news & other links

[baratron]

Bush: The text adventure game - Amusing, if simultaneously thoroughly depressing.

Google will fight Bush Administration demand for search records - I should have an opinion on this, but all I can think is "that is SO not the government's business". Certainly, I cannot see what rights the US government could have over searches that I, as a UK citizen, have made on google.co.uk - especially if the final destination of my search was also outside the US.

Scientists Find A DNA Change That Accounts For White Skin - very interesting article with reasonable scientific detail, despite being from a mainstream newspaper. I must get an online subscription to New Scientist.

The Grammarian's Five Daughters by Eleanor Arnason. Has been doing the rounds of my friends list - I can't think why :) I have a feeling I've read & linked to this before, but I have no problems with linking to it again.

Comments

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Huh. I was sure they did. I'd better contact them directly, then. Because I don't want the paper magazines, to sit around occupying space and/or go straight into my recycling bin. It's wasteful to take paper resources that you don't intend to use.

[johnckirk.livejournal.com]

Yup, I totally agree. I had a leaflet through the post today offering me a cheap subscription, but we get each month's magazine in the staff lounge at work, and I rarely read that, so I'm unlikely to suddenly start reading my own copy.

Looking at their FAQ pages again, this page says "At the moment there are no plans for a web-only subscription. Please contact us stating clearly your interest in such a service and we will keep your email address on file so that we can contact you in the event that such a subscription becomes available."

However, they also mention New Scientist Digital:
http://newscientist.newsstand.com/
The idea seems to be that you get an electronic copy of each magazine issue (via the web), which includes all adverts etc., so you'd be avoiding the waste of paper. However, you don't get access to the "paid only" areas of the main website. I don't know whether you'd actually miss out on any content that way, or whether it's just more hassle to look up your local copy.

Anyway, it's all a bit confusing, so I'll be interested to hear how you get on if you do contact them.