James Randi

James Randi used to be a magician and went by the name of The Amazing Randi. He was a “trickster”. Later on, however, he devoted his life to demystifying those who claim they have psychic powers. He is well known for challenging Uri Geller’s and Peter Popoff’s powers (video link), Homeopathy healing (video link) and many many more.

I recall seeing a show about James Randi’s offer to pay 1 million dollar to whoever proves the powers of Homeopathy, and judging by the James Randi Educational Foundation website, that prize is still up for grabs.

James Randi is like a modern Mr. Spock. He pursues logical explanations and is willing to challenge anyone who claims to have abilities that negate logic. A very interesting man, to say the least. You can see more videos of James Randi here.

Shoot Paintballs At Some Iraqi Dude

This Iraqi artist, Wafaa Bilal, decided to make a statement or something artistic like that. What’s great about this is the way he decided to do it: he set himself in a room for six weeks and by logging on to a website you can shoot paintballs at him (aim the gun with the right/left arrows and click the gun icon to shoot). Good luck!

Oh, and if you’re interested in the artistic part of the whole thing, you can see his video diary and read some article about it. But really… who cares? You get to shoot an Iraqi guy. (via Download Squad)

HugeURL – Bigger, Therfore Better URLs

Following the footsteps of TinyURL, a service that let’s you shrink big URLs (web addresses) into small ones, for the purpose of not breaking them when sending an email (for eample), comes HugeURL, the place to get your URL enlarged. I guess it’s good for those who feel their “address” is too small, if you know what I mean.

For example, here’s a link to this website:
http://www.hugeurl.com/?NjY5MGNlMzZjNWJmYzY2OGE1MzhhZDczNGRh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d1dGbHJaRzlqYkZweFUydGFiRlpzV2xwWGExcHJZVWRGZUdOR2JGaGhNVnBv
VmtSS1QyUkdTbkpoUjJoVFlYcFdlbGRYZUc5aU1XUkhWMjVTVGxKRlduSlVW
bFp6VGxaYVdFNVZPVmhTYlZKSldWVmFjMWR0U2toaFJsSlhUVVp3VkZacVJu
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R2JISmFSemxxWWtad2VGVXlkR0ZpUmxwelYyeHdXR0V4Y0ROWlZXUkdaVWRP
UjJKR1pGZE5NRXBKVjFaU1MxVXhXWGhhU0ZaVllrWktjRlpxVG05WFZscFlZ
MFU1YVUxWFVraFdNalZUVkd4YVIxTnRSbGRpV0U0MFZHdGFWbVZYVWtoa1Jt
UnBWbGhDTlZkVVFtRmpNV1IwVTJ0b2FGSnNTbUZVVmxwM1pXeHJlV1ZJWkZO
TlZrcDVWR3hhVDJGV1NuUlBWRTVYWVRGd2FGWlVSa1psUm1SellVWlNhRTFz
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TFlUQXhSVkpzVGxaU2JFWXpWVVpGT1ZCUlBUMD0=

Google Calendar – I Use It For Birthday Reminders

Usually I don’t need birthday reminders, but it did happen before that I forgot a friend’s birthday date. Currently I use Google Calendar for birthday reminders. The best thing about Google Calendar is that you get SMS reminders to your cellphone (all major Israely cellphone service providers are supported), so you don’t have to login to get your reminders every day.

There is one small caveat, though. Initially I set birthdays to be all-day events, but then I started getting the reminders for them around 5am. So what I do now is set the birthdays as zero time calendar events around noon, therefore getting the reminders at sane hours.

The JavaScript Programming Language Videos

I love learning about programming languages. Every language has something unique about it that makes me think: “That’s a nice feature”. While just getting acquainted with a language doesn’t mean that you know how to write code using it, it’s still nice to see what’s out there.

JavaScript is a very misunderstood language. Being “the language of browsers” by perception makes us (wrongfully) think it’s a lesser language than C++ or Java. It also makes JavaScript a very popular language these days, as almost all interactive website include some JavaScript code.

If you want to learn about JavaScript, here are very educating four videos of Douglas Crockford of Yahoo!, including the interesting history of the language:
The JavaScript Programming Language 1/4
The JavaScript Programming Language 2/4
The JavaScript Programming Language 3/4
The JavaScript Programming Language 4/4