U.S. Banks under attack

If this doesn't worry you, it should. Henry Blodget says that traders are betting that the big banks will be forced to default.

Oracle buys Sun?

I just looked at Slashdot and saw this post that Oracle had bought Sun.

There are Susan Boyle skeptics "out there"

Ann Althouse is not alone in downplaying Susan Boyle's audition for Britain's Got Talent that aired a week ago. Rob Leigh, from the Mirror, is another skeptic. My wife disagrees and says that Susan is "the real thing". For what is it is worth, my wife went to school with "Vicky Carr" and sang in choir with her. I promote Susan Boyle because I believe she is good and more people should hear her sing.

I just got my Susan Boyle fix to keeping me going a little while longer

I have the avi file of Susan Boyle's appearance on Britain's Got Talent from last Saturday night. This video has more of her talking before and after her audition than is on the YouTube video. Now, they have found a recording that Susan made for a charity CD in1999 of the song "Cry Me A River".

The Susan Boyle internet phenomenon

What has happened since Susan Boyle performed last Saturday night is one of those classic internet-driven phenomena. Susan "came out of nowhere" to be an internet star. I think that the power of the song she sang "To Dream a Dream" has been overlooked. They have concentrated on the disconnect between her appearance at the time of her audition on Britain's Got Talent and her singing ability. You can follow the story on my other blog "My Back Pages".

Susan Boyle: Wow!

  (thanks to the NY Daily News)

I just finished re-listening to Susan Boyle auditioning on Britain's Got Talent, and she is amazing. Many versions of the YouTube video have expired, but the one that I link to on My Back Pages is still good. The NY Daily News isn't far wrong about her being the greatest reality show performance of all time.

More about alt.binaries.nl and binary search

My take on the situation is that alt.binaries.nl is either blocked or has been forced to cease operation. I suspect the latter. But don't dispair. In the US, I can use Google to search with the search term "binary search" and I can find the new alternative to alt.binaries.nl. I find that the new site is probably superior to alt.binaries.nl. One question is if anyone in Europe can see the new site, or if it is blocked. We want a binary search capability to look for various sorts of binary files in news groups. The good binary search sites don't keep content on their server and only look at headers (and information about attachments).

Strange stuff

One thing that I found out in my exploring is that some adult-content websites will not let you download full-sized pictures from their site. Instead, you get a low-resolution thumbnail. The only way to get content is to do screen captures and then save them as jpg files.

What happened to alt.binaries.nl?

More than alt.binaries.nl are affected by whatever has happened. I suspect a move by some government, perhaps the Netherlands, against alt.binaries.nl and other sites that help to access binary news groups. That is why I don't want to compromise another binary news group search website. You can find it and a few others easily enough with Google.