Spacewar! was world’s first ever video game, created in 1961 by Martin Graetz, Stephen Russell, and Wayne Wiitanen. It made it’s first appearence on the PDP-1 in 1962.

And I thought Asteroids was dull….

The public row over the controversial Channel 4 programme Brass Eye has now entered the political arena.

Following a broadcast of the show in which the UK media’s obsession for sensationalising paedophilia was darkly satirised, a huge public outcry has gathered momentum and now top UK politician’s are said to be investigating complaints. Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, Home Secretary David Blunkett and child protection minister Beverley Hughes have all thrown in their tuppenceworth to the debate. Channel 4 could now face heavy censure.

The show took advantage of famous personalities and politicians who were all-too-willing to promote the aims of a fake and ludicrous anti-paedophile campaign, which formed part of the programme, in return for free pubilcity. It didn’t just border on the sick, it positively smashed right through it. But it worked.

I have to admit, that whilst I enjoyed the show and fully understood it’s message, there were times when it made me uncomfortable. However, the point was well made, and because of the media furorae surrounding it, there are now more people aware of the show than would have been under normal broadcasting circumstances. (The unprecedented growth of the Napster phenomenon following the lawsuit brought against them by the US music industry springs to mind).

Additionally, a BBC News Online story published today is reporting that Beverley Hughes admitted on BBC Radio 4 that she has not seen the whole programme, and, well, David Blunkett is blind.

Not exactly a good starting point from which to launch a campaign against the freedom of speech in the UK media.

I started paying attention to the news stories that appear down the left-hand side of my own page, for a change… Here’s what cropped up:

Most of the world will know the story of Alan and Judith Kilshaw, the English couple who attempted to adopt two baby twins over the internet, but failed. Well, a hilarious story appeared on ICWales today, about Judith’s ‘ultimatum’ to leave the UK unless she’s offered a chat-show presenter’s job on British television. Yeah, that’ll work.

I find it a little strange that The Guardian has an entire news section devoted to stories about the BBC and ITV, but not Channel 4.

I’ll have to remind some of my work colleagues about the Action Scripts site. It’s a really useful resource for people using Flash.

There’s a great story on BBC News Online, all about why chillies are so hot, based firmly on Darwinian science.

Then there’s a story of fandom gone crazy on SciFi.com. Damn that Harry Potter and his lightning-style scar.

Interesting ZDNet story about bugs in SQL software used on the servers that store information concerning nuclear material traffic across Russia and the USA. If exploited, the bugs could have given unauthorised people easy access to information stored in the database.

ZDnet are also reporting on the Federal Court order instructing AOL to provide updates on the directive handed out to them which effectively forces them to integrate AOL IM with other Instant Messaging services.

Zdnet’s guide to unmetered access should be your first port of call if you think you’re paying too much money for your net access.

Bit of a ZDnet night tonight.