Miniblog

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  Bigfoot was a hoax
  

  In a story that I doubt is a surprise to anyone sane, the Times-Standard Online reported last month reported last month that not only was Bigfoot a hoax, but the Northern California newspaper was complicit in the hoax. Quoting: "We now know the whole thing was a hoax -- or a brash attempt to claim credit for one. Late in 2002, Ray Wallace died at the age of 84 in Washington. But he didn't take Bigfoot to the grave with him; he had spilled his guts to a few members of his family. ... The Times-Standard called June Beal, wife of deceased Times editor L.W. “Scoop” Beal, to find out if she knew anything about it. ... ”They were in on this hoax,” June Beal said of her husband and Wallace. “It was just a fun thing and the fun got out of hand.”
  

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  Does graffiti promote littering and theft?
  

  Popular, and controversial, the Broken Window theory says that the outward appearances of small crimes, such as broken windows or graffiti, serve as triggers for more serious crimes. Former New York City mayor Rudy Guiliani based his Quality of Life Campaign on the theory, but there has been little evidence to support it and many criticisms. However, Ed at Not Exactly Rocket Science reports on new research that suggests the Broken Window theory does indeed have some validity. H/T to The Mouse Trap.

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  Does acupuncture really work?
  

  Doctor Harriet Hall tells us why "almost everything [we've] heard about acupuncture is wrong."

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  The inside scoop on WordPress 2.7
  

  WordPress 2.7 is about to go live, but are you ready for it? There are a host of changes in store for you, mostly good and maybe one or two clunkers (personally, I think the vertical menu is a bit of a step backward). There are also some improvements to the API that I'm sure theme developers are going to want to implement right away. To help usher in this new WordPress era, Technosailor tells you 10 Things You Need To Know About WordPress 2.7.

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  Easy one step ISO image of your data in Linux
  

  I love extremely simply tips to make computing easier and this is one of the best. If you use Linux, you don't need any fancy CD burning program to create an ISO image of your data. Instead turn a whole directory into an ISO image with one command: mkisofs -V LABEL -r directory | gzip > cdrom.iso.gz. Hat tip to: Tips4Linux

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  The loss of Phoenix shouldn't ...
  

  The loss of Phoenix shouldn't be mourned though, but her amazing accomplishments should be celebrated.

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  Unfortunately, they expect tha...
  

  Unfortunately, they expect that Phoenix has died. A victim of dust storms and the cold of the advancing Martian winter.

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  End of mission operations has ...
  

  End of mission operations has been declared but they'll continue to listen for a while.

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  Listening to the NASA teleconf...
  

  Listening to the NASA teleconference on status of @MarsPhoenix lander. The lander hasn't been heard from since November 5th.

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  NASA teleconference on Phoenix's status this afternoon
  

  NASA will be holding a teleconference this afternoon at 4PM EST to discuss the status of the Phoenix Mars Lander. You might already know that Phoenix has been silent for a week now. Has Phoenix succumbed to the cold of the advancing Martian winter? It was inevitable, but I had hoped she would last longer. Either way, Barry Goldstein (PML's project manager), Peter Smith (PML's principal investigator) and Doug McCuistion (Dir. of NASA's Mars Exploration Program) should be able to give us a better idea of Phoenix's status. The teleconference audio will be streamed live.