...more recent posts
Wow. This doesn't look good for the boys in charge. Looks like a new book is about to come out. Richard Butler will have an op-ed piece in the NY Times this weekend on the issue. He (Butler) said this on CNN by way of explanation:
The most explosive charge, Paula, is that the Bush administration -- the present one, just shortly after assuming office slowed down FBI investigations of al Qaeda and terrorism in Afghanistan in order to do a deal with the Taliban on oil -- an oil pipeline across Afghanistan.
Now let's see. The White House has appointed National Security Council Advisor Zalmay Khalilzad to serve as Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan. Apparetnly he worked for Unocal. As did Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's interim Prez. (Although this thread has some arguments as to why this might not be as ridiculous as it sounds.)
Kind of makes this whole conspiracty theory thing I linked to on 9/24 (alas, on a private page, because I was actually chicken) seem not that crazy.
Kind of makes you wonder who was in attendance at the secret Cheney energy summit? They've gone to some crazy lengths to surpress that information.
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HOT TRENDS TO WATCH IN 2002:
Some could sizzle, others could fizzle. We'll revisit these calls a year from now to see how they panned out.
Blogging: From Jim Romenesko's MediaNews to Hylton Jolliffe's Corante, blogging is all the rage these days. (Ed's note: A blog is a Web log providing commentary and linked pointers to other sites) . Blogging has grown in popularity because they are simple to maintain and cheap to produce. Some cover niche topics with quick blurbs of news with links to other sites while others are wide-ranging, covering every conceivable topic. In 2002, we believe corporate America will fully introduce itself to blogging, creating a profitable side industry. The New York Times sold out ad inventory for its DealBook e-mail blog launch and there are indications other publishing giants will follow suit. The concept of blogging as a viable business is still an experiment. But, in 2002, the sheer popularity will make it a hot trend.
dsl connection established! (so far only on my computer - movin' on to wheel's next.) speedy quick. i like it. have not yet figured out the router setup that jim says is the way to go - which will allow us to wirelessly connect from the garden and around the house. baby steps. going to go find some big files to download.
coming down the mountain
the Chuck Zito experience
Doc Searls points to this Terry Jones (Monty Python) article in the Telegraph which gets right to the heart of the problem with our present "war on terrorism" which, as far as I can tell, is not actually a "war" nor particularly on "terrorism."
WHAT really alarms me about President Bush's "war on terrorism" is the grammar. How do you wage war on an abstract noun? It's rather like bombing murder.It's about time for the comedians to take some whacks at this thing (although Jones' article is quite serious.)
its a happy new year, no bombs were set off, we can try to live life w/o fear, but it just dawned on me that two of my super hero's died last year, kesey and lilly....
Residents of Lindhurst and Jersey City have been advised to boil their tap water for 3 mins. due to a sewer break.
On Christmas, Jim and I were discussing the difficulties of programming a computer to play Go in comparison to Chess. I said Go might ultimately be beyond the power of a computer because it relied on pattern recognition rather than number-crunching. Jim said he doubted that, because eventually computers would be able to handle complex pattern recognition. Well, it looks like I was wrong, about the nature of the task--it's number-crunching AND pattern recognition--and the outcome. At least one expert concurs that it's not a matter of whether but when. Here's a no-sign-in-required link to the NYTimes article I remembered from several years ago. In relevant part it states: "'It may be a hundred years before a computer beats humans at Go -- maybe even longer,' said Dr. Piet Hut, an astrophysicist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., and a fan of the game. 'If a reasonably intelligent person learned to play Go, in a few months he could beat all existing computer programs. You don't have to be a Kasparov.' When or if a computer defeats a human Go champion, it will be a sign that artificial intelligence is truly beginning to become as good as the real thing."
The history of Dead Moon another great band from Portland.
I first saw this band in it's incarnation as the Rats. I knew that some members had been in a 60's psychedelic band called The Lollipop Shop but this history states that they hark all the way back to 1964!
The influence of AC/DC and the first two Love albums is present in much of their work.
I recommend!
From a Kodak technical support page:
Among precautions that travelers can expect will be the increased use of new, high-intensity x-ray scanners for checked baggage and hand-carried baggage. Passengers should be aware that these high-intensity x-ray machines will fog and ruin all unprocessed film of any speed, whether exposed or not. Kodak recommends that air travelers do not carry unexposed or unprocessed motion picture film.I wonder if computer hard drives will be affected as well.
Wipers box set released. Original 1981 cover art restored with credit given to which dig med tre'er ?
collateral (bird) damage
I thought we covered this at some point, but I can't find it now, and the Wheel just sent the story to me again, so, for all you debunking fans, here's the current wisdom on the "secret meaning" behind the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Thomas Frank (the Baffler) has a funny op-ed on John Walker in the NYT today. In reply to all the conservative scolding about Walker being a product of "liberal values," Frank argues that "born in the 1980's, John Walker grew up in a time when American conformity was the lamentation not of pampered professors but of Madison Avenue and the cutting-edge management gurus."
Frank continues: "It is from TV commercials for sneakers and S.U.V.'s that we learn of the horror of American sameness, and the freedom and personal authenticity that await us when we fire up a Macintosh or zoom away in a Honda CR-V. Extremism in the pursuit of intensity, the ad men tell us, is no vice. John Walker's generation was encouraged to use 'extreme' cordless drills, buy its Dodges from an extreme used car dealer and catch its trout with an extreme fishing rod. Just for them did ecstatic TV hipsters steer their sedans up Himalayan peaks in search of the phattest possible brand experience. Maybe the boy Talib is simply an attentive consumer, his ill-fated affair with extreme Islam merely a twisted continuation of his search for the weapons-grade authenticity promised him so many times by manufacturers of bell-bottom jeans and lemon-lime soda."
a tree grows...
Recounted Out
It is with the saddest heart that we must pass on the
following news.
Please join us in remembering a great icon of the
entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died
yesterday of a yeast infection and complications from
repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71. Doughboy was
buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of
celebrities turned out to pay their respects,
including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the
California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess
Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The gravesite was piled
high with flours. Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy
and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never
knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly
in show business, but his later life was filled with
turnovers. He was not considered a very "smart"
cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked
schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he
still, as a crusty old man, was considered a roll
model for millions. Doughboy is survived by his wife,
Play Dough; two children, John Dough and Jane Dough;
plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by
his elderly father, Pop Tart.
The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 Minutes.
pornado report : digitalmediatree make-over
"what would Baudrillard say ?" 9/27/01
the first list of British IFAs, or Important Fungus Areas
5 wtc 360 cams
post-martha