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| 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. |
| FBI Goes After BonsaiKitten.com |
| 4:22:56 am mst / 10 February 2001 found by paul / filed in internet / source Wired 112 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| The FBI has begun investigations of a parody website called BonsaiKitten.com, which purports to show how to create rectangular shaped cats by sedating them, then stuffing them into rectangular glass jars. Despite the fact that the "order page" does not list prices or a mailing address to send money orders, many humorless animal-rights activists who don't realize that this is a joke are outraged at what they believe to be animal mutilation. At the end of the article, one person does point out that "the First Amendment protects all speech, no matter how offensive some people may find it". |
| The letters page is especially amusing, with some people playing into the joke and others full of indignant anger. |
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| Why humans don't look like elves |
| 8:49:48 am mst / 10 February 2001 found by paul / filed in science / source UniSci 181 hits / 1 comment / 0 e-mails |
| Most of our current body layout is due to evolutionary factors "designed" to keep us alive long enough to reproduce and raise our young. However, we are not designed for much longevity beyond that. UIC Professor S. Jay Olshansky analyzes some of our "design flaws" and argues that if we were instead designed for longevity, our bodies would look more "like short, stout elves." |
| The descriptions in the article sound more like dwarves, not elves. I think he needs to read more Tolkien! |
| read 1 comment |
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| So you want a girl? |
| 7:13:07 pm mst / 10 February 2001 found by paul / filed in business / source Fortune 39 hits / 2 comments / 0 e-mails |
| An excellent (and lengthy) article on MicroSort, a biotech company that takes human sperm and separates the ones carrying X (female) chromosomes from the ones carrying Y (male) chromosomes, thus allowing parents to select the sex of their next child. Currently, they have a 90% success rate for parents who want a girl (73% for boys). Their waiting list is currently several months long, and as one might expect most prospective parents are very quiet about utilizing their services, often not even telling family and close friends. |
| The ethical objections discussed in the article seem to be more of the "we shouldn't go down the slippery slope to further genetic tailoring of babies", rather than being objections to sex selection per se. If the price continues to go down and if the government doesn't get involved (a big "if"), I predict a lot more parents will quietly avail themselves of this service. |
| read 2 comments |
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| High speed internet access via satellite |
| 11:13:56 pm mst / 10 February 2001 found by paul / filed in internet / source MSNBC 102 hits / 2 comments / 2 e-mails |
| Geeknews.net pointed us towards this story on broadband access via satellite for those users who live outside of cable modem and DSL range. |
| This has special relevance to us at GeekPress, since we are thinking of moving to an area of Colorado where this is the case. |
| read 2 comments |
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