I haven't heard nearly as much about this as I would like... does anyone know more?

I spent a week at Pine Ridge back in college... i find this a very interesting situation. -k

The Raw Story | Descendants of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse break away from US

and try out a new HP laptop with imbedded Altec Lansing speakers — it’s half the price of a MacBook, with a far better audio experience.”

Wow, better speakers in an HP notebook? No wonder MacBook sales are tanking. Sell your Apple shares now.

Samsung already sells a touch-screen phone. So does Motorola.

Chevy already sells a sedan with a V8 engine. So does Ford.

Sprint has a touch-screen phone that runs “thousands” of third-party applications

And they’re all great.

Gruber eviscerates the latest "ZOMG APPLE IS IN TROUBLE!!!" missive, this one from FastCompany.

Daring Fireball:

I asked him how much it would cost for him to do for the whole country what he did for Michigan. About two million dollars, he said, maybe three, mostly for the technical work of signing up hospitals to participate state by state and coördinating a database to track the results. He’s already devised a plan to do it in all of Spain for less.

“We could get I.C.U. checklists in use throughout the United States within two years, if the country wanted it,” he said.

So far, it seems, we don’t. The United States could have been the first to adopt medical checklists nationwide, but, instead, Spain will beat us. “I at least hope we’re not the last,” Pronovost said.

[ Astonishing article... extremely interesting, if somewhat discouraging. -k]

Annals of Medicine: The Checklist: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

A feature documentary about bold adventure, exquisite athleticism and the pursuit of a perfect moment on skis. It is the story of big mountain skiing,

This one's givin me chills... can't wait...

Apple - Trailers - Steep - Trailer

1. I Am Legend - A massive budget, computer effects, and the Fresh Prince are always a surefire hit, bringing in $76.5 million. Now if someone could only explain why.

Because Will Smith is awesome, I guess. That being said, the trailers for this movie ruined it for me. I no longer really care. Fuckers.

2. Alvin and the Chipmunks - With a $45 million weekend, it's finally the definitive proof that there is no God. Or if there is, he loves shit-eating jokes, which might be worse.

Dear jesus. What the fuck, Jason Lee. I mean, yeah, you've made other bad choices, but seriously. I mean, really.

3. The Golden Compass - This weekend, America made an important choice: talking polar bears or talking chipmunks? In short, the polar bears lost, making only $9 million, and immediately blew it all on fish.

I wanted to see this even more than 1 and infinitely more than 2 or 4. But didn't. Meh.

4. Enchanted - Seriously, this is still making $6 million a weekend? How many talking animal movies is it going to take to knock this out of the top five?

Eat me Disney. I mean it.

5. No Country for Old Men - If you know how good the Coen Brothers' latest is, it will infuriate you to know that, with $3 million, it made 15 times less than Jason Lee's computer-animated castration.

sigh. no sigh is big enough. just, ugh.

I Watch Stuff - The Best Movie News Ever

James Gallien had driven five miles out of Fairbanks when he spotted the hitchhiker standing in the snow beside the road, thumb raised high, shivering in the gray Alaskan dawn. A rifle protruded from the young man's pack, but he looked friendly enough

I went to see "Into the Wild" last night. Highly recommended.

I don't know that I'd read this article first necessarily, unless you already know something of the story.

Anyway, worth a read, ideally when you've already gone to the film (playing, of course, at Midtown, and not in any of the Regal megalopoli).

-k

Death of an Innocent | Outside Online

Illustrated BMI Categories

I was explaining to my boss that I am obese the other day and he refused to beleive me. Unfortunately most of the pictures in this archive are of women. They are pretty easy to fit into catagories. Overweight women are not unattractive. There are a few men. The guy who is just shy of normal looks almost malnourished. The overweight guys don't look overweight. Either guys hide fat better than women, or fat is way more dangerous on men 'causing the medical industry to set comparatively different standards.

[I think it's certain that guys don't seem as "overweight" as they may be. It's due to differences of frame, as well as styles of dress, and also largely social expectations and preferences. I myself am just back into the realm of merely overweight, rather than obese, now that I've dropped below 210 (201 this am, though that fluctuates +/- 4 or 5 pretty easily).

According to BMI the "Healthy" or "Normal" range for a 5'10" male is between 140 and 174. This is along the lines of my intuitive feeling, based on my target weight being 160-165 to look and feel best. I was between 130 and 140 from about age 15 to age 20, and only put on my "freshman 15" as a junior, and it was more like 25, but I think that was better. 140 is pretty waifish for me.

Anyway, the main thing this photoset shows is that while the general categories almost fit, the simple division of weight by height doesn't account for your frame... some people actually do look better slightly overweight, and for my personal take on it, the girls at the lower to middle end of the "overweight" spectrum are generally the most attractive to me. -k]

Illustrated BMI Categories - a photoset on Flickr

Wallington has discovered what he believes is the incredibly simple secret of how the ancients managed to build Stonehenge. He demonstrates in this video. Got a couple pebbles?

Now only if we could combine his methods with a giant trebuchet in some crazy way it might be possible to launch huge stones hundreds of feet and create sweet henges. possibly even with objects like cars.

[ That's freaking cool... good job, Wally! -k]

Stonehenge: The Incredibly Simple Secret of How It Was Built | snarfd

We actually reached the future about 3 years ago.

And yet, no flying cars, NO FLYING CARS!

Startling - xkcd - By Randall Munroe

A bipartisan group of Congressmen (and one woman) yesterday introduced a major bill aimed at boosting US intellectual property laws and the penalties that go along with them. While much of the legislation targets industrial counterfeiting and knockoff drugs, it also allows the government to seize people's computers.

The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property (PRO IP... groan)...

groan indeed. What a load of shite.

Congress' copyright reform: seize computers, boost penalties, spend money