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How not to get bit (and killed) by a shark

Having lived in California for so long, I know the drill. The most important rule is don’t swim with the shark food, especially seals, sea lions, and otters. If you see any of these swimming near you, get the fuck away from them. Also, try not to look like them. Choose bright colored wet suits and fins over all black ones. This will help you, assuming there’s enough light for the hungry shark to distinguish you from a seal. [Blogcritics.org]

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A Wrapup of Short Link Generators

If “Tinyurl” is becoming a verb with you, you’ll want to check out Notlong’s wrapup of short link generators.

The short link generators, about ten of them, are arranged in a table. The table contains a variety of information including default links, expiration, whether or not statistics and custom links are available, whether or not an API is available, and what languages are being checked. Not all short link generators are included here, but there are several. [ResearchBuzz]

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In the Lecture Hall, a Geek Chorus

Enabling wireless technology in university auditoriums has led to a back channel of communication for students to reveal their thoughts. [New York Times: Technology]

Cory Doctorow, a science fiction writer and blogger who has experienced this back-channeling at several international technology meetings, likens the chatter to what happens in the corridor just after people leave a conference session.

“We’re just moving the corridor into the room and time-shifting it by 30 minutes,” said Mr. Doctorow, who takes notes and posts them to his Weblog, or blog, during conferences, enabling people to follow the speaker and Mr. Doctorow’s take on the speaker at the same time.

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How could I not link to this…

Backup Data on the Moon?


A California company intends to put servers and databases on the moon—seriously. [Technology News from eWEEK and Ziff Davis]

TransOrbital has had companies that want to back up critical data somewhere other than on earth express interest, and is working on ways to make the idea attractive. “We’re trying to develop some wider bandwidth laser communications going beyond the communication protocols developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that exist for use in space,” Laurie says. “It is feasible to have electronic data on the moon, and to receive it from earth, although delays are implied.”

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Will Ferrell: Class Day speech

But I do know this. You’re about to enter into a world filled with hypocrisy and doublespeak, a world in which your limo to the airport is often a half-hour late. In addition to not even being a limo at all; often times it’s a Lincoln Towncar. You’re about to enter a world where you ask your new assistant, Jamie, to bring you a tall, non-fat latte. And he comes back with a short soy cappuccino. Guess what, Jamie? You’re fired. Not too hard to get right, my friend.

Will Ferrell: Class Day speech

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FCC: Readerless Papers May Buy Viewerless Stations

(2003-06-02) — Today the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will approve a new set of rules allowing newspapers no one reads… [ScrappleFace]

“That’s true,” said Mr. Powell, “But it’s like owning Baltic Avenue on the Monopoly board game. Even if you put hotels on that puppy, it’s still not Boardwalk or Park Place. “