Need web-based access to WHOIS, reverse lookup, ping, tracert, spam database lookup, IP routiong info and more? Check this site out for several useful networking tools.

[Wilpig] I've used this site a good deal for testing DNS setups and I have grown to love their reports about a domain.

DNS Stuff: DNS tools, WHOIS, tracert, ping, and other network tools.

] (Court TV) -- A Florida woman's fight to remain veiled in
] a driver's license photograph began Tuesday with
] testimony from her husband and a local expert on Islamic
] law.
]
] "It's your opinion that if Sultaana Freeman were required
] to remove her veil ... that would be a violation of her
] religious beliefs?" asked ACLU-backed lawyer Howard
] Marks of the local scholar of Islam, Safil Islam Abdul
] Ahad.

Well if the ACLU wins this time, 18 year olds everywhere will just have to cover their faces to look like someone older to get into the club.

CNN.com - Veil dispute begins in Florida courtroom - May. 27, 2003

] It's perhaps the clearest evidence yet of the computing
] power of sophisticated but inexpensive video-game
] consoles, the National Center for Supercomputing
] Applications at the University of Illinois at
] Urbana-Champaign has assembled a supercomputer from an
] army of Sony PlayStation 2's.
]
] The resulting system, with components purchased at retail
] prices, cost a little more than $50,000. The center's
] researchers believe the system may be capable of a half
] trillion operations a second, well within the definition
] of supercomputer, although it may not rank among the
] world's 500 fastest supercomputers.

HAH!

From PlayStation to Supercomputer for $50,000

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

Requires Java.

Visual Google Browser. Type in a URL, and it displays a visual representation of that URL and all the other URLs that are related to it (somewhat similar to visualthesaurus.com, if you've played with that).

Extremely cool to look at and play with.

TouchGraph GoogleBrowser V1.01

Dolemite,

Here is the software that is of interest to you. You can copy 1:1 to another DVD disc:

Here is the latest legal battle on it:
http://news.com.com/2100-1025-1003541.html

-w

DVD Copying

] THE IDEA, says Sgt. Mark Hadsell, is to break a subject’s
] resistance by annoying that person with what some Iraqis
] would consider culturally offensive music. The songs that
] are being played include “Bodies” from the Vin Diesel
] “XXX” movie soundtrack and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”
] “These people haven’t heard heavy metal before,” he
] explains. “They can’t take it.” Few people could put up
] with the sledgehammer riffs of Metallica, and kiddie
] songs aren’t that much easier, especially when selections
] include the “Sesame Street” theme and some of purple
] dinosaur Barney’s crooning.

All those methods would work on me too.

Psyop: The Love's Not Mutual

] 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

] Going into The Matrix: Reloaded, I wasn't worried if the
] fight scenes or special effects would measure up to the
] first film - it was the metaphysics that bothered me.

After leaving the movie most of the questions I was asking myself are listed at the end of this site.

The Matrix Reloaded: The Corporate Mofo Guide

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