ABC News is reporting that Viagra could be the potential cure to jet lag:

Perhaps Viagra Can Soften Jet Lag’s Impact

Erectile Dysfunction Drug Shows Promise in Animal Study

By JOSEPH BROWNSTEIN, ABC News Medical Unit

May 21, 2007 —

The little blue pill known for making time in the bed more enjoyable may also help weary jet travelers roll out of it in the morning.

New research shows Viagra may be the solution for travelers who suddenly find themselves needing to rise hours earlier as they cross time zones, at least if those travelers are hamsters.

A study at the Universidad Nacional de Quilmes in Buenos Aires showed that male hamsters who received an injection of sildenafil along with a 15-minute stimulation of light were able to adjust their internal clocks by six hours in roughly half the time that hamsters who did not receive the treatment took.

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You might notice some very amusing headings:

• Rise and Shine
• Study Arouses Interest
• Will Results Stand Up to Scrutiny

That’s right, my college roommate Joseph Brownstein is now reporting for ABC News! Congratulations Joe, I expect a lot more hilarity to come!

Straight from Jim Zhuang @ Google China comes one of the more hilarious education fraud stories that has come across my IM window.

IMPOSTER CAUGHT

High school graduate pretends to be a Stanford student, even living in the dorms, buying textbooks and ‘studying’ for exams

Azia Kim was like any other Stanford freshman. She graduated from one of California’s most competitive high schools last June, moved into the dorms during New Student Orientation, talked about upcoming tests and spent her free time with friends.

Azia Kim allegedly climbed through this first-floor window in Okada to sleep during spring quarter. The 18-year-old was evicted after her ruse was uncovered Monday night.

The only problem is that Azia Kim was never a Stanford student.

Kim, an 18-year-old from Orange County who graduated from Fullerton’s Troy High School, lived in Kimball throughout fall and winter quarter. She lived in Okada, the Asian-American theme dorm, until Monday night, when University staff finally caught onto her ruse.

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I always knew that this was possible, given how lax security is on college campuses. I just didn’t think someone would actually carry this through! Now let’s hope Stanford doesn’t over-react in its response.

I am a big proponent of colleges having “open classrooms”. By that I mean, anyone who wants to attend class, whether a student or not, should be allow to attend. The students are really paying for the diploma anyway. Afterall, colleges are suppose to spread knowledge and produce our next generation of leaders, why not let those who want to learn.. learn?

Unfortunately, Azia Kim went overboard when she decided to move into University Housing. Her “roommate” is actually pretty cute:

But seriously, how do you not know something is amiss.. when she’s going through windows every day.

Still, Kim had neither a Stanford ID nor a key, forcing her to sneak into meals and enter her room through its window, which overlooked the Munger construction pit, the Wilbur parking lot and a dumpster, three feet off the ground. Zhou never noticed, as she spent nearly all her nights in her boyfriend’s room.

The Stanford Daily later posted another article poking fun at the situation. There’s some prized quotes in this one as well.

Dear Ms. Azia Kim . . .

I tip my hat to you. Many of us actual Stanford students read your story in awed delight yesterday, but I for one saw through the carefully orchestrated deceit to the underlying genius of your plan. You are an American heroine for managing to pull a fast one on so many of us who considered ourselves the best and the brightest. Turning lemons into lemonade — or rather, I should say, a free college education — is no easy feat, but you, Ms. Azia Kim are a mastermind, deserving to be ranked up there with Frank Abagnale and D.B. Cooper as one of the greatest con artists of the 20th century.

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The only drawbacks to your plan were the potential ramifications for your roommate from Okada — her parents just found out that their daughter was sleeping with her boyfriend so much that she practically wasn’t even in the room they were paying for. Oy. I know my parents would kill me. I can’t even imagine what hers will do to her.

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That . is . just . priceless .

UPDATE: Since someone asked, here’s the PDF copy of “Dear Ms. Azia Kim” from Google Cache, since the actual article got taken down.

UPDATE 2: It seems like the Stanford Daily didn’t completely take down Dear. Ms. Azia Kim, but rather updated the article with the new title “Dear Ms. Kim“

If you use the internet regularly, I’m sure you’ve mistyped a URL at least once or twice, and come across a webpage with nothing but useless links. This is actually a phenomenon called “domain squatting”. Almost every single domain name that remotely sounds like a word, or even the combination of two words have now been squatted on. These scum of the earth assholes’ are actually making fortunes abusing the open internet model.

The man who owns the Internet

Kevin Ham is the most powerful dotcom mogul you’ve never heard of, reports Business 2.0 Magazine. Here’s how the master of Web domains built a $300 million empire.

(Business 2.0 Magazine) — Kevin Ham leans forward, sits up tall, closes his eyes, and begins to type — into the air. He’s seated along the rear wall of a packed ballroom in Las Vegas’s Venetian Hotel. Up front, an auctioneer is running through a list of Internet domain names, building excitement the same way he might if vintage cars were on the block.

As names come up that interest Ham, he occasionally air-types. It’s the ultimate gut check. Is the name one that people might enter directly into their Web browser, bypassing the search engine box entirely, as Ham wants? Is it better in plural or singular form? If it’s a typo, is it a mistake a lot of people would make? Or does the name, like a stunning beachfront property, just feel like a winner?

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That’s right, the guy makes HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of dollars contributing absolutely NOTHING to society. In fact, he actually affects society negatively. As an internet entrepreneur, we often find our prospective domains squatted on. Not only is he filling the internet with junk, he’s preventing others from contributing to the internet. For a bloody spammer, he sure seems awfully concerned about his own privacy:

Registrant
KEVINHAM.COM
c/o Whois IDentity Shield
142-757 W. Hastings St., Suite #777
Vancouver, BC
Canada V6C 1A1

Someone should find his real address, and give him a serious beating.

For the past few years, I’ve stubbornly held out against HDTV and railed against Vista. Well, let’s just say I’m now a convert on both counts.

I bought two HDTV panels a month ago and I’m absolutely addicted to it now. Nature shows are absolutely stunning on HDTV (check Discovery HD Theatre). It’s actually pains me now to watch SD broadcast!

As for Vista, I finally took some time today to try it out on my Thinkpad (Lenovo) X41 Tablet. It was the most painless Windows Upgrade I’ve ever experienced. It’s even approaching OSX level simple! I simply ran the installation off an image, installed Office 2007, Adobe Design Premium CS3 and I was ready to go.

Just a few quick observations:

• Vista actually seems faster on the tablet than XP
• Handwriting recognition is significantly improved
• Instant Rails still works!
• I am really psyched to try ReadyBoast. It’s a feature of Vista that uses fast USB drives as extra ram. I have a fast SD card coming tomorrow, and will report about it when I try it.

A good friend Aswin is leaving the States for good and returning to India to lead his startup.

What’s particularly cool about his startup is that it’s actually based on the theory of social contract. A company that revolves around solving infrastructural problems in the developing world, how cool is that?!

Incidentally, I would also like to use this post as proof that I predicted Aswin’s rise to the ruler of India well in advance. Good Luck Aswin!