Kids these days. Now they\’re using IM abbreviations in schoolwork.

Even terms that cannot be expressed verbally are making their way into papers. Melanie Weaver was stunned by some of the term papers she received from a 10th-grade class she recently taught as part of an internship. \”They would be trying to make a point in a paper, they would put a smiley face in the end,\” said Ms. Weaver, who teaches at Alvernia College in Reading, Pa. \”If they were presenting an argument and they needed to present an opposite view, they would put a frown.\”

[ From Slashdot ]

Some guys in Arizona are dropping cars out of planes at 13,000 feet. The skydivers take turns behind the wheel, bailing out before it hits the ground at 140 mph. Crazy. Before dropping the cars they remove the engines, transmission and fuel tanks and duct-tape the hoods shut. Damn, it must be so cool to be in the driver\’s seat as the car is pushed out of the plane.

To prevent piracy of promotional CDs, Epic Records issues reviewers portable CD players that are glued shut. Heh heh, I find that very amusing. If you really wanted to make mp3s, can\’t you just smash open the CD player?
[ From Ars Technica ]

The Hazzard County Driver\’s Test. Amazingly the answers get funnier and funnier.

So I got an iPod a few days ago and I love it. It\’s so neat and elegant, it just blows away every other mp3 player available. I got the Windows version and it works perfectly, even with the generic firewire card I picked up at Fry\’s. I have to give props to Apple for making an excellent product. Even the packaging rocks.

MusicMatch Jukebox, on the other hand, sucks ass. It\’s slow and clumsy and a hassle to use. I used it once and then switched to the much better EphPod. So now I need to go through my mp3 collection and fill in all the ID3 tags. Bleh. I should hire an intern to do it for me.

An interesting bit of trivia: the first online smiley face was used on September 19, 1982 by Scott Fahlman. The bulletin board post was found on a backup tape of a spice vax.
[ From Slashdot ]

Sony\’s 10th anniversary Minidisc player is only 1 cm thick. It\’s hard to believe minidiscs have been around 10 years. Personally I don\’t know anyone who actually uses them.
[ From Gizmodo ]

This small form-factor computer built into a VW Beetle R/C body shell is so cute. It\’d be even cooler if they put a little computer screen in the windshield.

Italian Housewives Told to be More Sexy to Keep Husbands\’ Attention

A committee of wives of Missaglia, northern Italy, made an official complaint against an unnamed 20-year-old woman who recently moved to the village from nearby Casatenovo.

The wives claimed the newcomer spent most of her time sunbathing topless on her house\’s balcony drawing the attention of their husbands.

Note to self: Move to Missaglia, Italy.

Interesting article about Copyright Traps, the mapmaker practice of putting fake towns or roads on a map to detect copies. The streets are small and dead end so that motorists don\’t get lost. But then I wonder what would happen if a real town was named after one of the fake ones. Damn those sneaky cartographers.
[ From GirlHacker\’s Random Log ]