On one level, Zalgo is just a stream of unicode diacriticals which, when stacked, produce an unusual and unsettling vertical stripe effect in compatible browsers (older browsers only show "no character" boxes, although some older browsers can be set to use unicode as an option).

On another level, Zalgo is a litmus test for online bullshit detection. The first skill on the internet is to tell between reality and illusion. Is the email from a company inviting you to an online product launch? Or are they phishing for your identity? Is your friend still your friend, or have they been hacked and zombified?

Zalgo's key traits blur the line between reality and illusion. The insistence that He Who Waits Behind The Wals is most definitely Not A Meme serves to promote both nervous laughter and a vestige of superstitious fear. The corruption of innocent childhood memories and the words of friends serves to produce a threat of viral infection which lends immediacy to the fear and makes the reader think "I'm next." The lack of an anthropomorphic personification of zalgo makes him more mysterious and omnipresent - one never interacts directly with zalgo, only his priests, yet one sees zalgo's unmistakable influence.


Recently Zalgo has fallen on hard times. SomethingAwful.com forums have grown tired of him. 4chan never thought he was funny in the first place. Bloggers eulogise him and giggle at the photoshops of their favorite childhood cartoons where verticle slit mouths erupt in the faces of charlie brown and garfield.

This is not the true spirit of Zalgo. I hope that livejournal may be a new and fertile field for the priests of zalgo to explore. Bring back the awe and fear that the internet inspires in its darkest and most exalted moments.

and most of all, apply the litmus test which separates those who know truth when they see it, and those who are swayed by the monstrous power of lies.


GNU Image Manipulation Program
www.gimp.org

zalgo text generator
http://www.eeemo.net/

Ñ̄̀̈́͐͗ōͣͨt͗ͮ ̆̆̍ͮ͗̏̀a͊̓̈͛̌l̒͋ͪ͛̏l ̾ͦs̓͂̍͗t͑̈́̍͗͑̆u̿ͩd̔̐̊̽̍eṅtͮͧ̃͒͊̓̆s̓ͭͭ ̔ͤ̏̊̂ͫn̈́͐͒ͦͯ̾̽ȇ̀̄e̋̐̍d̿̂̈͒̅ ̿tͥͣͤ̐̎͑ͯo̓ ͫ̌̚̚a͒ĉ͐̂̽ͮ̔t̀̈́̐
͗̆ ̈bͦ̾ut̓̈͗̀̔,ͩ ̂̈́͆̇̉ͣͯa̒͗̀̍͂͐̿l̽̔̽̓̂ĺ ͊̇̚m̏űͫ̃̃s̅͌̈tͣͫͦͦ b̈́̐̏e͛̓ ̅ͯ͋̅ͣ͗ͥà́ͣ̐ĉͭ̈ͭ̽tͯͩ̾̃͑i̒͊͑̓̂̇v͂̏͊̄ͯ̾e̾͌ͮ̉ͪ͛l̑͛̀͆͐yͤ̾ͧ ĩ͛n͂͊ͧ͗v̅̊͐̿ͯoͯ̆̈͊͋ͤ̌l̾͐̒ͦv̎̅̎̋̒̊̔e̓ͪ̊d ͮ̏ͦ
̄̏̊in̓̆ͬ̆ ̊̏thͭ̈́e̋ͤ̈̇͗̎ ͩp̓r͒̄̈́eͣ͆̄ͦ̓̏ͭp͗͆̌ͧ͊͑ar̎̑͆̉atͣ̐̅̊i̔̌̋͑̈́ö́͐̃ͨ͌̑̆n̍̄ͣ ͯ͆̈́͆̑ō̑ͯ̈́fͮͬ̌̽ ̋́̇̂t̅͊ͤ̏̋h̐e ͗s͛̽̽c͊̽ͧͮe͂̍n̑̐̉͊͒e.

Os̢c̡a͟r ļoved ͝t ҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐o͡ w̴o͠r̨k.

͞I̶án͜ N͞ag̕osk̴ì,
a̶ ͏f͡orḿida͡bl̶é musi̶c͠ia̶n in ̢h̨i͡s ̷own͢ ̢r ҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐i͏ght,̡ ̨
i͠s o͟n҉e of͠ t͟h̕e̷ f̷orm̴er,̷ ҉and̵ ́his̢ love͞ ̡for ̀7͘8s ̵h͏as sp͟aw̢ņe͘d̕ ̡
Black Mi͞rror,

͏a ͟còlle͝ci͝t́on̷ ̧ơf̛ ͢e̸t͠hn͠ic m҉us̸ic҉ on ̢78͘,
̶no҉wprese̸rved d̀i͜g̢i͜ta͡l͘l̸y̨,
i͜n͞ ͡li̷n̵e͝ with̸ the̸ ҉la͡b͡e̸l's̵ p̵u̴r̨p̴os̵e̡,
t͡o͝ ͝pr̕o̕v́id҉e ͡a҉ur͝a͝l ͡a͡c̴c̵es̡s ̴to a new au̴dìence
̷d́eca͞de̢s ͢a̛fte͞r͘ ͏the ͏re͝cor̶ds҉'̴ orig͡i̴na̕l rel҉ea̢s̡e,̕
͢a̶n҉d͡, i͏n ͟th͡e ͜ca̛s͘e͠ ̴o͠f m͟os̛t̀,͡
f̛ór͞ ͟t̴h̨e͠ f̷irs̶t t͠im͘e ̢
i̷n̶ ̸t̀h͠e Un͡ite͝d͏ ͢S̕ta̧te͠s.

Yea̕h, Hob҉o̷la̸d̀, i͡td b̴e nice i̸f́ on̡ly̷ sol̀d̵ier͟s̴ had҉ tò d͜ie̡ in̵ ̵w͜aŗ,
bu͏t͝ ҉ítd ̵be͟ ̷n̵icer͢
i҉f ͞N̛O ͠ONE h̶ad̢ t͠o͠ ͡dié.̶

͠The R͞ight ̕W͠i̵n͠g̶ers̛ b̢e̵liev͢e͡ ̶evèr̨y̛thin͞g͘
t͢h͡e ҉o͠ff҉i̶c͞i͏al̷ s̡t̀or̨ies̀ tęl̢l̀
̴th̵em̨, ̸nom͜at҉te͜r h̵o̷w ͘m͜a̛ny̧ ҉t͢i͢mes t̴he ̶s͢t̶o͜r̶i̶es̕ c̨ha̛nge̴.

Ńot ́al̛l̸ ͠stu͜d͡eǹts̴ ͜ne̶èd̢ ̷tó a̕c̢t̸ ̷

b̀ùt͟, al̢l m͜u҉st̴ ͏be ͢a̢cti͡ve̴l̷y͠ ín̢vo̡l͠v҉ed̨ ̛
i̢n ͝t̕he̴ ̨pr̶epa͜r̨a̡t̶io͘n ̶of ͝t̛h̷e sçén̶e.


Th͉͈̜̼̥̞i͎s̟̰̗̙ ̦͕p̖̫̦r̞̲e̳̮̘͈su̬͓̱̟̼̝͇p͇̼p͙̰͇͇̠o̬̼̖͕͍̝s͕̟e̖͖̫͈s̘̖̱̮̺ t̗̳̺h̲̩e͎̻͍͉̩ e̯̣̭͙͇x̠͎i͕̞s̘̤̙̖͇̯t̬e͈nc̺e͇̟͚̗̺̳ ̯̭ͅo̳̪̟f ̟̱a͚̝̺̫͚ w̯̞̦ay̟ ̳͕̮̳̹̟̬to̰a͓u͈̠̺̺t̺̥̩̬̖̤h̖͇̲̠e̳͉n̙t͕̟̙i̘̻̪̥̹͓c͎a͓̫͉t̯͎͙͓̺e̖͖ ̘̝̜̳adm̯̰i̭̲̪͔n̮͖̣̼̰i͎s̠̻t̼̼͓r̪̖̪̘ato͔̯͔̮͈ͅr̹̳̤̟̩̺sͅ'̟̤̘̬ ͉̟̪̳͙̤m͚̼͎̬ẹ͎̝͕̙̥͓s̫͉̤̻s̰̘a͚͕̬g̰̻̗̩̺̼̪e̹̪͉͈̮̣͔s̹.

a͞nd̷ ͝so̕ ̵an̢ authen̨t͜ic̴a̸t̀io ҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐͜nf̛ra̴me̵wo̕rk ͡has̡ a̴l̕so b̀ee҉n̷ ad̸ded.̴

Įt̨ ̴i̛s͏ ̀my͜ unde͝r̴s̕tandin͢g̀ ̸th͟a̵t ̶th̵e tr͡ém͏
i͜s͟ ͞ádded digi̸t̷a̧l̶ly̕ ̧tò t҉he ͞un͝t͠r͢emm̨ed̨ samp͡ĺes͞ in̶ the̵ same͠ ̴wa̵y͡

͘a҉s ͏th̡e͘ tr͏em ̶4 ̛i̧n̕ ͜p̴re͟vi͢ous͞ ͢serie̶s͞ or͢g̛an̢s ҉d͏o̴e͜s.Íro͘ni͟cally͏t̢

h̀e҉ do͟ts wer͜e͜ ͜developed as͞ ̢

a̶ tec͟h̵n͢įq͘u͘e ҉

to ̢m̶as̕k

the͟ ͢morè ̴sac͢re͘d̕ ͞s͜y͜mb̛ol͟ìsm ̢

a͘n͜ds͘t͏o͏ri͝ȩs w͟h̢ìch͜ ̀were͝ ͜i̢nàp̵p̶rop̸r̶i̸até ̕fo͠r҉ gen͟eral ͟vi̶e̵wing.

N̰̗̭̙o̭̝̹̪t̫̥̯̗̖̝ ͚̩̩͓͈a̰͙̪͉̗̳lḻ͔̗̫͎ͅͅ ̲͇̺̖̮͕͙s͓͍̞̳̞t̘̩͇ṳ̖d̖̰̞e͍̺͙̼̮n͎͇͚̻̺̬̮t͙ͅͅs ̼͔͈͙n̗̠͉͈̹̖e͍̗͍̳̦̙e̘̲d̼̜̜ ͓̠̰͚̦ṯ͔o ̹̤a̝̳̬̞̖ͅc͔̫͉̥͈͙͓t
͉̭̰̥̱͙͔b̗̠u̠̙̫̮͚t͍̯̪̟͔,͚͙̩̯ ̬̪̜a͙͕̬͖̝l͔͕̯̯̱̙̼l͙̬̪ ͎͓̯m͚͙̟̗̞u̯̠̗̲ṣ̱͉͖͙̟̺t̝̬̙͎̟͇̰ ̗b͙̬̗͓̜̣͎e͍ͅ ͔̻̖̯͚̥̺a̝c̫̬t̝̣i̩̫ve̲͔̯̥͇͚l̝̙̞̦͙͓ͅy̺̥̲̥̠ i̲̥̥͈͓̬n̰̲̩̞̦͙v̬̩̙ol͖̗̥͚͖ṿ̤̤͙e̗͍̠ͅͅd͉̙̝͖ ̼͓͉͉̘͕i̝̹̩n͍̼͈̠̯̣̼ ̟̣̦̘t̰͔͉͖̫̣ẖ̜̜̪̩̤e̺̟͖̻̩̹ ͍̝͉̞̗̲p̱͙͎re̬par̠̣̤̻a̺͉̲̦̥̯t̯͉̙̼͙i̳ͅo͕n ̬̥o̹̙̮̣̩̼f̳̞̹͕ ̯̪̝̜̦̦th̗̠e̤̤ s̹̪̟̠ͅc̱͕̬̤͉̹ͅe̮̗̩n̖̪̹͍͈̗e̤͓͇.͔͇̻͉̝̲ ҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐

Z҉A҉L҉G҉O̚̕̚ craves you enjoy replacement wug!

but Z҉A҉L҉G҉O̚̕̚ will NO̚̕̚T pay cleaning bill.

Z҉A҉L҉G҉O̚̕̚ got improved replacement pedro to lick up m҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚ess.

ZALGO IS COMINGits Behind ҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚The

he waits behind the walls

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=zalgo

re-usable LED rainbow glowstick $3
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3598


LED bike wheel lights $4
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.23679

or: how to avoid leaving unencrypted thumb drives on the train

http://www.findwhitepapers.com/content3114/

In the early 1980s, the Naval Investigative Service was investigating homosexuality in the Chicago area. Agents discovered that gay men sometimes referred to themselves as "friends of Dorothy." Unaware of the historical meaning of the term, the NIS believed that a woman named Dorothy was at the center of a massive ring of homosexual military personnel. The NIS launched an enormous hunt for Dorothy, hoping to find her and convince her to reveal the names of gay servicemembers.
-Shilts, Randy (1993). Conduct Unbecoming: Gays & Lesbians in the U.S. Military. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press. p. 387.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friend_of_Dorothy

Now there's an episode of NCIS you'll never see.

Will DiNozzo "lose" his cell phone again when he goes under cover?

Will Jethro get his man?

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/09/04/thighs-heart-disease.html

A new study has found that the thinner your thighs, the greater your risk of heart disease.

The research, published in today's edition of the British Medical Journal, reveals that thigh circumference is linked to the risk of heart disease and premature death.

The study looked at more than 2,800 men and women with an average age of around 50.

It found that the risk of heart disease more than doubled for both men and women who had a thigh circumference of less than 55 centimeters (22 inches).

Those participants with thighs between 55 and 60 centimeters (22 and 24 inches) received a protective effect against heart disease, the study reports.

But that protective effect reduced for people with thighs above 60 centimeters (24 inches) in circumference.

Would it have really cost much more to just add one more question to this study and ask if the people with big muscular thighs walked more than the people who didn't?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/health/nutrition/27fitness.html?ex=1267588800&en=99a1c9cb0375ba71&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=HL-D-I-NYT-MOD-MOD-M113-ROS-0909-HDR&WT.mc_ev=click

Distances vary from race to race, but children’s triathlons are still a step up from, say, a half-mile fun run. At the Silicon Valley Kids Triathlon, for example, children 6 and under are asked to swim 25 yards, then bike one mile, then run a quarter of a mile.

they are super popular, with races of 1000 kids.

There was a woman searching for answers.

she went to the temple of truth, which was a large circular maze made of rammed earth.

it was an easy maze, and at the center there was the room of truth.

funnily enough, when she got to the center the path diverged one last time: on the right was the room of truth and on the left was the gift shop.

on an impulse she chose the gift shop, reasoning she could visit the room of truth later.

on entering the gift shop she suddenly found herself in, well, a tacky gift shop. there was no trace of the maze, or the temple or the door she just walked through.

in the gift shop the cashier told her:

the lump in her breast was a physical manifestation of a re'kaab (one who is here), the cashier is a re'kaahel (one who came later) so she has no power to help: the re'kaab are an order above her and beyond her ability.

that the re'kaab was in her was very un-orthodox. usually if somebody wanted to destroy a town, they would convince a re'kaab to take up residence in a mare's breast - manifesting as a large mass surrounded by an inflamed capsule which would make medical examination draw the wrong conclusions.

the cashier told her that she had about a week before the re'kaab was mature.

the woman said it didn't matter. all that mattered was that she finished her report.

the woman went to a desolate place away from all people. in the wasteland she finished writing her report and placed it somewhere it would be found.

then she went further into the wasteland and sat in an open field, waiting for the end.

at the appointed time, there was a great earthquake,

the ground around her subsided and broke into tiny sharp rocks, and then the tiny butte of land that she was sitting on collapsed into the slide of jagged gravel.

she fell through the rockslide like a raft shooting the rapids.


then she woke, bloodied but whole, in an office building.

a computer was on a desk, it had a message for her.

the message said that the re'kaab had chosen her to be equal partners, not food.

it was up to her to decide if that was to her liking.

[T]he fundamental problem is that RPC [Remote Procedure Call] tries to make a distributed invocation look like a local one. This can't work because the failure modes in distributed systems are quite different from those in local systems, so you find yourself having to introduce more and more infrastructure that tries to hide all the hard details and problems that lurk beneath. That's how we got Apollo NCS and Sun RPC and DCE and CORBA and DSOM and DCOM and EJB and SOAP and JAX-RPC, to name a few off the top of my head, each better than what came before in some ways but worse in other ways, especially footprint and complexity. But it's all for naught because no amount of infrastructure can ever hide those problems of distribution. Network partitions are real, timeouts are real, remote host and service crashes are real, the need for piecemeal system upgrade and handling version differences between systems is real, etc. The distributed systems programmer *must* deal with these and other issues because they affect different applications very differently; no amount of hiding or abstraction can make these problems disappear.
- Steve Vinoski
http://erlang.org/pipermail/erlang-questions/2008-May/035207.html

"The layers of complexity required to maintain the resulting leaky illusion of local/remote transparency are reminiscent of the convoluted equations that pre-Copernican astronomers used to explain how the Sun and other planets revolved around the Earth."

- Steve Vinoski (from "Serendipitous Reuse" http://dsonline.computer.org/portal/pages/dsonline/2008/02/w1tow.html)

also in the above post
http://beepcore.org/
the peer to peer protocol...

http://erldocs.com/otp_src_R13B/

its like alternative rock, except it's alternative docs.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2252340/1/Evidence_of_Shadows

hattip the xkcd bad_sex thread
http://echochamber.me/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=4125&start=80

But for the two superstars, the heart was broken by essentially the same kinds of abuses to the body. In Elvis’s case, obesity and prescription pain killers. In Michael Jackson’s case, it is very likely that anorexia and prescription painkillers did him in. In some ways, anorexia is the obverse of obesity in the sense of reflecting an unhealthy relationship to food.

from
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/michael-jackson-elvis-presley-and-the-perils-of-fame/

Should I buy a kingston 64GB thumb drive direct from china for USD$36 just to see if it arrives?

http://www.dhgate.com/wholesale/flash-memory-drives/c160410.html

http://www.dhgate.com/1-pcs-new-kingston-data-traveler-150-usb/p-ff80808122266d3401222a29b1dd1c02.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGNb-YT5ECA



Music that's not brain surgery. It's more like brain assault.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathcore

I can't actually listen the whole way through, but the concept is interesting.

If you want bizarre time signatures and lyrics you can actually hear, try Slint - which from the softer Math Rock genre

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoH5MPIgM7c

Slint's Goodmorning captain

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/02/wireless.electricity/index.html

Ultimately, Giler's group from MIT wants to combine the best of both worlds: large amounts of power sent over long distances.

Their technology is called "magnetically coupled resonance," and it basically sends a magnetic field through the air at a specific frequency that an an enabled phone or TV can pick up and turn back into electricity. It works kind of like sound. Think about how an opera singer can break a wine glass if he sings at just the right frequency.

Adding the technology to cell phones, mp3 players and other devices should not increase their cost much, he said.

I wonder if the modulated magnetic field would interfere with devices like speakers or MRI machines?