25 Nov 2006
Check Your Judgments, Eh?

Fascinating take on identity and anonymity on the 'Net. While is emphasis is on "adult communities", it's certainly applicable to all of our Internet activities - as Ben Franklin said (and this article quotes) "Three can keep a secret, if two are dead."

A conference about identity on the Internet almost succeeds in squashing the sex-positive optimism that usually permeates Sex Drive. Commentary by Regina Lynn.

(link) [Wired News: Top Stories]

08:14 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Giant Colonel Sanders visible from space

Well, this settles it. If we ever want to contact an alien civilization, we'll have to go to them. Because if they come here and see this, they'll keep right on going!

Kentucky Fried Chicken reckons it's the first company whose logo is visible from space after piecing together a huge mosaic of Colonel Sanders in the Nevada desert.

(link) [The Register]

08:10 /Humor | 2 comments | permanent link

'Crusader' takes on eBay to stop relics sales

Whoa! This guy is concerned that:

"...we want to make a point. They are taking the same position as Judas. They are selling out the church."

Perhaps he needs to broaden her horizons a bit - after all, eBay is not alone in making a buck off Holy Mother Church: a Google search turns up nearly 3 million hits for the term "Catholic sales"!

And if he's concerned about the thirty pieces of silver that ebay will collect for selling these imaginary bone bits, perhaps he needs to scale the amount up in his search for the real modern replacement for the original spiritual huckster turned religious profiteer. In an article from May of 2005, the Financial Times stated:

While it is not a corporation, the Church's financial assets, spending and workforce dwarf those of the largest companies in the world. In the US alone (with about 7 per cent of the world's Catholics), the Church has operating expenses of more than $100bn a year, employs more than one million people and controls an investment portfolio (including property) which, while not publicly disclosed, is probably of equally daunting proportions. Scaled up, the church could well be approaching a $1 trillion enterprise worldwide.

Summation: "boundless hypocrisy" doesn't begin to do this case justice.

Hardly an hour goes by without Thomas Serafin or one of his cyber-sleuths checking what eBay has to offer.

(link) [CNN.com]

08:06 /Asatru | 0 comments | permanent link