All the planets in our solar system have already have been assigned IP addresses, according to an article highlighted by Roland Piquepaille.
1:25:57 PM  #   your two cents []

Want to stop spammers? Charge 'em. Spam isn't so much a technological or legal problem as an economic one. So if you want to change spammers' cost-benefit calculations, raise their costs. [CNET News.com]
1:02:37 PM  #   your two cents []

 The Matrixification of fashion: "Rick Owens, an avant-garde designer whose own aesthetic was shaped in part by science fiction films, said he is keen on the amalgamation of "sex and violence, loud music and graceful motion" in "The Matrix." He is just as taken with the clean graphic look of its costumes. A similar style, he predicted, would in one form or another color his next collection." Don't miss the slide show.
12:20:24 PM  #   your two cents []

America's Broadband Dream Is Alive in Korea. With a hefty push from the government, South Korea's telecommunications providers have built the world's most comprehensive Internet network. [New York Times: Technology]
11:48:55 AM  #   your two cents []

S American fury at 'data scandal'. Firm paid by US government to gather data on South American citizens. [Guardian Unlimited]
11:47:37 AM  #   your two cents []

It's the May Day Bank Holiday today over here in Europe. The concept (that May Day, the international working class event, could be a bank holiday) seems an oxymoron -- or at least highly ironic...!
11:38:59 AM  #   your two cents []

Eeeeek, was talking with friends yesterday about this story, and we wondered if we'd ever be able to do such a thing. We especially shuddred at the point where you'd have to go through the joint of the elbow. This guy sounds extraordinary. Maybe you just run on adrenaline after the shock. Mountaineer cuts off his own arm with a pocket knife. "As reported in the Rocky Mountain News. Aron Ralston, after being trapped with his arm under a rock for five days, decided that if he did not get free he would die. Using his pocketknife, he amputated his arm below the elbow, put on a tourniquet and administered first- aid. He then rigged anchors and fixed a rope to rappel to the floor of Blue John Canyon." [kuro5hin.org]
11:36:50 AM  #   your two cents []

Two truths about writing! Edwin Schlossberg. "The skill of writing is to create a context in which other people can think." Thomas Mann. "A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people." Both from Quotes of the Day.
11:31:16 AM  #   your two cents []

U.S. Says Canada Cares Too Much About Liberties [Slashdot]
11:30:01 AM  #   your two cents []

Inis Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands off Ireland's west coast, is to get its first ATM next week, according to the Irish Times. Until now, islanders only had banking services of any sort one day a week in winter and two days a week in summer -- a situation that flummoxes many tourists, who can't spend what they otherwise might spend while on a visit. And lots of tourists go to Inis Mor -- the population of 630 swells four times with tourists in the summer, many visiting on ferry day trips from Galway. That's a lot of potential pints that don't get bought in the pubs of Inis Mor's largest village, Cil Ronain, due to lack of sponduliks!

I spent a couple of days in Cil Ronain, and a day each on the other islands, on a week long sailing trip about six years ago, during a week when we had Canaries-style weather, highly unusual for the islands! I had the fabulous good luck to be sailing on a Galway hooker (no sniggering in the back, now!), the beautiful, deep-keeled, surprisingly agile traditional boat of the west, designed to carry goods and to be manned (or womaned) by only two people. That's despite the vessel's two large, always-red canvas sails (source of the famed song 'Red Sails at Sunset'). The mast and boom were both broad, single tree trunks, and the ropes were all traditional hemp or sisal; no petroleum products here! Our captain was a lovely, quiet Connemara man who spoke the most beautifully-inflected Irish (Gaelic), and we had frequent opportunities to enjoy his voice because all the Aran people would come down to the piers when they saw us put in. The hookers are few in number now and islanders, especially the older ones, would get a dreamy look when they cast an eye over her. What a special trip that was.

The backstory to the trip is amusing. I'd been sent on the week's voyage to write it up for the Irish Times as a summertime feature on things to do around the country. When the features editor called to tell me that I was the lucky one chosen for the trip, I found it hard to keep a kind of calm panic out of my voice because I am prone to motion sickness and to me, the idea of a week on a boat was -- well, I'd rather participate in a six-hour debate on Free Software with Richard Stallman. If you know what I mean. But I was short on cash and needed the money for the feature and anyway, I knew my friends (especially the many enthusiastic sailors I played water polo with back then) would never forgive me if I didn't do it. So I stocked up on three kinds of seasickness tablets, bought a fleece cap, and hoped for the best.

When I got on board, the other seafarers turned out to be four Germans on a holiday (of which one was unbelievably prissy and couldn't cope at all when the shower stopped working -- she wasted our carefully-conserved water supplies doing things like shaving her legs every day). The other three Germans were wonderful. Only one had sailing experience, though. Despite my seasick-wariness, I had a fair amount of sailing practice on lakes in California -- used to be able to rig a small catamaran myself in no time. And then there were two Americans -- a formidible travel writer and her lovely husband. The travel writer was bossy (to us and the captain and cook), generally insufferable and so, SO arrogant about her sailing experience. Her husband, in contrast, was everyone's favourite and wore his considerable sailing ability with modesty and good humour. I was amused to find her article on the event later described me as an American with a bag full of seasick remedies and no sailing experience whatsoever! No mention that I was a journalist, either -- but then, she'd looked like she was about to blow a gasket when she found she wasn't considered travel-writing royalty, and wasn't the only hack on board, and made some comments to that effect. So after a single, dismissive mention I never come up in her piece again. Hee! If you like the sound of the sailing holiday, the boat is the graceful An Famaire and you can read more about her and a possible holiday onboard, here.

11:28:26 AM  #   your two cents []