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A friend sent this to me ... this will be funny, until you realize that everything -- everything they say, is true. Do you know where your food comes from?

On June 8th, Venus will transit in front of the Sun. It will appear like as a dark circle moving across the face of the Sun. This is a historic transit, for it was in 1768 that James Cook, on a mission sponsored by England's Royal Astronomical Society, set sail for Tahiti to construct an observatory to observe Venus' transit a year later. Venus transits the Sun for us to see every 120 years, so it was a historic moment. Unfortunately, Cook's logs doesn't spend much time talking about Venus. Cook had other, secret orders from the Royal Navy, and after he was finished in Tahiti, he went off to search for a missing continent and mess with the Maori and Australian Aborigines.

This can't be real!

If you're easily offended, don't follow this link. It's hard to describe this site. It probably says more about the people who laugh their butts off when reading it than it does about the site itself. Something Awful, is, well, really, really awful. There is no taboo. Porn is reviewed. Everybody and everything is made fun of -- in very cruel ways. Where do they find all the time?

I was reading a few articles from the Fraser Institute's latest publication on Canadian National Security and Armed Forces . I always thought the decline we allowed in our armed forces has been a national shame. After the 2nd World War , Canada had an armed forces that was at the very least, in the top three military organizations of the world. That our politicians and citizens allowed its decline since, is unforgivable. The bleeding hearts liberal view that Canada is not an aggressive nation and having a strong military id counter to the way Canadians view themselves is a sorry excuse. An armed forces is not an offensive force only. Neither is it just a defensive force only. As our committment in helping create and maintain the United Nations shows, armed forces can be used constructively in bringing peace and stabilization to nations around the world. Contrary to being counter to our international policies, a strong military supports and strengthens our international pol

The War Profiteers -- it was no secret that businesses gained during wars. During WWII , American businesses made profits from both sides. The degree of the association of war and businesses however, is inseparable today -- today, war is business (and to some degree, business is war ). From the contracting of non-combat services (another reference here ) and non-combat military missions to having contractors perform military missions for businesses in a war zone. The War Profiteers is an organization of CorpWatch, who's mission it is to counter "corporate-led globalization through education, network-building and activism." While I don't agree with their stance against globalization, I agree with their concerns about corporate interference and corporate wrong-doing. In many cases, Corporations skirt the law, where laws exist, or break laws because of an absence of enforcement -- the fact that Corporations have no morals should come as no surprise -- they'

This is funny until you start taking it seriously -- then it becomes down right disturbing. Check out some visual critique of politics, government, big media, and all the things that go bump in the night. Want to see how entertaining it is bombing the hell out of Iraq? Care to see American politicians at their base-best? (Lord bless them!) Ever wondered what George W. and the Teletubbies have in common? Or how about the Last Supper revisited as the Last Pancake Breakfast? (By Dick Detzner -- who did a Mary Mother of God magazine cover that asks questions like: 'What to tell your husband when God knocks you up, Matthew 1:19.25') Very disturbing stuff. (Also too damn funny!)

Todd Bosely made a bobbing head Arnold doll. The world then went ape-shit -- for Todd that is. Martin Singer, Arnold's lawyer, sent a stern letter threatening to sue the hell out of Todd if he doesn't stop with the dolls. Apparently all images of Arnold is owned, and can't be used without permission. Seems like someone forgot to tell Arnold that as a public figure, he's fair game for media abuse. This was even made funnier because Singer copywrited his letter to Todd. Check out the book that gives the finger to Arnold. You can also check out Arnold's penis ... don't ask, just click on the link, it's funny!

On the web, you will find everything -- including a site that chronicles the plastic surgery escapades of celebrities.

Here's a bit of time waster for work -- think of it as the bringing out of your inner Dilbert.

"The basis, the very subconscious primal nature of man, consists of two questions: should I fuck it or should I kill it?" Just read that funny line on a blog.

Nicholas G. Carr says something that I agree with. This is a no brainer, and has been around for a while. The S-curve that predicts the evolution of technology adoption, and the z-curve, that predicts a technology's potential for providing competitive advantage. When selecting technology for competitive advantage, you really need to know where the technology lies on the z-curve. If it's at the beginning, it's expensive, but it has the potential to move you to the head of the pack. If you have already missed your chance, you might as well wait for it to become ubiquitous, because you're not getting to the head of the pack anymore. Granted, things are a little more complex than the oversimplfying -- like it depends on the industry's adoption of the technology. It may be bleeding edge in one industry, while it has been languishing as a commodity in another.

eWeek reports that a spammer who sent 850 millions spam messages through accounts he opened with stolen identities, was sentenced to as much as 7 years in prison. But that's not good enough -- for the revenge minded like me, I'd like to see him forced to eat nothing but spam for the rest of his stay in prison.

The Blog that brought the Iraqi peoples' voice to world is going to be a movie. Salam Pax, the 20-something, gay student from Iraq, wrote the blog to keep in touch with his friend Raed, who was studying in Egypt when the war broke out. The popularity of the blog spawned a book and from the book a movie deal.

This is an American public policy think-tank, that goes to show there is hope for America after all -- though not in their politicians. The organization publishes the Atlantic Monthly, with articles such as " Are We Still a Middle-Class Nation? " The organization also hosts public discourse on many diverse topics -- ranging from health, social welfare to science & technology. Most of these have transcripts posted on their website.

A guy from Kumamoto, Japan has built a flying model of the USS Enterprise. Cool!

OK, may not. But boy are they growing. Amazon.com that is. In the last five years, Amazon has grown from less than a billion to over $5 billion. Their expectations are that will continue to grow as Amazon differentiates from it's core books, music and videos. Already they're making money from businesses they've expanded to -- but how far can they go?

This McKinsey article looks at poverty in the world, and comes to the startling conclusion that things are not changing -- in fact at current rate of growth, it would take centuries for poor countries to catch up to where the G7 nations are -- that is, if they ever catch up. The McKinsey article contends that trying to solve third world poverty has been focusing on the wrong problems to solve -- the economic problem was viewed at an aggregated level, which loses the intelligence contained in the details. The article contends that productivity is the primary driver of economic growth, and it is something that developing countries lack -- and aren't even set up to foster, as competition is stymied government policies that strive to protect established production. Those that receive government favours tend to be large corporations, as any disruption in their productivity levels would lead to political and economic instability that a country may take sometime to recover from -- if e

Here's a quick quiz to test your ability to determine if an individual is a coder or a serial killer from their mugshots. I scored 8/10. How about you? When you're finished, check out the blog -- now that's a cool design! (I'm a tad jealous of the creativity and the technical expertise.)

A site where "science meets fiction" -- chronicling the inventions made by SciFi. Cool site! Read about intentional and sometimes, unintentional, SciFi items that make it into the news -- like the Church of Fools' debut, with the avatar of Reverend Jem Clines disappearing; or the idea of thin-film transistor LCD Displays, that first appeared in Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. The coolest however has got to be MADMEN -- Modular Asteroid Deflection Mission Ejector Node [PDF] -- a NASA concept to put low-orbit robots that could be called upon to attack asteroids that pose potential threats to Earth. (And the program name? The League of Extraordinary Machines. I love it!) This idea was first proposed by Robert Heinlein, in his 1939 story, Misfit.

Baseline Magazine has a great cover article on Human Capital Management -- the processes and system enablers of leveraging human assets to achieve business goals with efficiency and cost constraints. The article is a case study in the use of HCM software and processes in sports, and primarily focuses on the Boston Red Sox's drive for a world series championship this year by employing some smarts and lots of statistics in determining who will make it into their roster. If this is good for sports teams, think of how well it could be for businesses, where people can make or break a company. What I found totally surprising, was the fact that the software employed by the Red Sox is based on the Lotus Domino platform. Who'd have thought that? Baseline also has related articles on the use of HCM software in Basketball , Football [PDF], and Hockey [PDF].

Here's a BusinessWeek review of Nicholas G. Carr's book by the same title. Carr argues that IT is all washed up, and the industry's transformation powers are all gone. He directs businesses to stop looking for new gains from IT, and to instead being followers -- waiting until a new technology has proven itself before adopting it. I find this advice narrow and reflective of the kind of short-term thinking that permeates much of US policies and business thinking. Business that don't strive for long term growth and differentiate from their competitors are doomed to stagnation and decline. This stance from Carr isn't new. In his article in Harvard Business Review [PDF] last year, he made similar comments. Well, if nothing else, his postulating is good for a healthy debate -- if nothing else, it certainly should serve as a kick in the pants to CIOs who want to keep their jobs.

This shouldn't be news -- this should be obvious. Manufacturing is down in the US (and most first world countries in general). Well stop the presses. The politicians love to rally behind saving jobs, subsidizing manufacturing that can't compete with cheaper more efficient foreign competitors. But it's a losing battle -- it makes no sense to even try and win those battles. While the world's new manufacturers (the Asian countries) tuned their manufacturing for efficiency by employing technology, the first world countries let their manufacturing prowess slip by not investing in production capabilities. We're reaping the results now. Businesses that were not strategic, but kept a short-sighted eye on the bottom line have allowed this to happen. We let this happen.

Another article from Inbound Logistics magazine -- this one focusing on what makes a Logistics Leader. While the article talks about Logistics and the leadership required in the field, its generalities speaks to leadership in general. The following are highlights from the article I found interesting enough to underline while being jerked about on the subway this afternoon. Great leaders maximize ROI by inspiring their organizations to achieve goals. "As a leader, you must understand the surroundings and you must win the hearts and minds of your team to be successful. A great leader is able to bring the best out of each person whether on the warehouse floor or in the executive wing." Vision: "The vision is really a dream with a deadline ... leaders create something that becomes a passion for everybody."  -- need to differentiate from the present state -- "l

Over the years, Logistics seemed to have evolved to Supply Chain Management (SCM). As Logistics functions became more and more important to an enterprise -- that's where the dollars were being spent -- enterprises placed a lot of focus on it, to bring down costs and implement efficiencies and controls. The evolution from Logistics to Supply Chain Management is the natural move from managing down one constraint and moving on to another. After the Logistics hurdle was overcome, enterprises moved to their purchasing and distribution functions. This article from Inbound Logistics magazine , explores these topics and tries to make sense of Logistics, SCM and where it's all going next.

A team of researchers from the Mayo Clinic are hypothesizing the existence of nanobacteria. They're looking for further evidence of their existence -- if they do exist, we're looking at another set of bugs that can cause illness, and may have symbiotic relationship with us. The world just keeps getting bigger, doesn't it?

While the US wages war in Iraq to convert it to a model of Middle East prosperity, Iran, a member of Bush's "Axis of Evil," has been slowly converting itself to a market economy -- led mostly by moderates and conservatives within the country. More and more, the Iran story is shaping up to look like China's. No demise like the Soviet Union and no revolution needed. Just slow plodding conversion of state control to private control. The gains aren't only going to the country -- for a market economy to thrive, all resources must be exploited to their fullest -- and so women are gaining ground in participating in businesses -- owning a stake in the reforms. As they gain more influence in the country's economy, expect the demand for social change to follow.

The NY Times is reporting that google is going to release a search tool for information stored on PCs soon. The foray to PC search is seen as a preemptive strike at Microsoft, who plans on rearchitecting the Windows file system in Longhorn (due out in 2006) and make search of both the PC and internet a key feature of the new OS. Previously, Google's arrival on the desktop has been limited to their Deskbar product that allows internet search from a dialog box residing on the start bar.

BusinessWeek has does a good job covering the current state of regenerative medicine -- the catchall term for the fields of gene therapy, stem cell research, protein-based drugs, etc. Regenerative medicine is about accessing and exploiting the body's natural regenerative abilities -- but taking it to the extremes. Giving the body the ability to grow replacement parts for organs such as the heart and brain. It's not that far fetched. It's already being done in nature, in newts and the like, as well as in humans to a certain extent -- you lose some skin, your body can regrow it. Unlike the newts however, humans can't regrow a leg, or intestine, or spine, or eyes -- not yet anyway. The science is at its infancy, with many paths being explored across the world -- however, in North America, especially the US, Big Pharma is being stymied by the government that's bending to pressure from religious groups that see such science as unethical -- meanwhile, millions die e

Here's a cool idea -- build a personal wildlife sanctuary in your own backyard. This is timely, especially with the debates going on in Toronto regarding the use of pesticide -- cause using pesticide just doesn't kill weed -- it kills indiscriminately -- including things like ladybugs, butterflies, etc. So for the dumb-asses who want green grass, go get yourself some artificial turf. When I get myself a house with a backyard -- this is what I want for a garden -- a jungle.

Next time you use the washroom, you could be powering your electric toothbrush. OK, not really -- but NASA is looking at converting human waste to power to enable full utilization of all resources on board of spaceships on long voyages -- say to Mars, for example. Scientists are investigating the use of bacteria to convert human waste to usable organic compounds as well as electricity. The research is looking to create microbial fuel cells that will be powered by waste. This research could have a tremendous impact right here on Earth -- if we're up to it.

The Fraser Institute is an independent public policy organization. They publish a free monthly journal that serves as a review of public policy in Canada -- the conclusions in the journal tend to lean towards the Fraser Institute's interests, but the analysis tries to present information that is unbiased. If public policy, economics and Canada is of interest to you, this is site you'll want to bookmark.

BusinessWeek goes ga-ga over IDEO -- a design firm that not only design innovative products, services and the like, but has also created a sandbox where the customer experience can see some innovation. Armed with social scientists, designers, architects and engineers, IDEO has moved into the space traditionally occupied by management consultants, but takes a novel approach to analyze, design/build, prototype and implement process changes -- the results: clients that are quoted in the article are gushing -- and these are executives of companies like P&G, AT&T and GM. For a quick lesson of the IDEO way, click here .

If you think Gates is the devil himself, you'll laugh yourself silly when you see what Steve Baller does in his spare time. Does the man have no shame?!

Paul Sharpe of King's College, London, has successfully grown new, natural teeth by inserting harvested stem cells in the gums of mice. It's expected that within a couple of years, a similar procedure will be ready for clinical trials in humans. The process can produce new teeth within a few weeks. The teeth grows, attaching itself into the jawbone and hooking itself into the available blood and nerve supply.

Kakkattukuzhy M. Isaac, professor of Aerospace Engineering at University of Missouri-Rolla, is working on creating a flapping, gliding robot that could someday explore Mars. NASA is already thinking of putting complex robots on Mars to explore -- some of those are modeled after insects -- there is even an insect-sized flying robot already built. Isaac however is working on something a little bigger -- something the size of an eagle perhaps. The big barrier with a flapping robot is weight and energy. The gears and energy needed to power the gears are a problem. Isaac idea however is to use artificial muscles, made of plastics with the ability to flex when an electric charge is introduced, as well as change shape to glide more efficiently -- doing away with heavy gears. The robot would be powered by the Sun, taking the energy problem away. Thus far, only the wings have funding -- but if successful, the rest of the robot could be funded as well.

On this day, 50 years ago, in the case of Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka , the US Supreme Court ended federally sanctioned racial segregation in the public schools by ruling unanimously that " separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. " 50 years has passed, but are blacks any better off today? The answer is yes. They are more well off socially, economically and educationally. But since the late 80s, there has been slow reversal of the trend, and more and more, schools are becoming segregated again -- where there are schools dominated by whites, and visible minorities are provisioned schools that are usally underfunded and unequal. Read the BusinessWeek article .

Michael J. Mandel's Rational Exuberance has been excerpted in BusinessWeek. The book makes an argument for technology as a growth driver of the economy and paints an optimistic view for the US' economic future based on its ability to innovate. Technology innovations have continuously driven the US economy to achieve large scale growth -- which Mandel calls "exuberant growth." He's optimistic of the US future. There are numerous innovations on the edge of commercial viability; committment to R&D and education continues to expand in the US and the world (and what's good for the world economy is good for the US economy); and capitalism in the US feeds private capital funding and risk taking, encouraging and fostering innovative technologies that will push the production envelope. Of course, there are those who disagree. Evagelical-economists, funded by the political-self-interested, try to paint doom and gloom to further their own agenda -- how else do

Here's a tribute site to the Lord of the Rings -- but quite different. Funny. And different. Very different!

Be Picasso ... go on! This site features some nifty work with Macromedia's Flash.

Seems like Michael Cowpland is at it again. What he thinks of his wife is beyond me, but -- is that her gracing Zim's homepage? Those not keeping up with the trash of the Canadian high-tech industry will be forgiven for forgetting about Cowpland and his trophy wife. A gentle reminder then: Cowpland is the man who created Corel and then brought it to its knees. Check out the pictures: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]

(This was forwarded to me by a friend at work.) Trunk Monkey -- or as it was pointed out, chimpanzee -- is a trained monkey, with a steady source of ice-cold beer, living in the trunk of certain Subaru vehicles. It's good for a few things -- keeping your car stable as you drive, and mitigating risks posed by suburban miscreants bent on messing with you. Check out the site -- scroll down and enjoy the videos.

If you're like me and you hardly ever watch TV, you probably aren't contributing to society by taking your daily dose of commercials. Well, you can breathe a sigh of relief because the internet does have an aswer for everything -- this site keeps all those commercials around for you -- you can watch them online or download them to your computer. Just remember -- you need to play a commercial at least once every fifteen minutes while using your computer!

I recently finished Stephen King's The Drawing of the Three , the second novel in his Dark Tower series. There's probably enough written about the Dark Tower series already, so I won't bore you with yet another review. I will say however, that the series is quite a departure for King, who's more known for his horror series. For the uninitiated, the Dark Tower series is really a fantasy novel for adults. And yes, it can be scary too -- but it's not horror.

Increasingly, robots are entering our society -- from automations delivering bombs in Iraq and performing scouting duties in Afghanitan , to robot pets , servants and automations that toil endlessly in manufacturing plants . Robots are here to stay. Questions however abound -- will we face future conundrums posed by Issac Asimov's "I, Robot" -- or the Terminator and Matrix movies? Scientists are trying to stay ahead of the curve on this one, and at the end of January, they wrapped up the first symposium on roboethics in Italy. Where the future's headed? Nobody knows.

Just came back from seeing the Ladykillers. The movie was definitely quirky, with amazing performances by Irma P. Hall and Tom Hanks . For those who are familiar with the movies of the Coen Brothers , they'll find that the Ladykillers fit into their mould readily. (The movie is a remake of the original 1955 movie , starring Alec Guinness .) Check it out the trailer here .

The International Space Station made a pass over the north-eastern US at the beginning of this week. With a small telescope, it was visible in the night sky. What was really cool however was the eclipse of Jupiter that the ISS made on Tuesday night. To track the ISS, go to the Heavens Above site.

Here's a novel idea -- herding microbes. Yes, that's herding -- like herding cows, sheep, etc. Herding microbes together is a goal for scientists looking to bring microbes floating around together for testing and possible eradication. Imagine a few microbes in the space station -- or terrorist letting lose biological weapons -- being able to control what we can't see might not be such a bad idea. Scientists are working to develop detectors that can sift through large amounts of water and isolate the microbes. The detectors use a positively-charged electrode to attract microbes who's outer membrane are slightly negative in water. The detectors work by sifting water through successive electrode filters that increase the concentration of microbes in detector. The end result should be the capture of at least 90% of the microbes present.

The City of Toronto is holding a public auction tomorrow at the Exhibition Place -- on the block are hundreds of vehicles, office equipment, miscellaneous equipment and personal items. The auction is semi-annual, and gets rid of used items the city had in its possession.

The Ministry of the Environment has extended the smog warning until further notice for Toronto and surrounding areas. Summer is hear. Time to put on the masks.

Microbiologists have discovered a community of microbes living in the extreme environment at the bottom of Mono Lake in California. The bacterium strive in a mud environment with no oxygen and three times the salinity of sea water. How do they get their energy? From sulfur and other inorganic compounds. While we continue to explore our solar system looking for new life, it seems we still haven't found them all at home yet.

In North America, we're accustomed to a certain level of freedom granted the press -- and even though they sometimes squander it, prostitute it, we're still a better society for granting the freedom -- they are after all, representative of the peoples voice -- our voice. With the proliferation of the homegrown pundits on the internet -- blogs, journals, etc. -- that freedom has been lifted by anonymity to new heights. This is not true for the whole world however (and it's ironic when you realize that some of the technology that is employed curtail press freedom elsewhere in the world, was developed by freedom loving people and purposely sold to the authority of those countries) -- that's why organizations like Reporters Without Borders exist.

Plastic is everywhere. It's cheap. And it's about to revolutionize the chip industry if a few people succeed with their plans to put low power chips, batteries and LCDs together on plastic -- looks like they will too. The applications are endless -- from digital newspapers to displays on the milk carton -- to the often-spoke about "internet of things" -- where our consumer goods will communicate and share information amongst themselves -- maybe even buy and sell themselves instead of us getting involved. I can't wait to see the new world!

The cover article of last week's Business Week proudly hearlds the return of E-Biz! Seems like the rebound in the economy may be getting a few of the market junkies giddy with excitement again. And maybe they're justified. Does that mean that the lessons of the bursting tech bubble will be well learned? Well -- on by the ventures that succeed this time around -- the ones don't wouldn't necessarily have learned anything -- not to mention there are still those out there willing to invest in any half-baked scheme in the hopes of getting rich and getting out fast. Here's hoping they get crispy for their greed. (But enough my bantering.) The BusinessWeek article claims that there are six industries poised to take advantage of the internet and its commercial promises and have the potential to shake the entrenched players to their knees if they succeed. The industries: Jewelry, Online Bill Processing, Telecom, Hospitality, Real Estate and Software Development.

Could Wal-Mart actually be good for some neighbourhoods? This article contends that while Wal-Mart's bad press is justified in the suburbs where it moves in and wrests consumers from smaller players, Wal-Mart may actually serve to rejuvenate city neighbourhoods that are derelict due to the draw of their downtown areas. Most interesting -- I still think Wal-Mart is evil though!

If you're into something different, then you'll want to check out a few of the music acts participating in the South Asian Music Festival. Technically, this isn't really a festival -- it's a string of acts, spanning a couple of months, at different locations across Toronto. Tickets for most of the shows start at $30. I wanted to see Zakir Hussain, but missed them -- they were on, on Sunday -- Mother's day. But an act I may still catch is U. Srinivas .

The annual Distillery Jazz Festival, hosted at the ole Distillery District in Toronto, runs from May 20th to 30th. Some of the acts coming out for the festival include: the Shuffle Demons (I can't believe they're still playing) -- and they will be holding their "Reunion Tour - World Record Attempt at Dundas Square on May 30th; Shurum Burum Jazz Circus, and a whole lot more acts. There are a few I want to check out. The shows run all day during the weekends -- free of charge, as well as at night during the week and on weekends, but with a $30 cover charge at the door. The full program can be obtained here [PDF]. If you've got some spare time, they're also looking for volunteers -- and it doesn't look like it's too late to apply!

(female:) Ooh! Rock me Amadeus! (male:) Rock me Amadeus! Ro-ro-rock me Amadeus! (echoes) Rock me all the time to the top Er war ein Punker--- (He was a Punker) Und er lebte in der groben stadt--- (And he lived in the big city) Es war in Wien, war Vienna--- (It was Vienns, was Vienna) Wo er alles tat--- (Where he did everything) Er hatte Schulden denn er trank--- (He had debts, for he drank) Doch ihn liebten alle Frauen--- (But all the women loved him) Und jede rief:--- (And they shouted:) Come and rock me Amadeus--- Er war Superstar--- (He was a Superstar) Er war popular--- (He was popular) Er war so exaltiert--- (He was so exalted) Because er hatte Flair--- (Because he had flair) Er war ein Virtuose--- (He was a virtuoso) War ein Rockidol--- (Was a rock idol) Und alles rief:--- (And everyone shouted:) Come and rock me Amadeus--

Ever come across those co-workers that are "bit like thumb-suckers in knee pants, yearning for pats on the back?" Well, apparently who you are, and who your co-workers are depends a lot on yours and theirs, upbringing. The latest in consulting trend from those who sell miracles to make your team success (etc.) is to use family psychology theories and techniques -- after all, the first organization people ever are a part of, is their family. If you work in an office, you can guess at the amount of time that is wasted on office politics, not to mention the petty bickering, back-stabbing and complaining that goes on. Read a most interesting article from BusiessWeek magazine.

Here's a book review from BusinessWeek magazine -- it's about the business of the pharmaceutical industry -- a business that is about making money first and saving lives later. The book challenges some of the industry's claims about needing big profits to create the cures of tomorrow, when most of their R&D spending is spent on classes of medicines that already has lots of available options. What's more, the industry stance that they need to market their drugs to first world countries, charging big bucks in order to recover their R&D investment, before sending it cheaply to third world countries is false -- profits can be made by selling drugs cheaply to third world countries. They need it more -- they have more sick than the first world countries. Greater demand usually equals, well, greater consumption. Simply economics.

This is creepy. It's tough enough having to combat the regular stream of advertising that comes to us -- with psychological refinement, the messages are meant to penetrate and grab parts of our brains looking for a fix. But with ads today, we have a fighting chance, as the ads are refined and focused by shrinks that employ crude tools that are hardly accurate, prone to being wrong and gives a mature brain a chance. That's about to change. Enter hard science and the precision tools it employs -- suddenly the marketers have new high-tech weapons ready to dissect our thoughts and secrets, and turn them on us. Scientists are now using MRI scanners to build a better picture of how we think -- how we recognize -- and how we perceive something as cool.

This is a cool organization. It's a group that brings together impartial research on the environment, energy and natural resources to aid policymakers in shaping the world's future. So, what's so cool? The reports are free, and packed with information. If social issues are a concern for you, check this site out.

Another from Now -- I've ranted on this topic before -- the marketing of junk food and supersize meals in North America -- especially the US. (It always shocks me when I'm in the US, and I order a meal, the amount of food that is delivered.) The North America food industry spends #34bb a year in advertising for their $1.3tt market -- that accounts for a bulk of the $40bb a year the entire world spends on advertising foods, and for the North American population bulking up faster than the rest of the world. Every year 10,000 new food products join the 320,000 already on shelves. The article points out Oreo cookies. In 1990, there were only 6 varieties -- today? 27. How many ways can they make Oreos? Probably a lot more. How do we fight this? It's easy. Stop eating so friggin' much! We really don't need to consume so much food. North America produces an excess that it doesn't need. Unfortunately, the economics of the food industry drives them to jam m

I read this article in Now magazine yesterday -- it's all about propaganda, media and how images are perceived. Bush's war in Iraq is perceived differently at home than in Iraq -- simple reason being the images being shown in the US and Iraq. A lot also has to be said for the American government and military's lack of understanding of the Iraq (muslim) culture. America wants to win the Iraqis hearts and minds -- but they can't do that by mistreating and alienating the ordinary, everyday folk who just want the bombing, killing and noise to go away so they can live in peace.

If you like Fantasy art -- anything from SciFi to the weird and wonderous, here's a site with about 16,000 images (that's the claim). You have to sign up for a free account, then enjoy some of the most beautiful fantasy pics around. You'll find the works Luis Royo , Michael Möbius , Olivia de Berardinis , Vincente Segrelles , Larry Elmore , Ken Kelly , Jose del Nido, Hector Gomez, Brom , Simon Bisley , Boris Vallejo , Julie Bell and lots, lots, more. Yes, art nirvana. Enjoy! (And remember, some of these images contain nudity. Don't go there if boobies upset you.)

Galileo Galilei came up with the Equivalence Principle , a cornerstone theory of modern physics. It basically states that gravity will act on objects the same way, regardless of the composition of the material. So if you drop a grand piano and a sheet of paper from orbit onto the Moon, they would both reach there at the same time. Some scientists however, believe that the acceleration due to gravity, does to some degree, depend on the composition of the material -- and NASA scientists are about to test if Galileo is right, in an experiment that will bounce lasers off the mirrors left on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts. Instead of dropping an object onto the Moon, or dropping objects from the Leaning Tower of Pisa like Galileo did, the NASA scientists will be measuring the "dropping" of the Earth and the Moon onto the Sun.

This is kind of scary -- science is busily building better bugs to fight other bugs that infest crops on farms -- great idea -- no need to pollute the environment with pesticides -- but is it really better? We're letting lose on the environment something it had never had before, and who's to say what that's going to do to the balance in nature.

I loved this quote from Xerox's John Laing -- "We've moved from being consciously incompetent to consciously competent." He's talking about Xerox's adoption of Lean Six Sigma -- a combination of the GE's Six Sigma rigor with the lean manufacturing processes of Toyota Motor Corp. Xerox went down this path when they brought in GE Capital to help bring their billing processes under control -- believe it or not, Xerox, the "document company" was having troubles managing their own documents.

Michael Moore's new film is slated to be distributed by Miramax in the US -- Miramax is owned by Disney -- Ooops! Apparently Disney is trying to halt the distribution of the film, which criticizes President Bush for his links with the Saudis and his record before and after 9/11. The story goes that Disney is afraid of losing tax breaks it gets from the state of Florida, where President Bush's brother, Jeb, is the Govenor. (This is too funny!)

Comet NEAT will make its closest approach to Earth, at 48 million kilometres away, tomorrow. The comet will be visible just after sunset, as a fuzzy blob of light in the sky. If you're in the city, you'll want to use a binoculars or a small telescope to see it.

I missed this movie when it played at the Documentary Film Festival -- hopefully it wall make it to the theatres. The film is by filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, who traveled to 20 US cities, conducting interviews regarding America's continued growth. ( Thanks Naj, for the link. ) Here's the blurb advertising the film: During the journey, Spurlock also put his own body on the line, living on nothing but McDonald's for an entire month with three simple rules: No options: he could only eat what was available over the counter (water included!) No supersizing unless offered No excuses: he had to eat every item on the menu at least once It all adds up to a fat food bill, harrowing visits to the doctor, and compelling viewing for anyone who's ever wondered if man could live on fast food alone. The film explores the horror of school lunch programs, declining health and physical education classes, food addictions and the extreme measures people take to lose weight and re

It's hard not to view this with a heavy dose of cynicism -- is it Corporate coddling of the marketplace in order to generate goodwill and sell more running shoes? Or not? Well of course it's to sell more shoes. Reebok is in the business to sell more running shoes, at higher margins, thereby increasing shareholder value. Reebox will even do so at the expensive of women -- see my post regarding the Terry Tate ads from April . So it's quite surprising to find Reebok handing out their "human rights" awards to three young women and a young man from around the world, for their contribution to the fight for women's rights. I believe there are good people within Reebok who takes this seriously, and who are passionate about this -- however, the Terry Tate meets the HR Consultant , is nothing more than disrespectful of women. So when they're honouring International Women's Day , we shouldn't forget that along with their "human rights" awards

From Wired.com -- David Bowie is riling a few underground DJs by what seems like his commercial exploitation of one of their creations -- the mashup -- the melding of two different songs to create a new piece of music. DJs having been doing this for some time in clubs, and distributing the songs they create. There are a lot of legal issues with this of course, but it was underground -- until now.

May 11 - 16, 2004 -- the annual Worldwide Short Film Festival will land in Toronto. There are four venues , where the films will be playing: Quality Hotel Midtown, Isabel Bader Theatre, Innis College and Emmanuel College. There are quite a few fascinating movies playing -- I am already quite interested in the SciFi offering -- but the International series also offer some pieces that look quite good. Now all I have to do is get someone to go with me.

I was out tonight to pick up my daughter from school -- and even though there was a full moon playing hide and go seek with a cloudy sky, there was one spectacularly bright star in the sky. It was Venus. Not a star. It was incredible seeing it. I thought for sure it was a plane, as we're not far from Pearson. It wasn't moving though -- it was Venus. It's incredible to think we could see it so bright, despite being in the city. This week Venus will appear extremely bright in the sky -- with only the Sun and the Moon shining brighter than it. If you have a pair of binoculars or a small telescope, you will be able to see Venus as a crescent.

The latest CIO Magazine features a cover story that's speaks to the latest coming out of the research and consulting firms -- run IT like a business. Well, duh! Other business units in enterprises figured this out a long time ago, and matured IT shops are already there. IT has traditionally been a cost centre, mostly because it has traditionally been run by the geeks who's knowledge have been limited to bits and bytes. The smart ones left to start their own businesses and left the shop to be run with people with no business talent. IT is now trust into the new century, where technology is not only a business differentiator, it can also be used a competitive weapon. Suddenly IT needs to worry about more than just keeping the data centre running -- suddenly they also have to worry about the viability of the enterprise they support. Suddenly they have to be proactive. The consulting firms will use words like agile, adaptive and flexible to get the hormones of the geeks flo

Here's a cool site for fanboys and fangirls that haven't grown out of comic books as yet. The site has lots of free online comics, and serves as a portal for comic book creators to get together, meet and plan new projects. Cool place for the budding artist or writer!

I read this very interesting article in Discover magazine last month. It's about a metal concocted in the lab. Unlike most alloys, which are composed of two metals in a crystalline structure -- that's highly ordered for the uninitiated -- the glassy metals add a third element to the mix with a dramatically different atomic radius -- this upsets the nicely ordered alloy, forcing it to solidify in a random, or amorphous pattern , similar to glass. Crystalline Structure Amorphous Structure The results? Well, an alloy that can be injection molded as it were plastic. The alloy is amazingly strong, hard, with a strength/weight ratio that reminds me of carbon-nanotubes. It also has elastic properties that seem almost miraculous. Under stress, most metals deform -- amorphous metals simply bounce back into shape. So why isn't this amazing metal being used to make ... well, cars for instance? Unfortunately, it's still