The new trend in shoe retailing

Two large-name sites have come up with semi- to nearly-fully-independent entities to sell shoes online since Oct 2006.


There are also three other major contenders out there.

It should be interesting to see how Gap and Amazon take on these somewhat entrenched players. Also of note, Amazon’s site offers free overnight shipping. At ~$20/pair, this is a significant investment to drive traffic.

(Note: the link between Amazon.com and Endless.com was noted by TechCrunch. All five outlets are reviewed at Trunkt.net)

Checking the tread on your tires

I used the Lincoln Penny method of checking the tread on a set of car tires today, to determine if it is time to replace them:

  • Take a penny and place it between the treads, Lincoln’s head first
  • If you can see all of Lincoln’s head, your tires have approximately 1/16 of an inch of tread left
  • If you only see part of Lincoln’s head, you are okay for now

Found this method online here.

Hotel Regulations

A friend of mine (David) sent me this some time ago, and I thought I would post it for the world. They are hotel regulations from a hotel that they stayed at in Dingri, Tibet. (Bold = my emphasis added)

1. Guests are requested to show their own valid papers to prove their identi-ties and to tell the reason for lodging when they check in at the hotel.

2. Every guest has the obligation to abide by the rules and regulations of the hotel, cooperate with the personnel in carrying out their duties and take good care of the
property in the hotel.

3. No guest is allowed to up anyone for the night or let anyone use his/her own bed in the hotel.

4. We are available saft-deposit box for valuables, cash ect at front desk. Entrust local public security bureau to keep your Weapon and important documents. Other wise the hotel will not be responsibility.

5. NO birds, domestic animals or other insanity articles are allowed to be brought into the hotel.

6. NO inflammable, explosive ,poisonous, radioactive or other dangerous articles are
allowed to be carried into the hotel. Nor is burning articles or letting off fireworks and firecrackers permitted in the hotel.

7. It is impermissible to install electrical equipments or use electrical heat-ers such as electrical stove, microwave stove, etc. in the guest room.

8. Strictly forbid any illegal and criminal activities such as fighting, gam-bling, drug taking or prostitution in the hotel. No guest should put up or circulate salacious books, pictures, photos, nor play such recording or videos. And drinking excessively making great noise or playing recorder loudly in the hotel is forbidden.

9. The authority of the hotel has right to reason with anyone who has violated regulations mentioned above. Those who violate the “Regulations Relating to the public order, Administration & punishment of the people’s Republic of China” or other administrative laws will be punished by the public security organs in accordance with the law. To those who have violated the “Criminal Laws of the people’s Republic of China” the public security and judicial organs will investigate and affix their responsibilities for the crime in accordance with the law.

DINGRI PUBLIC SECURITY BUREAU
JULY 8,2004

New Microsoft Office 2007

Why would a company upgrade to the new MS Office 2007? This WSJ article discusses the technology, and while the conclusion is positive, MS has created a “steep learning curve”. My favorite quote:

The entire user interface, the way you do things in these familiar old programs, has been thrown out and replaced with something new.

And another:

As if this weren’t enough, Microsoft has also changed the standard file format for Office files. Older versions of Office, on both Windows and Macintosh computers, won’t be able to read these new file types without special conversion software.

The International Obfuscated C Code Contest

The IOCCC (International Obfuscated C Code Contest) has kicked off again. The goal: solve a relatively simple problem in as difficult a way possible.

Here is a 2004 winner:

#include
#include
#include

#define _ ;double
#define void x,x
#define case(break,default) break[O]:default[O]:
#define switch(bool) ;for(;xint##if?
#define true (–void++)
#define false (++void–)

char*O=” <60>!?\\\n”_ doubIe[010]_ int0,int1 _ Iong=0 _ inIine(int eIse){int
O1O=!O _ l=!O;for(;O1O<010;++o1o)l+=(o1o[doubie]*pow(eise,o1o));return i="1,x=">I?atof(I[eIse]):!O switch(*O)x++)abs(inIine(x))>Iong&&(Iong=abs(inIine(x
)));int1=Iong;main(-*O>>1,0);}else{if(booI<*O>>1){int0=int1;int1=int0-2*Iong/0
[O]switch(5[O]))putchar(x-*O?(int0>=inIine(x)&&do(1,x)do(0,true)do(0,false)
case(2,1)do(1,true)do(0,false)6[O]case(-3,6)do(0,false)6[O]-3[O]:do(1,false)
case(5,4)x?booI?0:6[O]:7[O])+*O:8[O]),x++;main(++booI,0);}}}

What does this crazy code do? It graphs a polynomial. For instance, running it with parameters ‘0 0 2’ will graph y=x^2. Quite noteworthy.

Cat-burning

In 16th century Paris, a popular form of entertainment was cat-burning, in which a cat was hoisted on a stage and was slowly lowered into a fire. According to the historian Norman Davies, “the spectators, including kings and queens, shrieked with laughter as the animals, howling with pain, were singed, roasted, and finally carbonized.”

(Can’t quite find the source of this one…)