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RevWaldo contributes a link to an AP story carried by Google, according to which "The head of a prominent cancer research institute issued an unprecedented warning to his faculty and staff Wednesday: Limit cell phone use because of the possible risk of cancer. The warning from Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, is contrary to numerous studies that don't find a link between cancer and cell phone use, and a public lack of worry by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration." RevWaldo continues: "One possible solution offered? 'Use a wireless headset.' No risk of EM exposure from one of them, no sirree!"

Kozar_The_Malignant writes "A study reported on in the International Business Times shows that nearly one-third of DVD users in the US and UK admit to making copies of pre-recorded DVDs. According to the article, "The report alluded to magnitude of the profit loss, though actual revenue figures were not revealed. It found that 77 percent of US respondents would have legally purchased the titles if copying was not available, while 63 percent answered similarly in the UK, indicating potential revenue lost to piracy."

What is not being well reported is that the survey was paid for by Macrovision the copy protection company. Considering the source of funding, I am sure no one is really surprosed at the results."
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080708/nearly-third-conumers-pirate-dvds-study-futuresource-macromedia.htm

When I was in school I found my recall was highly photographic and associative. I assume this is present to different degrees in most people.

When I recalled something in a book I would recall where on the page it was and what was around it. I'd recall how far I had to flip into the book roughly before i'd have to turn individual pages. Even the weight of the binding was memorable.

I found I could learn more from books that had heavy covers, and glossy pages for easy turing, layots that were generous not compact with lots of color and visual reminders.

Thus to me a pdf file of a book on the screen or a Kindle are just viscerally anti-cognative even though the information might be identical.

The visceral nature of a book in not replicated on laser printed and bound paper. It just does not flip right for me.

Kozar_The_Malignant writes "Over on The Consumerist, they are reporting about a fellow who purchased a Western Digital external hard drive from Best Buy that came with bonus Super Secret Asian Lady Porn. He accidentally deleted some of his photos from the drive. When using a recovery tool, he recovered much more than he deleted. Some of the "models" look a bit on the under-age side as well, which could be really bad if someone else found this on your drive. One wonders if this is from the manufacturer's read-write testing, or a free-lance Geek Squad project."

Which actually is (part of) the point of John Cage's 4'33". Basically, music is more that what is written on the sheet, it is also everything else's impact on the performance of what is written.

What pathetic little shit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_resistance

Kozar_The_Malignant writes "Least Favorite Rite of Spring:

• Income tax
• The mud
• Attack of the pollen
• Attack of the mosquitoes
• Too much light through basement window
• Guys in Shipping wearing skimpy outfits
• Spring? It's still snowing!
• CowboyNeal going shirtless

"

Kozar_The_Malignant writes "Your Favorite Rite of Spring

• Cleaning the hard drive
• Attractive co-workers wearing Spring outfits
• More light through basement window
• Change skins on software to pastel
• It's still snowing here you insensitive clod
• Annual bathing of CowboyNeal

"

Turns out that one of the Ringed Planet's moons has rings of its own. The robotic spacecraft Cassini at Saturn has discovered that the icy moon Rhea is orbited by an extensive debris field and at least one ring, the first such system found. "Many years ago we thought Saturn was the only planet with rings," said one mission scientist. "Now we may have a moon of Saturn that is a miniature version of its even more elaborately decorated parent."
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-release-details.cfm?newsID=820

Kozar_The_Malignant writes "Microsoft's Steve Ballmer is reportedly trying to buy the Seattle SuperSonics NBA team. His partners include Deutsche Telekom CEO John Stanton and Costco CEO Jim Sinegal. The team is trying to relocate to [shudder] Oklahoma City. Now that notorious chair-thrower Bobby Knight has retired, big time basketball needs another chair tossing wild man."

Lokinator writes "The Seattle Times reports that the Denver Airport WiFi employs blocking software to prevent access to such scandalous sites as Vanity Fair and various tech websites."

NASA this week will show off the first mock up of its Orion space capsule ahead of the capsule's first emergency astronaut escape system test. NASA in late 2008, says it will jettison the full-size structural model off a simulated launch pad at the US Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The launch escape vehicle sits atop the Orion capsule which is slated to be bolted on an Ares rocket. The escape vehicle is made up of three solid rocket motors as well as separation mechanisms and canards, and should offer the crew an escape capability in the event of an emergency during launch, according to NASA. http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/25710
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/25710

Kozar_The_Malignant writes "Bar owner Rufus Terrill has built his own robotic overlord to chase drug dealers and other scum our of his Atlanta neighborhood. Boing Boing has a story and a link to video from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The thing has a loudspeaker, camera, light, water cannon and looks kind of like a Dalek. Some of the parts came from a smokehouse, and he says it stills smells a bit like chicken."

Kozar_The_Malignant writes "According to an AP story reported by MSNBC, Motorola is seriously considering getting out of the mobile phone business. This is a proposal Carl Ichan made last year during a losing proxy fight to obtain a board seat. Looks like more than Ed Zander is being tossed out."