Lee.org

Recently seen on Dell’s site

Purchase ONLINE:
Any Dimension desktop over $549 (before tax & mail-in rebate)

Get:
FREE (3-5 Day) Shipping! (a $80 value; $19 Handling Charge applies)

So if I have this right, it’s free… except that it’s not.

Coldforged in rare form:

Coldforged on Grand Theft Auto’s sex scene.

What was little Suzie doing with a Mature labeled game anyway? This isn’t like buying Spongebob Squarepants’ Underwater Adventure and unlocking a secret “SPONGEBOB SLIPPERY SLIDING SODOMY” minigame. The GTA series is all about beating and killing cops and pedestrians, banging hookers and killing them afterward and doing essentially as many virtual illegal things as you can fit in a day. But, someone figures out there’s sex in the game and people lose their skulls.

And more…

Finally, someone is launching an investigation into that patently obscene millisecond shot of Janet Jackson’s mostly-obscured nipple during the Super Bowl. I’m so glad that someone is thinking of the irreparable harm that this brief pseudo-nudity caused.

Oh! Did anyone catch that CSI episode where the dog carries home a decapitated human head, and the dog got sick because it ate part of the head?! That was awesome!

Yeah! I saw that episode too! I remember, the killer drugged and then buried some poor sot up to his neck and tortured him all night before killing him! Frickin’ awsome!

I bought an HP Laserjet 1020 a few days ago. It sat outside my room gathering dust for a few days; I was worried. I’ve had an HP Laserjet 6MP for the last 8 years and it has performed flawlessly. Would this new printer be any good or has HP lost it. “They don’t build ’em like they used to.” This new printer looks like a toy compared to the 6MP. Heck, that’s the main reason I didn’t bring it. The 6MP weighs in at roughly 25 lbs; this new printer is barely 5, consuming 1/2 the desk space. How could it possibly print 3 times as fast at twice the resolution, printing envelopes and full size images with it’s wimpy 2 MB of RAM?

Well, it does.

The first thing that got my attention was how well planned out the setting up procedure was. From the pretty language-free notes to the amazing ease at which the toner slips into it.

• Driver software: excellent. It clearly walked me through printing double-sided… and it didn’t speak! Those speaking printers still freak me out.
• Speed: remarkable. The first text page comes out in 8 seconds, then 6 seconds per page. Full page photos come out just about as fast.
• Print quality: excellent. Not as good as a photo, or as a color photo but terribly sharp black and white. Better paper might help this.
• Envelopes: Fine. Since it doesn’t have an alternate paper path port, I worried that my envelopes would be all crinkled. It comes out only a tiny bit crinkled and the paper fully recovers after a few minutes. (better than my 6MP!)
• Footprint: tiny! When you’re not using it, you can fold up the front door and it takes up about 8″x15″x8″. Otherwise, it’s 15″x15″x8″, smaller than some inkjets.
• Aesthetic: Nice. Smooth, slightly curvy lines, respectable two-tone traditional beige and dark beige.
• Cost: A bit more than some other printers. I paid $179. Some other stores had a $30 rebate but I was lazy. Some other low-end laser printers are as cheap as $89 but buying the HP name seems to still be worth something. :-)
• Toner life and replacement cost: I think I remember reading that I’ll get 2,000 pages out of the $80 print cartridge. Probably more if I refill it.

I’ve always loved this story. (local version).

I first read it a while back but I wanted to share it with you.

It’s the story of how a 13 year old hacker knocked Steve Gibson’s website off the internet and how he tracked the kid down. The story goes into very fine technical detail but Steve writes it all with such clarity that anyone can read and understand it.

Yeah, I’m like a year behind on this but jeez doesn’t this make for a PR credibility liability for The Pentagon.

Pat Tillman friendly fire

I had only gone a few times during my Boston years but places such as this are important cultural and personal institutions. I certainly hope that there is follow through to the promise on their website

ManRay will be reopening shortly, at a new location. Check the website for update.

I haven’t followed the Boston scene in a while but when I last left our galant heros, they were slowly losing the battle to Puritanical forces.

[Insert image of Mel Gibson tied down on his back in front of a throng of onlookers]
“FREETRADE!”

I put a new set of random images in the upper right corner of the blog. Click on an image to make it larger. You can view them all here (sorry about the poor interface, but hey). Most of the images on the site are shrunk-down versions. Contact me if you want a full-size version of anything. (If I don’t know you, I may or may not oblige)

Friday the 22nd – Wait most of the day for and then receive the bulk of my stuff via UPS directly to my storage space.

Saturday and Sunday the 23rd and 24th – take a welding class at The Crucible (the class ended up being not as educational as I had hoped)

Tuesday the 26th – Start contracting for Wavexpress.

Thursday the 28th – Help a friend of Vixen’s build an Art Car for Burning Man.

Friday the 29th – Meet Bean’s friend Cate. Help her sign-up for the San Francisco Marathon on Sunday. have a great lunch with her overlooking the ferry (all excepting the part where she nearly choked to death… quite a memorable start to our friendship!). Argue with a housemate who firmly believes that newspaper, paper bags, and white paper goes in the compost bin. walk to the Red Poppy Art House just a few blocks away and hear a Spanish guitar duet.

Saturday the 30th – Fill out the forms to get health insurance in California: it is going to cost 70% less than in New Jersey. I could have paid a mere 50% less and gotten almost exactly the same health plan as in New Jersey. See The Incredibles with Vixen and have an all-around very good evening.

Sunday the 31st – Maybe I will go see the San Francisco Marathon, or maybe The 2nd Annual Burning Man pARTiciPARADE. Oh my, I see that the marathon and the pARTiciPARADE are separated by only 3 blocks. I certainly hope that some planning has gone into this!

I certainly am keeping busy!

More Arcs ‘n Sparks including the NEW record holder for the world’s biggest Jacob’s Ladder.

Thanks to the crew on JWZ’s blog for an amazing show.

engineering pornography

Russian spammer murdered
John Leyden, The Register 2005-07-26

Notorious Russian spammer Vardan Kushnir was found bludgeoned to death in his Moscow apartment on Sunday. He was killed by repeated blows to the head, Russian news agency Interfax reports…