economics are not, after all, suspended in cyberspace like the laws of gravity in outer space. Content needs to be paid for on the Web just as in any other medium. And it probably has to be paid for the same way most other things are paid for: by the people who use it. We tried charging the customers at Slate. It didn't work. Future experiments may be more successful, and we at Slate encourage others to jump in. We'll watch. But meanwhile, let's look again at this notion that in every medium except the Internet people pay for the content they consume. It's not really true.

It's Not Just the Internet - Almost no one pays for content in any medium. By Michael Kinsley

Anyone interested in making a 150 year bet? Any bets that you actually might be alive then to see it happen?

Cyan waves hands over table and whispers, "No more bets" and spins the roulette wheel.

Longbets is:

*an arena for competitive, accountable predictions
*a forum for focussed discussion and debate about prediction.
*an attractive tool for philanthropic giving.
*a way to foster better long-term thinking.

The Long Bets Foundation was started in 02001 as a
501(c)(3) public education nonprofit foundation, based in California. It is a partial spin-off from The Long Now Foundation, which is building a 10,000-year Clock and tools for a 10,000-year Library.

Long Bets [ About Long Bets ]

It includes two previously unreleased Aphex Twin tunes –
‘Windowlicker (Acid Edit)’ and ‘SAW2 CD1 TRK2 (Original Mix)’, a piece taken from the Selected Ambient Works II era.

...

26 Mixes for Cash *snicker* Trying to collect most of these tracks over the years has been fun. Nice that it's finally all coming out on one compilation. Now if he'd just re-release the HAB series on CD I'd finally call my collection complete. Vinyl transfers just aren't as good as master transfers...

Oh there's also news about a new Autechre album on the news page.

Aphex Twin ’26 Mixes for Cash’ tracklisting and release date

] "Strawberry Pop Tarts may be a cheap and inexpensive
] source of incendiary devices. Toasters which fail to
] eject Pop Tarts cause the Pop Tarts to emit flames 10-18
] inches in height. "

OW, MY EYES! SWEET JESUS

Strawberry Pop-Tart Blow-Torches

A MILLION Americans will be given smallpox vaccinations under the first wave of a mass inoculation order being prepared by President Bush.

The initial stage of the decision would see 500,000 military personnel and 510,000 civilian medical workers receive the jab.

...

The Model Emergency Health Powers Act (MEHPA) has been making the ratification rounds across the states, you can check the current map here:

http://www.alec.org American Legislative Exchange Council

I hope this has been reported before by some of the UK journos but this is the first general fluff piece that caught my eye.

Vaccination for 1 million in US

The ladder theory is a theory of adult male/female interaction. It has its basis in many years of sociological field testing. it was first conceptualized in 1994 in Exeter, CA. My acknowledgements to Jared Whitson for his role in formalizing the theory.

I have a feeling that this url is going to piss quite a few people off. Personally, I like it quite a bit. I'm a bit puzzled though, over why women have two ladders and men only one. I don't understand how a woman is able to have a male friend and not vice versa.

Quote from page:
Women seem to especially like it if you are more devoted to your bad music, biker gang, forearm tattoo or marijuana. These all seem to work wonders. There are some interests you can show in a woman that will help you to fuck her: a healthy interest in destroying her self-esteem and in fucking her friends more than her seem to work wonders. Note that the following topics of disinterest have been field tested and shown conclusively not to work: Unix, literature, poetry, international politics, and sodomy

Anyhow. Enjoy. I laughed quite a bit.

Ladder Theory Master Page

] "Do you love Macs and enjoy killing others? Does the
] thought of working at Apple make you tingle more than
] those three seconds before you slit the throat of your
] target and then fade into the fog as if nothing more than
] a bad dream? If so, you may have what it takes to become
] an Apple Ninja."

Crazy Apple Rumors Site

A great transcription of Richard Hamming's 1986 talk on what it takes to do great work. All I can say is: wow. I'm doing lots of thinking on this now, having read this. Speaks very deeply to my mind of things involved in the work I do. Brilliant paper.

You and Your Research

...Nick Bostrom, PhD, is a Lecturer at the Department of Philosophy at Yale University."

There is no spoon.

The Simulation Argument

Guy that makes sculpture out of pencil lead.

Seriously.

No shit.

Pencil sharpener: Sculptor gets the lead out with miniature carvings