The wildcard is actually gone now..

] Since the earliest research into the the English Language
] as spoken in North America was begun by Noah Webster in
] the early 18th century, the regional variations in
] dialect have always been the most challenging and
] difficult to explain field. Since the development of
] carbonated beverage in 1886, one of linguistic
] geography's most important and least investigated
] phenomena has been the sharp regional divisions in the
] use of the terms "pop" and "soda." Due to the domination
] of hard-line conservative lingusitic geographers in such
] leading institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford and
] the University of the West Indies, this dilemma has been
] swept under the rug . . . until now. Using the new
] technologies of the Internet and the World Wide Web, I
] and my colleagues at the California Institute of
] Technology and Lewis & Clark College are undertaking a
] bold new research into this fascinating area.

Great interactive maps to go along with this.

The Pop vs. Soda Page

Decius wrote:
] Rattle just observed to me that Verisign's actions toward the
] Internet community were sort of like Bush's actions toward the
] UN. There may be more to that then you think. The moral
] standards of acceptable behavior are set by the leadership. If
] the leader says its ok to do a certain thing, then people will
] rationalize away any natural inhibition that they might have
] toward it. "He thinks its ok to do this and he is obviously
] smarter then me, so I'm going to ignore that nagging little
] voice and go ahead..."
]
] The way we've been throwing our weight around and doing things
] that are of dubious responsibility simply because we can and
] the people who ought to check us really aren't in a position
] to do that.... Well that rubs off. A manager thinking of doing
] something this dramatic might have thought twice about it in a
] time when one feared reprisals from millions of angry people.
] That fear is the heart of democracy. You can't screw the
] people because they are collectively more powerful then you.
] You respect them.
]
] I think we are in the process of loosing that fear.

] We just went through the new age of "boom," where everyone
] forgets that booms always bust. Now we begin the new age of
] empire, where everyone forgets that empires are always
] violently overthrown.

Indeed.

] The reason we still have wars is that greed is more powerful
] then reason.

What? Did you say something about SCO?

RE: Verisign and Bush

This is the webform to report a problem with a registrar to ICANN.

InterNIC | Registrar Problem Report Form

] "You drink tap water? Are you crazy?" asks a 21-year-old
] radio producer from the Chicago area. "I only drink
] bottled water." In a trendy nightclub in New York City,
] the bartender tells guests they can only be served
] bottled water, which costs $5 for each tiny pint
] container. One outraged clubber is stopped by the
] restroom attendant as she tries to refill the bottle from
] the tap. "You can't do that," says the attendant. "New
] York's tap water isn't safe."

Hartford Advocate: What's in your Bottled Water?

] An anonymous reader writes "Mike Benham of
] thoughtcrime.org has started a cool project for sharing
] information and building community in San Francisco.
] From the website: "Unfortunately, the traditional library
] system doesn't do much to foster community. Patrons come
] and go, but there is very little opportunity to establish
] relationships with people or groups of people. In fact,
] if you try to talk with someone holding a book you like -
] you'll probably get shushed. The Distributed Library
] Project works in exactly the opposite way, where the very
] function of the library depends on interaction." It
] looks like the software is now available for other
] cities."

Slashdot | The Distributed Library Project

Lynksys has released the source for the software in one of their more recent 802.11g AP/Router models.

Linksys: GPL Code for WRT54G AP/Router

Before this week ends, I will have left Jersey for San Francisco. It will be a one-way trip.

] Some researchers have claimed the stone circles were
] used as a giant computer; others that Stonehenge was an
] observatory for studying stars and predicting the
] seasons; and a few have even argued that its rings acted
] as a docking pad for alien spaceships.
]
] Now a University of British Columbia researcher who has
] investigated the great prehistoric monument for several
] years has announced he has uncovered its true meaning:
] it is a giant fertility symbol, constructed in the shape
] of the female sexual organ.

] 'The archaeologist Jacquetta Hawkes once said that every
] age gets the Stonehenge it deserves,' added Miles. 'For
] example, in the 1960s, at the dawn of the computing era,
] researchers argued that you could use Stonehenge as a
] giant calculating machine.' Later, in the more mystical
] New Age, it was argued that the monument was really a
] spaceport for aliens, while, in the Middle Ages, it was
] said Stonehenge was built by giants. 'By those standards,
] this latest idea seems to say something quite odd about
] the twentyfirst century.'

The Observer | UK News | The vagina monoliths: Stonehenge was ancient sex symbol

Laughing Boy wrote:
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]
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Awww, damn.

RE: Penguin Warehouse, Inc. - Buy a Pet Penguin Today