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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.

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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

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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:

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“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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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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.