Montague-Island_scale.jpg (JPEG Image, 600x531 pixels)

Montague-Island_scale.jpg (JPEG Image, 600x531 pixels)

Beautiful and dramatic image of Antarctic volcano.

Living camera uses bacteria to capture image

New Scientist Breaking News - Living camera uses bacteria to capture image: "The “living camera” uses light to switch on genes in a genetically modified bacterium that then cause an image-recording chemical to darken. The bacteria are tiny, allowing the sensor to deliver a resolution of 100 megapixels per square inch."

And an image of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, no less.

Random Chuck Norris Fact: Top Thirty Facts

Random Chuck Norris Fact: Top Thirty Facts: "One day Chuck Norris looked in the mirror and said 'No one outstares Chuck!' He is still there to this day."

Quotes about Operating Systems

Quotes about Operating Systems

Spyware Sony seems to breach copyright

De Winter Information Solutions - open solutions in an open world - Spyware Sony seems to breach copyright: "This discovery can have far-stretching consequences for the music giant, who claims only to protect copyrights. Previously, judges in Germany already forced various companies to release source code to the public and to deliver the goods necessary for compiling. It is also possible to demand financial compensation for damages."

More Sony, for which I apologise. It just bloody annoys me. I think I'll end (possibly?) all this by saying - 'No PSPs for Christmas!'

Sony accused of leading price-fix cartel to stop cheap deals on web

Scotsman.com News - UK - Sony accused of leading price-fix cartel to stop cheap deals on web: "The 'dual pricing' move is being challenged by online discounters who have made a joint complaint to the Office of Fair Trading. If their action fails, dozens of other big-name makers of hi-fis, televisions, cameras and other electrical goods could adopt the pricing strategy."

Sony
like.no.other(tm)

Ellen Goodman

Ellen Goodman Quotes - The Quotations Page: "Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it."

Well said. It also often involves sitting in a cubicle with no natural light, dealing with people you would never usually want to associate with, to make a boss who you despise richer.

Jeremy Clarkson

Independent Online Edition > Profiles: "clearing the air of pomposity"

That's exactly the point. Now back to your bruschetta.

Rainbow warriors crack password hashes

Rainbow warriors crack password hashes [printer-friendly] | The Register: "'Usually people think that a complex, but short, password is very secure, something like $FT%_3^,' said Travis, one of the founders of RainbowCrack Online, who asked that his last name not be used. 'However, you will find that our tables handle that password quite easily."

Sony Rootkits - Follow-up #3

Anti-Malware Engineering Team : Sony DRM Rootkit: "We have analyzed this software, and have determined that in order to help protect our customers we will add a detection and removal signature for the rootkit component of the XCP software to the Windows AntiSpyware beta"

And I thought Sony was in bed with Microsoft over DRM.

Sony Rootkits - Follow-up #2

This is what will happen if you play these cds in a Windows PC.

Now this is what California is doing to Sony BMG.

Bravo!

Shane McGowan eating a Magnum

BBC NEWS | Technology | Guts, glory and a bit of horror: "slobbering like Shane McGowan eating a Magnum"

A boring, run-of-the-mill article, save for that one simile. Hilarious.

The Female Zeitgeist

MSN-Mainichi Daily News: WaiWai

The Japanese seem adept at categorising trends which we all observe but fail to name.

Says Who? Says God

Says Who? Says God: "You'd better have stopped fighting by the time I get back, or you're all grounded."

I guess this'll only appeal to the agnostic contingent.

Permanent Markers

Excerpts from "Expert Judgement on Markers to Deter Inadvertent Human Intrusion into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant": "We can never know if we indeed have successfully communicated with our descendants 400 generations removed, but we can, in any case, perhaps convey an important message to ourselves."

What about making a huge flourescent skeleton, striking a violent death-pang pose?

10 megapixel CCD for consumer cameras

Sharp’s new 10 megapixel CCD for consumer cameras - Engadget - www.engadget.com

OK, just to underline the point; you do not need more pixels. You need better optics. Don't believe the manufacturer's hype.

Bird Flu

Expert dispels bird flu paranoia: "You're more likely to have a light plane hit by a meteor and fall on your head than somebody getting bird flu off their cockatiel."

The Cerne Abbas Giant

Google Maps satellite view is saying "We are sorry, but we don't have imagery at this zoom level for this region" when I go looking for this. Ho hum.

Nude Brits shop while drunk

Nude Brits shop while drunk | The Register: "The research shows a rise in a new spending syndrome dubbed BLOTO, or Buying Loads Of Tat Online, with seven per cent of Britons now claiming they know someone who has gone shopping on the web for items they don't need whilst intoxicated."

And naked, apparently. Are you drunk / naked / both whilst reading this?

Virtual club to rock pop culture

BBC NEWS | Technology | Virtual club to rock pop culture

But will there be virtual chavs with 'Doom 3' faces virtually elbowing you out of the way to buy a virtual Vodka & Red Bull?

High-speed net could disappoint

BBC NEWS | Technology | High-speed net could disappoint

Good grief. I remember 5/6 years ago installing ADSL 1Mb (the fastest available at the time in the UK) for clients. Then it was expensive, took BT ages to enable (if indeed they decreed your line would support it), available initially only to businesses, and BT would regularly pull the plug on it without warning (citing line 'noise'). BT were clearly involved in protectionism for their ISDN and leased-line businesses. OfTel (as it was then) appeared unable or unwilling to do anything about it. All this while Blair was extoling 'online Britain'.

Meanwhile you could get a domestic 8Mb DSL in Germany for the same price as a residential analogue phone line here in the UK. Analogue phone lines which BT insisted would not handle 8Mb.

Why are we always playing catch-up?

Sony Rootkits - Follow-up

Sony Rootkits your computer
Security Fix - Brian Krebs on Computer Security - (washingtonpost.com)
PC Pro: News: Sony DRM burrows into rootkit code

Greg's Head: Linux Thoughts - Interface Software UI and Design Blog

Greg's Head: Linux Thoughts - Interface Software UI and Design Blog: "Linux should stop copying Microsoft feature for feature and embrace the differences and features that advanced users love. At the same time they need to make the default experience simpler to attract more beginner and intermediate users. The core mantra should be: “Simple and easy in everything we do, but give me a command line and I can move the world.”"

Excellent. I often feel that Linux is held back by the 'Me Sir! Me Sir!" contingent who want to prove they're cleverer than everybody else.

Living Tombstones

Wired News: DNA Dose Seeds Living Tombstones

If my DNA were in a tree, I wonder if people would still hug it?

Catholic Schoolgirls Unravel DNA

Wired News: Catholic Schoolgirls Unravel DNA: "Sister Mary Jane Paolella, of Sacred Heart Academy, an all-girls Roman Catholic high school in Hamden, Connecticut. She wasn't here on a sightseeing trip. Paolella showed up with her students to make an official presentation of DNA sequencing data that her honors biotechnology class generated from genes associated with osteoporosis."

Nice to see that religion need not preclude science, even in contentious areas. Although being Catholic, studying DNA is a safe choice since followers will make sure there is more and more of it going round.

Flapart

Flapart: "Awhile ago, my husband Brian said 'wouldn't it be funny if you were sitting on the subway reading a book and on the front cover it said, How to Murder a Complete Stranger and Get Away with It? Imagine what people around you would think, especially when you finally finished the book'."

Removing Sony's CD 'rootkit' kills Windows

Removing Sony's CD 'rootkit' kills Windows | The Register: "Using conventional tools to remove Sony's digital media malware will leave ordinary users with dead Windows systems."

Dave Mustaine Quotes

dave mustaine quotes .ms: "No matter how beautiful a girl is, she still shits." And other inspired observations from a rare rock sage.

The Package

Compfused.com - The Package. I survived.

Amazon.com: Philips HeartStart Home Automated External Defibrillator (AED): Health & Personal Care

Amazon.com: Philips HeartStart Home Automated External Defibrillator (AED): Health & Personal Care: "A defibrillator is not a replacement for seeking medical care."