archive
index
gp originals
google i
google ii
celebrating porn
idiot voters
| Notice: GeekPress is back up and running, thanks to Paul! It's still a not-so-serious tech news blog, but the format is significantly looser. Diana, having given up programming for philosophy, has her own philosophical blog NoodleFood. More of her work can be found at DianaHsieh.com. |
| Remotely programmable cyber-vegetables |
| 1:58:18 am mst / 7 February 2001 found by paul / filed in science / source Business Week 44 hits / 0 comments / 1 e-mail |
| Scientists at North Carolina State University are trying to create plants "containing tiny biochip control devices in their cells capable of receiving and transmitting signals to a station millions of miles away on Earth". The cyber-vegetables would be used by NASA to help feed colonists on the Moon or Mars. Ideally, scientists on Earth could remotely adjust the plants to "produce more or less oxygen depending on the needs of human space settlers, prepare for cold weather by hardening their stems, or adapt to lower levels of light by elongating." |
| As long as they aren't designed to communicate using AOL only... |
 |
| Clicking with someone online |
| 8:41:31 am mst / 7 February 2001 found by paul / filed in culture / source ABC News 84 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Discusses the ups and downs of cyberromance. Although it is theoretically easier to find people with similar interests online, many of the problems are similar to those experienced in the offline dating scene. |
| Coincidentally, BrassKnuckles just posted an interesting essay entitled, "Finding Your Ideal Mate Online", which provides an alternative viewpoint. |
|
| Ten Coolest Movie Explosions |
| 11:22:10 am mst / 7 February 2001 found by diana / filed in humor / source Daily Radar 200 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Daily Radar has compiled a list of the ten best movie explosions, along with the disgusting things that flew out of them |
| My favorite was #5, the "butt activated toilet bomb" from Lethal Weapon 2 described as "man's most feared weapon." |
|
| The Stock Market Has Made Inmate 90T1282 a Rich Man |
| 11:37:48 am mst / 7 February 2001 found by paul / filed in business / source NY Times 55 hits / 0 comments / 2 e-mails |
| Inmate Michael Mathie has traded approximately $8 millions worth of securities while being incarcerated for a 10-30 year manslaughter sentence in New York state. Because prisoners aren't allowed to run their own businesses, he executes all his trades through his father via payphone, and his gross income for 1999 was $899,969. The guards call him "our resident millionaire", and he gives them free stock tips in exchange for them delivering to him daily his large stacks of mail, "including The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Investor's Business Daily, Value Line Investment Survey and Individual Investor". |
| A real life Andy Dufresne, except that he was actually guilty. He'd better hope that the guards and fellow prisoners don't get too pissed off if the economy goes into a recession, and his stock tips go sour. |
|
| Woman in Canada may have Ebola |
| 11:56:30 am mst / 7 February 2001 found by diana / filed in medicine / source CNN 65 hits / 1 comment / 0 e-mails |
| "Health officials are working to determine if a woman who traveled from Africa and now is hospitalized in Canada is suffering from Ebola hemorrhagic fever -- in what would be the first known case in North America." (Thanks to BBspot for the link.) |
| Sounds like something from The Hot Zone or The Cobra Event. Yikes! |
| read 1 comment |
|
| From FUD to Trash Talk |
| 1:41:32 pm mst / 7 February 2001 found by diana / filed in business / source ZDNet 139 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Evan Leibovitch reviews the history of anti-Linux FUD in a rather amusing list, and then discusses the "full-frontal assault" against Linux coming from Microsoft. |
| How delightful to think back on how MS's dismissal of Linux has failed! |
|
| A better way to type on your cell phone? |
| 4:47:25 pm mst / 7 February 2001 found by paul / filed in software / source ZDNet 35 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Geeknik pointed us towards this interesting article on new software from Eatoni Ergonomics, which will help with the arduous task of entering text on cell phone keypads. Programmer Howard Gutowitz says that the software "can accurately predict words as they are being typed on a cell phone keypad, even after just one digit is struck. He claims it cuts in half the number of keystrokes on those tiny keypads that big fingers have to push." |
| I like the idea of this sort of predictive software. I just have a hard time believing it can do much after only one digit has been pressed. It reminds me of the people on "Name that Tune" who try to identify a song after only one note. |
|
| Evil Scientist University |
| 6:37:52 pm mst / 7 February 2001 found by diana / filed in humor / source Misc 243 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Brass Knuckles pointed us to this rather extensive web site on evil science. |
| My favorite section was "Doing Evil Right" which has helpful tips on staff selection, research projects, and more! |
|
| Implant Achieves Female Orgasm |
| 8:30:43 pm mst / 7 February 2001 found by paul / filed in inventions / source Wired 296 hits / 0 comments / 3 e-mails |
| A physician working on a device to treat back pain has stumbled upon an unexpected side effect -- it also induces orgasms in women. He has patented the device, and hopes to market it with Medtronic "as a remote-control orgasm machine". |
| He's going to become a very rich man... |
|
| Hundreds of naked women force scientists to flee |
| 11:26:53 pm mst / 7 February 2001 found by paul / filed in science / source Ananova 643 hits / 0 comments / 2 e-mails |
| I think the title pretty much speaks for itself... |
|