Slow Takes


  • Chrenkoff
    "George W Bush is raising money - indirectly: "Outland Books, a New York publishing company, said today that it would donate $3 from each internet sale of its popular daily calendar, Presidential (Mis)Speak: The Very Curious Language of George W Bush, to the UN aid agency Unicef." I'm sure his contribution will be misunderestimated again."

  • how-to record on your ipod (for free) - hack a day - www.hackaday.com
    apple cripples recording on an ipod so belkin and griffin then have to sell us add-on devices for over $50 that can only record at 8khz, which is all pretty shitty. apparently (the rumor is) apple does this so people don’t use their ipods to record stuff they think we shouldn’t, like concerts, whatever. but don’t worry, there’s a way around it and you can record at high quality, all for free.

  • Mark Steyn: On tsunami's shore
    You would think an unprecedented tsunami in a region that has never been a U.S. sphere of influence would be hard to pin on the Great Satan. And, to be fair to the global rent-a-quote crowd, for an hour or two they were stunned into silence. But it wasn't long before they were back singing the same old song: Disaffected young Muslim men in Saudi Arabia, devastated coastal villages in Sri Lanka ... "These Foolish Things Remind Me Of U.S.A." You really need Cole Porter:

    You're The Pits

    With your massive armies

    You're The Pits

    And you cause tsunamis.


  • Michael Barone: The lessons of Clintoncare (1/10/05)
    Social security overhaul seems to be the Bush administration's first priority for 2005. To gauge the prospects of success, it may be helpful to compare Bush's formidable task with the No. 1 goal of the incoming Clinton administration in 1993, healthcare finance overhaul. On the surface, Clinton's odds of a win looked better in early 1993 than Bush's do today. But Bush actually has a better chance of prevailing.

  • Foreign Affairs - Grand Strategy in the Second Term - John Lewis Gaddis
    Summary: In his first four years, George W. Bush presided over the most sweeping redesign of U.S. strategy since the days of F.D.R. Over the next four, his basic direction should remain the same: restoring security in a more dangerous world. Some midcourse corrections, however, are overdue. Washington should remember the art of speaking softly and the need for international legitimacy.

  • TV to Go: TiVo Unveils Portable Service

    SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - TiVo Inc. pioneered digital video recording as a new way of watching television - when you want it. Now it could be TV where you want it, too. The long-awaited service feature called TiVoToGo, set to launch Monday, will give users their first taste of TiVo untethered. No longer confined to TiVo digital video recorders in the living room or bedroom, subscribers will be able to transfer their recorded shows to PCs or laptops and take them on the road - as long as the shows are not specially tagged with copy restrictions. That's also the case for pay-per-view or on-demand movies, and some premium paid programming. Users also will be able to copy shows onto a DVD - soon after but not immediately at the service launch, company officials said.


  • Predicting 2005: Going Global >

    Web Globalization Goes Mainstream Based on surveys I've conducted, discussions with executives at Fortune 500 companies, and a few recent discussions with reporters, the signs are pointing toward a very public year for the field of Web globalization. You may remember that Web globalization was a hot topic back in the heady days of 2000. But this time around, growth will be driven by real revenues. Amazon could see more than half of its revenues come from outside the US by the end of 2005, and definitely by 2006. And it won't just be the virtual companies that embrace Web globalization; we'll see companies from industries such as hospitality, retail and financial services launch multilingual Web sites --another sign that this emerging field has crossed over from luxury to necessity.


  • The Penny-Wise Aren't Foolish Anymore
    But in 2004, signs were abundant that small can be beautiful, too. In the stock market, less-heralded stocks crushed their larger, more famous brethren. Through Dec. 29, the Russell 2000 - an index of smaller-capitalization stocks - was up an impressive 17.32 percent for the year. That's almost double the return of the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 9.13 percent). And it dwarfs the meager 3.6 percent rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, composed of 30 titans of business.

  • Celebrity Butts 2004 is at an end so what better way to celebrate than to see the back of some gorgeous celebrities. These stunners have all had a great year and they're bound to have even more success in 2005. But can you guess who they are? We've been a bit cheeky and we're only showing you a snapshot of their bum along with a little clue to their identity.

  • 100 things we didn't know this time last year 1. Street brawlers sometimes arm themselves with potato peelers, according to the Home Office, which wants to make them banned weapons. More details 2. Farmers plant their crops up to three weeks earlier than 15 years ago. In the 1960s, temperatures from January to March averaged 4.2C; it rose to 5.6C in the 1990s. 3. Brussels sprouts have three times as much vitamin C as oranges. .... 100. Bill Clinton sent just two e-mails while he was president.

  • Yoko Ono Appointed Spokesperson for New Chemical Castration Drug NEW YORK — Yoko Ono has been appointed spokesperson for a new chemical castration drug, tentatively called “Chop-Chop.” It has just been approved by the FDA after a lengthy delay. It seems laboratory rats wanted nothing to do with her because she was always in the way during recording sessions. “Let me tell you,” said Ms. Ono, speaking from her Chalet in Switzerland. “I know a thing or two about robbing males of their manhood. We considered calling the drug, ‘Balls-Be-Gone,’ but that’s the beauty of this drug. It leaves you with your balls intact.

  • Scientists develop fly-eating robot Scientists at the University of the West of England have developed a robot that powers itself by catching and eating flies. The carniverous robot, named EcoBot II, uses human sewage as bait to catch the insects.

  • Agog with blogs Bloggers offer access, megaphones to the showbiz underclass By JENNIFER NETHERBY Showbiz is blogging itself silly about insider comings and goings. The industry's underclass dishes everyone from Paris Hilton to Harvey Weinstein in a growing number of showbiz blogs....

  • Evolution is a Friend of Creation, says Evangelical Professor “Denying science makes us look stupid…People should not feel they have to deny reality in order to experience their faith.” Richard Colling, a biologist/evangelical, is swinging a new voice in the creation/evolution debate this winter: Darwin’s theory of evolution is compatible and complementary to the theory of intelligent design. Colling, who received a Ph.D in microbiology and chairs the biology department at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, recorded his new symbiotic theory in his book, “Random Designer: Created from Chaos to Connect with Creator.”

  • Tsunami must be fault of the US In the past three days I have been impressed by the originality of the latest critiques of the evil Americans. The earthquake and tsunami apparently had something to do with global warming, environmentalists say, caused of course by greedy American motorists. Then there was the rumour that the US military base at Diego Garcia was forewarned of the impending disaster and presumably because of some CIA-approved plot to undermine Islamic movements in Indonesia and Thailand did nothing about it.

  • Words A Go-Go
    The NYTimes ran a contest for best alternative definition for words. The winner was "coffee (n.), a person who is coughed upon"... Second place went to "flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained".

  • Coric to Anchor CBS News?
    Moonves could easily justify the $20 million or more that he'd have to pay Couric: Aside from the ratings jolt she'd almost certainly give the evening news, she could also be deployed to do a raft of prime time specials and contribute to 60 Minutes. Twenty mil? Hell, David Letterman makes more than that.

  • NASA plans massive Mars rover
    Building on the success of the two wheeled geologists that arrived at Mars in January, 2004, NASA has begun planning a new rover mission to the red planet %u2013 the Mars Science Laboratory. Planned to be twice as long and three times as heavy as the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the Mars Science Laboratory would collect martian soil samples and rock cores and analyze them for environmental conditions and organic compounds that could have supported microbial life now or in the past.

  • Camera Phone Tips
    We've compiled this list of camera phone tips and techniques to help us get the best results from our camera phones. They are not rocket science and will not guarantee crystal clear pictures like those you'd get from a Digital SLR - but they could drastically improve the shots your Camera Phone produces.

  • The network is the blog
    The blog network is made of people. We are the nodes, actively filtering and retransmitting knowledge. Clearly this architecture can help manage the glut of information. More subtly, it can also help ensure that no vital inputs are suppressed because nobody has to rely on a single source. If one of the feeds I monitor doesn%u2019t react to some event in a given domain, another probably will. When they all react, I know it was an especially important event. The resemblance of this model to the summing of activation potentials in a neural system is more than superficial. Nature knows best.

  • Doc Searls on BuzzAgent
    Several people have asked me what I think about BuzzAgent, so here's my joint answer to all of them: It sucks. Where Marqui is up front about what it's doing, and engaging bloggers in conversation (as well as promotion), BuzzAgent and its clients are being surreptitious and false, and spreading a virus of falsity through its agents. Mass market advertising has always been impersonal, and often (okay, almost always) fake. BuzzAgent's system allows advertisers to be no less fake, but in person, face to face. Even if the agents really do love the products they shill, their love is bought. Worse, it comes cheap.

  • Jarvis' First Law of Media
    Whenever citizens can exercise control, they will. Today they are challenging and changing media -- where bloggers now fact-check Dan Rather's ass -- but tomorrow they will challenge and change politics, government, marketing, and education as well. This isn't just a media revolution, though that's where we are seeing the impact first. This is a chain-reaction of revolutions. It has just begun.

  • Friendship and Relativity
    If Einstein succeeded in transforming time into space, Gdel would perform a trick yet more magical: He would make time disappear. Having already rocked the mathematical world to its foundations with his incompleteness theorem, Gdel now took aim at Einstein and relativity.

  • Open Letter to a Digital World
    It's time for anyone running a Windows PC to switch to Linux.You see, the Windows platform is not just insecure - it's patently, blatantly, and unashamedly insecure by design and for all the lip service to security it's really not going to get better, ever. To make matters worse, it's more expensive and gives you fewer necessary applications right out of the box than Linux. Everyone, even Microsoft, knows this - they are just too afraid to say it. The tide is coming in. Nothing on this planet can stop it.

  • Books by the Foot ~ Books by the Yard
    We sell books by the foot and offer 2 catagories of books: Jeweltone at $9 a spine in quantities up to 250 and $8 a spine in quantities of 250 . Designer Mix are $13 a spine in quantities up to 250 and $12 a spine in quantities of 250 . We consider ten books equal to a foot and we ship a minimum ten books (one foot). Filling a bookcase couldn't be easier... Measure how many linear feet you need to fill, and then order by the foot from Book Decor.

  • Forget Cue Cards, Make a Teleprompter!
    Creative problem solving is a trait many creative professionals share, but perhaps no one possesses that skill more than Brian P. Lawler. See how he made a teleprompter with a laptop, Adobe InDesign, and some scrap wood.

  • Laura Bush's Christmas Letter
    And what with George Sr and Barbara having spent four very happy years here and Jeb hinting that he is quite keen to move away from Florida some time, we have come to regard it as family property In the end, fortunately, the landlords seemed to find the other couple completely insufferable and virtually begged us to stay on....

  • A Stoning in Iran
    The single job for a writer that would most certainly condemn you to hell in this life and the next has to be reporting for Reuters. Impervious to sense and humanity, this "Service" continues to pump out what passes for "reportage" using editorial rules and filters from somewhere in "the Stone Age". I use that term advisedly. Here's a full report that just moved over the wires from that bastion of religious peace, harmony and toleration, Iran.

  • Europe is Kaput
    In the major newspapers of the US east coast, to be sure, Europeans continue to read about their sad little concerns. What "red state" Americans hear, by contrast, is that Europe is dying, like the now-vanished "evil empire" of Soviet communism.

  • Kyoto is a Sham
    So what if a reduction in emissions by the means prescribed is impossible by 2050? Politicians don't want to hear it. And since politics very often consists of promising the impossible to the ignorant, the scientific bankruptcy of currently proposed Green initiatives is entirely irrelevant. Kyoto, like Peacekeeping is always good, though no one can say why. The climate change initiatives will continue to be put forward; they are an end in themselves.

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Main | January 2005 »

December 31, 2004

Oh, Baby, It's a Weird World 12/31/04

80% say No to New Year night on the town
On Madville.com

Was an electronic voting machine company rep videotaped while rigging a vote?
On Madville.com

Hindu holy man who announced that he would publicly leave his body fails to die when the date comes. Infuriated villagers try to help him out
On FARK

Road closure a big hit with Canadian hockey fans: "Leave it to Canadians to cheer for ice and snow."
On KTRK: Bizarre

Briton Surfs Tsunami, Survives: "HIKKADUWA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - British surfer Martin Markwell had always dreamed of catching that perfect wave -- but when it finally came along, it was a nightmare."
On Reuters: Oddly Enough

Astronauts on candy diet after pantry raid: "IOL"
On Azerty.co.uk

Robert Blake's Rice Krispies
On Bongo News

Yoko Ono Appointed Spokesperson for New Chemical Castration Drug
On Bongo News

Bush Ancestor Went AWOL During the Crusades
On Bongo News

Celebrity underwear draws dozens to Portugal: "IOL"
On Azerty.co.uk

Hot dog vendors arrested for prostitution: "Two Long Island women who sold hot dogs and sodas from a truck were charged with prostitution for also offering sexual acts in exchange for money. One of the vendors offered to expose her breasts to an undercover officer who was buying a hot dog and the other offered him oral sex in exchange for money."
On Exploding Cigar

Fast food makes people fatter: "A new study by the University of Minnesota found that healthy young men and women gained an extra 10 pounds, on average, over 15 years if they ate fast food more than twice a week. They also doubled their rate of a prediabetes condition known as insulin resistance."
On Exploding Cigar

Evil Magazine
On Bidboy

Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Sandwich Maker
On Bidboy

BBQ owner, city divided over pig mural: "A mural of pink pigs painted on the side of a barbecue restaurant is apparently too spicy for officials in this city's historic district."
On Boston.com: Odds and Ends

Italy Judge Tosses Coin for Xmas Tug-Of-Love Child (Reuters): "Reuters - When the separated parents of a five-year old Italian boy could not agree whose house he should stay at over Christmas, a judge settled the dispute by tossing a coin, an Italian newspaper reported on Thursday."
On Yahoo! News: Oddly Enough

Wal-Mart manager allegedly ordered shooting of cat: "EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Two Wal-Mart employees who police say followed a manager's orders to shoot and kill a stray cat have been charged with federal animal cruelty."
On azcentral.com | thebuzz

December 31, 2004 in Strange Days | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

BookEnds, 12/31/04

Translator Takes the Word at Its Word: "In his translation of the first five books of the Bible, Robert Alter cultivates a scrupulous attention to the Hebrew text and its multifarious meanings."
On New York Times: Books

Girl Power Fuels Manga Boom in U.S.: "Sales of Japanese comics are exploding in the United States as comic book publishers seek to extend their reach beyond young male readers."
On New York Times: Books

In an Age of Strife, What Would Buddha Do?: "Pankaj Mishra has written an odd, uneasy account of the life of the Buddha informed by his own conflicted feelings about the religion's significance today."
On New York Times: Books

A round-up of jazz CDs: "Our pick of the best, including music by Abdullah Ibrahim"
On Economist: Books

A round-up of business books: "What was the best book about business published in the past 12 months?"
On Economist: Books

The origins of plastic surgery: "Sir Archibald McIndoe, the Royal Air Force and the Guinea Pig Club"
On Economist: Books

Two new books about Leonardo da Vinci: "The Renaissance master's “strange career”"
On Economist: Books

The papacy: "For God's sake"
On Economist: Books

How Bush Really Won: "Driving north from Tampa on Florida's Route 75 on November 1, as the battle over who would hold political power in America was reaching a climax but the struggle over what that battle meant had yet to begin, I put down the top of my rented green convertible, turned the talk radio voices up to blaring, and commenced reading the roadside."
On New York Review of Books

Red-Hot MoMA: "The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has changed radically over the years since it was founded in 1929 and moved into its own building on 53rd Street in 1939. What is most striking in the new building that has just opened is the change of scale. For it is, indeed, a new building. The original one on the same site by Edward Durell Stone underwent two successive expansions, in 1964 by Philip Johnson and 1984 by Cesar Pelli. Having purchased the adjacent Dorset Hotel, the board decided that this time the museum should not be just expanded, but largely gutted and rethought. The result is a grand and elegant creation that incorporates the old façades on 53rd Street but completely transforms the interiors and the garden façades on 54th Street."
On New York Review of Books

The Truth About Terrorism: "If you live, as I do, in an American city designated as a likely target by the Department of Homeland Security, the sheer proliferation of security apparatus in the streets assures you that there is a war on. Yet the nature and conduct of that war, and the character—and very existence—of our enemy, remain infuriatingly obscure: not because there's any shortage of information, or apparent information, but because so much of it has turned out to be creative guesswork or empty propaganda."
On New York Review of Books

On Thinning Ice: "Impacts of a Warming Arctic: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment

"It's difficult to overstate the perilousness of the situation. Climate change, instead of occurring slowly over millennia, will soon outpace the ability of many species to adapt and evolve, and not just in the Arctic. An article a year ago in Nature estimated that between 15 and 37 per cent of terrestrial species - that is, more than a million discrete forms of life - will be extinct by 2050. In any case, climate change is already disrupting the lives of millions of human beings. According to James Morris, the executive director of the World Food Programme, the number of people suffering food crises as a result of natural disasters has tripled in the last thirty years. Such effects are usually attributed to a combination of overpopulation, widespread deforestation and degrading soils, but weather events brought about by climate change can provoke and exacerbate humanitarian crises.""
On London Review of Books

Rutrutrutrutrutrutrutrut: "I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe

"Behind all these things - status, virginity, animality, muscles - is the controlling Wolfe obsession: homomania. He is, as he says of one of his characters, 'crazed on the subject of manliness'. Wherever he looks, he sees the struggle for dominance, the tournament, men butting like stags. It's not just that all human endeavour comes down to this: there is really nothing else, whether on the basketball field or in the classroom or at a family picnic. Women are either willing notches on the bedpost, or else aping the male thing in a confused way. We are all of us forever acting out our machismo, like rappers or wrestlers before the fight, narcissistically preoccupied with an almost abstract display of prowess. Even weedy Adam, in the gym, glances at this own muscles in the mirror: 'He was enjoying that temporary high the male feels when his muscles, no matter what size they may be, are gorged with blood. He feels . . . more of a man.' This is it: the endless struggle for tumescence.""
On London Review of Books

December 31, 2004 in Books | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

TechTrack, 12/31/04

You, Too, Can Be a Podcaster: "Fans of the burgeoning technology, which lets users broadcast and download audio content feeds to MP3 players, say it represents audio broadcasting's future. But podcasting still has a long way to go. By Daniel Terdiman."
On Wired News

How Did Animals Escape Tsunami?: "No wild animals were found dead along the Sri Lankan coastline, adding credence to the belief that beasts have a sixth sense that warns them of impending disasters."
On Wired News

2005: The year ahead: "2004 closed with a veritable blizzard of mergers and a downpour of desktop search offerings -- events and products that may well dominate IT managers‚ thoughts well into the new year."
On InfoWorld: Top News

VeriSign: Online shopping up 24 percent this year: "U.S. holiday shoppers continue to turn to the Internet when searching for presents for family and friends, according to data released Thursday by VeriSign."
On InfoWorld: Top News

Oracle takes control of PeopleSoft: "Oracle has taken over control of PeopleSoft by buying 75 percent of the PeopleSoft's outstanding shares from its stockholders, Oracle announced Wednesday."
On InfoWorld: Top News

Netherlands issues first fines to spammers: "Dutch authorities have issued their first fines for spam originating in the country."
On InfoWorld: Top News

Anti-Santy worm on the prowl: "Do-gooder worm attempts to fix holes exploited by the earlier Santy infection--but could end up a pain."
On CNET News.com

Year in Review: Cell phones explode: "Global cellular markets boomed. U.S. data services went through the roof. And handsets literally blew up."
On CNET News.com

XXX, on a small screen near you: "Are commuters ready to rub elbows with porn-wielding cell phone customers?"
On CNET News.com

Apple fans fill up on rumors of bargain Mac: "Apple fans have a little more fodder for the rumor mill after a new posting on ThinkSecret.com. The Apple rumor site claims that Steve Jobs & Co. are planning to announce a sub-$500 G4-based iMac at the Macworld Expo in January. [Missing Links]"
On CNET News.com

Customer Service: The Hunt for a Human: "In the Internet age, making telephone contact with a human for customer service is a daunting task. Some companies no longer disclose phone numbers. But some consumers have found ways around the blockade."
On New York Times: Technology

Hobbyists Fill Out the Weather Map: "Thousands of armchair sky watchers are pairing computers and consumer-grade meteorological equipment to share their observations of local conditions online."
On New York Times: Technology

Good Luck and Bubblewrap.com: "Collard greens and black-eyed peas, a New Year’s tradition, on a chef’s site; Virtual-Bubblewrap.com lets you punch holes with your mouse; KnowItAllVideo.com, where amateur instructional videos are posted and rated."
On New York Times: Technology

America Online Reports Drop in Spam: "America Online said that spammers were starting to give up - at least when it came to sending junk to its subscribers."
On New York Times: Technology

It's time to send the bill to Bill: "Deadline to claim share of Microsoft settlement is Jan. 8"
On SFGate: Technology

Searching public thinks alike: "Most-sought-after names overlap in sites' top 10 lists"
On SFGate: Technology

New way to make you pay: "- David Lazarus"
On SFGate: Technology

Intel starts sampling 600-series chip, AMD moves ahead on dual-core Opteron: "Intel has begun sampling of its 600-Series processors whici will support EM64T, EBD and SpeedStep:Intel has sampled one of its 600-series CPUs to some of its clients in Taiwan and has also given more details of technology support for its 945/955 chipsets for the dual-core Smithfield CP..."
On AnandTech: News

Gates pledges $3 million in aid; Amazon.com raises another $3.5 million: "In effort to help the millions of people displaced due to the massive tsunami which struck the region around the Indian Ocean, Bill Gates has donated three million dollars in aid. Amazon has donated another $3.5 million:Microsoft's company offices in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and..."
On AnandTech: News

The year according to eBay: "If you look at America 2004 through the lens of eBay, maybe it really is about the Virgin Mary cheese sandwich."
On USA Today: Tech

Space station snack attack uncovered: "WASHINGTON ¬ó The two residents of the International Space Station ran short of food and had to cut back their meals this month thanks in part to unlikely food thieves: the previous station crew." On USA Today: Tech

Snowed-in code blamed for Comair's Xmas flight collapse: "Old box grounds travelers Aging server software has been blamed for Comair's holiday collapse that left thousands of travelers stranded." On The Register

Tesco claims 500,000 mobile sign-ups: "Milestone Tesco has signed up 500,000 subscribers for its UK mobile phone service, just 14 months after setting up in business." On The Register

Time Warner may pick up Sprint cell calls: "Deal would make Time Warner Cable the only major cable company to offer cell phone service."
On ZDNet Tech News

Satellite radio sees subscriber growth: "Competing satellite radio companies Sirius and XM say they bested their year-end subscriber goals."
On ZDNet Tech News

Build Your Own Motorcycle Computer: "Build your very own "Motorcycle Mod" by following ExtremeTech's Master Modder and his unprecedented pursuit of constructing the first ever motorcycle computer. In this installment, Russ begins work on the main frame, works on the headlights, and paints the wheels."
On Extremetech

The Top Tech Stories of 2004: "From IBM selling its PC unit to users going gaga over Google, here's what made headlines this year."
On PCWorld.com: Latest News Stories

Blogs take on the mainstream: "Blogs have shifted the balance of information online, argue experts, and they are here to stay."
On BBC: Technology

Virgin soars to new frontier: "SpaceShipOne pioneer Burt Rutan gives a glimpse of what paying passengers can expect when they travel into space."
On BBC: Technology

December 31, 2004 in Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wraparound, 12/31/2004

U.S. Pledges $350 Million in Tsunami Aid-Official: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will provide $350 million in aid for victims of southern Asia's devastating tsunami, a government official said on Friday."
On Reuters: Top News

Devastating Asian Tsunami Darkens World's New Year: "BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - Aircraft, naval vessels and trucks struggled Friday to deliver aid around stricken southern Asia as the death toll exceeded 124,000 from a tsunami which darkened the world's New Year."
On Reuters: Top News

Musharraf solidifies powerful post: "The decision by Pakistan's president to stay on as military chief has angered leading politicians of the religious right."
On Christian Science Monitor: All Stories

The end of Uganda's mystic rebel?: "A cease-fire between northern fighters and the government is expected to be signed Friday."
On Christian Science Monitor: All Stories

Iraq Militant Roundup: "GIs take in 49 suspects; insurgents threaten potential voters with death
• Security Teams Train"
On Foxnews: U.S. & World

£20m in 24 hours: "Shocked by the devastation caused by the tsunami, Britons responded yesterday with unprecedented generosity to the appeal for donations"
On Independent: World

Desmond Tutu on God, Bush and the Tsunamis: "Desmond Tutu discusses the tsunami tragedy, God, Iraq and the re-election of George W. Bush"
On Newsweek: World News

The End of My World as I Knew It: "A New Year's reflection on my life after heroin."
On Slate Magazine

College Football Art: A Slide Show: "The master painters of the gridiron and the fans who love them."


On Slate Magazine

Agony in Aceh: "A summary of what's in the major U.S. newspapers."
On Slate Magazine

What Was Lost: "South Asia is inundated, leaving behind scenes of unimaginable destruction as the survivors look for missing kin and relief workers try to head off a humanitarian catastrophe"
On TIME's Top Stories

An Easier, but Less Deadly, Recipe for Terror: "If you can get past the guards and fences, the ingredients for a chemical attack are available off the shelf at a crumbling military base called Shchuchye in south-central Russia. There, stacked like dusty wine bottles on wooden racks, is a collection of 1.9 million artillery shells filled with nerve agents such as VX, an oily yellow liquid so deadly that a single drop on the skin can kill."
On Washington Post: Top News

Mother's dilemma: Which son to save!: "Tsunami that hit Phuket forced Jillian Searle of Australia to make a choice no mother should ever have to make. "
On Hindustan Times: World

U.S. Aid Generous and Stingy: "It depends on how the numbers are crunched -- total dollars or a slice of the overall economy."


On LA Times: World

The Sea: "This week, tsunamis caused by underwater earthquakes in the Indian Ocean claimed tens of thousands of lives. In this article from 1951, Rachel L. Carson considers the science of waves, and the relationship between the earth and the sea."
On The New Yorker

Raw Deal: "Pure, on Irving Place."
On The New Yorker

Pacific coast'stsunami threat : "Great earthquake cluster zone in northwestcould touch off deadly waves, say studies"
On WorldNetDaily

Report: Stewart Loses Contest in Prison (AP): "AP - Martha Stewart, who built a billion-dollar media empire based on her holiday and home decorating tips, was unable to lead her team to victory in a prison decoration contest, a magazine reported."
On Yahoo! News: Most Emailed

Girl, 5, youngest Briton known dead: "A five-year-old schoolgirl has been confirmed as the youngest Briton known to have died in the Asian tsunami disaster."
On Ananova News

Terror groups call voting un-Islamic: "New Year's Eve festivities canceled"
On The Washington Times: World

Ex-Playmate Anna Nicole's Fortune Reversed (AP): "AP - A federal appeals court Thursday threw out a judge's ruling that awarded $88.5 million to former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith from the estate of her late husband, an oil tycoon who died at age 90 just over a year after they wed."
On Yahoo! News: Most Viewed

December 31, 2004 in World View | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 21, 2004

Joke Time is Over at Slate

041220_gavelThe Washington Post Co. said today it is buying Slate in an effort to boost the newspaper company's online traffic but does not plan any editorial changes at the eight-year-old Web magazine.

In announcing a deal to buy Slate from Microsoft Corp. for an undisclosed sum, said to be in the millions of dollars, Post executives said they would keep Jacob Weisberg as editor and most of the 30-person staff. Cliff Sloan, general counsel of Washington Post Newsweek Interactive, will also become publisher of the money-losing magazine when the deal takes effect next month.

December 21, 2004 in Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 20, 2004

THE HUM

An in-depth investigation into the cause and adverse health effects of this obnoxious low frequency noise which has plagued the lives of 1000's

Over the years the media have given the Hum local names such as the Bristol Hum, the Taos Hum, the Hueytown Hum the Largs Hum, Kokomo Hum and many others.

From the 1000's of reports received it is abundantly evident that they all produce the same effects and have the same root cause. The purpose of this web site is describe the effects of the Hum, to show its cause, and to show that despite 1000's of pleas, the authorities refuse to help or even to acknowledge the existence of the problem

December 20, 2004 in Strange Days | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

First Drive-through Supercenters Planned for Late 2005

DECEMBER 20, 2004 -- LAS CRUCES, N.M. - AutoCart, LLC, based here, said it plans to roll out the world's first "drive-through supercenter" format, a 130,000-square-foot facility equipped to deliver more than 25,000 SKUs directly to consumers in their cars. The first of the supercenters, designed with 60 ordering/pickup stations, are projected to open in December 2005 in Albuquerque, N.M. and Tucson, Ariz., according to AutoCart....

Among the more than 17 classifications of products and services that AutoCart said it will offer at the proposed supercenters are grocery, pharmacy, banking, movie and game rental, bakery, office supplies, florists, photography development, dry cleaning, liquor, and lottery sales....

Store features will include interactive drop-down touchscreens at all order/pickup stations, allowing customers to place orders and communicate with retailer representatives on-site; the ability to order off-site by phone, fax, PC, laptop, or PDA; and the delivery of orders in a shuttle/lift, which will open up next to the car so that shoppers can take out their bags and drive away in a matter of minutes.

December 20, 2004 in Business | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The Love of Libraries.

Libraries are not places of dry scholarship but living sensuality. In Love Story Ali McGraw and Ryan O,Neal get together with the library as backdrop; in Dr Zhivago, Uri and Lara find one another in a library. I have a friend, now a well-known journalist, who became overcome by lust in the British Library and was discovered by a librarian making love behind the stacks in the empty quarter of Humanities with a woman he had met in the tearoom. The librarian was apparently most understanding, and said it happened quite a lot.

Libraries are not just for reading in, but for sociable thinking, exploring, exchanging ideas and falling in love. They were never silent. Technology will not change that, for even in the starchiest heyday of Victorian self-improvement, libraries were intended to be meeting places of the mind, recreational as well as educational. The Openshaw branch of the Manchester public library was built complete with a billiard room.

Just as bookshops have become trendy, offering brain food and cappuccinos, so libraries, under financial and cultural pressure, will have to evolve by more actively welcoming people in to wander and explore. Finding a book online should be the beginning, not the end, of the process of discovery, a peeling back of the first layer: the word library, after all, comes from liber, the inner bark of a tree.

December 20, 2004 in Books | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Flash iPod a Done Deal for Big Bucks

Financial analysts predict Apple would sell millions of flash iPods in short order. Bear Stearns analyst Andy Neff predicted earlier this month that Apple will sell 6 million units in the current fiscal year and 13.5 million the following year, but at US$160, a lower average price than Apple gets for its iPods (which retail from US$249 for the iPod mini to US$599 for the 60GB iPod Photo).

Looking ahead to next year, Neff forecasts Apple may be able to grab 30 percent of the 34 million players that market researcher IDC estimates will sell next year.

December 20, 2004 in Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

SHHH!

SHHH!:

Shhh Card

Heidi of Coudal Partners came up with this snappy little solution to dealing with obnoxious cell phone users. The .pdf includes several different versions of a card that you can print, cut out and hand to cell yellers. Brought to you by SHHH! The Society for HandHeld Hushing.

Posted in: Mobility"

(Via Cool Hunting.)

December 20, 2004 in Online | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack