Ginger No Big Deal

"EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT "GINGER," a secret project by inventor Dean Kamen. Ginger isn't a personal hovercraft, as some have speculated, nor is it a hoax. It's most likely a scooter that boasts a revolutionary non-polluting power system based on pressurized helium and uses a gyroscope to keep a one-wheeled version upright. The name "Ginger" isn't a reference to a Spice Girl or Mary Ann's Island roommate, but Ginger Rogers, who "danced on air." The invention is amazing because it's cheap, clean-burning, fast, compact and convenient to use. Steve Jobs says cities will be redesigned to accommodate it. Bob Metcalfe says it's more important than the Internet. I say these guys always overstate things. Even Kaman says it's not that big of a deal. 

You've Got Guns!
Gun enthusiasts are calling for a boycott of America Online because the Virginia-based company fired three workers for keeping guns in their cars parked in the Ogden, Utah AOL call center. 

This Just In: The World is Round
After noticing a profound and widespread ignorance about space, astronomer Philip Plait launched a web site called Bad Astronomy. Plait launched the site after learning that a significant percentage of the population believes the moon landings were faked by NASA. In a tangentially related story, Muslim fundamentalists in the northern Nigerian city of Maiduguri rioted last week, burning down about 40 hotels and bars to punish the sinners who caused the recent lunar eclipse. 

Your Tax Dollars At Work
If you've never tried to park in New York City, let me tell you it can be an adventure. People get so desperate for a parking spot that they consciously decide to get a ticket -- and then discover that even all the illegal spaces are taken. Naturally, there's a pandemic of unpaid tickets. Now, however, in an effort to embarrass ticket dodgers into paying up, the police are posting the names and home addresses of top violators. Leading the pack is Charles Rhodes of Brooklyn, who owes $66,995 on 499 parking tickets. 

Hollywood Spy
Naked Hindu ascetics, whacked on pot, are protesting the luxury tents set up for pampered Hollywood "look-at-me-I'm-spiritual" types like Madonna, Sharon Stone and Demi Moore on the banks of the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh, where millions of pilgrims gather every 12 years for the Kumbh Mela festival to bathe in the soul-cleansing (but nonetheless filthy) waters of the holy river.

Follow-Up
In a piece about the knee-jerk recycling of baby boomer childhood-culture movie ideas from Hollywood last week, I mentioned that Tom Cruise wants "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" director Ang Lee to direct Mission Impossible 3. But, alas, my Hollywood spy says the director will be busy on another knee-jerk, recycled baby boomer childhood-culture movie idea: "The Hulk," which is scheduled for a 2003 release from Universal Pictures.

I mentioned an e-voting gadget last week from a small company called Hart InterCivic. Well, it turns out the big companies are working on e-voting, too. Dell, Microsoft and Unisys are reportedly working on an e-ballot system that would banish pregnant chads forever. The heavy hitters will push their system at the first-ever Election Technology Expo today at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Sacramento, California.

Reader Web Site of the Week
PuterGeek is dedicated to PC how-to information. Click here to send me YOUR URL. 

Mike's List o' Crazy Gadgets
1. A digital camera thinner than a quarter of an inch!

2. A tiny cell phone with no keypad. 

3. The world's first DVD-R camcorder.

4. A Bluetooth watch that enables you to use a nearby cell phone via the watch. 

5. A ThinkPad for people who can't type. 

6. Claudia Schiffer Palm organizer. 

Mike's List o' Wacky Web Sites
1. This site helps you write a wacky "thank you" note. Just fill out the form, and the note is created automatically. 

2. Here's a site that tells the history of computers through geeky t-shirts. 

3. Not all dot-coms are dying. Business at Bid4assets.com is booming. The company sells the computers, ping-pong tables and computer systems of dying dot-com companies for pennies on the dollar.

Mike's List o' Numbers
35,299 - Number of American technology workers laid off by dot-com companies that have dismissed 10 or more workers at a time since December 1999. (Industry Standard)

39,000 - Total number of new jobs created in Silicon Valley in 2000. (New York Times)

195,000 - Number of visas to be granted by the U.S. government to foriegn technology workers each year. 

5,000,000 - Total number of technology workers in the United States. (American Electronics Association)

Mike's List o' Required Reading
Microsoft à la Hollywood
By Michael Kinsley
Slate

if yr e-mail looks like this, u must be the boss 
By Gwen Florio 
Philadelphia Inquirer

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