• tasks – A web based, hierarchical task manager/to-do list/lightweight project manager.
• iCal – Generates ics files for importing events into iCalender compatible programs

Running Government More Like A Business, Kirk Anderson (via Albuqueerque.com)

From Arriana’s Campaign Journal: (according to Anil, she updates personally. Not that there’s really much question about it in the writing style. Her most recent post is great:

One of the few things I don’t love about being on the campaign trail is getting the same questions again and again and again. Especially the one about my so-called “political transformation”.

Shouldn’t there be a statute of limitation on questions about this? I mean, when I was a Republican, Saddam Hussein was our ally, George Bush owned a mediocre baseball team, Enron was a respected energy company and Michael Jackson was still black.

Well, we all have our vices. For some, it’s booze. For others it’s group sex. For me, it was Newt Gingrich.

But I’m very happy to say that I’ve put mine behind me. Times change. People grow up. And so did I.

Y’know, there’s a word they use for people who hold the same opinions for their entire life and refuse to let new evidence change their minds. I believe the word I’m looking for is… Republicans.

Loebner Prize Context 2003: Finalists

SIMULATION 101: Simulation versus Representation

Here is the first in a series of articles where I will deal with the issue of simulation as the basic tool for understanding videogames. I will focus on the particular characteristics of simulation as an alternative to representation and narrative. These articles will be “illustrated” with small web-based simulations.

Ken Stone: Digital Audio in Decibels & Final Cut Pro’s Audio Peak Detection Tool

While Apple and Sony (for mini-DV) set the standard at -12 dB, -20 dB reference is the standard in most professional digital audio for picture, including Digital Betacam and HD. Some might say that peaking at -12 dB is still too hot and they use -20 dB as their reference.

Don’t be afraid of lower volumes. This is digital audio and lower volume audio is quite clean.

Linux’s answer to MS-PPTP – review of CIPE and vtun by Peter Gutmann (wow, his old home page *is* quite fun)

Whenever someone thinks that they can replace SSL/SSH with something much better that they designed this morning over coffee, their computer speakers should generate some sort of penis-shaped sound wave and plunge it repeatedly into their skulls until they achieve enlightenment.

Deep Sites – Intelligent Innovation in Contemporary Web Design. See: Joe Clark on The IC-Style

Many moons ago… Interesting bits:

• 1997-4/2001 ICQ messaging stats – obviously, I must have been very bored when I compiled these (i’m sure it’s in my blog archives somewhere). I have an XML file of those archives still lying around somewhere…)
• old drawing class hand study
• Frodo the Theatre Dog
• old Lynx screenshot

Went looking for some stuff after googling some of my new grad program classmates. Now *that’s* good fun.

• Shake: autocorrecting brightness
• HDRI The Cheap And Nasty Way
• Matching Real Lighting
• Paul Debevic’s HDRShop, also: SIGGRAPH 2003: HDRI and Image-Based Lighting
• How to LEARN COMBUSTION – Link List – ReadMe !
• Making the grade – 5D Colossus digital grading – based on Colorfront tech, 5D went belly up back in Oct 2002
• Digital Grading Part II : 5D Colossus. LOTR & We Were Soldiers
• Discreet and Colorfront alliance for Digital Grading – would be fun to play with Lustre

Next in my bad sfx series: