Anyone seen Michael Crichton’s new “State of Fear”? The man who brought dinosaurs back to life now disputes the commonly held belief that global warming is a consequence of increased carbon dioxide emissions produced by the industrialized world.

I’ve never really looked at the evidence supporting the anthropocentric theory of global warming, so I took a look around and found what I hope are a few unbiased sources:

Exploratorium’s Climate Change Page
Environmental Protection Agency

And a couple of clearly biased sources:
Fact, Hypothesis, or Myth
National Defence Research Council

My take away?

1) There is a definite warming trend in global surface measurements observable
Would you like to know more? »

Think you’re extreme? Try soul flying (links to video).

Thanks go to Vanessa for passing this one along!

Editor’s Note: No words for that, (local copy)

Are you a political donor? Did you know that donor information for political contributions is made available to the public? Fundrace.org, as well as a few other websites have made personal donor information available for all to see. Intersted in how your neighborhood is leaning? Just enter your street address (major metropolitan areas) and you’ve got list of all of your neighbor’s contributions.

I checked out my neighborhood around Chez Hugo, and found a few names I knew. From the look of it my neighborhood is pretty commie-pinko.

I also looked around the Los Altos home my parents live in, and was surprised to find that the average contribution was not large. I guess you don’t get a house in the hills by throwing away bills.

Near 3641 Arbutus

Thad’s Building throws around some bling.

Big brother is watching. Oh yes he is.

Okay boys and girls, this one is going to require some audience participation.

I’m in the process of setting up the annual NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament Brackets, and I’m looking for the best online solution. Ideally, this solution would have the following characteristics:

# Free, or inexpensive.
# Allow participants to enter brackets online.
# Automatically score and rank brackets.
# Allow participants to view standings online.
# Allow definition of points per round, including possibility of bonus points for upsets.

Not necessary, but wanted:

6) Allow participants to enter more than one bracket.
7) Be easy to sign up for.

Thus far, the solution offered by cbssportsline.com looks like the best, but it lacks the ability for users to input more than one bracket. Brackets2004 looks promising, but since it’s not up and running yet, I can’t draw any conclusions as to its functionality.

There may be additional features that I haven’t considered that would also be useful. It would be really nice if the system would sort teams by different stats (RPI, Games Won, Turnovers, Rebounds, etc). This might facilitate some bracket picks.

Additionally, I’d like to know what you think the best bracket scoring system is. I’m leaning towards a slightly unweighted system of 1/2/4/6/10/14 as opposed to the classic 1/2/4/8/16/32, to balance # correct picks vs deepest picks. Comments wanted.

I’m sure one of you out there knows of a great solution for online bracket management. Please post it. That means you Yahoo! crowd. I know you’re out there.

Cheers,
Sam

I was browsing trough the New York Times today when I came across an article that seemed consistent with recent events: “Onstage Attack Casts Pall Over Las Vegas Strip”. My morbid curiosity got the best of me, expecting to hear a tale of terroristic homicidal rage. Instead, I learned that Siegfried and Roy have been indefinitely shut down due to a tiger mauling during a performance. Epic.

In other news, did you know that Fight Club shares many parallels with the classic comic strip Calvin and Hobbes? Read more.

I’m sure that this has been out there a while, but I stumbled across this simple game just this weekend and Cara and I have been semi-addicted ever since.

If you missed the reference, the history of Trogdor can be found in a previous musing.

In the spirit of the Atari console games we were raised on, I submit Trogdor the game. Don’t get sworded, and enjoy!

Check out this ping pong match. If nothing else, it’s an impressive form of an emerging performance art: Real-time 3-d emulation en vivo.

This link requires audio and video playback for best enjoyment.

Thanks go to Dr. David Fenard for passing this along.

Those who have been keeping score in the Indecorum section might notice a slight tilt to the right in recent postings. In an effort to balance the discussion, I offer the most recent hit from GW’s debut album, a remix of Liam Lynch’s popular “United States of Whatever“. God bless our troops, may they accomplish their missions with as little bloodshed as possible.

This content requires speakers and an mp3 player for best appreciation.

P.S. Since this posting has no content of questionable nature, it has been posted in the main forum…as opposed to the Indecorum section, which contains content with “Check-your-six”able content. Feel free to follow my lead, boys…

Tired of endless political discussions? This revision of the arcade classic Frogger should help to provide an escape from dreary of Baghdad. Oh wait…watch out for the subtly intertwined messages about fuel efficiency. Watch out for the trap doors in the sidewalk!

Cheerio!

Sam

In the spirit of 30-second time wasters, I submit the original childhood guess-the-word game: Hangman. Nothing gruesome, naughty, or even the slightest bit titilating. If it’s too much for some of you, we’ll move it to the indecorum section. For the rest of you, start tying your noose, you’ve got some spaces to fill.

For more assorted fun, see if you can discover the magic behind the Mind Reading Crystal Ball. It’s pretty standard really, but interesting nonetheless.

And finally, my last contribution of the day is this series of optical illusions that are always fun. The “Liar” took me a while.

If you don’t have flash installed on your computer, you need to dig it up from Macromedia.

Enjoy!