Jeremy wrote:
] For the last three years, bad news about the music industry
] has been as steady as a synthesized drumbeat. But a turnaround
] that began quietly last fall has become unmistakable with the
] success of Norah Jones's new album, "Feels Like Home."
]
] Recording executives realize that it will take more than a
] Norah Jones album to bring stability back to the industry.
] That is why, in the months ahead, executives will be closely
] watching the public's reaction to albums from Janet Jackson,

[snarfs coke] If I had to choose between being exposed to her music or exposed to her chest, I'd try to stop breathing and die.

] Avril Lavigne

OH! SK80R GRRL J00 SO 31337!!!!!!111 OMG ROTFLMAO !!!!!11

] and the Beastie Boys

... [weeps silently over how far they've slipped]

CD Sales Rise, but Industry Is Still Wary

] "You let your hair down, and it's that girl's club,
] slumber party feel," said Teri Jaworksi, who works out at
] the S Factor, an all-women studio in Los Angeles.

The Cheetah in Atlanta offers pole dancing lessons. Apparently they are quite popular with a waiting list of over 2 months. While some are what you would expect (brides to be wanting to surpise their husbands, strippers from a lower quality clubs wanting to be better, etc) more and more are just randon ladies wanting some fun.

Pole dancing shows up in health clubs

So I was talking with Decius the other day about the NYT. If you folks haven't noticed you can access NYT articles through google news without needing an account. Google simply adds a parameter "partner=google" to the end of the NYT URL. I figured Decius and I could could write a script that checks for recommended memes for NYT stories and insert this at the end, not allow for people without accounts to read stories.

However this is not what NYT checks for. If you go to a NYT article through a standard google search, the "partner=google" is not added to the URL, but you can still access the story So how does NYTs do this? With the "referer" field on a standard HTTP GET request.

So tonight I had an idea. WGET! it has a nice litte option "--referer=". Sure enough, you can grab NYT stories using WGET.

Thus to read for example the Theory-vs-reality story, using:

wget http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/23/opinion/23HERB.html&OQ=pagewantedQ3DprintQ26positionQ3D

will save the login screen but

wget --referer=http://www.google.com http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/23/opinion/23HERB.html&OQ=pagewantedQ3DprintQ26positionQ3D

will grab the page. Yes yes yes, I know, as Decius told me: "Just get a freaky account dude."

An Attempt to Uncover the Truth About September 11th, 2001

[snip]

A facinating read (been at it over 2 hours now). While some of the info it presents I take with a grain of salt, the doucmentation on this website is superb, and very well written.

9-11 Research

] careful not to go blind.

oh my god. Thats awesome! Julie looks like she's getting a felony for her birthday

The 10 worst Album Covers. Ever.

] The researcher accidentally pricked herself with a needle
] that contained a weakened form of the Ebola virus last
] week while she was injecting mice with the virus as part
] of a research effort.

[ Oh *man* that sucks! You can't even hyperbolize it, like, "That sucks like ...", because anything you put in there for ... is probably less bullshit than "accidentally giving yourself Ebola." Sure, she may be fine (god willing), but shit man, that's so, so not good. -k]

CNN.com - Researcher isolated after possible Ebola exposure - Feb. 19, 2004

] But suddenly, as of Friday, North Dakota's power-plant
] emissions have been deemed acceptable by the Bush EPA --
] despite the fact that no significant efforts have been
] made to reduce pollution in the state.

[ awesome! worst. president. ever. -k]

We absolutely must remove this man from office in Nov

North Dakota 'reduces' pollution by measuring it differently

] “A certain amount" of enriched uranium was flown to
] Libya from Pakistan on a Pakistani airliner, according to
] Tahir.
]
] The chief financier told investigators that Khan also
] said a "certain number" of centrifuges -- sophisticated
] machines that can be used to enrich uranium for weapons
] and other purposes -- were flown to Libya direct from
] Pakistan in 2001-02.

And. Yet. Bush. Does. Nothing.

WTF? Here is a country: run by a military leader; is currently engaged in its 4th war with India (http://www.historyguy.com/indo_pakistani-wars.html) ; both of which who have detonated nuclear weapons (http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/india/nuke/) (http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/pakistan/nuke/); who sponsers Kashmir terrorists (http://www.kashmir-information.com/Pakistan/machine.html); whose government has sold enriched fucking uranium and tools to enrich more uranium to a radical Islamic state,

Yet. Bush. Does. Nothing!:

And yet people insist this was a war about WMD, and not other reasons.

500+ dead American is a damn cheap price for the US to buy our own OPEC member and never be faced with an embargo again

MSNBC - Pakistan sold nuclear materials to Iran, Libya

inignoct wrote:
] ] Monday the New Mexico House of Representatives passed a
] ] bill that would require every car sold in the state to
] ] have an ignition interlock. This device is essentially a
] ] breath analyzer that prevents the car from being started
] ] if the driver is drunk. The bill would require that every
] ] new car sold be equipped with an ignition interlock by
] ] 2008 and every used car by 2009. Ignition interlocks
] ] require a breath test, which takes 30 seconds to
] ] complete, to start the car as well as random 'rolling
] ] retests' to discourage others from taking the test for
] ] you. These rolling retests require the driver to take the
] ] test as the car is moving. If the driver fails a retest,
] ] the horn sounds and the lights flash until the car is
] ] turned off.
]
] [ Jesus. Fuck that. Sounds like a bunch of bullshit, and
] expense, for the millions of us who've never driven while even
] slightly drunk. I'm gonna be pissed if my car is $500 more
] expensive because there are a bunch of fucktards in this
] country that can't get it through their fucking heads that
] driving drunk is a fucking bad idea. This country claims to
] be founded on a distrust of government and a policy of minimal
] government invasiveness, and yet everyday someone is all about
] abdicating their responsibility to parent or drink responsibly
] or whatever in favor of mandating unwieldy controls.
] Completely absurd. -k]

I'm going to have to borrow one of Abaddon's lines here: What kind of no talent ass clowns do they elect in New Mexico that come up with an utterly retarded scheme like this? I understand that state's are low on money, but I expected to see a bill to bring the Roswell alien's out of storage and charge folks a nickel to see them instead of something so mindless.

Slashdot | An Ignition Interlock In Every Car?

] Retired USAF Colonel and former National War College
] Professor Sam Gardiner has analyzed this phenomenon of
] con as it relates to Bush's current adventures in democracy
] through occupation. Beyond the obvious fabrications that
] you and I might have seized upon, Colonel Gardiner painstakingly
] identifies 50 discrete and mostly successful efforts of this
] administration to mislead the American people, the Congress,
] and the world.

I heard Lt Col Karen Kwiatkowski on the Radio today. While much of the writing here is so harshly anti-Bush that it is quickly dismisses most people (See "Rules For Radicals" by Saul D Alinsky for the proper way), this piece and its PDF links are quite interesting. The 6 part analysis systematically shows that members of the Bush Administration allowing new stories and other information to develope and grow in an effort to push American's to support a war, when they knew the information was incorrect. A very good read, well worth the time.

Bright Shining Lies, Blistering Truth by Karen Kwiatkowski