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More information that gives a view of U.S. car manufacturing, and the U.S. government in general:

G.M.'s Road From Prosperity to Crisis

The U.S. government bought 60% of G.M., a company with $172.81 billion in debt and $82.29 billion in assets.

Death and Taxes poster.

Or to answer graphically.

Old Velvia was 50ASA which was insanely slow, and hard to shoot with. Wonderful with tripod but handheld was hard. I actually found it a bit over saturated, though that's a matter of opinion.

ISO 50 isn't so slow. Once upon a time that would have been considered medium speed. Kodachrome was once offered at ISO 25, and I've heard of some older films going down to ISO 8. Now THAT's slow! I've used Velvia handheld lots of times, but always outdoors during the day. With Velvia's high contrast and strong reciprocity failure, you don't really want to use it in low light anyway. It involves either careful metering and looking up a correction table, or luck (or bracketing).

And slow film has its uses. I recently bought a Yashica Electro 35 GSN, which has a nice 1:1.7 45 mm lens. I want to use the lens wide open to get really shallow depth of field - an effect I've come to really like. But to achieve that during the day, I'm going to need some slow film; likely ISO 50 or 25. Probably some Adox/Efke or Rollei.

Thanks for the link. Here is another interesting version - stereogram tetris: http://3dimka.deviantart.com/art/3D-Stereogram-Tetris-36795242

http://memo.deviantart.com/ there is a little assist for anyone who is interested

1. This is news from the Christian Science Monitor. Generally they try not to be bias against science stories. But everyone once in a while they hire some knucklehead who was raised on nothing but Billy Graham Specials and the 700 Club.

2. Whenever a Scottish scientist holds a study proving something is true, there is more than likely some Scott-hating French scientist who holds an invalid test concluding that "Scotty is wrong". (Screw you, Frenchie!)

3. Television starts with the letter T.

From the maker of LOLWHUT: http://ursulav.deviantart.com/art/The-Abyss-Looks-Back-62380479 The abyss has cookies.

Could it have been this?

I don't know where he got his info, but I did find this dated August 2008. Quoting, in part:

Presently, no trial date has been set because the government and the defense have been wrangling over discovery issues. Mainly, the government tried to force Libman and Greenberg to meet with their attorneys in a Miami FBI squad room to review evidence - without confidentiality. The defense has asked for copies of their hard drives, but the government has refused to supply the defense with the hard drives seized in 2006.

That's a common issue. If you follow the mailing lists to which computer forensic examiners subscribe, you'll see that there's a lot of tension over this issue. The authorities feel that if they give the defense full, normal, private access to the evidence, they (the government) will be releasing child porn. They don't want to put themselves in that position.

Sometimes wires get crossed badly when prosecutors give access but don't get any buy-in from local cops. There have been a couple of cases in the U.K. where forensics examiners hired by the defense have been raided for suspicion of possession of child porn when the source of the porn was files that had been released by the prosecutors to the defense attorneys. This whole area of the law is something around which high weirdness commonly swirls.

One side note: H. Louis Sirkin is defense counsel for one of the Webe principals. If you know free speech cases, that name should ring a bell.

I'm going to shoot the next guy who hates brown http://shedied.deviantart.com/art/Quit-messin-with-the-shirt-101719893 Put that on your desktop!

I'm going to shoot the next guy who hates brown http://shedied.deviantart.com/art/Quit-messin-with-the-shirt-101719893

Put that on your desktop!

My photos are still up on my Kermon account btw. I'm still pretty proud of them really. They're mostly just really random, but I like just taking pictures of 'stuff' that I think looks nice. Not really done much stuff with people in it though - most people just take photos to record memories, I've never really done that.

heh, you could always sell me your camera (is it a DSLR?) since i'm in the market for one at the moment. i'm using my dad's Nikon D50 right now, but i really need to get my own as i need to use it for work.

this is my DA profile btw, though i don't have much on there at the moment. i took a figure drawing and a 2d design class last year hoping to learn some basic studio art techniques and get my fundamentals down, but i haven't really touched my art supplies since then. i don't want to let the acrylics i bought go to waste, but the 2d design instructor i ended up with taught us jack all about actual painting technique.

and game programming sounds pretty interesting, especially a 3d racing game. i wouldn't mind porting Racer to the PSP, but in all my years of programming i've yet to learn C++. i know, it's quite sad. in retrospect i wish i hadn't wasted all those years learning VB and had instead just gone with C or C++ from the start. i guess now is as good a time as ever to pick it up. i'll probably start with some simple practice projects on my desktop and then see if i can give homebrew on the PSP a go. and if i can get the hang of programming in C++ by the time Pandora is officially released, i might just pick one up also. but unlike you i still have to learn how to code in C++ before i make that investment.

Speaking of 'uninteresting', you're clearly an expert.

Speaking of 'uninteresting', you're clearly an expert.

Speaking of 'uninteresting', you're clearly an expert.

Speaking of 'uninteresting', you're clearly an expert.

Photoshopped Error message for WGA and Photoshop

Note to self: Slashdot is not fark

Photoshopped Error message for WGA and Photoshop

Note to self: Slashdot is not fark

I think these are the type of ponies that we're most likely to see on /. http://borgpony.deviantart.com/ I wonder if it's what his wife would like to see though.

My first minifigs were from the "Space" series in the mid-70s. Luckily, I didn't burn them in the back yard with kerosene or something, like I've seen other kids do. I've continued to buy a few sets a year since then. I'm not one of those guys who could build a piano out of his Lego and have enough left over for the stool, but I'm happy to hand down a nice collection to the next generation.

Lego Nation

Deviant Art

See here: Ubuntu theme for Windows

Here is a modern Ada Lovelace print. Would be cool to put up a woman for the dept.

Hey cool! You used one of my fractals as your example of "subtle" fractal art.

I agree that this an area worth exploring - newer software like Apophysis (free) and Ultra Fractal (not free but worth the price) can create fractal art that is just visually stunning in both the shapes that can be produced and the palettes via various coloring algorithms.

Take a look at some of these examples (shameless plug for my own gallery included...) of, IMO, excellent fractal art that doesn't look like technicolor vomit:

http://dsa157.deviantart.com/gallery/ http://velvet--glove.deviantart.com/gallery/#Monochrome-Fractals http://fractek.deviantart.com/gallery/#my-favorites http://joelfaber.deviantart.com/gallery/

Hey cool! You used one of my fractals as your example of "subtle" fractal art.

I agree that this an area worth exploring - newer software like Apophysis (free) and Ultra Fractal (not free but worth the price) can create fractal art that is just visually stunning in both the shapes that can be produced and the palettes via various coloring algorithms.

Take a look at some of these examples (shameless plug for my own gallery included...) of, IMO, excellent fractal art that doesn't look like technicolor vomit:

http://dsa157.deviantart.com/gallery/ http://velvet--glove.deviantart.com/gallery/#Monochrome-Fractals http://fractek.deviantart.com/gallery/#my-favorites http://joelfaber.deviantart.com/gallery/

Hey cool! You used one of my fractals as your example of "subtle" fractal art.

I agree that this an area worth exploring - newer software like Apophysis (free) and Ultra Fractal (not free but worth the price) can create fractal art that is just visually stunning in both the shapes that can be produced and the palettes via various coloring algorithms.

Take a look at some of these examples (shameless plug for my own gallery included...) of, IMO, excellent fractal art that doesn't look like technicolor vomit:

http://dsa157.deviantart.com/gallery/ http://velvet--glove.deviantart.com/gallery/#Monochrome-Fractals http://fractek.deviantart.com/gallery/#my-favorites http://joelfaber.deviantart.com/gallery/

Hey cool! You used one of my fractals as your example of "subtle" fractal art.

I agree that this an area worth exploring - newer software like Apophysis (free) and Ultra Fractal (not free but worth the price) can create fractal art that is just visually stunning in both the shapes that can be produced and the palettes via various coloring algorithms.

Take a look at some of these examples (shameless plug for my own gallery included...) of, IMO, excellent fractal art that doesn't look like technicolor vomit:

http://dsa157.deviantart.com/gallery/ http://velvet--glove.deviantart.com/gallery/#Monochrome-Fractals http://fractek.deviantart.com/gallery/#my-favorites http://joelfaber.deviantart.com/gallery/

If you want fractals that you're unlikely to see elsewhere: try here If you prefer humor try this one

If you want fractals that you're unlikely to see elsewhere: try here If you prefer humor try this one

I used this daily since beta 4 on Linux, superiorly sweet. After getting used to the awesomebar (I don't know, but I imagine some sort of guy shouting AWWWWWYEEEEEAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! when I think of the bar's name...) and the smart bookmarks/tagging I can't go back. My experience has been quite stable...after I disabled flash. Only one random crash a few weeks ago in a site with faulty code. I am very happy so far.
Also, if you don't dig the Linux skin or some Stylish (such as Vista Theme) doesn't work, I have seen a small fix in http://hetdegon.deviantart.com/ (of all places...), just replacing the linux chrome.jar from a windows version. (Seriously, why is the linux skin so abominably ugly?)

Actually it would be funnier if the Reply button was a little gradient shaded button with a logo rather than text so it looked like the unlabelled Start button in Vista.

Nice.

If nothing else, I'd like to use E17 for any and all of my old computers. Especially if the steampunk mods I'm planning to do with a few friends become something more than plans; I recall E16 being extremely themeable, and I hope I can still make weird-shaped window borders in E17. And since it's blazingly fast, those computers actually become rather usable.

As for the bling module... did I understand correctly that it adds compositing to E?

I use E17 CVS as my sole WM, and I have to say, it's amazingly stable, fast and potentially good-looking. The core WM, panels, modules etc. are easily good-looking, funtional and stable enough for day-to-day use.

Maybe the developers should release a Beta 'core' snapshot, that doesn't include buggy/incomplete things such as the file manager or the Bling module, etc. but just a few panels, themes and useful modules (wlan, volume, Tclock, taskbar etc. etc.) - It would work wonders for Enlightenment's popularity.

By the way, you can see a screenshot of my E17 desktop here: http://karbonkid.deviantart.com/art/My-new-e17-desktop-76627256

Stock they aren't much, but some people spend a lot of time repainting them to look realistic.

Imagine what this one looks like from 20-50 feet away:
http://tigersharkiv.deviantart.com/art/Double-Shot-65664481

I used to hear from a buddy about how much he disliked Firefox because it was a memory pig, but never saw it myself until a few days ago. I'm not sure of the why or how, but after browsing http://www.deviantart.com/ for an hour or so, opening each deviation in a new tab, my system started crawling. Checking task manager I found Firefox to be using 1.7GB of memory. Closing every tab did nothing to release it, closing Firefox did.

This is nothing new...

Check out:

http://apophysis.deviantart.com/

*_technically_ I suppose the linked image is supposed to be erotic, but if it's considered a NSFW image where you work then I truly pity you.

Here's a link to my artwork. Feel free to do with this as you wish - except of course pass it off as your own.

I have music I've made. I've not put it on the intarwebs cus it's not had that good a reception but I'll email it to you if you'd like a listen. I think there's some interesting ideas both conceptually and musically in it but YMMV

Anyway, here's the gratuitious link. Hopefully I'll be moderated +5 interesting and this post will generate huge amounts of interest in my work so I can assert my copywrite over it and live of the proceeds.......Nah!...I'm just playing with you now...I know I'll never get +5 interesting.

-5 troll.

Here's my painting. You'll notice it's 'licensed' under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Copy this painting even in breach of its license (which may be illegal or unlawful in your jurisdiction) and I will still maintain that the major record labels and movie studios are a corrupt cartel, and that the guys behind the Pirate Bay are both visionaries and heroes.

My biggest annoyance is the screen flickering when unlocking a laptop that has an external monitor plugged in. I found a way to get it to stop, but that disables the auto-detection of external monitors (http://comments.deviantart.com/18/976237/576101509).

If you do disable TMM, you will need to remember to disable the 2nd monitor before suspending your laptop to go somewhere. If you don't, you'll go to unlock your machine and be staring at a black screen. You'll then need to hit CTL-ALT-DEL, and select "Switch User", and re-login in order to use your machine again. Pretty freakin' annoying.

Escher is one of my favourite artists also, and I've recently completed one piece that you may like to have a look at. it uses the triangle illusion combined with celtic knotwork. http://herbevore.deviantart.com/art/Dice-Illusion-73842850

I thought you meant this.

SPIDER PIG http://tn3-1.deviantart.com/fs18/300W/f/2007/220/5/3/Spider_Pig___Color_by_Ionahipri.png

Now I am Just a Number

The graph on the back of the shirt is data from the COBE mission, which looked at the background microwave glow of the universe and found that it fit perfectly with the idea that the universe used to be really hot everywhere. This strongly reinforced the Big Bang theory and was one of the most dramatic examples of an experiment agreeing with a theory in history -- the data points fit perfectly, with error bars too small to draw on the graph. It's one of the most triumphant scientific results in history.

On the internet, everything you could think of has already been done:

Telemarketer Torture script for Asterisk:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/823244.html

Actual recording of such a call: http://custom3dgraphics.deviantart.com/art/Hip-Hurts-v-2-22995489

This software already exists! It's a free open source application called Telecrapper 2000. It refers to a text file full of phone numbers deemed "annoying" by the user and checks caller ID when the phone rings. If the caller is on the list the Telecrapper jumps into action, playing WAV files and waiting for the person on the other end to pause before playing the next WAV. After a while Telecrapper resorts to a subset of WAV files and plays them randomly until the caller hangs up.

This cute Flash animation shows the Telecrapper in action. Hilarious stuff!

I've never thought about levels as art before... very interesting...

Perhaps by current definitions, yes. But maybe this is a new form of art: something that was not possible until modern day. For example, Rube Goldberg machines are art because of their unnecessary complexity. So here, a machine has become art because it's nature has been twisted in an unusual way. Also, the result of mathematic manipulations like the spirograph are now considered art. Such is also the case with purely virtual manipulations of math such as fractals. Part of the reason these things are artistic is because they are not judged merely by their mathematical qualities, but based on aesthetic qualities.

I think, if you ask a level designer or a game designer, they will tell you that what they do is art. That's probably fair, since they are "designers" not "level engineers" or "game engineers." What they do is come-up with unique ideas, and draw them given a special set of tools made by a "software engineer." The tools they use are no different from using Adobe Illustrator to draw.

You are right that a hypercube is not art. However, a hypercube can be art if it is manipulated in an artistic way. I think that game levels are like that. This doesn't mean that game levels are "high art" but there is certainly an artistic nature to them.