The History Net: This Date in Medieval History for November 28. On this date in medieval history, absolutely nothing happened.
Really. But apparently I share a birthday with Spinoza.
Spinoza was a wacky 17th century philosopher that I (and every other philosophy major) read in college and promptly forgot about. He was a pantheist; that is, he believed that everything that exists is God. And a few other things that I forget.
I just discovered that Mac OS X comes with a full JDK 1.3.1 pre-installed. And, for that matter, an SSH server (off by default, you must turn it on by checking a box in a control panel).
[f8dy\@oliver f8dy]$ ssh -l f8dy haven f8dy\@haven's password: Welcome to Darwin! [haven:~] f8dy% java -version java version "1.3.1" Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.3.1-root-010902-18:51) Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.3.1, mixed mode) [haven:~] f8dy%
Microsoft Knowledge Base: Explorapedia Nature: Earth Rotates in Wrong Direction. There’s probably a joke here about how many Microsoft engineers it takes to change a lightbulb, but I’ll skip it.
Today’s local news in Qatar. I came across this while trying to figure out whether Qumar, a country referenced in tonight’s episode of The West Wing, actually exists. As far as I can tell, it does not; the closest country listed on this list of Middle Eastern countries is Qatar. I have no idea if they beat women there (which was the plot line in The West Wing, that we were selling arms to Qumar, where they beat women, which CJ was upset about). But their local news is fascinating, in an obviously-state-sponsored-journalism kind of way.
Unicycling FAQ. I always wanted to learn how to ride a unicycle. I actually had one for about 4 years, during which time it spent two days under my ass while I half-heartedly attempted to learn, before saying “Fuck it” and putting it in a closet for the remaining 3 years and 363 days, give or take a week. That would be me saying it, not the unicycle; a bit of poor grammatical architecture there. I’d blame it on the lateness of the hour, but it’s only 10 o’clock.
I was reading in the New Yorker today that a company has developed a pill which can keep you awake for days at a time with none of the usual side effects normally associated with sleep deprivation. The military, naturally, is already using it, but the FDA just approved it and it will therefore be coming onto the mass market as soon as someone figures out a cute name for it and designates a color (like Prilosec and the color purple). What color would you associate with staying awake for days at a time?
(One hour later) The drug mentioned in the New Yorker article was Monafidil, marketed under the name Provigil. It’s been around for a few years to treat narcolepsy; the article’s main thrust is the growing suspicion that it may be more generally useful, both for military and civilians. Their web site does not appear to be pushing that angle, however. Maybe they haven’t decided on a color yet.
A college buddy of mine is heavily into skydiving. Not that that has anything to do with my sudden interest. No sir. Not a bit.
The Register: Court OKs reselling bundled software. Screw the EULA.
Slashdot discussion of EULA decision. Wow, I beat Slashdot by several hours. That rarely happens. Just lucky I guess. I wonder if there’s some sort of Slashdot-scooping prize I could claim.
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© 2001–9 Mark Pilgrim