eSylum

Obama on Biden's 30 percent - the truth

2009-02-09T19:09:00.000-08:00

In his press conference today there was the following exchange:

Question: Mr. President, at a speech Friday that many of us covered, Vice President Biden said the following thing about a conversation the two of you had in the Oval Office about a subject he didn't disclose.

"If we do everything right, if we do it with absolute certainty, if we stand up there and we really make the tough decisions, there's still a 30 percent chance we're going to get it wrong."

Since the vice president brought it up, can you tell the American people, sir, what you were talking about? And if not, can you at least reassure them it wasn't the stimulus bill or the bank rescue plan and if, in general, you agree with that ratio of success, 30 percent failure, 70 percent success?

Obama: You know, I don't remember exactly what Joe was referring to...

What was he really referring to?

Given the season, and speaking as someone who can totally empathize, its obvious.

Mr Biden and our President were discussing what to buy their respective spouses for valentines. Given my experience, 30 percent is a little optimistic.

Simology - The New New Religion?

2007-08-15T22:38:00.000-07:00

I'd heard all the claims before, in the New York Time Story
Our Lives, Controlled From Some Guy’s Couch

What just occurred to me is, Hey, this sounds like the basis for a new religion - Simology. I've already got the symbol worked out (you were wondering what that was, right? So, how do you create a new religion, and, the most important question for all religious founders, how do you obtain money and power through it?

The basic premise of the article, and Nick Bostrom's logic, is that once a society achieves a certain level of technological sophistication it is almost guaranteed to be able to run simulations:

"Dr. Bostrom assumes that technological advances could produce a computer with more processing power than all the brains in the world, and that advanced humans, or “posthumans,” could run “ancestor simulations” of their evolutionary history by creating virtual worlds inhabited by virtual people with fully developed virtual nervous systems.

Some computer experts have projected, based on trends in processing power, that we will have such a computer by the middle of this century"

I think this may be minimizing things a little. The advanced civilization does not have to be human, nor does it have to live in a universe anything like the simulation. We run universal simulations today on super computers. They are limited to a few million particles (or galaxies, depending on the scale), but we simulate varying parameters that typically don't look like our universe - in a attempt to find those that do.

What if this is a more advanced total universal simulation? Here are a few parameters, some initial conditions, lets see what happens? Since the universe in which the simulation is running does not have to be like ours, the arguments of "You need a universe to simulate one" don't hold true. We may not be able to simulate the entire universe, but I could see us doing "evolution on earth" some time next century. If you had 1THz, you could probably easily do 1M years a second. For those in the simulation though, time would have to seem real for evolution to work.

The article approaches it from a philosophical point of view, but what about the scientific one? i.e. If it was, how would we tell?

There may be some testable things:

1) Space would be grainy, pixelated if you like. Which it is at the quantum level, think planck length.
2) Time would be quantized due to processing clock cycles, which again, it seems to be at the planck time
3) There would be a set of relatively simple laws (lines of code) that everything followed at the lowest level, which most scientist would argue there are, or seem to be, if only they could work them out
4) There would be a set of seemingly random initial conditions to our universe (check again)
5) There would be a built in random factor, otherwise it would not be a simulation (what's the point if you know the outcome?). Again, quantum mechanics / heisenberg.

I think there's more evidence here than most religions, which brings me back to my initial question - how do you start one?

There needs to be some online content (a book is sooo last millenia), a charismatic leader, some pointless rituals and some hope. Oh, and some followers. I have lots of hope, could put together some content, any volunteers for following?

Tags: sims, simulation, video, game, computer, earth, life, quantum, religion

iPhone - uLose your hands

2007-06-20T22:01:00.000-07:00

While the iPhone is cool and all that, one thing I haven't seen anyone mention is that you need two hands to use it.

As any power blackberry user will tell you, its all about using one hand. Scroll wheel, buttons, even the keyboard can be used while you are:
a) Drinking your Blended No-Whip Mochiatta
b) Driving
c) Gesticulating wildly
d) All of the above

You can also do this with most phones. With the iPhone you have to hold it, and use the other hand to actually use the thing. I guess you could use your nose, tongue, etc. but, well, you get the point.

I just got (through work) a cingular 8525:

and, while its a little thicker than the iPhone, it has most of the same features, but is also really configurable (iPhone skin anyone) and you can write your own programs for it (windows mobile). I would like the gyroscope thingies for landscape mode, and some of the gestures (like zoom-in and off), but you can use it one handed to read emails, phone and do most things, and it also has a keyboard if you want to write really long emails. I can also view pdfs, powerpoints, word docs, etc.

Lets see how long it takes for others to notice this slight design flaw.

Tags: iphone, apple, windows, mobile, hands, cingular, att, 8525, hype

Lose Lbs and Control of Your Bowels

2007-02-07T21:09:00.000-08:00

Seems Pharmaceuticals have beaten common sense once more. In FDA approves non-prescription diet pill - Yahoo! News they announced that

"the fat-blocking weight-loss pill orlistat, which has been available by prescription, can be sold in a reduced-strength version over the counter"

Basically, instead of absorbing fat, as any good digestive system should, it just passes about of quarter of it straight through. Meaning that your bottom becomes runny, you can't have a normal life, you get depressed, eat more and need more pills. A vicious cycle if you like.

How do you avoid this outpouring from your butt??

"Eating a low-fat diet will reduce the likelihood of this side effect."

But isn't the point of the drug to prevent fat absorption? If you are eating less fat, won't the drug effectively DO NOTHING??

Why not just eat less, especially less fat in the first place?? Ahh, cos that's too hard - its easier to pop a pill, stuff your face with pizza, and hope they find a life-threatening problem with the pill so you can make out like a bandit in the class-action suit (or rather so the lawyers can).

Oh, and at $1-$2 a day for $5-$6M people, the pharma would lose out on, oh, around $3B !!

Tags: fat, weight, loss, xenical , alli, pharma, orlistat, FDA, OTC, diet, pill

Free Energy, Free Marketing, or Free Lunch?

2006-08-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

OK, so there's a US patent as well, you can check out the United States Patent Application: 0060066428 here.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the Steorn Challenge and my last Blog Post.

It's got some artist drawings as well as the line drawings from the European patent. So here's the question everyone is asking.

Do they really think they have something, or is this just one big marketing ploy?

If its marketing, what the hell is it they are, in fact, marketing?

Is it just that they're good at marketing, and they want to sell, erm, marketing services? Or are they just trying to make the Steorn name so (in)famous that they can then sell some other mediocre product?

I mean, remember the whole thing about Segway? The whole IT business? How many people thought that IT was going to be a matter transporter and not, as it turned out, a Sinclair C5 on steroids?

You can imagine the results of the 12 person scientific jury:

"Well, it wasn't exactly OU, but these microgenerators are pretty neat. You just have to wind them up and they can power a cell phone for 30 minutes"

Interest parties should also check out some of Butch Lafonte's work. Try the Equilibrium Motor for example.

There are a lot of the same ideas, but he's been doing it for, it seems, quite a bit longer. Basically using magnetic shielding to get more energy out than you put in. The guys over at JLN Labs have been working on lots of other interesting stuff for years.

I'm also wondering where the energy comes from, if it, in the slightest chance, actually works? The earths magnetic field, or Zero Point? In the first case, will the energy drain eventually slow down the earths spin? In the latter case, will we cause a drop in the Higgs field to a lower energy level and wipe out the entire universe?

Maybe the latter? The Mayans predicted everything would change in 2012. That gives them 6 years to sell enough of these things to destroy life, the universe and everything.

Tags: steorn, free, energy, irish, butch, lafonte, magnetic, shielding, patent, company, challenge

Energy For All?

2006-08-19T22:15:00.000-07:00

In today's news an Irish company challenges scientists to test 'free energy' technology.

I've been following such attempts for a few years now, and the most interesting thing about this one is the amount of media attention its been able to attract.

I've managed to dig out the patent, but haven't fully deciphered it yet.

Its at patent number WO2006035419

Here's the brief description from the preamble:

[0001] "Low Energy Magnetic Actuator"

[0002] FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The present invention relates to a magnetic actuating apparatus.

[0004] BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0005] Electromagnets are commonly used where there is a requirement for a magnetic field to be actuated (turned on/off).

[0006] An electromagnet achieves this effect by providing (generating) a magnetic field while electrical current is applied to it. To turn off the field the current is no longer applied to the electromagnet.

[0007] The use of electromagnets to effectuate magnetic fields suffers from one major drawback - the electromagnet requires a relatively large amount of electrical energy to operate.

[0008] Many techniques are being used to reduce the amount of external energy that an electromagnet requires. Primarily these techniques relate to the efficiency of the electromagnet and its components.

[0009] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] A low energy magnet actuator allows magnetic fields to be turned on and off using a small amount of energy. The magnetic actuator according to the invention generally includes a base suitable for the support of a plurality of magnets. An actuatable shield is positioned in relation to the plurality of magnets so that it effectively blocks the magnetic field when it is positioned over at least one of the magnets. The magnetic fields of the plurality of magnets interact in a manner that allows low energy actuation of the shield. In one illustrative embodiment of an actuator according to the invention, the base supports a first magnet mounted to the base in a first position. A second magnet is supported by the base in a second position relative to the first magnet. A shield is positioned relative to the first and second magnets in a configuration that enables the movement of the shield between two known positions. In this illustrative embodiment, each magnet is of similar field strength and the field that radiates from the ends are of the same polarity. The shield is of a thickness that effectively blocks the emitted magnetic field when positioned over one or the other of the magnets. The magnetic fields of the two magnets interact in a manner that allows for the low- energy movement of the shield. The exposed magnetic field may be used to perform work (e.g. interact with other magnetic fields to move an object).

[0011] Advantages of the actuator according to the invention include low energy actuation of the shield in a manner that yields motion or actuation that is highly efficient. The highly efficient actuation of the shield results in movement that can perform work in a highly efficient manner.

Comments are welcomed.

Tags: steorn, free,energy,irish,company,challenge

Wei-Hwa's Puzzle Challenges

2006-05-30T22:07:00.000-07:00

Wey Hey! Da Vinci Code quests may be over, but Wei-Hwa's Puzzle Challenges are now live on Google. Bit of a let down though...

The first is a simple math puzzle. Use 8, 8, 3, 3 and your choice of +-*/ and parentheses to make 24.

Spoiler Alert.

Its actually way easy.

8 /(3-(8/3))

3 - (8/3) = 9/3 - 8/3 = 1/3.

So 8 / 1 / 3 = 8 * 3 = 24.

Hope the next one has some cool graphics at least : )

Tags: google, puzzle,wei,hwa,challenge

Final Puzzle for the Da Vinci Code Eurostart Quest

2006-05-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

This was a nice one. A 10 dial cryptex using the 21 consonents as keys:

I'm showing my second play here. My first was 8 attempts, second 7, third 6. I think someone may do it in five, but I'm not too distressed. I wouldn't be able to make June 14th anyway.

This was by far a more challenging and interesting puzzle quest than the google marathon. I'm looking forward to more puzzles of a similar nature. There needs to be a competition involved to add the required incentive. If you see anything - let me know...

Tags: da vinci code, quest, eurostar,final,challenge,screenshot,cryptex

DVCQoG: Final Challenge - Newsflash

2006-05-22T06:09:00.000-07:00

Dan Dascalescu has posted a video of solving the final challenge in about 5 mins. This really does prove that ~ 5 mins is the hard limit of physically completing the game in any way.

Rumor has it that Google are going to bring the top 10 people to a physical location and have them play some new puzzles under scrutiny. The winner will get to pay the taxes, the 9 runners up will be offered jobs. Especially if they originally hacked the code.

Tags: da vinci code, quest, google,final,challenge,solution

Lots of links from the official blog

We switched to Vonage - how about you?

2006-05-20T21:28:00.000-07:00

Last week we finally said goodbye to SBC (now AT&T again) and said hello to Vonage. Well, actually we didn't say anything, just a few clicks on their website

For $14.99 / month we get 500 minutes of long-distance, which is fine for us cos we use mainly cell phones for that anyway, but also get cheap international - UK 2cs, India 17cs. They transfered our old SBC number in just a week, and so far the service is impeccable. Getting email alerts for voicemail is one of the many added bonuses.

We have Comcast high speed cable for our broadband connection (can reach 8Mbs), and have been looking for an alternative to SBC for a while. I thought about skype, but lack of a phone adaptor (that doesn't require a PC), non-duplex connection and other annoying things ruled it out. Comcasts own phone service is $40 a month, Vonage is less than $15 - a no brainer really.

I got the Linksys phone adaptor - mainly because I've been unhappy with other makes, and Motorolo seems to generally suck at anything phone related (sorry RAZR fans).

So here's the deal. If you are on broadband already (Cable only, DSL will make things complicated cos you still need the land-line for that), and want a cheap reliable phone service, you should give it a try. If you are on dial-up, you can get Comcast Internet + Vonage for less than ATT phone + dial-up, so it's a win-win.

If you would like a referral, and one month's credit (in addition to that you get already if you go for the 24.99 rate), email me at bxcellant-blog@yahoo.com, give me your email address, and I'll give you a referal.

Tags: vonage, phone,service,cheap

My Final Time for DVCQoG

2006-05-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

With lots of help from GoogleFact, I completed the The Da Vinci Code Quest on Google in 11 mins 9 seconds.

I think I could have done it faster with practice.

So, puzzle one - SuDoKu (see my blog post on that if you want a solver) - was the same for me as everyone else:

Took less about two minutes of clicking.

Puzzle two - Restoration, also the same. Solved as follows, also about 2 mins:

Puzzle three - Pictures - easy without cheating, about 1 1/2 mins:

Puzzle four - Chess - 2-2-4, less than 30 secs.

So I was into the Jigsaw in about 6 mins. It took me 5 mins to do. Corners, sides, then middle. It is very hard on the eyes - glad I'm not epileptic.

All in all, a fun time, but I don't think I'm fast enough to win. Someone else will have to pay the taxes.

Tags: da vinci code, quest, google,final,challenge,solution

Lots of links from the official blog

DVCQoG - Final Challenge / Fatal Flaw

2006-05-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

It seems that there is a major flaw in the technology used for the final challenge.

You can access the puzzle without logging into Google.

Anyone can go to http://www.google.com/ig/davinci/puzzle.html?puzzle=100 and play the puzzle. You don't need to have logged in.

Judging by comments on my blog, people are doing just that.

I'm hoping google are tracking IP Address as a way of spotting such behaviour, but there's still a scenario in which this won't work.

If you have a mouse / key logging / replay program, you can go to Starbucks with your laptop, use wifi there (one IP address), go to the URL (without logging in), play the game while recording keystrokes, then go home, log into google, replay the keystrokes.

There's no way Google can spot this, apart from an absurdly fast time. However, if the time is close, but slightly faster than the guessed minimum, its not traceable.

I think they'll find the results are impossible to parse, and they cannot disqualify those that cheated. In that case they may have to think about rerunning the final round with more security.

Tags: da vinci code, quest, google,final,cheat,solution

Lots of links from the official blog

Da Vinci Code Eurostar Quest Update

2006-05-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

The next level of the eurostar challenge was also released today. Too many puzzles, too little time.

There were five challenges, which you could complete in any order as before, followed by a more complex cryptex final puzzle. The challenges were:

Dice - turn 8 dice to complete a mathematic puzzle - they have to total 58. Note, not add up to 58. The symbols + - * and / are positioned randomly between the dice. A hin t here is to look for the + and - signs, they are the easiest to twiddle to get the right answer.

Alphabetic Cypher - find the names of 8 masons to crack the code. I just looked for an obvious one, like George Washington, got his name right, and the rest just fell into place.

Match the Symbols - something like 28 symbols, show 2 at a time and match them. They move around if you take too long.

Louve Pyramid Letters - Find the Priory of Sion grandmasters in the letters. This was quite hard, until I realized it wasn't just the historical ones. Look through the book to find where they listed - makes it easier.

Build the Pompidou Center - just put the pieces in the right place to build a photo. Not too hard.

The final puzzle in this round was a much harder cryptex. 10 dials of 20 numbers - 2.5 Quintillion combinations. Somehow I managed to complete this in just 5 attempts and about 4 minutes (did it slowly / steadily, swap out missing numbers, move around yellows) - that was a fluke I think.

After all that, you get a message that the real final round can be played after May 25th and you'll get an email...

Tags: da vinci code, quest, eurostar,final,challenge,screenshot

The Da Vinci Code Quest on Google - Final Challenge

2006-05-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

Looks like the The Da Vinci Code Quest on Google Final Challenge is up early.

I'm not going to copy the text out, but basically, it is timed and you need to do all five challenges without stopping. It was live at around 12:15 EDT.

I also received an email:

Dear Da Vinci Code Quest on Google Finalist.

Today is the day! The Final Challenge begins shortly. We have heard that some of you had not received the Finalist notification that we sent out on Monday. This may be due to our mail being directed to your spam filter. Therefore we wanted to send another email in the hopes that it reaches those of you who may not have received our last communication. In order to participate in the final challenge visit the link below and start your quest for spectacular prizes.

Keep in mind that this is a journey. You must complete the challenge by 1pm EDT on Sunday 5/21. The winner is not the first to complete the challenge but the one who finishes in the least amount of time will be crowned the champion. Be sure to leave enough time to finish, for once you begin you may not pause or stop the clock.

Good luck and enjoy the final challenge.

We have also heard word that some finalists have not received their cryptexes in the mail yet. The cryptexes were sent out Sat 5/13 and Monday 5/15. They were sent to the addresses provided on the contest registration form, therefore if anything was not provided correctly the cryptex may have been shipped to the wrong location. Be assured that if a cryptex comes back in the mail we will be contacting you to get the correct address.
The Da Vinci Code now in theaters

I haven't had chance to start it yet, but seems that the puzzles are basically the same as the original quest.

1) SuDoKu (maybe my excel solver will come in handy if its a traditional 9x9)
2) Restoration (the annoying paint splotches)

UPDATED: Is this the restoration solution??

3) Curator (hang the paintings)
4) Chess - with no questions. The most sited solutions seems to be 2-2-4, lets see
5) Movie trailer jigsaw puzzle - mixed observation / geography?

No word from Sony / Google on Taxes, so I'll probably capture some screen shots on the way. Don't want to win if its gonna cost me $50K.

Tags: da vinci code, quest, google,final,challenge,restoration,solution

Lots of links from the official blog

Da Vinici Code Quest Cheaters

2006-05-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

On the GoogleFact blog there are two posts that claim to have received two Cryptexes. One from a husband and wife, one from someone using two Google Ids.

It seemed pretty clear in the rules that you could only enter once, with one google ID, and that there was only one prize per household, apart from if you win the Cryptex and the Grand Prize.

Jeff Blankenburg said...

I actually got two cryptexes in the mail today. One for me, and one for my wife. I figure if we team up, our second try at the content ought to go pretty well.

here's to $40K in taxes!!!

and

H-sizzle said...

Yay! My cryptexes arrived! (I entered twice, with 2 gmail accounts...)

I've posted this to Wei-Hwa Huang's blog in the hope that he can do something about this cheating, since he was instrumental in the puzzle creation.

Tags: da vinci code, quest, google,finalist,cryptex,cheat

Lots of links from the official blog

Da Vinci Code Quest Taxes

2006-05-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about the tax implications, if, in the 1 in 10000 chance, I won.

I've read the tax rules on this:

If you win a prize or award in a lucky number drawing, television or radio quiz program, beauty contest, or other event, you must include its fair market value in your taxable income and report it on your tax return. For example, if you win a $50 prize or award in a photography contest, you must report this taxable income on Line 21 of Form 1040.

However, if your award or prize meets all of the following four tests it is not taxable on your tax return:
it is in recognition of religious, charitable, scientific, educational, artistic, literary, or civic achievement;
you do not have to perform services;
you were selected without any action on your part;
you assign the prize or award to a government unit or tax exempt charitable organization prior to your use of, or receipt of benefits from, the award. You can't claim a charitable tax deduction for the assignment on your tax return.

If you receive merchandise for a prize or award, you must report the fair market value of the prize or award as taxable income on your tax return.

If you refuse to accept a prize or award, do not include it in taxable income on your tax return.

It seems pretty clear. The total ARV is $128,170.54. At my tax rate that would be close to $50,000 in taxes.

Does anyone have any opinions on this? Can anyone afford to win? There is no cash included in the prize, so this would be out of pocket expense. If I won, I'd probably refuse most of the prize (can't sell it since it can't be transfered).

ID, and that there was only one prize per household, apart from if you win the Cryptex and the Grand Prize.

Jeff Blankenburg said...

I actually got two cryptexes in the mail today. One for me, and one for my wife. I figure if we team up, our second try at the content ought to go pretty well.

here's to $40K in taxes!!!

and

H-sizzle said...

Yay! My cryptexes arrived! (I entered twice, with 2 gmail accounts...)

Update 5 - Cryptex from Da Vinci Code Quest on Google

2006-05-15T22:27:00.000-07:00

Here's some pics of the Cryptex from the Da Vinci Code Quest on Google.

1) Cryptex in the original box

2) Cryptex out of the box with the "secret" code selected. Hint its on the back of the box!!

3) Cryptex opened

And some interesting things.

1) The Cryptex is hard-coded, and only uses the last two letters. You can see this from the last picture - there are only two notches in the mechanism. Any combination ending in "IL" will work
2) I'm betting that there's something more about this Cryptex that will form part of the last challenge. Anyone got a black light pen? I wouldn't go selling it on ebay yet, although someone was getting a bid of over $100 for one of them...

Tags: da vinci code, quest, google,finalist,cryptex,email

Lots of links from the official blog

Update 4 - Finalist in Da Vinci Code Quest on Google

2006-05-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

Woohoo!!

Two things arrived today (in the wrong order but who cares).

1) My Cryptex (photos to come)
2) My email (at 7:15pm)

Your journey does not end here. You have also qualified to compete for the grand prize which includes trips for four to New York, Paris, Rome and London, a colossal Sony® Electronics package and more valued at over $100,000! See official rules.

Beginning on or around 1pm EDT May 19th at www.google.com/davincicode, the final challenge, which is a time trial, will be made available to you for 48 hours. You can begin whenever you like, but prepare well, for once you begin there is no turning back. The player who completes all five tasks in the shortest amount of time will be declared the winner.

As for your previous accomplishments, your skill and perseverance will be rewarded with a limited edition replica cryptex arriving in your mailbox in the coming days.

While you wait, Click here to watch a congratulatory message from Sir Ian McKellen and a sneak peek of The Da Vinci Code and then continue on to view special offers and discounts from our Quest partners.

Tags: da vinci code, quest, google,finalist,cryptex,email

Update 3 - Da Vinci Code Quest on Google

2006-05-15T15:52:00.000-07:00

Still no email from Google : (

And I won't be home until 9pm this evening, so I'll have to wait until then to see if I have received a Cryptex in the mail like many others.

Until I get my hands on a real one, I'll just have to look at other peoples photos,
like this one:

Actually, this guy did a really good job of capturing the moment. You can see his full gallery here.

Let me know if you got yours, or as soon as you get an email.

Tags: da vinci code, quest, google,finalist,cryptex,email

Da Vinci Code - Eurostar Quest

2006-05-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

I had some time to look at the Eurostar Quest
today. YADVCP (Yet Another Da Vinci Code Promotion).

Some of the puzzles were pretty simple (like the shakespeare google lookup), some were annoying (I hate sliding puzzles), others quite challenging (where the hell is the A in the photos - spent ages looking for that). Someone on the Brand New Eurostar Blog (why would someone bother, a single post like this in an existing blog is good enough for comments, right?) posted where it was, but that's cheating, right?

The hardest (for me anyway) was the blueprints puzzle. So tough, I had to take a screenshot.

The idea was to move the blueprint segments (20 of them) around until the drawing was complete - they were mixed up to start with. The numbers at the bottom only appear for about 5 seconds when you use help, which is available twice. The fact I have a screenshot here with numbers on is a hint on how to solve it...

As for the final puzzles. Hmm. I don't think I did too well on the time based things. I got the Cryptex in 1:04, the safe in 54s, somehow I don't think that's fast enough : (

Looking forward to another challenge on May 19th. Will have to schedule it in around the DVCQoG, though : )

Tags: da vinci code, quest, google,final phase,email, eurostar

Update 2 - Da Vinci Code Quest on Google

2006-05-11T21:57:00.000-07:00

The other question is about this page:

http:/www.google.com/davincicode

For me it gives the following:

The question is, does it for everyone. This is discussed on Warp Whistle, GoogleFact and most interestingly, on the blog of Wei-Hwa Huang, the main puzzle guy behind the game.

When asked about the page, he says:

"Oh, *that* screen.
Hmm.... can't comment."

Which basically means it means something.

Please post comments here, let us all know. If you go to the above URL do you get the same page? Whether you do or not, please post, including the approx time you entered the competition. More than 10,000 people can't wait until Monday.

Tags: da vinci code, quest, google,final phase,email

Update 1 - Da Vinci Code Quest on Google

2006-05-11T21:43:00.000-07:00

For some reason, as you can see above, you get two. One from spotlight@news.sonypictures.com, the other from davincicodequest@sonypictures.com. They confirm that we will not know if we qualified until May 15th - Monday.

The actual text is:

Thank you for participating in "The Da Vinci Code" Quest on Google.

This email is to confirm that you have completed all 24 puzzles within the quest and successfully registered for a chance to participate in the final challenge. Well done!

We will be contacting the 10,000 finalists on Monday 5/15 via email regarding their cryptex shipment. Within that email the 10,000 finalists will also receive instructions on how to participate in the final challenge.

All remaining players who finished the quest will also receive a surprise message via email.

Thank you all for participating in "The Da Vinci Code" Quest on Google and making it such a success. We hope you enjoyed playing.

This doesn't stop people making things people from making things up. There's a guy called Gary over at Warp Whistle, that swears he's got the tracking code for his Cryptex. Where are they shipping his from? Outer Mongolia? I doubt if they are in teh mail yet to arrive May 18th.

I have to ask though, why would someone lie about such a thing? Is he a mega troll? Trying to get a rise out of people? Plain stupid? Hard to tell. I'm 99.99% convinced its a lie though.

Tags: da vinci code, quest, google,final phase,email

The Da Vinci Code Quest on Google

2006-05-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

I've been hooked on this thing for the last 24 days, but have kept quiet because writing too much about the answers may help others get through. Not very altruistist, I know, and not like the guys on Warp Whistle. They've been posting answers on a daily basis throughout the first phase.

The ironic thing is that the hoster of the site wasn't around to finish the day 24 puzzle in a timely fashion, and, as I've posted in comments there, only the first 10,000 timestamped entries make it through to the next round.

I entered at 1:08 EDT (actualy 10:08 PDT since I'm in CA). Was that quick enough? Are there 10,000 Americans intelligent enough to make it through? Will Google publish some nice stats, such as drop-off rate over time? It's all to be seen. I should find out (as should others) if I've made it to the next round by next Monday.

I'll write more as it happens.

If you hear before me - post it here.

Here's another quest I just found on technorati.

Tags: da vinci code, quest, google

Phishing Scams Still Catch Tiddlers

2006-03-22T06:24:00.000-08:00

I receieved a number of emails, purportedly from Chase Online today. It was obvious to me that this was a Phishing Scam. Since I use Thunderbird as my email client, I could see the URL as I hovered over the link, and yes, it was some third party IP address (129.11.111.203).

(UPDATE (10:09AM): ping -a 129.11.111.203 gives me the server hostname as http://bmbsun12.leeds.ac.uk/. So its hosted on a server at Leeds University in the UK)

Since I was curious, I went to this address (not the full link) and found that the geniuses behind the scam had left the directory services on in their Apache Server. This meant I could see all their files. Including one that gets filled in as idiots actually fall for it.

As of this time (6:30AM) there were four idiots, so if you are a Chase Online customer, check for your user name here:

user: gregregre
ip: 86.123.230.195
------------------------
user: moxu
ip: 172.174.212.99
------------------------
user: 54568384
ip: 207.200.116.5
------------------------
user: PontiacP
ip: 64.12.116.5
------------------------

UPDATE 8:52AM

There are now some more idiots and some people who can see the obvious:

user: trutzlutz
ip: 205.188.116.130
------------------------
user: uncle
ip: 205.188.116.130
------------------------
user: trutzlutz
ip: 205.188.116.130
------------------------
user: BarriLBumgarner
ip: 64.12.116.5
------------------------
user: pathannafan
ip: 152.163.100.5
------------------------
user: WLOPEZ73
ip: 152.163.100.5
------------------------
user: doyouthinkmestupid
pass: faggots
ip: 80.192.1.55
------------------------
user: PhishingIdiots
pass: screwYou
ip: 208.251.94.251
------------------------

Some people have simple single word passowrds (double idiots) and even just 4 numbers, which I bet is there pin.

But there's more. Once you have 'logged in' it requests your social security number and then prompts you to enter your credit card info (for security verification).

I really hope noone is going that far. If they do, they deserve all they get.

Oh, and now (9:16AM) I got another email from the same people, using the same host for an Amazon scam.

SOA Blueprints Online

2005-08-11T10:07:00.000-07:00

My pal Miko Matsumura has been working very hard forming a TC within OASIS to further my work on SOA Blueprints.

Launched in August (see news story) the new TC will:

...continue work begun within the SOA Blueprints Initiative, originally founded by The Middleware Company and BEA Systems. The group is chartered to develop, circulate, maintain, and update a set of example business profiles ("adoption blueprints") which illustrate the practical deployment of services using SOA methods.

Many useful links to SOA Blueprints are provided at XML Cover Pages, and the main SOA Blueprints site is at SOA Center.

Technorati Tags: SOA, blueprints, service, oriented, programming

So, I guess I'm Anglo-British?

2005-08-08T15:23:00.000-07:00

In what must be one of the dumbest ideas I've seen in a while, the British government seems to be considering inflicting its population with similar labels to the often misued xxx-American ones.

The story "British Minorities Slam Proposed Labels" on Yahoo! today really made me rant like I haven't ranted in a while.

The idea is to apply xxx-British labels to people based on their ancestry. How far this should go back, it doesn't say, but to me going back more than, say, one generation is often too far.

One of the interviews summed it up:

Inayat Bunglawala was born in northwest England, speaks English as his native language and only once visited his ancestral homeland, India.

That makes him bridle at a proposal being floated in the government to give members of minorities hyphenated identities — he would be Indian-British — to strengthen their bond to Britain.

The idea "simply makes no sense," the 36-year-old said. "I am 100 percent British."

And that is what is so wrong with the idea and the whole principle of applying labels. From a government point of view it helps to stereotype minorities by applying labels to them. In the US, the Hispanics have it the worst - they're not even considered American. I bet they wish it was at least Spanish-American, but no - they get their own special label. I'm wondering which Brit population will get that treatment? Probably the Brummies (I'm one so I'm allowed to say that).

There is also the question of exactly how "ethnicity" is calculated. I haven't seen an equation for this, but there are many xxx-Americans that choose that label because its convenient. Take Halle Berry for instance. Black father, caucasian mother. Chooses to be African-American. Why? Because she can be more successful that way. If she marries a white guy, are her kids still labeled the same way? And so on.

My daughter is part British (actually English-Scottish-Welsh), part Indian and part Portugese? How should she be labeled? There is no (as far as I'm aware) British-American. Asian-American doesn't make sense. And would Portugese be Hispanic? I've heard say that its based on the fathers ethnicity (how truly PC), which really doesn't make sense genetically. So, I guess she's stuck with mixed. Here, that would be Mixed-American. And Mixed-British in the UK.

I'm hoping that the UK doesn't import this brain-dead idea. If they do, some British-Indian guy there will have to think up the next American Idol just to exact revenge.

Java on Solaris and Windows II

2005-08-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

I really need to get to the bottom of the Benchmark in my previous post, so I have been doing a little more experimentation. As Anthony Vito pointed out, JDK1.5 optimizes the empty loops (and the simple calcs) out, so to test basic operations I need a little more work going one. I also checked the performance with the "-server" settings in JDK 1.4.2 and found almost the same optimization as JDK 1.5 (is -server the default now? can't find this). Reading the HotSpot VM FAQ verifies I should be using -server (doh! should have remembered this) for performance.

So my new test incorporates a more complex basic operation (find the 20000th prime number), a more complex FP operation (calculate PI to 7 decimal places), a large array test and CRC calculation. Although these are not exactly the operations my real application will be doing, they are some of the areas I need to test performance.

The tests are now:

Finding the 20000th Prime Number (I haven't tried to be clever here, its doesn't use any of the advanced math algorithms)
Calculating pi to 7 places (not too clever here either, but it works)
Writing a 50MB file
Reading the 50MB file using FIS.read
Reading the 50MB file using ByteBuffer
Creating 50 million item random byte array
Perform 64 bit CRC on the array ten times

Note, the addition of the 50M array means you need to use (at least) -Xmx128m -Xms128m in the command line. I ran this on the same Windows Laptop and Solaris Server as the previous tests in both "-client" and "-server" mode.

	Windows - Server	Windows - Client	Solaris - Server	Solaris - Client
20000th Prime	4201	12053	8722	24688
PI 7 Dec Places	2931	4901	2936	4217
Write 50MB File	6561	5882	1137	1899
FIS.Read 50MB File	1661	1852	6535	7026
Buffer.Read 50MB	480	490	1338	1425
50M Byte Array	4621	7602	12970	23306
10x50M 64b CRC	5111	8872	6969	24244

In "-server" mode the floating point test is almost identical, but basic ops (prime test) still differs by a factor of two. The memory (large array) operation is also slower on Solaris.

I'm still looking for feedback on this. Most important to me is how to speed up the basic operations (CPU intensive stuff) and improve file reading on Solaris. What I really need to test next is a C program that does the same. I want to determine if the problem is with the operating system, or the Java layer. Of course it could be with the chipset, as Anthony pointed out, but other than buy a Solaris on Intel system, I'm not sure how I can verify that (unless someone out there has one and doesn't mind running the test). I really want to use Java for this, but if C proves to perform many times better, I may be forced to reconsider.

You can download the new BenchMark java file from here.

Technorati Tags: java, benchmark, solaris, windows, programming, performance

Will Sun come back with an answer?

2005-08-05T15:02:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my truster web stat provider StatCounter, I noticed that Sun Microsystems seem to have taken an interest in my previous entry:

Hopefully, they'll come back to me with an answer pretty soon. Or maybe Performance Systems will beat them to it...

Technorati Tags: java, benchmark, solaris, windows, programming, performance

Java slower on Solaris than Windows?

2005-08-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE FOR LATEST ARTICLE

As part of my job, I have been writing some Java code to do some pretty complex data moving and processing, and was getting great performance results on my laptop. The next step was to test the performance on a "Production" system - usually thought of as Unix/Linux. The first test was on Solaris. To my disappointment, the numbers weren't that great.

So I created a little benchmark class (others must have also done this before, but nothing was handy) to rule out any of the processing and test the performance of basic functions. This class does 5 things:

1) A simple for loop with a billion iterations
2) A loop doing simple FP processing (d = 34.0, for(..) d= (d* 23.7)/56.9
3) Writing a 50MB filling it with ASCII '0123456789' repeated
4) Reading that file using fis.read()
5) Reading the file using a 1MB memory map block read

The results I got kind of shocked me, so I was wondering if anyone could shed any light on them. Both of these results are using exactly the same code, JSDK1.4.2, and the same VM params (Client [HotSpot] mode).

Windows XP on my Laptop: Dell Latitude 600, 1.6GHz, 1GB Ram

Starting Benchmark
Counting to 1,000,000,000...took 5060ms
Doing 500,000,000 FP ops...took 6320ms
Writing a 50MB file...took 7043ms
Reading the 50MB file using FIS.read...took 1893ms
Reading the 50MB file using ByteBuffer...took 531ms

Sun-Fire-V440 Solaris 5.10, 2x1GHz, 4GB Ram

Starting Benchmark
Counting to 1,000,000,000...took 16753ms
Doing 500,000,000 FP ops...took 14140ms
Writing a 50MB file...took 2031ms
Reading the 50MB file using FIS.read...took 7058ms
Reading the 50MB file using ByteBuffer...took 1430ms

So the basic iterations were 3 1/2 times slower, writing a file 3 1/2 times faster, but reading 3 1/2 times slower on Solaris than Windows.

If anyone could repeat this test (its just a simple Java file - you can download it here) and past the results as comments here, I'd really appreciate it. I would like to know if this is expected behavior for Solaris, or if our machine needs its kernel tuned. I have also tried it on our AIX, Linux and HP-UX machines, using Xeon and Itanium processors and gotten equally disappointing results.

Technorati Tags: java, benchmark, solaris, windows, programming, performance

Astrologers Sue God

2005-07-30T22:16:00.000-07:00

The breaking news about a "10th" planet is the last thing Astrologers want to hear.

After the news of a Russian Astrologer sueing NASA over Deep Impact, a new planet [in this case 2003 UB313] must really screw things up. The story is a lot more interesting than that, however, since it all kind of hinges upon exactly what a planet really is. Simple, I hear you cry, I'm standing on what. Aha! But what about the Plutonians? Are they planet, or asteroid, or some other rocky body bound?

Here's a summary of the article:

Astronomers have discovered an object in our Solar System that is larger than Pluto. They are calling it the 10th planet, but already that claim is contested. The new world's size is not at issue. But the very definition of planethood is.

"This discovery will likely re-ignite a healthy debate about what is and what is not a planet," Alan Boss, a planet-formation theorist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington said.

So, either we will have ten planets, or "they" will decide, finally, that Pluto isn't a planet afterall, so we will have eight. If they do make this a planet, it seems a lot more bigger hunks of rock could be found pretty soon, because of technology advances in telescopes. So, 10 planets might be the tip of the iceberg.

Here's an artists rendition (erm, mine) of what all those planets might end up looking like:

Either way, looks like its back to the drawing board for those astral charts. And in this case, its not NASA's fault, so the Astrologers will probably want to sue God.

Beautiful People Site Ugly

2005-07-29T09:04:00.000-07:00

I found out about this new BeautifulPeople.net web site through a Yahoo! News Article this morning. Of course, considering myself incredibly beautiful (!) I thought I should take a look.

As a Firefox user the first message I got was that I had to use IE "BeautifulPeople.net is only supported by Internet Explorer." Doh!. For beautifulpeople they are surprisingly dumb. At the bottom of the message is a link that says " If you do not wish to update your browser but would like to continue even though BeautifulPeople will not work as is intended, click here:"

So I did. What I got was, as expected, as mess:
Pretty Ugly.

So, to find out what its all about I had to swallow my pride and us IE (which I also have to browser compatibility testing). Looks like they've gone with a pretty complex window (actually floating IFRames) approach with lots of JavaScript and that's why it doesn't work in FF.

The site basically uses a membership by approval scheme. In order to do much there, you have to create a profile, which I did, and add a picture. Most of the pictures of guys are from some model portfolio, and probably not real, so I added my cartoon BXCellent gif for a laugh. In order for me to become a member I have three days in which to gain enough votes to be deemed beautiful. I do have access to others profiles, but can't vote until I'm a member.

The most popular woman and guy are both "moderators" - go figure.

I'll check back in a few days to see if my cartoon made it as a member. I'm not holding out much hope...

America dominates stupidity

2005-07-22T21:44:00.000-07:00

Or so it seems. The 2005 World Stupidity Awards are about as Global as the baseball World Series. However, in several categories, they have a point, so its probably worth voting.

There are a number of categories in which stupidity excels. Here's my take:

Stupidest Man of the Year :
- US President George Bush - for believing that anyone can still believe in him. Lets hope the whole Karl Rove episode leaves a trail of mile high breadcrumbs back to the oval office and impeachment is nigh.
Stupidest Statement of the Year :

They never stop thinking of ways of harming America, and neither do we.- US President George W. Bush. Oooh, I can just feel the irony oozing out of that one

Dumbest Moment of the Year :

Prince Harry showing up to party in Nazi suit. Shame it was a family heirloom as well.

Stupidest Movie of the Year :
- Alien vs Predator. Never got the point of this, although there are many others that should have made this list. I think Mimic would have beat the pants off both of them.
Stupidest Woman of the Year :

The Runaway Bride. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Although the mom of that tart who's missing in Aruba comes a close second for thinking her daughter is innocent.

Stupidest Trend of the Year :

Religious Fundamentalism of all kinds. This is too serious to belong here.

Stupidest TV Show of the Year:

The Simple Life. They should try crab fishing off Alaska - the most dangerous job in the world. Hopefully they won't get another series that way.

Dumbest Government of the Year :

The Government of the United States of America - for all those in the administration, senate and house that believe anything Bush has or is saying

Stupidity Award for Reckless Endangerment of the Planet :

US President George Bush - and worse, believing he's doing it for the best

Media Outlet Which Has Best Furthered Ignorance :

Fox News - and worse, believing in what they're doing, despite being Murdochs patsies

Stupidest Award Show of The Year :

The Daytime Emmy Awards - anyone who watches TV during the day should be euthenized. Even when I'm at home, I don't watch TV. But then, I've got the Internet and, er, worthwhile pastimes like this ; )

Lifetime Achievement Award for Stupidity:

George Bush Senior - for failing as a president, for pushing the Shrub into office and, even after this fiasco, still wanting Jebb to have a go

Lets see how the voting turns out and how close I am. I'll be reporting back after the show...

The moon is made of cheese

2005-07-20T23:31:00.000-07:00

In honor of the Apollo 11 moon landing 26 years agao, google has launched its own moon shot Google Moon - Lunar Landing Sites.

But zoom in really closely and you see the truth...

I wonder what the closeup of mars.google will show in 50 years when we're celebrating the 26 year anniversary of the mars landing?

Scotty: "Beam me up"

2005-07-20T23:05:00.000-07:00

I just felt I had to pay my last respects to a man that helped shape the dreams of at least one generation - James Doohan, or Scotty as he was known to the world. Every time I look at my cell phone, I think of Star Trek. As I watched the original series episodes as a kid, I hadn't a clue that the genial man with the broad scottish accent was actually Canadian. Then again, as a British kid, Canada seemed as far away as the voyages of the enterprise at that time.

To me he spoke one of the best movie lines of all time: "A keyboard, how quaint!"

And fathered a child at 80 - that was one law of well, not physics, but some other science, that he was able to change. His project estimating skills are still the basis of many a plan of mine.

Estimate - it'll take at least 6 months.
Question - can you do it 3?
Result - do it in two and you're a miracle worker.

His plan to have his ashes scattered in space is befitting of a career centered off this world, but a reality that never took him there in life.

Scotty - RIP.

In two minds about LaFave

2005-07-18T22:47:00.000-07:00

There's an old joke:

"I used to be schizophrenic, but I'm in two minds about it now."

That's the way I feel about Debra Lafave and her pleading insanity in the latest teacher having sex with minors case.

She is claiming that "she was insane due to emotional stress and did not know right from wrong when she had sex numerous times with a 14-year-old student..."

Her attorney added, "What teacher in her right mind would do something like this?"

That is really an important question and one that I have been philosophizing over for a while. What does it mean to commit a crime while "insane". In fact, what does "insane" really mean?

If its "not being right in the head", "not being of sound mind", or just generally "non compos mentos", haven't we all been that at some time?

How many times have you, or someone you know done something that was "out of character"? Did you ever do something you regret when you were drunk? Or just something you regret and when you look back say "What was I thinking?"

There's a school of thought that says there are actually hundreds of different "yous" all vieing for airtime within that skull of yours. Your actual personality is a mish-mash of the more dominant ones. Although you feel like one person, the different aspects of your personality may be controlled by individual self-centers.

So what happens when you do something that wasn't in keeping with your normal actions? Could it be that the more usual dominant parts are repressed somehow? Or another piece of the personality puzzle gains strength?

There are lots of examples of this in movies, many of the more famous ones played by Jim Carrey - The Mask, Me Myself Irene, The Riddler, to name but a few. In all these cases a subdued personality suddenly becomes dominate, often taken revenge on those that caused the, often weaker, personality misery.

If Ms Lafave truly was insane, it may just have been a subdued piece of her that was suddenly set free. I'm not arguing her case, I don't think what she did was right, and I'm not going to go into the "I wish I had teachers like that" story line, but at the end of the day, how does one go about proving she was, or wasn't "all there" at the time?

Science really needs to focus on this more. There are many questions: what is consciousness? What defines a person? Are we always responsible for what we do? When does consciousness begin and end? How does the notion of self, and the inherent personality change over time?

If it turns out that we are lots of mini-selves all vieing for airtime, which selves should get punished if one misbehaves? Can you just incarcerate one of them? Prosecuters wouldn't like that answer.

Me, I'd just like an answer. Until then, I'm in two minds about it...

SOA Blueprints & OASIS

2005-07-05T22:43:00.000-07:00

It looks very much like OASIS has adopted my SOA Blueprints as part of their reference model initiative. Its not directly referenced by OASIS yet, but a couple of postings at SearchWebServices.com and TheServerSide.com say the same thing:

In an effort to establish a common nomenclature for SOA, OASIS has created an SOA Reference Model (RM) technical committee. A group of vendors is also working to create an SOA Blueprints technical committee at OASIS. Formerly created by The Middleware Company, the Blueprints will leverage the RM to define a functional specification that vendors and end users can implement for real world SOA projects.
Before coming to OASIS, SOA Blueprints was an industry initiative led by Mountain View, Calif.-based The Middleware Company (TMC), in conjunction with a consortium of vendors and thought leaders in the enterprise Java market.

That is, written entirely by me, with lots of input from the guys at BEA and Microsoft. Shame I can't be as involved now, but my career has taken me in different directions. Still, its nice to have written an important piece of work, that has comments like:

The SOA blueprint published by TMC last year had more development related detail, which included a petstore kind of stuff for an HR module.It was more in depth even touching the areas of process modelling.

Wish that intitative had been carried forward.

I'll make the originals available here if anyone is interested. I have lots of nice Visio diagrams as well...

Bon Appetit Indeed

2005-07-05T15:41:00.000-07:00

Carrying on from my Father's day blog and interesting ingredients, I have just been informed about another potential candidate that leads to very colorful dishes indeed - Frog.

This "serving suggestion" is an actual photograph taken at a Silicon Valley cafe in late June.

The name of the Cafe? Bon Appetit. How apt! All that was missing was a smothering of garlic and side of snails.

4th July Fireworks

2005-07-05T09:32:00.001-07:00

I only saw some fireworks on TV this year. Then again, if you've seen one firework, you've seen them all. Except, of course, if they are caused by crashing a washing machine sized impactor into a comet at 22000 miles an hour.

Pretty impressive stuff. My prediction didn't come true though. Since all this happened 83 million miles away, the odds of anything bad happening to earth was pretty small. The only words I wasn't hoping hear were:

NASA: "How were we to know there was a 1 billion year old galactic destroyer hibernating beneath the ice, hell-bent on blowing up the earth?"

Didn't happen this time, but the pictures are damn good.

Kyra's Web Site is now up

2005-06-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

Amazing experiences are few and far between in this life, but over the last few months I have had one that I think will last for another 18 years at least.

My wife and I had a baby girl, Kyra, two months ago. She is truly amazing and virtually everyone I know must be sick of hearing about here. But, judge for yourself...

Is she, or is she not, totally lovely???

Anyway, the web site with photos for the first two months is now active!!

All I need to do now, is keep it up to date for the next 18 years, and add a little about my wife and I....

So du you sue do ku?

2005-06-23T23:16:00.000-07:00

Over the last week or two I've been introduced to, learnt how to play, created a spreadsheet to solve and now got somewhat bored with that infuriating Japanese numbers puzzle, Sudoku.

What is it? According to Su|do|ku.com:

"It's fun. It's challenging. It's addictive!"

Well, its actually fairly simple. Its a 9x9 grid filled so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

It's also, highly mathematical and logical (for full details you should take a look at the Wikipedia entry), that's why I thought a spreadsheet would be a great idea.

I started off with the obvious. Create the grid. Hmm. The next bit was basically the equivalent of using a pencil to solve it - put space above each grid cell for the numbers 1-9. That way you can just delete them when they're not available. But, hang-on, I thought. Couldn't I just write a formula to do that. Was a bit tricky.

You have to check every row column and cell to see which numbers can be placed in each cell. I then mapped them back into small cells above each square. To highlight options I showed cells with 2 numbers possible in amber and 1 number in green. The final bit was to store the initial numbers and highlight them in yellow. As an after thought, I'm now also highlighting the numbers for each column and row that only have one entry.

Sad thing is, with all this automation, most of the puzzles available online seem to easy. The owners of sudoku.com, Pappadom, erm, Pappacom, produce the puzzles for the Times in the UK, and they are FAR too easy. Even the Diabolical rated ones only have one logic puzzle in each. Solve that and everything else just rolls out.

The Telegraph has much more difficult puzzles, but the Fiendish ones tend to dead-end on logic and required trying a path to see if it causes problems. At least with the rules I've been able to work out so far. I'll try and post a few if I get chance...

Here's a screen shot of my excel solver...

I'll let anyone have a copy if you visit here and leave a comment with your contact info...

Father's Day Iron Chef Challenge

2005-06-19T17:42:00.000-07:00

My first father's day as a father had a rather interesting twist.

Me and my father-in-law were told after mass that we were cooking lunch. What's more, all of the ingredients had been chosen for us.

We had:

1 large butternut squash
2lbs pork loin
2 large cactus leaves
1/2lb mushrooms
2 large leeks
1lb of brussel sprouts
A pack of 20 egg roll wrappers (pasta, not filo)

We were also allowed to use anything we had in the kitchen.

OK, so we had no idea what to do with either the cactus of the squash. Luckily, a quick google showed me a cactus chilli recipe, and my Columbian brother-in-law showed up in the nick of time with an idea for the squash.

The egg-roll wrappers were more problematic, since they had to be deep fried and we don't own a frier. Some quick thinking later had them cut into shreds and turned into a chinese style pasta.

So we had four courses:

Butternut Squash Soup
Boiled squash, lightly seasoned with cilantro garnish
#3 Potsticker with Columbian Brussel Sprouts
Some of the third course, wrapped in a couple of the egg-roll wrappers we were experimenting with, shallow fried, with lightly seasoned brussel sprouts in a lemon joice broth
Pork chilli con cactus
1 lb pork cubed, cactus leaves, mushrooms, onions, white kidney beans, two cerano peppers in a garlic chilli sauce
Open egg-rolls
1 lb pork, shredded, with shredded leeks, carrots, mushrooms, onions, spring onions in a garlic, oyster, stir fry sauce with soy sauce and black pepper over the boiled shredded egg-roll pasta in soy sauce

Overall, it all seemed to go down well and no-one got stomach ache, so I think we passed the challenge.

We had a final course of Baskin&Robbins father's day ice-cream cake.

Oh, and lots of beer while we were cooking. Hey, it was father's day after-all.

Cumming onto me?

2005-02-17T22:55:00.000-08:00

The funniest thing I've seen in a while is the new Cologne named for Alan Cumming. Following in the footsteps of many a fragrant celeb (think JLo, even ancient Liz Taylor), the new parfum is named simply Cumming.

According to sources the cologne will cost $69 and will be available at the high-end retail beauty chain Sephora. Why that price tag? “I thought it was [priced at $69] to be funny, but I don’t know,” Cumming said. “I didn’t choose that.”

“It’s got truffle in it, it’s got edge in it, it’s got smokiness,” he said. “Imagine there’s a big basket of fruit that was really, really ripe and the way that it smells so sexy just before it goes off. It’s just that smell. That’s the way I think about it.”

Even better are the other items in the collection - Cumming Clean seems like a soap and Cumming All Over a body spray. Wonder what the mouth wash will be called.

They're only words...

2005-01-14T23:17:00.000-08:00

And words can mean so much - even if you can't control them. Even in the interview in which he very almost fessed up to some world changing blunders, the words got the better of him. I'm not quite sure what he was getting at with:

Sometimes, words have consequences you don't intend them to mean,

but it kind of sums up the whole story.

I think the words are actually running the country and using Bush as a vehicle. But where did these words come from? Hard to say, but words, if spoken enough times, can join forces, become more powerful, until they have a life of their own.

Take "Bring it on". How may people in the country were thinking that, or saying it to their friends and workmates before Bush uttered those words. Reading the message boards from time to time, its pretty common to see things like "Nuke the Middle East", or "Kill them all". Such fighting talk is a form of mass hysteria, that builds momentum. Usually, it is without consequence. But in some cases, the words find a mind they can control. And then, well, anything is possible.

Yahoo! News - Bush Admits Misgivings About Famed Phrases

How to build an asylum: Douglas Adams

2005-01-14T22:45:00.000-08:00

How To Build Your Own Asylum (Tm)

Find or build a house on the beach (a modest single level one will do)
Remove the wall facing the sea
Remove the roof
Put a new 'roof' on which, instead of covering the house, it slants outward (i.e. it's like a funnel of square three sided sorts)
Now strip down the walls to their bare drywall or wood or etc
Put some nice siding on the inside walls (a pale slate grey will do nicely) p.s. I wouldn't suggest brick, it's hard to keep clean
Put up some tacky wallpaper (say yellow and orange flowers with diagonal red stripes) on the outside of the walls
Maybe put up some nice soothing pictures on the outside of the walls ( just to keep the inmates calm and happy)
Rip the carpeting off the floor boards (you won't be needing it anymore) in fact, get rid of the floor boards altogether so you are now standing on the sand between three nicely sided walls and the sea
Grow some nice green grass where the floor used to be (you may need topsoil or maybe just sod it)
Put up a few square metres of decking (optional)
Get a nice lawn/deck chair and sit in it on your lawn/deck facing the sea
Get up and shut the door if you haven't already done so (you don't want any of the inmates getting out)

You should now be sitting facing the sea between three nicely sided walls while all the inmates are shut inside the asylum content to use their packets of toothpicks or look at the soothing pictures you put up on the wall for them. You are now outside the asylum

p.s. Do not lock the door, as you will need one of the inmates to bring you food once in a while.-hope this helped.

Douglas Adams - A Hero