(no subject)

Snopes tackles the AIM TOS controversy. Hmm... looks like I was wrong when I said the TOS wasn't all that new. Mea culpa. But I thought I'd read something like that when signing up for the AOL free trial.

Levels of commercial flame retardants in human blood samples have risen sharply since the 1970s, which would explain why I haven't spontaneously combusted recently. One wonders how this sort of thing would affect the phoenix's life cycle, though.

Via secrecy_news: News organizations, openness advocates and others are promoting the week of March 13, dubbed "Sunshine Week," as an occasion for recalling and reinforcing the value of open government.

On a personal note, this seems a good metaphor for my mental state. Hey, Libras are supposed to be well-balanced.

Why is it that my Launchcast station can play a set consisting of tracks by Ella Fitzgerald, Queensryche, and Loreena McKennitt, or one with the Corrs, Jah Wobble, Nine Inch Nails, and Petula Clark--and I feel like there's a desperate need for more variety?

I heart psychic radio

Still listening to Launchcast, I was remembering someone's complaint that their station only played popular songs by the artists they listened to, even if they'd rated less popular ones. Wondered silently to myself, "Does my station play 'Every Breath You Take' more often than the less well-known [Police song] 'I Burn for You'?"

See what Launch is playing for me now.

Link of the evening

Destroying the Earth is harder than you may have been led to believe.

You've seen the action movies where the bad guy threatens to destroy the Earth. You've heard people on the news claiming that the next nuclear war or cutting down rainforests or persisting in releasing hideous quantities of pollution into the atmosphere threatens to end the world.

Fools.

The Earth was built to last. It is a 4,550,000,000-year-old, 5,973,600,000,000,000,000,000-tonne ball of iron. It has taken more devastating asteroid hits in its lifetime than you've had hot dinners, and lo, it still orbits merrily. So my first piece of advice to you, dear would-be Earth-destroyer, is: do NOT think this will be easy.

This is not a guide for wusses whose aim is merely to wipe out humanity. I (Sam Hughes) can in no way guarantee the complete extinction of the human race via any of these methods, real or imaginary. Humanity is wily and resourceful, and many of the methods outlined below will take many years to even become available, let alone implement, by which time mankind may well have spread to other planets; indeed, other star systems. If total human genocide is your ultimate goal, you are reading the wrong document. There are far more efficient ways of doing this, many which are available and feasible RIGHT NOW. Nor is this a guide for those wanting to annihilate everything from single-celled life upwards, render Earth uninhabitable or simply conquer it. These are trivial goals in comparison.

This is a guide for those who do not want the Earth to be there anymore.

How to destroy the Earth

Some of you may find this document useful.