At the mall's grand opening Wednesday were students who skipped school and workers who took the morning off. "They have stores I've never been in before. We're excited like little kids."

People love their malls. I am fascinated with certain aspects of malls.

Birth of a Mall

As previously meme'd, I destroyed my car for independent cinema last week.

I'm playing logistics bingo right now, trying to see which way of getting down there works best. Stealing a car remains the best option, second to hijacking a train. Only you can fight crime and/or terrorism by giving rattle a ride down to Atlanta.

Its the perfect way to celebrate Tax Day. Standard Deduction applies, I will be more then happy to chip in for gas.

HyperPhysics is an exploration environment for concepts in physics which employs concept maps and other linking strategies to facilitate smooth navigation. For the most part, it is laid out in small segments or "cards", true to its original development in HyperCard. The entire environment is interconnected with thousands of links, reminiscent of a neural network.

This site for learning Physics concepts employs undirected graphs for navigation. Its a perfect example of how various types of dot-graphs can be used to convey the same information as a "list" or "outline" only with far more context.

Hyper Physics

My condolences go out to Weird Al..

FALLBROOK, Califorina (AP) -- -- The elderly parents of Grammy-winning recording artist "Weird Al" Yankovic were found dead in their home, apparently victims of carbon monoxide poisoning, officials said.

Nick and Mary Yankovic were found dead Friday in their suburban San Diego home by relatives who were worried because they had not seen the couple in a while, said sheriff's Sgt. Conrad Grayson.

Paramedics found Nick Yankovic, 86, in a chair in the front living room. His 81-year-old wife was on the bathroom floor.

'Weird Al' Yankovic's parents found dead

Bob Kerrey offers his thoughts in the Sunday New York Times.

Anyone who was in Congress, as I was during the critical years leading up to Sept. 11, 2001, must accept some of the blame for the catastrophe. It was a collective failure.

It has been difficult for all of us to understand and accept the idea that a non-state actor like Osama bin Laden, in conjunction with Al Qaeda, could be a more serious strategic threat to us than the nation-states we grew up fearing.

Time is not on our side in Iraq. We do not need a little more of the same thing. We need a lot more of something completely different.

Fighting the Wrong War

20. Senior commanders and staffs need the most education and training for nontraditional roles. The troops need awareness and understanding.

Anthony Zinni's 20 Principles of Peacemaking and Humanitarian Intervention

] Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling was taken to a hospital
] early Friday after several people called police saying he
] was pulling on their clothes and accusing them of being
] FBI agents, a police source told The Associated Press.
]
] Police found Skilling at 4 a.m. at the corner of Park
] Avenue and East 73rd Street and determined he might be an
] "emotionally disturbed person," said the source, speaking
] to the AP on condition of anonymity.

I've done the same thing, different section of town. Different reasons.

] Skilling was at two bars in Manhattan – American Trash
] and The Voodoo Lounge – where he allegedly ran up to
] patrons and pulled open their clothes, the source said.

I have not pulled anyone's clothes off, yet. I'd do that for different reasons as well.

If only someone got this on tape. I'd love to see Jeffery Skilling running around insanely drunk accusing people of being FBI agents. That would be some grade-a material. I'm sure this will be taken up as joke material by the late night TV hacks. They would be stupid not to have a go at this one..

Salon.com News | Enron's Skilling hospitalized after bar incidents

Not only has my car been nearly destroyed... Now my PowerBook is broken too.

After random amounts of usage, it crashes to a blank screen. Then when powered on it sits there and does nothing. Sometimes the "bong" occurs, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it happens and gets cut off. It powers up and boots (maybe) once out of every 20 or so tries.

Grrr!!

U: It may have just needed a PMU reset. The book it still out on the machine's viability.. I'll know if it keeps crashing. Last night was spent making a round of frantic backups of "non-critical" (read: large) files, such as my music collection.

U(2): Nope. Its still screwed up. I'll worry about it after Interz0ne. Its already destroyed my ability to put together a good presentation in time. As long as it sits there and displays my notes, I should be fine.

"Get out of my namespace!"

Following is a transcript of the interview with President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan by Philip P. Pan, the Washington Post's Beijing bureau chief, and David E. Hoffman, foreign editor. The interview was conducted at the presidential palace in Taipei on March 29, 2004, with a government translator.

... the "one China" principle ... is totally unacceptable to our people.

I think the fundamental reason why I won ... is because there is a rising Taiwan identity and it has been solidified. I think the Beijing authorities should take heed of this fact and accept the reality.

I have observed a very interesting phenomenon. The Beijing authorities refuse to recognize the existence of the Republic of China. However, they dread that we may one day change our name. I see a great inconsistency in this phenomenon.

What's in a name, really?

The failure of "one country, two systems" in Hong Kong has contributed to the rise of Taiwan identity and the rise of Taiwan awareness.

As I have said, solidifying and deepening Taiwan's democracy is our best Theater Missile Defense.

The day before the election, I trod the fine line of death. And that had a great impact on my life philosophy and my attitude toward my political career.

A shot in the arm, a shot in the gut -- what's twelve inches between friends?

Interview with Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian

] The startling figures emerge from studies into toxoplasma
] gondii, a parasite carried by almost all the country's
] feline population. They show that half of Britain's
] human population carry the parasite in their brains, and
] that infected people may undergo slow but crucial changes
] in their behaviour.
]
] Infected men, suggests one new study, tend to become more
] aggressive, scruffy, antisocial and are less attractive.
] Women, on the other hand, appear to exhibit the "sex
] kitten" effect, becoming less trustworthy, more
] desirable, fun- loving and possibly more promiscuous.

Once it was thought that given time science would disprove many common beliefs. The truth is, it usually winds up reaffirming them.

I find this particularly amusing. I'm highly allergic to cats. My eyes get all red and bloodshot, my sinuses go nuts, and I get asthma like breathing troubles. The more contact I have with the cat, the less my symptoms. Usually the first few encounters are the worst. It takes anywhere between a 1-3 months for me to have no symptoms, depending on exposure to any particular cat. Its always "game over" if I touch the cat and my face. Everyone has cats. I'm become used to managing cat infection in a very scientific manor.

Times Online - Health - Dangerrrr: cats could alter your personality