Topics on my particular interests.
These are pretty good, and if you can catch them all, you’re probably pretty safe on the ‘net. For now, anyway. I was surprised to note that they didn’t include any URLs with look-alike Unicode characters though. That’s practically impossible for end-users to detect, so they’d probably get howls of protest if they did, but …
Continue reading ‘“Think you can outsmart Internet scammers?”’ »
Speaking of unpredictable consequences, here’s another one: techniques developed to combat spam turn out to be useful against HIV. I always thought that spammers had a lot in common with viruses, in that both are annoying and potentially dangerous, but I didn’t expect the metaphor to stretch that far! 😉
This is the sort of thing that happens all the time. New technologies are used for purposes that are completely mundane: in this case, identifying the dog responsible for a pile of crap, and thus the owner. But for some reason, science fiction authors and other futurists rarely think of such secondary uses for the …
An excellent review of science fiction spacecraft to date and how close each might be to future reality, though sadly concentrated solely on TV and movie SF. I find the spacecraft in SF literature to be much more varied and interesting, and usually more realistic-sounding as well, given the science they’re based on. (There’s a …
Continue reading ‘“What should a sci-fi spaceship REALLY look like?”’ »
Film critic Roger Ebert weighs in on the current 3D movie craze, and why it’s a failure, at least from the technical side. I always wondered why it feels so odd when I don the glasses, now I have an explanation. I really couldn’t care less whether a film is 3D or not. It doesn’t …
Continue reading ‘“Why 3D doesn’t work and never will. Case closed.”’ »
More evidence — should any still be needed — that intelligence isn’t limited to humans, or even to primates.
The synopsis: Religion and brute force failed to quash the idea of Darwinian evolution. Creationists and their Bible verses just irritated nonbelievers. Now Intelligent Design (ID) tries to topple Darwin again, not by offering a viable alternative, but by trying to co-opt the same concepts that have raised science to its current strength. Unfortunately for …
Continue reading ‘“The Other Intelligent Design Theories”’ »
As much as this sounds like pure fantasy right now, I suspect it’s all but inevitable. Too many people are looking too hard at the problem — somebody is going to crack it sooner or later, and likely sooner. I also suspect that the consequences listed in the article are only the tip of the …
Continue reading ‘“Superhero oil-burping algae will save the world”’ »
So keep it clean, boys and girls. (It’ll be interesting to find out the whys and wherefores of the brain mechanism responsible. I hope someone manages it in my lifetime.)
As reported here. Why? Simple enough: fear shuts off the brain. It’s easier to control people who are afraid, something that dictators, politicians, and televangelists know very well.