Wimbledon finally enters the 21st century.

I was tempted to snarkily write "Wimbledon enters the 20th century", because of course this should have happened about thirty years ago.

... as if the world needed yet another reason.

Today I was surfing through Salon when I came across a column in the advice section: a woman writes in that her thirteen-year-old daugher still believes in Santa Claus and there is ... get this ... actual debate as to whether or not they should break the news to her.

Libby indicted, and the new ten worst jobs in science released, all in one day. It's a good day.

Apple is freaking brilliant.

There have been thoughts and rumors of a video-capable iPod for years. But the obvious question was, who would pay for such a thing? I mean, people pay for music players, but the opportunity for video is just not as high. You can use a music player when you're jogging, working, whatever - it doesn't need your full focus. To watch a TV show, it needs your full attention.

So my thought all along was, who would pay an extra $150 for a video-capable iPod? Most people wouldn't, because they use iPods for listening to music, and they realize that video isn't something they'll use often enough to make it worth the extra money. So instead buy the music-only one.

And sure enough, a few companies have released video-capable PMP's (portable media players) that are fairly expensive, and they haven't aught on.

Apple's solution? All iPods are video capable. except for the tiny nano and the the screenless shuffle, they simply added video to the entire lineup, without changing the price. Since people buy iPods anyway, this means that there will be hundreds of thousands of video capable iPods out there by the end of the year, and people will experiment with them to see what they're useful for. Which will probably start a cottage industry in video podcasting, which will give the things a reason for existing.

In a second genius move, they negotiated with ABC to sell downloads of ABC's fall lineup of TV shows for $2 an episode - Without advertisements. With the ease of downloading threatening the broadcast-with-ads business model the same way it threatened CD music sales. So this opens a new business model for television. For people like me, it's a very good model. I watch very little television. So little that it isn't worth a cable connection for me, much less a TiVo. But I do watch the West Wing, and would watch Battlestar Galactica. But I also have to watch the shows at weird times, so I would need to spent through the nose on cable and TV just for these two shows. So I don't. If I could pay $2 to legally download a clean copy and watch it whenever I want? You bet your ass I would!

So I'm just hoping more networks sign up for this plan!

London man arrested under the Terrorism Act, for acting like a computer nerd. read the story. Fascinating, and a little frightening.

So this is pretty cool. It's always bothered me (yes I know I'm weird) that we have all these beautifully architected buildings and sweeping concrete structures like elevated freeways, etc., that go in only a few short years from shiny white edifices of modernity to stained, streaked ugliness. But it's pretty hard to justify spending time and tax money to go clean all the freeways.

Enter biomimetic self-cleaning paint. I don't know how well it works, but it claims to mimic the water-beading properties of the lotus flower petal to allow water to slide off rather than dry in place, leaving deposits. It if works, that's fanstastic- our cities will remain more beautiful.

And call me an idealist, I think that will actually have practical benefits. People tend to repect beautiful, clean things more than dirty, ugly ones. I have a hunch that keeping structures clean and shiny will actually effect a modest decrease in crime, vandalism, etc. through inspiring a greater respect for city structures.

This is a new thought I hadn't seen before, in the field of pastafarianism:

There are a lot of similarities between ID and FSM, that is true. However, I think FSM does a better job of explaining what would motivate the creator to go to so much trouble to change our scientific results in order to make the universe appear older than it truly is. Tampering with our radioisotope measurements, geographic observations and, perhaps most impressive, placing individual photons enroute to earth, suitably redshifted, in an effort to mislead us is not only an act of an intelligent maker, but also an anarchistic, mischevious one.

From an interview with the Prophet today.

This totally sweet website is like every book I ever read as a kid about the neat technology of the future. Concept cars (and other vehicles), people skydiving with a windsuit instead of a parachute, portable houses, jetpacks, all that great stuff. Now, few of the things in those books have come true yet, and a lot of the stuff on this site is probably a crock as well. But some of it probably is real, and in any case it's a bucketload of fun.

Thought experiment. What would it cost, back-of-the-napkin-style, to truck in enough dirt and gravel to raise the elevation of the currently-drowned portions of New Orleans up to 20' above sea level?

It would seem to be worthwhile expenditure at any level below around ten billion US. The reason is that's the expected economic cost of this entire disaster. And given that NOLA is smack in the path of hurricane central, this is going to happen again eventually if we rebuild the city in its former state, so we'd save the cost of a second disaster. Moreover, we'd save the annual costs of levee maintenance and pumping.

Second question: Since the city is continually sinking, how many years of safety does 20' above sea level buy?

Let nothing hold you back. Ever.

double-leg amputee on his way to setting the world record for the 200-meter dash. Not the amputee record. the world record, period.