Kinda adds new dimension to the tech term "fat pipe", no? :]

] The human genome is about 3,120,000,000 base pairs long,
] so half of that is in each spermatozoa -- 1,560,000,000
] base pairs.
]
] Each side of these base pairs can either be an
] adenine-thymine or a guanine-cytosine bond, and they can
] be aligned either direction, so there are four choices.
] Four possibilities for a value means it can be fully
] represented with two bits; 00 = guanine, 01 = cytosine,
] and so forth.
]
] The figures that I've read state the number of sperm in a
] human ejaculation to be anywhere from 50 to 500 million.
] I'm going to go with the number 200,000,000 sperm cells,
] but if anyone knows differently, please tell me.
]
] Putting these together, the average amount of information
] per ejaculation is 1.560*109 * 2 bits * 2.00*108, which
] comes out to be 6.24*1017 bits. That's about 78,000
] terabytes of data! As a basis of comparison, were the
] entire text content of the Library of Congress to be
] scanned and stored, it would only take up about 20
] terabytes. If you figure that a male orgasm lasts five
] seconds, you get a transmission rate of 15,600 tb/s. In
] comparison, an OC-96 line (like the ones that make up
] much of the backbone of the internet) can move .005 tb/s.
] Cable modems generally transmit somewhere around 1/5000th
] of that.
]
] If you consider signal to noise, though, the figures come out
] much differently. If only the single sperm cell that fertilizes
] the egg counts as signal, you get (1.560*109 * 2 bits) / 5 s =
] 6.24*108 bits/s, or somewhere in the neighborhood of 78 Mb/s.
] Still a great deal more bandwidth than your average cable modem,
] but not nearly the 5,000,000 Mb/s of the OC-96.

Penises have higher bandwidth than cable modems

] Apple has indirectly confirmed it is developing a version
] of its iTunes music jukebox software for Windows.
]
]
] According to the Mac maker's employment opportunities
] site, the company is seeking a Senior Software Engineer.
] His or her key responsibility: "Design and build Apple's
] newest Consumer Application, iTunes for Windows."

Mac Coder Wanted - Must Perform Miracle Before End of 2003

] The US spends almost $50 billion each year on education,
] so why aren't kids learning? Forty percent of students
] lack basic reading skills, and their academic performance
] is dismal compared with that of their foreign
] counterparts. In response to this crisis, schools are
] skilling-and-drilling their way "back to basics," moving
] toward mechanical instruction methods that rely on
] line-by-line scripting for teachers and endless
] multiple-choice testing. Consequently, kids aren't
] learning how to think anymore - they're learning how to
] memorize. This might be an ideal recipe for the future
] Babbitts of the world, but it won't produce the kind of
] agile, analytical minds that will lead the high tech
] global age. Fortunately, we've got Grand Theft Auto: Vice
] City and Deus X for that.
]
] After school, kids are devouring new information,
] concepts, and skills every day, and, like it or not,
] they're doing it controller in hand, plastered to the TV.
] The fact is, when kids play videogames they can
] experience a much more powerful form of learning than
] when they're in the classroom. Learning isn't about
] memorizing isolated facts. It's about connecting and
] manipulating them. Doubt it? Just ask anyone who's beaten
] Legend of Zelda or solved Morrowind.

High Score Education

] We are a group of Tennesseans who are dedicated to
] preserving your online freedoms. We are specifically
] trying to counteract the new "Super-DMCA" legislation
] proposed by the MPAA. In TN, this legislation has
] been proposed through two bills, namely SB213, and HB457.
]
] Our organization has taken shape very (very) quickly,
] and there is still a lot to be done. We need your help
] if we are going to be able to fight this successfully!

TN Digital Freedom - Down With The TN Super-DMCA Bill

] Private investors, who have chipped in $40 million to
] develop the process, aren't the only ones who are
] impressed. The federal government has granted more than
] $12 million to push the work along. "We will be able to
] make oil for $8 to $12 a barrel," says Paul Baskis, the
] inventor of the process. "We are going to be able to
] switch to a carbohydrate economy."

Interesting! If this pans out, it really could change everything . . .

Anything into Oil

[The Justice Department won't say what Hawash is a witness to or how long they intend to keep him.]

These aren't the only things the Bush administration won't say. It won't say why it's holding individual detainees at Guantánamo Bay; it won't disclose the factual basis for its prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui; and it won't say how many immigrants it has detained or deported in INS proceedings. It won't say how many of us are having our telephones tapped, our e-mail messages monitored or our library checkout records examined by federal agents. The administration's defenders say such secrecy is an unavoidable cost of the war on terror, but it's an orientation that predated Sept. 11 and that extends beyond the terror threat. The White House won't reveal who Vice President Dick Cheney consulted in concocting the administration's energy policy; it won't disclose what Miguel Estrada wrote while working for the solicitor general; it won't even release documents related to the pardons that former President Bill Clinton granted during his last days in office.

...

Steven Aftergood, a researcher who monitors government secrecy issues for the Federation of American Scientists, calls Hatch's proposal a "direct assault" on Congress' ability to monitor the Justice Department. "If it goes through, we might as well go home," he told Salon. "The administration will have whatever authority it wants, and there won't be any separation of powers at all."

...

With the Domestic Security Act of 2003 -- the draft legislation dubbed "PATRIOT Act II" -- the administration is apparently contemplating other ways in which it might avoid the inconvenience of operating in the public eye or answering to the federal courts.

The draft legislation, prepared by the Justice Department but not yet proposed to Congress, includes provisions that would allow federal agents to keep secret the names of individuals arrested in investigations related to "international terrorism"; expand the circumstances under which agents could conduct searches and wiretaps without warrants; and allow the attorney general to deport resident aliens in certain circumstances without any possibility of judicial review.

Another good update on the scary legislation that is both in effect and being proposed in the future. Keep getting the information out there so that more people will raise their voice - while they still can.

Dolemite

The secret society

In English, this meant that anyone who intentionally let people do drugs at their events could be held liable. It also expanded the crack-house statute in two significant ways: Now the law could be applied to one-night events -- concerts, raves, parties, festivals -- as well as permanent locales like nightclubs, and it added civil penalties for violations, lowering the burden of proof from "beyond reasonable doubt" to a "preponderance of evidence."

And the trampling of Civil Liberties just goes on and on! What would constitute knowledge that people are going to do drugs at your party or festival? The article lists the presence of overpriced bottles of water, glow sticks and pacifiers. Imagine this being applied broadly to shut down hacker conventions because there might be underage drinking or other illegal drug use. Time to cancel the masquerade party where someone would undoubtedly show up as a baby? Then apply it further and you could end up with college fraternities being shut down for throwing a costume party. This law could bring back the days of River City, IA, in The Music Man.

Dolemite

Your glow stick could land you in jail

Instead of the scheduled discussion, several hundred conference attendees were read the cease-and-desist letter, said Scott Milliken, an attendee. Attendees said they saw the case as a clear infringement on the First Amendment rights of the two students, and they contacted the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Lawrence Lessig, a Stanford law professor who specializes in copyright issues, seeking advice on what to do next.

Hey, that's me!

Decius added: "We live in a society in which we are increasingly dependent on this high-tech infrastructure which our lives are arranged around, and if we can't take these things apart and understand how they work, then I think we have a very serious threat to our freedom."

Hey, I know that guy, too!

Dolemite

The copyright cops strike again

] This site is a coalition effort of bloodthirsty hawks and
] ineffectual doves united in admiration for Mohammed Saeed
] al-Sahaf, Iraqi Minister of Information (currently on
] administrative leave).

Wasn't sure whether to put this in the humor or current events topic ;)

We Love the Iraqi (Mis)Information Minister

Quoted:

In this activity you’ll be asked a series of 17 questions about God and religion. In each case, apart from Question 1, you need to answer True or False. The aim of the activity is not to judge whether these answers are correct or not. Our battleground is that of rational consistency. This means to get across without taking any hits, you’ll need to answer in a way which is rationally consistent. What this means is you need to avoid choosing answers which contradict each other. If you answer in a way which is rationally consistent but which has strange or unpalatable implications, you’ll be forced to bite a bullet.

Battleground God