] EVANSTON, Illinois (AP) -- Richard Cusack, an advertising
] executive turned actor and screenwriter whose children
] included Hollywood stars John and Joan Cusack, has died
] at 77.
]
] Cusack, who died of pancreatic cancer Monday, abandoned a
] 17-year successful advertising career in 1970 to enter
] the film industry.

CNN.com - Richard Cusack dead at 77 - Jun. 3, 2003

] Baghdad was hectic when two blogging friends e-mailed me
] to suggest that I track down "Salam Pax." I had no idea
] who or what they were talking about. I could have handed
] over the job of sorting out this Salam Pax thing to my
] interpreter—he was a clever and funny Iraqi who never
] failed to provide what I needed, whether it was
] interviews or pizza—but I let it pass. I thought I had
] better things to do.

... and it turns out that Iraqi interpreter was Salam Pax.

Salam Pax Is Real - How do I know Baghdad's famous blogger exists? He worked for me. By Peter Maass

] For those of you who are tired of Washington-based career
] politicians raising millions of dollars from special
] interests, ignoring their day jobs representing their
] consitutuents while they fly around the country to
] fundraisers, debates, and photo-ops, consider the story
] of Michael Badnarik (http://www.badnarik.org):
]
]
] He's running for President because his friends asked him
] to, because they consider him an excellent communicator,
] an expert on the US Constitution, and an honorable man.
] With limited funding, he is driving across the country
] with a buddy, staying with campaign supporters and eating
] $5 meals. To survive, he teaches day-long classes on the
] US Constitution for $50 to anyone who is interested.
]
]
] Coming from nowhere (sorry, Austin, Texas), he is
] currently in a two-man race with a much better funded
] opponent, talk radio host Gary Nolan
] (http://www.garynolan.com) for the Libertarian Party
] nomination in 2004.
]
]
] Does he expect to win? Is he qualified to be President,
] if he does win? Maybe not, but he should make supporters
] of the Republican and Democratic parties wonder why they
] settle for the uninspiring candidates they are offered
] year after year, who appear to neither understand nor
] respect the Constitution they are expected to protect,
] uphold, and defend, if they are elected.

I would laugh until I passed out if this guy won the next election. Maybe he's qualified, maybe he's not - but regardless, it's the kind of campaign I'd love to see make it.

A Different Kind of Campaign

] For sale: what might be one of the Soviet Sputnik
] satellites that ushered in the Space Age and sparked a
] frenzied competition that soon led to the launch of the
] first man into orbit.
]
] As with so many things Russian, the sale, offered online
] by Sovietski.com and eBay Inc. for a starting auction
] price of $25,000, presents a riddle wrapped in a mystery,
] for no one is able to say how many authentic Sputniks
] actually exist.
]
] The Soviet Union launched the original Sputnik, a shiny
] metallic orb with four antennas streaking from the side,
] in 1957, setting off a panic in the United States, which
] feared it was falling behind its Cold War rival.
]
] Amid the secrecy that prevailed at the time, Moscow made
] several back-up models, and since the fall of the Soviet
] Union, some of these have landed in the hands of their
] former adversary on very capitalist terms.
]
] Cathleen Lewis, curator of the Russian and Soviet Space
] collection at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C., said
] experts believe Moscow originally made four back-up
] Sputniks. Yet far more than four Sputniks are now in
] circulation.
]
] The original 183-pound (83 kilo) Sputnik burned up when
] it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.
]
] "There is so little documentation and accountability. We
] just don't know what it is," she said of the latest sale.

Cool if its the genuine article

CNN.com - Missing Sputnik may be for sale on eBay - Jun. 4, 2003

] Adobe Systems Incorporated today announced an agreement
] to acquire the technology assets of Syntrillium Software,
] a leader in digital audio tools. Syntrillium's flagship
] product, Cool Edit Pro, will join the company's existing
] line of professional digital video products that include
] Adobe® Premiere®, Adobe After Effects®, Adobe
] Encore%u2122 DVD and Adobe Photoshop®.

I've been using Cool Edit for over 8 years now. This will be interesting to see how Adobe integrates it with Premiere and their other digital media tools.

Adobe acquires Syntrillium Software

] Heavy-metal band Metallica, a vociferous opponent of
] Internet song-swapping sites, is turning to the Web as a
] way to encourage fans to buy the band's new music.
]
] Metallica, whose first album in six years is scheduled to
] be released on June 5, is offering exclusive music tracks
] online as well through a partnership with Speakeasy, the
] Seattle-based high-speed Internet access provider said.
]
] Customers who buy Metallica's new compact disc, St.
] Anger, will find a code inside the packaging allowing
] them to view, listen to and download exclusive,
] unreleased music tracks from a Metallica Web site.

What I've been saying for years... want to encourage people to BUY your CD vs. download the tracks online? You have to give some "value added" as incentive. Granted, these "exclusive, unreleased music tracks" will appear soon on a P2P network near you, but this is a step in the right direction.

Now start adding some "VA" that can not be pirated. Ideas off the top of my head... random drawings for concert tix, back stage passes, t-shirts and other swag, etc...

Laughing Boy

'Anger' leads Metallica to the Internet

] Joel Freedman grew upset at seeing lobsters, with rubber
] bands on their claws, piled atop one another in a
] supermarket tank. The animal-rights advocate figured it
] was time to make his anger known.
]
] Freedman bought a pound of scallops and, before anyone
] could intervene, lifted the tank lid and dumped them in.

What a waste of perfectly good scallops.

Yahoo! News - Man Feeds Lobsters at Supermarket

] ALBANY, N.Y. (Reuters) - With the widely anticipated
] computer-animated movie "Finding Nemo" set to debut in
] theaters on Friday, the Walt Disney Co. has found a novel
] way to guard against people illegally taping the film in
] advance showings.

Now if only they knew that the REALLY good bootlegs were an "inside job" by someone with access to the actual print (read - projectionist).

Yahoo! News - Disney Uses Night Goggles to Guard 'Nemo'

] Fishing will be banned from about one third of
] Australia's Great Barrier Reef under a draft rescue plan
] to save the world's largest living structure from human
] impact.
]
] The coral reef, which is one of Australia's main tourist
] attractions with its magnificent array of tropical fish,
] is under threat from record high temperatures,
] over-fishing and pollution.
]
] Australia's environment minister David Kemp said the
] government plan would increase so-called green zones,
] where commercial and recreational fishing is banned, from
] 5 percent of the 2,000 kilometer (1,200-mile) reef to
] over 30 percent, prompting instant protests from
] fishermen.

CNN.com - Fishing banned in bid to save Reef - Jun. 3, 2003

AOL be damned.

Nullsoft WASTE Source Code