A tribute to the weird, funny, twisted, technology-driven world we live in.
Second Life romance ends extremely badly
Kimberly Jernigan of Durham, N.C., met a Delaware man in Second Life but the gentleman, perhaps predictably, ended the romance after the two met in person. And that's when things took a turn for the worse.
Gold-farming employs 500,000 people worldwide
Richard Heeks, the head of the development informatics group at the UK's University of Manchester, estimates that nearly half a million people earn money as "gold farmers" -- players who seek out gold or experience points in online multiplayer games, then sell their loot to other players with less time on their hands.
Researchers paid good money to look for cows on Google Earth
There are many, many useless things that Google Earth helps you waste time doing, and one of them is scouring the surface of our planet to find cows to look at -- in the name of research, of course.
Genetically engineered ear hair to cure hearing loss?
Scientists have implanted genes into the ears of mice embryos to encourage their tiny adorable mouse ears to become much, much hairier -- and to hear better too.
Will you push my button?
What with all the porn on the Internet you might be wondering why there haven't been any virtual sex toys. Well, fear not, the niche has been filled.
Tracking stolen people
In a recent post, I recounted how the National Park Service implanted microchips in a bunch of cacti in Arizona so that they could be tracked if stolen. In Mexico the trouble tends to be less with stolen vegetation than with kidnappings.
Worst captchas of all time
Are you tired of having to squint at twisted letters whenever you want to leave a blog comment? Well, be glad that you don't have to jump through these hoops...
Hitting it big on eBay: New extinct species, futuristic toilets
Richard Harrington, an officer in the UK's Royal Entomological Society, probably thought that chunk of amber with an insect trapped inside that he bid for on eBay would make a nice paperweight -- but he didn't expect that the dead critter would be a representative of a previously unknown species, one that would end up being named for him.
Park rangers create cactus cyborgs
The majestic saguaro cactus is a striking, internationally known, and now microchip-implanted symbol of Arizona -- the better to thwart cactus thieves, you know.
Annals of science: People really are more attractive when you're drunk
British researchers have proven what barflies and frat party attendees have known for centuries: getting liquored up makes other people seem more attractive.
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VMware ESX Server in the Enterprise
By Edward L. Haletky
Published Dec 29, 2007 by Prentice Hall.
Enter now! | Official rules | Sample chapter
Green IT
By Toby Velte, Anthony Velte, Robert C. Elsenpeter
To be published Oct. 10, 2008 by McGraw Hill Professional
Enter now! | Official rules | About the book
