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

] I fully expected ISS to respond with a "we have
] identified the administrator that failed to patch the
] system in question, and have forced him to drink
] buttermilk while watching home movies of Janet Reno in a
] leather teddy. We are confident that this will not happen
] again."
]
] But they didn't.
]
] Instead, ISS revealed that the hacked site, the one from
] which students and universities around the world
] downloaded free versions of BlackICE to protect
] themselves from hackers, was in reality a cleverly
] disguised, purposefully vulnerable honeypot,
] strategically placed in this hostile environment to
] collect and analyze the actions of evil hackers.

The Register | 'Relax, It Was a Honeypot'

] A survey has lifted the veil on an unexpected secret -
] many scientists believe in ghosts.
]
] The survey of 18 scientists at Waikato University and
] Britain's Leicester University found that most were not
] willing to rule out the possibility that "some houses are
] haunted by ghosts".
]
] Many also believed it was possible that "wearing
] jewellery made out of certain crystals can help to keep
] you healthy", and that "in the past aliens from some
] other planet have landed on Earth".
]
] But most said astrology and palmistry were "almost
] certainly untrue", and all agreed there was almost
] certainly no truth in the ideas that breaking mirrors or
] "black Fridays" brought bad luck.
]
] A Waikato University researcher and joint author of the
] survey, Dr Richard Coll, said the scientists gave much
] more credence to "superstitions" than he had expected.
] "You might reasonably have expected them to say these
] things are complete nonsense," he said.
]
] "They didn't. The ones they were more likely to believe
] were aliens and ghosts. The aliens one didn't surprise me
] greatly, but the ghosts one did."
]
] The research was inspired by other surveys that found
] widespread superstitious beliefs among the public, high
] school students and science teachers.
]
] The research was inspired by other surveys that found
] widespread superstitious beliefs among the public, high
] school students and science teachers.
]
] The result: The scientists were certainly more sceptical
] than both high school students and science teachers.
] "There was only one person who was totally sceptical
] about all the propositions. She happened to be a
] biologist who was a strong atheist."
]
] There were no differences between the Waikato and
] Leicester samples.

Very interesting. Being an amateur paranormal investigator myself, it’s reassuring to know that some scientists ARE looking at our research with an open mind.

Laughing Boy

New Zealand News - NZ - Ghosts lurking in scientist minds

] In August, Buena Vista Home Entertainment--Disney's home
] video unit--will begin a pilot program using technology
] that renders discs useless 48 hours after being removed
] from packaging and exposed to oxygen, Reuters reported.
]
] The DVDs will play perfectly during the two-day period,
] Flexplay Technologies, which developed the technology,
] told Reuters.
]
] The discs cannot be hacked after 48 hours because the
] technology is based on chemicals and not computers, it
] was reported. But the disc can be copied before it
] oxidizes.
]
] The move allows Buena Vista to expand its market by
] "renting" movies from almost anywhere without having to
] provide a return point for the discs, Reuters said.

This is moronic. My first thought is, "Oh great, disposable DVDs. Wonder how much waste that will cause?" Well, my question was answered later in the article:

"Self-destructing DVDs would create considerable waste. A study conducted for Flexplay by environmental policy expert Jonathan Koomey found that if disposable DVDs made up 10 percent of all U.S. video rentals, an additional 350 million DVDs would be discarded, creating 5,600 metric tons of solid waste annually."

I'm glad Disney is so concerned about our world.

Also in the article is this tidbit of market research:

"The technology can also work on music CDs and software CD-ROMs, according to SpectraDisc, but movies are the target, since people generally buy music and software to keep."

Who are they talking about? I buy movies to keep, and so does everyone else I know. This is going to get mauled by the "video on demand" development going on in the cable industry.

Warning: This DVD will self-destruct in 2 days

] TO have any chance of making easy money on the Internet,
] computer geek Howard Carmack knew he had to send more
] than a million junk e-mails every day.
]
] And to avoid being detected by Internet companies that
] try to block the nuisance messages, he needed to become
] devious.
]
] So to keep his annoying spam flowing across the Web and
] into the in-boxes of hundreds of thousands of e-mail
] users, the 36-year-old stole the identities of strangers
] and hacked into their e-mail accounts, investigators have
] learned - and he also betrayed members of his own family.
]
] Carmack not only stole his uncle Joseph's identity; his
] mentally disabled brother, James Jr., was also a victim,
] according to court papers.

Ooh, this guy is a real winner.

NYPOST.COM Regional News: SPAMMER GETS MESSAGE By DAVID TOBENKIN

] Last week, talk of a leveraged buyout surfaced after
] Edward J. Zander, the former president of Sun, joined the
] Silicon Valley investment firm Silver Lake Partners. A
] few years ago, Silver Lake led a successful buyout of
] another technology company, Seagate, a disk-drive maker.
]
] Despite the recent run on the stock, a bid for Sun does
] not appear imminent. First, unfriendly takeovers of big
] technology companies are rare because the risk of
] disruption is too high in an industry where success
] depends on speed and innovation. For now, at least, a bid
] for Sun would have to be a hostile one because Scott G.
] McNealy, Sun's chairman and chief executive, and the Sun
] board remain committed to the current strategy for
] reviving the company's fortunes, Sun executives said.
]
] Sun, like most companies, has a policy of not commenting
] on takeover rumors. But one Sun executive, who insisted
] on not being identified, said, "Scott, the senior
] management and the board are signed up for the next few
] years to give it a real run with the plan we have."

Before Sun Is Reborn, It Must Resist Being Bought

] In the San Diego case, a San Bernardino County couple was
] arrested earlier this week on charges of using the
] Internet to pose as Russian women seeking companionship.
] These fake women would strike up online romances with
] unsuspecting men and then ask for financial help to
] travel to the United States to meet them, according a
] federal indictment issued May 7.

Now that's hitting below the belt.

Indicted couple allegedly used Internet to bilk lovelorn men

] LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Warner Bros. Pictures'
] "The Matrix: Reloaded" made box office history this
] weekend as the highly anticipated sequel chambered an
] estimated $93.3 million during the three-day session and
] a staggering $135.8 million since its release late
] Wednesday night.
]
] Numerous records were shattered at the box office in
] North America, but a select few remained intact as the
] record books had to be downloaded and adjusted to
] accommodate the massive assault by "Reloaded,"
] co-produced with Village Roadshow.
]
] As expected, the opening weekend gross vaporized the
] record for the biggest opening by an R-rated film,
] effortlessly besting MGM's "Hannibal" ($58 million). The
] Keanu Reeves starrer, helmed and written by brothers
] Larry and Andy Wachowski, racked up the second-biggest
] three-day weekend ever, behind Sony's "Spider-Man"
] ($114.8 million), which was released on a Friday without
] previews. The first four days of "Reloaded" is likely to
] be bigger than the same time frame for the webbed one
] ($125.9 million) even without the grosses from Wednesday
] night previews -- marking the biggest first four days in
] history.

I foresee the hacker culture suddenly becoming very mainstream...

Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage

] The world's richest man and one of the country's top news
] anchors sat down at a cafe for cappuccino but both
] walked away without paying the bill.
]
] NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw also was in town and
] interviewed Gates at the Past Times Cafe, where they both
] ordered a cappuccino. But when the interview was over,
] they left and no one paid the bill.
]
] "They just got right out the door, the security people
] ushered them right out," said Jackie Harrington, the
] waitress who prepared and served the coffee.
]
] No one thought much more about it until the cafe's owner,
] Corinne Arnold, got a call from Gates' office asking
] whether he owed some money. The cafe insisted the
] cappuccinos, which cost $3 each, were on the house.
]
] But Brokaw, a South Dakota native, thought otherwise and
] took care of the debt Wednesday with a note that included
] two $20 bills.
]
] "When we walked out without paying we got nailed," Brokaw
] wrote. "One 20 is for the coffee. The other is for the
] wall. Thanks, Tom."
]
] Cafe workers say the payment was unnecessary
] having the opportunity to serve Brokaw and Gates was
] reward enough, Harrin

Yea right. Fuck that shit - when you wipe your ASS with $100 bills, when you make more money in 60 seconds then most people make in a year, you don't get so fucking arrogant to think "oh they will comp us". And I'm not just talking about Gates. Brokaw isn't exactly hurting for cash himself.

Arrogant bastards.

Laughing Boy

Gates and Brokaw forget the check

Oh, yeah, this was such a GREAT idea the first time around when it was called DIVX.

The discs stop working when a process similar to rusting makes them unreadable. The discs start off red, but when they are taken out of the package, exposure to oxygen turns the coating black and makes it impenetrable by a DVD laser.

Yahoo! News - Disney to Begin Renting 'Self-Destructing' DVDs