This editorial by Ed Foster echos my sentiments on AllAdvantage.Com (and companies like Epidemic.Com), but I’m not wholeheartedly recommending a page read — when I went to the page, InfoWorld.Com decided to throw a full-motion, full-audio ad on the top for Windows 2000. By the time the ad had loaded, I was already a few screens into the article; I had to figure out what was making my computer spout ads at me, page up a bit, and find the itty-bitty, vertically-oriented stop button to make the damn thing quit. That was the last page I will read on their site, unless I get a response to the email I sent Laura Wonnacott explaining that this was just an oversight on their part, and that things like this won’t continue on their site.

I somehow missed Salon’s excellent article on The Simpsons vs. alt.tv.simpsons. Having abandoned regular Usenet reading long ago in the face of the spammers and pornographers, I didn’t catch any of the references in the show; this puts them in perspective, and it’s all actually quite funny.

Wow — the U.S. and Japan are about to launch the Astro-E satellite, with a sensor that has to be cooled to 0.060 Kelvin (-460 degrees Fahrenheit), making it “the coldest object in space.” Nasa has a press release that has a basic explanation of the cooling system — solid neon, liquid nitrogen, and paramagnetic crystals with a powerful superconducting magnet. (Pet peeve: the Kelvin scale doesn’t use the term “degrees”, and the science fact-checker at CNN should probably know that sort of thing.)

Quick note to the GOP: despite my disagreements with you, if David Duke disapproves of how you’re running the party, then something must be right…

Not too long ago, Phil and I were discussing the cool first-and-ten line that all the major networks are adding into their broadcasts of football games. I just learned that the New York Times explained the technology in their Circuits section. (I saw a TV piece on this not too long ago, but it mentioned something about GPS receivers and sideline placements as well; I wonder if there are other technologies that were tested and passed over.)

Ummmmmm… does anyone want to explain this to me? Or perhaps this?