Wi-Fi
A few weeks ago, my LA-based friend Anna emailed to ask me if Wi-Fi is already available in the Philippines. My answer of course was "pretty much." For quite some time, I hesitated to install any wireless network because of its inherent insecurity. But, yesterday, I finally did it, with the help of my colleague and OpenBSD guru, Barry. What the heck?! I don't have much to hide anyway. Anyone can "war drive" near our office where I installed an 802.11b network. We've done minimal security, though. So it's not anything like a walk in the park for newbie war drivers. The install went relatively well, except that the software that came with PCMCIA hardware was antiquated that it kept freezing a laptop PC.

At any rate, for those who believe that unguarded wireless networks should be as free as the air we breath, here's good news for you! Or, you may go to Paris where wi-fi connectivity is ubiquitous.

For those who are only starting, here's a Slate article for dummies. :)

The Slashdot Effect
is an spontaneous surge of hits in one's webserver due to an announcement on a high volume news website like Slashdot. Here's a paper probing that phenomenon.

Koch Postulates
These postulates must be satisfied before one could say that a suspect virus or bacteria causes a certain disease. However, such postulates have limitations.

Once We're Cannibals
O, yeah? Click here.

Human v. Machine, Round 1
Click here to read the possible outcome. (In chess, machine keeps winning... but not without cheating.)

There are proposals for science to exercise self-restraint. Here's one coming from a respected physicist. In the genetic engineering front, the question is raised: Will it kill us?

'The Second World Power'
Interesting how a blog using this phrase could spread so quickly. Greenpeace, Kofi Annan, everybody uses it. But the phrase was originally mentioned in a New York Times (17 Feb) news analysis bylined by Patrick Tyler describing the global anti-war protests as the emergence of "the second superpower." Here's El Reg's take on the phenomenon.

The term, however, has been neutered by a blog like this.