The End Is Near

The end of the Internet is near — and in less than three years, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The reason? More than 85% of the available addresses have already been allocated and the OECD predicts we will have run out completely by early 2011.
These aren’t the normal web addresses you type into your browser’s window, and which were recently freed up by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the body responsible for allocating domain names, to allow thousands of new internet domains ending in, for instance, .newyork or .london.
Beneath those names lie numerical Internet protocol addresses that denote individual devices connected to the internet. These form the foundation for all online communications, from e-mail and web pages to voice chat and streaming video.
When the current IP address scheme was introduced in 1981, there were fewer than 500 computers connected to the Internet. Its founders could be forgiven for thinking that allowing for a potential 4 billion would last for ever. However, less than 30 years later, the Internet is rapidly running out. Every day thousands of new devices ranging from massive web servers down to individual mobile phones go online and gobble up more combinations and permutations.
"Shortages are already acute in some regions," says the OECD. "The situation is critical for the future of the internet economy."
As addresses run dry we will all feel the pinch: Internet speeds will drop and new connections and services will either be expensive or simply impossible to obtain. The solution to the IP address shortage is an upgrade to new addresses that can accommodate our hunger for online connectivity. Such a system, called IPv6, was agreed more than a decade ago, providing enough addresses for billions upon billions of devices as well as improving Internet phone and video calls, and possibly even helping to end e-mail spam.

Angry Passenger Uses Emergency Slide to Leave Plane

GEORGETOWN, Guyana — Guyanese authorities say a first-class airline passenger was so angry at seeing economy passengers leave a jetliner before him that he yanked open an emergency hatch and slid down the chute.
Police spokesman Sealall Persaud says the Guyanese man identified as Satyanand Christopher appeared to be intoxicated after the Delta Airlines flight from New York.
Persaud said Sunday that local police arrested Christoper, who was quickly released on bail after the Friday incident.
Delta spokesman Junior Horatio says the U.S. carrier plans to file charges against the man for interfering with flight crew members.

A cat watching TV

Wait until it turns around.

Real Cop, 'Fake' police dog traps two

A quick thinking police woman stopped fleeing suspects in their tracks by grabbing a passing Labrador and shouting: "Stop! Or I'll release the dog!"
The teenagers didn't have a clue that the barking animal wasn't a police dog and they handed themselves over to Pc Leanne Murphy. The two boys, aged 15 and 16, were believed to have broken into a mill.
Pc Murphy said she arrested and handcuffed the boys. "When I gave the lady her dog back, their faces were quite a picture," she said. "They didn't say a word. They started to cry."