] This site examines the accented speech of speakers from
] many different language backgrounds reading the same
] sample paragraph. Currently, we have obtained 306 speech
] samples.

[ Neat diversion... -k]

speech accent archive

This is an interesting look at a specific point in history as seen from both sides of the issue. Part of the MIT OpenCourseWare initiative, this information really points out how history is really all about perspective.

[ Fascinating... I wish i wasn't at work so i could read more of it... -k ]

Black Ships & Samurai

] At modest concentrations in aquarium water, the minuscule
] particles -- which are made of carbon atoms and are less
] than one-thousandth the diameter of a human hair --
] triggered damaging biochemical reactions in the brains of
] fish. They also wiped out entire populations of "water
] fleas," tiny animals that fill an ecologically crucial
] niche near the bottom of the aquatic food chain.

[ Progress with caution, friends. -k]

Nanotechnology Linked to Organ Damage - Study (TechNews.com)

] That may change, if some lawmakers and consumer groups
] get their way, as the cable industry finds itself under
] increasing scrutiny. Lawmakers report that their
] constituents are angry about cable bills that have risen
] at three times the rate of inflation since the industry
] was largely deregulated in 1996.
]
] One possible solution being proposed is a la carte cable,
] a way to give consumers more choice over what they watch
] and how much they pay for it. But it's not an answer the
] cable industry will swallow easily, if a Senate Commerce
] Committee hearing last week on cable rates is any
] indication.

[ Says John McCain, "'When I go to the grocery store to buy a quart of milk, I don't have to buy a package of celery and a bunch of broccoli,' McCain said. 'I don't like broccoli.'"

It's an interesting question... i think there's *some* validity to the mechanism of subsidizing lesser watched channels by packaging them with more popular channels, but I still think the consumer needs to be given a choice. Nothing says the channels need to cost the same amount... if USA is the most watched, make it more expensive than, say, Oxygen. Offer incentives to try out new channels. People are even more likely to require that their entertainment be on-demand and custom tailored these days. Cable is locked into a model that's too restrictive, and it can't last.

I think we're about 3 weeks away from cancelling our cable altogether, acquiring by broadcast the network stations that account for 80% of our viewing (and pretty much all of the shows we watch on purpose, none of the hm-lets-see-whats-on-while-i-eat-lunch type shows). 70 bucks a month for cable just isn't worth it. If i could buy the networks, UPN, and FoodTV, maybe cartoon network for 20-25, that'd be much more compelling.

While I'm dreaming, I'd also like to be able to pay-per-view any football game... they have cameras at all of them... I should get to choose what game to watch. -k]

Duluth News Tribune | 03/28/2004 | Cable industry defends packaging

] believe this is an age of extremism and in it teen angst
] is being used as a political tool. Columbine allowed
] everyone to see inside the actual depth of emptiness some
] kids feel, medicated or not, and what the outcome of that
] torture could be. Those two kids actions only scratched
] the surface of destruction children could inflict in this
] country if mislead into the world of the Democratic
] deceit machine led by John Kerry.

... HAHAHAHAHAH[falls out of chair].

Conservative Punk Magazine - Columns

] California -- NASA has made aeronautics history by
] launching an experimental jet that reached a record
] velocity of just over seven times the speed of sound.
]
] Fifty-seven years after test pilot Chuck Yeager broke the
] sound barrier, NASA on Saturday launched the unpiloted
] research jet, in a development some observers say could
] change the future of space travel.
]
] It is the first time a supersonic-combustion ramjet, or
] scramjet, which uses air for fuel, had traveled so fast,
] flight engineer Lawrence Huebner told reporters.
]
] Scientists hope such jets will make space travel more
] affordable and spur commercial ventures.

WOOOOOSH! -LB

NASA jet breaks speed record

] This guy here is Peter Tsou. He's a scientist at NASA's
] Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and he's holding an amazing
] substance called aerogel. Aerogel is a solid, but it is
] 99.8% empty space. In fact, it very closely approaches
] the density of air. It practically IS air. It's still a
] solid, though, and you can even pick it up or set things
] on it.

Very neat.

[ I have always loved aerogel. I want a piece so much. But not enough to pay for it. ;) -k]

Hinterlands.cc - 03/26/04: Aerogel

Flash animation. Parody of "Tom Saywer" by the band Rush, lampooning Limbuaghs drug addiction with actual hypocritical quotes from the man himself. Takea a while to load, but its worth it! -LB

[ Awesome. Fucking slam that fucking hypocrisy right in Rush's fat, rightwing, hateful face. -k]

Rush Limbaugh parody

] Journalists have long understood confidentiality to exist
] solely between a source and a reporter. If someone speaks
] "on background," the only ethical way in which a reporter
] can divulge the person's name would be if the source
] changed his mind and decided to go on the record.
]
]
] Yesterday, however, the Bush administration gave Fox News
] Channel permission to broadcast remarks from a background
] briefing by former Bush counterterrorism adviser Richard
] Clarke that were originally made on the condition Clarke
] not be identified.
] ...
] Journalists should be reluctant to go off the record. But
] once they do so, the agreement between reporter and
] source must hold. Thus Fox News's choice to broadcast the
] remarks represents an odious concession of journalistic
] authority. By violating Clarke's confidentiality, Fox
] News allowed the administration to effectively recast the
] confidentiality arrangement to be one that exists not
] between source and reporter but between the source's
] employer and the reporter's news organization.

[ As the article goes on to point out, the white house officials who leaked Valerie Plame to Novak did so under the same condition as Clarke. So, what's stopping the White House, in it's thourough investigation of the Plame Affair, from using these same tactics?

I'd say that it's Novak's ethically strong refusal to give up the names, but honestly his journalistic integrity is pretty suspect. I don't believe a person of integrity can say "It's totally ok to out a covert operative based on anonymous information." So there must be another reason he won't release those names... hmmm...

File this one under: "SPINELESS-MEDIA-CONCESSIONS-TO-THE-WHITE-HOUSE." and cross list under "SHHH-WE'RE-NOT-HYPOCRITES,-SERIOUSLY.-W."

Awful, bad precedent. Bad, bad FoxNews. FauxNews. -k]

CJR Campaign Desk: Archives

] Republicans have accused Democratic U.S. House candidate
] Stephanie Herseth of maintaining a secret Web page to
] receive campaign donations raised from ads on liberal
] groups' Internet sites.
]
] Jason Glodt, executive director of the South Dakota
] Republican Party, said the Herseth campaign arranged
] the special Internet donation site to prevent most
] South Dakotans from knowing about Herseth's relationship
] with such liberal groups.
] ...
] "There's a reason she's got that secret site. She doesn't
] want to advertise the fact she's doing this," Glodt
] said Thursday.

[ Except that she's been explicitly advertising the fact that she's doing this, like, with advertisements. Not to mention, it's about as secret as my distaste for president Bush. As Kos says :

"Thanks to the secret technology called Google, I was able to find the secret page. Check out the secret message clearly inconsistent with South Dakota values:

Thank you for visiting my website! Please take a moment and explore the links to the left and read up on my background, the campaign, and South Dakota. And don’t hesitate to contact our campaign with any questions or concerns. We have an exciting chance to make history in South Dakota on June 1st – and I’m glad you want to be a part from the start.

Thanks for stopping by! "

File under: OH-FUCK!-THE-DEMOCRATS-HAVE-FIGURED-OUT-WHAT-GRASSROOTS-ACTUALLY-MEANS!

-k]

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