] [T]he White House medievalists aren't just shading the
] facts. In actively denying or changing them, they are
] changing the basis on which government has traditionally
] been conducted: rationality. There is no respect for
] facts because there is no respect for empiricism.

some interesting comments and facts here...

Daily Kos: Bush Leads a Medieval Presidency

] I believe the Unix workstation users who are buying Macs
] are small in number and not enough to boost Apple sales
] on their own. But they're key players -- the same type of
] people who snuck PCs into the corporate environment under
] the cover of darkness while their overseers remained
] wedded to mainframes and other bigger computers. These
] are the folks who'll soon be making a lot of the buying
] decisions in IT departments. So they are the future, and
] they promise a bright one for Apple.

I was pondering this a year ago, but the stock is overvalued (much more so now then it has been in the past) and there are some things that Apple has gotten wrong (like printing).

BW Online | October 1, 2003 | Finally, an Opening for Apple in IT

] "He was straight up," he added. "He raised a healthy
] tiger. They should find him a job with animals."

Tiger in da hood

] Council executive Tim Cooper says the decision to invite
] [Ollie] North and [Ann] Coulter came from a desire to hold
] a rally for patriotism. That's like sponsoring a cockfight
] to celebrate the spirit of competition.

as if we didn't already know it, these days "patriotism" == "hard core conservatism" + "mindless flag waving"

Creative Loafing Atlanta | NEWS & VIEWS | NORTHEAST GEORGIA BOY SCOUT COUNCIL

] something new and horrible has been introduced on some
] studios' prints. Sort of a giant picture-marring version
] of Cap Code dots: Very large reddish brown spots that
] flash in the middle of the picture, usually placed in a
] light area. They flash in various patterns throughout a
] given reel while other reels of the same film may have
] none at all.
] ...it may be intended to be more visible on the murky
] compressed copies that get posted to the Internet

nice.

some other good stuff on this page, like the note made about studios wrecking films in order to shoehorn them into the MPAA's stupid and imprecice rating scheme. (about halfway down, it's a post regarding Bertolucci's 'The Dreamers')

Movie math doesn't compute with reality

sunclean is slightly old news, but really cool. self cleaning anything is ok in my book.

Chairman talks up PPG's $300 million R&D program

lots of neat stuff in this article, but this is especially cool :

] DuPont Textiles & Interiors and Outlast Technologies are
] rolling out Phase Change Materials (PCMs) that respond to
] your changing body temperature. The fabric coating
] consists of the materials encapsulated into microscopic
] spheres. As you body warms up, the PCM me

STAIN-RESISTANT PANTS ARE SO ‘LAST WEEK’; TRY THE ODOR-FREE SOCKS

] U.S. consumer spending accounts for around 20 percent of
] world gross domestic product.

a very interesing and frightening article. I am personally carrying a little under 30,000 in debt, mostly in education loans, and i think i'm in pretty good shape relative to many people i know.

U.S. consumers are hooked on spending - Oct. 3, 2003

Museum security guards stood by nervously Thursday as curators -- joking they hoped the gem's storied curse wouldn't rub off -- allowed a reporter and photographer to hold the diamond briefly after it was removed from its case for scientific study.

What does it feel like to hold such a priceless gem, one of the most famed in the world?

The first thought that comes to mind is "Wow!"

It's like holding a bit of ancient India, the French Revolution, Georgian England and Gilded Age America in one magnificent moment.
You cradle the 45.5-carat stone -- heavier than its translucence makes it appear -- turning it from side to side as the light flashes from its facets, knowing it's the hardest natural material yet fearful of dropping it.

Once part of the French crown jewels, the fabled gem is now the star of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. It normally resides in a special protective display case in a secure room.

For the testing it was taken to a museum laboratory, reachable down winding corridors and through three locked doors. It was only the second time in 20 years the Hope has been removed from its necklace setting, where it is surrounded by bright clear diamonds that intensify its blue color.

National Gem Collection Curator Jeffrey Post ordered the lights turned off and focused an ultraviolet beam on the Hope Diamond. Then he switched off the beam and, in pitch dark, the diamond glowed bright orange-amber.

It's that strong color, which lasts for several seconds after the diamond is exposed to ultraviolet light, that intrigues scientists. What causes the gem to fluoresce remains a mystery. Post speculates it's related to chemical impurities that give it that blue color.

But the Hope Diamond has inspired legends over the years and some may prefer those to sheer science.

Some say, for instance, that the glowing color reflects the blood of royalty spilled in the French Revolution and the trail of bad luck said to have followed the stone over many years -- including the bankruptcy of the Hope family for whom it is named and the death of the young son of later owner Evalyn McLean.

Hope Diamond glows with mystery

] "The recent efforts of the music industry to root out
] piracy have addressed a uniquely contemporary problem
] with Draconian methods -- good old-fashioned intimidation
] combined with access to personal information that would
] make George Orwell blush."

yeaup.

ZDNet UK - News - Lone file-swapper takes on recording industry