BoingBoing reader Larry Carlson says,

The University of Miami has an exhibit of The Jackie Gleason Collection of Books. It includes approximately 1,700 volumes of books, journals, pamphlets, and publications in the field of parapsychology. The collection offers materials on such topics as: witchcraft, folklore, extrasensory perception (ESP), unidentified flying objects (UFOs), reincarnation, mysticism, spiritualism, mental telepathy, the occult, ghosts, clairvoyance, cosmology, demons, hypnosis, life after death, mediums, psychical research, voodooism, and others.

Link to online previews of this permanent collection, bequeathed in 1988 to the University of Miami Library by Gleason's widow.

Dude, *yes*, that Jackie Gleason. From the exhibit description:

Gleason, a comedian, television star, and motion picture actor of international acclaim, developed a deep and abiding interest in parapsychology and its many components. Gleason's interest grew from his inquisitive mind and sincere interest in the topic. However, the collection is not the product of Gleason's personal belief in the wide spectrum of phenomena represented by the term "parapsychology."

walterbays writes ""The FCC voted 5-0 to require that cable operators must continue to make all local broadcasts available to their users, even those with analog televisions." I don't understand how AT&T manages to deliver U-verse without any analog channels. Did they get it classified as not-cable and exempt from existing rules? Or as a result of this vote, will they suddenly have to drop 50 SD channels to make room for 5 NTSC channels?"

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For years, fear mongerers from industry and government have been warning about the growing threat of "cyberwar" and "cyberattacks" where hackers would totally take down important critical systems that rely on the internet. The reality, however, is that it's not so easy for hackers to do this. In fact it's been exceedingly rare that hack attacks cause huge problems, taking down critical systems on a massive basis (though, they can do plenty of localized damage). Instead, as the NY Times notes, it seems that all of the big computing disasters lately have much more to do with overly complex computing systems, where some bug triggers a catastrophic failure. The article mentions things like the recent United Airlines computer problems and the recent Skype downtime, both of which were attributed to computer failures rather than malicious attacks (though, there's some debate over how true those explanations are). One of the most interesting points made in the article is that the complexity of many computing systems has reached such a level that pinpointing problems is a lot more like forecasting the weather than anything else. You have some general idea of where the problems might occur, but there's a lot of guesswork involved. Of course, it could be that this level of complexity is exactly why hacking attacks haven't been able to bring down most major systems. It's the same thing as the various (failed) attempts to control the weather. There are just too many variables to deal with.

mahesh_gharat writes "Russia has tested the "Father of all bombs," a conventional air-delivered explosive that experts say can only be compared with a nuclear weapon in terms of its destructive power.The device is a fuel-air explosive, commonly known as a vacuum bomb, that spreads a high incendiary vapour cloud over a wide area and then ignites it, creating an ultra-sonic shock wave and searing fireball that destroys everything in its wake."

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There were a bunch of reports recently claiming that various government agencies (including the US, Germany and New Zealand) had computer systems hacked by hackers tied to the Chinese government. The details have been quite vague, and it has all the warning signs of a story that's been blown out of proportion (perhaps for political purposes). However, China apparently feels that it's time to strike back. While initially denying any responsibility, the Chinese gov't is now taking a different strategy, claiming that it's actually China that's been a regular victim of foreign hackers breaking into its classified military computer systems. Of course, the truth is probably that spies on all sides are constantly trying to hack into computers of foreign gov't agencies. That should hardly come as a surprise, so all of these recent press reports are nothing more than posturing about how "shocked" gov't officials are for actions that everyone knows occurs all the time.

Dotnaught writes "The Computer and Communications Industry Association — a trade group representing Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo, among others — has issued a report(pdf) that finds fair use exceptions add more than $4.5 trillion in revenue to the U.S. economy and add more value to the U.S. economy than copyright industries contribute. "Recent studies indicate that the value added to the U.S. economy by copyright industries amounts to $1.3 trillion.", said CCIA President and CEO Ed Black. The value added to the U.S. economy by the fair use amounts to $2.2 trillion."

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• Toy Octopus Encourages Beach Clean Up Link

• Rosy Future – An ad for the Sprint version of the upcoming Centro, Palm's smaller version of the same old thing. [Link

• Californian Standoff — Apple takes a no-aggression stance toward third-party iPhone hackers. Link

• Really? Mac? — Guitar Hero III coming to both PCs and Macs. Link

• Free as in Free – Free tool lets you unlock the iPhone for use on non-AT&T carriers. Link

• 6. Because It's Awesome – "Five Reasons You Should Be Playing Peggle" Link

• Peripher-hell – Rock Band on the Xbox 360 will not come with a wireless guitar, thanks to Microsoft's stupid tarriff on third-party controllers. Link

• Bleepin' Bleeper – "I Just Spoke to a Robot Telemarketer" Link

• Bauhaus-Inspired Gift Kodak No. 1A Link

• Gothic Castle Decor: Bat Light Fixtures! Link

• Palm Treo 500v: New Look, Same Limitations Link

• Pure Digital Flip Video Ultra Link

• Cocoon Tent Concept by John Moriarty Link

• Lenovo's Power-Efficient ThinkCentre A61e Desktop Link

• What the Fuck is Steampunk? Link

• Di Blasi R7E Folding Motorbike Link

• Aether Glowing Knife Block by Vincent Hudson Link

• Japanese Arcade Game Blamed for Rise in Illegal Stag Beetle Imports Link

• Jakks EyeClops Bionic Eye Link

• FlatWorld: Enhanced Military VR Simulator Link

• LEGO: Post-Apocalyptic Mutant Cityscape by Legohaulic Link

• Team Fortress 2 "Meet the *" Trailers Link

• Morning Tech Deals Highlights Link

• Saitek Cyborg Gamepad with Flippable Controls Link

jedrick conner writes "Hewlett-Packard's microneedle technology, used in its inkjet cartridges, could soon be used in transdermal patches to deliver a time-controlled release of drugs to patients. Still at the prototype stage, the patch will likely be 25 mm square in size and 3 mm thick. It will incorporate an array of microneedles that are between 75 and 100 microns, which will penetrate the top dry layer of the skin, also known as the stratum corneum. Above the microneedles is an array of wells, [and] those wells can hold one or more drugs, the device has "an active mechanism to push the drug through the needle"."

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The concept of Googlebombing has been around for quite some time. Basically, you get a bunch of folks to link to a certain site using a specific word or phrase and hope that Google picks it up and the site you link to reaches the top of the list. Wikipedia has a lot of good info on the history of Googlebombing. It's especially popular in the political arena, particularly in trying to insult a politician one side doesn't like by associating that person with a derogatory word or phrase. During the last Presidential election, both major candidates had this done to them. The real damage of a Googlebomb is quite miniscule. Often, the phrases being used are somewhat rare -- which is what allows the Googlebomb to work in the first place (otherwise, there's a lot more competition to get it up the list). Second, it's unlikely to impact anyone's political views to do a search on an insulting phrase and see a link to a political candidate. Realistically, all that happens with most Googlebombs is that the group that set it up sends it around to a bunch of supporters, who Google the phrase and laugh at a politician they never liked in the first place. At best, all it does is stir up the opposition to get angry at Google and then to do a Googlebomb of their own. All in all, it's basically a harmless waste of time (and more recently, Google has become much more effective in preventing Googlebombs from working).

However, as pointless and harmless as they are, apparently not everyone is comfortable with being on the receiving end of a Googlebomb. A programmer in Poland trying to practice his programming skills, created a simple piece of software that would apparently automate the process of creating a Googlebomb (it's not entirely clear how). He did so with a test using Poland's president and a derogatory search word. Apparently, his software worked... but Polish officials were not amused, arresting the guy for insulting the president. It wasn't hard to track the guy down, as he didn't make any real effort to hide himself. What's really bizarre, though, is that this guy is now facing three years in prison for a simple little hack that probably had no impact on what anyone thought of Poland's president. Of course, we probably should note that, in arresting this guy for such a silly online prank, Poland has called a lot more attention to this little stunt than if it had just ignored it and let it run its course.

An anonymous reader writes to tell us that following in the wake of their patent suit against Research in Motion (RIM), NTP has filed suit against Verizon, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile for infringing on several patents. All of the patents in question relate to the delivery of email on mobile devices. "Five of the eight patents being used in the telco cases were the subject of NTP's 2001 patent suit against Research in Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry. In November 2002, a jury found that RIM infringed upon NTP's patents. The case continued to make headlines until 2006, when RIM agreed to pay NTP a settlement of $612.5 million, nearly four years after RIM had first been found guilty of infringing on NTP's patents."

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David Shiga writes "String theory is the leading contender for a "theory of everything" that could unite all the forces of physics. But a recent study suggests that it may be more difficult than scientists had hoped to square string theory with inflation — the widely accepted notion that the early universe had a period of especially rapid expansion. Some say this could even lead to the abandonment of either string theory or inflation, though no one is ruling out a possible resolution yet."

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As big energy companies jump into the green tech gold rush, some of them have faced criticism that their efforts amount to little more than a cosmetic makeover. Chevron's recent release of an online game in which players are asked to tackle the energy demands of a virtual city does little to soothe such critics. Chevron was beaten to the punch by Starbucks, of all companies, who launched a similarly themed online game back in April. Both companies state their aim to increase awareness of energy issues and encourage participation in the search for solutions. Judging by their investment of creativity into these games, however -- Starbucks' "Planet Green Game" is both more fun and more informative than "Energyville" -- the energy company has been soundly beaten on their own turf by the coffee company (even then, Starbucks' game won't be mistaken as much fun or brilliantly informative any time soon). Chevron appears to have realized that video games can be a useful tool to reach the upcoming generation of their customers and investors; it so happens that it is also this game-playing generation that will face the environmental, security, and economic problems related to energy demand. Unfortunately, Chevron's half-baked game is unlikely to generate any real dialogue, and, for critics, it certainly fails to demonstrate a serious commitment by the company to solving these problems.

Dan Dipasquo is an expert at the Techdirt Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Dan Dipasquo and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.

anzha writes "Sun Microsystems announced today that they are acquiring Cluster File Systems Inc. CFS owns the intellectual property related to and develops the open source file system known as Lustre." Relatedly Sun has also signed an agreement with Microsoft to be a Windows OEM. "Sun and Microsoft will work together to ensure that Solaris runs well as a guest on Microsoft virtualization technologies and that Windows Server runs well as a guest on Sun's virtualization technologies. Sun and Microsoft will work together on a support process for customers who are using the virtualization solutions. This joint commitment to customers ensures that Windows and Solaris will provide a solid virtualization experience."

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For those of you waiting on the edge of your seats for the invention of the gamma-ray annihilation laser, relax. The BBC reports that scientists in the US have successfully combined electrons with their anti-matter counterparts, positrons, to create Di-positronium, bringing the dream of gamma-ray annihilation lasers one step closer to being realized.

The discovery, reported in the journal Nature, is a key step in the creation of ultrapowerful lasers known as gamma-ray annihilation lasers.

"The difference in the power available from a gamma-ray laser compared to a normal laser is the same as the difference between a nuclear explosion and a chemical explosion," said Dr David Cassidy of the University of California, Riverside, and one of the authors of the paper.

Link (Thanks, Patrick!)

PeaceLove says: "Clear and unambiguous footage of Rev. Lennox Yearwood of the Hip Hop Caucus being attacked by Capitol police. Yearwood had stood in line to get into the Petraeus hearings but was denied entry. When the Reverend protested, he was assaulted by Capitol police, who broke his leg and arrested him for 'assaulting a police officer.'"

Capitol Hill Police "football tackled" Hip Hop Activist who was in line to enter hearing room for General Petreus' testimony on Capitol Hill

Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., president of the Hip Hop Caucus, was attacked by six capitol police today, when he was stopped from entering the Cannon Caucus Room on Capitol Hill, where General Petreaus gave testimony today to a joint hearing for the House Arms Services Committee and Foreign Relations Committee on the war in Iraq.

After waiting in line throughout the morning for the hearing that was scheduled to start at 12:30pm, Rev. Yearwood was stopped from entering the room, while others behind him were allowed to enter. He told the officers blocking his ability to enter the room, that he was waiting in line with everyone else and had the right to enter as well. When they threatened him with arrest he responded with "I will not be arrested today." According to witnesses, six capitol police, without warning, "football tackled him. He was carried off in a wheel chair by DC Fire and Emergency to George Washington Hospital.

Rev. Yearwood was examined for possible head and leg injuries then transferred to Central Processing. He has been charged with "assaulting a police officer."

Rev. Yearwood said as he was being released from the hospital to be taken to central booking, "The officers decided I was not going to get in Gen. Petreaus' hearing when they saw my button, which says 'I LOVE THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ.'"

Link

An anonymous reader writes "Ending off the X Developer Summit this year, Matthew Tippett handed off ATI's GPU specifications to David Airlie on a CD. However, the specifications are also now available on the X.org site. Right now there is the RV630 Register Reference Guide and M56 Register Reference Guide. Expect more documentation (and 3D specifications) to arrive shortly. The new open-source R500/600 driver will be released early next week."

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It seems that with every new generation of music delivery, there are going to be people who complain that the quality just isn't up to par with what came before. Remember when CDs first came out, there were quite a few upturned noses who insisted the sound quality just couldn't compete with vinyl LPs. And now that mp3s are becoming the standard, folks are complaining that the quality simply can't live up to CDs. This has certainly gone on for a while, as we've noted there are even online stores that cater to audiophiles who believe that compressed mp3s just aren't worth listening to. However, now it's going even further, as the WSJ claims that some audio engineers are saying that the popularity of mp3s and iPods is ruining music. The theory is that audio engineers are using iPods and mp3s as the lowest common denominator for recordings. Since they know that so many people are going to end up hearing the song just through the cheap white earbuds of an iPod, that they don't bother to make a high quality recording that would sound better on high end stereo equipment. Thus, the claim goes, pretty much all music is sounding somewhat crappy, and it's turning people off from the latest crop of new songs. In other words, music is less popular today, because the songs are engineered to sound like crap. This seems silly. It's certainly a different argument than the industry's typical claim that downloads are killing the music business -- but it's equally ridiculous. Sure, there may be some engineers who are doing a cruddy job in engineering the music, but as one audio engineer in the story notes, there's no reason to ever engineer a song "down" to mp3 levels. Instead, you should just engineer it to a higher level and it'll sound fine on a CD as well on an iPod. However, to put the whole thing in perspective: songs compressed to mp3 level certainly do lose some quality at the margin, but there's only a small group of audiophiles who really care or will notice on a regular basis. At the same time, compare that to how much more music is being produced today thanks to cheaper production tools and easier distribution of music through the internet, and I think you could make the case that the mp3 and the iPod has done a lot more to improve music than to hurt it.