Have a very happy New Year's, everyone. Thus ends the first full year of Kev's News.

What can one say about over 100,000 lives being extinguished so quickly? Too many things for words. "You are the music while the music lasts", said T.S. Elliot.

Larry Geller of the Hawaii Coalition for Health points out this item - if a tsunami occurs on Oahu, will it wipe out the state's biomedical center and potentially cause a larger disaster? Hawaii Senator Gordon Trimble voices his concerns on locating $150 million+ research facilities so close to the shoreline:

Here you can see how close the biomedical facilities are to the ocean:

Here's a map showing the rough location of the facilities (Ilalo Street, Honolulu), to the left of Kewalo Basin:

So now we can see how close the facility would be to the tsunami evacuation zone:

I only hope that biohazardous materials will be stored in a way so to prevent them from washing out in the event of flooding...

An official collection of satellite photos of the tsunami sites:

A collection of tsunami videos:

Combine Flickr with maps, and you get Mappr! See on a U.S. map where recent photos were taken:

A nice list of free Windows software that doesn't come with spyware, adware, virii, or other nasty things:

The Google library project is named as one of the "ten most important emerging technologies". I agree:

A "laptop battery breakthrough" enables more precise readings of battery life, implications for all gadget types:

The EFF releases Tor, an anonymous Internet communications system. Note it's still in progress:

Once again, modern kids give their opinions on classic video games. Star Wars: "There's no depth perception". Defender: "You wasted quarters in this?"

iPod Stuff

Are you a PC user who bought an iPod? With rumors of a sub-$500 Mac, many are thinking of switching:

Unsurprisingly, Apple crippled the iPod to prevent high-quality recording. Here's a hack to enable it, although it may only work on 3rd-gen iPods:

The iPod photo is helping radiologists manage their medical images. And with iSight, stock Apple technology is enabling teleradiology on the cheap and may one day enable telemedicine from home:

"Cyber crime booms in 2004"

There are now over 100,000 Windows viruses:

At a peace rally in Oklahoma, a minister gave this damning and inspiring speech on morality, war, and religion:

Never mind those old 50's survival bunkers. Get yourself a new U.S. Bunker and prepare for the terrorist invasion!

"The Graying of Hawai'i"

The state's population is aging, with many implications for the future of our island society:

The sorry state of wasteful corporate packaging - the most over-packed item in history:

A lot of people are eating Splenda, the latest sugar substitute:

However, long-term toxicity questions remain unanswered:

"Prescription Drug Use at Record High for Americans":

The weight of American tourists is causing chairs on the Queen Mary 2 to break:

Antimicrobial products may harm developing nervous systems:

The winner of the second Dwell eco-prefab house contest:

This is a working graphic design of a computer, the first I've seen. Have there been other designs like this, either recently or in the ancient past? I envision a lot of interactive modern art in this genre:

The "gallery of computation" has gotten both larger and more varied over the last year or so. Great stuff!

Amazing full-color turn-of-the-century Russian photos:

Cutting-edge graffiti art by Mr. Totem:

Detailed, richly colored scientific photography:

Beautiful photos of Alaska by Norio Matsumoto:

The New York Times' 2004 year in pictures:

The greatest opening song lines:

The Black Keys make some great lo-fi blues rock. Some say they're better than the White Stripes:

Mash-ups, or combinations of songs, are going mainstream and making big bucks for some:

In a pioneering survey, most artists and musicians think that file sharing is not a threat:

The RIAA and MPAA are intentionally putting adware into Windows Media files to thwart file sharing: