Social security numbers too social, not secure

Pax Arcana
Last week the Internet shark that processes my student loans changed its online payment provider, requiring me to create a new account on some other Web site for some goddamn reason. Of course the thing asked me for my User ID and Password first — things which I didn’t actually have since the site [...]

Pete Hoekstra tweets his own demise

Pax Arcana
Despite a massive uptick in users over the past few months, Twitter has done very little to enhance our ability to make fun of retarded politicians from flyover states.
That all changed yesterday, when Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) used the digital communications tool to spell out for the world what a tool he is when [...]

Virginia Heffernan may be retarded

Pax Arcana
Despite my affection for the light saber application, watching Arrested Development on planes, and the other 8 million fun things to play with on my iPhone — I really don’t care if other people find the thing as awesome as I do.
For example, I can see why people who have to type a lot [...]

Weed-powered airplane about to get high

Pax Arcana
You may remember when we posted about jatropha, the wild growing weed that some energy scientists say is a good bet for mass-production of a reliable biofuel.
OK, you probably don’t remember that at all. Hell, I didn’t remember it until I did a Google search for “jatropha” and this Web site was listed among [...]

Broadway shows are about to get even more annoying

Pax Arcana
As a certified member of the print media, I get all sorts of crazy whackjob press releases in my inbox every morning. Whether you’re selling apple coring machines or door-to-door pet grooming services, chances are that cut-rate PR firm you hired has spammed me with sloppily written missives on your behalf.
Here’s something I learned [...]

Is there nothing Google Earth cannot do?

Pax Arcana
Well here’s a bit of serendipidous news for you. Not only can Google Earth spot north-south facing bovines on the plains of Nebraska, but also it can win you a gold medal in the Olympics.
Cyclist Kristin Armstrong ventured to Beijing last December and rode the time trial course for her event wearing a GPS [...]

You are paying more than NASA for your data

Pax Arcana
Sending and receiving text messages from your cell phone — or as Pax Arcana calls it, the “gossamer communicatron” — involves a complicated array of technologies.
First the signal is transmitted from your handheld device to a nearby television antenna, where it is sent into ether and converted into radio signals. Then a series of [...]

This machine is deadly

Pax Arcana

Microwave ovens were invented to give divorced men a quick, easy way to heat up their Hot Pockets while pondering where it all went wrong. But it turns out they’re good for other things, too.
The New York Times reports that one scientist has devised a plan to use microwaves to kill invasive bacteria and [...]

Pax Cranium: Inside the mind of Pax Arcana

Pax Arcana
This morning, Pax Arcana had an MRI on my noggin to determine whether my intermittent arm numbness is caused by carpal tunnel syndrome, a pinched nerve, or the lingering effects of that zombie poison the natives sprayed at me in the Haitian jungle (Spring Break ‘99! Woot woot!!).
These days, they hand you a CD [...]

The death of DRM draws nigh

Pax Arcana
Maybe I’m just a yellow-bellied namby pamby pollyanna goody-two-shoes (insert more 1950s insults for cowardice here), but I am not in favor of downloading unlicensed music from the Internet. Call me crazy, but working in the publishing industry has me conditioned to think people should pay for what they consume in one fashion or [...]