Yummy Wakame Weblog

Amazing Maze Maker
Auto-generates any maze for you in the shape of a heart, christmas tree or rectangular.
(found on geisha asobi)

BigWhaleOnALorry.com
This is your chance to take part in the world’s first inland whale hunt. The only whale hunt in history that aims to bring a dead whale back to life.

Help save the tree octopus from extinction!
Yup its an octupus that lives in trees!! Totally amazing!!!
(good stuff like this can always be found on chapel perilous)

Thin plastic bags have been banned in South Africa.
Thin disposable plastic bags are carelessly discarded every day all over the world, causing apart from unsightly litter, major environmental issues and the deaths of millions of animals that get trapped by them. Unseen consequences like the Leatherback turtles which are dying after mistaking plastic bags floating in the sea for jellyfish.

Now there are very hefty fines and jail terms for companies that produce thin plastic bags, and customers can choose now whether they want to buy thick plastic bags or use their own when they shop.

The non-profit company set up to handle this issue will use the levies charged on plastic bags to employ people to collect, re-use and recycle bags. Clever!

Good news to all fans of FOUND Magazine! The book has been printed and PUSSY in Brighton stocks it. They also stock LOST - a carefully collated collection of lost pet posters from around the world. There is one that simply says "TURTLE, FIND HIM". PUSSY has the stuff!!!

NOW YOU KNOW:
"On a movie set, what do the 'gaffer' and the 'best boy' do?
The gaffer is the head electrician, who lights the sets for the director of photography. The best boy is the gaffer's assistant.

Head to your nearest Bedouin wedding feast, where they'll dish up the largest item on any menu in the world. A roast camel is stuffed with a sheep, which in turn is stuffed with chickens which are stuffed with fish, which are stuffed with eggs."
(source: Christine van Deemter - FAIRLADY Magazine, South Africa)

Wee! I was interviewed by the Guardian today.
Their staff were working from Brighton Beach doing a piece on wireless networking and blogging in Brighton. They arrived with a bunch of wifi enabled laptops to edit Friday's G2 supplement from the beach. They were connected through PierToPier . The node is at RipTide gym and the signal is good for about 200 metres around it.

If you cant buy the newspaper, the article without photos is here.

Jane (who knows a lot about this wifi stufff) has pointed out that looseconnection provides 4 wifi spots in Brighton. (One of them is at RikiTiks who's back faces our lounge window. Maybe I should buy a radio card and bum a bit of high-speed connection off them). I cant wait until Brighton is totally wifi and I can blog or email friends while having lunch in the sun on the lawn outside the office, or in the Pavillion Gardens or anywhere on the beach.

How to get rid of Messenger Service Spam popups

What is it? That annoying Windows system popup advertising products, services and porn every time while you are online. (Note: I am not referring to browser popup ads). Every Windows XP & 2000 PC runs "Messenger" as once of its system services. This is a normal part of the OS that is used for NetSend and system alerts. This problem is not related in any way to Windows Messenger or MSN.

How is it done? Spammer software scans thousands of IP addresses and checks to find PCs that have certain UDP ports open. When the software detects PCs running the "Messenger" service on these ports you get sent the spam and annoying windows popup suddenly appears.

To remove the messenger service: Go to the START menu, select Run... and type in services.msc. Your system services will display. Locate the "Messenger" service and double-click to edit its properties. Under 'Startup Type' select Manual or Disabled. Then STOP, APPLY and OKAY. Problem solved. Please note that this will also stop you receiving netsend messages from your network admin or alerts from your PC. If this is an issue for you then you should install a personal firewall to protect your ports from being scanned. I recommend Zone Alarm which works wonders on browser popup ads as well.

CHAUD! CHAUD! L'ESCARGOT!

Tool making crow
In the Brevia section of the 9 August 2002 issue of Science, Weir et al. report a remarkable observation: The toolmaking behavior of New Caledonian crows. In the experiments, a captive female crow, confronted with a task that required a curved tool (retrieving a food-containing bucket from a vertical pipe), spontaneously bent a piece of straight wire into a hooked shape -- and then repeated the behavior in nine out of ten subsequent trials.
(spotted on milkandcookies)

Dont believe it? Watch the movie!

Crows are clever. They make great pets.