] Style is a personal thing, this is nothing new. But I've
] always found it fascinating how diverse opinions can be,
] especially in the same city, in a similar age range. One
] girl's turn-off may be another girls cat's meow.
]
] To determine if there were universal female gripes within
] NYC, I did some digging. A simple question to female
] friends and associates, "Is there something you see a guy
] wearing that turns you off, before you even know him?"
] turned into an endless barrage of answers. (You'll see
] that "shy" would not be the word to describe the
] participants.)
]
] But for now, here's what the girlies DON'T like:

There's a corresponding article for girls at http://www.nycpulse.com/web/articles/fashion/nov/112602a.htm

I find it amusing when there is a trend in modern society that most people don't find attractive or interesting, but it seems to be extremely popular nonetheless.

New York's guide to entertainment, restaurants, nightlife and events | nycpulse.com online

] The item I had just bought cost 29 cents. I gave the
] cashier a dollar bill, and she gave me two quarters, two
] dimes, and a penny in change. She could just as well have
] given me seven dimes and a penny or some other
] combination of coins adding up to 71 cents, but there's
] no way she could have made change with fewer than five
] coins.
]
] Most businesses in the United States make change using
] just four different types of coins: 1 cent (penny), 5
] cents (nickel), 10 cents (dime), and 25 cents (quarter).
] This distribution of coinage suggests an interesting
] question: Is it the most efficient way to make change? In
] other words, is this the optimal choice of coin values
] for minimizing the number of coins required to handle
] typical transactions?
]
] Computer scientist Jeffrey Shallit of the University of
] Waterloo has worked out an answer. In the current issue
] of the Mathematical Intelligencer, he contends that "what
] the U.S. needs is an 18-cent piece."

Math Trek : Coins for Making Change Efficiently, Science News Online, May 10, 2003

] Some days, work is so horrible that Christa Adams must
] leave her desk and take a walk around the building to
] calm down. The horrifying, violent sexual images that pop
] up on her computer screen still unnerve her.
]
] But she is no longer shocked. After all, she went looking
] for those images. It is part of the job when you are a
] porn-tracker.
]
] She is one of about a dozen "verifier technicians" at 8e6
] Technologies, an Orange-based firm that develops software
] for organizations seeking to keep employees or children
] from looking at inappropriate Web sites.
]
] For the most part, the idea of looking at porn on the
] Internet all day - and getting paid for it - brings
] mischievous grins to their faces, though they concede
] that the job is not as exciting as it may seem.

Philadelphia Inquirer | 05/01/2003 | They look at porn all day, so others won't be able to

] BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 30 %u2014 Even though many
] irreplaceable antiquities were looted from the National
] Museum of Iraq during the chaotic fall of Baghdad last
] month, museum officials and American investigators now
] say the losses seem to be less severe than originally
] thought.
]
] Col. Matthew F. Bogdanos, a Marine reservist who is
] investigating the looting and is stationed at the museum,
] said museum officials had given him a list of 29
] artifacts that were definitely missing. But since then, 4
] items %u2014 ivory objects from the eighth century B.C.
] %u2014 had been traced.

Loss Estimates Are Cut on Iraqi Artifacts, but Questions Remain

Even as White House political aides plot a 2004 campaign plan designed to capitalize on the emotions and issues raised by the September 11 terror attacks, administration officials are waging a behind-the-scenes battle to restrict public disclosure of key events relating to the attacks.

...

By refusing to declassify many of its most significant conclusions, the administration has essentially thwarted congressional plans to release the report by the end of this month, congressional and administration sources tell NEWSWEEK. In some cases, these sources say, the administration has even sought to “reclassify” some material that was already discussed in public testimony—a move one Senate staffer described as “ludicrous.” The administration’s stand has infuriated the two members of Congress who oversaw the report—Democratic Sen. Bob Graham and Republican Rep. Porter Goss.

...

In Graham’s view, the Bush administration isn’t protecting legitimate issues of national security but information that could be a political “embarrassment,” the aide said. Graham, who last year served as Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, recently told NEWSWEEK: “There has been a cover-up of this."

...

... because the document relied so heavily on secret material, the administration “working group,” overseen by CIA director George Tenet, had to first “scrub” the document and determine which portions could be declassified.

More than two months later, the working group came back with its decisions—and some members were flabbergasted. Entire portions remained classified. Some of the report—including some dealing with matters that had been extensively aired in public, such as the now famous FBI “Phoenix memo” of July 2001 reporting that Middle Eastern nationals might be enrolling in U.S. flight schools—were “reclassified.”

...

One portion deals extensively with the stream of U.S. intelligence-agency reports in the summer of 2001 suggesting that Al Qaeda was planning an upcoming attack against the United States—and implicitly raises questions about how Bush and his top aides responded. One such CIA briefing, in July 2001, was particularly chilling and prophetic. It predicted that Osama bin Laden was about to launch a terrorist strike “in the coming weeks,” the congressional investigators found. The intelligence briefing went on to say: “The attack will be spectacular and designed to inflict mass casualties against U.S. facilities or interests. Attack preparations have been made. Attack will occur with little or no warning.”

The substance of that intelligence report was first disclosed at a public hearing last September by staff director Hill. But at the last minute, Hill was blocked from saying precisely who within the Bush White House got the briefing when CIA director Tenet classified the names of the recipients. (One source says the recipients of the briefing included Bush himself.) As a result, Hill was only able to say the briefing was given to “senior government officials.”

...

Hopefully the truth will find its way into the light about 9/11 someday. Bush's administration is doing everything in their power to keep the lid on the truth. It wouldn't help his re-election bid if the public knew he sat on his ass and let it happen.

If you live in America, if you call this your home, wouldn't you like to know everything possible about 9/11? I still want to know why the Air Force was told to stand down that day. I still want to know more about those fishy stock put options and how they were traced back to A.B. Brown. What is the classified information linking the Israeli spy ring in America to 9/11?

Lots of unanswered questions. Keep the issues alive.

The Secrets of September 11

] A seven-year-old boy who was admitted to hospital with
] stomach pains was actually "pregnant" with his twin
] brother.
]
] Doctors at Chimkent Children's Hospital in Kazakhstan
] originally believed Mourat Zhanaidarov was suffering from
] a cyst.
]
] But during surgery, they discovered he was in fact
] carrying the dead foetus of his twin brother.
]
] The foetus had developed into a tumour but was found to
] have hair, nails and bones.

Freaky.

BBC NEWS | Health | Boy 'pregnant' with twin brother

] The US spends almost $50 billion each year on education,
] so why aren't kids learning? Forty percent of students
] lack basic reading skills, and their academic performance
] is dismal compared with that of their foreign
] counterparts. In response to this crisis, schools are
] skilling-and-drilling their way "back to basics," moving
] toward mechanical instruction methods that rely on
] line-by-line scripting for teachers and endless
] multiple-choice testing. Consequently, kids aren't
] learning how to think anymore - they're learning how to
] memorize. This might be an ideal recipe for the future
] Babbitts of the world, but it won't produce the kind of
] agile, analytical minds that will lead the high tech
] global age. Fortunately, we've got Grand Theft Auto: Vice
] City and Deus X for that.
]
] After school, kids are devouring new information,
] concepts, and skills every day, and, like it or not,
] they're doing it controller in hand, plastered to the TV.
] The fact is, when kids play videogames they can
] experience a much more powerful form of learning than
] when they're in the classroom. Learning isn't about
] memorizing isolated facts. It's about connecting and
] manipulating them. Doubt it? Just ask anyone who's beaten
] Legend of Zelda or solved Morrowind.

High Score Education

] Golden feces wipes smile
]
] on Japanese faces

Golden Feces anyone? WORK SAFE

] "We are all suffering from low-level
] depression," a friend of mine said the other night.
] I didn't have to ask him why. "Yes," I
] said, "the events of the past month have been
] traumatic, and we are all anxious to see what the future
] has in store for us."
]
] "God only knows," another friend commented.
]
] "True," my friend answered, "but God helps
] those who help themselves. What have the Arabs done to
] help themselves over the last 40 years?"

A great editorial in the Arab News. Nice to see someone thinking with a clear head and a vision towards the future.

ArabNews: It's Not Too Late to Face Reality

Get invited to pot lucks and never know what to bring?

Tons of easy "white trash" recipes to check out.
Impress folks with your Oakie-Fied Culinary Treats!

Recipes include: Ambrosia Salad (aka White Trash Whip), 7-Up Cake, Corn Dog Muffins, Cherries in a Cloud,
Spaghetti Ramen, Tater Tot Casserole, Twinkie Torte, Deep Fried Mars Bars and more!

yum! - White Trash Recipes