November 24, 2002

Consumer Ping

Buying on-line? We're from the Government and we're here to help you. [more inside]
posted by dg at 10:19 PM PST - 2 comments

Ted's Caving diary

Ted's Caving diary I strongly suggest reading this late at night and alone for full effect. The homebuilt look of the site adds to the frisson. (more inside...)
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 10:16 PM PST - 45 comments

A Moving

Hegemon, hyperpower, empire. "As the United States marches to war, no other label quite seems to capture the scope of American power or the scale of its ambition."
posted by four panels at 9:44 PM PST - 3 comments

Roswell Smoking Gun?

Roswell Smoking Gun? Army General said to be holding document in press photo (Not the one they used obviously) that reveals proof of cover-up: "Using a digital photo scanner to enlarge and enhance words printed on the folded piece of paper Ramey held, and using another computer program to select the most likely words, researcher David Rudiak, who has a Ph.D. in physics from UC Berkeley, found two key phrases: "the victims of the wreck" and "in the 'disc' they will ship."
posted by Hilfy at 8:26 PM PST - 36 comments

Digital Rights Management -- A Battle That Can't Be Won?

What is the Darknet? Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Darknet is. Okay, actually, it's a term that some Microsoft computer scientists came up with to refer to all the different ways that internet users can swap copyrighted materials. In a paper they authored [DOC] for a workshop on Digital Rights Management (DRM), these engineers predict that the Darknet will grow ever stronger and more efficient while DRM technologies will make legal right holders less able to compete with Darknet and are ultimately "doomed to failure."
posted by boltman at 7:39 PM PST - 38 comments

Wolves and dogs and cats

Three Dog Eves--They really do understand us--even better than our cousin chimpanzees. Well, at least when food's involved.
As to how wolves became dogs, the current understanding seems to be they tamed themselves--in a Survival of the Friendliest. Here's more on animal linguistics. As for cats, well, Stephen Budiansky in The Character of Cats suggests they aren't even really tame. Hence, unlike dogs, cats haven't bothered to pick up our language--they've taught us Cat talk instead. Take the test and see. A woof out to Australian Broadcast Coporation's five part Animal Attraction series is called for here. C--Miao baby!
posted by y2karl at 6:09 PM PST - 11 comments

Great Britons

Winston Churchill has been voted as the Greatest Briton in a BBC survey. Yes, he gave some great speeches when he needed to, but who gave him the language to make them? Who is missing from the list?
posted by feelinglistless at 4:54 PM PST - 65 comments

Afterlife Telegrams

Afterlife Telegrams. For a fee of $10 per word (5 word minimum), our customers can have a telegram delivered to someone who has passed away. This is done with the help of terminally ill volunteers who memorize the telegrams before passing away, and then deliver the telegrams after they have passed away.
posted by Wet Spot at 4:47 PM PST - 27 comments

The Wold Newton Universe

Devoted to late nineteenth century adventure novels? Irredeemably neurotic? For you, there is Philip Jose Farmer's Wold Newton universe, in which such extraordinary gentlemen as Dracula and Sherlock Holmes are related through complex genealogies dating back to a peculiar meteorological event in the British countryside. This is meta-nerdiness.
posted by Hildago at 3:50 PM PST - 7 comments

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