Prius and Things

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/02/giugiaro-builds.html

"Giugiaro says the all-wheel-drive, mid-engined car accelerates from zero to 62 mph (100 kph) in 4.05 seconds and tops out at 155 mph.

"That's Tesla Roadster and Porsche 911 GT3 kind of acceleration, from a variation of the Hybrid Synergy Drive system Toyota uses in the Prius."

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http://torrentfreak.com/nin-uploads-new-album-on-torrent-sites-080303/

"Nine Inch Nails has just released the first volume of their new album 'Ghosts' on BitTorrent sites as a free download. The band encourages its fans to share the album with friends, post it on websites and play it on podcasts"

"'Ghosts' is released under a non-commercial Creative Commons license and can be shared freely, something their fans weren.t allowed to do when the band was held back by a record label."

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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/03/microsoft_data_center_blowout/

"Microsoft has already been working to match Google data center-for-data center with both companies popping out $500m to $600m centers every couple of months.

...

"The new strategy will, I'm told, lay out a roadmap of moves across three major areas: the transformation of the company's portfolio of enterprise applications to a web-services architecture, the launch of web versions of its major PC applications, and the continued expansion of its data center network," Carr writes."

They'll get it wrong, just like always... It's already obvious that they will miss the whole point of web applications. There's no way MSFT will give up the idea of everything running inside their little tiny world and only inside their little tiny world.

More here:

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/03/03/microsoft_hosted_exchange_sharepoint/

"Microsoft yesterday attempted to allay such concerns: "By extending our enterprise software offerings as a subscription service, our partners have the ability to develop and deliver new services with little overhead but maximum revenue potential," said senior Redmond veep Chris Capossela."

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Japan, again..

http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKT30561220080303?feedType=RSS&$

"At Edelstein boarding school, the schoolboys wear lip-gloss, the headmistress has a weakness for homoerotic comic books, and there is only one subject: how to serve female visitors.

"Welcome to Tokyo's first schoolboy cafe, the latest in a flurry of eateries in Japan where customers and waiters role play themes from manga comics."

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http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/31481

"Congressman Dennis Kucinich's resolution to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney now has more cosponsors signed onto it than any resolution to impeach President Richard Nixon ever had. But separate resolutions to impeach Nixon, some with a handful of cosponsors, many with no cosponsors at all, were filed by the dozens. Today, Kucinich's resolution stands alone."

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http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120406767043794825-UOLcfJA8x9Gw9ozbCz77MiLmtaE_20080327.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

"For decades, conventional wisdom has held that daylight-saving time, which begins March 9, reduces energy use. But a unique situation in Indiana provides evidence challenging that view: Springing forward may actually waste energy."

Daylight savings time is a stupid idea who's time has long past. Leave it to the Bush administration to actually find a way to make the problem worse.

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This piece is well worth reading. It's shocking stuff. I hope John McCain doesn't start talking about a new "secret plan" to end the Iraq war.

http://www.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/16-03/ff_nuclearwar

"Nixon's madman pose and Giant Lance were based on game theory, a branch of mathematics that uses simple calculations and rigorous logic to help understand how people make choices . like whether to surge ahead in traffic or whether to respond to a military provocation with a strike of one's own. The most famous example in the field is the Prisoner's Dilemma: If two criminal suspects are held in separate cells, should they keep mum or rat each other out? (Answer: They should keep quiet, but as self-interested actors, what they will do is betray each other and both go to jail.) In the Cold War, the "games" were much more complicated simulations of war and bargaining: Would the Soviets be more likely to attack Western Europe if we kept missiles there or if we didn't?"