MetaFilter

Beware ... step away from the laptop. Laptop computers may damage male fertility. Dr. Yefim Sheynkin of the State University of New York (Stony Brook) reports in the journal Human Reproduction. "Laptops, which reach high internal operating temperatures, can heat up the scrotum which could affect the quality and quantity of men’s sperm." "...Sheynkin, director of male infertility and microsurgery at the university. 'Don't get me wrong -- the laptop computer is very useful and helpful. But we need to be cautious.' "
comment posted at 11:11 PM on Dec-8-04

Palestinian opinions. A poll conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center indicates a dramatic decline in Palestinian support for acts of violence targeting Israelis. For the first time since the outbreak of the intifada in September 2000, a majority of Palestinians, some 52%, oppose violence against Israel. Palestinian opposition to attacks on Israelis is up 25% since last June. Original report is here in pdf. Is the intifada finished? If so should Arafat be awarded a second Nobel Peace Prize for dying?
comment posted at 11:18 PM on Dec-8-04

Poland at War - Photographs of Nazi-occupied Poland taken between 1939 and 1945
comment posted at 11:13 PM on Dec-8-04

What is the deal with Texas hold'em??? Texas Hold'em (in the U.S.) has become the poker players crack. Its OK, but not that fun for me, and I don't understand what has caused this huge craze sweeping the nation. Poker Chips are in definately in demand... 1 In 10 Kids Will Become Compulsive Gamblers so Do Your Kids Know When To Fold'em? at least there is some texas hold'em charity work aiding victims for the holidays
comment posted at 12:32 AM on Dec-8-04
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comment posted at 1:52 AM on Dec-8-04

The end of an era confirmed. IBM sells its PC business to China's Lenovo. Is a future Apple partnership in the works?
comment posted at 7:58 PM on Dec-7-04
comment posted at 10:12 PM on Dec-7-04

Thunderbird 1.0 out My faverit mail client!
comment posted at 4:42 PM on Dec-7-04

Cell Phone users beware Dec 15th 2004 is the deadline According to the National Do Not Call List, you have until Dec. 15th 2004 to get on the national "Do not call list" for cell phones. They said that you need to call 1-888-382-1222 from the cell phone that you wish to have put on the "do not call list" to be put on the list. They also said you can do it online. Registering only takes a minute, is in effect for 5 years and will possibly save you money (definitely frustration)! Make sure you register now!
comment posted at 12:43 PM on Dec-8-04

4Sale. 2002 Recreation Vehicle. 40,000 miles. $400,000.
comment posted at 12:42 PM on Dec-7-04

Micro-penis sufferers, rejoice!
comment posted at 12:46 PM on Dec-7-04

Finally, a collaborative audioblog devoted to drunken shoutouts.
comment posted at 10:37 AM on Dec-7-04

Apologies not accepted. In response to Sorry Everybody.com.
comment posted at 8:13 PM on Dec-6-04

Photo-Blocker - For those who are tired of obeying basic traffic laws. (via)
comment posted at 8:10 PM on Dec-6-04

If you had to pick your 5 Favorite web sites... ...what would they be? Yeah, it's the end of the year and we're all list-happy! Professor Barnhardt's Journal asked writers like Joel Stein, Dan Radosh and Rob Walker and bloggers what their favorite sites are. Sadly, not one mention of Metafilter!
comment posted at 4:16 PM on Dec-6-04

Your favorite band's website sucks. I can't count the number of times I've wanted to share a band's great new tracks with friends over email and had to give them detailed instructions on how to navigate the flash popup (ok, first click on the band's launch panel, then look in the popup for something marked "sounds" then click that and click the stream button...what? you don't have the latest flash?), or if I love a band's music, I can't seem to find their tour dates even though I know they're on the road. Merlin drops the five golden rules for bands that do too good of a job keeping their fans from their music.
comment posted at 1:15 PM on Dec-7-04

Bonds said he unknowingly used steroids Following up on yesterday's article on Giambi's grand jury testimony, the SF Chronicle reports that Bonds admitted using steroids, but didn't know what they were at the time. Gary Sheffield said something very similar in October, and was not penalized by baseball, nor by public opinion. Meanwhile, the Yankees are reportedly trying to void Giambi's contract. What will the fallout be from the Bonds story?
comment posted at 9:19 AM on Dec-3-04

Google's sorcery You use it, I use it some 30-40 times a day, but did you ever wonder exactly how they do it? The numbers are staggering:

# Over four billion Web pages, each an average of 10KB, all fully indexed. # Up to 2,000 PCs in a cluster. # Over 30 clusters. # 104 interface languages including Klingon and Tagalog. # One petabyte of data in a cluster -- so much that hard disk error rates of 10-15 begin to be a real issue. # Sustained transfer rates of 2Gbps in a cluster. # An expectation that two machines will fail every day in each of the larger clusters. # No complete system failure since February 2000.

Is Google God? (via /.)
comment posted at 4:39 PM on Dec-2-04

Abortion makes you sterile, 50 percent of gay male teenagers are HIV-positive, mutual masturbation can get you pregnant, you can get HIV from sweat, and more fun "facts" from our federally-funded abstinence-only curricula.
comment posted at 5:55 PM on Dec-2-04

Jeopardy Going After Kottke. Jason Kottke has served as the web's source of news about Ken Jennings and Jeopardy, with his most-linked blog entries being his September report of Jennings' impending loss and his Sunday provision of the actual audio of Kennings' loss. Now Sony is taking legal action against him for his spoilers, and this makes him very sad.
comment posted at 5:58 PM on Dec-2-04

Microsoft does blogging Standard features, standard ugly MS design. Will "integrate" with MSN Messenger.
Via /.
comment posted at 6:00 PM on Dec-2-04

I’ll trade you my Ebola for your Hantavirus! This Christmas give the little scientist in the family infectious diseases trading cards!
comment posted at 5:04 PM on Dec-2-04

A team of Korean scientists have enabled a woman who has not been able to stand up for the last 19 years due to a spinal cord injury to walk on her own (103 MB .wmv), thanks to a transplant of stem cells from umbilical cord blood. [Via Future Hi.]
comment posted at 5:19 PM on Dec-2-04