Wednesday, Hawaii Governor Ben Cayetano signed into law a measure that allows seriously ill people to grow, possess, and use marijuana if they have their doctors’ approval. This ads Hawaii to a growing list of states that are ignoring the federal government and decriminalizing marijuana use in at least limited circumstances. The story appears to be getting limited mainstream coverage, but there is a story over at The Marijuana Policy Project. The self proclaimed Principality of Sealand, an abandoned WWII fortress off the coast of England, recently became the home of HavenCo, the first so-called data haven; a high security, high privacy location for the storage of information. One of the key elements of this idea –seen in Neil Stephenson’s novel Cryptomicon— is that it has to exist in a small country that is willing to trade the revenue such a critter will bring for telling the U.S., the other members of the G8 and international organizations to take a hike. Questions of usage by terrorists and criminal organizations go without saying, but with the radical erosion of civil liberties and privacy in the electronic –and to a lesser extent, the "real"– realm, the majority of the users will more likely be legitimate individuals and companies. So far, the problem hasn’t impinged the daily lives of too many people, but one begins to wonder when the trends will coincide with the delusions of the paranoid. In that environment, it’s little surprise that people are becoming more and more interested in … Continue reading changing the rules →

Live in the U.S. and not registered to vote? In most states you have to register in person. But, you can find Voter Registration Applications online for every state but three (North Dakota, New Hampshire and Wyoming). We’ll spare the jokes about where we could fit the populations of those three states. Anyway, if you want to sway things for the next four years, check out BeAVoter.org Looking for work in Technical, Marketing and Executive fields? A friend of ours is looking for employees to fill 5,000 positions. Make sure you mention us: ISP Sales. Time for the Hopelessly Complete Waste of Time… Remember balls of yarn and aluminum foil? Thought they were a relic of the last half of the last century; a siliness begun during some World War or another? Maybe, but balls of rubberbands are forever. You can even donate to Megaball. To quote the website, it now has 6200 ruberbands "based on a mass ratio determination (1.03 g/band). I estimate that only 3.3×1034 more rubberbands are necessary to turn Megaball into a neutron star." Donate now! Share with: TwitterRedditEmailLinkedInFacebook

Trying to find local music in Dallas? There are a number of good sites listing local musicians and bands. Dallas Area Music has a good design, but –like others for the area– is incomplete, missing local fixtures like Gropius, Slow Roosevelt and Jump Rope Girls. Share with: TwitterRedditEmailLinkedInFacebook

A bill to criminize drug links has been stalled in committee –thankfully. If it passes, will search engines be prosecuted because you can do searches like this unless they hire hoards of people to review every site they index? What about marijuana and other drug sites –arguably legal in general under the First Amendment to the U.S. Consitution– that link to other pages in their own domain? Have we once again discovered proof that politicians are proof you can be stupid, foolish and impractical all at the same time? Enquiring minds want to know… Speaking of stupid politics, if you want to skirt that cold war relic –the cuban travel ban— a former CIA agent is ready to help you out via his web-based travel agency. Additional Coverage: Wired. "contemporary… society can be led anywhere that looks attractive, glamorous and seductive" is part of an excellant Bruce Sterling manifesto advocating a new approach to environmentalism: Viridian Green. Sounds intriguing. We’ve reworked our news feeds (linked to the right) so that only one topic shows up at a time. This should make it much quicker for those surfing on a modem. And, not only are we back (again), but so is our famously non-famous Hopelessly Complete Waste of Time. This time, it’s the World Sexual Records. Learn what species have the largest, uhm, like, you know, uh… apendage and other deep and meaningful bits of data that you know you want to know. Share with: TwitterRedditEmailLinkedInFacebook

NASA is planning a 2010 launch for the first solar sail vehicle. Solar sail crafts –propelled by the force of sunlight on a large sail– have been discussed for decades in the scientific community and science fiction novels, but one has never been built before. The craft will not only be the first one of it’s kind, but it’s the first planned instellar flight by a man-made vehicle and it’ll be the largest and fastest every launched into space from here. After only eight years, it will pass the Voyager spacecraft; Voyager will have been in flight 41 years at that point. If you want to be in on something a little more short-term, TransOrbital, Inc. plans to launch the first commercial mission to the moon next year. They’re currently taking bids on eBay for the opportunity to have the first business card in the spaceship. Bidding started at $500 and the winner gets a certificate and only pays if the spaceship gets to the moon. The venture is one of a growing number of efforts to use captialism to return to the moon and, later, travel beyond there. Share with: TwitterRedditEmailLinkedInFacebook

We’re still looking for original press release, but according to MacCentral, Palm and Delphi and planning to provide auto-handheld integration involved voice recognition and other goodies. Heck, I’d settle for a cellphone widget and a lightweight headset for the Palm so I’d be able to back up my phone numbers and keep them in one place. Anyway reading with a connection to Palm or Handspring? I’ll be happy to beta-test such a critter or give them lots of ideas. In the more immediate realm, there’s now a PC –with trackpad, but no monitor or keyboard mind you– that’s about a pound with the CD and floppy and only slighly larger than a CD walkman. If you really want to lighten your load leave the CD and floppy at home for something not much bigger than a pack of cards. Team it up with a USB-to-Ethernet adaptor, some googles or a TV adaptor –in place of the monitor– and a tiny keyboard and some people are going to be in serious heaven. According the company’s website, it is capable of running Linux. Cost: $899.00-$1243.00. Drool. Purchase: iBuyPower. Manufacturer: SaintSong. Despite rumors to the contrary, there’s Lucas has not announced a DVD release for Phantom Menace. My bet is that one of two things will happen. The DVDs for all four episodes to date will be released as part of the hype building for Episode Two or they’ll wait till episodes two and three are finished for a monster six DVD boxed … Continue reading What’s Your Favorite Flavor? →

Got a Mac? Want to spew music across the internet? A little outfit called Artic has a streaming mp3 server for macintosh with a free 20 client license. Always wondered what our blue polyester clad flyboys are planning as a follow-up to the stealth fighter and stealth bomber? Well, the Air Force has 25 year plan available with details on both air & space efforts. Yummy. And the thing you’ve been waiting for: the return of the Hopelessly Complete Waste of Time (copyleft). Okay, so not everyone was waiting, but we’ll inflict it on you anyway. The Scwaa Midway is brought to you by the mob that has turned parodying UFO paranoia –and those who take the X Files too seriously– into some really funny stuff and probably a decent living. This site has soaked up more of my time than any other Hopelessly Complete Waste of Time to date. Enough so that if you look in the right corners here, you’ll find their bumperstickers and one of their books. Share with: TwitterRedditEmailLinkedInFacebook

This week George W met with gay Republicans. He feels like a "better person" for doing it. Which sounds remarkably like the sort of cheesy thing white liberals used to say after meeting with/helping/protesting for blacks. As George W, John McCain and other Republicans push for more outreach to various groups outside their current tent –hispanics, blacks, gays, etc.– look for more amusing comments. Have a conversation, feel like a better person. It’s a better daily preventative than apples. Following up on yesterday’s story about Microsoft FrontPage, the Wallstreet Journal had some additional information. They plan to email customers as "soon as possible". Which of course may not be soon enough. Anyway, Microsoft is recommending that people delete the "dvwssr.dll" that’s installed along with the firm’s Server software. The bug was originally found by consultants outside of Microsoft. Supposedly the bug doesn’t affect Windows servers running Windows 2000 or the current versions of the server extensions that are included in Frontpage 2000. Share with: TwitterRedditEmailLinkedInFacebook

If you run a website on a server that uses Microsoft’s FrontPage extensions, your site may be vulnerable. The details are very sketchy, but Microsoft does say its engineers included the secret phrase, “Netscape engineers are weenies,” allowing people with the phrase some level of illicit access. Additional Coverage: CNET. 19th centruy inventor Charles Babbage was a computer pioneer who designed a mechanical computer and printer about 150 years ago. Unfortunately, almost everyone thought he was a kook, so neither was completed in his lifetime. In 1991, the Science Museum (Britain) completed one difference engine (Babbage’s computer). And they just completed the accompanying 4,000 part 2.5 ton printer. Coverage: BBC Share with: TwitterRedditEmailLinkedInFacebook

Just when you thought the Microsoft-DOJ thin' couldn’t get any weirder, the BBC is reporting that Bill Gates has hired Raplh Reed, the former Conservative Christian coalition builder and George W advisor to lobby against the anti-trust case. And you thought only weirdos feel George W was in the backpocket of people-with-money. In the "is this guy related to Cheech and Chong" category, June will mark the launch of iToke.com, a website that will market marijuana via the internet. This comes in the week of a growing wave of drug de-criminalization in Europe. Additional coverage: Wired. Wired has coverage of a new survey of how well privacy issues are handled by websites. Of the 30,000 sites surveyed, about 70% rated zero on a one-to-four scale. And you only thought we’d gone away… Share with: TwitterRedditEmailLinkedInFacebook