Today (10/10/10) Is the Most Important Day In the History of Humanity – #42day

You might not be aware of this yet, but the moment this blog entry was posted (10/10/10 – EST time), the most important day in the history of humanity began. Why? Because today, Planet Earth will finally (I hope!) reveal the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything.

For those of you not in the know, Planet Earth was originally created by a computer named Deep Thought, who after being unable to respond to the ultimate question itself, built our planet as a super-computer to calculate the answer. Now Deep Thought worked on that answer for seven and a half million years, but all he could come up with was one number: 42.

42? What could that number mean? Well geeks, we’ll probably get the response we’ve all been waiting for today!

October 10, 2010 = 10/10/10

101010 (in Binary) = 42

If you think about it, today is the only day for the next century that when transformed into binary can be interpreted as number 42. That must mean something right?

Now folks, let’s all pray REALLY HARD that a bunch of Vogons don’t warp out of Hyperspeed in front of our beloved home to create a hyperspace bypass.

So say we all.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be in my bunk with these charming ladies.

Disconnect to Connect [Video]

This morning, while trying to find new content for the site, I stumbled on this:

So I decided to take the rest of the day off. I suggest you all do the same! :)

Have a great weekend everyone!



Star Fiction? Pulp Wars? [Pic]

And you will know my name is the Lord (Vader) when I lay my vengeance upon thee – Jules Winnfield.

[Source | Original Picture]

Spammers not shy about punctuation sneakery

Punctuation can be a beautiful thing, and a wonderful tool in the battle to achieve clarity in communications. But now it appears it can be a tool for evil, as well.

Security firm Symantec reports that spammers are now using a particular type of hyphen to make it easier to get URLs into messages and on web pages without being caught by filters designed to block known links to dubious sites.

The hyphen in question is the soft hyphen. From a visual standpoint it looks exactly the same as a standard hyphen–but to a computer it is a signal that it marks as an acceptable, and perhaps even as a preferred, place to split a word or phrase over two lines if needed.

That can be particularly useful in word processing and desktop publishing, as it avoids the software simply breaking up words to fit and, for example, replacing “therapist” with “the rapist”. (I wish I could say that was a hypothetical example…)

When it comes to HTML, there’s a dedicated code (­­) for the soft hyphen, but many browsers are set to hide the character unless it is actually used to break a word over two lines.

The spammers take advantage of this by inserting a soft hyphen in the middle of a URL. The viewer doesn’t see any difference in the address, meaning it looks legitimate (in the sense of being a real website address.) The browser simply ignores it, meaning a click on the link takes the user to the correct address.

But a filter that relies on scanning for bogus links won’t necessarily be able to realize that knownbadsite.com is the same as known­badsite.com, and thus won’t block the link. (That’s a slightly simplified explanation of the procedure, but the principle is the same.)

The good news is that more advanced URL filters can work around the problem. It’s also likely that HTML 5 will limit the issue by making sure all browsers interpret HTML code in the same way.

World’s Youngest Astrophysicist Shares His Thoughts on the Universe

This video was created by Youtube user onesleekblackcat as an entry for Rose Center’s 10 year anniversary video contest. I’m not exactly how old this young fellow is, but his future sure does look promising!

Ron Moore in Talks to Reboot The Wild, Wild, West Series

TV is quickly becoming my favorite form of media delivery these days, with film taking the back seat by a mile. I’d far prefer getting invested in a series than putting all my hopes and dreams in a few hours of film, only to come up disappointed and upset that I can’t actually get my money back. In recent years I’ve fallen in love with series that manage to captivate my imagination and titillate my geeky side, but probably none so much as the new Battlestar Galactica. I can even forgive the show for its lukewarm ending because everything else about it was mind-blowing to me. The acting, the storyline, the philosophy, the James Callis…

Anyway. Those of you who pay attention might remember I’m sort of a steampunk gearbrain, so you can imagine my absolute moment of squee when I heard the rumor that, according to Entertainment Weekly, Ron Moore, the mastermind behind the new BSG series, is in the planning stages to put together a new version of The Wild, Wild, West. The TV series. (You might also note that I’ve got quite a thing for cowboys, in general.)

I’m willing to bet that in the steampunk community you’d be hard-pressed to find a film that stirs as much ire as the rebooted film The Wild, Wild, West—you know the one I’m talking about, with Will Smith and Kevin Kline and that horrendous mechanical spider (which, even my dad complained about, and he’s not even into steampunk). That film is reviled. It had so much potential. And hey: it’s kinda pretty. The aesthetic is there at times, especially in the set design and costumes. But having tried to watch it a few months ago and failed to make it through even the first fifteen minutes, I can assure you it is a crime against film-making.

The original series was far cooler, but it’s definitely dated. Finally enough time has passed since the awful movie that we can start again.

And hearing this, well, I was physically jumping up and down. If I could have picked anyone to give The Wild, Wild, West the proper treatment it would be Ron Moore. Steampunk has suffered in movies and television for time out of mind, with directors always opting for camp and cuteness—or just implausibility in general—and forgetting the stories and the philosophical tensions that are so inherent in the genre. Yes, these grown up topics can be translated to a larger audience, as Moore has proved. And it’ll be damn fine, too, if it gets the greenlight. I’m thinking a grittier, sexier, darker approach, with lots of cool guns and inventions. And don’t start me daydreaming about the casting…

Yes, at the moment this is just rumor. I understand that there’s a chance it might not happen at all. But I am going to be waiting with bated breath for news on this, and I’ll keep you posted.

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Awesome Music Video: Cutter by Aspirins

Here’s the music video for Cutter, directed by Mr. Harrison for London, UK-based Electro group Aspirins. Enjoy!

[Via BoingBoing]