1. There will be a site update in 24 to 72 hours that will change the way MemeStreams handles cookies. The end result of this will be that everyone will be logged out of the site and will have to log back in. Your old cookie will be bunk. We apologize for the inconvenience but we think its a minor hassle versus the amout of trouble associated with having to handle the old cookies in the code.

2. There will be a second site update some number of days after the first in which the little recommend bookmarklet will be disabled. We have decided that the little bookmarklet is inefficient and does not have enough room to display the user interface elements we want to display properly. Furthermore, it is much easier to edit a significant amount of text in a bigger window. We suggest that if you are using the little bookmarklet, you ough to upgrade to the big bookmarklet. You'll find it much nicer.

Thank you for your kind attention. We will now return to your regularly scheduled memes....

Important notes about upcoming MemeStreams updates

Kevin Hale of Particletree wrote an interesting essay about the importance of RSS and speculates that the success of social bookmarking sites like MemeStreams have got Google worried about the reputation agent becoming the new search.

Slashdot | The Importance of RSS

ATLANTA, Georgia (June 17th, 2005) - The Board of Directors of the Industrial Memetics Institute strongly condemns allegations made earlier this month by Amnesty International that its software development operations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are "the gulag of our times."

Industrial Memetics President and Chief Executive Officer, Tom Cross, said "The comparison is completely unreasonable. Russian Gulags were places in which thousands were worked to death in the oppressive Siberian winter. Our people in Cuba are well fed, gainfully employed, and air conditioned! A job at Industrial Memetics is a fine and valuable life endeavor. If circumstances where different these people might have wasted away in shanty towns in Rio de Janeiro or been forced to sell themselves in the AIDS infested sex markets of South Africa." He added that "people who think critically about Industrial Memetics hate America."

Industrial Memetics Chief Technology Officer, Nick Levay, said "The recent claims that one of our managers flushed a Koran down the toilet are completely unsubstantiated. Why would there be a Koran in an Industrial Memetics office?! We don't allow any religious artifacts to enter the building. Acknowledgment of religion is completely forbidden at the Industrial Memetics Institute."

Industrial Memetics Secretary of Defense Billy Hoffman said, "Our competitors are trained to make outrageous claims about our workplace practices. These claims should be ignored. They are obviously part of their overall strategy to slow the pace of innovation and flood the market with inferior products."

The Industrial Memetics Institute is committed to its goal of producing the finest technology and services money can buy. Industrial Memetics stands by its work place environment as being "a hell of a lot better then a Russian Gulag." (TM)

ABOUT THE INDUSTRIAL MEMETICS INSTITUTE

The Industrial Memetics Institute is a leading distributor of adult entertainment via electronic platforms. The Company delivers the most extensive lineup of quality programming over the broadest range of electronic means, including cable, satellite, Broadband and video-on-demand.

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections made by management. The Company intends for the forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements. Words such as "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "plans", "believes", "seeks", "estimates", or variations of such words are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, Mr. Cross's ability to create even more value for our shareholders, and the outcome of any contingencies. All forward-looking statements made in this press release are made as of the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements included in this news release whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. The forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth or implied by any forward-looking statements.

For more information please visit our website at www.industrialmemetics.com.

Industrial Memetics offices are not 'the gulag of our times.'

The U.S. Department of Justice is quietly shopping around the explosive idea of requiring Internet service providers to retain records of their customers' online activities.

Your ISP as Net watchdog | CNET News.com

Lawmakers voted Wednesday to block the Justice Department and the FBI from using the Patriot Act to peek at library records and bookstore sales slips.The House voted 238-187 despite a veto threat from Bush to block the part of the anti-terrorism law that allows the government to investigate the reading habits of terror suspects.

The House decides that you can support the War on Terror, support Freedom and Liberty, and still vote against provisions in the Patriot Act.

House Votes to Limit Patriot Act Rules

Acidus gives Elonka a run for the money. Way to go Acidus!

How scary. And how refreshing.

Make, a new quarterly put out by O'Reilly Media, is a throwback to an earlier time, before personal computers, to the prehistory of geekiness - the age of how-to manuals for clever boys, from the 1920's to the 50's.

The technology has changed, but not the creative impulse. Make's first issue, out in February, explained how to take aerial photographs with a kite, a disposable camera and a rig of Popsicle sticks, rubber bands and Silly Putty. It also showed how to build a video-camera stabilizer - a Steadicam, basically - with $14 worth of steel pipes, bolts and washers; how to boost a laptop computer's Wi-Fi signal with foil from an Indian take-out restaurant; and how to read credit card magnetic stripes with a device made with mail-order parts and a glue gun.

Congratulations to Acidus on being the first MemeStreams user to make the New York Times op-ed page. And on a Sunday, no less! (14:59, 14:58, 14:57, ...)

A New Magazine's Rebellious Credo: Void the Warranty!

If perhaps you once dismissed the business plan for General Memetics Corporation, consider briefly the $300 million value of the contracts discussed in this article.

The Pentagon awarded three contracts this week, potentially worth up to $300 million over five years, to companies it hopes will inject more creativity into its psychological operations efforts to improve foreign public opinion about the United States, particularly the military.

"We would like to be able to use cutting-edge types of media," said Col. James A. Treadwell, director of the Joint Psychological Operations Support Element, a part of Tampa-based US Special Operations Command. "If you want to influence someone, you have to touch their emotions."

"What's changing is the realization that in this so-called war on terrorism, this might be the thing that wins the whole thing for you. This gets to the importance of the war of ideas."

Pentagon Funds Diplomacy Effort

This is a picture of an ISO 9001 compliance flag. Large companies might hang these around their office when doing an ISO 9001 initiative. Their employes will then feel like they are characters in Dilbert or Office Space. Either that, or they might feel like pawns of The Conspiracy.

ISO 9001 Illuminati Flag

Well, the Bush-Nazi comparisons are deja-done, so of course now we have to move on. Seen on the MARC commuter train (between Baltimore and DC) today, this picture pretty much sums up the new "National Security:"

Report any unusual activities or packages to the nearest conductor.

Articulatory Loop - Read, Repeat, Remember

The huge influx of cash at the turn of the millennium led to the whole Web being built in the image of the Bay area. The website patterns that started there and - just by coincidence - happened to scale to other environments, those were the ones that survived.

Absolutely true...

California's subtle influence on computer culture