RichardBell.me: September 2004

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Guitar solo tab for "I Wanna Be Sedated"

Mark Frauenfelder: Here is Johnny's guitar solo on the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated":
E-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-|0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 B—————————————————|—————————————————|—————————————————|—————————————— G—————————————————|—————————————————|—————————————————|—————————————— D—————————————————|—————————————————|—————————————————|—————————————— A—————————————————|—————————————————|—————————————————|—————————————— E—————————————————|—————————————————|—————————————————|——————————————

(Via Crooked Timber)

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[Boing Boing]

Roy Disney demans Eisner's resignation, testicles, still-beating heart

Cory Doctorow: Hot on the heels of Michael Eisner announcing that he wouldn't resign from Disney for two more years, Roy Disney and Stanley Gold have written a blistering open letter to the Disney Board, calling for Eisner's nuts on a platter:
Michael Eisner's announcement that he intends to remain CEO for the next two years forces you to make a critical decision. Will you choose to let the Company drift for two more years - allowing the pall Mr. Eisner has cast to continue to drive the most talented and creative people away from Disney, erode the morale of current employees, and prevent the Company from attracting the strong, dynamic, and creative leader it needs? Or will you reject Mr. Eisner's brazen attempt to usurp your responsibilities as directors by stage-managing the appointment of his anointed successor and instead tangibly show your commitment to best corporate practices by immediately initiating an expeditious and broad search for a world-class CEO?
We understand and appreciate the difficult position in which Mr. Eisner has once again placed you. As those instrumental in bringing both Michael Eisner and Frank Wells to Disney in 1984, we know how close some of you are to him personally. But there is no acceptable solution that includes Mr. Eisner's continued leadership at Disney for the next two years - let alone any longer than that. Regardless of whether he serves in a diminished capacity during the next two years as a "lame duck" or continues to manage the Company, the changes necessary to restore Disney's luster will simply not be made.
Link (Thanks Bill!)
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[Boing Boing]

Space probes pulled in weird ways

David Pescovitz: The Guardian reports that the old Pioneer 10 and 11 probes are being subtly tugged around by mysterious forces as they hurtle beyond our solar system.
"Some researchers say unseen 'dark matter' may permeate the universe and that this is affecting the Pioneers' passage. Others say flaws in our understanding of the laws of gravity best explain the crafts' wayward behaviour."
And still others suggest that the probes' weird trajectories may just be the result of gas leaking from the fuel tanks. Link
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[Boing Boing]

I got your weapons of mass destruction right here

Xeni Jardin: In North Korea: an explosion, a giant crater, and a "peculiar cloud." Both the South Korean government and the US government say they don't believe North Korea conducted a nuclear test.
President Bush and his top advisers have received intelligence reports in recent days describing a confusing series of actions by North Korea that some experts believe could indicate the country is preparing to conduct its first test explosion of a nuclear weapon, according to senior officials with access to the intelligence.
While the indications were viewed as serious enough to warrant a warning to the White House, American intelligence agencies appear divided about the significance of the new North Korean actions, much as they were about the evidence concerning Iraq's alleged weapons stockpiles.

Some analysts in agencies that were the most cautious about the Iraq findings have cautioned that they do not believe the activity detected in North Korea in the past three weeks is necessarily the harbinger of a test. A senior scientist who assesses nuclear intelligence says the new evidence "is not conclusive," but is potentially worrisome.
Link to Reuters report, reg-free Link to New York Times story
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[Boing Boing]

Lucas put malicious Xbox trojan on Star Wars DVD

Cory Doctorow: The new Star Wars bonus DVD erases elements of your Xbox's firmware without informing you or giving you a chance to decline. This is apparently deliberate, as part of an "anti-piracy" effort aimed at punishing people who play the Star Wars DVD bonus disk in a modded Xbox.
The 'StarWars Trilogy DVD' (video/movie DVD) has an 'Extra Special Features Disc'. If you try to launch this on your Xbox it will automaticly update your dashboard ... NO confirmation will be asked. The bonus disc has extra features including a documentary on the star wars saga, footage from the making of all three films and a preview demo of the new 'StarWars Battlefront' Xbox game (that's why there's a default.xbe, dashupdate.xbe and update.xbe on the disc).
This information can be important for some people with older bioses (booting xboxdash.xbe), people using exploits or simply those who don't want their dash upgraded.
Link (via Gizmodo)
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[Boing Boing]

BBC - Radio 4 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - The Adventure Game

Monday, September 27, 2004

Huge Asteroid to Fly Past Earth Wednesday

BOFH: What to do when the Boss gets touchy-feely | The Register

Broken oxygen generator threatens space station | The Register

Broken oxygen generator threatens space station | The Register
Talk about being high and dry...

NASA pumps $400m into nuclear space probe | The Register

NASA pumps $400m into nuclear space probe | The Register
Ahhhh... spreading love and joy to outher planets...

Dude, I can hear you and smell you!!!

Germans develop bad breath-detecting mobe | The Register
Do you really want to have your cellphone decide if you breathe is fresh enough?

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Sacred Cross of Jesus Cellphone Tower

Xeni Jardin: Following up on this earlier BoingBoing post about an online image gallery of faux vegetation that disguises cellphone towers, here's the website of one of the companies that makes cell tower concealers. And if you thought this was all about saguaros and palm trees, think again: the crosses shown here were erected in Sprint's name. Can you hear me now, o Lord? Good.
Link to Larson Utility Camouflage (Thanks, Mike)

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[Boing Boing]