Ankh – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The ankh (symbol ☥) was the Egyptian hieroglyphic character that stood for the Egyptian word ˁnḫ “life”. Egyptian gods are often portrayed carrying it by its loop, or bearing one in each hand, arms crossed over their chest. It is also known as the Egyptian Cross, the key of life, or as crux ansata, Latin for “cross with a handle”. It has been taken as a symbol by many Neopagans.
If I remember correctly, in the Commandeer Keen series of PC games, picking up an Ankh would give Keen temporary invincibility.
List of “songs with questionable lyrics” following the September 11, 2001 attacks – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of songs purportedly deemed inappropriate by Clear Channel following the September 11, 2001 attacks. In the days following the attacks, many television and radio stations altered normal programming in response to the events. During this period, the rumor spread that Clear Channel Communications and its subsidiaries had established a list of “songs with questionable lyrics” that stations may not want to play after the attacks. This list was distributed by the independent newsletter Hits Daily Double, which is not affiliated with Clear Channel.
Snopes did research on the subject and concluded that the list did exist as a suggestion for radio stations, but not a ban on the songs in question.
The list contains 166 songs, including “all songs” by Rage Against the Machine and songs done by multiple artists (for example “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” by Bob Dylan and the same song by Guns N’ Roses). Interestingly, the cover of “Smooth Criminal” by Alien Ant Farm is on the list despite the fact that the original version, sung by Michael Jackson, is not.
The songs are listed alphabetically by artist. The compiled list had been the subject of much media attention around the time of its release as reported by The Northern Territory News days after the attacks.
This list has been criticized — and its very existence debated — over some of the songs which were placed on the list apparently only because of certain words appearing in the title, or because of content. For example, The Beatles song “A Day in the Life” is on the list, though there is only a car crash mentioned; but the song “I Am The Walrus” is not, even though there is a “stupid, bloody Tuesday” mentioned (September 11, 2001 was a Tuesday). In addition, Weird Al Yankovic’s “Christmas at Ground Zero” does not appear on the list, despite being about apocalyptic events (nuclear bombings) occurring on Christmas. Stations which were not owned by Clear Channel may have created similar lists, thus further confusing the issue. The list has also been criticized for the inclusion of Queen’s “Killer Queen”, and the inclusion of the song “Falling for the First Time” by Barenaked Ladies. The list also does not include “Shattered” by The Rolling Stones even though it includes the line “My Brain’s been battered, splattered all over Manhattan.”
Mohair – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mohair – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mohair usually refers to a silk-like fabric or yarn made from the hair of the docile Angora goat.
Mohair is shorn from the goat without harming the animal. Shearing is done twice a year, in the spring and in the fall. The Angora goats are well groomed and brushed regularly in order to ensure the finest product. One goat will produce 11 to 17 pounds of Mohair a year. Shearing is done on a clean swept floor with extra care taken to keep the hair clean and free of debris. The hair is then processed to remove natural grease, dirt and vegetable matter. Mohair grows in uniform locks and a mechanical process called dehairing is used to separate the coarse hair from the down hair. Mohair should not be confused with the fur from the angora rabbit, which is called angora.
Oscar the cat predicts patients’ deaths – Yahoo! News
Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours. His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means they have less than four hours to live.
VIM Quick Reference Card
A very handy reference card for the VIM editor, created by Laurent Grégoire.
Handy on your desk as a quick guide, you will always learn one more funky vim command to improve once again your C++ hourly coding rate, or impress your notepad user colleagues. The card is divided on three columns, and its printout is designed to be folded twice to produce an easy-to-handle quick reference card, hence the name.
Nuclear poison – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nuclear poison – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A nuclear poison, also called a neutron poison is a substance with a large neutron absorption cross-section in applications, such as nuclear reactors, when absorbing neutrons is an undesirable effect. However neutron-absorbing materials also called poisons, are intentionally inserted into some types of reactors in order to lower the high reactivity of their initial fresh fuel load. Some of these poisons deplete as they absorb neutrons during reactor operation, while others remain relatively constant.
Time May Not Exist!
No one keeps track of time better than Ferenc Krausz. In his lab at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching, Germany, he has clocked the shortest time intervals ever observed. Krausz uses ultraviolet laser pulses to track the absurdly brief quantum leaps of electrons within atoms. The events he probes last for about 100 attoseconds, or 100 quintillionths of a second. For a little perspective, 100 attoseconds is to one second as a second is to 300 million years.
But even Krausz works far from the frontier of time. There is a temporal realm called the Planck scale, where even attoseconds drag by like eons. It marks the edge of known physics, a region where distances and intervals are so short that the very concepts of time and space start to break down. Planck time—the smallest unit of time that has any physical meaning—is 10^(-43) second, less than a trillionth of a trillionth of an attosecond. Beyond that? Tempus incognito. At least for now.
Feels Like Making Love
I love the Dad-like fellow.
16-bit CRC-CCITT
The proper way to implement the CCITT CRC-16 checksum. Apparently many websites and tutorials are giving bad information and source code, so beware!
NPR : Plunging into Public Pools’ Contentious Past
The country’s municipal pools, in fact, were first constructed to get rowdy, scantily clad youths out of the rivers and lakes and away from the public eye. They also served as large bathtubs for poor and immigrant neighborhoods.
In his new book, Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America, historian Jeff Wiltse traces the evolution of municipal pools in America from the late 1860s to today. Focusing on northern cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Louis, Wiltse finds that pools gradually became hotbeds of social change.
Originally pools were melting pots where blacks, whites and immigrants interacted. Men and women, however, swam on separate days.
NPR : Plunging into Public Pools’ Contentious Past
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