] The Japanese Institute of Space Astronautical Science
] tested two solar sail deployments launched aboard an
] S-310 rocket on 9 August. It is the first time a solar
] sail deployment has ever been tested in space.

So simple, and yet, so complicated

Article: First space test for solar sailing�| New Scientist

] "Scaled Composites is going to win," Carmack says
] matter-of-factly, referring to a competing team that has
] already launched a craft to the edge of space and will
] officially compete for the prize in September.
] "But we still had been holding out,"

Article: Double calamity for X Prize contenders�| New Scientist

] people in Cameroon are showing up with symptoms of HIV,
] but are testing negative for both the virus and its
] primate equivalent SIV, the virus from which HIV is
] thought to have evolved. That suggests that new strains
] of an HIV-like virus are circulating in wild animals and
] infecting people who eat them

Article: Bush-meat trade breeds new HIV �| New Scientist

] A type of wallpaper that prevents Wi-Fi signals escaping
] from a building without blocking mobile phone signals has
] been developed by a British defence contractor. The
] technology is designed to stop outsiders gaining access
] to a secure network by using Wi-Fi networks casually set
] up by workers at the office.

Very cool. Lots of potential for this kind of thing, I think.

Article: Stealth wallpaper keeps company secrets safe�| New Scientist

] He was asked, "Colleges should get rid of legacy?"
]
] Bush responded, "Well I think so, yes. I think it ought
] to be based upon merit."
]
] Under legacy programs, applicants are given an advantage
] if their parents or grandparents attended the school.
] Bush, a third-generation graduate of Yale University,
] joked about his own legacy.
]
] "Well, in my case, I had to knock on a lot of doors to
] follow the old man's footsteps," he said to laughter.

Legacy is one problem I am not too upset by. The recent practice of applying legacy-tracking to non-legacy "likely donor" candidates is more troubling. It was amazing how many people from Carleton that graduated with my sister were from parents who had graduated about the time as my father -- and I think in that environment, it was an asset. That's different than accepting people as if they were legacy because their family was wealthy and indicated high likelyhood of donating large sums and fundraising, as the WSJ reported places like Duke doing. And I'm not harping on this because my mom went to Duke but I was not legacy enough to go as well. I think I did better anyway, without legacies. And I think Bush is confident that what doesn't matter as much as legacy is power and prestige -- I don't believe he was legacy at HBS, but as the son of "Special Envoy to China"...

CNN.com - Bush opposes 'legacy' college admissions - Aug 6, 2004

] Congress is moving to force a shift to "open access," a
] form of free-to-consumer publishing, for scientific
] papers. The move angers commercial publishers, who see
] their livelihoods threatened, and scares scientific
] societies, who are afraid they will face revenue losses
] or new costs they cannot afford. Even librarians, who
] pushed for the move, are cautious, because they are
] concerned for the health of the scientific societies.

United Press International: PoliSci: House acts on research access

] Three banks were robbed while President Bush and
] Democratic nominee John Kerry were holding events just
] blocks from each other Wednesday morning.

Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier Online -

] The company had planned to wrap up development this week
] on Windows XP Service Pack 2, but a Microsoft
] representative said late Wednesday that the software
] giant had decided that more work was needed on the update
] before if could be released to manufacturing.

We just received internal mail saying it was released.

Best slashdot comment:
"In other news Microsoft has announced that WinXP SP2 has
been internally renamed "Longhorn" to more closely coincide
with their projected release schedules"

Windows XP update delayed again | CNET News.com

] Google may have run afoul of securities laws when it
] doled out millions of shares to employees and consultants
] over the past three years, according to a document filed
] Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Whoops. 23 million unregistered shares, 5.6 million unregistered options... these are not small numbers that the SEC or market will overlook. Frankly, there are some pretty creative things that Google is doing, but while ideologically I probably agree with where they are coming from (Buffett is an influence for both), the execution seems far more dubious and less well thought out. Like the minimal lockout periods.

Google may have issued shares illegally | CNET News.com

] Simple queries using the Google search engine can turn up
] a handful of sites that have posted credit card
] information to the Web, CNET News.com learned on Tuesday.

Ubiquitous data searching has its costs.

Google queries provide stolen credit cards | CNET News.com