Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Gee, I didn't think my blog was THAT funny. I just noticed in my Site Meter Referrals that my weblog shows up in the first ten entries when you Google the words "funny" and  "weblogs". Here is the furled Google listing and here is the flickred Google listing. (No, I'm not obsessing about this.) I think this proves that Google has a deeply ironic sense of humor (perhaps even deeper than mine...). 7:05:30 AM

Monday, July 18, 2005

The Unitarian Jihad is an amazing example of Web-enabled emergence. A while ago, I posted an entry on the Unitarian Jihad. Well, this being the Web, it's taken on a life of its own. To see what I mean, check out the comprehensive Wikipedia entry on UJ, which describes the UJ as follows: Unitarian Jihad is a nascent satirical religious/humanist movement which opposes religious extremism of all kinds through peaceful means. The concept of the Unitarian Jihad originated in a column by writer Jon Carroll which was originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle on April 8, 2005. The column intentionally juxtaposed the Unitarian Universalistfaith and rational discussion with the Islamic concept of (militant) Jihad, and used the conceit of having received an anonymous communique from the then non-existent group. Note how many different sites mentioned in the entry have sprung up. One of my favorites is the name generator. Here is what it generated for me: My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Machine Gun of Quiet Reflection. Get yours. While the spread of the UJ meme is a humorous example, it is nonetheless a powerful demonstration of how the Web enables the emergence of spontaneous order. Let me walk you through it: I find out about the UJ article from one of the blogs or newsletters I read (I can't remember which). I bookmark it in Furl: UJ Bookmark. Several weeks later, I look at my UJ bookmark (long story having to do with looking into my Furl Religion folder for some other search on Unitarianism). I notice that someone named number-six has also Furled UJ with the following comment: "See: http://homepage.mac.com/whump/ujname.html to get your uj name. More here: http://www.livejournal.com/community/unitarian_jihad/ . So I go to the UJ page at livejournal. I am amazed to find over 300 members listed on the UJ community page. I'm even more amazed to find that the community had apparently been created on the same day as the article, April 8, 2005! From these pages I discover the name generators and the Wikipedia entry The point of going through this in detail is to give you a flavor of the serendipity of the emergence process. Imagine, just a few months after an article is published an entire community and an rich set of Web resources emerge into being! This is enabled by two "new" aspects of the 2nd Web Generation (aka Web 2.0): The ability of individuals to easily create new Web resources: content, groups, tools, bookmarks, etc. The automatic generation of backlinks, e.g., who also linked this page, what pages contain this phrase These two capabilities are at the heart of the Web's ability to generate spontaneous order. 6:40:35 AM

Friday, July 08, 2005

A true ironist. Via Strange Doctrines, a Washington Post article about a man who really lives the concept of "contingency": "What are the chances of you doing this again?" the judge asked. Timmers -- dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, his long, white hair flowing down his back -- paused a moment before speaking up. "There's always a chance of anything, Your Honor," he said. The judge's jaw dropped. He pressed Timmers to be clear. "The odds of that happening are 800 million billion to one," Timmers said, "but I can't ever rule anything out completely, Sir." The irony is that his honesty has already gotten him more jail time (i.e., the delay in sentencing). What I also like about this piece is the chain of linked commentary about it. I especially like the commentary at Thoughts Arguments and Rants: Don't be a Sceptic Luka Yovetich sent me a link to this article in the Washington Post about the costs of scepticism. The defendent was asked whether he would commit more crimes if he was released, and (to paraphrase) he said that he didn't know because he didn't have an answer to global scepticism. As they say on the interwebs, read the whole thing. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll recognise behaviour that previously you'd only seen in philosophical colleagues, etc. 11:51:23 AM

Friday, June 24, 2005

Quasi-Religious Geek Humor. Which is scarier? The Unitarian Jihad (excerpt): We are Unitarian Jihad, and our motto is: "Sincerity is not enough." We have heard from enough sincere people to last a lifetime already. Just because you believe it's true doesn't make it true. Just because your motives are pure doesn't mean you are not doing harm. Get a dog, or comfort someone in a nursing home, or just feed the birds in the park. Play basketball. Lighten up. The world is not out to get you, except in the sense that the world is out to get everyone. Brother Gatling Gun of Patience notes that he's pretty sure the world is out to get him because everyone laughs when he says he is a Unitarian. There were murmurs of assent around the room, and someone suggested that we buy some Congress members and really stick it to the Baptists. But this was deemed against Revolutionary Principles, and Brother Gatling Gun of Patience was remanded to the Sunday Flowers and Banners committee. Or the RESTafarian Inquisition (via Steve Maine): Nobody expects the RESTifarian Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and tedium ...tedium and surprise.... Our two weapons are tedium and surprise...and ruthless disregard for unpleasant facts.... Our three weapons are tedium, surprise, and ruthless disregard ...and an almost fanatical devotion to Roy Fielding You might be wondering how Unitarianism is related to geekiness (specifically web geekitude). Tim Berners-Lee describes the connection. BTW, If you liked the RESTafarian Inquisition, you'll love...The Dead Spec Sketch (excerpt): A customer enters a WS shop. Mr. Praline: 'Ello, I wish to register a complaint. (The owner does not respond.) Mr. Praline: 'Ello, Miss? Owner: What do you mean "miss"? Mr. Praline: I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint! Owner: We're closin' for lunch. Mr. Praline: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this specification what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique. Owner: Oh yes, the, uh, the Big-Wizzdl...What's,uh...What's wrong with it? Mr. Praline: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. it's dead, that's what's wrong with it! Owner: No, no, it's uh,...it's RESTing. Mr. Praline: Look, matey, I know a dead specification when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now. Owner: No no it's not dead, it's, he's RESTin'! Remarkable spec, the Big-Wizzdl, idn'it, ay? Beautiful appendix! 4:54:47 AM

Saturday, June 04, 2005

Prepare to lose your mind: The Hasselhoffian Recursion. I've been meaning to post about this disturbingly amazing (or is it amazingly disturbing) image for some time. Given that I'm trying to keep this blog PG-13 rated, I won't post the recursive photo directly here. I'll simply provide this link to the The Hasselhoffian Recursion. Follow this link at your own risk. To try to prepare you (or warn you) for what you are in for, below are a few typical comments from the Hasselhoffian Recursion Commentary, which is actually even better than the Recursion itself. Click the Commentary link to play it safe by viewing only the Commentary. Just don't scroll up! One last piece of advice: you can freeze the recursion by trying to drag the image. This is one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen on the Internet. Posted by:James Russell at January 18, 2005 09:29 PM I'm blind!! Brain meltdown!! Alert:Alert:Alert:Alert: Must reach... plug... uggg!! Posted by: Lord Evil Toaster Oven at January 18, 2005 10:36 PM AAAAAAAAAAARGH! *dies* Posted by: John at January 19, 2005 03:55 PM Okay, that's pretty nifty, but I gotta do some work... Alright, I really should get some work done now... Yeah, I REALLY should stop staring at this and do some work before I get fired... Any second now I'll stop staring at this thing. *ahem* Any second.Now. No, NOW. Now.... nnnow! Dammit, I'm SO fired. Posted by:buzz_clik at January 19, 2005 05:33 PM 5:13:49 AM

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

PostSecret. After reading the New York Times article on PostSecret, I checked it out. This one was my favorite. I'm not sure I know why. Perhaps I'll post the secret of why I think I like it to PostSecret. 5:53:16 AM

Monday, May 16, 2005

My So-Called Hieroglyphics Name. Here's another fun name generator--this time a hieorglyphs name generator. Here's my name in hieorglyphics. Son of Ra, Lord of the Two Lands, Nick Gall, given life, like Re, forever (I kinda like the sound of that): Again, thanks to Jochen Fromm for the link. 7:08:28 AM

My So-Called Chinese Name. Here's a fun web service: a Chinese Name Generator. Here's what it generated for me: Here's what it means: Surname (first character) Kuang Given Name (middle character) Ning repose, serenity, peace; peaceful Given Name (last character): sheng life Thanks Jochen Fromm. 6:20:01 AM