"The notion was that a chemical that would probably be pleasant in the human body in low quantities could be identified, and by virtue of either breathing or having their skin exposed to this chemical, the notion was that soliders would become gay," explained Hammond.

Your tax dollars at work...

cbs5.com - Pentagon Confirms It Sought To Build A 'Gay Bomb'

Ironically if she succeeds in banning the books for their "religious influence" she sets a precedent which might make it easier to strip away the Christian influence in our schools as well. Harry Potter is less Wiccan than intelligent design is Christian. Praying isn't so different than uttering spells. Children should be able to pick a religion, but they should be prevented from exposure to them at all costs.

RE: Laura Mallory Speaks Out about Harry Potter

In his speech, Jobs announced that the iPhone will be able to run Web 2.0 applications that look just like the iPhone's built-in apps but are created by third-party developers. As the iPhone will have a full-fledged version of Apple's Safari Web browser, developers can build their applications with Ajax and other Web technologies.

Ok, I'm not sure what this means exactly (and granted this is 2 steps removed from the source). Its a browser with a JavaScript interpreter. Of course it can run Ajax apps. I wonder if this referes to Adobe's Apollo apps which can run external of a browser.

"I'm underwhelmed," said Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis. Many developers, he said, "were expecting to be able to write apps and run them in a browser anyway."

Yeah, nothing new here.

He pointed out that, although Jobs said that the Web 2.0 apps will run in a sandbox, they still will be able to reach beyond the sandbox to access key functions, such as phone calls

... ... SWEET! Now Samy can let you know he is your new hero by calling you. On your Phone. Thousands of times a second. From JavaScript.

This makes John Terrill's curse "I'm going to XSS your FACE!" that much closer to reality.

iPhone + XSS = All your cell networks are belong to Acidus

OK. I THINKS DIS B DA BEST PROGARMING LANG EVAR. IT HAS A FLAVOR AND IT ARE ABLE TO B RUN ON DA BUKKIT.

IT R ALMOST AZ GUD AS RUBY.

O'Reilly's Newest Release: LOLCODE

Check out this wonderful street view image. Someone was a bit distracted when they took this one for the database, but I think it's teh awesome.

Museum of Thongs, courtesy of Google Maps

I begin to think that what we need is a new topic called simply "Orgasms" because I just can't describe how ecstatic I am that the following has happened...

Robert Allen Soloway has been arrested in Seattle, Washington after being indicted on charges of (but which will probably ultimately not be limited to):

* Identity Theft
* Money Laundering
* Mail, Wire, and E-Mail Fraud

He has targeted personally for harassment the people who have called him out for his business practices, up to and including trying to astroturf others as being responsible for his spamming. He had moved his operations overseas to use China to hide his activities. The things he was spamming for weren't even legal most of the time, let alone being in near-perpetual violation of CAN-SPAM. I could expound on the morally reprehensible things this man has done over the years, but it would just seem a drop in the bucket compared to what comes up when you Google his name.

This man is going to jail, do not pass go, do not collect 200 email addresses.

...and that almost makes me need to go change my shorts.

MAJOR SPAMMER ARRESTED!

In an unanimous decision released today, Helsinki District Court ruled that Content Scrambling System (CSS) used in DVD movies is “ineffective”. The decision is the first in Europe to interpret new copyright law amendments that ban the circumvention of “effective technological measures”. The legislation is based on EU Copyright Directive from 2001. According to both Finnish copyright law and the underlying directive, only such protection measure is effective, “which achieves the protection objective.”

My god it's amazing to see common sense win out. CSS was never a "copy-protection" mechanism to begin with. Any idiot with a bitcopier could readily copy a DVD and never even know CSS was there, supposedly "protecting" the data. CSS is, and always has been, a distribution channel protection mechanism that allows DVD manufacturers to eliminate competition by rendering importing agencies powerless, and to charge what they feel the market will bear in each, individual market without having to worry about anyone being able to question it or sell discs to a different market. Afaik, this sort of pricing would be illegal if it was done from one state to the next in the USA.

Finland drops protections for /ineffective/ copy-protection mechanisms!

Finally, for those of you feeling like there's not enough sensless application of buzzworded technology in your life, now there's something to get you just that one step closer to Perfection (and the next revision control number) with Pig 2.0!

Featuring:

* Ecologically safe chrome plating
* An ethnically-neutral speech synthesis chip
* 100% guaranteed stable molecular structure
* ...and even more highly-technological innards!

Presenting: PIG 2.0!

As if there weren't already enough evidence of misbehavior in the Bush adminstration to keep one busy sorting through it until 2012, here's yet another story of foxes guarding henhouses, voter fraud, and attempts to take away the ability to vote from thousands upon thousands of people not belonging to the "right" political party.

Still *more* attorney abuses

“You have a Monica problem,” Ms. Ashton was told, according to several Justice Department officials. Referring to Monica M. Goodling, a 31-year-old, relatively inexperienced lawyer who had only recently arrived in the office, the boss added, “She believes you’re a Democrat and doesn’t feel you can be trusted.”

Yeah, this would be worth taking the 5th on. If she opens her mouth, she's cooked. Unfortunately, with everything that's come out, she's already cooked, and likely going to Danbury for quite some time.

Colleagues Cite Partisan Focus by Justice Official - New York Times