April 2006 Archives

The U.S. government has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by a San Francisco civil liberties group against AT&T because it says the case could reveal military and state secrets.

The class-action suit by the group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, on behalf of AT&T customers accuses the company of unlawful collaboration with the National Security Agency in its surveillance program to intercept telephone and e-mail communications between the United States and people linked to al Qaeda and affiliated organizations.

President George W. Bush authorized the intercepts following the September 11 attacks without court approval.

In a "Statement of Interest" filed on Friday, the government asked U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker to throw out the suit, saying the government "cannot disclose any information that may be at issue in this case."

"The government intends to assert the military and state secrets privilege (that) permits the government to protect against the unauthorized disclosure in litigation of information that may harm national security interests," it said.

"In addition to asserting the state secrets privilege, the U.S. also intends to file a motion to intervene for the purpose of seeking dismissal of this case," the filing said.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation said in a statement issued late on Friday that "evidence regarding AT&T's dragnet surveillance of its networks, currently filed under seal, includes a declaration by Mark Klein, a retired AT&T telecommunications technician, and several internal AT&T documents."

U.S. seeks to dismiss AT&T secrets suit - Reuters.com

Mexican lawmakers passed a sweeping new drug law early Friday that would crack down on small-time dealers, legalize the possession of small quantities of drugs and mandate treatment for addicts.

Under the bill, it would be legal to have 25 milligrams of heroin, a fifth of an ounce of marijuana or half a gram of cocaine. The bill also makes it legal to possess small amounts of LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, amphetamines and peyote.

President Vicente Fox had proposed the law in January 2004 in the hopes of slowing down the rapid growth in drug addiction and the ranks of small-time dealers that has hit Mexican cities and towns in recent years, just as it has long plagued American cities.

Mexico Passes Law Making Possession of Some Drugs Legal - New York Times

SEGA Europe Ltd. and SEGA of America, Inc. today are proud to announce SEGA Rally (known as SEGA Rally Revo in the US). Originally released in 1995, 'Sega Rally Championship' helped to create the Rally genre and was quickly heralded as the pinnacle of arcade racer's. Staying true to the series, SEGA Rally will be the first title developed by the newly formed SEGA Driving Studio and will be racing onto the Sony PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PC in 2007.

Set to redefine the rally genre with vibrant next generation graphics, intuitive controls, competitive bumper-to-bumper racing and fully reactive environments. SEGA Rally will once again be leading the rest of the pack with a wonderfully vivacious and realistic graphical world that is every gamers driving fantasy.

"The rally genre has become the domain of ultra realistic simulation based titles that portray the sport in minute detail but offer little in terms of fun," commented Guy Wilday, Studio Director, SEGA Driving Studio. "With the emphasis being on entertainment, SEGA Rally will focus on delivering an adrenaline fuelled competitive racing experience but without over-complicating the rally experience."

Voodoo Extreme: SEGA Rally Announced

Cool.

Strange New Products: Turn Your iPod into a Sex Toy

The iBuzz connects with your iPod to create vibrations in sync with whatever music you're playing.

Now you can feel the music in places you've never felt before!

iBuzz comes with a headphone splitter so you can listen on one end while vibrating on the other.

I suppose the Beach Boys will become popular on this device ... "Good, good, good, good vibrations..."

Ice cream makers Ben & Jerry's have apologized for causing offence by calling a new flavor "Black & Tan" -- the nickname of a notoriously violent British militia that operated during Ireland's war of independence.

The ice cream, available only in the United States, is based on an ale and stout drink of the same name.

"Any reference on our part to the British Army unit was absolutely unintentional and no ill-will was ever intended," said a Ben & Jerry's spokesman.

Ben & Jerry's sorry for Irish 'Black & Tan' upset - Yahoo! News

American’s increasing acceptance of religious diversity doesn’t extend to those who don’t believe in a god, according to a national survey by researchers in the University of Minnesota’s department of sociology.

From a telephone sampling of more than 2,000 households, university researchers found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in “sharing their vision of American society.” Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry.

Even though atheists are few in number, not formally organized and relatively hard to publicly identify, they are seen as a threat to the American way of life by a large portion of the American public. “Atheists, who account for about 3 percent of the U.S. population, offer a glaring exception to the rule of increasing social tolerance over the last 30 years,” says Penny Edgell, associate sociology professor and the study’s lead researcher.

Atheists identified as America’s most distrusted minority, according to new U of M study : News Releases: UMNnews: U of M.

The number of seized methamphetamine labs in the Washington area has been flat in recent years; the number of meth-related visits to emergency rooms has plummeted. National data show meth use falling off in recent years. Federal officials and local law enforcement confirmed what the arresting officer told Garza.

“It’s not that big of a deal, but we’re keeping it on the radar,” said Kristine Vander Wall, an intelligence analyst with the Washington/Baltimore bureau of the federal High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program who has done heavy analysis of meth usage and arrest data.

Meth, a mildly addictive synthetic drug that stimulates the nervous system, has not infiltrated the Virginia suburbs to any significant degree.

One possible explanation for the flat national rate of meth use and the lack of a serious local problem could be that the drug is not very addictive. A recent federal survey showed that of the 12 million people who had used meth in their lifetime, only 1 in 10 had used it in the past year. Only 1 in 25 had used it in the past 30 days.

Despite the evidence, health officials are also pushing for legislation that would restrict the sale of cold medications that contain pseudoephedrine, one of the ingredients used to manufacture meth. Virginia, like many states across the country, limits such sales, but Maryland and the District do not.

Washington City Paper

Sometimes, you need to make sure that a file you've deleted is really gone. I use about 7-8 different computers in a typical week, and on all of them I use utilities that do daily secure wipes of all free space.

Fortunately, there are some very good freeware apps to accomplish this.

For the most part, I use Blowfish Advanced CS, which integrates Bruce Schneier's famous encryption algorithm (featured once on 24). Fro my experience Blowfish Advance CS has a very small footprint and is very fast.

Brian.Carnell.Com

Sony has been silent as far as the price of its future console is concerned, thus encouraging the spreading of rumors. According to the latest "unofficial information" of this sort, PlayStation 3 is supposed to cost $399 and will have a 60 GB HDD.

Also, PSM (the independent PlayStation magazine who started the new rumor) says PlayStation 3 will ship in the first half of November

An earlier statement on the subject came from vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe George Fornay, who said the next-gen console would come with a price tag of 499 euros. Later, Sony claimed that Fornay’s comments have been "mistranslated or misunderstood".

Earlier this month, a Sony spokeswoman said that further details on pricing or launch would become available at a press event ahead of the E3, on May 8

A PlayStation 3 costing only $399 would be a serious blow for Microsoft’s Xbox 360, which also costs $399. The price aside, Sony console comes equipped with a high-definition Blu-Ray drive, while the Xbox 360 could (eventually) match this up with a $100 HD disc drive.

PlayStation 3 Rumored To Cost $399 | Portal IT news :: Hardware, Software, Games, Internet, Security alerts

Woohoo! Go Canada.

Canadian Music Creators Coalition: A New Voice

We are a growing coalition of Canadian music creators who share the common goal of having our voices heard about the laws and policies that affect our livelihoods. We are the people who actually create Canadian music. Without us, there would be no music for copyright laws to protect.

Until now, a group of multinational record labels has done most of the talking about what Canadian artists need out of copyright. Record companies and music publishers are not our enemies, but let’s be clear: lobbyists for major labels are looking out for their shareholders, and seldom speak for Canadian artists. Legislative proposals that would facilitate lawsuits against our fans or increase the labels’ control over the enjoyment of music are made not in our names, but on behalf of the labels’ foreign parent companies.

It is the government’s responsibility to protect Canadian artists from exploitation. This requires a firm commitment to programs that support Canadian music talent, and a fresh approach to copyright law reform. Canadian music creators have identified three principles that should guide the copyright reform process.

Neat!

A selection of front covers of books by William S. Burroughs

Burroughs Book Covers

Wrong, indeed ... Yikes!

Rape accused 'had sex with wrong woman' - Top stories - Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au

A man who claims he mistakenly had sex with "the wrong woman" after entering a dark bedroom at the home of a Sydney magazine editor was yesterday committed to stand trial for rape.
Paul John Chappell, 31, was invited back to the editor's Bondi flat after they met during a night out.

The pair went to bed and Mr Chappell later got up to use the bathroom.

But Mr Chappell claims he mistakenly returned to the wrong bedroom, where the editor's 23-year-old flatmate was asleep.

He got into bed with the flatmate and initiated sex, allegedly believing she was the other woman.

The flatmate participated because she thought it was her own boyfriend who had come to bed after falling asleep in the loungeroom.

When she turned on the light, the "hysterical" woman saw Mr Chappell in her bed and realised her boyfriend was still asleep on the couch.

Mr Chappell intends to plead not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent.

Oh, so I should dress well? Huh... who knew?

MSN Dating & Personals - Long-shot dating made doable

Look good, even if you’re not great-looking

So what if you’re not drop-dead gorgeous yourself? Strauss says he lacks obvious physical charms, but that his confidence and charisma more than compensate. “Girls would meet me and be initially disappointed, but I would still win them over,” says Strauss. “You don’t have to be good-looking—you just have to act good-looking.” Accomplish this by wearing flattering clothing (ask a straight-shooting salesperson to put you in a casual date outfit if you’re not sure what looks best on you), walking tall, smiling at strangers, holding eye contact, and otherwise acting like you own the room. So raise your standards, hone your inner charm, and go for the cutie already!

I read Rory Leishman’s editorial, “Christianity melds reason with faith” with great interest. Leishman quotes from my website (www.geocities.com/questioningpage) and announces that I have “got it wrong.” Well I don’t know, but maybe I must take a closer look to see if I indeed have gotten it wrong.

Leishman criticizes a recent Supreme Court decision, and complains that many Canadians fall into grievous error because they “rely on reason alone as a guide for moral judgment.” But reason has long been the standard by which democratic governments strive to govern. Shall we turn away from reason?

Leishman says that, for many, “Holy Scripture is the ultimate authority on all questions of faith and morality.” But what of Deut. 22:11 which forbids wearing clothes of mixed fabrics? Is this verse the ultimate answer to that question? Leishman mentions that verse, and infers that it is an obsolete ceremonial law. But how would one know this is an obsolete law? The New Testament is not at all clear on that.

But even if we judge this law obsolete, that does not clear up the problem. For that law is in the early scripture. At one time, this was the only scripture people knew. And the same scripture allowed slavery. That is the problem. Are we really to believe there was a time in which slavery was right but wearing mixed fabrics was wrong? Those who followed the books of Moses at that time would have thought so. But reason would disagree. Would not a literal following of scriptures in those days have yielded a wrong morality? We cannot ignore this problem by saying the commands are now obsolete. What about the time in which they were taken as relevant? If scripture was wrong back then, how can one be sure that following the updated scriptures is the best way to morality now?

The Mind Set Free: Faith and Reason

So, Deuteronomy 22:11 is "obsolete", huh? What other rules are obsolete, and how is Rory Leishman the definitive source on what we can and can't ignore in the Bible?

London Free Press - Rory Leishman - Christianity melds reason with faith

Altogether, the Bible contains more than 600 moral rules. Some, such as the prohibition in Deuteronomy 22:11 against clothing with mixed wool and linen fabrics, are obsolete. Few faithful Christians would have any compunction about wearing a woollen suit with a linen lining.

That puzzles Merle Hertzler, an on-line village agnostic. He asks: "If the Bible is your source of guidance, why do you simply ignore this rule, and live as though it doesn't exist? This rule is not reasonable, is it? Why would God care if we wore two kinds of fabric together? If you and I let reason override this rule, then it seems to me that reason, not the Bible, is our ultimate guide."

Hertzler has got it wrong. For theologically orthodox Christians, Catholic and Protestant, Holy Scripture is the ultimate authority on all questions of faith and morality. Reason is the means for discerning revealed biblical truth.

There is no conflict between right reason and Christian faith. In the eloquent words of Pope John Paul the Great: "Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth."

natto is made from fermented soybeans. it is a japanese food that is traditionally eaten for breakfast. historically, steamed soybeans were packed in rice straw, which naturally contains the bacterium bacillus natto, and left to ferment in a warm place. today, cultured b. natto is simply added to the cooked beans. apparently, natto is very healthy. but mostly, natto tastes really, really bad.

i grew up in france, and in my limited experience, i would say there is nothing i have eaten that i have not liked. i eat snails, naturally. innards don't make me wince. i've eaten brain, i love blood sausage, i will eat kidneys. i grew up with blue cheese and i actually enjoy marmite. but natto, i have to say, i do not like. not even remotely.

now, i have always believed that one can get used to anything. aversions are usually cultural, and are triggered by the unknown or unfamiliar. so the question i pose myself is not: can i actually learn to like natto, but: how long will it take?

Natto Project

A federal judge ruled yesterday that Kansas law did not require health care workers to report to the authorities sexual activity by people under age 16, invalidating a 2003 opinion by the state's attorney general.

The judge, J. Thomas Marten of Federal District Court in Wichita, said the reporting of consensual sex among similarly aged teenagers would deter young people from seeking medical care and overwhelm the state authorities.

The ruling blocks the attorney general's advisory opinion from guiding the enforcement of Kansas' law requiring the reporting of abuse that causes injury. The opinion suggested that any pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease or request for contraception fell under the law.

The decision by Judge Marten came in a class-action lawsuit on behalf of doctors, nurses, therapists and sex educators. It was the second legal setback in as many months for the attorney general, Phill Kline, and his efforts to restrict abortions in the state.

Judge Blocks Law to Report Sex Under 16 - New York Times

The fundamentalist Christian right often laments that there is a "war on Christians" by secular society in the U.S. Indeed, as Easter approaches, such complaints inevitably increase. Consider, however, these clearly un-Constitutional clauses in various state constitutions that make atheists ineligible for public office (or at least not accorded the same rights to run for public office), including Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

It's unbelievable today that such blatantly un-Constitutional clauses can remain, even today, in the constitutions of various states. You don't have to be an atheist or agnostic to see such clauses as being profoundly offensive.

The whole concept of a "war against Christians" is nothing more than the whining of fundamentalists who want to keep seeing their religious iconography and language incorporated in governement.

Respectful Insolence: War on Christians?

Won’t Deliver Emails Mentioning www.DearAOL.com

UPDATE After this press release was sent out Thursday afternoon, AOL stopped blocking email with links to www.DearAOL.com. Officials at the company stated that problems of this nature generally take three to five working days to fix. However, this was fixed after 24 hours of undeliverability - and approximately twenty minutes after this press release was widely distributed. This incident only increases our worry about organizations who don't have the ability to seek instant press attention. The next time AOL's anti-spam filters fail for a small organization – or one without political muscle – will they move so quickly to fix them? Or will they push organizations to just sign up with Goodmail and pay to avoid the problem?

San Francisco - AOL is blocking delivery to AOL customers of all emails that include a link to www.DearAOL.com. Today, over 100 people who signed a petition to AOL tried sending messages to their AOL-using friends, and received a bounce-back message informing them that their email "failed permanently."

"The fact is, ISPs like AOL commonly make these kinds of arbitrary decisions – silently banning huge swathes of legitimate mail on the flimsiest of reasons – every day, and no one hears about it," said Danny O'Brien, Activism Coordinator of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). "AOL's planned CertifiedEmail system would let them profit from this power by offering to charge legitimate mailers to bypass these malfunctioning filters."

After reports of undelivered email started rolling in to the DearAOL.com Coalition, MoveOn co-founder Wes Boyd decided to see for himself if it was true.

EFF: Breaking News

With fava beans and a nice Chianti...

entertainment.iafrica.com | news Tom to eat Katie's placenta

Tom Cruise is intending to eat Katie Holmes' placenta after his fiancée has given birth to their baby.

"I'm gonna eat the placenta. I thought that would be good. Very nutritious. I'm gonna eat the cord and the placenta right there," Cruise said in an interview with GQ.

The statement is the latest in a long line of outrageous comments that critics have called an ongoing publicity stunt.

Following his latest statement, the GQ interviewer pointed out that it would be quite a task to eat a placenta as it is rather large.

A controversial Texas program to send undercover agents into bars to arrest drunks has been halted after a firestorm of protest from the public.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has "temporarily suspended" what it called "Operation Last Call" even though it still believes it was worthwhile, commission spokeswoman Carolyn Beck said on Thursday.

"We understand that everything has room for improvement, this included," she said.

She said most of those arrested in the sting operations had been "dangerously drunk" and might have tried to drive if TABC agents had not busted them.

Texas halts arrests of drunks in bars - Yahoo! News

When America's top sex researchers gathered recently to discuss the next decade in their field, some envisioned a future in which artificial sex partners could cater to every fantasy.

"What is very likely to be present before 2016 would be a multi-sensual experience of virtual sex," said Julia Heiman, director of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University, Bloomington.

"There is a possibility of developing erotic materials for yourself that would allow you to create a partner of certain dimensions and qualities, the partner saying certain things in that interaction, certain things happening in that interaction."

A field dubbed "teledildonics" already allows people at two remote computers to manipulate electronic devices such as a vibrator at the other end for sexual purposes.

Future sex: gizmos, robots - Yahoo! News

An international team of scientists has discovered 4.1-million-year-old fossils in eastern Ethiopia that fill a missing gap in human evolution.

The teeth and bones belong to a primitive species of Australopithecus known as Au. anamensis, an ape-man creature that walked on two legs.

Because the fossils are from the same human ancestral hot spot in Ethiopia as remains from seven other human-like species, scientists can now fill in the gaps for the most complete evolutionary chain so far.

"We just found the chain of evolution, the continuity through time," said Ethiopian anthropologist Berhane Asfaw, co-author of the study being reported today in the journal Nature.

TheStar.com - Fossil find fills evolution gap

Harper may not have had time to read it himself, but the foreign affairs people in Ottawa's Pearson Building will most certainly be aware of the long article by Seymour Hersh in the latest edition of the New Yorker magazine. Hersh reveals an impressive array of sources and reports that suggest the United States is planning to invade Iran.

Most chilling of all, Hersh reports that there is an active debate within the administration as to whether the Americans should use tactical nuclear weapons to wipe out Iran's nuclear installations.

The reason Harper should be concerned is that if the Americans commit themselves to action against Iran, they are obviously going to be looking for friends and supporters. Bush would remember that when the Chrétien government refused Canada's support for the invasion of Iraq three years ago, Harper was sharply critical. With a change in Ottawa, Bush might expect Canadian support against Iran.

CBC News Indepth: Reality Check

The Mood Light Shelf, an illuminated, colour-changing shelf based on ultra bright LEDs, is the latest newcomer in the multiple award-winning MOOD LIGHT Collection

The Mood Light Shelf has a range of millions of colors, and because it can be mounted vertically or horizontally, it can be used in multiple configurations.

Power supply and remote control included.

Generate Light: Mood Light Shelf

Takahashi-san, of Kyoto’s Robot Garage, is already famous worldwide as the creator of a series of high performance, and beautifully styled male robots including Chroino and Manoi. So what could he do to top that? Simple. How about a female robot that not only looks great, but also walks and moves just like a woman?

Takahashi’s latest creation has been dubbed “FT”, standing for female type, and no connection with the Financial Times out of the U.K.

There isn’t much available in the way of specific details on the FT yet, though the photos look fantastic.

ROBOTS DREAMS: One Sexy Robot

Update: A video of the chickbot walking can be found at http://www.sentojack.com/new_vlive/img/ft_promo.wmv

This gets pretty meta- to make cartoons based on cartoons. I can't wait to see the cartoon commentaries they make on these. Besides, I've picked on the X-tians enough today. And I'm a big Bob the Angry Flower fan.

There's more cartoons at this place.

(sigh)

'The Science Guy' is entertaining and provocative at MCC lecture

The Emmy-winning scientist angered a few audience members when he criticized literal interpretation of the biblical verse Genesis 1:16, which reads: “God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.”

He pointed out that the sun, the “greater light,” is but one of countless stars and that the “lesser light” is the moon, which really is not a light at all, rather a reflector of light.

A number of audience members left the room at that point, visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence.

“We believe in a God!” exclaimed one woman as she left the room with three young children.

I'd be finding myself a new car, but this information's probably good too. In fact, I'm never trusting *anyone* who claims they are a Christian.

14 things to do if you have missed the rapture!

10. BE CAREFUL WHO YOU TRUST. Don’t trust every person who claims they are a Christian. Beware of Communist agents posing as Christians or ministers.

12 WATCH YOUR GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION. Leave all large nuclear target areas, such as bases, cities, lakes, ship yards, industrial areas, etc.

14. OBTAIN fallout shelter, if possible.

One of the greatest villains in history was in truth a hero for the ages, according to an ancient gospel unveiled yesterday in Washington.

Judas Iscariot, a man whose name became synonymous with betrayal for selling information about Jesus to the Romans for 30 pieces of silver — an act that led to the arrest and crucifixion of the man Christians regard as the son of God — was acting on orders from Jesus himself.

"He's the good guy. He's the only apostle who understands Jesus," said Bart Ehrman, chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an expert in the New Testament. "In this gospel it turns out that Judas does turn Jesus over to the authorities, but according to this gospel, this is what Jesus wanted."

In fact, Jesus entrusted Judas with a secret he did not reveal to any of his other disciples: That this world was not created by the one true God, but by a lesser, evil divinity as a place to entrap divine spirits.

TheStar.com - Judas cast in new light

Scientists have made one of the most important fossil finds in history: a missing link between fish and land animals, showing how creatures first walked out of the water and on to dry land more than 375m years ago.

Palaeontologists have said that the find, a crocodile-like animal called the Tiktaalik roseae and described today in the journal Nature, could become an icon of evolution in action - like Archaeopteryx, the famous fossil that bridged the gap between reptiles and birds.

As such, it will be a blow to proponents of intelligent design, who claim that the many gaps in the fossil record show evidence of some higher power.

Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist, said: "Our emergence on to the land is one of the more significant rites of passage in our evolutionary history, and Tiktaalik is an important link in the story."

Guardian Unlimited | Science | Discovered: missing link that solves a mystery of evolution

Nice.

LASIK@Home

How It Works

The key to the LASIK@Home system is the Scal-Pal™ Scanning Adjusting Laparoscopic Personal Laser. This hand-operated combination femtosecond/excimer laser is made exclusively for LASIK@Home by Walton Group Manufacturing, the same company that makes the the LASIK equipment used by more clinics nationwide.

The Scal-Pal™ is actually two lasers in one! First the Scal-Pal™ femtosecond laser cuts a small flap in the cornea of your eye. Then the excimer laser vaporizes a tiny section of the lens without damaging the surrounding tissue. The whole procedure takes only a few minutes and is virtually painless.

An interesting blog posting about our favourite new Presidente Prime Minister, by my favourite journalist conspiracy nut, Paul William Roberts.

Paul William Roberts

Anyone tempted to vote for Stephen Harper simply as a way of turning that stale Ottawa soil to oxygenate it, think again. Harper is another front man for the less-visible Canadian version of so-called Neo-Conservatism, which needs to be understood a lot better than it currently is by all shades of political opinion here, particularly the Left, which, as always, underestimates its opponents' will to power.

Make no mistake: Neo-Conservatism is fascism, an updated Naziism with the anti-Jewish element replaced by an anti-Muslim bias. One reason that the Neo-Con movement has been able to absorb so many ex-Trotskyites --- from Christopher Hitchens back to Irving Kristol -- is that its totalitarian inclinations are startlingly similar to those of International Socialism. Bush's call for a "global democratic revolution" echoes Trotsky's "World socialistic revolution", and anyone who believes Bush meant through the deployment of peaceful methods for change, take a look at Iraq (150,000 dead civilians at least), Afghanistan (10,000, who knows?), et al, not to mention the Pentagon's $500 billion annual budget. Marx also stated that capitalism would pave the way for Socialism because its rapacious greed tends to lay bare the avarice and elitism concealed in its core. I doubt if he envisioned the Neo-Con twist, though, and also doubt that the ex-Trots are there to surf in on the Big Wave when it comes. I imagine most felt it was their last chance to see a global revolution of any kind.

Maybe the Governor will intervene, or something.

Homeland Security Official Arrested - CBS News

Authorities say a deputy press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been arrested on charges of using the Internet to seduce a person he thought was a teenage girl.

Brian J. Doyle, 55, was arrested at his residence in Maryland on charges of use of a computer to seduce a child and transmission of harmful material to a minor. The charges were issued out of Polk County, Fla.

"We take these allegations very seriously, and we will cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation," says Doyle's boss, Homeland Security press secretary Russ Knocke, who declined comment on the details of the investigation.

Thousands of voters turned out in Wisconsin to offer a purely symbolic but heartfelt message: Bring the troops home from Iraq.

By margins overwhelming in some places and narrow in others, voters in 24 of 32 communities approved referendums Tuesday calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

Such measures have been passed by city councils and voters in other states, including Vermont, which served as a model for Wisconsin's effort, said Rachel Friedman, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice.

The group, which helped organize Tuesday's initiatives, is already looking at ways to take the referendums into more communities. Elected officials can't ignore the results, especially as the November election season looms, Friedman said.

24 Wis. Communities Vote for Iraq Pullout

Nearly 50,000 square miles of the continental US is covered by lawn, according to estimates by ecologists at NASA's Ames Research Center. Using satellite and aerial imagery, the team calculated that irrigated grass covers three times more land in the US than irrigated corn does. That makes turf the nation's most widespread irrigated crop.

Lawn care and gardening is also the most popular outdoor leisure activity in the country, and the global industry supporting it generates an estimated $7 billion a year. ScottsMiracle-Gro accounts for more than a third of that - $2.4 billion in 2005. Numbers aside, though, that neatly trimmed front lawn is a Rockwellian feature of the American landscape. It's safe to say that no other nation commits even a fraction of the land, resources, chemicals, and water that the US does in pursuit of the perfect greensward.

All that vegetation has some environmental benefit. According to the NASA group, lawns collectively absorb some 12 billion pounds of carbon each year - effectively cutting greenhouse gas emissions. And if that grass weren't there, much more soil would run off into storm drains, waterways, and ?rivers, polluting reservoirs and hastening the erosion of hillsides and valuable farmland.

Wired 14.04: Turf Warrior

Interesting commentary by Will Wright, creator of "The Sims".

Wired 14.04: Dream Machines

The human imagination is an amazing thing. As children, we spend much of our time in imaginary worlds, substituting toys and make-believe for the real surroundings that we are just beginning to explore and understand. As we play, we learn. And as we grow, our play gets more complicated. We add rules and goals. The result is something we call games.

Now an entire generation has grown up with a different set of games than any before it - and it plays these games in different ways. Just watch a kid with a new videogame. The last thing they do is read the manual. Instead, they pick up the controller and start mashing buttons to see what happens. This isn't a random process; it's the essence of the scientific method. Through trial and error, players build a model of the underlying game based on empirical evidence collected through play. As the players refine this model, they begin to master the game world. It's a rapid cycle of hypothesis, experiment, and analysis. And it's a fundamentally different take on problem-solving than the linear, read-the-manual-first approach of their parents.

Police say the Grateful Dead leader's commode was stolen recently from a driveway along with three other toilets and a bidet.

Garcia's salmon-colored toilet was the subject of a legal battle before it was finally moved to Sonoma, to await shipment to a Canadian casino.

It's unclear if the toilet was swiped by a wayward Deadhead or a thief remodeling a bathroom. Police said they have no suspects or leads.

CNN.com - Wanted: Jerry Garcia's toilet - Apr 4, 2006

Paul Verhoeven, director of the first "Basic Instinct" (which scored $353 million worldwide) as well as the widely ridiculed "Showgirls" (now regarded as something of a camp classic), attributes the genre's demise to the current American political climate.

"Anything that is erotic has been banned in the United States," said the Dutch native. "Look at the people at the top (of the government). We are living under a government that is constantly hammering out Christian values. And Christianity and sex have never been good friends."

Scribe Nicholas Meyer, who was an uncredited writer on 1987's seminal sex-fueled cautionary tale "Fatal Attraction," agrees, noting that the genre's downfall coincides with the ascent of the conservative political movement.

"We're in a big puritanical mode," he said. "Now, it's like the McCarthy era, except it's not 'Are you a communist?' but 'Have you ever put sex in a movie?' "

CNN.com - Whatever happened to the erotic thriller? - Apr 3, 2006

We have no idea why they chose today to do it, but today seven major movie studios announced they'll be selling movies online through Movielink and CinemaNow. Warner Bros, Universal, Sony, Paramount, Fox, and MGM will all be distributing first-run titles online -- definitely something they've never done before -- through Movielink for between 20 and 30 bones (way, way too much if you ask us), with older movies going for between $10 and $20. Lionsgate (and Sony) also announced distribution through CinemaNow.

Seven major studios line up to sell movies online - Engadget

As further homage to our overlords presenting at the International Robot Expo (IREX) in Japan this week, we bring you the new and improved HAL bionic suit. At first site, we thought we were looking at one badazz crime-fighting cyborg prepping to blast that human wall target (with fuzzy bear backpack — come on, you see it right… please say you see it?). Instead, that dude's all human all the time and only the HAL suit is robotic, if you can believe it. This is the new HAL-5, or more specifically the Hybrid Assistive Limb. It's developed as a walking aid for those who could use a bit of extra power, such as the disabled or apparently farmers who must add bags of sodium to their basement water softeners.

The HAL-5 ready to battle - Engadget

Hee hee.

The First Church of XENU

Dark Lord Xenu is falsely imprisioned by a terrorist regime that charges millions of currency units to hear its tale regarding this truth we have told you. They skew our truths. They try to spread lies about our Master, saying he was a tyrant and an evil dictator. These accusations are simply unfounded. Lord Xenu only sought out an answer to the Galactic Confederacy's overpopulation problem. A viable solution.

We, the true aliens of the Confederacy, support our wrongly imprisioned Dark Lord. As we speak our teams, comprised of millions of the best scientific minds that the Confederacy has to offer, are working on a way to disable the force-field to Xenu's cage. The rebirth of our Master is at hand. We will crush all who oppose us. Our number is many, our power is great. Soon the world will know the truth about our Dark Lord and Master.

HAIL XENU!

" I know George Bush says Jesus changed his heart but, Dick Cheney changed it back." and what's with the "christians turning water into whining".

onegoodmove: Bill Maher On Oppressed Christians