Cranezilla --Mark Crane's collection of rarely annotated links

Although Dave noted repeatedly that he was 75, I would have pegged him at 52, and only because of his white hair. Decorated veteran of two wars who graduated at the bottom of his West Point Class, Dave is a shining example of how generosity, intense obsession, and the Internet's worldwide reach can transform pockets of humanity.

Dave's greatest moment -- at least recently -- was when he picked up his voice-over-IP (VOIP) Vonage phone and dialed Mt. Everest. Tsering Gyaltsen answered on the second ring.

# posted by craniac @ Thursday, April 24, 2003 |

Some shoppers have found a way to transform one retailer's offer of a mail-in rebate into an instant rebate at a competitor's store. Rather than lose a sale, retailers will sometimes match a competitor's price, including a discount equivalent to any rebate offered. "This is not a new strategy,'' Mr. Kay said. "Merchants have matched competitors' prices on the fly for decades, maybe centuries."

# posted by craniac @ Monday, April 21, 2003 |

It's not the CCD that's the problem, it's the on-board, built-in flash. A straight-on flash shot (not flash fill) using a built-in flash is never going to be that great, no matter what camera is used. What you need, if you're going to use flash successfully for anything more than snapshots or fill flash pictures, is the ability to bounce flash off the ceiling, or use an outboard flash, preferably one with more power than any built-in flash. For this, you need a camera with either a hot shoe for an external flash or a flash connection (or an arrangement where you can trigger external strobes with the built-in flash, and most small digicams can't really do that). For best results, the digicam also has to have the electronics necessary for automatic TTL flash control. Pierre

# posted by craniac @ Thursday, April 17, 2003 |

Genealogists using DNA samples

One of the potential by-products from online genealogy, which has created a dramatic rise in the popularity of family history research, is rich family tree databases which will be invaluable for medical research.

The combination of DNA tests and traditional research will help to fill in the gaps that have made the goal of a global family tree impossible.

Online Genealogy may be the online application that is about to come out of stealth mode. It is the second most popular hobby in the US, is one of the most successful e-commerce areas and now the connection to life-sciences promises to make it much more lucrative.

# posted by craniac @ Thursday, April 17, 2003 |

The last complete specimen of the extinct Dodo rotted in a cupboard at the Oxford University Mueum of Natural History and had to be burned in the 19th century. Only part of its beak and a foot were salvaged, retrieved from the flames by a thoughtful curator.

# posted by craniac @ Thursday, April 17, 2003 |

But with just nine seconds to go she was hurt as the blade caught the top of her head.

Rodianova was visibly shaken, cowering as further knives were launched and losing her previously fixed grin.

# posted by craniac @ Thursday, April 10, 2003 |

CNN Correspondent Martin Savidge, embedded with the 1st Marines, 7th Battalion, said the university campus was a battlefield, with black smoke rising from several buildings and machine-gun fire ripping around the fighting vehicles.

"This was not the exact reception ... anticipated," Savidge reported while under fire. "There's a lot of smoke and dust now and fire. ... [It's] a far cry from the jubilant crowds ... just hard to imagine two blocks away."

# posted by craniac @ Wednesday, April 09, 2003 |

Since at least 1986, the FBI has been tracking down U.S.-based terrorists who fraudulently redeem Sunday newspaper grocery coupons to fund attacks. During the trial of the men who bombed the World Trade Center in 1992, investigators claimed that U.S.-based cells had raised $100 million by processing coupons through stores they owned in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia. About 340 billion food coupons are distributed each year, and 3.8 billion are redeemed. According to one report, about $500 million worth of those coupons are redeemed fraudulently.

# posted by craniac @ Tuesday, April 08, 2003 |

He just didn't think the Agency was going to be of any help in finding Ramzi Yousef. 'Back then, I don't think the C.I.A. could have found a person in a bathroom,'" Herman says. "'Hell, I don't think they could have found the bathroom.'" The assumption of the reformers is always that the rivalry between the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. is essentially marital, that it is the dysfunction of people who ought to work together but can't. But it could equally be seen as a version of the marketplace rivalry that leads to companies working harder and making better products.

# posted by craniac @ Monday, April 07, 2003 |

BBC correspondent John Simpson, who suffered minor shrapnel wounds in the incident, reported: "This is just a scene from hell here. All the vehicles are on fire, there are bodies burning all around me, bits of bodies all around. . .

. The Americans saw this convoy and they bombed it. They hit their own people.

"I saw people burning to death in front of me," he added.

Simpson said that BBC translator Kamaran Abdurazaq Muhamed died in the bombing from blood loss after losing his legs.

Among the injured was Wajy Barzani, a top KDP commander and brother of Massoud Barzani, leader of one of the two main Kurdish factions in northern Iraq. Barzani, in critical condition, was airlifted to a U.S. military hospital in Germany.

# posted by craniac @ Monday, April 07, 2003 |

I met a woman once who was divorced from a professional magician. She hated this man with a passion. She used to appear with him in a baffling trick where they exchanged places, handcuffed and manacled, in a locked cabinet. I asked her how it was done. The divorce and her feelings meant nothing compared to her loyalty to the magical profession. She looked at me coldly and said, "The trick is told when the trick is sold."

# posted by craniac @ Friday, April 04, 2003 |