13 Apr 2004
Gopher: Underground Technology

The trio of Usenet, Gopher and Email were the Internet when I first got online. I find it interesting that only Email remains: the Web made Gopher obsolete, and SPAM killed Usenet. SPAM is doing it's level best to kill Email, too, but hasn't quite got the job done yet.

More than a decade ago, gopher took the Net by storm. The Web stole its thunder soon after, but enthusiasts are still keeping it alive -- and bringing it into the future. By Lore Sjöberg.

(link) [Wired News]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

One of those days ...

From a server crash with a minor amount of data loss, to getting stuck behind drivers doing 25 in a 60 (for nearly 30 miles, with no chance to pass, in a driving rainstorm), I've had one of those days. Everything I've touched has seemingly turned to dung, so, guess what! I'm not gonna touch anything else until in the morning! Tomorrow's gotta be better ...

00:00 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

Nekkid Wimmins by the Fountain

John Ashcroft must be so proud of the citizens of Hartsville, Tennessee... you gotta check out the photo!

A garden store's nude statues proved a bit immodest for some in this small town.

(link) The Arizona Republic

00:00 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

Small coffee brewers try to redefine fair trade

The same thing is happening with the "organic" labels you see on foods in the US. For example, "free range" chicken is defined as a chicken raised with access to an outdoor paddock. So if you put a 10 foot square "pasture" outside your chicken barn, with a single door leading to it, all 10 million chickens in the barn can be sold as "free range". They had access, didn't they?

Large firms have embraced the socially conscious movement, but small companies say it's a marketing ploy.

(link) [Christian Science Monitor | Top Stories]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

FCC is taking wrong turn on digital media

Great editorial on recent FCC moves ... here's the opener:

Forty years ago, there was a scary TV show called "The Outer Limits."

The show started with the narrator's words: "We can reduce the focus to a soft blur, or sharpen it to crystal clarity. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear."

Who knew that today the Federal Communications Commission would be trying to turn that sci-fi introduction into a regulatory reality?

Public-interest advocate Gigi Sohn says that the FCC is perilously close to knuckling under to a powerplay that will limit the way consumers can use their digital media.

(link) [CNET News.com]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link