Ye Olde Empire Strikes Back: Europe shows it can slashdot, too. Due to a link from Barrapunto.com (lit: 'slashdot' in Spanish) and French news site TF1 nearly all my site traffic today is from Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries, and especially, the French. The hitload has, amazingly, pushed this small blog to the top of the Userland Site Report all morning and afternoon long -- even ahead of [gasp] Safersex.org, the usual hits leader! It's about to catch up, though. However, I must say it is somehow very appropriate (and flattering!) to have the French and the Spaniards pushing me beyond Safersex...
3:05:02 PM  #   your two cents []

 I've got a piece on Wired.com again, today: Who Says Science Can't Be Fun?. At MIT's Media Lab and its offshoot, Media Lab Europe, engineers don't take their work too seriously. Often, they find that useful inventions can spring from a whimsical approach to tackling complex problems. Karlin Lillington reports from Dublin. [Wired News] That's the Hyperscore program that the endlessly creative and fun Tod Machover uses with kids for his Toy Symphony, up above.
11:52:31 AM  #   your two cents []

From Bernie: "When RTE reported 160 Microsoft job losses on the evening news the footage included a substantial close-up shot of an employee playing Tetris. The camera stayed on the monitor while the employee got three coloured blocks in place."
11:44:22 AM  #   your two cents []

William Gibson on writer Iain Sinclair: "I was in John Clute’s living room, one morning, toward the start of a book tour, looking out at Camden High Street, when Clute pointed to a passing figure on the pavement opposite, and said that that was Iain Sinclair, the poet and bookseller. Clute took down a slim volume titled LUD HEAT. I read the first two pages, broke into a sweat, and immediately went up the street to Compendium and bought my own copy."

Oh, to write well enough to make someone break out in a sweat. Excellent, isn't it?

11:28:01 AM  #   your two cents []

From Textism [hee hee hee!]:

So three economists are bear-hunting in the woods, right, and somehow they find themselves situated between a mother bear and her cubs. The mother bear charges.

The first economist aims his rifle, shoots, and misses the bear by three feet to the left. The second economist shoots, missing the bear by three feet to the right. As the bear continues to charge, the third economist stays perfectly still.

‘Shoot your gun!!’ the other two cry out.

‘There is no need. The bear is obviously dead.’

11:20:41 AM  #   your two cents []

I'm a blogueuse! Isn't it a great word? The French news site TF1 carries a piece on Adnan Osmani today which links to this site, and refers to it as a weblog produced by a blogueuse irlandaise. Isn't it beautiful? I must put that on my next customs form (actually, I'm going to Frankfurt tomorrow, and I wonder what kind of face the German customs guy will make...).
11:02:32 AM  #   your two cents []

Tech's future--smart dust and ratbots. Research firm IDC gives a glimpse of little discussed emerging technologies that may one day lead to great changes in the industry. [CNET News.com]
10:47:59 AM  #   your two cents []

Hollywood and Silicon Valley: Together at last?. A new industry agreement on digital copyright issues says the government should stay out of enforcement. But it's a little late for that, says one expert. [Salon.com]
10:47:03 AM  #   your two cents []

Lindows pursues education arena. OS vendor offers educators flat-rate deal [InfoWorld: Top News]
10:46:11 AM  #   your two cents []

Bouncing Signals Push the Limits of Bandwidth. The process that creates dead spots that cut off cellphone calls, known as multipath, is now being used to improve reception and boost the speed of wireless networks. [New York Times: Technology]
10:45:33 AM  #   your two cents []

Abraham Lincoln. "He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met." [Quotes of the Day]
10:44:38 AM  #   your two cents []

Apple Posts Loss on Weaker-Than-Expected Revenue. Apple Computer reported that it lost money in its fiscal first quarter, ended in December, on revenues that were slightly weaker than analysts' expectations. [New York Times: Technology]
10:44:17 AM  #   your two cents []

Frm Boing Boing Blog: Andy has brilliantly remixed an old Mickey cartoon-strip (a fair use). Link
10:41:50 AM  #   your two cents []

Go get 'em, Dan: Supreme Court Endorses Copyright Theft. Swipe a CD from a record store and you'll get arrested. But when Congress authorizes the entertainment industry to steal... [Dan Gillmor's eJournal]
10:39:57 AM  #   your two cents []

James Baldwin. "The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side." [Quotes of the Day]
10:39:02 AM  #   your two cents []

MIT: Discarded drives yield private info. Study retrieves credit card numbers, financial records from old drives [InfoWorld: Top News]
10:35:04 AM  #   your two cents []

Big two define Europe's future. Historic pact between France and Germany is likely to decide how the expanded union will operate. [Guardian Unlimited]
10:34:27 AM  #   your two cents []

From Halley's Comment: Two more Halley Alpha Male Lessons today (6 & 7) for those aspiring or just curious. Here's her fabulous list so far:

Lesson One: Getting It -- January 3, 2003

Lesson Two: Giving It -- January 4, 2003

Lesson Three: Why Alpha Males Get Pussy Galore -- January 5, 2003

Lesson Four: Stag Films -- January 7, 2003

Lesson Five: Confidence Game -- January 12, 2003

Lesson Six: Alpha Males Have Things--January 15, 2003

Lesson Seven: "Pretty, Pretty, Girl" --January 15, 2003

10:32:14 AM  #   your two cents []

Pentagon database plan hits snag on Hill. A plan to link databases of credit card companies, health insurers and others--creating what critics call a "domestic surveillance apparatus"--raises concern on Capitol Hill. [CNET News.com]
10:26:15 AM  #   your two cents []

Now if only we could get the Dail to put such a topic on the agenda: Senators add Wi-Fi to broadband debate. Two U.S. senators propose Wi-Fi networks as an alternative to digital subscriber lines and cable modems for getting broadband Internet access to rural areas and small cities. [CNET News.com]
10:25:45 AM  #   your two cents []