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"Jesus appears in Samsung Flash memory chip"

theregister.co.uk/2007/05/02/fla...
Patent law takes a subtle shift, thanks to a recent Supreme Court ruling.  It's complicated, unfortunately.  These are the best descriptions I could find.  (That is, they fill out some of the context around the issue.)  You decide.

arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/...
techdirt.com/articles/20070...
Wireless WEP encryption now only makes setting up a wireless network more cumbersome, without much added security.  (Time to upgrade my router.)

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technolog...
One of the neater human powered vehicles of all time: Unwheeldy.
kineticbaltimore.com/KSR/2005Pilgri...

Also, some intriguing aglow oil paintings.
damgoodespresso.com/images/gallery...

(Both oddly, found via Google image search for "road".)
Bhutan is about to embrace democracy, by orders of the current king. And they're having practice elections beforehand, with fake political parties. I love Bhutan.
Elections, he said, have been embraced, albeit reluctantly, by the citizenry, because this is what the king wanted.
He sat on the patio of a bar, cupping his beer can in a napkin, because this was Friday and alcohol sales were prohibited on the day before the election. "It's a big compliment to the king that no one's very enthusiastic."

Another patron in the bar, Kesang Dorji, 36, said he was puzzled by the royal order to vote, but intended to obey.

"We have to stand fast to the wisdom of our monarch," Dorji said. "He knows what's best for us. Any normal person would think, 'Why this, when everything is okay?"'

iht.com/articles/2007/...
I am heartily impressed with my freshly installed [k]ubuntu 7.04.  I am similarly impressed with its founder, leading by example recent discussions on trademark practices in open source projects.

linux-watch.com/news/NS6581540...
Unremarkable image of a remarkable prospect: the most earth-like planet outside of our solar system (ever discovered, to date).  Found myself gazing into this image for longer than I would have thought.

antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070426....
Nice year-to-date summary of what's been going on in the world of console video games.

arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/...
Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) launch brought its own web site to its knees.  (I'll be installing this in my kitchen.)

theregister.co.uk/2007/04/19/ubu...
kubuntu.org/
Disorienting image resembling the Earth and Moon.  This goes out to our  Pantheon loving readers.  (I know you're out there!)

antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070420....
Google spreadsheets now have charts:
blog.outer-court.com/archive/2007-0...

Mozilla Thunderbird 2 e-mail program is released.
mozillazine.org/talkback.html?...
Artificial megnetospheres to protect astronauts and spacecraft from solar radiation, to mimic Earth's magnetosphere, on a smaller scale.  (Worth it for the top graphic alone.)

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/n...
Short, inspiring interview with Bill Watterson, author of Calvin and Hobbes.

andrewsmcmeel.com/calvinandhobbe...
Cell phone signal radiation could be the cause of bee disappearance epidemic.

news.independent.co.uk/environment/wi...
"The Most Frustrating Super Mario Mod Ever".  And nearly as painful, just to watch!
quixoticals.com/2007/04/most-f...

Unrelatedly, Google buys one of my least favorite companies.  (I know nothing about doubleclick.net, but get your darned cookies off my browser!)
theregister.co.uk/2007/04/14/goo...
I'm a sucker for simple, interactive eye candy sites like this:

neave.com/imagination/
Kurt Vonnegut, dead at 84.

nytimes.com/2007/04/11/boo...
Holy Obscene-Gerund Profanity.  The RIAA is pushing legislation to use federal education money to prevent file-sharing at colleges.
WASHINGTON – The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has lauded the introduction of legislation by Congressman Ric Keller (R-Fla.) that would allow schools to tap into existing federal education funds for the adoption of technological solutions to the epidemic of illegal downloading on college campuses.
riaa.com/news/newslette...

Seriously.  Their business model is becoming increasingly irrelevant, and they're trying to loot schools to prop themselves up.
Had some more fun with Google Trends today.  Thought I'd share some results...

briansverymiscellaneousblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/more-f...
I've been sitting on these for far too long.  It's time to get them out the door.  This time, two new vector images, of my own creation...

Moon:
plurib.us/1shot/2007/moo...

MN Sky (Pines and Tower):
plurib.us/1shot/2007/mn_...
Power companies report no energy savings from Daylight Savings Time shift.

today.reuters.com/news/articlene...
The label EMI has announced that they will sell non-DRM songs on iTunes for $0.30 more.  What's more, the non-DRM songs are higher-quality files.

investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articlein...

Finally, a major label gets it right.
Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity in Words of Four or Fewer Letters:
What this says is that you can move as fast or as slow as you want, and rays will go by you at c all the time. You can have a pal run past you and when you both look at a ray go by at the same time, you will both see the same ray go by at c! That is a bit wild, no?
muppetlabs.com/%7Ebreadbox/tx...
Novel way of viewing the solar system: large image of everything in it over 200km diameter, in order of size.

kokogiak.com/gedankengang/2...
Some people see 4 colors, instead of just the usual 3 (red, green, and blue).  Computer screens must look so boring to them!

post-gazette.com/pg/06256/72119...
This site will let you figure out how much caffeine you're having per day.

energyfiend.com/the-caffeine-d...

(Weirdly, the commentary it delivers on my standard regimen is, "DO YOU LIKE THE ER?")
I am not afraid of heights.    Ladders, however, worry me.    These specific ladders make me want to hide:

fresh99.com/ladders.htm
The novel "The Human Document" partially obfuscated and redirected to provide a set of new smaller stories.  Seriously, this is great.

humument.com/gallery/index....
Neat big-person tricycle concept.  It's a complete rethink of the bike.

treehugger.com/files/2007/03/...
"A Conversation at the Grownup Table, as Imagined at the Kids’ Table", and other goodies.

newyorker.com/humor/2007/03/...
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