Month: August 2005

According to TheDamnBlog you can hack an elevator by pressing the door close button and the floor of your choice at the same time, then the elevator will whisk you to your floor without stopping at any other floors.

From the site:

“The designers of some elevators include a hidden feature that is very handy if you’re in a hurry or it’s a busy time in the building (like check-out time in a hotel). While some elevators require a key, others can be put into “Express” mode by pressing the “Door Close” and “Floor” buttons at the same time. This sweeps the car to the floor of your choice and avoids stops at any other floor.
This seems to work on Most elevators that I have tried! Most elevators have the option for this to work, but on some of them the option is turned off by whoever runs them. This is a rather fun hack, so the next time you are on an elevator, give it a try, you have nothing to lose, And this concludes Hacking Elevators 101!

Elevators that have been tested and worked on:
Otis Elevators (All But The Ones Made In 1992),
Dover (Model Numbers: EL546 And ELOD862),
And Most Desert Elevators(All, But Model Numbers ELD5433 And ELF3655) “

Next elevator I ride in, I’m totally trying this.

(via Kottke)

In a move to prevent communication between it’s employees and their union leaders, Telus blocked subscribers’ access to a Web site set up by an employee labor union intended to publicize the union’s views about its dispute with Telus. As a result Telus also blocked access to at least 766 additional, unrelated Web sites.

What a terrible and ridiculous thing to do! Telus is playing very dirty. Why do we stand for it? This is inexcusable: imagine if Telus chose to block all calls into union headquarters. Then ask yourself how is this any different?

So I decided instead of just whining about it, I would actually try and do something by lodging a complaint with the CRTC. What I discovered on their website kind of surprised me:

You may not be aware that the Commission does not regulate the rates, quality of service or business practices for Internet Service Providers and cannot pursue complaints on these matters on your behalf.

The CRTC doesn’t care about business practices for ISP’s, and unless what they are doing is illegal, there doesn’t seem like there is much you can do.

Illegal actions fall under the Criminal Code of Canada or other federal statutes. Consumers concerned about possible illegal actions should contact the appropriate enforcement authorities.

I’m not even sure if what they are doing is illegal, and it’s not like I’m going to call them on it if it is. I should probably get a backbone and show my disapproval of their actions by switching providers.

Just now I stumbled upon Robert J. Lang’s amazing origami site. Robert creates the most fantastic things out of paper.

Having been working with vector shapes a lot yesterday, I was getting pretty frustrated when trying to switch between tools quickly. Though it’s not in the menu commands or tool tips within Photoshop, I found this table of helpful hints in the help file. I realize that for most people it’s going to be pretty boring content, but for me, it’ll be a handy resource for vector art (and most likely easier to find than looking it up in the help file).

I spent the afternoon making this cartoon character in Photoshop. It’s mostly vector shapes with some brush strokes for highlights and shadows.