Cranial Soup

Creepy Service Wants Everyone That Can See Your License Plate to Be Able to Send You Unsolicited Text Messages

2011-02-21T09:31:00.001-05:00

Bump.com hopes that this video entices you to sign up for their service, tying your cell phone number to your vehicle's license plate. Please don't be stupid enough to fall for it.

First of all, if you see a baby left alone in a car, you should call the police...not send a text message to the parent guilty of child neglect that is putting that baby's life in danger.

And sending a text to the jerk in front of you to give him a piece of your mind for his bad driving is a really BAD idea. It just encourages road rage, which can have deadly consequences.

Reporting a break-in in progress to the owner of a vehicle instead of snapping a photo of the criminal & calling the police, can result in the possible injury or death of the owner of that vehicle if they should come running out and confront the criminal. You do not know if they are armed and dangerous.

And marketing? That's not marketing...that's spamming. It won't take long before you decide to change your phone number and/or plates, if this crap becomes popular. You'll have to, to get any kind of peace. It won't take very long for someone to start collecting license plate numbers and selling them to the highest bidder. The potential for abuse here is seriously high...worse than email because a license plate number is a whole lot easier to get than an email address.

If you want everyone in the world to be able to send you any kind of message they please, whenever they want, including some of the most vulgar filth imaginable, then just put your cell phone number on a bumper sticker and/or wear it on a T-shirt...or perhaps write it on the wall of a public bathroom. (no, I don't think you'd really want to do that, but using BUMP is just about the same thing.)

Finally, as Gail Gardner from Growmap pointed out, this service conditions people to spy on their neighbors and complete strangers, eroding both our privacy and freedom.

How to Download Microsoft TechNet Spotlight Videos

2009-01-12T02:11:00.002-05:00

Microsoft offers a lot of great presentations on their TechNet Spotlight site.

The problem is that for some of them they will offer downloads, and some they will not, or they will not offer everything for download, as is the case with the Advanced Malware Cleaning presentation. They only offer the Powerpoint slides for it.

What if I don't want to or can't install Silveright? What if I want the high or low resolution video for offline viewing? Or the audio, too? Or what if I have issues with streaming the video and need to have a local copy in order to view it, at all?

I have seen some tutorials that require you to use various applications such as URL Snooper, Firebug, and VLC media player, to obtain an .asf file, but doing it that way is making it much more complicated than it has to be. Besides, you can't get everything. All you can get is a lower quality video intended for streaming purposes.

There is a simple solution, though. Whether the materials are offered with a download link on the page, or not, they do exist at the following URL's:

Powerpoint (ppt or pptx): http://microsofttech.fr.edgesuite.net/msexp/download/spotlight/XXX/XXX_pres.zip

Video - Hi Res (wmv): http://microsofttech.fr.edgesuite.net/msexp/download/spotlight/XXX/XXX_high.zip

Video - Lo Res (wmv): http://microsofttech.fr.edgesuite.net/msexp/download/spotlight/XXX/XXX_low.zip

Audio (wma): http://microsofttech.fr.edgesuite.net/msexp/download/spotlight/XXX/XXX_audio.zip

Just replace 2 XXX's with the number of the presentation, which in the case of the Advanced Malware Cleaning one, would be 359.

Mainstream Media and Censorship

2008-02-29T02:36:00.002-05:00

This is not a post about Ron Paul, although it could be seen as one. This more about bias in the media and how it can affect an entire country, more than anything else. Read through to the end and take a look at the rest of the censorship, that has nothing to do with Ron Paul, to understand the full effect of what is going on.

The American people have been deprived of the truth by the mainstream media.

Because they see Ron Paul is a threat to their corporate interests, the mainstream media has gone out of their way to bury anything positive about Ron Paul, misrepresent the facts, deprive him of equal treatment in media coverage, exclude him from debates, polls, and reporting.

They have gone out of their way to silence Ron Paul's supporters by deleting their comments from news sites, misrepresenting the number of supporters present in official news photos of various political events.

The list of their biased atrocities goes on & on.

The following videos will show you exactly what has been going on.

Are you angry yet? Why not? What makes this fair treatment of a Presidential candidate?

Even if you don't agree with Ron Paul's message and what he stands for, you should agree with his right to be heard. You should agree with equal treatment of candidates. You should agree with unbiased news reporting.

The American people have the right to know the truth. They have the right to have each candidate treated fairly and equally by the media. It should be left up to the citizens to decide the results of the next election...not the mainstream media companies.

If they have done this with Ron Paul, what else have they done this with?

Let's see...

How about this for starters: Project Censored's 2008 Top 25 Censored News Stories

That's one hell of a scary list!

It really makes you wonder who exactly is in charge of this country and what plans they have for YOU.

YouTube Video Ad Units - The Party Might Be Over

2008-02-29T00:29:00.003-05:00

I have placed YouTube ad units on most of my websites & blogs, primarily because up until now, it was a great way to sneak ads into pages when visitors are using ad blocking software. Because they didn't block YouTube content, the units would load, ads and all. Pretty crafty trick, huh?

I have made a decent amount by doing this, but I think those days might be over. While viewing this blog today with AdMuncher turned on, I noticed that not only did the ad not appear on the video units, but the videos themselves didn't load either.

I am going to have to keep an eye on what I am earning off the video units for a bit and see if they are still as profitable. If not, I will probably remove them from most of my sites. They are rather large and difficult to integrate into most site templates, in a way where they don't look out of place.

I had thought that they were a great idea when I heard about them, because they don't just put ads on your pages...they enhance your content by adding to it. Of course you don't get a lot of control over what videos are shown, but the ones that get shown by default on some pages are quite good, and depending on the content of your site, they can be quite relevant.

To see how the individual units are performing can be a bit of work, though, as they don't allow you to have channels like they do with the regular Adsense ads. All reporting is lumped together as "Video Units" in your Adsense account. If you want to know what sites are actually getting viewers for the units, you will have to perform a little "Google-fu" and do a specialized search for each your sites.

For example, if I want to see just how many viewers are watching on my ebook site, and see just what they are watching, I would have to perform a Google search for site:youtube.com "clicks from http://www.appsapps.info/ebooks/" which is the path to the site I want to check on. Then in the results, click each one and on the YouTube pages for the videos, click the link that says "Links" under the video. You will see a list of referring sites and yours should be there. It will also tell you how many visitors you referred from your site to that specific video.

While you won't be able to tell what sites are generating the ad clicks from the ad units on them, you will be able to tell which ones are being watched, what pages they are being watched from, what your visitors are seeing, and how many total referrals are coming from your site. This will give you some idea which sites they are doing well on and which sites are pointless to keep them.

Now I am not sure if there is any SEO benefit in these links to your site showing up on YouTube and I am not sure if the links themselves will generate any new traffic to your site, but those are possible factors you might want to consider or investigate while exploring this whole video units concept...as long as this new ad blocking of them doesn't affect it too badly.

Parenthood

2007-12-20T13:51:00.003-05:00

If you have ever wondered what it is like to be a parent, just listen to this...

Now imagine years of that, over & over & over & over...

A Vision of Students Today

2007-11-23T17:41:00.002-05:00

Here's something to think about: These kids will be running the country in the near future. How prepared are they?

After watching this, I have some really mixed feelings about a lot of things...the internet, in particular.

Free Course: Computer Programming I (using C)

2007-11-13T05:43:00.001-05:00

University of Washington CSE 142 - Computer Programming I

This is a complete basic introductory course (using C) for beginners that have no previous programming experience, that was offered at the University of Washington during the fall of 2000 (taught by Martin Dickey).

If you have never studied programming, this course was designed for you.

Access to slides, homework assignments & solutions, exams & solutions (everything except the lectures and quizzes):
http://www.online.cs.washington.edu/cse142/

Here are the lecture videos. It may seem as if they are listed out of order, but they are actually in the proper order in which they should be viewed. Whoever uploaded them numbered them wrong. The entire set of videos is Closed Captioned.

Lecture 1: Overview and Welcome
Lecture 2: Problems, Algorithms and Programs
Lecture 3: Variables, Values and Types
Lecture 4: Arithmetic Expressions
Lecture 5: Input and Output (I/O)
Lecture 23: Style
Lecture 6: Conditionals
Lecture 7: Functions
Lecture 8: Function Parameters
Lecture 9: Iteration
Lecture 10: Loop Development and Program Schemas
Lecture 11: Complex Conditionals
Lecture 12: Functions and Design
Lecture 27: Switch Statement
Lecture 24: Structuring Program Files
Lecture 13: Pointer Parameters
Lecture 14: Arrays
Lecture 15: Linear & Binary Search
Lecture 16: Sorting
Lecture 17: Multidimensional Arrays
Lecture 18: Structures
Lecture 19: Strings
Lecture 21: File Input/Output
Lecture 20: Nested Data Structures
Lecture 26: Recursion
Lecture 25: Recursive Binary Search
Lecture 22: Course Wrap-up and Review

If you want to download them for offline viewing, you can use this site with the URL's provided above.

The textbook they used in this course:
Problem Solving and Program Design in C (Hanly and Koffman)

How to impress your boss

2007-10-16T19:35:00.001-04:00

This will either get you a raise...or get you fired.

The 'New' Amiga (1988)

2007-10-08T22:13:00.001-04:00

Originally broadcast in 1988, this 28 minute Computer Chronicles video takes a look at what was then, the brand new Amiga, and the amazing things it could do.

Considering one could own one of these for less than $1000, it made affordable to small businesses and home users, the kinds of things that once were only available to large businesses with tons of cash.

Compared to the capabilities and cost of a PC with MS-DOS 4 or Windows 386/2.1 ($5,000) or a Mac with OS2 ($4,869), buying an Amiga made a lot of sense.

This time warp brought to you by archive.org. High resolution copies of this Creative Commons licensed video are available for download.

Vista Sucks!

2007-10-07T20:32:00.001-04:00

Weekend Cookie Break

2007-09-15T16:24:00.001-04:00

Some dreams are worth dying for*

2007-07-16T12:11:00.001-04:00

*Kiwis can't fly.

It's a Big Ass Table

2007-06-28T08:58:00.001-04:00

SarcasticGamer.com presents a twisted take on one of Microsoft's latest and greatest announcements.

A Day in the Life of a Telemarketer

2007-06-20T11:57:00.001-04:00

A new level of crazy.

A telemarketer calls an elderly woman who claims she is on the do not call list. She goes off on him, swearing and making threats.

She seems like someone that actually hates phones more than I do.

We are not the enemy

2007-06-03T17:24:00.001-04:00

On May 15, 2007, the Air National Guard decided to bomb NJ, even though it's still officially part of the US. This is not the first time that they have 'attacked' and put residents and their property at risk. Sure, New Jerseans are known for being cranky, arrogant, and hating Republicans, but is that any reason to attack us?

There has been at least 5 major incidents in recent years, including one in November 2004, in which they opened fire on Little Egg Harbor Township's middle school during a night-time training exercise. Had that accident taken place during the day, it could have proven to be much more disastrous than it was.

On May 15, a flare dropped from an F-16 during a training session over a section of the Pine Barrens in Ocean County, about 25 miles north of Atlantic City resulted in an extensive forest fire that burned over 17,000 acres (69 km²) containing rare pygmy Pitch Pines, and forcing evacuation for more then 6,000 area residents.

Some residents used garden hoses to protect their property as the fire approached.

Along the nearby Garden State Parkway, northbound and southbound ramps on Exit 63, as well as the southbound ramp for Exit 67, had to be closed.

Three trailer homes at Pinewood Estates in Barnegat and four at Brighton at Barnegat were destroyed.

About 50 homes sustained some damage at Brighton at Barnaget, including some that had smoke damage.

Three nursing homes had to be evacuated.

An elderly woman suffering from dementia, only knowing her name, disappeared during evacuation and was missing for 2 days.

The following are videos of the fire, made by local residents (some may contain accidental profanity):

Man drives through forest fire:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQvoE5CbnhM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BNDF2kODdI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULNIVaQM6As

Slide Show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUy6xYxVIsw

Another video (creator has disabled embedding):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bH5rTcTIbw

Photo gallery of New Jersey Forest Fire Service - Section B-10:

http://www.sectionb10.org/wargrovewildfire.html

Gov. Corzine has called for an end to the training sessions and/or a relocation of the Warren Grove base, to an area where the threat to the public's safety will be minimized.

Although Gov. Corzine does not have jurisdiction over the fate of the federal military facility, he has not ruled out legal remedies that he can pursue and he is presently in contact with his lawyers about the matter.

Yes, our nation is at war and the military needs to practice, but aren't there better places to do this than over our nation's first nature reserve, in the most densely populated state in the country?

Crazy lady trained her cat to eat with a fork

2007-06-01T20:25:00.001-04:00

If it won't play, you can see it here:
http://www.vidmax.com/index.php/videos/view/1706

A Fair(y) Use Tale

2007-05-30T13:29:00.001-04:00

In the fun category, Professor Eric Faden of Bucknell University has created a video review of copyright principles.

You're probably thinking, "How could anyone make a video about a legal concept even mildly entertaining?" But Faden's truly inspired video works on many levels because it consists entirely of extremely short clips (often no more than one word) from a wide variety of animated Disney movies.

It's thanks in large part to Disney that copyright - which was designed to encourage creativity by giving the creator control over copying for a limited time - now lasts for the life of the creator plus 75 years, or, for a work of corporate authorship, 95 years.

But thanks to the short length of the clips, its non-profit educational nature, and the fact that it would in no way affect the potential market for the copyrighted works, Faden's video undoubtedly falls under fair use.

Download available

Human Computation

2007-05-26T06:57:00.001-04:00

From captchas, to labeling images, to providing basic facts, humans are helping computers to help humans...and some are having fun while doing it.

Image recognition is an easy task for people, but something computers are not yet good at.

Here is an approach to help computers get better at it, help the visually impaired understand what is in the images on a web page, and help search engines serve better image search results. You make fun games out of it, so it doesn't seem like work.

Games with a purpose...a great concept, and one that could be quite profitable if you can design a game that will solve some sort of problem that a computer can't solve on its own, yet. Depending on the problem you are solving, the data you acquire from the players of the game could be worth more than any ads you could possibly place on your site.

The following video presents the concepts behind some of these games.

Play time: 51 min, 31 sec

Luis von Ahn is an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University, where he also received his Ph.D. in 2005. Previously, Luis obtained a B.S. in mathematics from Duke University in 2000. He is the recipient of a Microsoft Research Fellowship.

Play the games:

And for a more interesting challenge, try 3form Free Knowledge Exchange and see if you can help provide solutions and answers to some of life's challenging problems and questions...or maybe get a solution to a problem or question you have. (warning: 3form is quite addictive!)

I, personally, find it more enjoyable and thought provoking than Yahoo Answers, and it provides much better answers to your questions.

Greetings from Whoville

2007-04-11T18:06:00.002-04:00

glumbert.com - Pale Blue Dot

I couldn't help but feel like I was living on that tiny dust-speck in Horton Hears a Who, silently shouting "We are here!" to a universe that can't hear us, nor does it really care.

But that is not important, as long as we care.

Halo theme: Corpomix

2007-04-02T04:00:00.001-04:00

If you didn't get enough of Corporeal in my last post, here is some more:

If you would like to download the MP3, of this, they have it here on their website: http://www.corporealmusic.net/forthehalofans

3 Guys, 1 Guitar

2007-04-02T02:38:00.001-04:00

This 3 members of the progressive rock band Corporeal, from Libertyville, Illinois...all playing the same guitar at the same time.

The song is called 'All We Got'.

Pretty cool stuff!

Freedom to Fascism

2007-03-11T21:39:00.000-04:00

This is for everyone, not just Americans. It concerns us all. It is time to open your eyes.

Total time: about 2 hrs 15 min

(pause it while you go make a pot of coffee)

No Law for U.S. Income Tax

Marcella Brooks served as foreman of the jury in the trial of Whitey Harrell.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Electronic Voting Machines Whistle Blower

Clips from this testimony are used in the film, "America: Freedom to Fascism" by Aaron Russo.

Edited Wednesday, April 11, 2007 to fix the first video link, and to add 3 more related videos.

A Classroom Divided

2007-02-28T02:20:00.001-05:00

In 1960, after the murder of Martin Luther King Jr., a third grade teacher decided to give her class a powerful lesson in discrimination by separating them into 2 groups.

On the first day she told all the blue eyed children that they were better than brown eyed one, and reinforced it throughout the day. She gave them special privileges, treated them better.

She told the brown eyed children that they were inferior...stupid, and reinforced this throughout the day. She took away privileges, wouldn't allow them to play with blue eyed children, wouldn't let them drink from the same fountain. She made them wear a collar so you could tell at a distance what color eyes they had.

Then she switched it...told the children she was wrong. And repeated this lesson so that all could learn what it felt like to be judged by something that doesn't matter.

She continues to teach this lesson today...to both children and adults.

Watch all 5 videos (total time: 46:00) What happens and how people react may amaze you.

A Classroom Divided

The Machine is Us

2007-02-20T08:07:00.001-05:00

I spotted this one in a friend's blog:

At first I was going to leave this as a reply to his post, but I felt it was worthy to be a post of its own, somewhere, rather than risk it becoming 'lost' in the form of a comment....plus it gives me a chance to spread this video to people that would otherwise miss it because they don't read Chaim's blog.

Chaim's only remarks on this video was this:

I do not want to taint this with commentary other than to say this will help people to “get it”.

I know why so many don't get it, though.

Having an internet connection isn't the same as 'being connected'. That doesn't happen till you have your epiphany and come to consciously realize that there are real human beings on the other side of it all. Not just with the IM's and emails to people you know in real life...but all of it.

It usually doesn't happen to people till they meet a single solitary person online that changes everything. They make a connection to this person and they are forever changed.

For some people it happens sooner than others. Until it happens to you, you really won't get it and you don't care. Once it does, your life and your attitudes towards everything become very different.

You become a different person inside, very aware of the smallness of this world and of the marks you leave on it...and the marks left by others take on a whole new meaning. It's very much like the magic moment Helen Keller had where she made the connection between the sign and that it actually meant 'water'.

Those connections are very powerful and can cause people to defend their 'place of text' much like they would defend their own physical home from an invading enemy.

Why else would a group of people fight so hard to save a chat community and keep it alive if it wasn't for the bonds to others that they have created there? Why won't they move on and just join another community or another P2P network and let the old one die? They chain themselves to it because it really is their home and the people there have become their families.

They have all had their epiphany and their online life has become more real. They are 'connected'. They see the other reality that exists. To the rest that don't 'get it' yet, and are still blind, we are all still just text on a screen.

Web 2.0 is the product of a collective epiphany in an effort to share that life changing experience and open the eyes of as many others as possible.

We are raising our voices and crying out from our individual dust specks "We are here!"

Scripting in Perl Using Voice Recognition in Vista

2007-02-07T05:38:00.001-05:00

This video is hilarious...especially when he loses his temper.