Microsoft has invited hackers to try and poke holes in their new operating system, Windows Vista. Previous Windows versions all contained numerous security leaks, forcing Microsoft to release security patches on a regular basis. The company is now putting a much bigger effort in creating a safe and secure product, which will be much less vulnerable to cyber attacks.

Hmm… Wait a minute. Haven’t I read those last two sentences somewhere before? Ah, of course! That must have been prior to the release of Windows XP, and prior to the release of Windows ME, and Windows 2000, and Windows 98, and…

Do I believe that WinVis will be airtight? Nope, not for a second. (The believing, not the being airtight. Even the notoriously unsafe Win98 could go without being invaded for a second now and then.) For one thing, hackers will always find new ways around security measures. For another, well, this is still Microsoft. I bet WinVis will be safer than WinXP, but I also bet Microsoft will overlook some safety concerns in favour of dumb-looking, processor-hungry, memory-inefficient bells and whistles that no one really needs.

Floyd Landis, winner of this year’s Tour de France, tested positive for high leves of testosterone after his comeback stage in the Alps. From what I read at SI.com and the TdF blog, I doubt very much Landis was deliberately cheating, or that the high testosterone levels on that one day were much help. Testosterone only has an effect when used over a period of several weeks, and tests from ealier in the Tour showed nothing out of the ordinary. I do believe his testosterone levels were too high, and I’m afraid the B sample will show the same results. I just hope they won’t condemn him for something that wasn’t real cheating.

Meanwhile, people all over the world are setting up in three different camps. Camp A believes that Landis is innocent, no matter what evidence is brought forward that he cheated. Camp B believes that Landis cheated, no matter what evidence is brought forward that he is innocent. Camp C hasn’t decided yet and would rather wait on the results from the B sample. The website BelieveFloyd.com, registered yesterday, is definitely one for Camp A. Or is it? As I write this, it only says “BelieveFloyd.com coming soon,” or words to that effect, followed by a series of text ads. Here’s why I’m not entirely convinced that this is Camp A:

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After 27 years, the peaceful days of a fountain in the Belgian town of Maasmechelen are coming to an end. A visitor of the Wereld in Oorlog (World at War) forum pointed his Google Earth program at Maasmechelen and discovered, much to his horror, that the fountain looks like a swastika from the sky. Sure enough, it does. A fellow forum goer, equally horrified to find the nazi symbol, informed the “relevant authorities”. Today, it was announced by the mayor of Maasmechelen that the 1979 fountain will be rebuilt to get a less controversial shape.

Supposedly, no one had noticed the swastika design before, because it can’t be seen from the ground. Eh… say what? How can you _not_ recognize the shape of a fountain? And even if it is difficult to see from the ground, the thing is located right in front of the three-story town hall! Oh, wait… I’ve got it. The architect and the mayor from 1979 (who approved the design) had the upper two floors locked off, so nobody could peek out of the windows and see what they had built. It’s a good thing they hadn’t counted on the eventual invention of Google Earth, or their horrendous act would have gone unnoticed for many years to come!

Seriously, some people read waaaaay too much into a simple geometrical design.

[Update (December 12th, 2006): If you go and look for this foutnain now, you will find that it has apparently been removed. Some people pay waaaaay too much attention to people who read waaaaay too much into a simple geometrical design.]

Hey, I thought I’d share a website containing some of the most incredible photos and desktop background I know: Mandolux. This site contains dozens of very varied photos, freely downloadable (for use on your desktop) in resolutions up to 2560×1600. The navigation could be better, though. If you’re not sure where to go, just use the previous or archive links at the top.

Just found this file on my hard disk… It’s been there so long that I don’t remember where I got it from, but it’s still funny :)

I was just searching on Google for experimental data on the attachment of electrons to PAH cations, and guess what comes up? The Powerpoint presentation of a talk I gave in April of 2004. I knew I put that thing online, but I’d never thought to find it on Google.

Hoe slecht denkt Google dat ik kan typen? Ik zoek op psRRKM (een programmaatje genoemd in een artikel). Google vindt slechts één pagina en vraagt zich af of ik niet per ongeluk park bedoelde.

Sinds een maand of twee ben ik actief op Wikipedia, een gratis online encyclopedie die iedereen kan bewerken. Als gebruiker kan je daar een script installeren dat je een preview geeft van een link als je de muis eroverheen beweegt. Ik ben bezig om op mijn site iets dergelijks te maken… zie de link naar Wikipedia twee zinnen terug voor een voorbeeld. Echt optimaal werkt het nog niet, omdat alle Wiki-pagina’s waarnaar gelinkt wordt, worden geladen bij het laden van deze pagina. Als dat in totaal één of twee links zijn is dat niet zo’n probleem, maar met één of twee per post gaat het toch echt te lang duren. Ik moet dus iets inbouwen dat gelinkte pagina’s pas worden geladen op het moment dat de cursor over de link beweegt. Dat moet kunnen (want zo werkt het binnen Wikipedia ook), alleen nog even uitzoeken hoe.

Ik word steeds populairder bij Google. Zoek op “ruud visser” (zonder aanhalingstekens) en bij de eerste twintig sites sta ik op plaatsen 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 17 en 19. Als je de aanhalingstekens wel meeneemt (en dus zoekt op pagina’s waar mijn voornaam en achternaam direct na elkaar staan), bezet ik de volledige top-4 en nummer 12. De zoekterm “ruudvisser” zet mij op plekken 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 12 en 14. Met alleen mijn voornaam kom ik op plaats 34, wat nog lang niet gek is gezien de bekendheid van naamgenoten als Van Nistelrooy en Lubbers. Tot slot kom ik op nummer 72 met zoekterm “visser”.

Mijn website doet het nog minder goed: hij is niet te vinden in de eerste honderd resultaten voor “nog meer onzin”, zowel zonder als met aanhalingstekens. Aan elkaar geschreven, “nogmeeronzin” dus, gaat beter: de top-3 is voor mij, evenals plaatsen 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19 en 20, waarvan overigens al wel vier pagina’s niet meer bestaan. Google is niet echt snel met het verwijderen van dat soort spul.

Gaat toch ergens iets niet goed als een website er zo uitziet:

In plaats van zo: