New State Abbreviations, according to Wired Mag
Well… they did it… they changed the abbreviations for Pennsylvania and Virginia.
They are now PE and VI, respectively. I wonder if they notified the Virgin Islands about this.
(link to original article)
No beer for us???
This guy could veto our right to eat!!! =(
I guess McCain will lose many followers if he keeps promising these kind of things.
Big Picture
A few weeks ago I heard about Big Picture… it is just awesome. Large images; many of them are unbelievable.
Found at Jason’s
The Wall
If you watch CNN every once in a while, and if you’ve been watching it during the long long long 2008 Election campaigns, then you have seen The Wall.
It is rather awesome, so check it out at Perceptive Pixel.
Back to apartment living? Heck yes!
When a person buys a home, the money that is paid upfront is more significant and may or may not be seen again. For example, a buyer must pay closing costs (typically five percent of the loan amount) and real estate agent commission (typically six percent of the loan amount) before being called a homeowner. This 11 percent ‘investment’ ensures that the home must appreciate by at least 11 percent before the buyer can hope to break even.
For years, my dad’s financial advisor has been telling us that renting is a better deal… Every time I tell the story to anyone, they all come up with some of the Own vs. Rent myths, and laugh saying that my dad should get a real advisor.
Found at Kottke
M5
Sweet!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plxNfU-PA2c[/youtube]
I live in an Icebox
The temperature in International Falls, Minnesota, fell to a record 40 below zero Monday, just a few days after the northern Minnesota town won a federal trademark making it officially the “Icebox of the Nation.” CNN
I was actually walking around downtown Minneapolis last Saturday night, and reportedly the wind chill factor within the downtown area was very close to minus 40. There’s this ‘concrete canyon’ effect that makes your buttocks freeze rather fast: the wind sort of happily funnels around buildings, making it a not so warm experience.
Super Bowl Commercials
And then some… All organized by quarter.
Microsoft buying Yahoo! for $44.6 Billion
Microsoft has publicly offered over $44 Billion to acquire financially struggling Yahoo!.
Ballmer must be smiling today, Google is watching.
700 MHz Spectrum Auction Starts Tomorrow
Tomorrow, the FCC is starting the auction for the 700 MHz Spectrum, which will be freed on February 17, 2009 once TV broadcasting goes digital.
The New York Times has a good article on the topic.
“In setting the rules for the auction to some of the most valuable radio spectrum licenses ever issued, the F.C.C. decided last year to endorse one of Google’s proposals by requiring that the winning bidders open their networks to a wider array of applications and phones. (Verizon and AT&T objected to the decision.)”
While you will not be able to know who’s bidding what, you will be able to watch the bids with daily updates from the FCC’s auction site. (Pick auction 73 from the drop-down menu).
Netscape Navigator No More
After over 13 years of existence since the release of Mosaic Netscape 0.9, all development and support for Netscape Navigator will cease after February 1, 2008.
24 – Original Pilot (1994)
What a difference a decade could make…
Altoids
So I go and get something from the little store downstairs.
I am thinking I should get some gum or lozenges.
I suddenly see this brown Altoids box.
Dark Chocolate Dipped Mints.
Don’t think about it twice, so I go and checkout.
Walk back to my desk.
Open the package.
Put one in my mouth.
Dear Clusterflock – A la Deron B.
Mac or PC?
Nissan Skyline GTR for Sale
This guy needs to sell his car.
Why would you sell such unique car if there are (supposedly) only 4 in the world?
Reason for Selling: Purchased without proper consent from the wife. Apparently “do whatever the F**K you want” does not mean what I thought.
Ahh… The joy.
Nuking a cockroach
The crazy guys from Discovery’s Mythbusters, will test the old rumor that cockroaches would be the only living thing to survive a nuclear (did I say that right?) catastrophe.
“But will the roaches grow really, really large?”
That, my friend, is the correct question.
–link
Al-Qaeda = Iraq = Iran
Did anyone say déjà vu?
In a series of public statements in recent months, President Bush and members of his Administration have redefined the war in Iraq, to an increasing degree, as a strategic battle between the United States and Iran. “Shia extremists, backed by Iran, are training Iraqis to carry out attacks on our forces and the Iraqi people,” Bush told the national convention of the American Legion in August. “The attacks on our bases and our troops by Iranian-supplied munitions have increased… The Iranian regime must halt these actions. And, until it does, I will take actions necessary to protect our troops.” He then concluded, to applause, “I have authorized our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran’s murderous activities.”
(From The New Yorker. Read it on Kottke)
Apple’s own network?
Steve Jobs & Co. consider joining the FCC’s auction of wireless spectrum, and a win would give Apple many intriguing options—for the iPhone and more
I guess it would be just great to have an AT&T-less iPhone… which is one of the reasons why I didn’t get one… besides not winning one here at Clusterflock.
-link
Nokia’s ‘iPhone’
You gotta be kidding me!
This must be fake… or is it?
Striking back against RIAA
Tanya Andersen has started a complaint seeking class action status against RIAA.
sues for negligence, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, federal and state RICO, abuse of process, malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, trespass, invasion of privacy, libel and slander, deceptive business practices, misuse of copyright law, and civil conspiracy.
Keep wasting my time.
The ‘Net’ is a waste of time, and that’s exactly what’s right about it.
- William Gibson
3 Billion Songs Sold
The world’s most popular online music, TV, and movie store, iTunes features a catalog of more than five million songs, 550 TV shows, and 500 movies, and it recently surpassed both Amazon and Target to become the third largest music retailer in the US.
(link)
Note: They got to 1 billion on February 22nd, 2006, shy of three years after they launched; then reached the 2 billion mark by January 9th, 2007.
Going down the tubes
Federal agents searched the home of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens on Monday, focusing on records related to his relationship with an oil field services contractor jailed in a public corruption investigation, a law enforcement official said.
(link)
