I have been using Ubuntu on 2/3 of my home computers (my wife’s lone Windows laptop is the only holdout) for almost a year now. So I am pretty good at dispelling of linux myths myself. In fact, I overcame my (hopefully) last hurdle with the installation of Listen Music Player last night. But, this article is still a great read.
And no Jake, I will not be getting a Mac. Even if their commercials are really funny.
Senator Al Franken (D-MN)? Crazier things could happen I guess. I actually don’t think this is such a bad idea. Having read most of his books and listened a lot to his Air America radio show for its first year, he has some really good ideas.
Comedian and radio talk show host Al Franken has decided to run for U.S. Senate in Minnesota, a senior Democratic official from Minnesota said. The official, who did want to be identified because Franken has not made an announcement, said Wednesday that Franken told her of his decision recently.
Ahhh...the 80’s. I loved this stupid fucking show.
This is a picture-perfect reproduction of the Knight Industries 2000. The amount of information, and lines of communication back to KITT designer Michael Scheffe are truly astounding. No matter where everything came from, it’s a hoot to see it all lit up, and even better, it all works. Well, maybe not the “Turbo Boost” function that’d send 3000 pounds of Trans-Am hurtling over bad guys.
I couldn’t actually find the car on Ebay.com like the article claims, but I did find this one.
Instead of recording only what a particular suspect is doing, agents conducting investigations appear to be assembling the activities of thousands of Internet users at a time into massive databases, according to current and former officials. That database can subsequently be queried for names, e-mail addresses or keywords. Federal law says that agents must “minimize the interception of communications not otherwise subject to interception” and keep the supervising judge informed of what’s happening. Minimization is designed to provide at least a modicum of privacy by limiting police eavesdropping on innocuous conversations.
Prosecutors routinely hold presurveillance “minimization meetings” with investigators to discuss ground rules. Common investigatory rules permit agents to listen in on a phone call for two minutes at a time, with at least one minute elapsing between the spot-monitoring sessions. That section of federal law mentions only real-time interception--and does not explicitly authorize the creation of a database with information on thousands of innocent targets.
But a nearby sentence adds: “In the event the intercepted communication is in a code or foreign language, and an expert in that foreign language or code is not reasonably available during the interception period, minimization may be accomplished as soon as practicable after such interception.” Downing, the assistant deputy chief at the Justice Department’s computer crime section, pointed to that language on Friday. Because digital communications amount to a foreign language or code, he said, federal agents are legally permitted to record everything and sort through it later. (Downing stressed that he was not speaking on behalf of the Justice Department.)
From our friends at the Onion.com:
Oh my God. You know what? I totally have to say something. Seriously, guys, you have to listen—this is way important. Kim? Erica? Amy? Are you listening? Okay, here it is: I am so not a fully developed person.
Here is the deal. I live 30 miles from work. By DC/East Coast/Mid-Atlantic standards that is not bad at all. In fact, it is down-right gleeful. Normally, I drop my oldest son off to school at 7:30 and head off to work. I am usually there by a little after 8 am. Today, I arrived at work at 9:15. It took me 1 hour and 45 minutes to get to the office. That blows! Why did it take so long, you ask? Because we got a dusting off snow last night. And the normally-abhorrent driving abilities of the folks surrounding me turn usually dangerous and chaotic. I spent 30 minutes sitting in traffic in my not-so-super-secret back way in (no hyperlink - then it wouldn’t be not-so-super-secret, right?) because the Interstate was backed up.
I keep telling myself “I Love the East Coast. I Love the East Coast.”
Arghhh....
Something about this bothers me:
Merck & Co. is helping bankroll efforts to pass state laws requiring girls as young as 11 or 12 to receive the drugmaker’s new vaccine against the sexually transmitted cervical-cancer virus. Some conservatives and parents’-rights groups say such a requirement would encourage premarital sex and interfere with the way they raise their children, and they say Merck’s push for such laws is underhanded. But the company said its lobbying efforts have been above-board.
Beyond the fact the Merck is pushing for laws that directly increase its bottom line, is it wrong to force someone to get a vaccine for something they might not ever get? I mean, we give kids vaccines for all sorts of things, but...I don’t know. Something stinks here.
Heaven forbid. You mean that the muslim world is not one monolithic creature hell-bent on destroying the United States? Writer Rami Khouri brings some much-needed sanity to this discussion. I found him in Lebanon’s Daily Star.
The United States as a whole - citizens, government, media and academia - broadly has had a difficult time coming to grips with the terrorism phenomenon that struck its shores so traumatically on Sept. 11, 2001. A two-week journey throughout the United States this month left me with the sense that American society is more polarized on the issue.
Some Americans have generated some first-class analysis on why various groups around the world use terrorism more frequently as a means of political expression, resistance or offensive warfare. Others - especially in the media and politicians - have slipped into panic and racism mode. They focus almost exclusively on terror committed by Arab-Islamist groups, and wildly tar all Islamist political groups as mortal threats that have stealthily penetrated American society, without differentiating between criminal terror, legitimate resistance, and peaceful political action.
Wow. If this works, this could be amazing.
It sounds almost too good to be true: a cheap and simple drug that kills almost all cancers by switching off their “immortality”. The drug, dichloroacetate (DCA), has already been used for years to treat rare metabolic disorders and so is known to be relatively safe. It also has no patent, meaning it could be manufactured for a fraction of the cost of newly developed drugs.
Oh, where to begin...
When Joan Maruskin took the podium last April at a Family Research Council (FRC) immigration conference in Washington, D.C., it was hard not to think of Daniel in the lion’s den: The liberal director of the Church World Service Immigration Program was addressing an audience convened by a major force on the Christian religious right. It was not her crowd.
It turned out that the Book of Daniel was among the few books of the Bible that Maruskin didn’t quote. While making the Christian case for amnesty, she demonstrated that the Old and New Testaments are chock-full of soundbyte-ready advocacy for the “stranger.” All told, she counts more than 300 scriptural admonishments to mercy toward immigrants.
Holy Shit (Literally)! Tom Cruise is the messiah. Does this mean we get to watch Top Gun and MI:1-3 at Easter now? Sweet!
Tom Cruise is the new “Christ” of Scientology, according to leaders of the cult-like religion. The Mission: Impossible star has been told he has been “chosen” to spread the word of his faith throughout the world. And leader David Miscavige believes that in future, Cruise, 44, will be worshiped like Jesus for his work to raise awareness of the religion. A source close to the actor, who has risen to one of the church’s top levels, said: “Tom has been told he is Scientology’s Christ-like figure.
“Like Christ, he’s been criticized for his views. But future generations will realize he was right.”
