“You’re thirty years late to this party, George, so it pretty clear that the only reason you’re showing up now is because somebody paid you to attend.”

The Star Tribune published a filler piece by a reporter who informally surveyed scientists to ask for one science question that every high school grad should be able to answer.  Mark Dominus then tore it apart.  Really good response.  (via Adam Fields, via Kottke)

Gene for rare disease that turns muscles, tendons, and ligaments into bone found.  The disorder traps people within an exoskeleton, with bone locking the joints.  (via dwarf)

Well, we had a week of unfettered bliss, but now the spammers have found the website and have started spamming the WordPress comment feature on this site.  Looks like I’m in for some work now, moderating things.

Welcome visitor from Samoa!  He or she was searching for a “Stamp Album from U.S.” on Google and found my Stamp Albums Page.

150 down, 114 to go.

My brother in law has written a review of the Silent Hill movie on his LiveJournal, but I don’t have a LJ account and I’m still working on getting OpenID running on this site, so I’ll post here. Maybe he’ll link back to me.  My review is as someone totally unfamiliar with the video game.

Great: Color timing, cinematography, Pyramid Head, Sean Bean, Jodelle Ferland, the cockroaches, certain in-camera shots (such as the camera descending to frame a character through a broken chair) and certain effects shots (such as the elevator descent).

Good: The score, Alice Krige, Deborah Unger, interior production design.

Bad: The legions of identical reveals of disfigured bodies, the fact that as a horror movie it failed to elevate my heartrate even once, exterior facades of main street, Laurie Holden.

Terrible: Radha Mitchell.

My rating: 7 out of 10.

You can subscribe to comments left on the site, if you so desire.

Client-side PHP – The Daily WTF.  Holy crap.  Why not just publish your password on your homepage?

Hello Associate,

We noticed that you were accepted to the Amazon.com Associate Program several weeks ago but have yet to refer an order.

Yeah, thanks.  Rub it in, why don’t you.

It doesn’t really matter.  I didn’t expect it to be a revenue stream, I just thought it would be very helpful on my Recently Read Books page.  Check it out and let me know if you like it more than the old list.

I’d like to welcome our new visitor from the Isle of Man!  He or she visited the Review of www.[number].com page using Firefox.

149 down, 115 to go.

I’d love feedback on the new site design.

»» I first put this online in November 2000, and it’s stayed popular ever since.  Enjoy!

Christmas is a time of peace, love, and sharing, an opportunity to embrace our fellow human beings regardless of language or culture. But Christmas is also a time of song, and to properly celebrate our diversity we are in need of truly multilingual Christmas carols. To ensure that other languages were not left out … to stop English-speakers from singing only carols over which English holds linguistic monopoly … I enlisted the help of Babelfish. I have taken English language Christmas carols through the translation path English -> French -> English -> German -> English -> Italian -> English -> Portuguese -> English -> Spanish -> English, and I trust I have now created a truly universal canon of carols with which the whole western world may celebrate the joy of Christmas. If I have left any of your favorites out, please let me know.

[Christmas is a little while of La Paz, the lover and the relations of transformation, of an occasion to the independent kisses of our human beings of the comrade of the language or the cultivación. But Christmas is due to also commemorate correctly a little while of the song and our diversity, of that the really multilingual necessity to carols of Christmas. In order to control, if other languages for the external part... with the English of the loudspeakers raised of carols of the effect are not lazy the song for the external part only, in those English of the interceptions of the monopoly of the linguistico..., Enr4olé the sustenation of Babelfish. I made examinación to carols of the English of Christmas of English of the ways the access of the translation - > French - > English - > German - > English - > Italian - > English - > Portuguese - > English - > Spanish - > English and I give the form him for the secret that really I produced the universal one of carols of an injector of the hour, with that the western world of all the joy in Christmas that I commemorate myself I can. If specific of nao the her person or omitted thing of the favorites, to leave me requests to me she knows.]

I have not altered the output of the Babelfish automatic translator other than to break the text into multiple lines and capitalize each line’s first letter.

A Presence of the Jump of the Way

‘Twas the night before Christmas, if all the house
A creature nonbeaten ignition, decree a rat;
The surfaces under possible had been interrupted more with the attention of the chimney,
In the hopes, this Nicholas would be the way here soon;
Douillettement of the children in its bases inside had all been ece of fish,
When the views of the plum trees of the sugar to dance in its titles;
First E in ‘ kerchief relative and my protection of the protection,

Also for the stature the small winter of the hats had been constant,
Awhile external in the board such Rattern is emerged,
I sprinkled of the base, the end to see, that what the material age.
Distant moved far in the Window flied me like the screw of the lightning,
With him gezerrissenem opened he violentemente played of obturators and sash the lateral advanced one.
The moon in concentr of again-please of the snow
With lucentezza of the cut at noon to the messages given for the low point,
If, this they have that to being you you are strange in my observed eyes,
Pero sleigh and a small miniature of Rens eight,
With administrative the old small woman if you he animated and the opaque one,
It knew in a while, when he must be jump of the way.
More fastly of the one of coursers aquile relative had come,
And it whistled and it shouted towards outside and it called known him;
Hour he marks! dancers of the hour! Hour Prancer and Vixen!
In, it commits! In Cupid! In, to give and screws of the lightning!
Jusqu with the expensive outpost of portale! jusqu with the expensive outpost of the wall!
Hour of the script of the left! Distant script moved absentee! The distant script separated everything!

Like asciugarli of the paginations, those before the wild hurricane Moscow,
If to come to the contact of an obstacle, the sustenation with the sky,
Therefore to coursers of the face of the part outpost of the house, the one that it had controlled,
With sleigh full with goodses and the way of the game the Nicholas also.
And then, in tonhoehenschwankung, I feels in the roof
Prancing and Pawing of each small ice-slide.
Because I lost myself in my hand and I have given it around return,
In the surface under possible of the way of the chimney of Nicholas with a mark for it is more of her came.
Everything in the skin, the title relative to the relative foot was equipped,
And all relative it had dressed has apannati with the ash and soot;
A assembly of goodses of the game, that one had played that in the relative one later,
And the relative assembly was similar to open expert of the buyer.

The relative eyes — as it ignited! The relative small free space, how much merrily!
The relative of Guancie was like the colors rose color, the relative Wekzeugspritze like cherry!
Durchdacht relative small of the age of the contented opening like elbow,
And to widen age as the white man he he I mention relative like the snow;
The section of a tube, of that was hard obstructed in relative teeth,
And it smoked to him surrounded the relative title like country;
It had an extended face and a small round rigonfiamento of antinode,
This has the mental patient, when it laughed as bowlful congeals.
It was potelé and dodu, old pluggings eleven allegros,
I and laughter, when I he I SAW, in spite of the I;
A sample of the relative eye and the torsion of the relative title,
It gave scared soon knowing that it did not have equal not anything;
A word spoke no, but it was directly to the relative work,
And fulled coverall the surfaces more under possible; then dice returned with sure
And barretta relative that is extended of the pagination of the relative Wekzeugspritze,
A character in the agreement is magnified and, giving to the expensive outpost of the chimney, she;
Esguinchado is with sleigh relative, the relative square gave whistles is,
And distant it moved everything far had piloted appreciates thistle of the dune.
But urlare felt he, before this that I lead of the Vista,
With the “lucky person native everything and the whole night of the characteristic!”

Joy In The World

Joy in the world!
The horseman came
To go away to the relative track received the king
In order to leave all internal the part
Prepararsi ch ‘ he who the section emits
And the sky and the nature sing
And the sky and the nature sing
And the skies and the sky and the nature sing

Joy in the world!
El Salvador governs
For dejárleslo the men of Songsgebrauch
During the zones and the tide
Cliff, assembly and levels
In order to relaunch the Resounding the joy
In order to relaunch the Resounding the joy
The retort, retort, of that resounding the joy

Nient ‘ another one did not leave not sins
The pain is developed and
Still to disturbarsi the track of the thorns
It comes to give the form
Relative work of blessings
Distant separated as he takes care of a course it one him finds
Distant separated as he takes care of a course it one him finds
Distant separated like, distant separated as it takes care of a course he one him finds

It governs the world
Truthfully and beauty
Marcature of E, those the control of the nations
Ruhme of
Relative righteousness
Relative miracles of and the lover
Relative miracles of and the lover
Relative miracle and and miracles of the lover

Bells I Gave Squillo

Precipitated it gives the snow
In a horse you open sleigh
The length of eccederli of the zones
Risata Finishes.
Bell in the main cycle of the part of the extremity
System of the illumination of the alcohol in the form
The obligation exceeds and that the safeguard sings
A song, of that tonight that is sleighing.

Bell of the explosion, edge of the explosion
Geklingel completely,
The safeguard of the OH must go he inside in
In a horse you open sleigh, or
Bell of the explosion, edge of the explosion
Geklingel completely,
The safeguard of the OH must go he inside in
In a horse you open sleigh.

Corridors of the Assembly

For disc battery the corridors with boughs of houx, F!
‘Tis the relative station with merrily, of F!
Regolarsi becomes, ours dressed allegros we, of F fullfilled!
Troll old carol of Yuletide, F!

In order to see yule, before we, the end for folding of F!
In order to repair to the teeth verzahnung-Stein and chorus of collegarli, F!
To follow it in the contented measurement, of F!
When I to explain the treasure of Yuletide, F!

Distant separated the old passages as of the year, of F that it has dulled!
The news hailed the new people, of ye and the girls, F!
In order to sing merrily the totality to us all! Of F!
Despreocupado equipment the wind and the period, of the F!

Twelve WeihnachtsTage

The tenth Weihnachtstag secondly, that one that loves my applicable I gave
Tambourinage of twelve Klopfern
Eleven cable of pipers
10 ONU-IN-cA-to-to-in-to-to-leaping getlteman
Later dancing of Getlteman of the nine
ONU-IN-cA-to-to-in-to-to-milking eight of spendthrift
a swimming of seven swans
ONU-IN-cA-to-to-in-to-to-laying of six gansos
Five of gold are blocked
Four birds for the indication
Three henhen hens
Two doves of the turtle
And a Rebhuhn in the pear a tree

Three King D ‘ of the East We Are

Three king d ‘ of the east we in cross are
And the gifts of the sustenation, of that separated they distant,
Of the good zone and, to fissarsi and the mountain,
After the asterisk here.
Or, the asterisk of the miracle, the asterisk of the resistance,
Asterisk with the system to ignite in the true beauty,
Antreibenen inside to the west, end of the work of the instrument of the distillation,
Leads to him with the perfect light.

Song De Wassail

We here this that wassailing under green of the paginations therefore.
Here much more we honest ramble, the end to see.
The lover to and the joy come wassail you and they ingualmente.
And that the God segnen and that it transmits a new lucky person of the year.
And the God transmits a new lucky person of the year.

In Distant It Separated the Food

In distant it separated the food, no drawer to the order a base.
The small Jesuslord produced to motivatings of the title the relative force.
The asterisks in the system to ignite in the sky had observed lowest superficial, where it is extended.
The small Jesuslord in dream in the hay.

First Christmas

First Christmas, that one that was the angel,
Who one was visualized, with shepards determined, that it is defective in the zones, poich2e is extended:
In the zones, in where they extend ONU-IN-cA-to-to-in-to-to-keeping his cold winter
Eight of the ewe, that was therefore deeply.
Christmas, the king of Israel takes to
Christmas, Christmas, Christmas.

To Be Firm Ye Joyeux, Sigg.

Rest of allegro of the God, of sigg.,
Left frights of the attention only no,
Of you who the Christian one was our constant to the rescuer
Of the Weihnachtstag,
To the later face in us all the energy of Satan,
When to exhaust to us we were -;
Tidings of or the comfort and the joy,
Of the comfort and the joy,
Tidings of or the comfort and the joy.

OF, God to That the Quick Ear! In Order to Announce the Angels Who Sing

It lends the ear! announcing angels they sing,
To the reputation with the baby of the king,
Of La Paz in the track and smoothness of the mercy,
The God and the riconciliano of sinners.
Merrily, connects all the nations of ye,
Increase, the sky triumph;
With the Hauptrechnermitteangelika to affirm,
‘The Christian is in loans of Bethlehem’
The ear of the sopportato! announcing angels they sing,
To the reputation with the baby of the king.

It Came to the Opened Station of the Work of the Midnight

This song to the opened station of the work of the midnight,
From the one of the old man, from her came,
That splendourful is the angels, from which ausgebritten near the track if it became, the end
To touch in its teeth goldVerzahnung-stein of gold:
‘Peace of the transformation relation, pleasant consideration with the men,
Everything-pleasant king of the sky!’
The world in the serious model of the calm for the low point,
The end to mean the angels, the end to sing.

Night of Santo of Or

The asterisks, that one are he Shinebrillamment the night of the birth of our rescuer, much stay the world in sin and maehen pining the error extend the night of Santo of or, of that internal one ‘, until he does not appear this he and relative internal present modernities of the piece the tremito an elasticity of the sensation of odore of hope one, in the morning ordered and of those glorous new of the world of the rejoices here of the beginning. In order to lower in relative ginocchia or, or they feel the voices of angels. Damages of or guess, damages of or, where Christian, when one night, of which he is divine of or it takes, of the damages or, which it is divine, or divine damaging.

That Boy Is This One

That boy is immense this, this one, to the rest
In the riavviamento of Maria, dream?
Who to congratulate angels with the cake with hymns,
When the protection of the Shepherdskonserve?
This, this one is Christian the king,
To that the shepherds and the angels arrest the end to sing:
It accelerated, to consider, around to the praise ottener it,
Young, son of Maria!

Native White Man

The dream of a native white right of the man has taste of this, this one I has last to the knowledge where the stops of the tree to only feel I-I dream of the children and glitzern of the native white man when, of that practitioner to know where the stop of the tree ignites and feels the children, the end to feel the edge of sleigh in the snow. Dream of the native white man with each Weihnachtskarte the fact that I May, that it writes his days merrily and he is illuminandosi inside ignited and it conserves his whole Christmases, that is white man.

Angel, Who We Felt in the Ascent

Angel, which we have the felt of the expensive outpost,
Or ‘ comfortable he he Songebenen.
The mountains of and in the answer,
The echo generation that the marks contented relative for are of the form.
Gloria…, Gloria, in Excelsius Deo

Calm Night

Calm night! Night of Santo!
Everything that is peace, everything is illuminandosi inside ignited.
Nut/mother of yon approximately and the virgins of the boy,
Therefore of offered and the boy of the force of motivatings of Santo,
To duer to me in narcotic La Paz!

The Small Boy of the Klopfers

Come they had visualized to me (the pumpum of the pum of PA-RHUM)
A baby of the king the end to see (pum PA-RHUM of the pumpum)
Our gifts, with exactitude are more (the pum of the pum of the pum of PA-RHUM)
Transference of the king
Therefore honor (pum of the pum of the pum of PA-RHUM)
If we to come

Small boy (pum of the pum of the pum of PA-RHUM)
Also in the morning a deficient boy (pum of the pum of the pum of PA-RHUM)
I do not have the gift that he can be obtained (the pum of the pum of the pum of PA-RHUM)
This is modified for particular requirements, around our king to the elasticity
I must play for you? (pum of the pum of the pum of PA-RHUM)
In the cylinder of the mine

Folding Maria the main one (the pum of the pum of the pum of PA-RHUM)
Cattles and the time had arrested of the lamb (the pum of the pum of the pum of PA-RHUM)
I played my cylinder for (the pum of the pum of the pum of PA-RHUM)
I played mines the thing that it unemployment more better possible
Then it has the smile to me (the pum of the pum of the pum of PA-RHUM)
Cylinder of and the mine

Felt, This What Felt to Me?

You must at night say to the wind to the lamb small,
You who you see them, that what I you consider?
For the ascent the small lamb sees them,
Sees in the sky, of which what I he considers?
An asterisk, an asterisk, dancing during the night,
With the greater part therefore of the extremity appreciates the small wheel of deers red.
With the greater part therefore of the small wheel of gradirli of the extremity of deers red.

To the Expensive Outpost in the Light of the Quarter

To the expensive outpost in the RUPTURE of the Rens of the lateral one of dachs it advanced.
With old covering native of the father of the man of him it covers.
For the point under the chimney with a good number of goodses of the game.
Everything for the small joys in Christmas.
I have, that I have, Ho!
Who does not disappear?
I have, that I have, Ho!
Who does not disappear?
To advanced in dachs the lateral one that advanced,
Interrupting the face of the emergency, switch of the emergency, switch of the emergency!
For the point under the chimney with buoa the jump of this santo!

Pearl Jam on Letterman Thursday, May 4th.

There are 264 TLDs (top-level domains) that the analog log analysis software knows about. TLDs are things like “.com”, “.org”, “.us”, and “.uk” that you find at the end of domain names. And for several years I have been keeping track of the TLDs of visitors to mcgees.org. My goal is to have a visitor from each TLD, the internet equivalent of a ham’s “Worked All Countries”. This may not be feasible — some TLDs may be obsolete, and some will just be damned difficult, like “.kp”, North Korea — but I’m keeping track of it. You can follow the progress
of my domain visitors here.  As of yesterday, I knew of visits from 141 TLDs.

Today, though, I ran jdresolve on my log entries, which does lookups on unknown IP addresses, and nabbed seven more: Air Transport Industry, Bahrain, Kenya, Monaco, Maldives, Togo, and Tanzania! I’m now at 148. Stay tuned.

1. Find a wallet containing 1,000 euros.
2. Track down the owner and extort a 100 euro finder’s fee for the return of the wallet and money.
3. Profit!  I mean, jail!

Study Explains Evolution’s Molecular Advance: “Thus, it turned out that the receptor for aldosterone existed before aldosterone. Aldosterone is found just in land animals, which appeared tens of millions of years later.

‘It had a different function and was exploited to take part in a new complex system when the hormone came on the scene,’ Dr. Thornton said.”

“It sounds like a job for Wallace and Gromit. A ‘monster’ rabbit has apparently been rampaging through vegetable patches in a small village in northern England, ripping up leeks, munching turnips and infuriating local gardeners.

In an uncanny resemblance to the plot of the hit animated film ‘Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit,’ angry horticulturists in Felton, near Newcastle, have now mounted an armed guard to protect their prized cabbages and parsnips…

‘This is no ordinary rabbit. We are dealing with a monster,’ [local resident Jeff Smith] was quoted by newspapers as saying… ‘We have two lads here with guns who are trying to shoot it, but it is very clever.’”

Internet Explorer hit by new phishing flaw.  I hear a death knell.  Anyone not switched to Firefox yet?  You are missing out.

Pop-up Potpourri: Funny, funny error messages.

Truthdig – Reports – Robert Scheer: ‘Anti-Christian Conspirators’ Slay DeLay.  Ah, if only we could take credit for DeLay’s downfall. That would have been a major coup. Instead of, say, something akin to the laws of physics.

Journalism Payola.  And a really good discussion.

Grow a grass armchair: “The Grass Armchair is a kit to grow a seat in your yard… You will need about 240 litres of soil, to fill in the frame. First find the right spot, because once the armchair has grown you won’t be able to move it!!”

Pearl Jam on SNL April 15th.

More Legal Protection for FOSS Developers: “The Software Freedom Law Center has launched the Software Freedom Conservancy, which is designed to permit certain projects accepted as members, such as Wine, uClibc and BusyBox currently, to apply for and then benefit from nonprofit tax-exempt status… [W]hat the Conservancy is offering is, for those accepted as members, to take that administrative load off of you developers, because they know how to do this, and you probably don’t.”

Second [Pearl Jam] Forum Show Added: “That�s right. A second show has been added in LA. Stay tuned for further updates!

If you reserved rollover tickets for this show, your credit card will be charged. A confirmation email will be sent closer to the show date, but in the meantime, you can check your profile in the pearljam.com Goods section to view your orders.”

Japanese firms divest themselves of whaling interests.

I thought Pearl Jam would send an email update when West Coast shows were announced, as they have with the East Coast shows. I was wrong, and missed the window to buy tix for the LA Forum show. There is a possible second show being added, on contingent presale from 10am to 10pm PST on 31 March (tomorrow).

Pearl Jam’s new news feed is http://www.pearljam.com/flat/pj-rss2.xml.  Use it in your favorite reader, such as the Google Reader I discussed recently.

Got Time?: “Please program in more days.”  Or, if you like, “Please teach your programmer arithmetic division.”  It hurts the brain.

Google Reader, for syndicated site feeds.  In Beta.  Good, needs a lot of work and a blogroll export feature.

Many popular male first names commonly thought of as being Irish, such as Patrick, Mick and Sean, actually originated with the English and the French-Danish-Norwegian Normans, who invaded Ireland in the 12th century…. Freya Verstraten, a doctoral postgraduate student of history at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland

“A name like Seán is usually thought of as typically Irish; however, it is an Irish adaptation of the Biblical name John, and this version of the name was used in Ireland only after the invasion,” [said Verstraten]. “There are many other names people consider to be Irish, although they are in fact Irish versions of Anglo-Norman names. Séamus, for example, is the Irish form of James.”

At around the time of the invasion, popular Irish male first names included Diarmaid, Donnchadh, Cormac, Cathal, Niall, Brian, and Aodh…. — Discovery Channel News