Tonight is my last night in Miami and we are off tomorrow for Guyana as of 1:30 pm or something like that. We have had two days of debriefing at the wonderful Hotel Omni Colonade in downtown Miami. A really nice place, a pretty clean orientation and a lot of anxious faces. For the next three days, we will have additional briefing, meet the US Embassador to Guyana and then head out to our host families. We will see where that will take us. Some of us will head out in boats, planes or bus from Georgetown, but I suspect that the IT folks (that's me) will be staying in Georgetown. We have been formulating our own ideas and rumours and basically wasting our time doing this because we still don't really know. But we are ready. I will keep you posted.

I am not sure when my next entry will be, maybe tomorrow, maybe not for a while. This is my last week here and then I am off to Guyana on the 2nd of June. If you feel like writing, you can reach me at:

Scott Stadum
Peace Corps.
PO Box 101192
Georgetown, Guyana
South America

Thanks for following my site!



Who Wants a Lot of East Free Music? Better than Kazaa or Morpheus!

LONDON - A controversial new music download service launched in Madrid, is pitting an upstart Internet firm against the record industry in a bid to sell digital recordings to consumers behind the labels' backs.

The new service, called Puretunes.com, lacks authorisation from music labels, but Puretunes said it is a legal service operating under licensing agreements from various Spanish trade associations representing performers and recording artists. The site attempts to exploit a loophole in Spanish copyright law and carries thousands of songs from Madonna to the Beatles. Unlike other download services such as Kazaa, Puretunes manages a music library and says it will pay royalties to performers. Not surprisingly, the music industry shot back that without music companies' approval, Puretunes -- which operates as a subscription download service -- cannot sell songs online.

"The record labels have the exclusive right to protect their recordings. There is no loophole here," said Allen Dixon, general counsel at the International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the global trade organisation which represents the music industry. "It's like saying I have permission from Ringo, George and Paul, therefore, I can start printing records. No they can't," he added. Major recording labels Sony Music, Warner Music, Universal Music, BMG, and EMI have fiercely tried to crack down on unauthorised businesses that distribute songs online. (Yahoo! News UK)




529 Plan a Bust This Past Year

Most investors in state-sponsored college savings plans have found that the performance of their portfolios bears much resemblance to the returns of the overall stock and bond markets. Portfolios tied to the stock market have generally fallen sharply in the last year, while those with substantial bond holdings have generally performed well.

Named for a section of the tax code, the 529 savings plans allow Americans to save for their children's college education without incurring federal taxes, and some states provide other tax benefits. Investors have poured money into the plans, which had $29 billion in assets as of March 31, with about 3.5 million children listed as beneficiaries, said Joseph F. Hurley, founder and chief executive of Savingforcollege.com, a Web site that provides information on the plans. The 529 plans were established in 1996 and gained popularity in January 2002 after a change in federal law making withdrawals exempt from income taxes.

In the 12 months through March, the most recent returns available, investors lost money in every portfolio focused on the stock market, according to data from Morningstar Inc. The average 529 stock portfolio lost 25.8 percent in that period, underperforming the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index by one percentage point. (Many 529 plans may be faring better in the second quarter this year, given the 10 percent gain in the S.& P. 500 since March 31.)

Age-based portfolios, the most popular choice for investors across the country, also lost money in the 12 months through March. These portfolios contain a blend of stocks and bonds. They are heavily weighted in stocks when a beneficiary is a young child, then gradually accumulate bonds as she approaches college age. The average portfolio appropriate for a 5-year-old, for example, lost 17.8 percent in the 12 months. (The New York Times)

What a Cool Idea - BookCrossing.com

You've come to a friendly place, and we welcome you to our book-lovers' community. What is BookCrossing, you ask? It's a global book club that crosses time and space. It's a reading group that knows no geographical boundaries. Do you like free books? How about free book clubs?. Well, the books our members leave in the wild are free... but it's the act of freeing books that points to the heart of BookCrossing. Book trading has never been more exciting, more serendipitous, than with BookCrossing. Our goal, simply, is to make the whole world a library. BookCrossing is a book exchange of infinite proportion, the first and only of its kind.

Here at BookCrossing.com you'll find tens of thousands of book reviews, book ratings, and book recommendations, because each time a book changes hands our members can leave journal entries telling the world of their experiences.

But let's get right down to it. You know the feeling you get after reading a book that speaks to you, that touches your life, a feeling that you want to share it with someone else? BookCrossing.com gives you a simple way to share books with the world, and follow their paths forever more! (Bookcrossing.com)

Yesterday I registered with this site, logged in four books and took them to the Burnsville Center. I had heard of this site in the past and was just reminded of it again. Do you have any books around you have read and are just sitting around? Set them free! Sign up with this site and see what happens with your books.





Virtual Keyboard for the Movers and Shakers

Virtual keyboards -- projected images of the real thing that let typists compose their sentences on any flat surface -- are inching closer to store shelves. Canesta, a San Jose, California, manufacturer of electronics, said its chipset could allow other companies to incorporate virtual keyboards into PDAs, smart phones and other portable devices as early as the end of this year.

Writing sentences on PDAs still requires a lot of patience and practice. Some older models require people to enter data with a proprietary scrawl, while newer models use tiny keyboards that require dexterous, strong thumbs. And full-size keyboards just don't go well with the latest svelte devices.

"Even though these (handheld) devices are capable of sophisticated applications there's really no way to reasonably use those applications, especially those that require entering data, like e-mail," said Jim Spare, vice president of product marketing for Canesta.

Canesta's chipset projects an image of a full-size keyboard on any flat surface. It also emits an infrared beam that detects the position and motion of a typist's hands. Tapping on the image of a key produces the corresponding character on the device. The keyboard doesn't demand a lot of force, easing strain on wrists and digits. To get users comfortable with the technology, Canesta's chipset also produces an old-timey click sound. "People get used to it in about 10 minutes of use," Spare said. But some observers are skeptical that the high-tech gadget will catch on. (Wired)




Select Apple Stores to Sell TiVo Systems

TiVo CEO Michael Ramsay said Thursday in the company's first quarter financial conference call that select Apple Stores will soon be carrying TiVo Digital Video Recorders (DVR). After mentioning that TiVo's new Home Media Option runs on the Mac, Ramsay said, "In fact our growing relationship with Apple has been a really good thing for our company and we're now moving into distribution, with TiVo's being available at selected Apple retail stores." Last month, the company released the Home Media software for Mac OS X that lets you automatically stream music and photos from your Mac to your TiVo Series2 DVR for listening/viewing on your TV. TiVo reported a loss of US$7.9 million, or 12 cents per share, on revenue of $28.5 million for the quarter. No further details were provided and Apple was unavailable for comment at press time. (macMinute.com)

Uday is Thinking of Surrendering

NEW YORK -- Saddam Hussein's eldest son, Uday, is considering surrendering to U.S. forces, but so far has been reluctant to do so because of a tough negotiating posture by the U.S. government, a third party with knowledge of the discussions told The Wall Street Journal.

U.S. officials in Washington had no comment. Uday Hussein, who is hiding in a Baghdad, Iraq suburb, wants to know what the charges against him will be, and the process for interrogation and custody, the person familiar with the discussions said. He is working through intermediaries. U.S. officials don't seem especially interested in cutting a deal, because they assume Uday will be caught sooner or later, the person said.

Uday was commander of Iraq's feared paramilitary unit known as the Saddam Fedayeen, and he was also chairman of the Iraqi Olympic Committee. He is No. 3 on the coalition's most-wanted list, after his father and his brother, Qusay.

Uday fears that Iraqi citizens will kill him if they find him, and may instead choose the safety of a U.S. prison, the person said, adding that Uday frequently changes his mind about surrendering. (Yahoo! News)




Israel Weighing EU Membership

WASHINGTON, May 21 (UPI) -- The visiting delegation from the European Union was startled this week when Israel Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said his government was weighing an application to join the EU.

"It doesn't mean he is preparing the dossier for applying tomorrow," an Israeli spokesman said. "In principle, the minister thinks a possibility exists for Israel to join the EU, since Israel and Europe share similar economies and democratic values."

Shalom broached the subject Tuesday, but there is no immediate prospect of this happening, since under EU rules, new members must have no outstanding border disagreements with their neighbors. The incoming new members from Eastern Europe, particularly Hungary and Romania, had to resolve long-standing disputes to clear their path for entry.

But if and when Israel does achieve a peace settlement with Syria and Lebanon and the Palestinians (it already has peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan), Israeli membership could make a great deal of sense for Israel and the EU alike.

The EU is already deeply, indeed inextricably involved in the Middle East, and not just as a member of "the Quartet" of the United States, EU, Russia and the United Nations that have jointly drawn up the "road map" to a peace agreement. The EU is one of the main customers for Middle Eastern energy exports, and under the Barcelona Agreement, has forged a series of trade and cooperation agreements with the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea.

Turkey, a strategic Middle East player and an Islamic though legally secular country, has been formally accepted as an EU candidate member. North African Arabs now account for 10 percent of France's population, and the French and British colonial heritage in the Middle East gives them strong links to the region. (UPI)




Doctors Say Hussein, not UN Sanctions, Caused Children's Deaths

Baghdad - Throughout the 13 years of UN sanctions on Iraq that were ended yesterday, Iraqi doctors told the world that the sanctions were the sole cause for the rocketing mortality rate among Iraqi children.

"It is one of the results of the embargo," Dr. Ghassam Rashid Al-Baya told Newsday on May 9, 2001, at Baghdad's Ibn Al-Baladi hospital, just after a dehydrated baby named Ali Hussein died on his treatment table. "This is a crime on Iraq."
It was a scene repeated in hundreds of newspaper articles by reporters required to be escorted by minders from Saddam Hussein's Ministry of Information.

Now free to speak, the doctors at two Baghdad hospitals, including Ibn Al-Baladi, tell a very different story. Along with parents of dead children, they said in interviews this week that Hussein turned the children's deaths into propaganda, notably by forcing hospitals to save babies' corpses to have them publicly paraded.

All the evidence indicates that the spike in children's deaths was tragically real - roughly, a doubling of the mortality rate during the 1990s, according to humanitarian organizations. But the reason has been fiercely argued, and the new accounts by Iraqi doctors and parents will alter the debate. (Newsday)


Matrix Revoultions Trailer

"If you liked THE MATRIX RELOADED, you'll loooooooove THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS!!", well, at least that's what the studio would love to hear from film critics come November 5, 2003, the day the third installment of THE MATRIX trilogy is set for release. But you don't have to wait that long to see what all the fuss is about, since a teaser trailer for that film will be shown at the end of all MATRIX RELOADED this coming Thursday (I saw the trailer yesterday and have to say that it looked pretty badass-- much darker, rainier...hehehe), and thanks to Agent Smith (who nabbed it from the ENTER THE MATRIX video game), you can even check out an early version of it on the Net right now! Screenshots from the trailer can also be found below. Enjoy." (JoBlo.com)

LeBron James Inks 90 Million with Nike Deal

AKRON, Ohio - LeBron James went to school Thursday with enough lunch money for everyone.The hyped high school senior and expected No. 1 pick in next month's NBA draft, signed a multiyear endorsement deal with Nike worth over $90 million, a risky move by the shoe and sports apparel giant that helped make Michael Jordan famous.

Nike won a heated bidding war against sneaker rivals Reebok and Adidas to sign the 18-year-old James, considered a possible successor to Jordan on the floor and on Madison Avenue. "It truly came down to which company LeBron was most comfortable with," said Aaron Goodwin, his agent. "Up until the end, I thought we were going with Reebok."

Terms of the deal were not released, but a source close to James, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press the deal was for seven years and valued at more than $90 million. James' choice of Nike, a $10 billion company and the market leader in athletic shoes, closed a frantic final week of negotiating by Goodwin with representatives for all three companies bent on signing the 6-foot-8 St. Vincent-St. Mary star.

Despite the huge deal, James didn't miss classes after signing the contract, driving his pewter-colored Hummer to school and parking it in the lot. "Nike is the right fit and has the right product for me," James said. "They are a great group of people who are committed to supporting me throughout my professional career, on and off the court." James' deal dwarfs any of the previous initial contracts given to a young, unproven player who is skipping college and has yet to shoot his first jump shot in the NBA. (Yahoo! News)




If You Think Radio Sucks, Wait 'Til You See What the FCC Does to Multimedia

WASHINGTON -- The future formation of American public opinion has fallen into the lap of an ambitious 36-year-old lawyer whose name you never heard. On June 2, after deliberations conducted behind closed doors, he will decide the fate of media large and small, print and broadcast. No other decision made in Washington will more directly affect how you will be informed, persuaded and entertained.

His name is Kevin Martin. He and his wife, Catherine, now Vice President Dick Cheney's public affairs adviser, are the most puissant young "power couple" in the capital. He is one of three Republican members of the five-person Federal Communications Commission, and because he recently broke ranks with his chairman, Michael Powell (Colin's son), on a telecom controversy, this engaging North Carolinian has become the swing vote on the power play that has media moguls salivating.

The FCC proposal remains officially secret to avoid public comment but was forced into the open by the two commission Democrats. It would end the ban in most cities of cross-ownership of television stations and newspapers, allowing such companies as The New York Times, Washington Post and Chicago Tribune to gobble up ever more electronic outlets. It would permit Viacom, Disney and AOL Time Warner to control TV stations with nearly half the national audience. In the largest cities, it would allow owners of "only" two TV stations to buy a third.

We've already seen what happened when the FCC allowed the monopolization of local radio: today three companies own half the stations in America, delivering a homogenized product that neglects local news coverage and dictates music sales.

And the FCC has abdicated enforcement of the "public interest" requirement in issuing licenses. Time was, broadcasters had to regularly reapply and show public-interest programming to earn continuance; now they mail the FCC a postcard every eight years that nobody reads.

Ah, but aren't viewers and readers now blessed with a whole new world of hot competition through cable and the Internet? That's the shucks-we're-no-monopolists line that Rupert Murdoch will take today in testimony before the pussycats of John McCain's Senate Commerce Committee.

The answer is no. Many artists, consumers, musicians and journalists know that such protestations of cable and Internet competition by the huge dominators of content and communication are malarkey. The overwhelming amount of news and entertainment comes via broadcast and print. Putting those outlets in fewer and bigger hands profits the few at the cost of the many. (CNN)




This Man is OLD - 125 Years

A man in the Indian state of Rajasthan has been collecting a pension for the past 65 years, it has emerged. Habib Miyan has been drawing pension money since he retired in 1938, and says he is 132. According to his pension book he is a mere 125. If correct that makes the world's oldest living person 10 years his junior.

Without a birth certificate, Mr Miyan cannot prove his age, but he can claim to be the world's longest-registered old age pensioner. Although fragile and bedridden, he insists he has no problem with his health. Bank officials visit his home to hand over his pension.

"It is a matter of pride that our bank has such an elderly person as its customer," says Bank of India manager, Rajesh Nagpal. "We requested him not to come to the bank for his pension."

Habib Miyan lives in the Muslim neighbourhood of Jaipur, Rajasthan's capital, with 32 family members. His first pension payment was 1.86 rupees but he now gets 1,900 rupees (about $40) a month.

He used to be a clarinet player with the Jaipur state band and official records show him being born on 20 May, 1878. He lost his vision 50 years ago and has limited mobility, but several incidents from the past are still fresh in his mind. (BBC News)

Puretunes Playing for Pay Without Permission

A new pay-for-play music Web site launched Tuesday, with a full array of hits and catalog — but no signed deals with record labels.

Madrid-based Puretunes is similar to Apple's iTunes Music Store, without the authorization. At $3.99 for all the songs you can download in eight hours, you get to choose from the latest from Madonna, and even most songs from The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Nirvana, all artists who have refused to let their music be sold on authorized online music sites such as Pressplay and iTunes Music.

Generally, music offered without the consent of copyright holders is considered to be pirated. But according to Puretunes, putting songs by The Beatles and others on its site is legal because of its agreements with Spanish songwriter and performer organizations.

"We have a different interpretation of the law," says Javier Siguenza, Puretunes' attorney. "According to Spanish law, there are a lot of rights, and we believe this is legal."

But the global counterpart to the Recording Industry Association of America calls Puretunes blatantly illegal. "Nothing under Spanish law says you can steal the music before you get a permit," says Allen Dixon, general counsel of the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI). "And they have no license to put our members' music on the Internet." (USA Today)




Messing with the RIAA

After reading about the RIAA threatening to sue yet another innocent archive operator, I decided to take some direct action: It occurred to me that the RIAA keep falsely accusing others of piracy because they put their faith in an unintelligent spider - a fact which can be simply exploited to make my servers into an RIAA no-go-zone...

Whilst spidering is nothing to worry about (and only to be expected on a public site), the way the association fires off legal threats based on this spider results alone seems wrong. Since this spider does not actually look at the whole title of the file, or even it's content, I figured I could have some fun at their expense:

What if I could write a `tarpit' script that could create a large number of interlinked automatically generated web sites. If their spider tried to scan my server it would be fooled into thinking that it had found a treasure trove of MP3 sites. Anybody who took the time to look at the site could see that the site contains no pirate content at all.

How might the RIAA react to such a thing? (Kuro5hin.org)




FedEx Delivery Trucks Go Green

WASHINGTON - The FedEx Corporation announced today that it planned to replace 30,000 of its delivery trucks with energy-saving, environmentally friendly hybrid-powered vehicles.

The company said that it had already purchased 20 such trucks to begin building what would be one of the first big commercial fleets of hybrid vehicles. The new trucks — powered by both diesel engines and electric motors in a mix controlled by onboard computers — will be introduced over the next several months in four American cities.

Though the company has committed to only purchasing the first 20 trucks, "I can't envision any reason why we wouldn't roll this out over the whole fleet," said David J. Bronczek, president of the company's FedEx Express unit. The Eaton Corporation, based in Cleveland, will provide the hybrid electric technology for the trucks. (The New York Times)




'Al-Qaeda' Statement: Full Text

"After dividing Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, and Pakistan will come next. They would leave around Israel only dismembered semi states that are subservient to the United States and Israel. O Muslims, these are the facts that have been made clear to you. All the worn out and shabby masks have fallen. Here are the rulers of the Muslims with their airports, bases, and facilities.

They allow their ships to pass in their water, provide them with fuel, food, and supplies and allow their planes to cross their airspace and to even take off from their airports. They welcome their armies to attack Iraq from their territories. The armies also advance from Kuwait. We have Qatar where the command of the campaign has taken up its headquarters.

We also have Bahrain, which hosts the command of the Fifth Fleet. We have Egypt where war vessels pass through its canal. And we have Yemen that supplies the crusader vessels from its ports. And we have Jordan where the crusader forces are stationed and where Patriot missile batteries have been deployed to protect Israel…” (BBC News)




Chimps Belong on Human Branch of Family Tree, Study Says

A new report argues that chimpanzees are so closely related to humans that they should be included in our branch of the tree of life. Chimpanzees and other apes have historically been separated from humans in classification schemes, with humans deemed the only living members of the hominid family of species.

Now, biologists at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan, provide new genetic evidence that lineages of chimps (currently Pan troglodytes) and humans (Homo sapiens) diverged so recently that chimps should be reclassed as Homo troglodytes. The move would make chimps full members of our genus Homo, along with Neandertals, and all other human-like fossil species. "We humans appear as only slightly remodeled chimpanzee-like apes," says the study.

"The loss of the [wild] chimp and gorilla seems imminent," said Morris Goodman, a study co-author. "Moving chimps into the human genus might help us to realize our very great likeness, and therefore treasure more and treat humanely our closest relative," he said.

However, experts say many scientists are likely to resist the reclassification, especially in the emotionally-charged and often disputed field of anthropology. (National Geographic)




Quantum Computer Draws Closer

Scientists have "entangled" two sub-atomic particles separated by about a millimetre, a feat that might pave the way for powerful quantum computers in the future.

When two particles are entangled they are somehow connected because the fate of one depends upon the other, no matter how far apart they are. Sounds weird - even Einstein never quite came to terms with it.

Entangled particles may be useful to make logic circuits for computers that have a far greater capacity and speed than today's machines.

Published in the journal Science, the results represent the latest advance in a broad scientific effort to apply properties of quantum physics to the creation of a new generation of supercomputers. Quantum entanglement (QE) describes the situation when the fates of two or more particles become bound together.

A change in one entangled particle results in an instant change in the other particle, no matter how far away it is - even if it is at the opposite end of the Universe.

Of course, it is not quite a simple as that. The phenomenon is linked in a deep way to the fundamental properties of matter and the nature of observing and measuring reality.

It really bothered Einstein, especially since the concept that a change in one particle was somehow communicated to the other faster than the speed of light - nature's ultimate speed limit.

He called it "spooky action at a distance". (BBC News)


802.11g Heads for Standards Approval

The latest wireless networking specification is on track for standards approval, which should open the door for further adoption of the already popular technology.

A working group within the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), an organization responsible for setting standards for the networking industry, finished work on the most recent version of the 802.11g wireless networking specification last week. That version, 8.2, will likely be the final form of the 802.11g specification, which is expected to be approved as a standard at an upcoming IEEE meeting on June 12.

The standardization could increase the momentum of 802.11g. While some companies have already taken the plunge, basing products on the specification, the more conservative yet influential players such as Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft have been waiting for the specification to become a standard. Companies have cited the technology's incompatibility with 802.11b as the main reason for their hesitation.

"Prestandard 802.11g products have been popular, but the market has been held back because of interoperability jitters," said Brian Matthews, publicity chair for the IEEE's 802.11 working group. "But with a standard, companies can now be assured that the door is open for interoperability testing and approval by the Wi-Fi Alliance," an organization that certifies Wi-Fi products. (c|net)

Rebels Humiliate GlaxoSmithKline

Shareholder activists scored an extraordinary victory against spiralling executive pay yesterday, voting down a plan by GlaxoSmithKline, Britain's biggest drug manufacturer, to give chief executive Jean-Pierre Garnier £22m if he were to lose his job. Almost 51% of shareholders who voted rejected GSK's remuneration report at yesterday's acrimonious annual general meeting at the Queen Elizabeth conference centre in London. Shareholders, large and small, united to deal a humiliating blow to Britain's third largest company and mount a rebellion even larger than had been predicted by corporate activists.

Institutional shareholders suggested the Glaxo rebellion amounted to the most significant defeat of a big company's board at its annual meeting in memory. City investors said the vote should be taken as a warning by other big companies that excessive boardroom pay deals would not be tolerated. (The Guardian)




Ultra Wideband: Gaining Momentum

While most regulatory decisions made by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) often take years to be felt in the consumer market, an FCC ruling made just 15 months ago may well result in new wireless electronic products parked under this year's Christmas tree. The most likely items will be camcorders that wirelessly stream video to a television set or computer hard drive.

And, to listen to the burgeoning ultra wideband (UWB) industry, that will be just the start. The industry and bullish analysts are predicting television sets that wirelessly send different programs to other television sets in the house, flat screen computer monitors that can be wirelessly tethered to a CPU located anywhere in the home, and wireless connections between VCRs and televisions to streamline that rat's nest of wires behind the home entertainment center.

UWB, on paper at least, seems to be ideal for consumer electronics applications such as camcorders, laptops, DVDs, and digital cameras to wirelessly communicate with each in a home environment. The wirelessly networked home, of course, has long been an elusive goal for consumer electronics companies.

Wireless transmission of video is seen as the key to making it become a reality. (internetnews.com)

'Star Wars Kid' Gets Bucks From Blogs

A couple of webloggers are raising money for an unfortunate teenager humiliated worldwide after a private video of his energetic lightsaber moves was leaked to the Net. Webloggers Andy Baio and Jish Mukerji launched a fundraiser Friday for the young man they call the "Star Wars Kid," whose home video has been downloaded millions of times and watched by people all over the world.

The video shows a lone, overweight teenager fighting a mock battle with a broomstick lightsaber. In the two-minute video, the teenager twirls the broomstick ever more energetically while generating his own lightsaber sound effects. The video, which is obviously not for public consumption, is amusing and excruciating.

Baio and Mukerji, who linked to their video from their weblogs, identify the Star Wars Kid as a 15-year-old French Canadian named Ghyslain. Because Ghyslain is a minor, the pair is protecting his identity. Ghyslain couldn't be reached for comment. By Friday afternoon, the webloggers' fund had received more than 100 individual donations totaling nearly $1,000. The pair also has received donations of software and a T-shirt. They plan to buy Ghyslain an Apple iPod and some accessories.

"He's given us a lot of amusement, so we thought we should do something for him," explained Mukerji. "There's been a lot of sympathy donations. A lot of people see a little bit of themselves in him. We've all done the same thing. Maybe it was the Saturday Night Fever thing. We've all done it." (Wired.com)

Download the original and the remix.




Napster is Back

SANTA CLARA, California -- Software maker Roxio said Monday it has acquired for about $40 million the online music service pressplay, a venture jointly owned by Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. Roxio, best known for its CD-burning software, owns the Napster brand and is expected to relaunch pressplay under the name that set Internet music file-swapping in motion.

The Santa Clara-based Roxio purchased pressplay for $12.5 million in cash and approximately 3.9 million shares of Roxio common stock, according to a statement from both companies. Based on Roxio's closing stock price on Friday, the purchase price would be approximately $39.5 million, the companies said. Roxio shares were trading at $7.49 each, up 59 cents, on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Monday. Roxio bought the Napster brand on the cheap after the company, sued into submission by the music labels, dissolved. (Wired.com)




Pentagon Loses ALOT of Money - $1 Trillion Missing

The Department of Defense, already infamous for spending $640 for a toilet seat, once again finds itself under intense scrutiny, only this time because it couldn't account for more than a trillion dollars in financial transactions, not to mention dozens of tanks, missiles and planes. The Pentagon's unenviable reputation for waste will top the congressional agenda this week, when the House and Senate are expected to begin floor debate on a Bush administration proposal to make sweeping changes in how the Pentagon spends money, manages contracts and treats civilian employees.

The Bush proposal, called the Defense Transformation for the 21st Century Act, arrives at a time when the nonpartisan General Accounting Office has raised the volume of its perennial complaints about the financial woes at Defense, which recently failed its seventh audit in as many years. "Overhauling DOD's financial management operations represent a challenge that goes far beyond financial accounting to the very fiber of (its) . . . business operations and culture," GAO chief David Walker told lawmakers in March. (SFGate.com)


Supreme Court Seat to Shuffle

Washington - Well-informed court observers say that there could be two Supreme Court resignations next month, Chief Justice William H. Rehn- quist and Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, bringing the greatest upheaval on the court in 32 years.
Rehnquist's resignation is considered likely, though not certain, while O'Connor's is considered likely by some court insiders and less so by others.

The White House, however, is preparing for the possibility of two or three vacancies, because if Rehnquist is replaced by a sitting justice and O'Connor also goes, two seats but three positions will be open. Yet another seat could open up if Justice John Paul Stevens, who is 83, retires, but that is considered unlikely. While the speculation in Washington is that Justice Antonin Scalia would be elevated to chief justice, objections are being raised within the administration because of his age. Though Scalia is a very youthful 67, some feel a younger person should become chief justice to ensure long-term impact. (NewsDay.com)




Free Trade is a Bad Thing - IMF and World Bank Orthodoxy is Increasing Global Poverty

In November 1999, during the World Trade Organisation ministerial conference in Seattle, I watched from my hotel room as thousands demonstrated against the evils of globalisation.

Anarchists clad in black marched alongside grandmothers dressed as turtles and steelworkers from Philadelphia. They saw international trade as a threat - to their jobs, the environment or simply as part of a capitalist conspiracy.

As leader of the delegation from the United Kingdom, I was convinced that the expansion of world trade had the potential to bring major benefits to developing countries and would be one of the key means by which world poverty would be tackled.

In order to achieve this, I believed that developing countries would need to embrace trade liberalisation. This would mean opening up their own domestic markets to international competition. The thinking behind this approach being that the discipline of the market would resolve problems of underperformance, a strong economy would emerge and that, as a result, the poor would benefit. This still remains the position of major international bodies like the IMF and World Bank and is reflected in the system of incentives and penalties which they incorporate in their loan agreements with developing countries. But my mind has changed.

I now believe that this approach is wrong and misguided. Since leaving the cabinet a year ago, I've had the opportunity to see at first hand the consequences of trade policy. No longer sitting in the air-conditioned offices of fellow government ministers I have, instead, been meeting farmers and communities at the sharp end. (The Guardian)

High School Prank, Car Parked in Hallway

McCook High School senior Mandy King parks herself atop fellow senior Tyler Bieck's car, which seemed to materialize overnight in the hallway outside the office at MHS.The front window displays the sun shield message, "Need Help Please Call Police," and the back window sports a handwritten message, "Ha! We got you Bieck!" Principal Jerry Smith, who is in his fifth year in the McCook school system, said this morning, "It's a fairly harmless senior prank — the first since I've been here. At least they didn't toilet-paper the building" Nothing was damaged in the commission of the prank, he said, and the car is easily removed. Smith said, "Somehow they got the doors open. They're extremely ingenious." (McCook Daily Gazette)




All the President's Girls

I too was an intern in the J.F.K. White House. I was. This is not one of those humor pieces where the writer pretends to some experience related to the news in order to make an "amusing" point. It was 1961, and I was hired by Pierre Salinger to work in the White House press office, the very same place where Mimi Beardsley, later Fahnestock, was to work the next year. And now that Mimi Fahnestock has been forced to come forward to admit that she had an affair with Kennedy, I might as well tell my story.

I notice that all the articles about poor Mimi (whom I never met) quote another woman in the press office, Barbara Gamarekian, who fingered Ms. Fahnestock in the oral history archives at the Kennedy Library. Ms. Gamarekian cattily pointed out, according to the newspapers, that Mimi "couldn't type." Well, all I can say to that is: Ha. In fact, Double Ha. There were, when I worked there, six women in Pierre Salinger's office. One of them was called Faddle (her best friend, Fiddle, worked for Kennedy) and her entire job, as far as I could tell, was autographing Pierre Salinger's photographs. Fiddle's job was autographing Kennedy's. Typing was not a skill that anyone seemed to need, and it certainly wasn't necessary for interns like me (and Mimi, dare I say), because THERE WAS NO DESK FOR AN INTERN TO SIT AT AND THEREFORE NO TYPEWRITER TO TYPE ON. (The New York Times)




Groom Demands A Dowry, Bride Calls The Cops

"You are a young Indian bride-to-be. The family of your groom has already demanded a dowry of two televisions, two home-theater sets, two refrigerators, two air conditioners and one car. Then on the the night of your wedding, the groom's family demands an extra $25,000 in rupees right now," Peter Murphy posits. "What do you do? Ring 100 and call the police. After all, dowry has been illegal under Indian law since 1961.

"That is what Nisha Sharma, a 22-year old software developer, did to her greedy would-be husband, Munish Dalal. The act has turned her into a Indian celebrity overnight, with thousands of supporters writing and phoning their support. Young women appear unanimous in condemming the groom. 'The man should be put behind bars,' fumed college student Shruti Mathur. Most young men feel the same way, but some feel that dowries are okay, if given willingly by the girl's parents. Viewpoints largely depend on which end of the social spectrum you come from.

In contrast to the strong sentiments against dowry expressed by the middle class, Chandna, a 20-year-old who works as a domestic help in south Delhi, said despite what the 'big people' felt, those of her social status cannot get away from the tyranny of the system. 'How will I get married if my parents don't give some dowry to my husband-to-be?' Chandna asked innocently, quite unaware of the ripples that Nisha's act of social defiance had caused. (Plastic.com)




Check the Security of Your Internet Connection

Symantec Security Check is a free service designed to help you understand your computer's exposure to online security intrusions and virus threats. Test your computer's exposure to online security threats and learn how to make your computer more secure. (Symantec)


The History of the Internet - From Al Gore to Zombo.com

The New 20$ Bill


Disney to Begin Renting 'Self-Destructing' DVDs

LOS ANGELES - This disc will self-destruct in 48 hours. That is the warning The Walt Disney Co. will issue this August when it begins to "rent" DVDs that after two days become unplayable and do not have to be returned. Disney home video unit Buena Vista Home Entertainment will launch a pilot movie "rental" program in August that uses the self-destruction technology, the company said on Friday.

The discs stop working when a process similar to rusting makes them unreadable. The discs start off red, but when they are taken out of the package, exposure to oxygen turns the coating black and makes it impenetrable by a DVD laser. Buena Vista hopes the technology will let it crack a wider rental market, since it can sell the DVDs in stores or almost anywhere without setting up a system to get the discs back.

The discs work perfectly for the two-day viewing window, said Flexplay Technologies, Inc., the private company which developed the technology using material from General Electric Co. The technology cannot be hacked by programmers who would want to view the disc longer because the mechanism which closes the viewing window is chemical and has nothing to do with computer technology.

However, the disc can be copied within 48 hours, since it works like any other DVD during that window. Buena Vista did not disclose pricing plans but said the discs, dubbed EZ-D, would be available in August in select markets with recent releases including "The Recruit," "The Hot Chick," and "Signs." (Reuters)




Property Taxes Are Coming to Get You

NEW YORK - Roger Ribar is mad as hell, but according to the law, he still has to take it. He just doesn't have to take it well. The 49-year-old auto-shop worker is so incensed by rising property taxes in his hometown in Coffee County, Tenn., he protested by delivering his tax payment — $279.35 — in nickels, dimes and pennies. He counted the change twice on his own, but insisted on taking a day off from work to wait while the county clerk counted the change at the bank because, he says, "I don't trust the government. I love my country, but I don't trust the government."

He's not alone. Given the fact that government spending sprees (combined with revenue shortfalls) in recent years have landed local and state governments in fiscal fiascos, the bill is getting passed to property owners, who in some cases are paying twice as much in property taxes as they had in previous years. It's understandable why some Americans are comparing city governments' fiscal mismanagement to the scandal-ridden Enrons and WorldComs of the business world.

At the very least, rising property taxes have caused public outcry. In more extreme cases, homeowners are taking it to the streets. Last week, for example, hundreds of homeowners in Newark, N.J. — where the effective property tax rate is already 2.95 percent — marched in front of City Hall; they are promising to march again in the immediate future. (ABC News)




Gawker Stalker - Wanna Know Where Famous Folks Live in NYC?

A challenge to Gawker stalkers out there: we're putting together a cartographic guide to celebrity homes in Manhattan, and we need some help. Everybody seems to have a clutch of celebrities on their block, so it makes sense to pool the information. The end-product will be a cheesy Hollywood-style map of the stars. Next, tour groups from Buffalo camped out at the corner of Bleecker and Perry. Oh, wait, they do that already. Having collected more than a hundred addresses, from public sources, we're still missing the names below, among others. If you know the block, do let us know. The Gawker Stalker map won't contain the exact addresses, in the interest of privacy, but will show the location of New York celebs to the nearest cross street. Info to map@gawker.com. Confidentiality guaranteed. (Gawker.com)

For Rent: The Segway Scooter

SEATTLE -- Want to ride a Segway Human Transporter, the new self-balancing electric scooter that went on sale in March, but can't bring yourself to shell out $5,000? Then you can rent one, if you go to Spokane, Washington state's second-largest city, and meet with Larry Lambeth, who started renting the scooter to the public last Saturday.

"The response has been incredible," said Lambeth, a longtime entrepreneur who bought 10 Segway Human Transporters with a partner and started his company, Fun Transport, which aims to rent them out to people looking for easy, cheap transportation.

Lambeth is hoping that he can take his business nationwide, with help from Dean Kamen, the scooter's inventor, but so far Lambeth said he has no deal with Segway, which Kamen founded. Lambeth, a longtime entrepreneur, is also betting that the scooter won't be banned from Spokane's sidewalks, such as in San Francisco.

Kamen envisioned Segway as a transportation device that could eliminate the need to use gas-guzzling automobiles for short trips and an alternative to bikes, inline skates and skateboards. The Segway carries one user standing on a small platform between two side-by-side wheels. Leaning slightly forward moves the scooter forward, leaning back reverses course and turns are made by twisting the handle. (Wired)




Neutrino Beam Could Neutralize Nucler Bomb

A super-powered neutrino generator could in theory be used to instantly destroy nuclear weapons anywhere on the planet, according to a team of Japanese scientists.

If it was ever built, a state could use the device to obliterate the nuclear arsenal of its enemy by firing a beam of neutrinos straight through the Earth. But the generator would need to be more than a hundred times more powerful than any existing particle accelerator and over 1000 kilometres wide.

"It is really quite futuristic," Alfons Weber, a neutrino scientist at Oxford University, UK, told New Scientist. "But the maths and physics seems to be right." John Cobb, another researcher at Oxford University, cautions: "It might be technically feasible, given massive investment, but there are still unsolved problems." (New Scientist)


Why Apple's Panther May Tear Up Microsoft's Longhorn

Sorry, Linux desktop fans: When it comes to desktop operating systems, it's currently a two-way race between Windows and the Mac OS. While Microsoft's market share dwarfs Apple's, the GUI diehards have keep each other busy for nearly two decades—and end users have regularly reaped the benefits of that competition, thanks to upgrades designed to top the competition's features and performance.

This week, the cross-platform debate's been hot and heavy. Is Microsoft racing to catch up to Panther, the Mac OS X upgrade due to roll out at June's Worldwide Developers Conference? Should Apple be running scared after Microsoft's demos of its Longhorn OS at last week's Windows Hardware Engineering conference?

But based on the timing of the companies' releases, the real question isn't whether Longhorn will take the hide off Panther, which sources said is due to ship in September. Instead, it's whether Longhorn be able to best Civet ... or Bengal Tiger ... or whatever feline Apple has in store for 2005.

Microsoft last week said on the record that it won't RTM (release to manufacturing) until 2005. And contrary to rumors circulating as of last year, there won't be any kind of "Shorthorn," or interim Windows release, between Windows XP and Longhorn. It's true that the Longhorn "technical preview" alpha release that Microsoft is expected to distribute at the Professional Developers Conference in October could have some kind of chilling effect on Panther. But let's face it: Panther will be going head-to-head with XP, not Longhorn. And XP shipped in 2001. (Microsoft Watch)




Hitachi Develops DVD Which Can Store Up to 200 Movies

TOKYO - Japanese electronics giant Hitachi said it had developed technology to make DVDs with storage capacity for 200 movies and aimed to commercialize the technology in 2007.

The firm developed the cutting-edge technology with Hitachi Maxell Ltd., a subsidiary specialising in audio and video tapes. "We expect demand for a DVD with a bigger capacity and hope to market the product globally in the near future," said Hitachi Ltd. spokesman Takeshi Kawakami.

The latest technology involves stacking multiple data-storing layers to ensure accurate reading and writing of a vast amount of data that can run up to 400 hours. Expanding DVD storage capacity requires increasing the number of layers used in a DVD. Conventional technologies so far allow up to two layers in a DVD while Hitachi's technology allows multiple layers. (Yahoo! News)




Saudi Liberals Speak Out Against Wahabism

As Saudi Arabia grapples with the aftermath of this week's suicide attacks in Riyadh some Saudi intellectuals have sharpened their criticism of the state and of the country's puritanical brand of Islam.

After the September 11 attacks in the US, waged by a group of mostly Saudis, some US commentators pointed the finger at the teachings of Wahabi Islam, the sect upon which the Saudi state was founded.

The government expressed outrage and Islamists and liberals alike were mobilised to reject the charges as an attack against Islam.

This week, it is Saudi voices, most of them belonging to the minority of liberal intellectuals, who have echoed a similar message, though in a more subtle and less aggressive tone.

Writing in the London-based Arab daily al-Hayat, a Saudi-owned publication, Daoud al-Shiryan, a columnist, said: "Ideas were a decisive factor . . . in creating an environment that breeds terrorism. Ideas are not the responsibility of the interior ministry but the institutions that issue religious opinions, that preach and educate."

Jamal Khashoggi, editor of al-Watan, a newspaper backed by members of the Saudi royal family, wrote on Tuesday that Saudi society urgently needed to address "an obscurantist brand of thought" that rejected "modernism, equality, tolerance and opening up to the world". (Financial Times)

Scientist Plans to Travel to Center of the Earth...Seriously

A $10bn diamond probe driven by a reverse volcano could reveal the secrets of planets heart. It would be like plunging a huge knife of molten metal into the surface of the globe

ONE of the great science fiction epics of Jules Verne could soon become reality: a leading scientist is planning to send a grapefruit-sized probe on a journey to the centre of the Earth.

The sensor, which would be made from diamonds to withstand temperatures of more than 4,000C, would be blasted into the bowels of the planet by a “reverse volcano” of liquid iron under plans advanced today by David Stevenson, Professor of Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology.

Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of the molten metal would crack open the Earth’s crust, kick-started by a nuclear explosion or artifical earthquake, and allow the capsule of instruments to be carried down 3,000km (1,860 miles) to the edge of the Earth’s superheated core. The journey would take about a week. (Times Online)




Another 20 Moons Found Near Jupiter

Two astronomers surveying the region around Jupiter have detected 20 new moons, bringing the giant planet's total to 60.

Although Galileo Galilei detected the planet's four largest moons in 1610, the discovery of dozens of smaller satellites has occurred only recently. The feat has required digital cameras capable of imaging huge swaths of sky and computer programs that can pick out orbiting objects as they slowly cross the night sky.

Since they began their systematic search in late 2000, the team -- David Jewitt, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Hawaii and graduate student Scott Sheppard -- has found 43 of the planet's 60 moons. (Four were discovered by Galileo, four were discovered during a fly-by of the Voyager spacecraft and nine were discovered during the 20th century by other astronomers who painstakingly analyzed photographic plates.)

Their latest discovery of 20 moons was made in February, and their findings are being published today in the journal Nature. "It's new technology that's made this possible," Sheppard said.

The team discovered the moons using the 3.6-meter telescope atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea. (Charlotter.com)


High School Class Trip to Seattle Includes Stop at Strip Club

SPRAGUE — When nine students at Sprague High School took their senior trip to the big city recently, the stops in Seattle included Pike Place Market, the Space Needle and a strip club.

The latter was not on the original itinerary.

Some parents in the small Eastern Washington farm town are outraged that six boys and three girls from the class of 2003 went to Deja Vu Showgirls in Seattle to view exotic dancers last week. Some students went to the club twice in the same day.

All the students were at least 18, so the detour was legal, but Principal Pat Whipple was not amused. (The Seattle Times)




John Kerry was in Skull and Bones - Like Bush

WASHINGTON - Sen. John F. Kerry expounds on many issues in his presidential campaign, but he's completely silent on one topic: his membership in Skull and Bones, Yale's infamous secret society.

``John Kerry has absolutely nothing to say on that subject. Sorry,'' said Kerry spokeswoman Kelley Benander.

Kerry is a respected senator and a decorated Vietnam War combat veteran, but 36 years after he was initiated into what has been called the ``ultimate old boy network,'' he's wary of breaking the ultra-exclusive club's strict secrecy code.

There's also another high-profile member of the club: President Bush.

Bonesmen already are buzzing over the prospect of the first Bones vs. Bones presidential race should Kerry win his party's nomination and face Bush in 2004.

``Bones don't care who wins,'' said author Alexandra Robbins, whose book ``Secrets of the Tomb'' pierced the secrecy shrouding the 171-year-old society. ``If Kerry wins, it's still a Bones presidency.''

Robbins calls the group ``probably the most secretive and successful club in America,'' and adds, ``It's also pretty bizarre.'' (The Boston Herald)




Automate Your Home From Your Computer

Indigo is an intelligent home control server that integrates an assortment of popular X10 hardware devices to provide unprecedented control of your home.

Using Indigo's intuitive user interface you can quickly define complex control logic to automate your home. With Indigo you can:


* Remotely control lights, fans, appliances, sprinkler systems, etc., from a variety of handheld remote controls (including the X10 “Entertainment Anywhere” remote control!)

* Remotely control any appliance or light, even your hot tub, from your cell phone by sending Indigo an email -or- by using a Sony Ericsson compatible phone and Salling Clicker

* Remotely control iTunes and dozens of other applications

* Create unlimited sprinkler schedules

* Incorporate motion detectors to turn on lights or other devices

* Automatically send emails based on events, like power failure or motion detection

* Automatically turn on landscape or holiday lighting at sunset and off at sunrise

* Create different lighting scenes, for example “Party,” “Movie,” “Sleeping,” “Away,” for perfect multi-room lighting levels at the touch of a button

* Incredible flexibility for thousands of other uses -- use your imagination!

Synthetic Gecko Hairs Promise Walking Up Walls

The prospect of being able to emulate a gecko and walk up a wall and across the ceiling has come a step closer to reality. Scientists in California have begun to work out how to make a material coated with synthetic gecko hairs. If engineers could create a material that matches the nimble lizard's incredible grip, the applications would be endless.

We could make super-grip shoes for athletes and tyres that hold the road better in all weathers, for example. And in Hollywood, actors playing superheroes like Spiderman or Neo from The Matrix could climb walls and walk on the ceiling without the studios resorting to computer graphics.

The hairs on a gecko's feet - called setae - are the key to its remarkable grip on just about any surface, rough or smooth, wet or dry. The tips of the setae are so sticky that geckos can hang from a ceiling with their entire weight suspended from a single toe. (New Scientist)

IDIOTS IN SERVICE:
This week, My phone went dead and I had to contact the telephone repair people. They promised to be out between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. When I asked if they could give me a smaller time window, the pleasant gentleman asked, "Would you like us to call you before we come?" I replied that I didn't see how he would be able to do that, since our phones  weren't working. He also requested that we report future outages by email. I asked  him, "Does YOUR email work without a telephone line?"

IDIOTS AT WORK:
I was signing the receipt for my credit card purchase when the clerk  noticed I had never signed my name on the back of the credit card.  She informed me that she could not complete the transaction unless the card was signed. When I asked why, she explained that it was necessary to compare the signature I had just signed on the receipt. So I signed the credit card  in front of her. She carefully compared the signature to the one I had just signed on the receipt. As luck would have it, they matched.

IDIOTS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD:
I live in a semi-rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the Deer Crossing sign on our road. The reason: "too many deer were being hit by cars" and he didn't want them to cross there anymore.

IDIOTS IN FOOD SERVICE:

My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco.  She asked the person behind the counter for "minimal lettuce."  He said he was sorry, but they only had iceberg.

IDIOT SIGHTING #1:
I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked, "Has anyone put anything in your baggage Without your knowledge?"  To which I replied, "If it was without my knowledge, how would I know? "He smiled knowingly and nodded, "That's why we ask."

IDIOT SIGHTING #2:
The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it's safe to cross the street. I was crossing with an intellectually challenged coworker of mine when she asked if I knew what the buzzer was for.  I explained that it signals blind people when the light is red.  Appalled, she responded, "What on earth are blind people doing driving?!"

IDIOT SIGHTING #3:
At a good-bye luncheon for an old and dear coworker who was leaving the company due to "downsizing," our manager commented cheerfully, "This is fun. We should do this more often." Not a word was spoken. We all just looked at each other with that deer-in-the-headlights stare.

IDIOT SIGHTING #4
I work with an individual who plugged her power strip back into itself and for the life of her couldn't understand why her system would not turn on.

IDIOT SIGHTING #5 (at a car dealership):
When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it.  We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver's side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. "Hey," I announced to the technician, "It's open!" To Which he replied, "I know - I already got that side."


Texas House Seeks Arrest of Truant Democrats - Hiding in Oklahoma

State troopers and the elite Texas Rangers were ordered to track down and bring in 59 Democratic lawmakers who brought the Texas House to a standstill Monday by going into hiding. The quorum-busting boycott capped months of tension between Democrats and the newly-in-control Republicans, and occurred as the chamber was scheduled to debate a congressional redistricting plan opposed by Democrats.

The parties also have clashed over a bill to limit lawsuits and a GOP budget that would avoid new taxes but make deep spending cuts. "It is a disgrace to run and hide," Craddick said. (Salon)




Sony Announces Handheld PlayStation Device

LOS ANGELES -- Sony on Tuesday announced that it would launch a new handheld PlayStation gaming device to be available at the end of next year, taking aim at a market now dominated by Nintendo. Sony's upcoming PlayStation device will feature a color screen, computing power equal to the original best-selling PlayStation and a new high-capacity optical disc created especially for it, the company told reporters and analysts at a news conference.

"To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the PlayStation's launch, we're bringing out a special new baby for the family. We will be launching a new handheld entertainment platform," said Ken Kutaragi, president and chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment and the creator of the PlayStation.

Sony's entry into the handheld gaming market increases the pressure on Nintendo, which in March rolled out a redesigned version of its top-selling Game Boy Advance handheld game device. Nintendo's flagship GameCube console trails Sony's market-leading PlayStation 2.

Sony's surprise announcement came on the second day of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, the major trade show for the $30 billion video-game industry. (Wired)

Unseen America - Photo Project Views Life Through the Lenses of Janitors, Nannies, Clerks

It's just a picture of a woman in an apron offering a cup of hot coffee. But shot from below, with the sun peeking around the paper cup, the coffee looks as if it's being handed down directly from the heavens. And that is what it must have felt like to the day laborer who took the picture, who works long hours in the cold. That day laborer is one of nearly 2,000 working men and women who are slowly, and with varying degrees of success, being turned into photographers and journalists by a program called "Unseen America." Janitors, nannies, home health aides, store clerks and garment workers, among others, are given cameras and 12 weeks of instruction in photography and asked to document their lives. (ABC News)


Personality Changes Throughout Life

People's personalities are not set in stone by the age of 30, contrary to popular and professional beliefs, new research suggests. In fact, the old adage about people becoming wiser with age may hold some truth, according to the US study, which examined five major personality traits.

Sanjay Srivastava and colleagues surveyed over 130,000 people on key personality traits known as the "Big Five": conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness and extraversion. These traits are not dependent on factors like mood, says Srivastava, now a psychologist at Stanford University, California. Many psychologists believe these five key characteristics are fundamentally genetic and do not change or change only slowly after 30. But the research suggests that not only do people continue to change after this milestone, but in some ways they change more.

"We found a mixture of different patterns of how people change," Srivastava told New Scientist. "On average people were getting better at dealing with the ups and downs of life. In particular they were more responsive and more caring [with age]." (New Scientist)




Kazaa Virus!!!

A virus going by the name of Fizzer is spreading rapidly, both via email and the KaZaA P2P network. According to F-Secure, the virus "...has a built-in IRC backdoor, a DoS (Denial of Service) attack tool, a data stealing trojan (uses external keylogger DLL), an HTTP server and some more components. The worm has the functionality to kill tasks of certain anti-virus programs. Additionally the worm has autoupdating capabilities."

You should upgrade your virus protection and avoid opening email attachments ending with .EXE, .PIF, .SCR and .COM, to prevent infection. (C|Net News)




Iraq Infiltrated Al-Jazeera TV

LONDON — Iraqi intelligence agents infiltrated Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera in a push to win favorable coverage, Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported. Al-Jazeera is the Arab world's most widely watched television station. Documents uncovered by opponents of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein after he was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion force last month showed Iraq's intelligence service had three agents working inside Qatar's Al-Jazeera network, the Sunday Times said. According to the documents, one alleged agent passed on two letters written by Usama bin Laden -- blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- to his Iraqi handlers. Two cameramen were also said to be Iraqi agents. (Fox News)

New Supercomputer Software Can Pick Music Hits

"Perfect hooks, killer beats and powerhouse singing add up to nothing for many aspiring songwriters - and for ambitious record executives, who have historically relied on good ears and gut instinct when it comes to finding talent. But a new company is trying to take some of the guesswork out of the artwork, with help from science and supercomputers." (The International Herald Tribune)




Airline Passengers Permitted to Take Animals Aboard Flights for Emotional Support

WASHINGTON - Airline passengers will be permitted to take cats, monkeys and other animals aboard domestic flights on a case-by-case basis for emotional support, but not spiders, snakes or rats, the federal government said on Friday.

The Department of Transportation revised guidelines to clarify the definition of service animals, which until now had been limited to those that helped passengers manage physical disabilities. The most common are guide dogs for the blind or visually impaired.

But trained animals assist people with disabilities in other ways. Some pull wheelchairs, help epileptics sense imminent seizures and aid people with balance problems. Passengers also bring animals aboard for their emotional health, and proponents sought changes in the guidelines to include service animals for emotional support. (The New York Times)




New Find Reignites Anthrax Probe

The FBI has developed a new theory on a central mystery of the 2001 anthrax attacks after finding evidence in a Frederick, Md., pond that may suggest how an ingenious criminal could have packed deadly anthrax spores into envelopes without killing or sickening himself, according to sources close to the investigation.

A piece of equipment and other evidence recovered this winter from ice-covered ponds in Frederick Municipal Forest have reinvigorated the 18-month-old case, leading officials to explore a novel theory with shades of science fiction. Some involved in the case believe that the killer may have waded into shallow water to delicately manipulate anthrax bacteria into envelopes, working within a partly submerged airtight chamber. When finished, the killer could have easily hidden the evidence by simply dumping contaminated equipment and clothing into the pond. (The Washington Post)




Russia Funding Resurgent Taliban

RUSSIA is funding the Taliban’s guerrilla war against the American-backed government of Afghanistan, leaders of the fundamentalist group have claimed. In a move that carries echoes of attempts by the United States to undermine Soviet forces during their occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, Russian intelligence is now providing covert backing to a resurgent Taliban, senior figures in the extreme Islamic movement have alleged.

The alarming claim will prove acutely embarrassing to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been trying to rebuild relations with the US in the wake of the acrimonious split between the two countries over Iraq. Engineer Hamidullah, the Taliban’s former deputy chief of finance, says the Taliban now receive as much funding as they did when Osama bin Laden bank-rolled them before September 11.

"There are some countries that are against the policies of the US and the United Nations, and they support the guerrillas. The most important role belongs to Russia, Iran and Pakistan," he said. In the 1980s, the CIA’s funding of the Afghan Mujahedin on a massive scale wore down the Russians and eventually forced them to leave. The backing, both financial and military, was never admitted by the US.

According to Taliban sources in neighbouring Pakistan and Afghan intelligence sources, the group has a new hierarchy of leaders orchestrating opposition to the US-sponsored Afghan government of Hamed Karzai from Afghanistan and Pashtun tribal areas of north-west Pakistan. (The Scotsman)

File these Under: What the Hell is Going on?


Japan's Masked Politician

A Japanese wrestler-turned-politician has insisted on wearing a brightly patterned mask - his trademark in the ring - for his new job as a local councillor. Critics say it is "indecent" that Masanori Murakawa refuses to reveal his face. But on Tuesday - his first day of work at the local assembly in Morioka, northern Japan - Mr Masanori's mask was resolutely on display. Councillors are due to meet on Wednesday to decide whether he should be allowed to continue wearing his mask when the assembly formally convenes. Masanori Murakawa was elected to the prefectural (state) assembly last month. (BBC News)




Caped Crusader Saves the Day in English Town

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- A masked and caped do-gooder has been sweeping through an English town, performing good deeds and scattering terrified bad guys, a local newspaper reported on Friday.

The Kent and Sussex Courier said it had received letters from "stunned residents" of the town of Tunbridge Wells, southeast of London, who saw the man in a brown mask and cape scare off hooligans and return a woman's dropped purse.

"To my great surprise," the paper quoted 21-year-old psychology student Ellen Neville as saying, "a masked man wearing a brown cape rushed past me to assist a woman who was having a bother with a group of youths. (CNN)


Billions in Charity Money Could Be Saved, Enough to Give Every High School Graduate in the US a $40,000 Scholarship

When he was in politics, Bill Bradley, the former senator from New Jersey, was known for proposing big ideas to shake up the established order and entrenched constituencies. So perhaps it should not be a surprise that he is now doing the same thing to the world of philanthropy.

As the "lead adviser" to the Institute for the Nonprofit Sector at McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm better known for its work in the business world, he and two other consultants have rocked the nonprofit sector with a study estimating that charities could free up $100 billion each year, enough to give every high school graduate in the country a $40,000 scholarship.

The study, which nonprofit organizations say threatens their financial support by implying that they are wasting large sums of money through inept and sloppy management, has the philanthropic world buzzing like a swarm of indignant hornets — and fighting back hard.

One foundation executive went so far as to invoke the specter of the discredited Enron Corporation, which was lavishly praised by McKinsey consultants before it became the symbol of corporate excess and deceit. (The New York Times)

eBay Feedback Comments Left by andy46477...Hilarious!

This is a guy who leaves random feedback on eBay. On the one hand it’s very amusing; on the other, though, its rather concerning that someone is able to leave feedback to a seller with whom he never conducted business! I didn’t even know that was possible. Update: After some quick research it appears that you are no longer able to leave random feedback at eBay. Given that, I withdraw my concerns and can now enjoy the humor. (LockerGnome)



Are Psychedelic Drugs Good for You?

A year ago, hoping to dispel the postpartum gloom that had gripped me after I finished writing a book, I hiked into a forest near my home and pitched a tent under some pine trees. I spent that day and evening listening to the forest, scribbling in my journal, and thinking—all while under the influence of a psychedelic drug. The next morning I returned to my wife and children feeling better than I had in months.

What I did that day should not be illegal. Adults seeking solace or insight ought to be allowed to consume psychedelics such as LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline. U.S. laws now classify them as Schedule 1 drugs, banned for all purposes because of their health risks. But recent studies have shown that psychedelics—which more than 20 million Americans have ingested—can be harmless and even beneficial when taken under appropriate circumstances.

Citing this research, some scholars and scientists are proposing that the prohibitions against psychedelics—or entheogens, "God engenderers," as believers in their spiritual benefits prefer to call them—should be reconsidered. This legal issue has recently been brought to a head by a religious sect in New Mexico that is suing the United States for the right to drink a hallucinogenic tea called ayahuasca in its ceremonies. A federal court is expected to rule on the potentially momentous case any day now. (Slate)




Passengers Sucked Out of Plane

KINSHASA, Congo, May 9 —  Scores of passengers aboard a Russian-built cargo plane flying across Congo were feared dead after they were sucked out of the aircraft when the rear door burst open in mid-flight, officials said Friday.

“THE DOORS opened, including the ramp, as the pressure system broke down. Everybody was sucked out and is presumed dead,” an official in the capital, Kinshasa, told Reuters. Kikaya Bin Karubi, a Congolese government spokesman, said seven people had been confirmed dead after being “ejected from the plane” at an altitude of 33,000 feet near the southern city of Mbuji-Mayi. Officials were investigating the possibility of other casualties, he said.
       
Two officials at the international airport in Kinshasa told The Associated Press that 129 people were believed to have been sucked out of the plane. They spoke on condition of anonymity. Their accounts could not be immediately confirmed, and there were conflicting reports about the total number of people on board. Reuters reported, citing a Russian aviation official in Kinshasa, that a total of 129 people were on the airplane. (MSNBC)

Microsoft, Best Buy Accused of Net Scam

LOS ANGELES, California -- A Los Angeles man has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Best Buy Inc. and Microsoft Corp., accusing them of scamming customers by charging them for online services without their knowledge. The suit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims the alleged scam stemmed from a promotion in which customers at Best Buy, who paid for purchases with credit or debit cards, were given free compact discs that allowed them to try Microsoft's online service, MSN.

Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, and Best Buy, the largest consumer electronics chain, were partners in a pact dating back to 1999 to promote Microsoft's money-losing MSN Internet access service. "We haven't yet received the complaint and therefore have no comment," a Microsoft spokesman said. Best Buy officials were not immediately available for comment.

Plaintiff Samuel Kim said he unwittingly became a victim in February after making a purchase at a Best Buy store in Los Angeles with his debit card. At checkout, a store employee scanned Kim's debit card and, without any explanation to him, scanned a trial MSN compact disc and placed it in his shopping bag, the lawsuit said.

When Kim asked why the compact disc had been scanned, the employee allegedly said it was to keep track of inventory. But Best Buy apparently sent Kim's debit card information to Microsoft, which activated an MSN service account in his name without telling him, the lawsuit said. Kim did not use the compact disc but discovered after receiving his bank statement that Microsoft had deducted a monthly service charge from his account, the suit said. He has not been unable to get a full refund from either company, his attorney Anthony Lee of San Francisco told Reuters. (CNN)


Coded Porn Found in Terror Cell

ROME, May 8 — Investigators analyzing computers seized from an Italian mosque say they have uncovered images of the twin towers that were downloaded just days before the 9/11 attacks, as well as a trove of pornographic photos they believe were used to conceal coded messages.

On Sept. 4, 2001, according to investigators, pictures of the World Trade Center were saved as temporary files on one of the computers at the Via Quaranta mosque in Milan — the mosque frequented by Abdelkader Mahmoud Es Sayed, also known as Abu Saleh, an Egyptian currently on trial in absentia in Milan on charges of international terrorism.

Court documents from the ongoing Milan trial, cited by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, say that police discovered images of the World Trade Center along with numerous files that contained images downloaded from the Internet of political leaders such as President Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, as well as large quantities of pornographic material, also taken from the Internet. The images, investigators said, had been manipulated — their colors modified — before being sent back onto the Web. (ABC News)


Support for Fingered File Traders

Though the recording industry has settled its copyright-infringement lawsuits against four university students, the defendants are left paying thousands of dollars out of their own pockets.
Aaron Sherman and Jesse Jordan of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Daniel Peng of Princeton University and Joseph Nievelt of Michigan Technological University agreed to pay the Recording Industry Association of America between $12,000 and $17,500 apiece after they were accused of running Napster-like sites on their school networks.

But the students might have some help. Pledges of support have lit up several message boards in the past few days with promises to pony up some dough. "Someone should set up a PayPal account for them," suggested one poster on a Gnutella News message board. "I'd pitch in a few $." (Wired News)




Male Seahorses Carry the Babies...Who'd a Thunk It?

No one could accuse a seahorse of being a hands-off father. That's because males are the ones that carry the young. Now findings published online this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggest that male pregnancy not only takes the load off female seahorses, it can also drive the development of new species.

Prevailing theory holds that new species arise primarily because geographic barriers halt the flow of genes between different populations. But a number of recent theoretical studies have suggested that so-called sympatric speciation can occur, in which different populations originate in one geographical area, but do not interbreed. In the new work, Adam G. Jones of the Georgia Institute and his colleagues studied seahorses off the coast of Perth, Australia, in which the female deposits her eggs in a male's brood pouch and he fertilizes and carries the eggs until they hatch. Using genetic analyses the researchers confirmed that the creatures tend to choose mates of a similar size (a selection process known as assortative mating). This way, neither female eggs nor male pouch space is wasted. Notes Jones, "in seahorses assortative mating appears to be a consequence of male pregnancy and monogamy." (Scientific American)




Bush, Blair Nominated for Nobel Prize for Iraq War

OSLO - A Norwegian parliamentarian nominated President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the Nobel Peace Prize on Thursday, praising them for winning the war in Iraq. 'Sometimes it's necessary to use a small and effective war to prevent a much more dangerous war in the future,' Jan Simonsen, a right-wing independent in Norway's parliament, told Reuters.

'If nobody acted then Saddam Hussein could have produced weapons of mass destruction and, in five or 10 years, could have used them against Israel,' he said. An award to Bush and Blair would be a U-turn after the Nobel Committee awarded the 2002 prize to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter last October. At the time, the committee chairman called it a kick in the shins to Bush's Iraq policies as Carter had been calling for a diplomatic solution.

Simonsen said the war had 'made it possible to create democracy and respect for human rights in a country which for so many years has been ruled by one of the worst dictators in modern times.' However, Geir Lundestad, the director of the Nobel Institute where the five-member committee meets, said Simonsen's proposal would have to wait for the 2004 award because the deadline for nominations for 2003 passed on February 1. (Reuters)

Secession: Not Just For Southern Slaveholders Anymore!

"New York City Councilman Peter F. Vallone Jr. has introduced a bill to explore a New York City secession from the state of New York. The Queens Tribune provides a more lengthy insight into the move," jare2003 informs us. "'Every day Albany gives us another reason to just go our way,' Mr. Vallone said. The latest example, he said, is the budget being drafted in Albany, which he called 'another sham. They're giving us the ability to increase taxes on New York City residents at a time when we already pay too much in taxes.' The bill calls for the commission to study the idea for two years, then pass it on to voters. From there, state legislators would have to vote on passing it on to Washington, DC (which incidentally, has been wrapped up in a statehood movement of its own for the last century). (Plastic.com)


URBAN STATEHOOD

What does New York City have more of than New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Montana, South Dakota, Delaware, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming, all put together?

People.

What do New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Montana, South Dakota, Delaware, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming have that New York City doesn't have?

Eighteen US Senators.

New York City has gets to share two senators with the residue of New York state, which is also larger than all these other states put together. In fact, there are 16 states with a combined population less than New York in its entirety.

This discrimination is, of course, not unique to New York. The larger states of California and Texas have it worse. And the capital colony of Washington DC lacks even partial representation in the Senate.

The results of this constitutional but crazy apportionment of America's upper house means, among other things, that ethnic minorities are underrepresented in a manner officially permitted hardly anywhere else in American culture. If the Senate had been a school district it would have been under court-ordered bussing for the past few decades. If it were a private club, you'd want to resign from it before running for public office.

In fact, the malapportionment of the Senate is perhaps the most important, undiscussed issue in the country today for there is hardly a matter of political importance that would not be affected if that body were to reflect 21st century rather than 19th century demographics.

Curiously, however, leaders of constituencies that would clearly benefit - with cities at the top of the list - show little interest.

One reason for this is misunderstanding. It is widely believed that admitting new states requires a constitutional amendment and that a state, once created, can't be split. In truth, it is easier to spawn a new state than it was to give women the right to vote or to pass an income tax. A simple majority in Congress and the president's signature - plus approval of an affected state's legislature - and the job is permanently done. (Progressive Review)

Program Lets P2P Users Roam Free

A new "cloaking" application that protects individuals from network snooping is making the rounds among file traders, marking the latest salvo in the increasingly volatile battle between music labels and file traders. Free software called PeerGuardian creates a personal firewall that blocks the IP addresses of snoops. They can see the names of files being traded, but they can't download the file to tell whether it's a copyrighted file.

The application, under development since late last year, comes to the fore at a precarious time for those using peer networks.
The recording industry has long said it would never target consumers with copyright infringement lawsuits, but that is no longer true. On April 25 when Judge Stephen Wilson of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles ruled that a decentralized network such as Gnutella couldn't be held liable for any infringement occurring on its system, he paved the way for the music industry filing suits against consumers.

Music labels promptly launched a campaign that sent instant messages to 200,000 people warning them that they could be subject to prosecution for swapping unauthorized songs. Previously the Recording Industry Association of America had also filed massive infringement lawsuits against four college students, each of whom agreed last week to pay between $12,000 and $17,500 rather than face a lengthy trial.

"Top-level users want this application to keep out connections from outside sources, particularly after the recent judgment that decentralized systems are legal," said Jorge Gonzalez, founder of Zeropaid, a peer-to-peer developer site. "Users now have to think about defending themselves against attacks from companies coming after users." (Wired)

A DIY Cruise Missile

Some time ago I wrote an article in which I suggested that it would not be difficult for terrorists to build their own relatively sophisticated cruise missiles using off-the-shelf components and materials. Not surprisingly, that piece has produced a significant amount of feedback from the tens of thousands of people who have read it so far.

Included in this feedback, I've received quite a number of emails from former and currently serving US military personnel who acknowledge that the threat is one they are very much aware of and for which there is little in the way of an effective defense available.

However, there have also been a number of people who claim I'm overstating the case and that it's not possible to build a real cruise missile without access to sophisticated gear, specialist tools and information not readily available outside the military.

So, in order to prove my case, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and build a cruise missile in my own garage, on a budget of just US$5,000. (InterestingProjects.com)




North Korea Has A Lot of Nukes Aimed at US Cities

SYDNEY - North Korea has at least 100 nuclear missiles aimed at the United States and will use them if new economic sanctions are imposed against it, a propagandist for the Stalinist state claimed.

Kim Myong Chol, who styles himself executive director of the Centre for Korea-American Peace, told Australia's Channel Nine network Sunday: "It's quite obvious North Korea may have minimum 100 nuclear warheads, maximum 300.

"They all lock onto American cities."

Kim, who rejoices in the title "unofficial spokesman for North Korea", was speaking in an interview recorded overseas, although it was unclear where.

He claimed the nuclear technology used to produce the missiles had been tested in Pakistan and the weapons had been made before Pyongyang's non-proliferation agreement with the adminstration of former US president Bill Clinton in 1994. They did not therefore breach international agreements, he maintained.

Told that Pakistan had denied the claim it was implicated -- which he has made previously -- he said: "Of course they must deny that." Kim, who said he was flattered that the Western media labelled him unofficial spokesman for the Pyongyang regime, was asked if North Korea intended to use the weapons if the United States did not give in to its diplomatic and economic demands. (Yahoo News)

Israel Plans Palestinian Statehood In Jordan

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, May 3 - Jordan can be the new homeland of Palestinians in return for allowing it to have lucrative reconstruction contracts in Iraq, revealed an Israeli plan Saturday, May 3. Israeli Tourism Minister Benny Elon left last night for the United States, where he will present the U.S. officials with the plan based on naturalizing the Palestinians in Jordan and that a Palestinian state in the spirit of President George Bush's vision will only feed terrorism and that Jordan is Palestine, Israeli daily Haaretz said. The plan came three days after an international "roadmap" envisioning the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip was finally released to the Palestinian and Israeli premiers Wednesday, April 30. The roadmap was drafted by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia.

(IslamOnline.net)




A Great Album, Download It!

I happened to run across this album about 2 years ago now and it is just starting to catch on. It is probably one of the best albums of the decade and critically popular. A great song, Caring is Creepy is pretty sweet, also check out Those Bold City Girls. There is a pretty good video of theirs you can download as well, New Slang, in either Quicktime or Real Media.You can check out more on The Shins at their site.