May links

[spoonless]

Body modification - Stelarc implants ear in arm:
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/05/16/stelarc_posthumanist.html

The Sarah Connor Chronicles (trailer for new TV show):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc7mzoqHahU

A fanfiction Terminator 4 Trailer (made by some guy on the web... not the real trailer, but still cool)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX1tKEyt_iU&NR=1

Bartenders with Flair:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6AnZ-e_-BA&NR=1

OMG, this is not FFR (Fuck Fuck Revolution--a wonderful idea suggested at a party recently) but it's pretty close!
Intimate Video Game Controllers
http://www.jennylc.com/intimate_controllers/

David Deutsch: What is our Place in the Cosmos?
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/47
Interestingly, he argues toward the end that it's too late to do anything about global warming, so instead we should be focusing on learning how to adapt to higher temperatures.

Dean Kamen (inventor of the Segway) demos his new robotic arm technology (my favorite link this month--watch the last 30 seconds of this video!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hzRja9eunY

Autism: Not Just in the Head? (An interesting article, although it unfortunately a few unfounded stereotypes and assumptions in it)
http://discovermagazine.com/2007/apr/autism-it2019s-not-just-in-the-head

Add facial recognition to the list of things computers can now do better than humans:
http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18796/
"Sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the match up of face-recognition algorithms showed that machine recognition of
human individuals has improved tenfold since 2002 and a hundredfold since 1995. Indeed, the best face-recognition algorithms now perform more
accurately than most humans can manage. Overall, facial-recognition technology is advancing rapidly."

Wearable displays:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.html?in_article_id=457670&in_page_id=1965

Paralyzed Mice Walk Again: Scientists Use Nanotechnology to Mend Broken Spinal Cords
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Story?id=3102679&page=1

Hilarious Onion New Network broadcast, via infopractical:
Gap For Kids By Kids

Male Restroom Edicate, via smileycynic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzO1mCAVyMw

Apparently, I can post from work but not from home (whether I use the browser or drivel)... all signs point to ISP problems... unless I got hax0red or something.

Comments

[ikioi.livejournal.com]

This may actually have nothing to do with fragmented packets. I just saw that I have the same problem you are describing when I try to post from my home. I ran wireshark on it and it looks like I'm just sending buttloads of packet re-transmissions during the HTTP POST, and eventually the webserver closes the connection before I finish the POST. If LJ has some routers which are overwhelmed and dropping packets (hence all the re-transmissions) and if LJ also turned down the timeout for HTTP requests on their webservers to avoid too many concurrent open sockets, then the webserver may just not be getting all of the packets for my HTTP POST before it hits its timeout and closes the TCP connection. That would explain why shorter posts (which are, in turn, shorter HTTP POSTs) would be more likely to succeed and succeed faster than longer ones. Maybe, like you said, the attack is coming down the same pipe that your home ISP uses to reach LJ, but not on a pipe that your school uses to reach them. I think this is the most likely problem, and sadly the solution is: wait until the attack ends, and in the mean time, post short things, or post from school. You can also retry failed posts. I had a couple that failed 3 or 4 times, and then succeeded. This would also be consistent with the theory outlined.

[spoonless.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all the suggestions and help. I don't have any immediate intention of posting more for the time being, so I think I'll just wait and see what happens. If it's still broken in a few days or whenever I next want to use lj, I'll try out your suggestions.

[paideia.livejournal.com]

Pat, you are so hot. :)

[ikioi.livejournal.com]

Hahahahahaha. Why thank you! :-)

[spoonless.livejournal.com]

Seriously... you are so totally "the man"! I never would have figured out without you. (And you should be glad your time spent working for horrible companies has at least taught you some damn useful skills!)