BlogCadre - news

Fourth undersea internet cable cut in a week

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:42:01 -0600

For the fourth time in a week, an undersea communications cable has apparently been cut (or "failed due to a power outage," as some sources suggest), and while no official reports of subversion have surfaced just yet, things are beginning to get suspicious. Flag Telecom, a subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Reliance ADA Group, has had two cables damaged in the span of a week -- a quandary it has never dealt with until now. As it stands, traffic from the Middle East and surrounding areas is being routed through various other cables in an attempt to remain online, but any more snips and we could be dealing with ping times eerily similar to those seen in 1993 (or much, much larger issues).

Click here to view a world map which shows all of the undersea internet cables: damaged, planned and in-service.

New York Times online now free

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:16:42 -0500

The New York Times has announced that they will no longer be charging for for access to parts of its website.

The move comes two years to the day after The Times began the subscription program, TimesSelect, which has charged $49.95 a year, or $7.95 a month, for online access to the work of its columnists and to the newspaper’s archives. TimesSelect has been free to print subscribers to The Times and to some students and educators.

In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain. There will be charges for some material from the period 1923 to 1986, and some will be free.

Link.

Homestar Runner Stays True to Web... TV Denied

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:56:46 -0500

Homestar Runner creators Matt and Mike Chapman are staying true to the web and rejecting TV series offers by both Cartoon Network and Comedy Central.

"There was a brief flirtation with Comedy Central and Adult Swim," Matt said. "The whole TV thing seemed creepy. They wanted to plug it into their model -- that all comedy was gag-related, not character-driven. They left the door open, but we liked what we were doing and kept doing it online."

With Time Warner's Cartoon Network and Adult Swim also headquartered in Atlanta, it seemed natural for Homestar to jump in with them. But a deal has failed to materialize, and the Chapmans are in no hurry to strike up conversations again.

[full article]

LwL: WDuck, adjustable breast implants, skilled fingers, Load-ding, dishwasher trick, Gelli Baff

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 13:08:24 -0500

Here are your Lazy Weekend Links for this weekend:

Eating on a toilet never sounds appetizing to me, but apparently the owners of WDuck seem to think differently. I suppose sitting on a toilet while eating dinner is better than eating your dinner from a toilet bowl. Either way... disgusting.

Please tell me these adjustable breast implants are a joke. I thought those pump high-tops from the 90s were silly, but these implants are just plain ridiculous.

A Chinese man can write 10 Arabic numerals simultaneously with his 10 fingers. I wish I could see a video of this.

I dislike setting my cellphone on the floor when it's charging or stretching the cord so that it sits on our buffet making a possible strangulation device. I suppose I could use a different outlet, but I like to charge my phone in a place where I won't forget it when I'm leaving the house. The Load-ding is exactly what I need -- a hammock for my gadgets.

Here's a neat trick: Clean your dishwasher with Kool-Aid.

If you enjoy bathing in gelatin (yeah, because we all do) then I suppose you will enjoy Gelli Baff. "Gelli Baff turns a normal bath into a pool of brightly-colored gelatinous goop. Its a powder that holds 400 times its weight in water, similar to the substance used in disposable diapers. A packet of dissolver is included to turn the goop back into water when it’s time to rinse."

LwL: Edible serving pieces, Obesity gene, Remembering Kurt Vonnegut, Titanic watches, Dinosaurs linked to birds

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 12:34:07 -0500

Today is Friday the 13th. Hopefully none of you will experience any bad luck or other weirdness today. Here are your Lazy Weekend Links for this 'finally feeling like Spring' weekend.

See how Sara Thacher created cast sugar plates and salt cups for a dinner party she held for five of her good friends. I'm not entirely grooving on the salt cups because I don't like things real salty, however, I think the whole idea of edible serving pieces is quite creative.

Geneticists from Oxford University and Peninsula Medical School in Exeter are claiming they have linked a specific gene to obesity.

Kurt Vonnegut died at the age of 84 from brain injuries after a recent fall. Let's remember Mr. Vonnegut.

Geneva watchmaker Romain Jerome SA has created a "Titanic-DNA" collection in which the luxury wristwatches are made from the steel and coal from the Titanic which sank in 1912.

Based on our latest BlogCadre poll, most of you believe the egg came before the chicken. Well, I think we are all wrong -- Maybe it was the dinosaur that came first. It's strange to think that the T. Rex and the chicken are related in some way.

Here are some outrageous origami creations.

Have a good weekend!

Hackers selling IDs for cheap over the internet

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 15:07:41 -0500

For $14, you could easily become a whole new person -- or at least have their credit card number.

Identity thieves are offering a person’s credit-card number, date of birth and other sensitive information for as little as US$14 over the Internet, said a new report on online threats released Monday.

The data is sold on so-called “underground economy servers,” used by criminal organizations to hawk information they’ve captured through hacking, Symantec said in its Internet Security Threat Report, which tracked online trends from June to December 2006. The information can then be used for identity scams such as opening a bank account in a false name.

“U.S.-based credit cards with a card verification number were available for between US$1 to $6, while an identity — including a U.S. bank account, credit card, date of birth and government-issued identification number — was available for between $14 to $18,” the report said.

LwL: Pilot crashes into inlaws' home, spitting is a crime, how crayons are made, dolphin with prosthetic tail, subway sketches

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 12:55:09 -0600

Here are your Lazy Weekend Links for this Daylight Saving Time weekend:

Piece of advice: Dont' spit in someone's face, especially in San Francisco -- It has been ruled as criminal assault in a recent case.

A pilot intentionally crashes his airplane into his in-laws' Indiana home. His eight-year-old daughter was also on the plane. Both father and daughter died. A woman was in the house at the time but was unharmed.

To add to my Sesame Street flashback phase recently, here is a classic clip showing us how crayons are made.

A dolphin in Japan received a prosthetic tail after losing its previous tail to a skin disease.

Here is a very cool collection of sketches done in the NYC subway. [via delicious]

Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to change your clocks!

Video game guru wants to bring joy to gaming

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 17:47:46 -0600

Top Nintendo video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto wants to bring joy rather than violence to the gaming industry.

"I always want that first reaction to be emotion, to be positive - to give a sense of satisfaction, glee," Miyamoto told thousands of developers attending the annual Game Developer Conference here. "Certain obstacles may temporarily raise feelings of suspense, competition, even frustration. But we always want that final result, that final emotion, to be a positive one."

Known as "the Stephen Spielberg of video games", Miyamoto is best known for creating "The Legend of Zelda" and "Mario Brothers".

Jennifer Mee's story on PBS Kids News Flash Five

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 16:54:11 -0600

Check out Jennifer Mee's story over at PBS KIDS GO! News Flash Five. Click on the 'National News' link and watch and listen to their coverage of Jennifer.

Be sure to check out the rest of the News Flash Five site -- It's a great site for kids, parents and teachers.

News Flash Five is a news site whose mission is to encourage young people to take an interest in news and current events. Animated broadcasts offer a fresh way of receiving the news online. Additional interactive activities are designed to provide users the means to understand how current events relate to and can affect their lives. A section for parents and teachers will provide guides for teaching children about current events. The site will also give users guidance and a means to write and share their own news stories.

(Thanks, Peter T.!)

Previously:
Girl has hiccups for weeks, What's your hiccup remedy?, Jennifer Mee hiccup girl (image), Hiccup girl, Jennifer Mee, cured

Fake professor was editing for Wikipedia

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 16:42:37 -0600

24-year-old college student Ryan Jordan from Kentucky faked his identity on Wikipedia where he was a prominent editor. Known as Essjay on the site, Ryan described himself as a "professor of religion at a private university" and used texts such as Catholicism for Dummies as references. Since this discovery, Ryan's authority to edit on Wikipedia has been cancelled.

Total lunar eclipse Saturday night

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 17:26:50 -0600

The first total lunar eclipse in three years will be occurring Saturday night, March 3, 2007.

The eclipse will be at least partly visible from Asia to the Americas, although those in Europe, Africa and the Middle East will have the best view.

Lunar eclipses occur when Earth passes between the sun and the moon, blocking the sun's light. The event is rare because the moon spends most of its time either above or below the plane of Earth's orbit.

LwL: geek furniture, purchase food with mobile phone, baby for down payment, emoticons, cut trans fats, Google traffic status

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 14:35:59 -0600

Here are your Lazy Weekend Links for this weekend:

In need of more seating in your apartment or home? Are you a geek? Well, have I got the perfect piece of furniture for you. Check out these giant computer key seats. [via Random Good Stuff]

Soon the tech savvy will be able to purchase food with their mobile phones at participating fast food restaurants in Japan.

In Colorado, three people accused of swapping a 5-month-old baby for a down payment on a used car.

What's your favorite emoticon? Here are Japan's thirty top favorites.

The Girl Scouts are cutting trans fats from their popular assortment of cookies.

Google has now added real-time traffic status for 30 major cities in the U.S. [via Hackszine]

Happy weekend!

Stephen Hawking going weightless

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:42:27 -0600

On April 26, 2007, renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking will be going on his first weightless flight. Operated by Zero Gravity Corp., the flight will take off and land at the Kennedy Space Center.

"As someone who has studied gravity and black holes all of my life, I am excited to experience firsthand weightlessness and a zero-gravity environment," Hawking said in a statement.

The modified Boeing 727 generally soars to 32,000 feet at a sharp angle and then plunges 8,000 feet so passengers can experience 25-second snippets of zero gravity during the descent. As the plane climbs, passengers experience 25 seconds of being pushed down hard, as they feel 1.8 times the normal pull of the Earth.

Zero Gravity CEO Peter Diamandis said assistants will be onboard to help Hawking.

Previously:
Stephen Hawking Urges Us to Move to a New Planet, Virgin Galactic Spaceship Unveiled, Virgin Galactic interior (LwL)

Controversial X-ray scanner hitting your airport soon

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 21:11:58 -0600

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, AZ is testing a controversial X-ray scanner, which uses "backscatter" technology, for the next 60 to 90 days.

The controversy behind the scanner is that it basically "strip searches" the passengers as they walk through:

But TSA officials said Friday they had worked with industry specialists to blur any images of body parts generated by the scan, and likened the resulting picture to a "chalk outline" of a person.

The images come up on a computer screen in a room about 50 feet away. A green or red light -- for pass or fail -- is pressed and shows up at the screening location.

Officials said the computer does not have the ability to save or store images, a concern expressed by privacy-rights groups.

Once testing is finished in Phoenix, machines will be deployed to airports in Los Angeles and New York for further testing.

Read the full article here.

Richard Branson Offers $25 Million to Clean Up Greenhouse Gases

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 11:36:30 -0600

Multi-millionaire and space enthusiast Sir Richard Branson [wiki] is now offering $25 million to the first person who can come up with a way to clean the atmosphere of greenhouse gases.

The prize will initially only be open for five years, with ideas assessed by a panel of judges including Branson, Gore and Tickell as well as U.S. climate scientist James Hansen, Briton James Lovelock and Australian environmentalist Tim Flannery.

The winner will have to come up with a way of removing one billion metric tons of carbon gases a year from the atmosphere for 10 years -- with $5 million of the prize being paid at the start and the remaining $20 million at the end.

If no winner is identified after five years the judges can decide to extend the period.

Read the full article here.

Previously:
Virgin Galactic Spaceship Unveiled, Stephen Hawking Urges Us to Move to a New Planet, Virgin Galactic interior (LwL)