Rattle wrote:
] Government sources told CNN that the encounter involved an
] acquaintance of Zacarias Moussaoui
]
] At one point during the bus ride, Berg said, the man sitting
] next to his son asked if he could use Nick's laptop computer.
]
] "It turned out this guy was a terrorist and that he, you know,
] used my son's e-mail, amongst many other people's e-mail who
] he did the same thing to," Berg said.
]
] Government sources said Berg gave the man his password,
] which was later used by Moussaoui, the sources
] said.
]
] Its a small small world?

Very. But you're a conspiracy theorist to think this was anything more than coincidence. That's why I like to call Ashcroft (who doth protest to much about Berg I think) a coincidence theorist.

RE: CNN.com - Berg's encounter with 'terrorist' revealed - May 13, 2004

Government sources said Berg gave the man his password, which was later used by Moussaoui, the sources said.

Its a small small world?

CNN.com - Berg's encounter with 'terrorist' revealed - May 13, 2004

] "Toothing" is a new craze where strangers on trains,
] buses, in bars and even supermarkets hook up for illicit
] meetings using messages sent via the latest in phone
] technology.
]
] "Toothing is a form of anonymous sex with strangers --
] usually on some form of transport or enclosed area such
] as a conference or training seminar," says the
] "Beginner's Guide To Toothing" on a Web site dedicated to
] the pursuit.

heh. I just got a USB Bluetooth adapter for my laptop. I was just thinking that my cellphone now does just about everything less than sucking my dick. Toothing, huh?

Reuters | Breaking News from Around the Globe

] On Saturday 3 April, over 1000 laptop owners will
] converge on the university gym in an attempt to build a
] "flash mob" supercomputer. The project's organisers hope
] that FlashMob will run fast enough to beat supercomputers
] in the list of the world's top 500 supercomputers.
]
] "We are attempting to popularise supercomputing," says
] John Witchel, the USF graduate student running the
] project. "Ordinary individuals, people with good ideas
] will now be empowered to put a flash mob together to
] solve a specific problem."

[ Cool idea. That's this saturday... be interested to see what happens. The Top500 guy says they can't lose a single node, or the LinPack computation is shot... i guess that's because they left out fault tolerance in order to obtain low overhead for testing? Batteries charged people... someone may trip over your power cord. -k]

New Scientist

Rattle wrote:
] ] Scientists have created the ultimate pet: genetically
] ] modified fish that glow in the dark. In future, there
] ] will be no need for aquarium lights - fluorescent fish
] ] will provide their own illumination.
]
] Oh yeah, I would buy glowing fish. No question. I will own
] these some day. If there is someone out there tracking market
] for this kinda thing, mark me down as saying "i'll buy"..
] Hell yeah.
]
] ] Scientists have not restricted their GM work to
] ] aquarium creatures. In other experiments, scientists
] ] have attempted to engineer cats that do not produce
] ] allergens.
]
] I'd buy that too! I'm allergic to cats.. Aside from that,
] cats are alright. And I'm sure they could make it piss less
] ammonia, glow, etc.. Sweet..
]
] I'd save up for this shit. After the cat and the fish, I'd
] just need something that flys. Something can be done with the
] parot.
]
] However, I don't think its a good idea to make any new animals
] that are capable of surviving in nature on their own. But I
] have no doubt that the comercial world will tackle these
] problems. There are simple and elegant solutions possible.
] You just have to make sure the thing can't possibly survive or
] breed without constant human intervention.. Kitty gonna need
] something in her water or .. Fishy gonna need some mad UV..
] etc.. Unless that can be pulled off, no way. And maybe some
] kind of virus kill switch, "just in case". And screw Jurassic
] Park and "life can find a way" and all that crap. Thats
] Hollywood. There are solutions for this kinda thing damnit,
] there have to be. I want value added to my pets!
]
] There is a service end to the business. Thats a good thing.
] When I get my consumer pet, I don't want to have to go through
] picking up supplies all the time, they have to be custom
] anyway, with this kinda investment, they are going to control
] that suckers whole life cycle. They can mail me whatever I
] need. I want to order it like a laptop. Select boxes for
] configuration, pick accessories, get a support contract, etc..
]
]
] Pets.com might have been a flop, but when the shit glows, its
] going to be a different story.

Looking thru old MEMEs... Rattle is funny and right on the mark! -LB

RE: 'Fluorescent fish' give the green light to GM pets

IBM's on it too... doing similar things to the Chandler project... things i've been dreaming about for years. The only thing they're still not doing is letting the computer do the categorization and filtering for me (i.e. semantic analysis, automatic extraction of todo's and events)... chandler aims to provide more of this kind of assistance.

this is what it's all about, and as soon as i have it, and an always on wireless network connection for my laptop/tablet, my dreams will be reality. a bluetooth or UWB headset that uses my tablet/laptop to make phone calls over the existing wireless link would be a-ok too, just to save me the trouble of carrying that pesky cell phone.

Remail Website

action on the tablet front.

this is, of course, rampant speculation, but fun to think about... if anyone can make a tablet that's cool, it's apple. i personally think it has a lot of uses for people that aren't nerds (in my day job as a consultant, i'd love a tablet for meetings where typing on a laptop would be inappropriate).

for it to succeed, at least for me, it better be ~ 1 inch thick, and the battery better last 5+ hours. hey, i never said i had reasonable requests.

Slashdot | Cheap Linux Tablets, And (Maybe) An Apple Tablet

flynn23 wrote:
] ] As for new digital cables, the FCC ruling does not
] ] mandate any one copy-control technology, leaving it up to
] ] companies to choose from competing options. But this
] ] competition probably won't happen. Most of the
] ] electronics industry has anointed one system, called "5C"
] ] after the five corporations that developed it (Hitachi,
] ] Intel, Matsushita, Sony and Toshiba) and already approved
] ] for the digital outputs on future cable boxes and
] ] cable-compatible TV sets. The FCC can approve other
] ] copy-control schemes, but 5C-compliant hardware may not
] ] be upgradeable to support these competing mechanisms,
] ] placing them at a disadvantage.
]
] ...
]
] ] You won't be able to make a lower-resolution copy of a
] ] digital broadcast to watch on your DVD player or move a
] ] recording to the laptop or handheld computer you own
] ] today. And by forbidding all Internet transfers, even of
] ] brief excerpts, the scheme steals fair-use rights.

This really stinks.

RE: FCC Deserves a Digital Thanks for Nothing

] As for new digital cables, the FCC ruling does not
] mandate any one copy-control technology, leaving it up to
] companies to choose from competing options. But this
] competition probably won't happen. Most of the
] electronics industry has anointed one system, called "5C"
] after the five corporations that developed it (Hitachi,
] Intel, Matsushita, Sony and Toshiba) and already approved
] for the digital outputs on future cable boxes and
] cable-compatible TV sets. The FCC can approve other
] copy-control schemes, but 5C-compliant hardware may not
] be upgradeable to support these competing mechanisms,
] placing them at a disadvantage.

...

] You won't be able to make a lower-resolution copy of a
] digital broadcast to watch on your DVD player or move a
] recording to the laptop or handheld computer you own
] today. And by forbidding all Internet transfers, even of
] brief excerpts, the scheme steals fair-use rights.

FCC Deserves a Digital Thanks for Nothing

With the exception of the hyper-philosophical stuff at the beginning, this guy wrote damn near the exact paper i've been meaning to write for months. Kudos to him. It's long, but so far (3/4 through) very very worthwhile, if only because he actually found (and then typed) the words i was searching for.

New Modes of Musicianship...