] The EU Council has approved a controversial proposal on
] software patents, despite opposition from numerous
] software developers and some European countries.

[ Grrr, mostly. -k]

EU Council endorses patent bill | CNET News.com

] Young foxes, or kits, scamper in a cage in Siberia,
] Russia, where they are part of a 45-year research project
] to domesticate foxes. Each generation has been
] selectively bred for tameness%u2014fearlessness and
] nonaggression toward humans. By now the foxes in the
] project behave like pet dogs, barking and wagging their
] tails at humans.

[ Crazy. And cute as hell. -k]

Photo in the News: Baby Foxes Going to the Dogs

] Apple's attorney Riley countered by saying that free
] speech protection applied only to legitimate members of
] the press and not to website publishers. Freedom of the
] press was for the press, meaning the traditional media,
] he said.

The judge ruled in favor of Apple without explanation.

[ Pretty computers. Really dick lawyers in a lot of cases. This is kind of a serious loss of points for them in my book. -k]

Bloggers not protected by Constitution, says Apple

] Dear Condi, I'm glad you've decided to get over your fit
] of pique and venture north to visit your closest
] neighbour. It's a chance to learn a thing or two. Maybe
] more.
]
]
] I know it seems improbable to your divinely guided master
] in the White House that mere mortals might disagree with
] participating in a missile-defence system that has failed
] in its last three tests, even though the tests themselves
] were carefully rigged to show results.
]
]
] But, gosh, we folks above the 49th parallel are somewhat
] cautious types who can't quite see laying down billions
] of dollars in a three-dud poker game.

[ Lloyd Axworthy, former Canadian foreign minister lays down the smack. The above is just the opening... he's just getting started. Well worth a read. -k]

The Winnipeg Free Press - View from the West

] Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Thursday
] that a new consumption tax such as a national sales tax
] could spark the economy as a partial replacement for
] income taxes.

[ Greenspan may simply be trying to pose this hybrid plan to stir things up a bit in advance of the panel report or administration initiatives. Personally, I'm not a big fan of anything that makes tax less progressive, so I'm skeptical of a national sales tax, but anyway, it's something to think about. -k]

ABC News: Greenspan Touts Consumption Tax

] "My story is based on fiction," said Poole, who faces a
] second-degree felony terrorist threatening charge. "It's
] a fake story. I made it up. I've been working on one of
] my short stories, (and) the short story they found was
] about zombies. Yes, it did say a high school. It was
] about a high school over ran by zombies."
]
] Even so, police say the nature of the story makes it a
] felony. "Anytime you make any threat or possess matter
] involving a school or function it's a felony in the state
] of Kentucky," said Winchester Police detective Steven
] Caudill.

There is an obvious comment to make about this jackass but I've been advised not to taunt happy fun ball.

[ This story is a little too lacking to make any kind of actual assessment. I'd have to read the journal outtake, I guess, and see if there was any context to support the fact that it was part of a zombie story. Still, by default, I tend side with the kid, as I think, in general, police and school administrators aren't the most tolerant of anything that seems subversive or angry at all. Perhaps I'm being unfair, but, *shrug*. -k]

Student Arrested For Writing Zombie Story

] I had plenty of life experience to draw from while
] working on this record," says Trent Reznor of White
] Teeth, Nine Inch Nails' first album in six years. "I was
] getting sane while the world was going crazy."
]
] Due May 3rd, the follow-up to 1999's The Fragile bristles
] with as much aggression as anything in the NIN catalog
] while adding more live drumming into the mix, courtesy of
] honorary Nailsman Dave Grohl.

[ Yase. -k]

RollingStone.com: Nine Inch Nails Bite Back

] Go the fuck away! I'm working on some bad-ass computer shit
] right now! I have no time for team spirit!

134 installments of get your office space on. I'm sure some of you will enjoy it.

[ Yeah, this is good stuff, from the Get Your War on guy. Ryan has this in bound book form, I believe... -k]

www.mnftiu.cc | my new filing technique is unstoppable

10 years later, the CDA might be back!

] Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens said
] Tuesday he would push to apply broadcast decency
] standards to subscription television and radio services
] like cable and satellite.
]
] "There has to be some standard of decency," he said.

No, actually, there doesn't. The whole point of services like Satellite is that the customer has a wide array of choices, and as such there is no need for regulation. You don't have to listen to programming you don't like. You can "protect children" at the receiver side. You don't have to do it at the network end.

] "I think we have the same power to deal with
] cable as over-the-air" broadcasters.

No, you don't. Congress shall make NO law.... The courts cut out a specific exemption to the first amendment for over the air broadcasters that was related to the scarcity of media. That exemption does not apply to cable. Why do we elect people who don't understand or respect the Constitution?

] Stevens said he disagreed "violently" with assertions by
] the cable industry that Congress does not have the
] authority to impose limits on what they air.
]
] "If that's the issue they want to take on, we'll take it
] on and let the Supreme Court decide," he said.

Translation: We'll make you spent a whole lot of money!! We really will! So you better really care about those Constitutional rights because if you're not down for a fight to defend them you're gunna loose 'em whether its really legal or not!

Rep. Joe Barton, from Texas is apparently also on board for this.

Senator wants cable, satellite decency standards - Mar. 1, 2005

Excellent search engine for nutritional data.

This is the best online database I've found for food info. It has not only the basic foods, and nearly every item from the fast food chains, but also many exotic items from restaurants. Chef salad, miso soup, tuna sashimi, movie popcorn with and without butter... It's all here, and frequently with multiple listings from different sources, so it's possible to compare different sets of information.

[ Yeah, it's good stuff... i've used it to lookup foods before. I've wondered off and on if it's worth paying them 30 bucks for the service to track diet and workouts and get all the other tools or if i should just use excel.

It always strikes me, when I start looking things up, how much one fast food meal can screw you over. I ate a pile of sushi last night, and that was about 600 calories. The number 6 from wendys that i had for lunch was over 1300. And that Chipotle steak burrito with everything ... 1200c. Nice.

15 minutes on an exercise bike burns about 120. That's about twice as many as casual walking for the same period. -k]

CalorieKing Food Database