Like the endlessly mutating and recombinant digital/wetware entities that live in Peter Watts' online Maelstrom, his fiction itself exhibits a wonderful Darwinian adaptability. Internalizing the lessons and modes taught by cyberpunk and fusing them with the Bear/Benford pedigree of hard SF, Watts has bred a robust, streamlined, snarling kind of science fiction which achieves both a sharp-edged verisimilitude and visionary exuberance. From such innovative, catchy neologisms as "head cheese" (the term for gel-based AIs) to the scrupulous research on a dozen fronts which Watts, a marine biologist himself, catalogs in an appendix, these two novels are state-of-the art SF. And best of all, Maelstrom does not merely repeat the successes of Starfish but extends them into new territory, thus giving hope that Watts is no mere one-hit wonder.

The people who had gotten off these first two rafts--that's about what it was, it was two raftloads of people--decided to march down Main Street in Disneyland, singing various odes to sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, and marched on down to the city hall of Main Street, Disneyland where they have the American flag on a flagpost. And there was an empty flagpost. Someone pulled out a so-called Yippie flag, red and black with a green marijuana leaf, and started to raise it on the flagpole, OK? And some Orange County redneck came storming up to them and said how dare you raise that flag next to the American flag. And someone else went to the other flagpole as this guy was trying to rip down the Yippie flag, and said "If you rip down our flag we'll rip down your flag."

Section 412 of the final version of the anti-terrorism legislation, the Uniting and Strengthening America By Providing Appropriate Tools Required To Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (H.R. 3162, the "USA PATRIOT Act") permits indefinite detention of immigrants and other non-citizens. There is no requirement that those who are detained indefinitely be removable because they are terrorists.

Stewart Baker, an attorney at the Washington D.C.-based Steptoe & Johnson and a former general consul to National Security Agency, said the FBI has plans to change the architecture of the Internet and route traffic through central servers that it would be able to monitor e-mail more easily.

The plans, drawn up by David Metreveli, chief designer at DM AeroSafe Group based in Ashdod, Israel, have been developed into a working prototype called the Eagle vertical takeoff and landing aerial rescue platform.

Four ducted fans arranged on the corners elevate the Eagle alongside a building and can operate for five hours without refueling.

$6800/month...Must be pre-qualified (earn 40x rent or have co-signer who generate 80x rent)

"The space is going to be rebuilt for spring 2002," explains a broker. "And we have a variety of layouts [a maximum of six] subject to what somebody might want." The largest potential layout - which comprises the entire 51st floor - is available for $41 million and would have 17 rooms with 7 bedrooms and 10-and-a-half bathrooms.

Apple has introduced a new {insert product here}. Analysts hailed its impeccable design, but wondered whether its feature set justified its relatively high price. "I just don't know whether a new product can get traction in the {insert market segment} at a price of {insert price}," said {insert analyst} of {insert firm}. "Still, the {insert holiday} season is coming and Apple users are famously loyal. This could end up being the Palm of the {insert market segment} or it could end up being the Newton. We'll just have to wait and see."

In their letter to Billboard, they say "RIAA never lobbied Congress to give us the ability to hack into PCs, plant viruses, destroy MP3 files on people’s computers, or anything resembling such actions... The true story here is that the Senate drafted its anti-terrorism bill privately. When it was made public on October 5th it was discovered that one of the provisions would have had an unintended effect on anti-piracy measures that are lawful under current law," and "We were asked to propose language to avoid the unintended effects on our industry. We did so – based on suggestions from the Department of Justice and Senate staff."

So, 'splain me Lucy, if all you were doing was ensuring that your legal countermeasures weren't inadvertently criminalized, and you don't intend to ever plant virii or delete files from a distance, then why did you feel the need to insert language that immunized you from criminal and civil penalties in the event that you stuck a virus on my drive or deleted my files? Huh?

Methinks the lawyer doth protest too much. Link Discuss

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DEMOTIVATION: "Sometimes the best solution to morale problems is just to fire all of the unhappy people."

They include a Harvard physicist who can stop light, a Las Vegas art critic focusing on Western culture and a real estate entrepreneur who restores historical buildings for homeless adults.

In the past weeks I have sensed a much higher level of animosity towards foreigners from the local population. Little things that are still quite unsettling. Glares in the street, being given "the finger" from passingcars...and this was before the air strikes. Sue and I stay more or less glued to the media and in constant touch with the Canadian consulate. Not sure how any evacuation would proceed but if the airport is not an option,we are equipped to follow our GPS and take our chances in the desert along with a few other 4WD equipped expats. Praying it will never come to that but, at the same time, having to be ready for any eventuality.

Former heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali visited the ruins of the World Trade Center on Thursday. When reporters asked how he felt about the suspects sharing his Islamic faith, Ali responded pleasantly, "How do you feel about Hitler sharing yours?"

I may give you an explanation to what happened to the two towers, and made America mourn, and inflicted pain and sorrow on others, because such an event has been inflicted on other people in the past, including Arabs and Muslims, in many cases.

nice clean arts and crafts desk ... banana yellow formica kitchen set ... vintage store fixtures from long established Kingston Rd. smoke shop incl. art deco Nielsen candy display, very large display cabinets ... early vaudeville promo photo, guy in drag

Gamma rays are used to irradiate food and sterilise medical equipment. They are known to damage DNA in anthrax spores, says Williams. But he thinks electron beam technology would work faster. "Anything that's done with gamma rays you can do with electron beam, but in a fraction of the time," he says.

Hollywood and the record companies would like the Internet to be a ``read-only'' medium, where the only interactivity consists of you and me clicking on a button that says ``Buy this.'' The multi-directional Web is a threat to that online-TV vision. (In the irony-free zone of entertainment companies, it may escape notice that the First Amendment, which could easily take a hit in this new fear-ridden era, protects the industry's very existence.)

A Zambian man divorced his wife after he found a frog in a cup of tea she gave him

Tonga lost millions of dollars in a trust fund scandal run by the kingdom's court jester by gambling on the early deaths of 16 Americans, according to revelations by a magazine and a securities watchdog.

We will drive the guilty to hell thirsty.

He that believeth not shall be damned.

As for these towns, we destroyed them when they acted unjustly, and we have appointed a time for their destruction.

Almighty God, bless our arms when the time comes; be just as thou hast always been; judge now whether we be deserving of freedom; Lord, bless our battle.

"He was renowned for stopping highway robbery and murder," Tescula said. "There are accounts of a fountain in the middle of nowhere with a gold cup that no one dared to steal. For Westerners, he's a man of darkness. But for Romanians, he's a model of justice like Washington or Jefferson."

Luminita Untanu runs the Casa Vlad Dracul restaurant in the yellow-stuccoed house where Vlad was born in 1431. She's counting on Dracula Park to ease some of her fellow Transylvanians' many hardships.

• Form-factor: this is just a really pretty piece of gear
• Battery life: My Creative Labs jukebox gets 2h or so, the iPod gets 10h
• Two-way file-transfer: Virtually every other MP3 player has had its design bowlderized by the music industry, made incapable of moving files off its drive to stop people from sharing their collections; with the iPod, Apple has shipped a device that works as a drive, a swapper, and a player
• iTunes: This is the best-designed app of any description that I've ever used, and it's the native control-app for the iPod
• Firewire: Way, way faster than USB and the iPod can draw its power from the Firewire bus and recharge itself while it's getting loaded up with music
• UI: The UI for this thing is a billion times better than the Sony and Creative Labs players, which are so badly designed as to be essentially unusable

Apple's special event began slightly after its 10:00 am anticipated start time with Steve Jobs recapping Apple's digital hub vision. Jobs then introduced the iPod, a digital audio player with a 5GB drive, 20-minute skip protection, a FireWire port, and an advanced Lithium-polymer battery with up to 10 hours (and fully charges in just over an hour). The portable device is the about the "size of a deck of cards," with a backlit LCD display, and offers support for playlists, ID3 tags, and iTunes. The portable device fits in the palm of your hand (about the size of a credit card and less than an inch high), has a backlit LCD display, and offers support for playlists, ID3 tags, and iTunes.

All weekend she was sitting at the computer, downloading music from EZ Jackster. Finally, Dijonay comes over and asks what she was doing over the weekend. Penny asks Dijonay if she can keep a secret, knowing that she can't. Penny tells Dijonay to tell everyone she knows about EZ Jackster. Her telling everybody about EZ Jackster has a ripple-effect all around the world. From India to Africa to Suga Mama! But rap singer, Sir Paid-A-Lot is threatened by this because he got a five-cents salary instead of his million-dollar salary. But suddenly, after wrestling, the news interrupted the nex

Further testing by the CDC determined no anthrax was present, Bortolin said. He declined to say what the letter actually contained

So the LoC has a new strategy: It is commissioning the creation of emulators that will allow modern computers to simulate their antique cousins, and so run the original software and read the original files.

Here's where my uninformed, hysterical speculation begins: The SSSCA -- the new antipiracy bill -- seeks to stop digital piracy through hardware certification. Hardware vendors and copyright holders will create standards for computers and components that will prevent the unlicensed copying of files, and it will be illegal to sell uncertified equipment. One of the first things on the certification chopping-block is surely emulation, since emulating a "secure" computer inside a general-purpose computer is a sure-fire way to circumvent its copy-protection. What will happen with the LoC and the SSSCA meet in the middle? How will the LoC preserve our digital human culture henceforth without emulation? Link Discuss (via Meerkat)

Passengers won't be prohibited from bringing their own sweeteners or powdered creamers aboard, although Ebenhoch said the airline would prefer that they not do so.

PM: That is outrageous. You won't even give us a free vote on whether we go to war - it is an issue which should be a matter of conscience.

HA: War is not a matter of conscience. Abortion and embryo research are matters of conscience, but not wars.

PM: Are you seriously saying blowing people up and killing people is not a moral issue?

HA: It is government policy that we are at war. You astound me. We can't have a trusting relationship if you keep talking to the media without permission.

Recipients are chosen for their potential to make exceptionally creative contributions to their respective fields. We believe that highly motivated and talented people are in the best position to decide how to allocate their time and resources. By adopting a “no strings attached” policy, we provide the maximum freedom and flexibility for the recipients to use the fellowship in ways that most effectively facilitate their future work.