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This is a long time coming and a really late post. I apologize. I got so busy surfing, I forgot why I was surfing – to editorialize my little slice of the web. So here’s three gems from this morning’s surf.

CNET has a decent article about search engine privacy. There’s plenty of interesting survey data linked to in the article. Search engines are basically reacting to the insane security breach AOL had last year when users could pull up all the search terms that went through AOL at a certain point in time. These privacy issues are also being addressed because, as the article points out, search histories are beginning to be used for criminal convictions.

Have you ever sealed a bacon and an egg in a sealed environment and let them rot? I haven’t. That’s why I like the internet. I can learn from other people’s experiences in a fraction of the time. Great pictures included.

Companies like FOX have equal access to wikis. Surprise? Not really. Changing articles to reflect their company in a more flattering light? Priceless. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were entire PR armies bent specifically to monitor and edit wiki articles to serve a corporation’s pleasure.

a wal-mart ethics fiasco? they have ethics?

a fun little flash game teaching kids – and politicians – how to gerrymander. maybe some kid will have the sense to make a libertarian district or fifty.

i like british news, it’s witty and informative, and specifically not american news. so when they say their people have a problem with liver disease, that doesn’t include me right? i did a quick tally of drinks this week:

• Monday: beer at guitar hero night ~ 1 drink
• Tuesday: Dinner with Sarah ~ 2 drinks
• Wednesday: I really don’t remember what I did on wed. but I’m pretty sure I didn’t drink anything ~ 0 drinks
• Thursday: Bowling ~ 1 drink
• Friday: Father’s Day ~ 2 drinks
• Saturday: Sarah’s parents were in town ~ 4 drinks
• Sunday: apres driving range nightcap ~ 2 drinks

So tally tally tally and bam! 12 drinks in a week. Am I damaging my liver. I don’t know. Does anyone know?

and finally, quite possibly more interestingly, Isaac Newton throws in his opinion on the end of days. note that the title of the article says that the world will definitely end in 2060 according to Mr. Newton. THAT’S NOT WHAT HIS LETTER SAYS AT ALL YOU TARDS. their own article clearly states

“It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner,” Newton wrote. However, he added, “This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail.”

I guess all that matters is that you get people to read your stupid site. GREAT JORB. meh.

it’s kind of a slow day at work, and i feel that i’ve been delinquent in my surfing/slacking duties. so i give to you another really long list of internet goodies of the moment.

i’m tempted to put this weird food entry into the abusables department. alas, i will spare us all the fear factor like suspense and give you the frog shake from south america, via megnut.

Somehow, rotten tomatoes gave the upcoming movie “Knocked Up” a 90%. This movie is from the guys that did 40 year old virgin, and all i can say is, “not as good as grandma’s boy.” Now back me up on that one.

From my friends over at the freakonomics blog i give you the wildly titillating headlines of Pravda. I have nothing else to say about this, except wildly out of context hilarity.

Those witty researchers at ask yahoo are at it again. A pretty informative, entertaining, and useless factoid on a homeless man who owns the record to most arrests ever.

I’m a huge fan of the short-lived scifi series firefly, and the subsequent movie, serenity. That said, after further research and planning, there is a really very good chance that I will attend a benefit screening in philly. It benefits women’s equality and rights worldwide.

I wasn’t aware this was even happening, but apparently, there was a sizable digg uprising over a series of hexadecimal numbers that is a key to unlocking dvds. your usual money grubbing mpaa suits were involved, and in the end, i think the light side of the force won out.

Up next: Instructables round up. but i don’t feel like doing it quite yet. maybe this afternoon.

The first actual news story I’ve read on the mass deaths of bees around the world. Particularly significant for farmers who rely heavily on bees to pollinate crops at crucial points in their development.

Useful firefox add-on: FishEyeTabs. This add-on makes your tab bar kind of like the task bar for osx. I think it inadvertently removes my tab close buttons though. I’ll have to look into it. Otherwise, I highly recommend this. Via Lifehacker.

And we’re back after a grueling weekend.

Interesting, common sense blog article on Free and Open Sourced Software (FOSS). While this article is probably a little oversimplified, I’m always interested in the benefits/drawback of free software that you can reprogram yourself (if you’ve got the programming resources).

A new virus was discovered in Australia after three patients received transplants and subsequently died. Their organs were from the same donor. Somewhat gruesome, but the doctors seem upbeat simply on the fact that they were able to detect and will be able to test it further.

Mac’s are hack-proof… sort of. I didn’t see any specifics on the rules that were laxed to make this possible. I find it interesting that he spent 9 hours programming the site to exploit the security hole. Intense.

I’m not totally versed in N. Korean culture. But this UK Times article about a man not selling them anymore giant rabbits for consumption is just cool. (That they are using rabbits as food, not that he’s not selling to N. Korea anymore). Because rabbits reproduce so quickly, this seems like a great way to relieve some food shortage issues.

The Twinky vs. the Carrot? A great article on obesity, caloric pricing, the Farm Bill and politics. Via Megnut.

Some phenomenal hand-made electronica instruments. I really need to try my hand at some of this. Sigh. Via Made.

A free and open sourced bass synth modeled after the Roland TB-303. (NOT A CLONE, mind you). Another musical project endeavor. Sigh, sigh.

Article from BBC on sleep and how much you should be getting. 8 hours isn’t really standard, the article says about 7.25 is OK. I think I need like 9, because I’m always tired at work. There’s just not enough time in the day for sleep.

The leader, Boris Yeltsin, is dead. His career seems to be marked with varying highs and lows. He seemingly ushered both democracy and economic decline into Russia.

Japanese like the wii so much they’re making cell phones with motion-based games. I just wish that instead of having their own games, they could connect to the wii and be used to some capacity. A NINE+ BUTTON CONTROLLER WITH MOTION! overkill? nahhh

Surfing through a google reader version of megnut, a funny link to zip lock bags caught my eye. Curious, I now want to make poached french foods sans zip-lock baggies.

In other gaming news, GTA IV is killing me because I can’t read anything about it from work.