Birds have learnt to imitate the ring tones of the omnipresent mobile phones, say German ornithologists.

Indo-Asian News Service - Birds imitate mobile phone ring tones

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has vowed to deport any Muslim cleric preaching violence.
Speaking after meeting his Spanish counterpart in Madrid, Mr Sarkozy said he would seek the expulsion of imams in France "whose sermons are radical".

Here is an interesting Freedom of Speech/Religion quandry. Where is the line?

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | France 'to expel radical imams'

The utopian character of Dubai, it must be emphasized, is no mirage. Even more than Singapore or Texas, the city-state really is an apotheosis of neo-liberal values.

Dubai is the new most interesting place on earth. I blogged this before reading it. Mike Davis provides an interesting bladerunnerish dystopian perspective on the modern world. This is one take on Dubai you won't read anywhere else. The writing is peppered with a number of ignorant quips such as as the idea that the Cato institute would applaud indentured servatude and that businessmen only travel to Dubai because of the prostitutes. However, it also reveals some troubling realities under the surface of the place that are likely to be at least somewhat true. Its certainly an interesting read.

TomDispatch - Tomgram: Mike Davis on a Paradise Built on Oil

Here you will find all the information you need regarding Video Games Live - the first major U.S. concert tour featuring music from a variety of the most popular video games!

This is different...

www.videogameslive.com - Home

Spectacular Mammatus Clouds over Hastings, Nebraska

Wow...

june2004hastings-mammatus

Last week Healthcare Advocates sued both the Harding Earley firm and the Internet Archive, saying the access to its old Web pages, stored in the Internet Archive's database, was unauthorized and illegal.

Keeper of Expired Web Pages Is Sued Because Archive Was Used in Another Suit - New York Times

In an appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gonzales will support changes in the law concerning secret warrants for financial documents, library data and other business records, according to the Justice official. The changes would clearly limit the use of such warrants to national security investigations and would allow targets to mount legal challenges to the search, the official said.

I missed this somehow. Its nice to see an actual discourse.

Patriot Act Changes to Be Proposed (washingtonpost.com)

Now a PBS series which start airing tonight...

Guns Germs, & Steel: Home | PBS

London Pride is tolerant of dry, shady conditions. It grows to a height of 15-30 cm (6-12 inches) and provides rapid ground cover without being aggressively invasive, and in late spring produces a mass of small pale pink rosette flowers growing from succulent stems. It will grow well in neglected or unfavourable urban spaces where few other flowers flourish, and is a common garden escape. In particular tradition holds that it rapidly colonised the bombed sites left by the London Blitz of the early 1940s. As such it is symbolic of the resilience of London and ordinary Londoners, and of the futility of seeking to bomb them into submission.

London Pride - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The study’s findings suggest that fundamentalists’ brand connection stems from their need for predictability and certainty in a confusing world that is rapidly changing in ways that threaten their most sacred values.

Georgia Institute of Technology :: News Room :: Study: Religious Fundamentalists and Brand Loyalty