[from bloomberg.com] Almost 70 years after George Orwell created the all-seeing dictator Big Brother in the novel “1984,” Britons are being watched as never before. About 4.2 million spy cameras film each citizen 300 times a day, and police have built the world’s largest DNA database. Prime Minister Tony Blair said all Britons should carry…
deep linking’s shallow grave
via [slashdot] Judge Rules Against Deep-Linking of Content Posted by Zonk on Friday December 22, @04:35PM from the this-makes-a-lot-of-sense-honest dept. The Internet The Courts An anonymous reader writes “A Texas judge has ruled that, if a copyright owner objects to the linking of content from another web site, that link must be taken down. This…
Next : Mining the Moon
via [wired] NASA’s planned moon base announced last week could pave the way for deeper space exploration to Mars, but one of the biggest beneficiaries may be the terrestrial energy industry. Nestled among the agency’s 200-point mission goals is a proposal to mine the moon for fuel used in fusion reactors — futuristic power plants…
humanity : doomed to run before it walks
Rumor has it NASA wants to build a colony on the moon. Is this another example of our culture getting ahead of itself? Do we always do this? Most of us still are unable to RTFM on things that have been around for decades much less something that’s not been yet attempted. We’re cloning living,…
if thousands
Perhaps the Twin Cities should be renamed Trio Town because some folks seem to forget about a well kept secret: Duluth. Duluth is a mix between my last two residences: Juneau and Seattle. The waterfront on giant Lake Superior mixed with the actively creative population who live there [read Trampled by Turtles, Charlie Parr, If…
Symmetry
“There are thousands of other striking instances of animal asymmetry. The akita dog in Japan with a tail that curls one way on males, the other way on females, the tendency of dolphins to swim counterclockwise around tanks, the asymmetric sex organ of the male bedbug, a fungus called laboulbeniales that grows only on the…
Linux to take over Edu market?
kids obviously don’t have as long of a history with Windows as the adults. What about them? I wanted to find out for myself so I put Linux to the test with the two most demanding public school students I know — some pals’ kids. I loaded Xandros Professional 4 onto an old Compaq Presario…
John Henry hear this
In the continuing quest to see if humans can outpace their electronic creations, the humans have lost another, perhaps decisive, round. A six-game chess match between Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, the world champion, and Deep Fritz, a souped-up version of commercially available chess software made by Chessbase, ended today in victory for the computer, which…
Roma di Luna
Roma di Luna is an acoustic duo whose music recalls early 20th century folk and country set to modern times. As husband and wife, Alexei and Channy Casselle co-write songs that are plaintive, sometimes dark yet “hauntingly soothing†noted for “simple instrumentation along with piercing, emotively beautiful vocals.†The songs are presented in a stark…
Lifetime Dog
“A lot of people tell me I’m living their fantasy life,” Katz said. “There are a lot of frustrated, alienated people who just aren’t doing what they want. I think that’s sad.” Katz has done what many frazzled urbanites can only dream of doing: He chucked a spirit-sapping life in suburban New Jersey, bought a…
Ultraman’s 40th Birthday today
dunno if many other people grew up watching this show in the 70’s and 80’s or not but it was a staple in my early TV diet. my friends and i played Ultraman in snow, rain and shine. we lived it, actually, and each of us had our respective Beta Capsules so as to be…
Shrine of Saint Tourista
the latest musical invention from yours truly, featuring upright and electric basses, four-string guitar, lapsteel, piano, steel drum, shaker, drumkit, harmonica and this time loops and effects as it was all recorded on an old, rebuilt 500Mhz Powerbook G4 lappie [except Insider] , mixed using Audacity and dumped out here for your discerning judgement. shrine…
Growing up with Newsweek
Newsweek loves to feature articles about Autism. People love to buy Newsweek and read articles about Autism. If the following cliche’ is true [about Autism] then most of the world is Autistic only they don’t know it yet: Work is play and play is work Sound like anyone in YOUR neighborhood? When was the last…
I’LL be a monkey’s uncle [part II]
How to become a human. = c
iPhone on the way???
There’s no hard evidence Apple will release [or is even building] the iPhone, though for such a secretive company, which almost never comments on future products, that’s no surprise. Tons of rumour sites point to the following evidence as proof the iPhone’s release is imminent: the company’s application for the iPhone trademark; the iphone.org URL…
Halfmoon’s full sound
when i last knew Mr Lund he was a bass savant with the potential to be anything he so chose. well, he obviously still is, only now, evolved, he and Nico blend an assortment of instruments, she on keys, he on [gasp] guitar and effects, into this most original sound = HALFMOON. am i surprised?…
Give yourself a present [PART II]
Harry, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t plan it, don’t wait for it, just…let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men’s store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee.
Give yourself a present [PART I]
We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. Joseph Campbell
i’ll be a monkey’s uncle
To a teacher of languages there comes a time when the world is but a place of many words and man appears a mere talking animal not much more wonderful than a parrot. – Joseph Conrad One of the reasons it is unclear whether or not animals may properly be said to be conscious is…
Good news for air guitarists
It’s called the WIS – the Wearable Instrument Shirt – and it is tipped to make the air guitar as obsolete as the horse and cart. Scientists at the CSIRO’s Textile and Fibre Technology division in Geelong have woven electronic sensors into a T-shirt so that it can be played liked a real guitar. Movements…
INLAND EMPIRE will debut in US in December
When asked about Inland Empire, Lynch responds that it is “about a woman in trouble, and it’s a mystery, and that’s all I want to say about it.” Most of the film’s details have been kept under wraps. It’s set in the Riverside/San Bernadino, California area just east of Los Angeles, which is also known…
no more dishpan hands
Stanford scientists plan to make a robot capable of performing everyday tasks, such as unloading the dishwasher. By programming the robot with “intelligent” software that enables it to pick up objects it has never seen before, the scientists are one step closer to creating a real life Rosie, the robot maid from The Jetsons cartoon…