It depends on how you define the word occupation.
In an article entitled Legal Acrobatics: The Palestinian Claim that Gaza is Still "Occupied" Even After Israel Withdraws, former Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Dore Gold, claims the Palestinians are abusing the term for political ends.The fact that a wide variety of Palestinian spokesmen will charge that the Gaza Strip is still "occupied" even though the Palestinians exercise self-government and the Israeli civilian and military presence in this territory have been removed is revealing. It means that the charge of "occupation" is less a rigorous legal definition and more a blunt political instrument to serve the PLO's diplomatic and military agenda against Israel.
He makes some good points. Even if the borders and airspace remain under Israeli control, claiming that 'nothing has changed' is ridiculous. What really hasn't changed is the Palestinian awareness that an end to the occupation means an end to world sympathy and, therefore, the diplomatic free ride they have enjoyed for years.
From the looks of things, the only thing the PA
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Is Gaza Still Occupied?
Sunday, August 28, 2005
David Pescovitz:
Zookeepers in Xi'an, China are trying to help a 26-year-old chimpanzee quit smoking. According to an AP report, she started smoking 15 years ago by snatching butts left behind by visitors. (As BB readers know, smoking chimps are not unheard of.) Apparently, this chimp's habit picked up even more when her mate recently died. Link
[Boing Boing]
Friday, August 26, 2005
More Interesting Maps
I'd mentioned Amazon's foray into maps earlier, but they've gone even farther and launched http://maps.a9.com with "BlockView Images" for a bunch of cities. It's very Ajax-esque and while I think the dragging of the magnifying glass could use some work (I keep expecting it to work like Google Maps) it's a pretty interesting concept.
Here's the lay of the land as I see it.
Interesting Map SitesAmazing Map Fat Clients
GPS Map Clients with DVDs
Map Sites That No Longer Serve a Purpose
Map Sites That Totally Missed The Boat But Are Still Used As Verbs
Map Sites That Should Have Been Integrated with Another Map Site But Aren't
For Whatever Reason I'm Not Privy Too But That's Still No Excuse[ComputerZen.com - Scott Hanselman's Weblog]
'Spiderman' Climbing Gadget Created
Some call it industrial mountaineering or technical rope access, but Virgin.net calls it by the more technical term: "Spiderman Climbing." Granted, the PowerQuick does give you superhero-like abilities. It motors around 320 lbs. up the side of a building at speeds of one yard per second. It's battery-powered, and one charge can take you to the top of the Statue of Liberty—five times. Originally developed for DARPA, there are now two versions of the Powerquick. One is for commercial purposes (yawn!), and the other takes solid fuel and is intended for hostage rescue and urban warfare. Unintended third use: Circumventing the office elevator bank.
'Spiderman' Climbing Gadget Created [Virgin.net]
[Gizmodo]
New Machine Helps Soldiers Scale Buildings [IOL]
PowerQuick Powered Personal Ascender [Bonanza Products, Inc.]
Excellent purple dot illusion
Mark Frauenfelder:
If you stare at the little black cross in the center of this ring of blinking purple dots, the dots will turn green and eventually disappear. But if you stare at the purple dots themselves, you'll see that they only blink off momentarily and are never green. Remarkable. Link (via Random Good Stuff)Reader comment: David says: Here's a page with 57
optical illusions and visual phenomena. The purple dot illusion is also on there, but figured other fellow BB readers would be longing for more."
[Boing Boing]
Thursday, August 25, 2005
The Business Of Nanotech
An interesting article from BusinessWeek
The Business Of Nanotech By Stephen Baker and Adam Aston
There's still plenty of hype, but nanotechnology is finally moving from the lab to the marketplace. Get ready for cars, chips, and golf balls made with new materials engineered down to the level of individual atoms.
The Business Of Nanotech By Stephen Baker and Adam Aston
There's still plenty of hype, but nanotechnology is finally moving from the lab to the marketplace. Get ready for cars, chips, and golf balls made with new materials engineered down to the level of individual atoms.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
low gravity water balloon ruptures performed in a DC-9
low gravity water balloon ruptures performed in a DC-9 [video] | slow motion water balloon ruptures in gravity [videos ]
[Future Feeder]
The Elegant Universe
Watch all 3 hours of The Elegant Universe (online) as Brian Greene unravels the world of string theory in plain English.
del.icio.us Tags: science
Carbon nanotube printer outputs 7m/min
Cory Doctorow:Jamais sez, "Researchers from the University of Texas, Dallas, and Australia's CSIRO have developed a way of making strong, stable and amazingly useful ribbons and sheets made of multiwall carbon nanotubes. Their system pushes the material out at seven meters/minute; a Quicktime video of the process in action is here. If you've been following the development of nanotubes, you know what kind of accomplishment this is. In my view, this is the biggest technology breakthrough of the year, quite possibly of the decade."
Link
[Boing Boing]
del.icio.us Tags: science
Sunday, August 14, 2005
storing data in our fingernails
This story could come from the imagination of a screenwriter working on the next James Bond movie, but it's reality. Japanese physicists have found a way to store data inside your fingernails by using lasers. And, more importantly, they were able to read this data by using an optical microscope. Technology Research News reports that storing data in our fingernails could lead to new ways of authentication. Of course, data is only available for six months. After that the fingernail has grown and the data has disappeared. Still, the researchers think that such a method could have some practical implementations within three years.
New Tallest Man Found in Inner Mongolia
If you're trying to get into the Guinness Book of Records, you probably won't
break this record:
New Tallest Man Found in Inner Mongolia.
A
herdsman from North China's Inner Mongolia has been recognized by the Guinness
Book of World Records as the tallest naturally-growing human being.He measures a whopping 7 foot 8.95 inch (2 meters 36.1 centimeters), taller
than Radhouane Charbib who, for the last six years, has held the title of
world's tallest living man.Unlike most giants, the 54-year old Mongol, who has been living on a
pastureland near Chifeng City since his childhood, has grown to this
remarkable height naturally, and not as a result of a medical condition. His
growth was normal until the age of 16, after which an inexplicable growth
spurt saw his reach his record height in just seven years.
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Tanaka Auto Door
Cleanliness, efficiency, compactness, cool-factor... for a variety of reasons, automatic doors have become a standard feature of Japanese shops. While the typical sliding star-trek style design has proven itself, the tanaka auto door aims to improve upon a good concept. This new design entails strips equipped with infrared sensors that open to the approximate shape of the person or object passing through, minimizing entry of dust, pollen, and bugs while keeping precious air-conditioning in. The technology for the new design seems to be in it's infancy, but Japan has proven once again that it's a least 10 years ahead of everyone else. -JM
Tanaka Auto Door
Demo Video [TV-Tokyo] [Gizmodo]
Video ode to the American hillbilly
Mark Frauenfelder:
This has to be one of my favorite internet videos of all time. It's a montage of still photos set to the theme from Deliverance. I could watch 100 times and not tire of it. Link (thanks, Jim!) [Boing Boing]
Toilets themed in Kama Sutra designs, at one of London's trendier nightspots
Xeni Jardin:
Toilets themed in Kama Sutra designs, at one of London's trendier nightspots. No telling what goes on in there. Link (thanks, Simon Bisson) [Boing Boing]
Thursday, August 11, 2005
I've mentioned this site in the past, and I just took another look at it.
It's a pretty good sign that marketing has taken over the world:
Lovemarks.
Lovemarks
are a new way of thinking about the things we love. Lovemarks are better than
brands, because they are about Love and Respect: they speak to us as thinking
and feeling human beings. Lovemarks embody Mystery, Sensuality and Intimacy.For example, someone nominated Voss Artesian Water as a lovemark:
Voss Artesian Water is taken from a virgin aquifer shielded for centuries
under ice and rock in the untouched wilderness of Norway. It's one of the
purest waters in the world. To me it's the perfect water because it tastes
like nothing, yet it makes me feel like I'm drinking in pure life force. The
super sexy and sleek bottle alone made me fall in love at first site.Only a moron (or a market exec at Voss) would write something like that about
an overpriced bottle of water.There's also a list of the
Top 200 Lovemarks.
Coca-Cola comes in at #6. Here's one person's comment:I refuse to drink any of the "imposter" Cola's. At restaurants, I
specifically ask if they serve Coca-cola or another brand of cola, and if it's
not Coke, I'll opt for something else. Over the years, I've realized that it
is not only the taste that I like, but also the (positive) stigma that goes
along with drinking a coke. To me, Coca Cola lovers are a different breed.
It's about having a little more class, a little more tradition, being a little
more genuine, and appreciating quality and what's real as opposed to just
flash but no substance.Give me a break!
| Posted in Products [The J-Walk Blog]
If you watch only one online video today, make it
Un-Balancing.A short film that is played entirely in reverse and involves the "reverse
destruction" of balanced rock sculptures. There is one character in the movie
that appears to magically create these sculptures. Although the film is played
in reverse it appears as the man who is doing his magic is going forwards in
time.It's done by Bill Dan, the famous rock balancer.
| Posted in General [The J-Walk Blog]
Liquid ASS
Liquid ASS is like nothing you have ever seen or smelled. This unique nasty odor in liquid form will produce results that will keep you laughing for hours. This stuff is awful! Since it is in liquid form, you can apply it undetected for a long-lasting effect indoors. Sit back and watch people’s reactions to this liquified horror. You will not be able to suppress laughter as the victims discuss in earnest what that repulsive odor is.Latest feedback: "I squirted the whole bottle at once with a 30 ft stream down the hallway and it smelled like someone died!!! No words explain how bad it is. It cleared out the whole building. I mean the WHOLE BUILDING and the smell went around the block!!! It still smells so bad now that it is baking in the summer night's heat. It is now between a dead fish smell and a dead body that took a massive shit. It has lasted 8 hrs so far and still going. The fire dept came over and went in every room and floor because they really thought someone died!!!! I can't explain the smell and the reactions, but you will be assured that I will be buying more next week!! Man, that is some stinky shit. WOW." -- ERZ, INC.
[LINK]
Just Another Night On Shenkin Street
As depicted here in a short film by Lior Chafetz. Nu, b'emet. Very funny. [Jew*School]
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
more companies are coming out with rear-view mirrors with built-in TFT displays. The latest to join the party is Korea’s GT Electronics, which includes a 5-inch, 320x234 screen in its NRM-5100 mirror. At least they’re promoting it
with pics of a GPS mapping session, instead of clips from Star Wars,
like some other vendors.
[Via Akihabara News]
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