Protester dies in G8 summit clash A demonstrator has been killed amid clashes in the Italian city of Genoa where the leaders of the world's major industrialised countries are meeting for an annual summit.
comment posted at 10:20 AM on Jul-20-01

So maybe rolling blackouts are a good thing. "Light pollution" means we don't see the universe today that we saw it when we were kids. What's the balance between being able to see that hazy something we know as the milky way (aka "us") and safe streets, aesthetics and convenience?
comment posted at 8:58 PM on Jul-14-01

What do you want?
We keep hearing about this "who owes what to whom" now that Assembler has closed, and Kaliber and Dreamless are closing.

But what of it? What does it mean? Are we so closed minded to think our Web world is the only one and that somehow the rest of the universe revolves around those of us privileged enough to be able to embark on it as a daily journey?

All of us feel one way or another towards this debate. Either we hate it, or love it, and what of that too? What *do* each of us want from this virtual world? Is there something here worth redeeming and at least arriving at a point to agree to disagree? Discuss?
comment posted at 9:04 PM on Jul-14-01

Gary Condit's Gov't Website
Ok, there are some bizarre things on Gary Condit's site like this creepy page titled *intern opportunites* (including handy form) -- and then throughout most of his site, he's got a logo linked to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children down in the left corner... which is, needless to say, ironic, if not down right repulsive. Anyway, maybe it's just me, but he's got some kinda Freddy Krueger thing goin' on. Oh yeah, go here to email the freak! [state:CA / zip:95354]
comment posted at 8:48 PM on Jul-14-01

Campaign Finace Reform May be Stalled for up to a year. Way to go team! USA USA USA.... wait a second. You guys suck. Does it amaze anyone how much our "leaders" suck?
comment posted at 2:54 PM on Jul-12-01
comment posted at 3:04 PM on Jul-12-01

Bush is at it again.
Is the fact that he is able to get away with things like this an indication of a backlash against the more open years of Democrats in the White House?
Is this secretly what the American public wants?
comment posted at 11:40 AM on Jul-10-01

And I thought Florida only had this problem. The Chicago Tribune reports that nearly 8% of votes in Illinois' 1st Congressional District went uncounted in the 2000 presidential election. It also adds: voters in low-income, high-minority districts nationwide were more likely to have undercounted ballots than were those in affluent, predominantly white districts, the study showed. Is there a nation-wide epidemic of undercounting? Or is it a problem limited to few localized areas? Or is it an underhanded way to deny the underprivileged of their vote? From the looks of it, at least additional investigation needs to be done.
comment posted at 12:23 PM on Jul-10-01

BMW announces the long awaited BMW Mini UK only with US availability in 2002. Cool. Retro. Riot!
comment posted at 11:03 AM on Jul-8-01
comment posted at 11:06 AM on Jul-8-01

Demented baby bent on world domination returns to television this week (wednesday at 9:30). I know i am happy about this.
comment posted at 3:30 PM on Jul-7-01

Peter Jennings confirms the media's liberal bias? Jennings states that "conservative voices in the US have not been as present as they might have been and should have been in the media.''
comment posted at 3:39 PM on Jul-7-01

When animals do what comes naturally ...Buffalo. Bull. Shark. Wow. Busy couple of days for out-of-the-ordinary "man - vs - animal" incidents. Anyone have interesting animal tales to tell, whether they resulted in injury or not? My rule of thumb: if an animal has teeth that are bigger than mine, get outta there!
...but please no "my cat hates you" threads in here!
comment posted at 2:54 PM on Jul-7-01
comment posted at 2:58 PM on Jul-7-01

Reason redux. This does not sound like the "media ideologue" or one-trick publicity hound that some of you tried to portray him. Or is it all just clever posturing?
comment posted at 2:35 PM on Jul-7-01

The giant list of classic computer programmers takes you back to a time when one person could realistically author a computer game and have it published. Of course most of the people on this list will have worked on small teams to produce games, but the diversity of the games on these people's resumes is awesome. In particular, I notice Michael Cranford (responsible for The Bard's Tale I and II, the Centauri Alliance, and ports of Donkey Kong and Super Zaxxon) and Robert Woodhead (Wizardry 1-5). As an interesting sidenote, Robert Woodhead went on to Animeigo, a japanese animation publishing company in the US. What memories of these old sk00l games do you have?
comment posted at 4:16 PM on Jul-6-01

The Conservatives (Well, a couple anyway) are calling for the legalisation of cannabis
comment posted at 5:00 PM on Jul-6-01

Fox News - neither fair nor balanced My problem with them is not that there's a "conservative" news network (the more the merrier), its that they pass themselves off as "fair and balanced" when they aren't.
comment posted at 12:17 PM on Jul-2-01

Humans Good! Finally...a report on a major TV network that presents (dare I say it?) the truth about progress, technology, and human nature, and eco-terrorists are portrayed in the scathing light of reality.
comment posted at 10:15 AM on Jul-1-01

Our environment is improving. Good work, guys. Favorite quote: "Cleaner fuels and clampdowns on emissions mean the last time sulfur dioxide emissions in London were so low was in the 16th century. "
comment posted at 3:11 PM on Jun-29-01

Corruption Perceptions Index 2001 highlights worldwide corruption
"There is no end in sight to the misuse of power by those in public office - and corruption levels are perceived to be as high as ever in both the developed and developing worlds.
It does not reflect secret payments to finance political campaigns, the complicity of banks in money laundering or bribery by multinational companies. Corruption in the most prosperous countries in the world has many manifestations."
comment posted at 3:22 PM on Jun-29-01

You have a better chance being struck by lightning. Or do you? Well it may depend on who you are, where you are, and whether or not you play golf.
comment posted at 9:14 PM on Jun-26-01

Phone home on the road: GO TO JAIL. In New York it will soon be official - dialing and driving don't mix. Thirty-nine other states may also follow suit.
comment posted at 9:05 PM on Jun-26-01

Your chocolate bar contains beans picked by child slaves. From the Philadelphia Inquirer. Part of an excellent report into the Ivory Coast cocoa trade. Awful stuff, especially for a corporation like Hershey Foods, which exists for the benefit of a school for disadvantaged children. Apparently boycotts won't help. If we shouldn't boycott, can't take direct action, what can we do? (Via TurksHeadReview.)
comment posted at 8:49 PM on Jun-26-01

These guys cool and trap anti-electrons (positrons) and at the same time cool and trap anti-protons. Why? Because they want to make cold anti-hydrogen and compare its properties with ordinary hydrogen. Pretty cool all round, really.

"Any difference between antimatter and matter would be extremely interesting since we do not yet understand why we have a universe made of matter. We would expect that the big bang that originated our universe would create equal amounts of antimatter and matter, which would then annihilate, leaving nothing. The great mystery is why enough matter was left over that we and our matter universe could exist."
comment posted at 11:34 PM on Jun-24-01

Is memepool losing it? With two "I'm so stupid" (or am I an advertising agency?) web sites (Miguel's and Amy Ritchie's sites) in the last three days, I have to wonder if the fine folks who contribute to memepool are slipping a bit. Or have I been thinking too highly of memepool all this time? Is it the web community in general?
comment posted at 8:11 PM on Jun-24-01

Death with Commercials is how the ever apposite Frank Rich sums up the media-saturated McVeigh execution, the ultimate reality show. Rich thinks all the hoopla my have served to turn more people away from punishment by death.
comment posted at 11:14 AM on Jun-23-01

Cheney caught in lie. "According to oil industry executives and confidential United Nations records, however, Halliburton held stakes in two firms that signed contracts to sell more than $73 million in oil production equipment and spare parts to Iraq while Cheney was chairman and chief executive officer of the Dallas-based company."

That would be the same Iraq Cheney/Bush blew to smithereens for his oil buddies.
comment posted at 1:51 PM on Jun-23-01

Black leaders refuse to pledge allegiance to flag is an example of a story that The Washington Times blows way out of proportion. The term *black leaders* would imply that there are multitudes of African-American politicians/community leaders who are refusing to pledge allegiance to the flag. However, if you read the whole story, it turns out that only ONE person, an assembly-women from Tennessee is the focus of the whole story! Of course, the Times doesn't forget to remind the readers that she, and all who support her, are Democrats...
comment posted at 11:35 AM on Jun-23-01

Exxon "helped torture in Indonesia." The Aceh uprising brings up the point--how far do we allow multi-nationals to go to "protect their interests"? Would you sanction torture to keep the price of gas and other petroleum products low?
comment posted at 8:05 PM on Jun-24-01

Where's the EPA on this? Apparently, this stuff is everywhere, but I haven't heard one word on its dangers until now. Christine Whitman, be slient no longer!
comment posted at 12:18 PM on Jun-22-01

Is "street racing" as popular outside the Bay Area as it seems to be here? Have there been tragic accidents taking the lives of non-racers elsewhere? Will these idiots be emboldened by the release of "The Fast and the Furious" this weekend?
comment posted at 11:42 AM on Jun-22-01

Amazon's announces "free" shipping
I have been shopping on Amazon for over 3 years. When I buy books, music and DVDs, I buy on average $80 worth of entertainment. Today I received a order of 10 books. I used the "Wait until order is ready" service because I preordered Neil Gaiman's new book. The total for my books was $123.26 with shipping of $13.39 making the grand total $136.65.

I was shopping Amazon tonight and saw their new free shipping notice. My first though was great! Then when I went to look for some books, I noticed the 20% off prices were no more. Now they are full price or 10%. I searched around and found the total for the books I just purchased using your new pricing. The grand total of my order would now be $147.91 with free shipping. An increase of $11.26 or 8 percent.

I am a fan of Amazon but not a fan of their thinly veiled attempt to raise prices using the bait-and-switch approach taken from offline stores. Nothing is ever 'free.' I know Amazon wants to be profitable by Q4, but this pricing is too aggressive. The email for feedback is free-shipping@amazon.com. Voice your opinion about this offering. Is it warranted?
comment posted at 12:25 PM on Jun-22-01

By 2004, Wal-Mart plans to open a new store every business day... Call me an out-of-touch lefty, but this PBS documentary bummed the hell out of me. Small town + giant corporation + old-guard legislators = steamroller
comment posted at 12:43 PM on Jun-22-01

Attention Web-Dezynx0rs: how 1337 are you? are you cutting edge? are you k10k-rad? :: are.you.the.ginchiest ? ::

i suck. i only got a six. but then again, i'm more concerned about content and accessibility than i am being stylish or trendy. I IS SUCK!

comment posted at 4:18 PM on Jun-22-01

New Mexico has the coolest flag. The North American Vexillological Association surveyed its members and the public to identify the best and the worst state and provincial flags. The New Mexico state flag came out on top. Georgia's brought up the rear. [Link via Alex Beam's column in the Boston Globe.]
comment posted at 1:09 PM on Jun-22-01
comment posted at 1:15 PM on Jun-22-01

A car that makes sense? Fully street and highway legal, it is small, electric, quiet, and inexpensive. You can park in all sorts of places, and since the door is on the right side, you can exit to the sidewalk. And it looks like something.
comment posted at 1:23 PM on Jun-22-01

Comedy Central airs an episode of South Park where the characters say "shit" 168 times, unbleeped. Trey Parker and Matt Stone prove once again that they aren't afraid to take American television where everybody else has already been.
comment posted at 11:24 AM on Jun-23-01

Boy bands may be blown sky-high. This description is on the front page of cnn, but after chuckling and clicking the link, I was presented with a fairly boring main headline : Going Na Na in Outer Space?

I say they should have stuck with the innuendo.

With internet news sites come a higher chance of errors as well as the ability to fix mistakes for the sake of history. Anyone know of a site that posts screenshots of mistakes before major websites correct them?
comment posted at 8:21 PM on Jun-24-01

I totally don't think that your Paladin would really do that, Sir Balroggan. Give in to your geek side and go find out what your alignment would be if you were a D&D character.
comment posted at 2:06 PM on Jun-23-01

Not in favor of the death penalty? How about a gulag in Alaska? It sounded ludicrous to me at first, but after reading the article I'm a little more open to the idea.
comment posted at 10:24 AM on Jun-18-01

As to be expected the dumb critics are ripping Lara Croft to shreds; I mean really tearing it a new orifice. Which means of course I must see this film. Major argument against? A hack plot designed only to engender scenes of mindless violence. Duh. It's not supposed to have emotional impact. It's just supposed to be fun. Did any of these critics actually play the game? What frightens me though is that Roger Ebert enjoyed it... I'm so torn...
comment posted at 11:55 AM on Jun-23-01

"Everyone who writes original content online needs to get a day job." John Scalzi argues that this is the most likely way that we're going to see quality online content survive as for-profit ventures like Suck continue to crash down around us. He points to cool stuff a lot of us are already familiar with (Lileks and glenn macdonald's The War Against Silence) and some sites I hadn't heard of until now (Rick McGinnis' The Diary Thing). Scalzi practices what he preaches: he doesn't post every day -- hey, he's a professional writer and keeping his family fed comes first -- but what he does post is choice. (Probable future URL for today's article is here).
comment posted at 10:56 AM on Jun-18-01

We all KNEW it was a gag...right? J-Ko hasn't sold out (but it's allright if he had) after all. Just some reassurance for all the left-of-center folks who questioned his motives.
comment posted at 3:53 PM on Jun-10-01

Trivial Pursuit 1.0 - The Weblog Edition - Line up the 22 little-known (yet hilarious) facts with the right weblogger and win a gift certificate from Amazon. How many can you name?
comment posted at 5:06 PM on Jun-9-01

This guy really wanted a Porsche Boxster... and he got one - life can be pretty sweet sometimes.
comment posted at 8:52 AM on Jun-7-01

Oh, those naughty SMILTs. Or single men in their late thirties. Apparently, they mack on all the twentysomething chicks, and get away with it. Twentysomething guys, really, are too desperate to settle down to merit serious attention. "I'm shy and awkward and desparate for love!" Chandler cried as Janice quickly shut the door behind her.

Thanks to textism for the initial link. It's a great time to be 21!

comment posted at 6:53 AM on May-28-01

Tick, tock ... tick, tock I generally hate TV, but I'm counting down the minutes until this new series premieres on FOX. Yeah, it'll probably suck, but I'm a big fan of Patrick Warburton. In fact I just saw "The Dish" over the weekend and didn't even realize, until halfway through the flick, that the superintelligence NASA scientist was, in fact, played by none other than good ol' dumb guy David Puddy. Who's your favorite underappreciated actor?
comment posted at 7:47 PM on May-21-01

How long's it been since we had a Limbaugh link? He's preaching to the other church's choir as he's stating "50" of the needless to say "things" "environmental wackos" can do to save the Earth. Are the conservatives losing their punch?
comment posted at 7:42 PM on May-21-01