A friend of mine is a curator at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA; yesterday I got a cool private tour. Here are some of the highlights (click on photo to enlarge):

A - The IBM “Deep Blue” supercomputer; defeated chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997.

B - The Apple 1 personal computer (the first Apple product), for sale in 1976 for the price of $666.66.

C - Douglas Engelbart’s 1967 mouse prototype (no joke, it’s made of wood).

D - Herman Hollerith’s 1889 tabulation/census machine; it electronically “read” punch-cards; in 1911 he sold the patent to a small company known as the International Business Machines corporation (IBM).

E - Data cards from J. M. Jacquard’s 1804 programmable textile loom.

F - An example of the detailed “printing” of Jacquard’s loom (you’re looking at a woven image).

G - A WWII Enigma code machine.

H - The 1949 IBM 604 Calculator; IBM’s first mass-produced computer.

I - The Rand JOHNNIAC computer, used for scientific computing in 1954.

J - Detail of the stylish 50’s JOHNNIAC nameplate (looks like a car or a fridge).

K - IBM core memory for the 1954 SAGE air defense system computer used by NORAD.

L - The first Google Production Server, 1999.

M - The 1954 SAGE air defense system computer used by NORAD.

N - Detail of SAGE’s built-in cigarette lighter and ashtray (you gotta love the 50’s).

O - The guidance computer for a 1962 Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic (nuclear) missile.

P - The MIT 1965 Apollo spacecraft guidance computer.

Q - University of Tokyo’s Biper-4 bipedal robotic legs, 1983.

R - The 1976 Cray-1 supercomputer.

S - The 1985 Cray-2 supercomputer, with stylish fluid cooling tower.

T - The 1971 Computer Space arcade game; the first commercially available video game.

U - The Apple 1 personal computer, autographed by Steve Wozniak.

V - Detail of “Woz” autograph.

W - A pre-1956 RAMAC prototype; the world’s first disc-drive.

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[words collected by Timbotron and AMP]:
Tennis Mom • Multislacking • Vibrazor • Bluetool • Starbucks Socialist • Blogorrhea • LQTM • Hiltonfreude • Tentacleware • Nontourage • Googlewhacking • Less Cowbell • Internuts • Post-Death Syndrome • Hasselhoffing • Wii Elbow • Email Bankruptcy • Panty Crickets • Uncle Google • Olsening • ElOhEl!1! • Starbuccaneer • Draganized • Oprahculture • Thousandaire • Thirtynothing • Blogvenge • Ruburbs • Continuous Partial Attention • ETN • Nintendonitis

[If you know of any good terms, please give us the word(s) and a link in the comments section below; nothing too raunchy, please.]

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If you find yourself swimming in the Amazon River, wearing loose shorts (or naked), and urinating in the water - you may be in grave danger. A candirú just might swim into your urethra and lodge itself there. Long considered a myth or “bush legend,” this fear has recently (and unfortunately) come to light as true. The name “candirú” actually refers to several species in the Trichomycteridae family and the Vandelliinae subfamily - they are tiny, parasitic, transparent catfish that subsist upon the blood of larger fish. Most of these species lodge themselves among the gills of larger fish (they have sets of backward-facing spines around their head) and live on the blood of their unfortunate hosts. Accounts* also note that some candirú species lodge themselves in the anuses of larger (and terribly unfortunate) fish. Perhaps as a case of mistaken identity, they seem to be attracted to human urine (which perhaps has a chemical signature similar to fish excreta or gill respiration) and will advance to the source, and at times lodge themselves in that source. A 1997 incident of a young man (23 yrs old) near Manaus, Brazil who had a candirú removed from his manhood is one of the first extensively and scientifically documented cases (gnarly web archive photos of the procedure here). The dead specimen (a species of Plectrochilus), which was removed with some difficulty, measured 133.5mm long and 11.5mm at the widest part of its head. The man and his equipment survived intact. A fish this size seemed to have little difficulty working its entire body into the urethra of the poor man. To offer a sense of scale, here is an illustration of a Trichomycterid candirú with an American quarter (specimen illustration redrawn from Spotte).

*The definitive work on this subject is marine scientist Stephen Spotte’s “Candiru: Life and Legend of the Bloodsucking Catfishes.” Spotte has left no stone unturned in this extensive collection of candirú accounts and current research. I got it for Christmas, an awesome read.

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How the hell do you spell “definately”?!?

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A Purdue University research team (the Rosen Center of Advanced Computing) released a video of their computer simulation of the 9-11 aircraft collision into the World Trade North Tower. This reconstruction is the product of two and half years of research to help understand this tragedy from an engineering standpoint.

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To make sense of who is out there, I generated a nice chart of “the neighbors” in our outer Solar System (Photoshop generated images based upon color and composition data and/or estimations for each body; the data are very limited for some of these); nicknames are in quotes, and the satellites of each are depicted beneath their respective planet-thingy (click on chart to enlarge):

In recent years, our Solar System has become both smaller and bigger. I thought I would chose this subject as the “What Is It? of the Week” because it is a little confusing and I thought I’d sort it out.

Last year, the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto to the status of Dwarf Planet - the Solar System now only has 8 planets. A Dwarf Planet is defined as: 1). having an orbit around the Sun, 2). having sufficient mass to become a near-spherical shape, 3). not a satellite of another body in the Solar System (other than the Sun), 4). has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit. Basically, a Dwarf Planet is a small planet with crap around it.

Much of the demotion of Pluto’s status can be attributed to the discoveries of Mike Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz. In recent years, this team has discovered several bodies in the Solar System large enough to be considered “the next planet” or to cause Pluto to be redefined as a member of an extensive community of smaller planet-like thingies orbiting around the Sun. Among the larger Pluto-like planet-thingies, the Brown team has discovered Eris, Quaoar, Orcus, and Sedna. To add insult to injury to Pluto, it now appears that Eris is around 27% larger than Pluto; Pluto is not even the largest of the Dwarf Planets. Poor Pluto has gone through a lot in the last year. Eris, a rocky iceball (or icy rockball), was discovered in 2005 (by Brown, Trujillo, and Rabinowitz) and until its official naming in Sept 2006, it was nicknamed <nerd>”Xena”</nerd> and its moon (now called “Dysnomia”) went by <nerd>”Gabrielle”</nerd>.

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Tuesday was the release of the U.S. State Department’s 2007 “Trafficking in Persons Report” (PDF available through CNN). To state the obvious - it’s a report on “human trafficking,” which encompasses: commercial sex, involuntary servitude, forced labor, and debt bondage. Here’s the extensive list and global map of who sucks more (countries in blue are named as “special cases,” countries in grey are “too damn special to survey”).

Tier 1 (green) [full compliance with Trafficking Victims Protection Acts] - Australia • Austria • Belgium • Canada • Colombia • Czech Republic • Denmark • Finland • France • Georgia • Germany • Hong Kong • Hungary • Italy • Republic of Korea • Lithuania • Luxembourg • Malawi • Morocco • The Netherlands • New Zealand

Tier 2 (yellow) [do not comply with TVPA, but are trying] - Afganistan • Albania • Angola • Azerbaijan • Bangladesh • Belize • Benin • Bolivia • Boznia-Herz. • Brazil • Bulgaria • Burkina Faso • Cameroon • Chile • Congo (DRC) • Costa Rica • Cote D’Ivoire • Croatia • East Timor • Ecuador • El Salvador • Estonia • Ethiopia • Gabon • Ghana • Greece • Guinea • Guinea-Bissau • Indonesia • Isreal • Jamaica • Japan • Jordan • Kyrgyz Repl. • Laos • Latvia • Lebanon • Liberia • Macedonia • Madagascar • Mali • Malta • Mauritius • Mongolia • Montenegro • Nepal • Nicaragua • Niger • Pakistan • Panama • Paraguay • Peru • Philippines • Portugal • Romania • Rwanda • Senegal • Serbia • Sierra Leone • Singapore • Slovak Republ. • Suriname • Taiwan • Tajikistan • Tanzania • Thailand (really?!) • Togo • Turkey • Uganda • Uruguay • Vietnam • Yemen • Zambia • Zimbabwe

Tier 2 ‘Watch List’ (orange) [do not comply with TVPA, but are trying and have serious problems] - Argentina • Armenia • Belarus • Burundi • Cambodia • Central African Rep. • Chad • China • Cyprus • Djibouti • Dominican Rep. • Egypt • Fiji • Gambia • Guatemala • Guyana • Honduras • India • Kazakhstan • Kenya • Libya • Macau • Mauritania • Mexico • Moldova • Mozambique • Papua New Guinea • Russia • South Africa • Sri Lanka • Ukraine • United Arab Emirates

Tier 3 (red) [countries that could give a flying f**k about TVPA and aren't trying] - Algeria • Bahrain • Burma • Cuba • Equatorial Guinea • Iran • Kuwait • Malaysia • North Korea • Oman • Qatar • Saudi Arabia • Sudan • Syria • Uzbekistan • Venezuela

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Who would have thought that vending machines were so hackable?

The “Menu Hack”:

4-2-3-1 = Access
1 = Return to Last Menu
2 = Up
3 = Down
4 = Enter/Select
Another “Menu Hack” Video.

The “Jackpot Hack” (a.k.a. - “How to Go to Jail for Quarters”):

432112311″change” = Change Dump

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A cool video of Bob Bryanton’s clear and simple description of dimensions one through ten. It made my brain hurt and I think blood is trickling from my ears.

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Earlier this year, scientists made several great leaps closer to a scientific understanding of “ball lightning” and how it is naturally generated - following the hypothesis that ball lightning could be generated by lightning striking soil and a “ball” of vaporized silicon (from the soil) would breifly maintain an electrical charge. Laboratory tests using electrically superheated silicon produced “ball lightning” that persisted for several seconds, moved and changed direction, briefly maintained a “ball” shape, and briefly maintained high temperatures - all typical characteristics reported in natural ball lightning sightings.

Here’s a video of a laboratory recreation of “ball lightning”:

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The Pollock, Pollack, Polish, or Retard Slapfight* consists of two or more opponents facing-off in a jousting match/slapfight with their arms held in a specific position: the left arm is bent so the left hand protects/covers the face, while the right arm is outstretched over the left arm and held outright as a slapping weapon. There are no specific rules regarding this fighting form beyond the understanding that both opponents must keep their arms in this position during melee and that combat must be accompanied by loud screaming. There is little or no information on the internet regarding this rare childhood martial art form; Blogadilla may be the first ever.

*A Note to the Politically Correct Reader: If you happen to be Polish or mentally retarded (or Polish and retarded), please do not take offense to this nomenclature. I didn’t name this, nor do I hold some official position as Namer of Late-70’s Early-80’s Childhood Games. It is clear that these terms come from a cruel era when kids freely taunted retards and the Polish. I can personally attest to the erroneous nature of these terms: I dated a Polish woman. She was brilliant and charming and insisted that this fighting form is NOT in the Polish martial arts repertoire (and she was also perfectly capable of screwing-in a lightbulb by her own means). Likewise, my previous experiences working with mentally challenged children revealed little natural ability or interest in this form of combat, despite my numerous efforts to teach them. They much preferred jumping onto my back without warning and spitting chewed-up cookie down the back of my shirt.

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Remember: Beelzebub is the demon with all the flies, and Moloch is the one you sacrifice children to. I always get those two mixed-up and embarrass myself at cult meetings. DeliriumsRealm is a cornucopia of encyclopedic information about demons. Their Catalog of Demons is a great resource, whether you’re an exorcist or simply supplementing an already vast knowledge of evil.

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In the early 1950’s, French-Swiss architect Charles-Edouard “Le Corbusier” Jeanneret thought “There isn’t enough raw concrete and monotony in architecture these days.” Derived from the equally painful “International” architectural style of the 1940’s, Jeanneret named his new style “Béton Brut” (”raw concrete”), which came to be known as “Brutalism.” Brutalist architecture combines the glamour of raw poured concrete (the woodgrain pattern of the mold still visible on the concrete surface) with the playfulness of military bunkers and the repetetive geometric shapes of a Russian psychiatric prison. In the United States, many public buildings constructed during the 1950’s-1970’s reflect Jeanneret’s Brutalist influence - post offices, public schools, public libraries, and military installations. Prisons reflecting this style are purely coincidental. There are even Brutalist churches (photo below) - which makes one truly doubt the existence of God.

I wish to personally thank Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (a.k.a. - “Frank Lloyd Wrong“) for making my elementary school, junior high, and highschool careers even more grey and monotonous.
Wikipedia photo gallery.

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[This is the first of a weekly series.]

The eyes of the Japanese Daruma doll are left intentionally blank when made. The owner will then make a wish while painting-in the pupil of one eye (typically the right eye). When the wish has been fulfilled, the owner will paint-in the remaining pupil. The Daruma doll is typically displayed in a high visible location in the home or workplace - as a reminder of a goal or wish unfulfilled. The doll’s low center of gravity makes it naturally self-righting when toppled - supporting its association with persistence and optimism.

The Daruma doll - with grim countenance, moustace and beard, and absence of limbs - is based upon the historical figure BodhiDharma: the 6th century founder of Zen Buddhism (the Japanese name Daruma comes from Dharma). According to legend, BodhiDharma meditated for nine years while staring at a cave wall - he lost the use of his arms and legs to atrophy (thus the absence of arms and legs on the Daruma doll). He is known for his distinctive beard and moustache, and a harsh temper.

In recent culture: this figure was a design inspiration for Japanese Unazukin (”yes-no”) dolls and an evil cyborg Daruma appears in the action miniseries <kick-ass>”Afro Samurai“</kick-ass> (note: instead of using an Apple laptop, he appears to be using an “Eggplant”).

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