[Quote:]

This site is dedicated in specific to the work of San Francisco balanced rock sculptor Bill Dan and to the art, discipline and craft of rock balancing in general.

[Quote:]

Swift Boat Veterans For Truth, a group that gained national prominence in the months before the 2004 election, announced Monday that it will continue its campaign “to set the record straight about John Kerry.”

“We’ve made great progress in spreading the truth about John Kerry’s treasonous past, but our job isn’t over just because he lost the presidency,” said John O’Neill, founding member of the Swift Vets and author of Unfit For The Community, a new book arguing that Kerry’s Vietnam service record indicates that he would make a dangerous neighbor. “John Kerry is a threat to every American he comes in contact with, whether he’s running for president, getting his oil changed, or going to a movie with his wife.”

Although many expected the Swift Vets’ campaign to end when Bush was re-elected, a spokesman for the group said its efforts have only begun.

“Just because that lying, cheating, opportunistic fraud from Massachusetts happened to be the Democratic presidential nominee, people assumed our efforts were politically motivated,” said retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffman, chairman of Swift Boat Veterans For Truth. “Well, Kerry’s loss to George W. Bush does not undo the deeds of his youth.”

Hoffman added: “We humble servants of truth will not stop until citizens are throwing garbage at John Kerry when they see him at the park.”

At the center of the group’s efforts is a $1.8 million television ad campaign that includes spots questioning Kerry’s ability to make quick decisions in a fast-food line, leave adequate distance between his car and the next in heavy traffic, and take proper care of his lawn. The ads have run in heavy rotation throughout the Boston area since Kerry gave his concession speech Nov. 3, and local television affiliates confirmed that the group has purchased airtime through the summer of 2005.

28 Variations

[Quote:]

Late on the Wednesday afternoon before the Thanksgiving holiday, the US Defense Department released a report by the Defense Science Board that is highly critical of the administration’s efforts in the war on terror and in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

‘Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies [the report says]. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the long-standing, even increasing, support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and the Gulf states. Thus, when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy.’

The Pentagon released the study after The New York Times ran a story about the report in its Wednesday editions.

And in Wired:

[Quote:]

“The information campaign — or as some still would have it, ‘the war of ideas’ or the struggle for ‘hearts and minds’ — is important to every war effort,” but was crucial in the U.S.-declared global war on terrorism, the report said.

“In this war, it is an essential objective because the larger goals of U.S. strategy depend on separating the vast majority of nonviolent Muslims from the radical-militant Islamist-Jihadists,” it said.

“But American efforts have not only failed in this respect. They may also have achieved the opposite of what they intended,” the report added.

[Quote:]

US President George W. Bush nominated 51-year-old Carlos Gutierrez, the Cuban-born head of cereals giant Kellogg Co., as his new commerce secretary.

“He knows exactly what it takes to make American businesses grow and create jobs,” Bush said.

Yep. He sure does.

[Quote:]

et televisieprogramma Opsporing Verzocht heeft Mohammed B., de man die wordt verdacht van de moord op Theo van Gogh, maandagavond herkenbaar in beeld gebracht. Dit gebeurde ondanks protest van de advocaat van B., Peter Plasman.

De raadsman probeerde maandag in een kort geding bij de rechtbank in Amsterdam nog tevergeefs te voorkomen dat zijn cliënt herkenbaar in beeld zou komen. De rechter willigde zijn verzoek niet in. Een motivering van de beslissing is nog niet gegeven.

[Quote:]

The email era is coming to an end because replacement communication means such as Internet messengers, mini-homepages (dubbed “one-man media”), and SMS are wielding their power. As a consequence, the stronghold of email, once the favorite of the Internet, is being shaken from its roots.

The ebbing of email is a phenomenon peculiar to Korea, an IT power. Leading the big change, unprecedented in the world, are our teens and those in their 20′s. The perception that “email is an old and formal communication means” is rapidly spreading among them. “I use email when I send messages to elders,” said a college student by the name of Park. For 22-year-old office worker Kim, “I use email only for receiving cellphone and credit card invoices.”

A poll conducted by Chungbuk University computer education professor Lee Ok-hwa on over 2,000 middle, high school and college students in Gyeonggi and Chungcheong provinces in October revealed that more than two-thirds of the respondents said, “I rarely use or don’t use e-mail at all.”

The reasons given for shunning email are that it’s impossible to tell whether an addressee has received a message right away and replies are not immediately forthcoming. Still another reason is that you send messages through SMS or messenger as if you were playing a game, while doing so through email makes you feel as if you are doing homework or performing a task. “The new generation hate agonizing and waiting and tend to express their feelings immediately,” said Professor Lee. “The decline of email is a natural outcome reflecting such characteristics of the new generation.”

[Quote:]

Het idee ‘beter goed gejat dan slecht bedacht’ is van toepassing op een mp3-speler in het assortiment van de Duitse supermarkt Aldi. In Duitse fillialen biedt de prijsvechter een iPod-kloon aan die opties heeft die de Apple-tegenhanger node mist.

Over het aangeboden apparaat, de Medion MD95200, is online alvast niets te vinden. Voor het ontwerp heeft Medion overduidelijk naar Apple gekeken. Zo bezit de 20-gigabyte speler een rond clickwheel , net als de iPod.

Het Duitse tijdschrift Heise kreeg de Medion-speler van 199 euro in handen en onderwierp het aan een test. Het blad noemt de MD95200 “nicht nur ein iPod-Abklatsch” – geen eenvoudig jatwerk.

[Quote:]

Microsoft meldt dat de volgende versie van Internet Explorer alleen werkt op Windows XP-computers, die uitgerust zijn met Service Pack 2. Voor een deel van de surfers betekent dit een keuze tussen upgraden naar XP of overschakelen naar een alternatieve browser. Voor oudere IE- en Windows-versies zal er na het be�indigen van hun levenscyclus geen garantie zijn op verdere security-updates.

Gebruikers van oudere Windows-versies moeten afwegen of ze hun besturingssysteem upgraden of een alternatieve browser willen gebruiken. Door enkel XP SP2 te ondersteunen, gaat het overigens niet enkel om het oudere Windows 98, maar ook om de nog wijdverbreide Windows 2000. Vermoedelijk zal de nieuwe IE w�l werken met Server 2003.

[Quote:]

Terms of Use

Sony Australia Limited (ABN 59 001 215 354) (“Sony”) maintains this website (the “Site”) for your entertainment, information, education, and communication. Your access and use of the Site is subject to the following terms and conditions (the “Terms of Use”) and all applicable laws. By accessing and browsing the Site, you accept, without limitation or qualification, the Terms of Use and the terms and conditions of Sony’s Privacy Policy. If you make a purchase on the Site, the Sale Terms will also apply to you.

1. All material on the Site is protected by copyright unless otherwise indicated and may not be used except as permitted in these Terms of Use or in the text on the Site. If you are browsing this Site as a non-commercial user, you may download material displayed on the Site for your non-commercial, personal use only. If you are browsing this Site as an employee/agent/member of any business or organization, you may download material displayed or available on the Site only for non-commercial purposes within your business or organization. This permission is conditional on your retaining all copyright and other proprietary notices contained on or in the materials contained in the Site and on your compliance with those notices and the Terms of Use. You may not distribute or transmit (except within your business or organization), modify, reuse, republish, report, frame, upload to a third party or use the contents of the Site (including without limitation the text, images, audio, and video) for public or commercial purposes without Sony’s express written permission. You agree not to infringe the copyright or other intellectual property rights belonging to Sony, its affiliates or its third party content providers.

So with this posting Sony thinks I’m ‘violating’ some license. Yeah, right.

And people wonder why I’m refusing to buy anything with the Sony label on it.

12. Sony may terminate this agreement and your access to the Site at any time without notice. In the event of termination, you are no longer authorised to access the Site, but any and all restrictions imposed on you under the Terms of Use, and licences granted by you to Sony, and any Sony disclaimers and limitations of liability will survive such termination.

Go right ahead, fuckwits. See if I care.

Today I received this e-mail message:

Subject: ARTICLE ON LT. BRANDON TURNER, USMC

Dear Sir,

���� I don’t know from the photograph whether or not the Marines are in the mosque that sheltered 34 Iraqi terrorists who were arrested, followed by a search of the basement that disclosed a major arms cache, nor I suspect does the writer of the article about an “insane” Lt. Brandon Turner.�

���� Neither your writer nor I was there, but the article in the LA Times does not reflect anything like what he wrote in relation to the situation.� I am familiar enough with combat situations, though, to know that in a firefight it is unlikely that soldiers on either side will take time to remove their shoes before entering a mosque or church.�

���� As for the desecration or destruction of holy places, I invite your writer’s attention to the bombings of Coventry Cathedral, St. Paul’s, or the destruction of synagogues on Kristallnacht as examples of really unnecessary entries into holy places [no weapons or ammunition found in any of them, and even the Nazis didn't claim that there were].

���� Certainly your writer is entitled to his opinion, and rest assured that I am not in total agreement with all of the decisions made by my government in this context, but I think that his letter reveals that he has never been shot at and is, therefore, somewhat lacking in credentials to say what is “insane” and what is not “insane” in a combat situation.

���� Thank you for your attention.

���� ���� ���� John McClellan Marshall
���� ���� ���� COL,
���� ���� ���� Inspector General, Texas State Guard (Ret.)

I replied kindly, with an invitation to post on this weblog. Unfortunately, the e-mail bounced. So, I went to google. John McClellan Marshall is real, and a former Judge in Texas with a impressive record. Somebody I would definately listen to and who would get room on the weblog to comment. However, Google cannot find any military record, even for the Guards, nor does it appear former Judge Marshall was ever Inspector General. Also, the “from” address bounces, and the only occurrence of the email address for the Judge is in an Alumnu listing in reference to a course the Judge gave in Poland.

It sounds fishy – it looks like somebody is abusing the Judges name, but for the life of me I cannot image why. For the moment I’m assuming it’s all a forgery, but if I’m wrong, I’d love to see a message from the Judge from an e-mail address that accepts replies. Preferable non-AOL.

This story reminded me of what happened to me this morning on the way to…. ah, never mind.

[Quote:]

But I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking. If all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed and why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.

–Sister Joan Chittister, former head of the Benedictine nuns

(more reading)

[Quote:]

The World Sunlight Map provides a computer-generated approximation of what the earth currently looks like. While less impressive than actually being into orbit, this is much more accessible to most of us.

I start with cloudless images of the earth during the day (from a pair of NASA satellites) and night (from a DoD program to map city lights). Every 3 hours, I download a composite cloud image based on data from weather satellites all over the world. And every half hour, these images are composited and mapped onto a sphere by xplanet according to the relative position of the sun. The flat maps are post-processed by ImageMagick to cut off the 15 degrees nearest the north and south poles where cloud data is unavailable

[Quote:]

The computer model developed by Davis shows that, if all vehicles on a highway had adaptive cruise control, perturbations due to changes in the lead vehicle’s velocity would not translate into propagating pockets of traffic congestion. Traffic would flow smoothly.

Intriguingly, at an average speed of 67 miles per hour, if only one in five vehicles used adaptive cruise control, no traffic jams would form and traffic would generally flow freely. At lower concentrations, however, intermittent episodes of traffic congestion would still be an issue.

Goed nieuws voor de A4?

[Quote:]

A group of former pupils at a London comprehensive school are poised to win thousands of pounds in unpaid royalties for singing on Pink Floyd’s classic Another Brick In The Wall 25 years ago.

The pupils from the 1979 fourthform music class at Islington Green School secretly recorded vocals after their teacher was approached by the band’s management.

Now the 23 ex-pupils are suing for overdue session musician royalties, taking advantage of the Copyright Act 1997 to claim a percentage of the money from broadcasts.

Music teacher Alun Renshaw took the 13- to 14-year-old pupils out of lessons by to the nearby Britannia Recording Studios in Islington to record – without the head’s permission.

[Quote:]

A Sydney software company painted itself as a defender of the interests of millions of music fans when in fact it was the world’s biggest music pirate, a court was told yesterday.

Sharman Networks is the developer of Kazaa file-sharing software, which allows users to swap digital material – primarily music, but also movies – over the internet.

On the first day of a massive legal battle between the record industry and the company behind the software, the court was told Sharman had broadcast “a call to arms to stop paying for music”.

Hmm… with the way they’re treating customers, the record industry is doing a fine job all by itself…

[Quote:]

When it comes to limiting work hours, ensuring fair pay and improving health and safety standards, “Mattel is one of the best,” said Chan Ka Wai, associate director of the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee, which has done extensive investigations into working conditions in the Chinese toy industry.

Yet for all of that, tens of thousands of workers who make Mattel products still suffer.

One big reason is that half of the toys displaying Mattel’s familiar red logo are made in facilities, such as the one here in an industrial area of Shenzhen, that the company doesn’t own.

“Mattel has no way to know the truth about what really goes on here,” said a 24-year-old worker at the Shenzhen factory. “Every time there is an inspection, the bosses tell us what lies to say.”

Labor advocates agree that the situation is difficult. Mattel might be doing a lot to turn its own factories into showplaces, Chan said. “But their vendors look very different,” he added.

(thanks, Maarten)

[Quote:]

– VVD-Tweede-Kamerlid Hirsi Ali werkt aan een vervolg op Submission, de film over de mishandeling van moslimvrouwen die ze eerder met de vermoorde cineast Theo van Gogh maakte. Het ondergedoken Kamerlid zegt dat maandag in een interview met NRC/Handelsblad. Het is het eerste interview met het zwaar bedreigde Kamerlid sinds de moord op Van Gogh.

Het thema van het tweede deel van Submission is volgens Hirsi Ali de manier waarop volgens haar de islam het individu onderdrukt. “Met als uitgangspunt de positie van de vrouw. En daarnaast wil ik nog steeds het islamitisch onderwijs afschaffen. Niet afbranden dus! Dat is iets heel anders.”

[Quote:]

Een foto van Mohammed B., verdachte van de moord op Theo van Gogh, is zonder zwart balkje geplaatst in het Algemeen Dagblad. De krant loopt hiermee vast vooruit op de uitzending van Opsporing Verzocht van maandagavond.

Het is in Nederland ongebruikelijk dat verdachten van misdaden herkenbaar in beeld worden gebracht. Volgens de Telegraaf is het zelfs de eerste keer dat een foto wordt getoond van iemand wiens identiteit al bekend is, en die bovendien ook al in de cel zit. De Amsterdamse politie heeft voor de vertoning speciale toestemming van justitie gekregen.

In het opsporingsprogramma zal de Amsterdamse politie het publiek enkele vragen voorleggen over B. De politie hoopt informatie binnen te krijgen over activiteiten van B., voorafgaand aan de moord.

(overigens, iedereen die wel ‘s van google heeft gehoord weet dat het om Mohamed Bouyeri gaat)

[Quote:]

Angel Raich tried dozens of prescription medicines to ease the pain of a brain tumor and other illnesses before she took up another drug: pot.

The mother of two has the support of her doctor and a California medical marijuana law when she lights her pot pipe every few hours.

The Supreme Court hears arguments Monday whether that’s enough to protect Raich from the federal government, which makes no exceptions for the seriously ill in its war on drugs.

[Quote:]

South Korean woman paralyzed for 20 years is walking again after scientists say they repaired her damaged spine using stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood.

Last week her eyes glistened with tears as she walked again with the help of a walking frame at a press conference where South Korea researchers went public for the first time with the results of their stem-cell therapy.

They said it was the world’s first published case in which a patient with spinal cord injuries had been successfully treated with stem cells from umbilical cord blood.

A Pygmy Marmoset (R), the world’s smallest monkey (120-150 gram), shares his lunch with a Golden Lion Tamarin who is one of the most endangered monkeys in the world, at the Skansen aquarium in Stockholm. (AFP/Sven Nackstrand)

A U.S. Army soldier checks for possible booby-traps and explosives after the bodies of four murdered men were found in a cemetery in Mosul, Iraq, Sunday, Nov. 28, 2004. Ten bodies were recovered Sunday in Mosul, where at least 50 people have been murdered in the past 10 days. Most of the victims are believed to have been supporters of Iraq’s interim government or members of its fledgeling security forces.(AP Photo/Jim MacMillan)

The carcasses of dead dolphins and pilot whales are strewn on a beach on Australia’s King Island, off Tasmania state Sunday, Nov. 28, 2004. About 100 whales and dolphins died after swimming onto a beach on the southern Australian island where rescue teams Monday were desperately trying to prevent others becoming stranded, a government official said. (AP Photo/Mavis Burgess)

A diver dressed as Santa Claus feeds fish to dolphins at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, November 24, 2004. REUTERS/Kimimasa Mayam

[Quote:]

The agency overseeing the national Do Not Call Registry is considering opening a loophole in the year-old program to allow companies to deliver ”pre-recorded message telemarketing.”

The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington-based privacy watchdog, says the change could result in the 64 million people on the list being bombarded by ”answering-machine spam” and other unwanted voices on voice mail.

”Even those enrolled in the Do Not Call Registry will be affected by the proposed loophole,” the group said.

The Federal Trade Commission said it does not think the change would have any dramatic results.

Solution: drop your land-line. Seriously. Now your unlisted number, that you went ahead and put on the do-not-call list to protect yourself from callers who just selected numbers randomly, will be given to the telemarketers as a number that is fair game for them to call.

This is the worst of all possible amendments. Automated phone spam is already the most abusive, as it usually grabs the phone line and won’t let go until it’s done with its spiel. This wastes your time if you happen to answer the line, and wastes the limited space on your answering machine tape if it picks up. Automated phone spam is the MOST likely to not have a valid way to get off the list. Oh, sure, it may give you an 800 number to call, but that’s likely to reach some convoluted voicemail system that never gets you anywhere. And the concept of “prior contact” has already been stretched to mean “your uncle’s second wife’s stepsister’s kindergarten teacher once bought a widget from us. That establishes a clear prior business relationship between you and us.
And when we say ‘us’, we mean the company that recently phoned the company down the street from our sister company which resides in Malaysia. And of course, we had records of all of this, but we recently put them in the paper shreader and then burned it, for your security’s sake.
“. Not only that, but the upshot will be that telemarketers uniformly go to an automated model – much cheaper for them.

I wonder how long it’ll take marketeers to discover Skype.