Uh Oh!
How long do CD-Rs last? Not long, says IBM's Kurt Gerecke. Two years on average—five, if you keep it in a cool dark place. Phew that's where I keep mine . . . wait a minute, I just remembered I don't.
Wes Phillips
Noun Time
The Oxford University Press announces the top 100 nouns in the English language. Guess what's first? Heck, guess what the first 10 are.
Action Painting
Jon Iverson sends along this deeply meaningful site, commenting, "Fun for hours!"
CEA Calls RIAA On Its BS
The EFF's Fred von Lohmann posts about the Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA) new ad reminding Congress that the RIAA;s (and MPAA's) high dudgeon over copying is nothing new—and that such hysteria has been historically short sighted.
DRM Debate in the WSJ
The Wall Street Journal ran a DRM debate between the MPAA's Fred Attaway and Brooklyn Law School's Wendy Seltzer that is a thing of beauty. Attaway calls DRM "the key to consumer choice."
This One's For Jeff
Half the time when I'm talking about music with my friend Jeff Wong, mention of some album will elicit the response, "I got turned on that when Elvis Costello covered/mentioned that." Okay Jeff, here are 500 records recommended by EC—how many do you know?
Watching the Electrons Flow
Japanese physicists have built a bi-directional single-electron ammeter that can detect individual electrons flowing either forwards or backwards. Practical applications might include nanoelectronics, calibration devices, quantum computation, and biology. That banging noise you hear is John Atkinson in Sioux Falls pounding his head against the desk, muttering "Want one!"
Are Engineers the Product of Nature or Nurture?
Neither, a new article at EE Times suggests: There might be an engineering gene—and the University of Minnesota has the MRIs to prove it.
Great Chess
Mark Lowery's Exciting World of Chess reproduces two of the immortal chess games of all time: the 1851 "Immortal Game" between Anderssen and Kieseritzky and the 1852 Anerssen-Dufresne "Evergreen" game. The best part, if you struggle with chess notation, Lowery has animated the games so you can watch them unfold—at your speed.
Inviting Us Into the Forbidden City
IBM has announced a "philantropic cultural heritage initiative" that will allow folks to virtually tour the 800-building Forbidden City complex using immersive cell-chip technology developed for gaming.