Buzz words - is there any greater evil? Throughout the brief but turbulent period in which the IT industry has been subjected to mainstream marketing and its bold visions of compulsive spending, we've seen the rise and fall of a number of catchwords.  Read more »

The first tidings of spring are upon us here in Melbourne, and I bemoan its untimely insurgance upon my cosy winter hideway. It encroaches slowly at first - a glimpse of sun or a day without frost - but then rapidly degenerates into a haze of allergies, heat, and overclocking worries.  Read more »

I'll admit that I laughed when I first saw this, but according to the author, light pollution represents a real and deadly threat to nocturnal moth populations everywhere.

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Though hyping their recent destruction of chemical weapon supplies, the administration was rather less forthcoming about a meeting which brought together 150 of the United States' top nuclear scientists - of which no mention could be found in any US media.  Read more »

A piece of moon rock is available for sale at a Dutch auction site, with bids starting at USD $50 000. At the time of writing, no-one seems game to put down the money for a 5kg chunk of rock geologically and chemically identical to a $1 piece of Arizonian desert boulder.  Read more »

GE Energy has been selected by the US Department of Energy ('DOE;) to develop a highly efficient, multi-megawatt solid oxide fuel cell ('SOFC')-based power system operating on coal.

Originally by Extremetech, 4:29 PM

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'The Web site Katrina.com has been converted by its owner from a small-business site into a repository of information about the hurricane and its aftermath.'

A very charitable and useful thing to do -- there's nary an ad to be seen!

Originally by WSJ.com: What's News Technology, 11:38 AM

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In addition to its catastrophic impact upon New Orleans' inhabitants, infrastructure, and human values ('it's not looting, it's finding'), it looks as though Hurricane Katrina is having a significant effect upon the city's legal profession:  Read more »

Kevin Martin, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, has written an interesting piece about the rise of lawyers as an export commodity. He describes the expertise that international lawyers can bring to global transactions and the benefits this can have for countries playing host to them. However, he also notes several barriers to further expansion in these emerging legal markets:  Read more »

'Scientific American projects what the world will look like in 2050, and it is going to be a far different place for businesspeople to deal with.'

Worldwide population will be 9.1 billion, up from the current 6.5 billion. While that 40 percent increase looks drastic, it represents a substantial slowing in population growth. From 1960 to today, the number of people on earth more than doubled.  Read more »

It's windy versus NIMBY as Cape Cod landowners try to block turbine towers proposed for Nantucket Sound. But a similar project to pluck megawatts from the sky off Long Island is breezing toward completion. By Will Wade.

Originally by Wired News: Politics, 9:59 PM

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'New Orleans remains under a state of emergency, but the intrepid blogger can now enter the city to suck up an RSS feed, ping a trackback, or fiddle with a Wiki. That's thanks to a new, municipal Wi-Fi network which launched to the public today.'

Originally by The Register - Internet and Law: Wild Wild Web, 2:33 PM

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On Thursday, Merriam-Webster and Oxford University Press announced the newest additions to their respective dictionaries. Among new science and technology words are agritourism, biodiesel, mouse potato, ringtone, spyware … and google.  Read more »