About 150 pounds of C4, 250 pounds of deta sheets and 2,000 blasting caps were taken from a storage facility west of Albuquerque.

Large cache of expolsives stolen in New Mexico

Wikipedia is about as good a source of accurate information as Britannica, the venerable standard-bearer of facts about the world around us, according to a study published this week in the journal Nature.

For its study, Nature chose articles from both sites in a wide range of topics and sent them to what it called "relevant" field experts for peer review. The experts then compared the competing articles--one from each site on a given topic--side by side, but were not told which article came from which site. Nature got back 42 usable reviews from its field of experts.

In the end, the journal found just eight serious errors, such as general misunderstandings of vital concepts, in the articles. Of those, four came from each site. They did, however, discover a series of factual errors, omissions or misleading statements. All told, Wikipedia had 162 such problems, while Britannica had 123.

That averages out to 2.92 mistakes per article for Britannica and 3.86 for Wikipedia.

It's not exactly the scientific peer review of Nature, but Penny Arcade also published a comic with an amusing take on WikiPedia's accuracy situation.

Study: Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica | CNET News.com

A senior at UMass Dartmouth was visited by federal agents two months ago, after he requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's tome on Communism called "The Little Red Book."

The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand's class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents' home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the professors said.

The professors said the student was told by the agents that the book is on a "watch list," and that his background, which included significant time abroad, triggered them to investigate the student further.

"I tell my students to go to the direct source, and so he asked for the official Peking version of the book," Professor Pontbriand said. "Apparently, the Department of Homeland Security is monitoring inter-library loans, because that's what triggered the visit, as I understand it."

This is over the top. Mao? They sent out federal agents because a college student was reading Mao? Are we really worried about a communist movement in America these days? What the hell is going on?

I'm at a loss for words.. I have to resort to pulling out John Locke's greatest hits: "The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it."

Update: There is a copy of an email floating around saying that there are more things that prompted this investigation, such as the student's foreign travel. I'd still like more details.

UMass Dartmouth senior visited by federal agents for checking out Mao's 'Little Red Book'

Bush added: "Yesterday the existence of this secret program was revealed in media reports, after being improperly provided to news organizations. As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have, and the unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk."

A la Pentagon Papers, information has leaked that's having an effect on the citizenry's perceptions of government policy and actions. If the Bush Administration tries to actually press charges on the New York Times, they will get nowhere with it. That's the only reason they are not threatening to do so. This is simply a PR play, but one I feel will backfire.

I do not see any direct legitimate way this is putting citizens at risk. I am sure al-Qaeda assumes any communications inside the United States could be monitored. Rather, I see this as exposing an abuse of executive powers that are putting citizens civil liberties at risk. There is no system of accountability in place.

This is starting to look more serious than a blow job.

"He's trying to claim somehow that the authorization for the Afghanistan attack after 9/11 permitted this, and that's just absurd," Feingold said. "There's not a single senator or member of Congress who thought we were authorizing wiretaps."

He added that the law clearly lays out how to obtain permission for wiretaps.

"If he needs a wiretap, the authority is already there -- the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act," Feingold said. "They can ask for a warrant to do that, and even if there's an emergency situation, they can go for 72 hours as long as they give notice at the end of 72 hours."

According to Bush, he has reauthorized the NSA's domestic wiretap program over thirty times.

Bush says he signed NSA wiretap order

This week's chart is interesting because it shows the beginnings of a transition between the Old Guard and some New Blood.

Music downloads are about to start leading the charts.

Here is a song quote to go with the theme:

Fortune calls.
I stepped forth from the shadows, to the marketplace,
Merchants and thieves, hungry for power, my last deal gone down.
She's smelling sweet like the meadows where she was born,
On midsummer's eve, near the tower.

Gentlemen, he said,
I don't need your organization, I've shined your shoes,
I've moved your mountains and marked your cards
But Eden is burning, either brace yourself for elimination
Or else your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards.

Bd C Dd C C Bd Bd Ab Ab .. Bd C Dd C C Bd Bd Ab Ab .. Bd C Dd C C Bd Bd Ab Ab .. Ab Bd Ab F F Ab ...

Changing of the Guards

John Spencer, who plays Leo McGarry on the West Wing, died today at 58. May this Jersey boy rest in peace.

John Spencer dies at 58

Senators on both sides of the aisle argued that some of the act's provisions infringe on civil rights. The bipartisan group proposed a three-month extension to continue debate and amend certain provisions, but the Senate also rejected that proposal Friday.

The Senate needed 60 votes to override a filibuster and end debate, which is called "invoking cloture." Cloture would have brought the Patriot Act to a final vote, allowing the Senate to renew it by a simple majority.

But only 52 senators voted to cut off debate; 47 voted against cloture.

The move lays the groundwork for a high-stakes showdown.

Bush has said he would veto a three-month extension, arguing it would be inadequate. But without an extension, 16 provisions could expire at the end of the year. There's also the possibility the Senate could still manage to bring the Patriot Act to a vote before the December 31 deadline.

What an interesting time to be an American. A Solstice Season to remember, for sure.

Christmas for The Patriot (Act)

"Well, let me just say winning the war on terror requires winning the war of information. We are dealing with a very dangerous, very patient, very diabolical enemy who wants to harm America, and in order to be effective in dealing with this enemy, we need to have information," Gonzalez said.

"That is very, very important. And so we will be aggressive in obtaining that information, but we will always do so in a manner that is consistent with our legal obligations."

Legal obligations.. Sounds good for me. Can we get some of those for the executive branch? I think they could use some. It sounds like a "good idea" for spying powers.

What an interesting news cycle. Executive powers, domestic spying, torture, et cetera. I just found myself inspired to preform meme-fu on a classic Rumsfeld quote:

There are known legal obligations. These are things we know that we know. But, there are also unknown legal obligations. These are things we don't know if we shouldn't know.

This would be a great time to mention how much I love the NSA's flash intro.

Give the executive branch legal obligations for Christmas

The Army has approved a new, classified set of interrogation methods...

The techniques are included in a 10-page classified addendum to a new Army field manual...

Army and other Pentagon officials raised concerns that Mr. McCain would be furious at what could appear to be a back-door effort to circumvent his intentions.

"This is a stick in McCain's eye," one official.

Mr. McCain's measure, which the Senate has overwhelmingly approved, would require that only interrogation techniques authorized by the new Army field manual be used on prisoners held by the military....

So, if I understand this.. We have banned torture, but there is no way to actually tell if we just said we banned torture while classifying the information that pertains to how we torture... Or, ideally, if we have a good set of guidelines for interrogation that actually bans torture, but are keeping them secret so our interrogation methods are not publicly known so they can be trained for.

McCain is the only one who even has the appearance of being an honest broker here. Does he have access to see what the current guidelines are? This issue just can't fall off the radar without something happening that convinces the world, or at least many people like me, that we did in fact ban torture. So far, I'm not convinced.

New Army Rules May Snarl Talks With McCain on Detainee Issue - New York Times

David Wilkins tried Thursday to play down the controversy over a speech this week in which he warned Ottawa to tone down anti-American rhetoric or risk hurting cross-border relations. The White House is upset at Martin for accusing it of lacking a global conscience on climate change and for slamming the fact punishing U.S. duties on softwood lumber have not been removed.

Martin, however, has been unrepentant, seizing on Wilkins's speech to trumpet that he would "not be dictated to" by the U.S.

Tensions with our friendly neighbor to the north? Is there anyone left to piss off? Have we said anything nasty to Australia lately? I don't think we are being thorough enough in pissing off the entire world. We are still missing countries. The state Department needs to get out there and talk more shit. Be specific, don't forget places like Norway. Even say something nasty about Poland, I know Bush thinks about them. And while we are at it, let's get the number of national security letters up, to say, three million a year... And demand that other countries honor them. We need to keep a list of people like me who criticize using sarcasm. This criticism shit can get out of hand. All this damn evil seditious descent from the children of the North American Empire be damned!

Ambassador plays down Canada-U.S. feud