http://randalflagg.net Your Source for Social News and Networking Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:10:03 CST en http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/exclusive-south-parks-first-ever-deleted-scene/ http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/exclusive-south-parks-first-ever-deleted-scene/ Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:10:03 CST http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/exclusive-south-parks-first-ever-deleted-scene/ Sometimes deleted scenes are cool, but often they're kind of a disappointment. "Oh yeah, I guess I can see why they cut out this 15-minute montage of Iron Man preparing and eating a pastrami hoagie." I don't know if that's why the upcoming South Park: The Complete Thirteenth Season is going to be the series' first DVD set to include deleted scenes, but I do know that from the looks of this one, it was worth the wait.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/computers-consoles/vodafone-distributed-handset-found-pre-installed-with-mariposa-bot/ http://randalflagg.net/computers-consoles/vodafone-distributed-handset-found-pre-installed-with-mariposa-bot/ Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:37:11 CST http://randalflagg.net/computers-consoles/vodafone-distributed-handset-found-pre-installed-with-mariposa-bot/ Security researchers have found the Mariposa bot client pre-installed on a mobile phone handset distributed in Europe, and say that the malware looks to have been installed on the phone's memory card.

The phone, the HTC Magic, runs the Google Android mobile operating system, and is a low-priced handset distributed by Vodafone. A researcher at Panda Security received one of the handsets recently, and upon attaching it to her PC, found that the phone was pre-loaded with the Mariposa bot client. Mariposa has been in the news of late thanks to some arrests connected to the operation of the botnet.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/computers-consoles/the-secret-origin-of-windows/ http://randalflagg.net/computers-consoles/the-secret-origin-of-windows/ Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:36:15 CST http://randalflagg.net/computers-consoles/the-secret-origin-of-windows/ Few people understand Microsoft better than Tandy Trower, who worked at the company from 1981-2009. Trower was the product manager who ultimately shipped Windows 1.0, an endeavor that some advised him was a path toward a ruined career. Four product managers had already tried and failed to ship Windows before him, and he initially thought that he was being assigned an impossible task. In this follow-up to yesterday's story on the future of Windows, Trower recounts the inside story of his experience in transforming Windows from vaporware into a product that has left an unmistakable imprint on the world, 25 years after it was first released.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/food-dining/how-far-can-dexter-hollands-gringo-bandito-go/ http://randalflagg.net/food-dining/how-far-can-dexter-hollands-gringo-bandito-go/ Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:44:43 CST http://randalflagg.net/food-dining/how-far-can-dexter-hollands-gringo-bandito-go/ Holland beamed. He usually doesn't deseed peppers, but today is a big day. Those 430 pounds of multihued peppers, along with 70 pounds of green onions and a couple of other secret ingredients, are being prepped before getting processed into more than 500 gallons of Holland's hot sauce, Gringo Bandito. It'll be the biggest single batch ever produced in the brand's four-year history.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/matt-stone-trey-parker-are-not-your-political-allies-no-matter-what-you-believe/ http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/matt-stone-trey-parker-are-not-your-political-allies-no-matter-what-you-believe/ Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:50:46 CST http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/matt-stone-trey-parker-are-not-your-political-allies-no-matter-what-you-believe/ It's hard to believe there's anything these men don't say. They've taken on everything from abortion to molestation to cat orgies over the past 13 years and have not been delicate about it. They've only been censored once and that was during the Muhammad cartoon uproar last year, when they tried to insert a picture of the Islamic holy figure into their show.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/news/google-htc-respond-to-apple-lawsuit/ http://randalflagg.net/news/google-htc-respond-to-apple-lawsuit/ Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:20:45 CST http://randalflagg.net/news/google-htc-respond-to-apple-lawsuit/
Today's "the day after". The day after Apple started a patent war with HTC and Google. Today, we have statements from both HTC and Google, and a number of other people have weighed in as well as to the possible ramifications of Apple's lawsuit.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/science-technology/skinput-appropriating-the-body-as-an-input-surface-chi-2010/ http://randalflagg.net/science-technology/skinput-appropriating-the-body-as-an-input-surface-chi-2010/ Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:06:32 CST http://randalflagg.net/science-technology/skinput-appropriating-the-body-as-an-input-surface-chi-2010/ g3XPUdW9Ryg

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/programming-development/right-wing-slams-white-house-for-meeting-with-atheist-%E2%80%98hate-groups%E2%80%99/ http://randalflagg.net/programming-development/right-wing-slams-white-house-for-meeting-with-atheist-%E2%80%98hate-groups%E2%80%99/ Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:04:10 CST http://randalflagg.net/programming-development/right-wing-slams-white-house-for-meeting-with-atheist-%E2%80%98hate-groups%E2%80%99/ Some conservative commentators are accusing the Obama administration of inviting "hate groups" into the White House by holding a meeting with a coalition of secularist and atheist groups.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/religion/stop-judging-everyone-based-on-your-religious-beliefs/ http://randalflagg.net/religion/stop-judging-everyone-based-on-your-religious-beliefs/ Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:37:43 CST http://randalflagg.net/religion/stop-judging-everyone-based-on-your-religious-beliefs/ I REALLY hate it when someone comes along and says my 2,000 year old book says you should be put to death because of the way you choose to live your life.
What right do these people have to go around judging other people for how they choose to live their life. Now I know the bible, the Old Testament - Leviticus does say this, well kind of.

"If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them"

This wording also depends on the translation but basically it seems like the bible is saying, if your gay then you should be killed. What a wonderful loving god we have here.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/science-technology/what-is-time-one-physicist-hunts-for-the-ultimate-theory/ http://randalflagg.net/science-technology/what-is-time-one-physicist-hunts-for-the-ultimate-theory/ Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:57:01 CST http://randalflagg.net/science-technology/what-is-time-one-physicist-hunts-for-the-ultimate-theory/ One way to get noticed as a scientist is to tackle a really difficult problem. Physicist Sean Carroll has become a bit of a rock star in geek circles by attempting to answer an age-old question no scientist has been able to fully explain: What is time?

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/pirates-of-the-caribbean-iv-will-be-based-on-tim-powerss-on-stranger-tides/ http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/pirates-of-the-caribbean-iv-will-be-based-on-tim-powerss-on-stranger-tides/ Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:48:01 CST http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/pirates-of-the-caribbean-iv-will-be-based-on-tim-powerss-on-stranger-tides/ Oh, this is very good news: the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie will be based on Tim Powers's kick-ass, World-Fantasy-Award-winning novel On Stranger Tides, the greatest undead pirate story of all time. Go, Tim! Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/religion/pat-robertsons-contradictory-theology-god-wont-stop-a-tsunami-but-might-respond-to-gay-days-with-an-earthquake/ http://randalflagg.net/religion/pat-robertsons-contradictory-theology-god-wont-stop-a-tsunami-but-might-respond-to-gay-days-with-an-earthquake/ Mon, 18 Jan 2010 16:38:16 CST http://randalflagg.net/religion/pat-robertsons-contradictory-theology-god-wont-stop-a-tsunami-but-might-respond-to-gay-days-with-an-earthquake/ Responding to a question from ABC host George Stephanopoulos about why a God "so involved in our daily life" would allow a tsunami to kill hundreds of thousands of people, Rev. Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition of America, replied: "I don't think He reverses the laws of nature." That statement, on the May 1 edition of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, conflicts with other meteorological comments by Robertson, who has repeatedly linked natural disasters to the will of God.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/quake-3-ported-to-android/ http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/quake-3-ported-to-android/ Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:11:46 CST http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/quake-3-ported-to-android/ When I received a Motorola Milestone phone, I wanted to get into Android development. I had seen ports of Quake3 to the iphone and the N900 which have similar specifications (all use a similar CPU and the PowerVR GPU), so I thought why not bring Quake3 to Android. As a start point I used the N900 version of ioquake3. It only took me a day to get the game to compile and to load the Quake3 main-function. After that it took me a few more days to get OpenGL and some input working. In the weeks following the initial port I added touchscreen support, networking and sound.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/news/rip-hummer/ http://randalflagg.net/news/rip-hummer/ Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:07:32 CST http://randalflagg.net/news/rip-hummer/ Having failed to sell the Hummer brand off to a Chinese car manufacturer, GM is shutting it down. This car was like the high-fructose corn syrup of automobiles, something that concentrated everything bad about motoring until it underwent a phase-change and somehow became an object of desire.

And not a moment too soon.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/internet-blogs/the-first-rule-of-censorship-dont-talk-about-censorship-conroy-puts-this-into-practice-on-his-own-website/ http://randalflagg.net/internet-blogs/the-first-rule-of-censorship-dont-talk-about-censorship-conroy-puts-this-into-practice-on-his-own-website/ Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:50:28 CST http://randalflagg.net/internet-blogs/the-first-rule-of-censorship-dont-talk-about-censorship-conroy-puts-this-into-practice-on-his-own-website/ Stephen Conroy has been caught out yet again. This time its not suspicious ski trip deals with TV executives, its censorship of his own website.

A user on Whirlpool Forums has stumbled across some code on http://www.minister.dbcde.gov.au/ which is visible for anyone who visits the site and goes to view source.

Its a bit of JavaScript code that removes any mention of "ISP Filtering" from the word cloud on the front page.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/rip-rickrolling-youtube-kills-original-video/ http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/rip-rickrolling-youtube-kills-original-video/ Sun, 17 Jan 2010 16:29:59 CST http://randalflagg.net/entertainment/rip-rickrolling-youtube-kills-original-video/ YouTube has removed the original "Rickrolling" video from its site due to a terms-of-use violation. Though there are other avenues in which to get a Rick Astley "Never Gonna Give You Up" fix, the original, the one that captured the nation's attention, the video that spurned over 30 million hits, is dead.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/internet-blogs/magicjack-dials-wrong-number-in-legal-attack-on-boing-boing/ http://randalflagg.net/internet-blogs/magicjack-dials-wrong-number-in-legal-attack-on-boing-boing/ Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:07:42 CST http://randalflagg.net/internet-blogs/magicjack-dials-wrong-number-in-legal-attack-on-boing-boing/ Gadget maker MagicJack recently lost a defamation lawsuit that it filed against Boing Boing. The judge dismissed its case and ordered it to pay us more than $50,000 in legal costs.

The Florida-based VOIP company promotes a USB dongle that allows subscribers to make free or inexpensive phone calls over the internet. I posted in April 2008 about its terms of service-which include the right to analyze customers' calls-and various iffy characteristics of its website.

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/news/why-people-who-believe-in-censorship-suck/ http://randalflagg.net/news/why-people-who-believe-in-censorship-suck/ Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:40:54 CST http://randalflagg.net/news/why-people-who-believe-in-censorship-suck/ bNrA6OxMC40

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/religion/christopher-hitchens-shames-douglas-wilson/ http://randalflagg.net/religion/christopher-hitchens-shames-douglas-wilson/ Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:27:38 CST http://randalflagg.net/religion/christopher-hitchens-shames-douglas-wilson/ Wn0sDwqsrrI

1 Flagg(s) ]]> http://randalflagg.net/art-design/self-righting-domino-sculpture/ http://randalflagg.net/art-design/self-righting-domino-sculpture/ Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:23:01 CST http://randalflagg.net/art-design/self-righting-domino-sculpture/
What I find frustrating about domino toppling is its ephemeral nature. If only the dominoes could stand themselves up again, you could topple them over and over. Los Angeles artist Karl Lautman solved this problem a few years ago in his sculpture called Ouroborus.

1 Flagg(s) ]]>