] One of the nation's wealthiest towns will soon have
] cameras and computers running background checks on every
] car and driver that passes through.

The license plate takes another step closer to it's destiny.

[ Awesome! I wonder if they could tie it to medical records too... keep all those filthy sick people out of their town, anyone who's ever been in a mental hospital, etc. Why not put up a damn stockade. Oh that's right, because then people would KNOW you're a bunch of paranoid lunatics.

Fuck florida. If i ever say i want to go there, remind me that i hate the whole state. -k]

newsobserver.com - Florida town to use surveillance cameras

] University officials eventually discovered an online
] journal Stanzak kept about his experiences and relocated
] him to a free dorm room last Tuesday.

The library staff didn't find him. The janitors missed him. The only way they found out about him was through an online journal? Wow.

[ Yeah, that's quite a lot of fortitude. I'm sure i would have given up long before living in the basement. I had no idea NYU was that expensive. I'm pretty sure frickin' Vanderbilt was just barely more than that including housing. Edumacation costs a damn lot. -k]

NYU student sleeps for months in library basement

This is a 4 minute thing that they blast 5 times a day. There is a sample on this site. For the most part I think its cool. I wouldn't mind it especially in an urban area. But, of course, I mostly like it because its alien. Others will hate it for the same reason.

I think the critical question is, at dawn? If this thing is loud enough to wake people up its a no go. I strongly support your right to blast islamic rites (or heavy metal for that matter) as long as you're not interfering with other people's sleep.

[ This is an interesting issue to consider. Fundamentally, yes, anything that is detrimental the majority of people in an area shouldn't be imposed. Waking everyone up at 5:30 in the morning (or whenever sunrise is...) is almost certainly a problem.

The concept of a minaret spiking into the sky in my neighborhood, broadcasting a call to prayer (though real people would be cooler than loudspeakers...), is sorta romantic in the abstract, and diversity (as the bolded section above notes) is certainly a positive force. From that standpoint, I support this kinda thing.
However, in reality, I may well tire of the sound after time, or if it were very close and very loud, during dinner, or during my favorite show or while talking to grandma on the phone.

As Decius says, community standards have to define the community environment, but i do have trouble with it when people make foolish, ignorant choices, based more on xenophobia and short sighted value structures than on policy of acceptance and cultural adaptability. Obviously, that's based on my own progressivism, and I can't force anyone to think my way, but I have no problem telling people they're being irrational or unfair.

Like a woman named Dembowski wishing people could be more "American". -k]

Cultures collide in diverse Hamtramck

So, how many people can say they walked away from $3.6 million to do something they really believed in? Unfotunately, the story took a sad turn. This guy is a hero in the truest sense.

SI.com - NFL - CNN: Former Cardinals safety Tillman killed in action - Friday April 23, 2004 10:53AM

I got news of this from a brief NPR segment. Look closely at this site (about cloning). Pay particular attention to the "Testimonials" section. After you take it all in, sit back, take a breath and realize this is a new marketing technique to promote an upcoming movie. So the question remains, how well will this work. Will people who have family members think it's funny when they contact this "company" for more info, only to find out "Thanks for your interest. the movie opens in 2005"? Think I'm being irrational? Go to Google and search for cloning...look at the very top sponsored link.

[ Wow. That's remarkable. I quite probably would've called bullshit on the claims they make, but it certainly doesn't trigger my "movie ad" recognition at all. I guess the question is, how effective is an advertisment that doesn't reveal the product being advertised?

The Resident Evil 2 trailer pulls a similar thing to start with, playing like an ad for a rejuvenating cream, but it reveals itself towards the end. I think it's really a good ad, but that's because of the, "What? Rujivawhat? OHHHH... " factor. I don't see the revelation part here, which is what i think solidifies the interest.

EDIT: For those who wish to domolish the illusion, here's the official site : http://www.godsendthemovie.com/

It appears the movie will be released shortly, like, 10 days. I've seen 0 ads.

There are trailers available there, of course. Interestingly, once you know who plays Dr. Wells, you can recognize him, even in the small pix on the fake institute site, though i'd be impressed if anyone could call it without knowing.
-k]

Godsend Institute

] Federal safety data has shown for years that booming
] sales of S.U.V.'s and large pickup trucks are adding to
] the death toll of people riding in cars, particularly in
] side-impact accidents. At the same time, S.U.V.'s and
] pickup trucks do not, as a class, better protect their
] own occupants, because they tend to be less stable and
] more prone to rollovers than passenger cars.

Guess what: if you're in a sedan and you get t-boned by an
SUV, you're fucked.

[ Proper fucked. This is a disturbing trend. Bad drivers want to feel safer so they get into massive trucks which are presumed to be more likely to protect them. Meanwhile they obliterate the poor sap they've caromed into because they were busy yammering on they cell phone while hauling their 4 rugrats to soccer practice. It'd be a lot safer to just put down the cell phone and learn how to drive.
p.s. most volvo drivers suck too. for the same reasons. -k]

Struck in Side, Many Cars Fare Poorly in Safety Test

(U:) Upon further consideration it occurs to me that those of you who are trying to figure out what you think about Bush could do worse then to pay close attention to this situation. Bush is not an intellectual. He likes to shoot from the hip. Regardless of how rational the conclusions here are, the WAY in which they were reached provides actual substance to the paranoid delusion that the U.S. supports Israeli expansionism. It is that paranoia that fuels much of the terrorist violence in the middle east, and its something we need to be combatting, not re-enforcing. It seems clear that this decision was counter to United States interests. Even conservative commentators seem to be scratching their heads on this one.

inignoct wrote:
] ] Informed of Palestinians' reaction, Sharon was quoted by
] ] two well-informed Israeli columnists covering his White
] ] House visit as saying: "They have a better understanding
] ] of the significance of (Bush's) letter than most
] ] Israelis. I said that we were going to deal them a lethal
] ] blow, and they were dealt a lethal blow."
] ]
] ] Over decades of Republican and Democratic
] ] administrations, the United States had officially viewed
] ] Israeli settlements implanted since the occupation of the
] ] West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Middle East war as an
] ] obstacle to peace.

On the one hand, Bush is mostly right. Those settlements aren't going away. He is saying that the Palestinians should have a contiguous state. Furthermore, Isreal is retreating from some of it's holdings.

Emotionally, however, there are serious problems with this. Mostly the fact that Sharon and Bush are sitting around making decisions about the Palestinian territories without any Palestinians at the table. Furthermore, Isreal gets to walk away with official recognition of formerly illegal settlements.

This kind of stuff dumps fuel in the general middle east fire about American fairness toward Arab interests. Most commentators seem to agree that its not a good time to be doing that.

RE: Palestinians Urge World to Challenge Bush Policy

] Voters in Inglewood, Calif., a racially diverse and
] economically struggling suburb of Los Angeles, soundly
] rejected on Tuesday a ballot initiative to permit
] construction of a Wal-Mart complex that would have
] exempted the 60-acre development from virtually all local
] oversight.

Yay.

California Voters Reject Wal-Mart Initiative

] Internet music piracy is not responsible for declining CD
] sales, claim the researchers behind a major new
] statistical study.

[ Yeah, I've seen a few of these recently. Too bad it's irrelevant. RIAA's gonna keep suing traders, which is just what I predicted last year. Sue little Suzy, and see Suzy's mom limit her computer usage in a heartbeat. And see all Suzy's friends' moms do the same to their kids. It *is* working for now, though I don't think it will forever...

The main reason the RIAA's actions are so despicable is that the industry should have been in on this whole "internet" thingie from the get-go. If the labels hadn't been so fucking backwards in the first place, none of these lawsuits would've been necessary, because we'd have had decent, legal download services 5 years ago. The labels figured they could avoid the costs of changing business models and ignore what consumers want. Napster showed them the error in their thinking. If someone in the big 5 had had the balls to push for modernized distribution models, we all could have avoided the massive war and grown naturally into the 21'st century. I still think it'll happen eventually... as long as consumers keep demanding what they want.

Of course, in my perfect world, the major labels all bite it, less money gets spent for promotion and marketing and more gets spent on offering a wider variety of music... -k]

Net music piracy 'does not harm record sales'

[ /. had a few links about this book today... looks like it may be a real interesting read. Develops some concepts that I, and I'm sure many of you, have spent some time mulling in the past. Excessive choice is another result of increasd connectedness, cheaper manufacturing, greater wealth... why is it that we, who *can* choose from so many different things to do, often choose none of them? Why, out of the many, MANY excellent restaurants in Atlanta do we spend so much time deciding which one to go to on any given night?

This is an area screaming for technology to help ease the problems it created... systems which help us remember, keep us on task, make suggestions based on previous behavior, etc. It's time for agents. -k]

Amazon.com: Books: The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less