An update was just pushed out to MemeStreams:

* A problem with user sessions being randomly logged out has been fixed.
* When you check "I'm not using my own computer" at login time, your session will automatically be logged out after 15 minutes of inactivity.

DbVisualizer is a feature rich, intuitive and cross platform database tool for developers and DBA's providing a single powerful interface for a variety of databases. DbVisualizer supports simultaneous database connections, it lets you explore and manage database objects, execute SQL queries, visualize information and a lot more.

This is one of the better DB front-ends I've used lately.

Minq Software / Products / DbVisualizer

Last year, Mr. King was referred to Dr. Victor Aziz, a psychiatrist at St. Cadoc's Hospital in Wales. Dr. Aziz explained to him that there was a name for his experience: musical hallucinations.

This is interesting. I've had an ongoing interest in some of the finer points of the way we perceive music and relate it to memory..

I'm pretty sure I meme'd an article awhile back, which I can't seem to find, that went into some detail about how our brains and by extension our bodies react to musical patterns. The short of it was that some people are more likely then others to have their psychology follow music patterns they are exposed to. For instance, if you are listening to music that has a beat that's somewhat close to your heart-beat, your heart-beat will adjust to match the beat of the music. You are also more likely to preform physical actions like arm movements or walking in beat. This is the case with everyone, but its more prevalent with some people. Apparently some people are so susceptible to it that its hard or downright impossible to do things out of beat when exposed to one.

One of my favorite oddities, which you can catch yourself do: When you pause or stop music, you are more likely to do it directly in the middle off the song then at any other point. The reason for this is that it "feels right", and you do it unconsciously. Most musical compositions that "feel complete" have the tendency to rise and fall, and display elements of symmetry across their composition. Classical music and pop songs in particular..

Coming Soon: Electronica Mind Control

Neuron Network Goes Awry, and Brain Becomes an IPod

This site provides information about and links to BBC open source projects. It lists projects developed by the BBC where the source code has been released as open source. The site doesn't cover the many open source projects to which the BBC has contributed, but only those that the BBC has initiated and managed itself.

BBC - OpenSource

Similar components from the explosive devices have been found at all four murder sites, leading detectives to believe that each of the 10lb rucksack bombs was the work of one man. They also believe that the materials used were not home made but sophisticated military explosives, possibly smuggled into Britain from the Balkans.

The public anger will strengthen Tony Blair’s hand as he prepares to speed up new anti-terrorist laws to help the hunt for the bombers. “If, as the fuller picture about these incidents emerges and the investigation proceeds, it becomes clear that there are powers which the police and intelligence agencies need immediately to combat terrorism, it is plainly sensible to reserve the right to return to Parliament with an accelerated timetable,” he said.

A senior police source said: “There are two bodies which have to be examined in great detail because they appear to have been holding the bomb or sitting on top of it. One of those might turn out to be the bomber.” A decapitated head was found at the bus scene which has been, in Israeli experience, the sign of a suicide bomber.

London bombs terror attack The Times and Sunday Times Times Online

Federal law enforcement officials, fearful that terrorists will exploit emerging in-flight broadband services to remotely activate bombs or coordinate hijackings, are asking regulators for the power to begin eavesdropping on any passenger's internet use within 10 minutes of obtaining court authorization.

In addition to seeking the rapid-tap technology, the Justice Department filing asks the FCC to require carriers to maintain fine-grained control over their airborne broadband links. This would include the ability to quickly and automatically identify every internet user by name and seat number, remotely cut off a passenger's internet access, cut off all passengers' access without affecting the flight crew's access, or redirect communications to and from the aircraft in the event of a crisis.

Paranoia in the skies...

Wired News: Feds Fear Air Broadband Terror

News.com laments the passing of Phrack.

Pete Simpson, ThreatLab manager at security company Clearswift, said he is very surprised to see Phrack disappear. He added that a world without the journal is actually less secure.

"Phrack's visibility was a blessing in disguise, pretty much in the same way as the Full Disclosure community," Simpson said, referring to the unmoderated Full Disclosure forum for disclosure of security information.

The 63rd and final edition of Phrack will come out as a hardback collectors copy and will be available to attendees at the DefCon conference in Las Vegas between July 29 and 31, as well as at the What The Hack conference in the Netherlands from July 28 to 31.

Long-lived hacker mag shuts down | CNET News.com

From this month's Foreign Affairs:

Radical Islam is spreading across Europe among descendants of Muslim immigrants. Disenfranchised and disillusioned by the failure of integration, some European Muslims have taken up jihad against the West. They are dangerous and committed -- and can enter the United States without a visa.

Bush has said that we would be fighting the war with the terrorists "abroad", as opposed to at home. Its bad news for Europe that Europe is "abroad".

... back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Foreign Affairs - Europe's Angry Muslims - Robert S. Leiken

Culture is a unique and fascinating aspect of the human species. How did it emerge and how does it develop?

Richard Dawkins suggested culture evolves and that memes are cultural replicators, subject to variation and selection in the same way as genes are in the biological world. Thus human culture is the product of a mindless evolutionary algorithm. Does this imply, as some have argued, that we are mere meme machines and that the conscious self is an illusion?

This highly readable and accessible book extends Dawkins's theory, presenting for the first time a fully developed concept of cultural DNA. Distin argues that culture's development can be seen as the result of memetic evolution and as the product of human creativity. Memetic evolution is perfectly compatible with the view of humans as conscious and intelligent.

This book should find a wide readership amongst philosophers, psychologists, sociologists and non-academic readers.

I also found a discussion thread which begins with a review of the book and includes replies from the author.

The Selfish Meme

The U.S. military in Iraq has detained five Americans for suspected insurgent activity, Pentagon officials said Wednesday. The five have not been charged or had access to a lawyer, and face an uncertain legal future.

One was identified by his family and U.S. law enforcement officials as Cyrus Kar, an Iranian-American filmmaker and U.S. Navy veteran.

Three of those being detained are Iraqi-Americans, Whitman said. The fifth is a Jordanian-American the Pentagon previously had acknowledged holding.

Americans Held As Iraq Insurgent Suspects