] Under growing international pressure, U.S. authorities
] Tuesday seized a Cuban exile accused by
] Fidel Castro's government of masterminding a 1976
] airliner bombing that killed 73 people. He had been
] seeking asylum in the United States.

This is one of those cases where a little bit of context really makes the spin sound sinister.

Search MemeStreams for cuban.

Three of this guy's associates entered the country back in August under the cover of press coverage. One of them actually fired a bazooka at the UN building in New York City in 1964! The US admitted them. No problem. They are still free here.

This guy is their leader. He has been here for over a month. He requested asylum. Formally. With a lawyer. He has been taking interveiws. Last week the US goaded Cuba on a black militant that they are harboring. Even the domestic press called that hypocritical when these guys are hanging around in Florida. Castro does them one better and has several hundred thousand people march past the US mission in protest. The international press picks it up, a lot (search Google News for Cuba). So the US picks him up. Immediately following the protest. They claim they didn't know where he was beforehand.

These guys blew up a commerical airliner. Are we really this corrupt? Am I missing something here? What the fuck...

U.S. Detains Cuban Linked to 1976 Bombing - Yahoo! News

I think this is a good idea. You may want to sign up for these. However, it also ominously reminds me of the film version of Fahrenheit 451. "Calling all Citizens. Wanted for murder, the criminal is alone and on foot. Let each one stand at his front door, look and listen. Watch for a man running through the streets..."

Amber Alerts head to cell phones | CNET News.com

] One reason I'm in hot water is because my colleagues
] and I at NOW didn't play by the conventional rules of
] Beltway journalism. Those rules divide the world into
] democrats and republicans, liberals and conservatives
] and allow journalists to pretend they have done their
] job if, instead of reporting the truth behind the news,
] they merely give each side an opportunity to spin the
] news.

...

] Hear me: an unconscious people, an indoctrinated people,
] a people fed only partisan information and opinion that
] confirm their own bias, a people made morbidly obese in
] mind and spirit by the junk food of propaganda is less
] inclined to put up a fight, ask questions and be skeptical.
] And just as a democracy can die of too many lies, that kind
] of orthodoxy can kill us, too.

This is quite a rant...

Democracy Now! | Bill Moyers Responds to CPB's Tomlinson Charges of Liberal Bias:

] In the next few months, after being patiently nurtured
] for 22 years, an artificial brain called Cyc (pronounced
] "psych") will be put online for the world to interact
] with. And it's only going to get cleverer. Opening Cyc up
] to the masses is expected to accelerate the rate at which
] it learns, giving it access to the combined knowledge of
] millions of people around the globe as it hoovers up new
] facts from web pages, webcams and data entered manually
] by anyone who wants to contribute.
]
]
] Crucially, Cyc's creator says it has developed a human
] trait no other AI system has managed to imitate: common
] sense. "I believe we are heading towards a singularity
] and we will see it in less than 10 years," says Doug
] Lenat of Cycorp, the system's creator.

It's about time. Cyc has been perported to be on the verge of taking off for five years now. It would be really exciting if Lenat's decades-long effort were to be successful.

New Scientist Whatever happened to machines that think? - Features

There was a massive solar storm on Friday which resulted in Northern Lights being visible on Saturday night almost all over the country, which I completely missed because I live in a big ass city with lots of light pollution. This gallery includes images from Nashville.

Spaceweather.com: May 2005 Aurora Gallery

] Comedian Dave Chappelle wants to set things straight:
] "I'm not crazy, I'm not smoking crack."

Thats not what I heard this weekend. Thought I'd post this in case you heard something different too...

CNN.com - Chappelle: 'I'm not smoking crack'

] Kulam Dastagir, 28, a bird seller who refused to join the
] demonstration, said: "I don't think the report is true, but
] these crises work for those who want to make fights between
] people."

This astute observation applies to just about everyone involved in these events on all sides.

Newsweek Apologizes

] No Derivative Works. Others may copy, distribute,
] display, and perform only verbatim copies of the work,
] not derivative works based upon it.

John Edwards has started podcasting. In theory you cannot make a derivative work from his podcasts. Of course, this is because he is afraid that you might take this audio and sample it in a political attack ad. This raises an interesting question: Is there any derivative work that you would want to make from a John Edwards podcast which would not constitute a fair use of the material. It seems that attack ads in particular would be protected speech.

Political copyright

] Congress is considering legislation this week to fix the ADIZ
] (basically, to remind the FAA and Transportation Security Administration it was
] supposed to be temporary) and re-open Reagan National airport to general
] aviation. If the FAA and TSA wanted to derail the legislation, this
] line of thinking goes, exaggerating the threat from a tiny Cessna would be
] a great way to do it.

Two-seater airplane brings government to a halt: was alert justified? [Politech]

] I know you're going to say I'm being a dick here, but I'm
] going to give you the pure, unvarnished truth: Neither
] Apple's management nor Apple's shareholders give a shit
] about what the "alpha geeks" think.

This page contains a number of insightful posts on Apple's video strategy from a Slashdot user named "As seen on TV."

Apple Strategy