GeekPress goes on vacation: Diana and I will be out of town attending the Four Day Defensive Handgun Course at the Front Sight Firearms Training Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada. GeekPress will return on May 1, 2002!

Women's professional golf celebrations are a lot more interesting than men's. (Here's a picture of the trophy from a less salacious angle. Thanks to my brother Tim for the link.)

The Science-Fiction Tax: A Republican congressional candidate from Alabama has proposed a 1% tax on all science fiction books to pay for NASA. (Via Geeknews.net)

MIT researchers have invented a mobile phone that transmits both voice as well as vibrations. According to the article, "When you squeeze with a finger, a vibration signal is transmitted to your caller's corresponding finger, its strength dependent on how hard you squeeze." This adds new meaning to the slogan, "Reach out and touch someone"...

Gates Shrugged: Microsoft chairman Bill Gates warned that if the US Government forces him to modify the Windows operating system against his will, he might just have to take it off the market.

Doesn't add up: Officials at the Iowa State Mathematics Championship tournament added the scores incorrectly and awarded first place to the wrong school.

The real Scorpion King was one bad dude. (Via Fark.)

Transplantation breakthrough: Stanford physician have found a way to transplant human kidneys without requiring the recipient to stay on a lifelong course of anti-rejection drugs. The donated kidneys do not have to come from a relative either. Part of the technique involves using adult stem cells from the donor to teach the recipient not to recognize the new kidney as "foreign". According to the article, this is "the direction in which transplantation will move in the future".

Dead links multiply very quickly on the internet according to a recent study, which is why the Internet Archive will be such a valuable resource when it gets up and running.

The Brava breast pump is a device that supposedly allows women to enlarge their breasts by applying gentle suction overnight to the tissues. For those impatient customers who want to monitor their development, the manufacturers have also thoughtfully built in a modem into the recharging device so that it uploads breast measurement changes daily onto the Brava website.

Ultrawideband sensors may be able to look through walls and track object locations down to the fraction of an inch. Which is why Sony, Motorola, Intel, and DaimerChrysler are now very interested in this technology.

Black holes aren't black holes according to this new theory from Los Alamos National Laboratory. Instead, they are spherical voids in space surrounded by "an ultra-thin, ultra-cold, ultra-dark shell of material that is virtually indestructible" which they call Gravastars. (Hey, isn't this the hideout of the dread Emperor Zurg and his Fortress of Doom?)

My old Sony Vaio was pretty cool, but the new ones look very slick.

Three clone pregnancies now supposedly exist, according to the controversial Dr. Antinori.

RightWingNews.com has a great interview with Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit on a variety of topics ranging from political blogging to 2nd Amendment rights, internet music trading, and the war on terrorism. My favorite quote:

"I don't think I'm really a 'conservative' in any meaningful sense. At least when you apply the term 'conservative' to describe someone who supports gay marriage, the legality of cloning, and the eventual modification of the Martian climate to make it earthlike, I'm not sure what, exactly, is being conserved."

The Yahoo! yodeler Wylie Gustfason has settled his lawsuit against the Yahoo! company. By the terms of the agreement, he was not allowed to disclose the exact amount but he did reportedly yell a big "Yahoo!" when it was all over.

Forbes reviews space tourism options for the (very) well-heeled.

"Super-bacteria" that are resistant to multiple advanced antibiotics are becoming a serious problem in Western medicine. Fortunately, viruses from the former Soviet Union may be just what the doctor ordered.

A British composer will premiere "an interactive symphony written for the ring tones of 30 mobile phones" this summer.

Oral sex and cooking don't mix.

It's not junk, it's valuable legacy hardware: When historians need to retrieve old computer data from obsolete storage media, they turn to people like Lee Tydlaska. Lawyers really love him as well.

Which country has the 2nd most home internet users after the USA? Surprise -- it's China.

Graduate students in biotechnology are getting the royal treatment from startup companies eager to hire them, much the way that Unix and PERL gurus were treated a few years ago by the dotcoms. Will history repeat itself?

The blog of the guy who created Blogger. (Via ThreeRiver.)

It's hard to get smaller than a single-molecule electronic switch.

I'd love it if my home computer and electronics equipment could automatically network themselves together.

Do we really need another musical recording format?

Virtual reality body suits will of course have many useful military and industrial applications. But we all know that the real money will be in the sex industry.

A great way to learn about American culture is to study its conspiracy theories.

The following words are not considered libelous: "skank", "chicken-butt", "local loser". And oh yeah, "big skank".

I always wondered if Jesus had a good 3-point shot. (Via Khava.)

In Missouri, "junk faxes" are apparently considered Constitutionally-protected free speech, even though the recipient has to pay for paper, toner, etc. Maybe Missouri should change its state motto to "The 'Fax Me' State".

Some people have used this PayPay hack to buy stuff for nearly free. As the article says, "Crooked shoppers can edit the HTML of ThaiGem's PayPal Web Accept page and mark a $2,000 white diamond down to $1 if they desire."

I never knew that there were so many penis euphemisms.

High speed internet access via laser beams shot through your window.

The $1 billion hack? One multinational corporation is suing another for allegedly hiring computer crackers to steal its corporate secrets and post them on the internet. As the article notes, "Stealing your competitor’s secrets to cash in on them is as old as commerce itself. But stealing your enemy’s secrets and giving them away, thereby diluting or eliminating their value? That seems to be a new corporate weapon born of the Internet age."

Anna Hardin and Kelty Allen, two roommates at a South Carolina residential high school both scored a perfect 1600 on their SAT's. It is expected that their room, now known as "Room 3200", will be in great demand in the future.

NASA wants you to help them discover comets for them over the internet. This amateur astronomer did.

3-dimensional displays without the dorky glasses.

Human cloning may be the current hot political issue, but here are some of the more interesting upcoming bioethics problems.

Darth Vader and Joe Pesci do tech support.

The man who sings the Yahoo! yodel is suing Yahoo! for $5 million. He says that they paid him $590 for the rights to use the now-famous yodel for one commercial only, then they've continued to use it in thousands of subsequent TV ads without his permission. (After the lawsuit is resolved, will he be singing "Woo-hoo-o-o-o-o...!" or "Boo-hoo-o-o-o-o..."?)

Today's Dumb Internet Idea is the new game in which 5 contestants from Great Britain will allow lurkers on the internet to vote on how they should live their lives for the next 15 days. The internet users will decide all sorts of major life decisions for these people such as whom to date, whether to buy real estate, what sort of permanent tattoo to get, etc. (For the morbidly curious, the website for the game is here.)

An infrared remote control wristwatch can be useful for all sorts of practical jokes. (Via WonkoSlice.)

In a merging of two future technologies, Georgia Tech researchers have used self-assembling nanoparticles to create photonic crystals with precise optical properties. The hope is that these may be useful someday in developing optical computers.

Australian scientists claim to have invented a real-life thinking cap that can increase one's brain power. Other scientists are skeptical and say they need a time-out.

"Are You Hot or Not?", the Russian version. The best part is running the URL through the Babelfish translator and reading its rendering of the 1-10 rating scale. (Via Fark.)

Andrew Sullivan argues that "weblogs are to words what Napster was to music".

Random noise can be converted to one-way rotational energy with this clever device. It doesn't violate any of the laws of thermodynamics, but it is somewhat counterintuitive. These sorts of "Browning ratchets" are also the basis of Parrondo's Paradox, in which it is possible for someone to switch back and forth at random between two games which are mathematically losers, and generate a net win.

Are beepers obsolete? This article argues that they will be soon, given the rise in advanced cell phone services. But I personally like the relatively low-tech approach. My friends who have Blackberries or cell phones are virtual slaves to their communications devices (or at least they feel that way), whereas I have no problem answering my pager on my own schedule.

Why should we fool around drilling for oil on Earth when we can get all the electricity we need from the Moon?

Inventor of Pong honored: The University of Utah recently honored Nolan Bushnell for inventing Pong and reshaping (some would claim destroying) American entertainment culture. (It's hard to believe that we've gone from Pong to Everquest in little over 30 years. It should be interesting to see what happens in the next 30 years of computer gaming.)

NASA is trying to get more African-Americans into astrophysics and the other space sciences. Unfortunately, they'll have a hard time doing so as long as bright young black students face denigration from their own peers, such as this:

Some top students lifted their faces from difficult physics textbooks only to receive what amounted to a slap from a black hand. One example: Two African American undergraduate students on the Harvard University wrestling team were walking from the gym. The younger one, a kid from the Bronx named Neil, complained that his astrophysics courses weren't leaving him time to sleep. The banter stopped as abruptly as their footfalls. "Blacks in America do not have the luxury of your intellectual talents being spent on astrophysics," declared the elder student, waving his hand in front of Neil's chest.

(Link via Rand Simberg.)

"Blog Nation": James Wolcott asks, "Are weblogs the blinking neurons of an emerging, chatterbox superbrain? Or are these proliferating online diaries merely podiums for bush-league blowhards? Truth be told, they're a bit of both..." (Yet another writer marvels at the popularity of weblogs. I wonder if these same people marveled at the popularity of Usenet in its heyday?)

Resistance is futile: Speaking of Argentina, a species of Argentine ants that were introduced into Europe 80 years ago have grown into a single "super-colony" over 3700 miles long, consisting of billions of ants in millions of nests. These ants have taken over large parts of coastal Portugal, Spain, France, and Italy from the various species of native European ants. The only potentially threatening rival is a second supercolony of Argentine ants based in the Catalan region of Spain.

Computer cracking is legal in Argentina, because the law only forbids attacks against "people, things, and animals" but not digital attacks. Apparently, the courts don't regard a computer as a "thing".

Which "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" character are you? Take this quiz to find out.

iDrive: Kuro5hin has a thought-provoking review article about the new driver interface for automobiles developed by BMW for their 7-series cars. Instead of multiple buttons, levers, and dials to control a car's functions, the BMW iDrive uses a single "haptic" force feedback controller to take the place of the gearshift, handbrake, and the numerous other input devices that control a car's navigation, entertainment, and driver environment. Although the learning curve takes several hours, it could significantly alter the driving experience in the same way the GUI's revolutioned computer user experience for those used to the command line interface. Or given that it's based on Windows CE, it could just turn out to be a huge marketing flop.

I hate when this happens: In one of the most bizarre medical mishaps that I've ever read about, a Danish man farted while his physician was in the middle of removing a mole on his buttocks with an electric scalpel. A spark from the scalpel ignited the gas which then set his genitals on fire, because they had been washed with "flammable surgical spirits". As WonkoSlice says, "It's funny because he's Danish"...

US Supreme Court strikes down child pornography law: In a very sensible decision, the US Supreme Court struck down the "virtual child pornography" law which made it illegal to distribute-computer generated images that appeared to be that of children engaging in sexual acts, even if no real children were involved. The text of the ruling is available here. (This is excellent news. As much as I think that child pornography is despicable, mere computer simulations of children having sex don't violate any child's rights. Plus if the law were allowed to stand, then one could argue that line drawings of child pornography or text-only descriptions should be just as illegal - a clearly ridiculous conclusion.)

Teenage mutant ninja noodles: For the astronaut on a budget, a consortium of Japanese companies is developing a version of ramen instant noodles safe for outer space. (Link via Solsberg.)

How long does it take stolen credit card data to go around the world? Because of the internet, about 15 minutes.

The best use for Bluetooth is being able to pass secret notes to your friends during boring meetings.

Catholic high school principal wants his female students to stop dressing like "Catholic schoolgirls".

The internet is the cause of 1 in 10 British couples with marital difficulties according to this article. (But at least these people should be easily able to find new partners via the internet...)

Digital bullying is becoming very common among British schoolchildren with mobile text messaging. (I would think that it should be fairly to catch and punish the perpetrators, since the threatening messages can be traced back to the sender.)

This counter-terrorism class for ordinary citizens will teach you how multiple ways to take out a hijacker with just a can of Coke, among other tricks. Not bad knowledge to have if you're on an airplane or in some other situation where you're unarmed. (Via Plastic.)

The "Black Death" of the Middle Ages was probably not the disease we now call the bubonic plague.

A presidential candidate in France slapped a kid on national TV who attempted to pick his pocket. As a result, his poll ratings have increased. For once, I think the French populace is showing more common sense than Americans would in a similar situation.

The all-you-can-eat buffet is a classic dining institution. But it's not a trivial task to devise the optimal eating strategy. (Via ALD.)

Spammers are using all sorts of deceptive subject headings and other techniques to trick you into opening their unwanted e-mail.

Liberal Bay Area parents who grew up in the 1960's apparently have no problems advocating restrictions on what their kids can read on the internet.

"Linux for the masses": MSNBC of all places has a nice review of the Lycoris Desktop/LX Linux distribution. The review is quite positive, and the author recommends this as an excellent starting point for a Linux novice.

Your nanny cam is beaming wireless images that eavesdroppers can watch up to a quarter mile away.

Those flu-like symptoms you think you're experiencing might really be post-orgasmic syndrome.

Twins seeking twins: I'm surprised that no one had thought of doing this earlier. (Here's the website.)

Inside the Magic 8-Ball: These intrepid investigators dissect a Magic 8-Ball in order to answer questions like "What is the distribution of positive to negative answers?" and "What does the mysterious blue fluid taste like?"

All games, all the time: The G4 all-video-game TV network is set to launch soon. (IMHO, this sounds like a business model doomed to fail. Who wants to watch other people play video games all day? But then, I thought the Golf Channel was a dumb idea as well...)

Cybercrime up in China: The mainland Chinese "Ministry of Public Security" reports that computer crime has increased dramatically (over 40-fold) during the past 4 years. Of course, they include in their definition of cybercrime both conventional computer crimes (such as computer embezzlement or spreading viruses) as well as "harming national security" with a computer (for instance, by attacking Party leaders, promoting Falun Gong, or stirring up "splittist" and "separatist" sentiments). It's nice to see that classic overblown Cold War rhetoric remains alive and well in the "Chinese People's Daily"...

The Amazing Orwellian Spider-Man: Some building owners in NYC are suing Columbia Pictures for digitally altering the appearance of their buildings in the upcoming "Spider-Man" movie. They claim that Columbia has used special effects to remove the Samsung advertisements on their buildings and replace them with ads for USA Today. Columbia (which is owned by Sony, a competitor to Samsung) has not commented on the lawsuit. USA Today's response was basically, "Hey, they just picked us -- we didn't pay anyone for this."

Voice mail theft is surprisingly easy.

With all this talk about asteroids slamming into the Earth, it's nice to see that the Earth is fighting back.

"We have met the enemy and he is us": According to this recent unscientific survey of London commuters, two-thirds of those asked would gladly hand over their company computer password to a total stranger. Of course even if they didn't, a malicious hacker would still stand an excellent chance of breaking into their systems since the most commonly used password was "password". (Via Techdirt.)

A lot of stuff goes on behind the scenes when you make an online purchase with your credit card.

Moore's Law marches on through a variety of quiet technical advances on the chip-making front.

Your handy guide to wireless home networking lingo.

Better living through stress and strain: MIT materials scientist Gene Fitzgerald has devised a way to make chips run faster by straining the silicon first.

(Ok, this is getting scary now. Gene Fitzgerald is the third of my college fraternity housemates to move on to do Great Things. Gene is a star professor at MIT and co-founder of his own startup company, AmberWave. One of my former roommates Karl Sims won a MacArthur "genius" grant in 1998 for ground-breaking work in computer graphics. And Brewster Kahle co-founded Alexa, and is also the inventor of the Internet Archive and the Wayback Machine. Maybe I should have drunk more beer with those guys back then!...)

There's been lots of publicity in the mainstream press over a recent EPA report bemoaning the fact that American waterways are becoming more polluted. For some reason, there hasn't been as much publicity about another recent government study showing that fish seem to be adapting to the pollution just fine.

Some websites like to use JavaScript to hijack your registry.

Black holes generate their own unique music.

Classmates.com is a great way for old high school friends to track you down. Unfortunately, it's also becoming an increasingly popular way for stalkers and private investigators to do the same...

A school teacher admitted to phoning in a fake bomb threat so that she could get the day off from work. (Link via ObscureStore.)

Your tax dollars at work: The US Army is developing "indestructible sandwiches" for soldiers to eat on run when on the battlefield. They will be even more convenient than current MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat), and intended for times when MRE preparation is not feasible. (I hate to admit it, but they actually look pretty good...)

Mobile tactical robots: I never knew that just a few miles away from my house, scientists in Littleton, Colorado were developing a robot army. (It's probably not as messy as building an army by crossing orcs and men...)

Panic rooms, California style.

America is often accused of cultural imperialism, but Richard Pells argues that it would be more accurate to describe American mass culture as a mirror of the world's cultures. (Via ALD.)

A pair of excellent articles argue that we should be less worried about global warming and instead more worried about an asteroid striking the Earth.

"Simpsons" episode pisses off Brazilian president, threatens to spark international incident. Although this sounds like it should be an April Fool's story, it isn't. According to this article: "When the Simpsons, America's favourite dysfunctional family, visited Brazil last week they made some offbeat observations. The cartoon characters found that Rio de Janeiro is a city where all men are bisexual, where fearsome monkeys roam the streets, and tourists are kidnapped by taxi drivers and mugged by children... Unfortunately, the Rio tourist board did not see the funny side and is preparing to sue the producers, Fox, for damage to its international image and loss of revenue. The issue threatens to become a diplomatic incident... The Brazilian president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, has entered the fray claiming that the cartoon 'brought a distorted vision of Brazilian reality'." (Via MetaFilter.)

One good way to build employee loyalty is the hook up your main office with an extensive wireless network that allows them to bring their laptops to the beach while they're working. (To RIA: hint! hint!)

Why is Creationism on the rise in the UK? According to Patrick West, the academic left is as much to blame as the religious right. Given that both camps are suspicious of reason, this is not as surprising as it might seem at first glance. (Via SciTech Daily.)

To increase milk production from cows some farmers are pampering them on waterbeds. (Soft music and candlelight apparently didn't work as well.)

Anyone in graduate school (such as Diana) should read this essay, "The Benefits of Earning a PhD".

Unique web clock: My brother Tim pointed me towards this clever web clock.

"This Arrest Brought to You By Pepsi": In a bizarre new business model, the Mooresville, NC police department will now allow their patrol cars to be sponsored by advertisers.

Is this the script for the upcoming "Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones"? Or is it just a clever fraud? You can decide for yourself. There's also a text version for those who prefer that format. (Via MetaFilter.)

If an asteroid were ever to threaten to collide with the Earth, one way to deflect it would be to paint it a different color.

High school chess stars are in greater demand as more colleges are competing to recruit them with generous chess scholarships. (Via Fark.)

Airport security tips for geeks: Some useful hints on how best to pack your computer and electronics gear to minimize the hassle factor when going through airport security. (I'm most amused when security screeners ask me to turn on my cell phone or laptop to prove that it works. Their implicit assumption "that no item with a working LCD screen could possibly contain a bomb" seems dubious at best. Haven't they seen any James Bond movies?)

Stem cell research in Great Britain is going to boom because of the favorable legal climate there compared to the US. They've already lured some top researchers from American universities, and this could be the beginning of a British "brain gain".

The last f*cking thing I want in my wallet is a credit card that beeps when I open it up. (2nd article on the page)

"South Park" really has killed Kenny -- for good, this time. You bastards!

Back to the Future? University of Connecticut physics professor Ronald Mallett believes he can build a working time machine capable of transporting subatomic particles into the past. He hopes to have a "working mockup and start experiments this fall." (Via Ars Technica.)

Geeks looking for the ultimate high tech dating experience can find it at the Remote Lounge in NYC. Interestingly enough, according to the article the anonymous calling feature is more popular with women than men.

The new dating scene in Silicon Valley: Ever since the dot-com crash, the dating culture Silicon Valley has changed considerably -- mostly for the better. However there are still some quirks, such as the "upgrade mentality".

One of the most tasteless Flash games I've ever seen is "Watch Out Behind You, Hunter!". In this third-person shooter, you are a redneck hunter who has to shoot naked men who will otherwise leap out of the bushes and attack you from the rear. (Link via Zebulun.)

Forbes has their own list of features one should look for in a real life "panic room".

Why settle for a mere DVD player when you can get a holographic video recorder?

Possible cloned human fetus? An unconfirmed report states that a woman is 8 weeks pregnant with a human clone. Details are very sketchy at present.

An asteroid could strike the Earth in the year 2880. But with advances in life-extension technology, perhaps Bruce Willis will still be around to save us...

The MPAA claims that file-swappers are "terrorizing" the entertainment industry.

Humbling science news of the day: Rice has more genes than people.

Some scientists are disturbed at the thought that physical constants might not be constant.

Why are so many weblogs either conservative or libertarian? Norah Vincent argues that it's a response to the liberal bias in the standard news media, which is why these weblogs infuriate the mainstream commentators so much.

Poetic justice: After a flasher unzipped his fly and exposed his genitalia to a 12-year old girl in an elevator, she grabbed his zipper and quickly yanked it up. I bet it will be a while before he "roasts the frank and beans" again... (Link via ObscureStore.)

A Japanese company has invented "smart" drinking glasses that can order their own refills.

Talking washing machine: Electrolux will release a high-tech talking washing machine in India that can sense the wash load and automatically determine the best wash program, wash time, and water level. The machine will also give simple verbal instructions in English and Hindi in a "warm female voice". (Personally, I'd buy one if it spoke in the voice of Apu from the Simpsons!)

The Prisoner's Dilemma can be won by both parties if they are allowed to use strategies based on quantum entanglement.

If you want to build your own real-life "panic room", then you should read these handy tips.

Computer ban ruled illegal: After George Sofsky pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography over the internet, part of his sentence included a provision banning him from using computers for a certain period of time after he got out of jail. In an interesting legal development, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that part of his sentence. According to the article, "the court likened banning computer use to prohibiting people who conduct crimes via phone or mail from using those communication methods", stating that "a total ban on Internet access prevents use of e-mail, an increasingly widely used form of communication..."

Corporate anthems as cult hits: Despite the fact that they are so bad (or perhaps because of it), many corporate anthem songs are now big cult hits on the internet. For the masochist, the current Top 20 list is available here.

Bad karoke singers can now rejoice. The latest version of Taito's karoke sound system will automatically adjust pitch and tempo to individual singers.

Alternate terrorist warning systems: The current color code used by the Office of Homeland Security to warn us about the level of terrorist threat (red, orange, yellow, blue, green) is way too boring. Fortunately, Barry Smith has some humorous alternatives. (Via BKW.)

Automated cameras at stop lights are becoming very popular with cash-strapped city governments looking for ways to issue traffic tickets more efficiently (all in the name of "public safety" of course). But this article examines some of the hidden economic incentives behind these systems, and it also asks "what other law enforcement tool snags the wrong guy over one-fourth of the time, and is still considered a success?" (Thanks to Joshua Zader for the link.)

Floating ads are the next big "innovation" by online advertisers determined to disrupt your browsing experience..., I mean, bring valuable commercial information to your attention.

Francis Fukuyama became famous in the 1990's for predicting that the end of the Cold War would mean an era of world peace and an end to global conflicts. Undeterred by that error, in his latest book "Our Posthuman Future" he frets about biotechnology and how it will adversely alter human nature. (For a more positive analysis of the effects of biotechnology and nanotechnology on human nature, take a look at this intriguing debate between Ray Kurzweil and Max More.)

"Silicon Valley Reboots": Although there were some incredibly stupid internet business ideas in the high-flying 1990's, the hardships of the recent dot.com bust have left the rest of Silicon Valley in a stronger position and poised for an economic rebirth.

Quantum data storage breakthrough: Scientists at Harvard have shown that it is possible to transfer quantum bits (qubits) into a physical storage medium, then retrieve the quantum state intact. This could have major implications in the development of quantum computers.

Canadian dollar falls due to April Fools joke: I'm not saying that the Canadians are gullible or anything but according to this article, "An April Fool's Day internet report that Canadian Finance Minister Paul Martin would quit his job to breed Charolais cows and 'handsome fawn runner ducks' sent the Canadian dollar lower Monday, as the market grabbed at the straw of anything that might resemble news." (Via Techdirt.)

Bored by traditional jelly bean flavors? Fortunately, CAP Candy sells bizarre new flavors "such as liver, booger, ear wax and sardines." Unfortunately, "nacho, pickle, and liver" aren't yet available...

"Bogus Bias at MIT": Is gender bias at MIT really a problem? Or could it be that the reports alleging such bias are themselves biased?

Business Week also thinks that nanotechnology "will transform our way of life". Science News warns that it might not always be for the better. (As usual, both the hype and the fears about nanotech are still very speculative...)