Saint-Pierre and Miquelon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Intersting trivia - France still has two islands in North America, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon: "The islands represent the sole remaining vestige of France's once vast North American possessions". From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

"I am now the proud possessor of a bottle of Prozac and a Bob Marley box set. "

A poignant piece (loosely) about Bob Marley from Katy St. Clair's column in the SF Weekly: sfweekly.com | Music | Bouncer | 2004-12-15: "I am now the proud possessor of a bottle of Prozac and a Bob Marley box set. "

Airlines Should Calculate Prices By the Pound (washingtonpost.com)

Airlines Should Calculate Prices By the Pound (washingtonpost.com): "So why shouldn't you pay an airline according to how much you weigh and how much space you take up?"

The American Conserative - Kerry’s the One

The American Conserative: "Bush has behaved like a caricature of what a right-wing president is supposed to be, and his continuation in office will discredit any sort of conservatism for generations."

Obligatory Bush Joke

Joke: "Q: What's the difference between the Vietnam War and the Iraq War?

A: George W. Bush had a plan to get out of the Vietnam War."

From the defective yeti.

MSNBC - Frequently Unasked Questions

MSNBC - Frequently Unasked Questions



"Most professionals at the C.I.A., the State Department and the Pentagon who’ve devoted their lives to working in the Middle East have a fundamental rule for dealing with its very complicated problems: define them realistically and address them individually. Don’t try to tie everything together with a nice bow (or even a Gordian knot) and pretend they can be solved with a single idea like “liberty.” As much as possible, unravel the problems, or, in diplo-speak, disaggregate them.



If the Bush administration had followed that rule, we wouldn’t be up to our eyeballs in Iraq, we would be much safer, and the president would richly deserve a second term for his administration’s performance in the immediate aftermath of 9/11."

US launches 'talking' book to help Afghan women : HindustanTimes.com

US launches 'talking' book to help Afghan women : HindustanTimes.com

I have a gmail invitie!

I have a gmail invite to give out. Send me an email if you are interested.

Chicago Tribune | 50 best magazines

Chicago Tribune | 50 best magazines: "What makes a magazine great? The writing. The ideas. The photography. The design. Sure. But more importantly, a magazine's worth depends on how it catches readers' glances, and then their hearts. Here, Tempo presents its second annual 50 Best Magazines list."

The Year's Best Headlines

The year's unintentionally funniest headlines, from Car Talk. For example: "Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says"

The Super Dollar - North Korea Perfects Counterfieting

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Panorama | What is a superdollar?: "The superdollar is the name given to an almost perfect forgery of an American banknote."

Yahoo! News - Squirrel Steals Yellow Ribbons From Tree

Yahoo! News - Squirrel Steals Yellow Ribbons From Tree: "BETTENDORF, Iowa - A couple has finally discovered what was happening to the yellow ribbons they were tying to the trees in their yard in support of their son and other troops in Iraq"

The 100 greatest British albums

The Observer | OMM | OMM June 2004: "The 100 greatest British albums
It is the most authoritative poll of its kind and over the following 50 pages, OMM's outstanding team of critics introduce each of the best British albums of all time. Before revealing what made it to Number 1, celebrated pop writer Paul Morley explains the purpose of such an undertaking and trumpets the wealth of music contained herein "

The Serious Implications Of President Bush's Hiring A Personal Outside Counsel For The Valerie Plame Investigation

FindLaw's Writ - Dean: The Serious Implications Of President Bush's Hiring A Personal Outside Counsel For The Valerie Plame Investigation: "This action by Bush is a rather stunning and extraordinary development. The President of the United States is potentially hiring a private criminal defense lawyer. Unsurprisingly, the White House is doing all it can to bury the story, providing precious little detail or context for the President's action."

THE NEXT REAGAN? Many on right doubt that the mantle will fit on Bush

THE NEXT REAGAN? Many on right doubt that the mantle will fit on Bush: "'I think he's trying, but he's no Reagan in my view,' said Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute who worked for Reagan as a special assistant to the president for policy development.



'No. 1 is the fact that Bush really doesn't have a vision,' Bandow said. 'Reagan clearly had a set of ideas that he had thought about very deeply, and believed in very deeply. There is nothing to indicate that George W. Bush does so.' "

Added links to Furl.net and everything2

Added a link to my Furl links on Furl.net in the "my links" section in the left sidebar. Furl allows you to archive sites you visit on the web, and retrieve them from any computer, as well as share them with others. Very cool. (Make sure you click on the link - or type Furl.net. Furl.com is an ugly ad site.)



Also added a link to everything2 in the "Cool" section in the right sidebar. This is an online user community/user written encyclopedia. It recently won a Webby award for Technical Achievement.

The Way We Eat Now

The Way We Eat Now: "Ancient bodies collide with modern technology to produce a flabby, disease-ridden populace."

Father of SigAlert Dies

KTLA.com | LA's WB | Television Los Angeles | Father of SigAlert Dies: "Loyd Sigmon, 95, coined L.A.'s favorite term for traffic jam. "

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Diamond star thrills astronomers

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Diamond star thrills astronomers: "Twinkling in the sky is a diamond star of 10 billion trillion trillion carats, astronomers have discovered. "

From Bush, Unprecedented Negativity (washingtonpost.com)

From Bush, Unprecedented Negativity (washingtonpost.com): "From Bush, Unprecedented Negativity
Scholars Say Campaign Is Making History With Often-Misleading Attacks "

The Word Spy - information environmentalism

The Word Spy - information environmentalism: "The movement that seeks to reduce information overload and its effects on peoples' lives."

Politics & Science - Investigating the State of Science Under the Bush Administration

Politics & Science - Investigating the State of Science Under the Bush Administration:



The American people depend upon federal agencies to develop science-based policies that protect the nation’s health and welfare. Recently, however, leading scientific journals have begun to question whether scientific integrity at federal agencies has been sacrificed to further a political and ideological agenda.



At the request of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, the Democratic staff of the Government Reform Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives assessed the treatment of science and scientists by the Bush Administration.



The resulting report -- Politics and Science in the Bush Administration -- found numerous instances where the Administration has manipulated the scientific process and distorted or suppressed scientific findings. Beneficiaries include important supporters of the President, including social conservatives and powerful industry groups.



This website -- www.politicsandscience.org -- is an ongoing record of interference with science by the Bush Administration.

Transfer of Website Complete!

The transfer of my website from Yahoo! to SpeakEasy is now complete. Very happy with SpeakEasy - cheaper than Yahoo! and live 24/7 tech support.

Transferring Website and Domain to a New Host

I will be transferring my website from Yahoo! Domains to SpeakEasy.net over the next few days. I will also be transferring my domain registration from Register.com to SpeakEasy as well. This means there could be intermittent access problems to my website over the next several days.

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Contributor: Rock of Ages

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Contributor: Rock of Ages: "the novelist David Gates talks about literature hitting 'that high-low fork in the road, leading on the one hand toward `Ulysses' and on the other toward `Gone With The Wind,' ' and maybe rock music has experienced its own version"

Yahoo! News - Police kill mountain lion near homes

Yahoo! News - Police kill mountain lion near homes: "A policeman has killed a wild mountain lion in a prosperous residential neighbourhood of Palo Alto, at the centre of California's Silicon Valley. "

Danish Crown Prince Weds Australia's Mary

Entertainment: People Article | Reuters.com: "COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Heir to the Danish throne Crown Prince Frederik married Tasmania's Mary Donaldson on Friday in a fairy-tale wedding of a prince and a commoner that delighted pro-monarchy Danes and Australian republicans alike. "

He's back, and this time Clinton is getting personal about Bush

News: "'We had unanimous support for going into Afghanistan, they [the United Nations] participated in the hunt for Bin Laden and supported giving an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to open his country to weapons inspections,' Mr Clinton told a business gathering in New York on Tuesday night. 'We were in good shape. What happened?'"

Kerry gets help from rival party in Marin

Marin Independent Journal - Marin: "A group of Marin Republicans turned off by President Bush's performance joined with Democratic supporters of John Kerry at a rally in Tiburon last night, which raised more than $80,000 for Kerry's campaign."

The Convicted Felon Behind "The Restaurant" - April 26, 2004

The Convicted Felon Behind "The Restaurant" - April 26, 2004: "Jeffrey Chodorow, the grim-faced nemesis/financial backer of chef Rocco DiSpirito on NBC's 'The Restaurant,' is a convicted felon "

Rocco DiSpirito and Jeffrey Chodorow Feud - The Restaurant - Rocco's

Rocco DiSpirito and Jeffrey Chodorow Feud - The Restaurant - Rocco's: "The made-for-reality-TV feud between publicity-loving chef Rocco DiSpirito and litigious financier Jeffrey Chodorow raises some deep philosophical questions: What is reality? What is publicity? And where can you get a good red sauce these days? "

Wired News: Onion Taken Seriously, Film at 11

Wired News: Onion Taken Seriously, Film at 11: "The case of the Evening News taking The Onion seriously is but Kolb's favorite example of something that happens constantly.
'People every single day think The Onion stories are real,' says Kolb. "

Lists of Bests

Lists of Bests : Home: "Our purpose is to provide a one-stop shop to find all the 'best of' books, music, and movie lists."

Hey Trump - Your Fired!

Tri-Valley Herald Online - Local & Regional News: "Should bondholders accept that deal, it would ... flick Trump from the chief executive's perch. "

The Dangers of Southern Cooking

Foods: Urgent Safety Notice Regarding Ice Box Rolls Recipe in April Issue on Page 154: POTENTIAL FIRE AND SAFETY HAZARD.: "Please DO NOT USE the Icebox Rolls recipe that appeared on p. 154 of the April 2004 issue of Southern Living. It has been determined that heating the water and shortening, as described in the original recipe, is dangerous, and may pose a fire and safety hazard. DO NOT USE this recipe."

Liberal talk radio network comes to Bay Area

Industries & Communities - bizjournals.com: "A tiny Berkeley AM radio station that carries Chinese and Korean programming is the likely Bay Area home of Air America Radio, a new left-leaning political talk radio network designed to counter conservative talk shows."

::India:: Photo Gallery by Charles Marut

::India:: Photo Gallery by charles marut at pbase.com: "These photographs were made in Delhi, Bombay, and the Indian Himalayas in September, 2003." - some fantastic photos. Saw these Friday night at the Spring show at PhotoCentral.

Costco: The Only Company Wal-Mart Fears

Costco: The Only Company Wal-Mart Fears: "Nobody Runs Warehouse Clubs Better Than Costco, Where Shoppers Can't Resist Luxury Products at Bargain Prices" - it also treats its employees much better - to the chagrin of Wall Street - via metafilter.

PCWorld.com - Beyond Google

PCWorld.com - Beyond Google: "The Web is so full of useful info that no search engine can find it all. But a multitude of specialty sites deliver shopping advice, reference databases, leisure-time ideas, and more--fast." - good article on other place to to find information on the net besides Google.

The Word Spy - man cave

The Word Spy - man cave: "man cave



n. An area of a house, such as a basement, workshop, or garage, where a man can be alone with his power tools and projects."

MSNBC - Local officials nearly fall for H2O hoax

MSNBC - Local officials nearly fall for H2O hoax: ALISO VIEJO, Calif. - City officials were so concerned about the potentially dangerous properties of dihydrogen monoxide that they considered banning foam cups after they learned the chemical was used in their production.



Then they learned, to their chagrin, that dihydrogen monoxide — H2O for short — is the scientific term for water.

Business phrases people hate - Mar. 24, 2004

Business phrases people hate - Mar. 24, 2004: "The fact of the matter is that at the end of the day there is nothing, like, value-added about using cliches 24/7. With all due respect it's not awesome, it's annoying. "

Robot Kids In Race Against Time

Robot Kids In Race Against Time: "In just six weeks, they designed and built a robot that could climb stairs, navigate obstacles, throw balls into a basket, even pull itself up on a bar ten feet above the ground. That won them the right to go to the national championships in Atlanta next month. "

Data Dispute Bush's 'Rich' Label for Small Business

Politics News Article | Reuters.com: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In the presidential race's war of words over the economy, President Bush makes it sound as if small-business owners are in the cross hairs of Democrat John Kerry's plan to roll back tax cuts for wealthy Americans.



But data from the Internal Revenue Service and the Census Bureau suggest the vast majority of small businesses provide their owners with incomes far below the $200,000-a-year mark where Kerry says he would begin eliminating tax cuts. "

McCain says Kerry not weak on defense

McCain says Kerry not weak on defense nor is his election a threat to national security: "Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Thursday he did not believe Democratic candidate John Kerry, a friend and Senate colleague, was weak on defense or would compromise national security if elected president. "

Take the stairs ... if you can find them

"Fellow (unhealthy) Americans -- let us rise to the challenge and take to the stairs... if we can find them "

Fry's Concord branch scheduled to open today - 3/19

Oakland Tribune Online - Business News: "After months of speculation, Fry's Electronics has said it was to open its newest store in Concord at 8 a.m. today [3/19]. "

The Museum Of Bad Art (MOBA)

The Museum Of Bad Art (MOBA): "The Museum Of Bad Art (MOBA) is the world's only museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition and celebration of bad art in all its forms." - from metafilter.

Judge reduces lawyer's fees because of typos

Judge reduces lawyer's fees because of typos: " federal judge in Philadelphia, in prose suggesting barely suppressed chortles, reduced a lawyer's request for fees last month because his filings were infested with typographical errors."

Bush's Bagmen - Meet the Pioneers and Rangers, the president's A-team for campaign cash

RollingStone.com: "Welcome to the most ambitious and best-organized shakedown in the history of American presidential politics. Bush is working to raise a record $200 million -- and so far, at least sixty percent of his campaign donations have come from just 416 elite fund-raisers like Bionda. Never before have so few raised so much so quickly. It's a fine-tuned operation that takes the principles of corporate America and applies them to political fund-raising"

BBC NEWS | Europe | Coffee is 'health drink' says Italian

BBC NEWS | Europe | Coffee is 'health drink' says Italian: "There is sound scientific reason to enjoy your morning espresso without worrying about the health effects. Coffee can be good for you..."

How Many Halves Are There in a College Basketball Game?

The Smoking Gun: Archive: "As college final exams go, the test Jim Harrick Jr. once gave in his University of Georgia physical education class was a piece of cake. ... [T]hat test, a 20-question mockery that includes such brain teasers as, 'How many points does a 3-point field goal account for in a Basketball Game?' "

ABCNEWS.com : Q and A With 'Life of Pi' Author

ABCNEWS.com : Q and A With 'Life of Pi' Author: "Yann Martel, Author of Life of Pi, Answers Your Questions"

Las Vegas Monorail

Las Vegas Monorail: "The Las Vegas Monorail is the newest attraction on the famous Las Vegas skyline. Gliding above traffic at speeds reaching 50 miles per hour, you'll be able to cover the four mile route in approximately 14 minutes "

The color of Monet / Las Vegas cashes in on the cachet of fine art

The color of Monet / Las Vegas cashes in on the cachet of fine art: "Serenity can be hard to find in this willfully frenetic neon oasis, better known for gaming than painting. But art, both classic and contemporary, is becoming easy to find in Las Vegas, which now displays world-class work, especially paintings, in galleries, museums and, yes, hotel-casinos. "

Yahoo! News - Leaked Pentagon report warns climate change may bring famine, war: report

Yahoo! News - Leaked Pentagon report warns climate change may bring famine, war: report: "A secret report prepared by the Pentagon (news - web sites) warns that climate change may lead to global catastrophe costing millions of lives and is a far greater threat than terrorism. "

Insurer warns of global warming catastrophe

FT.com Reuters world news: "The world's second-largest reinsurer, Swiss Re, warned on Wednesday that the costs of natural disasters, aggravated by global warming, threatened to spiral out of control, forcing the human race into a catastrophe of its own making."

Google Holiday Logos

Google Holiday Logos: "We have a variety of logos commemorating holidays and events. We've put them in this online museum for your amusement. "

TechTV | Top 10 Reasons Nerds Are Better Than Jocks

TechTV | Top 10 Reasons Nerds Are Better Than Jocks: "We put the formulaic nerd up against the stereotypical jock. It's not even a contest. Nerds rule!"

Tenacious detective is top cop

Tri-Valley Herald Online - More Local News: "Tenacious detective is top cop" - Nice story about a good cop.

Hands On: Play Pumps - South Africa

Hands On: Play Pumps - South Africa - This is a great invention - it is a kid's Merry- Go-Round that also pumps fresh water for a village.

UA Engineering Alum Pilots Martian Rover

Engineering Alum Pilots Martian Rover: "The solar system's coolest field trip started in January when two NASA rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, rolled onto the surface of Mars.



They were delivered there by interplanetary valet, Chris Lewicki, who graduated from UA in 2000 with a master's degree in Aeronautical Engineering. Lewicki, flight director on NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers Mission, was in charge of events from the time the landers bounced onto the ground until the rovers left tracks in the soil."

Salon.com Books | Building a better Bush

Salon.com Books | Building a better Bush: "How an Andover-Yale preppy, scion of one of our nation's most powerful families, was reinvented as a straight-shootin' Texan with 'regular guy' values"

Metafilter is down!

Metafilter, my favorite site on the net, has been down for more that a week. It is the first link in my right sidebar - so it is probably clicked on more than any others.



Normally I remove dead links - but I have faith that Matt will get Metafilter back up and running - so I am leaving it for now.

Ikeaphobia and its discontents

In defense of Ikea and Starbucks: "If your life is mediocre, I promise you, Ingvar Kamprad didn't make it that way. You did. And if you're so desperate for your own soixante-huit moment that you can sit there with a straight face and tell me that you're being oppressed by flat-packable pine furniture with goofy pseudo-Scandinavian names, I'd advise you to spend a few days working with child slaves in the Sudan, or something. Warning - some strong language.

"Creative Class War" by Richard Florida

"Creative Class War" by Richard Florida: "How the GOP's anti-elitism could ruin America's economy. "

America as a One-Party State

TAP: Vol 15, Iss. 2. America as a One-Party State. Robert Kuttner.: "Today's hard right seeks total dominion. It's packing the courts and rigging the rules. The target is not the Democrats but democracy itself. "

MSNBC - ATM fraud: Banking on your money

MSNBC - ATM fraud: Banking on your money: "A Dateline Hidden Camera Investigation shows a new kind of scam, with criminals setting up and operating their own ATM machines, hoping to steal your personal information and later, your cash. And it can happen with a single swipe of a bank card."

"Spirit is still serious but we are moving toward guarded condition now"

Spaceflight Now | Destination Mars | Mission Status Center: "'Spirit is still serious but we are moving toward guarded condition now,' rover project manager Pete Theisinger reports.... A leading theory today is that a portion of the rover's software simply couldn't cope with all that was happening on Wednesday when the trouble began. ...Theisinger predicts that Spirit will resume driving around the surface in a couple of weeks."

Hmmm... a House or a new Stereo Amp?

CES 2004 Consumer Electronic Show Report by Enjoy the Music.com: "WAVAC now offers the SH-883 ($350,000) is their ultimate expression with four chassis per channel (8 for a stereo pair). These are AC conditioner, power supply, power transformer, and amplifier. This all works in concert to produce 150 watts from a single 833 tube. Cabling within the room was provided by Silent Source Audio Cables."

Spirit problem: too many chiefs?

Spirit problem: too many chiefs?:
"Despite the new engineering information from Spirit relayed via the Mars Odyssey, what troubles Spirit is still unknown. There is a growing feeling here [at JPL] that the robot may have been taxed too much that is, too many 'do this, do that' instructions were sent. That multi-tasking could have sparked the problem, according to sources here. Prior to its troubles on Mars, Spirit was being put through its paces -- doing things that were not tested with as much vigor here at JPL before being launched. "

Best Site for Current Status on the Mar's Spirit Rover

This is the best site for the current status on the Mar's Spirit rover: Spaceflight "Spaceflight Now: Landing of Spirit"

Conservatives grumbling at Bush - Jan. 21, 2004

Conservatives grumbling at Bush - Jan. 21, 2004: "Traditional Bush allies from the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the Club for Growth voiced disaffection and impatience with him on budget matters. "

The Soviet Exploration of Venus

The Soviet Exploration of Venus: "The Soviet exploration of Venus, from 1961 to 1984, is the largest effort ever undertaken to study another planet. The fundamentals of interplanetary spacecraft design and remote sensing were first realized in these attempts. Successful missions included 3 atmospheric probes, 10 landings, 4 orbiters, 11 flybys or impacts, and 2 balloon probes of the clouds. " - intersting website - the Soviets had more success here than on Mars.

Added Topix.net to the news section

Added Topix.net to the News section (thanks to Research Buzz). Removed ABC News.



I am trying to put links that are exceptional - this is a good news portal site. Check out the local news section - just type your zip code in.

Assassination tries linked to al Qaeda / Pakistan investigation points to inside help

Scary: Assassination tries linked to al Qaeda / Pakistan investigation points to inside help: "Police investigators say Jamil's cell phone call records revealed that just a few minutes before he drove a pickup truck into the president's motorcade, he received a call from Muhammad Naeem - a member of the Special Branch of the Islamabad police who was on duty at the convention center where Musharraf had just completed an official engagement. Naeem was arrested on Dec. 28 and remains in custody."

Yahoo! News - Internet fanatics aren't geeks

Yahoo! News - Internet fanatics aren't geeks: "The typical Internet user -- far from being a geek -- shuns television and actively socialises with friends, a study on surfing habits says. "

2003 Year in Review

2003
Year In Review: "2003
Year In Review"