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Music really does sound better when you're high, scientists report

Neuroscientists have confirmed what every stoner already knows: music sounds better when you're high on weed. In a paper titled "Exploring the interaction between cannabis, hearing, and music," researchers from Toronto Metropolitan University reported results from a study in which participants "reported significantly greater hearing sensitivity and levels of state absorption while high compared to sober." — Read the rest

The post Music really does sound better when you're high, scientists report appeared first on Boing Boing.




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Surveillance footage of Kentucky Sheriff killing judge shown in court

Surveillance footage of Sheriff Shawn "Mickey" Stines shooting and killing District Judge Kevin Mullins in his own chambers was played in a Kentucky court yesterday, shocking onlookers. Judge Rupert Wilhoit found probable cause to refer Stines' first-degree murder charge to a grand jury. — Read the rest

The post Surveillance footage of Kentucky Sheriff killing judge shown in court appeared first on Boing Boing.




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Oura the best smart ring, say testers

The Verge's roundup of smart rings seems representative of a general consensus: Oura is just ahead of the game when it comes to these inconspicious gadgets. The competition is either too rough in one repect or another, be it software, syncing or the basic credibility of measurements, and the best is a model from Samsung that requires other Samsung stuff to work right. — Read the rest

The post Oura the best smart ring, say testers appeared first on Boing Boing.




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AI artist appeals denial of copyright protection

Jason M. Allen's "Theatre D'Opera Spatial" won an art competition at the 2022 Colorado State Fair, but the work was subsequently denied copyright protection due to his use of AI software to generate it and his unwillingness to disclaim that contribution to the whole. — Read the rest

The post AI artist appeals denial of copyright protection appeared first on Boing Boing.




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IT Departments Utilizing Virtualization

IDC released its Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker on September 2, 2009, which reports that "factory revenue in the worldwide server market declined 30.1% year over year to $9.8 billion in the second quarter of 2009 (2Q09)."

According to IDC, this is the lowest quarterly server revenue since they began tracking this market in 1996.

The obvious implication is that the economy has been awful and companies have been avoiding / deferring IT spend. But beyond that it seems that virtualization has both benefited from and contributed to this decline.

With a single server now able to run multiple workloads, it seems inevitable that the server footprint is destined to continue getting smaller within the corporate data center. But the benefits of virtualization do not stop with simply running more apps on one machine; the whole datacenter becomes more agile, more flexible to deal with unexpected changes in workload.

The ability to get more from fewer boxes is certainly a contributing factor to less boxes being bought. And tight budgets in the 2009 economy have certainly contributed to IT managers seeking out less costly options.

It will be interesting to see how the server market rebounds.

Andy Patrizio in his InternetNews.com blog quotes Rahul Agarwal, co-founder of Infiniti Research. Within the dismal sales figures, Agarwal notes that both Gartner and IDC report that unit costs are going up for server sales. Agarwal believes that this is due to sellers trying to widen margins by selling more feature-rich machines:

Our view is that to offset this volume pressure, hardware vendors will be
forced to improve unit margins by building in virtualization capability, memory
and I/O interfaces in the hardware.

So the strategy to improve revenues will enable IT departments to further utilize virtualization, continuing the trend toward fewer individual servers.

Agarwal noted that many servers out there are quite inefficient, particular amongst small-to-medium sized businesses, so the more successful players will focus on consolidation to increase efficiency and reduce the footprint. He says:

The server market of tomorrow will be a value game and not a volume game.




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Hybrid Flash Multicasting Article in Flex Developers Journal

An article about Hybrid Flash Multicasting that features MediaPlatform's CTO, Greg Pulier, recently appeared in the Flex Developer's Journal.  Click here to link to the article

Here is the opening paragraph:

Hybrid Flash multicasting is the second and decisive wave of innovation that will enable enterprises to stream video without overtaxing their network infrastructures. It eliminates the usual tradeoffs between video consumption and network investment, regardless of increased video traffic in budget-constrained corporate networks. Hybrid Flash multicasting also solves the cost and complexity challenges of IP multicasting. By combining a new form of multicasting, known as application multicasting, which leverages a peer-assisted model of video sharing with an IP multicast network, a video stream can reach virtually everyone on the network using existing bandwidth and infrastructure. Hybrid multicasting finally unlocks the full potential for video within the enterprise by combining IP and application multicasting to deliver streaming media using the most efficient algorithms within a dynamic self-optimizing topology.







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Amazing: Trump Moved 48 States Toward the Republican Party

The following article, Amazing: Trump Moved 48 States Toward the Republican Party, was first published on Conservative Firing Line.

When the 2024 election dust settled early on Wednesday morning, it became clear that Donald Trump didn’t just win the election, he trounced Kamala Harris. It was so bad for the Democrats that nearly every state moved to the right. The GOP hasn’t seen so many votes move their way since Ronald Reagan in 1980. …

Continue reading Amazing: Trump Moved 48 States Toward the Republican Party ...




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‘Blatant Weaponization’: FEMA Facing Investigations For Targeting Suffering Trump Supporters

The following article, ‘Blatant Weaponization’: FEMA Facing Investigations For Targeting Suffering Trump Supporters, was first published on Conservative Firing Line.

Republicans are calling for investigations, or are already launching their own, into charges that the federal government deliberately and willfully discriminated against supporters of President-elect Donald Trump following a hurricane disaster in Florida. It was the Daily Wire that initially documented how Marn’I Washington, a Federal Emergency Management Agency supervisor, instructed employees under her authority …

Continue reading ‘Blatant Weaponization’: FEMA Facing Investigations For Targeting Suffering Trump Supporters ...




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Steve Bannon Issues 90-Second WARNING To Deep State At Trump Victory Party (Video)

The following article, Steve Bannon Issues 90-Second WARNING To Deep State At Trump Victory Party (Video), was first published on Conservative Firing Line.

(Natural News) Steve Bannon, one of Donald Trump’s most fired-up supporters and allies all throughout the former president’s tumultuous political career, delivered a powerful speech after Trump’s victory warning the deep state that justice is coming. Fresh out of federal prison for his involvement in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, Bannon took the stage to deliver …

Continue reading Steve Bannon Issues 90-Second WARNING To Deep State At Trump Victory Party (Video) ...




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Left Already Losing It As Trump Announces Starting Lineup (Video)

The following article, Left Already Losing It As Trump Announces Starting Lineup (Video), was first published on Conservative Firing Line.

Trump learned some hard lessons from his first kick at the can. This time, he’s not making the same mistakes. Personnel IS policy. Last time around DJT was hamstrung right out of the gate when the Alabama Senator he tapped to be his AG was stuck in purgatory under bogus Russia allegations. The Deep State …

Continue reading Left Already Losing It As Trump Announces Starting Lineup (Video) ...




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Forty-Seven Percent Of Harris Voters Believe Trump Will Not Be A Legitimate President; 54 Percent Want To Leave The Country

The following article, Forty-Seven Percent Of Harris Voters Believe Trump Will Not Be A Legitimate President; 54 Percent Want To Leave The Country, was first published on Conservative Firing Line.

I really wish that everyone would just calm down.  Emotions always run high immediately after an election, but what we are witnessing this time around is truly frightening.  We live at a time when people feel free to express their deepest, darkest emotions on social media, and right now “freak out video” after “freak out …

Continue reading Forty-Seven Percent Of Harris Voters Believe Trump Will Not Be A Legitimate President; 54 Percent Want To Leave The Country ...




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Video: John Roderick on String Art Owls, Copper Pipe, and Bono's Boss

[jump to video]

Long story (not very) short? One night in 2003--after killing it in front of audience of about 30 lucky people in Oakland--The Long Winters needed a place to crash, and my wife and I were happy to oblige. 

So, they drove their Big Stinky Blue Van over the bridge, slept on our floor, and by breakfast the next morning, it'd become clear to me that I'd provided lodging to a man who was not only very likely a member of my karass--he was also one of the smartest bullshit artists I'd ever met. 

Almost eight years later, although I don't see him nearly as much as I'd like, I still count the guy as one of my best pals ever.

That's John Roderick. And, I think you need to know about him.

John doesn't read this site--he's more of a Twitter person--so I don't risk feeding his astounding excess of dignity by saying he's one of the most gifted writers and bon vivants of our generation. He's just the best. In large part because he's congenitally incapable of suffering bullshit.

This was never more apparent than the Saturday morning in 2007 when we sat in my back yard and talked about a lot of stuff. Playing guitar, advertising on the web, the evil work of promoters, and why everyone is always trying to shortchange everyone on copper pipe. 

That talking became a four-part interview I ran on the late and occasionally lamented The Merlin Show, and, to this day, it's one of my favorite things I've been lucky enough to post to the web.

So, y'know how I'm definitely "not for everyone?" Well, John is really "not for everyone."

He's opinionated and arrogant and undiplomatic and unironically loves Judas Priest--meaning everyone will find at least one thing not to like about him. Despite being hairy and enjoying laying on your bed, John is not exactly a teddy bear. 

But, John's also right a lot. And, he never sands off the edges of his personality or opinions to make you theoretically "like" him. Which, it will come as no surprise to you, is a big reason I love the guy more than a free prime rib dinner. 

So, why the jizzfest about that awful jerk, John Roderick?

Because, as I noted the other day on the Twitter, in our first episode of Back to Work I misattributed a line that should have been credited to John. Which in itself is unimportant, except inasmuch as finding that link to correct the error got me watching our 50-some minutes of chatting again. I also received some at-responses and emails that reminded me how much people enjoyed our chat. 

But, really it made me realize how much that rambling morning in my back yard still resonates so much with stuff I care a lot about. Independence. Agency. Directness. And, never apologizing for wanting to get paid. Also, guitars and talkative hippies.

So, anyway. John. 

I edited all four parts of the video into one big (streamable/downloadable) movie that should make it way easier to watch at a sitting. Should that interest you. Which it may not. Which, as ever, is totally fine, and kind of the point.

But. If you like Dan and my new show (and, seriously—God bless you magnificent bastards who helped briefly make B2W the most popular podcast in the world [gulp]), I think you'll really like this interview a lot too. I hope so, anyway.

Thus, submitted for your disapproval, permit me to present my four-year-old visit with the acerbic, opinionated, and reportedly unlikeable bullshit artist whom I respect and adore more than just about anybody. 

Meet Hotrod.

Video: John Roderick on String Art Owls, Copper Pipe, and Bono's Boss” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on January 21, 2011. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"




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Nerdiest Interview Ever: MPU Workflows Part II

MPU 046: Workflows with Merlin Mann II « Mac Power Users


I have the life that I have because I've made a lot of weird decisions, and they've worked out well.


Not gonna lie to you. I'm a huge nerd. Surprised?

Yep. I can recite big chunks of The Big Lebowski from memory. I can argue for an hour on the merits of Dick York over Dick Sargent. And, I can—and frequently do—catch myself thinking Catwoman, Batgirl, Princess Leia, and Emma Peel should have a light-hearted pillow fight that ends with an hour of genial french-kissing.

Pretty much like you, probably. I dunno, maybe your version includes Kitty Pryde. Po-tay-to/Po-taht-o, right?

Perhaps most saliently, by virtue of having spent a solid 2,399 days as a Fake Productivity Guru, I have been provided with an unquestionably Janusian monkey's paw of a gift; I now know a lot about workflows. Nerdy, nerdy workflows.

I can tell you a few things that almost always work, I can tell you a handful of things that almost never work, and—best or worst of all—I can tell you thousands of things that might work. Sometimes. Maybe. Kinda. For some people. For now.

And, at the risk of gay-marrying my arrogance to my hypocrisy, I can tell you that I also know enough about the unholy diarrhea of potential options for Theoretical Productivity to share two big patterns:

  1. Getting your workflow right matters.
  2. Getting your workflow right to the exclusion of the actual work is a fool's game.

But. Managing to get the most useful and most elegant and least fiddly mix of 1 and 2 right is super-hard. Especially for nerds. Especially for me.


So, as I type this today, I believe there can be no greater testament to these claims—or, at least, no greater place to test the veracity of these claims for yourself—than in this TWO AND A HALF HOUR-long interview for Mac Power Users.

It is reeeeeeeeally nerdy. Almost intolerably nerdy. Just…overwhelmingly nerdy.

But, man, is it ever really good, and really fat with the most insanely granular details of How I Work.

Lo, even these 928.5 days after officially retiring from productivity pr0n, my desire to not "vend stroke material for your joyless addiction to puns about procrastination and systems for generating more taxonomically satisfying meta-work" is tempered by a (widely under-reported) practical streak.

Yes: I continue to despise empty advice about rearranging deck chairs on The Titanic. But, yes: I do also still very much enjoy talking about how all the tips and tricks can or can't work in the context of work you care about. That matters. It really does.


So. Here goes. A one hundred and forty six minute-long, Joyce-ian amble through the Big Stuff and the Little Stuff. David and Katie were very patient.

How I name text files. Why I break iOS apps. Why I love the letter "x." Why I won't row out to islands any more. How a 115,000 word book manuscript is "like a house full of confederate money." How "The Cloud" broke in New Zealand. How I use MultiMarkdown, Scrivener, TextExpander, OmniFocus, TextMate, Notational Velocity, Dropbox, and an explosive combination of Elements, Notesy, Nebulous, Simplenote, CF Outliner, iThoughts, Instacast, Good Reader, and wow wow wow.

How I try not to fiddle—how I sometimes succeed and often don't. But, how I try.

Anyhow. There you go. A perfectly nerdy bookend to last year's first Magnum Opus MPU interview on these same topics, Mac Power Users Episode 46 is just insanely nerdy. And, what have you.

I hope you like it. I hope it's useful. I hope you don't use it to replace real work.

And, as ever, I really hope Batgirl starts having more sexy pillow fights.

Enjoy. And, God save you.


MPU 046: Workflows with Merlin Mann II « Mac Power Users

Nerdiest Interview Ever: MPU Workflows Part II” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on March 27, 2011. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"









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A.F. Branco Cartoon – Team Kamala

A.F. Branco Cartoon – The Media (CBS, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, etc. are showing their complete bias in support of Kamala..




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A.F. Branco Cartoons Etc 10/16/24

A.F. Branco and Joe Dan Gorman discuss Tony’s recent toons and related issues, along with some videos and a few..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – DOJ vs Fair Elections

A.F. Branco Cartoon – The DOJ is Suing Virginia over purging illegal registrations from their voter rolls. The Biden DOJ..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – Elmer Fraud

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Gov Walz trying to load his shotgun was emblematic of his entire reign in Minnesota. Now,..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon- – The Puppeteer

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Free Market Capitalism is great, but when big corporations merge with the Government, it begins to..




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A.F. Branco cartoon – Genital Madness

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Democrats, the party of child genital mutilation and late-term abortion, are outraged at Trump for his comments alluding to..




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A.F. Branco Cartoons Etc 10/23/24

A.F. Branco and Joe Dan Gorman discuss Tony’s recent toons and related issues like the 2024 election, along with some..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – Now Hiring

A.F. Branco Cartoon – It’s been a lousy week for Kamala and a great week for Trump as he surges..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – America Off Course

A.F. Branco Cartoon — Harris-Biden’s last four years in office have been a total wreck on the American people, and..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – October Desperation

A.F. Branco Cartoon — Desperation has consumed the Harris campaign, which has brought out the “Trump is Hitler” card just..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – Walz Across the people

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Gov Walz and the Minnesota Democrats are in a war with police and the people of Minnesota, well documented in..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – Costume Faux Pas

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Mainstream leftist media, along with the Democrats (The Party of the KKK), are trying their best..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – The Beat Goes On

A.F. Branco Cartoon – After years of Democrat lawfare, phony impeachments, attempted assassinations, and media-biased lies against Trump, he is..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – A Time For Choosing

A.F Branco Cartoon – The choice in this election is clear: Sleight-of-hand leftist Tricks or the abrasive truth in the..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – Headless In D.C.

A.F. Branco’s Cartoon – The Legend of the Headless President, has seeded its place in American history. Biden is now..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – Toon Soon?

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Some say Gov. Walz is celebrating a bit too early on winning the 2024 election despite..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – Compare and Contrast

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Compare and contrast. Fight, Fight, Fight against Kamala’s Marxist tyrannical government. It’s what’s at stake in..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – Families At Risk

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Families are at risk under the biden/HARRIS regime promoting taking away parental rights in the name of helping..




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A.F. Branco Cartoons Etc. 11/06/24

A.F. Branco and Joe Dan Gorman discuss The debate, Tony’s toons and related issues, along with some videos and some..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – Garbage Day

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Trump wins the 2024 presidential election. Now it’s time to clean up the mess and get..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – MAGA Blowback

A.F. Branco Cartoon – After almost four years of Democrats trying to shove Marxism down Americans’ throats, We, The People,..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – Closing Thoughts

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Gov. Tim Walz lost his own Blue Earth County in Minnesota. Trump also flipped three other..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – Out In The Cold

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Revised from 2018 and revised for 2024 Veterans Day. Our Veterans are being left in the..




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A.F. Branco Cartoon – Ditch Mictch Clones

A.F. Branco Cartoon – Trump supporters are rooting for Rick Scott to be the next Senate Majority Leader, hoping he..




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Testimony before the North Dakota Senate Industry, Business and Labor Committee

Chairman Klein and members of the Senate Industry, Business and Labor Committee- My name is David Heinemeier Hansson, and I’m the CTO and co-founder of Basecamp, a small internet company from Chicago that sells project-management software and email services. I first testified on the topic of big tech monopolies at the House Antitrust Subcommittee’s field… keep reading




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Kamala's Campaign Is Still Aggressively Shaking Down Supporters For Cash

Even after her loss on Nov. 5, Vice President Kamala Harris’ election campaign is still hounding donors for money. Harris’ campaign has bombarded supporters with fundraising messages following her election […]

The post Kamala's Campaign Is Still Aggressively Shaking Down Supporters For Cash appeared first on The Western Journal.




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Trump to Pick Senator Marco Rubio for Crucial Cabinet Position: Report

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as his secretary of state, reports late Monday indicate. According to The Wall Street Journal, while the nomination isn’t […]

The post Trump to Pick Senator Marco Rubio for Crucial Cabinet Position: Report appeared first on The Western Journal.




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Trump Makes His Pick for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Secretary: Report

In a surprise move that broke in the early hours of Tuesday morning, President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly picked South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as his nominee to head the […]

The post Trump Makes His Pick for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Secretary: Report appeared first on The Western Journal.




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CNN Host Reportedly Leaving Network After Short-Lived Stay: His Career Change Is Completely Absurd

Three years ago, Chris Wallace walked away from Fox News over concerns that those at the “Fair and Balanced” network were beginning to, as he put it, “question the truth.” […]

The post CNN Host Reportedly Leaving Network After Short-Lived Stay: His Career Change Is Completely Absurd appeared first on The Western Journal.