] Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for
] scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers,
] theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports
] from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to
] find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers,
] professional societies, preprint repositories and
] universities, as well as scholarly articles available
] across the web.

For anybody who has to do literature searches, this rules!

Google Scholar

Scientists have discovered a new and tiny species of human that lived in Indonesia at the same time our own ancestors were colonising the world.

The new species - dubbed "the Hobbit" due to its small size - lived on Flores island until at least 12,000 years ago.

'Hobbit' joins human family tree

] Unfortunately, our leaders do not understand the Fourth
] Generation, so it appears we are about to throw this
] opportunity away. We continue to bomb and shell Fallujah,
] which pushes our enemies toward each other. We seem to be
] readying an all-out assault on the city, which will have
] the usual result when Goliath defeats David: a moral
] defeat for Goliath. Many Iraqis will die, the city will
] be wrecked (as always, we will promise to rebuild it but
] not do so), and any losses the insurgents suffer will be
] made up many times over by a flood of new recruits. Never
] was it more truly said that, %u201CWe have met the enemy,
] and he is us.%u201D

The man who wrote the Marines combat manuals drops the knowledge bomb. Linked from Gibson's blog. Definately one to monitor for war watchers. Gold Star... if I had any.

Every line is so quotable.

William S. Lind On War Archive

] The good news: International intelligence expert George
] Friedman's "America's Secret War," says the United States
] is winning the war against al-Qaida around the world.
]
] Then what's bad news, at least for the administration of
] President Bush?
]
] "The decision to invade Iraq was not a good one and very
] few in the administration thought it was. It was the best
] of a bad lot," Friedman writes.
]
] In short, Friedman contends, Bush didn't really go to war
] because he was worried about Iraqi weapons of mass
] destruction or links to terrorists. But those were
] concerns he could use to sell the war to the American
] people, and now he may pay the ultimate political price
] for that.
]
] Who is Friedman and why should we believe him? His
] company, Stratfor (short for Strategic Forecasting), a
] private worldwide intelligence company, has been given
] credit by Barron's magazine for being "miles ahead of CNN
] and all the other media" for its online reporting. The
] American Spectator has written that "Stratfor is changing
] the way we think about news," while the Wall Street
] Journal said the "predictions have made George Friedman a
] hot property these days."
. . .
] If you prefer books coming from a strong political bias (for or
] against the war, for or against Bush, etc.), "America's Secret
] War" is not for you. But if you wonder how and why things have
] gone the way they have since 9/11, this is a eye-opener.

[adds to book list]

Psst ... U.S. winning terror war (Review: 'America's Secret War')

Colin Powell kept a set of rules on his desk. Here are a few:

Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.

Get mad, then get over it.

Have a vision. Be demanding.

Check small things.

You can't make someone else's choices. You shouldn't let someone else make yours.

Be careful what you choose. You may get it.

I've posted these before, but it's worth reviewing them periodically.

Powell's Rules

] Google SMS (Short Message Service) enables you to easily
] get precise answers to specialized queries from your
] mobile phone or device. Send your query as a text message
] and get phone book listings, dictionary definitions,
] product prices and more. Just text. No links. No web
] pages. Simply the answers you're looking to find.

This works great. I'm gunna end up paying for cheaper SMS service with this.

Google SMS

] (From the [Senate] diaries, Cheney presided over the Senate a
] grand total of two times the past four years -- just as
] many times as Edwards, who also did so twice. Slightly
] edited -- kos)
]
] "Now, in my capacity as vice president, I am the
] president of Senate, the presiding officer. I'm up in the
] Senate most Tuesdays when they're in session."
]
] --Dick Cheney
]
] The extended entry has the presiding officers over the
] last four years for every Tuesday session.

Cheney Attendance at Senate

OK, this image was just a pre-debate effort by the Bush campaign to spin the expectations game in their favor, but after the fact, it looks kind of funny.

In the interest of keeping things in context (not that the Bush campaign has shown any willingness to do so), here is how the image originally appeared in the Bush campaign blog:
http://www.georgewbush.com/blog/archives/week_2004_09_26.html#001760

First Presidential Debate - Bush Campaign Concedes Defeat? [humor]

] If we accept the idea that we are born with a large
] amount of damage, it follows that even small improvements
] to the processes of early human development - ones
] that increase the numbers of initially functional
] elements - could result in a remarkable fall in
] mortality and a significant extension of human life.
] Indeed, there is mounting evidence now in support of the
] idea of fetal origins of adult degenerative diseases and
] early-life programming of aging and longevity.

Why we break

] The threat to the country is very real. The large pool of
] idle youth has allowed Islamic fundamentalists to find
] easy recruits. Saudi sources say that many of the
] insurgents were in their early teens.

Since the early 90s, I've always compared Islamic fundamentalistic terrorism with the punk movement. It seems apropriate.

The real inspiration for Islamic Terrorism? Boredom