Every calendar's days are numbered.
Publication is a self-invasion of privacy. -Marshall McLuhan (1911 - 1980) Canadian writer and theoretician. History is the short trudge from Adam to atom. - Leonard Louis Levinson You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours, but even at those odds, you will lose and I will win. - Ho Chi Minh to the French, late 1940s Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the U.S. media. - Noam Chomsky inspiration is everywhere Coffee isn't my cup of tea. - Samuel Goldwyn food for travel Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. - Arthur C. Clarke from your lips to God’s ears. An idle mind is ........ the best way to relax. May 31, 2005 in Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 30, 2005
tasneem khalil: standing for my father - reza kibria
Tasneem Khalil, a friend and journalist from Dhaka, Bangladesh. Endorses and advocates Libertarian Socialism and Free/Open Software & Publication. Subjects of interest primarily include Culture, Humanity, Alternative Media, Propaganda and Politics.
Shah AMS Kibria, a Member of the Parliament of Bangladesh and former Finance Minister of the country, was brutally assassinated in a grenade attack on January 27th 2005 in his constituency, the town of Habiganj in Sylhet. Reza Kibria, an internationally acclaimed economist, is a core member of the 'Blue for Peace' movement that is now demanding an end to such political killings in Bangladesh. For more info http://www.sams-kibria.org
[this interview with reza kibria — son of former bangladesh finance minister sams kibria, assassinated in january — was to appear in the debut issue of a weekly newsmagazine. unfortunately, for unstated reasons, all the copies of the magazine (except a few preview copies) were sieged hours before the debut newsstand hit (at this stage, it is not convenient for me to spell out more detail account of the episode).
as i believe this interview contains valuable information and opinion that needs public attention and analysis, i am resorting to an internet distribution. i am inviting concerned readers to freely redistribute this piece (and releasing this under a creative commons license).
— tasneem khalil]
continue reding ...
May 30, 2005 in Columnists, Reality, World News | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 29, 2005
China's Technology Strategy
San Jose Mercury News compares China and the US
They graduate four times as many engineers as we do. They lavish generous tax breaks on tech firms.
They support local manufacturers.
They don't respect intellectual property.
They, of course, refers to China. And the gripes from Silicon Valley business leaders capture in stark and accurate terms the key underpinnings of the growing tech rivalry between the United States and China.
None of these things happened by accident. They happened because China has something that the United States lacks and badly needs: a national technology policy.
The country long ago made a strategic decision that technology was paramount to its development and put in place a systematic policy to create a world-class technology sector. It sometimes runs roughshod over trade agreements or international law, which is wrong. But on the whole, the policy is simply smart.
And it's just plain dumb for the United States to think it can compete in the tech race against China and other nations without a technology policy of its own.
In China, the importance of tech is articulated at the highest levels of government. ``Science and technology are the decisive factors in the competition of comprehensive national strength,'' Premier Wen Jiabao said just last month.
When will we wake up in India?
May 29, 2005 in Reality | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 28, 2005
CIA war game simulates major Internet attack
The CIA is conducting a cyber-war game this week geared to simulate a major Internet attack by enemy computer hackers, an intelligence official said Thursday.
Dubbed "Silent Horizon," the three-day unclassified exercise is based on a scenario set five years in the future and involves participants from government and the private sector.
"These are people who could likely be affected or enlisted in a real situation," the intelligence official said.
"Its goal is to help the United States recognize indicators of a large-scale cyber attack."
Continue reading ...
May 28, 2005 in Games, Info, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 25, 2005
lessons from history
May 25, 2005 in Humor, Reality | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack
May 24, 2005
Flying Snakes: New Videos Reveal How They Do It
You might not think snakes need any more tools in their box of fright tactics. However, some of these slithering reptiles are dramatic flyers.
Jake Socha of the University of Chicago has been studying snakes' ability to act like birds for eight years. Today he revealed just how good they are at winging it.
"Despite their lack of wing-like appendages, flying snakes are skilled aerial locomotors," he said.
Like a Frisbee
Snakes join birds, insects, bats, squirrels and even ants in the realm of aerial prowess. So just how do they do it?
Continue reading ...
May 24, 2005 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 23, 2005
New Award (attempts to) challenge the Nobel Prize
$1 million science awards created
Kavli Prizes for astrophysics, neuroscience, nanotech
OSLO, Norway - Nobel science prizes will face a "more daring" rival beginning in 2008, with $1 million awards for research into everything from the Big Bang to the brain, a Norwegian-born philanthropist says.
Fred Kavli, a physicist who left Norway in 1955 with $300 and turned it into a $340 million fortune in California, said he was setting up three prizes for astrophysics, neuroscience and nanotechnology, the use of molecule-sized devices.
Kavli already funds 10 science institutes — nine at U.S. universities including Stanford, Yale and Cornell, and one at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Three scientists linked to the institutes won Nobel prizes last year.
"We want to spread the word of science and get more students interested. ... In many parts of the world that's a problem, from Norway to the United States," Kavli told Reuters on Monday.
"I think we'll be more daring," than the Nobel awards, he said, because they would seek to reward scientific breakthroughs more quickly than the conservative Nobel system.
Continue reading ...
May 23, 2005 in Info, Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 22, 2005
Grocery Store Wars
Enjoy heh heh heh...
May 22, 2005 in Humor | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
42 Below Vodka
Aussie/NZ satire at so many levels.
May 22, 2005 in Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 21, 2005
Broadsword calling Danny Boy
Channel 4's 100 Greatest War Films as voted for by their (generally more clued-up than average) viewership has plenty for you to disagree with, but much to recommend. Filmsite.org has a history of war films (as does Berkeley) for the completists among you. There are more war films from and about Vietnam and Indochina than you can shake a bayonet at (see also the 1999 NYT article, Apocalypse Then: Vietnam Marketing War Films to learn a little about the Vietnamese government's 1960s and 70s archive of war film). The [British] national archives have archived film from pre-WWI to the Cold War.
May 21, 2005 in Fun, History | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Koreans Report Major Stem Cell Breakthrough
South Korean researchers are reporting today that they have developed a highly efficient recipe for producing human embryos through cloning, and then extracting their stem cells.
Writing in the journal Science, the researchers, led by Dr. Woo Suk Hwang and Dr. Shin Yong Moon of Seoul National University, said they used their method to produce 11 human stem cell lines that were genetic matches of patients who ranged in age from 2 to 56.
The method, called therapeutic cloning, is one of the great hopes of the stem cell field. It produces stem cells, universal cells that are extracted from embryos, killing the embryos in the process, and that, in theory, can be directed to grow into any of the body's cell types.
Continue reading ...
May 21, 2005 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 20, 2005
Seymour Topping
I am very pleased, as predicted in January, Seymour Topping and his book 
FATAL CROSSROADS: A Novel of Vietnam 1945 are making waves.
May 20, 2005 in Books, Columnists, History | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Imagine a Bill Moyers and Kenneth Tomlinson showdown at high noon
Sunday the National Conference on Media Reform featured the first public speech by Bill Moyers since he left PBS. "I always knew Nixon would be back, again and again. I just didn’t know that this time he would ask to be Chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting."
May 20, 2005 in Reality | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 19, 2005
radical torrents
Chomskytorrents.org provides a gathering place for torrents with progressive and radical content. As for now, it preserves a special place for the work of American dissident Noam Chomsky.
May 19, 2005 in Info | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 18, 2005
Tree with Jurassic roots unveiled
A rare species of tree dating back millions of years has been planted at Kew's Royal Botanical Gardens by wildlife expert Sir David Attenborough.
The Wollemi pine, once thought to have been extinct for 200 million years, was recently discovered in Australia, sparking a major conservation project.
It is thought the pines populated the ancient supercontinent Gondwana when dinosaurs walked the Earth.
The tree will also be displayed at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London.
Secret location
Planting the rare tree Sir David said: "How marvellous and exciting that we should have discovered this rare survivor from such an ancient past.
"It is romantic, I think, that something has survived 200 million years unchanged.
continue reading ...
May 18, 2005 in Info | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 16, 2005
Drawn!
For those who enjoy spending time in just two dimensions, this one's a must. A collaborative blog "devoted to illustration, art, cartoooning, and drawing," Drawn! functions as a sort of Picks for visual artists. Each post describes one or more sites, and is archived in such categories as comics, film and TV, animation, and design. (Some days as many as five sites are listed. Click on post title to see the drawing.) Among this cornucopia of links you'll find Calvin & Hobbes, Spiderman,The Office's Ricky Gervais (as a teddy bear!), Norman Rockwell, Walt Disney's Oswald the Rabbit (the precursor to Mickey Mouse), and an isometric pixel art tutorial. But keep browsing; whether you're interested in the highbrow, lowbrow, or no brow, you're bound to find something you like.
May 16, 2005 in Art | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 12, 2005
Meddling with Media to Make Art
Guggenheim lecture on John Baldessari in his own words:
"People shaking hands, you know: congratulating each other, what have you in a standard shot. I really always found them objectionable and then I realized that these were people making decisions about my life while I was in my studio so there was a kind of uneasiness on my part and one day after carrying these photographs around I had some circular price stickers and I put them on their faces. And I really felt that leveled the playing field somehow."
May 12, 2005 in Art | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 11, 2005
Art of Living Foundation
"Living is a fact
But HOW to fully live is an art." - Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Art of Living Foundation presents 1ST TIME EVER:
LIVE MAHAKRIYA WEEKEND IN THE US New York May 20-22, 2005
For more information click here.
May 11, 2005 in Info | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Human evolution at the crossroads
Scientists are fond of running the evolutionary clock backward, using DNA analysis and the fossil record to figure out when our ancestors stood erect and split off from the rest of the primate evolutionary tree.
But the clock is running forward as well. So where are humans headed?
Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins says it's the question he's most often asked, and "a question that any prudent evolutionist will evade." But the question is being raised even more frequently as researchers study our past and contemplate our future.
Paleontologists say that anatomically modern humans may have at one time shared the Earth with as many as three other closely related types — Neanderthals, Homo erectus and the dwarf hominids whose remains were discovered last year in Indonesia.
Does evolutionary theory allow for circumstances in which "spin-off" human species could develop again?
Some think the rapid rise of genetic modification could be just such a circumstance. Others believe we could blend ourselves with machines in unprecedented ways — turning natural-born humans into an endangered species.
Continue reading ...
May 11, 2005 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 10, 2005
Innovation of the Week
Coffee can that heats itself.
May 10, 2005 in Info | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Corporate Statement of the Week
Huh Corp: We Do Stuff.
May 10, 2005 in Humor, Reality | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 09, 2005
GoogleBlue
Google thinks your internet connection is too slow. They want to make it faster.
May 9, 2005 in Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 08, 2005
Top 50 restaurants in the world
| 1. The Fat Duck | Bray | United Kingdom |
| 2. El Bulli | Roses | Spain |
| 3. French Laundry | Yountville, Calif. | United States |
| 4. Tetsuya's | Sydney | Australia |
| 5. Gordon Ramsay | London | United Kingdom |
| 6. Pierre Gagnaire | Paris | France |
| 7. Per Se | New York | United States |
| 8. Tom Aikens | London | United Kingdom |
| 9. Jean Georges | New York | United States |
| 10. St John | London | United Kingdom |
| 11. Michel Bras | Laguiole | France |
| 12. Louis XV | Monte Carlo | Monaco |
| 13. Chez Panisse | Berkeley | United States |
| 14. Charlie Trotter | Chicago | United States |
| 15. Gramercy Tavern | New York | United States |
| 16. Guy Savoy | Paris | France |
| 17. Alain Ducasse | Paris | France |
| 18. Sketdh (Gallery) | London | United Kingdom |
| 19. The Waterside Inn | Bray | United Kingdom |
| 20. Nobu | London | United Kingdom |
| 21. Arzak | San Sebastian | Spain |
| 22. El Raco de can Fabes | San Celoni | Spain |
| 23. Checcino dal 1887 | Rome | taly |
| 24. Le Meurice | Paris | France |
| 25. L'Hotel de Ville | Crissier | Switzerland |
| 26. Arpege | Paris | France |
| 27. The Connaught | London | United Kingdom |
| 28. Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons | Oxford | United Kingdom |
| 29. Le Cinq | Paris | France |
| 30. Hakkasan | London | United Kingdom |
| 31. Cal Pep | Barcelona | Spain |
| 32. Masa | New York | United States |
| 33. Flower Drum | Melbourne | Australia |
| 34. WD50 | New York | United States |
| 35. Le Quartier Francais | South Africa | South Africa |
| 36. Spice Market | New York | United States |
| 37. Auberge d'Ill | Illhauseern-Alsace | France |
| 38. Manresa | Los Gatos, Calif. | United States |
| 39. Dieter Muller | Lerbach | Germany |
| 40. Trois Gros | Roanne | France |
| 41. The Wolseley | London | United Kingdom |
| 42. Rockpool | Sydney | Australia |
| 43. Yauatdha | London | United Kingdom |
| 44. The Ivy | Barbados | United Kingdom |
| 45. Gambero Rosso | San Piero in Bagno | Italy |
| 46. The Cliff | Barbados | Barbados |
| 47. Le Gavroche | London | United Kingdom |
| 48. Enoteca Pinchiorri | Florence | Italy |
| 49. Felix | Hong Kong | China |
| 50. La Tupina | Bordeaux | France |
May 8, 2005 in Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 07, 2005
Can I have your sound?
The Bootleg Browser. Links to live shows from almost 350 artists.
May 7, 2005 in Music, Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Blogging for dough
Can blogging ever become big business? Some people appear to be making a good living at blogging. There is even a blog devoted to the business of blogging. Jason is trying it.
May 7, 2005 in Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 06, 2005
Top 25 Technological Breakthroughs
CNN has a list of tech advances over the past 25 years:
1) Wireless world
2) Defense technology
3) Alternative fuel vehicles
4) Biotechnology
5) Computers
6) Lasers
7) Genomics
8) Global finance
9) Processors
10) Digital storage
11) Space
12) Fiber optics
13) Satellite TV & radio
14) DNA testing
15) Video games
16) Biometrics
17) Energy and water savers
18) Scanning tunneling microscopes
19) Batteries
20) E-baggage
21) Remote controls
22) Animal cloning
23) Manufacturing technology
24) The big picture
25) Weather technology
May 6, 2005 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 03, 2005
Big Bird Race
The Big Bird Race supports the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). A global environment treaty, it aims to conserve and manage avian, marine and terrestrial migratory species, as well as their habitats throughout the range of their migration.
The world's toughest endurance race:
- One of the world's longest migrations - 6,000 miles across open water
- Major hurdles to overcome - Taking flight, Bass Straight (first expanse of water), Great Australian Bight (Great White Sharks), the Roaring Forties (hypothermia and storms) the vast expanse of the Southern Ocean (losing their way), before making it to the coastal waters of South Africa and its rich fishing territory.
- The birds have 'trainers' (world leaders in seabird research)
- The birds are from three different 'stables' (islands - Pedra Branca, Albatross Island and Mewstone)
- Each bird has an 'owner' (high-profile supporters of the project)
- Each bird has been mounted up with a 'jockey' (electronic satellite tracking device)
- Spectators will be able to follow the action from the Ladbrokes.com 'Grandstand' and bet on the race, with all profits going to future seabird conservation projects
The Course:
Start: Three islands off the coast of Tasmania
Course: The Southern Ocean between Australia and South Africa.
Finish: Durban (line of longitude passing through Durban) or 05.00 GMT Thursday 4th August 2005, whichever is first.
May 3, 2005 in Reality | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 02, 2005
Zakaria shouts out to his homeboys
(via sepia mutiny)
I haven’t seen Fareed Zakaria do explicit shout-outs that often, unlike Gurinder Chadha:
India is still a poor third-world country, but if you read [Thomas Friedman’s] book you would assume it is on the verge of becoming a global superstar. (Though as an Indian-American, I read Friedman and whisper the old Jewish saying, ”From your lips to God’s ears.”)
-
Manish May 2, 2005 in Columnists, Reality, World News | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 01, 2005
sayings
There were twenty-five students in Mrs. Jane's class.
Jane, a Southern California elementary school teacher, presented each child with the first half of a proverb and asked them to finish the sentences. It's hard to believe these were actually done by average first graders. Their insights may surprise you. While reading these keep in mind that these are 6-year-olds, because the last one is classic!
Strike while the ............................. bug is close.
It's always darkest before ................ Daylight Saving Time.
Never underestimate the power of ........ termites.
You can lead a horse to water but ......... how?
Don't bite the hand that ................... looks dirty.
No news .................................... impossible.
A miss is as good as a ........................ Mr.
You can't teach an old dog new ........... math.
If you lie down with dogs, you'll ...... stink in the morning.
Love all, trust ................................ me.
The pen is mightier than the ............... pigs.
An idle mind is ...................... the best way to relax.
Where there's smoke there's ................. pollution.
Happy the bride who......................... gets all the presents.
A penny saved is ............................. not much.
Two's company, three's ...................... the Musketeers.
Don't put off till tomorrow what ............ you put on to go to bed.
Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and ........you have to blow your nose.
There are none so blind as .................... Stevie Wonder.
Children should be seen and not ............ spanked.
If at first you don't succeed ............... get new batteries.
You get out of something only what you .. see on the box.
When the blind lead the blind ................ get out of the way.
And the WINNER!
Better late than ............................... pregnant!
May 1, 2005 in Fun, Humor, Reality | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack