sum.na

I know this might sound kind of crazy but I miss 80s (and early 90’s LOL). Some of the best things I remember (Alzheimer’s permitting) include:

Cool TV

Cheesy fun stuff like Beverly Hills 90210 and Baywatch (technically, the 90’s but who cares)

Funny hairstyles, girls with multicolored outfits… you know what I mean..

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Boomboxes

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True most of them lacked the sound quality of modern audio systems, but they were portable, cool, and they had flashy led lights, which were, um, actually little bulbs. No backlt displays back then!

Need more boombox pics? Go here

And square Japanese cars

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Photos from Flickr and Wikipedia

So, what are your favorite memories of the 80s/90s?

Link of the moment: Cool 80’s movies

[offtpic] These guys claim to have compressed a 400+MB office ISO to 1.4MB. Is that even possible? [/offtopic]

You shook me all night long, by Axl*

I want to make a few quick comments recent developments in the local (Sri Lankan) blogosphere (kottu & zsri).

Technically, this post should be in SriPost, but I make an effort to keep Sripost neutral. So, um, it’s here.

Sri Lanka’s best blog?

I think Janindra has one of Sri Lanka’s best (if not the best) blog(s). His posts so far, are interesting, relevant to Sri Lanka, and full of original content. So, here’s to you Janindra!

Other cool blogs I follow include:
Moju (www.moju.lk)
Mahangu.org
Yo’s blog (Mahamoor.com)
Charith.NET

No Comments?

Mahangu has turned off comments on his blog. I think this is a pity. By it’s very definition a blog is a place where an author writes posts, and visitors comment and interact. By turning this feature off, both author, and visitors loose.

However, as Mahangu points out, it’s his place, besides, I’m sure he has a good reason.. I’m curious to know what other people make of this “Turning off comments” idea..

In Sri Lanka, the consumer IS a moron

The author of this post appears to take offense at the level of stupidity displayed in Sri Lankan ads.

Well there is a reason that these advertiesments appear to be ‘designed’ for morons.

BECAUSE, IN SRI LANKA,  THE typical CONSUMER IS a MORON.

Ask any executive at a local advertising company why their ads are so stupid, and they will tell you that “that’s the only thing the consumer responds to: simple almost moronic ads which make no sense to intelligent people” The first order of business at our local ad companies is, forget everything you learned at university, and write mindless garbage that no sane person would take seriously.

*Photo unrelated to this post. You knew that.

Link of the moment: Junkyard Turbojet engine

 
Katharine “no bra” McPhee, by C. Gomez

According to Google, people have a fascination with Katharine McPhee’s breasts. Which is a pity as, looks aside, she is a great singer.

In the mean time, here are some pictures of Katharine from Flickr, and yes, they include her breasts. Hope everyones happy now. 

In other news, poor chicken little was kicked out. Vote for the worst have moved on to Kellie Pickler

ps: All images copyright Fox, Idol on Fox, associated companies etc..

 
Matt Mullenweg, Lord of the HTTP

Following Civilunrest’s lead, I’ve upgraded my version of WordPress.

According to WordPress.org, the vulnerabilities in previous versions of wordpress involve cross site scripting (XSS). 

The newest version of WordPress also disables embedding/executing javascript code in a post. (but obviously you can use JavaScript in your templates).

Specific vulnerabilities exist in Wordpress 2.0.1 and lower
These prompted the release of wp 2.0.2, if you are using an older version it is a good idea to upgrade.

Suggestion: I recommend that people REFRAIN FROM showing the version of WordPress they are using in their site - e.g. at the bottom, DONT link to “Powered by WordPress x.xx.x” Just link to “Powered by WordPress”.

Reason: If a vulnerability is detected in your particular version of WordPress, hackers could easily discover your site by googling for “Powered by WordPress: specific.version.no”

Random cool Links of the day:
$150,000 porsche watch
Southpark LOTR (really funny!)

Courtlaurabreast by unrestful

From the “Too Much Discovery Channel” dept 

Introduction
A while back I had this argument with a girl as to why girls have prominent breasts while men don’t (except for, um, overweight guys). I believed that girls developped breasts because, guys, er, like them (i.e. it was a part of sexual selection  - that over centuries, men selected women based on the size of their breasts..), and she believed it was so as to be able to breastfeed children.

I decided to try to research and find more info on this fascinating topic. After all, any research that involves evaluating female breast size, can’t be boring. You have to admit, its better than studying fungus.

Besides, it’s an excellent excuse to get your hands on some knobs. But, I digress..

My Findings

Initial research proves that breast size does not reflect on one’s ability to produce milk

[Ed, to use Baywatch as a popular analogy, this means that Alexandra Paul, (famous for lacking cleavage), and Pamela Anderson, (famous for too much cleavage), are both equally capable of breastfeeding, should the need arise]

Complex answer: read the following articles:

Article 1: Neotony and two way sexual selection in human evolution [link]

Summary/excerpts from above article
In the following points, the text in italics represent excerpts from the authors site. The bold text and other text are my personal interpretations of what I understand….

1. In the human species, females have begun to display the trait of neoteny. (”neoteny — or the retention of childlike characteristics in mature members of a species…. ……Humans much more closely resemble chimp or gorilla infants than adults of either species..”
   
2. Neoteny has become a basis for sexual selection in humans “Rather than discussing the general neotenization of our species over the last few million years, I wish to concentrate on how neoteny may have become enmeshed as part of a powerful selective cycle, going far beyond its original causes.”
   
3. So, women, began to resemble children
   “human females certainly do appear more paedomorphic in outward physical appearance than males. Although they mature at an earlier age, women do not go on to acquire the toughened skin, coarse body hair, thyroid cartilage, bony eye ridges, or deepened voices which are the common inheritance of most adult hominoids and other primates” …More formally, William Calvin (1991) identifies paedomorphosis (”becoming child-shaped”) as juvenilization of the appearance of the end-product..
    
4. But, there is a small problem here..
   So if paedomorphism was women’s runaway trait, there’s every reason to picture men growing ever more attracted to paedomorphism in women, at a matching pace. Obvious enough, so far. But paedomorphism means resemblance to children!
   

So, women developped large breasts to help men differenciate (between them and children)
What was needed was an emergency adaptation to help sane human males tell children apart from adult, fecund women. It is at this point, I contend, that human females developed a secondary set of exaggerated physical traits, not to elicit sex from males but in order to help high-end males across this tragic trap. One of the most pronounced of these secondary traits was the ballooning of women’s breasts.

Note: Italic text above from original article, copyright original author!!

Article 2: Breasts: their evolutionary origin

Thus, males who were attracted to females with enlarged breasts would be more successful in forming pair-bonds with such females…..

It is possible that women’s intelligence and memory played a role. Women might very well observe which men abandoned their lactating and pregnant mates, and avoid forming pair-bonds with them even if courted. They would reason (correctly) that they would in turn be abandoned. Certainly, this would be a successful strategy for women, and the mental requirements would be within the probable abilities of early hominids.

….). Finally, the child of a man who was attracted by enlarged breasts would be better provisioned than children of one who was repealed by them, and hence abandoned his mate when lactation enlarged her breasts. [para 25] …….

Thus, breast fat, by mimicking pregnancy and lactation, deceived males, (or non-dominant males at least) into providing better provisioning. [para 54]

Males were selected to find breasts attractive because this led to greater female provisioning when it was most needed, and greater male success in forming durable pair-bonds.

[Ed: So women chose men who liked women with large breasts? i.e. we didn’t chose girls with large breasts, they chose us (who chose them)… and I’m cross-eyed with confusion now]

Article 3: The sex contract: the evolution of Human Behavior

……..But not female breasts.  These have no physiological
use whatsoever and biologists agree that their original function was sexual invitation.  These sensitive, fleshy, delicate areas expand by one third during intercourse.  The nipples harden at the slightest touch, and for most women fondling of their breasts stimulates their desire for intercourse…

[Ed: (gasping for air) If I wasn’t certain the above was scientifically relevant I wouldn’t paraphrase it here… er.. um.. at least I don’t think I would]

Article 4: Shaped by babies, not men?

Bentley says, “It could be a combo here. The pressure for the shape of the breast was initially from this need to feed the baby and then, secondarily, men may have evolved to find the breast of this shape and size more sexually interesting. The convergence of the two pressures could have evolved into more successfully reproducing females.”

[Ed: so it’s our fault eh?]

Semi related funny quote of the moment:

“We get absolutely no radio reception through our breasts; therefore, grabbing our nipples head and twisting them back and forth like knobs will yield no musical results.” [more]

Related trivia:

Smaller breasts by 2005?

Dr. Speron says people are getting tired of the overinflated “pornorific” boob sizes that have been standard issue from surgeons since “Baywatch” hit the pop culture scene in the 1990s.

(Warning/Disclaimer, my observations and interpretations are just, um, personal observations/interpretations. I’m probably not totally accurate, so it’s best you read the article yourself.)

Party on dude, from Flickr

Muttawa reports that someone has tipped him off (mistaking him for the Saudi Religeous police I guess?) about a Sri Lankan who’s been selling booze to the locals…

The basic meaning of this is that there is a certain Sri Lankan gentleman selling “sadiqi” (or “sid”, an almost pure alcohol bootleg distillate) in Jubail camp (a rudimentary set of residential huts for Third World laborers in Jubail on the east coast) and that men are drinking on Friday (our holy day, but also the only day these guys will get off work) and drinking too much.

Well, Um, So theres our contribution to the world. Homebrew Booze.

Cool. No wonder why Sri Lankan’s are loved worldwide

In other news, I’m looking for a tagline that goes “As Sri Lankan as…” (You know, like “As American as Apple Pie”)

Any ideas?

From the “idol on the brain” dept.
[Ed: please vote for your favorite idol]

Lisa tucker, of American Idol and underwear fame, seems to have straightened her hair. Either that or she was struck by lightning. Or something. Anyway, she used to have nice sexy gorgeous hair .. now her hair looks so… ordinary…

Anyway, here is a picture of her with her original hair.

Lisa “used to have nice hair” Tucker

Improved Lisa Tucker: Bleah.

Speaking of hair.. what’s the deal with this Bucky’s hair?

Bucky “i’m down with Legolas” Covington

Was this guy an extra on the sets of LOTR or something?

Meanwhile, Katharine McPhee did an awesome rendition of Stevie wonder..

Katharine “oh so hot” McPhee giving her sexy sultry Jessica Alba look. No wonder why my search blogs have so many requests for pictures of her breasts*

On the subject of hair, Best rendition of Stevie Wonder was by the crazy grey haired guy Taylor Hicks:

Taylor “Craazy” Hicks

Props to him for actually having original hair

*Actually people ask for McPhee Tits, but I didn’t think it would be polite to point that out there….

Note: photos and stuff copyright American Idol, Fox, Flickr, and associated teams of lawyers, companies, sub companies, affiliates, all rights reserved by them, we are in no way connected with Fox, idol on fox, or associated organizations, companies, fangroups, etc.

Reality by Christina Lutze

Continuing the discussion on free ideas, I’d like to see the following (perhaps they already exist..)

A chat bridge - something that can transparently bridge between Yahoo, MSN, Google, and all the other chat softwares….

Such that person A can use Yahoo, person B can use MSN.. and so on… The bridge would be a web site of some sort which can transparently translate between protocols and create virtual screen names which are cross platform compatible…

so for example… Person A has yahoo, person B has AIM. Web site will create a virtual Yahoo person B (for person A to chat with) and vice versa for person A, and this virtual person could be added to their chat software and talked with….

The key is the process would be transparent … a sort of bridge/proxy.

So, if I have only msn, when I sign on to MSN, this web site would make an open source me online and anyone with any chat software could talk to me…

Tip: if you are sick of having MSN, Yahoo and so on, try downloading Gaim which will allow you to login with multiple yahoo/MSN/other ID’s

A common comment standard - so anyone can comment on anyones blog, without bothering about boring login/etc. Think gravatar… hmm.. how about gravarant?… so you login once, and that login is good enough to comment on ANY blog

I hate MSN powered blogs as they expect people to have a microsoft passport login to comment…

A better search engine

Google is good, but not perfect. I want a search engine that’s better. As such it should include..

1. Equal or better coverage (than google/yahoo)
2. Less dependency on pagerank, or other weasely technologoies.
3. Less spam/gameability.
4. Owned by an independent company (not google).

Lost: Promotiona poster on Wiki

I like watching Lost. I can relate to this TV series… for example: being stranded on a tropical island, miles away from civilization, surrounded by crazy people, animals, weird evil supernatural forces, bugs, and creepy things

So, what makes this series so good?

1. More real than survivor. (interesting too) 
2. Bits of the X files thrown in.
3. Human drama.
4. People worse off than you - this is the key - there’s nothing people like than to watch someone suffer. That’s why people watch American Idol.

Lost is compulsively addictive, but the key is, you have to watch it from the first episode. Otherwise it’s just crazy people on an Island.

And, if you live in Sri Lanka, you probably get enough of that anyway.

Are you looking for our page on Katharine McPhee? If so click here please!

Unbuttoned by withdrawal, from Flickr
From the “I swear I aint making this up” dept..

And.. just when I thought my search logs couldn’t get any weirder.. Here’s the latest..

1. (From India): Cockroaches inside the underwear for pleasure (SIC)- I’m honestly not sure where to even begin here. I’m sorry, for the first time in a long time, I simply don’t know how to answer this question. So.. over to the blogosphere. Can anyone help me? maybe some of my esteemed colleagues can shed light on this issue.
2. Lisa Tucker Undies - Lisa Tucker is the sweet 16 year old on American Idol. Before you start exploring her underwear (I hope this question isnt from the person above) I will point out that she’s 16.
3. Womans rights pictures - I’m sure they are fascinating. Try Flickr?
4. Men have intercourse with cats - OK. I’ll be the first to admit that some men are odd. But.. intercourse with cats? Thats just not natural. If it’s any consolation to you, a sudanese man was forced to marry a goat
5. Hottest Idol American - well considering the unnatural curiosity some have about Lisa Tuckers underwear.. hmm… I’d say she’s a good candidate. She and Katharine McPhee
6. Girls don’t wear no underwear - they don’t? Not even a thong? That IS worrying.
7. Welcome to India where the cows eat Hey - crazy as it may sound, thats actually lyrics from a song…
8. Girlfriend in Sinhala - I take it you are asking how to say girlfriend in sinhala. Honest answer.. I don’t know. Can someone here help me with this?
9. Can scanner scan things like bags and chicks - I’m not sure if you would be able to fit Scarlett Johanssen in a modern flat bed scanner.. but I’m willing to try.. Scarlett… call me?
10. How people make bricks in Sri Lanka - We used to have this highly ritualistic procedure involving semi naked men and singing, but now there are brick making machines…
11. American influence in Sri Lanka - it’s everywhere. KFC, Idol, Apprentice, House MD.. yup.. good old America is having a profound effect on our civilization…
12. What happens when you don’t wear a seatbelt bad bad things happen. Trust me. Wear the seatbelt. It’s the law. At least, it should be.
13. Sri Lankan girl names - heres a good link.
14. Sri Lanka national costume - its white, and folks at parliament wear it. Enough said.
15. How do you say lady in Hindi?.. not sure I think it is Ladki
16. Women punish testicles india… They do.. uh oh. remind me not to mess with Indian chicks!
17. Call girls in Sri Lanka. Sure. lots of companies here have call centers. I hear outsourcing is the next big thing

That’s all folks! (For now at least… )