I saw Tropic Thunder a month or two back. It was pretty funny, but the funniest bit is the Les Grossman dance.

BTW, that’s Tom Cruise playing Les Grossman!

EDIT: here’s the 720p HD version…

If you try to use rm (Linux command) to delete too many files, it will often return the error “Argument list too long”.

To get around that problem, use this instead:

find . -name "*" -print0 | xargs -0 rm


The find command is quite flexible, and can be also used in combination to delete files in a certain date range, of a certain size, and even based on when a file was last modified. Such as this code, which deletes any file modified more than 2 days ago:

find . -mtime +2 -print0 | xargs -0 rm


While I generally believe that everyone should have the right to their own political opinions, I can’t help to think that the US is one step from a horrible decision. The country that once thought George W Bush would be better than Al Gore, is now seriously considering putting a 72 year old and a hockey mom into the White House.

Here are some notable quotes from Matt Damon:

• There’s one of out three chance that McCain doesn’t survive his first term and it will be President Palin
• The hockey mom from Alaska… She’s facing down Vladimir Putin… using the folksy stuff she learnt in the hockey rink… it’s totally absurd
• Did she really thinks dinosaurs were here four thousands years ago… I want to know that… it’s important… because she’s going to have the nuclear codes

In the September 22, 2008 issue of Time, Michael Kinsley had some eye opening findings about Palin’s past:

• Palin has continued to repeat the already exposed lie that she said, “No thanks” to the famous “bridge to nowhere” (McCain’s favorite example of wasteful federal spending). In fact, she said, “Yes, please” until this project became a symbol and political albatross
• Alaska’s government spends money on its own citizens and taxes the rest of us to pay for it… Alaska ranked 18th in federal taxes paid per resident ($5,434) but first in federal spending received per resident ($13,950)… in absolute amount it receives from Washington over and above the amount it sends to Washington, Alaska ranks No 1
• Palin bragged that she had vetoed “nearly $500 million” in state spending during her two years as governor. This amounts to less than 2% of the proposed budget
• Alaska is, in essence, an adjunct member of OPEC… On average, three-quarters of the value of a barrel of oil is taken by the state government before that oil is permitted to leave the state. Alaska residents each get a yearly check for about $2,000 from oil reserves, plus an additional $1,200 pushed through by Palin last year to take advantage of rising oil prices. Any sympathy the governor of Alaska expresses for folks in the lower 48 who are suffering from high gas prices or can’t afford to heat their homes is strictly crocodile tears

My lawyer is probably the best that money can buy when it comes to Internet issues. This was brought to my attention recently…

ROSETTA STONE LTD. v. ROCKET LANGUAGES LTD.
CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA (LOS ANGELES)
2:08-cv-00402
FILED: 7/02/2008

This is one of the first lawsuits I have seen filed against “comparison shopping” websites that are selling competing products but allegedly using the trademark to drive traffic to the “comparison reviews” site. This is a tactic that is being used more often by affiliate marketers. The use of the trademark in the ad appears to be very creative and it appears that the Defendants have set up a “commercial free speech” defense, although such a claim is very unlikely to succeed given the commercial nature of the use of the trademark.

Plaintiff is a leading developer of computer software for teaching and learning foreign languages. This lawsuit alleges that the Defendants used the term “Rosetta Stone”, which is a registered trademark of the Plaintiff, to trigger ads as a keyword in the Google AdWords program and Yahoo’s Marketing Solutions program. Defendants are also allegedly using the “Rosetta Stone” trademark in the title and description of the ads and then leading consumers to “comparison reviews” which are allegedly illegitimate and fabricated solely for purposes of selling competing products.

This lawsuit alleges trademark infringement, trademark dilution, unfair competition, false advertising, contributory trademark infringement, and vicarious trademark infringement. Preliminary injunctive relief is requested as well as an award of damages, attorney’s fees, court costs and interest.

Obviously as state above, the use of trademarks in adcopy that ultimately push competing products (e.g. “netflix is better than blockbuster”) may open you to legal action.

But it also brings into question the use of comparison sites in general. Even if you legitimately send traffic to all products you review, #2 may sue you simply because you didn’t list them as #1.

Here’s an interesting point I came across in my wanderings…

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Pretty amazing!