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| "I don't think the report is true, but these crises work for those who want to make fights between people." Kulam Dastagir, 28, a bird seller in Afghanistan
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Philip K. Dick's Mind-Bending, Film-Inspiring Journeys |
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| Topic: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Literature |
11:04 am EDT, Jun 17, 2002 |
To call Philip K. Dick, whose 1954 story "The Minority Report" is the basis for the new Steven Spielberg movie, a science-fiction writer is to the underscore the inadequacy of the label. Dick, who died of a stroke in 1982 at 53, was fascinated by the scientific future largely as a vehicle for examining his own anxieties, longings and unstable perceptions. It would be more accurate to call him one of the most valiant psychological explorers of the 20th century. ... Thinking about these ideas can make your head hurt, which is true of virtually all of Dick's 36 novels and more than 100 short stories: mind-bending was almost his religion. Calling himself a "fictionalizing philosopher," he began with an assumption that causality is a shared delusion and that even concepts like space and time have a limited basis in reality. "Minority Report" (opening Friday) stands as the most fluid and conventionally exciting of all the Philip K. Dick adaptations. Philip K. Dick's Mind-Bending, Film-Inspiring Journeys |
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Spielberg Challenges the Big Fluff of Summer |
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| Topic: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Films |
10:55 am EDT, Jun 17, 2002 |
Steven Spielberg decided that there was no better time to release his latest film, "Minority Report," a dark, complex, futuristic whodunit. Spielberg: "I wanted a movie with layers and with a little more substance. ... The question is, Where do you draw the line? How much freedom are you willing to give up? That is what this movie is about. ... We decided to put the film through a process called bleach bypass. Then we shot some of the scenes on 800 ASA film stock, which creates a kind of graininess that makes it feel more like old film noir." The strategy behind "Minority Report" was to marry the action-packed blockbuster and the more complex and demanding drama of ideas. Spielberg Challenges the Big Fluff of Summer |
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| Topic: Biology |
1:36 pm EDT, Jun 15, 2002 |
I walk into the humid goat shed in my Tyvex suit and sterilized boots. I look around the pen. Hundreds of sly-looking, inquisitive goats are staring at me intently. They seem unexceptional enough, but ... this is a so-called "transgenic farm" owned and run by Nexia Biotechnologies. Nexia CEO: "Oh, it's not that weird. What we're doing here is ingeniously simple. We take a single gene from a golden orb-weaving spider and put it into a goat egg. The idea is to make the goat secrete spider silk into its milk. ... We're going to make biodegradable fishing lines out of it. Or maybe tennis racket strings. We call our product BioSteel." "They're just goats. [Pause.] Mostly." Got Silk. |
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Salon.com Technology | The end of the revolution |
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| Topic: Technology |
1:23 pm EDT, Jun 15, 2002 |
"Most likely ... the Internet's role as a site of radical business and technology innovation, and its status as a revolutionary force that disrupts existing social and regulatory regimes, is coming to an end." An extremely pessimistic view of the problems with the ICANN. The thing is that if ICANN becomes bad enough that it makes sense to do away with it, its a simple matter to create and promote an alternative DNS system. It may be hard to make it ubiquitous, but on the other hand, there is nothing they can do to stop you. Salon.com Technology | The end of the revolution |
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More job cuts loom for telecom sector - Tech News - CNET.com |
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| Topic: Economics |
1:14 pm EDT, Jun 15, 2002 |
"Lucent will need to have a head count very similar to where Nortel's target range is, certainly below 45,000," independent analyst Tom Lauria said. "The industry is not showing the signs of recovery that we were all hoping for and unless things change significantly we won't see growth until late 2003, into 2004," he added. More job cuts loom for telecom sector - Tech News - CNET.com |
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A Business Proposition From the Fourth Dimension |
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| Topic: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Literature |
11:48 am EDT, Jun 15, 2002 |
Rudy Rucker has a new book out. Rudy Rucker's Spaceland challenges readers to imagine what life might be like in a world with four spatial dimensions. ... "Spaceland" makes mild fun of self-important dot-commers and their venture-capitalist backers. A Business Proposition From the Fourth Dimension |
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When Navajos Fought Japanese for Ne-He-Mah |
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| Topic: Technology |
11:46 am EDT, Jun 15, 2002 |
It is the most romantic story in American cryptology. To keep the Japanese from getting American secrets in World War II, Navajos -- among the original Americans -- spoke over the radio in their native tongue. In a sidebar to the movie review for "Windtalkers", David Kahn, author of the crypto classic _The Codebreakers_, retells the true story of Marine Corps codetalkers in World War II. When Navajos Fought Japanese for Ne-He-Mah |
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| Topic: Miscellaneous |
3:37 pm EDT, Jun 14, 2002 |
This is an off shore site that is using a form of steganography to hide itself from record industry web spiders. Looks like they've had the domain since 1999. This is real crime. I definately don't recommend that you use this site. However, its existence and method of operation is interesting nonetheless. Islands in the net.... simplemp3s.com |
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Stick a fork in it; 10 GigE is done -- but still too hot to eat |
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| Topic: Technology |
11:27 am EDT, Jun 14, 2002 |
The first fiber-only Ethernet standard was approved Wednesday, opening the door for a new generation of Ethernet products. The IEEE 802.3 standards group gave the go-ahead to 802.3ae, a version of Ethernet that runs at 10 gigabits per second. Extreme Networks: "We will have a 10gbps module within the next few months." It will cost around $60,000. Stick a fork in it; 10 GigE is done -- but still too hot to eat |
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