] Bloglines is a new way to stay current with your favorite
] blogs. As an RSS aggregator, Bloglines tracks changes to
] blogs that you subscribe to, and remembers which entries
] you've read.

Bloglines

] Libya wants to solve all problems and we want to focus on
] development and advancing our country. This (weapons)
] programme does not benefit our people or country... We
] want to have ties with America and Britain because this
] is in the interest of our people.

(from Decius) Saddam's capture has overshadowed two other major wins for the administration this week. The first was Iran's agreement to allow inspections of it's nuclear facilities. The second was Libya's disarmament agreement. In the wake of the Iraq war a number of our enemies have decided that opposing us is counter productive.

Good. :)

BBC NEWS | Africa | World reaction to Libya's decision

] There are friendly nations, but no friendly intelligence services.

Interesting reading from one of the former CIA Counterintelligence Chiefs. This is the agency whose job it is to protect "us" from *their* spies.

The Ten Commandments of Counterintelligence - by Jim Olson

This is a list of codes used by Western Union in the 1850s. Some people who are radio-savvy will still use numbers from this chart for modern slang. For example saying, "73" means "Best Regards" and "88" means "Love and Kisses."

Western Union '92 Code' Chart

] The table below was prepared in response to frequent
] inquiries, especially from the media, asking questions such
] as, "What are the odds of being killed by lightning?" or
] "What are the chances of dying in a plane crash?

In the year 2000, the chances of dying from a lightning strike were 1 in 5.5 Million. Or, over the course of a lifetime, 1 in 70,000.

Morbid statistics du jour, from the National Safety Council. ;)

What are the Odds of Dying?

] This is the web site for the Erdös Number Project, which
] studies research collaboration among mathematicians.

Paul Erdos was a famous mathematician who authored and/or co-authored over a thousand different papers. So famous was he, that his co-authors gained fame just for having their names on the same paper as he (which gave them "Erdos 1" status). So famous were those co-authors, that others gained fame for co-authoring a paper with someone who had once co-authored a paper with Erdos (which gave the co-co-authors "Erdos 2" titles). And then people who co-authored with "Erdos 2" people became "Erdos 3", and so on. Sort of like the Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but in the academic world.

I was recently approached about co-authoring a paper with someone who's an Erdos 3, which would make me an Erdos 4, if it happens. I'll probably do the paper, regardless of the Erdos-ness of it. Having never heard of the numbering scheme before, it doesn't matter that much to me. But still, I found it worth meme-ing for the day. :)

Erdos Number Project

Good resource for finding out the correct "abuse@--.com" addresses to write to for any given domain.

abuse.net - Resource for reporting network abuse

] BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court has ordered an online
] video game company to return hard-won virtual property,
] including a make-believe stockpile of bio-chemical
] weapons, to a player whose game account was looted by a
] hacker.

Ah, Pandora, hello. I was wondering when you were going to show up.

Court orders Chinese game company to return stolen virtual game property

LOL

What NOT to do when watching 'LOTR: Return of the King'

] The Sun, the Moon, and two photographers all lined up
] last month in Antarctica during an unusual total eclipse
] of the Sun.

Wow.

An Antarctic Total Solar Eclipse