Wednesday, April 30, 2003

UFE - About UFE: History and Mission

UFE - About UFE: History and Mission
United for a Fair Economy was founded as a “movement support” organization to provide media capacity, face-to-face economic literacy education, and training resources to organizations and individuals who work to address the widening income and asset gap in our country.

Simple Science Fairs Go the Way of the Dinosaurs

Simple Science Fairs Go the Way of the Dinosaurs
The simple fair of times past, when parents wielding encyclopedias turned the kitchen sink into a makeshift laboratory to help their children, has become a research extravaganza in which students armed with computers, electron microscopes and other powerful instruments explore ever more ambitious terrain. Given students' access to increasingly sophisticated technology, and the kind of intense competition that also shows up in sports, drama productions and other extracurricular activity, youths like the 10th grader here in Las Cruces who won a regional competition with nothing more than a felt-tipped pen and a dozen or so cockroaches are now the rare exception.

Tuesday, April 29, 2003

U.S. Troops Fire on Iraqi Protesters, Leaving 15 Dead

U.S. Troops Fire on Iraqi Protesters, Leaving 15 Dead
American soldiers shot dead what hospital officials said were 15 people at an anti-American rally here late on Monday. Accounts of the incident, which occurred on Saddam Hussein's birthday, varied widely today: Iraqis said the soldiers opened fire, unprovoked, while the soldiers said they were fired on first and then responded with a careful counter-attack.

Monday, April 28, 2003

Yahoo! News - Cappuccino Friar Moves Along Sainthood Path

Yahoo! News - Cappuccino Friar Moves Along Sainthood Path
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope John Paul on Sunday beatified a 17th-century friar credited with halting a Muslim invasion of Europe and in the process discovering the frothy coffee drink cappuccino.

Telemarketer reveals tricks of trade

Telemarketer reveals tricks of trade
The phone rings in the middle of a busy day. “I just want to verify some information for your yellow page listing,” says a voice on the other end of the line. It’s your business, so you agree to the chat. Name. Address. Phone number. You reply with a simple “yes” to eight or nine rapid-fire questions. A month later, there’s a $29.95 charge on your phone bill for a service you don’t remember ordering. You’ve been crammed, another victim of fast-talking telemarketers who are skirting the edges of telecommunications law to create a multimillion industry.

Sunday, April 27, 2003

TheStar.com - Star finds Bin Laden-Iraq links

TheStar.com - Star finds Bin Laden-Iraq links
Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda organization and Saddam Hussein's regime shared direct contact as early as 1998, according to top-secret Iraqi intelligence documents obtained by the Star.
The documents, discovered yesterday in the bombed-out headquarters of the Mukhabarat, Iraq's most feared intelligence service, amount to the first hard evidence of a link long suspected by the United States but dismissed as fiction by many Western leaders.

Revealed: How the road to war was paved with lies

News
Intelligence agencies accuse Bush and Blair of distorting and fabricating evidence in rush to war

CNN.com - From building ties to Saddam to removing him from power

CNN.com - Regime change - Sep. 30, 2002
Twenty years ago, the U.S. government was building ties to Saddam Hussein's government -- not trying to overthrow it.

Added To Do Section

The idea originally came from "rebecca's pocket". She had a section on her website called "to do" (now called "help"). When I first saw it, I thought it was a to do list for changes to her site. It was actually a list of links where her visitors could get involved with charitable causes.



However, I liked the idea of a list of "to do's" for a website - so I am adding it as a new section to my website.

ABCNEWS.com : Officials: 9/11 Was Main Reason for War

ABCNEWS.com : Officials: 9/11 Was Main Reason for War
To build its case for war with Iraq, the Bush administration argued that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, but some officials now privately acknowledge the White House had another reason for war — a global show of American power and democracy.

Saturday, April 26, 2003

Created Tech Blog Page

I created a tech blog page to post items of a technical nature. I moved the computer security section from the sidebar on my main page over there. Also, I moved my blogroll links to the more technical blogs to a new "tech" blogroll on on the new page.

U.S. Blocks U.N. Peacekeeping Plan for Ivory Coast

Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage
A council resolution drafted by France nearly three weeks ago proposed setting up a U.N. operation with 255 military and civilian staff in the West African nation, which has divided along ethnic lines after months of civil war despite a peace deal reached in January.
But the resolution stalled after Washington objected to the projected $27 million one-year price-tag for the mission.
The United States, pouring billions of dollars into Iraqi reconstruction after toppling its former leader Saddam Hussein, has instead proposed a mission only about a third of that size, diplomats said.

via Suburban Guerilla.

Business 2.0 - Web Article - Management by Blog?

Business 2.0 - Web Article - Management by Blog?
Sometimes the next big thing on the Net reshapes the online world (universal e-mail, a graphical browser for the Web); sometimes it evaporates upon contact with business reality (PointCast, anyone?). Wise companies explore new trends cautiously, and that seems to be what's happening with weblogs.

via Scripting News.

BBC chief attacks U.S. war coverage

BBC chief attacks U.S. war coverage
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. broadcasters' coverage of the Iraq war was so unquestioningly patriotic and so lacking in impartiality that it threatened the credibility of America's electronic media, the head of the BBC says.
BBC Director General Greg Dyke singled out for criticism the fast growing News Corp's Fox News Channel, owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch, and Clear Channel Communications, the largest operator of radio stations in the United States, with over 1,200 stations, for special criticism.

New Scientist - Dog petting can transmit debilitating parasite

New Scientist
People can become infected with a worm that causes blindness simply by stroking the coats of dogs that carry the parasite.

New Scientist - SARS virus is mutating, fear doctors

New Scientist
A cluster of SARS patients in Hong Kong with unusual symptoms has prompted concern that the virus causing the disease is mutating. Doctors fear the changes are making the disease more severe.

SARS much more deadly than first estimated

New Scientist
Analysis of the latest statistics on the global SARS epidemic reveals that at least 10 per cent of people who contract the new virus will die of the disease.

Thursday, April 24, 2003

Yahoo! News - Fox News Engineer Charged With Smuggling

Yahoo! News - Fox News Engineer Charged With Smuggling
WASHINGTON - A television news [for Fox News] engineer faces smuggling charges after attempting to bring into the United States 12 stolen Iraqi paintings, monetary bonds and other items, federal officials said Wednesday.

The Smoking Gun has the federal affidavit.

U.S. Planners Surprised by Strength of Iraqi Shiites (washingtonpost.com)

U.S. Planners Surprised by Strength of Iraqi Shiites
As Iraqi Shiite demands for a dominant role in Iraq's future mount, Bush administration officials say they underestimated the Shiites' organizational strength and are unprepared to prevent the rise of an anti-American, Islamic fundamentalist government in the country.

USATODAY.com - Being overweight linked to dying of cancer

Being overweight linked to dying of cancer
Excess body weight may contribute to about 20% of all cancer deaths in women and 14% of all cancer deaths in men. This translates to about 90,000 cancer deaths a year in the USA, according to a landmark study on the link between obesity and cancer.

Wednesday, April 23, 2003

Dixie Chicks Get Boost From Bruce Springsteen

BILLBOARD
The Dixie Chicks have taken a big hit lately for exercising their basic right to express themselves," Springsteen said in a statement posted on his official Web site. "To me, they're terrific American artists expressing American values by using their American right to free speech. For them to be banished wholesale from radio stations, and even entire radio networks, for speaking out is un-American."

USATODAY.com - City, suburban designs could be bad for your health

City, suburban designs could be bad for your health
Many experts on public health say the way neighborhoods are built is to blame for Americans' physical inactivity — and the resulting epidemic of obesity.

Ferry tales can come true / Farmers' market returns home to inaugurate Ferry Building food plaza

Farmers' market returns home to inaugurate Ferry Building food plaza
But the project has another part. In the coming months, a collection of elite, artisanal food shops and restaurants will fill the inside of the building, completing a project that may well be the city's only shot at creating a great public market in the tradition of Seattle's Pike Place Market, Vancouver's Granville Island or New York City's Grand Central Terminal.

Australian frigate captures North Korean 'drug ship'

Times Online
A CARGO vessel thought to be the mother ship of an international drugs-smuggling operation was escorted in to Sydney last night after being boarded by the Royal Australian Navy in a high-seas raid.

Sunday, April 20, 2003

Updates to Sidebar

Added BBC News to "Foreign/Defense" section.

Moved Google's News to the top of the "News" section.

Moved DEBKAfile from "Foreign/Defense" to "alt.news" section.

Friday, April 18, 2003

NPR : NPR/Kaiser/Kennedy Poll: U.S. Views on Taxes

NPR : NPR/Kaiser/Kennedy Poll: U.S. Views on Taxes
April 2003 -- Although President Bush has made cutting taxes the centerpiece of his domestic agenda, a new poll by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government shows that most Americans believe that other things are more important than cutting taxes.

The GOP is portraying moderate-tax-cut Senate Republicans as Francophiles. Is this shameless?

Read His Lips
More than 60 percent of Americans say large tax cuts now are not needed, yet President Bush is making support for tax cuts a test of party loyalty and patriotism.

Thursday, April 17, 2003

Wired News: Voicemail Hackers Phone It In

Wired News: Voicemail Hackers Phone It In
Voicemail passwords are being transformed into all-access backstage passes that allow malicious hackers to exploit voicemail systems, racking up huge charges on their unlucky victims' phone bills.



Hackers are exploiting a combination of automated operator services from AT&T, voicemail services from SBC Communications and consumers who haven't changed their default voicemail passwords.

The Arizona Budget Crisis was Predictable

The Arizona Budget Crisis was Predictable. This article applies to more than just Arizona.
“The combination of (1) under funding the rainy day fund during an upswing period, (2) numerous tax cuts which are likely to permanently downsize the General Fund, (3) a super-majority requirement for all tax increases, (4) the strong cyclicality of revenues, and (5) an increased demand for social services during recessions will result in severe expenditure cuts in some government services in the next economic downturn.”
- Alberta Charney, Arizona’s Economy, August 1994

Friends Pay Tribute to Newsman With Their Own Stories (washingtonpost.com)

Friends Pay Tribute to Newsman With Their Own Stories (washingtonpost.com)
From an email he wrote to his hours befroe he died:
"Here I am, supposedly at the peak of professional success, and I could frankly care less," Bloom wrote April 4, hours before his death from a pulmonary embolism. "Yes, I'm proud of the good job we've all been doing, but in the scheme of things it matters little compared to my relationship with you, the girls and Jesus."

White House art advisers quit to protest looting of Baghdad museum

White House art advisers quit to protest looting of Baghdad museum
Noting that American scholars had told the State Department about the location of Iraqi museums and historic sites in Iraq, [the group's leader] said the president "is burdened by a compelling moral obligation to plan for and try to prevent indiscriminate looting and destruction."

Tuesday, April 15, 2003

Economist: Tougher times for techies

Economist: Tougher times for techies | CNET News.com
Jared Bernstein, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, concludes that inflation-adjusted wages for professional and technical workers have fallen and that unemployment for mathematicians and computer scientists has risen to its highest level since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started collecting that data in 1982.

Monday, April 14, 2003

Durst Quotables

Durst Quotables
The administration says the American people want tax cuts. Well, duh. The American people also want drive through nickel beer night. The American people want to lose weight by eating ice cream. The American people love the Home Shopping Network because it's commercial free

Sunday, April 13, 2003

Pillagers Strip Iraqi Museum of Its Treasure

Pillagers Strip Iraqi Museum of Its Treasure
The National Museum of Iraq recorded a history of civilizations that began to flourish in the fertile plains of Mesopotamia more than 7,000 years ago. But once American troops entered Baghdad in sufficient force to topple Saddam Hussein's government this week, it took only 48 hours for the museum to be destroyed, with at least 170,000 artifacts carried away by looters.

Friday, April 11, 2003

PRIVACY INTERNATIONAL'S "STUPID SECURITY" COMPETITION

Privacy International - Stupid Security
The short-list was culled from almost 5,000 nominations from 40 countries competing for the world's most egregious, annoying, inexplicable, intrusive and counter productive security measures

Thursday, April 10, 2003

Yahoo! News - Knife Thrower Slices Assistant on Live TV

Yahoo! News - Knife Thrower Slices Assistant on Live TV
LONDON (Reuters) - A record-breaking knife thrower shocked Britons on Thursday when one of his daggers sliced into the head of his assistant on live TV.
...
A spokeswoman for ITV's "This Morning," one of the country's most popular daytime programs, said the wound was only "a nick."

Thursday, April 03, 2003

BBC NEWS | UK | Coming soon (maybe)... non-stick chewing gum

BBC NEWS | UK | Coming soon (maybe)... non-stick chewing gum
From Tiananmen Square to Oxford Circus, a global menace is stalking the unsuspecting: spat-out gum. As the authorities lose their patience, pressure is mounting on gum makers to invent non-polluting chewing gum - or be faced with the clean-up bill.

Lists Free, Time management, Home organizers

Lists Free, Time management, Home organizers - added to the useful section of the sidebar.

Wednesday, April 02, 2003

Office for schools tempts consumers | CNET News.com

Microsoft is about to make it easier for just about anyone to buy its low-cost Office suite designed for students and teachers.

Los Angeles Times - Editor's Note

Los Angeles Times - Editor's Note
On Monday, March 31, the Los Angeles Times published a front-page photograph that had been altered in violation of Times policy.

...


Times policy forbids altering the content of news photographs. Because of the violation, Walski, a Times photographer since 1998, has been dismissed from the staff.