Why do some people enjoy life and others don't?. Why do some people enjoy life and others don't? Psychologists are spending $30m on trying to find out. [Guardian Unlimited]

OK sure, that's all well and good and shiny and stuff, but.....Hey Man- I tried to go to the website that teaches you to be happy and whattya know, they wouldn't respond.

Is that, like, a message or something?

11:17:02 PM     leave/read comments []

Virtual chess battle ends in draw. A series of four games pitting chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov against a computer ends in a draw. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

Three letters for ya Garry:

E. M. P.

You didn't exactly put the smackdown on did ya?

8:17:52 PM     leave/read comments []

Apple prepping Mac OS X 10.3.2; seeded to developers [The Macintosh News Network]

Further tweaking of the Panther:

Version 10.3.2 will include updates to networking, graphics drivers, and USB, sources said. The update will also improve WebDAV, international text, and AFP Server, Apple reportedly told testers in a brief release note.

6:54:57 PM    

Excellent in-depth coverage.

The landmark decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Tuesday went further than any court yet toward legalizing gay marriage in the United States.

But couples eager to make their union official can't start lining up at the courthouse Wednesday. The tribunal stopped short of ordering the state to start issuing marriage licenses. Instead, it ruled the state's denial of gay marriage unconstitutional - and gave the legislature 180 days to resolve the issue. This marks the first time a high court has ruled that civil marriage between a same-sex couple is a state constitutional right.

6:43:07 PM    

Protests begin but majority backs Bush visit. Most Labour voters welcome US president's state visit to Britain. [Guardian Unlimited]

Wait, wait, wait.

Let's take a closer look at the poll, shall we? Do, lets!

The survey shows that public opinion in Britain is overwhelmingly pro-American with 62% of voters believing that the US is "generally speaking a force for good, not evil, in the world". It explodes the conventional political wisdom at Westminster that Mr Bush's visit will prove damaging to Tony Blair. Only 15% of British voters agree with the idea that America is the "evil empire" in the world.

Now hoooooold on a minute, buster!

A few points-

1. George W. Bush is not "America"
2. America and Americans, in general, are seen as a force for good in the world- for all we know, the poll could mean that re-runs of Jerry Springer outweigh the Bush Administration's horrid misdeeds around the world in the eye of the average punter.
3. OK, so the U.S. isn't an "evil empire," that doesn't mean that there are some things it does that people aren't too pleased with.
4. George W. Bush is not "America"
5. George W. Bush is not "America"
6. George W. Bush is not "America"
7. George W. Bush is not "America"

Got that? Good.

Because George W. Bush is not "America."

12:09:45 PM     leave/read comments []

High Court in Massachusetts Rules Gays Have Right to Marry. Massachusetts' highest court ruled today that same-sex couples are legally entitled to wed under the state constitution. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

Hot damn!!!!

Lock up your daughters, I'm in a marryin' mood!

11:26:09 AM     leave/read comments []

Our pal, Mr. Jim is doin' the Lord's work and helping to save us from c|net's dastardly deeds.

In fact, yesterday was a big fun programming day for me. In addition to the music theory stuff, I put together a program to download MP3s from MP3.com. You may have heard that all the content from MP3.com is being deleted in a couple of weeks. Well, there's quite a few artists that I've been meaning to download, but never got around to doing so (because I didn't think that MP3.com would do something stupid like deleting all their content).

So I just threw together a simple Perl program that can retrieve and save the downloadable MP3s from an artist's site. Most artists have only a couple songs available, so this isn't normally an issue, but quite a few (like, say, Wayne and Liz) have a couple dozen songs available. Best to check them out now, before they're gone forever.

Permalink to post

11:23:19 AM     leave/read comments []

ShapeShifter applies interface 'themes' to OS X. Unsanity LLC on Tuesday introduced ShapeShifter, a new tool for Mac OS X that allows you to apply themes to your Mac OS X interface. It's available for download now and costs US$20 to register. [MacCentral]

Hack your GUI! (No, this is not an item about distance spitting.)

Don't like how your windows (really who does?) and menus look? Change 'em! Sure, it'll piss off Apple's interface designers, but hey- fight the power.

11:12:14 AM     leave/read comments []

Kasparov set for virtual decider. Chess great Garry Kasparov is due to play a deciding fourth match in his latest attempt to beat a computer. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]

The match is tied as it comes down to the, ahem, wire!

John Fernandez of X3D Technologies, which developed the computer programme and sponsored the match, described Mr Kasparov's performance in Sunday's five-hour game as "dominating".

"He disarmed the computer's biggest weapon, which is its calculating ability," Mr Fernandez said.

But he said it would be extremely hard for Mr Kasparov to repeat his performance in the final match.

Kasparov was then not quoted as saying, "I'm gonna put da smackdown on dat silicon bee-yatch like it was huffing vaccie valves on a three day bender at EPCOT. Representin' FleshPeeps!"

11:04:22 AM     leave/read comments []

Go get 'im lads n' lassies! Pop his (exceedingly expensive) bubble.

Wireless users chase George Bush across London.

Cellphone-toting protesters pissed off about the "security bubble" surrounding George W. Bush during his ultra-high-security UK sojourn are using wireless tech to track his whereabouts -- and make their opinions known. This BBC News article has details, and this moblog captured a snapshot of one of the flyers soliciting participation from UK geeks. (thanks SH)
[Boing Boing Blog]

10:56:16 AM     leave/read comments []

Apple's on roll!

Expect the stock price to drop, like it always does after new hardware is introduced.

10:50:16 AM     leave/read comments []