Friday, 30 January 2004
NASA to Review Plan to Phase Out Hubble
Posted in Science by Chris at 00:00
Archive for January, 2004
Stores Nix Disposable Flicks
Posted in R.I.P. by Chris at 00:00
Divx v2.0 is… dead dead dead! Suck on that one, Disney!
Bush Too Much of a Pussy to Threaten Veto Himself
Posted in Eye Rollers, Misc by Chris at 00:00
Bush Too Much of a Pussy to Threaten Veto Himself
“The Bush administration issued a veto threat Thursday against legislation introduced in Congress that would scale back key parts of the anti-terrorism Patriot Act. In a letter to Senate leaders, Attorney General John Ashcroft said the changes contemplated by the Security and Freedom Ensured Act, or SAFE, would 'undermine our ongoing campaign to detect and prevent catastrophic terrorist attacks.' If the bill reaches President Bush's desk in its current form, Ashcroft said, 'the president's senior advisers will recommend that it be vetoed.'”
The president's senior advisors will recommend?! Is that the lamest threat ever, or a revealing truth about who has the power in this administration?
Bush Administration Defends Medicare Estimates
Posted in Eye Rollers, Misc by Chris at 00:00
Bush Administration Defends Medicare Estimates
JFC, will this administration ever admit when they do anything wrong? Doesn't look like it.
Thursday, 29 January 2004
White House to Project Deficit Exceeding $500 Billion This Year
Posted in Grrr... by Chris at 00:00
White House to Project Deficit Exceeding $500 Billion This Year
Turns out the bushies lied again - the costs of the bloated, pharma-loving, and wrong medicare bill were underreported by them by a quarter (in other words, the new estimate is one-third higher). Oh. Oopsies. Sorry abou that.
9/11 Commission Says It Needs More Time
Posted in Grrr... by Chris at 00:00
9/11 Commission Says It Needs More Time
… but surprise, surprise! The Republicans want to bury it.
"The White House and Republican Congressional leaders have said they see no need to extend the congressionally mandated deadline, now set for May 27, and a spokesman for Speaker J. Dennis Hastert said Tuesday that Mr. Hastert would oppose any legislation to grant the extension.
But commission officials said there was no way to finish their work on time, a situation they attribute in part to delays by the Bush administration in turning over documents and other evidence. "
MikeHuntSoft.com Sued Over Domain Name
Posted in Humor by Chris at 00:00
MikeHuntSoft.com Sued Over Domain Name
"Adult entertainment giant MCS Corp has filed a trademark infringement suit against software developer Mike Hunt over his mikehuntsoft.com domain name.
MCS Corp, known by their initials since the dot com bubble burst and "My Whatever" companies lost their appeal, kept their original domain name.
?I?m not giving up my domain without a fight,? said Hunt. ?I have enough troubles with my name as it is and I don?t think anybody is going to confuse what?s on my site with what?s on theirs.?
MCS?s lawyers have a different view. ?Mr. Hunt is clearly trying to take advantage of the brand that we?ve built, and we?re not going to let him get away with it. We are going to ride him hard, get stiff penalties imposed and squeeze every last drop out of him. He?s going down,? said MCS lawyer Anita Mann." …
Bush Scaling Back Dollars for Third World
Posted in News by Chris at 00:00
Bush Scaling Back Dollars for Third World
Yet another lie, backing down from a promise when the cameras aren't on. Bush is gutting money for the worldwide prevention of HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria.
What an asshat.
Wednesday, 28 January 2004
Boxcutters Were Not Used by the 9/11 Hijackers
Posted in HFS! by Chris at 00:00
Boxcutters Were Not Used by the 9/11 Hijackers
… and it took them 3 years to tell us this? What else is being buried by the administration?
MS Swaminathan Research Foundation Develops Salt-Resistant Rice
Posted in Yay! by Chris at 00:00
MS Swaminathan Research Foundation Develops Salt-Resistant Rice
Indian scientists have genetically engineered a salt-resistant rice variety that can be grown in water three times saltier than seawater. Food scientists have long been concerned by the havoc global warming-induced rising sea levels could potentially wreak on coastal crops. Now the answer could be at hand. According to the international journal Science, a team of scientists at the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai, has introduced a salinity-resistant gene ? isolated three years ago from a coastal mangrove ? into several Indian rice varieties.
That's great freakin news. Science, unfortunately, is pay-access only.
Cheney Is Adamant on Iraq 'Evidence'
Posted in Evil by Chris at 00:00
Cheney Is Adamant on Iraq 'Evidence'
Sweet. Has he gone into buffoon territory yet, or is he still merely dr. evil oil baron?
Cleveland Minor Leaguer… Was in a Gay Porn Video
Posted in Baseball by Chris at 00:00
Cleveland Minor Leaguer… Was in a Gay Porn Video
"…in which he engaged in a homosexual act."
Kudos to Shapiro for having the balls to stick with this "risky" choice (it helps that he's really good). The Japanese leagues refused to draft him after news of this came out in the papers there. It's time to get rid of the stigma! Sunshine, as Brandeis said, is the best disinfectant.
But back to my natural inclination, which is to be small minded and mean: just think of all the heckling you could do with a battery of Tadano and Piazza!
At least we know he's a pitcher…
Nanotech and the Law
Posted in Uncategorized by Chris at 00:00
… two great tastes that go great together? Compelling argument that the nano-believers had better be ready for the regulation. I've long held that nanotech will save us all or kill us all (probably both), though I doubt the grey goo apocalypse.
Reynolds does a lot of hand-waving as to the fat fingers and sticky fingers problems, but still, good read. Will appear in the next Harvard Journal of Law and Technology.
Dean Shakes Up Presidential Campaign
Posted in News by Chris at 00:00
Dean Shakes Up Presidential Campaign
It's not Trippi's fault; the media hates Dean. I don't see any way of him overcoming that. Which is a shame, because Dean gets people motivated, and you can't teach that.
Me? After much thought and some serious debate, I'm a Wesley Clark guy. Of course, I'll take any of the Dems over duhbya, but a Clark/Edwards or Clark/Dean ticket is my current ticket o' choice.
There's a lot of reasons to really, really like Clark and only a couple that give me pause. 3 Feb will be his big test. If he's still going strong after that, I'll have hope. If not, I guess I'll support the Kerry/Edwards ticket although not with much fervor.
Tuesday, 27 January 2004
MusicXML Definition v1.0 Released
Posted in Games, Music by Chris at 00:00
MusicXML Definition v1.0 Released
Music data definition; an open standard holy grail. It's pretty sweet, actually. I hope everyone buys into it.
