for_sv's blog

On This Day (2003-08-30)

2003: Somerset Maugham Quotes (1874 - 1965) British Novelist and playwright

the difference between a winner and a hero

showing how Paul Hamm represents the worst of contemporary america

First things first: Yes, the Olympic officials are punking out on this one, and they should really just take the initiative themselves to award Yang Tae-Young a second gold medal instead of passing the buck to this 21 year-old kid.

And yes, I have a lot of sympathy for that kid, Paul Hamm.. he's been put in a terribly tough spot here, at what by all rights ought to be the happiest and proudest moment of his life.

But isn't that the true test of any champion, being faced with a tough spot and rising to the occasion? If so, Paul Hamm has proven himself anything but a champion when he walks off the mat.

Hamm not only refused to give his gold medal to Tae-Young, but even announced his opposition to Tae-Young receiving a second gold (as described in Reggie Rivers' excellent Denver Post commentary). And as pointed out here, in doing so Hamm missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime. If he had stepped up and given Tae-Young his gold, he would have gone down as one of the great heroes of olympic history, held up to generations of children as an icon of virtue and sportsmanship. People would would have started walking around with WWPHD bracelets. He'd be exalted for the rest of his life as the embodiment of our noble American values. And he'd be paid up the wazoo.

But he couldn't see the forest for the trees.. his pride blinded him to the big picture, and now he'll only be remembered for the big moment that proved him a small man.

And I'm glad he went out like that. Because by failing to see the difference between a winner and a hero, Paul Hamm gave the world a much more honest representation of what our American values have become in 2004. He reminded the world once again that America no longer seems to grasp the simple concept of doing the right thing. He showed the world that today's America, AKA George Bush's America, is a nation driven by a stubborn pride that overrides all honor and integrity.

I'm sure, for the rest of the globe, this only reinforced what folks already knew about us. But I hope we Americans will also remember how Paul Hamm represented us to the world, and will ask ourselves in November if that's really the America we want to be.

(And it should be easy to remember, cuz like O-Dub said, Hamm even got his medal the same way Bush got his presidency)

(via hiphopmusic)

Dan Ackman and Mark Hazlin: It's Not The Economy, Stupid

NEW YORK - That the state of the economy predicts U.S. presidential elections is one of the hoariest pieces of conventional wisdom around. But the evidence is far from clear. While the economy is certainly a factor, financial facts alone have proved poor predictors of political results.

Just how much of an influence does the economy have? To help answer that question, we studied the last 14 presidential elections, focusing on seven economic variables. These economic factors, whether taken individually or together, predicted the winner just 64% of the time. In short, the economy is not a particularly accurate indicator. One reason for this failure is that in most years, the economy is a mixed bag, with some indicators looking up and others staring down.

There is, however, one important exception to this failure of prognosis: when all, or nearly all, the economic planets are in line, the economy predicts the election quite well. That's what happened in 1956, when Dwight Eisenhower easily won re-election over Adlai Stevenson. It happened again in 1964, 1988, 1992 and 1996.

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Top Ten Sci Fi Movies

Interesting list with very few made in the 90's. Looks like the 80's were the good old days for hard core sci fi as opposed to soft servings we get these days. We need some genuinely new ideas like The Matrix which did make the cut.

(via DB on DB)

On This Day (2003-08-29)

2003: Mailinator

Wayne Barrett: 10 Ways Bush Screwed New York

A presidential potpourri of cuts, blunders, stonewalls, deceptions, and distractions.

Here's a welcome from New York 9-11 Veterans for Truth, a big hello for Republicans from a city hit by a couple of swift jets 35 months—not 35 years—ago. It's matched by just as friendly an insistence that the convention focus on how Bush-Cheney responded to our riverbank assault, rather than on an ancient Mekong attack, where the first test of courage was being there. With the president scheduled to barely show up here all week, wouldn't it be respectful if the delegates and media actually got around town to see just what he's done to us since the bullhorn bravado of 2001? They could start with NYPD Blue, that All-American army deployed all over midtown. There are actually 5,879 fewer city cops than in 2000, partly due to the nearly 90 percent Bush cuts in Bill Clinton's COPS programs. Even with the post-9-11 invention of homeland security funding, NYC is getting $61 million less in federal public-safety subsidies than it did before our cops became America's front line. Bush's 2005 budget proposes even more cuts. Though most conventioneers would prefer to forget it, George W. Bush has slashed the troop strength that host committee hero Rudy Giuliani put on duty.

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On This Day (2003-08-28)

2003: Your Guide to Looking Busy at Work
2003: Fake Northeast "Blackout Photo"

Which Golden Girl Are You?

Which Golden Girl Are You?

All-Start Piano Extravaganza

Last night I spent my evening listening to the enchanting classical music. Thank you PBS for bringing it to us.

In just a decade, Switzerland's annual Verbier Festival has become one of the premier international musical celebrations, attracting a who's who of world-renowned artists to the Swiss countryside, in the shadow of the Alps, for more than two weeks of classical music performances. In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the festival, a group of the world's greatest pianists gathered to play arrangements of classical favorites for four to 16 hands on one to eight pianos. Pianists Leif Ove Andsnes, Nicholas Angelich, Martha Argerich, Emanuel Ax, Claude Frank, Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang, James Levine, Mikhail Pletnev, and Staffan Scheja perform works by Mozart, Wagner, Rimsky-Korsakov, Smetana, Sousa, and Gottschalk. Also featured is Bach's "Concerto in A Minor" for four pianos, performed with the Verbier Birthday Festival Orchestra: Renaud Capuçon, Sarah Chang, Ilya Gringolts, Gidon Kremer, Vadim Repin, Dmitri Sitkovetsky, Christian Tetzlaff, Nikolaj Znaider, Yuri Bashmet, Nobuko Imai, Mischa Maisky, Boris Pergamenschikow, and Patrick de Los Santos. Michael Kimmelman, chief art critic for THE NEW YORK TIMES, hosts the telecast.

Check the schedule for this program as well as other Great Performances.

On This Day (2003-08-26)

2003: BBC to give public "full access" to its archives
2003: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

An invisible hand?

The "Allais effect" could indicate a serious problem with Einstein's theory of general relativity.

“ASSUME nothing” is a good motto in science. Even the humble pendulum may spring a surprise on you. In 1954 Maurice Allais, a French economist who would go on to win, in 1988, the Nobel prize in his subject, decided to observe and record the movements of a pendulum over a period of 30 days. Coincidentally, one of his observations took place during a solar eclipse. When the moon passed in front of the sun, the pendulum unexpectedly started moving a bit faster than it should have done.

Since that first observation, the “Allais effect”, as it is now called, has confounded physicists. If the effect is real, it could indicate a hitherto unperceived flaw in General Relativity—the current explanation of how gravity works.

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On This Day (2003-08-25)

2003: eat less of everything!

Invention of the day: Metal Rubber

“Smart skin” holds promise for morphing wings and wearable computers.

Terrible, horrible things can be done to this millimeters-thick patch of shimmering material crafted by chemists at NanoSonic in Blacksburg, Virginia. Twist it, stretch it double, fry it to 200C, douse it with jet fuel—the stuff survives. After the torment, it snaps like rubber back to its original shape, all the while conducting electricity like solid metal. “Any other material would lose its conductivity,” says Jennifer Hoyt Lalli, NanoSonic’s director of nanocomposites.

The abused substance is called Metal Rubber, and, according to NanoSonic, its particular properties make it unique in the world of material chemistry. As a result, the company’s small office has been flooded with calls from Fortune 500 companies and government agencies eager to test Metal Rubber’s use in everything from artificial muscles to smart clothes to shape-shifting airplane wings.

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Unheard Principles

* The Peter Principle:
In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. Work is accomplished by those employees who have not reached their level of incompetence.

* H.L.Mencken's Law:
Those who can, do. Those who cannot teach

* Martin's Extension:
Those who can't teach, administer

* Belani's Extrapolation:
Those who cannot even administer, become consultants.

* The Lippman Lemma:
People specialise in their area of greatest weakness

* Jone's Motto:
Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.

* Terman's Law of Innovation:
If you want a team to win the high jump, you find one person who can jump seven feet, not seven people who can jump one foot each.

* O'brien's Variation:
If you change queues, the one you have left will start to move faster than the one you are in now.

* Conway's Law:
In any organization there will always be one person who knows what is going on. This person must be fired.

* Lieberman's Law:
Everbody lies; but it doesn't matter since nobody listens.

* Kovac's Conundrum:
When you dial a wrong number, you never get an engaged one.

* Van Herpen's Law:
The solving of the problem lies in finding the solvers.

* Murphy's Law of Government:
If anything can go wrong, it will do so in triplicate.

* Bell's Theorem:
When the body is immersed in water, the telephone rings.

* Ruby's Principle of Close Encounters:
The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.

* Young's Law:
Great discoveries are made by mistake.

* Kin Hubbard
A good listener is usually thinking about something else.

Reliance India: 15 minutes call to India free !!

To celebrate the Indian Independence day and to attract the new customers, Reliance is allowing everyone (non existing customers) to try their service for 15 minutes.

1) Dial 1-866-573-5426

2) When prompted enter the country code (91) followed by city code and the destination number. No need to dial 011.

3) You are allowed one call of 15 minutes -- ABSOLUTELY FREE.

The offer is from August 15th to August 31st for new customers only.

There are no hidden catches in this for sure. Nothing will be charged to your phone or no credit card number is asked so just pick up the phone and call now.

If you like the service you can subscribe it for 11.9 cents per minutes....for excellent connection and superb voice quality.

Enjoy...Have fun.....

3 Laws Unsafe

The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence has a bone to pick with famous science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov, author of the novel on which the summer flick I, Robot is based. Asimov's three robotic laws don't make sense to the organization -- the laws would preclude robots from experiencing free will. To explore the ethics behind artificial intelligence (A.I.), they've created 3 Laws Unsafe. Here you can find prominent writers exploring thought-provoking topics such as robot metamorality and technological evolution. A choice read is "Why we need Friendly A.I" by Institute Director, Eliezer Yudowsky. He argues for the creation of A.I. that is, above all, super moral rather than super intelligent. At the site's Reading List, you can find more A.I. ethics theories in print. If you're intrigued by 3 Laws Unsafe, put your free will to the test and check it out (or not)

On This Day (2003-08-23)

2003: Rita Rudner Quotes (b. 1956) - American comedian, actress.

one of my favorite post

Scream stolen from Norway museum

Edvard Munch's famous painting, The Scream, has been stolen for a second time. Armed robbers have stolen the iconic Edvard Munch painting, The Scream, from the Munch Museum in Norway.

Two masked thieves pulled the work and another painting, Madonna, off the wall as stunned visitors watched.

One robber threatened staff with a gun before the pair escaped in a waiting car, a museum officer told the BBC.

The Scream is one of the world's most recognisable paintings.

Another version of the painting was stolen in 1994 and was recovered three months later. Three Norwegians were arrested in connection with that theft.

Munch wrote of the painting: "I was walking along a path with two friends - the sun was setting - suddenly the sky turned blood red.

"I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence - there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city.

"My friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety - and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature."

Art critic Brian Sewell believes the painting is more popular with the public than art connoisseurs and acknowledges that it is "as famous as the Mona Lisa".

Jorunn Christofferson, a press officer at the Munch Museum, told the BBC the museum was full of people when the robbers took the two paintings - frames and all - off the walls of the gallery.

The Scream and The Madonna are among the two most valuable paintings in the museum collection.

newsflash 2029

* Congress authorizes direct deposit of illegal political contributions to campaign accounts.
* Capitol Hill intern indicted for refusing to have sex with congressman.
* France pleads for global help after being overtaken by Jamaica.
* George Z. Bush says he will run for President in 2036.
* Florida voters still don't know how to use a voting Machine
* IRS sets lowest tax rate at 75%.
* White minorities still trying to have English recognized as California's third language.
* Massachusetts executes last remaining conservative.
* Castro finally dies at age 112; Cuban cigars can now be imported legally, but President Chelsea Clinton has banned all smoking.
* Baby conceived naturally... Scientists stumped.
* Couple petitions court to reinstate heterosexual marriage.
* News flash just in for the year 2029 Ozone created by electric cars now killing millions in the seventh largest country in the world, California.
* Spotted Owl plague threatens northwestern United States crops and livestock.
* Last remaining Fundamentalist Muslim dies in the American Territory of the Middle East (formerly known as Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, and Lebanon).
* Iraq still closed off; physicists estimate it will take at least ten more years before radioactivity decreases to safe levels.
* Postal Service raises price of first class stamp to $17.89 and reduces mail delivery to Wednesday only.
* 85 year study: Diet and Exercise is the key to weight loss. Average weight of Americans drops to 250 lb..
* Supreme Court rules punishment of criminals violates their civil rights.
* Average height of NBA players now nine feet, seven inches.
* New federal law requires that all nail clippers, screwdrivers, fly swatters, and rolled up newspapers must be registered by January 2036.

On This Day (2003-08-22)

2003: What Country Are You?
2003: Black Out 14th August 2003

Where will you be on November 2?

Dear friend,

On November 2, I will be defending democracy by monitoring a polling place with a friend. For the first time in my life, I will vote absentee and then fly or drive to where I am most needed. I think November 2 might be the most important day of our lives, and hope that you and your friends will join me and many others as an Election Protection Volunteer.

Click here to sign up now and volunteer where you're needed most on November 2.

At ElectionProtectionVolunteer.org you can:

· Find out how you can volunteer in a state at "high risk" for voting rights violations so you can make travel plans now.
· Sign up to volunteer with a friend so you can be deployed to a precinct together on election day.
· Plan to attend a training now led by experienced civil rights groups who will be leading efforts in the field on November 2.

Since the 2000 election, civil rights groups have documented on-going efforts to prevent minority citizens from exercising their right to vote:

· In Florida, it has recently come to light that state officials may have violated federal laws by knowingly approving the creation of a "potential felon" purge list that disproportionately affected African American voters.

· In 2003 in Philadelphia, voters in African-American neighborhoods were confronted by men with clipboards, driving cars with magnetic signs that looked like law enforcement insignia. But the men were not officials of any kind.

· Just a month ago in South Dakota, Native American voters were sent to the wrong polling places, and given misleading information about the ID they need to vote.

This time, we can do more than gasp in disbelief and wonder what will happen the next time people try to vote. We can be there, a nonpartisan force for democracy, educating voters about their rights, monitoring the polls on election day, and ensuring that every vote gets counted. Join us at ElectionProtectionVolunteer.org, and get the training and support you'll need to play your part. This time, let's not stand by. Volunteering for the 2004 election is as easy as clicking here.

Sincerely,
Michael Kieschnick
President, Working Assets

p.s. Working Assets, in collaboration with the People for the American Way Foundation and partners including the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, the NAACP National Voter Fund, and the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, needs your help to protect voting rights. At ElectionProtectionVolunteer.org, you'll learn how you can make a difference on election day.

On This Day (2003-08-20)

2003:Govind bolo Gopal bolo
2003:Cracking Windows passwords made easy

From the Moon with Love...

And we were thinking of the IT industry moving away from Bangalore… Computing as we know it, is gonna go galactic!

The first step is a lunar development complex, aptly christened the Google Copernicus Center. Yes! It is gonna be based on the moon!!! You read it right! On the moon!!!!!!

Don’t believe me??? Read this…

Google Copernicus Center is hiring

Google is interviewing candidates for engineering positions at our lunar hosting and research center, opening late in the spring of 2007. This unique opportunity is available only to highly-qualified individuals who are willing to relocate for an extended period of time, are in top physical condition and are capable of surviving with limited access to such modern conveniences as soy low-fat lattes, The Sopranos and a steady supply of oxygen.

The Google Copernicus Hosting Environment and Experiment in Search Engineering (G.C.H.E.E.S.E.) is a fully integrated research, development and technology facility at which Google will be conducting experiments in entropized information filtering, high-density high-delivery hosting (HiDeHiDeHo) and de-oxygenated cubicle dwelling. This center will provide a unique platform from which Google will leapfrog current terrestrial-based technologies and bring information access to new heights of utility.

There is a full fledged explanation as to how this is gonna be achieved!

On This Day (2003-08-19)

2003: Window of worms

Bryan Appleyard: America's most famous THINKER

When he speaks, presidents, prime ministers and pundits sit up and listen. If it's happening, if it's big, if you're arguing about it over dinner, he claims to have the answers. Francis Fukuyama, the man who famously announced the end of history, is back with a new book that examines whether failed states (think Iraq) can be rebuilt.

'WHASSYA business?' asks the bored but vaguely threatening Customs man at New York's Kennedy airport.

'I'm here to meet Francis Fukuyama - you know: The End Of History.'

'Oh yeah,' he chuckles. 'He sure got that wrong.'

In 1992, Francis Fukuyama, previously an obscure Washington policy wonk, made himself famous with everybody - Customs men included - by announcing that the collapse of Soviet communism signalled the end of history.

The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama

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detect academic plagiarism

A bright 12-year old boy has written a computer program that uses the Google search engine to detect academic plagiarism. Unfortunately for him, his schoolteacher used the program to uncover the young author's own internet plagiarism. As the article notes, "Write out a hundred times: 'I must install code that makes my own plagiarism undetectable'." (Via Techdirt.)

On This Day (2003-08-18)

2003: E-mail shrinks the world

For Dogs in New York, a Glossy Look at Life

I expect to see lia and jarvis in a centerfold shortly

For Dogs in New York, a Glossy Look at Life
By BRIAN LAVERY

Published: August 16, 2004

DUBLIN - With feature articles covering "The 10 Best Walks in Manhattan" and how to keep a dog in a custody battle, a New York lifestyle magazine for dog fanatics, The New York Dog, is scheduled to begin publishing this autumn.

The idea of the Irish magazine publishers Michael O'Doherty and John Ryan, the 96-page glossy is expected to be printed every two months and is intended to sit alongside Vogue and Cosmopolitan. It even plans to include photo shoots illustrating dog haute couture.

"Instead of talking about women's fashion, we're talking about dogs' fashion," said Mr. O'Doherty in an interview from his office. Following the lead of other magazines, The New York Dog will feature dog horoscopes and obituaries, dog dieting tips and pop psychology advice for dogs.

In the interest of fairness, the magazine also expects to have an alternative view on its subject. The longtime New York journalist Jimmy Breslin, who does not like dogs, will write a column to be titled "The Back Yard."

Mr. O'Doherty and Mr. Ryan, who previously collaborated on a successful magazine about Irish celebrities, VIP, want to appeal to the owners of the 20 million dogs they say are in New York City. Mr. Ryan's two previous ventures - Gay Ireland and a celebrity tabloid called Stars on Sunday - were short-lived.

A Dublin team will be responsible for design and production, while content and advertising will be generated in Manhattan under Mr. Ryan and the editor, Leslie Padgett.

Mr. O'Doherty, who owns the magazine with Mr. Ryan but is putting up the money, said he expected the venture to break even by selling 20,000 copies at the $4.95 cover price. "We may find out in a couple of months why no one has done this before," he said. (Dogs in New York are not a completely neglected demographic. Nina Munk, a journalist and contributing editor at Vanity Fair, began Urbanhound.com, a Web site about dogs and their owners, in 2000.)

Mr. O'Doherty said he has never had a dog. But, he said, once he thought about articles like "The Race for the White House Kennel," he realized that "there is an endless supply of ideas." BRIAN LAVERY

A French Employee's Work Celebrates the Sloth Ethic

Corporate culture is nothing more than the "crystallization of the stupidity of a group of people at a given moment", says Corinne Maier, the author of the slacker manifesto, "Bonjour Paresse". Better read this before clocking in. (NYT)

Carbonated Fruits

I have no pictures, nor do we really need them, I think, of these new fruits, developed by the Food Innovation Center at Oregon State University, that fizz. As in carbonated. As in they are working to carbonate other things, like vegetables, yogurt, canned food (yum!), and ice cream. Soon every food will have a carbon dioxide payload, and our bones will crumble to dust by the age of five.

Of course, yes, I want to try some, too.

Read - Fruit With Fizz [NACOnline]

Who gets bone disease

Why do nations with the highest rates of bone disease also have the highest milk consumption rates? The highest rates of osteoporosis are to be found in Denmark, Holland, Norway, and Sweden.

We are told to consume 1000 milligrams per day of calcium. Inuit Eskimos consume 3500 milligrams of calcium each day, and by age 40 are crippled.

THE KEY TO OSTEOPOROSIS It's not how much calcium you eat. It's how much calcium you prevent from leaving your bones.

WHY DOES CALCIUM LEAVE BONES? There are 28 amino acids in nature. The human body can manufacture 19 of them. The other nine are called "essential." We must get them from the foods we eat.

One of those "essential" aminos is methionine.

One needs methionine for many human metabolic functions including digestion, detoxification of heavy metals, and muscle metabolism. However, an excess of methionine can be toxic.

Methionine = C-5, H-11, NO, S

Methionine is a good source for sulfur. That's the problem. Eat foods containing too much methionine, and your blood will become acidic. The sulfur converts to sulfates and weak forms of sulphuric acid. In order to neutralize the acid, in its wisdom, the body leeches calcium from bones.

"Dietary protein increases production of acid in the blood which can be neutralized by calcium mobilized from the skeleton."
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1995; 61 (4)

Animal proteins contain more methionine than plant proteins. Let's compare cow's milk to soymilk:

Methionine in 100 grams of soymilk: .040 grams
Methionine in 100 grams of whole milk: .083 grams
Methionine in 100 grams of skim milk: .099 grams

Now, let's compare 100 gram portions of tofu to meat: (All of the meat products are lean and without skin)
Silken soft tofu: .074 grams
Hamburger: .282 grams
Hard boiled egg: .392 grams
Roast ham: .535 grams
Baked codfish: .679 grams
Swiss cheese .784 grams
Roast chicken: .801 grams

In 1988, N.A. Breslau and colleagues identified the relationship between protein-rich diets and calcium metabolism, noting that protein caused calcium loss. His work was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology (1988;66:140-6).

A 1994 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Remer T, Am J Clin Nutr 1994;59:1356-61) found that animal proteins cause calcium to be leached from the bones and excreted in the urine.

MORE SUPORTING EVIDENCE:
"Osteoporosis is caused by a number of things, one of the most important being too much dietary protein."
Science 1986;233(4763)

"Even when eating 1,400 mg of calcium daily, one can lose up to 4% of his or her bone mass each year while consuming a high-protein diet."
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1979;32(4)

"Increasing one's protein intake by 100% may cause calcium loss to double."
Journal of Nutrition, 1981; 111 (3)

"The average man in the US eats 175% more protein than the recommended daily allowance and the average woman eats 144% more."
Surgeon General's Report on Nutrition and Health, 1988

"Consumption of dairy products, particularly at age 20 years, were associated with an increased risk of hip fractures... metabolism of dietary protein causes increased urinary excretion of calcium."
American Journal of Epidemiology 1994;139

On This Day (2003-08-16)

2003: ePrompter

On This Day (2003-08-15)

2003: Happy 56th Independence day

Happy 57th Independence day!!

Andy Borowitz: mcgreevey shocker

MCGREEVEY PROPOSES TAX CUT FOR PEOPLE LIVING TWO LIVES by Andy Borowitz

Supports Changing State Song to 'Copacabana'

New Jersey Governor James McGreevey today announced an aggressive legislative agenda for his remaining months in office, including a substantial tax cut for those New Jersey taxpayers living two lives.

"Those who are living two lives are racking up twice the expenses of those living only one," Mr. McGreevey said. "This tax cut would recognize that reality."

Mr. McGreevey surprised many in the state by pushing forward with a host of new initiatives, including a proposal that would change the state song to "Copacabana."

In addition to offering tax rebates to owners of Vespa scooters and Speedo swimsuits, Mr. McGreevey blocked a proposal to build a new arena for the New Jersey Nets, calling their uniforms "hideous."

Instead, he said that he would support building a $600 million soccer stadium in Newark in the hopes of attracting British soccer star David Beckham.

In New Jersey, where flags flew at half-mast today to mark the end of Cher's Farewell Tour, Democrats were deeply divided over whether Mr. McGreevey's bold new agenda was good for their party.

In the words of one Democratic insider, "I wish he'd just go somewhere and disappear, like on John McEnroe's show."

But Mr. McGreevey, who said today that he would crack down on the manufacturers of so-called salon products that leave New Jersey taxpayers' hair droopy and lifeless, seemed determined to stick around as the fall election battle heats up.

He advised Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry not to ignore the state in the months ahead, warning, "New Jersey could go either way."

Andy Borowitz: guard-dodging shocker

GOP: KERRY WENT TO VIETNAM TO AVOID SERVING IN ALABAMA NATIONAL GUARD by Andy Borowitz

Guard-Dodging Charges Haunt Campaign

A new Republican-financed negative ad is accusing Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry of fleeing to Vietnam to avoid serving in the Alabama National Guard.

The ad, airing in most of the so-called battleground states, attempts to contrast Sen. Kerry’s alleged guard-dodging with the storied Alabama National Guard heroism of the Republican nominee, President George W. Bush.

In the ad, a narrator asks, “When the Alabama National Guard called young Americans to serve, where was John Kerry? Thousands of miles away, in Vietnam.”

The commercial ends with a black-and-white freeze-frame of Mr. Kerry, over which the narrator asks, “John Kerry… reporting for duty?”

The attack ad is hitting the airways just as an organization of Mr. Kerry's former swift boat comrades is holding its first annual anti-Kerry convention in San Diego.

The organization, The Anti-Kerry Boatmates of America, is believed to number over ten thousand members, all of whom openly despise the Democratic nominee.

A spokesman for the Kerry campaign attempted today to discredit the group, saying, “There were a lot of people on John’s boat who hated his guts, but not enough to fill the San Diego convention center.”

Such criticisms aside, the organization is moving ahead with plans for negative ads of their own, including one in which they claim Sen. Kerry’s swift boat was neither swift nor a boat.

Elsewhere, the combined I.Q. of Scott Peterson and Amber Frey topped one hundred for the third consecutive day.

...or can it?

LastFM
"is a personalised online radio station that plays the right music to the right people. Songs spread from listener to listener." Using data from the groovy Audioscrobbler, this is pretty damn cool. But, like #1 said, it can't possibly be legal...

Athens 2004

The World Holds Its BreathThe Games begin today under clouds of concern regarding security and doping.

love google's event based images

Sorcerer II expedition

Craig Venter is on an expedition to collect the DNA of everything on the planet and sequence the genome of Mother Earth.

Barefoot Solar Engineers.

Barefoot Solar Engineers. India's Barefoot College teaches poor and illiterate women to build and maintain rural solar systems in areas with little or no electric supply.

On This Day (2003-08-13)

2003: An unbelievable achievement

Spicy cooking around the world

Spicy cooking recipes can be found in most regions of the world. While cultures may differ, many nations share a love for hot sauces and hot foods, and have adapted hot spices and chilies, like habanero or jalapeno peppers, into their national menus. Around the world one fact remains the same: it takes a certain bravery to love spicy cooking zapped with hot sauce!

Spice up your life with spicy cooking! Even the most calorie-restrictive diets can be enhanced with spicy low-fat chicken recipes or complex carbohydrate-rich rice recipes. Both rice and chicken recipes can be augmented with vegetables for color, texture and flavor. Spicy cooking tends to mask the taste of nutrient-rich foods such as soy or spinach, so even if you don't like these foods they can be added freely—reap their benefits without having to endure their flavors.

Hot = Health
Spicy cooking can have some unexpected health benefits. No longer is "hot spicy food" blamed for ulcers and other gastric ills. In fact, the opposite seems to be true. Many of these health benefits are being investigated by the medical and pharmaceutical communities—one of the hottest research areas in the beginning of the millennium, in fact. Meanwhile, the people of countries where spicy cooking is the norm have understood the preventive and curative benefits of these substances for hundreds of years.

On This Day (2003-08-12)

2003: Raksha = protection. Bandhan = tie.
2003: Sikander ne Porus se ki thi ladai ...
2003: Do you use your left or right hemisphere more?

Alice In Wonderland

Alice In Wonderland - includes complete listing and reviews of every known film based on the Alice stories, as well as information about productions in other media.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Forgetting The: A Portrait of Alzheimer's

Forgetting The: A Portrait of Alzheimer's - companion to PBS documentary includes risk factors, symptoms, advice on coping for families, and personal stories

Fed up of spams and chain mails...

I wanted to thank all my friends and family who have forwarded chain letters to me in 2003 & 2004. Because of your kindness:

*I stopped drinking Coca Cola after I found out that it's good for removing toilet stains. I stopped going to the movies for fear of sitting on a needle infected with AIDS.

* I smell like a wet dog since I stopped using deodorants because they cause cancer. I don't leave my car in the parking lot or any other place and sometimes I even have to walk about 7 blocks for fear that someone will drug me with a perfume sample and try to rob me.

* I also stopped answering the phone for fear that they may ask me to dial a stupid number and the I get a phone bill from hell with calls to Uganda, Singapore and Tokyo.

* I also stopped drinking anything out of a can for fear that I will get sick from the rat faeces and urine. When I go to parties, I don't look at any girl no matter how hot she is, for fear that she will take me to a hotel, drug me then take my kidneys and leave me taking a nap in a bathtub full of ice.

* I also donated all my savings to the Amy Bruce account. A sick girl that was about to die in the hospital about 7,000 times. (Funny that girl, she's been 7 since 1993...)

* I went bankrupt from bounced checks that I made expecting the $15,000 that Microsoft and AOL were supposed to send me when I participated in their special e-mail program would arrive soon.

* My free Nokia phone never arrived and neither did the free passes for a paid vacation to Disneyland.Still open to help some from bulgaria who wants to use my account to transfer his uncle's property of some hundred millions $.

* Made some Hundred wishes before forwarding those Ganesh Vandana , Tirupathi Balaji pics , Buddhist totems etc.. now most of those 'wishes' are already married :( to somone else )

IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you do not send this e-mail to at least 1246 people in the next 10 seconds, a bird will crap on your head today at 5:30pm.

Math that makes you go wow

Math that makes you go wow: A multi-disciplinary exploration of non-orientable surfaces.

Test your reading speed.

Test your reading speed. How many words per minute do you read?

Voices from the past

Getting back into the groove: In the corner of a California university laboratory, two men are battling against time to perfect a machine that will read old recordings - using special microscopes to scan the grooves - and software that can convert those shapes into sound. Their work could bring history to life.

On This Day (2003-08-10)

2003: Monogamy May Threaten Species' Survival

Alfred Hitchcock: A Hank of Hair and a Piece of Bone

Alfred Hitchcock: A Hank of Hair and a Piece of Bone - photo study of the Master's motifs (fetishes?) by Alan Vannerman from Bright Lights Film Journal

Moonlit Road, The

Moonlit Road, The - virtual journey into the dark and mysterious corners of the American South, featuring ghost stories and strange folktales told by the region's best storytellers.

On This Day (2003-08-09)

2003: Chalti ka naam Gaadi (if it is moving it is a car)

Preconcluded Notions

We all do this...........read on

One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his bus, and drove off along the route. No problems for the first few stops-a few people got on, a few got off, and things went generally well. At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a guy got on. Six feet eight, built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground. He glared at the driver and said, "Big John doesn't pay!" and sat down at the back. Did I mention that the driver was five feet three, thin, and basically meek? Well, he was. Naturally, he didn't argue with Big John, but he wasn't happy about it.

The next day the same thing happened-Big John got on again, made a show of refusing to pay, and sat down. And the next day, and the one after that, and so forth. This grated on the bus driver, who started losing sleep over the way Big John was taking advantage of him. Finally he could stand it no longer. He signed up for body building

Courses, karate, judo, and all that good stuff. By the end of the summer, he had become quite strong; what's more, he felt really good about himself.

So on the next Monday, when Big John once again got on the bus and said, "Big John doesn't pay!," the driver stood up, glared back at the passenger, and screamed, "And why not?"

With a surprised look on his face, Big John replied, "Big John has a bus pass."

Moral of the story:

Be sure there is a problem in the first place before working hard to solve one.

On This Day (2003-08-08)

2003: Jai Somnath

Power 105/New York to receive same-day spot data

As an audio person, I co-relate everything with sound; my memories are associated with sound. And some of the best memories of my childhood were not only connected to songs of that era but to advertisements. I used to wish as a child to have some way to connect those promos to some database, something. And my dream came true when I read about this revolutionary concept called AirCheck.

Aircheck of Media Monitors is a broadcast monitoring service providing same-day spot and song airplay data to broadcasters, print media and agencies, matching audio to fingerprints of thousands of commercials and songs. Media Monitors, Inc. is a division and registered service mark of AirCheck, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RCS, Inc.

And now not just me who is impressed by this technology but also Clear Channel urban giant, who signed with Media Monitors.

Media Monitors, Inc. ® announces its agreement with Power 105 (WWPR-FM) in New York City to provide the station with its AirCheck spot airplay data service.

Soon, mobiles to run on your body's energy!

You may not need to rely on batteries to charge up your MP3s and mobile phones for soon your body may become the energy sourcefor all these gadgets.

(via ssivakumar)

Stealth wallpaper keeps company secrets safe

A type of wallpaper that prevents Wi-Fi signals escaping from a building without blocking mobile phone signals has been developed by a British defence contractor. The technology is designed to stop outsiders gaining access to a secure network by using Wi-Fi networks casually set up by workers at the office.

It is the work of moments for an employee to connect a paperback-sized Wi-Fi base station to a company network. That person can then wander around the office with their laptop while remaining wirelessly connected to the internet.

But it is also the work of moments then for an outsider to breach that company's computer security using the Wi-Fi connection. Unless the Wi-Fi base station is protected by security measures that most amateur users would not bother to set up, it gives anyone up to 100 metres away the chance to bypass the corporate firewall and wirelessly hack straight into the network.

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On This Day (2003-08-07)

To Bi or not to Bi

Great deals

Found some great deals from Amazon at recipes blog. But remember it is only valid for a day.

A Calphalon commercial hard-anodized 8.5-quart saucier with lid. Listing for $180.00, it's now just $39.97.

A set of six Spiegelau Vino Grande magnum Bordeaux glasses. Listing for $90.00, it's now just $39.99.

A five-piece Anchor Hocking martini gift set. Listing for $42.00, it's now just $9.99.

The Martex Atelier Supima bath towel two-pack in white. Listing for $27.99, it's now just $14.99.

Why me?

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS. From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"? To this Arthur Ashe replied:

The world over --
5 crore children start playing tennis,
50 lakh learn to play tennis,
5 lakh learn professional tennis,
50,000 come to the circuit,
5000 reach the grand slam,
50 reach Wimbledon,
4 to semi final,
2 to the finals,

When I was holding a cup I never asked GOD "Why me?".

And today in pain I should not be asking GOD "Why me?"

Francis Crick, Co-discoverer of DNA structure dies

Francis Crick 1916-2004 Co-discoverer of DNA structure dies Father of the biotech revolution

Francis Crick, whose co-discovery of the structure of DNA launched the modern genetics revolution and opened the road to biotechnology, has died in La Jolla at age 88.

Crick was the suave half of one of science's most-publicized "odd couples. " In the early 1950s, the English-born, middle-aged Crick helped a far younger, more flamboyant American, James Watson, figure out that DNA is shaped like two intertwined spiral staircases or a "double helix."

After their 1953 discovery at the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University in England, Crick walked into a bar and announced that he and Watson had discovered "the secret of life" -- or so Watson later claimed in "The Double Helix," his controversial 1968 memoir about their feat.

Crick and Watson, along with colleague Maurice Wilkins, were awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their ground-breaking work, which many experts hailed as one of the most important scientific discoveries of the last century.

Crick was trained as a physicist, not a biologist. He was working on his Ph.D. in physics at University College in London, when World War II began. He served as a scientist at the British Admiralty during the war, designing mines.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

One of the most influential photographers of the 20th Century, Henri Cartier-Bresson, died in France, aged 95. "France has lost a genius photographer, a real master," said French President Jacques Chirac in a statement.

Mr Chirac described Cartier-Bresson as "one of the most talented artists of his generation, and one of the most respected in the world".

Photographer Lord Snowdon told BBC News 24: "He was brilliant, I will miss him very much."

My favorites:

Kashmir women

Cartier-Bresson visited Srinagar in Kashmir in 1948.

There he took this remarkable shot of Muslim women on the slopes of Hari Parbal Hill praying towards the Himalayas and the rising sun.

Henri Matisse

This picture of the post-impressionist Henri Matisse was taken in the artist's Villa Le Reve (Dream Villa) in southern France, in 1943/44.

Much later, Cartier-Bresson was to specialise in portrait photographs, before turning to art himself.

On This Day (2003-08-06)

2003: Knowledge Oasis
2003: Now iSelect my music!

Where Did the Time Go?

How did all that time fly by? Enough pondering -- get the answer at this site. Complete the interactive form, which takes less than five minutes, for an estimate of the number of weeks, months, and years you've wasted. The figure is based on lifestyle factors, such as your health, physical activity, and dedication to chocolate. The site then calculates how much time you squandered in a variety of activities -- from looking into the mirror and working out, to counting calories and waiting for taxis. The truly time-obsessed can get a detailed profile via email. Give this site a try. You won't be wasting your time -- at least not much of it.

David Glenn: The Tease of Memory

Psychologists are dusting off 19th-century explanations of déjà vu. Have we been here before?

By David Glenn

In the summer of 1856, Nathaniel Hawthorne visited a decaying English manor house known as Stanton Harcourt, not far from Oxford. He was struck by the vast kitchen, which occupied the bottom of a 70-foot tower. "Here, no doubt, they were accustomed to roast oxen whole, with as little fuss and ado as a modern cook would roast a fowl," he wrote in an 1863 travelogue, Our Old Home.

Hawthorne wrote that as he stood in that kitchen, he was seized by an uncanny feeling: "I was haunted and perplexed by an idea that somewhere or other I had seen just this strange spectacle before. The height, the blackness, the dismal void, before my eyes, seemed as familiar as the decorous neatness of my grandmother's kitchen." He was certain that he had never actually seen this room or anything like it. And yet for a moment he was caught in what he described as "that odd state of mind wherein we fitfully and teasingly remember some previous scene or incident, of which the one now passing appears to be but the echo and reduplication."

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Metis Shoal = Youngest Island in the world

The most recent island that came into being out of nowhere. Ok, almost nowhere.

This normally submerged volcano was reported to be in eruption on June 6, 1995. The New Zealand Hydrographic Office issued a warning for ships in the area to be careful. By June 21 continuing eruptions had built a small island 50-80m high and covering sev eral acres. A 200-500m wide cinder cone is forming with ash and steam shooting hundreds of meters into the air.

The Tonga Islands are a line of volcanoes 2000 or so kilometers east of Australia. The volcanoes mark a long zone of subduction where part of the Pacific Plate is being carried deeply down into the Earth's mantle. The Tonga Islands include the 150 actual islands, but there are many submerged volcanoes which someday may grow into islands. This Pacific nation is getting bigger all the time!

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Top 10 Funniest IT Stories.

- Some Files Are Better Left Unshared
- Finding a Solution Outside the Box
- Garth Brooks' Magnetism Modulates IT Policy
- Employee of the Month
- Expert at Everything
- A Mother’s Triumph
- The Computer Agrees with Me
- That’s Some “X”
- Personal Information
- Lightning Never Strikes Twice

Read them here.

On This Day (2003-08-04)

2003: Holy Cow!

2003: Make the most of the meteor show

Paul Ford: Google takes it all... a look into the future!

August 2009: How Google beat Amazon and Ebay to the Semantic Web
By Paul Ford

A work of fiction. A Semantic Web scenario. A short feature from a business magazine published in 2009.

Please note that this story was written in 2002.

It's hard to believe Google - which is now the world's largest single online marketplace - came on the scene only a little more than 8 years ago, back in the days when Amazon and Ebay reigned supreme. So how did Google become the world's single largest marketplace?

Well, the short answer is “the Semantic Web” (whatever that is - more in a moment). While Amazon and Ebay continue to have average quarterly profits of $1 billion and $1.8 billion, respectively, and are successes by any measure, the $17 billion per annum Google Marketplace is clearly the most impressive success story of what used to be called, pre-crash, “The New Economy.”

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Quantum computing

Quantum computing comes even closer to reality as researcher develop ways to transmit qubits either via a chain of particles known as a "quantum wire" or with improved quantum teleportation.

license plate that read NOTAG

After a Delaware man chose a personalized license plate that read "NOTAG", he received a flood of parking tickets caused by other people whose tickets read, "Notice of violation. License number: no tag" because the city computer system finally had an address for those vehicles.

Lawrence Wright: The Terror WEB

Were the Madrid bombings part of a new, far-reaching jihad being plotted on the Internet?

For much of Spain’s modern history, the organization that has defined its experience with terror is ETA, which stands for Euzkadi Ta Azkatasuna (Basque Homeland and Liberty). ETA, which was founded in 1959, has a clear political goal: it wants to set up a separate nation, comprising the Basque provinces, in northern Spain, and parts of southern France. Although ETA has killed some eight hundred people, it has developed a reputation for targeting, almost exclusively, politicians, security officials, and journalists. Over the years, the terrorists and the Spanish police have come to a rough understanding about the rules of engagement. “They don’t commit attacks on the working class, and they always call us before an explosion, telling us where the bomb is situated,” an intelligence official in the Spanish National Police told me recently in Madrid. “If they place a bomb in a backpack on a train, there will be a cassette tape saying, ‘This bag is going to explode. Please leave the train.’” And so on March 11th, when the first reports arrived of mass casualties resulting from explosions on commuter trains, Spanish intelligence officials assumed that ETA had made an appalling mistake.

At 7:37 A.M., as a train was about to enter Madrid’s Atocha station, three bombs blasted open the steel cars, sending body parts through the windows of nearby apartments. The station is in Madrid’s center, a few blocks from the Prado Museum. Within seconds, four bombs exploded on another train, five hundred and fifty yards from the station. The bombs killed nearly a hundred people. Had the explosions occurred when the trains were inside the station, the fatalities might have tallied in the thousands; a quarter of a million people pass through Atocha every workday. The trains at that hour were filled with students and young office workers who live in public housing and in modest apartment complexes east of the city. Many were immigrants, who had been drawn by the Spanish economic boom.

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On This Day (2003-08-01)

Starting a new post, "On This Day". I'll be posting daily what I posted on this day last year.

2003: Is Yale a Waste of Money?

2003: Wrightisms