New Google problem in China: "A mysterious new obstacle has emerged for Chinese internet surfers attempting to use the Google search engine - entering politically sensitive search phrases crashes their internet connection."

The Nielsen system will start incorporating TiVo viewership data into its television ratings.

Astronomer Martin Rees warns that Mars could look like the Wild West if private space agencies are allowed to land there before presumably more enlightened government space agencies. (Actually, the possibility doesn't sound too bad to me!)

Supersized Silly Putty: A surprising number of people are buying bulk quantities of Silly Putty. Here's how you can, too. (Via Metafilter.)

"Tissue engineers grow penis in the lab"

Mathematics of "The Wave" in sports stadiums.

Mainland China is now allowing citizens to use the Google search engine again.

This is a bizarre coincidence. (Via BBspot.)

Chinese scientists have been giving Viagra to male pandas to get them to be more interested in breeding. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have worked.

Iowa finally gets its first Starbucks. (Via Obscure Store.)

"Star Trek:TNG" meets Microsoft. (Via Madville.)

An amateur astronomer in Arizona may have discovered a new moon around the Earth.

As expected, there's a lot of weblog commentary today on 9/11. My favorite so far is this essay by NZ Bear.

There are a lot of remembrance sites for 9/11: This one is one of the best. (Warning -- lengthy download.)

Forbidden thoughts about 9/11: Salon has two stories on forbidden thoughts on 9/11 here and here.

Great profile of Eugene Volokh, the UCLA law professor who runs one of the best libertarian legal blogs out there. (Link via Quare.)

Is meditation hazardous to your health?

Ferroelectric crystals can remember sounds.

Buzz Aldrin punches out lunar landing skeptic: According to this article, "Authorities are investigating a complaint that retired astronaut Buzz Aldrin punched a man in the face, because he was asked to swear on a Bible that he had been on the moon... Bart Sibrel says he was socked by the Apollo 11 astronaut after confronting him about the 1969 lunar mission. The 37-year-old from Nashville says he does not believe Aldrin or anyone else has ever walked on the moon."

As Boing Boing says, "You the man, Buzz."

A pair of interesting articles on using the internet to plagiarize school papers: Although students are more frequently using Google to help them plagiarize term papers, teachers can also use the website to catch cheaters. Plus some teachers are adopting a novel approach -- they're assigning papers that require the students to think for themselves.

In this ultra-wired California high school, surveillance cameras continuously track the location of each student. So much for privacy.

"Scientists Develop Computer Mouse for the Blind"

"The Real Star Wars": The US Air Force and its plans for space warfare.

Don't use any of the following forbidden words in your MSN nickname! (Via Madville.)

More nanotech: Hewlett-Packard researchers have created yet even tinier molecular memory circuits. Their prototype is nonvolatile, meaning that the data is preserved even if the power is turned off.

The US Navy is using software designed to detect breast cancers on medical images to help it detect camouflaged military targets hidden on battlefield images.

Invention of the day: A high-speed applicator for condoms. In theory, it should reduce condom deployment time from 30-40 seconds down to a mere 3 seconds. (Via Boing Boing.)

There sure are a lot of 9/11 urban legends.

Tired of losing out in eBay auctions at the last second? Automated bidding software from eSnipe will keep you in the running while you sleep.

Although China has been using firewalls to block access to the Google search engine, people there can still use the parody Google mirror website, elgooG.

The Fields Medal is the most prestigious award in mathematics. Salon explains the current winners for the layperson.

Kuro5hin readers post their favorite revenge stories.

Game of the day: For all you aspiring Robin Hoods, take the challenge of the Golden Arrow.

The Top 11 Signs you're becoming a geek.

The first private Moon landing has been approved by the US State Department and the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) for commercial development of the Moon. The company TransOrbital expects to launch in June 2003.

A new debugging tool uses music to help programmers find where the problems lie. After translating computer code into musical tones, bugs stand out as dissonances against the pattern of normal code.

Online begging has really taken off spurred on by the financial success of sites like savekaryn.com, who racked up $20,000 in credit card debt and is asking for donations to help pay them off. (Hmmm... Maybe I should put up an Amazon tipjar or something like that on this page...)

Has someone installed spyware on your computer? Learn how to detect and disable it with these spyware countermeasures. (Via Linkfilter.)

British scientists have synthesized a dinosaur protein from scratch.

Move over silicon chips, here come chips made of diamond.

IKEA furniture can be hard to assemble sometimes. But Swiss researchers have invented "smart" furniture components with movement and pressure sensors that tell the user if he's assembling the item correctly or not.

A financial-controller-for-a-Bay-Area-internet-company-turned-cabbie tells stories of shady accounting practices in Silicon Valley.

The internet is corrupting the youth in the conservative Islamic society of Iran.

The British Civil Aviation Authority is considering banning all laptop computer use on its flights because of fears that some new chips may interfere with the collision avoidance systems on airplanes. (Via Metafilter.)

And now for something completely different: The Financial Times interviews John Cleese, of Monty Python fame. Apparently Cleese is quite the entrepreneur -- as the FT notes: "'Capitalism,' says Cleese with a let's-get-this-straight tone, 'is the best system.'" (Via PostPolitics.)

Peeling "The Onion": A look behind the scenes of the best parody news site on the web. (Via Volokh Conspiracy.)

The latest computer security device is a special LCD screen that looks blank unless you're an authorized user wearing special glasses. The article also notes that this $1600 system could be easily defeated by someone wearing cheapo 3-D movie glasses.

Toilet paper algorithms. (Via GMSV.)

What happens when geeks drink too much caffeine.

Spam used to comprise approximately 8% of all e-mail traffic on the internet. Now it's up to a whopping 36%. (Via Madville.)

A self-organizing electronic circuit using evolutionary algorithms has spontaneously evolved a radio receiver.

Smart tatoos will tell diabetics when their blood sugar is too low.

If you prefer to pray to God the high-tech way, this site offers e-prayers.

The FTC will soon unveil its latest cartoon mascot -- Dewey, the Internet Safety Turtle. Remember boys and girls -- look both ways before crossing the information superhighway!... (Via Boing Boing.)

Do we really need automatic gear shifting for bicyles?

A grizzly bear attacked a group of animal rights activists from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), mauling one of them. As Rand Simberg notes, "She's obviously not a member of BETH (Bears for the Ethical Treatment of Humans). Or then again, perhaps she is..."

Better living through french fries: Biodiesel fuel.

"Mike Anderiesz set out to do some research on the phenomenon of cyberstalking. The last thing he expected was to end up a victim himself."

The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) wants to crack down on human bodily fluids on keyboards in their home office. (Via Linkfilter.)

Classmates.com is one of the few dotcoms making money. Here's why.

Geeks reinvent the electric guitar.

Scientist Erik Asphaug believes we can prevent asteroid impacts on Earth with a giant cosmic airbag.

Phone companies apparently still try to avoid assigning 867-5309 because of that song. (Via Fark.)

Daniel Brandt really hates Google.

Instapundit link leads to true love.

Leonard Nimoy, photographer. (Via Metafilter.)

Do sperm have memory?

A teenage girl in Britain may have been struck by a meteorite.

"Reparations for the Descendants of Women: I got to thinking about this black reparations thing, and it occurred to me that Women were denied a number of rights for a very long time in the United States. Perhaps they, or their descendents, should seek reparations." (Via K5.)

The Jedi "religion" continues to grow in Australia.

A robotic tomb raider will be used to search for a hidden chamber behind a mysterious stone seal in the Great Pyramid. Sound like something out of a Spielberg movie!

More on Asimov's Foundation and Al-Qa'ida: Prentiss Riddle sent us an e-mail arguing that the original story is almost certainly bogus. He directed us to Colin Brayton's explanation of the meaning of the term "al-Qa'ida" and concludes that "Yes, it means 'Foundation', but to associate it with Asimov is like doing the same for the National Science Foundation or Joe's Foundation Repair."

Some people want to use the Moon as a storage site for nuclear wastes. However, SatireWire warns that this might turn the Moon into "a vast uninhabitable wasteland".

The new school year is upon us and business is picking up for websites that deal in plagiarized term papers, uh... I mean online research aids.

"A goose fitted with a £3,000 ($4,500) electronic transmitter to chart its migration has been tracked 4,500 miles by satellite - to an Eskimo hunter's freezer."

"What eBay Isn't Telling You About Fraud"

Mathematical analysis of Bingo.

A little extra radiation may help you live longer. Yet another reason I'm glad I'm a radiologist. (Via Plastic.)

Was the 9/11 attack inspired by Isaac Asimov's Foundation series?

Contact lenses that you can keep in your eyes for months.

If you work in an office, then you'll need office toys.

Don't like the current cover for your LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring DVD? Try one of these cool alternate DVD covers instead. (Via Linkfilter.)

Cool Person Test: Find out if you're a cool person. It was accurate for me! (Via The Volokh Conspiracy.)

More reasons that I am skeptical about all the global warming hype.

What sort of high tech companies does the CIA invest in?

Dan's Data explains rechargeable battery "memory effect" for us idiots.

"Why the ______s Hate the ______s: A Guide to Ethnic and Religious Strife Through All Human History" (Via Linkfilter.)

Do we really need mobile phones for dogs?

Play "Planet Prostate": The BBC reviews this free online game in which you have to guide Sammy Sperm "from Arousal through the Twin Planets Testes to Planet Prostate". The purpose of the game is to raise awareness of prostate cancer among men.

"In what the government describes as a bizarre coincidence, one U.S. intelligence agency was planning an exercise last Sept. 11 in which an errant aircraft would crash into one of its buildings." One spokesman said, "As soon as the real world events began, we canceled the exercise". As Diana points out, so much for the claim that airplanes crashing into buildings was completely unforseeable by the US government.

The South Pole will finally get internet access.

Poetic justice: "Over the weekend a notorious Brazilian defacement crew known as Hax0rs Lab went on the rampage to celebrate its 1,000th defaced website. The celebrations consisted of breaking into another 1,158 sites in one of the biggest mass-defacements ever. But while the web vandals were distracted someone snuck into their server and gave them a taste of their own medicine."

Robotic wedding photographer. (Via Techdirt.)

Mathematical Lego sculptures. (Via Madville.)

Russian "pawn" star: A profile of Alexandra Kosteniuk, the stunningly attractive 18-year old who's also the 2nd highest ranked female chess player in the world. Her second career as a model have caused some to dub her the "Anna Kournikova of chess", to which she responds, "I hope I am going to play chess better than she plays tennis".

Pleistocene Park? Japanese scientists plan to take sperm found inside the frozen carcass of a Siberian mammoth and use it to impregnate an Indian elephant. Then by repeating this process over the next two generations, they hope to breed an animal that is 88% mammoth. (Via GMSV.)

Biomedical researchers hope that scientific advances may lead to ultra-longevity (if not outright biological immortality) sometime in the next century. Amazingly enough, there are some contemporary mainstream intellectuals who think that this is a bad idea.

"Switcher's Remorse": An Episcopal priest goes from Windows to Mac but then has second thoughts.

A spam filter that uses haiku to distinguish legitimate e-mail from spam.

Life inside a white-collar "prison camp" is not as cushy as commonly believed. (Via Fark.)