Big Musics Worst Move Yet

One has to admit: The RIAA sure is tenacious in pursuing its strategy. What it doesnt seem to realize, though, is that it has already lost the war. The recording industrys hardball tactics have fueled a technological shift thatll make it nearly impossible to pursue file swappers in the future.
How so? The culture of fear and loathing that the RIAA has created is starting to put encryption on the must-have list of every Joe and Jane Internet user. The results will be wide-ranging and will pose a threat to the movie industry, the software industry, and just about any other industry involved with the creation and sale of intellectual property.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2004/tc20040127_2819_tc047.htm

New Mars Rock Found

Scientists say the fragments are magmatic rocks. Magmatism is the main process by which water moves from the core of planets to their surface. From a magma chamber below Mars "It is a remarkable experience to hold it in your hand," Bruno Fectay said. "When you hold it you are in a Martian magmatic chamber, deep in a volcano under the surface of Mars. "We will never be able to go to such a place. This rock is our passport." Further analysis will help clarify the processes that produced magmas on Mars, and perhaps make it possible to estimate the quantity of fluids - and therefore water - released by volcanic activity on the planet in the past.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3414143.stm

Esthero: Breath From Another

Excellent downtempo electronica CD. Good for chillin, good for codin. Worth a listen.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000062H5/qid=1074135492//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i0_xgl15/102-0919677-4322560?v=glance&s=music&n=507846

Bill Jensen: Work 2.0

Excellent read. Turns out us creative knowledge workers dont form a pool, we form a puddle, one that is drying rapidly. We are in demand in a low economy more than ever. Time to stand up and demand ROI for our investment in the company, not the other way around.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0738208043/qid=1074135335/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-0919677-4322560?v=glance&s=books

Po Bronson: What Should I Do With My Life?

Listened to this audiobook on my iPod. A rambling stream of consciousness list of stories about people that have asked this question, from the very human to the sublime. Very good food for thought, a touchstone in amidst the confusion of life.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375758984/qid=1074135148//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i0_xgl14/102-0919677-4322560?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

New StrongBad Email

http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail94.html

The Art Of Deception

This book wasnt so hot. Rambling, presenting the same ideas over and over. Simple message: tell people at your company to not give any info out over the phone or email, ever. Ill save you the 300 pages. Skip this one.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0471237124/qid=1073328543//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i0_xgl14/002-3126239-4140041?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Rethinking the Future

This book is about companies re-inventing themselves from the ground up. Its official: heirarchies are dead. Take charge of the future to to make sense of the change. Redifine yourself. "If you think youre good, youre dead." "Capitalism depends upon people working terribly hard to make other people rich." Our corporate culture has thus lost its idealism. We need to get it back. We are giving society a mind of its own -- thats why it seems out of control. A very cool read.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1857881087/qid=1073328092//ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-3126239-4140041?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Stardust Takes Pics Of Comet

Team Stardust, NASAs first dedicated sample return mission to a comet, passed a huge milestone today by successfully navigating through the particle and gas-laden coma around comet Wild 2 (pronounced "Vilt-2"). During the hazardous traverse, the spacecraft flew within 240 kilometers (149 miles) of the comet, catching samples of comet particles and scoring detailed pictures of Wild 2s pockmarked surface. "Things couldnt have worked better in a fairy tale," said Tom Duxbury, Stardust project manager at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "These images are better than we had hoped for in our wildest dreams," said Ray Newburn of JPL, a co-investigator for Stardust. "They will help us better understand the mechanisms that drive conditions on comets." "These are the best pictures ever taken of a comet," said Principal Investigator Dr. Don Brownlee of the University of Washington, Seattle. "Although Stardust was designed to be a comet sample return mission, the fantastic details shown in these images greatly exceed our expectations." The collected particles, stowed in a sample return capsule onboard Stardust, will be returned to Earth for in-depth analysis. That dramatic event will occur on January 15, 2006, when the capsule makes a soft landing at the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range. The microscopic particle samples of comet and interstellar dust collected by Stardust will be taken to the planetary material curatorial facility at NASAs Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, for analysis.
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/stardust_update.html

Spirits Healthy On Mars

"Its a place almost ... tailor-made for our vehicle," Mars Exploration Rover chief mission investigator Steve Squyres said. "Its a glorious crater. We have hit what the science team believes is the scientific sweet spot." The pictures, taken at mid-afternoon Mars time, show a vast expanse of what appears to be desert extending to the horizon in every direction. The scientists were intrigued by dust-filled hollows they said may be one of the rovers first stops. They also were trying to gauge the distance to a series of ridges.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,61785,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_5