Tokyo also has nifty halos (or at least one) they use to mount traffic lights at big, roads-in-many-directions intersections:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37759092@N00/2422799597/in/set-72157604609410497/

Bill the Splut was on the scene with this 8 years ago!
http://www.thoughtviper.com/INEXOB/th.html
for a tour with some funny commentary.

Weird, I had this book in English when I was a kid! I probably got it at the old Boston Computer Museum...

"Maybe we should (gasp) save more?"

I was listening to public radio and I'm not sure if the person being interviewed was aware of the contradiction she issued; on the one hand, Americans need to start saving more. On the other hand, Americans not spending like they usually do is what this downturn is all about!

There was this creepily nostalgic ad for it on display at my local camera shop, a free standing life size bathing beauty with the depressing slogan "Because Time Goes By"...
http://kisrael.com/2008/02/08/

This isn't a strong counter-argument but yeah, a lot of this talk reminds me of Y2K chatter circa 1997-98 or so.

DISCLAIMER: I'm one of those great unwashed who haven't studied this very much (in part because the subject is so complex, I don't trust my ability to tell legitimate dispassionate analysis from well-written axe-grinding quackery)

But random thought:
I just got back from a lovely 2 week visit in Japan. They kind of feel like they've been in the doldrums since their boom. Been wondering how their history relates to where we are now. One thing is, they seem to employ a LOT of people for menial jobs, like people posted just to warn others away from construction sites to people who yammer and yammer about products inside and outside of stores. I don't know if that's a cause or effect of their doldrums, and hope it's a difference that's positive for the USA

Can people from the various non-US places mentioned verify this? The American one is dead on, but a Russian-American friend claims the "American" way is much more popular...

You know I did try twisties for a while, but the paper covering fell apart quickly, and in general the wire didn't seem to hold as well as these do...

And, if anyone cares, the link is correct but the name is Kisrael not Kisreal... everyone gets that wrong.

It makes him sound a bit like Andy Kaufman lite.

Which might not be fair, I only know his late-ish SNL bits, and that just barely.

Anyone up for posting a summary or transcription?

I've got one.

So far I'm not too impressed with the UI and default software. But maybe I'm not thinking enough like a child :-)

I dunno if it's the same thing, but the silver ions injected by DermaSeptic's little electric doodad is the only thing besides Acyclovir that I've found useful for preemptively destroying cold sores. Best $60-$100 you'll spend.

I'm on the side where this seems like a semi-reasonable hack for a tough technical problem.

In terms of "guessing wrong", given the google screenshot, it might be that the issue isn't "what if they put this on something obscure that I don't actually look at" but "what if I don't look at one of the popular sites that they've chosen to overwrite".

The potential for abuse is troubling, but I think I like it better than a quiet "now the meters running!" switchover.

Does it get progressively harder? Or is it always just a random collection of pre-colored dots?

It's a very attractive radio but I'm trying to keep to my vow not to buy a radio without digital tuning.

That's not just a fancy dial for digital tuning, is it?

Public service message:
Not to be a shill, but I've had intermitent outbreaks of fever blisters / cold sores for a LONG time. Sky Mall had this "DermaSeptic" thing that just frickin' WORKS. Best $70 I've spent. (Actually maybe it was $100 then... still more than worth it.)

So yeah, there's lots of oddball junk, but some gems in there...

THIS NEEDS A WARNING.

I didn't get burned, because I had recently found out about it, plus I've read through like all of the old archives of the Stile Project and the little piece of my soul that gets squicked died, or at least got severely damaged, but Two Girls One Cup is at least as bad as goatse.cx, and someone googling for it is likely to be in for a terrible surprise. That's not cool.

WARN ABOUT THAT.

I'm not saying he's absolutely right or wrong on this one issue, but Nielsen's columns are always a bit on the annoyingly self-righteous-sounding side.

In general he seems to be a tree-fetishist as whole forests just pass him by.

It's tough to take a "usability expert" seriously when for YEARS his URL didn't work unless you included the "www." in front of it.

"a set of six buttons adjusts the screen's brightness"

!!!!

either something got lost in translation, or this guy's priorities might be a bit screwy.

My current favorite audio cliche is this- one- I don't quite know how to describe it, it's this kind of whip-sounding tied in with a missile launch, or flying right near by. I wonder if any weapons in reality sounds like that, I (more rerely) have heard it in electronic music.

Also, fans of old video games tend to keep a sharp ear out for some games that must've made it into the standard libraries, especially 2600 Pac Man and Donkey Kong.

Heheh. "Snelville".

Man, it's always jarring when a site changes it look!

I had forgotten how much I missed the old comments. Frankly, they never seemed that broken to me back in the day.