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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. |
| Proposal made to put all Britons in DNA database |
| 3:27:45 am mst / 19 February 2001 found by paul / filed in legal / source The Times 49 hits / 4 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Sir Alec Jeffreys, noted expert in DNA fingerprinting, is now proposing that all Britons be registered in a nation-wide DNA database. He claims that the needs of the government to fight crime should outweigh privacy concerns. |
| If this is being seriously considered in the UK, how long will it be before a similar proposal is made in the US? |
| read 4 comments |
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| Carbon nanotubules |
| 7:12:37 am mst / 19 February 2001 found by paul / filed in nanotechnology / source Technology Review 97 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| In this interview, Nobel Prize-winning chemist Richard Smalley explains why carbon nanotubules will become the Next Big Thing. He helps put some of the recent news about these nanotubules into a broader context. |
| He admits he's on the "radical fringe", but I like the the fact that he's thinking about applications like miles-long superstrong fibers. |
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| The Fifth Taste |
| 10:21:33 am mst / 19 February 2001 found by paul / filed in science / source Red Herring 169 hits / 3 comments / 1 e-mail |
| In addition to the four traditional primary flavors (sweet, sour, salty, and bitter), scientists now recognize a fifth taste known as umami, separate from the other four. This article explains what it is, and how it was isolated. (Link via Ars Technica.) |
| This month's Scientfic American also has an excellent article on the biology of taste. |
| read 3 comments |
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| Bringing Video Games into the Real World |
| 1:07:07 pm mst / 19 February 2001 found by MysteriousStranger / filed in wearables / source How Stuff Works 116 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Wearable devices are being developed that will further blur the line of video game reality and actual reality. These new devices will superimpose graphics, noises and smells over real environments in real time. |
| Pretty cool! |
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| Apollo 11 crew quizzed by US Customs |
| 3:41:14 pm mst / 19 February 2001 found by paul / filed in legal / source Register 116 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| The three Apollo 11 astronauts had to make a US Customs declaration before they were allowed back into the country following their historic Moon voyage. Their paperwork lists their departure point as "Moon" and arrival point as "Honolulu, Hawaii" with the Cargo listed as "Moon rocks and Moon dust samples". No space aliens were declared. |
| You can see their Customs form here! |
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| What does the filler text "lorem ipsum" mean? |
| 6:40:42 pm mst / 19 February 2001 found by paul / filed in culture / source Straight Dope 322 hits / 1 comment / 0 e-mails |
| A reader asked the Straight Dope: "Cecil, just what the heck does the Latin phrase that starts lorem ipsum mean? I have seen this used as 'filler text' for years and have always wondered what it meant. Today I had finally had enough, so I cranked up my favorite search engine and fed it this phrase. You can imagine what I got back--thousands of Web pages in various stages of construction. And so I turn to you." |
| Finally, an answer to a question that's bugged me for years! |
| read 1 comment |
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| So Sorry David Gallagher |
| 11:08:50 pm mst / 19 February 2001 found by MysteriousStranger / filed in humor / source Ironminds 161 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Writer David Gallagher impersonates 7th Heaven star David Gallagher on AOL, and a fan loses it. |
| diana says: Entertaining, in a creepy kind of way. |
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