It is generally agreed that the loudest sound ever produced (in recorded history) was the volcanic eruption on Krakatoa in 1883. The blast created a sound wave that sent a tidal wave halfway across the world. The wave was so strong that it blew a Dutch warship 30 feet onto the land in the Harbor of Batavia (now Djakarta). - - - - - Joe Burns, Ph.D.

Greeting Cards - Java Lake effect greeting cards from Lake Cards Java Lake Effects Greeting Cards. Send these beautiful Java Lake effect greeting cards to your friends and loved ones for free!

My Daughter, Megan, sent me one of these with hot air balloons over a lake. It's sooooooo cool! Note: Greeting cards require that Java be enabled.

Dave Winer, Scripting News -- Reminder, it's Tuesday and that means only one thing. Take a programmer to lunch. Give your friend the programmer a hug, a meal, some fresh air, and listen. Ask how it's going. What do you think of this or that. How could it all work better. Listen. There's a mind in there. Don't be afraid. Programmers can be friendly if you just give them a chance.

BTW, all programmers want to tell you How It Works. In excruciating detail. As if you cared. Try to be patient.

The WIZ Project -- It starts with the creation of a new race of creatures, little guys called WIZes. And it follows through with how they will change the way the Human race relates to the material universe and to each other. Physically, a WIZ is a small piece of electronics, perhaps the size of a pea. It is self-powered, and in radio communication with all other WIZes. Electrically, a WIZ is a general purpose electronic circuit which will replace just about every other electronic circuit on the planet. Look at anything that has electronics in it today. A single pea-sized WIZ replaces it. And functionally, a WIZ is a bit of a "mind". A WIZ-mind is a communication and control system between a human and a WIZ-object. A WIZ-mind is able to sense its environment, make recordings of its environment, compare the current environment to previously recorded environments, and make decisions which produce the best chance of success. I see the WIZ as operating mainly in two spheres of existence. One, as a mind in all material, electrical, or mechanical objects. And secondly, as the pure beingness of a "communicator".

DaveNet : The Web is a Writing Environment -- Just as typewriters fell by the wayside as word processors and inexpensive printers came online, the big brand names of journalism are relatively slow and dilutive, and don't deliver enough flow. Amazingly the print publishers are pulling back from the Web, as if to say "Whew glad that's over." Fundamental mistake. When their point of view is no longer on the Web, there will be no more barrier to entry. What follows? Explosive deconstruction of the brand names of journalism. What's said outside the barriers is already more interesting. Eventually we will shed our need for approval from the brand names of journalism. Today they look for teddy bears and warm-fuzzies, the cute stories that mask the real one -- writers who work for others have less integrity to offer than those who do it for love. Dave Winer

Tech Workers' Stock Options Turn Into Tax Nightmares - By LIZ PULLIAM WESTON, P.J. HUFFSTUTTER, JON HEALEY, Times Staff Writers

Thousands of technology workers are facing huge tax bills by Monday's income tax filing deadline because of company stock they purchased last year that has since plummeted in value. Accountants and politicians from Silicon Valley to Boston say they have been inundated with horror stories about shares purchased with employee options that workers once had hoped would make them rich. Instead, the shares saddled them with big tax bills on profit they never saw. Many of these workers now owe far more in taxes than their stock is worth. Former Cisco engineer Jeffrey Chou, 32, owes $2.5 million in taxes on company stock he purchased last year that has since withered in value. Chou figures that if he were to sell everything he owns, including the three-bedroom townhouse that he shares with his wife and 8-month-old daughter, the family still could not pay the bill. Chou used incentive options to buy, in one transaction, about 100,000 Cisco shares in March 2000, paying 5 cents to 10 cents a share. At the time, Cisco shares were trading for $62 to $63 each. The difference between the price he paid and what the shares were worth--a total of about $7 million--is taxable to him as profit. Chou could sell his shares now, but it wouldn't solve his problem. Cisco closed Thursday at $17.98, which means that his entire stake is worth about $1.8 million. To pay his state and federal tax bills, he needs $700,000 more.

Firms underestimate power of 'blogging' - There's an Internet application that few people have heard about, although it is gaining popularity and will likely become a regular part of our working lives. It's called a Web log, or "blog." And yet, for a technology that is so useful, Web logs are surprisingly absent from corporate intranets. That's because, as with e-mail 10 years ago, few in the corporate sector understand their power -- until they begin using them regularly.

Java-enabled air conditioners - Carrier, in Farmington, Conn., is one of the leading consumer and commercial providers of heating, ventilating, and refrigeration systems. The company inked a deal this week with IBM that will put Java-enabled microchips inside carrier air conditioners to allow air conditioner owners to remotely set the temperature or to switch on or off their air conditioners. The system will also send fault code and diagnostic alerts in real time to a service technician's cell phones or PDAs. Alerts can also be sent via e-mail or fax.

Harness the excess power in your PC to fight Cancer - I'm a fan and supporter of Seti@home but here's something new. Computer owners have the opportunity to use their personal computing resources to perform scientific research, such as searching for improved treatments and potential cures for cancer and other diseases, by downloading a computer program to their PCs from the Internet. It is projected that the resulting "virtual supercomputer" will ultimately be capable of more than 50 teraflops (trillions of operations per second) of computational power and involve millions of participants, and will be ten times more powerful than today's highest performing supercomputers. In many ways this is even more appealing than Seti@home.

And Remember: The Howard Hughes plane, "The Spruce Goose" was actually made of birch wood. The nickname was not invented for the Hughes plane anyway. At the time, almost any wooden plane was nicknamed a Spruce Goose. When Hughes built the massive aircraft, the media just perpetuated the name. It is said that Hughes greatly disliked the moniker. Joe Burns, Ph.D.

"Fear of a Hacked Planet", MSN Computing Central - Uncle Sam subjects new drugs to thorough scrutiny before approving them. Were he equally careful with new laws, people wouldn't wonder whether his top hat and beard conceal Big Brother underneath. At issue: the Council of Europe's Cybercrime Convention, which, said former deputy associate attorney general Ethan M. Posner during congressional testimony in May 2000, "will define cybercrime offenses and address such topics as jurisdiction, international cooperation, and search and seizure." Not to mention threatening the rights of individuals and businesses worldwide, according to numerous opposition groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Democracy & Technology, or CDT.

RANDOM - A very interesting experiment in interactive Flash animation. While trying the different forms be sure to move the mouse around to different points on the screen.

And Remember: Did you know the great English playwright William Shakespeare Actually mentioned America in one of his plays? It was "The Comedy of Errors." Act III, Scene II. Joe Burns, Ph.D.

Tiffany House Bed & Breakfast Inn - We found this beautiful B&B where Evelyn and Megan will be staying for Kim's graduation. Nestled among the spreading oaks, high on a hilltop with a panoramic view of Mt. Lassen range, sits this late Victorian two story home architecturally designed to provide comfort and gracious living. A large shaded deck complete with wicker furnishings, comfortable chairs, a quaint gazebo, and a relaxing hammock lend a sense of nostalgia and tranquillity. A refreshing swimming pool is also available. And at this site you can go on a virtual tour of the inn.

W3Schools Online Web Tutorials - Inside W3Schools you will find a large number of free Web building tutorials, from basic HTML and XHTML tutorials, to advanced XML, XSL and WAP tutorials.

MSN Entertainment / Music - Rock & Roll's Ten Wackiest Pranks - April Fool's Day is here again, bringing back fond childhood memories of mischief: water balloons, whoopie cushions, joy buzzers, salt in the sugar bowl, etc. Since most rock stars never really seem to grow up, the world of rock & roll has long been a fertile territory for pranks, hoaxes and practical jokes. In honor of the silliest day of the year, we proudly present rock's ten wackiest pranks. Some were premeditated, some impulsive; some were dopey, some were brilliant; some were light-hearted, while others were hilariously vicious. But all of them deserve a place in the pop culture firmament, as well as in our naughty little rock & roll hearts.

Kyle's Skateboarding Page - Hi welcome to my site. I would like to thank all of you for coming and helping my site. I will tell you about skateboarding. (Posted for our dear friend Pam. Agreat teacher who knows the sixth grade student who created the page.)

Forbes.com: Microsoft's War Of Attrition - This time last year, Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people) was worth $96 billion, Sun Microsystems (nasdaq: SUNW - news - people) worth $150 billion, and America Online (nyse: AOL - news - people) worth more than $200 billion. Against this inflated dot-com currency, Microsoft's $24 billion bank balance--a huge cache by any measure--was rendered strategically impotent.

Earthquake As Artist --- Photos from Gaelic Wolf Consulting - On February 28, 2001, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake, located some thirty miles below the surface of the earth and a few miles away from Olympia Washington, moved the ground for a bit more than half a minute. A sand tracing pendulum, located at a shop in Port Townsend called Mind Over Matter, produced some very interesting patterns. (Contact: 888-385-3853 or via e-mail at mom@olympus.net.)

And remember: Have you ever heard of a face being called a "mug"? It came from the 18th-century practice of carving grotesque human faces on sides of drinking glasses. Needless to say, if you're told you have a nice mug, it isn't a compliment.

Joe Burns, Ph.D.

ABCNEWS.com : Australian Plans Highest Skydive Ever March 5 — Breaking the sound barrier — going past the speed of sound — shouldn't be a big deal anymore. After all, military aircraft go supersonic all the time. But try it without any sort of vehicle around you, and it just might put you in the record books. That's what Australian Rodd Millner is hoping to do when he rides a balloon to the edge of outer space, 25 miles up, and jumps.

Seattle Earthquake HUMOR Thousands were spilled and hundreds were injured as a giant tremor rocked the Seattle area Wednesday morning. Neither café lattes, cappuccinos, steamed chai, nor even the tiny espressos were spared from the force of the 6.8-magnitude quake. As Senior Investigative Baristas survey the damage, leaked reports suggest that as many as 10,000 hot drinks were spilled - many causing injury.

Howstuffworks "How Printable Computers Will Work" - Manufacturing computers is a costly and time-consuming undertaking. A microprocessor fabrication plant costs $2 billion and takes two full weeks to produce one silicon-based microprocessor. Few computer enthusiasts have the resources to make their own computer chips. However, researchers are developing ways to allow anyone to become their own microprocessor fabricator. Users will simply download microchip designs from the Internet and print out a working ink-based, plastic processor on a desktop fabrication machine, similar to an ink jet printer.

Boston Globe Online: Van Gogh was keen observer of starry nights - Vincent Van Gogh. The very name evokes the struggle between art and madness. The legendary 19th-century post-impressionist created some of his best-known paintings while confined to a mental asylum, and later killed himself at the age of 37. Yet, for many astronomers, Van Gogh cuts a very different figure. To them, he was a pretty darned good observer of the stars. ''Starry Night'' isn't merely beautiful; it depicts an unusually bright planet Venus in a rare alignment with a thin crescent moon.

Who Would Buy That? (auction oddities from all over the web) How often have you found an item on eBay that was so hideous you couldn't help but ask, "Who would buy that?"

TrekToday - Exclusive: Full Series V Character List Since before the end of 'Deep Space Nine', fandom has been speculating about the next Star Trek series, dubbed Series V by many. Over the past year the first rumours began appearing, suggesting the series would be set on a pre-TOS Enterprise, and in the past month Paramount officially announced it had begone pre-production. However, actual details of the next series' backstory were unavailable. That is, until now, as we present you what we believe is the full cast list for the next Star Trek series.

A Bit of Perspective on the Dot-Com Backlash (NY Times - free subscription required) - The faulty premise to the anti-Net backlash is that the Internet's transforming power is negated by some investors' failure to profit from it. One forgets how many railroads and radio manufacturers failed in their day. Moreover, the Internet by its very nature was never going to provide an easy venue for people to make money, once you set aside the Ciscos and others who sell the materials to build the network, and the AOL's and others who charge for access to it. The Internet is all about democratizing access to information and breaking down geographic barriers — two threatening developments for any seller's profit margins.

InternetWeek: PGP's Vulnerabilities Reveal The Truth About In this incident, the victim was an alleged mobster, Nicodemo S. Scarfo, who was using PGP to encrypt his e-mail messages. The eavesdropper was the FBI, who ran a black-bag operation against Scarfo and installed the keyboard sniffer. While it may sound like a great plot for a detective story, the principles surrounding this case could have profound effects on IT managers.