] "Capsula Mundi is planted in the earth like a seed. Above
] it, to signal the presence of occupied space, is a
] shallow concave circle dug out of the ground. In the
] center of which, a tree is planted, the essence of it
] chosen in life by the dead one, the care of this tree is
] the responsibility of everyone. The aim is ecological
] burial, literally a more natural way to decay.
]
]
] The cemetery will, then, acquire a new look. No longer
] the overpopulated urban environment with congested
] architecture, it will be a natural one in contact with
] the earth, enveloping expansive areas, entire hills
] consecrated to the cult of the dead. Summarizing, it is a
] different landscape devoted to the worship of our
] ancestry: a sacred forest."

[ Ever since i read Chapterhouse:Dune, in which one of the BG sisters is buried upright and a tree planted above her, I've wanted to be buried this way. What better memorial than a tree? -k]

Boing Boing: Tree of death

] Amendment supporters contend the flag deserves special
] protection as an important national symbol, while
] opponents, including Kerry, have argued that flag
] desecration can be punished under criminal statutes
] without tampering with the Constitution.

[ This is ridiculous. Why should any of this shit be *illegal* in the first fucking place? What country is this, honestly? Burning a flag is one of the most serious commentaries we can make about the activity of our government. I thought the ability to stand up and say, categorically, "My government is wrong." was somehow important to the American ideal.

How is it that people so easily miss the point. These people don't respect the ideal the flag represents. It is an important symbol, but holding up as something it's not is just wrong. It reduces the flag to a marketing tool, a button or a poster, a fucking blind to hide all the greed and authoritarianism behind. That's a desecration. 150 million tattered nylon flags or faded vinyl stickers on SUV's driven by thoughtless drones who think patriotism has more to do with prominently displaying the symbol than living the ideal. That's a desecration. Proposing this measure now, purposefully exploiting that false patriotism and jingoistic war mentality... unrepentantly using the symbol for private gain... it's ugly. It's a desecration.

A certain amount of flag waving is unavoidable, of course, on both sides, but this focus on the object itself just continues to baffle me. -k]

Kerry, Edwards and Daschle May Face Vote on Flag (washingtonpost.com)

] Sixteen months after the war's supposed end, Iraq's
] insurgency is spreading. Each successful demand by
] kidnappers has spawned more hostage-takings%u2014to make
] Philippine troops go home, to stop Turkish truckers from
] hauling supplies into Iraq, to extort fat ransom payments
] from Kuwaitis. The few relief groups that remain in Iraq
] are talking seriously about leaving. U.S. forces have
] effectively ceded entire cities to the insurgents, and
] much of the country elsewhere is a battleground. Last
] week the total number of U.S. war dead in Iraq passed the
] 1,000 mark, reaching 1,007 by the end of Saturday.

[ And also :

"Another ominous sign is the growing number of towns that U.S. troops simply avoid. A senior Defense official objects to calling them "no-go areas." "We could go into them any time we wanted," he argues. The preferred term is "insurgent enclaves." They're spreading. Counterinsurgency experts call it the "inkblot strategy": take control of several towns or villages and expand outward until the areas merge. The first city lost to the insurgents was Fallujah, in April. Now the list includes the Sunni Triangle cities of Ar Ramadi, Baqubah and Samarra, where power shifted back and forth between the insurgents and American-backed leaders last week. "There is no security force there [in Fallujah], no local government," says a senior U.S. military official in Baghdad. "We would get attacked constantly. Forget about it." "

Awesome. -k]

MSNBC - It's Worse Than You Think

] PATRIOT DAY OBSERVANCE
]
] Patriot Day became a day of national observance on Dec.
] 18, 2001, when President George W. Bush signed a
] presidential proclamation.
]
]
] The Patriot Day resolution designates a day to honor
] those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on
] the United States.

[ Did anyone else know about this? I had no idea. It's sure as fuck not something I think a goddamn hallmark card can commemorate. -k]

Patriot Day 2004

] For a small but powerful minority in the Cuban American
] community, the Posada gang are freedom fighters. But
] Sept. 11 taught the rest of us about the danger of
] political fanatics who seek to rationalize their
] violence. To uphold his oft-stated principle that no
] nation can be neutral in the war on terrorism, shouldn't
] President Bush have condemned Moscoso's decision to
] release these terrorists? To protect the sanctity of U.S.
] borders and the security of Americans, shouldn't the
] administration have taken all available steps to keep
] known terrorists out of the United States?
]

LATimes via Daily Kos :: Amid Cheers, Terrorists Have Landed in the U.S.

] Those with money and power are approaching Hari
] Seldonesque abilities, gradually steering public opinion
] using knowledge of how groups think, and I only see that
] trend increasing as basic human instincts are
] incorporated into more realistic game theory models.
] Individuals, on the other hand, often don't have the time
] and/or inclination to dig into any particular issue for
] themselves - meaning that many people will tend to
] make decisions using the very instincts that are most
] easily manipulated.

John Shirley asks several scifi authors about the future.

Locus Online: John Shirley: Global to Local

The libertarian party's platform.

Pros: I think his comments on civil liberties, the draft, the rights of the accused, and other social issues resonate with me more strongly then what I'm hearing from other candidates. There are some interesting ideas in here about criminal justice.

Cons: The emphasis on Gun Control is totally out of place. That is not the most important issue on the table today. Furthermore, he shares the blind faith in privately funded institutions being "always better" then government organizations that the republicans have. In some cases this is very true. In others, there are problems. Show me someone who operates a private charity and thinks welfare would work as a private charity. I'll show you someone who should go ahead and start a privately funded welfare program. There is nothing stopping you, and if its effective people might adopt it. It would reduce the need for the government programs gradually. Fact is it won't be effective, and that cuts to the heart of the problem with the libertarian philosophy.

The libertarians let their ideas override reality. People know that some of this stuff won't work, and so the whole party comes off as a bunch of kooky radicals rather then a serious alternative. The fact is that most people in this country don't like either the fundies or the socialists. If the libertarians were willing to start from the middle and push things out in their direction based on practical experience.... If they were willing to operate government programs until alternatives are proven... If they could provide a truly moderate presidential candidate.... If...

[ Precisely. I like a lot of the Libertarian platform too. But as you say, it ends up looking like "GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS GUNS! Oh, and no government funded anything." Too bad. -k]

Michael Badnarik - Libertarian for President

] W Ketchup is made in America, from ingredients
] grown in the USA.
]
] The leading competitor not only has 57 varieties, but has
] 57 foreign factories as well. W Ketchup comes in one
] flavor: American.

[ Wow, is really all i can say. Perfect for your freedom fries. -k]

All Ketchup is not created equal

] Graduates from St Blasien Jesuit College, near Freiburg,
] were complaining about the new wrappers for Haribo's
] Maoam sweets.
]
] In a letter to the firm, they wrote: "We are shocked at
] the shameless presentation of sexual practices on the
] wrapping, which includes not only sexual intercourse but
] also fellatio and cunnilingus."

[ Well, they are pretty suggestive, but it's probably the kind of thing that you only notice if you aleady comprehend sex, so i'm not sure if it's really harmful. Pretty funny if you ask me. -k]

Ananova - Fruity sweet wrappers spark complaint

] "People who are high in hardiness enjoy ongoing changes
] and difficulties," said Dr. Salvatore R. Maddi, a
] professor of psychology at the University of California,
] Irvine, and the author of a forthcoming book, "Resilience
] at Work." "They find themselves more involved in their
] work when it gets tougher and more complicated. They tend
] to think of stress as a normal part of life, rather than
] as something that's unfair.''

[ I definitely identify with the above, but I am strongly sensitive something they mention later in the article, which is control. I enjoy and work better under compressed timelines or when the product is mission critical, as long as I have the ability to control the project and my environment. If the stress is coming from the need for the work to get done, that's awesome. But when there's also stress being generated by a lack of appropriate tools, interruption by unrelated or menial tasks, someone elses shitty code, etc., my ability to cope rapidly degrades. Being forced to deal with frustrating circumstances that are beyond my control has always been the best way to send me into panic attack mode -- i tend to want to lock the door and scrap everything for a restart, which at the root is a way of establishing complete control over the product. If restarting isn't possible, i have a very hard time resigning myself to the crappy situation. Unfortunately for me, few things are created in a vacuum, so I tend to experience frustration of this sort on a fairly regular basis.

How do other people classify themselves? -k]

Sick of Work: Cracking Under the Pressure? It's Just the Opposite, for Some