The Halifax bank is enrolling unsuspecting customers in trials of a new generation of RFID-enabled bank cards, and trying to keep them in the program even if they have mis-givings about the wave and pay technology.

PayWave allows punters to debit their account without having to enter a PIN or sign for goods valued at less than �10.

The RFID-based technology, backed by Visa, is being rolled out by UK banks Barclays and Halifax, as well as others on the continent. Mastercard is backing a similar technology called PayPass.

Halifax is introducing the technology in London to a number of punters, including Reg reader Pete.

This seems like an incredibly bad idea.

Bank turns London man into RFID-enabled guinea pig | The Register

Flickr user STR820 has a beautiful photoset of found objects embedded in Brooklyn asphalt. There's a handsome incongruity in seeing everyday contemporary objects in such archaeological postures, as though the future ruins of our civilization have travelled backward in time to the present day. Link (Thanks, Mike!)

There's probably bodies down there.

Objects embedded in Brooklyn's asphalt - Boing Boing

Lord of the Rings is more or less the foundation of modern D&D. The latter rose from the former, although the two are now so estranged that to reunite them would be an act of savage madness. Imagine a gaggle of modern hack-n-slash roleplayers who had somehow never been exposed to the original Tolkien mythos, and then imagine taking those players and trying to introduce them to Tolkien via a D&D campaign.

Twenty Sided � Blog Archive � DM of the Rings I:The Copious Backstory

This might be the wrong way to look at it. The concise list would be to list the ways in which America is better because of the Bush administration. Anyone have an mp3 of crickets chirping?

RE: The Legacy of George W Bush's Presidency

The bumps and ridges on this vase are created from a real human fingerprint. Made with rapid-prototyping tech that "reads" your prints and converts them into a 3D object, the vase is designed by Kris Lovett and called "Embossed." The process for creating it is actually fairly simple, and you can get Lovett to make one out of your own fingerprint too.

Design: Flower Vase Made of Human Fingerprints

Hollywood laid much of the blame for illegal movie downloading on college students. Now, it says its math was wrong.
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In a 2005 study it commissioned, the Motion Picture Association of America claimed that 44 percent of the industry's domestic losses came from illegal downloading of movies by college students, who often have access to high-bandwidth networks on campus.

The MPAA has used the study to pressure colleges to take tougher steps to prevent illegal file-sharing and to back legislation currently before the House of Representatives that would force them to do so.

But now the MPAA, which represents the U.S. motion picture industry, has told education groups a "human error" in that survey caused it to get the number wrong. It now blames college students for about 15 percent of revenue loss.

Terry Hartle, vice president of the American Council on Education, which represents higher education in Washington, said the mistakes showed the entertainment industry has unfairly targeted college campuses.

Frauds shouldn't complain about theft.

MPAA admits mistake on downloading study - Yahoo News

HOUSTON - Maria didn't mean to poison her children. Quite the opposite. Worried about her daughters' lack of appetite, the young Houston mother was merely following her grandmother's advice when she gave the two girls and a niece a dose of "greta" — a Mexican folk medicine used to treat children's stomach ailments.
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What Maria, who asked that her last name not be used, did not know then, but now will never forget, is that the bright orange powder is nearly 90 percent lead.

Fortunately, doctors detected the dangerously high levels of the toxic metal in the little girls' blood during a routine checkup a week later.

Folk medicines contain lead - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK A study released by Northwestern University reports that teenagers find online news troubling and a reminder of the world's dangers. Meanwhile, time spent on YouTube or social networking and music downloading sites as a treat.

Memestreams: News without worries.

Report: Teenagers Find Online News Stressful

Most of the bionic eye systems we've seen involve clunky glasses-cam headgear, but the implantable camera now being developed at UCLA does it straight Terminator-style and keeps your face unencumbered. The camera, which researcher Michelle Hauer and her team recently filed a patent for, is small enough to be implanted directly on the eye's lens, and feeds image data to a chip at the back of the eye, where it can either be fed into the optic nerve to aid the blind, or just into a portable hard drive to aid the creepy. Hauer says power will come from on an onboard battery, but we're more interested in the mention of "optical control signals" in the patent application -- and by "interested" we mean "terrified of a zombie android army."

Researchers develop eye-implantable camera - Engadget

Social isolation makes people stressed out and forgetful, but soon a drug could cure this problem. Late last year, scientists isolated a brain enzyme that triggers the "loneliness" feelings during periods of solitude. Replenishing that enzyme in the brain could enhance memory and relieve stress when you're spending a lot of time by yourself working (or space traveling).

People don't need people. People need drugs.

I can't wait to see that hallmark.

Mad Science: A Chemical That Improves Memory (and Cures Loneliness)