Cool photographs of aerogels are available at this NASA website. My favorite is the flower floating over a flame insulated by the aerogel. (Via ThreeRiver.)

How to Hack Your Mobile Phone: "Changing the ID number of your phone is as easy as swapping the font in a word processing document."

Despite the recent Supreme Court ruling, John Ashcroft and the Justice Department still want to outlaw "child pornography" that doesn't actually involve any real children having sex. Here's how they plan to do it.

A software geek's guide to coffee.

"Fly the Copter": Today's time-waster is this game in which you have to navigate a remote-controlled helicopter through a maze of barriers. What's deceptively simple about this game is that at any time you only have two choices -- either press the left mouse button or not. (Via MetaFilter.)

"US Sailors Wear Out Sex Workers": In yet another example of the stress caused by the War On Terrorism, prostitutes in Perth, Australia were "reeling from exhaustion" after dealing with an influx of US sailors from warships coming off of tours of duty in the Middle East. According to the article, "Mary-Anne Kenworthy said she was forced to close the doors of her famous Langtrees brothel for only the third time ever yesterday because her prostitutes were so worn out they could no longer provide a quality service." (Via WonkoSlice.)

Will the future belong to biotechnology or nanotechnology? Or both?

Unbreakable quantum cryptography could become commercially available in the next couple of years.

The Ultimate Summer Job: Nintendo will pay fifty people $100 a day to play computer games all day long this summer. "Strong thumbs required." You can apply here.

Because good passwords can be so hard to remember, computer scientists are trying to devise easier ways of authenticating users in a secure fashion. One novel system uses patterns of clicks on a picture.

There's quite a bit of science to shooting a rubber band. (Via MadVille.)

You, too, can break out of jail with just dental floss and toothpaste.

Amateur astronaut Mark Shuttleworth says that his 8-day trip to the International Space Station has definitely been worth the $20 million he spent. I guess his last name is appropriate...

Remote controlled rats: Scientists have imbedded electrodes into rat brains in a fashion such that the rats could be controlled remotely over 1600 feet away. The rats could be instructed "to turn left or right, climb trees and navigate piles of rubble".

Finally, a useful robot: A University of Florida student has invented a robot that opens beer bottles for you. The inventor noted that he had to go through 134 beers "for calibration and testing purposes".

Scientists have invented surgical sutures that tie themselves.

If you are going bald, the Hairogenics company will preserve a sample of your hair in its underground vault (for a fee of course) until science comes up with a cure for baldness. Just in case this future cure requires a sample of your present hair and you don't happen to own a freezer of your own. Um, sure.

"Zip" compression programs call also be used to identify the author of a text file.

GeekPress returns: Diana and I have returned from our firearms course. All I can say is that this was the coolest class I've ever taken! I'll post a separate, more detailed description later once I've had time to gather my thoughts.

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!