Darse Billings has announced the 2nd International RoShamBo Programming Competition, for Rock-Paper-Scissors bots written in C. Many of the contestants will be somewhat predictable, so a completely random contestant will compare poorly with smarter entries. However, predictable contestants will do even worse. Code is available for almost all of the top contenders from the first programming competition. Small programs will compete separately. Enter by 10Jul00. . To play RoShamBo on the Web, try Perry Friedman's original RoShamBot at or the new RoShamBot at . [, comp.ai.games, 02Jun00.]

The SETI@home project project has updated its client software to version 2.0, including new security features to prevent tampering with results files. Some of the volunteers may have been cheating to boost their rankings. . [TidBITS, 31Jan00.] (The search for intelligent life has a long way to go...)

----- "I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself." -- Aldous Huxley. -----