While running a headless G5, accessible through vnc and ssh, I realized I didn't know how to open the cd drive. It took a little bit of digging, here's what you do:

To open the cd drive:
Open a Terminal window, and type this: "drutil tray open"

To close the cd drive, type this: "drutil tray close"

I don't know how he makes these images, but they have much coolness and I can't stop staring.

Steve Truett

I just found www.meebo.com, a web service that will log you into AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber, or MSN instant messengers, and it does it all through a web browser. Not only is it a slick usage of Ajax, it actually seems rather usable.

What makes 100%? What does it mean to give more than 100%? Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%. How about achieving 103%? What makes up 100% in life?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions.

If...

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

Then...

H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T
2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%

A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G
1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 127%

So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that hard work and knowledge will get you close, and attitude will get you there, but it's the bullshit and ass kissing that will put you over the top.

Back in April 2005, Apple's 20" Cinema Display went head-to-head against Dell's UltraSharp 2005FPW. According to the AnandTech reviewers, both the Apple and the Dell use the same display panel made by LG.Philips, so picture quality should be the same. Check out The 20" LCD Shootout: Dell versus Apple for plenty of info.

Interesting op-ed piece from the Los Angeles Times: The dark side of faith. Excerpts below...

Too much religion may be a dangerous thing.

This is the implication of a study reported in the current issue of the Journal of Religion and Society, a publication of Creighton University's Center for the Study of Religion. The study, by evolutionary scientist Gregory S. Paul, looks at the correlation between levels of "popular religiosity" and various "quantifiable societal health" indicators in 18 prosperous democracies, including the United States.

Paul ranked societies based on the percentage of their population expressing absolute belief in God, the frequency of prayer reported by their citizens and their frequency of attendance at religious services. He then correlated this with data on rates of homicide, sexually transmitted disease, teen pregnancy, abortion and child mortality.

He found that the most religious democracies exhibited substantially higher degrees of social dysfunction than societies with larger percentages of atheists and agnostics. Of the nations studied, the U.S. -- which has by far the largest percentage of people who take the Bible literally and express absolute belief in God (and the lowest percentage of atheists and agnostics) -- also has by far the highest levels of homicide, abortion, teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

Tomorrow at noon, a 50-year-old Dutchman will try to break the World Hour Record for riding without a saddle or seatpost. I'm just as suprised to hear about his attempt as I am to learn that a record already exists.

When I was in high school, somebody stole my saddle/seatpost (damn quick-release), so I had to make due for a while until I could get a replacement. Boy that sucked. I can't imagine voluntarily doing that while also trying to ride as fast as possible for an hour.

While reading about computer interaction and design, I found Interaction Design which has a good collection of articles.

Test your knowledge of Turkey now that talks have officially begun for Turkey's entry into the European Union. Take the test

More bad news for people at Motive: Layoffs will occur.

Austin software provider Motive Inc. confirmed Thursday that it will lay off some employees, following a warning Wednesday that its third-quarter finances won't meet expectations. Although a number wasn't disclosed, Cybele Diamandopoulos, Motive's director of public relations, says layoff details will be disclosed when the company releases its third-quarter financial report Oct. 26.

It's On Star for Blondes. Priceless.
Watch the video

The song "Talk" on Coldplay's album X&Y has an unbelievably familiar sound. It took me a little while to place it, but I finally remembered why "Talk" sounds so familiar: the chorus sounds just like "Computer Love" by Kraftwerk

The music during the chorus of "Talk" sounds so much like Kraftwerk that I can't believe it's an accident on the part of Coldplay. A little googling confirmed that Coldplay's Chris Martin wanted to sample Kraftwerk so badly that he wrote a letter (in bad German) to Ralf Hutter (lead guy in Kraftwerk).

According to this site, Martin said, "The only thing I could think of was the pen pal letters I learnt in German lessons at school. I had no idea if they knew who Coldplay were so had to explain myself like a 15 year-old school-boy. Dear Ralf, I sing in a band called Coldplay, blah, blah. I drew a little picture. Everyone says it's extraordinary that they said yes."

Ah, so much cycling eye-candy, courtesy of cyclingnews...

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Fyi to the world... I know this is only one data point, but here it is.

My wife and I recently purchased an appliance through Home Depot, and did so because one of our purchase criteria was qualifying for two mail-in rebates in the amount of $100. We met all of the terms, sent in the paperwork on time, and included copies of everything they wanted. I've done rebates before, I know how this game works, I read all the fine print.

Three weeks after sending it all in, we received notification that we do not qualify for one of the rebates because "UPC codes do not match". No further explanation, so who knows what that means. I sent email to the address listed on the rebate form, and (big suprise) received no response. The bottom line is this: no rebate for us.

On the second rebate, an additional 10 weeks have passed (on top of the first 3 weeks) without receiving anything from Home Depot. I assume the rebate did not go through, just like the first rebate, but how long do you wait until you know for sure? Should I be glad that they sent me a letter for the first one so that I wouldn't have to wonder if it had been rejected?

All in all, Home Depot cheated us for $100 in rebates. After more than 3 months we've received nothing more than a letter explaining that one of the rebates was denied (with a cryptic explanation).

So if anybody out there is considering a purchase at Home Depot, I suggest that you do not put much value on any rebates. Some companies will honor rebates, others will not. This experience shows that Home Depot is one of the companies that does not follow through on rebates. I'm not saying they're bad people or anything, but it would be wise if you did not factor a rebate into your overall price, because you're never gonna get anything out of them.