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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January 04, 2005

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Rev. Donald Sensing, SundaySermons: Tsunamis and the presence of God

I am struck by how this 2,500-year-old prophecy fits to what is happening in the countries stricken by the earthquake and tsunami. I don't think Isaiah had in mind the disaster and the international relief efforts being mounted. I do think the word of God is often multivalent and speaks to many more aspects of the human experience than its narrow, original context. Listen again to this part:

    "Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you ... the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you."

Edomeabove_1Critical Section - Home

Here are some pictures from the Tropical Island dome; a converted zeppelin hanger which is now a beach resort in Eastern Germany. This building is three football fields long, and taller than the Statue of Liberty.

VDARE.com: 01/02/05 - Tom Wolfe—Clear Eye For The Different Human

With the 1979 publication of The Right Stuff, a brilliant non-fiction account of the men involved in the Mercury program, Tom Wolfe completed a titanic decade and a half in which he revolutionized American journalism.

He then set off to become the greatest satirical-realist novelist in the English language since his idol, Evelyn Waugh. With his third novel, I Am Charlotte Simmons, he has attained that goal.

It’s the story of a brilliant hillbilly virgin's first half year at Dupont U. (primarily Duke U., where Wolfe's daughter Alexandra graduated in 2002) and the three seniors she attracts—Hoyt, the George W. Bush-like alcoholic frat boy; Adam, the nice but dorky intellectual; and JoJo, the only white starter on the NCAA champion basketball team.

The Diplomad: More UNreality . . . But the Dutch Get It

Well, dear friends, we're now into the tenth day of the tsunami crisis and in this battered corner of Asia, the UN is nowhere to be seen -- unless you count at meetings, in five-star hotels, and holding press conferences.

Aussies and Yanks continue to carry the overwhelming bulk of the burden, but some other fine folks also have jumped in: e.g., the New Zealanders have provided C-130 lift and an excellent and much-needed potable water distribution system; the Singaporeans have provided great helo support; the Indians have a hospital ship taking position off Sumatra. Spain and Netherlands have sent aircraft with supplies.

The UN continues to send its best product, bureaucrats. Just today the city's Embassies got a letter from the local UN representative requesting a meeting for "Ms. Margareeta Wahlstrom, United Nations Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator and the Secretary-General's Special Coordinator for Humanitarian Assistance in Tsunami-afected countries." Wow! Put that on a business card! And she must be really, really special because she has the word "coordinator" twice in her title!

VDH's Private Papers

China's navy is readying deployment of ballistic missile submarines. Although I do not believe they are out to destroy Western civilization, as are the Islamic fascists, I do expect them to rise and challenge US power, at least in Asia. Our strategy with China has been to pursue trade and business in order to export democracy and hope the population tastes some perestroika and glasnost. Do you think this is working? Will it be another twenty years before the hard-line government softens?

Hanson: A billion people with $500 billion in reserves will find military power commensurate with their economic and regional power. You are astute in describing current US policy, that a volatile China will liberalize under the weight of consumerism and economic freedom before turning imperial and using the lucre against its neighbors. The jury is out. What is not out--is the need to reassure Japan that we are behind it no matter what. If Taiwan, Japan and the Koreas go nuclear, then the China Sea will be the most dangerous place in the world. A final note: someone in China isn't very bright; someone allowed on its immediate or nearby borders the following: nuclear India, nuclear Russia, nuclear Pakistan, nuclear American bases, nuclear North Korea, and if it is not careful far more to come. So I don't see the Chinese running rough-shod all over the Pacific, like the old Japanese. But no doubt, in the immediate area and in certain resource rich areas of the globe, the US is going to have to be wary of a new Chinese military presence.

Shbrookbridge


An Eye for the World: American Museum of Photography

Shotaro Shimomura XXI (1883-1944) was Chairman of The Daimaru Inc., a department store chain that traces its roots to a single store opened in Kyoto in 1717. Mr. Shimomura was named President of the company in 1907 and toured Europe and the United States the following year to study the management of department stores. He took these photographs on a subsequent trip around the world in 1934 and 1935, prior to establishing a subsidiary trading company.

January 4, 2005 in Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

TechnoTronic

CES 2005: Form, Function and Stylin': "Tech movers and shakers descending on Las Vegas this week for the annual Consumer Electronics Show will find that when it comes to hot new gadgets, it's all about the accessories. -washingtonpost.com"
On Washington Post: Technology

Lockheed, Northrop Face Defense Cuts: "Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. would bear the brunt of proposed cuts in U.S. weapons purchases totaling $30 billion over the next six years, according to the summary from a Pentagon budget document made available to Reuters Monday. -Reuters"
On Washington Post: Technology

Samsung develops 21-inch OLED prototype: "South Korea's Samsung Electronics has developed a prototype OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display that it says is the largest yet made by any manufacturer."
On InfoWorld: Top News

U.S. online holiday spending rose 25 percent, study finds: "Tempted by lower prices and a wide selection of goods, U.S. shoppers clamored to the Web this holiday season, spending $23.2 billion, or 25 percent more than in the previous year, according to a survey released this week."
On InfoWorld: Top News

Blog reading explodes in America: "About 32 million people in the US read a blog in 2004 but less than half of Americans know what a blog is, says a survey."
On BBC: Technology

No End in Sight to Supply of Cheap TV's: "Industry experts say that the financial trouble of one of the biggest Chinese makers of television sets will not affect the market much."
On New York Times: Technology

Do Nanotech Products Live Up to the Hype?
On NanoApex News

Myths Run Wild in Blog Tsunami Debate: "As people gathered online to discuss the horror of the South Asian tsunami on sites known as Web logs, some bloggers said it had to be the government's fault."
On New York Times: Technology

January 4, 2005 in Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

It's...... THE ARTS!

Figuring out Dennis Quaid: "It says a lot about actor Dennis Quaid that he should currently be starring in two movies that are poles apart -- a big action-adventure set in the desert and a light-hearted domestic drama in which he plays a salesman shunted aside by the latest bright young lad."
On CNN: Entertainment

U2 video to premiere Orange Bowl: "NEW YORK — The video of the hit song All Because of You by Irish rock band U2 will be shown in public for the first time during halftime of Tuesday ni..."
On USA Today: Entertainment

George Harrison added to Oxford biography: "LONDON — Beatles guitarist George Harrison, actor Nigel Hawthorne and Harry Secombe, one of the stars of The Goon Show, have been added to the Oxford ..."
On USA Today: Entertainment

Court still shielding Jackson evidence: "LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Less than a month before Michael Jackson's child-molestation trial is scheduled to begin, the court continued a pattern of shiel..."
On USA Today: Entertainment

Record US box office high in 2004: "Ticket sales at the US box office reached a record high in 2004, despite a fall in the number of moviegoers."
On BBC: Film

Uncensored debut for Potemkin: "A newly reconstructed version of 1925 Soviet film Battleship Potemkin will be shown at the Berlin Film Festival."
On BBC: Film

NIGHT & DAY: "Johnny Carson, who turns 80 this year, doesn't venture out much anymore from his Malibu estate."
On NY Post: Entertainment

HOWARD SLAPPED WITH $IRIUS AD TAB: "HOWARD Stern has been kicked off four radio stations and — he claims — slapped with a $200,000 advertising bill for all the plugs he gave Sirius Satellite Radio last year."
On NY Post: Entertainment

THE STARR REPORT: "NBC's Brian Williams and CBS' Dan Rather report all this week from southeast Asia on last week's devastat ing tsunami — Williams for the "NBC Nightly News" and Rather for both the "CBS Evening News" and tomor row's "60 Minutes Wednes day.""
On NY Post: Entertainment

January 4, 2005 in Entertainments, Trivial and Other | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Blather and Spew from the Columnists

O Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood: "NEW YORK The question that haunted me upon my arrival in America in 1985 was a highly unusual one. Despite the practical challenges of adjustment, it was perfectly impractical: How are one people so p...
[in International Herald Tribune]"
On The US News: US Editorials

Europe and America: A tale of two systems: ". Populations in the United States and Europe are both aging, but Europe is aging faster. In addition, European public pensions are more generous and retirees are more reliant on them. To sustain thes...
[in International Herald Tribune]"
On The US News: US Editorials

Stunning lack of accountability in use of Tasers: "Stun guns -- known generally as Tasers, the brand name of the biggest manufacturer -- have been linked to more than 70 deaths by police officers in the United States and Canada in the last four year...
[in San Francisco Chronicle]"
On The US News: US Editorials

Deciphering the bombast of Osama bin Laden: "It is hardly news that Osama bin Laden does not share the Enlightenment value placed on a citizen's right to vote for a representative government. Nonetheless, the latest audiotape from the Al Qaeda l...
[in International Herald Tribune]"
On The US News: US Editorials

William Pfaff: Soft-power victories: "Europe’s soft power continues to chip away at America’s armor."
On IHT: Editorials

Looking ahead: We must do better in ’05: "Was 2004 really that horrible a year, or does it only seem that way?"
On The Telegraph: Opinion

Orwell's nomineefor AG - Gonzales: "Richard Cohen: Somewhere in the U.S. government is the person who came up with the idea of fusing the wail of an infant with the incessant meow from a cat food commercial so as to torment detainees at Guantanamo."
On New York Daily News: Ideas & Opinions

Tyranny's great temptation: "While the elections to be held this month will be a definitive moment in Iraq's history, the worsening situation has led some to speculate whether the war has been worth the cost. And while reasonable people may differ on this question, Washington Post columnist William Raspberry crossed a line yesterday."
On The Washington Times: Opinion/Editorial

'Not so darn fast': "Not ready to give blessing to same-sex marriage"
On The Washington Times: Opinion/Editorial

America: Just another imperial power?: "Leisure & Arts"
On OpinionJournal

A Pall Over the Mall: "WERE THE NATIONAL Park Service free to do as it wishes, it's quite possible that memorials on the Mall would be encased in bulletproof, blast-proof, thermoplastic synthetic resin designed to ensure that the public and the nation's landmarks would never meet. What other conclusion can be drawn? In a sad parody of the paranoia that has encased Capitol Hill in bollards, jersey barriers and checkpoints, the Park Service now wants to permanently close a parking lot at the Jefferson Memorial and erect more anti-vehicle barriers east of the Lincoln Memorial. This latest proposal comes on top of an earlier Park Service decision to erect a 34-inch high wall on the northern, southern and western sides of the Lincoln Memorial. Having successfully closed the parking lot at the Washington Monument, Park Service officials are now apparently emboldened to place even more of the nation's best known democratic symbols off-limits to local residents and visitors to the nation's capital. That is, if the public and their representatives in Congress let them."
On Washington Post: Opinion

Live Free and Die: "We love the myth of the wild horse, but the reality is a grim picture of overpopulation."
On New York Times: Opinion

Rude awakening to missile-defense dream: "Russia's recent test-fire of an advanced mobile ICBM renders national missile defense a fantasy."
On Christian Science Monitor: Commentary

January 4, 2005 in OpEd | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Bombs, Billions, Business As Usual

Baghdad governor assassinated: "Gunmen assassinate the governor of Baghdad as at least 10 people die in a blast in the Iraqi capital."
On BBC: World

Israeli shell kills seven in Gaza: "Seven Palestinians are killed by Israeli army fire in Gaza, sparking furious words from leader Mahmoud Abbas."
On BBC: World

US intensifies its role in relief: "Its aid is proving crucial - and may lift America's image."
On Christian Science Monitor: All Stories

Wild Weather Continues: "Forecasters predict new round of storms with snow, rain as California copes with heavy precipitation"
On Foxnews: U.S. & World

U.S. May Add Advisers to Aid Iraq's Military: "The top commander in Iraq is reviewing a proposal to add hundreds of U.S. military advisers to work directly with Iraqi units."
On New York Times: International News

GOP Abandons Ethics Changes: "House Republican leaders last night abandoned a proposal to loosen rules governing members' ethical conduct, as they yielded to pressure from rank-and-file lawmakers concerned that the party was sending the wrong message."
On Washington Post: Top News

More Women Opting Against Birth Control, Study Finds: "At a time when the medical community has been heartened by a decline in risky sexual behavior by teenagers, a different problem has crept up: More adult women are forgoing birth control, a trend that has experts puzzled -- and alarmed about a potential rise in unintended pregnancies."
On Washington Post: Top News

Congress expects $100 billion war request (USATODAY.com): "USATODAY.com - Congress expects the White House to request as much as $100 billion this year for war and related costs in Iraq and Afghanistan, congressional officials say. It would be the third and largest Iraq-related budget request from the White House yet."
On Yahoo! News: Highest Rated

January 4, 2005 in Global | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 03, 2005

Let a Million Videos Bloom Online

The grassroots movement to post "vlogs" makes amazing viewing, and the growing audience may give them an increasing impact

Following in the footsteps of text blogs, video blogs are starting to take off on the Internet. This new form of grassroots digital media is being shepherded along by groups of film makers and video buffs who started pooling publishing tips and linking to each other in earnest this year.

January 3, 2005 in Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

"The Complete Cartoons of The New Yorker" - Review

157912322801_sclzzzzzzz_The book weighs almost ten pounds and boasts 68,647 brilliant cartoons from men and women I've admired for years.

OK, the book actually only boasts 2004 cartoons, but the accompanying 2 CDs carry every cartoon The New Yorker had published up its release.

Let's talk about the book. Like I said, sure it's big and heavy, but it's hard to explain just how imposing the whole vibe of the book is. I mean, there it is, right on the cover. THE COMPLETE CARTOONS OF THE NEW YORKER. It's like the cartoon library of congress on my bookshelf.

I can't seem to get past the feel that it's a weird sort of reference book, to be placed next to dictionaries, atlases and the like at my local public library. But it's also a history text. No matter what "it" was, you can probably see what was going on and how we felt about "it" for the last 80 or so years. And then again it's just this great big cartoon collection to be browsed and shown to my incredibly patient wife who's trying to read her magazine thank you very much.

January 3, 2005 in Books | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 02, 2005

MindMatters

Elders' Sea Knowledge Spares Some Thais: "Knowledge of the ocean and its currents passed down from generation to generation of a group of Thai fishermen known as the Morgan sea gypsies saved an entire village from the Asian tsunami, a newspaper said Saturday. " On AP Science

Thousands of Seals at Home in New England: "It's a sight New Englanders aren't entirely used to seeing: thousands of seals swimming through the Long Island Sound or hauling out to Maine, where they like to have their pups. " On AP Science

Summary Box: Busting Up a Comet: "BIG BLOW UP: NASA scientists later this month will send the spacecraft Deep Impact (named after the 1998 movie about a comet headed for Earth) to blast a crater into Comet Tempel 1. " On AP Science

The Future of Calamity: "In seven hours last week, great ocean waves exacted a terrible price in wealth and human lives. Future catastrophes may be far grimmer." On New York Times: Science

God vs. Darwin: "Centre Daily Times,---... Voltaire was"a French atheist" and"a disbeliever in revealed theology" and changed ... percent of the vote here -- and its cultural values are Christian, with an ...::" On theology News

What is Social Medicine?: "Monthly Review,---... In the late nineteenth century the striking advances made in pathology and microbiology made social factors seem less germane in the etiology of disease. ...::" On Microbiology News

Teaching evolution at Christian college: "Crossmap Christian News--... prospect as a biology professor at Olivet Nazarene University -- teach pure creationism and deny his knowledge gained from a Ph.D in microbiology, or teach ...::" On Microbiology News

January 2, 2005 in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Mondo Bizarro

Tricks of The TradeOn Madville.com

Morris man was 'playing' with laserOn Madville.com

Mouse causes auto accident by climbing inside the driver's pants
On FARK

Haiti Checks Want Ads, Considers Occupation: "After 200 years of lackadaisical self-employment, the nation of Haiti is considering taking up a new occupation, likely from the United states. "A full-time occupation will take away some of your day-to-day freedom, but there's a lot of benefits as well," says Mbangbar Whodoo, part-time Secretary of the Interior for Haiti. "Without good medical coverage, like you get with an occupation, it's really hard to get by when you have an accident like we just did.""
On Glossynews

Best of Bongo News 2004On Bongo News

Queen takes a tumble during lavish banquet:"IOL"
On Azerty.co.uk

Snowball Effect & More: Tonight on IFC!: "TODAY, New Year's Day, the Independent Film Channel will be airing the incredible, excellent "Snowball Effect" documentary at 6:00 PM, 9:30 PM and 12:30 AM PST. The first two showings will be followed up by Clerks. Yes, this is that must-see doc that covers Kevin's life from childhood up to Clerks. One of the finest docs we've ever had the pleasure to view. And now you can see it FREE. If you don't already own Clerks X, here's..."
On News Askew

Fire chief stops fire at school inspection: "Just call it good timing. Hollis Fire Chief Rick Towne was conducting a routine inspection of the Hollis Primary School on Friday when a fire broke out in the boiler room."
On Boston.com: Odds and Ends

Ill. residents vote for official reptile: "The Eastern tiger salamander won the vote for the title of Illinois' state amphibian, while slow and steady was a winning strategy for the painted turtle in the state reptile race."
On Boston.com: Odds and Ends

Long-Missing Cat Reunited With Owner: "SAN JOSE, Calif. - Jamison, a 7-year-old cat with long, gray fur, ventured outside his home one day in June 2003 and didn't come back. His owner gave him up for lost and adopted another cat."
On Rednova News - Oddities

No'ing the Drill: "Fired oil rig worker gains revenge on former bosses by dropping a piece of equipment in the well."
On New Urban Legends

The Little Print Cesses: "Custodian demonstrates to schoolgirls how he removes lipstick from a mirror."
On New Urban Legends

Key Mistake: "Swearing off the game for good, a golfer launches the bag containing his clubs into a water hazard . . . momentarily forgetting his car keys were in the bag."
On New Urban Legends

January 2, 2005 in Strange Days | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

NetNews

Inside the Shadow Internet: "The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. Well I used
[in Slashdot]"

On Big News Network.com - Breaking Internet News

Old MacDonald goes high tech: "Advancements in agriculture have eliminated a lot of back-breaking work. And soon, wireless Internet may allow even more access to computers.
[in Everett Herald]"

On Big News Network.com - Breaking Internet News

BitTorrent hub ready to rumble with Hollywood: "'Help our legal team help you'"
On The Register - Internet and Law: Digital Rights/Digital Wrongs

Firm gives P2P networks adware infection: "Microsoft investigating DRM loophole"
On The Register - Internet and Law: Wild Wild Web

Internet spam: Vioxx is 'in,' Oprah is 'out': "WASHINGTON - If Internet spammers are right about who we are and what we want to buy, then we must be a cable-stealing, day-trading, bargain-hunting, stiff
[in Salt Lake Tribune]"

PeopleSoft customers: Where do we go from here?: "It looks like Oracle/PeopleSoft is a done deal. But why would Larry Ellison spend $10.3 billion for overlapping technology? For me, the answer comes in two parts."
On InfoWorld: Web Services

January 2, 2005 in Online | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack