I hereby nominate and vote for Pat Benetar's Love is a Battlefield from 1983. More like the production is a minefield. Strange chunking guitars, melancholy synths swooshing and swarming through the mix. Echoing vocals, And the Wikipedia page is hilarious: "We asked these guys to write us a hit song and they did". Wow, it's that easy? Just ask someone and you sell millions of records? If this story is true, then anyone can have a hit. Just ask some guy.
Michael Jackson's Beat It comes 2nd in this award. There is no 3rd place.
Monday, 24 May 2010
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
WebDiff
I haven't Googled this yet, but here's the thought while it's still in my head.
A server sends a user a HTML webpage. The user reloads it later, and only a tiny bit has changed - say, a text advert.
With WebDiff, it only sends the difference between the last page and the new one, so saving 100's of kilobytes in big documents.
The Diff is calculated using the Unix tool diff.
This only works because HTML is raw text.
Cute, huh?
A server sends a user a HTML webpage. The user reloads it later, and only a tiny bit has changed - say, a text advert.
With WebDiff, it only sends the difference between the last page and the new one, so saving 100's of kilobytes in big documents.
The Diff is calculated using the Unix tool diff.
This only works because HTML is raw text.
Cute, huh?
Friday, 30 April 2010
Why Swoopo is Flawed
I know a lot about probability theory. When I first learned about Swoopo, I quickly found the problem with it...
If 40 people 'bid' on a laptop which only 1 person wins (for say $40 instead of $400), statistically, you (the bidder on Swoopo) will only win 1 in 40 'auctions'. So once people figure out that they have a 1/40 chance, they might as well bet on a horse, or even play roulette - which is generous by comparison.
And here's the really funny bit... Once people realise they only win 1 in 40 times, they're going to ditch Swoopo forever.
Thus, Swoopo is a Ponzi scheme, because it relies on more suckers coming along just as everyone before them realises they've only won 1 in 40 auctions, and quits Swoopo.
If 40 people 'bid' on a laptop which only 1 person wins (for say $40 instead of $400), statistically, you (the bidder on Swoopo) will only win 1 in 40 'auctions'. So once people figure out that they have a 1/40 chance, they might as well bet on a horse, or even play roulette - which is generous by comparison.
And here's the really funny bit... Once people realise they only win 1 in 40 times, they're going to ditch Swoopo forever.
Thus, Swoopo is a Ponzi scheme, because it relies on more suckers coming along just as everyone before them realises they've only won 1 in 40 auctions, and quits Swoopo.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Recovering lost TV shows by going faster than light
When we broadcasted Hancock's Half Hour in the 1950's, nobody kept a recording of the entire 1st series. But I was thinking... If the radio waves made it into space, we just have to race after them and eventually overtake them, and then record the lost broadcast out in deep space.
The problem is you have to catch up with the radio waves, and that's impossible as we can't travel faster than light, which is the speed radio waves go.
Our only hope to recover Hancock's Half Hour is therefore a wormhole.
The problem is you have to catch up with the radio waves, and that's impossible as we can't travel faster than light, which is the speed radio waves go.
Our only hope to recover Hancock's Half Hour is therefore a wormhole.
Thursday, 15 April 2010
From the BBC's archive via ZX81
I just rented "Hancock: Volume 1". Good stuff, but the picture quality amuses me...
They got it off some old tape which had gone all over the world and they flew it back and shoved it into a computer.
But somewhere along the line, it got so blocky it puts Sinclair ZX81 games to shame. That's pretty funny too.
They got it off some old tape which had gone all over the world and they flew it back and shoved it into a computer.
But somewhere along the line, it got so blocky it puts Sinclair ZX81 games to shame. That's pretty funny too.
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Friday, 2 April 2010
Noisy Cigarettes - Only in Hollywood
Ever seen it in a film where someone sucks on a cigarette and it makes a kind of crackling noise? Eg, Bladerunner.
It's ridiculous! I've been in a lot of smoky rooms in my time, and never once have I heard a cigarette make a 'crackling' noise when someone takes a draw on it.
It's ridiculous! I've been in a lot of smoky rooms in my time, and never once have I heard a cigarette make a 'crackling' noise when someone takes a draw on it.
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