here's a blurb that illustrates how the media can manipulate events however they want.

essentially, they took an interview in which the DNC chair, McAuliffe, was discussing some of the candidates, and being very careful to be fair to them all, and made it sound like he was promoting John Kerry. This is the kind of irresponsible shit we all hate so much.

I understand that the media is a big part of politics, and that to win in politics, media savviness is a game you have to play (Dean's major failing), but you should not, EVER, have to worry about wether the media will completely distort the intent of your words. It's criminal, or it should be...

Daily Kos || How the press distorts. McAuliffe edition

] Thanks to the GOP takeover of Washington, and the harsh
] realities of the Big Sort, economically lagging parts of
] the country now wield ultimate political power, while the
] creative centers--source of most of America's economic
] growth--have virtually none.

[ very interesting, if disheartening, article -k]

'Creative Class War' by Richard Florida

] Intelligence shortcomings, as we see, have a thousand
] fathers; secret intelligence triumphs are orphans. Here
] is the unremarked story of "the Farewell dossier": how a
] C.I.A. campaign of computer sabotage resulting in a huge
] explosion in Siberia -- all engineered by a
] mild-mannered economist named Gus Weiss -- helped us
] win the cold war.

i hope safire's not trying to insinuate that we should all lay off the prez and intelligence community for screwing up iraq, but this is a pretty interesting story. i'm glad the pipeline didn't blow up near anything populated... 3 kilotons worth of a natural gas explosion? damn.

Op-Ed Columnist: The Farewell Dossier

] Now, realizing that public perception may be at a tipping
] point, the fledgling industry and government agencies are
] taking a novel tack, funding sociologists, philosophers
] and even ethicists to study the public's distrust of
] nano. Supporters of the approach say these experts will
] serve as the industry's conscience and ensure that the
] science moves forward responsibly. Others suspect it is
] an effort to defuse nano's critics.

[ The post examines the state of the nano industry, and takes the pulse of the current attitudes towards it... -k]

For Science, Nanotech Poses Big Unknowns (TechNews.com)

] Once a day, an Internet "Motoman" rides a cherry red
] Honda motorcycle slowly past the school. On the passenger
] seat is a gray metal box with a short fat antenna. The
] box holds a wireless Wi-Fi chip set that allows the
] exchange of e-mail between the box and computers.
] Briefly, this schoolyard of tree stumps and a
] hand-cranked water well becomes an Internet hot spot.

[ that may be the coolest creative use of wireless technology i've seen... it's like the futuristic retro you see in scifi sometimes. very very cool. -k]

Rural Cambodia, Though Far Off the Grid, Is Finding Its Way Online

Marie and I have recently gotten into watching this show called
"Good Eats" on the Food Network. The host, Alton Brown, offers a
lot of interesting recipes on a geek tip. For example, in one
episode he asks some materials people at GaTech about the
properties of various casserole dishes.

[ i'd like to think that chez biltmore had something to do with getting the cross' hooked on good eats... we've got a lot of time invested in cooking shows. Alton Brown is good because he gives a lot of the why on top of the how, and he drops some science on cooking methodology, which is really appealing to me. definitely one of my favorite shows. -k]

Good Eats Pouches

] It sounds like a sci-fi thriller: a super computer
] program that gathers dossiers on every single man, woman
] and child — everything from birth and marriage and
] divorce history to hunting licenses and car license
] plates. Even every address you have lived at down to the
] color of your hair.
]       It sounds surreal, but former Gov. Mike Leavitt
] signed Utah's 2.4 million residents up for a pilot
] program — ironically called MATRIX — that does just
] that. And he never bothered to reveal details of the
] program to Utah citizens or to state lawmakers who, upon
] learning of the program on Capitol Hill this week, are
] now worried the state could be involved in a program that
] jeopardizes basic civil liberties.

deseretnews.com | Dossier program alarms Utahns

ROFLMAO! Nice knockoff of Google...

If you are under 18, or live in an area where it is illegal for you to view
explicit content, please leave this site immediately.

[ i'm pretty sure they got C&D'd by Google the other day... we'll see how long this lasts. Funny concept tho ]-k

Booble - The Adult Search Engine

] The state's school superintendent has proposed striking
] the word evolution from Georgia's science curriculum and
] replacing it with the phrase "biological changes over
] time."

[ Awesome! And it's about time we got rid of all that other pesky "science" too. It's all just theories!!! THEORIES! ]-k

CNN.com - Georgia considers banning 'evolution' - Jan. 30, 2004

] Fast forward to the days before IA: Trippi's "cell phone
] rings. It's his pollster, Paul Maslin, who not only has
] bleak news out of Iowa -- but bleak news out of New
] Hampshire. Trippi hangs up and stares out the window. His
] phone rings again. "WHAT? Aw, fuck. I hate this business.
] This fucking sucks. Okay, thanks." He hangs up. "They're
] robocalling our ones," he moans. "He has just gotten a
] report from the field that Dean "ones" are getting
] bombarded with computer-generated phone calls telling
] them to make sure to caucus for Dean-then giving them the
] wrong address."

[ circumstantial evidence points to John Kerry being the perpetrator of this activity, but of course, there's nothing solid. As far as i've seen this hasn't broken out of the blogs yet, but if it does, and actual proof is found, there's gonna be a fricking shitstorm. There were some seriously filthy politics ("Dean's married to a JEW!" type stuff among the rest) going on in Iowa and NH. Whether it was just some overzealous and misguided tools or an actual campaign remains to be seen. ]-k

Daily Kos || Who is robo-calling against Dean?