May, 2006

  1. Just Let The Alligators Attack

    Rather than shark attacks this time around, apparently the new sensational media story of the summer is going to be alligator attacks (they’re apparently sexier than deer, which apparently actually kill more human beings every year than alligators — of course the deer aren’t trying to eat the people). Anyway, should you find yourself the…

  2. Holy Optimization, Batman

    A long time ago in a galaxy far away I used to do a lot of newspaper writing but got burned out by that and figured I could reach just as many, if not more, people on the web. So 10 years ago I registered a domain (and then a dozen or so more) and…

  3. Parents in China Sue Over Warcraft Suicide

    Parents of a 13-year-old Chinese boy are suing the distributor of “Warcraft: Orcs and Humans” in that country after their son committed suicide after playing the real-time strategy game for 36 hours straight. The Associated Press quotes a Xinhua News Agency report that the boy left behind a suicide note saying he wanted “to join…

  4. About Those Terrorist Video Games

    In early May, Reuters ran a story about a hearing of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence where a Defense Department official claimed that terrorist groups were using video games as part of their recruitment efforts. According to the Reuters story, Tech-savvy militants from al Qaeda and other groups have modified video war games…

  5. TinFoil.Com

    TinFoil.Com is an excellent source of information about early wax cylinder recordings. The site has a monthly cylinder recording posted in MP3 and Real format, and also sells CDs of cylinder recordings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

  6. Creative Sues Apple Over iPod Interface

    As I mentioned the other day, Creative Labs’ $100 marketing effort to overtake Apple has led to Apple controlling 75 to 80 percent of the portable MP3 player market, while Creative posted a $114 million loss in its recent 3rd quarter financial results. So what do you do if you’re in Creative Labs’ shoes? Of…