] It's a sign of all good companies: listening to
] customers. This happened to Internet and telecom
] infrastructure service provider VeriSign (Nasdaq: VRSN),
] when it was approached by a major wireless carrier
] looking for a wireless content subscription service. The
] carrier knew wireless would be a strong differentiator,
] but lacked the time or resources to deal with content
] providers, technology solutions, integration, and
] billing.

I'm not sure I'd call Verisign a good business. Actually, I am sure I would not call Verisign a good business. I would also not say that they are good at listening to customers. However, they did make an interesting move here. And I doubt they will end up dumping Jamba! for pennies on the [$273M] dollar (or euro).

Fool.com: VeriSign Goes Shopping [Motley Fool Take] May 26, 2004

] While it does not, in some ways, go nearly far enough,
] and is buried on Page A10, this low-key but scathing
] self-rebuke is nothing less than a primer on how not to
] do journalism, particularly if you are an enormously
] influential newspaper with a costly invasion of another
] nation at stake.

A strong follow-on attack of the Times apology I just blogged. The nice thing about the world of blogs is that it doesn't matter whether it was page A10 or Z173 -- if it is online, and /someone/ catches it, and it is important, we can all share in it.

But that doesn't mean it helps their case that their Jayson Blair apology was longer, and A1, while this (more important) bit is "buried".

] Today's critique is, in its own way, as devastating as last
] year's front-page corrective on Jayson Blair, though not nearly
] as long.

EditorandPublisher.com - Information Authority for the Newspaper Industry

] But we have found a number of instances of coverage that
] was not as rigorous as it should have been. In some
] cases, information that was controversial then, and seems
] questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed
] to stand unchallenged. Looking back, we wish we had been
] more aggressive in re-examining the claims as new
] evidence emerged -- or failed to emerge.
...
] It is still possible that chemical or biological weapons will
] be unearthed in Iraq, but in this case it looks as if we, along
] with the administration, were taken in. And until now we have not
] reported that to our readers.

The Times -- the NY TIMES -- finally realizes that maybe they were not quite right about the whole Iraq thing. Maybe they have some influence, and perhaps should have questioned their sources, and/or cover the dissenting opinions better

From the Editors: The Times and Iraq

] Monday's address was not carried by the broadcast
] networks for the simple reason the White House did not
] request the time. If it had, the networks probably would
] have obliged. (Asking for network airtime is sort of like
] prom season, you don't really want to pop the question
] unless you're sure of the answer in advance.) But the
] nets wouldn't have been happy about making room for Bush,
] at least not the ad sales guys. Finishing up the crucial
] spring sweeps period when all-important advertising rates
] are set, the networks were likely in no mood for a
] 45-minute primetime preemption Monday night, and the
] White House certainly understood that, which may have
] been one reason they shied away. (Why antagonize the
] media during the middle of a downward polling trend?)

The bit I caught, I listened to on NPR. Actually, I was glad I only caught the last 10 or less minutes, which gave me more of time to listen to the NPR commentary on my drive.

Speech also flopped in ratings

] Said Steiner, "If the blonds and blue-eyed people die
] out, the human race will become increasingly dense ...
] Blond hair actually bestows intelligence."

So it is no wonder why I take a performance hit whenever I have my hair cut. And I was thinking of getting rid of it... Silly me.

Interesting article on an alternative school philosophy; having been to several schools run by alternative philosophies, this made me thankful for the environments I actually ended up in. The Quaker running my elementary school may have shared some media-minimal aspects with Waldorf, but tolerance was principle number one, and I doubt folks would argue with that.

Salon.com Life | What's Waldorf?

] Hunter S. Thompson's ESPN column was scrubbed of
] controversy late Monday afternoon when online editors
] worried the famed gonzo journalist had gone too far.

HST has a way with words. Specifically, "Not even the foulest atrocities of Adolf Hitler ever shocked me so badly as these [Abu Ghraib] photographs did."

ESPN SCRUBS HUNTER S. THOMPSON BUSH BASH

] per capita income in the period prior to
] the late 1950s was right around number three in the
] world, behind the United States and Canada. But by 1984,
] its per capita income had sunk to 27th in the world,
] alongside Portugal and Turkey. Not only that, but our
] unemployment rate was 11.6 percent, we’d had 23
] successive years of deficits (sometimes ranging as high
] as 40 percent of GDP), our debt had grown to 65 percent
] of GDP, and our credit ratings were continually being
] downgraded. Government spending was a full 44 percent of
] GDP, investment capital was exiting in huge quantities,
] and government controls and micromanagement were
] pervasive at every level of the economy. We had foreign
] exchange controls that meant I couldn’t buy a
] subscription to The Economist magazine without the
] permission of the Minister of Finance. I couldn’t buy
] shares in a foreign company without surrendering my
] citizenship. There were price controls on all goods and
] services, on all shops and on all service industries.
] There were wage controls and wage freezes. I couldn’t pay
] my employees more – or pay them bonuses – if I wanted to.
] There were import controls on the goods that I could
] bring into the country. There were massive levels of
] subsidies on industries in order to keep them viable.
] Young people were leaving in droves.

Rolling Back Government

] We declared war on terror. We declared war on terror --
] its not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it,
] I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui.

Jon Stewart rocks. Great commencement speech.

News and Information | News

] John Kerry may not accept the Democratic presidential
] nomination at the party's Boston convention

Ah, fundraising.

Here's why Kerry may delay accepting a nomination

] In a study that alters conventional wisdom and paves the
] way for a better understanding of canine behavior and
] evolution, scientists say they have found genetic
] variations that allow them to distinguish among 85 dog
] breeds and to identify an individual dog's breed with 99
] percent accuracy.

I wanted to do this. I've been following this... very interesting.

The New York Times:Science:Collie or Pug? Study Finds the Genetic Code