Microsoft does a lot of cool UI things (admittedly by using other people’s research) and this is one of the coolest innovations I’ve seen. The two coolest feature of DateLens are (1) a fisheye type zoom on the calendar and (2) using an expandable slider. Be sure to click through to the WMV to get an animated look at it.

The BBC Science website has another hit on their hands with a Spot The Fake Smile quiz. It’s that easy: play the clip, then pick whether the smile is fake or genuine.

You geeks will love this. A security process that monitors closed ports for a secret knock within a specified time window, then opens a previously closed seperate port for a short time window. So, it could look for an IP address trying to access ports 123,101,1026,1027,744 in that order within a 5 second window, and opens up port 80 for 10 seconds after it receives the secret knock. It almost seems foolproof.

[ stolen from this Slashdot article ]

Here’s a site I check in on occasionally. It’s compiled by Kevin Kelly, who is one of those old-school ‘net geeks (gray beard-having, San Francisco-living, Wired magazine-founding, crunchy granola WELL member) and is an occasional (usually a couple of times per week) review of just about anything he or other contributors find useful or cool.

He has a particular interest in lightweight camping — today’s update features a camp stove made from a Pepsi can and a Guinness can.

This Danish Bacon Calendar converted into a website features some bacon-oriented foodstuffs that even I am frightened of.

Be sure to check out the Danish Bacon Mousse — the best of them all.

Out last discussion on CBS’s ad policy generated so much discussion, I thought this bit of information sent from El Pariser of MoveOn.org a new post. My biggest complaint in all this is (a) $13 million taxpayer-financed TV campaign and (b) if Bush’s Medicare ad is intended to function as a campaign ad (and that clearly appears to be the case) then this may constitute a criminal election law violation.

I’m trying my best to dial back the rhetoric, but I have to post this: Bush Tapped HHS Funds for Trips

The White House has billed the federal Office of Family Assistance $210,000 to help pay for five trips in which President Bush promoted welfare reform at official events and made separate fundraising appearances for GOP candidates.

My favorite part of the article is this:

“The president has the right to campaign 24 hours a day, seven days a week, if he wants,” said Senate Majority Whip Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). “But he doesn’t have the right to charge these trips to the taxpayers. The Republican National Committee is loaded with money. Let them pay for it… . If Clinton did this, then Clinton was wrong. You can’t justify thievery because somebody else did it.”

Is this only funny to cat owners?

Is it etrigan’s comic strip day?

Two great Boondocks strips in the same week!

This kind of thing always fascinates me. Here’s a guy suggesting that Morrisey predicted Di’s car crash on The Queen Is Dead.

Morrissey’s lyrics to THERE IS A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT from THE QUEEN IS DEAD concern:
two people
on a date
at night
in the city
driving in a car
fantasizing about getting killed in a car crash
gripped by fear in an underpass

Over a decade later we have Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed:
two people
on a date
at night
in the city
driving in a car
getting killed in a car crash
in an underpass

Speaking of too much time on one’s hands –

The H-Wing