Nelson's Linkblog 2007-07

about • archive • mastodon • feed

Facebook outage

I've been impressed with how they've had no downtime. Oops today.

2007-07-31 facebook • downtime • web • outage

Sun had a profit!

Wow, never thought that'd happen again

2007-07-30 sun • computer • stock • profit • earnings

SF to LA, no highways

Google Maps will let you route anything

2007-07-30 maps • google • highways • california

nice casual puzzle game, runner up in Jay's competition

2007-07-30 games • casual • puzzle • flash

Solar eclipse map

Awesome visualization of totality for 25 years

2007-07-30 map • visualization • infographics • via:digg • eclipse • sun • travel

Screenscraping tips

Some comments I made about liberating data from websites

2007-07-30 screenscraping • python • beautifulsoup • web • robot

Advanced Python screenscraping; tries to infer document structure from multiple examples

2007-07-30 python • screenscraping • template • django • parser • beautifulsoup

Marvin Zindler RIP

Houston TV legend passes on.

2007-07-30 obituary • marvinzindler • whorehouse • chickenranch • consumer • toupee • rip

Google Earth / topo maps

Easily installed overlay with isoaltitude USGS maps

2007-07-28 topographic • map • google • googleearth • isoaltitude

Solaris 255 maxfiles

All Unices suck in some way. Solaris STDIO is limited to 255 files / process

2007-07-28 solaris • stdio • fdopen • file • ulimit • kernel • badtech • bug

iPhone resources

Good roundup of the first few weeks' of Internet churn on iPhone

2007-07-27 iphone • hacks • blogs • guide • resources • reference

Kirk and Spock as Lone Ranger and Tonto in love

2007-07-27 fandom • slash • photoshop • startrek • loneranger • tv

Paris bicycle culture

How casual bike rentals are altering Paris life

2007-07-27 paris • france • bicycle • bike • urbanplanning

Jason writes well about poker

2007-07-27 poker • goldman • goldtoe • jason • bluff

Was Tillman murdered?

Wow, this looks awful; some reason to think his death was more than just a friendly fire accident

2007-07-27 tillman • iraq • war • soldier • military • coverup • scandal

baby baby *luvya girl*

The song's main, and sole, lyrics, "Baby, baby, Luvya girl," are sung in a breathy male voice that alternates between a grunt and a falsetto.

2007-07-26 satire • music • theonion • onion • pop

Amazingly detailed technical article about how Ruby on Rails design choices can interact badly with MySQL's limitations

2007-07-26 mysql • rubyonrails • rails • ruby • orm • database • webapp • optimization • performance

Crates and Barrels

images of ubiquitous video game objects

2007-07-26 via:anildash • games • crates • barrels • culture

Space Invader / Second Life

There's a nice full circle aspect to this

2007-07-26 spaceinvader • streetart • graffiti • paris • france • secondlife • games

Space Invader / MySpace

French street artist shows up with a MySpace web page

2007-07-26 spaceinvader • streetart • graffiti • paris • france • myspace

Apache on iPhone

Also Python. The toolchain is working, how long until Apple breaks it?

2007-07-26 iphone • gcc • apache • python • hack

Predictor or cause?

Elderly people the cat sits near die two hours later

2007-07-26 cat • bizarre • health

Marc waxes about the implications of their opening access to bank data

2007-07-25 wesabe • api • finance • marc

Lovely little jwz rant; beware if you comment on his blog

2007-07-22 jwz • alt.fan.jwz • mpeg • video • rant

A binary XML format, very fiddly bitwise encoding

2007-07-22 w3c • xml • encoding • via:gregorio • compression

Update on how the Alberta group is doing

2007-07-22 poker • computer • ai • chess • games

Entrecote secret #2

Followup to the other article, in English with the basics of a recipe

2007-07-21 food • entrecote • steak • sauce • paris • france • restaurant • recipe

Le secret de l'Entrecote

Chicken livers, maybe

2007-07-21 via:wikipedia • food • dining • paris • france • steak • sauce

an infovisualization

2007-07-21 via:goldman • graph • 99problems • infographics

Ask: search privacy

AskEraser will let a user tell ask.com not to log their searches

2007-07-20 privacy • search • ask • askjeeves

Google gambit 2

I'm really impressed with their public play for open wireless

2007-07-20 politics • spectrum • internet • google • auction • open • fcc

GameFAQs leadership

One of the best and simplest online content sites is about to lose its leader

2007-07-20 via:digg • games • gamefaqs • media • cnet

Google wireless gambit

Offers to bid on spectrum, but only if there are openness requirements

2007-07-20 google • network • freedom • wireless • fcc • spectrum • auction

Constitutional crisis

Good Harper's essay explaining the danger of the extension of executive privilege

2007-07-20 coup • politics • usa • bush • executive • president • court • contempt • ruleoflaw

Fat Wonder Woman

A loving reimagination. I always liked how big Lynda Carter was, she's hot.

2007-07-20 wonderwoman • comics • fan • fat • obese • diet • lyndacarter

Internet health report

Useful general web page; shows major North American network problems

2007-07-20 network • tcpip • report • internet • problem

Level3 network problems

Massive packet loss in one of the big North American Internet carriers

2007-07-20 badtech • level3 • tcpip • internet • outage

How to get rid of crap; if I buy Merlin beer maybe he'll help me declutter?

2007-07-20 clutter • organize • trash • dump

"Security theater"

TSA head calls some of their own procedures a sham

2007-07-20 security • tsa • orwell • schneier

Twitter / jennyholzer

Even if fake, this is genius

2007-07-20 via:boingboing • art • jennyholzer • holzer

Hardcore CAPTCHA

funny because it's true

2007-07-20 captcha • funny • math

iPhone hello world

Unauthorized iPhone toolchain is on its way

2007-07-20 hack • code • iphone • software • gcc

Joel hates blog comments

I mostly agree with what he's saying

2007-07-20 blog • culture • weblog • comments • via:ryan

NYT Harry Potter review

The bastards broke the embargo

2007-07-19 book • review • harrypotter • nyt • embargo

Court documents reveal new law enforcement techniques

2007-07-19 via:digg • fbi • wiretap • penregister • spyware • police • government

iPhone webapp storage

Work around stupid iPhone limitations by using data: urls

2007-07-18 hack • iphone • application

the trailer video is breathtaking

2007-07-18 email • mailbox • 3d • productivity

Murloc death metal video

Awesome bit of machinima

2007-07-18 warcraft • murloc • machinima • wow • games • video • music

Padding search stats

Outrageous; Microsoft is counting automated searches from a game towards their market share. Good luck with that, guys.

2007-07-17 microsoft • scam • search • chicktionary

Stock spam charts

Someone's graphing spam volume vs. stock activity

2007-07-17 spam • stock • badtech • markets • finance

Duke's wireless network being flooded with 18000 ARP requests / second

2007-07-17 arp • network • tcpip • iphone • bug • wifi

Metafilter comic

Awesomely hysterical if you're a mefi user. Otherwise, skip.

2007-07-17 mefi • metafilter • comic • cartoon • parody

Harry Potter leak

The book is out on bittorrent; and the thief left his camera's serial number in the release

2007-07-17 pirate • harrypotter • bittorrent • torrent • leak • via:digg

DSLR Remote Pro

Recommended software for driving a Canon Rebel via PC

2007-07-17 photography • photos • camera • software • remote • robot • automatic

Secure RSS syndication

Encryption + greasemonkey + RSS, wonder if anyone really uses it?

2007-07-17 encryption • rss • security • atom

Homer vs. Rude Man

Clever marketing

2007-07-17 simpsons • marketing • rudeman • earthworks • art • advertising

sort of like wikipedia, a page for every book. Congrats, Aaron!

2007-07-17 aaronswartz • books • wiki • amazon • library

Luxury submarines

For when your yacht and jet aren't enough

2007-07-17 luxury • affluenza • via:metafilter • submarine • poverty

I had a lovely Saturday outing with some friends from college

2007-07-16 portland • reed • oregon • gorge • hoodriver • mthood • travel

PDX airport free wifi

Portland gets a lot of things right

2007-07-15 wifi • airport • service • pdx • free • internet

Good roundup of webapps in an iPhone friendly format

2007-07-15 iphone • applications • webapp • safari

Ground effect planes

Didn't know this was ever in service

2007-07-15 aeronautics • plane • groundeffect • via:metafilter • lift • wing

iPhone ringtones

Slowly but surely, the hackers are figuring it out

2007-07-14 iphone • hack • jailbreak • ringtone • apple

Gut feeling threat level

The quote in the paper today was outrageous

2007-07-12 homelandsecurity • homesec • security • theater • parody • funny • via:boingboing • hotdog

Choose your own adventure graffiti

Clever street art

2007-07-12 streetart • graffiti • storytelling

Major new feature of Wesabe lets you get at your transaction data easily

2007-07-12 api • wesabe • money • finance

CCP has always been supportive of third party stuff, now they've got more API to get personal data out of the game

2007-07-12 eveonline • games • mmog • api • rest

WoW teleport hacks

A great example of the challenge of distributed systems and predictive synchronization

2007-07-12 games • design • warcraft • wow • synchronization

Design contest winner unveiled

2007-07-12 paris • leshalles • urbanism • france

How to visit SF

Acerbic and funny

2007-07-12 via:anildash • sanfrancisco • visit • satire

Bad Bush photo day

The article is digusting, and the photos were chosen to illustrate

2007-07-12 bush • politics • libby • photo • editing

reading iPhone backups

you can get data back out of the phone, sorta

2007-07-12 hacks • iphone • via:digg

They did a really nice job on adapting this to the iPhone

2007-07-11 digg • iphone • ui • mobile • design

iPhone dev wiki

Center of the folks hacking open the iPhone. In theory I'm not supposed to link to them.

2007-07-11 iphone • hack • via:metafilter

Fish heads video

Freaky short film with an old favourite song

2007-07-11 via:boingboing • film • cult • fishheads • barnes

Component video cables

Very nerdy guide

2007-07-11 via:saladwithsteve • cable • av • component • rca

iPhone meta viewport

How to hint a web page to give the iPhone an idea how wide to display it

2007-07-10 html • iphone • safari • web • browser

Videora converter

Download for the iPod/iPhone video converter

2007-07-10 mpeg • ipod • iphone • converter • transcode • ffmpeg • avisynth

iPod video convertor app for Windows, seems to work for iphone too

2007-07-10 mpeg • ipod • iphone • converter • transcode • ffmpeg • avisynth

Ajaxy terminal emulator via a web browser; iPhone optimized

2007-07-10 iphone • ssh • terminal • ajax • web • webapp

Dwarf Fortress story

This text game is insanely detailed but awfully difficult to play; read some other folks playing

2007-07-09 via:gamesetwatch • games • dwarffortress • simulation

Terrorist logos

From the design labs of violence

2007-07-09 via:waxy • design • terrorism • logo • politics

Cheap consumer routers

2007-07-08 badtech • router • internet • junk • hardware

Town freaks out that their traffic devices look phallic

2007-07-07 via:dailyrotten • keizer • penis • phallus • traffic

Geoghan killing video

Man killed in prison, his killer has allegedly posted police surveillance photos of the killing

2007-07-07 murder • geoghan • catholic • church • druce • news

Someone figures out the serial port

2007-07-07 iphone • hack • via:digg • phone

Count Gottfried von Bismarck

Awesome obituary of a "louche German aristocrat"

2007-07-05 obituary • germany • gay • via:metafilter

Traceroute for a world where ICMP is blocked

2007-07-05 tcpip • internet • ping • traceroute • icmp • syn • network • code • tcp

Beautiful kinetic sculpture

2007-07-04 via:metafilter • octapult • catapult • sculpture • kinetic • wood

Superhuman tetris

Turns out the game has some depth left in it

2007-07-04 via:digg • games • tetris • puzzle

Auto Assault failed

Such a shame, it was a great concept

2007-07-04 games • mmog • mmorpg • autoassault • ncsoft

Liberating the iPhone from AT&T. Now if only it were a GSM phone

2007-07-04 iphone • hack • att • nsa • dvdjon

New metro tickets

Paris changes to a one ticket for 90 minutes system

2007-07-04 paris • metro • transport • carnet • france • subway

iPhone root password

XUU7aqfpey51o = "dottie"

2007-07-03 apple • iphone • hack • root • rewt • r00t

Japanese custom vans

2007-07-03 japan • via:metafilter • car • anime • art • japanese

Self Mummification 2

Also, a bit crazy

2007-07-02 via:metafilter • Sokushinbutsu • japan • buddhism • suicide • mummification • death

Self Mummification 1

Amazing story of extreme faith

2007-07-02 via:metafilter • Sokushinbutsu • japan • buddhism • suicide • mummification • death

Logdriver's Waltz

Sweet Canadiana

2007-07-01 canada • via:boingboing • logdriver • music

The Hall of Panflutists

2007-07-01 music • turkey • flute • zamfir • panflute • via:metafilter

iPhone hates headphones

Nice, you build an MP3 player with a headphone jack that doesn't work

2007-07-01 apple • iphone • broken • lockin

Easy list of proxies to browse from different countries

2007-07-01 web • proxy • anonymous • jurisdiction • http