“The BWCA is a pristine wilderness and a canoeist’s paradise in north-eastern Minnesota. It has over 1,500 miles of canoe routes and more than 1,000 lakes and streams. It has been largely unaltered by human hands since the 1930’s, and is today an official wilderness. You can plan a canoe route to “get away from…
“There are dozens of well-designed studies that show that TV, movies and other media affect what viewers believe and how they behave. This is true of many different kinds of attitudes and behaviors — positive and negative — but many studies conclusively show a statistical link between watching violent programs and behaving aggressively. And, of…
“But after being heralded on the cover of Newsweek and on ’60 Minutes,’ the $25-million ‘Sims Online’ has turned into an expensive letdown for Redwood City, Calif.-based EA. Sales are sluggish, reviews have been merciless, and many in the video game industry wonder whether online games will ever find a large following.” Alex Pham —‘Sims…
“The kicker for economists is that these virtual economic relationships have broken into the real U.S. economy. When players found EverQuest’s bartering rules inadequate, they started exchanging the armor, spells, and other Norrathian objects of value at real-world auction sites. These transactions are conducted not in Norrathian PP but in U.S. dollars and then completed…
“The genetic code is truly digital, in exactly the same sense as computer codes. This is not some vague analogy, it is the literal truth. Moreover, unlike computer codes, the genetic code is universal. Modern computers are built around a number of mutually incompatible machine languages, determined by their processor chips. The genetic code, on…
“In a milestone of scientific eccentricity, local astronomers have announced that they want to simulate the behaviour of falling meteorites by dropping bowling balls from aircraft – though the plan has gone down like a lead spaceship with government officials.” —Utah Bowled Over by Meteor Plan Observer)