Monday, September 29, 2003

Science Toys

Okay...this site is just plain fun. I'm going home and building a film can cannon with my kiddo's tonight.

For those who won't bother to look unless they get a cookie first, it's a web site full of little experiments that you can put together with household stuff that demonstrate various scientific principles (and can be fun to to as well). Launch a plastic film can 20 feet in the air with a cigarrete lighter clicker, 2 wires, and a little squirt of binaca...intrigued?

CNN.com - Private space race nears finale - Sep. 29, 2003

Ahh, at last, a subject near and dear to my heart (one I care about where a worthy article isn't one that makes me irritated). I don't know about you, but I want to take a space vacation someday. All I can say is "good luck!" (I have everything crossed that I can think of).

Friday, September 26, 2003

IBM Files New Claims Against SCO in Linux Case

Interesting...SCO's stock doesn't seem to have fared well after this hit the news...I'm, like, all sad and stuff.

Thursday, September 25, 2003

Ananova - Electronic paper may lead to watchable clothing: "Electronic paper may lead to watchable clothing"

I think the title says it all, really. Might be interesting, if you're a geek like me.

Monday, September 22, 2003

ICANN says "Whoa, there, Verisign..."

They may be largely ineffective these days, but apparently, ICANN is at least going to ask Verisign politely to "please suspend this 'service' until we can find out how bad it is". Evidently 20,000 or so screaming netizens got heard, or at least their screaming was noticed.

Now if only we could get the DOJ to ask Darl McBride to "voluntarily self-immolate", we'd be all set.

Friday, September 19, 2003

Trusted Computing FAQ TC / TCG / LaGrande / NGSCB / Longhorn / Palladium

Ever wonder just how little control over your PC you can plan on having? Read up. No words for the lazy this time, this is worth reading.

TCS: Tech Central Station - Just Add Water

Dehydrated water, anyone? Well, not quite, but a damn fine invention, nonetheless. I can think of more than a few situations where this invention would come in handy.

Once again, for those too lazy to read...It's a plastic bag with very tiny holes (600 times smaller than the smallest bacterium). You stick it in some water...dirty as you please, and it fills up with uncontaminated H2O.

Thursday, September 18, 2003

Verisign SU-UUUUUCKS! So does it's CEO. A lot. I'm not even kidding.

If you haven't heard about the hijacking of the internet (courtesy of Verisign), you probably won't understand why this is interesting.

For those too lazy to read...Verisign decided to abuse it's position as the company entrusted to run the .com and .net name-servers (they tell your web browser how to get to a particular website when you type in it's address), by showing an ad-driven search-page for non-existent addresses. This means that every time somebody mis-types a domain name, verisign gets ad revenue. Hardly fair to other companies that have domain name registration services, and probably illegal. It also breaks some things about the domain name system (DNS) that make it harder to fight spam.

Want to know what Stratton D. Sclavos (Verisign's CEO) is thought of by the "voting" public? 4% approval rating, and falling fast. Click the "Verisign sucks" link at the top of this entry, and look for Stratton's name, to cast your vote.

Tuesday, September 16, 2003

The Genetically Modified Bomb

It's a short comment from here (page 60) that the article author greatly expands upon. What the hell are these people thinking?

I'm running for president in 2008

Click the link to find out where I stand...I'm a pretty reasonable guy, I think. Agree with me? Fed up with dems/republicans/libertarians/etc? Let me know.

CNN.com - Making a video screen out of thin air - Sep. 15, 2003

Somewhat interesting stuff...not the holographic projector I was hoping for, but hey, it's a start...