Slashdot posted a link to this great site where this guy takes pictures of things at a microscopic scale and posts them for people to look at. It includes such excellent photomicrographs as vegemite, barocca, beers, cocktails, endorphins, ice creams, neurotransmitters, various Ocean Spray products, and a bunch more.
06:15 -epw
Yale's LawMeme features an article about the Worst Terms of Service Ever. Here are some of the more juicy bits extracted from the ToS itself for your enjoyment:
"All other access, use, disclosure, reproduction, delayed use, reduction to human-perceivable form, printing, copying or saving of digital image files or other content, reformatting, file sharing, downloading, uploading, storing, posting, mirroring, archiving, recording, distributing, redistribution, repurposing, modification, rewriting, manipulation, creation of derivative works, translations, or products, licensing, sale, transfer, display, public performance, publicity, broadcast, televising, reporting, publication (in whole or part) or transmission whether by http, ftp, electronic mail or any other file transfer protocol, and whether by electronic means or otherwise, or use by other than individual scholars, or commercial use requires prior written permission of the rights owner(s) and payment of a fee, and severe penalties apply for theft and unauthorized publication, which is also a crime."
"You are warned that computer viruses can be transmitted via e-mail, so the recipient of any e-mail should check it and any attachments for the presence of viruses."
"[Y]ou should print a paper copy of this User Agreement . . . ."
"Time is of the essence hereof."
"If you want permission, we sincerely hope that you don't get scared off by all this legalese and give up!"
"Telephone calls placed in disregard of the foregoing will be charged at two hundred fifty dollars per telephone call." (emphasis theirs)
"Additionally, in the event that your actions in violation of this User Agreement result in our being deprived of our exclusive rights . . . you agree to pay us liquidated damages in the amount of the greater of five million U.S. dollars . . . ." (emphasis added)
"You agree to immediately notify CPRR.org by e-mail of any errors, historical inaccuracies, technical problems, typographical errors, broken links, incorrect or missing citations, proprietary content included without required permission, or any other defects or deficiencies which you discover on this website . . . ."
"In the event that you are a governmental entity, you waive sovereign immunity and further stipulate and agree that any use of this website or its content, except as permitted herein, shall consitute a taking requiring just compensation as set forth herein."
There's also a Slashdot discussion about the issue, as well as CPRR.org's response to the publicity their ToS has been receiving.
20:22 -epw
SCO's webservers have crashed due to the DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks that the MyDoom.A worm has launched. The next attack (MyDoom.B) is scheduled to hit Microsoft on Tuesday. Oh yeah, here's a link [reuters.co.uk].
20:51 -epw
They took to the sky, with a whole world to travel
And gaming spirit to celebrate, to reach the last level;
But as they departed, the lone gamer heard them exclaim...
"A Happy Winter-een-mas to all, and to all a good game!"
-Ctrl+Alt+Del
(start at the beginning of the Winter-een-mas story if you like reading webcomics)
05:23 -epw