Brit Army Dog Awarded for Iraq Arms Find

Yahoo! News - Brit Army Dog Awarded for Iraq Arms Find: "LONDON - Buster, a 6-year-old Springer spaniel, earned more than a pat on the head Tuesday when he was awarded Britain's highest animal bravery medal for his role in breaking a resistance cell in Iraq "

Why the Sky Was Red in Munch's 'The Scream'

Yahoo! News - Why the Sky Was Red in Munch's 'The Scream': "For those who have ever wondered why the sky was a lurid red in 'The Scream' -- Edvard Munch's painting of modern angst -- astronomers have an answer. They blame it on a volcanic eruption half a world away.

Grist Magazine: Environmental news and humor

Grist Magazine: Environmental news and humor: "Need a little moral support to make it through the consumption-crazy days from Thanksgiving to New Year's?
Check out these 10 principles for streamlining your life and still enjoying the heck out of it. "
(via www.metafilter.com)

Gen. Wesley Clark spent an hour and a half at Madonna's house in Los Angeles

LEAH GARCHIK: "P.S. How important is California? Yesterday's New York Post says Gen. Wesley Clark spent an hour and a half at Madonna's house in Los Angeles talking with her about policy matters and trying to win her support. "

Woman knocked unconscious by trampling shoppers

CNN.com - Woman knocked unconscious by trampling shoppers - Nov. 29, 2003: "Paramedics called to the store found VanLester unconscious on top of a DVD player, surrounded by shoppers seemingly oblivious to her, said Mark O'Keefe, a spokesman for EVAC Ambulance."

Phoenix - Police to escort firefighters

Police to escort firefighters: "Firefighters will not respond to one south Phoenix neighborhood without a police escort after a fire captain was punched in the face and his crew threatened on a medical call last week."

The Sustainable Metropolis | Metropolis Magazine

The Sustainable Metropolis | Metropolis Magazine: "WELCOME TO THE SUSTAINABLE METROPOLIS

If you're looking for ideas that will make our world healthier and more just, you're on the right page."



via Marylaine Block's NEAT NEW STUFF newsletter.

Pit bull attacks S.F. police horse

Pit bull attacks S.F. police horse / Cop, dog, pet owner hurt in Golden Gate Park: "A pit bull was shot, a cop and a dog walker were rushed to the hospital, and a police horse named 'AAA Andy' was badly hurt but alive -- all this after a chance encounter between two animals on a crisp Sunday at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. "

Illinois Attorney General sues Bernard Haldane for Fraud

Office of the Illinois Attorney General - Press Releases:"Chicago – With the economy continuing to struggle and jobs hard to come by, Attorney General Lisa Madigan today filed suit against a career counseling company that allegedly deceived its clients to obtain advance fees for its services."

Woman Too Busy for Free Shopping Spree

Yahoo! News: "MADRID (Reuters) - It would be a dream come true for many: a prize of 6,000 euros ($7,118) to spend on a three-hour shopping spree.

But one Spanish woman turned down just that on Friday, saying she was too busy. "

Warren Buffett and Bill Gates dine at San Francisco's Harris' Restaurant - Bill lets Warren Get the Tab

LEAH GARCHIK: "Carnivores: Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, man to man and wallet to wallet, dined a deux last Monday night at San Francisco's Harris' Restaurant on Van Ness.



As to which of the two richest men in the country picked up the steakhouse tab, it was Buffett, second richest, and he paid cash. Sometimes the gracious thing for the big guy to do is to let the little guy feel extravagant. "

Gr8 trouble in Scrabble world over txt words

Telegraph | News | Gr8 trouble in Scrabble world over txt words: "Players of the lexicographical board game are caught up in an unseemly row over whether to allow words used in mobile telephone text messages."

Curry 'may slow Alzheimer's'

BBC News | HEALTH | Curry 'may slow Alzheimer's': "A spicy ingredient of many curries may be an effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease, say researchers. "

Racial prejudice makes you stupider, new research finds

Racial prejudice makes you stupider, new research finds / Encounters with another race made whites perform worse on cognitive test: "To the litany of arguments against prejudice, scientists are now adding a new one: Racism can make you stupid. "

Jackie Speier -- moving on, moving up

Jackie Speier -- moving on, moving up / Survivor of Jonestown ambush plans run for lieutenant governor:


Incredible story about this woman's life.

Sad - Patient arrested in slaying of physician

Oakland Tribune Online - Local & Regional News: "SAN LEANDRO -- A patient at John George Psychiatric Pavilion in unincorporated San Leandro was placed under arrest Thursday on suspicion of killing a doctor in an examination room a day earlier. "



This is sad.

NBC5.com - News - Study: 'Oprah' Fans More Likely To Be Stressed

NBC5.com - News - Study: 'Oprah' Fans More Likely To Be Stressed: "According to a new study, fans of the 'Oprah Winfrey Show' have higher stress levels than those who are not fans. According to the study, 5 percent of the country's adult population, or 9 million people, said they feel so much stress that they can no longer cope. Half of those said they were fans of the show. "

Newsday.com - Authorities say hundreds of identities stolen at job fair

Newsday.com - Authorities say hundreds of identities stolen at job fair: "Authorities are investigating a company suspected of scamming hundreds of job-hunters out of personal financial information at employment fairs in as many as six states, authorities said. "

BBC NEWS | Health | Brisk walk can strengthen heart

BBC NEWS | Health | Brisk walk can strengthen heart: "Some experts believe that only strenuous activity has any beneficial effect.
But a study of obese adults found moderate exercise was enough to raise the heart beat to recommended levels. "

Urban Sprawl: the Big Picture

Urban Sprawl: the Big Picture: "Earth-orbiting satellites are collecting valuable data that reveal the environmental impact of fast-growing cities."

Doh! Homer's health is beyond a joke

Times Online - Health: "Experts at the Institute of Physics have calculated that the US cartoon hero eats an average of 130g of fat every day, more than the recommended 83g for a man of his age. His love of junk food means that most of this would be saturated fat, leading to sky-high cholesterol levels.



His daily lifestyle of driving to work, sitting around at the nuclear plant, then plonking himself in front of the television in the evening would make matters worse. Weighing in at more than 17st, he would be clinically obese, chronically unfit and in severe danger of developing heart disease. "

Fijians apologise for ancestral cannibalism in bid to lift curse

News: "The descendants of an English missionary eaten by cannibals in Fiji 136 years ago will receive an apology today at a ceremony staged in the village where he met his grisly end."

Tortilla Makers Try Not to Get Flattened

Tortilla Makers Try Not to Get Flattened: "The Gruma case underscores the transformation of the humble tortilla into a big-bucks enterprise worth fighting over. Thanks to a growing Latino population and America's passion for Mexican cuisine, U.S. tortilla sales have been rising by 9% annually in recent years--warp speed for the pokey bread industry. With $5.2 billion in sales last year, tortillas now account for nearly a third of the U.S. bread market and will overtake white bread at American tables within the next few years, according to the Texas-based Tortilla Industry Assn."

Mercury News | 10/26/2003 | Scrapbook fever Quaint hobby has become a $2.5 billion industry

Mercury News | 10/26/2003 | Scrapbook fever Quaint hobby has become a $2.5 billion industry: "Even in the Internet Age, Silicon Valley stores are shining spotlights on a quaint little hobby that's morphed into a fast-growing, $2.5 billion industry: scrapbooking."

A tough lesson on medical privacy / Pakistani transcriber threatens UCSF over back pay

A tough lesson on medical privacy / Pakistani transcriber threatens UCSF over back pay: "A woman in Pakistan doing cut-rate clerical work for UCSF Medical Center threatened to post patients' confidential files on the Internet unless she was paid more money. To show she was serious, the woman sent UCSF an e-mail earlier this month with actual patients' records attached. "

Romania Emerges As Nexus of Cybercrime

Romania Emerges As Nexus of Cybercrime:" "We want a good name for our country," he said. "I'm very angry that Romania is so well-known for ugly things—for street dogs, street children and hackers." Pambuccian said there was a noticeable decline in criminal activity in the first three months since the law took effect."

Yahoo! News - No Cure for Songs Stuck in Your Head

Yahoo! News - No Cure for Songs Stuck in Your Head:
" - Unexpected and insidious, the earworm slinks its way into the brain and refuses to leave. Symptoms vary, although high levels of annoyance and frustration are common. There are numerous potential treatments, but no cure.



'Earworm' is the term coined by University of Cincinnati marketing professor James Kellaris for the usually unwelcome songs that get stuck in people's heads. Since beginning his research in 2000, Kellaris has heard from people all over the world requesting help, sharing anecdotes and offering solutions.

Arthroscopic Surgery is No Better than Placebo (Sham Surgery) in Treating the Pain and Dysfunction of Osteoarthritis of the Knee

Arthroscopic Surgery is No Better than Placebo (Sham Surgery) in Treating the Pain and Dysfunction of Osteoarthritis of the Knee: "Approximately 650,000 arthroscopic procedures for knee OA are performed yearly in the U.S. at a total cost of approximately $3.25 billion. This important study clearly calls into question the legitimacy of this expensive invasive procedure since no benefit can be demonstrated above and beyond that of sham surgery."

Putting the Moves on Movers

I recently picked up a change of address packet from the Post Office. Inside was an ad for OneSwitch, a service that claims it will "processes a change of address for all subscriptions with a single call so that they will continue without interruption after a move." This service is free to the caller, so I wondered how it paid for itself.



I found the answer here. " OneSwitch provides businesses with the opportunity to capitalize on the New Mover market - the most prolific buying audience in the country - when callers are on the line to complete their change of address." SDP, who runs service, tries to sell you stuff while you are on the calling them to switch your subscription addresses. Plus they can build a database of movers which they can sell to other companies.

Drought Vortex: Where is Australia's Rain Going?

Drought Vortex: "Climatologists are desperately trying to explain the mystery of where southern Australia's winter rainfall is going." ...
Scientists at the US Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research believe [the drought is because of] the combined effect of global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer over Antarctica."

National Punctuality Drive is Launched

Yahoo! News "Ecuador has opened a national punctuality campaign to wipe out the socially acceptable but costly practice of running late."

Slime and Defend: White House Looks to Manage Fallout Over C.I.A. Leak Inquiry

White House Looks to Manage Fallout Over C.I.A. Leak Inquiry "It's slime and defend," said one Republican aide on Capitol Hill, describing the White House's effort to raise questions about Mr. Wilson's motivations and its simultaneous effort to shore up support in the Republican ranks."

Salon.com Life | Falling down

Salon.com Life | Falling down: "Several months ago, my husband and I received two rebate checks simply for having children, all part of the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, an economy-stimulating incentive. Congress approved this quickie tax cut so we'd all go out and buy Pottery Barn lamps and Gap boot-cut trousers and then presumably the economy, and we, would be saved. Instead, I cashed the checks, paid off some bills, and then tucked my dignity under my arm and went to file for food stamps. "

BBC NEWS | Americas | 'My son didn't want to go to war'

BBC NEWS | Americas | 'My son didn't want to go to war': "BBC World services Newshour program's spoke to one woman, Lynn Bradach, whose 21-year-old son, Travis, was killed in Iraq while serving in the Marines. He was one of more than 150 Americans who have died there since the end of the war. "



Although you can read the interview on the BBC site, I recommend that you listen to it - it is a very emotional interview - especially when Lynn describes how she learned about her son's death. (Most of these details are omitted from the printed interview.)



"I was having a fun day at work. Then I checked my cell phone voice mail. It was a message from my son, Nick. 'Mom there are two Marines here at the house.'"

U.S. Incomes Fell, Poverty Rose in 2002 (washingtonpost.com)

U.S. Incomes Fell, Poverty Rose in 2002 (washingtonpost.com): "U.S. household incomes declined for the third year in a row, and nearly 1.7 million people in the country fell into poverty as the economy recovered sluggishly from the 2001 recession, the U.S. Census Bureau reported yesterday."

Popular Science | The Worst Jobs in Science

Popular Science | The Worst Jobs in Science:"Science is full of inquisitive people who take great pleasure in doing jobs that others would not touch with a 10-foot pole—and the world is indisputably a better place for their efforts. We're grateful that someone out there is doing these jobs. Even more grateful that it isn't us."

Yahoo! News - Wayward Chipmunk Hitches Ride to Calif.

Yahoo! News - Wayward Chipmunk Hitches Ride to Calif.: "The animal was 'dehydrated, very scared and stressed out' after the three-day roadtrip" - I know that feeling!

BBC NEWS | Europe | Clinton to open Srebrenica memorial

BBC NEWS | Europe | Clinton to open Srebrenica memorial: "It is fitting that the man who did so much to end the war should open the memorial that will ensure that the victims of this massacre - indeed all the victims of this terrible war - are not forgotten,' Mr Ashdown said. "

CBC News: Five-second food rule fails microbiology test

CBC News: Five-second food rule fails microbiology test: "A high school senior in the U.S. has dealt a blow to the gastronomic principle known as the five-second rule. "

Cookie jar leads to long-lost brother

OrlandoSentinel.com:: "Bob Kunath recognized something in the way the pixie face of the vintage cookie jar winked at him. It was like it had a secret.

What he didn't know was that he had come upon a secret that would change his life."

JS Online: Cell phones fingered for germ spread

JS Online: Cell phones fingered for germ spread: "Doctors' cell phones and EKG wires are transmitting more than signals: New research suggests they can spread dangerous germs in hospitals."

Music Radiohead Rorschach: An innocent fifth grader's picture is worth a thousand-word critical analysis

East Bay Express: "When you listen to Radiohead, you're no longer actually listening to Radiohead -- you're listening to everyone's opinion about Radiohead. It's impossible to separate what you hear from what you've read. You are betrayed by what you know, and you know way too much.



Thus, in order to solicit an honest, undiluted opinion about Radiohead, you'd have to find the proverbial People Living Under Rocks. As People Living Under Rocks are unavailable, let's use fifth graders. "



This is a pretty funny article about Radiohead.

Low Prices, Blighted Suburbs

East Bay Express | News : City of Warts Low Prices, Blighted Suburbs,Contra Costa County wants to ban Wal-Mart's biggest store.: "Contra Costa County wants to ban Wal-Mart's biggest store. The future of retailing and a new kind of poverty are at stake. "

The Bay Area exports computer software, wine and, now, it seems, reality-show contestants.

The Bay Area exports computer software, wine and, now, it seems, reality-show contestants. What makes the region such fertile ground for them?

Wired News: Caregiver Tech Slowly Evolves

Wired News: Caregiver Tech Slowly Evolves: "But digital lifestyle technologies are slowly being adapted by the elderly, allowing them to stay longer in their own homes, relieve the burdens of caregivers and, ultimately, reduce their health-care costs."

Comfort Foods Switch Off Stress, Scientists Find

Comfort Foods Switch Off Stress, Scientists Find: "When life is not going so smoothly and people reach for goodies full of fat and sugar, they are doing more than surrendering to cravings. Comfort foods like chocolate cake and ice cream literally blunt the body's response to chronic stress, scientists reported last week. "

OJR article: Bloggers Rate the Most Influential Blogs

OJR article: Bloggers Rate the Most Influential Blogs: " This column is an attempt to show which Weblogs are influencing the media the most."

The American economy finally seems poised to roar ahead, but ...

New York Times - Business: "The American economy finally seems poised to roar ahead, but unemployment will remain at nearly 6 percent through the elections in November 2004

Added RSS News Feed

Added a RSS News Feed to the site - so you can read the latest headlines from my website in your news aggregator.



Did this mainly to be compatible with newer blog listing tools like Feedster.

Pudgy pets: Tubby tabbies, portly pooches

Pudgy pets: Tubby tabbies, portly pooches: "America's pets are starting to look like Americans -- overweight. "

Top secret airport files stolen (September 5, 2003)

NEWS.com.au: "Two men of Pakistani-Indian-Arabic appearance presented themselves as computer technicians and were given unfettered access to the airport's top security mainframe room on August 27, a Sydney newspaper reported.
'Inside, they spent two hours disconnecting two computers, which they put on trolleys and wheeled out of the room, past the security desk, into the lift and out of the building,' the paper said."

Will We Look Like the Soviets When We Leave Iraq? (washingtonpost.com)

Will We Look Like the Soviets When We Leave Iraq? (washingtonpost.com): "Well-equipped foreign troops were under daily fire from determined if ragtag guerrillas, and casualties steadily mounted. Much of the world was opposed to the military action, and opposition was especially strong in Muslim countries. Islamic holy warriors were eventually drawn to the fight, bringing funds and increasingly extreme tactics. The occupying forces sought to modernize a traditional Muslim society and do it quickly. They never lost a battle, yet the war wouldn't end.



If this sounds like a description of the challenge facing U.S. forces in postwar Iraq, you're right. But it could just as well describe another war in the same region -- the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan during the 1980s."

Cool Lightning Picture

SF Gate: Multimedia (image): "Lightning strikes in downtown Livermore in this time-exposure photo."

Link Maintenance

Replaced "Lists of Lists" with Library Spot in the reference section.


Replaced "YesterdayLand" with cartoonbank.com.


Changed text link to the Onion to a graphic.

Replaced "SETI stats" with links to web pages that mention this website.

Wired 11.09: PowerPoint Is Evil

Wired 11.09: PowerPoint Is Evil: "Imagine a widely used and expensive prescription drug that promised to make us beautiful but didn't. Instead the drug had frequent, serious side effects: It induced stupidity, turned everyone into bores, wasted time, and degraded the quality and credibility of communication. These side effects would rightly lead to a worldwide product recall."

BoothFinder.com: Built 2000 for $348,128.00, Used once

BoothFinder.com: "Built 2000 for $348,128.00, Used once" - Here is a trade show booth that became an expensive artifact of the Dot Com collapse.

Suburban sprawl linked to sprawl of the waistline

Suburban sprawl linked to sprawl of the waistline / Those in spread-out areas tend to weigh more, study finds

North Korea: Nukes and Crime—China’s Borderline Troubles

MSNBC: China’s patience with North Korea is wearing thin. The trouble isn’t only Pyongyang’s crash program to create a nuclear arsenal—although that’s caused plenty of sleepless nights in Beijing.

Roadside Peek

Welcome to Roadside Peek: A great site of old roadside architecture.

Added to Daily Photo Section: Camera Works: Day in Photos (washingtonpost.com)

Added to my Daily Phot Section in the sidebar: Camera Works: Day in Photos (washingtonpost.com).

Hate Your Hair? Blame Your Mother's Diet

ABCNEWS.com:: "In a study that shows more than ever you are what you eat, U.S. scientists said on Friday they had changed the coat colors of baby mice simply by altering their mothers' diets."

Nokia 6590i Phone

I replaced my old Nokia 5160 with one of these last month. Great phone. Unlike most things I buy, I did no research before I went into the store - just asked the salesman which cell phones were compatible with my Nokia power adaptors, and picked the smallest.



This phone also has a great FM radio, which I listen to while walking to the train in the morning.

CNN.com - Are you a Web addict? - Aug. 7, 2003

CNN.com - Are you a Web addict? - Aug. 7, 2003: "To determine whether someone is spending an unhealthy amount of time with their computers, two University of Florida psychiatrists say doctors need to only remember the acronym MOUSE. "

ROCCO BOTTOM

New York Post Online Edition:: "There is no excusing this loud, overpriced stinker that does for the reputation of southern Italian cooking what Britney Spears' Nyla did for southern American. "



"The Restaurant" is one of my favorite shows on television right now, but I am not surprised it got a bad review, given the chaos we see every week.
Via lostremote.

Inboxer Rebellion (Call Scam)

Urban Legends Reference Pages:: "Telemarketers are luring those who've signed up for the national 'Do Not Call' list by getting them to request coupons for free products. "



Via Rebecca's Pocket.

Al Gore's NYU Speech

MoveOn.org: Democracy in Action: " Robust debate in a democracy will almost always involve occasional rhetorical excesses and leaps of faith, and we're all used to that. I've even been guilty of it myself on occasion. But there is a big difference between that and a systematic effort to manipulate facts in service to a totalistic ideology that is felt to be more important than the mandates of basic honesty. " - Al Gore, August 7th, 2003.

Who stole my house? / Thieves pillage family's remote vacation spot

Who stole my house? / Thieves pillage family's remote vacation spot: "Sometime in the past two months, somebody stole everything inside Miller's house -- and then stole the house."

Karoshi - Death from Overwork

Karoshi - Wikipedia:
"Karoshi ..., which can be translated quite literally from the Japanese as "death from overwork", is occupational sudden death. The major medical causes of karoshi deaths are heart attack and stroke due to stress.

Mystery Cancer Wiping Out Tasmanian Devils

SYDNEY (Reuters): " - A mysterious cancer is killing Australia's Tasmanian devils, whose spine-chilling screeches, dark color and reputed bad temper prompted early settlers to give them their chilling name, wildlife officials said on Thursday. "

Study: 1 in 5 laid off in recent recession

HoustonChronicle.com: "The study, released today, found that one in five, or 18 percent, of those interviewed had been laid off during the 2000-03 period. The study randomly targeted 1,015 working-age adults. "

Quick! Send us your credit number right away! Scammers use fake Web sites to steal from you.

Burden of spoof - Jul. 16, 2003: "NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - If you got an e-mail from someone you didn't know asking for credit card numbers and personal financial information, would you give it to them? Actually, you might, if you're not careful. "

20 Lies About the War

News: "Falsehoods ranging from exaggeration to plain untruth were used to make the case for war. More lies are being used in the aftermath. By Glen Rangwala and Raymond Whitaker"

Cannot find Weapons of Mass Destruction

Cannot find Weapons of Mass Destruction: "The weapons you are looking for are currently unavailable. The country might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your weapons inspectors mandate."

Dear Abby's advice to bloggers

CyberJournalist.net:: "In response to a 14-year-old-girl's question about blogging, Dear Abby gives advice to bloggers that all online journalists would be wise to follow: 'The written word takes on a life of its own and never dies -- particularly in cyberspace. That is why it's important that a person carefully consider what he or she is posting before making it public. I cannot urge people strongly enough to remember that on the Internet there is no such thing as an eraser.' "

Bush team united Iraq front unravels

Bush team united Iraq front unravels:"The familiar drip, drip, drip of a brewing political scandal echoes through the power centers of Washington and London these days as the Bush administration and the government of British Prime Minister Tony Blair are pelted daily with increasingly pointed questions about the case they made for going to war against Iraq. The admission that the president made an apparently false allegation against Iraq in his State of the Union address was supposed to help put the issue to rest. Instead, it reopened fissures inside the administration and in Blair’s government over the validity of their case for war."

No global warming?

Charlotte Observer: "That's why it's not surprising to learn the Bush administration edited a draft EPA report to gut references to the potential harm of global warming."

Food Industry Mulls Dropping Obesity-Linked Trans Fats

kuro5hin.org: "Trans fats have been fingered as a major culprit in America's bourgeoning obesity problem, in increasing the risk of heart disease - and they are possibly also a factor behind childhood allergies, asthma, and other conditions. "

Our trip to the Napa Valley

My wife and I took a wonderful trip to the Napa Valley over the Fourth of July weekend.



On Friday, we went to COPIA in downtown Napa. Saturday morning we went to the diRosa Preserve, an eclectic collection of contemporary Bay Area art housed in a nature preserve. Then we went on to the Artesa winery where we enjoyed the panoramic views as well as the avant-garde architecture. We had a late lunch in downtown Sonoma. That night, we went to see the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and a fireworks show at the Robert Mondavi winery. Sunday, we went the Hess Collection, a hidden gem in the mountains above Sonoma.

U.S. Wildfire Problem Could Grow, Lead to Major Health Problems

:: PNNOnline ::: "The long, hot summer of wildfires expected in 2003 will pale in comparison to future years when droughts fueled by unchecked global warming touch off more wildfires and a rise in related public health problems, according to a warning from two experts from the Harvard Medical School and Duke University speaking for the nonprofit Civil Society Institute."

June unemployment rate soars to 6.4 percent

SFGate.com: "The nation's unemployment rate shot up to 6.4 percent in June, the highest level in more than nine years, in an economic slump that has added nearly a million people to jobless rolls in the past three months. "

Government, industry warn of mass hacker attacks on July 6

SFGate.com: "The government and private technology experts warned Wednesday that hackers plan to attack thousands of Web sites Sunday in a loosely coordinated 'contest' that could disrupt Internet traffic. "

Giant sea specimen baffles scientists

Giant sea specimen baffles scientists

State Department will use U.S. vehicles in Iraq

State Department will use U.S. vehicles in Iraq: "Under pressure from Michigan lawmakers, the State Department says it will no longer use foreign vehicles for the rebuilding effort in Iraq, Rep. Joe Knollenberg said Wednesday. "

Germany's Weekend Cowboys

BBC NEWS | Europe: "This is Little Tombstone, Saxony - home for the weekend to Germany's cowboy and Indian hobbyists. "

A Nation of Victims

The Nation: "George W. Bush is generally regarded as a mangler of the English language. What is overlooked is his mastery of emotional language--especially negatively charged emotional language--as a political tool. Take a closer look at his speeches and public utterances, and his political success turns out to be no surprise. It is the predictable result of the intentional use of language to dominate others. "

Bush Misled US Into Iraq War--An Official Finding?

Capital Games: "[T]hese comments are the first quasi-findings from an official outlet confirming that Bush deployed dishonest rhetoric in guiding the United States to invasion and occupation in Iraq. This is not an op-ed judgment; this is an evaluation from a member of the intelligence committee who claims to be basing her statements on the investigative work of the committee. Here's what she says:"

Bloggers Gain Libel Protection

Wired News: "The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last Tuesday that Web loggers, website operators and e-mail list editors can't be held responsible for libel for information they republish, extending crucial First Amendment protections to do-it-yourself online publishers. "

Landing a Job Can Be Puzzling

Wired News: "With the depressed economy supplying dozens -- if not hundreds -- of qualified applicants for each job, companies increasingly use riddles and puzzles in interviews to narrow the options. The practice is catching applicants off guard. "

George Orwell: Shooting an Elephant

George Orwell: Shooting an Elephant: "One day something happened which in a roundabout way was enlightening. It was a tiny incident in itself, but it gave me a better glimpse than I had had before of the real nature of imperialism--the real motives for which despotic governments act."

Analysis: End to Iraqi disarray sought

United Press International: : "With daily killings of coalition troops, sabotage of oil pipelines, uncontrolled crime, continuing shortages of electricity and water, and rising Iraqi hostility to occupation, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is looking, two months after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, for ways to end the disarray in U.S. policy on Iraq. "

IOL : Terror fears mount over Africa's missing jet

IOL : Terror fears mount over Africa's missing jet: "Two men climbed aboard a 727 cargo jet in Angola last month and disappeared into the African sky without a trace, prompting a continent wide search and questions about how a plane so large could just vanish."

Shyness linked to brain differences

New Scientist - New Scientist: "A new neuroimaging study provides the strongest evidence to date that unusual shyness in children may result from differences in their brains"

Science Blog - High Price For Late-Night Computer Use

Science Blog - High Price For Late-Night Computer Use: "Newly published results suggests that performing an exciting video display terminal task fitted with a bright display suppresses the nocturnal changes in melatonin concentration and other elements of our biological clocks. In other words, playing an exciting video game at night with a bright display backlight might just be the physiological cause of a poor night's sleep."

Salon.com News | Gray Davis and the vast right-wing conspiracy

Salon.com News | Gray Davis and the vast right-wing conspiracy: "The effort to recall California's Democratic governor shows again that the GOP will stop at nothing to win more power."

Autopsy shows S.F. man fatally beaten / 68-year-old found dead in Macy's rest room

Autopsy shows S.F. man fatally beaten / 68-year-old found dead in Macy's rest room
This is just sad. I have been this mall many times.

- The Washington Times: Captives deny al-Qaida worked with Iraq

- The Washington Times: United Press International: "Two high-ranking al-Qaida leaders say the terrorist organization did not work jointly with the Iraqi government, a report Monday said."

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Correspondent | Saving Private Lynch story 'flawed'

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Correspondent | Saving Private Lynch story 'flawed': "... her story is one of the most stunning pieces of news management ever conceived."

Unemployment rate rises to 6.1 percent; highest level in nine years

Unemployment rate rises to 6.1 percent; highest level in nine years: "The nation's unemployment rate climbed to 6.1 percent in May, the highest level in nine years, as businesses cut 17,000 jobs in a weak economy struggling toward recovery"

Ironic Accident

Prescott Courier

PRESCOTT – In a strange twist of fate, a local Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF) committee member on the way home from an evening fundraiser to benefit elk and other wildlife accidentally struck and critically injured a bull elk with his pickup.

Type "Elk" into the search box on the home page to get the whole article.

ITC tackles Fox News bias claims

MediaGuardian.co.uk | Broadcast | ITC tackles Fox News bias claims

The Murdoch-owned Fox News Channel, whose determinedly pro-US stance during the Iraq conflict brought it critical notoriety but commercial success, is being investigated by television regulators in Britain for alleged bias.



The independent television commission is looking into nine complaints from viewers about the US channel, which is broadcast in Britain on Rupert Murdoch's Sky Digital satellite service.
If the US network is found to have breached the strict "due impartiality" rules laid down by the commission, it could be forced off Sky's network in the UK.

Training peacekeepers (only non-Americans need apply)

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Lorelei Kelly and Ian Davis: Training peacekeepers (only non-Americans need apply)

As the US military grapples with the most ambitious peacekeeping and nation-building operation in 50 years, you might think that planners in the Pentagon are looking at ways to increase resources that support peacekeeping and peace enforcement. Well, you would be mistaken. The Department of Defense has just decided to eliminate its only institute devoted to such operations: the Peacekeeping Institute at the US Army War College in Pennsylvania. The Institute will close in October.

Plan to Secure Postwar Iraq Faulted

Plan to Secure Postwar Iraq Faulted (washingtonpost.com)

BAGHDAD -- A month before the war began in Iraq, senior Bush administration officials said their plan for winning the peace was built upon the swift provision of basic services that would "immediately" make the Iraqi people feel they were better off than they had been under the government of Saddam Hussein.
Five weeks after the war ended, the administration is still struggling to accomplish that goal. It has failed to establish law and order on the streets and has achieved only mixed results in restoring electricity, water, sanitation and other essential needs.

McAuliffe: Bush Exploiting Patriotism

AP Wire | 05/19/2003 | McAuliffe: Bush Exploiting Patriotism

McAuliffe, carrying his message to the Ohio Democratic Party's annual state dinner on Saturday, said the White House "has shamelessly exploited the heartfelt compassion and patriotism that brought our country together after Sept. 11.

Shaping Cultural Tastes at Big Retail Chains

Shaping Cultural Tastes at Big Retail Chains

The growing clout of Wal-Mart and the other big discount chains — they now often account for more than 50 percent of the sales of a best-selling album, more than 40 percent for a best-selling book, and more than 60 percent for a best-selling DVD — has bent American popular culture toward the tastes of their relatively traditionalist customers.

Scirus - Search Engine for Scientific Information added to the Science Section Sidebar

Added Scirus a Search Engine for Scientific Information to the Science section of the sidebar.

Waves of Fascination, Shortwave radio: Where the lunatic fringe lives, breathes, and flourishes

East Bay Express -Waves of Fascination,Shortwave radio: Where the lunatic fringe lives

For forty bucks, you can buy a device that emits some of the most irritating and beautiful sounds imaginable, a device that not only presents an international kaleidoscope of opinion, but also receives secret spy transmissions. Best of all, every time you turn it on, the thing behaves differently, depending on where you listen to it. It's an old, discarded technology that most tech nerds know little about, it's free to operate, and every program it receives is shrouded in mystery.

One of the best articles I have ever seen on shortwave radio. (I use to be really into this as a hobby - so I have read quite a bit about it. In fact this article might make me take up the hobby again.)

More Settle In for a Slow Job Hunt (washingtonpost.com)

More Settle In for a Slow Job Hunt (washingtonpost.com)

Of the 8.8 million jobless workers in America, almost 2 million have been out of work for half a year or longer, the highest number in two decades, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Mercury News | 05/06/2003 | Despair behind downturn is all very real

Mercury News | 05/06/2003 | Despair behind downturn is all very real

Every now and then a desperate voice stands out from the chorus of downturn despair.



Lenore Christ first called me last summer. She was sick with cancer and out of work. Her husband was out of work. She didn't know how she was going to survive.

Yahoo! News - Citations for High Speed Driving Zoom in California

Yahoo! News - Citations for High Speed Driving Zoom in California

A new CHP survey shows speeding citations for drivers going faster than 100 miles an hour have tripled over the last decade.

About - Tornadoes - Why They Are Primarily an American Phenomena

About - Tornadoes

Tornadoes can occur almost anywhere on earth, but in most places, their frequency is very low... However, in North America, tornadoes occur with a relatively high frequency, as the conditions there in spring and summer are often just right for supercell storms to develop. Down the middle of North America runs a strip of land, roughly from Arkansas to Colorado and all the way from Texas to North Dakota, which is called Tornado Alley, due to the high number of tornadoes striking there. It is the unique situation by which upper-level winds are partially blocked by the Rocky Mountains, and low-level air can flow unobstructed from the Gulf of Mexico to the north, creating enough windshear with the upper-level westerlies and having enough moisture to feed supercell storms.

Wired News: SARS Lives Long, Prospers in Poop

Wired News: SARS Lives Long, Prospers in Poop

WASHINGTON/BEIJING -- The SARS virus can live for days in the stool and urine of patients, the World Health Organization said Sunday in a new report that could shed light on the frightening spread of the disease.

Newsday.com - Layoff Announcements Soar 71 Percent In April

Newsday.com - Layoff Announcements Soar 71 Percent In April

The number of job cuts announced in April soared 71 percent from March, marking the highest monthly number of layoffs since November, according to a survey released Monday...



The public sector shed the most jobs — 57,927 — accounting for 40 percent of the month’s total, as state and local governments continued to trim their work forces amid large budget shortfalls...



“The sharp increase in job cuts last month should serve as a warning that it is premature to conclude that the quick end to the war in Iraq will bring a quick turnaround in the economy and job market,” said John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

statesman.com | Most antiquities feared lost in looting found intact in museum

statesman.com | Most antiquities feared lost in looting found intact in museum

The vast majority of the Iraqi trove of antiquities feared stolen or broken have been found inside the National Museum in Baghdad, according to American investigators who compiled an inventory over the weekend of the ransacked galleries.
A total of 38 pieces, not tens of thousands, are now believed to be missing. Among them is a single display of Babylonian cuneiform tablets that accounts for nine missing items.

via metafilter.

Fast Company | They Write the Right Stuff

Fast Company | They Write the Right Stuff

This software never crashes. It never needs to be re-booted. This software is bug-free. It is perfect, as perfect as human beings have achieved. Consider these stats : the last three versions of the program -- each 420,000 lines long-had just one error each. The last 11 versions of this software had a total of 17 errors. Commercial programs of equivalent complexity would have 5,000 errors.

Honda's New Accord - Cool UK Advert

Honda's New Accord - This is a very clever ad for the Honda Accord in the UK.

The Bookie of Virtue

"The Bookie of Virtue" by Joshua Green

William J. Bennett has made millions lecturing people on morality--and blown it on gambling.

RollingStone.com: News: Hail to the Chicks!

RollingStone.com: News: Hail to the Chicks!

Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines began the band's U.S. tour with an open invitation to heckle her. "If you're here to boo, we welcome that because we welcome freedom of speech," she said from the stage of Greenville, South Carolina's Bi-Lo Center Thursday night. "So we're going to give you fifteen seconds to get whatever you have out."
Instead, the 15,000-strong crowd erupted in cheers. And from the moment the band launched into "Goodbye Earl" to kick off their twenty-two-song set, fans showed their support by standing up and stomping along.

CNN.com - Worms found alive in shuttle wreckage

CNN.com - Worms found alive in shuttle wreckage - May. 1, 2003

Hundreds of worms from a science experiment aboard the space shuttle Columbia have been found alive in the wreckage, NASA said Wednesday.

STATE OF THE AIR 2003: Nearly Half the Nation at Risk from Smog

SOTA03 Release

Nearly half the American population—more than 137 million Americans—continues to breathe unhealthy amounts of the toxic air pollutant ozone (smog), according to the American Lung Association State of the Air: 2003 report released today.

NSU: science news from the Nature news service

NSU: science news from the Nature news service added to Science section.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Quake scientists predict Big One likely by 2032 / Bay Area fault study estimates 62% chance of deadly 6.7 temblor

Quake scientists predict Big One likely by 2032 / Bay Area fault study estimates 62% chance of deadly 6.7 temblor

In the most detailed investigation ever made of earthquake hazards throughout the Bay Area, scientists warned Monday that at least one severely damaging and deadly quake is very likely here within less than 30 years.

InformationWeek > Workers worry the IT career path has become less promising.

InformationWeek > I.T. Careers > Critical Path > April 21, 2003

Workers worry the IT career path has become less promising. That's bad news for the industry.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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

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.

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

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."

Kevlar saving lives, minimizing wounds in Iraq / Technology first developed in 1965

Kevlar is saving lives and minimizing wounds in Iraq. Notice the four bullet holes in this Royal Marine's helmet.



Update - 4/15/03 - Turned out ths is a hoax - CNN.com - Media fooled over helmet escape

Study Shows Falls Leading Cause of Infant Injury

What's more, nearly 22% of injuries are severe enough to require major medical care.

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.

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.

Wired News: Misfired Messages Roil Businesses

Wired News: Misfired Messages Roil Businesses

Times Online - Takoma the dolphin is Awol

Takoma the dolphin is Awol

Takoma, the Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphin, had been in Iraq for 48 hours when he went missing on his first operation to snoop out mines.

Update 4/0/03 - he's back

Mirror.co.uk - CHEMICAL SALLY

Mirror.co.uk - CHEMICAL SALLY

In a video shown on Al Jazeera TV, Professor Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash - dubbed Chemical Sally - was seated next to Saddam's youngest son Qusay, 37, who oversees the regime's weapons development programmes.

Buy a Book for the Library - Help the Burlingame Library Recover from the Flood.

Buy a Book for the Library - Our local library suffered a major flood when a water pipe burst over the President's day weekend.

CNN.com - CIA warned irregular Iraqi forces could pose threat - Mar. 27, 2003

CNN.com - CIA warned irregular Iraqi forces could pose threat - Mar. 27, 2003

Blogcritics: What She Really Said

Blogcritics: What She Really Said

If you've been following the Dixie Chicks' saga - and based upon the traffic and comments, in the days just before the war, few were concerned with much else - you know that after Natalie Maines slammed President Bush in London, she apologized the next day.
Well, we have all been led astray: the apology printed on the band's website and in the media was written by some record label hack. This is what she really said:

In Nasiriya, Marines Find an Urban Fight They Didn't Want

In Nasiriya, Marines Find an Urban Fight They Didn't Want

Just trying to lose weight lowers risk

Just trying to lose weight lowers risk of dying.

Olson to marry Pa. CEO, politico

Lute Olson to marry Pa. CEO, politico. Lute Olsen is the coach of the Arizona Wildcats - my alma mater's basketball team.

Wired News: When All That's Left Is a Name

Wired News: When All That's Left Is a Name

From the downtown San Francisco skyscraper named for AirTouch, a wireless provider acquired four years ago by Vodafone Group, to the ballpark bearing the name of Pacific Bell, the local phone company now owned by SBC Communications, some of the region's most visible structures boast corporate names that are no longer in active use.

Fortune 500, Meet Daytona 500 - What NASCAR can teach us about business. By Charles Duhigg

Fortune 500, Meet Daytona 500 - What NASCAR can teach us about business. By Charles Duhigg

Photos show 65,000 at peak of S.F. rally / Aerial study casts doubt on estimates of 200,000

Photos show 65,000 at peak of S.F. rally / Aerial study casts doubt on estimates of 200,000

The Village Voice: Nation: Weapon of the Week: The Microwave Phaser by George Smith

The Village Voice: Nation: Weapon of the Week: The Microwave Phaser by George Smith

The DVD Journal | DVD News, Reviews, Rumors, and Commentary

The DVD Journal | DVD News, Reviews, Rumors, and Commentary - will add this to my Popular Culture section on the sidebar.

Job losses in state twice as bad as thought / Employers' tax filings reveal a labor market clobbered by recession

Job losses in state twice as bad as thought / Employers' tax filings reveal a labor market clobbered by recession

Study: SUV's Not Safer Than Cars

Study: SUV's Not Safer Than Cars

BERKELEY (KRON) -- Bigger isn't necessarily better when it comes to safety on the road, that's the gist of a continuing study on sport utility vehicles, conducted by scientists in Michigan and Berkeley

Fool.com: Joe Millionaire's New Million

Joe Millionaire's New Million - Surprisingly useful advice on what Joe and Zora should do with their money. Useful links to financial advice here, even if you don't care about the show.

Ticketstubs

Ticketstubs

Ticket stubs are everywhere, one of the many receipts in our daily lives - but we all save some from time to time. The Ticketstub project is a place where you can upload scanned images of your saved stubs, and tell a story about that night, that concert, that movie, what happened on that date; basically, ask youself why you saved the stub as a reminder.

Spychecker - database of Spyware (adware) products lets you detect spyware before you download.

Spychecker:

Not sure if the free software you are about to download is in fact a so called Spyware, or adware or otherwise advertising enhanced product that installs additional third party components on your system?



We currently index almost a thousand software titles, providing the most complete online database of this kind.

SBC enforcing all-encompassing Web patent

The Register

SBC Communications Inc is enforcing a patent it owns that, it claims, covers the use of frame-like user interfaces in web sites, it emerged this week Kevin Murphy writes. . If your web site uses a frames or a persistent user interface, then you could be in infringement.

NASA - Space Shuttle Columbia and Her Crew

On Feb. 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia was lost duirng the re-entry into Earth's atomosphere. As NASA mourns the loss of seven family members, this page will collect and distribute information about the crew, the mission and the ongoing inverstisgstion.

More Changes...

• Added AlwaysOn to the Business/Econ Section
  
• Updated the "Other Blogs" section - removed many blogs, added a few, and fixed entries for several
  
• Deleted "My Playlist" feature do to lack of use
  
• Updated my "About" page
  

Textism - Word HTML Cleaner

Textism - Word HTML Cleaner

This utility strips proprietary Microsoft tags and artefacts from Word HTML documents, leaving basic formatting and typographic entities intact.

Google Buys Pyra: Blogging Goes Big-Time

Silicon Valley - Dan Gillmor's eJournal - Google Buys Pyra: Blogging Goes Big-Time

Google, which runs the Web's premier search site, has purchased Pyra Labs, a San Francisco company that created some of the earliest technology for writing weblogs, the increasingly popular personal and opinion journals.

cool - now my blog will be powered by Google!

Julia Keller: Is PowerPoint the devil?

KRT Wire | 01/22/2003 | Julia Keller: Is PowerPoint the devil?

PowerPoint has a dark side. It squeezes ideas into a preconceived format, organizing and condensing not only your material but - inevitably, it seems - your way of thinking about and looking at that material. A complicated, nuanced issue invariably is reduced to headings and bullets.

via LucDesk

20 days without a PC

20 days without a PC

Would I be willing to give up PCs and the Internet for 20 days?



...



Twenty days later, I'm glad that I did. Sure, I missed Google, MapQuest, and spelling checking. But my digital exile had unexpected upsides--and it revealed how PCs controlled me, in ways I hadn't seen before.

Empty offices around valley may soon be new homes

Mercury News | 02/07/2003 | Empty offices around valley may soon be new homes

Hammered by some of the worst office vacancy rates in the nation, growing numbers of local landlords are proposing to convert their deserted properties to residences, which could significantly bolster the Bay Area's desperately short housing supply.
Current plans call for transforming offices into more than 1,000 apartments in the South Bay, and at least 500 more residences of varying types are in the works for San Francisco. But with one out of every five local offices now vacant, that could be just the beginning.

About time!

Cross-cultural band rocks for peace / Pakistan's Junoon turning up volume to promote understanding

Pakistan's Junoon turning up volume to promote understanding

Islamabad, Pakistan -- The members of South Asia's hottest rock band have crossed innumerable hurdles together, bound by a love of music and a belief in promoting global peace.



Now the Pakistani-American trio Junoon is battling to keep its message of tolerance alive in an increasingly polarized Sept. 11 world. The group includes one U.S.-born Christian and two Pakistani Muslims, who sing in Urdu, Punjabi and English.

Dell Computer's `Steven' is arrested on drug charges

Dell Computer's `Steven' is arrested on drug charges

Dude! The actor who gained fame and a cult following as the slacker "Steven" in commercials for Dell computers was arrested buying a small bag of marijuana, police said.

TRADERS - Voices from the Trading Post

Voices from the Trading Post - An excellent site of oral histories from the trading posts on the Navajo reservation.

"Traders: Voices from the Trading Post," focuses on late-nineteenth-century and twentieth-century trading posts in the Four Corners region, encompassing the Navajo and Hopi Reservations.

Yahoo! News - Computer Users Warned of Clot Risk

Computer Users Warned of Clot Risk

LONDON (Reuters Health) - Sitting in front of the computer for hours on end could increase the risk for the type of blood clots that cause "economy class syndrome" in long-haul airplane passengers, researchers said on Tuesday.

Support Bush, Win a Mouse Pad

PCWorld.com - Support Bush, Win a Mouse Pad

John Pinckney of Muncie, Indiana, thinks President Bush is "demonstrating genuine leadership" in steering the nation's economy. So do Kyle Klink of Rochester, New York; Stephanie Johnson of Milton, Massachusetts; and Michael Snyder of Merced, California. In the past two weeks, they and three dozen others have published identical letters to media sites, including the Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune--with the help of some online political maneuvering.



The source of all these letters is GOP Team Leader, a site operated by the Republican National Committee. With a few mouse clicks, members of GOP Team Leader can log on to the site, forward messages to media outlets, and collect points they can later exchange for prizes. The strategy was unveiled in The Inquirer, a British technology site.

Advice to newspaper editors: for every letter to the editor you wish to publish, take one phrase from it and search for it on Google. I know of college professors who routinely do this to to detect plagarism. Update (1/27/03): Good discussion of this on slashdot here.

New Scientist - Ink-jet printing creates tubes of living tissue

New Scientist

Three-dimensional tubes of living tissue have been printed using modified desktop printers filled with suspensions of cells instead of ink. The work is a first step towards printing complex tissues or even entire organs.



Creating blood vessels is a huge challenge"This could have the same kind of impact that Gutenberg's press did," claims tissue engineer Vladimir Mironov of the Medical University of South Carolina.

I wonder when this will be available in the printer supplies section at Fry's?

GigaLaw.com: Legal Information for Internet Professionals

GigaLaw.com

GigaLaw.com provides legal information for Internet and technology professionals, Internet entrepreneurs and the lawyers who serve them. GigaLaw.com is produced exclusively by lawyers and law professors.

I may add a "Legal" section to my sidebar - this will definitely be in it if I do.

Yahoo! News - Yes, Your Baby Really Is Watching That TV

Yes, Your Baby Really Is Watching That TV

Babies are not just passing idle time when they stare goggle-eyed at the television -- they are actually learning about the world, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
...
"Children as young as 12 months are making decisions based on the emotional reactions of adults around them," Mumme, whose research is published in the journal Child Development, said in a statement.

Fry's gambles on Las Vegas

Mercury News | 01/19/2003 | Fry's gambles on Las Vegas

Located on Las Vegas Boulevard, more commonly known as "The Strip,'' the new store's entryway is a giant two-story neon slot machine. Inside, the store is decorated with big black-and-white photographs from the gambling mecca's recent history, including construction of gangster Bugsy Siegel's Flamingo Hotel in 1947 and performer Ann-Margret dancing at the Tropicana Hotel in 1974.

Zoo penguins intent on futile 'migration' - S.F. flock swims round and round in pool

S.F. flock swims round and round in pool

Brainwashed by six newcomers from Ohio, 46 penguins at the San Francisco Zoo have abandoned their burrows and embarked on a great migration --
except their pool is not exactly the coast of South America and there's really nowhere for them to go.

Allstate workers snooped illegally

Mercury News | 01/17/2003 | Allstate workers snooped illegally

California's Department of Motor Vehicles has banned Allstate Insurance from checking driver records online after Allstate employees were caught illegally snooping through records of friends, family and others.
In one case, an Allstate employee released a confidential home address that enabled an unidentified road-rage driver to send a written threat to another driver.

Fifth Caltrain Death in January

On Friday evening, as I was riding the southbound 84 Caltrain home from work, Jason Freitas, 32, of South San Francisco, dove in front of the train 300 yards north of the San Bruno station, killing himself. This was the fifth suicide in this month. The "The train engineer involved had only recently returned to
work after having being involuntarily involved in another suicide earlier this month" according to Bay Area Transportation News. Additional details of the incident are available at TrainOrders.com here (warning: graphic description) and here.



My heart goes out to the Caltrain employees on the train that night, especially the engineer. I could hear the horror in his voice as he announced that we had hit a person who had "dove in front of the train." All of the employees behaved very professionally and were constantly in communication with the passengers during the incident.



Note: the victim' name and description are from the an article in the Monday, January 20th edition of the Burlingame Daily News. The Burlingame Daily News does not publish its content on the web.

The Detroit Project - by Americans for Fuel Efficient Cars

The Detroit Project

Welcome to Americans for Fuel Efficient Cars. The idea for this project came to me while watching -- for the umpteenth time -- one of those outrageous drug war ads the Bush administration has flooded the airwaves with. You know, the ones that try and link using drugs to financing terrorism. Instead of shaking my head in disgust and reaching for the Mute button like I usually do when I see these ads, I decided to channel my indignation. Why not turn the tables and adopt the same tactics the administration was using in the drug war to point out the much more credible link between driving SUVs and our national security? Thus began our campaign to create a series of TV ads designed to win the hearts and minds -- and change the driving habits -- of American consumers by asking them to connect the dots and think about the effect energy wastefulness is having not just on the environment, but on our foreign policy.

MoveOn.org

MoveOn.org: Frequently Asked Questions

MoveOn is working to bring ordinary people back into politics. With a system that today revolves around big money and big media, most citizens are left out. When it becomes clear that our "representatives" don't represent the public, the foundations of democracy are in peril. MoveOn is a catalyst for a new kind of grassroots involvement, supporting busy but concerned citizens in finding their political voice. Our nationwide network of more than 600,000 online activists is one of the most effective and responsive outlets for democratic participation available today.

At a Texas Foundry, an Indifference to Life

At a Texas Foundry, an Indifference to Life - A scary article about worker exploitation.

ComputerBob - Making Geek-Speak Chic

ComputerBob - Making Geek-Speak Chic


Interesting Tech Web Site, I found by accident while searching for information about those mysterious calls from Tom Delay's office.

Pedometers can get you moving, anywhere

Pedometers can get you moving, anywhere

Killing the messenger: Layoff-poll funds cut

Killing the messenger: Layoff-poll funds cut

The Bush administration, under fire for its handling of the economy, has quietly killed off a Labor Department program that tracked mass layoffs by U.S. companies.

Gangrule.com

Gangrule is a historical look at the emergence of organized crime since 1890. The site has a database of known gang members, historic events and family histories, along with photographs, newspaper cuttings and official documents.

The website covers crime in all cultures and does not focus on any particular country or religion. The site offers no personal opinion or social comment about crime, and is purely for the purpose of historical research.