Technological advances in communication frequently brings social changes as well, sometimes for the worse. Apparently more Germans than Americans wisely grasp that cell phone calls while defecating are unacceptable. [land-o-links]

McDonalds Interactive gave a presentation at the International Serious Games Summit on how their competitive business training simulation showed that fast food business practices would eventually lead to cataclysmic climactic change. Only one problem: it appears to have been a prank.

the ‘Space Adventures’ company has announced the next lucky (and rich) individual to get off planet to an extent we can only dream of. The winner is Japanese entrepreneur Daisuke ‘Dice-K’ Enomoto. His backup will be X Prize sponsor Anousheh Ansari. I need a job that pays better, dammit.

A company called Avanti Metals claims to have developed a process by which it can refine titanium for many times less than the cost of the current method, while at the same time eliminating the chlorine gas by-product that keeps titanium production ecologically “dirty”. Their own estimates are that they’ll be able to sell the metal at $25 per pound (titanium currently trades at $40/lb.), though they say even that amount would be conservative. My dad was pissed when he heard about this, having just dropped a fortune on titanium golf clubs; I’d sure hate to know anyone that just bought a plane.

The astronomy world is in a state of great excitement, thanks to new observations of the disk of matter surrounding the star Beta Pictoris. It appears that it has twice the expected amount of carbon in it. As usual, no-one is sure what this actually means in practice – it may be that this happens all the time (it’s just a phase that this and all other star systems go through), or it may be a rare anomoly that could produce spectacular and esoteric results when planets are formed. Diamond mountain ranges, anyone?