Nov
07
2003

Google Deskbar

The latest toy from the folks at Google: the Google Deskbar which allows you to search from within any application via the Windows taskbar. I especially like being able to use the Google Calculator feature from the Deskbar for quick calculations.

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Nov
04
2003

Pixel Fonts

Some nice pixel fonts from Cal Henderson.

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Oct
24
2003

Thirty-Meter Telescope Funded

Caltech’s Thirty Meter Telescope (formerly known as the California Extremely Large Telescope) has received $17.5 million for a detailed design study from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Construction of the observatory at a yet undetermined site in Hawaii, Chile, or Mexico could be completed by 2012.

Filed Under Science, Space | 3 Comments

Oct
10
2003

How much is inside?

Throughout the ages, man has pondered the question, “How much is inside?“. Find out how much shaving cream or silly string is in a can, how many cups of beer in a keg, or how much filling is in a package of Oreos – or important stuff, like how many pages of porn can you print with a printer cartridge.

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Oct
10
2003

A Little Perspective on $87 billion

Much like the MegaPenny Project I’ve mentioned before, here’s something to help you visualize $87 billion.

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Oct
08
2003

Degree Confluence Project

The Degree Confluence Project is attempting to collect photos taken at the intersection of each whole-degree line of latitude and longitude (at least those on land). Check the world map (with pop-up images) to see what’s been completed. So far, they only have 17 photos from Alaska, which is understandable considering how difficult it was to get to this one (61°N 149°W) near Girdwood!

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Oct
06
2003

Things that make life online a little better

Over the past six months I’ve discovered, out of necessity, a few tools and services that have made life online a just a little more bearable. I didn’t realize how much I love the Google Toolbar popup blocker until I used someone else’s computer. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a popup ad, and when I visited some of the sites I regularly read using a browser without the toolbar installed I couldn’t believe how many a “normal” visitor gets hit with!

To deal with spam, I’ve been using Cloudmark’s Spamnet, and it does a fantastic job of filtering out junk – I haven’t had a single mis-classified message for months. I have to admit, I liked it even better when it was still in beta, and free, but it’s definitely worth $3.99 a month.

Since Spamnet is a PC-only and Outlook-only product (at least for now), I had to search for another product/service to help poor Michele on her old iMac – she was typically receiving 100-200 spam message each day. I finally settle on Mailshell. Again, it’s not free ($3.00 per month), but it’s done a great job of reducing the volume of spam, and it’s been extremely rare that it’s incorrectly flagged a message. The biggest drawback, is the fact that introduces a delay in receiving message since it periodically checks your SMTP server, and you can’t control its schedule – so sometimes Michele will have to wait a little while for a message to be picked up. Overall, she’s happy though – no more deleting hundreds of message each day!

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Sep
25
2003

More New Paintings

Once again, I’ve fallen behind in updating Michele’s web site. Her three most recent works continue her transition from transparent watercolors to gouache: The Conversation, Consequences and The Supper Club.

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Sep
22
2003

Print Your Own Money

Monopoly money that is… the Monopoly site over at Hasbro has Monopoly money in PDF format that you can print yourself.

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Sep
21
2003

The Elegant Universe on PBS

Brian Greene’s book on superstring theory, The Elegant Universe has been made into a three-part series on PBS which will begin on October 28. The program site also has an interesting interview with Greene.

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