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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. |
| Plastic superconductor |
| 1:47:07 am mst / 8 March 2001 found by paul / filed in science / source NY Times 36 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Researchers at Bell Labs have created a plastic superconductor. Although it loses its superconductivity if the temperature goes over 4 degrees absolute zero, it is considered a breakthrough because the plastic can be more easily molded into various shapes than current metallic superconductors. |
| The article includes the obligatory mention of possible applications of this technology in quantum computers. |
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| What websurfers are really looking for |
| 4:10:18 am mst / 8 March 2001 found by paul / filed in internet / source Village Voice 156 hits / 1 comment / 0 e-mails |
| Entertaining article on the site Disturbing Search Requests. Basically, webmasters who check their referrer logs often find that their site was reached by someone who entered a bizarre request into a search engine. The DSR site collects some of the best, like "naked ugly midgets short people" or "I rub vodka on my stubbly legs and sing and cry". |
| GeekPress recently had a hit from a Yahoo/Google search for "vaginal rejuvination". |
| read 1 comment |
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| Barbecued wings |
| 6:05:35 am mst / 8 March 2001 found by paul / filed in culture / source New Scientist 67 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| The striking "Sky Mirror" sculpture is scheduled to go up in Nottingham, England in Spring 2001. However, because of concerns that sunlight hitting the polished 6-meter surface could form a concentrated beam that could cook small birds flying in the path, the artist has been asked to place protective shields around his work to prevent that possibility. |
| The article is so melodramatic: "The beam could blind people, set fire to birds, or ignite trees"... |
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| Marines: Hiding a few good men |
| 8:11:20 am mst / 8 March 2001 found by paul / filed in inventions / source Wired 146 hits / 2 comments / 0 e-mails |
| The next generation of camouflage uniforms for the US Marines will have the pixel pattern designed by computers in order to maximize the ability to blend in with the background. |
| Unfortunately, I couldn't find a link to some of the prototype patterns. |
| read 2 comments |
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| Children to test Murphy's Law with buttered toast |
| 10:07:07 am mst / 8 March 2001 found by diana / filed in science / source Ananova 74 hits / 2 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Children in London are letting hundreds of slices of buttered and unbuttered toast slip from their plates at varying heights, all in the name of science, namely testing Murphy's Law. (Link from BBspot.) |
| Buttered toast with jam would also be good to add, as Murphy's Law would more likely be in effect with a gooey, messy substance like jam. :-) |
| read 2 comments |
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| PERL Illiteracy in Our High Schools |
| 3:54:36 pm mst / 8 March 2001 found by diana / filed in humor / source BBspot 115 hits / 0 comments / 1 e-mail |
| Recent tests of high school seniors indicate an alarming illiteracy in PERL. While the PERL Lobby is using this new statistic to argue that there must be a PERL Monk in every classroom, the PAP (Programmers Against PERL) argues that PERL just scares students away from computers. |
| I never knew this was such a hot public policy debate! |
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| Declan McCullagh subpoenaed by DOJ |
| 3:59:55 pm mst / 8 March 2001 found by paul / filed in legal / source Politech 184 hits / 0 comments / 0 e-mails |
| Declan McCullagh, technology writer for Wired and owner of the awesome Politech mailing list has just been subpoenaed by the US Department of Justice for some articles he wrote about the controversial cypherpunk James Dalton Bell. The article explains why. |
| If anyone has any advice or help they can offer, please contact him at declan@well.com Update: Here is a copy of his latest e-mail correspondence with the DOJ. Although Attorney General Ashcroft apparently personally approved the subpoena, it might not be too bad. |
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| Uni-Screw |
| 6:40:25 pm mst / 8 March 2001 found by mhh5 / filed in inventions / source E4 188 hits / 0 comments / 1 e-mail |
| Now there's another kind of screw and screwdriver to add to your toolbox. It's a one size fits all system, so you only need one screwdriver. (diana notes: It does seem like an easier design to work with than Phillips screws. More pictures and info can be found at the company web site.) |
| But will this screwdriver catch on? |
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