Most Unique and Interesting Review of a Pen (Pilot G2) Ever! If a pen could ever be described in more eloquent prose I have never seen it. This blogger makes reading about pens fascinating with her latest blog post about the Pilot G2.
» 18 May 2008, 9:00 am Limbaugh Busted: Uses 10th Grader's Essay To Attack Obama It's no secret that the right STILL hasn't figured out how to effectively use the internets, so it comes as no surprise that the Grand Poobah of right wing radio douche bags, Rush Limbaugh, has made a complete fool of himself by using a 12 year old essay by a 10th grader to attack Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama.
» 18 May 2008, 9:00 am Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV Is Better Than Cable or Satellite Microsoft's Mediaroom is the company's IPTV solution that brings TV into to your house (much like cable and satellite) over the internets. You might be familiar with it in its commercially released service forms such as AT&T U-Verse here in the US or BT Fusion in the UK.
» 18 May 2008, 8:30 am Robin Williams Explains How a Drunk Scotsman Invented Golf
» 18 May 2008, 7:40 am It's still good to be Mr.BabyMan!! C'mon, a show of support for the maestro!
» 18 May 2008, 7:00 am Asian Photography 101: Catching the Upskirt [pic] Hilarious picture encompassing what it takes to be a kickass Asian photographer... :)
» 18 May 2008, 6:10 am Playing Xbox 360 Dashboard has never been this fun (PIC) Employees at Google's office having a blast - playing Xbox 360 Dashboard with Guitars. Noobs...
» 18 May 2008, 5:50 am Clinton May Not Return to Senate With the end of the race for the Democratic nomination, it's not just decision time for Barack Obama, but also for Hillary Clinton. And with the way things have turned out, it's possible she may opt to retire instead of returning to the Senate.
» 18 May 2008, 5:40 am Clinton Campaign Acknowledges "It's Over." "She has changed her rhetoric and for the first time now her people, her closest aides ... are acknowledging she is not going to win this."
» 18 May 2008, 5:30 am The Universe From The Big Bang A diagram explaining the expansion of the universe since the Big Bang.
» 18 May 2008, 4:07 am 20% of U.S. Has Never Sent E-mail Roughly one-fifth of all U.S. households are disconnected from the Internet and have never used e-mail, according to research firm Parks Associates.A recent phone survey of U.S. households by Parks found 20 million households are without Internet access, approximately 18 percent of all U.S. households.
» 18 May 2008, 4:06 am The Top 7 Secrets to Writing a Cracked.com Top 7 List A former Cracked.com writer reveals all of their link-whoring secrets in 8 hilarious, easy-to-digest nuggets (with boobs!).
» 18 May 2008, 2:52 am Namco Bandai In SHOCK Soul Calibur Breast Cover-Up Yes. Shocking. For your submission, the picture, showing Soul Calibur's Ivy as she's depicted on the game's official website. On the left, how she appears on the Japanese site. On the right? How she appears on the American site.
» 18 May 2008, 2:35 am Embarrassing U.S. Border Patrol Traffic Stop The Benny Hill music probably doesn't make the footage any easier for the officer to watch.
» 18 May 2008, 2:35 am Developers Prefer XP Over Vista Survey Shows Besides avoiding Vista developers are still writing for the older version of Microsoft Office.
» 18 May 2008, 2:04 am US oil shipments canceled Responding to congressional pressure, the Bush administration on Friday said it is suspending oil deliveries into the government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the remainder of the year.President Bush to temporarily halt shipments into the reserve in hopes of lowering gasoline price.
» 18 May 2008, 1:50 am How A Magnet Turned Off My Speech Roger Highfield recalls how he could not utter a nursery rhyme as part of his brain was turned off by a magnet.
» 18 May 2008, 1:23 am What Digg Has Become. I am a fan of Digg, and a fan of American politics, but is Digg the new political strong-base?
» 18 May 2008, 1:01 am
» 18 May 2008, 9:00 am Limbaugh Busted: Uses 10th Grader's Essay To Attack Obama It's no secret that the right STILL hasn't figured out how to effectively use the internets, so it comes as no surprise that the Grand Poobah of right wing radio douche bags, Rush Limbaugh, has made a complete fool of himself by using a 12 year old essay by a 10th grader to attack Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama.
» 18 May 2008, 9:00 am Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV Is Better Than Cable or Satellite Microsoft's Mediaroom is the company's IPTV solution that brings TV into to your house (much like cable and satellite) over the internets. You might be familiar with it in its commercially released service forms such as AT&T U-Verse here in the US or BT Fusion in the UK.
» 18 May 2008, 8:30 am Robin Williams Explains How a Drunk Scotsman Invented Golf
» 18 May 2008, 7:40 am It's still good to be Mr.BabyMan!! C'mon, a show of support for the maestro!
» 18 May 2008, 7:00 am Asian Photography 101: Catching the Upskirt [pic] Hilarious picture encompassing what it takes to be a kickass Asian photographer... :)
» 18 May 2008, 6:10 am Playing Xbox 360 Dashboard has never been this fun (PIC) Employees at Google's office having a blast - playing Xbox 360 Dashboard with Guitars. Noobs...
» 18 May 2008, 5:50 am Clinton May Not Return to Senate With the end of the race for the Democratic nomination, it's not just decision time for Barack Obama, but also for Hillary Clinton. And with the way things have turned out, it's possible she may opt to retire instead of returning to the Senate.
» 18 May 2008, 5:40 am Clinton Campaign Acknowledges "It's Over." "She has changed her rhetoric and for the first time now her people, her closest aides ... are acknowledging she is not going to win this."
» 18 May 2008, 5:30 am The Universe From The Big Bang A diagram explaining the expansion of the universe since the Big Bang.
» 18 May 2008, 4:07 am 20% of U.S. Has Never Sent E-mail Roughly one-fifth of all U.S. households are disconnected from the Internet and have never used e-mail, according to research firm Parks Associates.A recent phone survey of U.S. households by Parks found 20 million households are without Internet access, approximately 18 percent of all U.S. households.
» 18 May 2008, 4:06 am The Top 7 Secrets to Writing a Cracked.com Top 7 List A former Cracked.com writer reveals all of their link-whoring secrets in 8 hilarious, easy-to-digest nuggets (with boobs!).
» 18 May 2008, 2:52 am Namco Bandai In SHOCK Soul Calibur Breast Cover-Up Yes. Shocking. For your submission, the picture, showing Soul Calibur's Ivy as she's depicted on the game's official website. On the left, how she appears on the Japanese site. On the right? How she appears on the American site.
» 18 May 2008, 2:35 am Embarrassing U.S. Border Patrol Traffic Stop The Benny Hill music probably doesn't make the footage any easier for the officer to watch.
» 18 May 2008, 2:35 am Developers Prefer XP Over Vista Survey Shows Besides avoiding Vista developers are still writing for the older version of Microsoft Office.
» 18 May 2008, 2:04 am US oil shipments canceled Responding to congressional pressure, the Bush administration on Friday said it is suspending oil deliveries into the government's Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the remainder of the year.President Bush to temporarily halt shipments into the reserve in hopes of lowering gasoline price.
» 18 May 2008, 1:50 am How A Magnet Turned Off My Speech Roger Highfield recalls how he could not utter a nursery rhyme as part of his brain was turned off by a magnet.
» 18 May 2008, 1:23 am What Digg Has Become. I am a fan of Digg, and a fan of American politics, but is Digg the new political strong-base?
» 18 May 2008, 1:01 am
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China Accepts US Aid Planes as Hope Fades for Quake Survivors - Bloomberg Malaysia StarChina Accepts US Aid Planes as Hope Fades for Quake SurvivorsBloomberg - 3 hours agoBy Eugene Tang and William Bi May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Two US military transport planes flew food, blankets and electrical generators into Sichuan province in China, where hopes were fading for survivors after the country's deadliest earthquake in 32 ...Japanese rescuers continue working in Beichuan in China quake-hit area XinhuaChinese Flee Flood Threat From Quake New York TimesHouston Chronicle - Reuters India - Aljazeera.netall 2,829 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 6:06 am Zimbabwe Opposition Alleges Tsvangirai Assassination Plot - Voice of America Turkish PressZimbabwe Opposition Alleges Tsvangirai Assassination PlotVoice of America - 9 hours agoBy Blessing Zulu, Sylvia Manika, Ndimyake Mwakalyele & Benedict Nhlapho Allegations that an assassination plot had been hatched against Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Saturday, leading his Movement for Democratic Change to postpone his ...Mugabe Opponent Cancels Return to Zimbabwe New York TimesMugabe men in plot to kill Tsvangirai Times OnlineReuters - The Associated Press - United Press International - ABC Onlineall 1,378 news articles
» 17 May 2008, 11:47 pm Burma media praises junta cyclone relief - ABC Online Spiegel OnlineBurma media praises junta cyclone reliefABC Online - 2 hours agoBurma's state press has painted a picture of a country swiftly recovering from cyclone Nargis, despite an outcry from foreign nations which have branded the regime's response "inhuman".British Prime Minister Criticizes Burma Over Failure to Allow in ... Voice of AmericaMyanmar death toll soars Reuters UKTelegraph.co.uk - BBC News - Christian Science Monitor - Washington Postall 870 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 7:17 am Venezuela Says Colombians Crossed In - New York Times PRESS TVVenezuela Says Colombians Crossed InNew York Times - 4 hours agoBy AP CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela on Saturday accused 60 Colombian soldiers of illegally entering its territory, further stirring up tensions between the countries.Uribe promises to probe alleged intrusion into Venezuela XinhuaVenezuela protests Colombian troop 'incursion' ReutersThe Associated Press - Bloomberg - AFP - TMCnetall 1,745 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 5:27 am Lebanese factions at Qatar talks - BBC News Voice of AmericaLebanese factions at Qatar talksBBC News - 18 hours agoLebanon's rival political leaders are holding talks in Qatar aimed at ending the sectarian conflict which left at least 65 people dead in recent days.Lebanese leaders tackle core issues at Qatar talks ReutersHigh-level Lebanese talks in Qatar The Associated PressHa'aretz - Monsters and Critics.com - Voice of America - AFPall 789 news articles
» 17 May 2008, 3:07 pm Azizuddin is home after 97 days - Pakistan Dawn CTV.caAzizuddin is home after 97 daysPakistan Dawn - 3 hours agoBy Ismail Khan PESHAWAR, May 17: Militants released Pakistan's Ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq Azizuddin, on Friday night after holding him in captivity for 97 days.Militants in Pakistan Free Diplomat New York TimesTaliban free envoy to Afghanistan Boston GlobeVoice of America - CNN International - Los Angeles Times - Monsters and Critics.comall 553 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 5:52 am Sri Lanka Captures Key Town From Tamil Tigers; 34 Rebels Killed - Bloomberg Alalam News NetworkSri Lanka Captures Key Town From Tamil Tigers; 34 Rebels KilledBloomberg - 2 hours agoBy Jay Shankar May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lankan soldiers captured a key town from the Tamil Tigers in the country's north as heavy fighting killed at least 34 rebels, the government said.Sri Lanka clashes leave 16 Tiger rebels dead: military AFPSignificant gains made: Sri Lanka HinduReuters India - AHN - The Associated Press - Reutersall 663 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 6:38 am Hezbollah shows might in Lebanon, but faces limits - The Associated Press Canoe.caHezbollah shows might in Lebanon, but faces limitsThe Associated Press - May 15, 2008BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Hezbollah has proven it can force Lebanon's US-backed government to cave in on key issues. But the Shiite militant group's power is not absolute - the government is still in place and Hezbollah has lost support among the people ...Lebanon fears Hezbollah pursuing 'state within a state' Chicago TribuneLebanon May Attract Sunnis Seeking to Wage Jihad U.S. News & World ReportReuters - BBC News - Voice of America - New York Timesall 4,665 news articles
» 15 May 2008, 9:05 pm 'PML-N, PPP future depends on judges' reinstatement' - Daily Times TopNews'PML-N, PPP future depends on judges' reinstatement'Daily Times - 8 hours agoISLAMABAD: Future relations between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) would depend upon the reinstatement of the deposed judges, PML-N chairman Raja Zafar-ul-Haq said on Saturday.Pakistan's Zardari rejects ally's resignations Reuters IndiaSharif's Party Leaves Cabinet in Pakistan New York TimesReuters - Washington Post - BBC News - CNN Internationalall 1,711 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 1:16 am India issues new suspect sketches - BBC News BBC NewsIndia issues new suspect sketchesBBC News - May 15, 2008Police in India have issued three more sketches of men whom they want to question in connection with the attacks that hit the city of Jaipur this week.Indian Police Release Sketches of Suspects in Jaipur Bombings Voice of America`Indian Mujahideen' Claims Responsibility for Jaipur Blasts BloombergUnited Press International - New York Times - Christian Science Monitor - CNN Internationalall 1,380 news articles
» 16 May 2008, 7:48 am The Middle East in the Year 2068? Some Presidential Prognostications - New York Times Boston GlobeThe Middle East in the Year 2068? Some Presidential PrognosticationsNew York Times - 10 hours agoBy SHERYL GAY STOLBERG SHARM EL SHEIK, Egypt - President Bush said not long ago that he did not have a magic wand to bring down gas prices.Video: Bush: 'Committed' to Deal for Palestinian State AssociatedPressBush: Deal on Palestinian state before 2009 YnetnewsIndependent - Reuters - BBC News - Wall Street Journalall 1,388 news articles
» 17 May 2008, 10:57 pm Israel at 60 - New York Times WELT ONLINEIsrael at 60New York Times - 6 hours agoWilliam Kristol ("The Jewish State at 60," column, May 12) recalls that as the Nazis prepared for war, "the civilized world was helpless.Bush exchanges views with young Israelis Los Angeles Times1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War by Benny Morris Times OnlineBoston Globe - The Post-Standard - Syracuse.com - Monday Morning - Yahoo! Newsall 307 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 3:29 am Dominican Republic President Wins Re-Election - Wall Street Journal Caribbean Net NewsDominican Republic President Wins Re-ElectionWall Street Journal - 4 hours agoAP SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- Dominican President Leonel Fernandez coasted to a third term in office, vowing Saturday to push ahead with policies he says have lifted the Caribbean nation's economy from crisis.Dominican president wins 3rd term CNNDominican president faces toughest term, warns of economic slowdown International Herald TribuneNew York Times - Bloomberg - Voice of America - Washington Postall 623 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 4:53 am Kabul urges Islamabad to abandon talks with militants - Pakistan Dawn The Southern LedgerKabul urges Islamabad to abandon talks with militantsPakistan Dawn - 3 hours agoBy Our Correspondent WASHINGON, May 17: Afghanistan has joined the growing chorus in Washington against Pakistan's peace efforts in the tribal areas, urging it to abandon its talks with militants.Pakistan army takes issue over US missile attack ReutersPakistan 'protests' at US strike BBC NewsVoice of America - The Associated Press - New York Times - AFPall 704 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 5:52 am India to resume Pakistan peace talks - Reuters Times Now.tvIndia to resume Pakistan peace talksReuters - 1 hour agoBy Robert Birsel ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - India's foreign minister travels to Pakistan this week for his first meeting with leaders of a new civilian government and to review a peace process that has been in the doldrums for more than a year.Soldiers shoot six rebels dead in Kashmir Reuters IndiaCBMs making LoC irrelevant will resolve Kashmir issue: FM Daily TimesChristian Science Monitor - BBC News - Pakistan Link - The Associated Pressall 200 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 7:56 am
» 18 May 2008, 6:06 am Zimbabwe Opposition Alleges Tsvangirai Assassination Plot - Voice of America Turkish PressZimbabwe Opposition Alleges Tsvangirai Assassination PlotVoice of America - 9 hours agoBy Blessing Zulu, Sylvia Manika, Ndimyake Mwakalyele & Benedict Nhlapho Allegations that an assassination plot had been hatched against Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Saturday, leading his Movement for Democratic Change to postpone his ...Mugabe Opponent Cancels Return to Zimbabwe New York TimesMugabe men in plot to kill Tsvangirai Times OnlineReuters - The Associated Press - United Press International - ABC Onlineall 1,378 news articles
» 17 May 2008, 11:47 pm Burma media praises junta cyclone relief - ABC Online Spiegel OnlineBurma media praises junta cyclone reliefABC Online - 2 hours agoBurma's state press has painted a picture of a country swiftly recovering from cyclone Nargis, despite an outcry from foreign nations which have branded the regime's response "inhuman".British Prime Minister Criticizes Burma Over Failure to Allow in ... Voice of AmericaMyanmar death toll soars Reuters UKTelegraph.co.uk - BBC News - Christian Science Monitor - Washington Postall 870 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 7:17 am Venezuela Says Colombians Crossed In - New York Times PRESS TVVenezuela Says Colombians Crossed InNew York Times - 4 hours agoBy AP CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela on Saturday accused 60 Colombian soldiers of illegally entering its territory, further stirring up tensions between the countries.Uribe promises to probe alleged intrusion into Venezuela XinhuaVenezuela protests Colombian troop 'incursion' ReutersThe Associated Press - Bloomberg - AFP - TMCnetall 1,745 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 5:27 am Lebanese factions at Qatar talks - BBC News Voice of AmericaLebanese factions at Qatar talksBBC News - 18 hours agoLebanon's rival political leaders are holding talks in Qatar aimed at ending the sectarian conflict which left at least 65 people dead in recent days.Lebanese leaders tackle core issues at Qatar talks ReutersHigh-level Lebanese talks in Qatar The Associated PressHa'aretz - Monsters and Critics.com - Voice of America - AFPall 789 news articles
» 17 May 2008, 3:07 pm Azizuddin is home after 97 days - Pakistan Dawn CTV.caAzizuddin is home after 97 daysPakistan Dawn - 3 hours agoBy Ismail Khan PESHAWAR, May 17: Militants released Pakistan's Ambassador to Afghanistan, Tariq Azizuddin, on Friday night after holding him in captivity for 97 days.Militants in Pakistan Free Diplomat New York TimesTaliban free envoy to Afghanistan Boston GlobeVoice of America - CNN International - Los Angeles Times - Monsters and Critics.comall 553 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 5:52 am Sri Lanka Captures Key Town From Tamil Tigers; 34 Rebels Killed - Bloomberg Alalam News NetworkSri Lanka Captures Key Town From Tamil Tigers; 34 Rebels KilledBloomberg - 2 hours agoBy Jay Shankar May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lankan soldiers captured a key town from the Tamil Tigers in the country's north as heavy fighting killed at least 34 rebels, the government said.Sri Lanka clashes leave 16 Tiger rebels dead: military AFPSignificant gains made: Sri Lanka HinduReuters India - AHN - The Associated Press - Reutersall 663 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 6:38 am Hezbollah shows might in Lebanon, but faces limits - The Associated Press Canoe.caHezbollah shows might in Lebanon, but faces limitsThe Associated Press - May 15, 2008BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Hezbollah has proven it can force Lebanon's US-backed government to cave in on key issues. But the Shiite militant group's power is not absolute - the government is still in place and Hezbollah has lost support among the people ...Lebanon fears Hezbollah pursuing 'state within a state' Chicago TribuneLebanon May Attract Sunnis Seeking to Wage Jihad U.S. News & World ReportReuters - BBC News - Voice of America - New York Timesall 4,665 news articles
» 15 May 2008, 9:05 pm 'PML-N, PPP future depends on judges' reinstatement' - Daily Times TopNews'PML-N, PPP future depends on judges' reinstatement'Daily Times - 8 hours agoISLAMABAD: Future relations between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) would depend upon the reinstatement of the deposed judges, PML-N chairman Raja Zafar-ul-Haq said on Saturday.Pakistan's Zardari rejects ally's resignations Reuters IndiaSharif's Party Leaves Cabinet in Pakistan New York TimesReuters - Washington Post - BBC News - CNN Internationalall 1,711 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 1:16 am India issues new suspect sketches - BBC News BBC NewsIndia issues new suspect sketchesBBC News - May 15, 2008Police in India have issued three more sketches of men whom they want to question in connection with the attacks that hit the city of Jaipur this week.Indian Police Release Sketches of Suspects in Jaipur Bombings Voice of America`Indian Mujahideen' Claims Responsibility for Jaipur Blasts BloombergUnited Press International - New York Times - Christian Science Monitor - CNN Internationalall 1,380 news articles
» 16 May 2008, 7:48 am The Middle East in the Year 2068? Some Presidential Prognostications - New York Times Boston GlobeThe Middle East in the Year 2068? Some Presidential PrognosticationsNew York Times - 10 hours agoBy SHERYL GAY STOLBERG SHARM EL SHEIK, Egypt - President Bush said not long ago that he did not have a magic wand to bring down gas prices.Video: Bush: 'Committed' to Deal for Palestinian State AssociatedPressBush: Deal on Palestinian state before 2009 YnetnewsIndependent - Reuters - BBC News - Wall Street Journalall 1,388 news articles
» 17 May 2008, 10:57 pm Israel at 60 - New York Times WELT ONLINEIsrael at 60New York Times - 6 hours agoWilliam Kristol ("The Jewish State at 60," column, May 12) recalls that as the Nazis prepared for war, "the civilized world was helpless.Bush exchanges views with young Israelis Los Angeles Times1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War by Benny Morris Times OnlineBoston Globe - The Post-Standard - Syracuse.com - Monday Morning - Yahoo! Newsall 307 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 3:29 am Dominican Republic President Wins Re-Election - Wall Street Journal Caribbean Net NewsDominican Republic President Wins Re-ElectionWall Street Journal - 4 hours agoAP SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- Dominican President Leonel Fernandez coasted to a third term in office, vowing Saturday to push ahead with policies he says have lifted the Caribbean nation's economy from crisis.Dominican president wins 3rd term CNNDominican president faces toughest term, warns of economic slowdown International Herald TribuneNew York Times - Bloomberg - Voice of America - Washington Postall 623 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 4:53 am Kabul urges Islamabad to abandon talks with militants - Pakistan Dawn The Southern LedgerKabul urges Islamabad to abandon talks with militantsPakistan Dawn - 3 hours agoBy Our Correspondent WASHINGON, May 17: Afghanistan has joined the growing chorus in Washington against Pakistan's peace efforts in the tribal areas, urging it to abandon its talks with militants.Pakistan army takes issue over US missile attack ReutersPakistan 'protests' at US strike BBC NewsVoice of America - The Associated Press - New York Times - AFPall 704 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 5:52 am India to resume Pakistan peace talks - Reuters Times Now.tvIndia to resume Pakistan peace talksReuters - 1 hour agoBy Robert Birsel ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - India's foreign minister travels to Pakistan this week for his first meeting with leaders of a new civilian government and to review a peace process that has been in the doldrums for more than a year.Soldiers shoot six rebels dead in Kashmir Reuters IndiaCBMs making LoC irrelevant will resolve Kashmir issue: FM Daily TimesChristian Science Monitor - BBC News - Pakistan Link - The Associated Pressall 200 news articles
» 18 May 2008, 7:56 am
McCain makes age jokes on 'Saturday Night Live' John McCain is 71 years old, and his age has provided late-night comics with some easy punch lines. On "Saturday Night Live," he joined in.
» 18 May 2008, 6:28 am South Korea will give North food 'if it asks' South Korea's president said on Sunday that his country stands ready to help North Korea with food aid, but only if the isolated communist country asks for it and shows a readiness to change.
» 18 May 2008, 8:33 am Big, hairy pig attracted gawkers in Wisconsin A steady stream of vehicles pulled along the shoulder of the road to get a look at it: an enormous, hairy pig that apparently had been struck and killed by a vehicle.
» 18 May 2008, 7:54 am Loni Anderson marries folk singer Bob Flick Loni Anderson was married Saturday to Bob Flick, a founding member of the 1960s folk group The Brothers Four.
» 18 May 2008, 8:50 am Florida firefighters help catch fleeing suspects A group of Florida firefighters recently found themselves fighting crime instead of fire.
» 18 May 2008, 8:11 am US WWII bomb defused in Tokyo A fire official says more than 16,000 people were evacuated from a Tokyo suburb while an unexploded 1-ton bomb believed was defused.
» 18 May 2008, 8:09 am Company to reprint yearbooks after head switching School officials say they are appalled by altered photos — including heads on different bodies — in hundreds of McKinney High School yearbooks delivered this week.
» 18 May 2008, 7:51 am Veggie Pride Parade urges "Give Peas a Chance" The veggies your mom implored you to eat are getting their own celebration in New York City: The Veggie Pride Parade.
» 18 May 2008, 8:28 am 3 NIU shooting victims to get posthumous degrees Hundreds of students ran screaming from the lecture hall three months ago to escape a gunman who had opened fire inside. On Saturday, while much of the rest of the campus celebrated graduation, a somber Laurel Dubowski stood outside the building's glass doors.
» 18 May 2008, 3:00 am Kennedy hospitalized after seizure; not a stroke Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the lone surviving son in a famed political family, suffered a seizure at his Cape Cod home on Saturday morning but was recovering well enough by afternoon to watch a Red Sox game from his hospital room.
» 17 May 2008, 11:03 pm Calif. customs officer accused in smuggling plot A Customs and Border Protection officer is accused of conspiring to smuggle drugs and illegal immigrants.
» 18 May 2008, 7:47 am FAA: 2 killed in float plane crash in Cascades Two people were killed Saturday when a float plane carrying five people crashed into Lake Chelan in the North Cascades, authorities said.
» 18 May 2008, 6:20 am News agency says survivor found after 139 hours A man has been found alive after being trapped for 139 hours in a collapsed hospital in Sichuan province, the official Xinhua News Agency said Sunday.
» 18 May 2008, 5:35 am Historic Brooklyn Navy Yard gets modern makeover When the Pentagon closed the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1966, it became an obsolete facility awash in history but torpedoed by time.
» 18 May 2008, 1:56 am Mike Tyson tells all in film at Cannes Mike Tyson considers it a miracle that he lived to tell his tale. And he's telling it — in graphic detail — in a new documentary at the Cannes Film Festival.
» 18 May 2008, 12:04 am Mont. gov. speaks at commencement for class of one Jeff Greenwood is in a class by himself.
» 18 May 2008, 3:18 am Chicago company recalls meat for E. coli concerns Federal officials say a Chicago-based company is recalling beef products distributed in 11 states because of possible E. coli contamination.
» 18 May 2008, 4:51 am As cyclone refugees wait, Myanmar refuses aid Myanmar's junta kept a French navy ship laden with aid waiting outside its maritime border on Saturday, and showed off neatly laid out state relief camps to diplomats.
» 17 May 2008, 10:11 pm Venezuela protests Colombian 'incursion' Venezuela on Saturday accused 60 Colombian soldiers of illegally entering its territory, as tensions over Venezuela's alleged effort to aid Colombian guerrillas swirl.
» 18 May 2008, 4:06 am
» 18 May 2008, 6:28 am South Korea will give North food 'if it asks' South Korea's president said on Sunday that his country stands ready to help North Korea with food aid, but only if the isolated communist country asks for it and shows a readiness to change.
» 18 May 2008, 8:33 am Big, hairy pig attracted gawkers in Wisconsin A steady stream of vehicles pulled along the shoulder of the road to get a look at it: an enormous, hairy pig that apparently had been struck and killed by a vehicle.
» 18 May 2008, 7:54 am Loni Anderson marries folk singer Bob Flick Loni Anderson was married Saturday to Bob Flick, a founding member of the 1960s folk group The Brothers Four.
» 18 May 2008, 8:50 am Florida firefighters help catch fleeing suspects A group of Florida firefighters recently found themselves fighting crime instead of fire.
» 18 May 2008, 8:11 am US WWII bomb defused in Tokyo A fire official says more than 16,000 people were evacuated from a Tokyo suburb while an unexploded 1-ton bomb believed was defused.
» 18 May 2008, 8:09 am Company to reprint yearbooks after head switching School officials say they are appalled by altered photos — including heads on different bodies — in hundreds of McKinney High School yearbooks delivered this week.
» 18 May 2008, 7:51 am Veggie Pride Parade urges "Give Peas a Chance" The veggies your mom implored you to eat are getting their own celebration in New York City: The Veggie Pride Parade.
» 18 May 2008, 8:28 am 3 NIU shooting victims to get posthumous degrees Hundreds of students ran screaming from the lecture hall three months ago to escape a gunman who had opened fire inside. On Saturday, while much of the rest of the campus celebrated graduation, a somber Laurel Dubowski stood outside the building's glass doors.
» 18 May 2008, 3:00 am Kennedy hospitalized after seizure; not a stroke Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the lone surviving son in a famed political family, suffered a seizure at his Cape Cod home on Saturday morning but was recovering well enough by afternoon to watch a Red Sox game from his hospital room.
» 17 May 2008, 11:03 pm Calif. customs officer accused in smuggling plot A Customs and Border Protection officer is accused of conspiring to smuggle drugs and illegal immigrants.
» 18 May 2008, 7:47 am FAA: 2 killed in float plane crash in Cascades Two people were killed Saturday when a float plane carrying five people crashed into Lake Chelan in the North Cascades, authorities said.
» 18 May 2008, 6:20 am News agency says survivor found after 139 hours A man has been found alive after being trapped for 139 hours in a collapsed hospital in Sichuan province, the official Xinhua News Agency said Sunday.
» 18 May 2008, 5:35 am Historic Brooklyn Navy Yard gets modern makeover When the Pentagon closed the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1966, it became an obsolete facility awash in history but torpedoed by time.
» 18 May 2008, 1:56 am Mike Tyson tells all in film at Cannes Mike Tyson considers it a miracle that he lived to tell his tale. And he's telling it — in graphic detail — in a new documentary at the Cannes Film Festival.
» 18 May 2008, 12:04 am Mont. gov. speaks at commencement for class of one Jeff Greenwood is in a class by himself.
» 18 May 2008, 3:18 am Chicago company recalls meat for E. coli concerns Federal officials say a Chicago-based company is recalling beef products distributed in 11 states because of possible E. coli contamination.
» 18 May 2008, 4:51 am As cyclone refugees wait, Myanmar refuses aid Myanmar's junta kept a French navy ship laden with aid waiting outside its maritime border on Saturday, and showed off neatly laid out state relief camps to diplomats.
» 17 May 2008, 10:11 pm Venezuela protests Colombian 'incursion' Venezuela on Saturday accused 60 Colombian soldiers of illegally entering its territory, as tensions over Venezuela's alleged effort to aid Colombian guerrillas swirl.
» 18 May 2008, 4:06 am
The Sacrifices of War (Pic)
What 11 years on the Internet will get you
Where everybody knows your name... [pic]
Iran busts CIA terror network
The Prize: This one's for you, Redditors...[comic]
Einstein Letter on God Sells for $404,000
20% of U.S. Has Never Sent E-mail
Taking your laptop into the US? Be sure to hide all your data first
Fox News Mgr Caught In XXX Theatre Circle Jerk
"It is natural when you are a debtor nation that you lean in the direction of inflation, because it makes paying it back so much easier."
Two Modesto men are facing mandatory 20-year prison terms for medical-marijuana convictions in federal case that ignore California law legalizing medical marijuana
"It's concievable that when I turn the machine on, I start getting messages from the future"
Winds of change: The U.S. can greatly boost clean wind power for 2 cents a day. Now all we need is a president who won't blow the chance.
Facebook's Glass Jaw
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Stop Annoying Redirects. The most bullshit thing CAN be stopped. Fret not SW.» 18 May 2008, 12:26 am
What Have We Become, ShoutWire? I miss the old ShoutWire. We may not have had much, but we did have boobs...» 17 May 2008, 4:13 pm
Test Advertising Article This is test advertising article visible only in UK.» 17 May 2008, 8:41 pm
Plus Size Whitney Wins America's Next Top Model Is the fashion world really going to change to suit the full figured Whitney, winner of America's Next Top Model? We can only hope. I was thinking as I watched curvy Whitney stomp it out against slender Anya in the runway showdown featuring Donatella Versache, that designers should be required to include at least one...» 17 May 2008, 4:41 pm
Chavs-They're Everywhere! A somewhat short guide on how to spot a chav...in order to help us civilized humans to keep well away from them.
[Chavs aka wiggers, pikies...etc..etc]» 17 May 2008, 3:03 pm
Student Slain at School A 16-year old boy is dead and a 17-year-old is in custody after a stabbing yesterday at T.R. Leger alternative school, located on the campus of St. Lawrence College in Cornwall.» 13 May 2008, 1:20 pm
Scientology, F*ck You; A Challenge We declared war on these rotten f*cks a while back.» 29 August 2006, 7:53 pm
Modern "Secret Rooms" Individuals have created (or discovered) secret passages in ordinary everyday households and there are even companies dedicated to designing secret doors, rooms and passages in middle-class houses.» 12 May 2008, 8:38 am
The Battle For Burma "When they were done taking pictures they took back the food, the water, and the blankets and drove away."» 14 May 2008, 10:02 am
America is Rotting From The Inside Politicians are failing to comprehend the breadth of the US infrastructure crisis. Only disasters move our representatives to act -- and in an election year, even those actions seem spotty at best and disingenuous at worst. The United States has much more than failing bridges to find, fund and fix. A comprehensive report by Dr. Denny Wilkins.» 13 May 2008, 1:08 am
Maze Prison Was as Bad as Guantanamo A film documenting the final weeks of the IRA gunman Bobby Sands has been defended by its makers at the Cannes Film Festival as a useful insight into the mindset of modern suicide bombers.» 17 May 2008, 12:30 am
Don't Believe in Evilution Oh yes, you guys will have fun with this one.» 14 May 2008, 5:34 pm
Bogus Claim, Al-Maliki Stall U.S. Plan on Iran Arms Early this month, Bush administration's plan to create a new crescendo of accusations against Iran for allegedly smuggling arms to Shiite militias in Iraq encountered two setbacks. The government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki refused to endorse U.S. charges of Iranian involvement in arms smuggling to the Mahdi Army, and It turned out that none of the Weapons were Iranian.» 17 May 2008, 12:19 am
Astonished U.S. Booted Off un Committees The would-be rulers of the world suffered two humiliating setbacks in United Nations votes in early May. They were paybacks for the extreme arrogance the Bush administration has shown towards allies and enemies alike. They were booted off the Human rights Commission, and the International Narcotics Control Board.» 17 May 2008, 12:29 am
Footage of Scotlands Shame Attacking Police More pictures of Rangers fans attacking police officers in Manchester after the Uefa Cup Final have emerged.» 17 May 2008, 12:38 am
Child Sacrifice in Pre-Columbian Cultures In some prominent pre-Columbian cultures child sacrifice, the ritualistic killing of children, was a part of the religious practices. The practice of child sacrifice in historical Mesoamerican and South American societies is well documented both in the archaeological records and in written sources.» 17 May 2008, 1:12 am
Pics of Chinese Eartquake Government officials say 8,000 of the 10,000 people who lived here have died, most of them crushed as half of the town's buildings fell in on them. Most of those buildings that have not collapsed now teeter at frightening angles, as though ready to tumble too.» 17 May 2008, 1:20 am
Whiskey Geeks Keep Moonshine Tradition Alive
Making moonshine has gone from a backwoods black art to a high-end hobby practiced by "whiskey geeks" with a taste for top-shelf hooch.
Unlike their bootlegging predecessors, who cooked up big batches of white lightning and distributed the illegal booze out of the backs of cars, today's moonshiners focus on quality rather than quantity.
"It took me years, but with practice and dedication you can make any spirit every bit as good as a commercial distiller," says Dave Robison, 42, owner of Pioneer Spirits, a single-batch distillery in Chico, California. "You might not be able to reproduce it exactly, but it will be as good as anything you can buy on the top shelf."
Home distillation of liquor used to be the province of backwoods bootleggers. Up until 1974, when the world price of sugar skyrocketed, commercial moonshiners throughout the Southeastern United States made enough money making hooch that it was worth the risk of getting caught by federal revenuers.
Today, making your own liquor is as illegal as ever, and a lot less lucrative. In fact, it's considerably cheaper to buy it off the shelf.
As a result, today's home distillers are quintessential do-it-yourselfers. Many are engineers and techies, much like the liquor connoisseurs who attend the Whiskies of the World Expo each year in San Francisco. "We have a whole audience that we refer to as the whiskey geek," event founder and organizer Riannon Walsh says. "I think 90 percent of them are techies."
John Spidell misses the moonshine tradition. A former federal revenuer, the 65-year-old spent the first half of the '70s "busting up" illegal stills in North Carolina. His job sometimes required living in a sleeping bag under a piece of canvas for weeks at a time, watching a big still, waiting for the owner to appear. Smaller stills got less attention.
"A five- or six-hundred-gallon outfit wasn't worth wasting time on," he says. "I'd go back to my vehicle, get the C4 explosives and blasting caps, and I'd blow it up. There were only so many of us, and only so much time."
Spidell was blowing up simple pot stills, which were used to distill mash made from sugar, water, yeast and hog "shorts" (corn feed for hogs). After it was fermented, the mash would go into the boiler, where it was heated.
Because alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water, the vapors that rose from the mash contained more alcohol than the mash itself. Those rising vapors traveled through an angled lyne arm to a condenser, traditionally made of copper coil. The condensed spirits were collected and redistilled until they reached a sufficient proof, then bottled in quart-size mason jars or gallon-size plastic milk jugs.
Bootleggers delivered the illicit liquor to "shot houses" in the cities on Wednesdays and Thursdays, ensuring they were stocked for the weekend.
Today's home distillers are more likely to build a small reflux still and hide it in the garage. Unlike a pot still, the vapors rise through a column packed with copper wool or another high-surface-area material before being directed into the condenser. A beer keg makes a good boiler, and a homemade column and condenser are within the reach of anyone with basic welding and soldering skills and access to copper pipe.
The packed column makes the reflux still more efficient than a pot still, so it produces a higher-proof spirit on the first distillation. Still, the average home distiller isn't making any money on the endeavor.
"People are trying to keep a tradition alive," Robison says. "They're not selling it. That's looked down on in the home distilling crowd. Most people I know aren't making more than a gallon at a time. Some people on the forum come from the moonshiner tradition, and we've learned a lot from them. But I've never met anyone who makes it for money."
Robison runs the popular Home Distiller forum with more than 2,000 registered users and 50,000 unique visitors per month. Other online home distilling resources include Smiley's Home Distilling and American Distiller.
Depending on the efficiency of the still, home-distilled alcohol can vary from 120 to 192 proof, or 60 percent to 96 percent pure alcohol.
The concept may be simple, but high-quality home-distilling isn't exactly easy. The moonshine tradition spawned a lot of misinformation, which Robison tries to rectify on the forum. First and foremost, he makes it clear that home distillation of liquor is illegal in all 50 states and just about every country, save New Zealand.
Besides being illicit, white lightning has earned a reputation for blinding and killing people who drink it. Many sources attribute these effects to methanol ("the heads"), which boils off naturally during an early stage of the distillation process.
"The heads will make you blind if you drink it, but I defy you to try to drink it," says microdistiller Michael Heavener, co-owner of Highball Distillery in Portland, Oregon. "If it doesn't make you wince when you smell it, it's probably not going to make you go blind."
The real culprit in poison moonshine was usually radiators, according to Spidell. "Copper coils are not the most efficient condenser. If you're making 10,000 to 25,000 gallons at a time, you might immerse a truck radiator in the water. Chemicals in the moonshine leach out lead salts from the soldering. As a result of that, here comes the lead poisoning."
Made properly, home-distilled spirits are as safe to drink as any commercial liquor. Still, Heavener warns, "I'd be more concerned with the danger of explosions."
Most stills are heated with propane burners. Purified ethanol is highly flammable, and its clear blue flame can be difficult to see under certain conditions. Open flame plus high-proof alcohol equals one potentially explosive combination.
Even innocent mistakes -- such as using lead soldering or plastic parts in the still - can lead to serious consequences. So Robison encourages would-be home-distillers to do their homework first and make liquor later.
After all, he says, "This ain't stamp collecting."
» 17 May 2008, 1:00 pm Vintage Japanese Robots Storm Sci-Fi Museum : Though made for children, Japanese toy robots can catch the eye of even the most discriminating adults. Iconic graphic designer Tom Geismar, whose firm Chermayeff & Geismar has created memorable logos for Mobil, PBS and other U.S. institutions, has been collecting the shiny bots for decades. The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle will exhibit toys from Geismar's collection in Robots: A Designer's Collection of Miniature Mechanical Marvels through Oct. 26. The vintage robots on display reflect Geismar's trained eye. "I've really restricted myself to ones that appealed to me as interesting, imaginative designs," he says. Left: "I continue to find the straightforward and somewhat naïve appearance of the early toys to be most appealing," Geismar says of this vaguely Victorian robot. Photo: Richard Nichol : Geismar's fascination with robots began in 1970 while he was working on the U.S. pavilion for the World's Fair in Osaka, Japan. In local stores, he came across zinc die-cast figures like manufacturer Popy's Chogokin King Joe, based on a villain from the Ultra Seven show in the Ultraman series that aired in the late 1960s. "They were all made of metal and painted terrifically. And they were very imaginative," Geismar says. In those days, boxes often featured the names and pictures of the toys' designers. "Obviously they put a lot of effort and care into making these intricate things," he says, "but they were just in stores for kids to play with." The holes in each arm fire black, three-fingered claws and yellow missiles. Photo: Richard Nichol : This DX Tetsujin 28, literally Iron Man No. 28 in English, was based on the 1963 Japanese anime of the same name. Some of the episodes aired in the United States the next year, under the title Gigantor. "This handsome form is one of my favorites," Geismar says. "As a designer, I tend to like things that are reasonably simple and clear, straightforward." Like many robots, it comes with a small model human, in this case the boy who controls the flying man by remote control in the cartoon. Photo: Richard Nichol : The Takara company's highly articulated Abitate T-10B, also called Blockhead, is a die-cast mecha based on a character from the 1981 Japanese series Fang of the Sun Dougram that never aired in the States. The models did reach U.S. shelves, however, and a smaller-scale version of this body armor, the T-10A, came in a box featuring the intriguing slogan, "We never approve your independence from our federation." For Geismar, the most captivating thing about the models is the details, like Blockhead's menacing red hands. "When you go to a very different culture where you can't even read any of the signs, you see things in a very different way," he says. "You see it for what it looks like. Only later did I learn that most of the toys were representations of characters in popular Japanese films and television shows." Find great scans of box art for the Sun Dougram series (and many others) at Alen Yen's ToyboxDX. Photo: Richard Nichol : Robot toys hit a peak of mainstream popularity when Hasbro introduced the Transformers, but the roots of those bots lie in designs like Popy's Chogokin DX Sun Vulcan Solar Combination from 1981. The transforming robot turns into the triangular Cosmo Vulcan jet and the stocky Bull Vulcan tank. In its humanoid form, the mecha carried a huge sword and shield, and tied into the TV show Solar Squadron Sun Vulcan. Photo: Richard Nichol : Another transformer, Popy's Chogokin Goggle V GB-76, turns into a yellow truck and was later reissued in the Etarnal [sic] Heroes Series. This bot's tie-in live-action show was part of the great three-decade lineage of Super Sentai TV series. Check out the Goggle V opening credits and learn from whence the Power Rangers came. A collector of naïve figures from around the world before he came across robots, Geismar compares models like this to folk art. "In the World's Fair pavilion in Japan, there was a major exhibit of Native American masks, many from the Pacific Northwest. When we went to install them, the workers already knew them and they really related to them. They are very similar to a number of Japanese cultures' masks. I think, in a sense, there are masks involved with these robots. The mask behind a mask, or face within a face." Photo: Richard Nichol : Although they usually take a humanlike form, the Japanese robots can take any shape. Take, for instance, this Outer Space Spider. "Whether they were men or bugs or flying saucers or whatever they are," Geismar says, "there seemed to be very few creative barriers to the designers doing them." Photo: Richard Nichol : First starring in Forbidden Planet, Robby the Robot went on to appear in everything from a Columbo episode to Earth Girls Are Easy, becoming a popular and endlessly reproduced emblem of robotkind. Once wound up, this Action Planet Robot version of Robby takes clumsy steps and shoots sparks under the red mouth shield below its head grill. Before the zinc mecha craze began in the 1970s and '80s, Japanese toy robots were simpler. Made of tin or plastic during the country's post-World War II industrialization, they were also more fragile. Photo: Richard Nichol : Some Japanese toy robots, like this one, remain anonymous. "I would find robots like this in souvenir shops in Times Square," Geismar says. "Very simple windup or battery-operated mechanical men. They weren't based on stories and didn't have names. I always liked their sculptural quality." Photo courtesy Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame : The designs of early bots from the 1950s and '60s have been reinterpreted over the years with more sophisticated finishes. When switched on, this Horikawa Silver Astronaut, probably from the 1980s, walks forward, pausing every few steps to spin its torso with its green canons leveled at all attackers. Photo: Richard Nichol : It wouldn't be a robot collection without Mechagodzilla, the kaiju monster that aliens built to do battle with the real Godzilla in 1974. Released in 2003, this model comes loaded with features like pop-off knee missiles and an opening mouth and chest hatch. Photo: Richard Nichol : To wring as much profit as possible from their molds, model companies cast the same robots multiple times. Sometimes, as in the case of this Cosmobot, the molds would change hands and models would come out under other brands with only new names or slight differences of detail to distinguish them. "They'd change the feet or change the color," Geismar says, "or just do anything to say it was a new one. You clearly recognize over many years the same molds with only slight variations." Thanks to a tread on his back, Cosmobot changes into a tank. Photo: Richard Nichol : The Golden Warrior Gold Lightan makes an unusual transformation: From the form of a classic robot warrior, it folds into a small cigarette lighter. Released in 1981 (when else?), it naturally had its own anime series. "The funny thing about all these images," Geismar says, "is that when they're photographed like this you have no sense of the scale. That lighter is not more than 2-and-a-half inches high." In an effort to replicate the larger-than-life roles these toys have played in children's (and adults') minds over the years, the Science Fiction Museum will include giant enlargements as part of the exhibition. Geismar approves. "They are scaleless in a sense," he says. "You want to make them human-size." Photo courtesy Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame
» 17 May 2008, 1:00 pm 800-Horsepower Hybrid to Race 24 Hours of Nurburgring German boutique automaker Gumpert teams up with Lithium Technology Corp. to build the fastest hybrid ever. They're taking it to the 'Ring to prove "green" and "performance" aren't mutually exclusive.
» 17 May 2008, 8:30 am 'X-Files' Scribe Switches to Superhero Mode for 'Hancock' Writer Vince Gilligan tells about directing the classic X-Files team and working with Will Smith to craft the perfect movie about a dysfunctional crime-fighter.
» 17 May 2008, 7:15 am How to Set Up a Pirate Radio Station The local airwaves a little too boring for your tastes? Take matters into your own hands by starting your own radio station. Follow our guide in Wired.com's How-To Wiki.
» 17 May 2008, 6:10 am Can Charter Broadband Customers Really Opt-Out of Spying? Maybe Not Charter Communications, one of the nation's largest ISPs, says its users can opt out of its plans to spy on their web usage to serve more targeted ads. But what few technical details are available suggest that there's no way to skip the spying part, and raise questions about whether the plan opens a gaping internet security hole.
» 17 May 2008, 5:10 am Is Marc Andreessen Through with the Press? Marc Andreessen has made two mid-year resolutions: "No more public speaking" and "More blogging." They both seem related to his dissatisfaction with reporters. But Andreessen, in his widely-read blog, doesn't exactly say what the problem is, and why now is the time to do something about it. Has he really stepped off the non-virtual stage for the last time?
» 17 May 2008, 4:52 am Airwolf for Sale on eBay! The coolest helicopter in the history of television is for sale. Yeah, yeah, it's a replica. But it's freakin' Airwolf!
» 17 May 2008, 4:00 am File Sharing Comes to the iPhone A new app called iSlsk lets users of unlocked iPhones and iPod touches tap into the Soulseek network.
» 17 May 2008, 3:30 am Soaring Over the Alps on Homemade Jet Wings Skydiving? B.A.S.E. jumping? Pfft. Child's play compared to flying 185 mph on rocket-powered wings you made yourself.
» 17 May 2008, 3:00 am Silicon Valley Book Party Turns Up the Heat Digg CEO Jay Adelson, Slide CEO Max Levchin and a host of other Silicon Valley movers and shakers turned up to help celebrate the publication of BusinessWeek columnist Sarah Lacy's new book, Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good.
» 17 May 2008, 3:00 am Facebook, Google Square Off Over Which One Owns Your Data Facebook has blocked Google's new Friend Connect service, ostensibly to protect its users' privacy. But the battle is really over which company gets to control all your personal information. Don't believe it? Read the terms of service.
» 17 May 2008, 3:00 am Congressmen Ask Charter to Freeze Web Profiling Plan Two powerful congressmen are asking ISP Charter Communications to put a hold on its proposal to eavesdrop on its customers' web surfing in order to serve targeted ads. The Friday letter questions whether the plan would violate federal privacy law.
» 17 May 2008, 3:00 am Review: Casio EX-F1 Is a Speed-Demon Snapper It turns out more pixels doesn't equate to a better camera. Casio's latest snapper is only 6 megapixels but is loaded with so many fun features, like 1200 fps video capture, that you won't notice or care.
» 17 May 2008, 2:40 am How Clear Channel Will Change Deal-Making News from Portfolio.com
Also on Portfolio Yahoo Tells Icahn to Back Off Hollywood's Spy-to-the-Stars Takes the Fall Guitar Hero Now More Like Band Hero Subscribe to Portfolio magazine When credit was easy, private equity's multibillion-dollar buyout frenzy was like a great party: The champagne was flowing and no one was too concerned about who was picking up the tab. After the summer's credit crunch, the party ended. Some deals collapsed. One that may survive is the buyout of the radio-station chain Clear Channel Communications after the private equity buyers and six banks reached a settlement this week over $22 billion in financing. In the sober light of today, are there lessons for dealmakers from Clear Channel? Yes, lawyers say. "We need to look at ways to get the financing lined up and locked in sooner--potentially right away, right after or before the merger agreement," says Marilyn Sonnie, a partner with the New York office of Jones Day, who advised Harman International on its failed buyout with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., which was terminated last August. In the case of Clear Channel, the financing for the deal was memorialized in a May 2007 commitment letter that left open many terms, heading toward a closing. By late fall and winter, those open terms, according to Clear Channel and the two private equity firms sponsoring the leveraged buyout, became an opportunity to inject "poisonous terms" to jettison the financing deal. Two lawsuits in New York and Texas followed. Defending the lawsuits, the six banks, led by Deutsche Bank and Citigroup, were put in the bizarre position of arguing that their standard operating procedure--the use of a commitment letter to memorialize financing--could not be enforced. The New York case sought to hold the banks to $22 billion in financing--"specific performance" in the legal jargon. In one deliciously schizophrenic line, the banks' motion seeking summary judgment dismissing the claims said: "The commitment letter is a binding preliminary agreement that left open numerous terms to be negotiated over time by the parties." It is Contracts 101 that an agreement with open terms is an illusory contract. Leaving the law aside, taken away from the litigation, the argument has the hint of commercial suicide for its relationships in the marketplace. The banks were confident that they were going to win the summary judgment motion, but Justice Helen Freedman of the New York State Supreme Court said that the breach of contract claims could go to trial. But her opinion pretty much evenly divided the risks of going to trial between both sides. She described the plaintiffs' evidence that the defendants had threatened to refuse to finance the deal unless they agreed to "poisonous" terms as "not compelling." The deal lawyers who read her May 7 opinion had one word for it: She wrote a "settlement document." It offset the early wins by Clear Channel in the Texas case, accusing the banks of "tortuous interference" with the merger agreement--a claim with potentially unlimited damages, filed in the state known for the landmark Pennzoil verdict. (Clear Channel even tapped Joe Jamail, who won the $11 billion Pennzoil case in 1985, as its lead counsel. For a peek at Jamail in action, watch this video.) By Monday, May 12, Freedman's tactic seemed to have worked. Court was adjourned and CNBC's David Faber reported on a deal to settle the litigations. The next day at 2 p.m., the plaintiffs' first witness, John Connaughton, a managing director at Bain, took the stand and offered a rare glimpse into the private equity world, suggesting the banks were off the reservation, especially in changing language known in the industry as "sponsor precedent," lingo for "terms customer" in these deals. The clean-cut Connaughton, whose youthful appearance does not show the stress of 19 years in private equity at Bain, was a strong witness on direct, and offered plain English translations of the language of private equity to Freeman with ease. (Even though he had not slept in two nights.) Connaughton would have returned to the stand Wednesday morning to testify that the banks had drawn a line in the sand, restricting use of loan proceeds to pay off Clear Channel's preexisting debts. But that never happened. The $36-per-share deal, down from the original $39.20-per-share deal, signed late Tuesday night requires the banks and the buyers to put cash into an escrow account to fund the deal while Clear Channel seeks shareholder and regulatory approvals. An escrow fund is probably an unrealistic option for obtaining certainty outside the context of litigation. But other aspects of the amended deal, as memorialized in an Securities and Exchange Commission filing by Clear Channel on Wednesday, could be adopted by other deals, to make sure they in fact close in a timely fashion. For instance, Clear Channel shareholders will get an increased price if the deal closes after the third quarter. But lawyers predict the protracted battle will alter the way the players approach these deals in the future: "The way the litigation arose and was concluded will have implications regarding the way in which lenders and private equity firms structure the terms of the debt in future transactions and the way in which the parties--sellers, private equity buyers and lenders--will protect themselves from uncertainty until closing," says Michael Hefter, a securities lawyer with the New York office of Orrick. But Elizabeth Nowicki, a corporate law professor at Tulane Law School, is not so sure how much things will really change. "A target now knows they need to get something more specific from a bank than a commitment letter," she says. On the other hand, "the banks want no specific performance" from their end. "The question is whether we are going to see any change. I don't know if we are going to end up with documents or deals that are more clear. This case has highlighted that there is so much room for play and ambiguity and litigation." It has been a long 18 months since the Clear Channel deal was announced, time in which its management and employees have been districted and its stock has inched down. "It's very hard to run a company and focus on making profits when you are in limbo," says Jones Day's Sonnie. And Nowicki, for one, doesn't even think the saga is yet over. "This deal may never close," she said.
» 17 May 2008, 2:30 am Worried About Carbon? Don't Forget Nitrogen Carbon dioxide may be the bogeyman of global warming, but reactive forms of nitrogen are building up, too, and will pose an equal danger, the author of study says.
» 17 May 2008, 12:45 am Mechanical-Limbed Runner OK'd for Olympics. Game On Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee who sprints with mechanical limbs, has been cleared by arbiters of the sport to compete for a spot on the South African team for the Beijing Olympics.
» 17 May 2008, 12:34 am
» 17 May 2008, 1:00 pm Vintage Japanese Robots Storm Sci-Fi Museum : Though made for children, Japanese toy robots can catch the eye of even the most discriminating adults. Iconic graphic designer Tom Geismar, whose firm Chermayeff & Geismar has created memorable logos for Mobil, PBS and other U.S. institutions, has been collecting the shiny bots for decades. The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle will exhibit toys from Geismar's collection in Robots: A Designer's Collection of Miniature Mechanical Marvels through Oct. 26. The vintage robots on display reflect Geismar's trained eye. "I've really restricted myself to ones that appealed to me as interesting, imaginative designs," he says. Left: "I continue to find the straightforward and somewhat naïve appearance of the early toys to be most appealing," Geismar says of this vaguely Victorian robot. Photo: Richard Nichol : Geismar's fascination with robots began in 1970 while he was working on the U.S. pavilion for the World's Fair in Osaka, Japan. In local stores, he came across zinc die-cast figures like manufacturer Popy's Chogokin King Joe, based on a villain from the Ultra Seven show in the Ultraman series that aired in the late 1960s. "They were all made of metal and painted terrifically. And they were very imaginative," Geismar says. In those days, boxes often featured the names and pictures of the toys' designers. "Obviously they put a lot of effort and care into making these intricate things," he says, "but they were just in stores for kids to play with." The holes in each arm fire black, three-fingered claws and yellow missiles. Photo: Richard Nichol : This DX Tetsujin 28, literally Iron Man No. 28 in English, was based on the 1963 Japanese anime of the same name. Some of the episodes aired in the United States the next year, under the title Gigantor. "This handsome form is one of my favorites," Geismar says. "As a designer, I tend to like things that are reasonably simple and clear, straightforward." Like many robots, it comes with a small model human, in this case the boy who controls the flying man by remote control in the cartoon. Photo: Richard Nichol : The Takara company's highly articulated Abitate T-10B, also called Blockhead, is a die-cast mecha based on a character from the 1981 Japanese series Fang of the Sun Dougram that never aired in the States. The models did reach U.S. shelves, however, and a smaller-scale version of this body armor, the T-10A, came in a box featuring the intriguing slogan, "We never approve your independence from our federation." For Geismar, the most captivating thing about the models is the details, like Blockhead's menacing red hands. "When you go to a very different culture where you can't even read any of the signs, you see things in a very different way," he says. "You see it for what it looks like. Only later did I learn that most of the toys were representations of characters in popular Japanese films and television shows." Find great scans of box art for the Sun Dougram series (and many others) at Alen Yen's ToyboxDX. Photo: Richard Nichol : Robot toys hit a peak of mainstream popularity when Hasbro introduced the Transformers, but the roots of those bots lie in designs like Popy's Chogokin DX Sun Vulcan Solar Combination from 1981. The transforming robot turns into the triangular Cosmo Vulcan jet and the stocky Bull Vulcan tank. In its humanoid form, the mecha carried a huge sword and shield, and tied into the TV show Solar Squadron Sun Vulcan. Photo: Richard Nichol : Another transformer, Popy's Chogokin Goggle V GB-76, turns into a yellow truck and was later reissued in the Etarnal [sic] Heroes Series. This bot's tie-in live-action show was part of the great three-decade lineage of Super Sentai TV series. Check out the Goggle V opening credits and learn from whence the Power Rangers came. A collector of naïve figures from around the world before he came across robots, Geismar compares models like this to folk art. "In the World's Fair pavilion in Japan, there was a major exhibit of Native American masks, many from the Pacific Northwest. When we went to install them, the workers already knew them and they really related to them. They are very similar to a number of Japanese cultures' masks. I think, in a sense, there are masks involved with these robots. The mask behind a mask, or face within a face." Photo: Richard Nichol : Although they usually take a humanlike form, the Japanese robots can take any shape. Take, for instance, this Outer Space Spider. "Whether they were men or bugs or flying saucers or whatever they are," Geismar says, "there seemed to be very few creative barriers to the designers doing them." Photo: Richard Nichol : First starring in Forbidden Planet, Robby the Robot went on to appear in everything from a Columbo episode to Earth Girls Are Easy, becoming a popular and endlessly reproduced emblem of robotkind. Once wound up, this Action Planet Robot version of Robby takes clumsy steps and shoots sparks under the red mouth shield below its head grill. Before the zinc mecha craze began in the 1970s and '80s, Japanese toy robots were simpler. Made of tin or plastic during the country's post-World War II industrialization, they were also more fragile. Photo: Richard Nichol : Some Japanese toy robots, like this one, remain anonymous. "I would find robots like this in souvenir shops in Times Square," Geismar says. "Very simple windup or battery-operated mechanical men. They weren't based on stories and didn't have names. I always liked their sculptural quality." Photo courtesy Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame : The designs of early bots from the 1950s and '60s have been reinterpreted over the years with more sophisticated finishes. When switched on, this Horikawa Silver Astronaut, probably from the 1980s, walks forward, pausing every few steps to spin its torso with its green canons leveled at all attackers. Photo: Richard Nichol : It wouldn't be a robot collection without Mechagodzilla, the kaiju monster that aliens built to do battle with the real Godzilla in 1974. Released in 2003, this model comes loaded with features like pop-off knee missiles and an opening mouth and chest hatch. Photo: Richard Nichol : To wring as much profit as possible from their molds, model companies cast the same robots multiple times. Sometimes, as in the case of this Cosmobot, the molds would change hands and models would come out under other brands with only new names or slight differences of detail to distinguish them. "They'd change the feet or change the color," Geismar says, "or just do anything to say it was a new one. You clearly recognize over many years the same molds with only slight variations." Thanks to a tread on his back, Cosmobot changes into a tank. Photo: Richard Nichol : The Golden Warrior Gold Lightan makes an unusual transformation: From the form of a classic robot warrior, it folds into a small cigarette lighter. Released in 1981 (when else?), it naturally had its own anime series. "The funny thing about all these images," Geismar says, "is that when they're photographed like this you have no sense of the scale. That lighter is not more than 2-and-a-half inches high." In an effort to replicate the larger-than-life roles these toys have played in children's (and adults') minds over the years, the Science Fiction Museum will include giant enlargements as part of the exhibition. Geismar approves. "They are scaleless in a sense," he says. "You want to make them human-size." Photo courtesy Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame
» 17 May 2008, 1:00 pm 800-Horsepower Hybrid to Race 24 Hours of Nurburgring German boutique automaker Gumpert teams up with Lithium Technology Corp. to build the fastest hybrid ever. They're taking it to the 'Ring to prove "green" and "performance" aren't mutually exclusive.
» 17 May 2008, 8:30 am 'X-Files' Scribe Switches to Superhero Mode for 'Hancock' Writer Vince Gilligan tells about directing the classic X-Files team and working with Will Smith to craft the perfect movie about a dysfunctional crime-fighter.
» 17 May 2008, 7:15 am How to Set Up a Pirate Radio Station The local airwaves a little too boring for your tastes? Take matters into your own hands by starting your own radio station. Follow our guide in Wired.com's How-To Wiki.
» 17 May 2008, 6:10 am Can Charter Broadband Customers Really Opt-Out of Spying? Maybe Not Charter Communications, one of the nation's largest ISPs, says its users can opt out of its plans to spy on their web usage to serve more targeted ads. But what few technical details are available suggest that there's no way to skip the spying part, and raise questions about whether the plan opens a gaping internet security hole.
» 17 May 2008, 5:10 am Is Marc Andreessen Through with the Press? Marc Andreessen has made two mid-year resolutions: "No more public speaking" and "More blogging." They both seem related to his dissatisfaction with reporters. But Andreessen, in his widely-read blog, doesn't exactly say what the problem is, and why now is the time to do something about it. Has he really stepped off the non-virtual stage for the last time?
» 17 May 2008, 4:52 am Airwolf for Sale on eBay! The coolest helicopter in the history of television is for sale. Yeah, yeah, it's a replica. But it's freakin' Airwolf!
» 17 May 2008, 4:00 am File Sharing Comes to the iPhone A new app called iSlsk lets users of unlocked iPhones and iPod touches tap into the Soulseek network.
» 17 May 2008, 3:30 am Soaring Over the Alps on Homemade Jet Wings Skydiving? B.A.S.E. jumping? Pfft. Child's play compared to flying 185 mph on rocket-powered wings you made yourself.
» 17 May 2008, 3:00 am Silicon Valley Book Party Turns Up the Heat Digg CEO Jay Adelson, Slide CEO Max Levchin and a host of other Silicon Valley movers and shakers turned up to help celebrate the publication of BusinessWeek columnist Sarah Lacy's new book, Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good.
» 17 May 2008, 3:00 am Facebook, Google Square Off Over Which One Owns Your Data Facebook has blocked Google's new Friend Connect service, ostensibly to protect its users' privacy. But the battle is really over which company gets to control all your personal information. Don't believe it? Read the terms of service.
» 17 May 2008, 3:00 am Congressmen Ask Charter to Freeze Web Profiling Plan Two powerful congressmen are asking ISP Charter Communications to put a hold on its proposal to eavesdrop on its customers' web surfing in order to serve targeted ads. The Friday letter questions whether the plan would violate federal privacy law.
» 17 May 2008, 3:00 am Review: Casio EX-F1 Is a Speed-Demon Snapper It turns out more pixels doesn't equate to a better camera. Casio's latest snapper is only 6 megapixels but is loaded with so many fun features, like 1200 fps video capture, that you won't notice or care.
» 17 May 2008, 2:40 am How Clear Channel Will Change Deal-Making News from Portfolio.com
Also on Portfolio Yahoo Tells Icahn to Back Off Hollywood's Spy-to-the-Stars Takes the Fall Guitar Hero Now More Like Band Hero Subscribe to Portfolio magazine When credit was easy, private equity's multibillion-dollar buyout frenzy was like a great party: The champagne was flowing and no one was too concerned about who was picking up the tab. After the summer's credit crunch, the party ended. Some deals collapsed. One that may survive is the buyout of the radio-station chain Clear Channel Communications after the private equity buyers and six banks reached a settlement this week over $22 billion in financing. In the sober light of today, are there lessons for dealmakers from Clear Channel? Yes, lawyers say. "We need to look at ways to get the financing lined up and locked in sooner--potentially right away, right after or before the merger agreement," says Marilyn Sonnie, a partner with the New York office of Jones Day, who advised Harman International on its failed buyout with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., which was terminated last August. In the case of Clear Channel, the financing for the deal was memorialized in a May 2007 commitment letter that left open many terms, heading toward a closing. By late fall and winter, those open terms, according to Clear Channel and the two private equity firms sponsoring the leveraged buyout, became an opportunity to inject "poisonous terms" to jettison the financing deal. Two lawsuits in New York and Texas followed. Defending the lawsuits, the six banks, led by Deutsche Bank and Citigroup, were put in the bizarre position of arguing that their standard operating procedure--the use of a commitment letter to memorialize financing--could not be enforced. The New York case sought to hold the banks to $22 billion in financing--"specific performance" in the legal jargon. In one deliciously schizophrenic line, the banks' motion seeking summary judgment dismissing the claims said: "The commitment letter is a binding preliminary agreement that left open numerous terms to be negotiated over time by the parties." It is Contracts 101 that an agreement with open terms is an illusory contract. Leaving the law aside, taken away from the litigation, the argument has the hint of commercial suicide for its relationships in the marketplace. The banks were confident that they were going to win the summary judgment motion, but Justice Helen Freedman of the New York State Supreme Court said that the breach of contract claims could go to trial. But her opinion pretty much evenly divided the risks of going to trial between both sides. She described the plaintiffs' evidence that the defendants had threatened to refuse to finance the deal unless they agreed to "poisonous" terms as "not compelling." The deal lawyers who read her May 7 opinion had one word for it: She wrote a "settlement document." It offset the early wins by Clear Channel in the Texas case, accusing the banks of "tortuous interference" with the merger agreement--a claim with potentially unlimited damages, filed in the state known for the landmark Pennzoil verdict. (Clear Channel even tapped Joe Jamail, who won the $11 billion Pennzoil case in 1985, as its lead counsel. For a peek at Jamail in action, watch this video.) By Monday, May 12, Freedman's tactic seemed to have worked. Court was adjourned and CNBC's David Faber reported on a deal to settle the litigations. The next day at 2 p.m., the plaintiffs' first witness, John Connaughton, a managing director at Bain, took the stand and offered a rare glimpse into the private equity world, suggesting the banks were off the reservation, especially in changing language known in the industry as "sponsor precedent," lingo for "terms customer" in these deals. The clean-cut Connaughton, whose youthful appearance does not show the stress of 19 years in private equity at Bain, was a strong witness on direct, and offered plain English translations of the language of private equity to Freeman with ease. (Even though he had not slept in two nights.) Connaughton would have returned to the stand Wednesday morning to testify that the banks had drawn a line in the sand, restricting use of loan proceeds to pay off Clear Channel's preexisting debts. But that never happened. The $36-per-share deal, down from the original $39.20-per-share deal, signed late Tuesday night requires the banks and the buyers to put cash into an escrow account to fund the deal while Clear Channel seeks shareholder and regulatory approvals. An escrow fund is probably an unrealistic option for obtaining certainty outside the context of litigation. But other aspects of the amended deal, as memorialized in an Securities and Exchange Commission filing by Clear Channel on Wednesday, could be adopted by other deals, to make sure they in fact close in a timely fashion. For instance, Clear Channel shareholders will get an increased price if the deal closes after the third quarter. But lawyers predict the protracted battle will alter the way the players approach these deals in the future: "The way the litigation arose and was concluded will have implications regarding the way in which lenders and private equity firms structure the terms of the debt in future transactions and the way in which the parties--sellers, private equity buyers and lenders--will protect themselves from uncertainty until closing," says Michael Hefter, a securities lawyer with the New York office of Orrick. But Elizabeth Nowicki, a corporate law professor at Tulane Law School, is not so sure how much things will really change. "A target now knows they need to get something more specific from a bank than a commitment letter," she says. On the other hand, "the banks want no specific performance" from their end. "The question is whether we are going to see any change. I don't know if we are going to end up with documents or deals that are more clear. This case has highlighted that there is so much room for play and ambiguity and litigation." It has been a long 18 months since the Clear Channel deal was announced, time in which its management and employees have been districted and its stock has inched down. "It's very hard to run a company and focus on making profits when you are in limbo," says Jones Day's Sonnie. And Nowicki, for one, doesn't even think the saga is yet over. "This deal may never close," she said.
» 17 May 2008, 2:30 am Worried About Carbon? Don't Forget Nitrogen Carbon dioxide may be the bogeyman of global warming, but reactive forms of nitrogen are building up, too, and will pose an equal danger, the author of study says.
» 17 May 2008, 12:45 am Mechanical-Limbed Runner OK'd for Olympics. Game On Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee who sprints with mechanical limbs, has been cleared by arbiters of the sport to compete for a spot on the South African team for the Beijing Olympics.
» 17 May 2008, 12:34 am
Karl Rove; Fabricating Indictments against Democrats MSNBC's Dan Abrams questions Karl Rove's outrageous refusal to appear before Congress regarding serious allegations that he used the US Justice Department to take down a prominent Democratic politician. Did Rove instigate the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegleman? Will Congress force Rove to testify before Congress?Channel: Politics Tags: Don Siegleman Carl Rove Congress Robert Wexler Dan Abrams
» 17 May 2008, 5:34 pm Iran says mosque bombers planned oil pipeline attack Iran's Intelligence Ministry said on Saturday U.S. agents had armed and trained those behind a deadly blast in a mosque last month and that pipelines in the country's oil-rich south were also among the planned targets. Channel: News Tags: Iran Mosque Bombers Planned Oil Pipeline Attack
» 17 May 2008, 3:18 pm Sen Edward Kennedy Rushed to Hospital Sen. Edward Kennedy, a leading Democrat and patriarch of a prominent American political dynasty, was hospitalized in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with symptoms of a stroke, CNN reported on Saturday.Channel: News Tags: Sen. Edward Kennedy political Hospital
» 17 May 2008, 6:11 pm NASA finds statistical evidence of global warming A new NASA-led study shows human-caused climate change has made an impact on a wide range of Earth's natural systems, including permafrost thawing, plants blooming earlier across Europe, and lakes declining in productivity in Africa. Channel: Science Tags: Global Warming Climate Change Environment Pollution NASA propeller eco news
» 17 May 2008, 4:24 pm How to Enrage a Democrat Mr. Obama asserted again yesterday that he will not meet with terrorists. He is, however, willing to meet with Iran or Syria. Virtually no serious person disputes that Iran has shipped weaponry to terrorists in Iraq and that Syria has provided safe haven to these terrorists and let them cross from Syria into Iraq. In turn, these jihadists have killChannel: Politics Tags: Obama Democrat Appeasement without precondition
» 17 May 2008, 4:25 pm Texas minister charged in Internet sex sting A minister from a Dallas-area Baptist megachurch was caught in an Internet sex sting and charged with online solicitation of a minor, police said Friday.Channel: Religion Tags: Texas minister charged Internet sex sting online solicitation christian baptist prestonwood baptist church child abuse minister christianity texas
» 17 May 2008, 6:31 pm Semolina Pudding Boil scant 1/2 cup water in a pan, add semolina, and stir and cook for 10 minutes.Channel: Food Tags: Semolina Pudding Pudding
» 17 May 2008, 12:47 pm America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve And Oil Prices. The Bush administration will temporarily halt oil shipments into the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve(SPR) for the rest of this year, the Energy Department announced Friday. The announcement came 3 days after Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of suspending the purchases to ease the upward pressure on oil prices.Channel: Money Tags: oil dollar saudi arabia price.
» 17 May 2008, 1:48 pm Wonderous Stories(Yes)-Great Visuals Just a short beautiful song about those sopecial people or books who have given you 'Wonderous Stories.' Channel: Music Tags: Music Yes Wonderous Stories
» 17 May 2008, 12:21 pm The latest trend in medicine - virtual reality Doctors are now using the technology to treat many disorders, from phobias to addictions.Channel: Health & Fitness Tags: virtual reality treatment technology Health
» 17 May 2008, 12:07 pm Tom Brokaw interviews Warren Buffett Tom Brokaw interviews Warren BuffettChannel: Money Tags:
» 17 May 2008, 4:57 pm How to Teach Your Dog to Heel Off the Leash The heel position is next to your left dog, with your dog's close to your left knee. You should be able to link this command to others, such as 'sit' or 'down'. If you have more than one dog, they obviously won't be able to walk with you in this position and it is usually the more dominant dog that will try to get there first...Channel: Pets Tags: dogs pets dog heel dog heel training dog training heel teaching dog to heel
» 18 May 2008, 1:30 am Bush: Saudi oil output hike would not solve US problems President George Bush said on Saturday that a hike in oil output by Saudi Arabia wouldn't solve American energy problems. "It's not enough, it's something but it doesn't solve our problem."Channel: Politics Tags: oil Saudi output hike will not Bush President solve us problems
» 17 May 2008, 7:48 pm Mixed Feelings About Gay Marriage in California? Unfortunately, not everybody is as thrilled as we are about the recent Supreme Court decision.Channel: Popular Videos Tags: gay marriage equal nature america
» 17 May 2008, 9:08 pm Top 10 Tips for Beating Depression Due to the comments on our recent list dealing with suicide, I thought it would be useful to put together a list of things you can do to help you overcome depression and improve the quality of your life. This is a list of the top 10 tips for leaving depression behind. Channel: Do-It-Yourself Tags: Depression Health 10 tips
» 17 May 2008, 12:49 pm Spain arrests 5 suspected of hacking US sites Spanish police have arrested five people suspected of hacking into or outright disabling thousands of Internet pages, some of them run by government agencies in the U.S., Latin America and Asia, authorities said Saturday. Channel: Gadgets & Tech Tags: Spain Arrests Five Suspected Hacking US Sites
» 17 May 2008, 4:40 pm I am going to try something Eight-year-old Sally brought her report card home from school. Her marks were good...mostly A's and a couple of B's. Channel: Humor Tags: daughter FUNNY humor husband school teacher wife
» 17 May 2008, 9:30 pm 7 All-Natural Routes to Better Breathing With the cost of treating allergies exceeding 7.9 billion dollars, many are looking to more natural treatments than the drugs that leave us feeling strung out or fatigued. Of the many symptoms of allergies, trouble breathing as among the worse. Whether it's a result of sinus pressure and congestion or even a runny nose, or from congested lungs...Channel: Health & Fitness Tags: health breathing allergy natural treatment season
» 17 May 2008, 7:24 pm
» 17 May 2008, 5:34 pm Iran says mosque bombers planned oil pipeline attack Iran's Intelligence Ministry said on Saturday U.S. agents had armed and trained those behind a deadly blast in a mosque last month and that pipelines in the country's oil-rich south were also among the planned targets. Channel: News Tags: Iran Mosque Bombers Planned Oil Pipeline Attack
» 17 May 2008, 3:18 pm Sen Edward Kennedy Rushed to Hospital Sen. Edward Kennedy, a leading Democrat and patriarch of a prominent American political dynasty, was hospitalized in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with symptoms of a stroke, CNN reported on Saturday.Channel: News Tags: Sen. Edward Kennedy political Hospital
» 17 May 2008, 6:11 pm NASA finds statistical evidence of global warming A new NASA-led study shows human-caused climate change has made an impact on a wide range of Earth's natural systems, including permafrost thawing, plants blooming earlier across Europe, and lakes declining in productivity in Africa. Channel: Science Tags: Global Warming Climate Change Environment Pollution NASA propeller eco news
» 17 May 2008, 4:24 pm How to Enrage a Democrat Mr. Obama asserted again yesterday that he will not meet with terrorists. He is, however, willing to meet with Iran or Syria. Virtually no serious person disputes that Iran has shipped weaponry to terrorists in Iraq and that Syria has provided safe haven to these terrorists and let them cross from Syria into Iraq. In turn, these jihadists have killChannel: Politics Tags: Obama Democrat Appeasement without precondition
» 17 May 2008, 4:25 pm Texas minister charged in Internet sex sting A minister from a Dallas-area Baptist megachurch was caught in an Internet sex sting and charged with online solicitation of a minor, police said Friday.Channel: Religion Tags: Texas minister charged Internet sex sting online solicitation christian baptist prestonwood baptist church child abuse minister christianity texas
» 17 May 2008, 6:31 pm Semolina Pudding Boil scant 1/2 cup water in a pan, add semolina, and stir and cook for 10 minutes.Channel: Food Tags: Semolina Pudding Pudding
» 17 May 2008, 12:47 pm America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve And Oil Prices. The Bush administration will temporarily halt oil shipments into the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve(SPR) for the rest of this year, the Energy Department announced Friday. The announcement came 3 days after Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of suspending the purchases to ease the upward pressure on oil prices.Channel: Money Tags: oil dollar saudi arabia price.
» 17 May 2008, 1:48 pm Wonderous Stories(Yes)-Great Visuals Just a short beautiful song about those sopecial people or books who have given you 'Wonderous Stories.' Channel: Music Tags: Music Yes Wonderous Stories
» 17 May 2008, 12:21 pm The latest trend in medicine - virtual reality Doctors are now using the technology to treat many disorders, from phobias to addictions.Channel: Health & Fitness Tags: virtual reality treatment technology Health
» 17 May 2008, 12:07 pm Tom Brokaw interviews Warren Buffett Tom Brokaw interviews Warren BuffettChannel: Money Tags:
» 17 May 2008, 4:57 pm How to Teach Your Dog to Heel Off the Leash The heel position is next to your left dog, with your dog's close to your left knee. You should be able to link this command to others, such as 'sit' or 'down'. If you have more than one dog, they obviously won't be able to walk with you in this position and it is usually the more dominant dog that will try to get there first...Channel: Pets Tags: dogs pets dog heel dog heel training dog training heel teaching dog to heel
» 18 May 2008, 1:30 am Bush: Saudi oil output hike would not solve US problems President George Bush said on Saturday that a hike in oil output by Saudi Arabia wouldn't solve American energy problems. "It's not enough, it's something but it doesn't solve our problem."Channel: Politics Tags: oil Saudi output hike will not Bush President solve us problems
» 17 May 2008, 7:48 pm Mixed Feelings About Gay Marriage in California? Unfortunately, not everybody is as thrilled as we are about the recent Supreme Court decision.Channel: Popular Videos Tags: gay marriage equal nature america
» 17 May 2008, 9:08 pm Top 10 Tips for Beating Depression Due to the comments on our recent list dealing with suicide, I thought it would be useful to put together a list of things you can do to help you overcome depression and improve the quality of your life. This is a list of the top 10 tips for leaving depression behind. Channel: Do-It-Yourself Tags: Depression Health 10 tips
» 17 May 2008, 12:49 pm Spain arrests 5 suspected of hacking US sites Spanish police have arrested five people suspected of hacking into or outright disabling thousands of Internet pages, some of them run by government agencies in the U.S., Latin America and Asia, authorities said Saturday. Channel: Gadgets & Tech Tags: Spain Arrests Five Suspected Hacking US Sites
» 17 May 2008, 4:40 pm I am going to try something Eight-year-old Sally brought her report card home from school. Her marks were good...mostly A's and a couple of B's. Channel: Humor Tags: daughter FUNNY humor husband school teacher wife
» 17 May 2008, 9:30 pm 7 All-Natural Routes to Better Breathing With the cost of treating allergies exceeding 7.9 billion dollars, many are looking to more natural treatments than the drugs that leave us feeling strung out or fatigued. Of the many symptoms of allergies, trouble breathing as among the worse. Whether it's a result of sinus pressure and congestion or even a runny nose, or from congested lungs...Channel: Health & Fitness Tags: health breathing allergy natural treatment season
» 17 May 2008, 7:24 pm
UK Carriers safe: Other war-tech ripe for the chopper Why won't our flat-tops have catapults, anyway?
Analysis The UK government has confirmed to shipbuilding executives that it will shortly place orders for two large new aircraft carriers, after years of uncertainty. But the move has been accompanied by renewed wrangling over Ministry of Defence (MoD) accounts, and seems likely to foreshadow cuts to some other major equipment programme.…
» 18 May 2008, 9:02 am PayPal meltdown wreaks havoc on some ecommerce websites 'Bring me the head of the IPN admins!' A glitch in PayPal's payment verification system is wreaking havoc on some ecommerce sites that depend on the service. For more than 48 hours, the bug in PayPal's instant payment notification has made it impossible for them to process orders, owners of these businesses complain.…
» 17 May 2008, 8:35 pm Legal experts wary of MySpace hacking charges 'We are all felons if this flies' On October 16, 2006, 13-year-old Megan Meier fled from her family's computer, distraught over the cutting comments of her supposed "friends" on MySpace. Twenty minutes later, the troubled teen was dead; she had hung herself in her closet.…
» 17 May 2008, 8:30 pm Can't decide how to vote? Publicwhip.org will tell you Machines show you how to vote - you know how this ends As New Labour prepares itself for electoral meltdown in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election, here's a site that might, as Peter Snow would have put it, be "just a bit of fun".…
» 17 May 2008, 10:02 am 'Secure' PayPal page is... you guessed it Extended SSL no match for the power of XSS A serious scripting error has been discovered on PayPal that could enable attackers to create convincing spoof pages that steal users' authentication credentials..…
» 16 May 2008, 10:57 pm US Congress questions legality of Phorm and the Phormettes 'Talk to us first' After telling the world it will soon pimp customer data to NebuAd - a behavioral ad targeting firm along the lines of Phorm and Front Porch - Charter Communications has received a letter from Congress questioning the legality of such pimping.…
» 16 May 2008, 10:48 pm W3C 'clarifies' HTML 5 v XHTML Vendors moving too fast on RIA Potential conflicts and overlap between the first update to HTML in a decade by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and XHTML has been addressed by the standards body.…
» 16 May 2008, 10:02 pm SANS sounds alarm on Debian OpenSSL flaw Lockpicking script prompts alarm The SANS Institute yesterday took the highly unusual step of issuing a yellow alert over a vulnerability in the cryptographic functions of Debian, the Linux distro that underpins Ubuntu.…
» 16 May 2008, 8:33 pm AMD cries foul over Intel's 'river of cash' flowing to Dell Shows Intel Chairman begging for forgiveness AMD vs Intel It's document season in the ongoing anti-trust lawsuit between AMD and Intel. Last week, the companies fought over witness testimony and earlier this week a judge told Intel to fork over some documents related to interviews done as the company tried to deal with its deletion of e-mails possibly related to the case at hand. Now, we've received AMD's response to Intel's filing around the witness testimony, and a couple of tidbits fell out of the heavily censored document.…
» 16 May 2008, 7:08 pm World economy group gives IPv6 big push Warns about depletion of IPv4 addresses The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) sounded an alarm bell yesterday over the rapid depletion of IPv4 internet addresses and gave the IPv6 protocol another push.…
» 16 May 2008, 6:09 pm Jihadis: We turned hacked killbots against US troops ROTM fever spreads to mujahideen press office In a strange twist of fate it has emerged that gutter hacks, writing for a well known publication offering tasty mechanically recovered news-like media product, have handed a stunning propaganda coup to jihadi terrorism. We're obviously very sorry*.…
» 16 May 2008, 5:58 pm P2P soars, licensed music flatlines Today is a good day to die download Freeloading music is more habit-forming than paying for legal downloads, according to polling in the UK.…
» 16 May 2008, 5:36 pm DNS gaffe leaves spy agency totally under cover Big website knickers round ankles The unavailability of the US National Security Agency website on Thursday has been linked to misconfigured DNS (Domain Name System) servers.…
» 16 May 2008, 5:22 pm OLPC and Microsoft punt Windows-only XO laptop Odd couple shack up Microsoft and the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) foundation have confirmed that the XO laptop will soon be available as Windows-loaded machines.…
» 16 May 2008, 5:13 pm OLPC's a con - former insider Departing software chief stings Negroponte The former security director of the One Laptop Per Child non-profit has blasted the project for losing sight of its goals, accusing chairman Nicholas Negroponte of deceiving the public. It's all about shipping kit, says Ivan Krstić in an incendiary essay.…
» 16 May 2008, 4:38 pm Qualcomm splurges on UK spectrum Just bag up the whole lot for me, please US technology company Qualcomm has scooped all 17 chunks of UK-L-Band spectrum, auctioned over the last week, for a total of £8,334,000 - so you can expect MediaFLO announcements from UK operators any day now.…
» 16 May 2008, 4:31 pm Xbox 360 'eaten' by alligator Beast of a box People have covered themselves and their possessions in animal skins since the dawn of time, but one gamer has taken things to another level by crafting an alligator-themed Xbox 360.…
» 16 May 2008, 4:22 pm High Court orders MPs to 'fess up on expenses Show us how you've spent our money The Information Commissioner has welcomed the High Court's decision to force MPs to publish their full expenses.…
» 16 May 2008, 4:17 pm Orange signs multi-nation iPhone distribution deal Jesus Phone coverage spreads France Telecom's Orange offshoot has formally joined the roster of cellcos that will offer Apple's iPhone in multiple territories.…
» 16 May 2008, 4:02 pm Thus spake the Moderatrix Your problems solved, the world set to rights Yesterday my esteemed colleague kindly offered the Reg readership a place to pour out your hearts, and so you copiously did, proving once and for all what a deeply sad distressed bunch you are.…
» 16 May 2008, 3:09 pm
» 18 May 2008, 9:02 am PayPal meltdown wreaks havoc on some ecommerce websites 'Bring me the head of the IPN admins!' A glitch in PayPal's payment verification system is wreaking havoc on some ecommerce sites that depend on the service. For more than 48 hours, the bug in PayPal's instant payment notification has made it impossible for them to process orders, owners of these businesses complain.…
» 17 May 2008, 8:35 pm Legal experts wary of MySpace hacking charges 'We are all felons if this flies' On October 16, 2006, 13-year-old Megan Meier fled from her family's computer, distraught over the cutting comments of her supposed "friends" on MySpace. Twenty minutes later, the troubled teen was dead; she had hung herself in her closet.…
» 17 May 2008, 8:30 pm Can't decide how to vote? Publicwhip.org will tell you Machines show you how to vote - you know how this ends As New Labour prepares itself for electoral meltdown in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election, here's a site that might, as Peter Snow would have put it, be "just a bit of fun".…
» 17 May 2008, 10:02 am 'Secure' PayPal page is... you guessed it Extended SSL no match for the power of XSS A serious scripting error has been discovered on PayPal that could enable attackers to create convincing spoof pages that steal users' authentication credentials..…
» 16 May 2008, 10:57 pm US Congress questions legality of Phorm and the Phormettes 'Talk to us first' After telling the world it will soon pimp customer data to NebuAd - a behavioral ad targeting firm along the lines of Phorm and Front Porch - Charter Communications has received a letter from Congress questioning the legality of such pimping.…
» 16 May 2008, 10:48 pm W3C 'clarifies' HTML 5 v XHTML Vendors moving too fast on RIA Potential conflicts and overlap between the first update to HTML in a decade by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and XHTML has been addressed by the standards body.…
» 16 May 2008, 10:02 pm SANS sounds alarm on Debian OpenSSL flaw Lockpicking script prompts alarm The SANS Institute yesterday took the highly unusual step of issuing a yellow alert over a vulnerability in the cryptographic functions of Debian, the Linux distro that underpins Ubuntu.…
» 16 May 2008, 8:33 pm AMD cries foul over Intel's 'river of cash' flowing to Dell Shows Intel Chairman begging for forgiveness AMD vs Intel It's document season in the ongoing anti-trust lawsuit between AMD and Intel. Last week, the companies fought over witness testimony and earlier this week a judge told Intel to fork over some documents related to interviews done as the company tried to deal with its deletion of e-mails possibly related to the case at hand. Now, we've received AMD's response to Intel's filing around the witness testimony, and a couple of tidbits fell out of the heavily censored document.…
» 16 May 2008, 7:08 pm World economy group gives IPv6 big push Warns about depletion of IPv4 addresses The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) sounded an alarm bell yesterday over the rapid depletion of IPv4 internet addresses and gave the IPv6 protocol another push.…
» 16 May 2008, 6:09 pm Jihadis: We turned hacked killbots against US troops ROTM fever spreads to mujahideen press office In a strange twist of fate it has emerged that gutter hacks, writing for a well known publication offering tasty mechanically recovered news-like media product, have handed a stunning propaganda coup to jihadi terrorism. We're obviously very sorry*.…
» 16 May 2008, 5:58 pm P2P soars, licensed music flatlines Today is a good day to die download Freeloading music is more habit-forming than paying for legal downloads, according to polling in the UK.…
» 16 May 2008, 5:36 pm DNS gaffe leaves spy agency totally under cover Big website knickers round ankles The unavailability of the US National Security Agency website on Thursday has been linked to misconfigured DNS (Domain Name System) servers.…
» 16 May 2008, 5:22 pm OLPC and Microsoft punt Windows-only XO laptop Odd couple shack up Microsoft and the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) foundation have confirmed that the XO laptop will soon be available as Windows-loaded machines.…
» 16 May 2008, 5:13 pm OLPC's a con - former insider Departing software chief stings Negroponte The former security director of the One Laptop Per Child non-profit has blasted the project for losing sight of its goals, accusing chairman Nicholas Negroponte of deceiving the public. It's all about shipping kit, says Ivan Krstić in an incendiary essay.…
» 16 May 2008, 4:38 pm Qualcomm splurges on UK spectrum Just bag up the whole lot for me, please US technology company Qualcomm has scooped all 17 chunks of UK-L-Band spectrum, auctioned over the last week, for a total of £8,334,000 - so you can expect MediaFLO announcements from UK operators any day now.…
» 16 May 2008, 4:31 pm Xbox 360 'eaten' by alligator Beast of a box People have covered themselves and their possessions in animal skins since the dawn of time, but one gamer has taken things to another level by crafting an alligator-themed Xbox 360.…
» 16 May 2008, 4:22 pm High Court orders MPs to 'fess up on expenses Show us how you've spent our money The Information Commissioner has welcomed the High Court's decision to force MPs to publish their full expenses.…
» 16 May 2008, 4:17 pm Orange signs multi-nation iPhone distribution deal Jesus Phone coverage spreads France Telecom's Orange offshoot has formally joined the roster of cellcos that will offer Apple's iPhone in multiple territories.…
» 16 May 2008, 4:02 pm Thus spake the Moderatrix Your problems solved, the world set to rights Yesterday my esteemed colleague kindly offered the Reg readership a place to pour out your hearts, and so you copiously did, proving once and for all what a deeply sad distressed bunch you are.…
» 16 May 2008, 3:09 pm
Warhammer 40K meets Hello Kitty Warhammer 40K meets Hello Kitty
» 17 May 2008, 11:55 pm The magician turned the wale into a flower. Photographic renderings of children's drawings. That is all. (via)
» 17 May 2008, 11:44 pm The Most Civilized Country. The Most Civilized Country. Fascinating article challenging conventional notions of how best to have a society.
"Best" being defined by what makes people happy and empowered, mind you. Makes me feel my own country and culture isn't such hot shit after all. Pretty much a dismal failure, by comparison...
» 17 May 2008, 10:55 pm My Critter's Better Than Your Critter Paper Critters is an online application for creating and sharing paper toys. Make your own, or view an interactive gallery of the competition. Uses the open source Papervision3D engine.
» 17 May 2008, 10:19 pm Why so purple? The Museum of Corporate Neckties. Corporations and neckties: two great tastes that &c.
» 17 May 2008, 10:19 pm Pepsi Catbreath The CatBib Will Stop Your Cat From Catching Birds! video. Scientific proof.
The CatBib gently interferes with your cat's hunting skills, without interfering with any other kitty activities. It acts as a barrier coming between your cat and the bird your cat is after. Simply put...it gets in the way just as the cat strikes out for the bird. Additionally, because birds see in color, it also functions as a colorful visual warning to the birds. The birds are more apt to see the cat, before the cat gets close enough to attack. A simple solution to a big problem.
» 17 May 2008, 9:59 pm Get down with the Kersal Massive As previously mentioned on Metafilter, in 2006, the Kersal Massive, 3 English chavs from Kersal near Manchester made a 44 second rap video on a cell phone (click this one first).
Once it hit YouTube, it inspired parodies and mashups ranging from heavy metal to alternative to dancefloor, an acoustic cover version, a conspiracy theory video, a Kevin Powder interview , and best of all this version. But this one is my favourite.
Apologies to people for who this is old news, but I enjoyed discovering this phenomenon today and wanted to share.
» 17 May 2008, 8:59 pm They're all beautiful inside. Maybe. It's that time of year again, folks... don't forget to put in your vote for the World's Ugliest Dog.
With Sam out of the picture, looks like it's Pee Wee Martini's race to lose. And as always, the frontrunners all eerily resemble Chinese Cresteds who lost "me" to meth. (Doubt me? BEFORE | AFTER It's a helluvu drug!)
» 17 May 2008, 7:03 pm The Yellow Shark [NOT MUDSHARK-IST] In 1993, we said goodbye to Frank Zappa, fallen victim to prostate cancer. A 1993 Today Show interview with Frank. A 1993 BBC documentary about Frank. {Parts 2, 3, 4.} "Outrage at Valdez," from 1993's The Yellow Shark. [Zappa mega-post previously on MeFi]
» 17 May 2008, 1:18 pm Jalopnik Ad Watch Feeling nostalgic for cheap gas and and a "poke-through air cleaner that jumps when the engine cries"? The Mustang Mach I was the way to swing in '69! But 9 years later, the Cougar XR-7 was the 1978 choice of Cheryl Tiegs for her midnight driving. Speaking of women, what if your wife has to drive alone? It's a shocking concept, sure, but when a woman's at the wheel, you need Polyglas tires. Yep, crazy things used to happen. Heck, Pontiac even sold this thing for a few years. All that and more at Jalopnik's classic ad watch.
» 17 May 2008, 12:33 pm 3.14159265... and 99,992 digits to go! Exercising your brain makes you smarter, and there is no better gym for it than the MentatWiki.
Researchers believe there is a link between working memory and fluid intelligence in that improving one seems to also improves the other.
Lucky for you, this month is MentatWiki month at WikiVersity. The MentatWiki is a collaborative site focused on collecting ways to become a better thinker. From memory techniques to cubing numbers, Knight's tours and magic squares and more, all you need to get your brain in gear. Oh, and did you know that the site was founded by the author of Mind Performance Hacks, MeFi's own Ron Hale-Evans?
Once you're feeling pretty good about your newfound skills, how about trying for a world record?
» 17 May 2008, 11:47 am RIP Travis N. Twiggs, USMC PTSD Sufferer PTSD: The War Within. A Marine writes about his PTSD experience. This article from the January issue of the Marine Corps Gazette was written by USMC Staff Sergeant Travis N. Twiggs. Twiggs killed himself and his brother after a long police chase in Arizona earlier this week.
» 17 May 2008, 11:40 am Should we worry? Mercedes Allen looks at who's in charge of deciding the fate of Gender Identity Disorder in the DSM-IV. The APA (American Psychological Association) has announced it's intention to revise the DSMV (Diagnosis and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). The expert they've named to chair revisions on sexuality and gender is Kenneth Zucker. Zucker is the major remaining proponent of Reparative Therapy for LGBT folks.
Zucker has named Ray Blanchard to work with the group that will re-write the section on Gender Identity Disorder. Blanchard is connected with 'ex-gay' organizations, and believes that all transpeople are really sex offenders.
» 17 May 2008, 10:40 am The Is The Life: the most important period of hip hop you never knew existed (NSFW audio throughout) The year is 1989, the world of hip hop in mainstream America is dominated by the street hard, in your face West Coast Gangsta Rap genre headed by NWA. And an army of increasingly forgettable imitators as well as genuine ingenuity coming from the opposite coast The pop music market is dominated by the sugary sweet vaguely hip-hopish pop of The New Kids On The Block. And on the corner Crendshaw and Exposition in South Central Los Angeles a group of kids at a health food store called The Good Life Health Food And Resource Center take a weekly Open Mike and turn it into an ongoing hip hop workshop where lyrical prowess, performance, and positivity instead of battling and trash talking was encouraged. In fact, swearing was strictly disallowed at The Good Life.
The Good Life's Thursday Night Open Mike nights became increasingly popular, and quickly reached legendary status in the incredibly insulated and incestuous scene of underground hip in early 1990's Los Angeles. Pre-internet, this was music that you only heard if you were at the show, or you bought the home made tape from some kid out of a backpack on his way to tag up a traincar. Many green MC's had their moment in the sun, performed and wowed crowds and were never heard from again. Some took the momentum of their Good Life performances and decided to make hip hop their career, their life.
But what was clear was that something special was happening, hip hop was being expanded into a cerebral dense form of art that retained street cred without distancing themselves from the hardcore hip hopper and B-Boy crowds.
First, Afterlife Recordz a sort of co-op CD-R label run by independant MC's started releasing CD's of their founding members Chillin Villain Empire, Rifleman AKA Ellay Khule (pronounced L.A. Cool), Riddlore?, Of Mexican Descent, Busdriver, who himself has gone on to be a certified indie rap star having recently commented "There are no more backpackers, it's all hipsters now. I just came from doing three shows and there were no hip-hoppers anywhere-- I mean, it was great though, I didn't know that my kind of stuff would bring those people out. So I was surprised."
The pinnacle of The Good Life Scene on record was the now-legendary compilation Beneath The Surface. Believed by many to be the single greatest hip hop compilation ever, every track was produced by OMID and perfectly captured the apex of an artistic experiment at the height of pre-millenium tension and Armageddon obsession. Utilizing samples from high profile prog rock groups like Emerson Lake & Palmer on "Night And Day" and virtual unknowns like Swedish organist Bo Hansson and his 1972 audio soundtrack to book version Lord Of The Rings If you spend more then 5 hours a week in record stores, chances are you will recognize loops from this album and smile at how clever OMID was. The centerpiece of the album was a 9 minute epic track where every MC took the form of a different animal, all ending with one of the craziest and longest verses every laid down on wax by Circus of the Shapeshifters crew, the track called Farmers Market Of The Beast has become an underground ark of the covenant stone of sorts, stare too long into it and you're face will melt from the unbridled imagination.
Eventually The Good Life Open Mike night evolved into Project Blowed started in 1994 by Aceyalone, and Abstract Rude a similar weekly workshop for MC's. But unlike Good Life's vibe of positivity, rehearsed performance, and strict adherence to language standards, Blowed was known for freestyles, battles, and foul language. Some have said that Project Blowed has turned battle rapping into mildly rhythmic standup comedy, but the impact of Blowed cannot be understated. Many mainstream who need no introduction like Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and even non-rappers like Lenny Kravitz.
Project Blowed is popularly known for a compilation CD released in 1994, a release of the backpacker variety, currently out of print. And a 10th Anniversary Compilation Good Life alumnus who went on to be Project Blowed superstars like AWOL One and his affilliated friends/graffiti crew mates the Krylon infused spray of brainsalad that is Circus and The Shapeshifters created a scene, a sound, and a movement that as Of Mexican Descent member 2Mex says in quotes that was just as if not more important than G-Funk, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony style symbiotic rap groups, even Grunge or other related acts. But because this was pre-internet, and the fact that radio, newspapers, and major labels simply didn't care about this music, it went by unnoticed, forgotten. Even to this day, many likely classic releases are lost forever because they were simply made on a four track deck, handed out at shows and never digitized and spread to the internet once Napster rendered the term "Backpacker" obsolete.
This Is The Life is the story of The Good Life cafe, and the magic that you, I, and everyone else missed. The footage is scattershot, because most poor folk back then didn't have video cameras. The interviews are insightful and inspiring, and it reminds you that hip hop comes from cement and the heart, not diamonds and rims.
This Is The Life is currently making the festival circuits, and hopefully should be seeing DVD release soon. Keep your eyes peeled to the websites for release dates and showings in your area.
» 17 May 2008, 9:05 am The Paleolithic. Well, young folk, there was a time, y'know, when bands would put their band name on the kick drum head, so the audience could see the name of the band, y'see? Why, best as I can recall, the The Yardbirds did it, and The Zombies, too. And The Hollies. Oh, and did I mention The Yardbirds? Well, my memory's not what it used to be... oh, and there was those boys from Liverpool, used to sing about Kansas Cty so well, why, you'd think they'd actually been there! Now, there was this one band called themselves the Spencer Davis Group, but I never could figure out why, cause it was that little Winwood fella just outta knee pants who was the star of that show!
So, is the rock n' roll today any better than what we listened to back then? Well, I dunno, you really got me, there... But there was that band that sang about my generation... now, who was that? Oh, well, this'll be the last time I bother you youngsters with all this old stuff. Anyway, truth be told, some of it was just godawful. Why, you'd rather be struck by lightning than to listen to that crap. Well, anyway, thanks for helping me with the groceries! Y'all run along and listen to your Animal Collective, I'll just stay here and listen to my Animals.
» 17 May 2008, 8:08 am Reportret: what did historical figures physically look like Reportret: What did they really look like? Charlemagne "..was a large man, with light coloured hair, a long nose, a thick neck, and a quite prominent belly."
» 17 May 2008, 7:28 am "Four-Pronged Performance Review" We The Robots, a web comic that hits where it hurts.
» 17 May 2008, 1:00 am
» 17 May 2008, 11:55 pm The magician turned the wale into a flower. Photographic renderings of children's drawings. That is all. (via)
» 17 May 2008, 11:44 pm The Most Civilized Country. The Most Civilized Country. Fascinating article challenging conventional notions of how best to have a society.
"Best" being defined by what makes people happy and empowered, mind you. Makes me feel my own country and culture isn't such hot shit after all. Pretty much a dismal failure, by comparison...
» 17 May 2008, 10:55 pm My Critter's Better Than Your Critter Paper Critters is an online application for creating and sharing paper toys. Make your own, or view an interactive gallery of the competition. Uses the open source Papervision3D engine.
» 17 May 2008, 10:19 pm Why so purple? The Museum of Corporate Neckties. Corporations and neckties: two great tastes that &c.
» 17 May 2008, 10:19 pm Pepsi Catbreath The CatBib Will Stop Your Cat From Catching Birds! video. Scientific proof.
The CatBib gently interferes with your cat's hunting skills, without interfering with any other kitty activities. It acts as a barrier coming between your cat and the bird your cat is after. Simply put...it gets in the way just as the cat strikes out for the bird. Additionally, because birds see in color, it also functions as a colorful visual warning to the birds. The birds are more apt to see the cat, before the cat gets close enough to attack. A simple solution to a big problem.
» 17 May 2008, 9:59 pm Get down with the Kersal Massive As previously mentioned on Metafilter, in 2006, the Kersal Massive, 3 English chavs from Kersal near Manchester made a 44 second rap video on a cell phone (click this one first).
Once it hit YouTube, it inspired parodies and mashups ranging from heavy metal to alternative to dancefloor, an acoustic cover version, a conspiracy theory video, a Kevin Powder interview , and best of all this version. But this one is my favourite.
Apologies to people for who this is old news, but I enjoyed discovering this phenomenon today and wanted to share.
» 17 May 2008, 8:59 pm They're all beautiful inside. Maybe. It's that time of year again, folks... don't forget to put in your vote for the World's Ugliest Dog.
With Sam out of the picture, looks like it's Pee Wee Martini's race to lose. And as always, the frontrunners all eerily resemble Chinese Cresteds who lost "me" to meth. (Doubt me? BEFORE | AFTER It's a helluvu drug!)
» 17 May 2008, 7:03 pm The Yellow Shark [NOT MUDSHARK-IST] In 1993, we said goodbye to Frank Zappa, fallen victim to prostate cancer. A 1993 Today Show interview with Frank. A 1993 BBC documentary about Frank. {Parts 2, 3, 4.} "Outrage at Valdez," from 1993's The Yellow Shark. [Zappa mega-post previously on MeFi]
» 17 May 2008, 1:18 pm Jalopnik Ad Watch Feeling nostalgic for cheap gas and and a "poke-through air cleaner that jumps when the engine cries"? The Mustang Mach I was the way to swing in '69! But 9 years later, the Cougar XR-7 was the 1978 choice of Cheryl Tiegs for her midnight driving. Speaking of women, what if your wife has to drive alone? It's a shocking concept, sure, but when a woman's at the wheel, you need Polyglas tires. Yep, crazy things used to happen. Heck, Pontiac even sold this thing for a few years. All that and more at Jalopnik's classic ad watch.
» 17 May 2008, 12:33 pm 3.14159265... and 99,992 digits to go! Exercising your brain makes you smarter, and there is no better gym for it than the MentatWiki.
Researchers believe there is a link between working memory and fluid intelligence in that improving one seems to also improves the other.
Lucky for you, this month is MentatWiki month at WikiVersity. The MentatWiki is a collaborative site focused on collecting ways to become a better thinker. From memory techniques to cubing numbers, Knight's tours and magic squares and more, all you need to get your brain in gear. Oh, and did you know that the site was founded by the author of Mind Performance Hacks, MeFi's own Ron Hale-Evans?
Once you're feeling pretty good about your newfound skills, how about trying for a world record?
» 17 May 2008, 11:47 am RIP Travis N. Twiggs, USMC PTSD Sufferer PTSD: The War Within. A Marine writes about his PTSD experience. This article from the January issue of the Marine Corps Gazette was written by USMC Staff Sergeant Travis N. Twiggs. Twiggs killed himself and his brother after a long police chase in Arizona earlier this week.
» 17 May 2008, 11:40 am Should we worry? Mercedes Allen looks at who's in charge of deciding the fate of Gender Identity Disorder in the DSM-IV. The APA (American Psychological Association) has announced it's intention to revise the DSMV (Diagnosis and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). The expert they've named to chair revisions on sexuality and gender is Kenneth Zucker. Zucker is the major remaining proponent of Reparative Therapy for LGBT folks.
Zucker has named Ray Blanchard to work with the group that will re-write the section on Gender Identity Disorder. Blanchard is connected with 'ex-gay' organizations, and believes that all transpeople are really sex offenders.
» 17 May 2008, 10:40 am The Is The Life: the most important period of hip hop you never knew existed (NSFW audio throughout) The year is 1989, the world of hip hop in mainstream America is dominated by the street hard, in your face West Coast Gangsta Rap genre headed by NWA. And an army of increasingly forgettable imitators as well as genuine ingenuity coming from the opposite coast The pop music market is dominated by the sugary sweet vaguely hip-hopish pop of The New Kids On The Block. And on the corner Crendshaw and Exposition in South Central Los Angeles a group of kids at a health food store called The Good Life Health Food And Resource Center take a weekly Open Mike and turn it into an ongoing hip hop workshop where lyrical prowess, performance, and positivity instead of battling and trash talking was encouraged. In fact, swearing was strictly disallowed at The Good Life.
The Good Life's Thursday Night Open Mike nights became increasingly popular, and quickly reached legendary status in the incredibly insulated and incestuous scene of underground hip in early 1990's Los Angeles. Pre-internet, this was music that you only heard if you were at the show, or you bought the home made tape from some kid out of a backpack on his way to tag up a traincar. Many green MC's had their moment in the sun, performed and wowed crowds and were never heard from again. Some took the momentum of their Good Life performances and decided to make hip hop their career, their life.
But what was clear was that something special was happening, hip hop was being expanded into a cerebral dense form of art that retained street cred without distancing themselves from the hardcore hip hopper and B-Boy crowds.
First, Afterlife Recordz a sort of co-op CD-R label run by independant MC's started releasing CD's of their founding members Chillin Villain Empire, Rifleman AKA Ellay Khule (pronounced L.A. Cool), Riddlore?, Of Mexican Descent, Busdriver, who himself has gone on to be a certified indie rap star having recently commented "There are no more backpackers, it's all hipsters now. I just came from doing three shows and there were no hip-hoppers anywhere-- I mean, it was great though, I didn't know that my kind of stuff would bring those people out. So I was surprised."
The pinnacle of The Good Life Scene on record was the now-legendary compilation Beneath The Surface. Believed by many to be the single greatest hip hop compilation ever, every track was produced by OMID and perfectly captured the apex of an artistic experiment at the height of pre-millenium tension and Armageddon obsession. Utilizing samples from high profile prog rock groups like Emerson Lake & Palmer on "Night And Day" and virtual unknowns like Swedish organist Bo Hansson and his 1972 audio soundtrack to book version Lord Of The Rings If you spend more then 5 hours a week in record stores, chances are you will recognize loops from this album and smile at how clever OMID was. The centerpiece of the album was a 9 minute epic track where every MC took the form of a different animal, all ending with one of the craziest and longest verses every laid down on wax by Circus of the Shapeshifters crew, the track called Farmers Market Of The Beast has become an underground ark of the covenant stone of sorts, stare too long into it and you're face will melt from the unbridled imagination.
Eventually The Good Life Open Mike night evolved into Project Blowed started in 1994 by Aceyalone, and Abstract Rude a similar weekly workshop for MC's. But unlike Good Life's vibe of positivity, rehearsed performance, and strict adherence to language standards, Blowed was known for freestyles, battles, and foul language. Some have said that Project Blowed has turned battle rapping into mildly rhythmic standup comedy, but the impact of Blowed cannot be understated. Many mainstream who need no introduction like Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and even non-rappers like Lenny Kravitz.
Project Blowed is popularly known for a compilation CD released in 1994, a release of the backpacker variety, currently out of print. And a 10th Anniversary Compilation Good Life alumnus who went on to be Project Blowed superstars like AWOL One and his affilliated friends/graffiti crew mates the Krylon infused spray of brainsalad that is Circus and The Shapeshifters created a scene, a sound, and a movement that as Of Mexican Descent member 2Mex says in quotes that was just as if not more important than G-Funk, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony style symbiotic rap groups, even Grunge or other related acts. But because this was pre-internet, and the fact that radio, newspapers, and major labels simply didn't care about this music, it went by unnoticed, forgotten. Even to this day, many likely classic releases are lost forever because they were simply made on a four track deck, handed out at shows and never digitized and spread to the internet once Napster rendered the term "Backpacker" obsolete.
This Is The Life is the story of The Good Life cafe, and the magic that you, I, and everyone else missed. The footage is scattershot, because most poor folk back then didn't have video cameras. The interviews are insightful and inspiring, and it reminds you that hip hop comes from cement and the heart, not diamonds and rims.
This Is The Life is currently making the festival circuits, and hopefully should be seeing DVD release soon. Keep your eyes peeled to the websites for release dates and showings in your area.
» 17 May 2008, 9:05 am The Paleolithic. Well, young folk, there was a time, y'know, when bands would put their band name on the kick drum head, so the audience could see the name of the band, y'see? Why, best as I can recall, the The Yardbirds did it, and The Zombies, too. And The Hollies. Oh, and did I mention The Yardbirds? Well, my memory's not what it used to be... oh, and there was those boys from Liverpool, used to sing about Kansas Cty so well, why, you'd think they'd actually been there! Now, there was this one band called themselves the Spencer Davis Group, but I never could figure out why, cause it was that little Winwood fella just outta knee pants who was the star of that show!
So, is the rock n' roll today any better than what we listened to back then? Well, I dunno, you really got me, there... But there was that band that sang about my generation... now, who was that? Oh, well, this'll be the last time I bother you youngsters with all this old stuff. Anyway, truth be told, some of it was just godawful. Why, you'd rather be struck by lightning than to listen to that crap. Well, anyway, thanks for helping me with the groceries! Y'all run along and listen to your Animal Collective, I'll just stay here and listen to my Animals.
» 17 May 2008, 8:08 am Reportret: what did historical figures physically look like Reportret: What did they really look like? Charlemagne "..was a large man, with light coloured hair, a long nose, a thick neck, and a quite prominent belly."
» 17 May 2008, 7:28 am "Four-Pronged Performance Review" We The Robots, a web comic that hits where it hurts.
» 17 May 2008, 1:00 am
Cat found bed » 17 May 2008, 6:33 pm
Comic Art Community GALLERY OF COMIC ART / M / Joe Madureira / Ninja Turtles » 17 May 2008, 5:21 pm
What-Your-Car-Color-Reveals-About-Your-Psyche: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance » 17 May 2008, 4:59 pm
How to beat a speeding ticket or at least better your chances - PostWorthy » 17 May 2008, 4:37 pm
I knew JFK, says Gore Vidal, and believe me Obama&s the better leader - Times Online » 17 May 2008, 4:01 pm
I lost everything & Lolcats &8216;n&8217; Funny Pictures - I Can Has Cheezburger? » 17 May 2008, 3:40 pm
13 words not found in the English language | The Urban Recluse » 17 May 2008, 2:31 pm
Political Cartoons and political Jokes » 17 May 2008, 1:51 pm
A parallax optical illusion with CSS: The Horse in Motion » 17 May 2008, 1:37 pm
The Freebies Blog | DAZ Studio 2.1 - free software application » 17 May 2008, 11:07 am
WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Parents Outraged Over School Assignment » 17 May 2008, 11:04 am
4 other fantastic waterfalls & ZME Science » 17 May 2008, 9:52 am
XXX - Private Hans Air Witch Aircraft - BohuÅovice | A-P.net » 17 May 2008, 9:40 am
YouTube - Scientology beliefs » 17 May 2008, 9:01 am
Researchers document rapid, dramatic reverse evolution in the threespine stickleback fish (5/17/2008) » 17 May 2008, 8:55 am
CareFair.com - 7 All-Natural Routes to Better Breathing » 17 May 2008, 8:52 am
What do a billion Muslims really think? | csmonitor.com » 17 May 2008, 8:45 am
The Eclipse Memory Analyzer Project - Webinar The Memory Analyzer is a heap dump analyzer which immediately shows the biggest objects, groups objects by class loaders and adds application knowledge to make sense out of the millions of objects in a typical heap dump. Andreas Buchen of SAP gives a hands-on tour of the project's most important features.
» 18 May 2008, 4:07 pm Party Of One: Promote If you write it they will come. Open source software has thousands of eyeballs monitoring it for flaws. Let the code speak for itself. The code is the best documentation. Haven't we all heard this before, and haven't we all had this type of wishful thinking? Alas, the harsh reality of hundreds of thousands of languishing open-source projects is in a stark contrast with the rosy promises and expectations that you might nourish when you start your own one-man open source project.
» 18 May 2008, 4:07 pm Adding Mouse Gesture Functionality to Your .NET Application Within Seconds. Mouse gesture commands enrich the UI of an application. They are very easy to learn and intuitive for the user. There are some postings on CodeProject that address mouse gestures in one way or the other way (unfortunately, I didn't get the AI ones running), so I thought to offer my solution to the CP community. I first saw a mouse gestures functionality in the very early 90s in a CAD kernel package written in C that I used in a project.
» 18 May 2008, 2:50 pm Dependency Management With Ant And Ivy This is an excellent article on Ivy. While it doesn't go into great detail of each feature the author gives a great starting working example that is real world. This plus the documentation saved me a lot of time.
» 18 May 2008, 9:01 am Developing long term strategies for using Java EE technology This article attempts to explain how you can minimize your exposure to incompatible changes in the Java EE platform.
» 18 May 2008, 8:10 am Friday Java Quiz: Know Your JDK Tools Some of these tools, such as javac, java and javap I use every day. Others, such as appletviewer and jdb, not so often any more. There are some I never used.
» 18 May 2008, 6:36 am Sources of Java Errors While the Java VM shields most developers from having to think about the memory-management aspects their Java objects, the VM does not completely manage other types of resources automatically, says Gwyn Fisher, CTO of Klocwork in this interview with Artima. Great Java developers learn to understand exactly what the JVM does, and does not do, for their objects.
» 18 May 2008, 6:30 am Scala Lift Web Framework on GlassFish v3 During JavaOne I heard about Lift - a Scala web framework and wanted to try it. It claims to provide best of Rails(simple and fast development), Seaside(security), Django(access control by default) and uses Wicket for view templates. In few steps I had my first Lift web application running on GlassFish v3.
» 18 May 2008, 5:00 am Groovy Presentation at eBay available I got the opportunity to present an introduction to groovy at eBay this past May 9th. It is now available from the Groovy Codehaus site
» 18 May 2008, 4:44 am Adobe refreshes Flash Player Facing serious challenges to its dominance in the RIA (rich Internet application) space, Adobe Systems will refresh its bread-and-butter Flash Player technology Thursday with capabilities that could provide an edge on the RIA battleground.
» 18 May 2008, 4:43 am Javascript Madness: Introduction Ideally, we would be able to write single Javascript programs that would work on all browsers. In practice, this is only possible if you are willing give up a lot of functionality. Many of the features used in the Web Paint-by-Number site would have been impossible in implement without first sensing the browser type and then selecting different code to run for different browsers, or different versions of the same browser. Sad, but true.
» 18 May 2008, 4:43 am Spring WebFlow 2.0; JavaScript Module Released Spring Web Flow 2.0 has been released which includes a new Spring JavaScript module. Here is an example of an onclick wrapper calling an Ajax event:
» 18 May 2008, 4:43 am Writing Unit Tests as Programmer's Warm-Up "Flow" is a the most productive state of programmer's mind. You can induce the flow by starting your day with writing unit tests.
» 18 May 2008, 4:08 am jQuery iPod-style Drilldown Menu We created an iPod-style drilldown menu to help users traverse hierarchical data quickly and with control. It's especially helpful when organizing large data structures that don't translate well into traditional dropdown or fly-out menus.
» 17 May 2008, 8:51 pm Getting Started with Grails (video) In this presentation from QCon San Francisco 2007, Jason Rudolph gives an overview and demonstration of Grails.
» 17 May 2008, 7:55 pm Tutorial - Snippets: Source Code Snippet Repository in Grails - Part One The aim of this series is to take a small project idea and use it to cover various aspect of Grails and Groovy. Along the way we will cover what Groovy/Grails brings to the table including GORM, plugins, code generation, testing. No doubt we will see a lot of the good, bad and ugly of the technology as well as maybe discover a number of common issues that can be avoided.
» 17 May 2008, 7:55 pm Computer Programming: Art, Science, or Both? If the question is "Is programming an art or science?", then the follow up question is "Are programmers artists or scientists?" Off the top of my head, I can think of lots of people who fit both bills--musicians like Al Stevens, Herb Schildt, and Charlie Cocchiaro, and artists like Erik Demaine all come to mind.
» 17 May 2008, 7:49 pm The 4 Core Principles of Agile Programming One of the things I really enjoy at the moment is the recognition and adoption of agile programming as a fully fledged powerful way to deliver quality software projects. As its figurehead is a group of very talented individuals who have created the agile manifesto http://agilemanifesto.org/. At its core are four simple principles that, when followed and applied to software projects, generally will ensure a great flexibility and hence higher agility.
» 17 May 2008, 12:58 pm
» 18 May 2008, 4:07 pm Party Of One: Promote If you write it they will come. Open source software has thousands of eyeballs monitoring it for flaws. Let the code speak for itself. The code is the best documentation. Haven't we all heard this before, and haven't we all had this type of wishful thinking? Alas, the harsh reality of hundreds of thousands of languishing open-source projects is in a stark contrast with the rosy promises and expectations that you might nourish when you start your own one-man open source project.
» 18 May 2008, 4:07 pm Adding Mouse Gesture Functionality to Your .NET Application Within Seconds. Mouse gesture commands enrich the UI of an application. They are very easy to learn and intuitive for the user. There are some postings on CodeProject that address mouse gestures in one way or the other way (unfortunately, I didn't get the AI ones running), so I thought to offer my solution to the CP community. I first saw a mouse gestures functionality in the very early 90s in a CAD kernel package written in C that I used in a project.
» 18 May 2008, 2:50 pm Dependency Management With Ant And Ivy This is an excellent article on Ivy. While it doesn't go into great detail of each feature the author gives a great starting working example that is real world. This plus the documentation saved me a lot of time.
» 18 May 2008, 9:01 am Developing long term strategies for using Java EE technology This article attempts to explain how you can minimize your exposure to incompatible changes in the Java EE platform.
» 18 May 2008, 8:10 am Friday Java Quiz: Know Your JDK Tools Some of these tools, such as javac, java and javap I use every day. Others, such as appletviewer and jdb, not so often any more. There are some I never used.
» 18 May 2008, 6:36 am Sources of Java Errors While the Java VM shields most developers from having to think about the memory-management aspects their Java objects, the VM does not completely manage other types of resources automatically, says Gwyn Fisher, CTO of Klocwork in this interview with Artima. Great Java developers learn to understand exactly what the JVM does, and does not do, for their objects.
» 18 May 2008, 6:30 am Scala Lift Web Framework on GlassFish v3 During JavaOne I heard about Lift - a Scala web framework and wanted to try it. It claims to provide best of Rails(simple and fast development), Seaside(security), Django(access control by default) and uses Wicket for view templates. In few steps I had my first Lift web application running on GlassFish v3.
» 18 May 2008, 5:00 am Groovy Presentation at eBay available I got the opportunity to present an introduction to groovy at eBay this past May 9th. It is now available from the Groovy Codehaus site
» 18 May 2008, 4:44 am Adobe refreshes Flash Player Facing serious challenges to its dominance in the RIA (rich Internet application) space, Adobe Systems will refresh its bread-and-butter Flash Player technology Thursday with capabilities that could provide an edge on the RIA battleground.
» 18 May 2008, 4:43 am Javascript Madness: Introduction Ideally, we would be able to write single Javascript programs that would work on all browsers. In practice, this is only possible if you are willing give up a lot of functionality. Many of the features used in the Web Paint-by-Number site would have been impossible in implement without first sensing the browser type and then selecting different code to run for different browsers, or different versions of the same browser. Sad, but true.
» 18 May 2008, 4:43 am Spring WebFlow 2.0; JavaScript Module Released Spring Web Flow 2.0 has been released which includes a new Spring JavaScript module. Here is an example of an onclick wrapper calling an Ajax event:
» 18 May 2008, 4:43 am Writing Unit Tests as Programmer's Warm-Up "Flow" is a the most productive state of programmer's mind. You can induce the flow by starting your day with writing unit tests.
» 18 May 2008, 4:08 am jQuery iPod-style Drilldown Menu We created an iPod-style drilldown menu to help users traverse hierarchical data quickly and with control. It's especially helpful when organizing large data structures that don't translate well into traditional dropdown or fly-out menus.
» 17 May 2008, 8:51 pm Getting Started with Grails (video) In this presentation from QCon San Francisco 2007, Jason Rudolph gives an overview and demonstration of Grails.
» 17 May 2008, 7:55 pm Tutorial - Snippets: Source Code Snippet Repository in Grails - Part One The aim of this series is to take a small project idea and use it to cover various aspect of Grails and Groovy. Along the way we will cover what Groovy/Grails brings to the table including GORM, plugins, code generation, testing. No doubt we will see a lot of the good, bad and ugly of the technology as well as maybe discover a number of common issues that can be avoided.
» 17 May 2008, 7:55 pm Computer Programming: Art, Science, or Both? If the question is "Is programming an art or science?", then the follow up question is "Are programmers artists or scientists?" Off the top of my head, I can think of lots of people who fit both bills--musicians like Al Stevens, Herb Schildt, and Charlie Cocchiaro, and artists like Erik Demaine all come to mind.
» 17 May 2008, 7:49 pm The 4 Core Principles of Agile Programming One of the things I really enjoy at the moment is the recognition and adoption of agile programming as a fully fledged powerful way to deliver quality software projects. As its figurehead is a group of very talented individuals who have created the agile manifesto http://agilemanifesto.org/. At its core are four simple principles that, when followed and applied to software projects, generally will ensure a great flexibility and hence higher agility.
» 17 May 2008, 12:58 pm
Ballad of a TCP Reset Packet » 17 May 2008, 6:46 pm
Bruce Sterling's visionary novel Distraction: still brilliant a decade later » 17 May 2008, 4:57 pm
List of psychotronic videos available at Internet Archive » 17 May 2008, 12:39 pm
Signing Little Brother this afternoon at Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle » 17 May 2008, 6:50 pm
George Clooney in Men Who Stare At Goats movie » 17 May 2008, 12:15 am
Vintage Japanese robot gallery » 16 May 2008, 9:58 pm
Sofa/bookcase » 16 May 2008, 9:57 pm
Laika the astro-dog tin toy from 1958 » 16 May 2008, 9:54 pm
Microsoft and NBC enforce the nonexistent Broadcast Flag, WTF?! » 16 May 2008, 9:51 pm
RE/Search's V. Vale on maker culture and punk rock » 16 May 2008, 6:12 pm
Monk building meditation center in California desert » 16 May 2008, 4:54 pm
Scrabble cufflinks » 16 May 2008, 4:11 pm
New release at archive.org: The Hoodlum (1951) » 16 May 2008, 4:09 pm
Greg Dulli sings Sam Cooke » 16 May 2008, 3:57 pm
frog Design's electronic facemask re-skins reality » 16 May 2008, 3:27 pm
Mechanical gas-pumps choking on $4/gal gas » 16 May 2008, 3:25 pm
Funny Will Elder photo » 16 May 2008, 2:53 pm
Cell phone, VoIP technologies lack security, experts say Speakers at security confab LayerOne say people should be careful with sensitive information while using GSM-based mobile phones and most VoIP systems.
» 18 May 2008, 4:33 am News flash: Web 2.0 is unreliable Recurring uptime problems with Twitter, Seesmic, and other sites demonstrate that the much loved Web 2.0 is having growing pains.
» 18 May 2008, 2:24 am Lockheed gets greenlight for GPS III satellites The defense contractor wins a $1.4 billion contract from the U.S. Air Force to build the next generation of navigation satellites, set to be more accurate and more resistant to jamming.
» 18 May 2008, 12:22 am Facebook exec: We're the Net's cable company Chamath Palihapitiya tells conference-goers that Facebook is the next-generation platform that can turn any ambitious entrepreneur (with the right application) into an overnight success.
» 17 May 2008, 11:40 pm Preview: Upcoming graphics chips from ATI, Nvidia There's a wealth of information already on the soon-to-be-released ATI HD 4800 chips, and less on Nvidia's GTX 200 products. Here's a quick summary of what's out there.
» 17 May 2008, 10:15 pm Elon Musk talks Tesla IPO, funding Founder says electric-car maker will raise series E round of financing to bring itself to profitability, begin production of White Star luxury sedan by 2010.
» 17 May 2008, 7:54 pm Motorola's strategy and technology chief quits Latest executive to depart the struggling cell phone maker since Icahn gained board seats is Rich Nottenburg, who will "return to the New York area to be with his family."
» 17 May 2008, 7:48 pm EA's acquisition bid for Take-Two expires Friday deadline for game maker's reduced-and-extended offer, rejected last month, passes without action shortly after record-breaking release of Grand Theft Auto IV.
» 17 May 2008, 6:07 pm Sharp, MIT make strides in methanol fuel cells Sharp claims a breakthrough in developing fuels cells for consumer devices, while MIT develops a material to improve efficiency by 50 percent.
» 17 May 2008, 4:07 pm
» 18 May 2008, 4:33 am News flash: Web 2.0 is unreliable Recurring uptime problems with Twitter, Seesmic, and other sites demonstrate that the much loved Web 2.0 is having growing pains.
» 18 May 2008, 2:24 am Lockheed gets greenlight for GPS III satellites The defense contractor wins a $1.4 billion contract from the U.S. Air Force to build the next generation of navigation satellites, set to be more accurate and more resistant to jamming.
» 18 May 2008, 12:22 am Facebook exec: We're the Net's cable company Chamath Palihapitiya tells conference-goers that Facebook is the next-generation platform that can turn any ambitious entrepreneur (with the right application) into an overnight success.
» 17 May 2008, 11:40 pm Preview: Upcoming graphics chips from ATI, Nvidia There's a wealth of information already on the soon-to-be-released ATI HD 4800 chips, and less on Nvidia's GTX 200 products. Here's a quick summary of what's out there.
» 17 May 2008, 10:15 pm Elon Musk talks Tesla IPO, funding Founder says electric-car maker will raise series E round of financing to bring itself to profitability, begin production of White Star luxury sedan by 2010.
» 17 May 2008, 7:54 pm Motorola's strategy and technology chief quits Latest executive to depart the struggling cell phone maker since Icahn gained board seats is Rich Nottenburg, who will "return to the New York area to be with his family."
» 17 May 2008, 7:48 pm EA's acquisition bid for Take-Two expires Friday deadline for game maker's reduced-and-extended offer, rejected last month, passes without action shortly after record-breaking release of Grand Theft Auto IV.
» 17 May 2008, 6:07 pm Sharp, MIT make strides in methanol fuel cells Sharp claims a breakthrough in developing fuels cells for consumer devices, while MIT develops a material to improve efficiency by 50 percent.
» 17 May 2008, 4:07 pm