Prosecutors say Earnest James Ujaama, 36, who was born James Earnest Thompson, conspired to create an al-Qaida boot camp in rural Oregon. Ujaama also helped al-Qaida with computer training and Internet propaganda, according to the 9-page indictment released late Wednesday.

Posted by GeeTee at August 31, 2002 01:27 PM | TrackBack 0

His manager says Lionel Hampton died this morning in a New York City hospital. He was 94 and had been in failing health. Hampton was a virtuoso of the vibraphone and jammed with Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker and Quincy Jones during a six-decade career.

Posted by GeeTee at August 31, 2002 01:21 PM | TrackBack 0

The details of the plot are contained in a 90-page indictment against Mounir El Motassadeq, 28, the only person in German custody in connection with the attacks. The indictment charges El Motassadeq with belonging to a terrorist group and with 3,000 counts of being an accessory to murder.

Posted by GeeTee at August 31, 2002 12:17 PM | TrackBack 0

The ceremony also brings Whelan closer to the man he was convicted of murdering. Thomas D'Arcy McGee is buried in the same cemetery.

Posted by GeeTee at August 30, 2002 06:25 PM | TrackBack 0

"Although wireless Internet usage is still in its relative infancy, these data prove there already is a significant wireless Web audience," said Peter Daboll, president of the comScore Media Metrix Internet measurement unit.

There is in fact an AvantGo version of Moon Farmer that seems to have tested out fine.

Posted by GeeTee at August 30, 2002 06:22 PM | TrackBack 0

The Alberta government will go to court to seek temporary guardianship of an eight-year-old Calgary boy who was found carrying three grams of crack cocaine, Children's Services Minister Iris Evans said Wednesday.

Posted by GeeTee at August 30, 2002 06:17 PM | TrackBack 0

The government's prosecution of Larry Benedict, 45, is unusual because all the evidence in the case is electronic, and all of the evidence appears to have been allegedly tampered with or otherwise altered after it was in government custody.

Posted by GeeTee at August 30, 2002 06:05 PM | TrackBack 0

"I think it would be a nice message if Umbro would take out an ad offering a recall -- 'We found a defect in our Zyklon B shoes. Bring them back and get a new pair of shoes free.' That would send a message: trade in garbage and get perfectly good shoes."

Posted by GeeTee at August 30, 2002 05:43 PM | TrackBack 0

In all three tests, subjects' ratings of their ability were positively linked to their actual scores. But the lowest-ranked participants showed much greater distortions in their self-estimates. Asked to evaluate their performance on the test of logical reasoning, for example, subjects who scored only in the 12th percentile guessed that they had scored in the 62nd percentile, and deemed their overall skill at logical reasoning to be at the 68th percentile.

Posted by GeeTee at August 30, 2002 05:12 PM | TrackBack 0

...the foundation's advertising agency McCarthy Moon said companies feared flaccid penises breached advertising standards and motorists craning their necks to look could cause accidents.

Posted by GeeTee at August 30, 2002 05:07 PM | TrackBack 0

A nicely done site by some real science fiction fans.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 30, 2002 07:57 AM | TrackBack 0

Combining fine silks, rich velvets and precious gems. Vulva Puppets are infused with potpourri, signed and dated. I give them names from Goddess lores, Fairy tales or Femmes of literature depending on who they inspire.

Posted by GeeTee at August 30, 2002 06:01 AM | TrackBack 0

But a divorce-court judge, Juergen Borchert, offered another explanation: fathers working long hours to beat poverty and mothers being trapped in the home with the kids.

Posted by GeeTee at August 30, 2002 04:30 AM | TrackBack 0

To date, the authors have obtained lists of sites to check via web directories, search engines, and other automated data-extraction systems. To help broaden the list of pages tested and to provide the general public a means of finding out whether particular pages of interest are filtered, we have created the form below, which will run a realtime query via our methods. We consider this approach an experiment in "open research"; we are as yet uncertain whether sites submitted and tested using this system will in fact broaden our pool of tested sites, but we will analyze submissions and publish results when available.

hypercube.org and Moon Farmer are available in China. Joy!

Posted by GeeTee at August 29, 2002 06:39 AM | TrackBack 0

IE has now reached 96 percent market penetration, according to StatMarket, up from 87 percent a year ago. Mozilla gained some market share when it finally reached a 1.0 release earlier this year, but browsers such as Mozilla and Opera still only accounted for less than 1 percent of the market, StatMarket said.

Posted by GeeTee at August 29, 2002 05:26 AM | TrackBack 0

For Laura.

buffy is about friends.

buffy is about defeating the soulless demons. demons that haunt us everywhere. the vampires go poof into smoke, the rest of the demons don't for some reason.

buffy is about loving those who are the hardest to love.

buffy is about trying to figure out the question of good and evil. i keep forgetting the answer.

buffy is a super hero. love is her kryptonite.

buffy will make you laugh, cry, and mostly sit on the edge of your seat.

buffy is about the double meat palace.

buffy will make you want to do karate kicks when nobody is looking.

buffy is about evil robots that want to take over the world.

buffy is a chick that can kick ass.

buffy is violent, sexual, and filled with magic.

may buffy slay your demons tonite.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 28, 2002 11:05 PM | TrackBack 0

"To know a kid was being raped and murdered below you is probably going to have a long-term effect."

Posted by GeeTee at August 28, 2002 07:08 PM | TrackBack 0

Most HPAs are stable only in acid solutions, and human blood is neutral. Nyman's HPA, however, is different. It is stable in neutral and basic solutions, meaning it could be ideal to trap viruses - including AIDS - in the human body.

Posted by GeeTee at August 28, 2002 04:57 PM | TrackBack 0

[Professor Hermann Burchard] believes the plan will work for objects up to 10 kilometres wide, and is a simple way of saving the planet.

Posted by GeeTee at August 28, 2002 03:20 PM | TrackBack 0

The Target Corporation said today that it will remove shorts and hats with neo-Nazi symbols for "Heil Hitler" from its 1,100 stores.

Posted by GeeTee at August 28, 2002 02:24 PM | TrackBack 0

The content community would like to expand the scope of the DMCA to have the service provider block infringing sites that are not located on our network and to use digital rights management tools to stop peer-to-peer transmissions. But these infringements occur on the users' hard drives, not (on) our networks. We're just a conduit. Their strategy right now is to use DRM bills as a way to reopen the DMCA and to get remedies through forcing technologies on other industries.

Posted by GeeTee at August 28, 2002 12:18 PM | TrackBack 0

If the discussion draft were to become law, it would outlaw the possession of computer viruses, authorize police to order Internet providers to retain logs of all Web browsing for up to six months, and permit police to obtain a search warrant allowing them to find "hidden electronic and digital devices" that a suspect might be concealing. In most circumstances, a court order would be required for government agents to conduct Internet monitoring.

Posted by GeeTee at August 28, 2002 12:08 PM | TrackBack 0

The report found that some workers spend more than one entire workday each week surfing non-work-related Web sites while at their desks. News, e-commerce and even porn sites are among the most popular online destinations. The survey revealed that 67 percent of workers access news sites for personal reasons and 37 percent access shopping and auction sites while in the office. In addition, 2 percent of employees admit accessing pornography and 2 percent admit gambling online at work.

Posted by GeeTee at August 28, 2002 11:19 AM | TrackBack 0

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 27, 2002 09:01 PM | TrackBack 0

"I've been producing SatireWire by myself for 159 Internet years (2.67 Earth years), and in a staff meeting yesterday, I all agreed it's time for me to move on," said Marlatt. "While the decision was certainly difficult, the meeting was actually quite harmonious. I brought doughnuts."

Posted by GeeTee at August 27, 2002 05:33 PM | TrackBack 0

"Intermolecular forces come into play because the gecko foot hairs split and come into close contact with the surface. This creates a strong adhesive force," Autumn said.

Posted by GeeTee at August 27, 2002 10:49 AM | TrackBack 0

Aloha,

You may know from hypercube.org/allergy (though I didn't until recently), I've been in dubious health for the last twenty years, and it's only the blindest of luck and fickle affections of the Great Magnet that has kept my liver from exploding all over my shoes. This is not an ideal situation in which to sustain writing a novel (though I've tried, hypercube.org/cockluck), a serial (tried that too, hypercube.org/fish) or even regular-enough essays on random topics (you get the idea).

(Or you may not know; I may be e-mailing you strictly because I like your site, or I like your site and you link to my site, or I like you, or I think you'll like me once you get to know me, or at least you'll like my new project.)

I have, however, been photographing constantly (hypercube.org/photo) and I still take a lot of notes that might someday turn into something structured -- but not today. Inspired by a comment from Shad Muegge (moonfarmer.org) and the photo essays of Tony Pierce (tonypierce.com/blog), the lascivious ramblings of dobbs (victoryshag.com), and a set of unpublishable letters someone who doesn't exist, I give you 1/2 OK (hypercube.org/ok). (If your workplace is stiff about 4 letter words, you might want to check this site at home. No nudity though.)

1/2 OK is postcards (and probably eventually full letters) from me or someone else or someone who doesn't exist to maybe you, maybe somebody else, maybe somebody of me, maybe somebody of somebody else. If you want to help, send me a real paper postcard in the mail, so that I can scan and use the postmark myself. If you give me your URL I'll link back to you with any of my postcards using your mark.

(If you _really_ want to help, postcard-sized signed 300 dpi prints are available at $15 USD + shipping. Also, if there's a postcard you really like, I can set up a Cafepress item (cafepress.com) using that graphic -- anything from clocks to mousepads to boxer shorts to 23x35 posters -- for $15 + Cafepress minimum price + shipping. But I really want your postmarks.)

Even if you're in the same town as me, or know somebody else in your town sending me a postcard, send one anyhow. Send lots. Send one every day if you want.

(E-mail gtaylor@hypercube.org for mailing address -- don't delay!)

Thanks, and remember to visit hypercube.org/ok ,

GT

Posted by GeeTee at August 27, 2002 08:55 AM | TrackBack 1

"Parody under the law doesn't magically fend off trademark infringements," said Gregory Phillips, attorney with Howard Phillips and Andersen. "In our view, this is the same thing as 'Enjoy Cocaine.'"

Posted by GeeTee at August 27, 2002 07:55 AM | TrackBack 0

Under the settlement, DoubleClick will adopt privacy-related restrictions that include giving consumers access to their online profiles, verifying its compliance with the agreement, and paying $450,000 for the states' investigative costs and consumer education.

Posted by GeeTee at August 27, 2002 07:03 AM

While stopping short of breaking into customer accounts, the hacker-turned-consultant said an intruder could have hidden instructions to transfer sums into a separate account when the customer authorizes a payment from his Internet bank account.

Posted by GeeTee at August 27, 2002 07:01 AM

Japh has a new blog for CanCon contributors (including me, Mrs. Everywhere) called f l o t s a m. A little rough about the edges right now but one has faith.

Posted by GeeTee at August 27, 2002 06:52 AM | TrackBack 0

Over the past several days, employees may have heard of incidents occurring in certain employees' work stations regarding an apparent deposit of human bodily fluids on computer keyboards and work areas.

Posted by GeeTee at August 27, 2002 04:12 AM

Several other environmental issues will be discussed at the ten-day summit, organised by the United Nations. But in another ironic twist, hundreds of trees have been felled around the conference centre so fleets of limousines will have unhindered access.

Posted by GeeTee at August 27, 2002 03:48 AM

Some 90% of bird species were believed to be monogamous, at least for the duration of a breeding season, and many were thought to mate for life. Wolves and gibbons were similarly admired. But that was before the invention of genetic paternity testing, which revealed the truth about who was really having whose children.

Posted by GeeTee at August 27, 2002 03:44 AM

Cases of illegally paying for sex with minors including child pornography hit 410, surging from 133 a year earlier, a police spokesman said. Another 213 cases concerned sex with underage girls.

Posted by GeeTee at August 26, 2002 12:42 PM

I can see from your writings that you have a strikingly different view of the DMCA that we do. Your inclusion of the Church in some of your articles, without finding out what actions we take and why, calls for a revisit of the subject. I am happy to provide you with a position paper that lays out quite simply our view on the issue of copyright protection on the Internet.

Posted by GeeTee at August 26, 2002 12:37 PM

In one case, the FISA judges were so angered by inaccuracies in affidavits submitted by FBI agent Michael Resnick that they barred him from ever appearing before the court, according to the ruling and government sources.

Posted by GeeTee at August 26, 2002 12:25 PM

Some might even argue, as a Brit journalist or two has already, that the fact that New York has a museum devoted to the sensual is a sure sign the city has become as risque as the Disney Store that sits astride Times Square.

Posted by GeeTee at August 26, 2002 12:21 PM

As part of its broad deal with Fox television, Ford will be the sole sponsor of the second season premiere of the hour-long drama "24." The premiere episode will be presented commercial-free except for a few minutes of Ford promotions before and after the show. Although it couldn't be determined whether Ford cars will be featured within the premiere episode, there will be appearances of Ford cars throughout the season.

Posted by GeeTee at August 26, 2002 12:14 PM

Victims living in hiding related how they had been gang-raped by police and self-styled war veterans, and had their genitals burnt with iron rods. They said that they had been abused in revenge for their parents not supporting Mr Mugabe, 78, in the presidential poll in March.

Posted by GeeTee at August 25, 2002 10:06 AM

"They're in crisis," says Ms. Duxbury. "The health problems they'll experience, along with the age of the workforce and the way they've been devalued, will make it very hard even to attract people into the professions ... And how do you get people to keep working when their mental and physical health is deteriorating?"

In the survey, they topped the list for overtime and for taking work home to finish. Nearly 40 per cent said they work paid overtime, while 55 per cent said they regularly work overtime without pay and 55 per cent take work home to finish.

Posted by GeeTee at August 25, 2002 07:51 AM

Posted by GeeTee at August 24, 2002 10:26 AM

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 24, 2002 03:35 AM

"The case clearly establishes that British Telecommunications is not the father of hyperlinking on the Internet," said Thomas Friel Jr., a partner at Cooley Godward. "An older claim for a simpler system can't always be stretched to cover something fundamentally new, as the Internet is here."

Posted by GeeTee at August 23, 2002 08:25 PM

Administrator Peter Goodin from Brooke Bird said 1007 customers paid for domain registrations which did not appear to have been made, to the value of $207,000. Another $371,000 was owed to 1,117 customers who paid for services for up to 10 years' "domain management" services. This was one of ING's most controversial services, as domains can only be registered for two years.

Posted by GeeTee at August 23, 2002 07:27 AM

The year's nationwide death toll could rise to 16 if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirm two deaths from the virus reported Thursday in Georgia.

Posted by GeeTee at August 23, 2002 04:28 AM

Went to see the gypsy,
Stayin' in a big hotel.
He smiled when he saw me coming,
And he said, "Well, well, well."
His room was dark and crowded,
Lights were low and dim. 
"How are you?" he said to me,
I said it back to him.

I went down to the lobby
To make a small call out.
A pretty dancing girl was there,
And she began to shout,
"Go on back to see the gypsy.
He can move you from the rear,
Drive you from your fear,
Bring you through the mirror.
He did it in Las Vegas,
And he can do it here."

Outside the lights were shining
On the river of tears,
I watched them from the distance
With music in my ears.

I went back to see the gypsy,
It was nearly early dawn.
The gypsy's door was open wide
But the gypsy was gone,
And that pretty dancing girl,
She could not be found.
So I watched that sun come rising
From that little Minnesota town.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 22, 2002 11:55 PM

CHRISTIAN: I—I don’t even know if I am a true Bohemian revolutionary.

BOHEMIANS: What!

TOULOUSE: Do you believe in beauty?

CHRISTIAN: Yes.

ARGENTINEAN: Freedom?

CHRISTIAN: Yes, of course.

SATIE: Truth?

CHRISTIAN: Yes.

THE DOCTOR: Love?

CHRISTIAN: Love? Love. Above all things I believe in love. Love is like oxygen. Love is a many-splendoured thing, love lifts us up where we belong. All you need is love!

[The BOHEMIANS are impressed.]

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 22, 2002 04:32 PM

I'm slowly building up a structured, visual record of everything in my house. You're welcome to browse around while I'm working - check out the kitchen cabinets, dig through my collections, or head on down to the basement and see what you can find.

Posted by GeeTee at August 22, 2002 03:33 PM

"The vast potential of broadband has so far benefited nobody as clearly as it's benefited downloaders of pornography and pirates of digital content," Chernin told an audience of about 200.

Posted by GeeTee at August 22, 2002 03:14 PM

How completely does Gelernter see a city like New York being mirrored? He imagines a three-dimensional image scanner where, by chance, "a butterfly wanders into the in-box and (a few wingbeats later) flutters out--and in that brief interval the system has transcribed the creature's appearance and analyzed its way of moving, and the real butterfly leaves a shadow-butterfly behind. Some time soon afterward you'll be examining some tedious electronic document and a cyber-butterfly will appear at the bottom left corner of your screen (maybe a Hamearis lucina) and pause there, briefly hiding the text (and showing its neatly folded rusty-chocolate wings like Victorian paisley, with orange eyespots)--and moments later will have crossed the screen and be gone."

Posted by GeeTee at August 22, 2002 03:11 PM

How we went about testing these questions and what we found may astound you. Our planned two-week investigation into the psychology of prison life had to be ended prematurely after only six days because of what the situation was doing to the college students who participated. In only a few days, our guards became sadistic and our prisoners became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress. Please join me on a slide tour of describing this experiment and uncovering what it tells us about the nature of Human Nature.

Posted by GeeTee at August 22, 2002 02:04 PM

"Sex trade workers must be compensated for displacement they experience at your hands in the same manner you would compensate a business if you were to use their locale during operating hours," the letter said. "The same must hold true for homeless people you push from beneath a bridge or doorway and drug users you move from a park."

Posted by GeeTee at August 22, 2002 01:19 PM

How could economics not be behavioral? If it isn't behavioral, what the hell is it? And I think it's fairly clear that all reality has to respect all other reality. If you come to inconsistencies, they have to be resolved, and so if there's anything valid in psychology, economics has to recognize it, and vice versa.

Posted by GeeTee at August 22, 2002 01:16 PM

Until now, the entertainment industry has relied on civil lawsuits aimed at corporations, not individuals, to limit widespread copyright infringement on peer-to-peer networks. Now, however, the RIAA is revising its strategy and appears ready to sue individuals swapping songs over the Internet. At issue in the RIAA's request is an obscure part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that permits a copyright owner to send a subpoena ordering a "service provider" to turn over information about a subscriber. It is not necessary to file a lawsuit to take advantage of the DMCA's expedited subpoena process.

Posted by GeeTee at August 22, 2002 01:00 PM

Malcolm said the Internet has become "the world's largest copy machine" and that criminal prosecutions of copyright offenders are now necessary to preserve the viability of America's content industries. "There does have to be some kind of a public message that stealing is stealing is stealing," said Malcolm, who oversees the arm of the Justice Department that prosecutes copyright and computer crime cases.

Posted by GeeTee at August 22, 2002 12:58 PM

Under a policy implemented in October, line workers at the Jim Beam Brands Co. plant may use the restroom only during lunch and two other scheduled daily breaks, one before lunch and one after. They also are allowed one unscheduled toilet break per day, and can be disciplined for taking more, starting with a warning and escalating to dismissal after six incidents.

Posted by GeeTee at August 22, 2002 12:41 PM

A company based in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village has accepted its first deposit for manufactured diamonds made from carbon captured during the cremation process so that loved ones -- family members or even pets -- could be mounted into a ring, pendant or other jewelry.

Posted by GeeTee at August 22, 2002 12:36 PM

You've found the living, breathing embodiment of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes' conception of The Marketplace of Ideas.... Bumperactive.com, the world's finest (and, well, only) Bumper Sticker Cooperative.

Posted by GeeTee at August 22, 2002 11:36 AM

Record labels are reluctant to discuss spoofing, but their trade group, the Recording Industry Association of America, has called it a legitimate way to combat piracy. And at least one company acknowledges that it has been hired to distribute spoofs, although it would not say by whom.

Posted by GeeTee at August 22, 2002 11:23 AM

Less than a week after seizing the Ottawa school board because trustees broke provincial law by running a deficit, Education Minister Elizabeth Witmer sounded more conciliatory yesterday in her dealings with two other boards in which officials have violated balanced-budget legislation.

Posted by GeeTee at August 22, 2002 11:18 AM

If treatments and detection methods bear fruit in future tests, the discovery offers a potential way to battle a feared bioterrorism agent. Similar viruses could have broader uses, perhaps disabling infections such as strep or staph germs.

Posted by GeeTee at August 22, 2002 10:14 AM

I vowed to find a good board-certified plastic surgeon and get on with it. I figured finding a doctor sensitive to hippie chicks would be a snap. If there are 9 million aging hippie chicks in America, we must have influence in the plastic surgery market, dramatically changing the aesthetic toward a more organic, natural outcome. 

Posted by GeeTee at August 22, 2002 10:08 AM

An alternative to waiving disclosure altogether would be to require SMS ads to include the sponsor Web site name or URL, Cornfield said. Such a requirement would allow campaigns protect the integrity of their messages by discouraging "spoofed" SMS messages from rival candidates or parties, he said.

Posted by GeeTee at August 22, 2002 08:16 AM

"We knew that just a few amps blows a household fuse. So we scaled it all up to fry these copper jets," said John Brown, the physicist at the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory who heads up British electric armor research.

Posted by GeeTee at August 22, 2002 08:06 AM

Apparently Ottawa graffiti artists using new keyboard controlled spray paints.

ardent, beetle, choice, desire, energy, fervor, hanker, ignite, jiggy, kindle, lovers, moving, notice, oxygen, pamper, qwerty, reform, strive, tickle, urgent, vacate, winter, xanadu, yellow, zonker

I know xanadu has 7 letters.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 21, 2002 11:24 PM

I'm diving directly into the next patch of daffodils I find. Once I'm in there I'm going to sing happy songs and think of those I love.

be pro love, be pro daffodil diving, be pro happy songs.

I don't want a pickle
Just want to ride on my motorsickle
And I don't want a tickle
'Cause I'd rather ride on my motorsickle
And I don't want to die
Just want to ride on my motorcy...cle

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 21, 2002 10:39 PM

Only a lunatic fringe on the far Left is still calling for revolution, a smashing of the social order, but it must be acknowledged how widespread that idea was in the 1960s. Most leftists do believe that, without them, the naive proletariat would wallow for ever in ignorance and slavery. Unless they are volunteering hands-on service in blighted neighbourhoods, however, most leftists are far removed from working-class life. Many are wordsmiths -- journalists or academics who run in packs. Leftism has become wordplay -- a refuge for bourgeois intellectuals guilty about their comfort and privilege.

Posted by GeeTee at August 21, 2002 06:50 PM

As I understand it, the benefits of multiculturalism are that the sterile white-bread cultures of Australia, Canada and Britain get some great ethnic restaurants and a Commonwealth Games opening ceremony that lasts until two in the morning. But, in the case of those Muslim ghettoes in Sydney, in Oslo, in Paris, in Copenhagen and in Manchester, multiculturalism means that the worst attributes of Muslim culture -- the subjugation of women -- combine with the worst attributes of Western culture -- licence and self-gratification. Tattoed, pierced Pakistani skinhead gangs swaggering down the streets of Northern England are as much a product of multiculturalism as the turban-wearing Sikh Mountie in the vice-regal escort at Rideau Hall. Yet even in the face of the crudest assaults on its most cherished causes -- women's rights, gay rights -- the political class turns squeamishly away.

Posted by GeeTee at August 21, 2002 06:17 PM

Oxfam says quotas and tariffs set Europe's sugar prices at almost three times the world market price resulting in huge surpluses each year that are dumped overseas with hefty subsidies depressing world prices and pushing other exporters out of third markets.

Posted by GeeTee at August 21, 2002 05:50 PM

This was posted using my cable modem. woohoo!

Music, video, pages with lots and lots of pictures.

The internet is good.

good shit is so fast.

I haven't even tried the porn sites yet.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 21, 2002 02:49 PM

During the class action period, Mr. Strauss sold 2, 558,488 shares for proceeds of $179 million! Mr. Kevin Kalkhoven sold 3, 561,204 shares for proceeds of $246.4 million! These are two examples of disgusting greed and the cashing in of company options during a time when Canadians have lost their family, retirement and life savings following the collapse of JDS share value. Moreover, the idea that Canadians are kinder and gentler vis-a-vis corporate governance is nonsense.

Posted by GeeTee at August 21, 2002 09:38 AM

The fact is that whilst marketers continue to fly in the face of general opinion, spam activists will continue to challenge them. I for one hope they do. The email marketing sector really does need to wise up, and agree on some sensible policies. If they don't they may not live to regret it. Anti spam software is getting increasingly sophisticated, shifting power closer and closer to the user. Email marketers better wake up to this reality - the threat is significant.

What's the significant threat? That users may be able to have some control of the ceaseless flow of commercials being pumped to them constantly? Marketing doesn't have to be the hard sell and the bombardment of advertising. It can be the driver of real research to find what will make their product better for the buyer. I don't mean more compelling with jingles or funny videos, but rather something that adds value to the product. That's what real marketing is any right, driving the requirements process? I guess the problem is that most products are basically equivalent and the only to make them seem different is to advertise.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 21, 2002 08:23 AM

The club does not have an Internet connection, he said, "therefore we manage the site physically from Berlin, sending information and receiving mail telepathically."

Posted by GeeTee at August 20, 2002 07:38 PM

Joe Sims decided to weigh in on Professor Froomkin's post, but not on the substance. He led with a villifying, name calling, cheap shot: "Your 'cultural bias,' as best I can tell, is to try to get your 15 minutes of fame by becoming the Cassandra of ICANN, apparently hoping to rescue an otherwise unimpressive career by finding a niche where you can be perceived as the expert." Whoa. And it didn't get better from there. (For those who don't know him, Michael Froomkin is a tenured, full professor of law at a major U.S. university, whose scholarship has been published in the very top tier of prestigious law journals. Wouldn't we all like our careers to be so "unimpressive.")

Posted by GeeTee at August 20, 2002 01:44 PM

Perhaps the easiest way to explain what makes Whyville so attractive to young women is to admit the truth ... I have become a Whyville addict. It started so innocently. Intrigued by the statistics presented to me by the Whyville founders, I decided to explore the site on my own.

Posted by GeeTee at August 20, 2002 01:34 PM

The salesman, 19, who would identify himself only as Aleksandr, smoothed rows of recordings by rap artists like Public Enemy and Snoop Doggy Dogg. When asked which of the Russian factories made the discs he was selling, Aleksandr began to laugh along with the boys browsing at his stand. "I burn them myself," he replied.

Posted by GeeTee at August 20, 2002 01:19 PM

I friend of mine is trying out the web for the first time ever. If you got a minute go over and leave her some encouragement.

thanks.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 20, 2002 11:40 AM

The statement by the embassy occupiers said: "This first step against the terrorist regime of Saddam Hussein and his killers, which is taking place with a peaceful purpose, is intended to make the German people, its organizations and its political powers understand that our people have a desire to be free and will act on it."

Posted by GeeTee at August 20, 2002 11:05 AM

The London magazine Time Out recently interviewed a Turkish immigrant who said that the English were now the foreigners in Stoke Newington. This, of course, was reported as a cause of celebration: we must celebrate diversity. We have to celebrate it, even though for white British people celebrating diversity basically means saying sorry. We have to celebrate diversity, because otherwise it might rise up and kill us: Northern Ireland, former Yugoslavia, Israel, Rwanda, Gujarat, northern Nigeria have all recently suffered mass deaths as a result of diversity.

Posted by GeeTee at August 19, 2002 05:42 AM

The Bush administration is also undercutting international efforts to use conferences to bolster support for rural health care for poor women. For example, the Bushies tied up negotiations for this month's Earth Summit in Johannesburg by insisting that documents be purged of phrases like "reproductive health services" that they think connote abortion.

Posted by GeeTee at August 19, 2002 05:33 AM

At issue was a claim by Riefenstahl last April in an interview with Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper stating, "Nothing ever happened to a single one of them afterward."

Posted by GeeTee at August 19, 2002 04:45 AM

Every man ought to be a macho macho man, 
To live a life of freedom, machos make a stand, 
Have their own life style and ideals, 
Possess the strength and confidence, life's a steal, 
You can best believe that he's a macho man 
He's a special person in anybody's land. 

Hey! Hey! Hey, hey, hey! 
Macho, macho man (macho man) 
I've got to be, a macho man 
Macho, macho man 
I've got to be a macho! (dig the hair on my chest) 

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 19, 2002 12:35 AM

The movie XXX is rated PG-13 because the only thing they show is people killing other people and that's something a thirteen year old can understand. But if you show people making love to each other, the rating goes to NC-17.

Bang bang. You're dead.

I think I'll go see it at the matinee today.

whaver.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 18, 2002 12:10 PM

"I think in Islam, you're supposed to be buried whole, so I would take them and scatter them all over the place," said Donn Marshall, whose wife, Shelley, died at the Pentagon. "They don't deserve any kind of religious courtesies."

Posted by GeeTee at August 18, 2002 10:10 AM

...by guessing common passwords like the user's name, or even by typing in "password," O'Keefe said.

Although they were not able to access any classified information, the security consultants were able to find e-mail messages between generals and other high-ranking officers and recruits' Social Security and credit-card numbers, he said.

Posted by GeeTee at August 17, 2002 12:55 PM

No cable modem today. :(

I called AT&T and they had rescheduled me for 9/7 without even calling me! I have no recourse. I couldn't even get mad at the person I was talking to on the phone because it's not their fault. This is another reason to put CEOs in jail. Everytime someone stays home from work so they can wait for some installation that doesn't show, it's a 1 day in jail for the CEO. C. Michael Armstrong is the CEO of AT&T and he owes me a day.

There's no alternative except to refuse to get high speed internet.

They discounted my installation, they rescheduled the installation to be next Wednesday (8/21) 10am-12pm.

It's a stupid thing to be depressed about, so I'm just going to enjoy the rest of my day by turning off my computer and going to the park.

whatever.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 16, 2002 12:30 PM

Commercial loads, such as sections of space stations, and eventually, perhaps, human tourists, are then mechanically pulled up the cable and catapulted into orbit at a fraction of the present cost.

Posted by GeeTee at August 16, 2002 12:24 PM

I lose patience and scream at banker and tell him, "You banker, not art critic dumb dumb!!! You don't know nothing about art. Wadded paper art much better than Andy Warhol painting of soup can or that guy who put crucifix in big jar of urine! At least my art not offensive or stupid picture of food product!"

Posted by GeeTee at August 16, 2002 11:30 AM

"If the Russian hackers are sentenced on the basis of information obtained by the Americans through hacking, that will imply the future ability of U.S. secret services to use illegal methods in the collection of information in Russia and other countries," the news agency quoted one source as saying.

Posted by GeeTee at August 16, 2002 11:21 AM

Cable modem install is schedule from 10 to 12am today.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 16, 2002 10:16 AM

According to the study, to be officially presented on Monday, German's youngsters have little interest in politics except when they are personally affected, protesting only against issues such as student fees, teacher shortages or financial cutbacks.

Posted by GeeTee at August 16, 2002 08:53 AM

note to self: check this macro stuff out.

and this one too

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 15, 2002 09:30 PM

Scratched into the wet cemete 20 years ago (according to the date scratched by the artist). This is one slogan that never gets old. It's outside my favorite taco joint. I asked for 2 shredded cat tacos and 1 corona, but I had to settle for 2 fish tacos and 1 corona. I poored over my newest purchase, Booty, Girl Pirates on the High Seas. It pretty much confirms that in the history of man, men have not been the only ones to use violence to redistribute wealth in their favor.

I was supposed to be at Microsoft playtesting, but I got tied up at work and forgot to leave. Deciding I didn't want to battle traffic all the way up to MS when I was late leaving wasn't hard, so I headed over to have some fish tacos instead. But, I could have been at this very moment playing some new game produced by Microsefs. They probably won't call me again.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 15, 2002 07:58 PM

Those listed include Princes Mohammed al Faisal al Saud and Turki al Faisal al Saud, Saudi Defense Minister Sultan bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, Khalid bin Salim bin Mahfouz of the National Commercial Bank, and the Faisal Islamic Bank.

Posted by GeeTee at August 15, 2002 03:04 PM

As part of the deal, the University will offer a programming course in Microsoft's new C# language. The class will be available online for approximately 1,500 high-school students applying to the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University, a first for the University.

The class will also be mandatory for the 300 students per year who are accepted. The new class would replace an existing course which taught C++ to new students.

Posted by GeeTee at August 15, 2002 02:38 PM

Allocco claims he was regularly told by his superiors to use his corporate credit card to pay for strippers and lap dances at clubs such as Scores, Stringfellow's, and Billy's Topless for Barron's marketing department personnel.

Posted by GeeTee at August 15, 2002 09:41 AM

A 10-year labor of love nurtured by a group of local developers, who are diligent students of the past and the future, Colletta has gone broadband. It's now a cybervillaggio with 60 apartments equipped for always-on Internet; satellite TV; ISDN, phone, and video-cable connections -- perfect for the well-connected professional in search of a getaway. "We can get a half-year's work done here in the space of two months," says Kieran O'Donnell, who purchased one of the first apartments in late 1999. He and his wife, Joanne, decided to run their UK-based tax-consultancy and property-development businesses from Colletta after traveling around the United States and Europe scouting different locations. "The peaceful environment lends itself to intense working," says O'Donnell. "And when you take a breather, you find yourself walking the routes that people walked 800 years ago."

Posted by GeeTee at August 15, 2002 09:30 AM

Come this December, if you want Ben Stein's money, you'll have to take it by force. Comedy Central has canceled "Win Ben Stein's Money," its four[sic]-year-old quiz show. What made the series unique was that the contestants' winnings purportedly came directly out of the host's paycheck. Stein, a well-known character actor, appeared in "The Wonder Years" and the film "Ferris Buehler's Day Off," and he served in the Nixon and Ford administrations. He was working in the White House at the time of the scandal that ended Nixon's presidency. "Win Ben Stein's Money" also helped launch the career of Jimmy Kimmel, who will host a new late-night talk show on ABC next season. New episodes of "Win Ben Stein's Money" will air from late October through December.

Posted by GeeTee at August 15, 2002 09:26 AM

Instead of answering [House Judiciary Committee] questions, the Justice Department said in a letter that it would send replies to the House Intelligence Committee, which has not sought the information and does not plan to oversee the workings of the U.S.A. Patriot Act.

Posted by GeeTee at August 15, 2002 09:22 AM

Ashcroft's plan, disclosed last week but little publicized, would allow him to order the indefinite incarceration of U.S. citizens and summarily strip them of their constitutional rights and access to the courts by declaring them enemy combatants.

Posted by GeeTee at August 15, 2002 09:14 AM

"These will link to a network of real-time databases spread across the country that will store a digital record of every citizen. The project goes well beyond blocking and monitoring (Internet) content to incorporate speech and face recognition, closed-circuit television, smart cards, credit records and other surveillance technologies," according to the research note.

Posted by GeeTee at August 15, 2002 07:46 AM

"Monsoon rains are sending our rivers over their bands as meanwhile the Alpine glaciers are receding at an alarming rate and it is all due to global warming and the failure of the Kyoto accords due to Bush's refusal to sign," an RTL television news reporter told his viewers against the backdrop of swirling flood waters.

Posted by GeeTee at August 15, 2002 05:59 AM

I understand from some of you that my recent indecency related arrest in Thailand seems to have clouded your judgement to illegal acts. Let me warn you that I am innocent and will prove so soon. This does not mean the office is a free for all.

Posted by GeeTee at August 15, 2002 05:45 AM

This letter is from last month but we haven't covered it on Politechbefore. Read it carefully: The FBI claims that using an open 802.11access point without explicit authorization may be a federal crime("theft of services").

Posted by GeeTee at August 14, 2002 02:39 PM

This is just silly Declan. I am being legally threatened over the name of my weblog. Davezilla.com, a parody/humor site run by me since 1995, is being threatened by Toho Co. Ltd., for being too similar to Godzilla [they own all Godzilla movies, toys, etc.].

The letter I received via Fed Express from their lawyers on Saturday is on my site here: http://www.davezilla.com/index.php?p=1292

Posted by GeeTee at August 14, 2002 02:28 PM

Efficiency alone won’t cut it. “We’ve really been trying to push the envelope within MSN to provide new ad units,” he says, citing one variation that pops up ads for goods or services that match an editorial subject (a potentially hazardous practice) and another that sent a Saturn whizzing across the screen. An insert in the e-mail version of “Today’s Papers” --  still valuable even though it lacks the verve founding columnist Scott Shuger brought to it  -- runs $20,000 a week and reaches 100,000 subscribers a day.

Posted by GeeTee at August 14, 2002 02:09 PM

"The sheer volume of each day's work makes me fear I'm just processing people and have lost touch with my better self. Am I becoming indifferent to horror?"

Posted by GeeTee at August 14, 2002 02:04 PM

For instance, Law said he reassigned the Rev. Eugene O'Sullivan from Massachusetts to a New Jersey parish, in part, ''because of the publicity attendant to the case and the possible scandal that can cause.'' O'Sullivan pleaded guilty to raping a child.

Posted by GeeTee at August 14, 2002 12:00 PM

"They're predicting conflicts between communities over water and rights to water because there will be a shortage of potable water in Atlantic Canada. These are incredible things, these are Third World kinds of things happening here in Canada, and we're doing it to ourselves."

Posted by GeeTee at August 14, 2002 11:16 AM

Researchers at the University of Northumbria.... recently conducted a study where they mapped the structural elements in the programming language Pascal to a series of musical motifs, composing variations on a seven-note scale. Once the participants in the study had gotten their heads around the idea, they "listened" to a string of software code, isolating potential bugs the way you might pick out wrong notes in a song.

Posted by GeeTee at August 14, 2002 05:28 AM

Advanced chivalries include rising from your seat when a lady stands to powder her nose, slightly raising your hat in greeting on the street, and dueling to the death when someone insults her honor.

I've often suggested over lunch at work that we should bring back dueling. The trick is to make it formalized so it doesn't have to be deadly. Weapons should be limited to dull edged or capped-point weapons that require long and constant hours of practice to master. The results of duels would be published widely and Vegas would run a line on celebrity matches. Duels would only be allowed for personal insults, eliminating political or ambition motivated challenges. Declining or forfeiting a challenge would result in a strict fines and bans from public areas and buildings. Carrying a weapon on display would never be allowed. Official badges/ribbons would be worn by those who want to advertise their record. Maybe our sociopath violence can be directed into these formal dawn or midnight meetings. The winner pays the judges and is responsible for caring for an injured opponent. Fencing is aerobic, repeating moves over and over until so they become muscle memory. It'll keep us fit. Fencing leagues would allow people to sharpen their skills and have social gatherings, once again the winners would be responsible for paying for the refreshments at matches. I've faced women fencers and would never be so silly as to suggest they wouldn't be the very best duelists. Politeness backed by the threat of personal defeat at the point of a stranger's weapon would no longer be disingenuous or a provided mindlessly. I'm out of shape, my foil is rusty, but I'll see you at dawn if you don't mean it when you tell me to "have a nice day."

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 13, 2002 09:39 PM

Local five-piece Alert New London opens the show.

It'll be fun. A free beer for every moon farmer that shows up and spots me. Good luck.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 13, 2002 05:43 PM

It is a lot of criticism all in one place. Some of my favorite bloggers are right there on the front page. If I was a decent writer, I would have signed up too.

My only problem with the site? Why isn't Geetee my all time favorite book and music critic not there?

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 13, 2002 05:19 PM

Having read his new book, How to Dunk a Doughnut, which provides scientific answers to some of life's more interesting conundrums, there's no telling what Fisher may be up to behind his closed door. He may have lashed himself to a boulder, still trying to prove to himself why a long-handled screwdriver appears to be easier to use than a short-handled one. He could be about to decapitate the next innocent who opens his door with a misfired boomerang as he investigates further the best way to throw one. But worse, much worse, would be if he were indulging in further research relating to the final chapter -- the physics of sex.

Posted by GeeTee at August 13, 2002 02:52 PM

Professor Noble told me that the test I'd heard about sounded like an urban myth. She regularly tested her students at the end of the semester by asking them to identify wine in black glasses, she said. But what they were trying to name was the varietal, not the color. For a couple of years, she kept track of wrong answers, and she found that perhaps five to ten per cent of them were not simply the wrong varietal but a wrong varietal that was also the wrong color. Conceivably, it occurred to me, that test could have been embellished over the years to become the Davis test I'd heard about, although five or ten per cent amounted to a lot fewer wrong answers than I would have expected. Then Professor Noble told me that in the tests she gave her students they were, of course, reaching their conclusions by smell alone.

Posted by GeeTee at August 13, 2002 12:44 PM

French anti-fraud investigators hope genetic tracing will become an alternative to current, decidedly unscientific, ways of detecting fraud. Today, authorities rely on rigorous inspection of wine inventories and close monitoring of accounting books, not science.

Posted by GeeTee at August 13, 2002 12:13 PM

Spam upsets us - and by [Scelson's] own reckoning every mailout he sends irritates 99.9% of recipients. It also has a significant monetary cost that far exceeds the few thousand dollars he may make from the process. Think about the cost of all that filtering software, the time spent by admins, or even just add up the 'few seconds' we millions spend deleting such email each and every day. Let's do the sums purely on a personal 'just delete it' basis:

99.9% of 80 million = 79,920,000
79,920,000 seconds = 22,200 hours
Minimum wage in United States = $5.15/hour
Minimum cost of deleted emails = $114,330
Maximum income for Scelson @ $1 per lead = $80,000

So, even assuming that we're all earning the minimum wage, Scelson costs the economy more than he earns.

Posted by GeeTee at August 13, 2002 11:37 AM

F to Canada Customs for persisting in holding up shipments to Little Sisters and other gay and lesbian bookstores, despite the Supreme Court's warning to cease and desist in targeting these stores.

Posted by GeeTee at August 13, 2002 11:03 AM

"When they sent me to Japan two years ago, they were going to set up a big office, blah, blah, blah - then three months ago they pulled back," said Raffaela Scaglietta, who came to write for Corriere. Speaking the day before she left on a free-lance reporting trip to China, she added: "Now they say they have a person who is doing articles on China and Japan - from Milan."

Posted by GeeTee at August 13, 2002 10:54 AM

"Could it be we have stumbled upon an ancient primate form of hallucinogens?'' Hoffman said.

Posted by GeeTee at August 13, 2002 10:50 AM

"By participating in the lobby process, you're effectively giving money to the political system," Back says. "It's effectively a favor-trading system where the politician wins and the geek loses...You're better of spending time writing code and influencing Internet protocols to work towards making the politicians irrelevant in the future."

Posted by GeeTee at August 13, 2002 10:20 AM

"By resolutely retaining the ban, the BBC is discriminating against the non-religious, and thus giving the impression of promoting religion as the one source of ethics. We call on the Governors to end this ban."

Posted by GeeTee at August 13, 2002 09:36 AM

Something like that has to be more than coincidence, we protest. What are the odds? The mathematician will answer that even in the most unbelievable situations, the odds are actually very good. The law of large numbers says that with a large enough denominator -- in other words, in a big wide world -- stuff will happen, even very weird stuff. ''The really unusual day would be one where nothing unusual happens,'' explains Persi Diaconis, a Stanford statistician who has spent his career collecting and studying examples of coincidence. Given that there are 280 million people in the United States, he says, ''280 times a day, a one-in-a-million shot is going to occur.''

Posted by GeeTee at August 13, 2002 09:06 AM

"I have no intention of permitting sensationalist lies and distortions creep into the [biography] film, as is so often the case with Hollywood productions."

Posted by GeeTee at August 13, 2002 03:50 AM

...the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission said it was "concerned" about Rogers' programming broadcast across its community channels in Southern Ontario last winter detailing how the company's Internet subscribers could make the transition from the ailing At Home Corp. network to the Rogers network. The TV spots included two 60-second messages from John Tory, president and chief executive officer of subsidiary Rogers Cable Inc.

Posted by GeeTee at August 13, 2002 03:44 AM

It may be the first and heaviest financial setback for the band of Puget Sound area spamfighters who have taken matters into their own hands by using Washington state's anti-spam law to seek redress against junk e-mailers. It is also a sign that some spammers are deciding to fight back.

1. "It may be the first": How about you ask them so you know if it is or not?

2. "...and heaviest...": If it's the first, yes, it is the heaviest. Also the lightest, most effervescent, most ecologically-sound, most inspired by the teachings of Karl and Groucho Marx, and the most calorie-reduced with all the flavour. Why not ask?

3. "for the band of Puget Sound area spamfighters who have taken matters into their own hands by using Washington state's anti-spam law": When I see 'taken matters into their own hands' I think vigilante, I don't think 'by using... law'. Taking someone to court is not taking matters into one's own hands, it is putting matters into the hands of someone else, i.e., a judge.

4. "It is also a sign...": Also a sign? In addition to what? The other sentence in this graf is a conditional, so there is no "also".

(Yes, I'm sure there's at least one typo and grammatical error in this objection. Pay me to care as much as Peter Lewis does.)

Posted by GeeTee at August 12, 2002 09:33 AM

The point of the proposal isn't to punish developers of proprietary software. Instead, advocates point out that "closed" software adds costs and creates security risks, two problems the state needs to reduce.

Posted by GeeTee at August 12, 2002 09:21 AM

One protest Web site offers a download of a figure peering desperately out of a bar-code prison with the slogan "Ten digits for cows; 11 digits for people." It's a sarcastic reference to a state ID program for beef herds that began after mad-cow disease was found last fall.

Posted by GeeTee at August 12, 2002 05:10 AM

I don't want intrusive adverts, but I don't mind commercial links. I don't want pop-ups, but I don't object to Google's sponsored results at the top of the screen. I don't want the hard sell, but I don't mind a commercial net.

Posted by GeeTee at August 12, 2002 05:05 AM

Arafat told the Montreal newspaper La Presse he also wants Canada to urge the Americans to bring about free Palestinian elections as soon as possible.

Posted by GeeTee at August 12, 2002 05:01 AM

"It's an assertion of rights of a very disadvantaged minority," he says. "Perhaps the most marginalized minority, the ones that are denied legal aid they're so marginalized."

Posted by GeeTee at August 12, 2002 04:48 AM

The Steilacom ferry dock from Madrona Park.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 11, 2002 03:31 AM

GET DOWN TONIGHT
by H.W. CASEY and R. FINCH

BABY, BABE LET'S GET TOGETHER
HONEY, HONEY ME AND YOU,
AND DO THE THINGS, OH, DO THE THINGS
THAT WE LIKE TO DO.
OH, DO A LITTLE DANCE, MAKE A LITTLE LOVE,
GET DOWN TONIGHT, GET DOWN TONIGHT,
DO A LITTLE DANCE, MAKE A LITTLE LOVE,
GET DOWN TONIGHT, GET DOWN TONIGHT
BABY, BABE IT'S MEET YOU SAME PLACE,
SAME TIME,WHERE WE CAN, OH, GET TOGETHER AND
EASE UP OUR MIND

A little dance, a little love, a lot of fun. Definitely not stupid, not deep, but yeah, I think they did hit it right on. Easy on the mind, heavy on the dance, disco beat, close your eyes, hear the music and it'll make you smile and twirl. Spin, spin, spin until you fall down dizzy and light headed.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 10, 2002 02:18 PM

"The new algorithm has no immediate applications, since existing ones are faster and their error probability can be made so small that it is practically zero. Still, for mathematicians and computer scientists, the new algorithm represents a great achievement because, they said, it simply and elegantly solves a problem that has challenged many of the best minds in the field for decades.

Posted by GeeTee at August 10, 2002 01:14 PM

The administration decided to abandon the core of the Clinton rules, a requirement that doctors, hospitals and other health care providers obtain written consent from patients before using or disclosing personal medical information for treatment or paying claims. Instead, providers will have to notify patients of their remaining rights and have to make "a good-faith effort to obtain a written acknowledgment of receipt of the notice."

Posted by GeeTee at August 10, 2002 11:53 AM

The Bush administration, making use of a provision of the new antiterrorism law, warned foreign diplomats this week that their nations could lose all American military assistance if they became members of the International Criminal Court without pledging to protect Americans serving in their countries from its reach.

Posted by GeeTee at August 10, 2002 11:51 AM

The Navy has long believed that the act does not extend to activities conducted within the nation's "exclusive economic zone," which stretches 200 miles off all coastal waters and thus covers more than one million square miles off all American coasts, including those of Alaska and Hawaii. The Navy appears to be the driving force behind the Bush administration's discussion of whether to apply that concept to all federal activity in the zone.

Posted by GeeTee at August 10, 2002 11:48 AM

I jaywalk into another court and shoot another reading woman, who is holding a can of Sprite oddly in front of her. Reviewing the photo shortly after, she's looking straight at me.

Proof positive the photographer is not invisible and every picture they take has been influenced by their existence. If I see Geetee pointing a camera at me, I promise to give her a big smile and couple of peace signs.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 10, 2002 09:12 AM

(May 16, 2002) The AT&T Cable people have left a couple of door hangers at my house explaining they are going to be upgrading the cable system in my neighborhood.

The installation date for my Cable Modem is now scheduled for next Friday (8/16 10am-12am). Finally I'll be able to see all those photos on goodshit and Geetee's photos and download noncopyrighted music and video from the innernet. I have been waiting 5 years for highspeedbandwidth to become available in my area. I plan to make up for all that lost bandwidth as quickly as possible.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 10, 2002 07:50 AM

I am reading Beautiful Losers and reminded of why I like Leonard Cohen so much: whenever he seems about to become ridiculously pretentious, he'll interject something lowbrow and funny just to remind, uh, he's got bowels and a cock to boot. I also liked The Favorite Game, though it has a more conventional narrative structure.

Posted by GeeTee at August 10, 2002 04:33 AM

I decide I will try to get home another way. I decide I will take ten photographs exactly, along the way. When I get home I'll crop and remix them until all ten are interesting enough to post in my gallery.

I turn and shoot again, down the sidewalk[2], and, yes, I feel so much more available.

Posted by GeeTee at August 10, 2002 03:50 AM

"I have been an accomplice to the murders of untold numbers of human beings. I am admitting this only because I have made a deal with God. Spare me, I said, and I will try to stop others from committing the same crimes I did."

Posted by GeeTee at August 10, 2002 03:01 AM

America's incarceration rate was roughly constant from 1925 to 1973, with an average of 110 people behind bars for every 100,000 residents. By 2000, however, the rate of incarceration in state and federal prisons had more than quadrupled, to 478. America has overtaken Russia as the world's most aggressive jailer. When local jails are included in the American tally, the United States locks up nearly 700 people per 100,000, compared with 102 for Canada, 132 for England and Wales, 85 for France and a paltry 48 in Japan.

Posted by GeeTee at August 09, 2002 12:00 PM

...it appeared on Friday that police had not moved to evict any of the 2,900 white farmers, and it was unclear if the government would follow through on its threat to throw them off their land and into jail.

Posted by GeeTee at August 09, 2002 11:22 AM

It should be said that SEER 13 is no more technologically difficult than SEER 12. SEER 12 is simply a bit cheaper to make, and SEER 13 is simply cheaper to operate. Nor is this a classic regulatory battle that pits corporate against consumer interests. The nation's largest air-conditioner manufacturer, Carrier, is in favor of 12. But the second-largest manufacturer, Goodman (which makes Amana air-conditioners), is in favor of 13. The Bush decision is really about politics, and the White House felt free to roll back the Clinton standard because most of the time the difference between the two standards is negligible. There is one exception, however: heat waves.

Posted by GeeTee at August 09, 2002 11:08 AM

[Marijuana] Party members say they are trying to disrupt the work of drug-sniffing police dogs by sprinkling ground-up marijuana and cayenne pepper around the ferry.

Posted by GeeTee at August 09, 2002 10:21 AM

Jenkins said Flanders sets a good example for Christians. "He's a very ardent believer...and at the same time he's very humble," he said. "Although he's got very strong beliefs, he's not thrusting them down anyone's throat and he's not being unpleasant about it.

Posted by GeeTee at August 09, 2002 09:05 AM

"OpenMG X" consists of the following software modules;
1. An encoding module which adds digital rights management information, such as the number of times content was copied or played, to music/movie content and converts them into code at the distributors' end.
2. A server module which distributes digital rights management information on content to the users' end.
3. Client module for developing application software compatible with "OpenMG X" Sony has put the client module (#3) into practice and created "MAGIQLIP", the network music player for PC.

Posted by GeeTee at August 09, 2002 08:10 AM

During her time in Bosnia as an investigator, Ms Bolkovac, 41, uncovered evidence of girls who refused to have sex being beaten and raped in bars by their pimps while peacekeepers stood and watched. She discovered that one UN policeman who was supposed to be investigating the sex trade paid £700 to a bar owner for an underage girl who he kept captive in his apartment to use in his own prostitution racket.

Posted by GeeTee at August 09, 2002 06:58 AM

Black employees suffered from racism at Xerox Corp.'s Cincinnati facilities, including complaints of racist slurs and symbols such as black dolls with nooses around their necks, according to a federal commission.

Posted by GeeTee at August 09, 2002 06:53 AM

WorldCom also said that when the earnings are restated, it would most likely take a write-off of as much as $50.6 billion related to the reduced value of past acquisitions.

Posted by GeeTee at August 09, 2002 06:47 AM

The "Public Pledge on Self-Discipline for the China Internet Industry" compels signatories not to post information that will "jeopardise state security and disrupt social stability" among other restrictions.

Posted by GeeTee at August 09, 2002 06:35 AM

The flying snake lives in trees and has no appendages. To glide, the snake forms its body into an "S" shape. Instead of steering by banking or leaning as airplanes do, the snake changes the pattern of how it slithers and undulates.

Posted by GeeTee at August 08, 2002 10:55 AM

China has publicly stated that it intends to be able to sink an American aircraft carrier. Among the technologies that could allow China to do this are anti-ship cruise missiles, which China could fire from land across long distances, and which it is now developing. China is also developing an over-the-horizon radar network with which to track surface ships.

Posted by GeeTee at August 08, 2002 10:50 AM

The World Trade Center was a huge tool of that American solution. But its architecture in the context of its site said no more than that. It served Mammon, but did not express by its form that the Mammon it served served God. Its replacement must say triumphantly that the terrorists have been defeated not only in terms of wealth and power, but in terms of spiritual goodness and moral beauty as well.

Posted by GeeTee at August 08, 2002 10:38 AM

Sontag added, "To cast Riefenstahl in the role of the individualist-artist, defying philistine bureaucrats and censorship by the patron state ... should seem like nonsense to anyone who has seen Triumph of the Will." Snarled Riefenstahl in reply: "It's a mystery to me how such an intelligent woman can talk such rubbish."

Posted by GeeTee at August 08, 2002 10:35 AM

The deadline comes at a time when Zimbabwe is facing severe food shortages.

Posted by GeeTee at August 08, 2002 10:22 AM

From a very early age, perhaps the age of five or six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer. Between the ages of about seventeen and twenty-four I tried to abandon this idea, but I did so with the consciousness that I was outraging my true nature and that sooner or later I should have to settle down and write books.

Posted by GeeTee at August 08, 2002 09:39 AM

I saw this movie for the first time on cable the other night and I'm still thinking about it, so I decided to ask amazon to send me a copy of the book. I want to know more about these two people because if I know more, then maybe I can figure it out. Nicolas is great in the movie along with Sting's version of Angele Eyes. I can still hear him singing, "Excuse me while I disappear..."

l also ordered a copy of the Moulin Rouge DVD because I've been meaning to order it for a while now. It meets one of my criteria for owning a copy of a movie, the one that says I won't get tired of watching it over and over. This rule was established with my first DVD purchase, The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 08, 2002 07:17 AM

Central Command would not release further details, such as what information was stored on the computers and what office or person was responsible for them.

Posted by GeeTee at August 08, 2002 07:06 AM

"I don't condone what the victim did," Frazee said, after Gibson's attackers were led away. "It was repulsive. But he was punished at the hands of these defendants -- tortured -- and the law does not allow for that."

Posted by GeeTee at August 08, 2002 05:22 AM

"We don't do anything to their movies. We just put a shield over parts of the movie that would be objectionable to some people."

Posted by GeeTee at August 08, 2002 04:56 AM

Sweetheart, incidentally, supplies 7-Eleven with its 44-ounce Super Big Gulp cups, which are a blatant example of America's swelling desire for huge beverages. To satisfy this near-bottomless thirst, Deignan says the company is considering producing an 80-ounce cold drink cup.

Posted by GeeTee at August 08, 2002 04:53 AM

The Quebec Superior Court justice said he decided to dismiss the jurors and start anew after questioning their ability to remain impartial if the trial continued. He was referring to a remark in a letter written by the jurors last week in which they stated they were aware certain parties in the case wanted a mistrial.

Posted by GeeTee at August 08, 2002 04:49 AM

"When I heard the news that the tube had fizzed to life in Bhutan," writes Alexis Bloom, co-producer of "The Last Place," "I knew the kingdom was on the verge of irrevocable change. Could MTV and Buddhism make comfortable bedfellows?"

Posted by GeeTee at August 08, 2002 04:46 AM

The WashingtonPost.com's "dot.mil" columnist, William Arkin, has an article up re "Country X," the notional target of Pentagon wargame exercises... Arkin makes a case that it's Iraq. But the WashPost's accompanying graphic is a silhouette of... Iran:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49207-2002Aug6.html

I sent e-mail this morning to Arkin, the site editor, and their world person... they have yet to amend or disappear the erroneous map. Or maybe it's part of a plan, either to see how many Americans could actually recognize Iran on the map, or to warm us up to the idea of attacking them too... :-P

Ross

Posted by GeeTee at August 08, 2002 03:44 AM

I also suggest that we all start forwarding the same junk faxes to the courts in the 8th Circuit as "friend of the court" information as well as the legislators that represent us. They might take note of the severity of the problem.

Posted by GeeTee at August 08, 2002 03:41 AM

I downloaded 50 new mail messages from my ISP tonight of which 30 were identified as "LIKELY SPAM" by the spam assassin. That's a typical ratio for my evening download of mail. The break down of those 30 spam mails is as follows:

I also got a telemarketing call offering me a no risk Mastercard onto which I could transfer my balances at the low rate of 1.9%. The phone call was fun because I was able to make a guy with a crappy job laugh and joke around a bit. I declined the new card.

Based on the data, I must be having money problems or have enough money to blow it on crappy consumer electronics.

Update: 2 new spams just arrived, making a total of 32. I updated the table.

Someone should tell microsoft their newsletters look like SPAM to the spam assassin. I probably signed up for the newsletter and should probably unsubscribe if it's going to be automatically delegated to the bit bucket. According to the assassin's results, the newsletter doesn't even come close scoring 22.7 points, which is 17.7 points over the limit. The largest single score is 4.3 for having "limited time only." I guess that means a side effect of the assasin is filtering out cheap marketing gimmicks.

Update: 1 new spam just arrived, making a total of 33. I updated the table.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 07, 2002 07:46 PM

I don't know what the status of this case is (has an appeals court gone the other way?), but it seems possible that the FCC's "junk fax" fine will also be tossed out.

Posted by GeeTee at August 07, 2002 11:02 AM

"This is not the result of a walk in the snow," said Clark, referring to Pierre Trudeau's famous remark. "It's taken longer than that."

Posted by GeeTee at August 07, 2002 10:57 AM

Spam recipients call to tell Cowles how they feel.

"These people will go to the lowest depths," said Cowles, of Bowling Green, Ohio. "I have some phone clips that would make you sick."

Posted by GeeTee at August 07, 2002 10:23 AM

The first evidence that might point to a link between von Gerlach and Fitzgerald turned up in 1973, when Bruccoli, also a former trustee of Fitzgerald's estate, came across a 1923 newspaper clipping showing a photograph of the storied author -- who died in 1940 -- with his wife, Zelda, and the couple's daughter, Scotty, on the lawn of their modest Long Island home.

What he saw set off alarms: In cursive script across the top of the picture, the writer inquires, "How are you and the family, old sport?"

Posted by GeeTee at August 07, 2002 10:04 AM

I really only enjoy eating two things: Tortellini with Pesto Sauce, and French Fries. Consequentially I eat Tortellini with Pesto sauce for dinner every night. Even if I go out for dinner and eat French Fries or the occasional salad, I will always make myself some Tortellini with Pesto sauce later on. I'm sure that eventually I will exceed my lifetime capacity for these two items as well, and then I will be in trouble.

Posted by GeeTee at August 07, 2002 09:58 AM

Now he's learning to walk, or roll, using his front feet to pull himself along.

Posted by GeeTee at August 07, 2002 09:48 AM

At 12:01 a.m., on Jan. 1, 2001 -- the day the act's first stage was implemented -- Privacy Commissioner of Canada general counsel Heather Black says Englander was among the first to file a complaint under the new legislation. A Vancouver lawyer, Englander took issue with Telus Corp., claiming the telecommunications company discloses the names, addresses and phone numbers of its customers in its White Pages and directories without their consent. Englander also objected to the fee Telus charges to customers who want to keep that information unlisted.

Posted by GeeTee at August 07, 2002 09:44 AM

The blogs are typically anonymous, or written under a pseudonym like Khorshidkhanoom, which means "the lady sun." Some of the diaries are almost certainly fake. But the overall thrust of the postings suggests that there is a generation of women vying to liberate themselves. On one site a woman explored the misery of a loveless arranged marriage, calling it "sexual slavery" — a term unheard of in Iran. Another woman suggested that women should become more creative with the Islamic dress code. "It's obligatory but we can make it jollier, more floral," she wrote.

Posted by GeeTee at August 07, 2002 08:56 AM

Mr. Jabarah was... taken to the United States under circumstances that have not yet been fully explained publicly. He is at an undisclosed location, a practice that is sometimes employed to protect witnesses in antiterrorist cases. But the secrecy surrounding Mr. Jabarah's circumstances has fuelled speculation he is being held against his will and without being charged.

Posted by GeeTee at August 07, 2002 08:52 AM

"The Saudis are active at every level of the terror chain, from planners to financiers, from cadre to foot-soldier, from ideologist to cheerleader," stated the explosive briefing.

Posted by GeeTee at August 07, 2002 08:49 AM

The 90-minute tape begins with McArdle and an FBI agent turning on the wire device to record the undercover operation. McArdle is then heard making his way through a concourse, buying a pack of cigarettes with a Rod Stewart song playing in the background, before he meets the assessor.

Glasses are heard clinking and McArdle has just asked for a glass of water when the muffled boom begins -- the sound of American Airlines Flight 11 hitting the first tower.

Posted by GeeTee at August 07, 2002 08:45 AM

"What happens is they are essentially abandoned to the streets, they quit taking their medications, they become ill again and they don't have a place to live," LaJeunesse said.

Posted by GeeTee at August 07, 2002 06:30 AM

A sunset from Madrona Park, a short walk from my front door. I cropped out the McNeil Island Corrections Center.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 06, 2002 08:40 PM

A three-judge panel ruled that allowing court challenges to the demolitions could put soldiers' lives in danger because Palestinians would be able to booby-trap the houses or set up ambushes. The ruling leaves it up to the military to decide whether or not to allow hearings in some cases.

Posted by GeeTee at August 06, 2002 10:18 AM

A World Taekwondo Federation official told a South Korean magazine he ''indirectly'' influenced referees and judges to favor Koreans in Sydney. Chong Woo Lee, a WTF vice president during the Games, said he manipulated the assignment of judges and referees. He could not be reached Monday.

Posted by GeeTee at August 06, 2002 10:15 AM

The missing FBI weapons included 10 submachine guns, 42 shotguns and 85 pistols. Many were stolen from agents' cars and homes. One was left in a taxicab last year. Another was left in a telephone booth.

Posted by GeeTee at August 06, 2002 10:12 AM

SUVs are less safe overall than passenger cars, even smaller passenger cars. Studies have shown that overall, in accelerating and handling, SUVs are inferior in comparison to similarly sized and powered cars. In most types of accidents, a vehicle occupant is more likely to be injured in an SUV than in a passenger car. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Studies, in single vehicle crashes, heavy vehicles with stiff frames -which are mostly SUVs - may actually harm the vehicle's occupants more than in a passenger car because there is little give to dissipate the force of running into an immovable object. This is because the best selling SUVs use old "ladder" technology in their frames, which is not designed to absorb collision impacts.

Posted by GeeTee at August 06, 2002 07:38 AM

Left handed bloggers? I'm ambidextrous in everyway that's important.

A:I've always considered myself a Jerry Brown kinda Democrat -- I think he's been much maligned. Remember when he was pooh poohed over talking 'bout a flat tax during his presidential candidacy? He's also "individual rights" on the Second Amendment. At the same time, Jerry's a Left Coast Liberal who cares about social justice issues.

I'm a Jerry Brown (after the 1992 presidential run) Democrat too. His run for president on $50 donations was real campaign finance reform. It proves we don't need a law to reform just the will to do the right thing.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 06, 2002 07:29 AM

A quick google search and it seems that a lot of electronic companies are doing lead-free "research."

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 06, 2002 07:22 AM

Still, it is hard not to feel a grudging admiration for the anonymous wordsmiths behind these pitches. The subject line on most e-mail programs is roughly 50 characters, a limit that makes haiku look verbose. In that small space the writer needs to find a way to make an instantaneous connection. The best subject headers -- "Come see my new house," "Let me explain" -- make as compelling an emotional appeal as a good greeting card, in far fewer words.

Posted by GeeTee at August 06, 2002 07:15 AM

Posted by GeeTee at August 06, 2002 06:37 AM

The 33-year-old was assaulted in Kraaifontein by a passerby who offered him food, took him home and beat him up before forcing him to ejaculate into a jar.

Posted by GeeTee at August 06, 2002 06:21 AM

The PowerMate is an all-in-one PC that comes with a 15-inch flat-panel screen, a 900MHz Transmeta Crusoe processor and 256MB of memory. Similar to IBM's discontinued NetVista X, the "guts" of the computer are located behind the screen. The PowerMate is expected to sell for $1,599.

This is not a particularly good deal for the power -- I could get a flat panel iMac for the price. However, it is fully recyclable, lead-free, low-power, quiet and with a small desktop footprint. I have noted many times in my blog about allergies that a green or organic product will cost about double normal, which is borne out with this machine.

Posted by GeeTee at August 06, 2002 06:08 AM

In his defence, Finney says it's not up to him to determine who gets a divorce and how. "We didn't create the need for this," he says. "We responded to a need that was already there."

Hutson [says] people who look down on this point-and-click road to divorce don't realize the system discriminates against those who can't afford the traditional channels.

Posted by GeeTee at August 06, 2002 05:59 AM

The UN resolution - drafted by the European Union and Palestinian officials - was opposed by the United States and Israel, which said it was biased.

Posted by GeeTee at August 06, 2002 05:53 AM

Mills, 57, was fired in June after the Citizen published an editorial critical of Chretien, a friend of the Asper family, which controls Canada's largest newspaper chain and which supports Chretien's Liberal Party.

Posted by GeeTee at August 06, 2002 05:49 AM

I live in a neighborhood called Madraon Park as can be seen by the tree in my backyard, there are some actual Madrona trees here. I took the picture with my digital camera, but then couldn't resist using one of those silly photo editors to tweak it.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 05, 2002 09:23 PM

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 04:56 PM

Although the Gorsedd of Bards calls its members druids, the organization dates only as far back as 1792 - the brainchild of Welsh scholar Iolo Morganwg. Past members included the actor Richard Burton and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 01:16 PM

We find it reprehensible that US tax dollars, in the form of US aid to Israel, are being used to fund Israel's oppressive policy towards the Palestinians. This aid not only sustains Israel's illegal occupation and provides the means for Israel to continue violating the human rights of Palestinians, but also violates the US Arms Export Control Act, which prohibits the President from furnishing military aid or selling weapons to any country that consistently violates internationally recognized human rights standards. We demand the immediate cessation of all US aid to Israel until Israel honors United Nations authority and abides by the rules of international law.

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 12:49 PM

A statement from the Vatican released Monday said the seven women did not "give any indication of amendment or repentance for the most serious offence they had committed."

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 12:19 PM

Scelson considers himself a legitimate e-mail marketer and speaks with scorn of spammers who covertly "relay" their messages, remotely using the servers of others. His company leases several high-capacity Internet lines, known in the business as DS3s. "We've even considered creating our own backbone," thereby eliminating any reliance on telecoms, he says.

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 10:38 AM

The teen told police he was burning loose material off his tennis shoes as the plane taxied into Pittsburgh International Airport Saturday.

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 10:28 AM

Residents of Talcahuano complained to officials after local children found a human jawbone, ribs and teeth.

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 10:26 AM

Stephane Dion has challenged the Ontario government to take the first step by making Ottawa bilingual. He said Monday if the capital of Canada was officially bilingual it would be good for everyone in the country. Dion said Quebec would become more open to English if the rest of the country embraced French.

I'm for that -- PROVIDED THERE ARE FREE FRENCH LANGUAGE LESSONS FOR EVERYONE. Right now it would cost me THOUSANDS to be certified bilingual -- versus low hundreds for German or Italian. If this country wants to be bilingual it has to make French available to everyone -- heck, English too, if we all have to learn French (not a bad thing) they should all have to learn English. If not, stuff 'em.

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 10:05 AM

A way to turn carbon dioxide into hydrocarbons has caused a big stir at an industrial chemistry conference in New Brunwick, New Jersey. Nakamichi Yamasaki of the Tokushima Industrial Technology Center in Japan says he has a process that makes propane and butane at relatively low temperatures and pressures.

While his work still needs independent verification, if he can make even heavier hydrocarbons, it might be possible to make petrol. It has carbon chains that are between five and 12 atoms long - butane is four atoms long.

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 09:40 AM

A referendum in Taiwan would upset the apple cart, because it would force all sides to stop pretending. China could no longer pretend that reunification is just a matter of time for which it can afford to wait. Taiwan could no longer pretend that, as DPP spokesmen have long liked to say, "independence is not the issue", because Taiwan enjoys de facto independence already. And America could no longer pretend that it can both back a "one-China" policy and safeguard the interests of the 23m people on Taiwan, few of whom support imminent reunification.

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 08:26 AM

Less than 50 years ago, Canela women, who live in Amazonian Brazil, enjoyed the delights of as many as 40 men one after another in festive rituals. When it was time to have a child, they'd select their favorite dozen or so lovers to help their husband with the all-important task. Even today, when the dalliances of married Barí ladies in Columbia and Venezuela result in a child, they proudly announce the long list of probable fathers.

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 07:47 AM

DeWine's bill does not authorize the Feds to target American citizens or green card holders. But it does mean that the mere "suspicion" of illicit activities would be enough to wiretap the phones and bug the e-mail communications of millions of tourists or legal immigrants who hold H-1B, B-2, TN-1, or student visas.

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 07:41 AM

In blue-collar bars and little diners where New York construction workers gather for lunch and coffee breaks, the tattoo became a badge of honor, a mark of heartache, an emblem that communicated at a glance how these men's service at Ground Zero had affected them in ways and places that couldn't otherwise be seen or explained as they returned to their regular, long-interrupted lives.

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 07:39 AM

All the right people in the world of cancer research read the Cancer Letter, circulation 1,200. They do not read it for celebrity news. Instead, many have come to depend on the work of Paul Goldberg, its lead reporter, who digs into the voluminous, mind-numbing details of cancer research to ferret out significant nuggets.

That was what he did in January, shortly after ImClone disclosed that the Food and Drug Administration had temporarily rejected the company's application for approval of Erbitux, a new cancer drug. Then-chief executive Samuel Waksal portrayed the trouble as minor paperwork problems that could be easily fixed.

Goldberg smelled a rat. He knew the FDA was prohibited by law from talking, which left the company free to say what it wanted. He used his long-standing contacts in the cancer research world to get his hands on a letter from the FDA to the company. The letter revealed that the agency's problems with Erbitux were far more extensive than the company was letting on, and expensive new tests might be required.

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 07:33 AM

The survey also indicates that just 27 percent of MPs websites use interactive tools such as online feedback forms or surveys which would allow citizens to express views directly to their local MP.

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 05:54 AM

Amazing, huh? The Great Depression was the worst sustained economic catastrophe this country has seen. Unemployment hit 24.9% in 1933. Year-over-year GNP declined from 1930 to 1933, turning up again only in 1934. Yet regular investing still yielded a positive annual compound growth rate after only five years -- and that's even without adding in the Dow stocks' dividends. That seems like a long time today but not when compared the 0% return rate for investors who added no money for 25 years. Then five years begin to look darn good.

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 05:16 AM

"When you look at the original story of the [Canadian] friendly-fire incident it seems that the pilot was being inexplicably aggressive. It goes beyond fatigue or lack of experience or [being a] cowboy or trigger happy or any of the standard prosaic explanations. The simplest explanation is that the guy had eaten too much speed and was paranoid."

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 04:40 AM

The Parkay tub's utterance of "butter" is now high-tech, with more definition of movement and body language. He can speak whole monologues. It's only fitting he would use the opportunity for self-reflection as a pop legend. This is his "Behind the Music" moment. Clearly he's been watching reality shows, where anyone can suddenly feel entitled to fame, where people are always lying to one another (and to themselves) and then confessing -- to a private camera -- the most American of defenses: "That's not who I am."

Posted by GeeTee at August 05, 2002 04:35 AM

For those who honor the happy fat man's ideas.

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 03, 2002 10:23 PM

a new survey reveals that one in three marijuana users is employed in the high-tech sector.

Here's the best part....

"Previously considered an industry driven by level-headed and logical thinkers, this revelation speaks volumes about society's lack of understanding about the use of cannabis and also its effect or lack of effect on job performance."

My guess? It's the all those long hair unix geeks. "Cool, hey man, let's like, you know let the software go free. be free, run with the wind. woah man, you got any chips?"

The window freaks are definitely doing something much harder. "Was that a cop? Are you a cop?"

The macintosh Arteests (nobody from IT has used a mac for years) are probably sipping red wine, itching their nicotine patch. "I do the newsletter for my book club every month."

I gotta go, I need a haircut.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 03, 2002 10:02 PM

Well, today has been a sad ol' lonesome day
Yeah, today has been a sad ol' lonesome day
I'm just sittin' here thinking
With my mind a million miles away

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 03, 2002 06:06 PM

Wallflower, wallflower
Won't you dance with me?
I'm sad and lonely too.
Wallflower, wallflower
Won't you dance with me?
I'm fallin' in love with you.

Just like you I'm wondrin' what I'm doin' here.
Just like you I'm wondrin' what's goin' on.

Wallflower, wallflower
Won't you dance with me?
The night will soon be gone.

I have seen you standing in the smoky haze
And I know that you're gonna be mine one of these days,
Mine alone.

Wallflower, wallflower
Take a chance on me.
Please let me ride you home.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 03, 2002 06:03 PM

"We're not seeing a dramatic change in the quantity of streaming," RealNetworks chief executive Rob Glaser said in an interview with News.com earlier this week. "What we are seeing, and this is the unfortunate thing, is a winnowing of the diversity of choice."

Posted by GeeTee at August 03, 2002 02:17 PM

Recently I got myself a new computer. I bought it as components because it was cheaper and I've been telling people that I assembled it myself. However, I can no longer live this lie. I must now reveal ...

Posted by GeeTee at August 03, 2002 01:29 PM

The global sculpture is the sum of all individual iconoblocs.

Posted by GeeTee at August 03, 2002 01:18 PM

...today in America, I wonder what can get a person into trouble. What if the exterminator, whose monthly visits keep my house pest free, suddenly registers my last name as unusual? I'm a transplant to Hawaii and not a member of its common ethnic groups. What if the person who fixed my window screens tells someone about the Islamic-style plaque in my kitchen, the one with the 99 names of God written in Arabic script, a beautiful reminder of a short tourist trip to Pakistan before all this started? What if the man who delivered some furniture the other day reports the phone call he heard me take from my father, the one in which I commiserated with him about the stock market and said nasty things about people in power? What will happen when the snooping begins?

Perhaps we should ask the Czechs.

Posted by GeeTee at August 03, 2002 01:15 PM

My first card was in the name of Mickey Mouse of Anaheim, and you might find that to be protection enough -- the Safeway staff would always say"thank you Mr. Mouse." When I traded it, I told the receipient to always trade with somebody who lives east of him. I presume my card has made it to the east coast by now.

Posted by GeeTee at August 03, 2002 01:11 PM

"We found the blocking of content about women's history or sites about bathing suits. So if you want to buy something to swim in, they seem to treat that as if it were pornographic in Saudi Arabia," Mr Edelman told the BBC programme Go Digital.

Posted by GeeTee at August 03, 2002 01:07 PM

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, said Saturday that if the fix was in he will consider changing the figure skating medals. He did not explain precisely what this would mean for Canadians Jamie Salé and David Pelletier, who eventually were awarded gold medals.

Posted by GeeTee at August 03, 2002 12:45 PM

Discover each tomb in the Valley in this interactive version of our Atlas. Investigate a database of information about each tomb, view a compilation of nearly 2,000 images, interact with models of each tomb, and measure, pan, and zoom over 250 detailed maps, elevations, and sections. Experience sixty-five narrated tours by Dr. Weeks and explore a 3D recreation of tomb KV 14.

Posted by GeeTee at August 03, 2002 12:37 PM

The steel-encased camera, designed to withstand a bullet, plays a recorded warning that police hope will act as a deterrent: "Stop! This is the LAPD," the recording says. "We have just taken your photograph. We will use this photograph to prosecute you. Leave now."

Posted by GeeTee at August 03, 2002 12:34 PM

Teamsters President James Hoffa, Jr. is preparing to endorse the Bush administration's TIPS plan, according toWashington sources close to the labor union. Teamsters is the largest union in the U.S. and its members includeUnited Parcel Service (UPS) workers. The decision of theTeamsters to back TIPS is solely Hoffa's, and no union vote was taken, or is planned, the source said. Many Teamstersare more left-of-center and are unhappy with Hoffa's close relationship with Republicans and the Bush White House and view his pending endorsement of TIPS as an attempt to win favor with Bush, the source said. Of course, it is unclearwhat type of support this move would actually receive from individual Teamsters. But a publice endorsement would be ominous.

Posted by GeeTee at August 03, 2002 12:18 PM

Honesty, however, was not the only quality which frequently went missing during the Shieldfield case. The other quality notable by its absence was common sense. Reed and Lillie were each in a stable relationship. They did not socialise outside work. Shieldfield was a busy, inner-city nursery. Parents arrived regularly to pick up or drop off children, staff were on shifts and students were present. Yet children were supposed to have been raped at unknown locations and to have suffered routine abuse of a kind which would have caused acute pain, perceptible injury and bleeding. All this was meant to have happened without any child making a spontaneous complaint and without any parent or member of staff noticing. The scenario was incredible. Yet it was this scenario that Barker and his team chose to believe and publish to the world.

Posted by GeeTee at August 03, 2002 08:18 AM

The order by U.S. District Judge Barbara Kessler allows only two exceptions. On a case-by-case basis, the judge will consider allowing the government to keep a detainee's name secret if the detainee is a material witness to a terror investigation.

The judge also will allow the government to withhold the name if the detainee requests it.

Kessler ruled that the government's rationale for keeping the names secret was insufficient. The government's argument that terrorists inother nations might map the progress of U.S. investigators by determining who had been captured is illogical.

Posted by GeeTee at August 03, 2002 06:41 AM

Democracy don't rule the world,
You'd better get that in your head.
This world is ruled by violence
But I guess that's better left unsaid.
From Broadway to the Milky Way,
That's a lot of territory indeed
And a man's gonna do what he has to do
When he's got a hungry mouth to feed.

Well, it's sundown on the union
And what's made in the U.S.A.
Sure was a good idea
'Til greed got in the way.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 02, 2002 05:18 PM

For $48, plus shipping and handling, you can name a star, that's right, an actual star!

Posted by GeeTee at August 02, 2002 04:28 PM

...the integral element rests with the opportunity to print raised images from specially-formatted files.

Posted by GeeTee at August 02, 2002 04:00 PM

"Everybody wants to see some accountability for the stuff that's been going on, and we finally saw some people being taken away in cuffs."

Posted by GeeTee at August 02, 2002 03:52 PM

Tokhtakhounov "arranged a classic quid pro quo: 'You'll line up support for the Russian pair, we'll line up support for the French pair, and everybody will go away with the gold, and perhaps they'll be a little gold for me,'" U.S. attorney James Comey said Wednesday.

Posted by GeeTee at August 02, 2002 03:06 PM

People complain about political gridlock in Washington, D.C., but on this point there was refreshing bipartisan support. None of the beneficiaries of Adelphia's erstwhile generosity -- Democratic or Republican -- have shown the slightest urge to give any money back. Not the Republican National Committee, which received at least $41,500 from Adelphia, according to opensecrets.org. Not the Democratic National Committee, which got $12,500. Not the National Republican Congressional Committee, which got $25,000, and whose spokesman audibly snickered at our political naivete. Not U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, the Pennsylvania Republican whose "Victory Committee" received $10,000 from Adelphia in September 2000.

Posted by GeeTee at August 02, 2002 02:56 PM

Those subjects came to the fore after Eliot L. Spitzer, the New York State attorney general, released e-mail messages written by Henry Blodget and other Internet stock analysts at Merrill Lynch. The messages appeared to catch the analysts exchanging negative views about companies whose stocks they were recommending to investors. They described companies in disparaging terms, like a "piece of junk."

Posted by GeeTee at August 02, 2002 02:46 PM

Purdy had been using domain names such as mycocacola.com and mymcdonalds.com at which Web viewers were redirected to Purdy's Web site, which spoke against abortions and included graphic pictures of aborted fetuses.

Posted by GeeTee at August 02, 2002 02:43 PM

In the case of mine clean-ups, the policy is quite clear: "the polluter pays" — not the federal government.

Posted by GeeTee at August 02, 2002 02:36 PM

Maria Suarez, a Southern California woman who has served two decades behind bars for the murder of the man who bought her as a sex slave when she was 16, has been denied parole by Gov. Gray Davis.

Davis' action Thursday was the seventh time he has reversed his own parole board's recommendations of freedom for battered women who killed their abusers.
Twice he has sided with the board.
In May, the Board of Prison Terms concluded that Suarez posed little danger to the public and was suitable for parole.

Posted by GeeTee at August 02, 2002 02:28 PM

Perhaps most fundamentally, new buildings would be subject to a spectrum of enhanced structural and safety requirements. Existing codes require that certain new high-rises be able to sustain the collapse of three floors without falling down completely, city building officials said. They are considering an expansion of that requirement to cover more buildings and the potential for destruction of more than three floors, as might be expected in a terrorist attack.

One novel measure would force all high-rise developers to create "refuges" in elevator vestibules where people trapped in a fire could safely congregate and await rescue. The measure would rely on fireproof walls and doors.

Posted by GeeTee at August 02, 2002 02:24 PM

Blue States - Nothing Changes Under the Sun CD

Track 4. Stereo 99

Good programming music... put on the head phones, fire up the c++ compiler, and create smooth code. Coding: Start with a blank file, and type code, get lost, let the functions, objects push and bulge and try to take on a form of their own, but never lose control and end up with a sculpture with lots of secrets and subtle flaws.

I gotta go, I am going to code up a dolphin motif backyard lawn fountain today (imagine Daryl Hannah making dolphin sounds in the movie Splash).

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 02, 2002 08:11 AM

What if everyone was given a nice place to live (at least a condo with community pool and laundry room), a generous allotment of healthy food (think food pyramid, 20 vegetable/fruit coupons for every meat coupon), and access to a great education, all for free.

I think people would still work, so they could buy Big Screen Teevees, fast cars, designer jeans, sweet smelling fragrances, as well as the reward of a successful career. Others, would become professional volunteers. The artists would still suffer as they tried to find originality in the sea of loud and flashy but bland consumerism. Thinkers could spend their days exploring the world of quanta, spirit, and life. Imagine the talent of professional athletes when selected from the what would probably be endless amateur leagues.

I wonder how you would go about doing a serious cost benefit analysis?

The drawback? Who would want to be a janitor? The cracked truth about our system might be that in order to have janitors we need to have homeless. Wouldn't it be great if the great social problem of the day switched from how to solve the homeless problem to how to solve the janitor shortage problem?

I gotta go, there's a waste basket at work that I forgot to empty before leaving.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 01, 2002 09:02 PM

pulled over while doing 85 in a 55, a bit drunk, without her license.

"you don't have identification of any kind?"

"no, but i have my name tattooed over my belly button."

no ticket, get out jail free, $200 for passing go.

all lower case in homage to mr pierce.

Posted by Shad Muegge at August 01, 2002 07:04 PM

Due to the sensitive nature of these discoveries and the known critical uses of Tru64 in healthcare, military, and other arenas, SNOsoft attempted on multiple occasions to build a working relationship with HP so the information could be transferred privately. However, our well-intentioned efforts were misperceived by HP, as they responded to SNOsoft with a letter in which they accused us of attempted extortion.

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 05:03 PM

Experts have come up with two very good ideas for making wrongful convictions less likely. One is to improve the standard police lineup by letting witnesses see only one purported suspect at a time, so that they can make an absolute judgment about each one. When witnesses see six people at once, they make relative judgments, comparing the six and picking whoever looks most like the person they remember from the crime scene, rather than evaluating each individually. Conducting lineups sequentially seems like a minor change, but research by Wells and others has shown that it reduces the number of mistaken identifications—by as much as one half—without significantly reducing the number of correct ones. Ensuring that the detective running the lineup does not know who the real suspect is, and so does not make leading comments (Don't you want to look at number three again?), helps too, for the same reason that good clinical research is double-blind: otherwise it's easy to contaminate the results with intentional or unintentional bias.

The second proposal is to videotape all police interrogations, so that a reliable record exists of the questioning that produced a confession—how leading, how coercive, how open-ended—and of the suspect's comportment during it. Many police departments around the country, including those of San Diego and Kansas City, Missouri, already do this voluntarily, and police departments in Minnesota and Alaska are required by law to do it. Videotaping makes some police officers who haven't used it a little nervous. They worry that it will cost too much, that curbside or squad-car confessions will be inadmissible because taping hasn't started yet, or that officers will feel constrained from using aggressive but legitimate interrogation techniques—for example, telling a suspect they have evidence that they don't, a method the Supreme Court has upheld and Andy Sipowicz uses all the time on NYPD Blue.

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 04:57 PM

"She said 'I'll kiss you when you get back.' She wished all her life she'd kissed him. But in those days, it wasn't proper."

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 04:31 PM

According to Dr. Wegner, Egyptologists have long known, from ancient texts, that the standard form of childbirth in ancient Egypt was for the woman to deliver the baby while squatting on two mud bricks. The upper surface of the birth brick discovered at Abydos, unlike the bottom and sides, is crumbled away. "It is quite possible," Dr Wegner notes, "that the damage to the top of the brick --and another like it that has not been preserved-- was caused by its use to support a woman's feet in childbirth for a long period of time and during multiple deliveries."

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 04:11 PM

"Pakistani authorities later handed him over to their masters and they bundled him to Guantanamo prison facility in Cuba along with hundreds of other Afghan, Pakistan and Arab prisoners," the [Balochistan] Post commented.

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 04:08 PM

Clarke said the hackers should be responsible about reporting the programming mistakes. A hacker should contact the software maker first, he said, then go to the government if the software maker doesn't respond soon.

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 04:02 PM

A large body of research in psychology shows that categorizing people into groups along nearly any dimension elicits discrimination: it seems to activate an "us" versus "them" psychology. Given this finding, it would be discouraging to learn that the human mind was designed such that people cannot help categorizing others by their race. This would imply that racism is intractable. Our results indicate that mentally dividing people into different "racial groups" is not inevitable; instead, coalition, and hence race, is a volatile, dynamically updated cognitive variable, easily overwritten by new circumstances.

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 03:20 PM

The findings suggest that a drug that blocks the M5 receptor may be an effective way to reduce the risk of addiction to morphine without sacrificing pain relief, according to Basile and his colleagues. They note that the receptor is present mainly in the brain, so a drug that blocks the receptor is unlikely to cause serious side effects. Because nicotine, alcohol, cocaine and other drugs all affect similar brain circuitry as morphine, the M5 receptor may also be involved in other types of addiction, the researchers report.

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 03:15 PM

Phobics are often treated by gradually exposing them to the object of their fear in a safe environment, to erase the bad association. Lutz suggests that cannabinoid-enhancing drugs, taken at the same time as this exposure, might aid memory clearance.

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 03:12 PM

The dark, tar-like substance can be found dotted around scores of places near the Delaware River in Camden. It's hard to scrape off and residents say it only seems to materialise in the early hours of the morning.

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 03:01 PM

"We think we have the basics of what we do as humans down pat," Bump said. "We get up in the morning and make breakfast, but if you tried to program a computer to do that, you'd quickly find that what's simple to you is incredibly difficult for a computer."The same is true for Go. "When you're deciding what variations to consider, your subconscious mind is pruning," he said. "It's hard to say how much is going on in your mind to accomplish this pruning, but in a position on the board where I'd look at 10 variations, the computer has to look at thousands, maybe a million positions to come to the same conclusions, or to wrong conclusions."

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 02:49 PM

Prince Fahd was the third member of the extensive Saudi royal family to die in a week.

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 02:42 PM

"The victim Joslin then took the gun out of Stoker's mouth, saying, 'If you have to shoot somebody, shoot me,"' Alford said, citing the witness report.

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 02:38 PM

The suit seeks damages of $10 per day for each unwanted e-mail the Utah plaintiffs received from Sprint (FON), along with payment of court costs.

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 12:55 PM

The company, backed by the major music labels, is expected to announce a new pricing plan and software package beginning Thursday, according to sources familiar with the plans. Under one section of the new plan, subscribers will be able to download or stream an unlimited number of songs to their computer for a single annual fee of $179.40, the equivalent of today's $14.95 monthly fee, according to a customer service representative.

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 12:50 PM

According to the company, China accounted for 6.63 per cent of global internet traffic, second only to the US, which accounts for some 42.65 per cent of online activity worldwide. Behind China, by percentage, is Japan (5.24 per cent), Britain (3.94 per cent), Canada (3.93 per cent) and Germany (3.64 per cent).

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 12:45 PM

U.S. federal prosecutors in New York said they had charged Uzbek-born Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov over a scheme to fix two figure skating competitions at February's Salt Lake City games on behalf of French and Russian competitors.

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 10:57 AM

"There will be enormous pressure applied to them to turn on Ebbers."

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 10:46 AM

It was not known which AOL executives might be subjects of the Justice Department's investigation. Prosecutors have "not ruled out anybody," including top AOL executives, a source said.

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 10:15 AM

German women talk to other women about angst and German men talk to other men about women, according to findings of a research study released Wednesday.

Posted by GeeTee at August 01, 2002 05:08 AM