Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Friday, July 18, 2003

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A Quantum Leap in Cryptography: "[...] network engineer Chip Elliott is using the laws of physics to build what he hopes will be an unbreakable encryption machine. The system, which sits atop a pink heat-stablization table, is designed to harness subatomic particles to create a hacker-proof way to communicate over fiber-optic networks." [Privacy Digest]

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Minolta DiMAGE X20: 'Minolta has today announced the new DiMAGE X20 digital camera. According to Minolta the X20 is "the world's smallest and lightest 2-megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical zoom".' [Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)]

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Welcome to the Neighborhood: "To the incredibly beautiful 20-somethings that moved into the apartment next door, on the off chance that you're reading my blog tonight, welcome to the neighborhood. [...] You you may not have noticed this yet but I have. Two of the three largest windows in my apartment (kitchen and bedroom) happen to face the same windows of your apartment. I noticed that in a hurry. But you haven't opened your blinds much--yet. So you may be unaware of this little bit of trivia." [Jeremy Zawodny's blog]

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Masturbating lowers prostate cancer risk: "Frequent masturbation, particularly in the 20s, helps prevent prostate cancer later in life, according to new research. Australian scientists have shown that the more men masturbate between the ages of 20 and 50, the less likely they are to develop the disease that kills more than half a million men each year. They suspect that frequent ejaculation has a protective effect against the cancer because it prevents dangerous carcinogens from building up in the gland." [Reuters Health eLine]

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Harvesting a Spammer: "I got an e-mail today offering to put me on "The Official Do-Not-Email list" for spammers. Uh, huh... [...] What I expect, of course, is that opting out will end up causing me to receive spam. [...] If I get any, I'll have pretty good proof that it came from these folks or someone to whom they gave, rented or sold the e-mail address." [Dan Gillmor's eJournal]

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Church sued for hell prediction: 'At a funeral in New Mexico, the officiant says the deceased is bound for Hell. [...] The family of Ben Martinez, 80, allege that Reverend Scott Mansfield said he was "living in sin," "lukewarm in his faith" and that "the Lord vomited people like Ben out of his mouth to hell".' [More Like This WebLog]

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What the hell is going on?: "...say you're the President of the United States. And you give a very important speech, such as the State of the Union. And it happens that something you say turns out to be untrue. Wouldn't you be upset? Wouldn't you want to reassure the American people that what happened was an egregious error? [...] Though CIA Director George Tenet has apologized for the factual error in my speech, I would like an investigation into how such a mistake could have happened. Processes will be reviewed, the American people must never be deceived, and as your president I assure you this will never happen again." [Tom Tomorrow > megnut]

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Apple posts $19M profit, call highlights: "For the September quarter, Apple expects a high-single-digit increase in revenue, and a slight increase in earnings. Anderson would not speculate as to how Power Mac G5 sales would impact earnings numbers, other than to say the response had been strong from consumers. [...] Anderson said the iTunes Music Store was very close to break-even, having sold 6,500,000 songs." [The Macintosh News Network]