The very citizen journalists who very nearly pushed John Kerry into the White House have continued with their stellar work, uncovering an interesting photo naming policy on a shared Netscape/CNN site. The photo showed a lovable Laura Bush holding her ape-faced hubby. Until late last night, the photo was appropriately called asshole.jpg. It has now been changed to the more innocuous, but less amusing, georgelaura135.jpg
The retarded monkey boy has caused uproar in Greece with his decision to recognise the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as Macedonia
I’m very fond of ecoburials. This biodegradable coffin is made from starch plastic and holds the deceased in a fetal position — via BoingBoing
Capsula Mundi is planted in the earth like a seed. Above it, to signal the presence of occupied space, is a shallow concave circle dug out of the ground. In the center of which, a tree is planted, the essence of it chosen in life by the dead one, the care of this tree is the responsibility of everyone. The aim is ecological burial, literally a more natural way to decay.
The cemetery will, then, acquire a new look. No longer the overpopulated urban environment with congested architecture, it will be a natural one in contact with the earth, enveloping expansive areas, entire hills consecrated to the cult of the dead. Summarizing, it is a different landscape devoted to the worship of our ancestry: a sacred forest.
A brother and sister, Jeremy Jaynes and Jessica DeGroot, who sent unsolicited junk email to millions of AOL customers were convicted in the US’s first felony prosecution of distributors of spam. Each could receive jail terms
Telstra is to trial an extension of its ADSL broadband services, hoping to increase their reach beyond the current limit of approximately 4km from exchanges. Telstra will increase transmission limits from 56dB to 80dB on lines to approximately 1000 subscribers participating in the three-month trial. How far beyond present reach such a change could extend ADSL services had yet to be determined and no mention of distance was made in information provided to potential subscribers
Software patents could be used for anti-competitive practices, as large IT players form a cartel to pool or cross license patents in order to keep out smaller players
No idea where the photos come from originally, but they were found on the Portuguese language blog of a Brazilian student.
An Asian guy is making gorgeously intricate bugs and dragons and birds and other critters from bendy drinking straws — via BoingBoing
Anti-spyware vendor Aluria Software has partnered with WhenU of WhenUSave
and SaveNow
infamy. They’ve removed WhenU from their spyware/malware definition lists, certified their applications as safe, and they deny that money was involved
Google has fixed a security flaw in its Gmail Web-based e-mail service that allowed attackers to hijack users’ e-mail accounts
The Cleveland Clinic says it is the first institution to receive review board approval of human facial transplant for someone severely disfigured by burns or disease. Several independent medical teams around the world also are pursuing the procedure. The Cleveland Clinic said its approval on 15 October followed ten months of debate on medical, ethical and psychological issues. It has no current patients or donors for the procedure — via meta-roj blog
A few weeks back, the New York Times ran an article on people modifying their flash drives. I’m assuming it was a slow news week as the extent of the modifications amounted to crappy little stickers.
A far more imaginative flash drive mod is using a Pez container as a case for the unit — via boingboing
Regional player SP Telemedia has bolstered its presence in the city with the acquisition of failed telco Comindico
The broadband battle is intensifying as dial-up Internet dies in Australia. The past few weeks has seen Internet providers deliver a raft of intensely competitive broadband deals — albeit conditional — as research compiled on behalf of Ericsson reveals that the number of broadband subscribers in Australia is likely to overtake dial-up by mid-2006
Starbucks has launched an aggressive plan to ensure coffee sold in its stores comes from environmentally friendly farms paying workers a fair wage. By 2007, Starbucks expects that 60% of its coffee will come from farmers following strict rules on everything from forestation to pesticides to labor practices. About 10% of Starbucks’ coffee is bought from suppliers following such rules now
Step-by-step instructions for making your own light-up, buzzing, working Batphone with its own cake-dome — via boingboing
You know you want one
You think your new car is festooned with information-seeking sensors? Imagine this: sensor modules, each the size of a speck of dust, that are networked together wirelessly to relay information. In this array, the tiny Smart Dust devices can sense your presence when you enter your office, for example, and will adjust the light, heat, and other comforts to your preferences. Kris Pister, founder and CTO of Dust Networks, has already shown working sensors in an academic lab
Earlier this year Microsoft released a major security update for Windows XP, which was designed to strengthen the operating system’s defences against attack from viruses and hackers. One major part of the update was an improved version of its firewall software, which the latest Bagle variants are designed to attack and disable
Some interesting accounts of people in the US confronted with the reality that they live in a police state.
The November 2004 issue of Romance Writers Report has an article about an author getting an unexpected called from the feds because she was researching Cambodia. It appears that her online purchases of books were tracked.
A LiveJournal user got a visit from the secret service after a political post was incorrectly reported by some pissant little nobody as constituting a threat to King George II’s health.
Kids at Richland Centre High School got a chance to meet King George II during an official visit. However, any student who turned up wearing a pro-Kerry pin, hat or shirt was threatened with expulsion.
The colour LCD screens on mobile phones and PDAs can get badly scratched in pockets stuffed with loose change and keys. And CDs and DVDs become unplayable in no time when children use them as indoor frisbees. Now a tough, transparent polymer coating developed by chemists from TDK in Japan is set to make scratched phone screens and scuffed discs a thing of the past
UK experts believe that a vaccine that prevents infections known to cause cervical cancer could be available to women within three years. By guarding against human papilloma virus, it could save thousands of lives and may end the need for smears tests. The vaccine would be given to girls before they are sexually active. Trials have shown a jab can offer 100% protection against strains of HPV linked to about 70% of cervical cancers
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