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Posted Thursday, 15 May 2008
First, the good news: crazy rasberry ants are smaller than fleas, but they will eat fire ants. I hate fire ants, and I don’t miss them at all.
Now here’s the bad news: these ants also eat plants, and they like to get into electronic equipment, including network cable and hard drives, according to CRN. That’s a recipe for failure.
Pray that paratrenicha species near pubens don’t come to your neighborhood.
See the Associated Press, Texas A&M’s web page and BoingBoing for more information and links.
Updated 16 May 2008: here’s the New York times article about the crazy running ants.
Update 16 June 2008: I added this YouTube video from Houston’s FOX news report.
Photo courtesy of Texas A&M University.
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Posted Thursday, 15 May 2008
As I mentioned in my billso.com article from 2 May 2008, if you are carrying high value items on your airline journey, do not check them with your baggage. Carry the items with you on the airplane.
Matt Mullenweg, the man behind WordPress, learned this lesson the hard way last week when he lost several high-end cameras and lenses on a US Airways flight.
Image courtesy of xrrr through a Creative Commons license.
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Posted Thursday, 15 May 2008
County politicians in Los Angeles have passed legislation championed by the RIAA and MPAA that lets authorities confiscate property from anyone convicted of IP theft or piracy. See Wired for more information.
The RIAA uses automated methods for collecting information fom LimeWire and other peer-to-peer programs. Data including the IP address and the files offered for trade are collected. The trade organization also has an automated takedown notice and settlement system that targets universities and students. The RIAA uses a manual process when investigating commercial ISPs. This article from the Chronicle of Higher Education has some details.
Meanwhile, BoingBoing reports that the US House of Representatives has passed a similar measure (HR 4279, PRO-IP (Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008). The bill may not get through the US Senate this year.
See Ars Technica and TechDirt for more information on this ridiculous piece of legislation.
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