Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Calorie Calculator. Use a search engine interface as a calorie counter.: "Calorie Calculator Software Download"
Saturday, July 03, 2004
TWILIGHT SAMURAI / **** (Not rated): "The closing third of the film is magnificent in the way it gathers all we have learned about Seibei, and uses it to bring depth to what could have been a routine action sequence, but is much more. We see Tomoe shyly preparing him for battle ('Allow me to comb your hair'), and after a crucial conversation, he leaves her and goes to Yogo's home, where the body of an earlier emissary lies in the courtyard, covered by a swarm of flies. "
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
My Way News: "The zoo's 24 apes can climb trees and see the John Hancock Center to the right and Lake Michigan to the left.
The primates also can control fans hidden in boulders, helping them moderate the effects of Chicago's muggy summers and icy winters, and touch panels in fake tree trunks that will catapult snacks toward them through grates in the walls.
(AP) A gorilla climbs around in its habitat at the Lincoln Park Zoo's new Regenstein Center for African...
Full Image
Many zoos are striving to make their ape exhibits more natural and interactive to serve an increasingly sophisticated public, said Diana DeVaughn, spokeswoman for the Louisville Zoo in Kentucky, which won a top American Zoo and Aquarium Association award last year for its gorilla exhibit.
The Los Angeles Zoo, for instance, made its ape exhibit interactive by letting the animals pull ropes to ring bells near visitors or spray water at people, said Jennie McNary, curator of mammals at the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens."
The primates also can control fans hidden in boulders, helping them moderate the effects of Chicago's muggy summers and icy winters, and touch panels in fake tree trunks that will catapult snacks toward them through grates in the walls.
(AP) A gorilla climbs around in its habitat at the Lincoln Park Zoo's new Regenstein Center for African...
Full Image
Many zoos are striving to make their ape exhibits more natural and interactive to serve an increasingly sophisticated public, said Diana DeVaughn, spokeswoman for the Louisville Zoo in Kentucky, which won a top American Zoo and Aquarium Association award last year for its gorilla exhibit.
The Los Angeles Zoo, for instance, made its ape exhibit interactive by letting the animals pull ropes to ring bells near visitors or spray water at people, said Jennie McNary, curator of mammals at the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens."
SPIDER-MAN 2 / **** (PG-13): "I was disappointed by the original 'Spider-Man' (2002), and surprised to find this film working from the first frame. Sam Raimi, the director of both pictures, this time seems to know exactly what he should do, and never steps wrong in a film that effortlessly combines special effects and a human story, keeping its parallel plots alive and moving. One of the keys to the movie's success must be the contribution of novelist Michael Chabon to the screenplay; Chabon understands in his bones what comic books are, and why. His inspired 2000 novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay chronicles the birth of a 1940s comic book superhero and the young men who created him; he worked on the screen story that fed into Alvin Sargent's screenplay."
Monday, June 28, 2004
Friday, June 25, 2004
The Daily Herald: Your town. Your neighbors. Your Newspaper.: "96 Toyota Camry, low miles. Nice, $4000. 636-5056 or 371-8955"
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Kevin Kelly -- Cool Tools: "A Framework for Understanding Poverty
Understanding the culture of poverty
Poverty is not just a condition of not having enough money. It is a realm of particular rules, emotions, and knowledge that override all other ways of building relationships and making a life. This book was written as a guide and exercise book for middle-class teachers, who often don't connect with their impoverished students--largely because they don't understand the hidden rules of poverty. In the same way, poor children misconnect with school because they don't understand the hidden rules of middle-class life. Ruby Payne, a former teacher and principal who has been a member of all three of the economic cultures of our time (poor, middle-class, and wealthy) compassionately and dispassionately describes the hidden rules and knowledge of each. I think it's useful not just for educators, but for anyone who has to deal with people of different backgrounds. Having read it, I feel a lot more confident about dealing with people as people, not as representatives of their social class.
Every class assumes that their knowledge is known by everyone, which is one reason they assume that people in other classes don't 'get it.' It's possible for anyone to shift classes, but only at the price of leaving behind your existing personal relationships.
-- Art Kleiner"
Understanding the culture of poverty
Poverty is not just a condition of not having enough money. It is a realm of particular rules, emotions, and knowledge that override all other ways of building relationships and making a life. This book was written as a guide and exercise book for middle-class teachers, who often don't connect with their impoverished students--largely because they don't understand the hidden rules of poverty. In the same way, poor children misconnect with school because they don't understand the hidden rules of middle-class life. Ruby Payne, a former teacher and principal who has been a member of all three of the economic cultures of our time (poor, middle-class, and wealthy) compassionately and dispassionately describes the hidden rules and knowledge of each. I think it's useful not just for educators, but for anyone who has to deal with people of different backgrounds. Having read it, I feel a lot more confident about dealing with people as people, not as representatives of their social class.
Every class assumes that their knowledge is known by everyone, which is one reason they assume that people in other classes don't 'get it.' It's possible for anyone to shift classes, but only at the price of leaving behind your existing personal relationships.
-- Art Kleiner"
Ask MetaFilter | Community Weblog: "I've never seen a good first draft of anything from anyone. All they're good for is plucking out the real ideas which are the true themes. (And you can take the case of untutored genius you feel compelled to bring up and stuff it: I don't believe in untutored genius, even when I'm told that's what it is, the same way I don't believe in Santa Claus even though i see him at the mall.)"
Wired 12.07: I, Robocop: "What grunt work have you done in your life?
When I was growing up, I installed refrigerators in supermarkets. My father was an electrical engineer. Those big freezer cases you see in supermarkets - we would install those. A supermarket basement is the individual nastiest place on the face of the earth. Ketchup bottles busted open from 30 years ago, rats, mice. You know when you go to a really dirty movie theater, and it has that gunk on the floor? There are three or four inches of that. My father started taking us to work when I was about 6 years old, so I got a few years of grunt work in.
What did that teach you?
My father always said, 'No plan B. It distracts from plan A.' Life is lived on the edge. You definitely gotta have the balls for it. We were raised with the concept of trying to save money, and I'm telling you, no, spend every dime on whatever your dream is. Don't have a dime in the bank. Whatever your dream is, every extra penny you have needs to be going to that."
When I was growing up, I installed refrigerators in supermarkets. My father was an electrical engineer. Those big freezer cases you see in supermarkets - we would install those. A supermarket basement is the individual nastiest place on the face of the earth. Ketchup bottles busted open from 30 years ago, rats, mice. You know when you go to a really dirty movie theater, and it has that gunk on the floor? There are three or four inches of that. My father started taking us to work when I was about 6 years old, so I got a few years of grunt work in.
What did that teach you?
My father always said, 'No plan B. It distracts from plan A.' Life is lived on the edge. You definitely gotta have the balls for it. We were raised with the concept of trying to save money, and I'm telling you, no, spend every dime on whatever your dream is. Don't have a dime in the bank. Whatever your dream is, every extra penny you have needs to be going to that."
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
The Calgary Sun: 6/49 winner suffers heart attack: "NEW WATERFORD, N.S. -- A Cape Breton woman who won $10 million in a Lotto 6/49 draw last month has recovered from a heart attack believed to have been caused by the number of people asking her for money. 'I'm feeling much better now,' Ferne Hawley, 43, said from her home in New Waterford yesterday. 'Now I just tear up the letters, and if anyone calls, I tell them they need to talk to my husband.'
She said 'I wish I could give it all back.'
That's because people were lined up at her door looking for money, letters were jammed in her mailbox, and her phone kept ringing.
The hysteria became so intense, Hawley said, the family had to pack up and go into hiding in London, Ont., where she suffered a heart attack."
She said 'I wish I could give it all back.'
That's because people were lined up at her door looking for money, letters were jammed in her mailbox, and her phone kept ringing.
The hysteria became so intense, Hawley said, the family had to pack up and go into hiding in London, Ont., where she suffered a heart attack."
Monday, June 21, 2004
Justin's Links: June 2004 Archives: "Afterwards, I stood up from a greasy plastic sheet, covered hair to toe in oil. She offered me the chance to shower, but she remarked: this is good oil, you might want to just leave it on. I observed to her roommate Zoltan that I felt greasy. He was eating a bowl of blueberries, bananas, sprouted almonds and hemp seeds, topped with cranberry juice. He replied, 'It's good for you.' Why? 'It's cleansing, detoxifying.'"
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Friday, June 11, 2004
Oahu on a tight budget: "he most frequent request we receive from visitors is for activity suggestions for someone a tight budget. There are lots of ways to explore and enjoy your time in the islands without spending a fortune. Below are over a dozen Oahu adventures that wont bust your budget. Just click on the activity name to go to the island specific activity page it is featured on to find out more details."
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
Honolulu Weekly - On The Cover: "Kailua beach reigns supreme as the best beach on O?ahu, with two-plus miles of white sand, a vast bay for windsurfing, small skim board waves, a reef 300 yards off shore, and islands close enough to reach by kayak. Extraordinary. Lanikai and Bellows washed up close behind. Other ideas included the secretive, ?shhh ... not supposed to tell,? the obvious, ?where no dogs take a dump,? and the appropriate, triathlete hangout Kaimana Beach."
Monday, June 07, 2004
Honolulu: Radisson Hotel Waikiki - Deals and Reviews - Excellent Staff: "The pool renovations were finished and the pool opened the day before we left. We walked out there and it appeared to look like just about every other pool we saw while we were there.
I printed out a map and directions from mapsonus.com from the airport. The route avoided alot of Waikiki traffic and most of the construction on Kuhio. We had no problems getting in and out of the driveway area.
It was a great stay. The whole family discussed it and agreed that there was not one thing we could complain about. Little annoyances have a way of disrupting an entire trip. There were none and the Radisson. We would stay here again and be happy about it. Of course, one of the joys of Priceline is the ability to check out many different places without breaking the bank."
I printed out a map and directions from mapsonus.com from the airport. The route avoided alot of Waikiki traffic and most of the construction on Kuhio. We had no problems getting in and out of the driveway area.
It was a great stay. The whole family discussed it and agreed that there was not one thing we could complain about. Little annoyances have a way of disrupting an entire trip. There were none and the Radisson. We would stay here again and be happy about it. Of course, one of the joys of Priceline is the ability to check out many different places without breaking the bank."
The Honolulu Advertiser Discussion Board - Good food 4 good price?.: "if you are in the ala moana area, El Burrito on Piikoi St. is good mexican eats at a decent price. it looks like a little hole in the wall, but most people say its authentic. (although i couldn't tell you really what authentic is, closest i got was Taco Bell!! )
El Burrito is waaaayy better than taco bell though! and if you are in the Leeward area, you can try Bandito's Cantina. If on the Windward side, Los Compadres.
Hawaiian Food - what side are you on?"
El Burrito is waaaayy better than taco bell though! and if you are in the Leeward area, you can try Bandito's Cantina. If on the Windward side, Los Compadres.
Hawaiian Food - what side are you on?"
Sunday, June 06, 2004
Selecting the Best Pressure Cooker: "Even though the Spanish made Magefesa was rated number one in a 1996 magazine review. The Kuhn-Rikon from Switzerland was rated a VERY CLOSE second only because the Magefesa offers one more pressure settings. However most recipes, and the majority of recipes on this website, use high (15psi) or medium (10psi), so the added 5psi setting isn't especially important. The Magefesa is a great cooker, but it is not readily available so users may find it hard to locate replacement parts. "
Thursday, June 03, 2004
Yahoo! News - No sex please - we're Japanese: "ore and more Japanese men and women are finding relationships too messy, tiring and potentially humiliating to bother with anymore. 'They don't want a complicated life,' says Sakai, who has written a controversial bestseller, Cry of the Losing Dogs, on the plight of unmarried Japanese thirtysomething women like herself."
NCBuy Weird News: N.Z. Entomologist Is A P.R. Agent For Pests - 2004-06-03: "in the upcoming Animal Planet special 'The World's Biggest, Baddest Bugs,' he covers himself in 50,000 killer bees to show how the much-feared creatures can actually be quite nice.
Mind you, executing the stunt was no picnic: Kleinpaste admits he was so afraid one of the buzzers would turn on him that -- in his words -- 'I was sh*tting myself.'
Another bug-promoting stunt involved being stung by a Bullet Ant, a one-inch-long creature which defends itself with a sting that's supposed to feel like a gunshot wound. Kleinpaste spent 17 hours in agonizing pain, but says he's hopeful the stunt will teach people not to hate bugs just for defending themselves."
Mind you, executing the stunt was no picnic: Kleinpaste admits he was so afraid one of the buzzers would turn on him that -- in his words -- 'I was sh*tting myself.'
Another bug-promoting stunt involved being stung by a Bullet Ant, a one-inch-long creature which defends itself with a sting that's supposed to feel like a gunshot wound. Kleinpaste spent 17 hours in agonizing pain, but says he's hopeful the stunt will teach people not to hate bugs just for defending themselves."
local6.com - Education - New Spelling Bee Champ Crowned: "Tidmarsh defeated 13-year-old Akshay Buddiga -- who rallied after becoming lightheaded and collapsing on stage.
Video
The Gamer: Kid Faints, Gets Up, Spells
But that didn't keep him from spelling his word correctly.
Buddiga stood up again after a few seconds -- and, to the amazement of judges, he immediately started spelling his word.
The word was 'alopecoid' -- and he spelled it perfectly, bringing the crowd to its feet.
Akshay went back to his seat, but was escorted off stage and given medical help.
"
Video
The Gamer: Kid Faints, Gets Up, Spells
But that didn't keep him from spelling his word correctly.
Buddiga stood up again after a few seconds -- and, to the amazement of judges, he immediately started spelling his word.
The word was 'alopecoid' -- and he spelled it perfectly, bringing the crowd to its feet.
Akshay went back to his seat, but was escorted off stage and given medical help.
"
Ask MetaFilter | Community Weblog: "A few years ago when a friend and I were vacationing in Waikiki, we took a bus up to the north shore of the island and spent two days bumming around up there. It's much more mellow and rural up there, which is a nice change from the frenetic pace of Waikiki Beach. We stayed at a cheap, rustic hostel, I think it was called 'Backpackers'.
One other tip: We arranged through our hotel concierge to buy two cases of pineapples (I think they were $25 each), which we then picked up at the airport on our way home. We gave pineapples to all of our friends and ate them ourselves until our mouths bled. They were fresh and perfect and amazing.
posted by bonheur at 11:30 PM PST on June 2"
One other tip: We arranged through our hotel concierge to buy two cases of pineapples (I think they were $25 each), which we then picked up at the airport on our way home. We gave pineapples to all of our friends and ate them ourselves until our mouths bled. They were fresh and perfect and amazing.
posted by bonheur at 11:30 PM PST on June 2"
Gmail - [techrhet] 10 Steps to Writing an Essay site
"Thanks for your comments, Chidsey. How did I do the interactive stuff?
Dreamweaver is the program of choice for simple interactions like this. You
can make layers appear and disappear, can make layers draggable, make pop-up
messages appear and disappear. Even animation is possible. "Coursebuilder"
is an extension you can add to Dreamweaver to give you more interactive
opportunities.
The focus of the instruction on these ten steps no doubt derives from the
type of writing assignments taught at AUC. All essays are arguments, none
personal narratives or other creative assignments. There is also almost no
literary analyses in our program either.
Although a student might learn a lot from my site, in class I don't think it
worked as a very good teaching tool. Knowing the material was written down
and easily accessible later made students lazy in class, rarely taking notes
or paying all that much attention. They found the interactive exercises
novel at first, but later learned to dread them because, lo and behold, they
required careful thought."
"Thanks for your comments, Chidsey. How did I do the interactive stuff?
Dreamweaver is the program of choice for simple interactions like this. You
can make layers appear and disappear, can make layers draggable, make pop-up
messages appear and disappear. Even animation is possible. "Coursebuilder"
is an extension you can add to Dreamweaver to give you more interactive
opportunities.
The focus of the instruction on these ten steps no doubt derives from the
type of writing assignments taught at AUC. All essays are arguments, none
personal narratives or other creative assignments. There is also almost no
literary analyses in our program either.
Although a student might learn a lot from my site, in class I don't think it
worked as a very good teaching tool. Knowing the material was written down
and easily accessible later made students lazy in class, rarely taking notes
or paying all that much attention. They found the interactive exercises
novel at first, but later learned to dread them because, lo and behold, they
required careful thought."
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Joi Ito's Web: "I recently started Kendo and had a sore left pinkie after my first practice. The proper grip of a Japanese sword relies on a grip focused on the pinkie of the left hand. Today, I learned that the tradition of chopping the left pinkie as punishment for disgrace was based on this fact. Without a left pinkie, it's quite difficult to grip a Japanese sword.
In the May 15 incident the Prime Minister of Japan, Tsuyoshi Inukai was assassinated by eleven young Naval Officers. After the court martial, eleven severed fingers were sent to the court house.
Today, the Yakuza continue this tradition, even though swords are no longer the weapon of choice."
In the May 15 incident the Prime Minister of Japan, Tsuyoshi Inukai was assassinated by eleven young Naval Officers. After the court martial, eleven severed fingers were sent to the court house.
Today, the Yakuza continue this tradition, even though swords are no longer the weapon of choice."
CNN.com - Japanese entrepreneur spreads blogging gospel - Jun 2, 2004: "Ito joined friends from international schools in creating Japan's first Web pages.
'People thought we were crazy. But we had great confidence because we saw that it was going to be giant one day,' said Cyrus Shaoul, one of Ito's international-school buddies. 'The point wasn't to make a lot of money. The point was to change the world.'"
'People thought we were crazy. But we had great confidence because we saw that it was going to be giant one day,' said Cyrus Shaoul, one of Ito's international-school buddies. 'The point wasn't to make a lot of money. The point was to change the world.'"
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Gmail to support mobile devices? Looking good! - Engadget - www.engadget.com
Engadget has gotten the early scoop on some new additions to the much-coveted Gmail:
">>>
You might be interested to hear that we are announcing these upcoming
features:
- Automatic forwarding of your email to another account
- Plain HTML version of Gmail
- Import/export Contacts
We hope you enjoy Google’s approach to email.
Sincerely,
The Gmail Team
>>>>"
I was just wondering how I was going to get my Pine contacts into Gmail. Very cool.
Engadget has gotten the early scoop on some new additions to the much-coveted Gmail:
">>>
You might be interested to hear that we are announcing these upcoming
features:
- Automatic forwarding of your email to another account
- Plain HTML version of Gmail
- Import/export Contacts
We hope you enjoy Google’s approach to email.
Sincerely,
The Gmail Team
>>>>"
I was just wondering how I was going to get my Pine contacts into Gmail. Very cool.
The New York Times > Fashion & Style > A BlackBerry Throbs, and a Wonk Has a Date: "In Washington and elsewhere, the devices are referred to as 'CrackBerries' because of their addictive quality. Philippe Reines, a 34-year-old Democrat who works on Capitol Hill (and who coined the term 'blirting,' for BlackBerry flirting), said he went through severe withdrawal after finding that Martha's Vineyard lacked BlackBerry reception. Mr. Reines wandered around the Vineyard for days looking for spots of coverage before begging an airline employee to take his BlackBerry on a round trip to the mainland, where it could send and receive messages. He got 129 new messages, many of them social."
Monday, May 31, 2004
The Australian: Food chemicals send even mild children hyper [May 29, 2004]: "IT'S not just hyperactive kids who go berserk after consuming artifical colourings and preservatives.
Now research has shown that even mild-mannered children can run wild after drinking additive-laden juice.
British research has found that certain additives made three-year-olds more hyperactive, regardless of whether they had been diagnosed with hyperactivity.
So strong was the effect of the additives that the researchers called for the chemicals to be removed from the diets of pre-school children 'in the long-term interest of public health'.
The latest study, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, is the first to examine the effect of additives on children who are not hyperactive or allergic, as well as those who are.
The study used the preservative sodium benzoate, a preservative commonly found in fruit drinks and carbonated drinks, and the artificial food colourings sunset yellow, tartrazine, carmoisine, and ponceau."
Now research has shown that even mild-mannered children can run wild after drinking additive-laden juice.
British research has found that certain additives made three-year-olds more hyperactive, regardless of whether they had been diagnosed with hyperactivity.
So strong was the effect of the additives that the researchers called for the chemicals to be removed from the diets of pre-school children 'in the long-term interest of public health'.
The latest study, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, is the first to examine the effect of additives on children who are not hyperactive or allergic, as well as those who are.
The study used the preservative sodium benzoate, a preservative commonly found in fruit drinks and carbonated drinks, and the artificial food colourings sunset yellow, tartrazine, carmoisine, and ponceau."
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Home Training - The weird and wonderful -: "I think I have a harder training then most schools give. It's in the woods and I made a projectile machine. It shoots wood and your only defense is to smash it apart or block it.
"
"
Google Search:: "Then you probably shouldn't buy it online. IMO you'd be better off to
go to GC or some other shop and pick the $200 guitar that sounds and
plays best, regardless of make or top material. That would include the
Epiphone AJ-100 and AJ-200, neither of which has a solid top but can
sound surprisingly good if you find 'the one'."
go to GC or some other shop and pick the $200 guitar that sounds and
plays best, regardless of make or top material. That would include the
Epiphone AJ-100 and AJ-200, neither of which has a solid top but can
sound surprisingly good if you find 'the one'."
Google Search: cheap samick group:rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic: "that for mass produced instruments (production
instruments), the headstock and price point is no longer the definitive mark
of quality. I'm saying that both Samick in Asia and Taylor in the USA use
similar machinery to provide increasingly similar quality products and that
the producers of more expensive guitars are going to have to do something to
distinguish themselves more effectively. I do hope this will eventually
translate into more customizable options (different hardware options),
better tonewoods, etc, when it comes to the higher priced
instruments...maybe they will start competing with some of the handmade
boutique guitars that truly define 'high end' but so far, the cheapies are
catching up....used to be you could tell a cheap instrument by the
bracing...Martin made half of its reputation on the X-Bracing...now everyone
does it.."
instruments), the headstock and price point is no longer the definitive mark
of quality. I'm saying that both Samick in Asia and Taylor in the USA use
similar machinery to provide increasingly similar quality products and that
the producers of more expensive guitars are going to have to do something to
distinguish themselves more effectively. I do hope this will eventually
translate into more customizable options (different hardware options),
better tonewoods, etc, when it comes to the higher priced
instruments...maybe they will start competing with some of the handmade
boutique guitars that truly define 'high end' but so far, the cheapies are
catching up....used to be you could tell a cheap instrument by the
bracing...Martin made half of its reputation on the X-Bracing...now everyone
does it.."
Google Search:: "For under $200 acoustics, check out the Yamaha 401; a good, no frills,
spruce and mahogany laminate, dreadnought. Good player, good, sound,
construction, above average tuners, and sounds surprisingly full for
that price range."
spruce and mahogany laminate, dreadnought. Good player, good, sound,
construction, above average tuners, and sounds surprisingly full for
that price range."
Music Highlights Mitsubishi TV Ads (washingtonpost.com): "On the other hand, it was a two-year-old song that caught the attention of viewers in 2001.'Start the Commotion,' a 1999 song by the Wiseguys, was featured in two Mitsubishi Eclipse commercials that were launched last year. The song had gone largely unnoticed until Mitsubishi put it on television."
Montreal Gazette - canada.com network: "He was 14 when he fell in love with Mark, a boy two years older, and adopted the guise of a female secret service agent to order his friend to stab him in a suburban alleyway. Mark was meant to end his life with the words: ''I love you, bro.''
Mark carried out the stabbing in Altrincham, Cheshire, shortly before 8 p.m. on June 29 last year. He knifed John in the chest and abdomen. The second blow cut into his kidney, liver and gall bladder, nearly killing him.
Minutes later, Mark reported the attack on his cell phone.
Police launched a manhunt after both boys told them a stranger in black had dragged John into the alleyway and stabbed him."
Mark carried out the stabbing in Altrincham, Cheshire, shortly before 8 p.m. on June 29 last year. He knifed John in the chest and abdomen. The second blow cut into his kidney, liver and gall bladder, nearly killing him.
Minutes later, Mark reported the attack on his cell phone.
Police launched a manhunt after both boys told them a stranger in black had dragged John into the alleyway and stabbed him."
Thursday, May 27, 2004
New Scientist: "She says the findings reinforce the message that antibiotics should be used only when absolutely necessary. She also suggests that patients who have just finished antibiotic treatment should also receive 'probiotic' tablets containing 'good' gut bacteria.
Eating foods such as raw fruit and vegetables also helps to restore the natural balance in our guts. 'Once you are done with the antibiotics you are not finished,' adds Huffnagle. 'You need to recover from the treatment itself."
Eating foods such as raw fruit and vegetables also helps to restore the natural balance in our guts. 'Once you are done with the antibiotics you are not finished,' adds Huffnagle. 'You need to recover from the treatment itself."
TheFeature :: An Architect in the City of Bits: "Mitchell: The implications of location-awareness are far from obvious. The technology enables you to reconsider things as fundamental as, say, signage in a city. For example, we traditionally think of a stop sign as part of the fixed infrastructure of the city. But if you have a location-aware automobile, you can shift the stop sign to the dashboard so it pops up when you approach an intersection. If you have whole networks of location aware vehicles, the system becomes more elaborate. Perhaps the stop sign only pops up when there's another car coming from the opposite direction. You could even have elaborate intersection priority schemes.
"
"
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
The New York Times > Magazine > Regarding the Torture of Others: "There is more and more recording of what people do, by themselves. At least or especially in America, Andy Warhol's ideal of filming real events in real time -- life isn't edited, why should its record be edited? -- has become a norm for countless Webcasts, in which people record their day, each in his or her own reality show. Here I am -- waking and yawning and stretching, brushing my teeth, making breakfast, getting the kids off to school. People record all aspects of their lives, store them in computer files and send the files around. Family life goes with the recording of family life -- even when, or especially when, the family is in the throes of crisis and disgrace. Surely the dedicated, incessant home-videoing of one another, in conversation and monologue, over many years was the most astonishing material in ''Capturing the Friedmans,'' the recent documentary by Andrew Jarecki about a Long Island family embroiled in pedophilia charges. "
Saturday, May 22, 2004
Crosman Airgun Forum (new): "357-8' Barrel
May 20 2004 at 1:48 PMStan (Login slayers1)
from IP address 81.195.22.185
Response to 357 - 8' Barrel
AFAIK
Housing - 357A204-8'
Barrel - 357-203-8'
Barrel support - 357-008 (the same for all models)
Rubber grips will not match old model handle. Anyway, old plastic ones are way better:)"
May 20 2004 at 1:48 PMStan (Login slayers1)
from IP address 81.195.22.185
Response to 357 - 8' Barrel
AFAIK
Housing - 357A204-8'
Barrel - 357-203-8'
Barrel support - 357-008 (the same for all models)
Rubber grips will not match old model handle. Anyway, old plastic ones are way better:)"
Newsday.com - National News: "WASHINGTON -- The Defense Intelligence Agency has concluded that a U.S.-funded arm of Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress has been used for years by Iranian intelligence to pass disinformation to the United States and to collect highly sensitive American secrets, according to intelligence sources.
'Iranian intelligence has been manipulating the United States through Chalabi by furnishing through his Information Collection Program information to provoke the United States into getting rid of Saddam Hussein,' said an intelligence source Friday who was briefed on the Defense Intelligence Agency's conclusions, which were based on a review of thousands of internal documents.
The Information Collection Program also 'kept the Iranians informed about what we were doing' by passing classified U.S. documents and other sensitive information, he said. The program has received millions of dollars from the U.S. government over several years.
An administration official confirmed that 'highly classified information had been provided [to the Iranians] through that channel.'"
'Iranian intelligence has been manipulating the United States through Chalabi by furnishing through his Information Collection Program information to provoke the United States into getting rid of Saddam Hussein,' said an intelligence source Friday who was briefed on the Defense Intelligence Agency's conclusions, which were based on a review of thousands of internal documents.
The Information Collection Program also 'kept the Iranians informed about what we were doing' by passing classified U.S. documents and other sensitive information, he said. The program has received millions of dollars from the U.S. government over several years.
An administration official confirmed that 'highly classified information had been provided [to the Iranians] through that channel.'"
Thom Yorke on learning to play the piano:
"There's something very particular about the chords of your songs. You hold a single tone and skate from one chord to another unexpectedly.
Yeah, that's my only trick. I've got one trick and that's it, and I'm really going to have to learn a new one. Pedals, banging away through everything. I just find it really nice, because things can pull and push against it. I don't know many chords, and what I do know is from guitar playing?to approach playing piano after playing guitar is quite peculiar. I'm not worried about filling up the chord, and I really like the low, fat sound. I don't like the high stuff at all."
"There's something very particular about the chords of your songs. You hold a single tone and skate from one chord to another unexpectedly.
Yeah, that's my only trick. I've got one trick and that's it, and I'm really going to have to learn a new one. Pedals, banging away through everything. I just find it really nice, because things can pull and push against it. I don't know many chords, and what I do know is from guitar playing?to approach playing piano after playing guitar is quite peculiar. I'm not worried about filling up the chord, and I really like the low, fat sound. I don't like the high stuff at all."
Thursday, May 20, 2004
WIRED 1.1: "Hyperlearning" by Lewis J. Perelman: "
Hyperlearning
Would you send your kid to a Soviet collective?
By Lewis J. Perelman
Dear Information Industry Executive:
Could your business benefit from a few hundred billion dollars in new sales? Good. Let's talk.
We all know that the world economy is going through what some call a 'second industrial revolution' as knowledge-based businesses replace production-based businesses at the core of economic activity. In the trenches of this revolution a host of companies are scrambling to capture the high ground of the new multimedia, telecomputing mega- industry that is springing up from the digital integration of many diverse enterprises.
But contrary to what you have heard during the recent election, schools are one of the principal barriers to the growth of not only this new industry, but the whole world economy. Replacing the bureaucratic empire of educational institutions with a high-tech commercial industry will pull the cork out of the knowledge-age bottleneck - opening up an annual market worth $450 billion in the US alone.
Recent campaign rhetoric aside, the real threat posed to our economy by education, schools and colleges is not inadequacy, but excess: too much schooling at too high a cost.
The conventional 'technology' of the classroom is a thousand-year-old invention initially adopted to discipline an esoteric cadre of acetic monks. The institution of contemporary, 'public' education is a 19th- century innovation designed as a worker-factory for an industrial economy. Both have as much utility in today's modern economy of advanced information technology as the Conestoga wagon or the blacksmith shop.
America currently has the most schooled workforce in its history: In the last two decades, the number of college graduates abso"
Hyperlearning
Would you send your kid to a Soviet collective?
By Lewis J. Perelman
Dear Information Industry Executive:
Could your business benefit from a few hundred billion dollars in new sales? Good. Let's talk.
We all know that the world economy is going through what some call a 'second industrial revolution' as knowledge-based businesses replace production-based businesses at the core of economic activity. In the trenches of this revolution a host of companies are scrambling to capture the high ground of the new multimedia, telecomputing mega- industry that is springing up from the digital integration of many diverse enterprises.
But contrary to what you have heard during the recent election, schools are one of the principal barriers to the growth of not only this new industry, but the whole world economy. Replacing the bureaucratic empire of educational institutions with a high-tech commercial industry will pull the cork out of the knowledge-age bottleneck - opening up an annual market worth $450 billion in the US alone.
Recent campaign rhetoric aside, the real threat posed to our economy by education, schools and colleges is not inadequacy, but excess: too much schooling at too high a cost.
The conventional 'technology' of the classroom is a thousand-year-old invention initially adopted to discipline an esoteric cadre of acetic monks. The institution of contemporary, 'public' education is a 19th- century innovation designed as a worker-factory for an industrial economy. Both have as much utility in today's modern economy of advanced information technology as the Conestoga wagon or the blacksmith shop.
America currently has the most schooled workforce in its history: In the last two decades, the number of college graduates abso"
The New York Times > Business > Economic Scene: Does Highway Spending Really Pay Off?: "On average, they write, 'one dollar of annual highway spending reduces the annual congestion costs to road users only 8 cents.' This is not a return on a one-time investment but a continuing expense; we have to keep spending that dollar to get the 8 cents.
Dr. Winston cautions that the specific number may change as the working paper is revised, but that the general point - a very small effect - seems certain."
Dr. Winston cautions that the specific number may change as the working paper is revised, but that the general point - a very small effect - seems certain."
Scotsman.com News - Latest News - Stolen Stradivarius Nearly Became Cd Holder: "The prospect the prized instrument could have been turned into a CD holder is so abominable. I get sick when I hear it, said Robert Cauer, a Los Angeles-based expert instrument restorer."
Monday, May 17, 2004
Democracy Now! | Rumsfeld Knew: Iraq Prison Abuse Part of Pentagon-Approved Black Ops Program
A new report by Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker magazine begins:
“The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a decision, approved last year by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, t expand a highly secret operation, which had been focussed on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq. Rumsfeld’s decision embittered the American intelligenc community, damaged the effectiveness of élite combat units, and hurt America’s prospects in the war on terror
"According to interviews with several past and present American intelligence officials, the Pentagon’s operation, known inside the intelligence community by several code words, including Copper Green, encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing insurgency in Iraq. A senior C.I.A. official, in confirming the details of this account last week, said that the operation stemmed from Rumsfeld’s long-standing desire to wrest control of America’s clandestine and paramilitary operations from the C.I.A."
A new report by Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker magazine begins:
“The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a decision, approved last year by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, t expand a highly secret operation, which had been focussed on the hunt for Al Qaeda, to the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq. Rumsfeld’s decision embittered the American intelligenc community, damaged the effectiveness of élite combat units, and hurt America’s prospects in the war on terror
"According to interviews with several past and present American intelligence officials, the Pentagon’s operation, known inside the intelligence community by several code words, including Copper Green, encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing insurgency in Iraq. A senior C.I.A. official, in confirming the details of this account last week, said that the operation stemmed from Rumsfeld’s long-standing desire to wrest control of America’s clandestine and paramilitary operations from the C.I.A."
Friday, May 14, 2004
The Enemy Withi, by Gore Vidal, 10/27/02: "Meanwhile, our more and more unaccountable government is pursuing all sorts of games around the world that we the spear carriers (formerly the people) will never learn of. Even so, we have been getting some answers to the question: why weren't we warned in advance of 9/11? Apparently, we were, repeatedly; for the better part of a year, we were told there would be unfriendly visitors to our skies some time in September 2001, but the government neither informed nor protected us despite Mayday warnings from Presidents Putin and Mubarak, from Mossad and even from elements of our own FBI. A joint panel of congressional intelligence committees reported (19 September 2002, New York Times) that as early as 1996, Pakistani terrorist Abdul Hakim Murad confessed to federal agents that he was `learning to fly in order to crash a plane into CIA HQ'. "
The Observer | Review | Gore Vidal claims 'Bush junta' complicit in 9/11: "America's most controversial writer Gore Vidal has launched the most scathing attack to date on George W Bush's Presidency, calling for an investigation into the events of 9/11 to discover whether the Bush administration deliberately chose not to act on warnings of Al-Qaeda's plans.
Vidal's highly controversial 7000 word polemic titled 'The Enemy Within' - published in the print edition of The Observer today - argues that what he calls a 'Bush junta' used the terrorist attacks as a pretext to enact a pre-existing agenda to invade Afghanistan and crack down on civil liberties at home.
Vidal writes: 'We still don't know by whom we were struck that infamous Tuesday, or for what true purpose. But it is fairly plain to many civil libertarians that 9/11 put paid not only to much of our fragile Bill of Rights but also to our once-envied system of government which had taken a mortal blow the previous year when the Supreme Court did a little dance in 5/4 time and replaced a popularly elected President with the oil and gas Bush-Cheney junta.'"
Vidal's highly controversial 7000 word polemic titled 'The Enemy Within' - published in the print edition of The Observer today - argues that what he calls a 'Bush junta' used the terrorist attacks as a pretext to enact a pre-existing agenda to invade Afghanistan and crack down on civil liberties at home.
Vidal writes: 'We still don't know by whom we were struck that infamous Tuesday, or for what true purpose. But it is fairly plain to many civil libertarians that 9/11 put paid not only to much of our fragile Bill of Rights but also to our once-envied system of government which had taken a mortal blow the previous year when the Supreme Court did a little dance in 5/4 time and replaced a popularly elected President with the oil and gas Bush-Cheney junta.'"
Huge penalty in drug fraud / Pfizer settles felony case in Neurontin off-label promotion: "Prosecutors said Warner-Lambert turned Neurontin into a blockbuster drug with tactics like paying doctors to listen to pitches for unapproved uses and treating them to luxury trips to Hawaii, Florida or the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. One doctor received almost $308,000 to tout Neurontin at conferences.
'This illegal and fraudulent promotion scheme corrupted the information process relied on by doctors in their medical decision making, thereby putting patients at risk,'' said U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, chief prosecutor for the federal district based in Boston. "
'This illegal and fraudulent promotion scheme corrupted the information process relied on by doctors in their medical decision making, thereby putting patients at risk,'' said U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, chief prosecutor for the federal district based in Boston. "
Huge penalty in drug fraud / Pfizer settles felony case in Neurontin off-label promotion: "A division of Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drugmaker, has agreed to plead guilty to two felonies and pay $430 million in penalties to settle charges that it fraudulently promoted the drug Neurontin for a string of unapproved uses.
In an agreement announced by government prosecutors Thursday, Pfizer unit Warner-Lambert admitted that it aggressively marketed the epilepsy drug by illicit means for unrelated conditions including bipolar disorder, pain, migraine headaches, and drug and alcohol withdrawal.
A company whistle-blower, whose 1996 civil suit spurred government investigations of Neurontin's marketing campaign, will receive about $26.6 million through the settlement under legal provisions that reward citizens for helping to recover government money obtained by fraud. "
This should be a movie with Julia Roberts. I want to be a whistle-blower.
In an agreement announced by government prosecutors Thursday, Pfizer unit Warner-Lambert admitted that it aggressively marketed the epilepsy drug by illicit means for unrelated conditions including bipolar disorder, pain, migraine headaches, and drug and alcohol withdrawal.
A company whistle-blower, whose 1996 civil suit spurred government investigations of Neurontin's marketing campaign, will receive about $26.6 million through the settlement under legal provisions that reward citizens for helping to recover government money obtained by fraud. "
This should be a movie with Julia Roberts. I want to be a whistle-blower.
CNN.com - Hundreds of?Abu Ghraib prisoners freed - May 14, 2004: "BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. authorities released 293 prisoners from Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison Friday, the first mass prisoner release since images of abuse at the hands of the U.S. military surfaced several weeks ago.
Earlier, officials had said 315 prisoners were freed but Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said the release of 22 prisoners was delayed.
Kimmitt told reporters Friday that the next prisoner release will be next Friday.
'We anticipate 475 prisoners to be released. Twenty-two prisoners delayed today are expected to be released on May 21st,' he said."
Interesting.
Earlier, officials had said 315 prisoners were freed but Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said the release of 22 prisoners was delayed.
Kimmitt told reporters Friday that the next prisoner release will be next Friday.
'We anticipate 475 prisoners to be released. Twenty-two prisoners delayed today are expected to be released on May 21st,' he said."
Interesting.
International News Article | Reuters.com: "NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Aides to militant Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr blamed U.S. tank fire on Friday for three small holes that appeared in the vast gilded dome of Shi'ite Islam's holiest shrine, the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf.
Qais al-Khazali, Sadr's chief spokesman, showed the damage to journalists after six hours of heavy fighting in which U.S. armor advanced for the first time onto sacred ground in its confrontation with Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.
The holes, high above the ground, were on the side of the dome facing Najaf's vast cemetery, where U.S. tanks stormed in to attack guerrilla positions hidden among the tombs."
Is this justified or not?
Qais al-Khazali, Sadr's chief spokesman, showed the damage to journalists after six hours of heavy fighting in which U.S. armor advanced for the first time onto sacred ground in its confrontation with Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.
The holes, high above the ground, were on the side of the dome facing Najaf's vast cemetery, where U.S. tanks stormed in to attack guerrilla positions hidden among the tombs."
Is this justified or not?
International News Article | Reuters.com: "NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - Aides to militant Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr blamed U.S. tank fire on Friday for three small holes that appeared in the vast gilded dome of Shi'ite Islam's holiest shrine, the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf.
Qais al-Khazali, Sadr's chief spokesman, showed the damage to journalists after six hours of heavy fighting in which U.S. armor advanced for the first time onto sacred ground in its confrontation with Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.
The holes, high above the ground, were on the side of the dome facing Najaf's vast cemetery, where U.S. tanks stormed in to attack guerrilla positions hidden among the tombs."
Is this justified or not?
Qais al-Khazali, Sadr's chief spokesman, showed the damage to journalists after six hours of heavy fighting in which U.S. armor advanced for the first time onto sacred ground in its confrontation with Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.
The holes, high above the ground, were on the side of the dome facing Najaf's vast cemetery, where U.S. tanks stormed in to attack guerrilla positions hidden among the tombs."
Is this justified or not?
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Honolulu Weekly - Restaurants: Honolulu Restaurant Reviews, Oahu Restaurant Listings: "The Bistro
Century Center, 1750 Kal?kaua Ave, third floor (943-6500). Mon 11am?2pm; Tue?Fri 11am?2pm, 6?10pm; Sat, Sun 6?10pm. Late supper menu at the bar 10pm?1:30am. Appetizers: $10?$20. Entr?es: $24?$52. AmEx, Disc, MC, V.
Knowingly retro, purposely classic, the Bistro is an unabashedly dress-up, leave-the-kids-at-home kind of place. And the food merits all the hoo-ha. Sweet scallops sit in a luscious citrus beurre blanc, rack of lamb comes with its pomegranate-spiked jus. The late-night menu is a swank deal?take a seat at the bar and have some steak tartare (best in town); it?ll set you back only $12."
Century Center, 1750 Kal?kaua Ave, third floor (943-6500). Mon 11am?2pm; Tue?Fri 11am?2pm, 6?10pm; Sat, Sun 6?10pm. Late supper menu at the bar 10pm?1:30am. Appetizers: $10?$20. Entr?es: $24?$52. AmEx, Disc, MC, V.
Knowingly retro, purposely classic, the Bistro is an unabashedly dress-up, leave-the-kids-at-home kind of place. And the food merits all the hoo-ha. Sweet scallops sit in a luscious citrus beurre blanc, rack of lamb comes with its pomegranate-spiked jus. The late-night menu is a swank deal?take a seat at the bar and have some steak tartare (best in town); it?ll set you back only $12."
Aloha Stadium Swap Meet: "Hours of Operation: Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Swap Meet will close at 1:00 p.m. when UH football games are scheduled.
Buyer fee: Age 12 and above - fifty cents per person. Age 11 and below - free.
The Aloha Stadium Swap Meet is easily accessible by public transportation or by your own vehicle.
Public Transportation: Take 320 Airport/Pearlridge or #47 Waipahu. To return, take #20 or #47 Waikiki Beach and hotels or #49, #51, #52 or #62 marked Honolulu/Ala Moana Center and transfer to Ala Moana #8, #19 or #20 Waikiki Beach and Hotels."
Buyer fee: Age 12 and above - fifty cents per person. Age 11 and below - free.
The Aloha Stadium Swap Meet is easily accessible by public transportation or by your own vehicle.
Public Transportation: Take 320 Airport/Pearlridge or #47 Waipahu. To return, take #20 or #47 Waikiki Beach and hotels or #49, #51, #52 or #62 marked Honolulu/Ala Moana Center and transfer to Ala Moana #8, #19 or #20 Waikiki Beach and Hotels."
Aloha Stadium Swap Meet: "Hours of Operation: Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Swap Meet will close at 1:00 p.m. when UH football games are scheduled.
Buyer fee: Age 12 and above - fifty cents per person. Age 11 and below - free.
The Aloha Stadium Swap Meet is easily accessible by public transportation or by your own vehicle.
Public Transportation: Take 320 Airport/Pearlridge or #47 Waipahu. To return, take #20 or #47 Waikiki Beach and hotels or #49, #51, #52 or #62 marked Honolulu/Ala Moana Center and transfer to Ala Moana #8, #19 or #20 Waikiki Beach and Hotels."
Buyer fee: Age 12 and above - fifty cents per person. Age 11 and below - free.
The Aloha Stadium Swap Meet is easily accessible by public transportation or by your own vehicle.
Public Transportation: Take 320 Airport/Pearlridge or #47 Waipahu. To return, take #20 or #47 Waikiki Beach and hotels or #49, #51, #52 or #62 marked Honolulu/Ala Moana Center and transfer to Ala Moana #8, #19 or #20 Waikiki Beach and Hotels."
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
hawaii-nei.com: Five Fun Things for Under $10 on Oahu: "Five Fun Things to Do on Oahu for $15 or less"
Daily Herald Suburban Living Section: "So that's it, right? All this freaking out over fatness, as I had suspected, was some fashion-industry conspiracy to make larger people feel bad because they aren't lucky enough to have thin genes and a magic metabolism like me.
I was lovin' it once again.
Then the blood work came in.
My cholesterol shot up from a 'normal' 181 to a 'borderline high' 201. And my 'bad' cholesterol shot up from 102 to 116. At 130, doctors start thinking about 'treatment.'
Keep in mind, this happened during a period where I was burning more calories than I was eating.
'It's pretty startling to see the rapidity with which your cholesterol increased,' the doc said. 'It just goes to show you that McDonald's is so high in saturated fats, within two weeks, you overwhelmed those mechanisms that your body uses to keep cholesterol in check.'"
I was lovin' it once again.
Then the blood work came in.
My cholesterol shot up from a 'normal' 181 to a 'borderline high' 201. And my 'bad' cholesterol shot up from 102 to 116. At 130, doctors start thinking about 'treatment.'
Keep in mind, this happened during a period where I was burning more calories than I was eating.
'It's pretty startling to see the rapidity with which your cholesterol increased,' the doc said. 'It just goes to show you that McDonald's is so high in saturated fats, within two weeks, you overwhelmed those mechanisms that your body uses to keep cholesterol in check.'"
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Illuminating blacked-out words | CNET News.com: "In January, the State Department required that its documents use a more modern font, Times New Roman, instead of Courier, Naccache said. Because Courier is a monospace font, in which all letters are of the same width, it is harder to decipher with the computer technique. There is no indication that the State Department knew that."
Monday, May 10, 2004
Daily Kos || Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.: "'Our lives begin to end when we become silent about things that matter.' - Martin Luther King, Jr. "
Sunday, May 09, 2004
MSNBC - The Price of Arrogance:
'I take full responsibility,' said Donald Rumsfeld in his congressional testimony last week. But what does this mean? Secretary Rumsfeld hastened to add that he did not plan to resign and was not going to ask anyone else who might have been 'responsible' to resign. As far as I can tell, taking responsibility these days means nothing more than saying the magic words 'I take responsibility.'"
'I take full responsibility,' said Donald Rumsfeld in his congressional testimony last week. But what does this mean? Secretary Rumsfeld hastened to add that he did not plan to resign and was not going to ask anyone else who might have been 'responsible' to resign. As far as I can tell, taking responsibility these days means nothing more than saying the magic words 'I take responsibility.'"
Thursday, May 06, 2004
PARAMETERS, US Army War College Quarterly - Summer 1997: "'Police officers responded to a domestic dispute, accompanied by marines. They had just gone up to the door when two shotgun birdshot rounds were fired through the door, hitting the officers. One yelled `cover me!' to the marines, who then laid down a heavy base of fire. . . . The police officer had not meant `shoot' when he yelled `cover me' to the marines. [He] meant . . . point your weapons and be prepared to respond if necessary. However, the marines responded instantly in the precise way they had been trained, where `cover me' means provide me with cover using firepower. . . . over two hundred bullets [were] fired into that house.'[1] "
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
deseretnews.com | Lab creates babies for donor tissue
"CHICAGO — In a growing practice that troubles some ethicists, a Chicago laboratory helped create five healthy babies so that they could serve as stem-cell donors for their ailing brothers and sisters.
The made-to-order infants were screened and selected when they were still embryos to make sure they would be compatible donors. Their siblings suffered from leukemia or a rare and potentially lethal anemia.
The Chicago doctors said the healthy embryos that were not matches were frozen for potential future use. But some ethicists said such perfectly healthy embryos could end up being discarded.
"This was a search-and-destroy mission," said Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The chosen embryos "were allowed to be born so they could donate tissue to benefit someone else."
Valparaiso University professor Gilbert Meilaender, a member of the President's Council on Bioethics, called the practice "morally troubling."
"CHICAGO — In a growing practice that troubles some ethicists, a Chicago laboratory helped create five healthy babies so that they could serve as stem-cell donors for their ailing brothers and sisters.
The made-to-order infants were screened and selected when they were still embryos to make sure they would be compatible donors. Their siblings suffered from leukemia or a rare and potentially lethal anemia.
The Chicago doctors said the healthy embryos that were not matches were frozen for potential future use. But some ethicists said such perfectly healthy embryos could end up being discarded.
"This was a search-and-destroy mission," said Richard Doerflinger of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The chosen embryos "were allowed to be born so they could donate tissue to benefit someone else."
Valparaiso University professor Gilbert Meilaender, a member of the President's Council on Bioethics, called the practice "morally troubling."
KenKinder.com - Plone Review: "User Interface
Plone's front end is sharp and clean. Its backend, however, is an abomination before computers and indeed humanity itself. There's no excuse for Plone's backend: it is an atrocity that will give alien intelligence a reason to wipe out Earth, and its creators are the world's true criminals.
Customizing your site's look and feel is pure guesswork and is done on a veriety of undocumented levels."
Plone's front end is sharp and clean. Its backend, however, is an abomination before computers and indeed humanity itself. There's no excuse for Plone's backend: it is an atrocity that will give alien intelligence a reason to wipe out Earth, and its creators are the world's true criminals.
Customizing your site's look and feel is pure guesswork and is done on a veriety of undocumented levels."
Monday, May 03, 2004
Charlie's Diary: "Complaints that the modern world is unnatural or artificial in some way miss the point; the world we live in is anthropogenic, we made it. We didn't have any collective choice in the matter, either: short of discarding tools, clothes, and ultimately language there's no way back to the Garden of Eden from here. (And indeed, the existence of a mythical state of perfection at some time in the historic past is just that -- a myth, a consolatory story to explain the imperfections of the present. Just like the bastardized utopia myth of a perfect future if we'll just agree to work together.)"
Prologue - The Diamond Invention: "My interest in the diamond invention was sparked originally by a chance meeting that I had with an English diamond broker in St. Tropez in the summer of 1977. The .broker was Benjamin Bonas, and he represented De Beers' Diamond Trading Company. He was visiting some friends of mine for the weekend, and during the course of a leisurely lunch the subject of diamonds was broached. Bonas explained that despite revolutions, hostile governments and general turmoil in Africa, De Beers still firmly controlled the production of diamonds. He pointed out that this arrangement had proved so successful that even the Soviet Union sold the diamonds from its Siberian mines to De Beers. He did not elaborate at this point on the actual mechanisms used De Beers to lock up the flow of diamonds from diverse quarters of the world. Nevertheless, I was intrigued by the idea that a South African company, aided and abetted Black African and Communist nations who were pledged a total embargo of South African business, had succeeded putting together a truly global alliance to protect the value and illusion of diamonds. As the former Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique got their full independence, the pressures throughout Africa, and most of the world, to isolate South Africa would drastically escalate. How would the diamond cartel survive?
In Washington, later that year, I filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for all the investigations of the Justice Department concerning the diamond Cartel. The resulting archive of documents provided a fragmentary picture of De Beers' conflicts and near collision with antitrust laws of the United States, the clues all pointed to mining companies in South Africa and the distribution arm London. I therefore began my inquiry into the nature and future of the diamond invention in Johannesburg."
In Washington, later that year, I filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for all the investigations of the Justice Department concerning the diamond Cartel. The resulting archive of documents provided a fragmentary picture of De Beers' conflicts and near collision with antitrust laws of the United States, the clues all pointed to mining companies in South Africa and the distribution arm London. I therefore began my inquiry into the nature and future of the diamond invention in Johannesburg."
GODZILLA RETURNS: "We tend to think of 'Godzilla' as a cheesy monster movie, thanks largely to heavy re-editing in the Burr version that dispensed with nearly 40 minutes of director Ishiro Honda's original vision, two dozen or so sequels that got goofier and goofier, and rivals like 'Mothra' and 'Rodan.' But seeing the original version -- produced by a culture with still-fresh memories of atom bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and a feeling of being caught in the middle of Cold War paranoia between the United States and the Soviet Union -- it's clear that it's time for a major reappraisal. 'Godzilla' is one of the great anti-nuclear films, made by a onetime prisoner of war and documentary filmmaker, with an original vision as well-imagined and chilling as 'Dr. Strangelove.'
Seriously."
Seriously."
Saturday, May 01, 2004
sprawl suburbs | Metafilter: "A veritable army of 'suburban sprawl critics' has emerged over the years including Jane Jacobs and James Howard Knunstler plus many others including some who are predicting the immenent demise of suburbs because of oil depletion"
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Crooked Timber: Graduate Students and Technology
Here’s some suggestions for skills graduate students should have.
* How to use Powerpoint in lectures
* How to manage a large course website, including interactive features
* How to setup maintain a large database for administrative tasks
And by ‘skills’ here I don’t mean the basic ability to do these things without looking really stupid, but the ability to efficiently integrate them into your daily routine when they are needed. Future faculty who can do these things will be better academics. At the very least they will be better teachers and better at running things like job searches and graduate admissions, and of course they can do much more than that. If the academic job search market were efficient, these skills would be rewarded. Even in the real world, departments would be doing the profession a service by turning out colleagues-to-be with these technical skills.
Here’s some suggestions for skills graduate students should have.
* How to use Powerpoint in lectures
* How to manage a large course website, including interactive features
* How to setup maintain a large database for administrative tasks
And by ‘skills’ here I don’t mean the basic ability to do these things without looking really stupid, but the ability to efficiently integrate them into your daily routine when they are needed. Future faculty who can do these things will be better academics. At the very least they will be better teachers and better at running things like job searches and graduate admissions, and of course they can do much more than that. If the academic job search market were efficient, these skills would be rewarded. Even in the real world, departments would be doing the profession a service by turning out colleagues-to-be with these technical skills.
Salon.com Books | The Salon Interview: Neal Stephenson: "I had been reading all these accounts by other writers about how they produced their magnum opus and they all followed something I'll call the distillation narrative. Which was: 'I sat down and wrote a manuscript that was a foot thick and it had some good stuff in it, but it was too long. So I rolled up my sleeves and went to work and edited. Toiled. I cut and scraped. I hacked. I shortened and rearranged and got it down to six inches, but it still wasn't good enough. So I went back and yada yada yada. And eventually I wound up with this trim little manuscript that had all the good parts in it.'
That was a reassuring theory of how to write because it didn't require you to sit down every day and turn out good material. Instead it required you to sit down for eight hours a day and produce a huge volume of material and hope that there was something good in it. Then you'd go back later and cut out all the crap. Whatever works, but it failed for me, and it failed kind of expensively in the sense that I spent two or three years on that and produced a miserable, incoherent pile and sort of ruined a decent enough idea. I ended up feeling very anxious when I got to the end of the process and came to terms with the fact that this was not a publishable book. Then I panicked and wrote another book very quickly that got almost immediately accepted for publication and that was 'Zodiac.'
How did you change your writing process after that?
I did figure out that I tended to write good stuff first thing in the morning. So I had all this free time in the rest of the day that I had to occupy with something other than writing. Because if I sat and wrote, I'd just bury the good stuff I'd written in crap and have to excavate it later. I did some construction work with a friend of mine. Basically the work habit I developed out of all that was of setting things up so I could write in the morning and then stop and exercise my penchant for getting into the nitty-gritty details of physical things. Not because that was productive in any way but because it kept me from screwing up whatever I happened to be writing. I tried to pattern things that way ever since. That's worked fairly well."
That was a reassuring theory of how to write because it didn't require you to sit down every day and turn out good material. Instead it required you to sit down for eight hours a day and produce a huge volume of material and hope that there was something good in it. Then you'd go back later and cut out all the crap. Whatever works, but it failed for me, and it failed kind of expensively in the sense that I spent two or three years on that and produced a miserable, incoherent pile and sort of ruined a decent enough idea. I ended up feeling very anxious when I got to the end of the process and came to terms with the fact that this was not a publishable book. Then I panicked and wrote another book very quickly that got almost immediately accepted for publication and that was 'Zodiac.'
How did you change your writing process after that?
I did figure out that I tended to write good stuff first thing in the morning. So I had all this free time in the rest of the day that I had to occupy with something other than writing. Because if I sat and wrote, I'd just bury the good stuff I'd written in crap and have to excavate it later. I did some construction work with a friend of mine. Basically the work habit I developed out of all that was of setting things up so I could write in the morning and then stop and exercise my penchant for getting into the nitty-gritty details of physical things. Not because that was productive in any way but because it kept me from screwing up whatever I happened to be writing. I tried to pattern things that way ever since. That's worked fairly well."
C R Y P T O N O M I C O N
Q: How does the writing process work for you?
A: A good deal of the work that I do takes place in the background, which is a computer-ese way of putting it. It is a process that runs quietly at an unconscious level while I am doing other things and that goes on 24 hours a day.
The actual putting of words on paper might come out to 2-3 hours a day. I’ve found that from long experience that the best way to facilitate that process is to do that 2-3 hours of putting words on paper then stop and do something as completely different from writing as I possibly can. Specifically, to get it off my conscious mind. That can be just about anything. For me, what works is doing something of a practical nature. Playing around with technology is a convenient choice because I know how to do it and I can get the stuff I need pretty easily. Anything to get the hands busy and take the mind off the actual work in progress.
Q: How does the writing process work for you?
A: A good deal of the work that I do takes place in the background, which is a computer-ese way of putting it. It is a process that runs quietly at an unconscious level while I am doing other things and that goes on 24 hours a day.
The actual putting of words on paper might come out to 2-3 hours a day. I’ve found that from long experience that the best way to facilitate that process is to do that 2-3 hours of putting words on paper then stop and do something as completely different from writing as I possibly can. Specifically, to get it off my conscious mind. That can be just about anything. For me, what works is doing something of a practical nature. Playing around with technology is a convenient choice because I know how to do it and I can get the stuff I need pretty easily. Anything to get the hands busy and take the mind off the actual work in progress.
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
gladwell dot com / The Sports Taboo: "Or consider, in a completely different realm, the problem of hypertension. Black Americans have a higher incidence of hypertension than white Americans, even after you control for every conceivable variable, including income, diet, and weight, so it's tempting to conclude that there is something about being of African descent that makes blacks prone to hypertension. But it turns out that although some Caribbean countries have a problem with hypertension, others-Jamaica, St. Kitts, and the Bahamas-don't. It also turns out that people in Liberia and Nigeria-two countries where many New World slaves came from-have similar and perhaps even lower blood-pressure rates than white North Americans, while studies of Zulus, Indians, and whites in Durban, South Africa, showed that urban white males had the highest hypertension rates and urban white females had the lowest. So it's likely that the disease has nothing at all to do with Africanness."
Idle Words: "Attendees really did want to hear new perspectives and look at the Big Picture, whatever that is, but at the same time everybody in the room had succeeded by being relentless, detail-oriented, highly focused and keeping a close eye on the bottom line. This made for a certain impedance mismatch between the lofty topics and the actual discussion - witness an earnest panel on the transformative power of grassroots politics conducted in front of an audience of major political donors, or a panel on new frontiers in search technology with an almost fetishistic focus on the design and operation of travel sites."
Friday, April 16, 2004
No More Mister Nice Blog: "LIMBAUGH: TO ENSURE THAT HILLARY TOPS THE TICKET IN '08, CLINTONS WILL HAVE KERRY MURDERED IF HE WINS
Hillary wants to be on the VP ticket so that she dispels the notion that the Clintons are sabotaging the campaign and so that she can also go out there and really be the star. She'd be the star because she'll be the one bringing excitement to it. And, by the way, she'll get all kinds of criticism and the Republicans will launch all they've got at her, and she'll endure that. They know that they're pretty confident Kerry is going to lose and if Kerry wins there's always Fort Marcy Park.
--radio transcript from rushlimbaugh.com
(Fort Marcy Park, for those of you who don't know, is where the body of Vincent Foster was found after he committed suicide -- or, rather, as most of Rush's listeners will tell you, was murdered.)"
Hillary wants to be on the VP ticket so that she dispels the notion that the Clintons are sabotaging the campaign and so that she can also go out there and really be the star. She'd be the star because she'll be the one bringing excitement to it. And, by the way, she'll get all kinds of criticism and the Republicans will launch all they've got at her, and she'll endure that. They know that they're pretty confident Kerry is going to lose and if Kerry wins there's always Fort Marcy Park.
--radio transcript from rushlimbaugh.com
(Fort Marcy Park, for those of you who don't know, is where the body of Vincent Foster was found after he committed suicide -- or, rather, as most of Rush's listeners will tell you, was murdered.)"
Thursday, April 15, 2004
Monday, April 12, 2004
"Here is the basic idea in a nutshell. Certain patterns and combinations of notes sound nice together, or make certain effects -- we call these scales and chords. Certain combinations of scales and certain combinations of chords sound better than others -- we call this harmony. For instance, combine certain chords together, and you get music that sounds sad -- we'll call this minor harmony. And if you combine certain other chords together, you get music that sounds kinda happy -- we'll call this major harmony."
Saturday, April 10, 2004
Google Search:: "I did use Enada (NADH) for about six months. As a go-with for your No-Doz,
it's perfect and could allow you to cut the caffeine dose in half.
Warning: Read all the stuff about NAD/NADH balance and don't use it
everyday. I found it excruciating to quit, much worse than quitting
caffeine."
it's perfect and could allow you to cut the caffeine dose in half.
Warning: Read all the stuff about NAD/NADH balance and don't use it
everyday. I found it excruciating to quit, much worse than quitting
caffeine."
Reason: Free Play: The politics of the video game: "Asheron?s Call 2, Microsoft?s online fantasy game, boasts a new kind of realism: 'an economy of, by, and for the players.' And it?s not alone: Many Internet-based games now facilitate market economies, political factions, and even elections. Player groups, often called clans or guilds, have emerged as popular tools for protection, cooperative adventuring, and simple bloodsport. And while game developers are now doing what they can to support those online clans, their efforts often have been a matter of catching up with what players already were arranging on their own.
Like movies, novels, and plays before them, computer games have discovered politics. Even the pure, plot-driven action that remains often comes attached to heavily politicized back-stories. Take a stroll down the game aisle:"
Like movies, novels, and plays before them, computer games have discovered politics. Even the pure, plot-driven action that remains often comes attached to heavily politicized back-stories. Take a stroll down the game aisle:"
Friday, April 09, 2004
Yahoo! News - USDA Won't Allow Independent Testing for Mad Cow: "The USDA rejected a request by Creekstone Farms Premium Beef to allow 100 percent testing for the brain-wasting disease, a step the privately owned company deemed necessary to resume trade with Japan.
'The use of the test as proposed by Creekstone would have implied a consumer safety aspect that is not scientifically warranted,' said USDA Undersecretary Bill Hawks in a statement."
'The use of the test as proposed by Creekstone would have implied a consumer safety aspect that is not scientifically warranted,' said USDA Undersecretary Bill Hawks in a statement."
Thursday, April 08, 2004
Google Search: russell cook idaho: "Russell E Cook, (208) 883-4718, 4325 Lenville Rd, Moscow, ID 83843"
The final copies are still warm from the printer: "I just got my second reader to sign off on my dissertation and then I printed the final copies on the very special paper. I made an appointment with the Keeper of Papers to turn it all in at 3pm. I am almost done with It forever.
I'm not sure yet how I feel about being phinished. I can tell you I've been laughing and smiling a lot more over the last week and a half. But the dissertation has been the organizing principle of my life for so long, I'm not sure what I'll do without it. Even when I was fiercely avoiding working on my dissertation it was still the focus of my life.
Someone asked me the other day what I like to do when I'm not working. I didn't know the answer. I lost myself to the dissertation somewhere along the way and I had to pass through a a long tunnel of darkness. Now that I'm back in the light, I wonder if I'm still all here.
But, yes, I feel complete. I feel whole. I feel wonderful, actually. And I'm excited to start to relearn what I like to do and who I want to be."
I'm not sure yet how I feel about being phinished. I can tell you I've been laughing and smiling a lot more over the last week and a half. But the dissertation has been the organizing principle of my life for so long, I'm not sure what I'll do without it. Even when I was fiercely avoiding working on my dissertation it was still the focus of my life.
Someone asked me the other day what I like to do when I'm not working. I didn't know the answer. I lost myself to the dissertation somewhere along the way and I had to pass through a a long tunnel of darkness. Now that I'm back in the light, I wonder if I'm still all here.
But, yes, I feel complete. I feel whole. I feel wonderful, actually. And I'm excited to start to relearn what I like to do and who I want to be."
Social Networking Tools Applied to Scientific Topics: " 'Today, almost all of us access knowledge in ways vastly different from those used for hundreds of years,' Shiffrin said. 'The traditional method involved books, reference works and physical materials on library shelves, most of which had been verified for accuracy by one or another authority. Now, we sit at computers and cast our net into a sea of information, much of which is inaccurate or misleading.'
This explains why most of the authors turned to software to map scientific knowledge. Here is an example.
In , Mark Newman showed that clusters in social networks can also be used to map scientific communities. A scientist may or may not be six degrees from Kevin Bacon, but Newman showed that scientists were about six coauthors away from any other scientist."
This explains why most of the authors turned to software to map scientific knowledge. Here is an example.
In , Mark Newman showed that clusters in social networks can also be used to map scientific communities. A scientist may or may not be six degrees from Kevin Bacon, but Newman showed that scientists were about six coauthors away from any other scientist."
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
ClearPlay - What is ClearPlay?: "Will I notice the impact of ClearPlay on the viewing?
Yes, due to the story nature of some movies, and because ClearPlay only uses legal methods to control the DVD decoding, you will notice some of the ClearPlay skips and mutes. However, most subscribers quickly become accustomed to them and find them much less interruptive than the language, nudity or graphic violence that has been removed. "
Yes, due to the story nature of some movies, and because ClearPlay only uses legal methods to control the DVD decoding, you will notice some of the ClearPlay skips and mutes. However, most subscribers quickly become accustomed to them and find them much less interruptive than the language, nudity or graphic violence that has been removed. "
"Wal-Mart and Kmart, two of the nation's biggest retailers, are planning to sell a new DVD player that includes a technology that has riled Hollywood -- a controversial program that can automatically skip sexual content, graphically violent scenes and language deemed offensive."
AskTog: Make Your Mac a Monster Machine: "Make Your Mac a Monster Machine"
For you macheads. This article emphasizes usability and interface design, as applied to an operating system rather than a document.
For you macheads. This article emphasizes usability and interface design, as applied to an operating system rather than a document.
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Friday, April 02, 2004
long_lannon_techcomm_9|Hot Topics|Ethics in Technical Communication|Copyleft and the Open Source Movement: "Ethics in Technical Communication
Copyleft and the Open Source Movement"
Copyleft and the Open Source Movement"
Kairosnews | A Weblog for Discussing Rhetoric, Technology and Pedagogy:
"Twentieth Century Ferret Pictures announced today that it will begin suing children 2-6 years old for creating unauthorized derivative works of its popular 'Bernard the Talking Dinosaur' television show. Children, the studio claims, often blink, babble or sing while watching the show.
'This is a clear violation of our exclusive rights over the show's performance,' said Wade Aminute, spokesman for Ferret. 'Closing your eyes during the broadcast, even for a moment, materially modifies the sequence of images that will be seared into one's brain for eternity. Not to mention that it interferes with our subliminal product placements. We cannot allow such intrusions upon the sanctity of our creative works.'
Ferret says it expects most children will settle the suits for between three lollipops and their rock collection."
"Twentieth Century Ferret Pictures announced today that it will begin suing children 2-6 years old for creating unauthorized derivative works of its popular 'Bernard the Talking Dinosaur' television show. Children, the studio claims, often blink, babble or sing while watching the show.
'This is a clear violation of our exclusive rights over the show's performance,' said Wade Aminute, spokesman for Ferret. 'Closing your eyes during the broadcast, even for a moment, materially modifies the sequence of images that will be seared into one's brain for eternity. Not to mention that it interferes with our subliminal product placements. We cannot allow such intrusions upon the sanctity of our creative works.'
Ferret says it expects most children will settle the suits for between three lollipops and their rock collection."
ISO 690-2, Bibliographic references to electronic documents: "ISO 690-2
Information and documentation -- Bibliographic references --
Part 2: Electronic documents or parts thereof"
Information and documentation -- Bibliographic references --
Part 2: Electronic documents or parts thereof"
Drew Curtis' FARK.com:
"More bomb-grande Uranium found in Iran. In other news, President Bush blames invasion of Iraq on typographical error"
"More bomb-grande Uranium found in Iran. In other news, President Bush blames invasion of Iraq on typographical error"
Wired News: Electronic Snoops Tackle Copiers: "New markets are finally opening up for plagiarism-detection software, a mainstay of academia that has struggled to expand its reach beyond term papers.
The scandal-plagued newspaper industry is considering whether to adopt the technology to crack down on copycats, while the New York Police Department is testing it as an investigative tool.
But experts say the biggest potential market might be the publishing industry, which one day may find itself coping with the same kind of piracy that bedevils movie makers and music producers.
Some law firms are already using one type of technology 'to essentially troll the Internet for the next Stephen Ambrose,' said plagiarism-detection software developer John Barrie, referring to the late historian accused of peppering his bestsellers with snippets stolen from other people's work."
The scandal-plagued newspaper industry is considering whether to adopt the technology to crack down on copycats, while the New York Police Department is testing it as an investigative tool.
But experts say the biggest potential market might be the publishing industry, which one day may find itself coping with the same kind of piracy that bedevils movie makers and music producers.
Some law firms are already using one type of technology 'to essentially troll the Internet for the next Stephen Ambrose,' said plagiarism-detection software developer John Barrie, referring to the late historian accused of peppering his bestsellers with snippets stolen from other people's work."
Thursday, April 01, 2004
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