Views Archive
A Nutty Solution
Today’s marvel of technology comes courtesy of New Scientist magazine: a solution to the age-old problem of unopened pistachio nuts. In every handful of pistachio nuts there are a few whose shells are completely closed, indicating they’re unripe and unopenable…
Gamer Overtime
Video game developers used to call it “crunch time” or “the death schedule.” Now they’ve found another term for their 80-hour work weeks: overtime. A group of employees at Electronic Arts – the enormo-publisher of hits including Madden and the…
90 Days to Kyoto
Russia has today submitted its ratification of the Kyoto Protocols to the United Nations, meaning the treaty takes effect in 90 days, or February 16, 2005. Signatories to the pact are legally bound to meet their emissions targets, or face…
What's New With Spam?
I’m at the Usenix LISA 2004 conference right now, listening to a really interesting talk by John Graham-Cumming about spam. Here are some interesting links from the presentation:John Graham-Cumming’s websiteThe Spammer’s Compendium, a list of the techniques that spammers are…
Bush and Science
Stem-cell research. Climate change. Renewable-energy research. Science education. Four big areas of conflict between the Bush administration and the scientific community. Yesterday Wired News posted a nice analysis of how conflicts between the Bushies and scientists are likely to shape…
States to Cap and Trade
Almost all the relevant action in the arena of U.S. greenhouse gas mitigation is taking place within and among the states, and here comes the next step: a regional-level initiative to cap and trade greenhouse gas emissions. Led by the…
Japanese Government Bans Speech by Security Critic
JUKI net is Japan’s national ID system. Ejovi Nuwere performed a security audit of the system for Nagano Prefecture one year ago. Recently Ejovi was invited to speak at the PacSec security conference about JUKI net. Soumushou, the Japanese government…
A Nanodrop in the Bucket
The Environmental Protection Agency has decided to spend a measly $4 million studying the health and environmental risks posed by manufactured nanoparticles–only 0.1 percent of the $3.7 billion the federal government has committed to the technology over the next four…
WHO Approves Smallpox Experiments
New Scientist is reporting that a World Health Organization committee has approved “in principal” experiments with live smallpox virus. The goal is to improve vaccines and drugs. Before any experiments proceed, the decision must be approved by the WHO’s member…
More Election Maps
There are some very nice election result maps at University of Michigan which adjust the size of the states due to population. They paint a much more interesting view of the US than the election maps that were on CNN…