Lot 49

Drunk Finds Cigarettes And Gasoline Don't Mix: "A drunk man who lit a cigarette while filling a jerry can with gasoline blew himself into the air and landed in the arms of the law, Australian police said on Wednesday. ... The petrol exploded, his car burst into flames and the man was blown 15 feet through the air, crashing to earth on a nest of angry ants." My question: How does anyone know the ants were angry? Maybe they were amused. Or distraught. They're rather inscrutable little things, no?

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 01:56 PM | Permalink

Air Force Times: This week's news: "The Marine Corps is preparing to unveil perhaps the biggest breakthrough in weapons technology since the atomic bomb — a nonlethal weapon that fires directed energy at human targets. ... the Vehicle-Mounted Active Denial System is designed to stop an individual in his tracks and make him turn and flee."

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 05:08 PM | Permalink

ReplayTV vs. TiVo/How One Little Button Could Wipe Out Commercial Television: The short version: Buy ReplayTV rather than TiVo.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 04:00 PM | Permalink

Gene therapy 'prevents cancer': "A gene therapy technique has successfully prevented cancer in mice for what the researchers say is the first time. The scientists say the same approach might also be used in some cases of human cancer."

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 12:57 PM | Permalink

Triangle Boy: Get it and use it.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 10:56 AM | Permalink

China's New 'Purifying' Software: "'The software, Internet Police 110, was released yesterday. It will prevent users from getting unhealthy information from foreign and domestic websites,' [a police official] said. It was unclear whether installation of the program would be mandatory." Apparently, democracy is contagious. Of course, for those infected with such ideas, there's always re-education, which translates into English as tyranny.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 09:40 AM | Permalink

Personalized Action Figures: Or so says Slashdot...I haven't been able to load the page, which in all likelihood has been 'Slashdotted,' or deluged with traffic.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 05:06 PM | Permalink

Stalker chic: "If fashion is communication, a codified sort of symbolic expression incorporating a certain amount of ancient ritual, then the Swiss designers at skim.com have distilled it into its purest form. The same old mating game -- I want you, you want me: What's your number? -- has been made so simple, so safe, so Orwellian, that now you don't even need to ask. Instead, the number is right there, front and center on your sleeve -- and only recognizable and of use to those who are plugged in enough to recognize it (and desperate enough, perhaps, to wear one themselves)."

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 03:36 PM | Permalink

ID, Registration and DNA, Please: "The ultimate barrier to the creation of a national DNA database isn't technology, experts say, but time, money and political obstacles stemming from privacy issues." I hope so. Bush's recent decision to delay the medical privacy rules inherited from the Clinton administration does not bode well for privacy.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 11:51 AM | Permalink

A robotic fish powered by real muscles goes for a test swim: Best of all, it's edible.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 05:00 PM | Permalink

Astronomers Find Life Ingredients: Apparently, scientists have discovered coffee and chocolate in the dust and gas surrounding distant stars.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 04:23 PM | Permalink

Global music industry to ID Napster fans: The penalty for being caught: Being forced to wear your baseball cap backwards.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 02:30 PM | Permalink

White House Sides With Studios on DeCSS: I wonder if the studios contributed to Bush's campaign? Nah, couldn't be. There's no quid pro quo.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 11:12 AM | Permalink

Is online journalism on the way out?: Well, at least Web logs will survive (without links like this, I suppose).

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 09:14 AM | Permalink

Turn-off: "Motorola has devised a way to stop televisions, cell phones and VCRs working if they have been bought on the 'grey' market. The technique allows manufacturers to shut down unofficially imported electronic goods. But European free-trade rules may outlaw the system." Big Brother, meet Big Toaster.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 05:00 PM | Permalink

The Party Line: A distressing look at how Fox's partisan newscasting may be the wave of the future. Forget balance. Just tell me what I want to hear.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 03:55 PM | Permalink

al-gore-2004.org: "Restore Gore in 2004 -- it's the will of the people, stupid!"

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 02:26 PM | Permalink

Doggone Mad for Their Aibos: "Aibo owners say their robot pets aren't just curiosities; the metallic mutts are actually becoming family members. Leander Kahney talks about how owners can become ill when the doggies won't boot up and are forming support groups." That's just pathetic.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 12:43 PM | Permalink

The Ultimate Rush: Sydney to London in Two Hours: Of course the food will still suck, and there won't be any legroom.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 12:16 PM | Permalink

Harry Potter Web fans organize a boycott: It would serve Warner Bros. right if the film flopped at the box office.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 10:03 AM | Permalink

Pirate Utopia: Of steganography, Napster, and Osama bin Laden.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 01:54 PM | Permalink

Justices Look at Heat-Seeker's Ability to Pierce the Home: Arguing before the Supreme Court, Michael R. Dreeben, a deputy solicitor general arguing for the government, defended the use of thermal imaging searches by saying, 'Heat loss is an inevitable feature of heat in a structure. That's why there is an insulation industry.' In essence, citizens who fail to anticipate -- and take counter-measures against -- the powers of new technology have no Fourth Amendment rights. (At the same time, the government doesn't want you to hide information through encryption.)

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 09:54 AM | Permalink

Lighter fuel: "A revolutionary new way of fuelling a space shuttle could one day make space tourism far cheaper than the $20m Dennis Tito has paid for his planned trip to the International Space Station. The technology could even make launches safe enough to fly from civilian airports." The only downside: You'll have to pedal really hard.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 04:58 PM | Permalink

The official U.S. time - clock: Accurate to within 0.4 seconds. I'm not sure why I'd want that kind of precision but it's strangely comforting.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 11:04 AM | Permalink

Cellular Jammer Devices: I wish movie theater owners would install these things.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 10:33 AM | Permalink

The Key Vanishes: Scientist Outlines Unbreakable Code: "A computer science professor at Harvard says he has found a way to send coded messages that cannot be deciphered, even by an all-powerful adversary with unlimited computing power. And, he says, he can prove it." So much for key escrow.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 10:22 AM | Permalink

Thermal Imaging Search in Court: The US Supreme Court will hear arguments tomorrow about whether scanning someone's home with a thermal imaging device violates the owner's Fourth Amendment rights. An intriguing issue given that future technology should make it possible to search just about anything remotely.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 02:28 PM | Permalink

Open Source 'stifles' innovation: So says Microsoft. Really.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 02:23 PM | Permalink

Copyright or Copy Wrong?: I agree with Orrin Hatch. Weird.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 04:11 PM | Permalink

MS Fantasy World Gets Real Dark: Microsoft's dismissal of its Asherons's Call volunteer corps doesn't bode well for any Web site that relies on unpaid contributors.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 04:08 PM | Permalink

Western Planes Attack Targets in Baghdad: Haven't we been here before?

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 02:49 PM | Permalink

Rationale & Rhyme & Reason: Andrew Eldritch (The Sisters of Mercy) is very amusing. In case you're unfamiliar with The Sisters of Mercy, this may not make a lot of sense. Such is life.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 02:26 PM | Permalink

JSG Boggs Studio Page: The Web site of J.S.G. Boggs, monetary hacker.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 12:14 PM | Permalink

Breaking the engine barrier: Way new electric cars (that is, if you're not already somewhat jaded by such pronouncements).

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 07:55 PM | Permalink

Self-Healing Material Developed: Nifty, but not quite as cool as it sounds. "Self-gluing" would be a more accurate way to describe this material.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 04:34 PM | Permalink

'Napster' Networks Have No Peers: Interesting reading, particularly Clay Shirky's comments. "But Shirky cautioned that peer-to-peer systems are Balkanizing the Internet by setting up their own private virtual networks, which are already much bigger than the public system. He noted that the public Internet has something like 23 million addresses, or IP numbers, in its domain name system (DNS). But in the last four years, AOL, ICQ, Napster and the like have created 150 million 'private' addresses."

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 04:15 PM | Permalink

'Carnivore' Internet wiretap gets new name - February 14, 2001: "The controversial Internet surveillance tool known as 'Carnivore' has been renamed DCS1000, a name devoid of any negative associations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday." In a related move, the Department of Justice announced that henceforth the 'death penalty' will be called 'statutory redemption.'

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 11:55 AM | Permalink

Freenet: Following the recent Napster decision, I was looking over Ian Clarke's Freenet and noticed this particular sentence: "Right now we are looking for people willing to create content for Freenet." In other words, Freenet is looking for people who'll work for free. While I have no great fondness for the rhetoric of the copyright cabal, it's just this sort of thing that makes me wonder whether file sharing can find a middle ground between flouting the law and a corporate clampdown.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 02:30 PM | Permalink

Cyberspace Taking the 'Sneak' Out of Sneak Previews: I'd be thrilled if studios stopped revealing every last detail of a film prior to release. Trailers have become the equivalent of Cliff Notes for the full length feature.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 02:09 PM | Permalink

Digital rights management's hidden dangers: "The content industry can learn a simple lesson from software publishers: Copy protection seldom, if ever, works."

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 02:02 PM | Permalink

You Can't Hide Your Lying Eyes: "In Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic Blade Runner, a test called 'Voight-Kampff' analyzed people's eyes to determine whether they were a human or an illegal 'replicant.' ... Luckily for us, the closest thing to this kind of test currently available is not designed to get you killed by bounty hunter Harrison Ford, but to save lives."

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 11:21 AM | Permalink

Soul Sale Pulled from eBay: So what hasn't been sold on eBay?

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 11:13 AM | Permalink

Insurance firm admits using genetic screening: "Dr Ian Gibson, a member of the committee, accused Norwich Union of trying to set up a 'genetic ghetto.' He called on the Government to stem the tide of genetic testing by insurance companies." It boggles my mind that anyone believes self-regulation works -- with regard to safeguarding genetic data or anything else, like privacy. If it did, we wouldn't need a police force. I don't see why companies would behave any differently than the individuals that comprise them.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 11:36 AM | Permalink

E-Books Barely a Blip on Publishing Radar: Is anyone surprised?

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 09:41 AM | Permalink

China Goes One-on-One With the Net: "Chinese University of Hong Kong social scientist Bryce McIntyre says the government's tactics boil down to a simple formula: 'Block minds, not sites.' 'For the authorities, it's more efficient just to scare the hell out of people,' he added. It is one of the ironies of China's Internet development that U.S. high-tech companies are among those eager to supply China with the kind of technology that Beijing uses to spot Internet content deemed undesirable or subversive. Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, Sun Microsystems and Cisco Systems were among the 34 American companies that registered to show products at an exhibition in Beijing in November organized in part by China's Ministry of Public Security." It's worth noting that Compaq's site carries the following slogan: "Freedom to think, freedom to work with no strings attached. Experience the power of freedom."

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 04:00 PM | Permalink

Doctor Stumbles Onto Orgasm Machine: "All he was trying to do was ease her chronic back pain, but when Dr. Stuart Meloy placed an electrode into one patient's back, she groaned. Not in pain, but in delight."

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 10:56 AM | Permalink

Pat Schroeder's New Chapter: "Publishers want to charge people to read material; librarians want to give it away. 'We,' says Schroeder, 'have a very serious issue with librarians.'" The new Red Menace: Librarians.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 10:10 AM | Permalink

In Defense of Copyleft: Some good points, even if Stallman's crusade looks increasingly quixotic.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 09:25 AM | Permalink

Brain scans spot 'happy thoughts': "Visible changes in the way the brain works give clues to physical differences between optimists and pessimists, scientists find." Now hiring (happy people only).

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 03:11 PM | Permalink

DirecTV hacks its hackers: An intriguing explanation of the recent DirecTV electronic assault on those pirating its signal.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 01:11 PM | Permalink

The Unabomber's Media Pen Pals: Ted Kaczynski has received a fair number of letters from journalists seeking an interview (as these missives from The Smoking Gun indicate). Among them, only the producers for the Larry King show and the USA Network proved savvy enough to send handwritten notes.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 12:56 PM | Permalink

CNNdn -- news from the future: CNN's sense of humor apparently got lost when it was swallowed up by AOL.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 04:29 PM | Permalink

Planet Earth on the move: "Using the well-understood 'gravitational sling shot' technique that has been employed to send space probes to the outer planets, the researchers now think a large asteroid could be used to reposition the Earth to maintain a benign global climate." Or it could send the moon into the Pacific.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 03:02 PM | Permalink

Bug-sized robots could be next generation spies: "Adding a new dimension to the world of creepy-crawlies, researchers at the Sandia National Laboratories have developed mobile, electronic micro-bugs - sensor-equipped robots the size of a nickel."

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 02:39 PM | Permalink

Criminal Faces in the Crowd Still Elude Hidden ID Cameras: It's a small blessing that the technology doesn't work. Unfortunately, it's just getting better.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 09:26 AM | Permalink

Penguins wobble but they don't fall down: "The myth that penguins topple over when they watch aircraft flying overhead has finally been laid to rest." Too bad. That was a rather endearing design flaw.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 10:36 PM | Permalink

Yahoo Launches Paid Placements: It won't be long before all search engine placements are paid, except for non-profit organizations The Open Directory Project.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 05:04 PM | Permalink

mors.ante.servitium: Death Before Employment. An excellent Web log (and not just because its author posted a link to Lot 49).

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 01:04 PM | Permalink

Kafkaesque? Big Brother? Finding the Right Literary Metaphor for Net Privacy: Apparently, Franz Kafka's The Trial is a more appropriate metaphor.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 12:28 PM | Permalink

Bid to personalize sneakers has Nike sweating: The Merc has picked up the story. See my January 24th post.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 04:02 PM | Permalink

Secret Cameras Scanned Crowd at Super Bowl for Criminals: "'Oh my God, it's yet another nail in the coffin of personal liberty,' said Bruce Schneier, founder and chief technical officer of Counterpane Internet Security Inc., a security monitoring company." Bruce is right. Of course, more biased forms of criminal recognition such as the are-you-black litmus test have long been eroding civil liberties in America. Perhaps we should applaud the move from racial to facial profiling.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 03:22 PM | Permalink

CNNdn - the financial crash network: I'm so confused. Is this CNNfn? What year is it? Where am I? Bush is president? Still?

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 03:11 PM | Permalink

Could the Scientists Be Wrong on Madcow Disease?: An interesting alternative theory about the origins of the disease.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 11:02 AM | Permalink

Yahoo! News - Most-viewed content: The problem I have with publicizing news based on popularity is that it tends to reinforce popularity as a criterion for attention. The most important stories are not necessarily the ones with the most hits.

Posted by Thomas Claburn at 10:04 AM | Permalink