Can’t stop laughing.  I think I actually enjoy SPAM now.  How creepy is that?

One of those just advised me that Al Pacino has just been arrested for funding the mob.

I can’t stop laughing.

[SB digg, reddit]ICANN has announced their intent to allow the registration of new gTLDs in a repeated auction process, starting for the princely sum of $100,000 for a handful of letters.  In IRC in debate the question came up how many vanity 1st level domains (hereafter vanity 1ld) would be purchased.

[digg-reddit-me]For the purposes of competition – and there’s no money involved, I just said gambling to whore diggs and such – a vanity 1LD is defined as a gTLD which represents the name of a person, company or organization.  This means that .porn is not a vanity 1tld, even though it’ll certainly be owned by a pornographer, because it’s named for its content.  By contrast, .microsoft is a vanity 1LD, as is .billclinton (which probably won’t get bought; I’m just being thorough in definition and Bill has a good sense of humor.)  If a 1LD is assigned on basis of trademark, it’s pretty much in like Flynn.

So.  Where’s the psychicitudeness?

I predict that approximately 950 vanity 1LDs will be purchased in the first auction.  (This has the startling price tag of ninety five million dollars minimum.)

Anyone want to play The Price is Right with me?  Place your bet in comments (preferably as a trackback; this is a new domain and I could use some rank).  Whoever gives the nearest answer to the number that turns out to be correct wins.  (No price is right rules; going over isn’t different than going under.)

Incidentally, if you guys are worried I’ll edit my post after the fact, just check Internet Archive for the day before the auction.  I can’t cheat; I’m being watched by www.bigbroth.er .

Bring it.  950.

I’m calling bullshit.  I think this is a tactic to raise traffic, that it’s a boldfaced lie (or a prank on a reporter who refuses to report rumor as something other than fact,) and that it’s a sign that Next-Gen has finally gone down the tubes.

I’m going to paste the link, rather than link it, because I don’t want most people visiting the page, but I want there to be posterity.  http://next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3538&Itemid=2  Do not visit this page; it’s bullshit.

If Next-Gen doesn’t run a front-page screen-top apology for a month, their credibility has been shot to hell.  ‘Course, it’s not like they’re worth reading anyway, given that they rate games starting at 8 of 10, have appalling grammar, and never admit to passing rumor off as news.  (Sure, they’ve been caught doing it before, but saying E3 is over is a bit fucking much.)

E3 just started a network site, and accepted quite a bit of money to get people involved.  If they shut down after that, they’re in for tremendous trouble.  They provide massive marketing opportunities at comparatively low prices, make four to seven hundred dollars a head for a crowd of sixty thousand and have a massive impact on the direction of gaming.

I just don’t believe it.  Cite your sources or go the fuck home.  Next-Gen is nothing better than the Daily Sun.

Yay for Chicago.  You’d think nobody would take something like The Luther seriously, but apparently Chicago watches too much of The Boondocks, and they decided they had The Itis.

Witness the end of coronary health in Illinois.

As an aside, I’m something of an amateur chef.  I’ve been mulling this over in my head.  Now, I’m scared to just try one, because I’m pretty sure it’d kill me dead on the spot.  That said, I’ve been pretending to mingle the flavors in the mouth inside my head, and I’m pretty sure that, gross as it may sound, this would actually taste pretty damned good.

Anyone in Chicago adventurous enough to risk their lives to satisfy my curiosity?  Let me know.