Cruise control that prevents tailgating
Jaguar has a new system that uses radar to keep you a constant distance from the car in front of you. A tempting step toward my dream of eliminating the most dangerous part of a car: human drivers. I wonder what happens if the car in front of you stops abruptly? Or hits a moose?

Earth during the eclipse
This photo of Earth taken during recent eclipse is unsettling. It reminds me of the scene in 2010 where the monoliths are devouring Jupiter.

Melty
Every web site should have draggable pals. It should be law.

Whales and hippos share a common ancestor
Not sure what attracts me to this story. It may simply be that connections between great creatures are appealing.

Fast ferries cause fatal waves?
BC people are upset about the financial cost of fast ferries. God forbid we start having these kinds of problems.

CoinStar
This company makes vending-type machines that convert jars of coins into bills. Come to a supermarket near me!

"She knows I'm the king."
Over-the-top sexual harrassment by 20-something Internet millionaires. "These were guys that . . . never had dates in college. Most of them just didn't know how to act around women." Combine that social retardation with millionaire executive clout, and the result, said SAR, is an "over-sexed high school chess club with money and power." Wait a minute, that sounds like a movie pitch.

You owe Unisys money
Hmm. That moose is a GIF and the way he's running I bet he's unlicensed too. I'd better pay Unisys $7500 just to be on the safe side.

Dave Barry on the Internet economy
Oh sure, the bubble economy is the easiest of targets these days and Dave Barry is the comfortable slipper of comedy, but I don't care. "Here in the newspaper business, we have definitely caught Internet Fever. In the old days, we used to -- get this! -- actually charge money for our newspapers."

Robot lawn mower
My current method of lawn management involves letting the sun crisp the grass to a straw-like stubble. Once the autumn rains come though, I may have to consider something more... robotic. Of course, the robot lawn mower industry won't take off until a single mower can unite with other robot mowers to form a giant sword-wielding mower that can fight aliens. Also, you'll need something to keep the local skatepunks from yoinking the thing off your lawn.

Amazon makes purchases public knowledge
Amazon has started aggregating and posting the purchases made from different domains. For example, you can see that someone at the Gap has bought Bridget Jones's Diary. Here's Amazon's scary pitch for the feature: "No matter where you work, live, or go to school, we'll likely have a Purchase Circle for you." ("Stay where you are. Amazon means you no harm. Do not run.") My guess is that this won't last long. [Bingo. Two days later, you can opt out.]

Better Than Chocolate news
My thesis advisor wrote the screenplay for "Better Than Chocolate," a lesbian romantic comedy. A San Diego newspaper has refused to carry an ad for the film because it dares to use that word. You know, the word for two women who... well, it begins with L. Um, sounds like "Hessian." Oh I can't! (There's also a good item about the MPAA's past treachery in this same Studio Briefing.)

Wild Bear Cam
A live webcam from National Geographic that features brown bears at their summer jamboree in Alaska. Not sure how common sightings are, but there was one there at my first visit, walking out of the river to nap on the beach. I expect some clever bear will eventually hook a video feed up to the cam, allowing them to snatch all the salmon without alerting the National Geographic security teams.

Disney Fellowship experience
I've had two different 1999 Disney fellowship finalists write me for advice this week, and I've seen other interested folks get referred to my old Wordplay posts. If you're interested, the first of those posts is above and you can continue on to this second post. (The Disney fellowship is a program that gives you the chance to work as a screenwriter at Disney for a year.)

The 100 Gigaburger Bug
In the 1960s, a group of military-funded scientists were asked to devise a way to ensure that, in the event of a nuclear attack, government officials would still be able to send jokes to each other. Here's one more testament to their vision.

Emerald City Fontwerks
There are many free fonts sites on the web, but these are so lovely that I had to link them. The stories they use to sample the fonts are as attractive as the type itself. I hope this is fair use:

Nietzsche's Guide to Technical Support
"When a user is calling in need of help, don't forget that he is a weakling."

Premier under criminal investigation
Hey! The Premier of British Columbia, who is my theoretical boss, is under criminal investigation. BC politics are so exciting. I hope he makes a break for it. [Nope. He's resigned.]

History of the Hampster Dance
An essay retracing the steps of the Hampster Dance's rise to stardom and the following tall poppy backlash. This link is already one metalevel too many, so I'll stop.

Lights, Camera, Action Project
A Brunching Shuttlecocks article on an overzealous movie ratings site. Star Wars is rated for breast bounce. Midsummer's Night Dream contains statue nudity. Hey, I just noticed that under Episode 1, it lists levitation as an offense to God.

3D Face Modelling
I think this PhD student is working on a way to use Forrest Gump skins in Quake. There may be other applications.

Scientists Make Nicer Mice
Hopefully this is the first step in ridding the world of antisocial mice. (Actually, this is an interesting article about how a bit of gene switching can change mammals' social behaviour.)

God Hates Figs
So few domain names are worth the $100, but this one I love. (Even when I saw the URL, I'd forgotten about its Biblical underpinnings. Bonus points for them.)

Genochoice
Design and upgrade your baby online. A lot of effort for a one-joke site. Strangely earnest too.

Fifty word stories
The first one is the best: "War and Pieces."

New script sample for Ender's Game
This version is miles better than Card's first attempt, although still expository here and there. Do we need to know what percentage of students are left-handed? What is that? Ender's parents in particular are explanation droids. Card is truer to the novel in this version, but is still willing to trim. He does a good job of compressing Ender's viciousness into a single (already key) scene with Peter and Val. The screenplay's best asset of course is the amazing story that underlies it. I hope Card gets to see this through.

E-news
An alternative to Deja. Are there really three motorcycle groups in the top ten? Are there like three people using this service?

Kibo's cones
Kibo will make me lose my job someday. I will finally break, laugh out loud, and it will be revealed that I do nothing but read weblogs and post links to this silly blue page. Try trimming the URL back to http://www.kibo.com/ too.

They Might Be Giants in glittering MP3
You can buy the whole TMBG album in MP3 format for US $9. Seems a little pricey, but I'm almost tempted to buy it just to support the idea. Most downloadable music schemes have not been promising. Bands that have 10,000 downloads on MP3.com have 600 sales. Of course, maybe the downloads reveal that they suck. Anyway, there's supposed to be a TMBG song sample around here somewhere. Poke poke poke.

Cash for CDs
Sell your CDs to these people and they'll send you a postage paid envelope to pick them up. No more shame over the fact that you even owned all that Sharon, Lois and Bram in the first place. (Strange that this link comes up right after the MP3 one. Hmmm.) Haven't tried the service, mind you. Could be dreadful.

New CD player plays MP3s
Hooray! It's here. This stereo component plays MP3s off CDs and plays regular CDs too. Now where's my car model?

Third Edition Dungeons and Dragons
I never got around to playing the second edition, but there's still a soft spot in my heart for this game. The further they get away from Gygax's version the better, I suspect. [Update: He's involved in this edition again!] Each book is US$20. I'll probably just peek at them in the store. By the way, this press release is a thousand times more readable than WotC's Shockwave-mad official site. Reminds me of a sig on Slashdot: "Javascript leads to Java. Java leads to Shockwave. Shockwave leads to suffering."

Senate proposes banning links to drug info
I don't understand the US system well enough to know if a bill like this has a chance at becoming law. Is this a symbolic gesture on Feinstein-Hatch's part that they know will be shot down? I'm baffled that the Americans let their politicians play these games. [Have I confused the parts of the American government?]

First chapter of new Ender novel
Orson Scott Card has gone back to the beginning of the Ender series and is retelling it from a different point of view. Struck me as gimmicky, but the free four chapters interested me enough to put a hold on the book at the library. I'm number 4, and the book won't be released until August 31.

Fax4Free
Send free faxes to anywhere in the US, like maybe that E-fax number you just set up. They also have a fax-to-email service but their User Agreement allows spam, so I didn't want to give them my real address.

E-Fax
Free fax number for North Americans. They receive the fax and send it to you by e-mail. My number is (978) 418-5826.

The Anonymizer
For when you want to browse without your IP being logged. They also have web-based e-mail for when you need to mail your "manifesto" around. Hotmail and others insert your IP into your mail headers.