] All those hours spent playing video games may not be
] wasted time after all: A new study suggests action-packed
] video games like "Grand Theft Auto III" and
] "Counter-Strike" may sharpen your mind.
]
] Researchers at the University of Rochester found that
] young adults who regularly played video games full of
] high-speed car chases and blazing gun battles showed
] better visual skills than those who did not. For example,
] they kept better track of objects appearing
] simultaneously and processed fast-changing visual
] information more efficiently.
]
] To rule out the possibility that visually adept people
] are simply drawn to video games, the researchers
] conducted a second experiment. They found that people who
] do not normally play video games but were trained to play
] them developed enhanced visual perception.

See mom? Video games are GOOD for you!

Laughing Boy

Study: Playing video games not so mindless

] XV THE DEVIL
]
] THE CARD: Grace Jones is a firey Devil. If she were not
] so desirable, could she be so frightening?

This one is moving my weird shit-o-meter near the red...

the eighties tarot

] Gee, here's a report that really caught me by surprise.
] According to the fifth annual "Nerves of Steel" driving
] survey conducted for the Steel Alliance, Metro Detroit
] area is full of aggressive drivers.
]
] Us, aggressive? Get out of here!

I like how there's a distinction made between NYC and Miami.

Detroit drivers rank 9th rudest - 05/29/03

Come see something that few individuals ever get to see!

NHL Draft ticket!

A fairly accurate timeline, er, from some points of view, of the progression that the internet has taken over time.

Enjoy!

The Lemon: History Of The Internet

] A new study from the New York City Council is
] recommending that the Big Apple throw open the
] competitive bidding process for its annual $130 million
] phone and Internet bill in order to leverage one of the
] most expansive -- and underused -- fiber optic networks
] in the country.
]
] In so doing, New York City could not only cut its annual
] telecom bill, but would also be in a position to deploy
] wireless networking links as the "last mile" connecting
] metropolitan area networks, or MANs (define). In
] addition, it suggested using the fiber to deploy free
] Internet access with a Wi-Fi (define) Network in
] Brooklyn's Prospect Park.

Well, the revolution takes another giant leap. There is no stopping it now. Telecom is commoditizing at a rapid rate. And the reliance upon this infrastructure is continuing to accelerate and infiltrate every aspect of our lives. We might just yet see an inflection point where the dominance of a few key monolithic corporations in controlling the world's communications infrastructure starts to shift towards an infrastructure that exists purely to foster the applications and systems that live on it.

I can't see far enough down the road to say that the infrastructure will become free, but the price point will asymptotically drop to zero within maybe a decade. Simply because citizens are tired of dealing with the monopolies and their screwy tactics that prevent the ultimate uses of this infrastructure. At what point do shareholders of these companies catch on and throw out the bums running them now and replace them with someone who has a lick of vision? The gold is in the services that ride on top, not on the line itself. The quicker the 'people' own the infrastructure, and it is open and available for all, the quicker we will usher in a completely new world that we have not even imagined yet.

See http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/28553 for even more good news.

NYC: Leverage Fiber, Offer Free Wi-Fi

I just recently upgraded my sprint phone to a Sanyo 8100, so I've been playing around a lot with the phone's data capabilities and related technologies (WAP, WML, GPS, etc). Here's a great FAQ on how to interact with some of the basic components of 3G PCS phones.

CraigGiven.com 3G & PCS Phone Files & Resources

] A bill pitting telecommunications and entertainment
] companies against some of their customers won't come up
] for a vote in the General Assembly this year, its
] sponsors said yesterday.

YEAH!!!!

Legislature won't vote on cable theft this year

A nice little piece by Cory Doctorow, even if it is
archival and a littledated. Here's an excerpt which --while not really representative-- I found to be keenly observant.

,----
| Take eBay: every seller there has a damned good reason for
| double-checking their listings for typos and misspellings. Try
| searching for "plam" on eBay. Right now, that turns up nine typoed
| listings for "Plam Pilots." Misspelled listings don't show up in
| correctly-spelled searches and hence garner fewer bids and lower
| sale-prices. You can almost always get a bargain on a Plam Pilot at
| eBay.
`----

Metacrap

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