It did not take much investigating to follow the data trail to Thelma Arnold, a 62-year-old widow who lives in Lilburn, Ga., frequently researches her friends' medical ailments and loves her three dogs. "Those are my searches," she said, after a reporter read part of the list to her.

The detailed records of searches conducted by Ms. Arnold and 657,000 other Americans, copies of which continue to circulate online, underscore how much people unintentionally reveal about themselves when they use search engines -- and how risky it can be for companies like AOL, Google and Yahoo to compile such data.

I sense a class-action lawsuit coming on. Is there a case to be made here? Could Ms. Arnold recover damages from AOL Time Warner?

A Face Is Exposed for AOL Searcher No. 4417749

Wikipedia, you've been put on notice.

In his ongoing attempt to lob satire at inanity, comedian Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's Colbert Report has pranked Wikipedia and its consensus-driven reality. In a word, he coined the phenomena "wikiality" — Wikipedia mixed with reality.
...
There was just one problem with the prank: Colbert was ultimately proven wrong.

[nicked from digg]

TheStar.com - Wikipedia handles Colbert

Warren Buffett. The most important thing you need to know about Israel today and how it has performed so far in the war with Hezbollah is Warren Buffett.

Say what? Well, the most talked-about story in Israel, before Hezbollah started this war, was the fact that on May 5, Mr. Buffett, the Berkshire Hathaway chairman and the world’s most successful investor, bought an 80 percent stake in the privately held Israeli precision tools company, Iscar Metalworking, for $4 billion — Mr. Buffett’s first purchase of a company outside America. According to BusinessWeek, as a result of the deal, Iscar’s owners were “likely to pay about $1 billion in capital gains taxes into the Israeli government’s coffers — an unexpected windfall. With the Israeli budget already running a $2 billion surplus, the government is considering slashing value-added tax by one percentage point to 15 percent.”

In May, Israeli papers were filled with pages about how cool it was that Israel had produced a cutting-edge company that Warren Buffett wanted to buy. It was being discussed everywhere, pushing the Tel Aviv stock exchange to an all-time high.

That is where Israel’s head was on the eve of this war — and it explains something I sensed when I visited Israel shortly after the fighting started. Nobody wanted this war, and nobody was prepared for it. Look closely at pictures of Israeli soldiers from Lebanon. There is no enthusiasm in their faces, and certainly no triumphalism. Their expressions tell the whole story: “I just don’t want to be doing this — another war with the Arabs.”

Israeli soldiers were napping when this war started — that’s why they got ambushed — for the very best reasons: They have so much more to do with their lives, and they live in a society that empowers and enables them to do it. (Unfortunately, the Buffett company is in northern Israel and had to be temporarily closed because of rocket attacks.)

Young Israelis dream of being inventors, and their role models are the Israeli innovators who made it to the Nasdaq. Hezbollah youth dream of being martyrs, and their role models are Islamic militants who made it to the Next World. Israel spent the last six years preparing for Warren Buffett, while Hezbollah spent the last six years preparing for this war.

“Israel was not prepared for this war,” said the Israeli political theorist Yaron Ezrahi. “It came upon us like the crash of a meteorite. ... The whole focus of debate in the country before this war was on withdrawal.” The Israeli Army had just taken on its own extremists, the settlers in Gaza, and removed them against their will, added Mr. Ezrahi, “and the country had just elected for the first time a prime minister who promised voters to unilaterally withdraw from the West Bank in return for nothing.”

In the end, Israel will do whatever it has to do to prevail. But what is so troubling for Israelis is that this w... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

Buffett and Hezbollah - New York Times

The Army is considering a proposal to allow a private developer to build a military-themed park that would include Cobra Gunship rides and bars including a "1st Division Lounge."

"You can command the latest M-1 tank, feel the rush of a paratrooper freefall, fly a Cobra Gunship or defend your B-17 as a waist gunner," according to the proposal, which was obtained by The Washington Post.

County officials have no authority over the Army's decision because the site is federal property. County Supervisor T. Dana Kauffman said he thought the entertainment concept died last year and said he had no interest in turning a military museum into "Disney on Rolling Road."

Sounds like a blast.

CNN.com - C'mon kids, let's go to Army World! - Aug 8, 2006

Once considered to be Iraq’s worst enemy, Iran has now created, financed and armed the Shiite Islamic movements within southern Iraq. Since the Iraqi Parliamentary elections of 2005, the Shiites have made considerable political gains and now have substantial influence over the country’s U.S.-created military, its police, and the central government in Baghdad. In addition, Iraq is developing economic ties with Iran that Galbraith believes could soon link the two countries’ strategic oil supplies.

That sounds about right. Iraq and Iran have historically been opposed, but a civil war between the Shiites and Sunnis gives a religious edge to this where the Iranians can support the Shiites at basically no cost to themselves. And if we oppose them, we're in opposition to the main group in that "unity government."

Heckuva job Georgie.

Ambassador claims shortly before invasion, Bush didn't know there were two sects of Islam

I was frustrated by all the wasted effort, so I decided to uncancel my small part of the project. I had been paid to do a job, and I wanted to finish it. My electronic badge still opened Apple's doors, so I just kept showing up.

a crazy story but really cool
[nicked from digg]

The Graphing Calculator Story

cosmic wallpaper
[nicked from digg]

HST Wallpaper

It's a race you can bet Floyd Landis never wanted to win: The descent from the winner's podium in Paris to accused drug user. And yet he has accomplished it with breathtaking speed. With yesterday's news that Landis's backup "B"-sample drug test confirmed there were elevated levels of testosterone after the July 20 stage of the Tour de France, the man who two weeks ago was credited with a historical feat is now being labeled a cheat.

Something in the Blood

skullaria wrote:
Some of the more tantalising tid-bits she let fall are that although Albus Dumbledore – the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – was murdered in Half-Blood Prince, he would still have an important role in the final book, and furthermore, his killer Severus Snape (whose role is assayed by Alan Rickman in the Harry Potter films) is actually a good character.

Daniel Radcliffe stars as Harry Potter in the film adaptations of J K Rowling's phenomenally successful Harry Potter series
The latter bit, which had been a topic of much debate and speculation among Potter fans, was first voiced at the concert by author Salman Rushdie, who offered his theory that Snape and Dumbledore were in cahoots (over the latter’s murder) and that Dumbledore’s death was a hoax.

“In my opinion, Snape is good”, he declared.

Rowling’s answer: “And your opinion is right, but I feel I need to make one thing clear about Dumbledore: he is dead.”

Other items the usually-reticent author let fall were that Harry’s hateful aunt Petunia Dursley would have a very important part in the final book, and heavily implied that Harry and his two friends Ron and Hermione would survive in the book, whose title Rowling is still thinking up.

Rowling also said – in response to Stephen King’s question whether Harry Potter’s rival Draco Malfoy would be redeemed – that all her characters, barring the villain Lord Voldemort, “appear redeemable” and that Harry firmly believed that Draco Malfoy was not evil. This may or may not point to her claim earlier this year that while writing the book, one of her characters had been redeemed whom she hadn’t thought of redeeming earlier.

Later on, at a meeting with fans, Rowling also said that the final book would explain the deep connection between a wizard and his wand."

ha I was right I knew Snape was a good character
thank you Mr Rushdie
Snape loved Lily so hates Voldemort for killing her plus any knowledge of Joseph Campbell suggests that Dumbledore wouldn't be wrong especially in such an important matter as trusting Snape
these books fall clearly into the good v evil, in a broadly Christian paradigm, bracket and so in that convention it would be very unususal to have the teacher/father/wiseman/Gandalf/Obe-Wan character be wrong about the importance of love and trust in the good of people

RE: Oh....JK ROWLING leaks Harry Potter Info!

A pair of strange new worlds that blur the boundaries between planets and stars have been discovered beyond our Solar System.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Strange 'twin' new worlds found