Perhaps it sounded good on paper, but Intel's latest ad campaign "Experience Entertainment in Your Lap" doesn't really go where you want to go today.

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If you are a film buff, you could not escape the news recently that there is a new James Bond (Daniel Craig of Layer Cake, James Blond).

But perhaps you missed some more important news. Mainly because it happened so quietly. At Midnight, October 13, 2005, that which supposedly did not exist just got its first website. We're talking about MI6, the fabled Her Majesty's Secret Service from James Bond films, aka the Circus in the works of John le Carré.

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This could almost be a story straight out of the beloved The Onion (only it would be better written).

A story that appeared on The Onion last year, has actually become reality.

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From the nytimes [registration required]:

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Pat Robertson, mass media Christian pundit and televangelical terrorist has decided to use his TV empire to launch an all out crusade against the democratically elected president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. This past Monday the smiling, 75 year-old, "man of the cloth" used his 700 Club TV program to proselytize

"You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," [...] "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."

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Legendary dickweed Jack Thompson is jumping on the opportunity provided by the `Hot Coffeegate' scandal to attack... The Sims. In his caffeinated frenzy, Thompson berzerked: "The sex and the nudity are in the game. That's the point. The blur [over Sims' nonexistent genitalia] is an admission that even the `Ken and Barbie' features should not be displayed. The blur can be disarmed. This is no different than what is in San Andreas, although worse."

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On Thursday 14 June Graham Capill, the former leader of minor New Zealand political party Christian Heritage, was convicted of sexually abusing three little girls aged between 8 and 12.

He was sentenced to a total of eleven years, including nine years in jail, for rape of a girl under 12, indecent assault, and unlawful sexual connection with the three girls.

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Many of you are probably familiar with Time Cube.  For those that aren't, Time Cube is a "theory" proposed by retired electrician and notorious crank Gene Ray, which you can read about at his website http://www.timecube.com.  In summary: Gene Ray (semi-coherently) explains that very bad things will happen unless we accept his unique insights that "prove" that all modern science and religion are wrong.  The website has become rather well known for it's unique style, and Gene Ray's mixture of strident conviction and sheer incomprehensibility.

The website is old news of course, what is interesting is that apparently there really are plenty of people out there who will believe anything, because Time Cube has gained some followers and seems to be turning into a rather bizarre cult.

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After laying low for several years in Brantford, Ontario, maverick transhumanist thinker and anti-Scientologist activist Keith Henson is trying to get Canada to formally grant him refugee status, even as the Church of Scientology seems to be renewing its attack on him.

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A recent article in Physics Today, by Lee Smolin, has stoked the embers of an age old debate.  

Smolin uses Albert Einstein's work as a motivation for proposing new ways of funding scientists who want to work on creative approaches for difficult and fundamental problems.  The article can be obtained here.

Smolin's porposals are very specific to the theoretical phsyics community, but the article prompts reflection by academicians in other fields.

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