A man should be an island Find out all about the editorial phenomenon of the Chick-Lit and the Lad-Lit publications, which portrait women as desperate marriage seekers, and men as emotional immature boys interested only in sports; and Nick Hornby's latest novel's adaptation to the screen, on emotional independence, friendship and stuff. A funny kind of national security To the amuse of many it seems government agencies are not doing a good job in protecting top secret data, selling intact parts of their old PCs to strangers instead of wrecking them as they should. Plus, Federal prosecutors mistakenly turned over classified F.B.I. reports to Zacarias Moussaoui, a terrorism suspect. A finding in Amish newborns could be a major step in preventing brain defects in babies worldwide. The complete DNA codes of both the malaria parasite and its carrier, the malaria mosquito, are now available. Some reasons to scrap your VCR Soon DVD players will be able to play sophisticated games, connect to the Internet and exchange e-mail. Read it next. Your new best friend Want some help in the house? Ask the robot. Wave goodbye to static And digital radio is here to stay.		October 11th, Friday, 2002, ip nº29 The wrong things to get rid of Wired, but Drawing the Line Take a peek at this article about the people who make their living working with technology, but have decided to eliminate the electronic gadgets in order to improve their lives. It's interesting, this almost natural urge of simplification people experiment when having to confront increasingly complex issues in their lives. In this case, technology is not as relevant itself as its use is. Plus, the possibilities granted by technology sadly become overshadowed, because many of these people associate technology with their jobs, and leave the "tech rave" confined to their work environment only. Anyway, it always seems that, in order to be freer, or faithful to ourselves, or to have better lives, we should get rid of our possessions. Actually, to me it's not the lack of commodities what counts but the development of a certain mental state. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/10/technology/circuits A thin creative line What's original, anyway? The core of the next article are The exhibit, Illegal Art: Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age, and what's supposed to be a landmark case in the copyright area. To put it in a nutshell, the debate centers basically in whether artists can use copyrighted material or not. And though many emphasize that illegal use of already registered material to create new work is unjust and it may be restricted, and others defend the right to create freely and denounce the corporative moves to keep expired copyrights, there's more to it than hits the eye. Even if you subscribe to the second cause, there's a dangerous thin line between producing new work and reprising the same again and again. Link: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,55592,00.html Happy voles go to hell, good ones marry You dirty vole And finally an article that shed some light on common phenomena such as monogamy, infidelity, mad love and compassionate love, through the study of voles and their behavior. To start with, the study reinforces the idea that love and lust should be considered separately, because they both represent different biochemical processes, so attachment to one person does not suppress lust for another, thus, infidelity is viewed as a natural reaction. On the other hand, the study proposes that romantic love has evolved to allow people to catch partners, and that attachment has evolved to make people tolerate their mates long enough to raise a child. So consequently is marriage a way to control our impulses? Link: http://www.popsci.com/popsci/medicine/article/0,12543,353756,00.html		Privacy Issues Worldwide data on computer attacks. Go to privacy concerns section, clicking here. Cultural Maffia Legal ground heat up The 1998 law that extended copyright protection is being challenged by a landmark case that could determine the use of much copyrighted material. Plus, more info on what the public domain is really about. And RIAA strikes back with their campaign "Say no to CD copying!", and it also asked a federal court to force Verizon (a major Internet service provider) to reveal the names and addresses of users of peer to peer systems. Finally consumer stand-up against copyright owners' new policies to exercise content controls, with the Digital Media Consumers Rights Act. A positive fact: Antarctica's Ozone Hole seems to be shrinking. Microbes could be found in Venus' atmosphere. And, is Pluto really a planet? The video game industry's trying to change its image of anti-social entertainment business in an effort to gain adepts with its new cool looks, while the fast-expanding world of video games takes on Hollywood. Can games become bigger than films?