Massachusetts Institute of Technology has a long history of pranks (or hacks, as they call them) both on their own campus and at other schools.

The students marked the launch of Halo 3 by augmenting the statue of John P. Harvard at Harvard University. Note the Spartan helmet (with "Master Chief in Training" written on the back) and a Halo assault rifle.

On the Halo front, Halo 3 is now the largest entertainment launch in the history of business, beating any movie, book or other form of entertainment. More than 1.3M people went online to play Halo on the first day. Imagine the network load … that is scale. That load beats any mainframe load, even on a bank run day.

I was reading through Engadget yesterday and came across this article on the addition of Slingbox like capabilities to the Media Center. After reading up on the WebGuide it became clear this is significantly more:

• You can stream video, pictures, recorded TV and music content from your Media Center to devices on the web (think mobile phone, laptop in a hotel room …)
• You can control your Media Center and do standard stuff (i.e. set it to record programs)

So, I set it up and it works great. When you set up the software, it creates a web ID that is tied to your router. Simply click on the web address, add in your credentials and you have access into the box.

By itself, that is pretty cool. But, if you couple it with HD cable cards or an HDMI capture card, MP4 compression and support, the mobility angle and the XBOX extender, that is techno nirvana. Almost there ….

The biggest entertainment event in history was Halo 2 with $125M in single day sales, beating any movie, DVD or other entertainment launch in history. Next week, the last in the series launches .. Halo 3. It is expected to displace Halo 2 as the biggest every entertainment launch with Microsoft shooting to beat the biggest movie weekend (Spiderman 3) of $155M in 24 hours.

Check out the trailer here. Read about the midnight mania here.

Check out these pictures of the IMAX in London below. No doubt about it, Halo 3 is the game for Christmas 2007.

As part of the move we sold a few thing and used a site called ‘The SuperShopper’ which is this great site which publishes a weekly booklet for you to peruse. Less efficient than eBay, but great as it is localized (Ontario). While selling, I almost got sucked into a scam that went like this:

1. Scammer sends me money for the item via moneyorder from MoneyMart. Turns out these can be acquired with a fake check. So, they can buy them with a check, send me the order and bounce the check – never giving MoneyMart the money.

2. Pondscum scammer ‘accidentally’ sends me too much money then asks for me to cash it and send back the balance – removing my fair share and a little for my trouble.

My wife picked up on what was going on (I was going to deposit them, let it all clear my bank and then follow the steps). In the rush to move, I did not even really notice. But then we dug in and it became clear.

I could see how they can prey on people who are greedy (trying to take some of the money) or naive. Interesting experience. Of interest, there is a hotline to report this stuff – but they never returned our email or calls. I guess this is really common.

The thread is below .. enjoy …

hello

we saw the pictures  and that is what i want for my kid brother  , do you have more pictures to send and since when have you been using it

we are presently on pilgrimage to Jerusalem but that is no problem

as we will get the payment for it  to you before friday this week so that you can besure we want it, we are relocating  to quebec to resume  to our new missionary posting so we will be  leaving  from here but we still have our belongings stored in a warehouse in  ontario  they will all be moved soon so we want it moved with our  things to quebec,

$400 is a good price

we can have can have our associate send you the full payment via money order this week before friday  if we can have the name and the address where the money will be sent to , thanks

 ,

God bless

robert & mary

hello

sorry for the delay,you will be getting the payment today via ups or tomorrow , so as  soon as you get the payment take it to the bank and cash it ,when you cash the payment withdraw the cash from the bank and send the remaning money to the moving  agent that will come for the pickup via MONEYGRAM, you will be given a reciept there,

Pls my associate contacted me that his seceretary  sent more money  than i told you that you will be getting she sent $2000 , she was suppose to send it to the warehouse where our things are  stored and also for the shipper  and the dog home but she sent all to  you, the balance is for the shipper and the same shipper  will be moving our stuffs  as well to Quebec from the warehouse and do from the dog home , he will have to pay them there before he can move our things , pls  deduct  the money for the cabinet which is $400 and also deduct  $100 for your  gas to the moneygram’s outlet where you will be able to send the remaining money to the mover

Here is the infomation of the shipper

Name MR JOHN TURNER

Address..441 Hargrave Street ,

             Winnipeg Manitoba ,Canada R3A 0X5 

HERE ARE SOME MONEY GRAM LOCATION NEAR YOU  WHERE YOU CAN SEND THE MONEY VIA MONEYGRAM TO THE SHIPPING AGENT.PLS TAKE THE CASH DOWN TO  THIS LOCATION  AND HAVE IT SENT BY MONEY GRAM, PLEASE DEDUCT THE MONEY FOR GAS AND OTHER CHARGES , NARDA kindly make sure the money is sent to the mover via moneygram

UNCLE BUCKS

27 DUNLOP ST W

BARRIE, ON  L4N 1A1

Tel: (705) 737-0038

Services Available:

Send MoneyTransfer

CANADA POST OUTLET #131229

524 BAYFIELD ST

BARRIE, ON  L4M 5A2

Tel: (705) 722-1163

Services Available:

Send MoneyTransfer

CANADA POST OUTLET #015814

320 BAYFIELD ST

BARRIE, ON  L4M 3C1

Tel: (705) 726-8830

Services Available:

Send MoneyTransfer

CANADA POST OUTLET #265969

128 PENETANG ST

BARRIE, ON  L4M 1V6

Tel: (705) 728-5407

Services Available:

Send MoneyTransfer

CANADA POST OUTLET #021083

279 YONGE ST

BARRIE, ON  L4N 7T9

Tel: (705) 739-7063

Services Available:

Send MoneyTransfer

ETHNIC SHOPPING

69 DUNLOP ST W

BARRIE, ON  L4N 1A5

Tel: (705) 792-6952

Services Available:

Send MoneyTransfer

Receive MoneyTransfer

 Hours

we are really sorry for the mix up , kindly make sure the money is sent to him via moneygram  because that is the only way they acept payment if one is not there to pay in person and don’t mail by post  the money to him or any other services because he moves around and they have an account with moneygram.

when you get  to the address above ask them that you want to wire the money by money gram money transfer,money gram money transfer is a eletronic money transfer when you give them the cash they will give you a reference number for that transfer , the reference number  is what Mr TURNER  will use to receive the money at any money gram location closer to him because he moves around alot. make sure the money is sent my moneygram ONLY today .

thanks