The creator of the Church Sign Generator has implemented a new measure to thwart some users coming from StormFront.org.

[Via Waxy]

Unrelated: but this picture is pretty entertaining.

No tags

Wow, this picture must have taken a long time apparently it was created entirely with Microsoft Paint.

He describes the process and gives ‘proof’ on another page, apparently it took 100 hours.

On the same domain domain I found this strip which I imagine is related.

[Via Reddit]

No tags

The book is available on Amazon.

Some user reviews (which I haven’t verified) include quotes from the book with strained comparisons between Christianity and maths:

Carl Friedrich Gauss first proved the fundamental theorem of algebra. There are many fundamental theorems: of arithmetic, calculus, and so on. These are so fundamental that many other theorems are derived from them. In the Bible, there are also fundamentals, without which Christianity would not exist: the deity of Christ, His substitutionary atonement, and the inspiration of the Bible, to name a few.

A line can be described either by its slope (a ratio) or by its inclination (an angle). These terms describe the deviation from the horizontal, but the word inclination also has a non-mathematical meaning. Without Christ, man is inclined to sin. The Word of God should shape our attitudes (inclinations)

If you are given the length of two sides and the angle measure opposite one of those sides, you can use the law of sines to solve the triangle. However, this does not always determine a unique triangle. As a result, it is called the ambiguous case. Ambiguous means open to multiple interpretations. Some people say that you can interpret the Bible in any way that you want. However, there is no ambiguity in the Bible.

A person is eccentric if his behavior deviates from normal. Jesus Christ expects His disciples to be eccentric, since living a Christlike life is not normal in this world (Titus 2:14). Likewise, in mathematics, conic sections are eccentric if they deviate from a circle. Eccentricity is a measure of this deviation. The eccentricity of an ellipse (e) is the ratio of focal distance (c) to the length of the sentimajor axis (a): e = c/a. Since c and a are distances and c < a, the eccentricity of any ellipse is 0 < e < 1.

The concept of limit can be used to illustrate an important truth. Suppose you lived eighty years and there was no life after death; your life on the earth would be 80/80 = 1 = 100% of your existence. Now, let’s assume that your life after death was eighty years long: your earthly life would be 80/160 = 1/2 = 50% of your entire existence. If life after death were 720 years, your life here would be only 80/(80+720) = 0.1 = 10%. Now extend it to eternity: (the limit as x approaches infinity) 80/(80+x) = O. In other words, this life is very insignificant in light of eternity. It is no wonder James said that life is “vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

[Via Reddit]

Update: A reddit commenter points to these sample pages confirming many of the quotes. Link, Link.

No tags

10 TV has an hilarious article on the perils of the hacker jargon.

Leet Speak is part of a complicated and potentially dangerous code designed to keep parents in the dark when children are chatting on the Internet.

Cracking the code could help protect your children.

See also: the very completete Wikipedia entry on the subject.

[Via digg]

No tags

The winners of the contest to make advertisements for Firefox have been announced. You can view the ones voted as best in this list.

It may be something to do with the British love of humorous advertisements but I didn’t like the winner, Daredevil, that much. I also thought Double Click Relief deserved some sort of award.

No tags

If you’re in on the jokes, this is pretty funny. This Scobleizer post might be of assistance in understanding it.

Unrelatedly, apparently America lost the Cartoon Wars which is rather depressing.

[Via GB]

No tags

FastCompany presents a game which will keep you wide awake in boring meetings.

Write one of the following words/phrases in each block:
Synergy, strategic fit, core competencies, best practice, bottom line, revisit, expeditious, to tell you the truth (or “the truth is), 24/7, out of the loop, benchmark, value-added, proactive, win-win, think outside the box, fast track, result-driven, knowledge base, at the end of the day, touch base, mindset, client focus(ed), paradigm, game plan, leverage.

[Via reddit, which points to a similar entry on Wikipedia]

No tags

Here are a few highlights from Reuters Oddly Enough section from the past month.

---

Brazil have introduced pink-striped metro carriages which men are not allowed to board. The rule is policed by women themselves. One problem that occurs to me is that if these carriages are full and women have to enter the normal carriages they will receive even more unwanted attention.

Link

---

Believing they had a botched burglary on their hands, police in Hayward, California, called to a house instead found a naked man wedged in its chimney, a police officer said on Monday. [...]
The 23-year-old man came home early Saturday morning and, finding himself locked out and without his keys, tried to enter the single-story house through its chimney.

“He told us he took off his clothes because as he was going down the chimney the clothes would rub up against it and slow him down,” Branson said. “If it was skin on cement he felt he would go down easier.”

Link

---

A turkish official was arrested for chewing gum as he laid a wreath at a memorial to Ataturk.
Link

---

The Foreign office urges English football fans to learn German versions of their chants.
Link

---

TOKYO (Reuters) – A Japanese man wept for joy this week when he recovered 5 million yen (24,000 pounds) in cash his wife had mistakenly thrown out with the household rubbish.

Link

---

Some fascinating trivia about the Queen, who sent her first email in 1976.

---

Italy’s Big Brother contestants were released to vote in the General election.

---

A Norwegian Coach who replaced a Canadian skiiers pole received 5.5 tons of maps syrup in thanks.
Link

---

A Chinese man tried to sell his soul on a service like eBay.

“We reviewed Taobao’s policies and realised we had no specific policy on the selling of souls,” said Porter Erisman, spokesman for Taobao’s parent, Yahoo-backed Alibaba.com. “After reviewing our policies, the posting was taken down last Friday.”

---

German teen truant exposed by “burglar” boyfriend

No tags

President Bush has 1000 days left in office.

BackwardsBush offers a key ring which will count the days down for you.

I have to confess I’ve shelled out the $12 to buy one ($8.99 keyring, 1$ US shipping, $3 International shipping).

It also offers this:

No tags

I haven’t got it yet, but Techcrunch reports it has a new ‘Quick Tabs’ feature.

I find this slogan rather ironic (they took a while):

No tags

If you haven’t noticed yet, Google Maps (finally) now supports Europe, previously the only parts of the continent covered were the UK and the area around the Winter Olympics.

Ask did this a while ago, now I’m waiting for Yahoo to follow on so I can use their GeoCoding API.

No tags

Google will only send you a cheque (or bank transfer) when your AdSense account has $100 in it. RoughType describes how this may help Google a considerable amount. This has certainly annoyed some people.

But as the post says, the AdSense ToS states:

In the event the Agreement is terminated, Google shall pay Your earned balance to You within approximately ninety (90) days after the end of the calendar month in which the Agreement is terminated by You (following Google’s receipt of Your written request, including by email, to terminate the Agreement) or by Google. In no event, however, shall Google make payments for any earned balance less than $10.

Meaning that provide you have more than $10 in your account you can cancel it and Google will send you your cash. Then if you want you can apply again. Very useful, though I think I’ll wait for my $100.

[Via Google Blogoscoped, via /pd]

No tags