody read/seen this book?
Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation? here’s an excerpt that I lifted from here:
Real Life Notes from Fox Censors (according to Matt Groening):
- To discourage imitation by young and foolish viewers, when Homer begins to pour the hot wax in his mouth, please have him scream in pain so kids will understand that doing this would actually burn their mouths.
- Although it is only a dream, please do not show Homer holding a sign that reads KILL MY BOY.
- After Marge turns off the light, please substitute a line that’s more general, such as ‘get away from me’ or ‘stop that,’ instead of ‘get off me.’
- Bart’s line ‘Sod off’ and Willie’s rejoinder ‘I’ll give you something to sod off about!’ are not acceptable. This phrase refers to sodomy despite your set-up about resodding the lawn.
- It will not be acceptable for Itchy to stab Scratchy in the guts and yank his intestine out and use it as a bungy cord.’

I’m linking to the UK Amazon because they have this book as its “Perfect Partner.” It’s a bidirectional best hit to boot!

Not sure if this is fake or not, but looks cool:Mindball, pong played with brainwaves basically.
Hmmmmmm:Gizmodo : Sushi USB Flash Drives What’s worse, biting a flash drive, or trying to shove some maguro in your USB port?
I’d love to get one of these: Inventor Rejoices as TVs Go Dark
But, I’d prefer this (assuming American Airlines still exists in say 10-20 years. AAirpass aka Fly on AA the rest of your/its life for only $3 million.

Nice mathematical brainteaser page:
Nick’s Mathematical Puzzles

Top 5 Prince Songs You’ve Probably Never Heard

…songs that the casual fan has probably not heard because they either weren’t released as singles, were on albums that didn’t sell that well, or are generally weird enough that an initial listen might turn the casual listener (i.e. program directors) off.

  • “Endorphinmachine” from The Gold Experience
    4 minutes and six seconds of high energy rock, the energy of Let’s Go Crazy, but at a slightly slower tempo. Punctuated by some amazing guitar, it features a Prince scream of amazing intensity and duration. It even has cowbell too for all you Bruce Dickinson fans.
  • “When You Were Mine” from Dirty Mind
    Covered by Cyndi Lauper on her She’s So Unusual album, this song has an amazing groove. Sadly, Cyndi omits that groove. Prince’s version is catchy as all hell (even with quirky lyrics like “you didn’t have the decency to change the sheets”)
  • “The Question of U” from Graffiti Bridge
    Twenty second intro, one minutes of lyrics, and three and a half minute outro. Bluesy hypnotic electric guitar throughout.
  • “She’s Always in My Hair”
    The flip side to “Raspberry Beret”. Three and a half minutes of pure B-side joy. “Maybe I’ll marry her, maybe I won’t.” Indeed.
  • “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore”
    I did a google search for this b-side to “1999″ and the first gazillion hits were for Alicia Keys. Apparently it was the third track on her first album. She update his “it’s just one lousy dime” line to “quarter.” Wait until VOIP takes over. Anyway, this is the ultimate Prince piano song; those jazzy chords will knock you out. We all know that the best jazzy piano chords in a pop song belong to Van Morrison’s “Moondance”, but trust me these are a close second. (I’m pretty sure they’re jazzy piano chords anyway.)

  • Florida 2000: The Sequel – Five ways the election could end up in court, again. By Richard L. Hasen

    Let’s hope none of these scenarios actually occur: Florida 2000: The Sequel – Five ways the election could end up in court, again. By Richard L. Hasen: “jurisprudence The law, lawyers, and the court.

    One dude in the Fray posted the following. Can you imagine if Bush was re-elected and Kerry was his Veep? Man, oh man.

    “If the electoral college ties 269-269, or if one state simply cannot decide who it elected, then the twelfth amendment sends the election of President to the House voting in state caucuses, where Bush wins. The vice president to the newly elected Senate. There may be 51 or more Democratic senators after this election (especially if Jeffords votes with the democrats). If Bush is going to be President, who do the Democrats choose for vice?

    (a) Cheney, since the President should have his choice in the position.

    (b) Edwards, since he got half the votes for Vice President.

    (c) Kerry, since he got half the votes for President

    (d) Some compromise candidate, perhaps McCain

    For a bunch of Senators, this will be their very first vote. Some of the Democratic Senators will come from Bush-voting states. interesting . . .”

    –historyguy

    I Love Bees Game a Surprise Hit

    Ok, at first I saw the title and thought it said “I Love Bee Gees a Surprise Hit” and I thought “hey, why should that be a surprise, the Bee Gees are cool.” Then I started reading it and seeing how crazy everything is getting and amazed that people are so into these things, but then again, here I am wasting time blogging about it, so to each his own I guess. On page 2 I realized it’s a marketing campaign for a video game that I’ve already pre-ordered (first time ever doing that), Halo 2. Does that mean I’m partly responsible for this? Reminds me Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind‘s Lacuna Inc. and AI’s promotional web campaign, which is mentioned in the article. Need to do a post tying this together with RealDoll, BladeRunner, The Sims, Virtual Reality Tourism, etc. As for now, I’m off to erase my memories…

    “The instant I went from Preston Thorne, trying to play a game and answering a bunch of telephones, to Lt. Weephun, crew member of the Apocalypso helping Melissa complete her mission, it was a huge epiphany, and it made the game a lot more fun,” he said. “And if we had any direct communication with the Puppetmasters, it would be less fun.”
    I Love Bees Game a Surprise Hit

    Bush, Without a Doubt

    “In the Oval Office in December 2002, the president met with a few ranking senators and members of the House, both Republicans and Democrats. In those days, there were high hopes that the United States-sponsored ”road map” for the Israelis and Palestinians would be a pathway to peace, and the discussion that wintry day was, in part, about countries providing peacekeeping forces in the region. The problem, everyone agreed, was that a number of European countries, like France and Germany, had armies that were not trusted by either the Israelis or Palestinians. One congressman — the Hungarian-born Tom Lantos, a Democrat from California and the only Holocaust survivor in Congress — mentioned that the Scandinavian countries were viewed more positively. Lantos went on to describe for the president how the Swedish Army might be an ideal candidate to anchor a small peacekeeping force on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Sweden has a well-trained force of about 25,000. The president looked at him appraisingly, several people in the room recall.

    ”I don’t know why you’re talking about Sweden,” Bush said. ”They’re the neutral one. They don’t have an army.”

    Lantos paused, a little shocked, and offered a gentlemanly reply: ”Mr. President, you may have thought that I said Switzerland. They’re the ones that are historically neutral, without an army.” Then Lantos mentioned, in a gracious aside, that the Swiss do have a tough national guard to protect the country in the event of invasion.

    Bush held to his view. ”No, no, it’s Sweden that has no army.”

    The room went silent, until someone changed the subject.

    A few weeks later, members of Congress and their spouses gathered with administration officials and other dignitaries for the White House Christmas party. The president saw Lantos and grabbed him by the shoulder. ”You were right,” he said, with bonhomie. ”Sweden does have an army.””

    This story was told to [Ron Suskind] by one of the senators in the Oval Office that December day, Joe Biden. Lantos, a liberal Democrat, would not comment about it. In general, people who meet with Bush will not discuss their encounters. (Lantos, through a spokesman, says it is a longstanding policy of his not to discuss Oval Office meetings.)

    The New York Times > Magazine > Without a Doubt

    Remember, for all your login needs, use cypherphunk/cypherphunk.



    Nice article by Ron Suskind, the guy that wrote the book about Paul O’neill leaving. The main thesis isn’t trying to spread the incorrect Bush is a dumbass meme (I don’t believe he’s a dumbass either. Nor do I reallly believe in memes, but that’s another story.) It’s that he so sure of himself and his faith that he’s not getting as much guidance as he could. check it out.

    There’s Something About Mary

    I think it’s tacky at best and pretty offensive at worst how Edwards and Kerry both brought up Mary Cheney in the debates. First of all, I don’t see what she has to do with this election at all. If they’re trying to point out inconsistencies in the Republican camp or trying to trip them up, it isn’t going to work. CHeney’s response during his debate was something like “The President makes the policy and I support the policy.” which I read into as saying: If I [Cheney] were president, i wouldn’t necessarily set that policy, but I’ll always stick in my boss’s corner despite personal differences.” Anyway, I think the bottom line is that Kerry’s “handlers” are being complete idiots about this and I thought Edwards was enough. I can’t believe Kerry brought it up. Freaking idiot.

    On another note, Bush has a great sense of humor. I wish he still drank, cuz I’d gladly split a 12 pack with him.