Misc. Ramblings

Going Gold. Mozilla 1.4 and Netscape Navigator 7.1 recently went on the wire. Check them out here. Firebird is still holding at 0.6 and appears to be delayed, as compared to their road map but it is still my choice of browser right now.

Gold Plated. The US Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA)FALCON program (see it here) is designed to "develop technologies and demonstrate capabilities that will enable transformational changes in global, time critical strike missions." Translated into hardware it would be a "...Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV). This autonomous aircraft would be capable of taking off from a conventional military runway and striking targets 9,000 nautical miles distant in less than two hours. It could carry a 12,000-pound payload consisting of Common Aero Vehicles (CAVs), cruise missiles, small diameter bombs or other munitions."

The BBC has nice rendering of the vehicle here.

I wonder how much a thermo-nuclear device (TND) would weigh and whether Superior Hyper-Intelligence Technology would be incorporated into the design?

Gold Mine. Ever buy something from an Internet site and read the privacy statement saying how they will never sell or give away your private information for any purpose? If so, read this story here here about how that does not mean they can't rent or lease the information to others. Don't you just love these businesses that are in the business of getting your private information? Actually selling something is not where they make their money. It's in creating a list of people who are willing to buy stuff over the 'Net. There's big bucks in that business and some are trying to cash in.

I don't know what the solution is but the first step in solving it is in realizing that there is a problem.

Aloha!