Comcast’s high-speed Internet subscribers have long been rumoured to be an unusually persistent source of junk e-mail, but now it has been confirmed by the company. Network engineer Sean Lutner said Comcast users send out about 800 million messages a day, but a mere 100 million flow through the company’s official servers. Almost all of the remaining 700 million represent spam erupting from so-called zombie computers
The company is looking to produce a version of Windows for high-performance computing, a move seen as a direct attack on a Linux stronghold. With their sterling performance in the field of security, I’m sure this will go down well
Even in death, comic genius Spike Milligan has raised a laugh among his adoring fans. Two years after he died aged 83, relatives of the Goon Show creator have erected a headstone on his grave bearing the star’s epitaph: I told you I was ill
. But only those well versed in Gaelic will be able to read the inscriptions — Duirt me leat go raibh me breoite
— on the Celtic cross memorial at St Thomas’s Church in Winchelsea, East Sussex — via Die Puny Humans
The Palme d’Or of the Festival de Cannes was presented this year by Charlize Theron to Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore. It’s the first documentary to win the top award at Cannes since Jacques Cousteau won in 1956 for The Silent World
A breakthrough in polymer development means that soon there may be a radical new treatment for people with broken bones — a special kind of material that can glue the bone back together and support it while it heals. The material is designed to break down as the bone regrows leaving only natural tissue
Peru has launched a campaign to implant microchips in hundreds of pedigree alpacas to try to stop the best animals being smuggled out of the country. Officials say they know alpacas are being sneaked across Peru’s borders
McDonald’s is moving into DVD rentals. It will begin testing DVD rental kiosks at all 105 Denver stores. Smaller tests around Washington and Las Vegas had a huge response. DVDs will be rented at Redbox kiosks, situated inside and outside restaurants. Rental fee: $1 a day — and they can be returned to any McDonald’s. If the summer long Denver test is a hit, McDonald’s hopes to become the first fast-food chain to rent top DVDs nationally
There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) which will time the program’s initiation so the draft can begin at early as Spring 2005 — just after the 2004 presidential election… $28 million has been added to the 2004 Selective Service System (SSS) budget to prepare for a military draft that could start as early as June 15, 2005. Selective Service must report to Bush on March 31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant for decades, is ready for activation… In December 2001, Canada and the U.S. signed a smart border declaration
, which could be used to keep would-be draft dodgers in… this plan, among other things, eliminates higher education as a shelter and includes women in the draft — via Die Puny Humans
Brian Lee always wanted Edmund Scientific’s Giant Fresnel Lens. Melts asphalt in seconds!
the ad said. When he went to graduate school he met several other people with the same enthusiasm for aimless destruction through bizarre means, and just enough combined cash to make it happen. Thus the reign of terror began
It is the Holy Grail
of horticulture and soon it could make the perfect present for Mother’s Day: scientists have found a way to produce a blue rose. A chance discovery in a laboratory means that they will be able to create the blue rose within a year
and it is expected to go on sale to the public soon after that
The Australia Institute, a public policy research centre, says the Federal Government risks trade sanctions if it does not ratify the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse gas emissions. Russia has announced it will sign the protocol, which will ensure it comes into effect worldwide. Australia and the US are still refusing to ratify the agreement and the Federal Government says Australia is reducing emissions anyway. Australia Institute executive director Clive Hamilton says nations bound by the protocol could impose trade barriers on Australia
The Supreme Court of Canada says that you’re liable if a plant with a patented gene infects your property. If you recall, Schmeiser claims (and research supports) that Roundup Ready canola seeds infected his own crops. Monsanto prosecuted him for patent infringement
My Invader Zim Volume 1 DVDs arrived this week. The commentary is Jhonen and a large chunk of the cast and crew thrown in a room talking about the episodes, but hearing the character voices commenting is hilarious
British intelligence agents secretly discussed plans to attack the Soviet Union with pigeons armed with biological weapons, documents made public by the National Archives reveal. The bizarre Cold War scheme was hatched by Wing Commander WDL Rayner, a Royal Air Force officer who, in the aftermath of World War II, saw suicide pigeons as the future of warfare
There is a renewed call for the Tasmanian devil to be nominated as a threatened species. Research is continuing to determine the cause of the cancer-like disease that has wiped out up to 85% of devil populations in some areas. Greens Senator Bob Brown says the State Government has allocated nothing further in this week’s Budget for programs to save the marsupial
It’s been nearly six months since President Bush signed the first federal spam law with criminal sanctions — and not one bulk e-mailer has been criminally charged under it so far. But the FBI told Congress on Thursday that it has identified over 100 significant spammers
so far and is targeting 50 of the most noxious for potential prosecution later this year
Interesting article about setting up free wireless broadband access for a small apartment complex — and how the unwiring paid for itself by helping fill empty units — via BoingBoing
The new study of purebred dogs says among those closest to their wild wolf ancestors are the Siberian Husky, Chinese Shar-pei and African Basenji. Two branches of the canine family tree were the earliest to diverge from the wolves, the study found. One branch includes the oriental breeds Shar-pei, Shiba Inu, Chow Chow and Akita; the other the seemingly diverse breeds of African Basenji, Siberian Husky, Alaskan Malamute, Afghan Hound and Saluki
The critically endangered population of red wolves got a little bigger when a wolf at Ross Park Zoo unexpectedly gave birth to a litter of three
Anti-spam company Brightmail has opted out of an initial public offering, accepting instead a $US370 million cash buyout offer from internet security giant Symantec
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