The Rigged-Up Net

Who makes up this stuff?!

New Laws Starting Monday

A look at some new laws taking effect Sept. 1

http://www.msnbc.com/local/KMOL/D-FF84CEDF-9E1B-4F22-8F72-B7A49A2EFE1D.asp?0na=x2212241W

Origami helps cellphone cameras to focus

Picture-messaging phones may be about to get a whole lot more intrusive. Thanks to a novel and ultra-cheap micromotor technology, cellphone cameras should soon be able to zoom and focus with the same precision as the autofocusing lenses used in expensive stills cameras.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994096

Plugging hole in heart slashes migraines

Treating a common heart condition can dramatically reduce the occurrence of debilitating migraines, suggests new research.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994113

MIT to uncork futuristic bar code

A group of academics and business executives is planning to introduce next month a next-generation bar code system, which could someday replace with a microchip the series of black vertical lines found on most merchandise.

http://news.com.com/2100-1019_3-5069619.html?tag=fd_lede1_hed

Make time for festivals and special events

It took only one visit during Seattle’s music and antic-filled Labor Day Bumbershoot Festival to persuade our correspondent to move to the city for good. The best part was this laid-back city has festivals and season-kickoffs all year long. Here’s a sampling to help you plan your visit:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/extraday/seattle/feature.htm

Rummaging through the recycle bin of Net obsessions

Good news: Net fashionistas have already declared the “flash mob” — in which participants follow instructions given by e-mail and mobile phone to gather, annoy passersby, and disperse — passé. Like a vapid-but-catchy summer anthem (here’s looking at you, Nelly), a sartorial whim that everyone follows and then rapidly drops (hello, mood ring!), or the desperately annoying catchprase on everyone’s lips (whassuuuuup indeed), various cybercultural oddities (a.k.a. memes) over the years have made a fleeting impact on Net culture, and sometimes beyond it.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2003-08-28-net-fad-history_x.htm

Scientists Crack Secret Strength of Silk

A Tufts team has figured out how spiders and silkworms spin such strong silk, which could have far-reaching implications for everything from hospital dressings to body armor.

http://enews.tufts.edu/stories/082903Silk.htm

Report: Wal-Mart was top furniture retailer in 2002

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which employs about 9,000 people in the Houston area, sold more furniture than any other U.S. retailer in 2002, according to a survey by Furniture/Today magazine..

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2003/08/25/daily49.html

Fatigued neurons explain waterfall illusion

It is an illusion that has bedazzled people since Aristotle described it 2000 years ago. If you look at a waterfall for a short time, then look at the bank beside it, the bank will appear to drift upwards. Now an experiment that monitors brain activity has explained how the “waterfall effect” arises.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994095

Next SoBig worm may trigger torrent of spam

A new version of the SoBig computer worm, expected in September, could not just overwhelm networks with infected mail but also lead to a massive increase in spam, according to some experts.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994110

Holy Shit! I found the recipe for Rudy’s Creamed Corn! I’m so excited!

Ingredients
* 1/2 Gal + 1 cup milk
* 1/2 Gal +1 cup Heavy Cream
* 15 lbs Frozen Corn
* 3 cups Sugar
* 1 tbsp White Pepper
* 1 tbsp Salt
* 2 cups Parmesan Cheese (Grated)

Procedure
1) Add milk and heavy cream to 20qt pot, let warm -add corn- stirring frequently to prevent scorching
2) Bring to 185 degrees – add spices, roux and stir until thick (insure there are no flour balls)
3) Add parmesan cheese – stir

Study: Women’s family businesses more productive

Women-owned family businesses are not only a growing segment of the U.S. economy, they’re also more productive, on average, than those run by men, according to the results of a study released this week by MassMutual Financial Group and Babson College.

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2003/08/25/daily38.html

Ok, ok…I watched the VMA’s… it was somewhat entertaining – was it just me? or did Chris Rock look a bit old? hmm.

Oh, and what was with security pulling off Snoop’s buddy off stage?

And yes – I saw the hot girl on girl action involving Madonna and Britney – and if you were watching carefully, even Christina got a little something-something. You can see lots of pics of it here or a video here.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/awards/mtvmusicawards/2003-08-28-mtv-vma_x.htm

And you can see who won the VMA’s here:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/awards/mtvmusicawards/2003-08-29-vma-winners_x.htm

Mount Rainier is the future of DVD writers – unfortunately hardly any drives support it. But its something to look out for – its a great vision… having DVD-RW drives as replacement for floppies!

Ah – that annoying phenomenon where a tune gets stuck in your head and you can’t get rid of it… Last night’s TechLive had a short segment on it… evidentally its called an “ear worm”. I’ve found an essay on it for your amusement.

http://www.larrygoodcomposer.com/essay14.html

Want to make video CDs? Annoyed by how complicated it is? Well, the latest version of Nero Burning Rom will automatically convert any video file and make it VCD compliant for you… this is awesome! Burning Rom has now got to be the easiest way to make VCDs.

Also, a TSS review of Nero is here.

Majoring in rating colleges

When rankings bring good news for a school, most campuses bask in their success. … But when the distinction is dubious, the rankings become an annoying headache.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2003-08-27-college-rankings-usat_x.htm

Dark chocolate boosts antioxidant levels

Eating chocolate can boost the level of heart-protecting antioxidants in the blood, but consuming milk at the same time cancels the potential health benefits, according to a new study

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994101

Interesting video… view it here.

S.A. housing market remains solid

San Antonio’s housing market is holding its pace of record growth, according to a new report by Metrostudy.

http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2003/08/25/daily20.html

Colleges brace for bigger classes and less bang for more bucks

It’s an axiom among state policymakers: In tough economic times, colleges and universities take the cuts first, and hardest. After all, there’s always a backup money source: students.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2003-08-27-college-tuition-usat_x.htm

CarMax rides road to profit

In 1998, things were so bleak at CarMax used car stores that employees were betting on when parent Circuit City would kill the 5-year-old venture, which had never made money and whose stock was trading at close to $5 a share.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2003-08-26-carmax_x.htm

Interchange Planned for Highway 281

The Texas Department of Transportation says it gets more complaints about the Loop 410/Hwy. 281 area than anywhere else in the city. Now, frustrated drivers can relax because help is on the way.

http://www.msnbc.com/local/KMOL/D-1A296CE7-C78E-4F7D-9FF2-7ED1D3AB29AA.asp?0na=x2203370Q

Osirusoft Blacklists The World

ariehk writes “As of today, Osirusoft, distributer of the SPEWS and open relay blocklists, among others, is no longer operational. Servers using these lists (including the FTC) are currently rejecting ALL email. This shutdown seems to be in response to a several-week-long DDoS attack on Osirusoft, SPEWS and others, resulting in both sites being down. This has caused much discussion on n.a.n-a.e, including the suggestion that the attack is somehow related to the SoBig worm. The spammers must be hurting if they can devote these kinds of resources to attacking blocklists.” Read on below a related submission.

http://slashdot.org/articles/03/08/27/0214238.shtml?tid=111&tid=126

Schooled in compatibility

Freshmen Lauren Flowers and Anna Love are giving Wake Forest University rave reviews, and classes don’t start until Wednesday. Why? Because the school in Winston-Salem, N.C., faced with 1,000 incoming freshmen, paired them as roommates

http://www.usatoday.com/life/2003-08-25-roommates_x.htm

The search engine that could

Susan Wojcicki remembers when two Stanford students came to rent a room in her house in September 1998 for a new dot-com enterprise.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-08-25-google_x.htm

Press coverage of the Rackspace’s PrevenTier press release.

http://news.com.com/2110-1009_3-5067676.html?tag=cdshrt
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2003/0825spbriefs.html
http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2003/08/25/daily5.html
http://thewhir.com/marketwatch/rac082503.cfm
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=39120

Bright ideas

Pop quiz: name the one technology in your home that hasn’t changed much since it was invented in 1879. Some hints: It breaks when you drop it, it’s hot when you touch it, it dies unpredictably, and it sucks up excessive amounts of electricity.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2003/08/25/bright_ideas/

I’ve heard people talking about this, but I never spent the time to actually watch it… I have to admit, its pretty funny.

http://www.btinternet.com/~moondoggy/star_wars_kid.html

Crime Rates Down In San Antonio

Good news here in San Antonio. New numbers show the city is a safer place to live.

http://www.msnbc.com/local/KMOL/D-B8B9B399-94D8-45AF-A46B-FD0523D8DD93.asp?0na=x2212120O&cp1=1

Want a tatoo? Watch the latest Red vs Blue… funny funny stuff…

http://www.redvsblue.com/archives/000110.shtml

Spam Filters

Spam is a growing problem for email users, and many solutions have been proposed, from a postage fee for email to Turing tests to simply not accepting email from people you don’t know. Spam filtering is one way to reduce the impact of the problem on the individual user (though it does nothing to reduce the effect of the network traffic generated by spam). In its simplest form, a spam filter is a mechanism for classifying a message as either spam or not spam.

http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/964/

Say Goodbye To Your CD-Rs In Two Years?

Little Hamster writes “According to an article on cdfreaks.com, a test done by the Dutch PC-Active magazine showed that among 30 different CD-R brands tested, a lot of them were already unreadable after twenty months. This is shocking, and makes me wonder how should I backup my data, photo and music collection.”

http://slashdot.org/articles/03/08/24/1253248.shtml?tid=126&tid=137&tid=198

Humans trained to hunger like Pavlov’s dogs

Humans can be trained to crave food in response to abstract prompts just like Pavlov’s dogs, reveals new research.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994083

Red wine chemical extends life – in yeast

A chemical found in red wine can mimic the life-extending effect of calorie-restricted diets in yeast, researchers have found.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994085

Marketers, FBI unite to curb spam

The Direct Marketing Association intends to help the FBI nab spammers–and help preserve its members’ ability to send commercial e-mail.

http://news.com.com/2100-1024_3-5067369.html

Farting – the new trend in Porn… (thanks Pad. 😉

http://www.farthammer.com

What do you call the @ symbol used in e-mail addresses?

The funny little a with its tail circling back around it is probably one of the most commonly used symbols today. So it is truly amazing to learn that there is no official, universal name for it. The most accepted term, even in many other languages, is to call it the at sign. But there are dozens of different words used to describe it. A lot of languages use words that associate the shape of the symbol with some type of animal.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question507.htm/

Study: HIV cases increase 31 percent in Alamo City

San Antonio Metropolitan Health District officials on Friday released the results of a new study showing that the number of reported cases of human immunodeficiency virus rose 31 percent in 2002 over the previous year

http://sanantonio.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2003/08/18/daily40.html

The trailer is out. I’ve mirrored it here. Enjoy!