The U.S. government has announced today that it will indefinitely retain oversight of the Internet's root servers, ignoring pervious calls by some countries to turn the function over to an international body.

U.S. Government to Retain Oversight of the Internet's Root Servers

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court, announced today that she was resigning, setting off what is expected to be a tumultuous fight over confirming her successor.

It begins....

O'Connor, First Woman on High Court, Resigns After 24 Years

In a pair of 5-to-4 rulings, the court said the display of the Ten Commandments in a 22-acre park at the Texas State Capitol was proper, but that the displays of the Commandments in two county courthouses in Kentucky were so overtly religious as to be impermissible.

The rulings, the first by the court in a quarter-century on the emotional issue of the proper place of the Commandments in American life, conveyed the message that disputes over such religious displays must be decided case by case, and that the specific facts are all important.

Hopefully, this won't throw too much fuel onto the fundies' fire.

Commandment Displays Allowed on Some Government Property

But scientists and public health officials say they are alarmed by the surge of attention to an idea without scientific merit. The anti-thimerosal campaign, they say, is causing some parents to stay away from vaccines, placing their children at risk for illnesses like measles and polio.

"It's really terrifying, the scientific illiteracy that supports these suspicions," said Dr. Marie McCormick, chairwoman of an Institute of Medicine panel that examined the controversy in February 2004.

This is classic. People fundamentally don't understand the scientific method or most basic ideas of probability.

On Autism's Cause, It's Parents vs. Research

Don’t kid yourself. America’s property bubble didn’t just appear out of thin air. It is traceable directly to the equity bubble of the Roaring 1990s -- and to a central bank that remains steeped in denial. The real lesson of Japan is that there may well be no easy way out.

Morgan Stanley: Steve Roach on housing

At last month's D: All Things Digital technology conference, which I co-produce for The Wall Street Journal, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said he was wary of producing an Apple cellphone because, instead of selling it directly to the public, he would have to offer it through what he called the "four orifices" -- the four big U.S. cellphone carriers.

This is the best Steve Jobs quote I've heard in awhile.

Mossberg is right on the money here with how assinine the situation with wireless carriers and cellphone hardware is.

Wireless Carriers' Veto Over How Phones Work Hampers Innovation

New York University is moving to close down its graduate students union at the end of the summer, the labor movement's only toehold among graduate students at private universities.

N.Y.U. Moves to Disband Graduate Students Union

"It's terrible," De Raadt reportedly said. "Everyone is using it, and they don't realise how bad it is. And the Linux people will just stick with it and add to it rather than stepping back and saying, 'This is garbage and we should fix it.'"

Talk about sour grapes...

Linux wins because of its community, not because its the best technology. Making statements like this on a regular basis is why everyone hates Theo. I've seen him flame people on public mailing lists that was shockingly unprofessional in its extent. OpenBSD looses because of Theo.

Theo de Raat: Linux is for Losers

Polls show that the conservative-backed candidates are not expected to do well in the elections today, and that they may not even make it into a runoff election, if one is required.

Good news?

Iranians Vote After a Campaign of Violence and Moderation

Drug companies have freedom under the Food and Drug Administration rules to ignore their rival's patents when starting research on competing medications, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.

Justices Say Drug Patents Don't Bar Rival Research