The Null Device
2000/6/14
An interesting programming contest, which involves writing a program which automatically summarises news items in haiku form. Given the complexity of the task, any satisfactory solutions are going to have to be quite interesting... (via Slashdot)
Interesting program of the day: Industrializer, a program which generates percussive instrument sounds (clanging metal, thuds, bells, &c.) using physical modelling. Unfortunately it requires OpenGL (which is a bit fiddly, and not strictly necessary), and is still a bit hard to compile. Nonetheless, this looks like it might become quite useful. (via jimbob)
A look at FBI nicknames for robbers:
San Francisco's "Fireplug Bandit," for example, was named for his appearance. "While he tried to disguise his facial characteristics, there's a limited amount you can do when you're 5-5 and 275 pounds," said FBI spokesman George Grotz. "It's tough to wear a vertically striped shirt to make you look thinner."
First it was the Virgin Mary in burritos and Koran verses in tomatoes, and now a Scottish couple have seen the face of Elvis in the ultrasound scan of their unborn child. (Ananova)
"We got the scan done and Val was talking to the nurse and I was killing myself laughing. Elvis is looking over my baby."
Some of the inexplicable search terms which have shown up recently in my referer logs: "castration and device", "free cartoon porn sites", "money slogans". Meanwhile someone on Yahoo seems to think I'm someone named Delfino...
Metablog: Am I the only person who, upon seeing references to /usr/bin/girl, thinks "hang on, shouldn't that be /dev/girl"?
For some time, astronomers have noticed strange glows on the Moon's surface; now one astronomer has proof that something is happening. His theory is escaping gases from inside the Moon. (BBC News)
My old occult conspiracy pastiche, Microsoft and the Bavarian Illuminati, has been published again, this time by a (bilingual) French fringe webzine.