A researcher at a Tokyo zoo has discovered that elephants have more than just good memories - they have the ability to carry out basic mathematical computations. We all understand the notion of a "legacy brain" being capable of simple memorization, recognition, and the ability to quickly analyze a situation and either fight or flee. But I don't think math skills have ever been part of that, er, equation. Although maybe it does make sense for animals that roam about in herds, since they would benefit from basic chaperone skills to keep the herd intact. They don't need a No Calf Left Behind law...they just use their brains!

I recently finished writing a chapter on CAPTCHA for Head First PHP & MySQL, a book that has managed to take over my life these days. That chapter got me thinking a lot about user names, passwords, and web security...and then I saw the article below. It suggests as an alternative to coming up with a word or phrase as an authentication password, maybe we should be considering using digital objects such as songs or images, or perhaps movies. Take me for example. My favorite movie is "Jaws," so I could start using a digital "signature" of that movie (presumably extracted somehow from an MPEG file) as my password when accessing secure web sites. The problem is, many people I know happen to also know that "Jaws" is my favorite movie. So I could have friends and family members ruining my eBay feedback rating or selling all of my precious P.F. Chang's stock on E*Trade just because they once happened to be invited to a "Jaws" movie night.
I'm trying to be open minded here but I'm not quite understanding how a song/image/movie, or any other digital content that is less scarce than random words and phrases could end up being more secure for passwords. But I like that there are some people thinking "outside of the box." Seriously, short of Apple adding thumb or retinal scanners to all MacBooks, we do need some innovation in the area of password authentication. And hopefully something a little more creative than forcing me to include a number, mixed case, and a smiley in my password! In the meantime, go watch "Jaws" if you haven't seen it lately - it's a great movie.

As it turns out, six degrees was a tiny bit optimistic in referring to how much social separation exists between each of us. But kick it up one more degree and we're suddenly one big group of friends spread out across the globe. Microsoft researchers recently put the "six degrees of separation" theory to the test by analyzing Microsoft Messenger instant messages to find out on average how many "hops" it takes to connect any two people. After crunching the numbers on 30 billion conversations, the magic number is 6.6. So Kevin Bacon and his six degrees of separation from the rest of Hollywood wasn't far off.

Thanks to my friend Catherine for this little gem. The guy's name is Guy Wright, and he's a modern master when it comes to yo-yo's. That's right, yo-yo's. It's a frustrating, often solo journey to work hours a day mastering a skill that you know only a few select people will ever appreciate; most people will look down on the oddball person who chooses a "childish" activity outside of the mainstream. Throwing a perfect spiral, driving a car in a circle really fast, and hitting a tiny dimpled ball out of a small make-believe beach are much more worthy "grown-up" pursuits.

If I sound a tiny bit bitter, it's because I've walked in Guy Wright's shoes...still do, in fact. I was a skateboarder back when skateboarding very much wasn't cool. As I continued skateboarding throughout the end of high school and even college, it wasn't uncommon for my parents to brag to other people about my computer abilities, even though I was undoubtedly more talented on the skateboard. But that's how it goes - I didn't blame them. What are the odds they would meet someone who would be impressed by the fact that their college-aged son could do a stalefish air or crail slide revert. Unless they happened to run into Frank Hawk (Tony's late Dad), the odds were pretty close to zero.

Now I'm older and skateboarding is nearly in vogue. It's almost possible to even get respect as a skateboarder these days. But it will probably never be respected in the same way as mainstream sports, and that's OK. In fact, that's a good thing. I think Guy Wright the yo-yo man sums it up best: "I'd rather see the world remain a more interesting place than everybody know about all this stuff and none of it be special to anyone." I couldn't agree more. Do what you love, even if you're the only one who appreciates it...yo-yo on!

Here's an interesting take on the doomsday scenario laid out in The Terminator movies, and how it might really go down in the real world. No, I don't think your iPhone is plotting against you just yet but there are some interesting arguments for how "the machines" might strategize a takeover.