] Canada's high-speed Internet service providers have been
] far more successful than their U.S. counterparts in
] signing up residential customers, a study to be released
] Monday says.

Evidence that US regulatory environment is slowing broadband adoption

Apparently there is a petition to save Clone High. Canceling this would be a shame. However, online petitions aren't a very effective tool, and of course we've seen Farscape fans raise hundreds of thousands of dollars and not gotten anywhere.

Save Clone High Petition

Just when I think that they've thought of it all on Ebay, here comes yet another strange auction. The instant girlfriend kit!

eBay item 2916669204 (Ends Mar-16-03 17:33:47 PST ) - Instant Girlfriend Kit!

] I'm calling in from the highly-guarded border of Iran and
] Kurdistan. A truck is waiting for us to transport CNN
] staff, our personal belongings, and our television gear
] into kurd-controlled northern Iraq. We're crossing into
] this region to cover the northern front of a potential
] war with Iraq, in an area dense with oil-rich fields
] along the northern no-fly-zone.

This guy is fucking nuts. (With apologies to Elonka.)

That having been said, this could be one of the more interesting weblogs in the coming weeks.... Unless someone actually starts blogging from Bagdad. Or, you know, they actually negotiate a peace. Or the Aliens arrive and colonize the planet.

Kevin Sites Blog

] In any case, we shall continue our work at the
] waitingforthewebcaminiraq so that you could organize the
] projections at the walls and screens of your towns. Also,
] journalist Antonio Baquero is going to try to send us a
] usual everyday photo from a Baghdadi street that we would
] like to film.

Baghdad Webcam update. Evidently technical and licensing problems are preventing the installation of the webcams themselves so far, though there is a journalist who is sending out daily photos which are being posted on this site at http://www.webcaminiraq.org.

There also seems to be information and pics at the following domain:
http://www.waitingforthewebcaminiraq.org

And an explanation of some of the difficulties in obtaining a "webcam license" from the Baghdad authorities, who are evidently indicating some suspicion about the use of the webcam, here:
http://www.webcaminiraq.org/estado_english.htm

The WebCamInIraq site seems to be posted by Spanish journalists, with text in either Spanish or (moderately understandable) English. At least it's a daily pic update though!

Thanks to Mr. Kobeissi of Asharq Al-Awsat for the info and links!

Webcam in Iraq Project

] President Bush on Tuesday signed legislation creating a
] national "do-not-call" list intended to help consumers
] block unwanted telemarketing calls.

CBS News | 'Do Not Call' Is Law | March 11, 2003 14:49:40

] The job of the hippocampus appears to be to "encode"
] experiences so they can be stored as long-term memories
] elsewhere in the brain. "If you lose your hippocampus you
] only lose the ability to store new memories," says
] Berger. That offers a relatively simple and safe way to
] test the device: if someone with the prosthesis regains
] the ability to store new memories, then it's safe to
] assume it works.

This is amazing stuff.

New Scientist: An artificial hippocampus

Everything you need to know about the new Iraq deal in 30 seconds thanks to Elonka. My comments follow.

] The benchmarks listed below would be criteria for Iraq to
] follow within a week or 10 days if it wanted to avoid war,
] by showing it was fully complying with U.N. disarmament
] obligations.

Summarizing for brevity:

(1) Saddam would have to make a public, broadcasted statement, in Arabic, that Iraq has made a strategic decision not to produce or retain Weapons of Mass Destruction, and he should further publicly encourage all Iraqis to come forward if they have any such info, disregarding any orders that they might have received in the past to hide such information.

(2) At least 30 Iraqi scientists selected by UN Inspectors must be made available for private interviews, with their families, outside of Iraq.

(3) All remaining anthrax or anthrax production capability must be either surrendered, or credible evidence must be provided to account for the whereabouts or destruction of known past stockpiles.

(4) All remaining Al-Samoud missiles must be destroyed.

(5) Credible evidence on the purpose of the unmanned or remote-piloted vehicles must be provided, along with a full accounting of the organizations and technology involved.

(6) (wording still being worked on) Iraq must give up all mobile biological production labs for destruction.

-=-=-=-

I feel like we have a real chance to negotiate a peace here. I would have added some humanitarian stuff to this list as well, but whatever.

If we put out some clear, acheivable guidelines that the international community can agree with, then it is all really up to Iraq. The US won't be in a position to make it impossible for Iraq to comply.

Trouble is, France has stated that they will veto ANY new resolution. Can they really be serious about this? There must be SOMETHING they can agree to.

And, of course, Iraq is unlikely to comply.

British Draft List of Iraqi Tasks

Nanochick wrote:
] I want these so bad!!!

You can order them here. $7.

Marie. Birthday. Now. :)

Where to get playmobil Hazmat team.

playmobil hazmat!

A sign of the times.

Collectobil Catalogue - Playmobil® item 3180