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Mar. 4th, 2008 11:15 pmStephen Harper sues Stephane Dion - as well as Michael Ignatieff and Ralph Goodale for claiming that Harper knew about attempts to bribe Independant MP Chuck Cadman to vote against a liberal budget in 2005. Cadman claimed that he was approached by two men representing the Conservative party with an offer of 1 million life insurance policy in return for his vote. He died of cancer two months after the vote. The statements in question were made in the House of Commons so are generally not considered legally actionable.
Most people are sheep - according to a Leeds study (found on Neil Gaiman's blog) which demonstrated that a crowd's direction is influenced by 5% of the members of that crowd. The study was concerned with non-verbal communication within crowds and may have application in method to better direct large groups of people, such as during disasters.
U.S. to search for terrorists in virtual worlds - A project codenamed Reynard is being funded by the U.S. government to recognize and isolate sources of "anomalous activity" in virtual worlds. The project is studying the social dynamics of individuals, particularly terrorists, in virtual worlds and online games, but will first study these online communities to establish a "baseline" for normal behaviour.
D&D co-creator dies - Gary Gygax, co-creator of the Dungeons and Dragons RPG, died at the age of 69 after several years of health problems.
China becomes the new Russia - A report released by the U.S. government claims that China is actively developing weapons to disable enemy satellites. The report also claimed that numerous intrusions into computer systems around the world have originated in China. Those of use who have been around for a while are feeling deja vu.
Scrabble fight continues - RealNetworks, who were licensed by either Mattel or Hasbro (it's unclear which) to create a software version of the game are apparently in discussion with the Agarwalla brothers, much to the dismay of Mattel that issued a statement indicating that cutting a deal with the Agarwalla brothers would set a bad precedent.
Most people are sheep - according to a Leeds study (found on Neil Gaiman's blog) which demonstrated that a crowd's direction is influenced by 5% of the members of that crowd. The study was concerned with non-verbal communication within crowds and may have application in method to better direct large groups of people, such as during disasters.
U.S. to search for terrorists in virtual worlds - A project codenamed Reynard is being funded by the U.S. government to recognize and isolate sources of "anomalous activity" in virtual worlds. The project is studying the social dynamics of individuals, particularly terrorists, in virtual worlds and online games, but will first study these online communities to establish a "baseline" for normal behaviour.
D&D co-creator dies - Gary Gygax, co-creator of the Dungeons and Dragons RPG, died at the age of 69 after several years of health problems.
China becomes the new Russia - A report released by the U.S. government claims that China is actively developing weapons to disable enemy satellites. The report also claimed that numerous intrusions into computer systems around the world have originated in China. Those of use who have been around for a while are feeling deja vu.
Scrabble fight continues - RealNetworks, who were licensed by either Mattel or Hasbro (it's unclear which) to create a software version of the game are apparently in discussion with the Agarwalla brothers, much to the dismay of Mattel that issued a statement indicating that cutting a deal with the Agarwalla brothers would set a bad precedent.