meta-roj

ow available in new york (and just in time for the party girls, now you can get all the benefits of alcohol without having to actually drink anything. you can inhale, right?

get one for your own bar (or bedroom), for just $2995.00.

there’s the risk that someone’s going to make this illegal, but what’s a few grand compared to your last full-on bender and hangover?

it’s been mentioned here before, but today we’ve got a new variation on the problem.

this time, it’s a discovery by our good blogger, frank boosman: you can’t always find barenaked ladies where you expect them.

in the coming weeks (months?), when i get a chance… as time permits… i’m going to start exploring, in public, some moments from the history of computers and technology. i have an ulterior motive. this stuff isn’t linkable out in the great world wide web. since it’s not out there for me to link, i need to put it here so i can link it later.

i’ve got several threads to tie together here on the meta-roj blog – music, drm, culture, law. maybe i’ll even work in a few things that surprise even me. you’re certainly invited to come along the journey, sporatic as it might be, and cast your own interpretation on the threads i weave into this story as it unfolds…

sir lawrence olivier, now dead 15 years, is being reanimated through digital magic to play the bad guy in an upcoming film.

Olivier resurrected for film role [bbc, july 28, 2004]

Jude Law, who stars in the film, said film-makers used Olivier because few other actors possessed his authority.

you will respect sir larry’s authority.

wired has the story, anil nailed the nigritude ultramarine search-engine gaming contest.

i’m at #389 at the moment, with this. which is ok. i’m comfortable with that, because i PWN polyphenyls still.

light transmitting concrete, in block form, available from litracon is now on display in washington dc at the national building museum. this is fun stuff.

apparently invented by aron losonczi, litracon embeds optical fibers in the concrete to allow light to pass through the building material. this reminds me of a thing i ran into several years ago, while researching the history of an old building. the architect, one charles emmett cassell, apparently patented a way to bring light into basement floors of buildings through glass embedded in the sidewalk. that was 19th century whiz-bang technology, so welcome to the 21st century.

it’s good to be ahead of the curve…

jonas has been hoarding gmail invites, but you can have one and all you have to do is be worthy.

so, ditch wayne and garth, put your imagination in gear, and go something interesting.

update: 7 hours later, the effort has secured “…$600 in charity donations, someone who’ll adopt a child, three volunteers in bad areas, and someone who’ll work a free week in a hospital in Sao Paulo.”

see? you are worthy

update (2004.06.11): status report:
49 invites given away
9 invites open
$3234 in charitable donations
$5500 pledged without invite in our name
19 individuals went and offered their own invites
26 individuals will be doing good

mostly in response to this comment.

It is not your content that is your advantage, but the audience your
content has created. Most people will not become icons with large
followings who can just make a statement on their site and get dozens
of inbound links for it.

can’t be. i have no audience (31 inbounds tracked by technorati at the moment). i have more posts (761) than comments (581). i’ve been at this blogging thing for less than a year. and with all that, i still manage to get some amazing googlejuice for things i think are important – at the end of 2003, i gave everyone a look.

having flirted with the #1 spot for some time in each case, i seem to be firmly placed at #2 for both hope stout and rafe esquith – and that’s important because those are inspirational people.

also important, the meta-roj blog has become a nexus for those concerned with 97 radio – so there is some community there, but it’s an exception. i’m glad i’ve saved some people the heartache and walletache by offering up an opinion and leaving the comments open, despite the efforts of blogspammers – many of whom still owe me money.

i also seem to hold the #1 spot for polyphenyls and hurricanes duration – so my credentials in the science fields are pretty solid too.

i’m not particularly fascinated with my googlejuice anymore, but it still amazes me when something prompts me to look at it again. perhaps more amazing is the sheer volume of human effort that seems devoted to search engine optimization – i have to believe that we all could be doing something more useful.

i’m not entering the contest. i’m here to throw some googlejuice on the fire. someone should send me an ipod anyway, because, i deserve one too. i am curious about where i’ll land with everyone trying to game the engine.

just because i’m a nice guy, here’s some nigritude ultramine for anil.

i guess that communications thing got a little out of hand for the dear leader…

[reported on cnn, no decent links yet]