I had a thought the past few days that sites like digg.com are making our "news" orientated site obsolete.  So, I pose two questions to the group.

#1 Am I nuts or do you agree?

#2 What can we do to spruce things up or at least make the site more conducive to a world with an attention span of a squirrel?

My apologizes, if I have offended any squirrel lovers, Zoo Boy.

Hurry now, prices like this won't last!

http://biz.yahoo.com/cnnm/070712/071207_parkingspots.html?.v=4

We get clogged drains and nature can empty a lake in just a couple of months!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6225676.stm 

George Lucas Announces Two More Star Wars Movies | /Film

I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Contain toxic levels of mercury…  So now what?  I was just thinking about converting several lights in my house to CFL to "do my part" and now I read this.

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=aa7796aa-e4a5-4c06-be84-b62dee548fda

Time magazine article about how a governmental system has managed to stifle creativity and the entrepreneurial spirit. The article goes onto explain how the French are looking to pull themselves out of their rut.  If you have ever heard me rant about bureaucracy and well meaning but misguided government intervention before, this is why!

The real reason that I like this article is the feeling of pride and hope I get as our generation is beginning to take the reins of power and influence.  We have such an opportunity in the world to bring forth a new meaning of cooperation, innovation and opportunity.

It is somewhat long but it is a very good read!

One million species are cataloged so far…

Knight Rider car up for sale – Drive.com.au

Restored to its debut-season glory, the modified black 1982 Pontiac Trans Am is being offered at $US149,995 at a Dublin auto dealership.

HA! I win the race to post this first!…OK maybe the race was only in my own head…but I still win! Seriously though, I thought this would happen "some day" but I am completely shocked at how fast the whole thing has come together. And $1.29 per song is not bad, especially considering they are doubling the bit-rate too!

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/04/02itunes.html

New tower nears approval after new design is unveiled.

Pictures and renderings.

Comparison of other buildings in Chicago.

Current World's Tallest.

Future world's tallest in Dubai… Burj Dubai. (The construction photos are amazing!)

Yes, I'm the resident architecture geek.

I think all of us in the IT world have seen at least minor headaches with the DST change this year. This article looks at whether or not it was worth it and what is most disturbing to me is this line toward the end, "the bill has a provision for the country to return to the old daylight savings calendar". Ummm…I don't know about anyone else out there but I certainly don't want to go through all of this again in a couple of years.

Apple Computer's popular iPod music player could become a flight data recorder (FDR) following an announcement by US light aircraft manufacturer LoPresti SpeedMerchants to introduce the device in the cockpit of its Fury piston aircraft.

Full story

That's Peter Gutmann's assessment of Microsoft Vista in his technical, economic and performance analysis of the compromises in Vista. This document is a must-read if you are interested in how the performance and stability of the system for which you paid hard-earned cash will be adversely affected. These issues all stem from demands by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to prevent the copying of HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, and other content on personal computers, even for fair use backup. A great article written several years ago on this development sits on the Freedom to Tinker blog. The Electronic Frontier Foundation also has an excellent analysis of this cozy and far-reaching relationship here. Lest you think that this is just paranoid hype, read Microsoft's own Output Content Protection and Windows Vista page and accompanying white paper for yourself.

For the full story see: http://www.mobiletechreview.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Board=tankerbobblog&Number=26899

Now off the shelf components allow you to build your own "open source" Fab@Home. Anyone can download the plans at http://www.fabathome.org.

See the article at sciencedaily.

There are definitely some people who get too distracted by their cell phone or iPod while trying to do something else and end up doing something stupid or reckless but have we really come to this? There's a bigger issue at play here and that is the question of when government becomes too pervasive. When does the idea of punishing the masses for the faults of the few go too far? I would say this is one of those cases but others may disagree with me..