Bill Wishon's News and Views

You are Browsing the December 2007 Archive:

Buy self-constraint at StickK.com

The Yale Economic Review informs me: …stickK.com , scheduled to launch in December 2007, will provide “commitment contracts” that let individuals set a goal, choose consequences for failing to comply, and decide how to verify their progress. With the…


Videos: Skysail debuts on world’s first commercial merchant ship to use kite power

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Transportation Alternatives The Skysail, a giant kite used to help propel ships, has made its debut as you can see in the Reuters video above. MV Beluga Skysail is the world’s first cargo ship to use the Skysail and the ship will make its maiden voyage in early 2008 from Germany [...]


Ohio Study: Scariest E-Voting Security Report Yet

The State of Ohio released the report of a team of computer scientists it commissioned to study the state’s e-voting systems. Though it’s a stiff competition, this may qualify as the scariest e-voting study report yet.
This was the most detailed …


eMarketer: Ad Spending on Social Networks to Increase by 81% in 2008

Market research firm eMarketer released a report on Worldwide Online Social Networking Ad Spending today. In the report, Debra Aho Williamson, writes that “Worldwide, online social network ad spending is expected to grow by 81%, to $2.2 billion in 20…


Straight or Not Optical Illusion Question

Examples like this one below have been posted in the past, most of them are still located inside “Seemingly Bent” category. Original illusion of this type is “Cafe Wall Illusion”. Never the less, I decided to post similar one today. I did this because the effect in the image below is strongest to date. Do you agree? Basically (believe it or not), the lines of the “diamond” you see, are perfectly straight. Hard to believe, isn’t it? The effect is achieved by smaller black and white squares, and dots arranged inside of them. Those of you with keen eye for details will notice the light background shares the same effect. Anyone understands why we get the impression that lines are bent? Help! Sorry for so much links inside this post, but I did this to make it easy for you to find most similar optical illusions.The image was taken from the book ‘new optical illusions’ and ‘big book of optical illusions’ by Gianni A. Sarcone.Concerning our web-ring of websites, Mighty Flicks started rolling quite serious. The man behind our sister-site is my cousin Mr. Boycie, and it seems he updates it almost daily. Its just that he needs to get hang of it, because I noticed he is posting some “edgy” stuff that some people would consider little obscene. Please instruct him what to change to get his site safer for visitors, and please give him insight what is considered tasteful inside blogging world, and what isn’t.


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