by David Neilsen

So there are a couple interesting bits of news involving Russians floating around the datasphere. First off, they've decided to pretty much give up on Mir. It's just going to burn up except for the bits that survive to splash -- or crunch -- down on good ol' Gaia.

The other bit of news is that Garry Kasparaov, of "I lost a chess game to a computer but it wasn't my fault" fame, will soon be taking on the entire world. The idea is that Garry makes a move, then everyone votes on how to crush him like an insect, and so forth. Although frankly we're skeptical that two million Internet voters could collectively get a pie in the oven, much less defeat a Grand Master.

However, we've never tended to shy away from experimentation, especially not where the former Soviet Union is concerned. So we're going combine these two startling newsbites into one grand question: can a bunch of people with browsers predict where Mir will come down?

"Ah," you're saying to yourself. "So that's why there's a map on the page!" Right you are. That map is an imagemap, to be precise, and each click thereon will register as a "vote" for the spot you clicked. So if you think -- or secretly hope -- it'll fall on Greenland, click on Greenland. And if you're a Greenlander who resents that, click on the West Coast of the US and you'll come reasonably close to hitting our server.

Good luck, and God be with you.

Update: Well, that was fun. Below you see the results, such as they are, of our little experiment.