An interesting article from The Scotsman tells of a school in Leicester, The Midlands, UK that has decided not to accept free fruit from the government because the food is to be funded by the National Lottery. The school's students are 96% Muslim and the parents were surveyed before the …

Thanks to RS, I have a better-late-than-never story about GSM roaming in the US. A press release from AT&T Wireless indicates that a deal was struck in April that would allow joint roaming between the AT&T and T-Mobile GSM networks starting in June of this year. The fine …

For the first time in a number of years, I went down to the mall with friends for the fireworks display, and I have to say, it was great. Despite the increased crowds (Metro was calculating an additional 60,000+ people over last year), we had little difficulty finding what …

After a significant international outcry over "hundreds of thousands" of artifacts being stolen, and the revelation later that the number was closer to 12,000 (3,000 of which have been recovered), the now-famous Iraq Museum in Baghdad reopened for a few hours on Wednesday. An article from the New …

The National Air and Space Museum (the worlds most visited museum) is not only getting a new Annex this year, but it is also going to be captured via QuickTime VR. A page from WorldVR describes the project, which is being sponsored by Apple, Nikon, Hyatt, Lexar, Sony, and others …

BAR drivers Jacques Villeneuve and Jenson Button will spend the next day on pins an needles until a French court can decide Friday if their cars will be released in time for them to start practice tomorrow at 11am. An article from BBC News details the dispute between the team …

Popular Science has an article this month about Chuck Cramer, a man who works for Underwriters Laboratories doing product testing, and I want his job. OK, maybe not seriously, but I wouldn't mind filling in for a few weeks if he needs to take a sabbatical. Chuck gets to blow …

According to an article from BBC News, which I'm a bit surprised I couldn't find references to anywhere else this morning, US researchers at the Center for Human Reproduction have created an embryo with both male and female characteristics from one male and one female embryo. The combination was destroyed …

The CDC has decided (according to an article from the Washington Post) that the source of the current Monkey Pox outbreak in the US is a set of imported rodents from Ghana. In order to quell the outbreak, it has ordered that the 818 rodents in the shipment (including Gambian …

I was completely taken aback by this article from the New York Times this morning about a fashion show in Milan showcasing European and other designers. It appears that after all of the US/Europe tension over the War in Iraq, fashion designers are calling on a touch of America …

BBC News is reporting that the European Parliament has passed a set of laws allowing GM foods into Europe for the first time in five years, albeit with labeling requirements. The new rules are still a bit of a problem for the US because of the strict requirements on labeling …

Listen.com (owned by Real Networks and running the Rhapsody music service) is quoted in this Wired article as having doubled the number of CD track burns sold after cutting the price per track burn from $0.99 to $0.79. Although the company has not released total numbers of …

According to an article from BBC News, Kraft Foods, America's largest food maker, is planning on reducing portions for its snack foods because of concerns over obesity. Although the company says its primary concern is customer health, they also admit that they are taking action out of concern over lawsuits …

The New York Times had a great article that starts to give "kids in the digital age" some of their due. Instead of ranting on about their attention span, willingness to steal music, and their infatuation with TV and computer screens, Frank Rich looks at the rapid sale of Harry …

DirecTV and EchoStar are threatening the state of South Carolina with a lawsuit if $30M in taxes that the companies allege were illegally levied upon satellite TV customers are not refunded. The Triangle Business Journal reports that the companies (really company at this point) have made the threat to conform …

It took me almost 5 days to make it through J K Rowling's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, however, it was concentrated in a total of five reading sessions: 350 pages on the plane, 3 sessions of about 45 pages each at the hotel and the marathon …

Google has a new advertising program called AdSense that provides automatically targeted advertising for web sites. The idea is simple, they use their searching technology to decide which ads make sense for your site and inserts them into the page (using the standard graphics advertising practice). If somebody clicks on …

An article from the Washington Post raises a new thread from China's giant Three Gorges Dam project: environmental damage from pollution. Since the Three Gorges Dam will be the largest single hydroelectric facility in the world, generating 18.2 Million Kilowatts of power when it is fully online, you would …

Business 2.0 has an article (with a pie graph) about who gets your music dollar when you buy songs online. The gist is that the artists pick up somewhere between 8% and 12% (some a bit higher) and the site gets the largest portion (about 40%). It is unknown …

A good techno-political article on Wired about the Iraqi internet service provider and its trials and tribulations through the regime and bringing the internet back on line in the country. Particularly interesting was a quote from the head of the organization who said in an interview last month that the …