Hmmm, if you really want to give that nephew you hate so much a harmful toy: Shock Tanks is a radio controlled tank battle. Each Tank is equipped with an infra-red cannon. Every time you hit your opponent’s tank, He gets a painful electric shock from controller.
The object is to knock his tank out of commission, and make him suffer in the process.
Demo: Shock Tank game More: www.shockingfun.com Seen on: Kassa
The Internet is no longer a separate world for the in-group; millions of people routinely come online. Rather than isolating users in a virtual world, the Internet extends community in the real world, and connects people through individualized and flexible social networks rather than fixed and grounded groups.
Article of Net Lab Director of the Centre for Urban & Community Studies of the University of Toronto, Barry Wellman. (html / pdf)
In the end of this very easy to read article Dr. Wellman recommends us to read Manuel Castells as guide for further reading, old school! I recommend Dutch Dutch social scientists who are currently writing about social networks and internet communities.
Skip Manuel Castells book The Rise of the Network Society as an introduction. If you are interested in the study of social networks and internet communities, read the books of Jan van Dijk as basics instead.
No it’s not web 2.0, but sure there are some big changes coming up, even in this beta. I don’t know the exact insides, but I hope the version will make it more useable for high load traffic and more secure blogging. There’s no changelog off course so quickly after the release of 2.0 , but let’s hope it won’t be long.
More: wordpress 2.0 BETA
(reminder: beta version)
Update: WordPress.com now without invite available! Blogger now really has competition I would say.
For the first time, Iraq’s political factions on Monday collectively called for a timetable for withdrawal of foreign forces, in a moment of consensus that comes as the Bush administration battles pressure at home to commit itself to a pullout schedule.
The announcement, made at the conclusion of a reconciliation conference here backed by the Arab League, was a public reaching out by Shiites, who now dominate Iraq’s government, to Sunni Arabs on the eve of parliamentary elections that have been put on shaky ground by weeks of sectarian violence.
These plans could potentially have a disastrous effect on the stability of Iraq. I therefore do not want the American forces to withdraw without a strategic plan how to help Iraq.
The mistress boom is contributing to a surge in divorces — and fierce battles over property when relationships collapse. Not long ago, Beijing amended the country’s marriage law to make men who indulge in mistresses pay heavy penalties and to give their spouses greater rights in separations. la.times
Link: Trigger Happy TV
The belgium clone of the english and dutch one, but very funny and web format is streaming ongoing. Ideal tv.
via Ochblog.
Novib and download.nl want you to sign the petition for free trade online and in return they offer you free music on www.downloadday.nl.
Great cause and great idea.
Update: The playlist is online!
The new draft obliges communications providers to retain all telephone and internet traffic data for a year (phone calls) and six months (internet data), but it also requires governments to compensate businesses for the costs they will incur in so doing.
Website: www.theregister.co.uk
Via: http://blog.tijs.org
Previous post: Data retention is no solution
Pandora Music – nice flash site which creates instantly quick a music radio station of your tast. Just enter your artist, the rest comes instant. Very easy to use, but off course actually not that much differerent from an internet radio station. Like the flash though.
There are a couple of Dutch websites where you can place an advertisement 
if you need a freelancer.
Very useful if you are looking for a copywriter, a developer or a translator. Freelancers can register for free on most of these websites.
www.freelance.nl
www.freelancecopy.nl
www.kellysearch.nl
Via: www.delijst.net
The dramatic finding comes from a study of ocean circulation in the North Atlantic, which found a 30% reduction in the warm currents that carry water north from the Gulf Stream. (..)The last shutdown, which prompted a temperature drop of 5°C to 10°C in western Europe, was probably at the end of the last ice age, 12,000 years ago.(..) “We don’t want to say the circulation will shut down,” he told New Scientist. “But we are nervous about our findings. They have come as quite a surprise.”
More at New Scientist (2005) & How Global Warming May Cause the Next Ice Age… (2004)
We personally lost the plot regarding the global warming at bit with this news..
You really have to read this: How to come up with Breakthrough Ideas
Brilliant, wildly creative people can pull breakaway ideas from thin air. The rest of us need tools. EQing is the tool we used to design the Head First series, and we’ve been using it ever since.
Bert, Eric, and I are all audio freaks — we lust after the giant mixing boards at live shows, confident (and delusional) that we could do it so much better, if only we could get our hands on those sliders. So, an audio equalizer was a natural metaphor for us, and this is my first attempt to explain how we use the concept of EQing to brainstorm new designs.
Website: headrush.typepad.com
