Drug dealer gives out drugs
Here's a Yahoo News story about Micro$oft giving out $1 billion worth of software to developing countries. In a recent move, the drug dealer hands out "good will" licenses to charity cases. Good will, of course, means obsolete software.

Threat to open source
Bruce Perens warns that the greatest threat to OS is software patent [ beebs report ]: "We're looking at a future where only the very largest companies will be able to implement software, and it will technically be illegal for other people to do so. "

How to do things with sleep
Aside from conserving energy, sleep actually does things... or so, says a cbs reportage on a recent Nature article.

IM for parents and kids
Today, NYT features a story on how IM could be used to promote parent-child relationship. The same feature, however, warns about the limits of such form of communication. Face-to-face communication still rules!

Smaller is better
Indeed, if you're talking about champagne: the smaller its bubbles are, the better. Here's a bit more from a fellow blogger.

Information Overload
If gigabytes of data don't do you in, the paper they're printed on will.

Software v Beer
You guessed it right! Beer won hands downs.

Man vs Machine
Kasparov, there you go again! The last time K won over Fritz. Will he win the second time around? Maybe not as what happened to him when he went up against Deep Blue... but not so fast, according to this account that benchmarks the historical performance of computers against humans. Elsewhere, chess is regarded as a "game that generates examples and analogies relevant to a broad range of intellectual concerns."

Blogging is dead. Long live blogging!
El Reg notes the report that although blogosphere is growing in size, it's made up mostly of abandoned or dead sites. Blogging is typically an activity of teenage girls who want to keep their friends updated on their otherwise uneventful lives. However, teeny boopers don't have a monopology of blogging. Even Lawrence Lessig blogs. :-)

The Business That's Church
Forbes reports how churches are acting like business corporations (with matching ads and all). This is not inherently bad, if one thinks of the Christian origins of capitalism. Max Weber would feel vindicated.

Linux and Beer
Here's an illustration on what people can do with "comparison and constrast." :)

Solipsism delight!
If solipsism were to be in this form, I don't mind wearing it. Harold Bloom also speaks of Shakespeare as "the true mulitcultural author." I wonder how this guy is related to Alan Bloom, another great defender of the classics.

Multi-valued logic
Here's a piece on the possibility of the introducing multivalued logic in computing. There's nothing new about the idea of course. The Russians might have started it.

Nanotech Not?
While some corporations are rushing to nanotechnology, here are a few words of concern: 1 | 2

Movie flops due to txting?
Yes, you heard the excuse right! Or it's a good time to reassess movie marketing basics.

Market Failure 101
A central argument for government intervention in public affairs and the economy is
market failure.

Lights Out Please!
One segment of Korusawa's "Dreams" is "Watermill Village" where a city guy shows up asking questions about the lifestyle of the villagers (perhaps he's a sociologist :) ). One of his curiousities concerns the villagers' lack of electricity. The guy asked to the effect, "Why don't you have electricity? Wouldn't it be so dark at night?" To which an old villager replies, "The night is supposed to be dark!"

Only in the dark will one appreciate the beauty that is darkness and all the things that go with it: stars, fireflies, the moon. The downside of having too much light is this.

Elvish Language
Next item in my To Do List: learn Tengwar!

Process Linux

Linux is a process, not a product, says Debian founder Ian Murdock.

Designer Babies, Anyone?
Two days ago was the birthday of Louise Brown, the first 'test tube' baby. Since Brown, reproductive technologies have have changed, and it's interesting how public opinion changed as well. Here's an account of such opinion.