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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. |
| Judges order Napster shut down after they finish downloading |
| 1:53:01 am mst / 13 February 2001 found by paul / filed in humor / source SatireWire 128 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| According to this (parody) article: In a 2-to-1 decision, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered song-swapping service Napster to stop trading copyrighted material as soon as the judges finish downloading their favorite Pink Floyd songs, which the judges have been unable to access due to heavy demand on Napster's servers. "The 9th Circuit concurs with the district court and finds the defendant, Napster Inc., is responsible for the direct infringement of plaintiffs' copyrighted materials, and should therefore cease doing so pursuant to the panel's acquisition of three more cuts from Dark Side of the Moon, which we were unable to obtain over the past 72 hours," wrote Judge Mary Schroeder, who said she was still missing the hits Money, Breathe in the Air, and Brain Damage. |
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| Confessions of a software liar |
| 10:26:35 am mst / 13 February 2001 found by paul / filed in software / source Techweb 223 hits / 2 comments / 0 e-mails |
| The author describes how software licensing agreements give users powerful incentives to fib, essentially turning honest people into liars. |
| Diana has long been irritated at what she describes as these "contracts of adhesion". |
| read 2 comments |
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| Men responsible for majority of genetic mutations |
| 12:30:29 pm mst / 13 February 2001 found by paul / filed in science / source Wired 67 hits / 0 comments / 1 e-mail |
| From the article: "Men are responsible for the majority of human genetic mutations, according to a landmark publication in the scientific journal Nature". |
| I didn't realize that beer and football were such strong mutagens... |
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| "Men of the Internet" site hot hot hot |
| 12:42:33 pm mst / 13 February 2001 found by paul / filed in culture / source San Francisco Chronicle 76 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Despite the well known propensity of men to pass on genetic mutations, the recent "Men of the Internet" site has been extremely popular. Women can peruse the biographies (and earning potentials) of ten Silicon Valley hunks and vote on their favorites. The winner of a random drawing gets an all-expenses paid date with the guy of her choice. |
| The most entertaining part is the raunchy commentary made by the women. |
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| Online chats good for children |
| 10:37:47 pm mst / 13 February 2001 found by paul / filed in education / source NY Times 43 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Noted MIT Professor Sherry Turkle argues that it is good for children and adolescents to spend a fair amount of time in online communities. |
| It's nice to hear a voice of reason amidst the continuing cries of internet regulation "for the children". |
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