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Distributed Learning Object Repository Network


Most recent update: December 8, 2006 at 11:00 p.m. Atlantic Time (GMT-4)
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A Birthday Surprise from Rev3 and Digg My birthday was Dec. 7th. It was starting out as a pretty lack-luster birthday, until I got a very special phone call... From digg on December 8, 2006 at 10:32 p.m..


St Paul's tomb unearthed in Rome Archaeologists working for the Vatican have unearthed a sarcophagus containing what they believe are the remains of St Paul the Apostle. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 10:32 p.m..


VIDEO: Will Wright visits the Wall Street Journal to show off Spore Judging from the video, there were quite a number of higher-ups present for the demonstration. I'm not sure who all is in the audience, but I noticed Paul Steiger, the paper's managing editor and a gamer, as well as Tom Weber, the paper's Pursuits Editor. Who I think was creating the abomination... I mean creature. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 10:32 p.m..


Changes Are Expected in Voting by 2008 Election By the 2008 presidential election, voters around the country are likely to see sweeping changes in how they cast their ballots and how those ballots are counted, including an end to the use of most electronic voting machines without a paper trail, federal voting officials and legislators say. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 10:32 p.m..


Baptist whackos protesting at US soldier's funeral run off by angry mob! Those religious "God Hates Fags" nut bags at the Westboro Baptist Church were not welcome at this funeral for a soldier who died in Iraq. They are pretty much being chased off by the crowd, running for their lives, and trying to drive away as fast as possible. "We got a broken window!!" From digg on December 8, 2006 at 10:32 p.m..


Fun with X.org Chapter 5 of the FreeBSD Handbook provides an excellent overview for understanding and configuring the X Window system. Today's article goes beyond the Handbook to demonstrate some of the cool things you can do with your FreeBSD system and other systems running X. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 10:32 p.m..


"Apocalypto": Bloody and beautiful - even after a few drinks. A stressful production of "Apocalypto" may have contributed to his recent DUI arrest and anti-Semitic tirade. Whatever the reasons for Gibson's infamous rant, "Apocalypto" surely posed a major challenge, and Gibson has delivered an impeccably crafted action-adventure that starts fast and never lets up. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 10:32 p.m..


Two Girls, a Banana & One Speechless Boyfriend Two girls decide to pass a banana around. WATCH the GUY'S FACE when his girlfriend takes her turn. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 10:32 p.m..


Learn Ruby on Rails NOW. From newbie to expert Ruby on Rails is causing waves. Do not be left out. Learn it today. Everything you ever need to be an expert in Ruby on Rails. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 10:32 p.m..


Chewable Contraceptive Hits Pharmacy Shelves The first chewable birth-control method, a tiny, spearmint-flavored tablet that also can be swallowed without chewing, has hit pharmacy shelves. The drug, Femcon Fe, contains the same hormones as standard oral contraceptives. Obligatory proposed tagline: "for women who don't like to swallow" (pills, that is). From digg on December 8, 2006 at 10:32 p.m..


Wil Wheaton offers his opinion on Star Trek: TNG 2.0 on G4 "I absolutely hate that they're doing this. Star Trek 2.0 takesthe content of the show ... and reduces it to a tiny afterthought on the screen,while a whole bunch of mindless crap scrolls by all around it. ... Jesus. Fucking. Christ. Is there anything G4 can't completely ruin?" From digg on December 8, 2006 at 9:32 p.m..


comScore is watching. Market research company secretly installs spyware. Market research company comScore is busted AGAIN for secretly installing spyware. The company's collecting screen-shots of every web page you visit -- even shopping and online accounts -- and selling it as "research" to Microsoft, Ford Motor, Google, etc. Countless web users have no idea. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 9:32 p.m..


Bush Meets with Iraq Study Group; Asks ZERO Questions Iraq Study Group member Lawrence Eagleburger “said after the event that when the group met with Bush, ‘I don’t recall, seriously, that he asked any questions.‘” From digg on December 8, 2006 at 9:32 p.m..


Jean Kirkpatrick, Dead at 80 Former U.N. Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, a onetime Democrat who switched to the Republican Party and warmly embraced Reagan era conservatism, has died. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 9:32 p.m..


Is Wi-Fi Headed to an Early Grave? For years, however, Wi-Fi has been what some call a "heart" technology, serving as the fundamental technology around which a product, such as a router or PC Card, has been designed. With the approval of 802.11n, however, Airgo chief executive Greg Raleigh sees Wi-Fi losing its significance... From digg on December 8, 2006 at 9:32 p.m..


Feds disrupt terror attack? ABC News has learned a Chicago-area man has been charged with plotting a terrorist attack. Sources say the man is accused of planning to use firearms and explosives to attack a specific mall in Rockford, Ill. The alleged plan was to target this mall during the holiday shopping season. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 8:32 p.m..


Help Make the NHL All-Star Game... Funnier "Trying to vote the journeyman defenceman on to the Western Conference team for the NHL all-star game has become a trend like reality TV. A spark that began with an Internet website (www.voteforrory.com) has taken hold like wildfire. Fitzpatrick, who has played only 16 games this year after fracturing a bone in his heel, has garnered 144,819." From digg on December 8, 2006 at 8:32 p.m..


Gamers Love their PS3s but the 'Hate' the Blu-Ray Feature Gamers love Sony Corp.'s new PlayStation 3 for its graphic capabilities and firepower, but the advanced Blu-ray DVD drive is annoying some by raising the cost, slowing production and forcing them to buy into a format they've not yet aligned with From digg on December 8, 2006 at 8:32 p.m..


The 7 kids' health myths every mom should ignore When it comes to colds, flu, stomach bugs, and ear infections, everyone has a theory. Some have been passed down through generations, or are based on outdated science. A few just seem like common sense. But whatever their origin, many just aren't true. The facts behind these myths: From digg on December 8, 2006 at 8:32 p.m..


Families Cheer as Autism Bill Passes The Combating Autism Act authorizes almost $1 billion in autism research and programs. The bill specifically authorizes $45 million researching possible environmental causes. It also includes a public awareness program and screening programs for all 50 states. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 8:32 p.m..


Steve Jobs Did NOT Help Design the Apple Computer -- Wozniak Apparently Steve Wozniak doesn't like it when people say Steve Jobs had a hand in designing the Apple I and II computers. Oh, and Woz also pranked Richard Nixon! From digg on December 8, 2006 at 8:32 p.m..


Even The Blind Get Deja Vu Cosmos magazine is reporting that even the blind experience deja vu — backing the idea that it is caused by misfires in the brain's temporal lobe. They quote a British study where a blind man feels like he has 'already seen' some unfamiliar situations. 'Hearing and touch and smell often seem to intermingle in the déjà vu experiences' From digg on December 8, 2006 at 7:32 p.m..


RIAA defendant targets Kazaa in new lawsuit File-sharing litigation took an unexpected twist yesterday with the filing of a lawsuit against Sharman Networks, creators of the P2P file-sharing application Kazaa. The plaintiff, Catherine Lewan, was herself a defendant in one of the many file-sharing lawsuits brought by the RIAA. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 7:32 p.m..


What Happens To Your Body If You Drink A Coke Right Now? They took the cocaine out of Coca-Cola because it was redundant. This is a scary time line of what actually happens to your body as you have a coke and a smile. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 7:32 p.m..


Nintendo Retracts 1M Wiis in U.S. Statement Is Nintendo doubtful that it can ship/sell 1 million Wii consoles in the U.S. before the year ends? It's starting to look that way, as the company has retracted a statement proclaiming its 1 million sales goal for the U.S. More within... From digg on December 8, 2006 at 7:32 p.m..


'Diet Coke Plus' - a Diet Coke with vitamins and minerals coming Spring '07 "Coca-Cola plans to launch a new version of Diet Coke in 2007 fortified with vitamins and minerals, according to a report published Friday. 'Diet Coke Plus,' slated for a spring launch, will be the first nutrient-enhanced carbonated soda to be offered by a major brand, said Beverage Digest." From digg on December 8, 2006 at 7:32 p.m..


Optimus Keyboard Goes Back To Color The team scrapped the black and white release to instead wait to release in full color. The team will concentrate on making a color Optimus-103 with OLEDs. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 7:32 p.m..


World of Warcraft Update and Multithreaded OpenGL in Mac OS X 10.4.8 Blizzard Entertainment released a 2.0.1 upgrade patch to their popular World of Warcraft game on Tuesday. The update for the Mac version introduced a number of bug fixes and performance improvements. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:32 p.m..


Best Digital Cameras under $300 Seven of these cameras cost about $250 or less. Two (from Panasonic and Kodak) are so close to $200, they’re practically impulse buys. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:32 p.m..


Time Warner: AOL May Take on MySpace Time Warner may look to expand AOL's social-networking capability to compete with popular sites such as MySpace. "There's no reason we shouldn't be a leader in social networking," says COO Jeff Bewkes. Also: AOL "might benefit" from a spin-off, he adds. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:32 p.m..


Hakia: How is it Different from Google? Hakia, which is a "meaning-based" search engine startup getting a bit of buzz. It is a venture-backed, multi-national team company headquartered in New York - and curiously has former US senator Bill Bradley as a board member. It launched its beta in early November this year, but already ranks around 33K on Alexa - which is impressive. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:32 p.m..


Thumbelina: The World 's Smallest Horse Thumbelina, officially the world's smallest horse stands at an astounding 17 inches tall. She was born on a farm in America to a couple specialising in breeding miniature horses. Thumbelina was a dwarf among the dwarves, which her owner calls it a complete fluke. Normal horses lives to about 35 years while she is only likely to live for 17 years. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:32 p.m..


Christmas Present for Digg: The Digg Friends' Activity Sidebar (Working!) Based on our own Friends' Activity Sidebar and by using the public Digg API, this extension allows you to monitor your friends' activities on Digg! From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:32 p.m..


Frist Farewell: ‘Let Us Not Allow…Destructive Partisanship On This Floor’ Today, with Vice President Cheney presiding over the Senate chamber, Bill Frist delivered his farewell address, urging his colleagues not to be influenced by “destructive partisanship.” From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:32 p.m..


How to help the James Kim family - CNET News.com CNET editor in chief thanks readers for their outpouring of support and explains how to help James Kim's family. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:32 p.m..


Newborns Probably Able to Feel Pain Many doctors refrain from giving newborns pain relief during surgical procedures in the belief that they do not feel pain, but new research shows this could be wrong, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden said on Thursday. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:32 p.m..


How To Filter Out Dick Vitale: You Can't Hear Me Baby!!!!!!!! "An amazing story out of Duke University. A student has figured out a way to mute Dickie V (and any ESPN talking head for that matter) by the push of a button." From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:32 p.m..


Virtual tour of cancer This extremely high quality presentation from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is a compelling example of the way education might move beyond traditional print resources. Health cancer, preventing, treating, understanding From Golden Swamp on December 8, 2006 at 6:30 p.m..


Salesman retires car after 1,000,000 miles. After a million miles and eight collisions with deer Peter Gilbert decided it was time to retire his Saab, donating it to the Wisconsin Automotive Museum. He was sure the engine could handle more, but the Wisconsin winters had taken a toll on the undercarriage. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 p.m..


Update on Sony, EA and Nintendo - The Internet Got It Right A look at how the Internet opinion from leading gaming sites is effecting the investing landscape. Professional investors are watching the dialog and the Internet seems to be a great leading indicator of the success or failure of each company. According to this post Nintendo is the early winner. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 p.m..


A Nintendo Wii game is made by a SINGLE person and it is released Forget those huge multimillion dollar development teams, the Nintendo Wii is so cost effective to develop for one person can make a game for the system. The one-man computer game development company Nissimo release a Wii launch title. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 p.m..


Tax Stuff You Need to Keep in Your Records List of tax-related items that might come in handy when doing your taxes. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 p.m..


Wesley Snipes Arrested at Orlando International Airport Actor Wesley Snipes was arrested Friday morning as he arrived at Orlando International Airport. He is accused of trying to cheat the government out of nearly $12 million in false refund claims and not filing returns for six years. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 p.m..


Verizon says: $0.002 == $0.00002 Listen to this audio clip of this call to Verizon. Should sorting out a simple billing error be this much work? From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 p.m..


ATI’s Market Share Is Falling According to Jon Peddie Research, ATI’s market share has fallen 5% to an overall 23% for the third quarter when compared to the 28% the company held during the second quarter of this year. It would seem then that ATI’s success as a subsidiary of the #2 chip maker will depend on AMD performance in the CPU race. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 p.m..


2500 Amazing Sea Creature Photographs: "This Is Why We Dive" An incredible collection of underwater photographs. Nature never ceases to amaze... From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 p.m..


He's The COMPUTER MAN! A desperate attempt to embarrass and shame an old boss - here's a link to a video he has tried to destroy for over 5 years. If it makes the Digg front page, he's promised to eat his ice cream man hat. Come on Digg, I know you can do it! From digg on December 8, 2006 at 4:32 p.m..


8 for Stunning Macro Shots with your Point and Shoot Digital Camera Why should D-SLR users have all the fun?!? From digg on December 8, 2006 at 4:32 p.m..


Drilling Through a Laptop Display Ever wonder what it was like to drill through the screen of your laptop? Well, wonder no longer, this video shows you what happens. I suggest skipping to 35 sec in the video, where the action begins. Kids, please don't try this at home, or if you do, please make a video for all the Internets to see... From digg on December 8, 2006 at 4:32 p.m..


Houston Residents: No Mosque in My Backyard, Or We'll Hold Pig Races! A plan to build a mosque in this Houston suburb has triggered a neighborhood dispute, with community members warning the place will become a terrorist hotbed and one man threatening to hold pig races on Fridays just to offend the Muslims. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 4:08 p.m..


Ebola Epidemic Wiping Out Gorilla Populations "In parts of the Republic of Congo in equatorial Africa, nearly all the gorillas are gone. Just what was killing these great apes was unclear. Now researchers finger the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus as the culprit. "No doubt that's what killed them,"" From digg on December 8, 2006 at 4:08 p.m..


30 Amazing Origami Paper Folding Figures With Crease Patterns Just looking at the crease patterns gives me a headache, but the resulting figures are amazing: Beetle, Rose, Tarantula, Hawk, Water Strider just to name a few. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 4:08 p.m..


A Young Marine Speaks Out Finally someone who can speak with credibility on this subject - no armchair computer commando is he. With one year in Iraq under his belt, over 180 patrols and facing redeployment in the near future to Iraq, this articulate Marine lays out why we shouldn't be there and how this doesn't have anything to do with "protecting America or "freedom." From digg on December 8, 2006 at 4:08 p.m..


Guy sells empty Nintendo Wii box on Ebay. Read his story on why. This guy is selling his empty nintendo Wii box on ebay. Don't want to ruin why he is doing it but the funniest part is he's donating 20% of proceeds to Child Abuse Prevention. LOL From digg on December 8, 2006 at 4:08 p.m..


A Big Deal, Even in Manhattan: A Tower Goes for $1.8 Billion Tishman Speyer Properties, the company that bought Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village for $5.4 billion last month in the biggest real estate deal in the country, has agreed to sell the 41-story skyscraper at 666 Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street for $1.8 billion to a New Jersey real estate family. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 3:31 p.m..


Making your Linux distribution secure There's no dearth of Linux distributions to choose from. With so many to choose from, one might think it's as easy as picking up the Linux kernel, throwing in a few applications, setting up respositories, making ISOs and you've got a shiny new Linux distro. Well, there's more to a Linux distro than assembling applications and making sure everything From digg on December 8, 2006 at 3:31 p.m..


The Largest Gun Ever Used in Combat It has been manufactured by Krupp for the third Reich during WW-2. Hitler wanted "a gun able to pierce a meter of stell, seven meters of concrete, or thirty meters of dense earth". From digg on December 8, 2006 at 3:31 p.m..


Smile! You're Naked in the Government's Airport Photos In its tireless efforts to molest passengers, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is photographing them at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Naked. The TSA is about the baddest, bawdiest bureaucracy ever to curse a country, but geez, even they must have needed help on this one. I figure they went to Larry Flynt at Hustler Mag From digg on December 8, 2006 at 3:31 p.m..


Kazaa Founder Takes On Network TV Kazaa and Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom is developing a secretive Internet television venture called The Venice Project, which analysts say could threaten the viability of network TV. The video-sharing service stands to knock network affiliates out of their middleman positions. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 3:31 p.m..


Learn how to draw cartoons from a professional cartoonist Daryl Cagle has posted his answer to an age-old questions: “what kind of pens, papers, inks to you use to do your cartoons.” The surprising answer is that he doesn’t ink his drawings. After he does a his pencil sketch he does -- From digg on December 8, 2006 at 3:31 p.m..


How Microsoft fights off 100,000 attacks per month... Microsoft may be the biggest target out there for hackers. Here's what the company does to protect itself from the continuous onslaught of probes and intrusion attempts. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 3:31 p.m..


DVD Wars: Amazon Puts HD-DVD Ahead Home theater buffs still undecided about which next-gen DVD they should buy should visit thedvdwars.com, where they use Amazon as a data source to determine which format is "winning" the dvd wars right now.However, data by itself only gives part of the picture. But it's an important part. As of today, HD DVD is winning From digg on December 8, 2006 at 3:31 p.m..


Ninja waiting for his apology College student (sort of dressed as ninja) keeps running after being told to freeze is tackled by ATF agents. Held down with a knee to his back, and ninja is waiting for an apology from ATF. Picture in the story. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 3:31 p.m..


Boot MacOS X86 from USB Pendrive Have you ever dreamed about carrying in your pocket,your favorite OSx86 install. And boot it everywhere.When dreams come true... Full tutorial @ MacGeek's blog :-) From digg on December 8, 2006 at 3:31 p.m..


50 Works of Art You Should See Before You Die add to my list of things to see before I die... From digg on December 8, 2006 at 3:31 p.m..


Nintendo sued over Wii-mote patent infringement The patent reads, “This invention relates to a trigger operated electronic device. In particular, it concerns a mouse for operating a cursor in a computer system.” Of course, the Nintendo Wii has a trigger-operated controller which is also used as a pointing device. Diagrams from Interlink’s patent bear a passing resemblance to the Wii Remote. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 3:31 p.m..


Democrats Will Try to Block Congressional Pay Raises Members of Congress are in line for a pay raise effective Jan. 1 unless they block it, and Democrats said Thursday they intend to try. "It is unconscionable that members of congress would get yet another pay raise while the minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15 an hour for the last 10 years." From digg on December 8, 2006 at 3:31 p.m..


Condoms 'too big' for Indian men A survey of more than 1,000 men in India has concluded that condoms made according to international sizes are too large for a majority of Indian men. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 3:31 p.m..


Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht flame the PS3 Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht give their thoughts on Ps3 in episode 74. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 1:32 p.m..


Russia wants to join NASA moon program Rivals for lunar conquest four decades ago, Russia hopes to join the U.S. moon exploration program with technology and know-how. NASA said Monday that it would send a four-astronaut crew to the moon in 2020 and set up an international base camp on one of the moon's poles that would be permanently staffed by 2024. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 1:32 p.m..


Weak Spot Found in Bird Flu US researchers believe they have found a weak spot in the flu virus which if targeted could stop it in its tracks. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 1:32 p.m..


Honda Does TRON Honda gives tribute to one of the first computer generated movies, TRON. Makes me want to battle Master Control....either that, or buy a Civic. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 1:32 p.m..


Color Theory for Developers Color theory may sound like a subject for the Art Department, not for developers. But we've all had the experience of choosing a color scheme using the property grid to select named colors and ending up with a really garish color scheme. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 1:32 p.m..


Nearly Half of Iraqi Marshlands Now Restored Perhaps the one single piece of recent good news from Iraq: the UN announced that a restoration project (funded by the Japanese and Italian governments) has revived nearly half of Iraq's marshlands, which were drained by Saddam Hussein to punish the country's Shiite restive Muslim majority. Satellite data shows almost 50% of the marshlands restored From digg on December 8, 2006 at 1:32 p.m..


Spike Lee to film his take on the L.A. Riots of 1992 Spike Lee is returning to politically charged subject matter with the simply titled L.A. RIOTS. Logically enough, it's about the Los Angeles riots which erupted back in 1992 when white police officers were exonerated in court despite their videotaped pummeling of Rodney King. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 1:32 p.m..


Video: 1940 Nazi Propaganda Film Excerpt A lot of people believed in this propaganda. Here's an excerpt of a 1940 nazi propaganda movie, subtitled in English. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 1:32 p.m..


SC: 08/12 Bug in Windows Media ASX playlist files may compromise PCs We've said recently that the growth in the use of video content is bringing with it an increase in threats and vulnerabilities from maliciously crafted files - and today we've learned about another vulnerability of this kind in Windows Media Player files; attackers can exploit the hole to smuggle in arbitrary malicious code ... From MCS Safe Computing Bulletins on December 8, 2006 at 1:31 p.m..


Sony PlayStation 3 Misses U.S. Target, Loses to Nintendo's Wii Sony Corp. missed its initial shipment target for PlayStation 3 game consoles in the U.S. after parts shortages slowed production, while Nintendo Co. sold twice as many Wii players last month, researcher NPD Group Inc. estimated. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 12:32 p.m..


Suns Beat Nets in Wild Shootout, 161-157 Steve Nash scored nine of his career-high 42 points in the second overtime and Boris Diaw hit a go-ahead shot in the lane with 14 seconds left to lead the Phoenix Suns to their eighth straight victory, a 161-157 decision over the New Jersey Nets on Thursday night. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 12:32 p.m..


Japan Gets Its RPG, Blue Dragon Launches So how was it really in Japan on Blue Dragon's launch day? (A Kotaku feature) From digg on December 8, 2006 at 12:32 p.m..


Jason Reinsvold's BowMaster Prelude The link to the actual game. It has been released. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 12:32 p.m..


VIDEO: GINORMOUS Catfish caught with fishing pole! 2.46 Meters across! I'm not sure what he's doing at the end of the video, setting it free, perhaps? From digg on December 8, 2006 at 12:32 p.m..


Slacker's Paradise?! Workers at Best Buy corporate have no set schedules. Chap Achen, who oversees online orders at Best Buy Co., shut down his computer, stood up from his desk, and announced that he was leaving for the day. It was around 2 p.m., and most of Achen's staff were slumped over their keyboards, deep in a post-lunch, LCD-lit trance. "See you tomorrow," said Achen. "I'm going to a matinee." From digg on December 8, 2006 at 12:32 p.m..


Ingenious Dangerous Weapons Made from Ordinary Things. Prisons do not allow weapons however this does not deter prisoners from making their own. A showcase of ingenuity where some of them are everyday objects that you see. Designer Observer brings you 12 pictures of weapons made during prison times. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 12:32 p.m..


Far Cry Developer Threatens to Leave Germany if Game Violence Law Passes While the German government considers legislation which would criminalize the development, distribution and even play of violent games, a leading developer says it may be forced to relocate if such a law is passed. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 11:32 a.m..


Wii’s Democracy Makes Mockery of Meritocracy "My mom is buying a Wii. It’s not a gift for me, a donation to some needy kid or some expensive secret Santa thing. My mom is buying a Wii to play video games. "Greg," she said while wielding the Wiimote weeks ago, "This is the first video game I can play with you." All right, Nintendo. This has gone far enough. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 11:32 a.m..


350 UFO Photographs do you believe? From digg on December 8, 2006 at 11:32 a.m..


Microsoft warns of new Word attack Microsoft warned Tuesday of a new, unpatched memory corruption error in its word-processing software, and said that it was investigating reports of "limited" attacks that exploit the problem From digg on December 8, 2006 at 11:32 a.m..


Cruel and Unusual: 25 Years for Taking Own Pain Meds A poor guy in Florida in constant pain is sentenced to 25 years in prison for possessing his own pain medication (with prescriptions), yet Oxycontin addict Rush Limbaugh walks free. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 10:32 a.m..


Mysterious Arctic sharks found in Québec In the frigid, murky waters of the St. Lawrence River in Québec, UBC marine biologist and veterinarian Chris Harvey-Clark is painting a clearer picture of a mysterious predator that could be the longest-lived vertebrate on the planet and the only shark in the world that lives under Arctic ice. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 10:32 a.m..


A Collection of Truly Awful Star Wars Collectables Hopefully the marketing minds behind each of these products was driven into abject poverty. And yes, they're all real. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 10:32 a.m..


Nintendo Wii-Strap is thicker-- Pictures for Proof Here is a picture of the new and improved thicker strap for the Wii-mote. This should hopefully prevent people from damaging their $5,000 televisions. Its only a matter of time before we find out if this will work or not. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 9:32 a.m..


Cops busted for flashing badge to cut in PS3 line The police officers are under investigation for allegedly using their influence to skip a long line of people waiting to buy the PS3 on its November 17 launch day. According to witnesses two security guards allowed seven people to skip ahead of everyone else standing in the PS3 line. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 9:32 a.m..


The basics - Settings & built-in OS X screenshot functionality Why pay for 3rd party software designed to capture specific regions of your screen when OS X includes built-in screen capturing functionality? Relearn the basics, tweak default settings, and optimize PNG images in order to shave a few bytes in the screenshot archives. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 9:32 a.m..


113 Professional Looking 10x10 Icons Here are 113 10x10 greyscale icons in .gif format to fill up your stocking with - the next instalment of my mini icon collection, which has been steadily growing over the last year. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 9:32 a.m..


A Tutorial on Clustering Algorithms "What is Clustering? Clustering can be considered the most important unsupervised learning problem; so, as every other problem of this kind, it deals with finding a structure in a collection of unlabeled data." From digg on December 8, 2006 at 8:32 a.m..


Disney's "Pirates" sells 5 Million DVDs the first day. Good News for Apple? Movie studios are thought to share the opinion that downloadable movies means the death of DVDs and their profit margins, However, “Pirates” is available at retailers as a DVD purchase and on the iTunes store. Apple could use this success in negotiations with other movie studios, showing them that downloads and DVDs can coexist From digg on December 8, 2006 at 8:32 a.m..


The Biggest Gamble of Your Life (Is College Worth it?) In 2005, young people (ages 18-25) in the US gambled $67 billion. Not in Vegas or online poker rooms, but on a betterment program called college. Their hope is that the monies they are spending will allow them to earn more money over their lifetime. Many are paying for this wager by amassing a mountain of debt that will take years to pay off. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 8:32 a.m..


Report Finds Rampant Censorship at American Colleges and Universities More than 73% of public universities surveyed maintain unconstitutional speech codes, despite numerous federal court decisions striking down similar or identical policies From digg on December 8, 2006 at 8:32 a.m..


Pirates crack Vista Activation Server Pirates have released another ingenious workaround to Vista's copy protection: a hacked copy of Microsoft's yet-to-be-released volume licencing activation server, running in VMware. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 8:32 a.m..


51 Cool, Surprising and Just Plain Scary Uses for RFID Love it or hate it, there’s no turning back the clock on RFID folks, this is one technology that’s here to stay. It’s been kicking up a storm of privacy issues, and the FDA approval for VeriChip to implant human beings in the name of medical advances hasn’t done anything to settle the dust. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 8:32 a.m..


The World's Best Online Multiplayer Game - See for yourself... No need to register or enter a password. Just input a username, and begin! Played like pictionary. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 8:32 a.m..


A dog ate my XBox 360! I sold my 360 on eBay only to have it shipped back to me a month later after being pretty much devoured by a dog. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 8:32 a.m..


The craziest slam dunk you will see all day! His landing needs work but the dude pulls off an insane dunk! From digg on December 8, 2006 at 8:32 a.m..


HP Tosses Hat Into Gaming Ring It isn't only the usual suspects who are tossing their hats into the gaming ring. Enter Hewlett-Packard, who hopes to leverage the newfound graphics muscle they gained during the VooDoo PC acquisition into new directions. Preliminary experiments have testers in England freeing Anne Boleyn from the Tower of London on their iPAQ's. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 7:32 a.m..


Evil ipods On The Simpsons A short scene from the simpsons, and what will happen when ipods take over the world. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 7:32 a.m..


Winterbells - finally, a new Orisinal game! After a year of silence, Ferry Halim of Orisinal.com has released a brand new game: Winterbells. The same beautiful and stylish artwork and music from all Ferry's games is here, complete with a snowy winter-time theme. Use the mouse to control the rabbit as it hops from bell to bell. The longer (and higher) you climb, the better your score. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 7:32 a.m..


UK Literacy Crisis More than 20% of boys and 13% of girls are leaving primary school without being able to read properly. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 7:32 a.m..


Kazakhstan and Russia Start Uranium Venture Under deals struck earlier this year Kazakhstan and Russia are planning to create two more joint ventures: one to build a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan with a capacity of 300 megawatts and another, in Russia, that will enrich uranium for atomic power stations. Kazakhstan has 30 percent of the world's proven uranium reserves. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 7:32 a.m..


US to keep a master list of sex offenders' email addresses A number of news agencies are reporting a new legislative effort in the US to make registered sex offenders register their email addresses. Whatever you may think of the ethics of continuing to punish people after they've "done their time," I serious doubt the efficacy of the effort. The gist is simple: require all registered sex offenders to list their email addresses along with their street address that they already give. The problem, of course, is ensuring that offenders register all the email addresses and don't acquire any more that are unknown. G From StuartYeates's blog on December 8, 2006 at 7:32 a.m..


Oxford flickr meet up Garrett Coakley Originally uploaded by Stuart Yeates. Last night myself and other flickr users got together in Oxford From StuartYeates's blog on December 8, 2006 at 7:32 a.m..


Christian lobbies to distribute fliers in schools; pagans take advantage A Christian family in central Virginia used a religious group run by Jerry Falwell to force their school to allow distribution of religious fliers to the children. A pagan group in the same area took advantage of the newly created loophole and distributed fliers of their own. Now the religious right is fuming mad... but at whom? From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:30 a.m..


Voice Mail Why you should let voice mail pick up your calls, or not... From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:30 a.m..


PHP and RSS: Getting it together RSS Syndication is virtually ubiquitous these days, so it's imperative that a PHP developer at least understand RSS and how it works. This article explains the basics of RSS, some of its many uses, how to use PHP to create an RSS feed from a database, and how to use the XML_RSS module to read an existing RSS feed and translate it into HTML. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:30 a.m..


WiiSaber Makes your WiiMote into a Lightsaber Just grab your WiiMote, turn on your Mac's bluetooth, and run WiiSaber to link the two for a motion-sensor based Lightsaber sound effect battle royale. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:30 a.m..


MP3 Search Engine Mp3realm has tons of free mp3s from around the web; it also provides easy to copy HTML for your hot-linking pleasure. It may not provide every song you're looking for, but it makes a good addition to any mp3 search arsenal. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:30 a.m..


VIDEO: Wii Definitely Region Locked Sorry to disappoint gamers who planned on importing Japanese games to play on their consoles, but Nintendo's Wii is definitely region locked. It's not enough to just take our word for it, so here's a video of a guy trying out a US Zelda game in his Japanese machine. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:30 a.m..


YouTube Saves the World The leading video-sharing site can draw more than 100 million views a day, but it's been hard to sift through the pratfalls, soccer highlights, and unauthorized television clips to find the population of crafty opportunists that I figured would have turned the site into a cottage-industry goldmine. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:30 a.m..


Indian tribe near $1 billion deal for Hard Rock chain "The Seminole Tribe of Florida is near a deal to buy the Hard Rock Cafe restaurant-and-casino chain from a British gambling-and-leisure company for roughly $1 billion, according to a media report Thursday." From digg on December 8, 2006 at 6:30 a.m..


Some new buzzworthy acronym you dont know? Find it here. whatis.techtarget.com is a cool source for the definition to any tech-related term or buzzword. You gotta scroll past some of the paid links and web search results to get to the techtarget results. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 a.m..


Sunset on Mars (jpg link) pretty cool! From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 a.m..


The Great Dictator: Chaplin's Speach This is from 'The Great Dictator', a satire of the Nazi's, who Chaplin hated. The words he speaks still rings true today. Chaplin a true genius whose wisdom will never die. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 a.m..


Can The Stanley Cup Playoffs Harm Your Hearing? During last year's NHL playoffs, Edmonton Oilers' fans tried to earn the title of loudest arena in the game, but new University of Alberta research shows that even a few hours of exposure to that level of noise can be harmful. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 a.m..


Has The Microsoft xBox 360 Already Won the Console War? With Microsoft executives becoming ever more eager to tout the company's sales numbers of its Xbox 360 in public, and the dramatic success of games like Gears of War, has Redmond given itself such a head start that it will be near-impossible for Sony to catch up? From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 a.m..


Of the top 10,000 websites, 10% are adult oriented Grabbing the top 10,000 Alexa websites, Yvo Schaap did some number crunching and came up with a couple of interesting figures (take it with a grain of salt, it’s a statistic... and it’s using skewed Alexa): From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 a.m..


Which Blank DVDs Should I Buy? Ever wonder who actually makes the blank media that HP, Imation, or Memorex sells? What are the best brands for archival? It's all right here in this handy list along with the % reliability of each. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 a.m..


IBM votes against Microsoft document standard IBM voted against the certification of Microsoft Office document formats as an international standard. "It is an example of a real open standard versus a vendor-dictated spec that documents proprietary products via XML. ODF is about the future, Open XML is about the past. We voted for the future," Sutor wrote in his blog. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 a.m..


How feminism destroyed real men Women thought the last victory of equality was to make men more 'sensitive'. The bitter irony, says this male writer in a piece that will infuriate the opposite sex (including his wife Liz Jones), is women don't like wimps after all... From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 a.m..


"The Number 23" - A New Thriller Starring Jim Carrey (Trailer Hi-Def) A man whose life unravels after he comes into contact with an obscure book titled The Number 23. As he reads the book, he becomes increasingly convinced that it is based on his own life. There is a link on the page for 480p, 720p, and 1080p high def versions. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 a.m..


Kurt Cobain Singing at Age 2 Watch the video to hear tapes that Cobain's Aunt owns of him, on which he's singing when he was only 2. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 5:32 a.m..


Building a Car, Open Source-Style Inspired by Linux, the OScar project is assembling volunteers to apply their collective talents to the task of designing a new breed of car. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 4:30 a.m..


Paul McCartney has a copyright problem Unless the UK extends the life of copyrights similarly to the US, copyrights to Beatles songs will start to expire in 2012. Just call him Sonny Bono! From digg on December 8, 2006 at 4:30 a.m..


Wii Remote IR Mouse Control for Mac - Try It! Here ya go! Use your Wii Remote to control the mouse on your mac. Based on data from DarwiinRemote and data on the Wiili wiki. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 2:32 a.m..


Laugh Factory institutes $20 fine for each "N-word", plus banishment Noticeably absent from the Laugh Factory proclamation is a similar penalty for other racial slurs. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 2:32 a.m..


Balancing work and family: Report on the inquiry into balancing work and family The Report on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Human Services' inquiry into balancing work and family is available to download in sections. It covers social change since the 1960s, the tax system, the benefits system, fertility, workplace relations, the child care system and care of the disabled. From EdNA Online on December 8, 2006 at 2:31 a.m..


Call for child care tax breaks The Federal Government is being urged to consider tax changes for some forms of child care to help parents returning to work. A federal parliamentary committee conducted an inquiry into ways the Government could make it easier for parents to return to paid work and the impact tax has on their choices. It has recommended fringe benefits tax be removed from all child care to exempt assistance provided by employers and the cost of in-home nannies be recognised for tax purposes. From EdNA Online on December 8, 2006 at 2:31 a.m..


Enrol Indigenous kids now for 2007 school year Centrelink is urging Indigenous parents in remote areas who plan to send their children to boarding school in 2007 to enrol as soon as possible to ensure their children have a smooth transition to school. More than 1,000 students from remote area communities in the Cape York Peninsula, Torres Strait and the Gulf of Carpentaria attend schools outside their communities each year. Parents are encourged to lodge claims for ABSTUDY with Centrelink as soon as possible. To make it easier for people to claim this payment, they can simply phone Centrelink on 13 23 17 to complete the claim process. Cent From EdNA Online on December 8, 2006 at 2:31 a.m..


NIT - Pepa Worli classroom activity downloads Pepa Worli is a collection of classroom activity downloads grouped for junior primary, senior primary, and junior high. There are lesson plans and resources along Aboriginal themes for many of the key learning areas including social science, history, science, art, English, Aboriginal language, health and physical education. From EdNA Online on December 8, 2006 at 2:31 a.m..


Pepa Worli classroom activity downloads: Junior primary Pepa Worli has a collection of classroom activity downloads for junior primary. There are three art lesson plans. Art 1 is on the Croc Festival theme 'Respect Yourself, Respect Your Culture' and includes an origami crocodile to make. Art 2 is on Aboriginal rock art and the 'Message Stick' painted landrover and discusses custodial issues. Art 3 is about the Aboriginal ceiling art in the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, France and introduces the concept of 'Trompe L’Oeil'. From EdNA Online on December 8, 2006 at 2:31 a.m..


E-learning in industry growing: a review of the use of e-learning This report from the Australian Flexible Learning Framework's Industry Engagement Project examines the use of e-learning in Vocational and Technical Education (VTE) delivery across six industries. The industries are: Construction and Mining; Health - Hospitals; Primary Industries (Agriculture and Seafood); Manufacturing and Electronics; Transport and Logistics; and Utilities (Water Supply and Energy). From EdNA Online on December 8, 2006 at 2:31 a.m..


2006 e-learning benchmarking project: e-learning in the traditional trades This report is an output from the 2006 e-learning benchmarking survey - a project of the Australian Flexible Learning Framework. The report focuses on the use of e-learning in Vocational and Technical Education (VTE) delivery in traditional trades, such as building and construction, metals, manufacturing and automotive trades. From EdNA Online on December 8, 2006 at 2:31 a.m..


Where are the Future Rocket Scientists? Last week, rocket scientists, politicians, engineers and educators came together in Los Angeles to explore current and future business opportunities in space at the “Transforming Space 2006” conference. Leaders from Congress, NASA, the U.S. Air Force, universities and major aerospace businesses discussed the current and future prospects. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 1:32 a.m..


First look: A guided tour of Apple's Leopard Server OS Look for Leopard to be an exciting release. Recently, I had a chance to sit down with a few folks from Apple Computer Inc. who gave me a guided tour of Apple's upcoming server operating system, which is slated for release sometime in the spring of 2007 From digg on December 8, 2006 at 1:32 a.m..


Stunning Fully Functional 1:3 Scale Ferrari There are few if any models in the world to rival the Ferrari 312PB built by Pierre Scerri. This 1:3 scale masterpiece is the real thing in every sense, from its operating 100cc 12-cylinder engine to the exact scale operating Ferrari gauges which are calibrated precisely to indicate rpm, oil pressure, water temperature and oil temperature. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 12:32 a.m..


Cool AJAX RSS Feed Aggregator jMe 1.0 Beta, a very original feed aggregator implementation. The interface is very simple and neat, divided on three section where you can search, select, then post your selected feed items to your blog, forum or other. There is currently a hand selected collection of OS X, Web 2.0 and programming related sources that you might enjoy reading. From digg on December 8, 2006 at 12:32 a.m..


One Ton CO2 - Fight Global Warming The One Ton CO2 Project just released a line of t-shirts designed to raise awareness about global warming and support regional carbon offset efforts. Each shirt offsets one ton of CO2 emissions, raising awareness, fighting global warming. From digg on December 7, 2006 at 11:30 p.m..


DL.TV responds to the death of James Kim James was a doting father and dedicated husband that deeply loved his family. He was also gifted analyst and a good friend that kept his sense of humor during even the most trying times. From digg on December 7, 2006 at 11:30 p.m..


Google investing in Chinese P2P startup Rumor has it Google is investing up to $100 mil in Chinese P2P startup Xunlei (Thunder). The company is working with TV stations to do P2P downloads of TV content (with ads?) and has signed up partners like Phoenix TV and Hunan Satellite TV. It has over 100 million downloads! From digg on December 7, 2006 at 11:30 p.m..


iPhoto Plugin: iPhoto2Gmail Here's an iPhoto plugin that lets you use Gmail to send photos directly from iPhoto. From digg on December 7, 2006 at 11:30 p.m..


Free Advertising: Microsoft $200, Google $50, LookSmart $300, & Ask $50 Tis the season for online advertisers to attract new customers. If you have a website, blog, etc. and are looking for the perfect time to build exposure while freeloading, then these offers are for you. This is likely to be the best compilation of free offers available for some time. From digg on December 7, 2006 at 11:30 p.m..


Boy racer recovers from severed head Surgeons re-attached his head to his spine with metal plates and bone grafts during a six-hour operation. His parents were warned he only had a 7% chance of survival. From digg on December 7, 2006 at 11:30 p.m..


An Amazing First: Two Species Cooperate to Hunt Moray eels stalk prey with groupers and even get meal tips from the fish. But that's just the half of this incredible discovery. From digg on December 7, 2006 at 11:30 p.m..


Canada's Same-sex Marriage Preserved by Free Vote: 175 to 123 The House of Commons has voted against revisiting the same-sex marriage issue, closing the door on the divisive debate — again.MPs voted 175-123 today against a Conservative motion calling for the government to introduce legislation restoring the traditional definition of marriage. From digg on December 7, 2006 at 11:30 p.m..


Global warming 'over-hyped'? Sen. James M. Inhofe, in one of his final actions as chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, yesterday held a hearing to investigate whether press accounts have "over-hyped" predictions of global warming. Boxer promises extensive hearings on global warming, & yesterday chastised Mr. Inhofe for scrutinizing global-warming coverage. From digg on December 7, 2006 at 11:30 p.m..


Mac games: What to look for in 2007 2006 may have been a challenging year for Mac games, but there's plenty to look forward to in 2007. Game Room columnist Peter Cohen profiles some of the upcoming releases slated for the next 12 months. From digg on December 7, 2006 at 11:30 p.m..


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