~The Catch-All Drawer~

Friday, July 29, 2005

Hearwear
"Hearwear"
A new term for me, but must be up-and coming. There is a display at the Victoria & Albert Royal Museum in England right now. I thought they were a Lovre type museum and only displayed classical, ancient, or historical stuff.

But this display "aims to show how fashionably designed ‘hearwear’ can be as desirable and accessible as ‘eyewear’, and will change the way people think about hearing". The exhibit includes futuristic hearing aids, prototype headsets designed to block out specific sounds and jewelry-style units that can be customized to go with your outfit or mood

I remember as a boy seeing Johnnie Ray ("Cry") sing on TV (Ed Sullivan show?) with a very obvious and wire-protruding hearing aid, hoping to make people accept hearing aids more, and not be ashamed of them. Here we are decades later and people still try to hide miniatures smaller and smaller rather than accept them as a helper like glasses. Vanity rules.

Tossed in by: R.G.B.
. . . Friday, July 29, 2005 (0) comments

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Russia’s Biggest Spammer Brutally Murdered in Apartment
Not that this remedy has not crossed my mind, and all of us who have lost patience with spamming, but this is a bit extreme. It looks like some Russian spam victims took the law into their own hands.
"Vardan Kushnir, notorious for sending spam to each and every citizen of Russia who appeared to have an e-mail, was found dead in his Moscow apartment on Sunday, Interfax reported Monday. He died after suffering repeated blows to the head."
Apparently it is not illegal in Russsia to send spam. I think this will add a new element, anyway.

To be honest, the only hope of stopping virus and spam, especially the hijacking type ads that will stubbornly appear in popups and unwanted screens is at the SOURCE! Get and prosecute the perpetrating bastards, not by patching to eliminate it on each and every computer in the world. Somebody is guilty of sponsoring those things, and it would not take much detective work to find them make it unprofitable to advertise that way with an agressive punishment campaign. I'm sure it is illegal to put an ad for morgages (or whatever) on your lawn, so why can they do it on your computer?

I for one would never buy from a slime who popped up on my screen, or email either. Who buys from these ads? They already have proved they are deceptive by being there. They must be getting results or they would self distruct. So somehow I feel a connection, however small, to those who took care of the problem at the source in Russia.

Tossed in by: R.G.B.
. . . Tuesday, July 26, 2005 (0) comments

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

What's black and white and smells?
Ansel Adams will turn in his grave, but Kodak has announced they will stop making black-and-white photo paper. Good news, however, they are still going to produce the chemicals and developers. I guess the people using Fuji paper will still need them.

I can still smell the Dektol and fix in Dad's darkroom in the cellar in LeRoy in the 60s. It is funny how smells have such a strong spot in memory. I would add to the smelly nostalgia list the burning leaves of fall, the smell of messy black walnut husks, the smell of the pool at the Y, vics vapo-rub, the smell of Grandma's perfume or the smell of her apartment when you first entered, and yes, it's not PC but somebody smoking a good rich pipe tobacco was always pleasing to me.

Tossed in by: R.G.B.
. . . Wednesday, July 13, 2005 (0) comments

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Military's Energy-Beam Weapons Delayed
Boy, this is a hot potato! Star Trek energy rays to variably get Lex Luthor's attention, stun him, kill him or obliterate, or the same with his car boat tank or whatever. Dial your own deal. RF waves. When will the terrorists have them? On one side, isn't it great to have a non-lethal weapon, but on the other end of the spectrum?
Military's Energy-Beam Weapons Delayed

Tossed in by: R.G.B.
. . . Sunday, July 10, 2005 (0) comments

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Electric Unicycle
Now here's a project - build your own electric unicycle. I am searching for the perfect commuter vehicle, but somehow I can't imagine that this would work.

Tossed in by: PDQ
. . . Wednesday, July 06, 2005 (0) comments

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Casino picks appropriate name
I thought this was a joke, but it is true. A newly awarded indian native American casino is starting up in California under a name that I'm sure the losers who leave with empy pockets will be able to associate: MORON-GO

Tossed in by: R.G.B.
. . . Tuesday, July 05, 2005 (0) comments

Hearwear
Russia’s Biggest Spammer Brutally Murdered in Apartment
What's black and white and smells?
Military's Energy-Beam Weapons Delayed
Electric Unicycle
Casino picks appropriate name