What a cheery morning news: British Scientist Puts Odds for Apocalypse at 50-50.  Somebody forgot to mention the time span.

I am taking bets on the cause of Apocalypse at 1 million to 1 odds.  That's right.  For each dollar you send me, I'll send you $1 million if the world ends in the way you think it will.  There is no limit to how much you can bet.  Members of religious orders and people with psychic powers may also participate.  Cheating is also allowed.  You can't get better odds than this anywhere anytime.

Spread the word everyone and don't forget to tell our Nigerian friends who would just love a great deal like this.<grin/>

One simple way to measure a search engine's effectiveness is to count the number of "Next Page" queries.   More effective a search engine is, lower the ratio of the number to the total number of queries.  Monitoring changes in the ratio should signal changes in effectiveness.  If Google is indeed being negatively impacted by blogs, the ration should be increasing, meaning more people are not finding what they are looking on the first page.

Remember the Tamagotchi?  Little plastic toys containing a virtual pet that you have to constantly feed and play with?  I never had one myself but I was amused by my son's short addiction over a Tamagotchi.

Reading Esther Dyson's Blogger's block reminded me of Tamagotchi.  In a sense, blogs are like Tamagotchis because you have to keep feeding it to keep it alive.

As promised, here is this weekend issue of Sunday Insults.  There are only three this week, but I am hoping the number will pickup as time goes.

A freakish homonculus germinated outside lawful procreation.  -  by Henry Arthur Jones via misanthropyst    An educated man's insult; best when spoken lightly to barbarians while smiling.

Stop your foul whining, you filthy piece of distented rectum!  -  from Red Dwarf via Nrrrdboy    A classic; to be spoken with feeling.

Bury your head as far in the sand as it is up your ass.  -  Mark Pilgrim    A beach insult.

My favorite for this week is, of course, rectumus insult from Red Dwarf.  You can hear the insult spoken by Rimmer (WAV file) from Red Dwarf.  Don't forget to send in your best insults any way you can.

I deleted my Bad Mojo post because I want to smile more.  Post like that feels like a mental wedgie.

Today, I had an urge to look at Safari WebCore source code.  Since I can't satisfy this sort of urges by raiding my refrigerator, I googled.  And googled.  And googled.  I googled until I threw my hands up in disgust.

Two months ago, I found WebCore source code easily enough.  Direct link to Apple's WebCore pages used to be on the first page of results for "WebCore".  Now, it's lost among pages after pages of links to news, discussions, and blogs about WebCore.  Google better fix this before 'google' becomes synonymous with 'getting lost' or 'being buried under an avalanche of junk'.

Oy!  I feel googly today.

Update: Direct link to WebCore Source Code to make it first as Már Örlygsson suggested.

I am in a funny mood this morning, funny as in weird.  Went to sleep at 5am, woke up at 9am.  My internal clock is broken again.  Lately, I haven't been able to focus during the day, so I ended up working at night.

Got an e-mail from an old pal, a young millionare retired for longer than ten years with homes around the world.  He is now in Reno, Nevada.  I don't think I'll ever retire.  My wife read told me that, according to her Korean fortune-telling book, I'll be working all my life.  I just said "Thanks for telling me that, honeybunny.  It's nice to know."  I am an ant-wannabe.

Her fortune-reading made sense.  I am one of those people who ask questions all the time.  Forever curious, forever searching.  My curiosity drives doctors nuts.  I would walk in to a clinic, play with equipment, ask doctors medical questions an intern might ask, and ask administrator business questions a MBA might ask.

Whenever I see a business, I am curious as to how it works.  Sometimes my curiousity gets dangerous.  Asking a pimp or a drug dealer how his business works is not healthy.  Questioning panhandling business is easy though.  All you need is a cup of coffee during idle hours.

With panhandling, its location, timing, and attitude.  Money can be good if you get all three going.  Hours are good too because it's difficult to panhandle at night.  Schedule differs depending on the region.  Panhandlers in Hawaii does business differently than those in downtown San Francisco.  Most of them are good folks, very resilient and relaxed, like a good shopowner.

I guess I am in a funny mood, eh?

Following is a copy of my followup comment to Mark.  It has a strain of thought that matters to blogging.

"First of all, I like Mark. Much of what he does and how he does it is agreeable to me. He has a streak of commonsense that cuts through many complex problems. This is why I got upset. I wouldn’t blink an eye if some stranger I don’t care about behaved badly.

Second, we all have our dark thoughts at times, particularly when someone cuts you off on a freeway. But making these dark thoughts public carelessly is irresponsible. If weblogs give voice to the people, that voice comes with some responsibilities. Dark thoughts should stay in the dark and not be flaunted openedly. Otherwise, we’ll soon have rednecks talking openly in a bar about 101 ways to kill chinks, spicks, and niggers.

Mark aired his dark thoughts and no one complained. Read the comments and you’ll see snickers in agreement with Mark. This is what pushed my button. We are responsible for what we say and what we say affects those who hear us.

Lastly, I want to say this to Mark. Think of this incident like a little swirve while driving. Straighten out the wheel and look forward to where you are going. Cheer up, Mark."

Sorry about my negative comments on Social Software and Emergent Democracy and four-letter words.  When blood boils in my vein, I tend to go over the line.   Also, feel free to blast me if I mess up and say the wrong things.  If I can give it, I can take it.  Not only can I take it, I'll thank you for it.

I just read Mark's comment about his ex-neighbor, so called crazy old Howard.  I left a scolding comment, but still can't shake the bad taste his post left me.  Same shit is happening everywhere: disrespect for elders.

Elders are no different than you and I.  They are experiencing that age for the first time just like the way I am experiencing the age of 41 for the first time.  In Korea, they used to revere the elders.  I am not talking about kow-towing and stuff.  I am talking about giving up you seat and helping them out.  They are no longer doing that in Korea.  When I go to Korea and happens to take the subway, I never get to sit for more than five minutes because there is always an elder who needs a seat.

One time I had to stand for two hours to get to Inchon.  Another time, I ran into a grandmother, must have been in her 90s, who was trying to find her way to her grandsons with 50 pounds of Kimchi and stuff.  Needless to say, I had to get off the train and carry it to her grandsons, adding an extra hour to my travel across Seoul.  What are the young Koreans doing meanwhile?  Pretending to sleep.  I never felt so violent in my life.

Now here comes Mark whose remote part of him wishes the crazy ol' Howard drowned because he dared to rain water down on his apartment in his drunken stupor.  What the fuck?

During twenty-eight years of my life in America, I have been heckled and humiliated occasionally, mostly by elderly white Americans in Archie Bunker-style.  Even one of my neighbors called me Chink to my face.  Still, I understood where they are coming from and let things be.  It's not that they are evil, they are just trying to cope with changing times.  I saw myself in them.  When you are relaxed and comfortable, you are more forgiving.  When you don't understand what is going on and terrified of the future, you start talking non-sense.  So, I just smiled and never wished a bad thing for them.

I hope Mark learns to look out from crazy ol' Howard's eyes and understand a little of what is going on there.  I wish people will understand that it is not the elders' mind that is at stake, but our own.  By losing respect for elders, we lose a large chunk of ourselves.  Giving respect is placing value where we wish value should be.

*sigh*  Maybe it is too fucking late after all.  Forget about Social Software and piss on Emergent Democracy.  What use are they against deterioration of Self?  Argh.  I am going to stop before I get asked to speak at the next Republican Convention.