] As President Bush plunges into Middle East diplomacy, a
] survey of 20 nations and the Palestinian Authority shows
] widespread distrust of his leadership, skepticism in the
] region about his plan for peace and less regard for the
] United States around the world.
]
] The survey, sponsored by the non-partisan Pew Research
] Center, found that feelings in Muslim countries were
] particularly inflamed in the wake of the war with Iraq.
] In seven of eight Muslim countries, majorities said they
] feared a U.S. military invasion.
]
] In Indonesia, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority,
] majorities said they had confidence in Osama bin Laden to
] "do the right thing in world affairs." Nearly half of
] those in Morocco and Pakistan agreed.

I see Bush's policies have really made a big splash in international relations. Good going, dubya.

Survey: World support for U.S. at new low

] For sale: what might be one of the Soviet Sputnik
] satellites that ushered in the Space Age and sparked a
] frenzied competition that soon led to the launch of the
] first man into orbit.
]
] As with so many things Russian, the sale, offered online
] by Sovietski.com and eBay Inc. for a starting auction
] price of $25,000, presents a riddle wrapped in a mystery,
] for no one is able to say how many authentic Sputniks
] actually exist.
]
] The Soviet Union launched the original Sputnik, a shiny
] metallic orb with four antennas streaking from the side,
] in 1957, setting off a panic in the United States, which
] feared it was falling behind its Cold War rival.
]
] Amid the secrecy that prevailed at the time, Moscow made
] several back-up models, and since the fall of the Soviet
] Union, some of these have landed in the hands of their
] former adversary on very capitalist terms.
]
] Cathleen Lewis, curator of the Russian and Soviet Space
] collection at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C., said
] experts believe Moscow originally made four back-up
] Sputniks. Yet far more than four Sputniks are now in
] circulation.
]
] The original 183-pound (83 kilo) Sputnik burned up when
] it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.
]
] "There is so little documentation and accountability. We
] just don't know what it is," she said of the latest sale.

Cool if its the genuine article

CNN.com - Missing Sputnik may be for sale on eBay - Jun. 4, 2003

] The latest version of the federal Carl Perkins Act, which
] provides the framework and money for vocational-technical
] education, runs out June 30, 2004, and its future is
] uncertain. Earlier this year, President Bush proposed
] revamping vocational-technical education programs and its
] funding.
]
] ''It would be devastating if we lost our Carl Perkins
] money because that's the money we use to stay current. If
] we didn't have that, we wouldn't be able to keep up,''
] said Bill Davis, vocational director for Giles County
] Schools. ''We're focusing on job-attaining and
] job-retaining skills.''
]
] But federal education officials say the focus isn't sharp
] enough. They want a greater emphasis on academics and
] programs linked to post-secondary education and training.

Do these "federal education officials" understand that a large percentage of high school students these days either don't want or can't afford (or get funding for) "post-secondary education and training"? If they continue to cancel vocational programs so that everyone has to go to some kind of post-secondary, who will pay for that? Will they continue pushing down the poverty level for financial aid qualification until only the poorest of the poor can get it, and the poor and middle-class are left in the dust (because tuition will be raised to compensate for the increased enrollment)?

Who will pay, in the end?

Other articles in this vein, relating to the underfunding of TN schools and how it is negatively impacting support and staff:
http://www.tennessean.com/education/archives/03/06/33657925.shtml?Element_ID=33657925 - "Tough Times for Rutherford County Schools"
http://www.tennessean.com/education/archives/03/06/33654586.shtml?Element_ID=33654586 - "UT to cut 287 jobs in state"

Fading funding threatens vo-tech programs - Wednesday, 06/04/03

] ALBANY, N.Y. (Reuters) - With the widely anticipated
] computer-animated movie "Finding Nemo" set to debut in
] theaters on Friday, the Walt Disney Co. has found a novel
] way to guard against people illegally taping the film in
] advance showings.

Yahoo! News - Disney Uses Night Goggles to Guard 'Nemo'

] Man of the moment Keanu Reeves has shown his generosity
] by giving away £50 million of his earnings from the
] Matrix sequels. The 38-year-old decided to hand over the
] money to the unsung heroes of the sci-fi blockbusters -
] the costume and special effects teams.

He may not come off as the sharpest crayon in the box, but he really does seem like a genuinely nice guy.

Whoa!

Elonka wrote:
]My favorite of the Flash Cow "Mooovies". Do not watch with anyone ]under 18 -- unless you're ready to do a *lot* of explaining. ;)

I love this one! Great song for getting stuck in people's heads.

(Not Safe for Work!) Flash Video - 'I'm A Cow'

] The arrest of alleged Olympic bomber Eric Robert Rudolph
] may finally allow authorities to answer a question that
] has loomed since the beginning of the five-year hunt for
] him, but that has taken on deeper resonance since Sept.
] 11, 2001: Is he a "Christian terrorist"?

Ooh, I bet that phrase will raise some hackles in the Christian communities.

Was Rudolph%u2019s religion a factor?

] ...Rutan said that, in looking toward the future, hopefully
] within ten years, ordinary people, for the cost of a
] luxury cruise, might be able experience a rocket flight
] into the black sky above the earth's atmosphere. In doing
] so, they can enjoy a few minutes of weightless
] excitement, "then feel the thunderous deceleration of the
] aerodynamic drag on entry."

Ground control to Major Tom ...

Private Spaceship Undergoes Sky-High Test

Dr. Demento fans will love this one.

Cows With Guns

] He said he discovered the problem this weekend through a
] random finding in a Sacramento Dumpster, where a Cingular
] store had discarded records about a customer's insurance
] claim for a lost phone. By simply typing in a URL listed
] on the detritus, Lamo was taken to the customer's claim
] page on a site run by lock\line LLC, which provides the
] claim management services to Cingular.
]
] Normally, this page should have been reachable only by
] passing through a password-protected gateway, but by
] simply entering the valid URL, Lamo discovered that
] individual claims pages could be accessed, no password
] authentication needed.
]
] Each page contained the customer's name, address and
] phone number, along with details on the insurance claim
] being made. Altering the claim ID numbers (which were
] assigned sequentially) in the URL gave Lamo access to the
] entire history of Cingular claims processed through
] lock\line, comprising some 2.5 million customer claims
] dating back to 1998.

Bet Cingular is embarassed as hell to be exposed by a wandering hacker. Later in the article it mentions that "Lamo, 22, doesn't have a permanent address. He wanders cross-country on foot or by public bus. Spring and summer usually bring him to Northern California. Until recently, he used terminals at Kinko's to perform his hacks. He has graduated to using a Wi-Fi-ready laptop at Starbucks to do his work."

Wired News: Lamo Hacks Cingular Claims Site