Collections of the hentai form of anime.

E-Hentai.net

] LOS ANGELES, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Video game publisher
] Electronic Arts Inc. will close down its Austin, Texas studio,
] home to the "Ultima Online" franchise, by the end of April, the
] company said on Wednesday.

Ouch.

Electronic Arts to close Origin Office

From a January 26, 2004 article:

] The success of social networking site Friendster is spawning
] virtual copycats, among them Eurekster, Tribe.net and MySpace.com.
]
] But the real buzz centers around a new site called Orkut, which
] debuted last Thursday. The name came from its creator, Google
] software engineer Orkut Buyukkokten. Despite its affiliation with
] Google, the search-engine powerhouse is not Orkut's full-time
] buddy yet.

This morning, orkut passed the 100,000 user mark.

Washington Post: Technology News and Views: Orkut

] The International Academy of Astronautics in Paris
] maintains a list of volunteers willing to help world
] governments if ET arrives. Most are astronomers. Here is
] the team that PM would prefer to see on the job. Shown
] counterclockwise from the center are: Sen. John Glenn,
] American Representative. As the first American to orbit
] the Earth and an elected political leader, the senator is
] the obvious choice to lead the American delegation.

Hmm, actually, come to think of it, I guess John Glenn would be a good choice. :)

When UFOs Arrive: Who will meet them?

Interesting site. Make any kind of petition you want, collect virtual "signatures", etc.

The Petition Site

] Established in 1996, the Computer History Museum is a
] public benefit organization dedicated to the preservation
] and celebration of computing history. It is home to one
] of the largest collections of computing artifacts in the
] world, a collection comprising over 4,000 artifacts,
] 10,000 images, 4,000 linear feet of cataloged
] documentation and gigabytes of software.

Looks like folks who were actually involved with the early days of computing helped out with this one.

The Computer History Museum

Interesting visual data of where orkut users are joining from.

Orkut: Map of U.S. Membership

] The revolving wheel cryptographic principle that
] underlies CSP-488 was invented by Leo Battista Alberti
] during the fifteenth century. Centuries later, Thomas
] Jefferson re-invented a "Wheel Cipher" that was
] practically identical in principle, then followed by
] Major Bazeries around 1901 and Colonel Parker Hitt in
] 1914. All independently conceived of a device employing
] the same principle.

I keep wondering if something like this is going to be the key to decrypting Kryptos ...

Cipher Device: CSP-488

] There was a time when an arcade operator in America could
] buy a Ms. Pac-Man machine for less than $1,000, let it
] sit in an arcade, bar or storefront, and see that game
] make back over 30 times the initial investment. In 2004,
] that kind of profit margin is little more than a pipe
] dream.
]
] Since 2001, Midway completely shut down its arcade
] division, Konami closed its U.S. arcade operations, and
] Capcom did not even support its most recent title, Capcom
] vs, SNK 2, in the U.S., instead handing the game over to
] Sega for sales and marketing purposes.

State of the U.S. Arcade Industry 2004

Interesting data-mining here. Someone put together an app that will display a map of any zip code in the U.S., with red dots that indicate by size how many orkut users live in that area. You can type in your own zip code if you want, and then click on "list users" to get it to list all orkut users who live near you.

Orkut by Geographic Region