Cryonicists believe that people can be frozen immediately after death and reanimated later when the cure for what ailed them is found. To see the flaw in this system, thaw out a can of frozen strawberries. During freezing, the water within each cell expands, crystallizes, and ruptures the cell membranes. When defrosted, all the intracellular goo oozes out, turning your strawberries into runny mush. This is your brain on cryonics.
-- - - - - - - - - 9/8/2001

Vintage auction / 1 million bottles of fine wine are up for grabs from Wine.com's assets
SEPT 15-16! BID ONLINE! GET DRUNK AT HOME!
-- - - - - - - - - 9/6/2001

CNN.com: William Collier: Aura workstation
Sure Dilbert's is nice, but really THIS is the ultimate cubicle!
-- - - - - - - - - 9/4/2001

CNN.com: Dilbert's Ultimate Cubicle
Fun look at the ultimate cubicle!
-- - - - - - - - - 9/4/2001

BOOKFORUM.net: Marvel Comics as Muse
And I quote: For US-born boy—uh, male—writers of a more or less late-boomer, early–Gen X age, there's an influence my (admittedly subjective) polling methods have revealed as a secret universal, as likely to provoke murmurs of conflicted sentimental recognition as any '70s television or pop-music reference: superheroes!

Well, it's basically about writers writing comic-book novels...
-- - - - - - - - - 8/28/2001

You Are Where You Live
WOW! Neat little app, plug in yer Zip and it'll tell ya what Demographic slice-o-life you are... Pretty much nailed my town! OUCH!
-- - - - - - - - - 8/22/2001

The WELL | Inkwell.vue Home
Got some time to kill? Check out the Inkwell ... an open forum from The WELL with no registration needed. It's got online discussions with Neil Gaiman, Bruce Sterling, Terry Pratchett, Jack Womack, Pat Murphy, John Shirley ... just tons of author Q&As!!! What Fun!
-- - - - - - - - - 8/21/2001

[lf] Cyber Citizen lands Felony Charges?
Utterly depressing. Two tales of intelligent people trying to help the stupid and being taken to the cleaners for it... Dang. Just keep your mouth shut I guess...
-- - - - - - - - - 8/20/2001

Ecstasy Saves The World / Pot, MDMA, and too damn many happy people
SF Gate's Mark Morford is a bit upset about a UCSB professor getting busted....
-- - - - - - - - - 8/17/2001

Salon 21st | Is cyberpunk still breathing?
Old article but good review of the genre...
-- - - - - - - - - 8/15/2001

Lingua Franca: The Know-It-All Machine
Cyc in action....
-- - - - - - - - - 8/14/2001

Machines in Myth: The State of AI
Interesting summary of the latest "advances" in machine intelligence.
-- - - - - - - - - 8/14/2001

CNN: Scrambling to keep up: New media careerists
Just in case....
-- - - - - - - - - 8/13/2001

CNN: Multitasking is counterproductive
Aww shucks, I felt SO productive though....
-- - - - - - - - - 8/13/2001

Software Double Bind
Having been on vacation, besides Condidiot, this hacker case is quite interesting. And I quote, "...it is the Sklyarov case — the first criminal prosecution under the law — that is exposing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to greater public scrutiny."
-- - - - - - - - - 8/13/2001

The Seattle Times: Intelligent machines will benefit millions someday, Gates says
And I quote: It will be at least a generation before computers can fool people into thinking the machines are human, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates predicted yesterday in his keynote speech at a conference of artificial-intelligence researchers in Seattle.
-- - - - - - - - - 8/13/2001

Mistaken ID Leads To Cop-Vs.-Cop Gun Battle
Just to freakin' funny! Two cop cars screamin' down a street shootin' at one another ... wait, that's actually not too funny.
-- - - - - - - - - 7/20/2001

Scientific American: The Do-It-Yourself Supercomputer
And I thought my home network was only good for gaming....
-- - - - - - - - - 7/19/2001

Digital critters mimic behavior of real life / Researchers use them to test Darwin's theories
How 'bout getting them to sit at my desk for a couple of hours?
-- - - - - - - - - 7/19/2001

AdCritic.com Commercials: PETA - Bad Cats Ad
AHHH! THIS is where all those AVI commercial files are coming from! Top 10 Commercial listings plus AVI files of 'em....
-- - - - - - - - - 7/17/2001

Think Again: Russia, By Anders Aslund, July-August 2001
Interesting Q&A on the Russia's woes. And I quote:

Western politicians and media have commonly described the former superpower as a nation in decline, beset by corruption and a collapsing infrastructure. But most of these flaws are remnants of Soviet mismanagement only now being put right.
-- - - - - - - - - 7/12/2001

The Atlantic: Two—Make That Three—Cheers for the Chain Bookstores
In which the author argues that the chain bookstores have spread culture into the dark, dusty corners of our society.
-- - - - - - - - - 7/12/2001

FEED | Science - Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackout
Thoughts on our condition by Bruce Sterling.
-- - - - - - - - - 7/9/2001

Boston Globe: Shame on journalists for forgetting Orwell
Spin doctors are hard at work charging up the language for us! Here's Orwell's Essay.
-- - - - - - - - - 7/2/2001

BOCCE BOOM / Backlash / Game played by Italian-American men taken over by yuppies, the wealthy
Well, now I really need a set for my backyard!
-- - - - - - - - - 6/28/2001

ProjectCensored.org
A listing of the Top 25 Censored News stories of 2000 ... um, what the!?! I saw most of these stories... OH... Even though I saw them, they didn't get the AIRTIME THEY "DESERVED." According to, well the website of course.
-- - - - - - - - - 6/25/2001

Salon: Technical difficulties
Wherein novelists lament new comm technology as it makes plotting out novels more difficult, no cry for help goes unheard on a cellphone....
-- - - - - - - - - 6/22/2001

I got your cheese right here
Jon Carroll strikes again! Deconstucts the whole New Age jargon cheese mover fables and wonders, who really wants to be mouse in a maze anyway?
-- - - - - - - - - 6/21/2001

Mating Birds Mimic Cellphones
Wow. This whole information age has really gone to the birds....
-- - - - - - - - - 6/19/2001

Japan pop music: made in the USA
Hmmm. Interesting. We record music really well around here I guess -- lots' of Japanese artists stopping in LA or NY to record their records.
-- - - - - - - - - 6/19/2001

Microsoft's Forced March / Office Customers Have Little Choice But To Upgrade
Don't need any new features? That's what you think...
-- - - - - - - - - 6/19/2001

New Scientist: Play's the thing
Always suspected I was getting smarter by goofing around than actually studying...
-- - - - - - - - - 6/18/2001

Atlantic: Cannibalistic Capitalism
And I quote: "Compared to their peers thirty years ago, America's 80 million white-collar employees are working longer hours, for the same pay and fewer benefits, at jobs that are markedly less secure, and for corporations that regard firing whole ranks of employees as a way to post paper gains and so win Wall Street's favor."
-- - - - - - - - - 6/18/2001

Q&A With RTMark, Media Activists / Raging Against The Corporate Machine
Ahh, the Ministry of Sabatoge... or rather, the Ministry of Corporate Pranks!
-- - - - - - - - - 6/12/2001

Reason magazine -- June 2001, Still Fab by Charles Paul Freund
Wherein the real fans of the Beatles are exposed.
-- - - - - - - - - 6/11/2001

AlterNet -- CYBERPUNK: Pay-Per Pushers
Wherein the author explores some of the concepts behind paying the author everytime you read her book. Cool? NOT!
-- - - - - - - - - 6/7/2001

Concept gets new authors into print
Discussing the iUniverse publishing model. Really, it ain't a vanity press even though you pay $99 to get a book published....
-- - - - - - - - - 6/7/2001

Observer | Death of the novel
Oh man, just as I was getting going!
-- - - - - - - - - 6/5/2001

A taste of bohemia at Coppola's cafe / Literary readings served regularly
Chalk another one up for the Short Story! Dramatic readings at his SF Cafe, one more of the man's passions. Interestingly, The Economist also ran a review of four books of short stories recently. On the rise, on the rise....
-- - - - - - - - - 6/5/2001

The Mundane and Its Reproduction in Alternative Media
WTF!?!?! OH! Personal homepages are boring... got it! Duly noted by my hit counter I believe....
-- - - - - - - - - 6/4/2001

Salon.com: "Comic Book Nation" by Bradford W. Wright
And I quote, "Before movies and rock 'n' roll, comics invented youth culture. But can they survive?"
-- - - - - - - - - 6/3/2001

Army concept truck designed with 'James Bond' in mind
And I quote, "SmarTruck can disable intruders with electric-shock door handles, fire pepper spray, spread an oil slick and spew tire-puncturing tacks. The rear roof also retracts to expose a turret with a high-powered laser weapon that's operated with a joystick."
-- - - - - - - - - 5/31/2001

Salon.com: To be young, Chinese and Weiku
The internet crowd in China; build site, spend money, fail. Hmmm. Now where have I seen that.
-- - - - - - - - - 5/30/2001

Chat Transcript: Faith Popcorn - Trend Forecaster
-- - - - - - - - - 5/29/2001

Slashdot | Technology And The Fast Food Nation
Interseting discussion on Slashdot about globilization and greed. An interesting factoid that didn't survive the Yugoslavian War: "No two nations with McDonalds on their territory have ever gone to war with each other."
-- - - - - - - - - 5/29/2001

The Un-Best-Seller List by Justin Driver
Slate's eBook section....
-- - - - - - - - - 5/25/2001

spammimic - explanation
Huh. A website that you can copy an e-mail into and it will "encode" your message into a SPAM-type letter -- copy that, paste and send it off! Then the receiver copy/pastes the SPAM-type message back into this site and it decodes back to the message. Kinda funny!
-- - - - - - - - - 5/24/2001

New Scientist: Time twister
Trippy technical explanation of light-based Time Travel. Did I already write that?
-- - - - - - - - - 5/24/2001

Slashdot | SETI's Anti-Cheating Strategy
I'm so confused... Why would you want to cheat SETI? Woo Hoo! I Found a Pattern!
-- - - - - - - - - 5/24/2001

Slashdot | Preview: Diablo II - Lord of Destruction
Review of expansion pak for D2!
-- - - - - - - - - 5/23/2001

An Interview with William Gibson and Tom Maddox
Old but of interest.
-- - - - - - - - - 5/23/2001

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Norse Legends Reference Pages
Very Informative! Debunking those crazy Norse Myths!!!
-- - - - - - - - - 5/22/2001

Brill's Content: Everyone's a Critic
State of the Book Review...
-- - - - - - - - - 5/22/2001

Salon: Loudmouths and Legends
Early modernism manifesto mania!
-- - - - - - - - - 5/22/2001

iBook looks less different / This time, internal features distinguish Apple's notebook
Oooh. Merry Christmas to me!
-- - - - - - - - - 5/17/2001

Salon races clock, hoping profits arrive before backing dries up / CEO sees Web site turning corner before year's end
Oh man, one of my favorites is on the brink....
-- - - - - - - - - 5/17/2001

Visitor Clubhouse Damaged
And the Giants just sent the Mets a bill for $4000 for repairs! Mets were kinda ticked off that they got swept, neh?
-- - - - - - - - - 5/16/2001

BBC: Mystery force tugs distant probes
Ummm. Looks like the law of gravity is taking an appeal!
-- - - - - - - - - 5/15/2001

Mets' win in playoffs begat layoffs
WOW! Incredible theory that the Giants' loss in the Playoff lastyear was the initiator for the dotcom collapse! Could be.. Could be...
-- - - - - - - - - 5/10/2001

Gamasutra - Features - "An Interview with Wil Wright" [05.01.01]
Interesting interview with the developer of The Sims.
-- - - - - - - - - 5/9/2001

Why all data is better off being nomadic
Scrolls lasted for 3,000 years! Will a CD? Nope... Better have plans to keep moving all your data to newer and newer media....
-- - - - - - - - - 5/9/2001

Slashdot: The Borg Box and Convergence Fantasies
Did I log this already? Pipe-dreams on a, "simple box that can fulfill the tasks of my tuner, reciever, CD players" and more...
-- - - - - - - - - 5/7/2001

Dan Gillmor's eJournal
In which Linus Torvald responds to a Microsoft attack on Open Source.
-- - - - - - - - - 5/7/2001

Salon: FBI: Lucent workers bragged abut selling secrets to China
And a good example of why we need the NSA!
-- - - - - - - - - 5/4/2001

Bugging the World
And I quote... "Not only is this the definitive book on America's most secret agency, but it is also an extraordinary work of investigative journalism, a galvanizing narrative brimming with heretofore undisclosed details." Ahhh, good ol' NSA...
-- - - - - - - - - 5/4/2001

Amazon.com: Material Horror
Interview with Up and Comer scifi writer, China Mieville.
-- - - - - - - - - 5/3/2001

RealSimple: Instant Gardens
Fast and easy container gardens...
-- - - - - - - - - 5/3/2001

SF Gate: Bondage File
Wow! This is perhaps better than Reuter's Oddly Enough listings! This is SF Gate's listing of crazy criminals and their charges.... Some funny ones here!
-- - - - - - - - - 5/2/2001

‘Augmented reality’ nears actuality
-- - - - - - - - - 4/28/2001

Livewire: Creating the thinking machine
-- - - - - - - - - 4/28/2001

Slashdot | The Borg Box and Convergence Fantasies
Ooohhh! A hackers fantasy media box, and just strapping it together with stuff around today -- this box would be COOL! I like the ideas here...
-- - - - - - - - - 4/28/2001

Internet Week: Google Defies Dotcom Downturn
Doubles their server farm from 4000 Linux servers to 8000 servers in the past 10 months. Techie article on Google's server farm logistics!
-- - - - - - - - - 4/27/2001

Microsoft Tech Support vs. Psychic Friends Network
As I suspected, both services are about the same for technical assistance of Microsoft's products....
-- - - - - - - - - 4/27/2001

Women Want Security, Men Want Sex
Gee, this survey might actually have found something there....
-- - - - - - - - - 4/27/2001

Wired: Kurzweil's Future Coming Fast
And I quote: His life and work revolves around a singularly significant launch he expects within the next 20 to 30 years: something one might call Human Brain 2.0.
-- - - - - - - - - 4/27/2001