] Coke vending machines are everywhere. They're getting
] more and more like regular computers with LEDs that show
] little "ICE COLD" messages and whatnot. Well, there's a
] lot more to those little built-in computers than you may
] think. Included in the low-level operating system that
] these babies run on is an actual debug menu that gives
] you access to all sorts of machine information and
] possibly gives you free cokes in older machines.
]

[NLhiphop] Hacking Coke Machines

] The secretary's approval rating has fallen from 71
] percent in April 2003 at the height of the U.S.-led
] invasion of Iraq to 41 percent in the new survey.

What is the value of these polls?

If you repeat "Rumsfeld bad" in the press over and over and over again for a month and then take a poll of what the American people think of Rumself, they are going to tell you "Rumsfeld bad." Why even ask? Is this just a litmus of how well the media system is working? Can we get some correlation between this infomation and data about news media opeds?

CNN.com - Poll: Rumsfeld losing public's support - Dec 20, 2004

] Artists produce visual art, writers produce words to tell
] stories, musicians produce songs. All of these things
] require at least four things the way I see it.
]
] 1) Perseverance - These people must be able to keep
] trying, even if they do not like how something they are
] working on is turning out. They don't just decide
] they can't do it and quit because it's too
] hard.
]
] 2) Creativity - These people have to obviously have
] something in their heads that they want and know how to
] get out onto a media that they can share with the rest of
] the world.
]
] 3) Balls - They also aren't afraid to put their work
] out there for the world to see. They aren't afraid
] of being laughed at because they know that its the best
] they could have done, and what does it mean if someone
] else makes fun of them?
]
] 4) Drive - They continue to work, learn, and grow at
] their skill by never being satisfied. By always pushing
] the limits of their abilities.

baudburn.com: Geeking in Style.: Comment on On Creation and Perseverance.

An interesting scramble of RSS feeds related to Nashville 2600. One MemeStream in there...

Planet Nashville 2600

] The foreign militants are flush with cash, use a highly
] sophisticated code when communicating, travel in small
] groups at night, are disciplined and have access to
] laptop computers, Pakistani military officials say. The
] network has even sent e-mail messages, letters and DVD's
] to Pakistani soldiers fighting in the tribal areas urging
] them not to kill their fellow Muslims on behalf of
] America, according to Western diplomats.

More rumors of sophisticated technology in the hands on Al'Q leadership...

The New York Times - Intelligence: A Hostile Land Foils the Quest for bin Laden

] NewsKnowledge and The Hive Group have joined forces to
] bring you News Maps, visual maps of the NewsIsFree
] headline database. News Maps allow you to quickly scan
] dozens of news articles and instantly understand what's
] being reported all over the world.
]
] Each square in the News Map is an article. You can obtain
] additional detail on each article by moving your mouse
] over it. You can read an article by clicking on it.
]
] The Hive Group's Honeycomb algorithm organizes news
] headlines by source. Size and Color information indicate
] article age and popularity (described below). You can
] easily filter and rearrange you results to view articles
] that meet certain criteria, or that contain certain text.

Very cool!

NewsIsFree: NewsMaps - in collaboration with The Hive Group

] Students at one of the area's largest Christian schools
] are reading a controversial booklet that critics say
] whitewashes Southern slavery with its view that slaves
] lived "a life of plenty, of simple pleasures."
]
] Leaders at Cary Christian School say they are not
] condoning slavery by using "Southern Slavery, As It Was,"
] a booklet that attempts to provide a biblical
] justification for slavery and asserts that slaves weren't
] treated as badly as people think.
]
] Principal Larry Stephenson said the school is only
] exposing students to different ideas, such as how the
] South justified slavery. He said the booklet is used
] because it is hard to find writings that are both
] sympathetic to the South and explore what the Bible says
] about slavery.

This is an interesting story. Is this a good idea or a bad idea? Its difficult to tell. Does this "Christian" school teach "different ideas" about Religion? If so, then I'd say this is no different. If not, then I'd say they are being selective about what to indoctrinate and what not to indoctrinate.

newsobserver.com Christian School teaches multiple views on Slavery

] I'm not sure why it's so compelling right now, but it is.
] Sometimes, a thing swells into a scale so tasteless, so
] grotesque, it crosses a magical threshhold and becomes
] beautiful. Like matter to antimatter. Beauty from
] antibeauty.
]
] How did a place so full of decay become an emblem of
] growth? The future is here. But I'm not sure what that
] future is.

One of the most interesting BoingBoing entries ever.

Boing Boing: The Fertile Valleys

Of interest, sort of... The Find Later feature is interesting in that you already have a key word that will always produce the data you are looking for again.

Fat Pickle - Your Search Just Got Personal

] Read it to me is AppleScript software that lets you
] sync audio versions of content to your iPod via Apple's
] Text-to-Speech and iTunes. Created by Adam Tow and Alex
] King.

Darn, turns out I don't have to. This program pulls RSS content and pushes it into iTunes so you can play it on your iPod. Download all your favorite RSS feeds in the morning and listen to them in the car on your way to work...

alexking.org: Software - Read it to Me