] Searching for sudden "bursts" in the usage of particular
] words could be used to rapidly identify new trends and
] sort information more efficiently, says a US computer
] scientist.

Finding emerging fads in blog data

]A harsh scolding from U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow has
]prompted a crackdown at the Gorbushka market, Moscow's mecca of
]pirated films and music, and city authorities on Tuesday promised
]that this was only the start.

]Gone from the second floor are the row upon row of cheap pirated
]videos, DVDs, music discs and computer games, which just a month
]ago made up an estimated 75 percent to 95 percent of all goods
]sold there.

From Jello:

Every day my dollars buy less rubles, and now they've taken my beloved Garbushka... its like the current administration is out to ruin every expat in Moscow :(

Some background: The Gorbushka started out as an open air weekend market, selling (usually very nice) reproductions of tapes and CDs and movies. It became quite large, and a couple years ago it moved into several large buildings. Along with the software/music/movies, now came appliances, computers, and anything and everything electronic. All crammed in tiny stalls lining narrow hallways. Its like those shots you see of Hong Kong, where the small businesses are so dense, and the hustle and bustle so intense (I made a rhyme!). This place is great. Now they've ruined it.

This action was just a token effort to make Russia look good for getting into the WTO. It is not possible to stop rampant pirating in Russia, or even in Moscow (where people have much more money than outside Moscow), because people simply do not have enough money to buy the real deal. Even with the reduced prices they mention. For the foreseeable future, this is just an inconvenience. You can still find any software and popular movie you want around one of Moscow's large bookstores, or on its mainstreets. The real reason this sucks is that there were ALL KINDS of wierd electronic, and international music at the Gorbushka... and now its going to be very hard to find that stuff legitimately, or pirated for $3 a pop.

Poo

Gorbushka Tossing Out the Pirates

] Pentagon officials have openly speculated that one man is
] behind the terror that has immobilized the American
] capital. "We have seen his work in the past. We don't
] need UN inspectors to tell us who is behind today's
] events," proclaimed Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
] "Only one man has the technology to grasp Washington in
] his icy clutch: Mr. Ten Below himself, the Snow Miser."
]
] The State Department issued a release which stated: "We
] have incontrovertible evidence that the Snow Miser is an
] Al-Qaeda operative." The report also stated, "It is no
] coincidence that this white powder was targeted on the
] nation's capital."

BBspot - Snow Miser Suspected in D.C. Snow Attack

] PERTH is one of two spots in the world being considered
] for development of a space elevator, a new concept in
] space travel which it is claimed would make possible
] tourism on the Moon.
]
] A space elevator - an alternative to rockets and shuttles
] - would consist of a 100,000km ribbon of super-strong
] carbon-based material.

The West Australian

Packed with 24 small motors to manipulate the artificial skin of its face, the cyborg - called K-bot - has a pair of cameras in its eyes designed to analyse the facial expressions of the people it sees.

Its not a cyborg. Cyborg implies a human is one of the components. Steve Mann is a cyborg. This is a robot head.

IOL : K-bot the sociable cyborg is wired to smile

] Exciting new networked applications are being written.
] Time is not standing still. Microsoft must survive and
] prosper by learning from the open source software
] movement and by borrowing from and improving its
] techniques. Open source software is as large and powerful
] a wave as the Internet was, and is rapidly accreting into
] a legitimate alternative to Windows. It can and should be
] harnessed. To avoid dire consequences, Microsoft should
] favor an approach that tolerates and embraces the
] diversity of the open source approach, especially when
] network-based integration is involved. There are many
] clever and motivated people out there, who have many
] different reasons to avoid buying directly into a
] Microsoft proprietary stack. Microsoft must employ
] diplomacy to woo these accounts; stubborn insistence will
] be both counterproductive and ineffective. Microsoft
] cannot prosper during the open source wave as an island,
] with a defenses built out of litigation and proprietary
] protocols.

Microsoft and the Commoditization of Software

There is no connection between Cayce and Case; no meaningfulness. Gibson explains that as part of his novelist craft, he goes through a complicated artistic ritual in order to summon his characters out of the ether. In this ritual, coming up with the right name is the crucial first step. And the process by which he came up with Cayce, he declares, had nothing to do with Case. "Cayce" was its own "found object" -- much as the name Case, from "Neuromancer," was also a found object, inspired originally by Case pocketknives.

Nodal point

] Since the media has decided to scare everyone with
] predictions of chemical, biological, or nuclear warfare
] on our turf I decided to write a paper and keep things in
] their proper perspective. I am a retired military
] weapons, munitions, and training expert.

What to do if you are attacked with Chemical, Biological and Nuke weapons.

] Two weeks ago it was revealed that Microsoft's MSN portal
] targeted Opera users, by purposely provided them with a
] broken page. As a reply to MSN's treatment of its users,
] Opera Software today released a very special Bork edition
] of its Opera 7 for Windows browser. The Bork edition
] behaves differently on one Web site: MSN. Users accessing
] the MSN site will see the page transformed into the
] language of the famous Swedish Chef from the Muppet Show:
] Bork, Bork, Bork!

Go Opera..

Opera Press Release: Opera releases

] George Bush doesn't sound as mean and stupid as I would
] have expected. Or maybe I'm just in a frame of mind to
] cut him slack. There are three armed Secret Service men
] here in my bedroom/Dogyears-World-Headquarters.

I love Rudy Rucker. This is basically Robert Wilsonesque nerdcore. Its fast and fun.

The Infinite Matrix | Rudy Rucker and Rudy Rucker, Jr. | Jenna and Me