2003-07-31
... ? BBC NEWS | World | Africa | SA anti-Aids drug shockCampaigners have expressed alarm at the possibility that the South African Government could withdraw its approval for the anti-Aids drug Nevirapine. Nevirapine prevents HIV-positive pregnant mothers passing on their infection to their child.
... ? xymphoraThe American violence against the people of Iraq has noticeably escalated, and is even starting to take on the qualities of a frenzy
... ? Guardian Unlimited Politics | Special Reports | Iraq war may help al-Qaida, MPs report
... ? Gateway Pages Prevent PDF Shock (Alertbox)Summary: Spare your users the misery of being dumped into PDF files without warning. Create special gateway pages that summarize the contents of big documents and guide users gently into the PDF morass.
... ? Guardian Unlimited Books | News | Blasts at liberal 'traitors' win US book warBig publishers cash in as right-wing polemics sell in their thousands
... ? Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Israel - fencing off the West Bank
... ? Salon.com Life | X'ed outYou're in a love puddle. You're smiling. You're high on Ecstasy. You touch your friend's hair. Wow. You can't stop touching it. Her hair is incredibly soft. You keep smiling. Now it's a few years later. You take E again. You grind your teeth, the hangover lasts a week. It's no fun. What happened?
... ? FT.com Home Europe - Israeli army hands Palestinians an unexpected victory
... ? Web may revolutionize fundraising | csmonitor.com2003-07-30
... ? New Scientist : Leaping bug is new high-jump championThe natural world has a new high-jump champion, with the revelation that the spittlebug can leap over 100 times higher than its body length. The feat is equivalent to a human bounding over a 70-storey skyscraper and comfortably exceeds the prowess of fleas.
... ? BBC - Music / Profiles - Kraftwerk
... ?BBC - Classic Rock/Pop Review - Kraftwerk, Tour De France Soundtracks
A mere 12 years after their last studio album, the jungen from Dusseldorf have delivered the goods once more. But before you get on yer bike, take a listen to the electronica album of the decade...
... ?One hundred Years of Film Sizes. Almost one hundred film widths and perforations were experimented with.
Struggle for standardization One hundred years of cinema is also due to acceptance of one standard gauge. Whereas film equipment has undergone drastic changes in the course of a century it is a little miracle that 35mm has remained the universally accepted film size. If film had followed the same course as video, with its continuing change of systems, the development might have been delayed considerably
... ? MacSlash | BuyMusic.com Ripping Off Artists
... ? Tech Turns Users into Mobile News MakersPronounced 'MO-blogs,' as in 'mobile logging,' they are Web sites specifically geared for people with the latest cell phones and mobile devices, many of which are equipped with built-in digital cameras and wireless Internet access.
... ? Textism › Resources › Word HTML Cleaner
... ? Deriving the Golden Section from a Square
... ? What the Hell is the Fibonacci Series?
... ? Learning Series: The Brain and Emotions - part 1: FearRecent research shows that when something bad happens to you, part of your brain begins thinking independently, storing its own memories so it can save you next time. That worked fine a million years ago By Steven Johnson
... ? Guardian Unlimited Books | Review | Midas in cyberspace
... ? Wired News: Iraqis Log On to Voice ChatBaghdad resident Usama Kamil Al-Sharqi paid a taxi driver $50 in 2001 to smuggle him a copy of Yahoo Instant Messenger on a CD-ROM from a friend in Jordan. It was a high price to pay for a program that has been downloaded for free by millions of people around the world. But Al-Sharqi says he would have paid an even steeper price had the regime of Saddam Hussein, which banned the use of instant messaging software, found out about it.
... ? General relativity sinks submarine: Gravity solves paradox raised by Einstein's theory.
... ? InformationWeek > Visual Studio .Net > Microsoft Outlines Visual Studio .Net Upgrade > July 29, 2003
... ? OpinionJournal - Extra -Michael Moore, Humbug2003-07-29
... ? BBC NEWS | Technology | Cyber sleuths hunt file-swappersThey have been described as Hollywood's digital detectives and they have a warning for anyone illegally trading music or movies: "You can run but you can never hide."
... ? Adbusters: Is America Becoming Fascist?
... ? A4 Paper / International Standard Paper Sizes
... ?Digital Morphology at the University of Texas
High-resolution X-ray CT (Computed Tomography) is a completely nondestructive technique for visualizing features in the interior of opaque solid objects, and for obtaining digital information on their 3-D geometries and properties. It is useful for a wide range of materials, including rock, bone, ceramic, metal and soft tissue. High-resolution X-ray CT differs from conventional medical CAT-scanning in its ability to resolve details as small as a few tens of microns in size, even when imaging objects made of high density materials.
... ? //ruben.fm ~ The Latest\\This last week was a killer. We got the Dizzee video done and I think it is pretty good. It was just a nightmare getting it together. We had some key people flake on us and it made the whole post process really difficult. I didn't get more than five hours of sleep all week and I didn't sleep at all Friday night. Then I ended up staying up all yesterday until late because Gold Chains and crew were in town and we partied really hard. The combination of fatigue and lots of beer made for a super blasted Ruben. In three hours I leave for the airport to go to London for a week. Should be fun though I don't really know what I'm going to do while there. Just hang out a lot I guess. I'll post the Dizzee video when I get back.
... ? DIZZEE RASCAL - FIX UP LOOK SHARP...about time; one of the best of 2003 so far....
... ? stage4 - Tim O'Reilly interview: Digital Rights Management is a Non-starter (via Zenarchery )
... ?Acidic
All samples are absolutely free for anyone to use in their own compositions. I don't mind you using my work, but credit me as original artist of this stuff.
... ?Propellerhead Software | Home
Propellerhead Software ships Reason 2.5! Bring out the champagne, the waiting is over! We have now started shipping Reason 2.5, the much awaited upgrade to our flagship music software, containing four brand new sound processing tools and two utilities for signal path routing. The upgrade is free to all registered Reason 2.0 users. May 8 2003
... ? Breaks
... ?fUSION Anomaly. Drum and Bass : AMEN Break... All the way from 1969 .... (a vintage year...)..
- Photek: Form & Function...2002 ...
... ? RSS 2.0
... ? FINALLY!!...The G3RM RSS feed now online... http://g3rm.blogspot.com/g3rm_rss.xmlAny problems, oddities etc. pls E me...ta..
... ? FT.com / Comment & analysis - Microsoft reaches middle age
... ?
... ? Tate Britain | Bridget Riley
... ?Guardian Unlimited | Arts galleries | Bridget Riley: a life in paintings index
As a major retrospective of Bridget Riley's career opens we present a unique record of the journey of her latest works, from their conception in her home and studio in London, to the final painting of a giant new piece on to a wall of Tate Britain. Photographs by Eamonn McCabe.
... ? BBC NEWS | Health | Advanced booking scrapped by GPsDr Peter Holden, a senior member of the British Medical Association's GP Committee, is among those doctors whose surgeries have adopted the policy. He estimates that as many as 20% of the 9,000 GP practices in England have taken a similar measure.
... ? BBC NEWS | Health | Music 'makes the brain learn better'The hours spent mastering the violin or piano are worthwhile - music lessons boost children's memories.
... ? Sony CSL Paris
... ? Tribe.net: (via Abstract Dynamics)2003-07-28It happens every day. Somebody knows somebody who knows somebody and, suddenly, whatever needed getting done gets done. Tribe.net is quickly bringing this phenomenon to the Internet.
... ? BUSH CARDS © 2003Are you angry about the war? Concerned about the environment? Worried about your civil liberties? Disgusted by the control big business has over the government? So are we. That's why we've developed Bush Cards.
... ? BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Rat-brained robot does distant artWorking from their university labs in two different corners of the world, American and Australian researchers have created what they call a new class of creative beings: 'the semi-living artist'.
... ? BBC SPORT | New drug menace stalks sport
... ? BBC NEWS | Health | Unlocking the brain's secretsThe mysteries of how the brain controls everything from language to movement could be explained by a 'map' created by scientists. The international team behind the atlas used thousands of images of the brains of people of all ages, and with a range of conditions.
... ? Marie Curie: In the Laboratory and on the Battlefield - Physics Today July 2003This year is the centennial of the Nobel Prize in Physics shared by Henri Becquerel and the Curies for their pioneering work on radioactivity. But Marie Curie's contribution to the medical use of x rays is not widely known.
... ? WorldNetDaily: Berkeley study links Reagan, Hitler - Psychological research on conservatives finds them 'less complex'
... ? CBS News | Watergate Tape Gap Still A Mystery | July 27, 2003 11:45:27What was recorded during the 18 1/2-minute gap of one of President Nixon's White House tapes will remain a mystery - at least for now. The National Archives said audio experts were unable to recapture unintelligible words from test tapes designed to simulate the recording made famous in the Watergate scandal.
... ? Indepedent.co.uk: 'Freebase' nicotine - why some some cigarettes may be more addictive
... ? NATURE: Swing era was a very small world: Scientists, dolphins and jazz musicians are connected.Pablo Gleiser and Leon Danon of the University of Barcelona have analysed the community structure of the jazz world between 1912 and 1940, as recorded in the Red Hot Jazz Archive database. This lists more than 1,000 musicians who collaborated in a total of 198 bands. The pair find that the swing big band era had the same 'small world' property as friendship networks, movie actors and scientific collaborations. Any individual can be connected to any other in the network by a surprisingly small number of steps.
... ? Argentines Face Human Rights Trials in Europe2003-07-27
... ? NYT Books: 'Wired': The Coolest Magazine on the Planet
... ? First Chapter - 'Wired'
... ? E.W. Dijkstra Archive: HomeIn Pursuit of Simplicity - the manuscripts of Edsger W. Dijkstra
... ? The GUI Gallery
... ? BBC - BBC TWO - Listings - Generation Terror: Baader MeinhoffTue 29 Jul, 11:20 pm - 12:30 am 70mins In Love With Terror: Documentary charting German terrorist group Baader Meinhoff's struggle to start the revolution in the 1970s, ending with the murder of Hanns-Martyn Schleyer. Disturbing scenes.
... ? OJR article: Conference Panelists See Bright Future for Mobile Publishing
... ? The Village Voice: Music: A Bum Trip Reborn by Simon Reynolds
... ? :: SHOWstudio - Lilac :: Peter Saville/Autechre
... ? Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Pusher Street dealers face up to the shoveDenmark's new centre-right government has decided to clean up Christiania, for 30 years a hippy haven
... ? The Observer | Magazine | Simon Garfield on Narcotics AnonymousIt all started when Jimmy K and a few fellow addicts held the first meeting in Sun Valley, a suburb of LA, in July 1953. Now, 50 years on, 30,000 weekly meetings are held in 106 countries, saving thousands of lives through their philosophy of mutual support. Simon Garfield charts the highs of Narcotics Anonymous
... ? Daring Fireball: Independent Days - Part 1: On Men’s Hairpieces and Web Design
... ? mezzoblue § Origins of Verdana/Tahoma2003-07-26
... ? Slashdot | Big Blue to take on Pixar?
... ? modulo 26 / daily
... ?Guardian Unlimited | Arts features | Fun boy free
'I got stopped in Camden by one of those students who wear aprons for different charities,' he says. 'And this was from the mental health charity Mind. I've suffered from depression quite heavily for years. And he had a clipboard and said, 'Come on cheer up.'' A look of disbelief. 'That's not how you approach someone who's got an illness. 'Cos I've had 'cheer up' since I was fucking four. You've got to think about how you're going to approach people.' "
... ? Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | And for your encore, Mr Bin Laden?With one two-minute act, he became an international celebrity. The act? Gatecrashing Prince William's 21st birthday party dressed as the world's most wanted man. But the problem now for Aaron Barschak has nothing to do with criminal charges. It's the question, 'How do you top that?' Jon Ronson meets the self-styled 'comedy terrorist' and finds a man trapped.
... ? BBC - Drama - Love AgainSaturday 26 July 2003, 9.15pm, BBC TWO Examining the last 30 years in the life of poet Philip Larkin, and his complex relationships with various women during this time.
... ?Esquire:Features:What I've Learned:Lou Reed
You either make an effort or you don't
... ? BBC NEWS | UK | Drug driving accidents 'increase'A quarter of drivers involved in fatal road accidents are under the influence of illegal drugs, says the RAC.
... ? BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Film | Tributes to director Schlesinger
... ? History Of Liberia: A Time Line2003-07-25
... ? BBC News | In Pictures : Castro's Cuba
... ? http://www.opensourcecms.com/This site was created with one goal in mind. To give you the opportunity to "try out" some of the best php/mysql based free and open source software systems in the world. You are welcome to be the administrator of any site here, allowing you to decide which system best suits your needs.
... ? Guardian Unlimited | Life | 'I wanted to show how niceness evolves'David Sloan Wilson says plankton can tell us a lot about God and human morality. By Andrew Brown The basis on which this argument rests is almost as simple as natural selection itself, says Wilson: "The fundamental problem of social life is that selfishness beats altruism within a group. But altruistic groups trump selfish groups. It's amazing that you can take such a controversial theory and describe it in two sentences." ... ... "One point is just how radically different this is to other approaches to religion and science," he says. "It completely turns creationism on its head. It says there is a scientific explanation for creationism."
... ? Another Attempt To Sell Magazine Content Online (TechNews.com)Let's hope KeepMedia turns into a keeper. But even if it flops, the Internet newsstand that debuts Monday bears watching by anyone curious about the future of paid content online.
... ? Wired 11.08: VIEW: Barbarians at the GateEurope wants to be the other superpower. There are just four problems. By Bruce Sterling
... ? BBC NEWS | Health | Euthanasia grief less severeFamilies of patients who die by euthanasia cope better than those of patients who die by natural causes, say researchers. Dutch researchers say they have fewer symptoms of grief and post-traumatic stress disorder because they have had the chance to say goodbye.
... ? BBC - BBC TWO - Listings - Stalin: Inside The TerrorFri 25 Jul, 9:00 pm - 10:30 pm 90mins -To coincide with the 50th anniversary of his death, this documentary presents an intimate portrait of one of the greatest monsters of the 20th century, including fresh evidence about his relationships with his women, his family and his inner circle.
... ? BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Whales' recovery 'vastly overestimated'Several great whale species were once far more abundant than records suggest, geneticists say.
... ? EducationGuardian.co.uk | Schools | Ofsted inspectors 'made race remarks'
... ?Guardian Unlimited | Arts Friday Review | Desperately seeking Kraftwerk
The crowd's appearance may be odd, but it's nothing compared to their conversation. Queuing for a pint, I overhear two men enthusiastically discussing computerised hi-hat patterns. 'It's sort of a tsk-ch-ch-tsk,' suggests one. 'No,' counters his friend, 'it's more ch-ch-ch-tsk.' Ask people why they are here, and they have a tendency to fix you with a gaze somewhere between pity and total incomprehension: 'It's Kraftwerk, innit?' Well, not quite.
... ? BBC NEWS | Health | Brain machine 'improves musicianship'2003-07-24Scientists have created a technique that dramatically improves the performance of musicians. The system - called neurofeedback - trains musicians to clear their minds and produce more creative brain waves.
... ? The Chronicle: 7/25/2003: For the 15th Time, Look It UpAlmost cabalistic are 16 paragraphs (11.51-66) on the methods -- now three -- for entering ellipsis points: the three-dot, three-or-four-dot, and 'rigorous' methods.
... ? v-2 Organisation | architecture urbanism | Memento MoriIt was in part to assess the truth of those imaginings that I came here to live. Seven hundred and seventy-nine days and nights later, I can render the following, final report.
... ? Teens are not confident online - Web User NewsTeenagers are losing their confidence because they don't know how to use the internet properly, new research has found. According to a report from Northumbria University, most teenagers lack the information gathering skills needed for using the internet efficiently.
... ? Guardian Unlimited | Life | 'The sun makes one heck of a noise'Soundwaves are providing fascinating evidence of what's actually going on inside our noisy neighbour. Ian Sample reports
... ? Reuters | Death by Dehydration Seems Peaceful, Nurses Say
... ? Computer History Museum: Get In Touch With History - OSNews.com
... ? BW Online | July 28, 2003 | Zen and the Art of Corporate ProductivityMore companies are battling employee stress with meditation
... ? Helvetica vs. Arial2003-07-23
... ? BBC NEWS | Technology | A blog for everyone
... ? The Seattle Times: Northwest Life: Single White Female sick of the Seattle scene flirts with Friendster.com
... ? oreilly.com -- Online Catalog: Essential BloggingBy Cory Doctorow, Rael Dornfest, J. Scott Johnson, Shelley Powers, Benjamin Trott, Mena G. Trott - August 2002 - 0-596-00388-9, Order Number: 3889 - 260 pages, $29.95 US, $46.95 CA, £20.95 UK
... ? O'Reilly Network: My Blog, My Outboard Brain [May. 31, 2002]Being deprived of my blog right now would be akin to suffering extensive brain-damage. Huge swaths of acquired knowledge would simply vanish. Just as my TiVo frees me from having to watch boring television by watching it for me, my blog frees me up from having to remember the minutae of my life, storing it for me in handy and contextual form.
... ? Guardian Unlimited Politics | Special Reports | BBC to produce Kelly tape in bid to exonerate reporterIn Watts's report on June 2, an actor speaks her source's words, saying of the 45 minutes claim: 'It was a statement that was made and it just got out of all proportion. They were desperate for information, they were pushing hard for information which could be released. That was one that popped up and it was seized on and it's unfortunate that it was. 'That's why there is the argument between the intelligence services and the Cabinet Office/No 10 - because they picked up on it and once they've picked up on it, you can't pull it back from them.'
... ? BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Astronomers count the stars
... ? Los Angeles Times: Cartoon in Times Prompts Inquiry by Secret Service
... ? Wired News: Hackers Lose a Patron Saint2003-07-22
... ? Invisible made Visible- Urban Street Art
... ? Mercury Music PrizeRADIOHEAD'Hail to the Thief' DIZZEE RASCAL'Boy In Da Corner' THE THRILLS'So Much for the City' SOWETO KINCH'Conversations with the Unseen' FLOETRY'Floetic' THE DARKNESS'Permission to Land' COLDPLAY'A Rush of Blood to the Head' MARTINA TOPLEY-BIRD'Quixotic' ELIZA CARTHY'Anglicana' ATHLETE'Vehicles and Animals' TERRI WALKER'Untitled' LEMON JELLY'Lost Horizons'"Dizzie & Matina get my vote...
... ? Yahoo! News - Number of China's Web Surfers Rises 15 PercentThe number of Internet surfers in China increased 15.1 percent in the first half of 2003 to 68 million people, a semi-official research center said on Monday. China, which already had the world's second-largest Web population after the United States, added 8.9 million new online users in the first six months of this year, the China Internet Network Information Center said on its Web site www.cnnic.cn.
... ? BBC NEWS | World | Americas | New York honours electrocuted elephantA New York museum has unveiled a memorial to an elephant - which after killing three trainers - was electrocuted in public by the Edison company.
... ? New ScientistGM is not a homogenous technology on which scientists can make blanket assurances on safety,' says David King, the government's chief scientific adviser and chair of 25-strong panel that produced the report. 'Applications of GM technology will have to be considered on a case-by-case basis.'
... ? Ellison's Master Plan? (TechNews.com)Whether or not Oracle Corp.'s hostile bid for business software rival PeopleSoft comes through, Oracle chief Larry Ellison's apparent goal of destabilizing a key rival appears to be a big success.
... ? BW Online | July 21, 2003 | Playing Tag with Shoppers' Anonymity
... ? JunkBusters : RFID Devices and Privacy2003-07-21
... ? DefenseWatch - The Voice of the Grunt - Special Report: Poisoned BattlefieldLeiby interviewed Steve Robinson of The National Gulf War Resource Center and examined in detail Robinson's analysis of U.S. government health statistics: In his view, the numbers demolish the notion of a clean or easy Gulf War I victory: * Estimated Gulf War I veterans: 573,000; * Number who have proved, to the satisfaction of government doctors, that they had a service-related medical problem: 160,000. This comes to nearly 28 percent - a rate of approved medical disability claims exceeding those of World War II (6.6 percent), Korea (5 percent) and Vietnam (9.6 percent).
... ? New Zealand News - NZ - Answer to the mystery of life is fourScientists have found a simple mathematical relationship that connects the whole of nature, from the tiniest cell to the vast forests of the Amazon.
... ? Flight404 | v.6...Someones been busy with the Proce55ing...Outstanding work...
... ? CBC News: Idi Amin close to death2003-07-20
... ? Telegraph | Arts | Up the greasy pole of terrorWe are only just beginning to grasp the true nature of Stalin's power. Compared to the Hitler state, there are still huge gaps in our understanding of the Stalinist regime. Stalin's personal character is an obvious enigma: it is hard to tell when insane paranoia supplants scheming rationality. But the tyrant's hold on the Bolshevik Party is just as puzzling. Was he a strong or a weak dictator? Did he direct the Terror or did others do it in his name? And how did Stalin's influence infiltrate into the daily lives of those who called themselves the Stalinists?
... ? Second Life: Notes from a New World, by Wagner James AuBut by now, other SL residents had joined this odd battle of ideological iconography, conducted entirely with 3D models. And whether it was pay back for previous WWIIOLer sins, or political commentary, or both, they went at it with gusto. Suede Fever, for example, slapped up posters depicting a turtle helplessly flailing on top a wooden post -- only the turtle's head had been replaced with Bush's face.
... ? Guardian Unlimited | Life | If this year's Tour de France is 100% clean...If this year's Tour de France is 100% clean.....then that will certainly be a first. By Matt Seaton and David Adam
... ? T.W.A.N.B.O.C.
... ? Archives: Daniel Sheehan SpeechFor example, say $25 million is the original cost to the United States of this military equipment. After the equipment is transferred to these State Defense Forces for the readiness exercise, about one-half of it is logged back into stores at the end of the exercise, but valued at its replacement cost. The replacement cost is typically twice the original cost because of the increased paperwork, handling, and manufacturing costs associated with small orders. So the books balance [with repect to dollars and cents], and yet half of the originally issued military equipment has 'disappeared.' And then we discovered that it was to be smuggled to the contras in Central America.
... ? BBC NEWS | Politics | Are targets hitting the mark?There is a danger that local issues are ignored or given a lower priority because performance measures, linked to national targets are given precedence,' he added.First hand experience of this; we're finding we have to reclassify classes to ensure certain set national targets are met. Basic corruption of a vital feedback mechanism to my mind; a Tabloidation of truth...
... ?BBC NEWS | In Depth | Photo Gallery | In pictures: Graffiti artist Banksy
... ? BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Arts | Defining moments: Harold Pinter
... ? ___ www.bioBloc.net ___Assemble your bioBlocs and let them learn..."
... ? Josh Dura - Weblog, Flash, and Photography
... ? naturalmotionNaturalMotion's Active Character Technology (A.C.T.) is based on Oxford University's research on the control of human and animal body motions. In essence, we build a physical, biomechanically-realistic model of a character (e.g. a human or a dinosaur), implant an appropriate brain structure (usually a neural network), and use optimisation techniques (such as artificial evolution) to create the desired behaviour.
... ? Emerging Technology: A Chat Room Like No OtherAre you ready for computers that speed up the process of evolution and teach themselves to think? By Steven Johnson
... ? Corel Corp : The dSVG 1.1 Specification and Test SuiteThis file contains the proposal submitted to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) SVG Working Group to enhance SVG's support of enterprise application development for dynamic interfaces. It is a technical specification intended for developers, the SVG community, and the SVG working group to access the content in the proposed changes. It also contains a test suite that includes code not intended for commercial purposes, but provided by Corel to help developers test the specification. As a result you must agree to the terms and conditions outlined below.
... ? A Discussion of the Pinpoint vs. Amazon Case
... ? The Fruit Game Letters PageHi, my name is Felisha and I have just played your fruit game. I lost, and at the end the computer said,'You Lose!' I think that is completelt not right. That puts the people who play a wrong attitude towards the game. It also puts down the player. I hope that you change that comment. Sincerely, Felisha
... ? The Fruit Game Letters Pagedear stupid game, this is my 400 time trying to win this dumb game i don't even know why i played this stinky game. P.S. your game cheats
... ? Winning Nim Algorithm
... ? Politech: John Gilmore: I was ejected from a plane for wearing Suspected Terrorist Button2003-07-19Annie later told me that the stewardess who had gone to fetch her said that she thought the button was something that the security people had made me wear to warn the flight crew that I was a suspectedterrorist(!). Now that would be really secure.
... ? NASA - JPL Solar System Simulator
... ? Wired News: Upload a File, Go to PrisonA new bill proposed in Congress on Wednesday would land a person in prison for five years and impose a fine of $250,000 for uploading a single file to a peer-to-peer network.
... ? Coudal Partners - Photoshop Tennis
... ? The Second Coming -- W. B. Yeats
... ? Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | The card up their sleeveIt sounds good - loyalty cards entitle us to freebies or cash simply for shopping at our local superstore. Of course, retailers get something in return: a heap of information about us we might prefer them not to know. That's before they get started on the new tags that track you and what you buy. Rachel Shabi investigates
... ? SocietyGuardian.co.uk | Society | Belated patients' survey tells of NHS miseriesA national survey showing that many NHS patients suffer unnecessary pain, sleepless nights and lack of respect from insensitive doctors was published this week in a remote corner of the Department of Health's website after being suppressed since last year
... ? Pentagon may punish GIs who spoke out on TVBut going public isn't always easy, as soldiers of the Army's Second Brigade, Third Infantry Division found out after 'Good Morning America' aired their complaints.
... ? Oral evidence: Transcript2003-07-18Witness: DR DAVID KELLY, Special Adviser to the Director, Counter-proliferation and arms control, Ministry of Defence, examined.
... ? BBC NEWS | Politics | Timeline: Row over BBC report
... ? Guardian Unlimited Politics | Special Reports | Police hunting Dr Kelly find body
... ? Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy - The Winter Of The Long Hot Summer ...It all seemed so idiotic all the accusations of unpatriotic The fall we'll always remember, capitulating silence election November before the winter of the long hot summer Somewhere in the desert we raised the oil pressure and waited for the weather to get much better for the new wind to blow in the storm We tried to remember the history in the region the French foreign legion, Imperialism, Peter O'Toole and hate the Ayatollah were all we learned in school Not that we gave Hussein five billion Not of our new bed partner the Syrian and of course no mention of the Palestine situation It was amazing how they steamrolled They said eighty percent approval but there was no one that I knew polled No one had a reason for being in the Gulf We waited for congress to speak up illegal build up But no one would wake up Our representatives were Milli Vanilli's for corporate Dallas Cowboy Beverly Hillbillies With perfect timing the politicians rhyming their sentiments so nicely oil gold and sand my sediments precisely.... We regretfully support the lunacy I'm afraid there is no time for more scrutiny National unity preserve our community Teflon© election opportunities were in profundant abundance On January second the Bush administration announced a recession had stricken the Nation the highest quarterly earnings in ten years were posted by Chevron© Meanwhile a budget was placed in our hands as the deadline in the sand came to an end so much for the peace dividend one billion a day is what we spent and our grandchildren will pay for it 'til the end When schools are unfunded and kids don't get their diplomas they get used for gun boat diplomacy disproportionately black or brown we see bullet catchers for the slave master Then the conservatives called up reservists to active service left families nervous but more importantly broke nine hundred a month but the check came late, army red tape you see, this golden opportunity We watched the tube and read the newspaper The propaganda of the gas masked raper was the proper slander to whip up the hatred The stage was lit and the lights were all faded The pilots in night vision goggles Kuwaited and generals masturbated 'til the fifteenth two days later they invaded Not a single t.v. station expressed dissension or hardly made mention to the censorship of information from our kinder and gentler nation blinder and mentaler retardation DISORIENTATION The pilots said their bombs lit Baghdad like a Christmas tree It was the Christian thing to do you see they didn't mention any casualties no distinction between the real and the proxy only football analogies We saw the bomb hole We watched the Super Bowl We saw the scud missile We watched Bud© commercials We saw the yellow ribbons Saw pilots in prison We never saw films of the dead...at eleven Angela Davis addressed the spectators and shouting above a rumbling generator said if they insist on bringing us down then let's shut the whole country down Marching through the downtown A hundred thousand became participants and we heard the drums of millions off in the distance rushing through the cities some of them did things that weren't so pretty most were there for primal scream therapy news men concentrated on the negative liked the jingoists more peaceful protesters ended up on the cutting room floor Nintendo© casualties of the ratings war More bombs dropped than in World War II on in both Asian invasions, new world order persuasion, Business as usual for our nation Could you imagine a hundred fifty thousand dead, the city of Stockton coffins locked in when we clocked in...not to mention civilians The loss of life on both sides pushed the limits of resilience The scent of blood in our nostrils fuel of the fossil land of apostle The blackness that covered the sky was not the only thing that brought a tear to the eye or the taste of anger to the tongues of those too young to remember Vietnam Is heroin better in a veteran's mind than the memory of the dying laying in a line Is it the smell or the shadows heaving and weeping that keeps the soldier from sleeping as he sings the orphan's lullaby When the soldiers put down their bayonets the strings are chained to the marionettes Emir of Kuwait gets back in his jet we replace the dead with new cadets will we hate those who did the shelling or will we hate those who weren't willing to do the killing when the leaders of the bald eagles come home to roost will we sing a song of praise and indebtedness for our deliverance from evil or will we sing a song of sadness for the dreaded debt this mess delivered us PEOPLE.These lyrics still amaze me even after all these yrs...(must be nearly a decade or so now since I first heard this track....)...
... ? Yahoo! News - MIT Scientists Build Robotic SnailThe project carries a twofold purpose: first, to understand how the snail's mode of locomotion works, and secondly, to observe how liquids behave at a very small scale, a field known as microfluidics.
... ? U.S. Auto Deaths Hit 12-Year High in 2002 (washingtonpost.com)The number of people killed in sport utility rollover crashes rose 14 percent last year as total highway deaths hit a 12-year high at nearly 43,000, the U.S. government reported on Thursday.
... ? Gene length predicts depression risk: Some people are hit harder by stressful life events than others.2003-07-17Variation in a single gene may explain why some people weather stressful events while others are plunged into depression, say scientists. The gene, which encodes a protein called 5-HTT, reveals its influence when people experience divorce, debt, unemployment or other occasions of 'threat, loss, humiliation or defeat', Terrie Moffitt of King's College London and her colleagues have shown. They studied nearly 850 New Zealanders taking part in an ongoing health study
... ? CNN.com - U.N.:World can't afford rich China - Jul. 16, 2003China's ambitious economic growth plans are environmentally unachievable because the world does not have enough resources to allow its 1.3 billion people to become Western-style consumers, a U.N. official has said. Klaus Toepfer, head of the U.N. Environment Program, said Wednesday China's aim of quadrupling its economy by 2020 can only occur if developed nations radically change their consumption habits to free up scarce resources for the world's poor.
... ?BBC NEWS | Health | HIV 'more resistant to drugs'
The HIV virus is becoming increasingly resistant to drug treatments, researchers have warned. A study of 1,600 patients across Europe found one in 10 patients who have never taken antiretroviral drugs for HIV already had a resistance to at least one of them.
... ? BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Baghdad sexual violence 'rising'Sexual attacks have increased in Baghdad since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, according to a new report. The US-based Human Rights Watch says the rise in sexual violence is driving women indoors, and preventing them from taking part in Iraq's public life at a crucial time. The failure of the US led coalition forces and civilian administration in Baghdad to provide public security has made females more vulnerable to sexual violence and abduction, the report says.
... ?Wired 11.08: Totally Random
Now Noll is working with Cooper on an improved RNG called LavaRnd (which debuted in May at www.lavarnd.org). The new process replaces the lava lamps with a more Zen-like source of entropy: a webcam with its lens cap on. The chaotic thermal 'noise' emitted by the webcam is digitized and put through a hash algorithm that churns the number set, stripping unwanted sections of predictability. The result is a cryptographically strong sequence of numbers, ready for use in the real world. And because the new service is open source, patent-free, and license-free, anyone will be able to cheaply build and operate a LavaRnd server and receive the precious commodity free of charge - a random act of kindness.
... ? Women and meth: Fight for control - Former addict shows that users not always faces you expect
... ?BBC News | AMERICAS | Che Guevara photographer sues
The photographer who took the legendary shot of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara is suing the promoters of Smirnoff vodka for using the image in an advertising campaign.
... ? BBC NEWS | Magazine | Cool the Tube and win £100k
... ? 16 Words, and Counting
... ?Science Netlinks: What's a Germ?
What do germs, also called microbes, have to do with humans? Humans (and plants) are a place for germs to live. Think of it this way: humans need certain things to live, like oxygen, food, and water. If you take a human out of this safe, earthly environment and sent him or her to say, the moon, without food, water, and oxygen, he or she would not survive. Germs also need a certain environment in order to survive.
... ? Singlecell Blog - Shouts out to Danski....2003-07-16
... ? Kevin Lynch
... ? mesh on mx -News, resources, info and links on Macromedia MX, with a focus on Macromedia Flash MX from the Macromedia Flash Community Manager.
... ? TOMPAINE.com - Letting The Record SpeakWe at TomPaine.com have commented exhaustively on the Bush administration’s justification for war against Iraq. But sometimes just stating the record is more powerful than commenting on it.
... ? Turkey Uses U.S. Arms to Attack Kurds by Jennifer Washburn - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Thursday, September 7, 1995
... ?BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Storks' nest switch jolts scientists
Storks in Poland have set scientists an intriguing puzzle: to understand why they are changing their nesting habits. Traditionally the birds used to nest on the roofs of buildings and in trees. But over the last 25 years they have begun developing a marked preference for building their nests on electricity pylons instead.
... ? BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Press doubts over Iraqi council
... ? CNN.com - Tech jobs leave U.S. for India, Russia - Jul. 14, 20032003-07-14
... ? The Independent : 20 Lies About the War2003-07-13Falsehoods ranging from exaggeration to plain untruth were used to make the case for war. More lies are being used in the aftermath. By Glen Rangwala and Raymond Whitaker
... ? LUKA i fucking love you.........
... ? LUKA - ::::......::::...:::::::::.....
... ? a time for fear : I am the Desmond Morris of Doom.
... ? The Agonist--Breaking, Balanced News From Around The Globe
... ? Business Park Observer
... ? BBC NEWS | Business | How important is African oil?
... ? a time for fearWestern Military is a system of slaughter that remains at a safe distance, an invisible death-bringer, missiles delivered from mid-ocean, stealth bombers that disappear from radar. Predator systems, invisible hunters, anonymous aggressors. A clean and lethal spectacle, a pyrotechnical display. Western Military is like a research institution for avant garde technology (to return the term avant garde to something like its military origin) and every battle field is a testing ground, so every war is like a preparation for the next, and then the next for the next: each war a research lab for the ultimate war, the perfect war. And the perfect victory: the defeat of death. Security = desire for immortality.
... ?BBC NEWS | Health | HIV hideaway revealed
Scientists have discovered how HIV manages to avoid being eradicated by the latest antiretroviral drugs.
... ? BBC NEWS | World | From Our Own Correspondent | Stalin's ghost looms largeIt is 10 years since the self-styled Republic of Abkhazia broke away from Georgia and declared independence. Nobody recognises this land, where the Caucasus mountains meet the Black Sea, as a nation. So a decade on its people live cut off from the rest of the world. Most of their borders are closed, their economy throttled by an international economic embargo designed to force them to reunite with Georgia.
... ? Salon.com People | How do you design a "Keep Out!" sign to last 10,000 years?
... ? Public Record Office | About the PRO | Preserving the Archives | Digital Preservation
... ? The Observer | Special reports | What is al-Qaeda?In this extract from his new book, Al-Qaeda: Casting a shadow of terror, The Observer's chief reporter, Jason Burke, looks at the true nature of bin Laden's organisation and why the west's misunderstanding of the broad and diverse phenomenon of modern Islamic militancy undermines its response to terrorism
... ? The Observer | Special reports | We have lost the war on drugsThis is a government committed to 'evidence-based policy'. Its favourite question is 'what works?' But policy on drugs is not following this dictum and most of it is being made in ignorance. There is much we don't know. It is thought that drug crime is costing up to £20 billion a year, that drug-related crime accounts for 50 per cent of all offences and that possibly 80 per cent of prisoners are heroin or cocaine users.
... ? Gridwars 2 - The Battle for Processors
... ? New ScientistComputer scientists have found the ultimate way to debug their programs - let them compete against other programs in a gladiator-style tournament. Dubbed Grid Wars II, the contest held at the ClusterWorld conference in San Jose, California, last month was like a software version of television's Robot Wars and Battle Bots. In each battle, programs fought to gain control of processing power in a huge parallel computer.
... ? CNN.com - Frank Lloyd Wright gas station breaks ground - Jul. 11, 2003
... ? EE Times - 'Augmented reality' speeding assembly and service tasks
... ? Taylor Mali - Totally Like Whatever2003-07-12In case you hadn't noticed, it has somehow become uncool to sound like you know what you're talking about? Or believe strongly in what you're saying? Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences? Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?
... ? I, Cringely | The Pulpit - Shooting Ourselves in the FootGrandiose Schemes for Electronic Eavesdropping May Hurt More Than They Help
... ? Drug Policy AllianceDrug Policy Alliance is the nation's leading organization working to end the war on drugs and promote new drug policies based on science, compassion, health and human rights. The Alliance, headquartered in New York City, maintains offices in California, Washington DC, New Mexico, and New Jersey. Ethan Nadelmann is the executive director.
... ? Bush's Approval Rating Drops Sharply (washingtonpost.com)Taken together, the latest survey findings suggest that the mix of euphoria and relief that followed America's quick victory in Iraq continues to dissipate, creating an uncertain and volatile political environment. The risks are perhaps most obvious for Bush, whose continued high standing with the American people has been fueled largely by his handling of the war on terrorism and, more recently, the war in Iraq.
... ? Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Fleet of rubber ducks heads for dry land after 11-year Arctic odyssey
... ?WARP RECORDS | LUKE VIBERT | AMEN ANDREWS VOLUME ONE | CAT138
If you remember the Plug records of eight or so years ago you’ll recall Luke’s pretty canny with the drum and bass template, and the Amen Andrews sound takes off from where those records ended. These records might seem retro on the surface, but they’re more like unfinished business, taking all the best bits and twisting them with character and flair. They’re fantastic fun, and adhere to the original Jungle feeling of pure energy on wax.
... ? Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | US and Europe on brink of trade war
... ? The Spectator.co.uk : Back to the drawing boardIn his chapter on ‘The Eclipse of Learning’, Spalding describes how difficult it is nowadays for a young artist to find the right language with which to express his or her ideas. The loss of the old atelier system is noted, but even worse, and not mentioned, is the disappearance of the craft ladder which enabled aspiring artists of the past to realise their dreams. Hogarth engraved silver; Turner coloured lithographs; David Roberts painted stage scenery; Renoir decorated china. None of these possibilities is open to today’s ‘fine art’ students. They are under great pressure to be ‘creative’ and to ‘express themselves’, but they have not been taught the skills with which to do so, as it is no longer thought necessary to learn to draw, paint, carve or model. The divorce between art and craft is complete. No wonder there is so much angst and misery at these places. Spalding underestimates the depths of the slough of despond into which our art schools have sunk. As Professor Anthony Storr wrote, ‘Introspection is the accomplice of self-distrust and the enemy of action.’ Yet introspection is encouraged as never before.
... ? Audiopad VideosIt is a composition and performance instrument for electronic music which tracks the positions of objects on a tabletop surface and converts their motion into music. One can pull sounds from a giant set of samples, juxtapose archived recordings against warm synthetic melodies, cut between drum loops to create new beats, and apply digital processing all at the same time on the same table. Audiopad not only allows for spontaneous reinterpretation of musical compositions, but also creates a visual and tactile dialogue between itself, the performer, and the audience.
... ? OJR article: Moblogs Seen as a Crystal Ball for a New Era in Online JournalismBut futurist Howard Rheingold says the ultimate democratization of the media will not be about technological advances; rather, it will entail upholding old-fashioned standards to earn viewers' trust.
... ? ABCNEWS.com : Concert Tours Are Where the Real Money Is
... ? Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Using new tools to attack the roots of crimeContinuing his major investigation into the criminal justice system, Nick Davies reveals how New Labour faced up to the failure of traditional policing, launched a radical new attack on crime - and mangled it
... ? Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Trading on fearFrom the start, the invasion of Iraq was seen in the US as a marketing project. Selling 'Brand America' abroad was an abject failure; but at home, it worked. Manufacturers of 4x4s, oil prospectors, the nuclear power industry, politicians keen to roll back civil liberties - all seized the moment to capitalise on the war. PR analysts Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber explain how it worked.
... ? BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | US 'needs help in Iraq'The Bush administration is coming under growing domestic pressure over its Iraq strategy amid continuing attacks on US forces in the country. The US Senate has voted unanimously to urge President George W Bush to consider asking Nato and the United Nations for help in rebuilding Iraq.
... ? news.independent.co.uk: Revealed: first dossier also dodgy
... ? BBC NEWS | Health | Sleeping on it works
... ? CNN.com - Giant Chilean beach 'blob' identified - Jul. 11, 20032003-07-11
... ? -.: LOGARHYTHM :.-
... ? TASCHEN Books: Digital - New Titles - Taschen's 1000 Favorite Websites - Facts
... ? THE MESSYBEAST CAT RESOURCE ARCHIVE : CURIOUS CATS
... ? MEN1 : "The hidden mysteries within bonus high frequencies"
... ?Hearing Difference: The Seme A skip in the record lands us where we are today. But what did we miss where the needle of history skipped?
... ? Blog of Cynthia Typaldos (via connected selves )
... ? connected selves (via Abstract Dynamics )danah boyd: As a researcher in social networks, i noticed that i was regularly blogging about Friendster and the emerging social network tools that are emerging. Since this is my area of research, i decided to dedicate this blog to tracking the digital discussions on social networks tools and record her own reflections on the matter. This blog is intended as a resource for myself and the general academic community as a consolidated space for me to process what i'm learning.
... ? Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Boston ambushWhy is Reggie Cummings persuading large groups of black people to go to bars and nightclubs previously frequented only by whites? Gary Younge went along to find out
... ? Organic robot creates art in Australia: ZDNet Australia: News & Tech: E-Business
... ? BBC NEWS | Politics | 'Joke's on you,' says the Westminster blogger
... ? Guardian Unlimited | Online | The war on the webAnthony Cox describes how his spoof error page turned into a 'Google bomb' for weapons of mass destruction "
... ? CNN.com - Logging off ... for good - Jul. 9, 2003I spend the majority of my workday online, and try to remember how I did things before the Internet. I often wonder what I -- or anyone -- did without this information superhighway. Yet a large number of Americans are happily getting off at the first available exit.
... ? Negligence in Afghanistan
... ? The Smoking Gun: Archive2003-07-10After Ruben Studdard was crowned the newest 'American Idol,' outraged fans of runner-up Clay Aiken claimed that the show's voting was rigged to favor the morbidly obese Alabaman. Aiken acolytes were so upset that they swamped the Federal Communications Commission with letters accusing Fox Television of sabotaging Clay's chances by limiting his fans's ability to get through on phone lines and vote for the North Carolina beanpole.
... ? James GleickA while ago I worked with three developers at Autodesk on a project way out of their main line, to illustrate — and give people a way of playing with — some of the ideas in my book Chaos. This became Chaos: The Software, a DOS program by Rudy Rucker, Josh Gordon, and John Walker. Autodesk doesn't sell it anymore, so we're making it freely available here, and we're offering the source, too, in case anyone wants to fool around with it.
... ? The Pentagon's Plan for Tracking Everything That Moves
... ? NEWS.com.au | Marriage 'tames' geniuses, criminals (July 10, 2003)
... ? The Best Page In The Universe.
... ? Victims of the War on Drugs (washingtonpost.com)Benton Harbor is not the first or last anti-police race riot. The pattern is always the same: a poor community ravaged by drugs, a history of real and perceived police misconduct, a racially charged spark, then riots. Terrance Shurn was Benton Harbor's spark. He died after crashing his motorcycle June 16. He wouldn't stop for police. He might have been running to avoid a drug conviction. His license was suspended. Had I stopped him, I would have searched him, legally. I would have found the small bag of marijuana he was carrying. Suddenly, it's jail and a criminal drug conviction.
... ? Times Online : Fans who download music 'buy more CDs'A Music Research and Programming spokesman said: “One of the main reasons behind these surprising results is that downloading is actually a ‘try before you buy’ tool for a significant amount of people. It allows people to sample new music and decide whether or not to buy an album — it is not necessarily a replacement for purchase.
... ? Wired News: New Memory That Doesn't ForgetWith both Motorola and IBM firmly lined up behind a single contender, the five-year search for a 'universal RAM' technology offering a combination of non-volatility and high-speed random access appears to be all but over.
... ? BBC NEWS | Politics | Iraq weapons 'unlikely to be found'Senior figures inside Whitehall no longer believe weapons of mass destruction are likely to turn up in Iraq, the BBC has learned. The BBC's political editor Andrew Marr says 'very senior sources' have virtually ruled out the possibility of finding weapons in Iraq.
... ? Mastication is normal: a journal -- Behind the Typeface: Cooper Black2003-07-09
... ? flight404
... ? v-2 Organisation | news | Aftermath: exhausted, satisfied, grateful"My own personal hope is that moblogging remains a true bottom-up phenomenon, that the institutional forces currently supplying/defining/containing mass culture are squeezed out of this play by the hundred million voices of the user base. Call me strange, but I think your life, and yours, and yours - all of your lives, and the choices you make in them, are infinitely more interesting to me than the umpteenth tired Terminator film, or whatever. "
... ?Tessellating Animations
... ? USATODAY.com - Welcome to the Blogosphere
... ? Aphex Twin - Sónar 2003 - Barcelona - Photos & Video clips2003-07-08
... ? Jim Gray. Distributed Computing Economics
... ? En Guardian!Then, during the next break in the conference, Rusbridger took me across the street to his office and showed me the prototype for the new American Guardian. Its tentative form is as a weekly magazine, quite unlike any other weekly magazine that has been started in the U.S. in the past generation. Not only is it about politics (Rusbridger is looking to launch in the winter to cover the presidential-primary season), but the magazine—meant to be 60 percent derived from the Guardian itself, with the rest to come from American contributors—has a great deal of text unbroken by design elements. This is almost an extreme notion. Quite the antithesis of what virtually every publishing professional would tell you is the key to popular and profitable publishing—having less to read, not more. Even with the Guardian’s signature sans-serif face, it looks like an old-fashioned magazine. Polemical. Written. Excessive. Contentious. Even long-winded.
... ? Apple grabs "Extraordinary" soundtrack | CNET.comApple Computer said it has nabbed the exclusive U.S. rights to distribute the soundtrack to 20th Century Fox's 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.' Apple is selling the album for $9.99 as an online download, with no physical CDs being made for the U.S. market. The soundtrack includes a score by composer Trevor Jones and features performances by the London Symphony Orchestra and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
... ?BBC NEWS | Technology | Mobiles ring with sounds of the wild
Wildlife recordings from the British Library's sound archive have been turned into mobile phone ringtones.
... ? Yahoo! News - Samsung Electronics bans camera phones from key factories
... ? Boston Globe Online / Sunday | Focus / He and she: What's the real difference?According to a team of computer scientists, we give away our gender in our writing style
... ? Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | MPs' fury at secret US trials of 'terror' BritonsAsked whether Britain accepted that the convention does not apply to prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Mr Mullin said: 'It is something we have discussed with the US, and frankly we disagree with them about it.'
... ? Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | 'Idleness is good'2003-07-07
... ? Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Gay bishop forced out by Lambeth PalaceThe first openly gay bishop to be appointed in the Church of England yesterday succumbed to pressure from the Archbishop of Canterbury and withdrew from his appointment as Bishop of Reading.
... ? Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Being 16Today's G2 has been produced by 10 16-year-olds. They spent last week at the Guardian - planning, writing and editing - and have put together an issue which includes a Q&A with an Iraqi of the same age, a spoof Harry Potter, an interview with Sara Cox, and much, much more. Here they ask a few older (and better known) people about what they remember of their teenage years - and what they think of that age group now.
... ? The .NET Guy
... ? BBC NEWS | World | Americas | The unlucky Mercury 13Forty years ago, Russian Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. But while it was a cause for great celebration in the former USSR, her achievement finally ended the hopes of a secret group of US women - known as Mercury 13 - aiming to claim the title.
... ? USATODAY.com - Bush pushes for next generation of nukesLast year the White House released, to little publicity, the 2002 Nuclear Posture Review. That policy paper embraces the use of nuclear weapons in a first strike and on the battlefield; it also says a return to nuclear testing may soon be necessary. It was coupled with a request for $70 million to study and develop new types of nuclear weapons and to shorten the time it would take to test them.
... ? MOBLOGS: From the mob into the corporation?
... ? Applying Tufte's rules
... ? Estonia, where being wired is a human right | csmonitor.com
... ? The Lure of Data: Is It Addictive?2003-07-06
... ? GameDev.net -- Chris Crawford on Game Design, Chapter 21: Balance of Power
... ? Popular Science | A Car Stereo That Can Kill You? Cool.There may be no weirder tech-to-tech combat than the fight to build the world's most powerful sound system.
... ? www.petebarrwatson.com : 1imc - the conference
... ? Germany in June: the 1953 uprising in national memory Wolfgang Schuller - openDemocracyThe popular revolt for freedom and reunification across East Germany in June 1953 was crushed by state violence. These convulsive events had regional, national, and international dimensions that are only now being fully registered in German historical and popular memory. Are the June days trauma or triumph, national wound or source of pride? And to whom do they belong?
... ? Breaking the drug-crime linkThus, the question that supporters and opponents of drug prohibition endlessly debate, “Do drugs, or drug laws, cause crime?” presents a false dichotomy. The answer to both halves of the question is “Yes.” In this essay, we will try to answer a more productive question: What drug policies would work best to minimize predatory crime? The question is difficult to answer, given the complexity of the problem and the uncertainty surrounding key factual questions. A reasonable first step is to review the empirical evidence about the potential links between drugs and such predatory crimes as theft and assault.
... ? A genealogy of anti-AmericanismA genuine dialogue between America and Europe will become possible only when Europeans start the long and arduous process of freeing themselves from the grip of anti-Americanism - a process, fortunately, that several courageous European intellectuals have already launched. But it is also important for Americans not to fall into the error of using anti-Americanism as an excuse to ignore all criticisms made of their country.
... ? BBC SPORT | Tour de France 2003
... ? Guardian Unlimited Books | By genre | Will Self: It's a wild, Wilde worldWill Self knows something about repressed, homosexual, aristocratic drug addicts
... ? The Observer | Magazine | Iraq: the human tollAs news reporters tracked troops on the road to Baghdad, much of the suffering and loss of ordinary Iraqi civilians was left untold. Until now. Here, in a compelling dispatch, award-winning foreign correspondent Ed Vulliamy goes in search of their stories
... ? CNN.com - Sex, mob hits: Sims tests virtual morals - Jul. 5, 20032003-07-05
... ? SubIntSoc: The Situation Room
... ? WARP RECORDS | WARPNEWS : LFO New AlbumThe long awaited new album from LFO is here. 'Sheath' is released on 22nd September 2003, preceded by a single in August that will make you 'Freak'. All design is by the Designers Republic. This is the first LFO record since 1996's 'Advance', and reflects what Mark Bell has been up to in the intervening years...
... ? climateprediction.net portalThe climateprediction.net experiment has been developed to allow a state-of-the-art climate prediction model to be run on home/ school/ work computers. By getting data from thousands of climate models, we will generate the world's largest climate prediction experiment.
... ? Hubble Catches Some Cosmic FireworksThe smoky filaments seen in Hubble's optical image are sheets of debris from the exploded star that are slamming into dense molecular clouds in the surrounding interstellar medium. The impact ionizes atoms and causes them to glow. The remnant's knotty, filamentary structures are also seen at x-ray wavelengths.
... ? Wired News: What a Difference 20 Cents MakesListen.com on Tuesday said it has seen a nearly 100 percent increase in CD burning among subscribers to its Rhapsody online music service since cutting its fee to 79 cents from 99 cents per track.
... ? Science historians ponder naming 'enemies' in science literatureIn a perspective article published in the July 4, 2003 issue of the journal Science, Arizona State University biologists and historians of science Matthew Chew and Manfred Laubichler discuss a fundamental problem in the science of ecology – its use of metaphorical language. In the process, they are asking a question that has even greater consequences: can the way scientists communicate their findings warp or even dangerously mislead our perspective on science's meaning?
... ? Scientists Enhance Ability to Feel (washingtonpost.com)Giving new meaning to 'sensitivity training,' scientists have developed a simple way to greatly enhance the human body's ability to feel subtle sensations. The enhanced sensitivity, achieved with a tiny stimulating device and a single dose of a drug, has reversed fingertip numbness in older people, many of whom have trouble performing everyday tasks such as buttoning shirts or turning switches on and off. Researchers said they suspect it could also help blind people read Braille. And applying the technique to the feet might prevent falls in diabetics who have lost sensation in their toes, which are crucial for balance.
... ? Slashdot | Project Gutenberg's 32nd Birthday
... ? Guardian Unlimited | Online | The real picture : With myriad practical uses, picture phones are gaining acceptance, writes Sean Dodson
... ? BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Lightning hits preacher after call to God
... ? Microsoft e-book software cracked | CNET News.com2003-07-04
... ? Shockwave Fireworks
... ? 20 days in spring, 2003
... ? Shirky: A Group Is Its Own Worst EnemyI want to talk about a pattern I've seen over and over again in social software that supports large and long-lived groups. And that pattern is the pattern described in the title of this talk: 'A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy.'
... ?v-2 Organisation | media culture | Whatever happened to serendipity?
Moblogging: its history, present, and future. A presentation to the First International Moblogging Conference, Tokyo, 05 July 2003. We're here today to talk about moblogging, and the interesting thing about moblogging is that everyone has a slightly different take on just what that word means. When we were putting together the agenda for this conference, we very deliberately did not say, well, this is moblogging and that is not. We wanted to cast a wide net, and the result is the diversity of presentations we've seen today, from GPS-based shared photo albums to phone-to-Web hacks. This sort of agnosticism is exactly what is needed at this point in the evolution of any technology and associated practice: let a hundred flowers bloom, and all that.
... ? Review of James Boyle's Shamans, Software, and Spleens (Thanks, Andie..)..James Boyle''s central thesis in Shamans, Software, and Spleens: Law and the Construction of the Information Society is that the romantic notion of the author as a solitary individual who creates something 'original' and 'transformative' drives much of intellectual property law. Boyle maintains that while this basis for intellectual property laws largely works, the current uncritical, even dogmatic, acceptance of the idea of an originary author can tend obscure the problems this system may create. As we move increasingly into an 'Information Age,' Boyle sees a pressing need to interrogate the language of entitlement built upon the romantic notion of authorship in order to understand how we mediate the 'ownership' of information.
... ? BBC NEWS | Technology | Tools reveal secret life of documents
... ? Planet discovery raises hope of solar system like our ownAstronomers have discovered a planet resembling Jupiter orbiting a Sun much like our own 90 light years away, raising hopes of finding other planets similar to Earth outside our solar system. The find brings the number of 'extrasolar' planets detected so far to 115 since the first in 1995. But, significantly, the latest most resembles our own solar system, implying that there are planetary systems of a similar nature - and perhaps even with life - in our stellar neighbourhood.
... ? Antiwar Thinking: Acknowledge Despair, Highlight Progress on Moral PreemptionIn today's moment of deep anguish over the war, it is important to recognize the reasons for hope and pride, both in the United States and across the globe. Never in history has there been such an outpouring of resistance from average people all around the world before a war had even begun. Millions took a stand. This doctrine of moral and popular preemption must be sustained.
... ? Verbal Attack: The emails of Dave Suthibut -2003-07-03Well, as one of those desperate job seekers who sent out thousands of resumes to jobs I felt I was qualified for -- and who was treated with thinly veiled ennui by the few interviewers with whom I managed to gain face time -- I finally decided enough was enough. It was time that someone fought back against the opportunistic, greedy employers and their unrealistic expectations. If they were going to act arrogant and self-important, then I was going to respond in kind -- by appplying to jobs using the most obnoxious, aggressive attitude I could muster. I decided to begin all email job inquiries by asking how much they were paying, and how many vacation days I would get. I also adopted a terse, blunt writing style that made it sound like I was doing employers a favor just by inquiring about the job. Bascially, I decided to act like a complete asshole, because, in my opinion, that's how many employers were (and still are) acting.
... ? Microsimulation of road traffic - Java App
... ? Levitated | Spherical Magnfication
... ? Levitated | Walking Things
... ?Cannot find Weapons of Mass Destruction
These Weapons of Mass Destruction cannot be displayed. The weapons you are looking for are currently unavailable. The country might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your weapons inspectors mandate.
... ? Exclaim! Canada's Music Authority :The Outer Reaches of the Blogosphere - Online Diaries Are Vain, Silly and Essential
... ? Unbrand AmericaToday (Thursday July 3rd) we kicked off our Unbrand America groundswell with a full-page black spot jam in the New York Times.
... ? ColorWhore - a directory of nice colors
... ? PaidContent.org: July 02, 2003 ArchivesBitPass, a new micropayments/aggregation payments company, has just launched in beta. It works on the principle of stored value in a card and then spending it (pre-paid card)...a model that has been tried in many iterations before this.
... ? Source Ordered ColumnsSo you want a three column layout, and the footer must stay below the cols no matter which one is longest. Not too tuff, just have a static col, and two cols floated left and right, then 'clear' the footer. The longest col will always keep the footer pinned to its bottom edge.
... ?Escape Studios Ridley Scott Awards
This is an initiative by Escape Studios, Ridley Scott and the sponsors to seek out and support new and undiscovered creative talent for the Visual Effects, Animation and Games industries. With the UK becoming recognized as a strong force in these areas it is vital to maintain all efforts to encourage and develop the next generation of artists.
... ? Greg Bear: News: FORGE OF GOD at Warner BrothersThe deal is excellent, the 'scripment' by Ken Nolan is extraordinary and very faithful to the novel, and Warner Bros.' enthusiasm and commitment to the project is exemplary. The deal was made at the behest of and with the total involvement of the highest management at Warner Bros., and was completed within one day of negotiation. Warner Bros. has expressed a desire to have all the elements in place to begin production as soon as possible. A director is not yet attached, but may be soon. The goal of this project is ultimately to create a monumental, hard-sf motion picture trilogy, dealing with interstellar crime and punishment, completing the themes developed in The Forge of God (Tor 1987) and Anvil of Stars (Warner Books, 1992).
... ? Norman Mailer : The New York Review of Books: The White Man UnburdenedExeunt: lightning and thunder, shock and awe. Dust, ash, fog, fire, smoke, sand, blood, and a good deal of waste now move to the wings. The stage, however, remains occupied. The question posed at curtain-rise has not been answered. Why did we go to war? If no real weapons of mass destruction are found, the question will keen in pitch.Mailers still going strong...and long may he continue - I owe much of my love of US Lit (and, in turn, elements of the US itself) to my teenage discovery of a tatty copy of "Advertisements for Myself" in a Colchester used book store...
... ? Government, industry warn of mass hacker attacks on July 6The government and private technology experts warned Wednesday that hackers plan to attack thousands of Web sites Sunday in a loosely coordinated 'contest' that could disrupt Internet traffic. Organizers established a Web site, defacers-challenge.com, which was shut down early Wednesday evening. Before it was removed, the site listed in broken English the rules for hackers who might participate. It cautioned that 'deface its crime' -- an apparent acknowledgment that vandalizing Internet pages is illegal.
... ? Confessions of a Closet SituationistTrapped in mouse-potato-dom, most of us are docile spectators, our idle hands forever deprived of the tactile satisfaction of actually making things. This enforced passivity has dire consequences for the brain. There is evidence that toolmaking is linked to the development of language. Our hands are connected to our gray matter by a crisscrossing network of nerve pathways that travel back and forth from the right brain to the left hand and from left brain to the right hand. So, while manual dexterity stimulates our central nervous system, simple spectatorship numbs the mind.
... ? news.independent.co.uk : Human cells used to make paralysed rats walkCells from human embryos could be used to help some people with spinal injuries to walk again, successful work involving rats has indicated.
... ? The Beethoven Mystery - Why haven't we figured out his Ninth Symphony yet? By Jan SwaffordOne reason is its mystery. Figuratively speaking, everybody knows the Ninth. But has anybody really understood it? The harder you look, the odder it gets. In a singular way, the Ninth enfolds the apparently contradictory qualities of the epic and the slippery.
... ?Dung Beetles Navigate by the Moon, Study Says
Out on the African savanna, a fresh and moist pile of fine-grained antelope dung is a nutritious treasure aggressively fought over by a melee of critters. The spoils go to those with the craftiest strategies to snatch and stash a piece of the pie. To gain an edge in this battle for the poop, the African dung beetle Scarabaeus zambesianus orients itself by the polarized light pattern cast by the moon to make a straight, nighttime escape with its morsel, according to Marie Dacke, a biologist at the University of Lund in Sweden.
... ? Join Us As We Conquer the World!
... ? Reuters | Genome Survey Finds Depression Genes2003-07-02U.S. researchers using the newly published human gene map said on Wednesday they had identified 19 different genetic regions linked with depression. The findings could eventually lead to better treatments and screening for depression and related conditions, such as addiction, a leading cause of disability in the United States.
... ?BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Giant blob baffles marine scientists
The 12-metre-wide remains of a sea creature found by the Chilean navy are puzzling marine scientists, who think it may be a new species.
... ? 2600 | Off The Hook June 2003 - Show MP3s
... ? Google Press Center: ZeitgeistFor both breaking news and obscure information alike, people around the world search on Google at www.google.com. With a bit of analysis, this flurry of searches often exposes interesting trends, patterns, and surprises.
... ? Color Blender
... ? QuickColor: KOHAISTYLE.COM - Handy Colour Scheme Toy
... ?
... ? AnandTech: Distributed Computing FAQ UpdateWith the huge potential of today's processors, the CPU's execution units sit idle in the eternity between your keyboard strokes when you are not performing something intensive like encoding a movie or playing a game. What if you could harness all that idle time and put your processor to doing something useful? Something like searching for a cure for a currently incurable disease, or trying to prove some esoteric mathematical law, or looking for life in outer-space? All fine and grand-sounding, but they all seem like daunting tasks when you try to do it all by yourself.
... ? Asia Times - Islam under siegeThe world's 1.3 billion Muslims are being squeezed between two equally strong forces. On the one hand are the forces of the West that want to modernize them, if need be through regime change. On the other hand are the forces of Osama bin Laden who want to de-Westernize them, if need be by wrapping their women in dark flowing robes. The pain is being shared equally by the two-thirds of the Muslim population that lives in Muslim countries, and who are often governed by tyrants that suppress all independent scholarship and dissent and the one-third that lives in non-Muslim countries, where even some of the longest standing democracies are rapidly regressing toward tyrannical control over their Muslim minorities.
