Showing archive results for 2007

Alas, the original plan for the trip to the hole in the Arctic Ocean had to be scrapped due to the passing of organizer Steven Currey. But hollow earthers, don't give up hope! U.S. scientist Brooks Agnew has announced his plans to take the place of Mr. Currey, chartering the same ship and taking the same itinerary with the same goal. We'll...

In the initial designs for the Start menu, the list of most-frequently-used programs on the Start menu would be completely empty the first time you opened it. This was perfectly logical, since you hadn't run any programs at all yet, so nothing was frequently-used because nothing had been used at all! Perfectly logical and completely stupid-looking....

Not just "super exciting" but "super-super-exciting". (But at least he's not super super super excited.) I don't consider this super encouraging. Episode 1.

We already saw that programs in the pin list are pruned from the most-frequently-used programs list because they would be redundant. Another fine-tuning rule was introduced after the initial explorations with the new Windows XP Start menu: Programs with specific "noise" names are removed from consideration. Many "noise" programs were showing...

NPR reported on The Thing?, a surreal yet kitchy roadside attraction on Interstate 10 in Arizona which has cryptic (and therefore intriguing) advertising signs for hundreds of miles. Listen as Rene Gutel of member station KJZZ in Phoenix gets to the bottom of the enduring mystery: What is The Thing?

After the initial explorations with the Windows XP Start menu, we had to add a rule that fine-tuned the results: If a program is pinned, then it is removed from consideration as a frequently-used program. For example, if you right-click Lotus Notes and select "Pin to Start menu", then it goes into the pin list and will never show up in the d...

More SIFF reviews.

There's a second subtlety to the basic principle that determines which programs show up in the Start menu: Each time you launch a program, it "earns a point", and the longer you don't launch a program, the more points it loses. Since programs earn points and not shortcuts, a program can earn points even if you don't use the Start menu to run i...

Rolling Stone writer Jancee Dunn talks about her memoir and particularly presents several tips on how to interview rock stars and other celebrities. The story about Ben Affleck is worth the price of admission.

The first subtlety of the basic principle that determines which programs show up in the Start menu is something you may not have noticed when I stated it: Each time you launch a program, it "earns a point", and the longer you don't launch a program, the more points it loses. Notice that the rule talks about programs, not shortcuts. The "points...