Month: March 2004

A company called Polyphonic HMI has created software they call “Hit Song Science” which is supposed to contain algorithms that determine if a song is likely to be a hit. The company is touting their first attempt at using HSS in the marketplace as a success. For a fee, you can already test your song.

“HSS takes a song that sounds like it might be a hit and makes sure it can be one. With finely tuned adjustments in the mix we can ensure it has the optimal mathematical patterns for maximum market performance,” said Wake who has been using the new HSS technology in his studio for several months. “With that base covered, the odds of success are tremendous.”

“Farm Sluts is a hilarious dark comedy of a man’s journey upon opening that one unfortunate e-mail leading to a neverending cascade of pop-up windows and scantily clad women.

Farm Sluts contains partial nudity, language and untimely random acts of perversion. All Searchlab Shorts are unrated.”

Not as perverted as it might sound, but in some ways much worse. Either way, I found it quite funny.

Then don’t do it. Weird religious ceremonies don’t turn out great at the best of times…

The Masons have had a rough go of it lately. First there was the accidental shooting of a new inductee. The unsanctioned ceremony was only meant to scare the new member, but the shooter was carrying two guns, one with blanks and one with live ammo, and grabbed the wrong one during the ritual.

On Tuesday suicide bombers, which are believed to be Islamic Fundamentalists, blew themselves up at the entrance of a Masonic lodge after opening fire on some 40 people in the private dining hall. Two people were killed and six others were hurt.

This new technology, created by HP, lets users burn DVDs, CDs, and their respective labels. The drives cost about $10 more than current ones, and the special disks needed are about 10 cents more than the ones we use today. Despite the slight increase, here’s something that I think will actually catch on. Look for these at your local computer store within the next 6 months.

A technology dubbed LightScribe enables drives to burn a silk screen-like, high-contrast label on the upper side of CD or DVD media bearing a special coating. After completing a data burn, users will be prompted to flip the disc over to burn a label onto the other side.

Trials for a robot that builds houses are soon to be underway by the “construction industry”. The robot, referred to as a “contour crafter”, takes instructions directly from an architect’s computerised drawings and then squirts successive layers of concrete on top of one other to build up vertical walls and domed roofs. The robot then fills the hollow walls with more cement.

It’s my opinion that they’ll never get this thing efficient enough for widespread use, but as Greg Lynn, a leading architect from Venice, California, said. “I believe that aesthetically there’s a great potential to make things that have never been seen before.” Maybe they will make some neat artwork.

The Bush campaign is running ads attacking Kerry for being a flip-flopper. Here’s a few Bush flip-flops from dailykos.com.

• Bush is against campaign finance reform; then he’s for it.
• Bush is against a Homeland Security Department; then he’s for it.
• Bush is against a 9/11 commission; then he’s for it.
• Bush is against an Iraq WMD investigation; then he’s for it.
• Bush is against nation building; then he’s for it.
• Bush is against deficits; then he’s for them.
• Bush is for free trade; then he’s for tariffs on steel; then he’s against them again.
• Bush is against the U.S. taking a role in the Israeli Palestinian conflict; then he pushes for a “road map” and a Palestinian State.
• Bush is for states right to decide on same sex marriage, then he is for changing the constitution.
• Bush first says he’ll provide money for first responders (fire, police, emergency), then he doesn’t.
• Bush first says that ‘help is on the way’ to the military … then he cuts benefits.
• Bush-“The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden.” Later, Bush-“I don’t know where he is. I have no idea and I really don’t care.
• Bush claims to be in favor of the environment and then secretly starts drilling on Padre Island.
• Bush talks about helping education and increases mandates while cutting funding.
• Bush first says the U.S. won’t negotiate with North Korea. Now he will.
• Bush goes to Bob Jones University. Then says he shouldn’t have.
• Bush said he would demand a U.N. Security Council vote on whether to sanction military action against Iraq. Later Bush announced he would not call for a vote
• Bush said the “mission accomplished” banner was put up by the sailors. Bush later admits it was his advance team.
• Bush was for fingerprinting and photographing Mexicans who enter the US. Bush after meeting with Pres. Fox, he’s against it.

During the 2000 elections down in the States, Ralf Nader created a parody of the Mastercard Priceless commercials critiquing the corporate interests behind the Bush and Gore campaigns. Mastercard sued Nader and his campaign claiming copyright infringement. After four years of battles, the court has finally ruled for Nader.

Threatening letters to people who satirize you: $500

Reputation as giant corporation required to intimidate publisher: $Billions

Trial court decisions protecting parody and satire from overzealous accusations of copyright and trademark infringement: Priceless

There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s Mastercard’s lawyers.