] Some people who are persistently wired say it is not
] uncommon for them to be sitting in a meeting and using a
] hand-held device to exchange instant messages
] surreptitiously -- with someone in the same meeting.
] Others may be sitting at a desk and engaging in
] conversation on two phones, one at each ear. At social
] events, or in the grandstand at their children's soccer
] games, they read news feeds on mobile devices instead of
] chatting with actual human beings.

"Hi, my name is Elonka, and I'm an info-junkie..."

NY Times: The Lure of Data: Is It Addictive?

] Pavlov found that the best way to prolong a behavior is to
] reward it intermittently. If you only get hope-inducing
] positive responses from your LO (limerent object) half the time
] you see him or her, your limerence will last a very long time.
] It's the roadblock induced by doubt that keeps it alive.

This is a blog of a guy who's been posting from October 2002 until today (July 2003), documenting his various "limerent episodes", and his ponderings about limerence. There's no clear bio or description of who he is, but from various references in his blog, he seems to be around 35-45, recently divorced, getting huge crushes at the drop of a hat to all the wrong girls.

I found reading the blog fascinating, as he documented the ups and downs of his crushes and limerence. I *so* identify with this right now!

limerent.com

] Scientists have been boggled by the 40-foot-long mass of
] gray, gelatinous flesh that was first spotted over a week
] ago near Puerto Montt, about 600 miles south of the
] capital, Santiago.
]
] Whale conservationists went to see it last Sunday,
] thinking it was a beached whale, but quickly concluded it
] was an invertebrate, appealing to international experts
] for help.

Whale, giant octopus, squid, or something new?

Reuters: Unidentified Sea Creature Washes up in Chile

] Limerence has certain basic components:
]
] - intrusive thinking about the object of your
] passionate desire (the limerent object or 'LO'),
] who is a possible sexual partner
]
] - acute longing for reciprocation
]
] - dependency of mood on LO's actions or, more
] accurately, your interpretation of LO's actions
] with respect to the probability of reciprocation
]
] - inability to react limerently to more than one
] person at a time
]
] - some fleeting and transient relief from unrequited
] limerent passion through vivid imagination of action
] by LO that means reciprocation
]
] - acute sensitivity to any act or thought or condition
] that can be interpreted favorably, and extraordinary
] ability to devise or invent "reasonable" explanations
] for why the neutrality that the disinterested observer
] might see is in fact a sign of hidden passion in the LO
]
] - buoyancy (a feeling of walking on air) when
] reciprocation seems evident
]
] - a general intensity of feeling that leaves other
] concerns in the background

Good definitions and FAQ on "limerence", a state in which I occasionally find myself.

Limerence

Way back when, as a brighter-than-average child, I coped with life (some might also say I hid from it) by spending enormous amounts of time at the library. Because of my age I was only allowed to check out 10 books at a time, but I'd dutifully take the bus to the library, peruse the shelves carefully to choose my 10 with great deliberation, check them out, and then head back to the bus stop, my nose already buried deep in what I'd chosen. As fast a reader as I was, I'd usually have finished them all within a day or two (sometimes even before the bus got me back home from the library visit). So at the first opportunity I'd be back on the bus to the library for my next 10...

One of my favorite authors was McCloskey, especially via his books "Homer Price" and "Centerburg Tales" about a boy inventor. Even to this day, if I were in that same library (assuming they hadn't moved things around too much), I could probably walk straight to the shelf where his books were.

I don't know if anyone else here ever heard of his books or drawings or loved them as much as I did, but I was very sorry to hear of Mr. McCloskey's passing.

Famous titles of his, that he either authored or illustrated:

Homer Price
Centerburg Tales: More Adventures of Homer Price
Blueberries for Sal
Make Way for Ducklings
Henry Reed, Inc. (illustrator)
Henry Reed's Babysitting Service (illustrator)
Henry Reed's Big Show (illustrator)

Children's Author McCloskey Dies at Home in Maine

] The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last Tuesday
] that Web loggers, website operators and e-mail list
] editors can't be held responsible for libel for
] information they republish, extending crucial First
] Amendment protections to do-it-yourself online
] publishers.
]
] Online free speech advocates praised the decision as a
] victory. The ruling effectively differentiates
] conventional news media, which can be sued relatively
] easily for libel, from certain forms of online
] communication such as moderated e-mail lists. One
] implication is that DIY publishers like bloggers cannot
] be sued as easily.

Whew!

Wired News: Bloggers Gain Libel Protection

] One of the greatest fears computer owners face is the
] risk of someone breaking into their home and stealing
] their investment. The effects of data loss, alone, can be
] devastating! This page will cover a very effective method
] of protecting your personal computer.
]
] Most criminals will not steal what they are unable to
] carry. If you make your computer so heavy that it is
] extremely difficult to lift, the risk of it being stolen
] is greatly reduced! This is accomplished by following
] these simple instructions...

The solution? Fill the computer case with concrete! ;)

(Humor) An unconventional way of preventing computer theft

] BlogThis! - "Blog" stands for web log, your own online
] journal for publishing information on the web. To use
] this feature you must set up a free account with Google's
] Blogger service. If you have an existing Blogger account
] already, you can use that as well. When you use
] BlogThis!, you create a blog post that points to the web
] page you're visiting. If you highlight text on the web
] page, that text will also appear in your blog post.

In the new beta version of the Google toolbar, there's a "blog this" button that looks like it'll work very similarly to how Memestreams works...

Google Toolbar Blogger

] On each level you will be presented a form asking you to
] authenticate. You do not know the user and the password,
] the goal is to bypass the authentication mechanism.

The goal of the game is to bypass all 10 levels of Web Authentication security. From the stats page, over 20,000 people have tried it since May 2002, with about 750 getting through all the levels.

Security Technologies Game

] Welcome to N2H2's URL Checker. This web-based tool will
] allow you to easily identify how a specific Web site is
] categorized within N2H2's Internet Categorization
] Database.

Evidently my personal site, http://elonka.com , has somehow gotten into the filter databases as a site which contains nudity (which it doesn't). So, for example, anyone trying to access my site from the Tennessee School System is blocked and told that elonka.com is a pornographic site!

I have no idea how my site got on the list, and I didn't find out about it until a couple people contacted me and told me about the block. If you're interested in checking your own domain, here's a database where you can type in the URL to see how it's listed.

N2H2 Filtering Categories Database