Nikon's universal measuring stick

Did you know that the common dust mite was about the same size as a human ovum? Nikon’s beautifully simple, yet very informative “Universcale site”:http://www.nikon.co.jp/main/eng/feelnikon/discovery/universcale/index_f.htm explores size and scale in a fun new way. By placing commonly understood, but not necessarily related things together and showing their relative size this site succeeds in entering that very rare category of things that change the way we look at the world. Shown here is a screen shot of the site showing (from left to right) a paramecium, an amoeba, a human ovum, a common dust mite, a raindrop, a sesame seed, a snow flake and a cat flea.
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.xxx Domain Names Rejected

Rarely will you see the adult entertainment industry and religious groups in “relative agreement”:http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/03/26/tech-porn.html, but strong lobbying by both camps influenced “today’s decision”:http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/03/30/domain.xxx.ap/index.html?eref=rss_tech by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to reject creating .xxx domains for online pornography sites. The adult entertainment industry feared that having .xxx domains would make it easier for governments censor and control content, while religious groups believed that creating such domains would greatly increase the amount of graphic sexual content on the internet. Internet politics too makes strange bedfellows.

More Free Wireless Internet – In the Amazon!

“CNN reports today”:http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/03/30/amazon.internet.ap/index.html that Brazil is looking to use a satellite to project an internet signal to over 150 communities deep in the Amazon, many of which are accessible only by boat. Brazil intends to crack down on illegal logging in the Amazon by creating the opportunity for communities to report such activities via the internet. What a progressive way to address an environmental hazard that results in the “destruction of hundreds of square miles of rainforest”:http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/amazon_destruction.html each year.

WiFi on the river Thames

Global Reach Group has entered the wireless internet game in a big way by making the whole of the London’s river Thames a giant hotspot. It’s a free project and is available to absolutely anyone with a wireless device and £2.95/hour, £5.95/day or £9.95/month. Admitting that one can’t really make much bob providing just wireless access, the mesh network is also providing service to CCTV networks, river traffic regulators and emergency services. The network currently runs along the river and its banks all the way from the Millennium Dome at Greenwich in the east to the Houses of Parliament in the west. That’s most of downtown London covered by one provider!

“Link”:http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2007/gb20070329_814918.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily to Business Week article.

Sports Fans: How Happy Are You With Your Team?

ESPN.com recently posted a “fascinating ranking”:http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/franchiseRanks of all major American sports franchises related to fan satisfaction. Using an interesting “methodology”:http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/story?page=ultimatestandings07methodology that emphasized affordability, wins, team talent, and administrative competence, ESPN ranked the dynamic and high-octane “Buffalo Sabres”:http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/story?page=ultimatestandings07No1team at number one.
“http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/franchiseRanks Sadly, but unsurprisingly, my hometown "Chicago Blackhawks":http://assets.espn.go.com/sportsnation/no118.html continue to be regarded as one of the worst franchises in the sports world.

NYTimes.com Now Free for College Students

The “New York Times”:http://www.nytimes.com has recently made its “TimesSelect web feature”:http://www.nytimes.com/products/timesselect/overview.html, which most notably provides access to the NYT’s “brilliant opinion columnists”:http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/thomaslfriedman/index.html and much of the 150+ year archive, “completely free for college students and professors”:http://www.nytimes.com/gst/ts_university_email_verify.html! All that you need to sign up is a valid university e-mail address.
“http://www.nytimes.com/gst/ts_university_email_verify.html In effect, this makes the entire contents of the New York Times free and computer-accessible. How convenient!

Introducing Mike Pellegrino

Mike is a long-time friend of mine and after long consideration, he has agreed to join the Duenos staff bringing our size to a formidable two. Mike is a senior at the University of Illinois with designs on a future in law and world domination. His curiosity is piqued by technology, hockey, video games, mathematics and every possible form of politics. Here’s a picture of Mike looking into the distance at the start of his second year as an RA:

Last Harry Potter book jacket unveiled

Muggles rejoice! The richest person in the UK is that much closer to becoming even richer. In addition to having the “least navigable web-page in history”:http://www.jkrowling.com/accessible/en/ JK Rowling has finished the _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_ and with it the whole Harry Potter series. Here are the British book jackets, no word yet on the American ones.

Oh how much has changed since the first book came out in 1997. Words like quidditch and muggles weren’t parts of the vernacular, Alan Rickman wasn’t creepy (ok, maybe that was already true) and Daniel Radcliffe was yet to be chosen to play the boy wizard on screen and subsequently fear typecasting so much as to cause him to play naked “Equus”:http://www.playbill.com/images/photos/equuspre5.jpg on Broadway.

In Katrina's Wake

Absolutely brilliant and heartbreaking, those are the words that come to mind looking through Chris Jordan’s “web-preview”:http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set.php?arch_id=6 of his book, _In Katrina’s Wake._

The Hurricane Katrina is one of those important events that gets completely ignored by the generation that lived through it only to be memorialised by their less-guilty-feeling children. The reason for the guilt? While we continue to consume at an almost inhuman pace, fight wars all over the world, and thumb our noses at global warming, proof that not all is right sits there in the heart of the United States where the Mississippi meets the Gulf and we’re almost straining ourselves to not look at it.