Happy Birthday, DrikoLand! I had grand plans of a redesign or something dramatic to celebrate the 10th birthday of my web site, but as usual I procrastinated too long and don't have anything ready for today.

It still doesn't seem real to me that I've been working on this web page for 10 years now. DrikoLand started as a generic home page in 1995 during my final years at the University of Maryland, with some link pages and lots of crappy animated .GIFs. ;-) Back then, the WWW and FTP were amazing new frontiers, and Netscape had just released its first browser. The addition of "original" content like my 80s pages, military aviation designation pages, and most recently, some of my photography, made the site a little more personal. In particular, the creation of my 80s page and its graphical homage was and is a labor of love. It has always been the most popular portion of my site, although I don't devote nearly enough time to its maintenance. In June 2002, I joined the blogging community, and I still marvel at the ease with which I can add and edit content.

I searched through the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to see if I could dig up some earlier incarnations of the site, but I couldn't find anything from any of the former domains where my page was hosted (wam.umd.edu, olg.com, gmpexpress.net, us.hsanet.net). I did, however, dig up an old 1997 version of the site from my archives, which is where the old logo at the top of the post comes from. Doesn't seem like much back then, does it? I still kind of miss the old green page, though... I was able to find some driko.org Wayback Machine entries from before I went to the blog format, like this example from January 2002. From those examples you can also see the first two-column blog format I used back in July 2002.

Since then, I've obviously transitioned to a three-column format, but I think I will be looking at modifying that slightly soon. First of all, I'd like to finally ditch the clunky HTML tables and go to a cleaner CSS format that is easier to modify and maintain. I have a couple of ideas in mind, and I'll hopefully find the time soon to make that happen. I would especially like to update the photography portion of the site, as its design is downright ugly right now.

I want to take the time to thank Shaft and Czar, the occasional guest bloggers that have helped to take up the slack on the blog when I wasn't around. I think I speak for everyone when I say that we'd like to see more of your posts. And speaking of guest bloggers, there are a couple of you waiting in the wings that need to finally make the leap and post! You know who you are...

Finally, thanks to everyone who has visited DrikoLand over the years, especially those that have taken the time to leave comments and/or drop me an e-mail. It's those comments and e-mails that have helped to motivate me to maintain and update the site, a sometimes tedious exercise that has nevertheless been a lot of fun overall. Thanks again, and keep visiting! :-)

The final episode of Six Feet Under aired last week, but we just saw it last night. I have to say that it was one of the best final episodes of any TV series that I can remember (M*A*S*H is the best as far as I'm concerned).

HBO has a page devoted to the final episode in which obituaries are written for all of the major characters, a touching addition that fleshes out the last moments of the episode.

I saved reading a post by Steven Johnston until I had seen the episode, and I definitely agree with one of his statements:

I had a genuine feeling last night watching the finale that I was going to miss these people, which I can honestly say I've never had with a television show before. I suspect I'm not alone in feeling that way.

Definitely not.

Caricature artist Roberto Parada's impression of Homer Simpson is quite eerie...

"Bill Moyer, 73, wears a 'Bullshit Protector' flap over his ear while [W] addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars."

If you'd like to make your own Bullshit Protector, Boing Boing has kindly provided a link with do-it-yourself instructions.

The latest buzz on the Interweb is Google Talk, Google's entry into the IM/Internet Phone (VOIP?) arena. The Instant Messenger text chat portion of Google Talk works as you would expect, letting you invite contacts from GMail very easily. Apparently you need a GMail account to use the program, but if you're invited to be someone's Google Talk contact, an invitation to GMail is supposedly included. I have a bunch of GMail invitations, by the way, in case anyone still needs one. You can also connect to Google Talk via GAIM and Trillian (among others), two popular open source IM applications that use the Jabber/XMPP protocol. However, I was unable to get GAIM to work despite trying some suggestions at smash's world. I'll keep trying to see whether I'm missing something there...

The Internet Phone option worked surprisingly well. Once Shaft and I figured out our respective microphone issues, the sound clarity was pretty decent, with only minor feedback and glitches. The review at Skype Journal was positive overall but pointed out some features that are lacking when compared to Skype and other IM clients. I haven't tried Skype myself; I believe the only other Internet Phone-type application that I've tried was Dialpad, and it worked reasonably well, if I remember correctly.

Overall, Google Talk is definitely worth a try. I don't use any particular IM client regularly, so I don't have any strong ties to a particular community to break. I imagine that would be a concern for many, and that could be partially ameliorated by using a client like GAIM or Trillian that can access most of the major IM applications at once. The Internet Phone experience was fairly positive, and it's very compelling at the moment, considering that it's totally free(!). I wonder whether that will change, but it seems that many of Google's offerings have remained that way, with ad revenues somehow monetizing their efforts. I guess the program is technically still in Beta, so who knows?

A recent Engadget post transports you back to 1985, the age of the BBS as well as cutting edge hardware and software like the Amiga, Windows 1.0, and 11-lb. "portable" phones. I think the best part is the awesome ASCII art... ;-)

The newest version of Google Desktop incorporates many new features, including a desktop sidebar that displays: news items; photographs (random slideshows locally or from web/RSS links); GMail messages; "web clips" (random items form RSS feeds that you specify); a scratch pad (for reminder notes); weather; a search box, of course; and a lot more. All of this is fully customizable, and although I hate to give up any desktop space, this could be very cool. I'll have to leave it in the sidebar mode and see whether I like it enough to keep it...

McSweeney's Internet Tendency has posted a hilarious list of Klingon Fairy Tales. My favorite is "The Hare Foolishly Lowers His Guard and Is Devastated by the Tortoise, Whose Prowess in Battle Attracts Many Desirable Mates." :-)

The Borowitz Report's latest entry reveals that scientists in Oslo are debating the origin of W:

At a conference being held this week in Oslo, Norway, over one thousand of the world’s leading scientists have concluded that neither the theory of evolution nor the theory of intelligent design adequately explain President George W. Bush.

Quite a funny read...

Check out Timeline, a cool flash calendar clock thingie...

The video Quarters is just some dude showing off his Quarters-playing skillz, but I have to admit that he makes some amazing shots. I was going to say that he needs to get out more, but at least he didn't spend all of his time making Sexed Robots... ;-p

I think there's little doubt that the scientists who created Sexed Robots need to get some out more:

The sexed robots are autonomous wheeled platforms fitted with nylon genital organs, respectively male and female. They are programmed to explore their environment, occasionally entering a "in heat" mode, where they will try and locate a partner in the same state. If a partner is located, the robots will attempt to mate.

Secret Spain has posted MP3s of the entire The Dukes Of Hazzard album released in 1981. It's pretty much as bad as I figured it would be, and the presence of a track by Johnny Cash ("General Lee," a song from the car's perspective) does nothing to change that. Of course, I downloaded the tracks anyway... ;-)

The story of "Voytek, The Iranian soldier-bear of Monte Cassino," is apparently true and is actually pretty interesting.

I'm not sure what to make of the Aeon Flux trailer. I want the movie to be good, but the trailer isn't quite doing it for me. What do you think?

Atom Films' Pink Five is a hilarious Star Wars spoof highlighting the adventures of one ditzy X-Wing pilot. The short film won "the coveted George Lucas Selects Award in the 2003 Star Wars Fan Film Awards," and I can see why.

There is also a sequel, Pink Five Strikes Back, which won the Audience Choice Award in the 2004 Star Wars Fan Film Awards. The third in the trilogy (?), Return Of Pink Five (formerly The Revenge Of Pink Five), is still in the works. Should be fun...

Metro Arts and Architecture is a great site that features photos of and links to sites on different cities' Subway and Metro stations' architecture and artwork:

Subways need not be boring or dreary! Many operators of metros, subways or underground railways want to attract more passengers with good station design. This often means extra effort and higher costs for the metro operators but it seems to pay when a metro is more than only a means of traffic but something the population can be proud of.

Read below which metro systems double as the world's longest art galleries and in which cities you can see stunning underground palaces, museums, aquariums, an ancient chapel, the world's first example of computer-generated architecture and other kinds of interesting things in subway stations.

I've only been on a couple of the Subways mentioned on the site, but it seems I didn't pay enough attention to my surroundings. I'll definitely need to return with a more discerning eye (and a camera)...

Star Wars As It Should Have Been (a good amount of NSFW themes and language ;-p) is a hilarious Flash slide show that defies description. Just go see it, but don't say I didn't warn you...

The Flash video They're Taking The Hobbits To Isengard is, um, different.

As you might have heard, the Kansas Board Of Education is poised to set back scientific progress by centuries and "tentatively approved new state science standards that weaken the role evolution plays in teaching about the origin of life." The whole debate was part of a broader attack on evolution by Christian Fundamentalists who are advancing their Creationist agenda in the guise of a less innocuous-sounding faux science called "Intelligent Design."


But enough about that; you can hear about that in the "Mainstream Media." What you haven't heard about is the more serious decision to actively stifle Pastafarianism, the religious belief in the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Proponents of this theory have recently sent the Kansas School Board an open letter discussing their disappointment over their exclusion from the debate:

Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was He who created all that we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him.
...
I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; One third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence.

You should definitely look at the rest of the site, as the conspiracy extends much further. You are probably not aware that "global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking numbers of Pirates since the 1800s." Think about it!

Obviously, this is not a real religious belief (yet) but was rather created to highlight the lack of scientific merit in "Intelligent Design." Thankfully, as demonstrated by several responses from members of the Kansas School Board, not everyone on that board is totally ignorant. Unfortunately, they are in the minority:

Dear Mr. Henderson, Thanks for your message. Thanks for the laugh. Your web site is fascinating. I will add your theory to a long list of alternative theories I intend to introduce when it is appropriate. I am practicing how to do this with a straight face which is difficult since it's such a ridiculous subject; it is also very sad that we are even having the discussion.

I will be one of the four member minority who will be voting against the flawed science standards currently being proposed by the six member majority.
Sincerely, Sue Gamble

RAmen.

Check out this video of Boeing flight tests conducted to verify the aircrafts' ability to withstand extreme crosswind landings. Amazing...

Shaft responded with a link showing a video of a "less than textbook" crosswind landing. The rest of the site is a great source for all kinds of aviation videos.

I've decided to get rid of the Archive Calendar in the right sidebar, replacing it with a drop-down Archives Menu. The calendar was annoying to update, and even I didn't really use it, so I figured it wasn't worth keeping around. I was inspired by Freshblog's implentation, but I ended up using code I found at Roveberg.com.

I also switched to a monthly Blogger archive rather than a daily one to keep the drop-down display size within reason. Let me know what you think!

Six Apart has a fun gallery entitled If Bloggers Had Been Around Throughout History that pokes fun at bloggers' sometimes inflated sense of self-importance.

This video (direct link to QuickTime movie) is pretty damn funny...

If you can ignore the out-of-place religious references, this page has some awesome pictures and videos of Prandtl-Glauert Condensation Clouds (nice associated gallery here), wall-like clouds of condensation formed when aircraft are flying at transonic speeds. Jeff Wilkinson has assembled a good amount of information and links on the subject too, and there are other gallery sites as well. I think this example of the Space Shuttle Atlantis in the transonic regime is one of the coolest images, even if it isn't one of the more classic cloud shapes.

Guardian Unlimited and New Scientist report on a troubling new development affecting the climactic model of Global Warming:

A vast expanse of western Sibera is undergoing an unprecedented thaw that could dramatically increase the rate of global warming, climate scientists warn today.

Researchers who have recently returned from the region found that an area of permafrost spanning a million square kilometres - the size of France and Germany combined - has started to melt for the first time since it formed 11,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age.

The area, which covers the entire sub-Arctic region of western Siberia, is the world's largest frozen peat bog and scientists fear that as it thaws, it will release billions of tonnes of methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere.

It is a scenario climate scientists have feared since first identifying "tipping points" - delicate thresholds where a slight rise in the Earth's temperature can cause a dramatic change in the environment that itself triggers a far greater increase in global temperatures.

I hate to make alarmist posts like this, but this kind of story often seems to get glossed over by the mainstream media, and the subject should definitely get more attention than it does by W and his administration.

For those of you who haven't heard of it, North Korea's official, and pretty much only, source of news is the KCNA. However, news is probably not the best way to characterize the propaganda issued from the agency, something that web designer Geoff Davis noted: "Their propaganda is often unintentionally hilarious and I couldn't find an existing searchable database of the KCNA on the Web. Thus, NK News was born." NK News is

a searchable database of North Korean propaganda. This site contains nearly every article published on the KCNA's website, in English and Spanish, since Dec 2, 1996--over 50 MB of hard-core Stalinist propaganda! And each article written in that unique and indelible style of the KCNA.

There's a whole lot to explore here, but definitely visit the Random Insult Generator, "You extra-large warmonger!" ;-)

The Onion reports on a new theory gaining ground with evangelical scientists looking for an alternative to the "theory of gravity:" Intelligent Falling:

"Traditional scientists admit that they cannot explain how gravitation is supposed to work," [Intelligent Falling expert Dr. Ellen] Carson said. "What the gravity-agenda scientists need to realize is that 'gravity waves' and 'gravitons' are just secular words for 'God can do whatever He wants.'"

Some evangelical physicists propose that Intelligent Falling provides an elegant solution to the central problem of modern physics.

"Anti-falling physicists have been theorizing for decades about the 'electromagnetic force,' the 'weak nuclear force,' the 'strong nuclear force,' and so-called 'force of gravity,'" [gravity critic Gabriel] Burdett said. "And they tilt their findings toward trying to unite them into one force. But readers of the Bible have already known for millennia what this one, unified force is: His name is Jesus."

Food for thought... ;-p

No matter how you feel about Cindy Sheehan camping out at W's Crawford Ranch to protest the war, I think that everyone can agree that actions of Larry Northern are despicable:

Sheehan said she doesn't want to press charges against a pickup driver who early Tuesday allegedly ran over a makeshift memorial for the more than 1,800 Americans killed in Iraq. Police said he drove a pickup over 500 crosses and 40 American flags.

Court papers identified him as Larry Northern, 59, from nearby Waco.

He has been charged with a felony criminal mischief count. Damage to the memorial was estimated at more than $1,500. He was released after posting $3,000 bail, according to court records.

Sheehan said protesters would ask for a restraining order to keep the driver away from their camp.

Dave Jensen, a participant in the protest, said the truck driver appeared to be dragging a piece of pipe behind his pickup to aid in the destruction.

"The whole idea is everybody is just supporting the troops and honoring the troops," Jensen said. "This was definitely not a way to honor the troops, no matter what side of the fence you're on."

Just in time for the return of the NHL, I stumbled upon The Hockey Fight Site, which features, obviously, classic hockey fight pictures and videos. Not that I condone that sort of behavior... ;-)

Earlier this month, while the Space Shuttle was still in orbit, Idle Words posted a long article on the history and controversy over the Shuttle entitled A Rocket To Nowhere. Although it is definitely a somewhat biased view of the Shuttle's missions and capabilities, I agree with a lot of the points made in the article. Here are a few notable ones:

Sinking half the NASA budget into the Shuttle and ISS precludes the possibility of doing truly groundbreaking work on space flight. As the orbiters age, their upkeep and safety requirements are becoming an expensive antiquarian exercise, forcing engineers to spend their ingenuity repairing obsolete components and devising expensive maintenance techniques for sclerotic spacecraft, rather than applying their lessons to a new generation of rockets. The retardant effect the Shuttle has had on technology (like the two decades long freeze in expendable rocket development) outweighs any of its modest initial benefits to materials science, aerodynamics, and rocket design.
...
For all the talk of building a culture of safety, no one has pointed out the inherent contradiction in requiring that a program justified on irrational grounds be run in a rational manner. In an atmosphere where special pleading and wishful thinking about the benefits of manned flights to low earth orbit are not just tolerated, but required of astronauts and engineers, how can one demand complete integrity and intellectual honesty on safety of flight issues? It makes no sense to expect NASA to maintain a standard of intellectual rigor in operations that it can magically ignore when it comes to policy and planning.

I disagree with the assertion that most of the Shuttles' missions (summary here; details starting with STS-1 here) are worthless demonstrations of "ants sortings screws in space" (a Simpsons quote, not the article's), as the program on the whole has developed and refined many technologies that have yielded practical breakthroughs and benefits. Still, I have to admit that boondoggles like John Glenn's return to space are highlights of some of the program's more wasteful moments.

There is no question that the Space Shuttle program is the jewel in NASA's crown, and a lot of prestige would be lost if it were prematurely retired. As much as I would like to see it continue to support the operation of the International Space Station (and to keep alive the long shot of rescuing the Hubble Space Telescope), I think it's time for NASA to take a long, hard look at whether its funds are best spent just keeping up with an obsolete design and "trying to keep its participants alive" rather than truly innovating and developing the next generation platform for space exploration.

Shuttle astronaut Steve Robinson took this amazing Escher-esque self portrait during his recent spacewalk.

The Internet Archive has preserved the video gem Our House:

An animated response to a musical song/story by the British group Madness, "Our House" was designed and animated by students 12 to 15 years old, and originated entirely on flipbooks.

Fun... :-)

Artist Shannon Goff has constructed a Bell 47 helicopter entirely out of corrugated cardboard. Amazing...

The Flickr photoset Unfortunate Childrens Books has photos of classic books like The First Book Of Salt. ;-)

Check out this video of a shark versus an octopus (embedded RealVideo). Or is it an octopus versus a shark?

I love The Onion... :-)

CNN reports that "nearly four months to the day since he announced in a hoarse voice on his evening newscast that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, longtime ABC World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings died Sunday." I am very saddened to hear this news, as I was a regular viewer of ABC News specifically because I preferred Jennings' reporting to that of the other network news anchors. Just last week I actually wondered how he was doing in his chemotherapy, but obviously the cancer had advanced too quickly. ABC News has posted a nice retrospective of his life and career. He will definitely be missed. :-(

Infinite Flickr: The Movie will blow your mind...

ypsi~dixit has an interesting post that contains a computation of how many punch cards it would take to read an MP3. The answer?

"Assuming a non-Hollerith encoding with eight bits per column, and an MP3 file encoded at 128kbps CBR, there would be 36,864 cards in that deck, and the card reader would need a throughput of 205 cards per second. It might be wise to include an 8-column sequence number, however, so that a misordered deck can be repaired by a card sorter; with 72 data columns per card, the total is precisely 40,960 cards (40K cards), requiring a 228 card/second throughput." The 21 boxes of cards needed would by 5 feet 9 inches tall.

Punch cards are before my time, so I can't claim any direct experience with them. My earliest storage technology was cassettes on a ZX81; now that was high-tech! ;-) I have to agree with his closing thought: "That such a huge leap in technology is well within living memory astonishes"...

FlickrBlog describes some of the cool new features that Flickr recently introduced. Clustering allows for a more control over searching through sometimes ambiguous or redundant tags, and Flickr: Explore! allows you to automagically explore "interesting" photos from the last 24 hours.

Leave It To Bush is a hilariously weird video; volumes 2 and 3 are great as well...

Flickr user brevity's photoset "50 people see..." is pretty cool:

I wrote a program to blend Flickr images which share the same tags. No human is involved in choosing, positioning, or blending the images.

Suggestions are welcome for new tags to try. The best tags imply a certain composition, like "sunset", although I've gotten some interesting results with abstract words too.

eChalk has an amazing page dealing with color perception that demonstrates just how much our perception of color is influenced by surrounding hues. I've seen one of these examples before, but the movable masking graphics included on the page really highlight the illusions.

Snopes.com, a definitive source for determining the veracity of "common fallacies, misinformation, old wives' tales, strange news stories, rumors, celebrity gossip, and similar items," has collected some very funny user requests:

Every day our inbox fills with hundreds of questions that range from the routine to the extraordinary, the mundane to the fantastic. While we're honored that our readers think to turn to us with these head-scratchers, many of their queries are too obscure or complicated for us to answer. Among the more unusual questions that are sent our way, we sometimes find a few seemingly posed with such a sense of urgency that we can't help but wonder about the circumstances that prompted them — and the results.

Makes you wonder about some of those people...

Last Tuesday's Doonesbury comic caused some controversy because of the use of the nickname "Turd Blossom" to describe presidential advisor Karl Rove. Funny thing is, this is not a made-up moniker, but is actually one of the nicknames used by W for Rove. I have no problem with it... ;-)

When I was offered a copy of The Jerk 25th 26th Anniversary DVD in return for posting a review, I jumped at the chance. For those of you who don't know, The Jerk is one of my all-time favorite movies, so hearing that a remastered version was being released with some extras was pretty exciting for me.

The main selling point of the new DVD is the fact that the audio and video have been completely restored and remastered in 5.1 surround sound and 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen (as opposed to the previous release's Dolby 2.0 sound and 1.33:1 full screen). Granted, the movie doesn't really lend itself to the envelopment of a full 5.1 surround sound field, but I could definitely hear a huge improvement in the audio over the earlier DVD release. The video looked a lot better as well, bolstered by the anamorphic widescreen remastering. And of course there's just no comparing the quantum leap in video and audio quality the DVD format offers over VHS.

I was hoping for more extras than were included, but I suppose movies in 1979 just didn't plan on releasing supplementary material like more recent movies do. There is a bonus featurette entitled "The Lost Filmstrips of Father Carlos Las Vegas de Cordova," which is purportedly an extended version of the cat-juggling scene in the movie. However, it appears to be new footage and is only mildly amusing. The other bonus feature is an extended ukulele lesson for the song "You Belong To Me" (the one that Bernadette Peters and Steve Martin sang on the beach), and it too seems out of place (Who has a ukulele lying around?). Your typical theatrical trailer and production notes round out the extras.

Extras aside, I love the movie, and watching it again over the weekend was a blast. This is classic Steve Martin at his wackiest, and I obviously give it two thumbs up. The DVD is available for purchase here. If you are interested in buying it, please use that link so that they'll consider sending me more stuff! :-)